30/11/04
Marcus:
1970s South East England train line simulations. Gaze in shocked wonder at the screenshots before coming to the rapid conclusion that humanity has surely become too sick to continue, and that it is now time to initiate Operation: Twelve Monkeys. (Via).
justin: Even Half Life 2 managed to bring more excitement to train tracks than this.
Marcus:
iPodlounge has an iTunes plugin round-up.
Marcus: iTunes sucks for plugins - especially compared to the might of Winamp - but something is better than nothing.
Justin:
Saturn moon photos clearly show that it is the Death Star.
dave: That's no moon, it's a space station...
Marcus: [Insert standard "Greedo shot first" tirade]
Dave:
You want to help Band Aid, but the single is sh*t. What do you do? Go here to find out...
Marcus: Sublime!
Dave: This site is new too, watch it swell and grow as we destroy pop crap.
Marcus: For charidee.
Dave:
TheRegister on the new PS3 chip and the less complicated BBC news version.
justin: Bast - I was just about to post that!
Marcus: Do you remember that old scare story about how Saddam Hussein was buying up loads of PS2s to network together and create a super-computer? Ahh, those were the days.
Dave:
Scientists have nearly finished some kind of super futuristic physics machine that can make "mini black holes".
Marcus: We're all gonna dieee!
29/11/04
Marcus:
Ming the Merciless - occasionally funny surreal webpage stuff. Mentioned primarily because the theme tune on the front page contains a sample from the groovy 70s orchestral bit in Jesus Christ: Super Star. (Via).
Marcus: Turns out the music is from Apeonaut. Check out the kids' TV presenter abduction video on that site.
Marcus:
Bigging up the design on The Incredibles. (Via).
Dave: Just got back from seeing this film. It is excellent. Thoroughly enjoyable. See it. Now.
Dave:
A list of Crap Jobs. Working for Sainsbury's is not on there yet.
Marcus: I think I've done most of those.
Dave:
(Link) Bunny Sucide.
dave: And the accompanying book.
Marcus: I killed the bunny all three ways.
Marcus:
Apple will launch a mobile phone within 18 months.
Marcus: The writer of that blog post is convinced they will, anyway. Personally, I'll believe it when I see it. The mobile phone industry doesn't need Apple, and Apple surely wouldn't be dumb enough to enter a mature, highly innovative, cut-throat sector that has no room for farting about doing cute little scroll wheels on phones. Mobile phones are nothing like the emergent MP3 player market a few years ago. Then again, Apple will need a new trick once more mobile phone manufacturers start incorporating mini-HDs into their phones and the iPod is killed dead within the next few years. (I own an iPod, and it's cool, but let's be honest - iPod or phone with iPod capabilities? That's no choice at all).
justin: Sorry - but the cute little scroll wheel features on a new phone - that 70's looking one that looks like a sofa. I think there is plenty of room left for innovation in the phone market - many are the times I rue some poorly designed feature of any phone I encounter.
Dave: "iPod or phone with iPod capabilities? That's no choice at all." You've got to be having a laugh! What about phone with iPod battery life? No thanks. I know you love your Treo, but I'm happy with a phone that is just a phone.
Marcus: My guess is that Apple wouldn't take the plunge into such a cut-throat, steadily consolidating industry. I think Apple will probably do what it has already started to do with the announcement that they'll be putting iTunes on Motorola phones - supply the software apps but not the hardware. Only time will tell.
Marcus: Dave, I assure you the iPod will go the way of the dinosaur - you might like a phone just to be a phone, but in five years time you simply won't be able to buy something that just plays MP3s. Convergence, baby. Phones and iPods go together like egg and chips. Battery life will be much higher than an iPod too - you can't extrapolate current battery life into future devices. For instance, I bought a Motorola Flare phone in 1996 that lasted for seven hours on a charge, or one hour talk time.
justin: There is a middle road - and that is having phones with enough space to hold one or two albums, maybe up to 512meg - I think these will more prevalent that having to go whole-hog with a 10gig mini-hd. Don't forget there are many more of these types of players around that iPods. Also, as for battery life - most people recharge their phone at the end of the night. that will be the model for battery life, although, I do accept we will all be f*cked come Glastonury time (which I am not going to because it's far too much hassle).
Marcus: I agree that at first you'll be seeing 256mb/512mb flash variants. However it's only a matter of time and economics before mini HD prices and decent battery life come together and mean that not having a phone with a built in HD will be like it currently is now to own a phone that doesn't have a colour screen, isn't polyphonic, doesn't run Java and doesn't have Bluetooth. Just as at some point soon you won't have any choice but to have a phone that has these things, so will mini HDs become part of the generic spec for mobile phones, or smart phones, or zaargflurbles, or whatever we'll be calling phones in ten years' time.
justin: Cool - but by the same rationale as "we could be using Zaarflurbles", we could also not specifically be using MINI HD's because they are a big power drain or because streaming is a much more practical option. In many ways our technological bottlenecks aren't necessarily simply innovative ones, but old fashioned practicalities like temperature, power drain, weight etc. I will say that mp3s on phones is the future, and the more crap we can shove into a device of roughly the same size, the better.
justin: Anyway - what we need are devices that can draw their electricity from the body - solving the battery problem and the weight problem in one go.
Dave: I really don't think mini HDDs in phones is the future. In fact I think it's a step back. You don't need it! They are too sensitive and put too high a demand on a battery. If I had a phone with a mini HDD in it, it wouldn't last a week. My phone takes a battering, it gets dropped, bashed and generally spends too much time in my pocket. I think the future is bigger and better Flash memory.
justin: I want the last word by saying that I am very happy with my phone because it is small, does loads of cool stuff and makes me look cool, as opposed to Marcus' phone which not only makes him look geeky - but actually turns him into a geek. Dave: stop dropping your phone it's an expensive telecommunications device not a rattle.
Marcus: Okay, so maybe some kind of Compact Flash high-capacity flash memory system - say, the 4-5gb that the low-end mini-HD players have as capacity right now. Also, Justin - the thought of having my energy drained by some overcharging misbehaving device is sort of fun but probably wouldn't be nice in practice. Last word!
Dave: Word.
Marcus: Bah.
Dave: Word.
Marcus: Last word! (Mwahaha - now this post has dropped off the edge of the front page, surely the last word is mine).
justin: Last word.
Marcus: I can't believe that, nearly two years since this was posted, Justin posts in that he has the last word.
Marcus:
A beginner's guide to del.icio.us. I don't use del.icio.us for storing bookmarks, I just use it to steal other people's. (Via).
Marcus:
Pentagon dodecahedron (3D 12-sided) calendar. Download it, print it out and amaze people with your origami geometrical date-finding abilities. (Via).
28/11/04
Dave:
I strongly suggest that if you haven't already, you should check out the Aqua Teen Hunger Force at suprnova.org. It's very odd, but pretty funny. You can get the first episode and also both series from the TV Shows section.
Justin:
Sesame Street Pinball Song remix video. (The one that goes '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12').
Dave: I've had that in my head for about 2 years.
Justin:
video game music archive - 1600 computer and video game tunes transcribed into the midi format.
justin: A lot of these are pants to be honest - whoever transcribed some of the tunes (they are not allowed to use software to directly translate roms) totally didn't "get" them. Also, many of the original machines used FM synthesis "chip" music to make their sounds, and that doesn't always come across well on midi. Still good fun through.
justin: If anyone knows where I can get original game music as mp3 then give me a shout. PS - Listen to Rastan!
Marcus: I've got the MP3 of the original Secret of Monkey Island music. Listening to it causes instant transportation back to the care-free early 1990s.
justin: I think the best method for getting specific game music on mp3 is to look for a fansite rather than expect a nicely laid out archive. I found Rastan incidentally.
Justin:
Brandon Vedas, a severe drug user dies on a webcam while chatting to people in a chatroom. This site gives more information and his final chat logs. Harrowing stuff.
dave: I remember seeing this in a documentary a while back. f*cked up stuff. The chat logs are pretty chilling.
Justin:
AOL closes down Nullsoft, of Winamp fame.
justin: See, I can post decent links when I am pissed.
Marcus:
Girl with Livejournal puts a hit out on her charity-working mother, mentions in passing that her mother has been murdered. (Via).
Marcus: Equally disturbing are many of the comments on that Livejournal post. There are some truly grotesque people in the world.
Marcus: More on the whole sad, twisted affair.
Marcus:
Binge-drinking sessions are more likely to give you a beer belly - as well as being more likely to mess your health up - than if you drink the same amount over the course of a week.
Marcus:
The Incredibles is easily the most kickass, awesome 3D cartoon movie yet. For once, a film that lives up to the hype machine! I just got back from seeing it and now when I grow up, I want to be a 3D animated super hero. Watch The Incredibles and I assure you it will erase any memory of the fishy-smelling yawn-fest travesty that preceded it.
27/11/04
Dave:
It looks like Chris Evans is going a bit mental.
Marcus: Interesting new direction of his mid-life crisis.
Dave:
A church made of Lego. It is truly astounding.
dave: There are so many funny quotes from this site I don't know where to start.
justin: Made me find this link about mature images snuck into Lego Land.
Marcus: Lego is awesome.
Justin:
[RANT REMOVED AT JUSTIN'S EMBARRASSED HUNGOVER REQUEST - MARCUS]
dave: I think that's for the best. Justin - What's wrong with you man!?
justin: I got into an argument with Sarah about gender roles in modern society so I tried to stop arguing in person by typing on linkbunnies. We were both drunk and it was like 4am.
26/11/04
Justin:
Baywatch dubbed "Worst US import. Ever."
Marcus: What about all those appalling US soap operas? They make Neighbours look like Shakespeare. I saw one a little while ago on ABC1 and it was utterly dire. I think it was set in a hospital.
Marcus: Talking of David Hasselhoff, there's a nice self-parody gag in Dodgeball featuring the great man.
tim: how dare they dub 'manimal' as a bad import!!! it was CLASS
justin: I only ever saw Manimal when I was a kid in Canada, therefore before I was 8. All I can remember is some c*nt leaning against a wall having some weird kind of fit. If that is a TV import crime then god have mercy on all of us.
tim: well the special effects are what I remember, kind of like the man-to-wolf scene in american werewolf, but this time with loads of different animals. when he turned into an eagle it was scary
Justin:
From the Bush yoga website I found a link to the full set of Abu Ghraib pictures. There is a lot more worse stuff than appeared on TV.
Marcus:
I think if this bizarrely piling-it-all-in sex toy could talk, the only thing it would be saying is "killl meee". (Via).
dave: There is nothing right about that.
justin: Is that meant to to be a penis helmet at the end? Why?
Marcus:
HeroMachine. Create your own super hero via a Flash interface. A little buggy but good time-wasting fun. (Via).
25/11/04
Marcus:
Buy a piece of chewing gum genuinely chewed by TV's Keith Chegwin for £17.99. Bargain.
dave: Chegwin is an anagram of chewing... Coincidence? I think not.
Marcus:
Seen a font you like but can't place its name? Identify a font via a means of progressive questions, not unlike the Microsoft troubleshooting wizard but hopefully a little more helpful.
Marcus: I believe I linked to this in a previous life, but not on this site.
Justin:
I'm not going to put too fine a point on in - but in the words of an Islamic scholar, Islam is "a religion that was established by violence and still believes in violence as a principal and as a way of life". This page from Answering Islam discusses some notions of whether Islam is a peaceful or aggressive religion. Also interesting is the quashing of the rumour that Neil Armstrong is a muslim that I have heard many times. Islam is a pretty tight religion - as far as religions go I give it a lot of respect... I suppose there are two religious means of bringing about world peace; one is the total domination by one idea and the complete subjugation of thought (Islam); the other is to try and bring about tolerance and forgiveness (Christianity). Both fail because ultimately they destroy an individual's faculty for reason.
justin: Does no one else think this link is cool?
Justin:
The Cat With Human Hands - have we seen this before?
Marcus: That is awesomely messed up stuff.
Marcus:
12many Counting the Stars game. Dots flash up on the screen for a second, you try to remember how many, you click the corresponding number button, you earn points. Harmless fun. (Via).
justin: I got 78 - but I went through a patch of about ten rounds constantly getting it wrong by one. more fun than I thought it would be, but the Waterfall Guitarscape made me want to puke my eyes out after a while.
Dave: Incredibly frustrating! I got 105 the first time I played and now I'm nowhere near that.
: Just got 111 - I wonder if it has something to do with which eye takes in the side of the screen - I tend to scan from left to right and then count from memory... though I must admit this time my eyes were pretty blurry.
Marcus:
BBC News: "US 'alienating' world's Muslims"
Marcus: Coverage of a pretty damning report made by a body of civilian experts appointed by the Pentagon.
Marcus: Quotes contained in the article are the most insightful thing I've read in a while - wonder if the Pentagon will sit up and take notice though?
Marcus:
Fact: most 18-34 year olds don't read boring old dead tree newspapers any more - they read them online instead. (Via).
Marcus: "Imagine what higher-ups at the Post must have thought when focus-group participants declared they wouldn't accept a Washington Post subscription even if it were free. The main reason (and I'm not making this up): They didn't like the idea of old newspapers piling up in their houses."
Marcus: The figures relate to Americans, but I can't see how they'd be all that different this side of the pond.
Marcus:
Blogtorrent has launched.
Marcus: It looks to be a (comparatively) easy-to-use method of hosting BitTorrent files on normal websites (providing you can run PHP scripts). In fact, BlogTorrent could be the thing that transforms the BitTorrent phenomenon into a sort of mega-awesome Kazaa for the people (everybody hosting their own files for sharing, instead of relying on a central network to do it for them).
Marcus: Or at least make it possible for slightly less geeky people to host popular files without destroying their website bandwidth.
Marcus: Oh god I've become a mass-media filesharing bore.
Justin:
I am currently having my PC rebuilt and reformated and the demons cast out... so I am using the media team resource machine and guess what I did? I installed Firefox on it and I fully intend to install Firefox on my machine when I get it back!! I am so naughty! Maybe I should do some work as well?!!?!? tee hee hee! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marcus: ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! U R a badass!!!!!!!!!!
justin: [g]
Justin:
Kaizen is something that has always interested me. The practice of small continuous improvements in workflow efficiency.
Justin:
Mob justice, Mexican style. I suppose if I was Marcus I would cite this as a reason (re: This post) why democracy is a bad idea. Here is an interesting article on the right to vote. - Thoughts on democracy. Why democracy is a bad idea.
tim: I don't know man, surely links 3 and 4 violate godwins lawweb page and the last one bangs on about class.... not very convincing...
tim: argh can't get used to this new url posting system
Marcus: That isn't democracy, it's anarchy. I suppose if I was Justin I'd now get really indignant about such slander.
justin: 3 and 4 do not violate Godwin's law because neither of them are discussions and because 4 doesn't mention nazis or Hitler. I am sorry that you consistently consider class to be a non-issue in politics but it just goes to show that you are just like Hitler and the gay nazis. I think in many ways it goes on to say that Democracy is a bad idea for people with wealth because of the working class were able to get their (dull, lazy) act together, then a redistribution of wealth would be in order (hasn't happened). So it doesn't really "bang on" about class in the way your tone suggests.
justin: The initial point about the Mexican lynching being about democracy was a rebuttal to your assertion that Somalia in any way represents a lassez fair capitalist society. Both examples are poor - as poor as Tim's concept of today's social climate.
Marcus: I want a pony.
tim: my point is that banging on about class is only going to deepen any divisions already there, eventually making justin a dalit the more you have a class war the furthur apart people become
Marcus:
Could you be (could you be) the most beautiful word in the world?
Marcus: Or in the English language, anyway.
justin: My fave words at the moment are either 'arbitrary' or 'dichotomy'.
24/11/04
Marcus:
It seems a lot of people are pretty pissed about Counter Strike: Source.
justin: Awwwwww....
Dave:
Firefox has forced IE's user share down to 90%. Not emergency stations for Micro$oft, but pretty telling
justin: So, like, is there any point in using Opera?
Marcus: Right now: very, very little.
Marcus:
McDonald's chief is stepping down after 7 months due to bowel cancer. You may recall the previous CEO died of a heart attack. Not the greatest advert for McDonald's food, is it? (Via).
Marcus:
The Hopkin Green Frog mystery explained. Assuming you'd heard about it. (Via).
justin: Wow - quite a story - I thought it was going to turn out to be an "absurd" web story of web losers losing on about something... and it was slightly better than that. It's a shame the father seemed to not want people involved but I can understand hism problem - how badly could it potentially f*ck the kid up.... on the other hand it could be good for him to know that f*cked up sh*t goes on in the world. Do many autistic people communicate on the internet? I am about to find out....
Dave:
Can you spot the Clifference? Make sure you have sound. It's worth failing at least once to hear the music.
Dave:
Looks like it's all going to kick off in the Ukraine. Why didn't the American public react like this 4 years ago?
Justin:
Peter Hain has been accused of playing politics with terrorism by suggesting the UK is safer under Labour.
justin: That is why our political system is better than the yanks.
tim: a politician?! playing at politics!? nail him up!
Justin:
Skulls virus for phones.
bbc: "Once installed the program replaces all the icons on the main page with skulls and replaces all the working applications, such as contacts, calendar, notebook etc with non-working versions so the phone becomes almost useless. "
justin: A phone that can only make or receive calls is totally useless!
23/11/04
Marcus:
Spaced Out - the fan website for the best sitcom ever (Spaced) - is up and running again and I never even noticed. It had been down for ages and ages.
justin: "Terminate the devil with these great sunglasses which provide UVA and UVB protection. Does that mean the devil made UVA and UVB?
justin: See below (tee hee hee)
Laura: Marcus is a wonderful wonderful person as he has found me the font used on Spaced, and deserves to be praised and have songs written about him (preferably not insulting, though they might be quite funny). Thank you Marcus!
Marcus: Gee whizz, shucks, etc.
Marcus:
You - yes, you - want to buy sandals with mirror-writing in the tread that mean every step you take in soft ground imprints the words "JESUS LOVES YOU".
justin: And the faith-Nazis only "employ" Christian workers.
tim: makes it easier to inentify the bloody footprints running away from the crime scene
Dave:
Are these classy ladies taking it the pink or the brown, YOU DECIDE. (Not Work Safe).
Marcus: Not as bad as it could be, you don't see "rude things". I scored 13/16 - my tip is that a lot of the time you can judge from grimaces/pained expressions.
tim: expressions on faces?! blimey i never thought of that, I was going by background...
justin: I was going by the colour of their hair - but yeah, looking at their faces might work. I got 13/16 as well. I have heard women are better at identifying facial expressions - I would like to see what kind of scores women get on this quiz.
Dipa: I scored 10/16
tim: 11/16
justin: So it's confirmed then - men are better at identifying certain facial expressions. The ones that matter. Except Marcus, who some of the time can lay his hands on the monitor and use ESP to "feel" what happened to these rather sporting ladies.
Laura: I am yet to have a go at this thing as the only time I seem to be on t'internet is when I'm at work. I shall have a look on Thrusday and compare scores then. Mind you, if I keep feeling as poo as I do I may be home this afternoon...
dave: I got 12/16. It's funny.
Marcus:
Anti-Spyware software roundup. Ad-Aware does quite well, Spybot could do better, and the winner is something called Giant Anti-Spyware. (Via).
Marcus: However - "even the best-performing anti-spyware scanner in these tests missed fully one quarter of the 'critical' files and Registry entries".
justin: I use Spyware Doctor and it is working well - but then I also use Firefox.
Marcus: Go Firefox.
Justin:
The Big Boss Man is dead! So is Mr Perfect! - In fact so is Rick Rude, Owen Hart (who feel 70 feet from above the ring and smashed his head into a turnbuckle) & Andre the Giant.
Marcus: Forget the Curse of Superman - it's the Curse of WWF.
justin: But the big Boss Man was my favorite wrestler - his even handed fascism warmed my heart.
Justin:
Drugs alone wont stop AIDS. OK - I will stop trawling through BBC news now.
justin: I'd just like to say that the best thing the affluent West could do to help stem the spread of AIDS would be to leaflet drop every poor nation in the world (with free condoms) explaining the way things are. We could use the other side of the leaflet to explain to people how amulets wont stop bullets or how eating the heads of their slain enemies won give them that person's power. Would that be more or less condescending than investing billions of pounds into corrupt governments only to be expected to write the debt off?
justinb: Yes Tim, that's what I said - eating the heads of your slain enemies wont give you their power.
Marcus: Reading the article - how the hell will antiretrovirals stop AIDS? They don't kill it - they semi-supress it. So it will in no way prevent the spread of AIDS. Ngh.
tim: it will give me piles
Justin:
Just fancy that: "UK education departments have put hundreds of millions of pounds into "e-learning", connecting pupils to resources barely imaginable a decade ago. "
- "Those using computers several times a week performed "sizeably and statistically significantly worse" than those who used them less often.". - BBC News Monday, 22 November, 2004
Marcus: Looks like I'm out of a job then.
Marcus: "Last week Prince Charles complained of "computer-driven modules" in education". Even Big Ears is on my case.
justin: Well, obviously teaching computing itself is an even more important task, but I don't suppose you can subsitute for a good teacher - unless you are a subsitute teacher. Saying that - there aren't loads of decent teachers, and a computer connected to the internet can still be better than some of the failures I had teaching me at school.
Justin:
Mac users, who waited outside in the cold for more than 25 hours for an Apple shop to open are tw*ts.
Marcus: "The whooping and hollering, high fives from the staff and frenzied countdown to lift-off were all signs of the brand worship that Apple has managed to engender in its followers".
Marcus: These were also signs that some people are utter w*nkers.
Justin:
Hitler brought back to life with computers!
Marcus: That is pretty awesome stuff. I'm trying to find more details (maybe downloadable video) but no luck - anybody else come up with anything?
Justin:
HP, just down the road from where I am, are pioneering a render farm that can be rented by "the little guy" to speed up rendering. Cool.
Justin:
Dolphins save the day. A news story about the A-Team of Dolphins.
Marcus: That's amazing. But as my colleague says, "they protect us and we fail to protect them".
justin: Voltron, a giant robot, protected us - but did not expect us to protect him in return. That would be stupid.
Marcus:
How to Bypass Most Firewall Restrictions and Access the Internet Privately. (Via).
Marcus: Not that I'd ever try to implement what is detailed here. Obviously.
justin: We did have a guy at work who was a hacker who set us up a proxy server in his house we could use to access illicit sites. He has "disappeared".
22/11/04
Dave:
The best game of basketball ever ends in an orgy of sex, drugs and violence. Well, violence.
Dave: You can see a video of this fight here. Launch the link on the right hand side.
Marcus:
In another indication that America is backpeddling into a religious fundamentalist state faster than you can say "oh for f*ck's sake, Bush AGAIN?!", two thirds of Americans don't believe there is any evidence in support of evolution.
Marcus: "Although 45% of Americans believe that humans were created by God pretty much in their present form at one time 10,000 years ago -- a view that corresponds to the account of creation as presented in the Bible -- only 34% of Americans believe that the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word".
Marcus: These statistics are, mind-bogglingly, represented as being rather positive. A mere 45% eh? So that's what, over 100 million people? who hold no truck with evolution? And just under 100 million people that fully believe the Bible is the actual word of God? This is a country in big trouble.
Marcus: I don't know if these sort of statistics are available for the British population but I'd be bloody interested to read them. And hopefully not weep.
: "Indeed, as recently as this month, a court case in Cobb County, Ga., dealing with the treatment of evolution and creationism in school textbooks received nationwide publicity." - Cobb County Georgia is where The Big Boss Man comes from!
Marcus: So the question is: where does he stand on the evolution vs creationism debate?
justin: Shut up punk! Or Big Boss Man will tear you a new corn-hole.
Marcus:
Guy writing a book quotes a few Radiohead lyrics and gets charged, even though Radiohead once quoted from an essay he wrote. Really engaging stuff. (Via).
Marcus:
"Children who have a poor diet are more likely to become aggressive and anti-social, US researchers believe".
Marcus: Blatantly.
tim: well they can just SHUT UP can't they. If I ever leave the house I'm going to kill them
Marcus:
How to give and receive criticism. (Via).
justin: Your problem is that you are sh*t at receiving criticism :)
Marcus: See: "Assumptions bad critics make" ;)
Marcus:
How to give a rat an enema. In pictures. This is useful, as I often find myself unsure of the correct procedure for this kind of thing. (Via).
justin: Oh so that's how you do it!
Dave:
The VCR is on it's way out.
Marcus: DVD killed the video star.
justin: I'd love to see analogue/vinyl purists use the same defence of VHS against DVD as they use for record against CD; "I like the warm comforting feeling of the degradation of the image"; "I like the cheap plastic feeling in my hands" etc.
21/11/04
20/11/04
19/11/04
Marcus:
If a looped animation of Morrissey punching himself in the face isn't the best thing ever, then I don't know what is.
justin: He can't even punch himself in the face like a man!
tim: christ I hate morrisey. And I don't know exactly why. but I do with all my soul
Dave:
BBC news reviews HL2 and gets it spot on. It gets 10/10 and it doesn't even mention Counterstrike!
Dave:
14 year olds are pussies these days. Marcus, can you do this with your Year 9s?
Marcus: Gullible or what? I was rugby-tackling my year 9s the other day. Playing rugby, obviously. I don't think they'd fall for a stunt like this though.
justin: I dunno - you think that they were acting all serious and an announcement was made in assembly in front of the whole school. Lets face it - even if you or I realised it was a hoax, at least some of the students wouldn't have. Thats why it's funny!
Marcus: Yeah, it is pretty funny. Maybe it's worth a try in a year or two, once this has been forgotten.
Marcus:
Watch Paper."This is a fully functional clock that is printed onto ordinary paper. Using a heat sensitive coating, the minutes and hours blur from one into the other in a very subtle, warm and organic way". (Via).
Dave:
Wierd Pot noodle game. Not sure if it's funny, I haven't tried it with sound yet.
tim: that is one of the most sordid and beautiful games I have ever seen
Marcus: So you haven't tried the Virtual Bartender yet?
Marcus: That is a damn strange game. So basically, you're some kind of cottager, but for Pot Noodles? Yikes.
Marcus:
Woman dressed up as Leela from Futurama. For Hallowe'en.
Marcus: Somebody dressed up as Dr. Zoidberg.
dave: What a horrible looking woman.
justin: I have this awful feeling that if she took off the fake eye there would still only be one real eye underneath.
Dave:
For Marcus, the new ultra-violent Fight Club game. With real bone breaking action!!
Marcus: I linked to the game trailer back on 10th August. Pshaw. You have to get up pretty early in the day to beat me on Fight Club-related news.
Marcus: I still think they could've done more with it than just a simple beat 'em up. Maybe a first-person adventure game thing with fighting, or something along those lines. I'll probably still get this though.
justin: You are not your magic fireball. ANyway, if Tyler Durden heard you saying that he'd punch you in the face.
Dave:
Bill Gates is the most spammed man in the world.
justin: I'd knock Bill Gates out. Seriously, I could probably beat the richest man in the world up.Does that make me the bad guy?
Marcus:
Nintendogs - an extremely naff-looking game for the new Nintendo DS. It reminds me of Craig's TV show in the latest episode of South Park, "Animals Close-Up With A Wide Angle Lens". If you've seen that episode.
justin: It's cool. I love dogs. A dog.
dave: Never was a big fan of "virtual pets", but that DS looks pretty powerful.
Marcus:
The Virtual Bartender is the coolest thing since Subservient Chicken. Also, it features an attractive woman instead of a guy in a chicken suit. (Via).
Marcus: Suggested commands: dance, strip (safe for work!), fight (they know their market), kiss (er, possibly not safe for work), jiggle, banana, pillow fight, kick, sleep, tattoo, topless, jump, pour beer, drink beer, sing, stretch, dance, lick, hummer, wave, tickle, hat, strip, breast, dance on bar, be a pimp, magic, karate, robot, shoes, show me something, spin, read, write, hair, belly, gymnastics, fire, spread, pitcher, kiss me, hand stand, arms, phone number, I love you and laugh. (Commands nicked from MilkandCookies).
Marcus: Skip does something too. Not that I've just been sitting here trying to come up with new commands. Of course not.
Marcus: And "flash". Flash is a good one. Uhuhuhuhuhuh.
Marcus: And "wet".
Marcus: riverdance, magic, macarena, cowboy, headbang, air guitar, magazine, light, sunshine, dance on bar, gun, angry.
Marcus: I nabbed those last ones from the XML file. Interestingly, not all of the ones listed there work.
justin: "take your top off" worked. She is an attractive lady isn't she?
Dave: I saw this but didn't post it because I thought you'd all think I was a perv. Mmmm... Virtual.
Laura: Dammit, bloody thing doesn't work at work. Oh well, shall play at home later.
Marcus:
Gucci iPod case. (Via).
justin: I am going to become a conceited East German model called "Bohommé" and get Gucci to graft snake skin onto my ars* with the words "EXPRESS! YOUR! SELF!" embroidered into it, sealing of my anus.
18/11/04
:
rather beautiful singing from frank, link coertesy of our dutch office (my buddy Jules in Amsterdam)
Marcus: "Strangers on my flight, turbans they're packin'.
Wonderin' if they might, plan a hijacking. They could pull a stunt, Before this flight is through." A similar song went through my mind on a flight to Madrid once.
Marcus:
A lovely Flash game where you play a skull-headed psychopath in an office. Level 1 sees you chainsawing objects and people; level 2 has you shooting people. (Via).
Marcus:
Attention right-wing economists: one country in the world has already attained your dream of a true free market unfettered by governmental control. And it's working really well!
justin: I think you are thinking on Anarchists there. All sane minded "right wing economists" (libertarians, but of course economy is only one facet of that) agree that there does need to be a government, and it's roles should be: 1 - to protect the populace against foreign invaders (the army) 2 - to protect the populace from criminals (the police) 3 - and to settle disputes (the courts). Obviousy Somalia has been plagued by all kinds of civil war etc.
Marcus: It does bear a strong resemblance to anarchist communes in terms of tribal communities and self-imposed rules etc but I still think it's a nice piece of evidence to be filed under "this is what you can expect if you have an unregulated free market".
justin: I thought they all lived under Islamic moral and commercial laws?
Dave:
Been faffing on Homestarrunner.com and I found this game. It's cool.
justin: It's a pretty non-interactive game Dave :)
Marcus: I remember seeing this a while ago - They Might Be Giants are cool. I think this was the official video too.
dave: Oops that was my bad. Marcus posted that link months ago. THIS was the game !"Peasant's Quest". It's hard, but it's like an old C64 game.
Marcus: It stimulated my nostalgia parody gland quite sufficiently.
justin: More on Peasants Quest
Marcus:
The Lost Journals of Doogie Howser, M.D. (Via).
Marcus: "December 26, 1991 - Another family Christmas. Another f*cking stethoscope."
Marcus: For some reason I have happy memories of Doogie Howser, although I'm not quite sure why.
justin: When I was a kid everyone said I looked like him and they were making fun of me.
dave: Wow, Dougie Howser was in Starship troopers.
Marcus:
Frankly I think this thing about Prince Charles having "Edwardian" attitudes is bollocks. All he's saying is that he thinks the current education system encourages lazy dumbasses to think they can do whatever they want instead of having to work for it or indeed even having to possess the intelligence to do the job. And I think it's a damn good point. I'm no Royalist but go Charlie go!
Marcus: In fact you can even draw parallels between what he says and that speech by Tyler Durden in Fight Club where he says that we are brought up to believe we will all be movie stars etc, but it's a load of bollocks.
justin: I see what he is saying, but I think he a: should shut the f*ck up because he lives a life of privilige b: has no idea, being detached from reality as he necesarily is, and has no concept of when to apply the thinking he describes. It sounds like the woman in this tribunal was competent and was asked to do complicated tasks (inluding speechwriting) yet got downgraded, and when she asked what the chances for promotion were, was given some rant that seems to apply more to chavs than to her. I think she has every right to be insulted. Also, I question to what extent the education system encourages people to think they can do anything other than "if you do your lessons you could potentially go on to do great things" which is possible. If you would rather all children from working class backgrounds were given manual labour lessons, all middle class kids were given teaching and medical lessons, and all toff kids were given lessons in governance and polo riding then say so now. Anyway, isn't a counter to this argument the fact that so many incompetents float their way to he top of industry via the old boys network, nepotism & class and that people with real skills are being held back for various reasons including gender and race?
Marcus: I'm a strong believer in the concept of the meritocracy, and I think that's all Charles is saying - instead of which I think what he's getting at is the this woman, just because she is black, thinks she is being discriminated against - hence the "PC" thing. And playing the race card really gets on my t*ts.
: It makes no mention of race at all in the article, apart from to say she is of Afro-caribbean origin (black). It was a sex discrimination case. I believe in a meritocracy as well - but I dont think that royals should even be commenting on the subject unless they want to be first up against the wall during the hypocrisy revolution. Secondly I feel that the attitudes Charles is talking about don't refer to this case. It seems, in typical toff fashion, he is having a go at her because she "rocked the boat" about complaining about sexual harrassment. That is precisely the attitude which helps to limit a meritocracy. In fact, the more I think about it the more annoyed I get - how DARE Charles even comment on anyone else's career aspirations?
Marcus: Forward the Republic.
tim: she says "working in the palace is about status, hierarchy, and knowing one's place" like its a bad thing. But there's a hierarchy in almost amy employment situation- you do what the boss says, he or she's the one with the money
Justin:
I have just seen The Grudge and I can say that it is the most scared I have ever been. I was in a constant state of anxiety throughout. I liked The Ring because it was almost a Brechtian exercise in challenging the "audience/participant" boundary, notably from the moment when the ghost comes through the TV. The Grudge is like that - playing constantly with the build up of tension and then the payoff. Some people could pan it for any number of reasons, but the fact remains, it does what is says on the tin - and that is to scare you. I think if you watch it from the perspective that the film makers are intelligent and know exactly what they are doing, rather than from the idea that they are lazy "paint by numbers" artists then you may appreciate the terror. I had my hands covering my eyes and I was looking through the gaps. I sh*t you not. Warning: That IMDB link may contain a spoiler so don't read into the comments section.
17/11/04
Marcus:
Amazon.co.uk have got into the "dispatch goods from Jersey" game (ala Play.com and DVD.co.uk) in order to skip paying VAT and offer cheaper prices. A little late to the game, boys. (Via).
Dave: How long until this loophole is shut?
Marcus:
Interesting critique of Wikipedia by a former editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. (Via).
Marcus: "The user who visits Wikipedia to learn about some subject, to confirm some matter of fact, is rather in the position of a visitor to a public restroom. It may be obviously dirty, so that he knows to exercise great care, or it may seem fairly clean, so that he may be lulled into a false sense of security. What he certainly does not know is who has used the facilities before him."
Marcus:
Shawn Fanning (he of Napster) has done a poacher-turned-gamekeeper 180°. and then some. He's now the main brains behind Snocap, software designed to plug into existing P2P networks and force users to pay for "illegal" MP3s. Presumably with the networks' permission, although the details are a tad vague. (Via).
Marcus: From music-sharing utopia hero to record industry b*tchboy in what, less than five years?
Dave: I wonder if this is something to do with the Napster court case...
Justin:
Who knew Roman Polanksi was a nonce - an admitted child rapist.
Marcus: Me me me. That's why he couldn't go to the Oscars to pick up his award for The Pianist - he'd have been nabbed by the Feds.
tim: I say we do a smash and grab on his place in france. Hand him over to the yanks and maybe bush will throw us a few bones or even let us eat from the table
Marcus:
Half Life 2 review at Gamespot. Generally glowing, but "many of those [original Half Life] tricks feel more than a bit familiar now, and the game itself is saddled with a disappointing story". (Via).
dave: It's f*cking great. Nuff said.
Marcus:
Waxy.org receives a Cease and Desist order for hosting the Kleptones' Night at the Hipopera.
Dave:
Cartoon from the Guardian about the "He's dead now!" debacle (via Ned).
tim: that dove was going for a gun!
Marcus: Steve Bell always says it best.
: "First you were the dove of peace. Now you are the dove of PIECES!"