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Monday, November 30th, 2009
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10:07 am - Randomnesses
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The football season has come to a close, winter is settling in and life is turning through another cycle of rumour and anticipation.
The Ultras forum I'm a part of is full of rumour now the season is over, with just about any and all free players being linked with a move to Rovers, while just about every player *in* the club has been let go, has left, has been offered a new contract, has just signed a new contract, has left for our main rivals / a.n.other club... It's only in semi-fun that the nickname of Shamrock Rumours has been given to one thread on it.
The planning of the next snowboarding holiday is gain momentum, with a provisional choice of Morzine in France during the third week of Jan. Hopefully the snows will come aplenty and both on and off-piste will be fun to ride. My board now has Flow Flight 1 bindings and Rome SDS boots to go with it, and a wheeled board case, stomp pad and tether are ordered and should be here this week. I still need to wax the board, so need to get the tools for that next, but my kit is basically complete.
I'm still rendering the videos from the light pollution symposium, hopefully they'll get done soon as I need to start work on an end of year dvd. Putting the dvd together is a scary thought, as I have a high bar to aim for, and the year that the club has had is going to be hard to sum up in only 90 minutes.
So that's the state of the dragon for now, back to being all quiet on the western front :-)
current mood:  working
current music: Pink Floyd - The Wall
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| Thursday, October 29th, 2009
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8:11 am - The golden flicker of torchlight
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One of the games that will be listed in any 'top ten' I make will be the isometric 3d dungeon-delver Diablo. The mix of gameplay lack-of-story story and a certain ability to laugh at itself made it immersive and a very easy way to lose track of time whilst exploring its depths. There have been many imitators since then, but last night I found one that could be considered its heir, Torchlight. Part of the group that created it worked on the original Diablo, and it shows, from the easy to master controls and immersive gameplay to the lack-of-story story willing to laugh at itself it really does manage to capture the good qualities of Diablo while also having a good cartoon-style artwork design all of its own.
Having lost one evening to the game already I fully expect to lose a few more nights while I try to complete the game, something I'm looking forward to in a way I've not had from a single-player game in a while now. (actually, saying that, as it's from the people behind the Perfect World free MMO, there is also going to be a Torchlight MMO, which could be interesting to see how they make work)
current mood:  bouncy
current music: Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant
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| Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
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10:20 am - good news, bad news
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Well, the day started off nicely when I read that Game Central is now going to continue on teletext when most of the rest of the service is stopped in 2010. It's good news, as I was not looking forward to losing one of my long-term daily reads. More details are promised, but for now knowing the campaign to save GC worked is good enough.
The bad news for today is the gag order that hit the Guardian newspaper, stopping it from reporting on a parlimentary question.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/12/guardian-gagged-from-reporting-parliament
The solicitors of Carter-Ruck that this originated from have a fairly bad reputation due to just this sort of thing (disreputable? oh my yes), but this can be considered to be an all-time new low as it effectively is trying to break a freedom that is more than a hundred years old (and was fought for all the way up to the king before it was won)
So, what are they trying to suppress?
The possible question is here:
http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2009/10/a_stunning_gag_order.html
and is suggested to be:
"Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura."
The report mentioned can be found here:
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Minton_report:_Trafigura_Toxic_dumping_along_the_Ivory_Coast_broke_EU_regulations%2C_14_Sep_2006
current mood:  confused
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| Monday, October 5th, 2009
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7:04 pm - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow . . .
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In readiness for the next snowboarding holiday, I planned to start getting a basic board, boots and bindings. Due to the new video camera I couldn't just go out and get the whole lot in one go, but instead go and get one item each month. This month sees the start of the plan, and also saw me able to pick up a new board for under 200 euro including vat and delivery (I actually got it the same day my order went in over the intarwebs).
( As you can see, my board is a nice black and white with a splash of green for the name )
Next up will be either bindings or boots, depending on what bargains are available still...
current mood: bouncy
current music: swoosh! swoosh! swoosh!
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| Friday, October 2nd, 2009
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2:37 pm - Taking a walk...
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One thing with getting into shooting video is suddenly noticing how things are shot. TV programs, films, even adverts, all have good and bad in them while the occasional one will stand out, or in this case walk out, taller than the others and showing just how good 'good' can be. Oddly enough, this like the last short film I highlighted is an advert. Like the other one I linked to this is a single shot, but where Carousel was a single movement through a frozen moment of time, this is very much a moving journey as the star tells the story whilst walking through the Scottish Highlands.
The film is six and a half minutes long, which means it is one of the longest single-shot films done, and can be seen on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnSIp76CvUI
More background to how it was done can be read here:
http://www.shots.net/article_detail.asp?atype=1&id=9071
...now to go back to being nervous about tonight's big derby game against bohs
current mood:  nervous
current music: various Rovers crowd chants
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| Thursday, September 10th, 2009
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8:37 am - I'm not dead yet!
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On the tenth anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast being released, and many years after it was supposed to have died, someone has decided to release a new game for the console. It's a top-down "old school 2d racing game" which looks like fun, and a bit like Micro Machines, which if it comes close to that game's playability will mean it's well worth getting. (and at 15 euro it'll hardly break the bank to do so)
It's only available for pre-order right now, but it's region free, so no worries about it not working.... Time to dust off the old Dreamcast again ready to get the first new game for it in Sega Ages :-)
News item: http://bitmob.com/index.php/mobfeed/new-dreamcast-game-announced.html
Game link: http://www.redspotgames.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=10
current mood:  geeky
current music: Some annoying car alarm going off outside
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| Monday, August 24th, 2009
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11:30 pm - Game on...
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I`m writing this from my new toy... Thanks to Sony releasing a new slim version of the PS3 they finally dropped the price of their console to `hmm . . . ok` from `not happening`. This, plus Game putting together a bundle of the console plus two games for the same price as the console on its own saw my resistance dissapere into gadget-freak`s `it shall be mine!` land.
The game I got I`m playing most is Little Big Planet, which is great fun, full of win and `Awwww!` and has a certain Mr Stephan Fry doing the voice work for it in his own inimitable style. A game to highly recommend.
One thing that the current generation of consoles are doing well is demos. With the price of games fairly steep it`s good to be able to try out as many as you have hard drive space for before buying the full game. (in my case that would be also a case of `until there`s money for new games` too)
Gleth678 is the tag I chose, so look out for me, I`ll be the one with the pun... :-)
current mood: bouncy
current music: Little Big Planet theme
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| Saturday, July 25th, 2009
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8:41 am - Save GameCentral
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For far too many years to count I have had one daily read; Game Central, the gaming news and reviews magazine hosted on Channel 4's teletext service. It started out as Digitiser, and moved pages quite a few times before being changed to Game Central in 2003. Currently residing on pages 690-695 it still gives honest opinions of games, preferring skill and well-crafted gaming experiences over the latest throw-away movie tie-in or over-hyped clunker.
It was a sad day, therefore, when I read GC was to be removed from teletext in 2010, and I found myself not really knowing what to do. Step up another reader who not only sent in the weekend 4Players article, but set up an online petition to have GC hosted by another service. I hope this can actually do what it sets out to, as I don't know what, if anything, I'll replace my daily morning GC reading with.
The article itself can be read at: http://www.ghoststorm.co.uk/?p=2497
If you feel like signing the petition, you can find it at: http://www.petitiononline.com/SaveGC/petition.html
current mood:  depressed
current music: Rammstein - Benzine
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| Friday, July 24th, 2009
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12:51 pm
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There has been an on-going issue over the last few years with police arresting photographers and confiscating their equipment just for taking photos or video, something that is a legal activity normally. One of the acts that has been mis-used as part of this is the terrorism act, where the provisions for stopping people and confiscating equipment have been applied to harshly due to guidance not having been forthcoming. Thankfully guidance has been issued, of a sort, hopefully bringing the police into line with correct procedure.
http://www.met.police.uk/about/photography.htm
Each "thou shalt" in the document has come from over-application of the appropriate section, and the beginning "it is not against the law" shows how bad it has become for photogs in the UK and elsewhere.
current mood: working
current music: Orson - Radio
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| Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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8:30 pm - cinema cinema
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It's not often a short film can blow you away through shear genius, but the short that was created to help show off the new 21:9 cinema-screen tv from Phillips just managed to do that for me. Carousel tells the story of an explosive bank robbery, where the camera does a seamless single take shot through the whole scene returning to the start point ready to run through again, very much the titular carousel, but the whole thing is one frozen moment in time. Even if it means waiting, I really recommend watching the "ultra high definition version" in full screen. Don't turn the amblight effect off either first time around, do that the second time through (when you're watching the behind the scenes extras built in) as it makes more of a difference than I thought it should to me :-)
...anyway, go watch Carousel, it's Now Showing at:
http://www.cinema.philips.com/?ls=gb_en
current mood:  enthralled
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| Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
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7:29 pm - Weddings R Us
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Yesterday AL and Min got married. It was a lovely ceremony, though it seemed a bit odd not having any singing going on, however the place was decorated nicely and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, while the three-piece group were much better than any recording could be. The reception was in the Finnstown Country House Hotel, a lovely big old building with massive grounds. Under the blue sky there were plenty of pictures taken with the two families as well as the friends of both Min and Al. The three-piece group were there for the afternoon, accompanying the festivities until it was time for speeches and food. Once the speeches were done, in two languages, the cake was cut and the evening's dancing could begin. Al and Min's first dance was a gentle affair, but went well with no furniture hurt in the proceedings, and the band managed to get everyone on the floor at one point or another.
Min looked absolutely radient and Al looked smart, and I hope they both have a very happy time together from now on.
I took far too many pictures during the day, which combined with my not realising the camera battery wasn't fully charged meant it was gone by the time the dancing started. However I managed not to make a mess of a few of them, which I've put up on my photobucket account here:
http://s332.photobucket.com/albums/m350/gleth678/Al-and-Min_Wedding/
I have a dozen or so short video clips as well, but I'll have to see if I can put a short reel together once I've looked through them all and imported them to my NLE.
current mood:  creative
current music: Mythbusters theme tune
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| Friday, June 19th, 2009
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4:56 pm - It's the Real deal
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Today finally saw all the rumours and expectations finally confirmed. Shamrock Rovers will play Real Madrid in a friendly match at Tallaght Stadium on July 20th.
...As you might imagine I'm bouncing all over the place knowing that it's definitely happening, and that no-one has managed to mess things up for us, like has happened to a few things that had been all-but-arranged. Add into that friendly matches against Hibernians FC and one other British football club, and the Summer of Football talked about for the mid-season break looks like being an amazing time.
It's a shame I most probably won't be part of the press pack filming the Real Madrid match (I'm still looking for ways to do this) but right now I'm just happy this is happening at all.
current mood: bouncy
current music: The theme to Grandstand
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| Thursday, June 4th, 2009
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11:35 am - 20 years ago today
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In China, the Tiananmen Square protests were about to come to their bloody conclusion as the tanks rolled in. One iconic moment of the time was captured as a lone person stood in front of a line of tanks as they rolled towards the square. The Tank Man, as the anonymous person is known, came to represent the time, and it is fitting that he be remembered today, the 20th anniversary.
current mood: Introspective
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8:43 am - A final page was turned...
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This morning I head the sad news that one of my all-time favourite authors, David Eddings, had died aged 77.
I first discovered Pawn of Prophecy, first book of The Belgariad, thanks to it being the only book in the sci-fi/fantasy section of the bookshop to be anything other than a primary colour (most likely red, *maybe* yellow if it was being 'different) with a black spine. It was a bright shining lavender, and it stood out like a sore thumb. Nowadays book colours are all over the place so the Eddings books no longer stand out for being different, but back then it was the only one. Pawn of Prophecy started slowly, and even by it's end had not really sped up much, but I was hooked and had to wait for the next one to arrive, searching the shelves each month in the hope that this would be the one. Ten years later the Belgariad was finished, and the pace of the books had grown from the gentle start to a frenetic whirlwind of battle spanning an entire world that even today leaves me breathless as the final page is turned.
I have read thousands of books over the years, but few have left such a mark, or been re-read with such regularity. The joy those books bring are a legacy that anyone would rightly be proud of. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's an old white-bearded tramp who's saying that he needs some help recovering a glowing blue stone...
current mood:  sad
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| Friday, May 29th, 2009
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3:34 pm - How can they do this?
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| Monday, May 11th, 2009
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9:30 am - Throwing bricks through windows
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With the recent release of Windows 7 RC1 I decided to go have a look due to the many reports of it being a 'good' operating system. As a long-time cynic (and someone with a severe dislike of Microsoft due to its actions over the years) I was fully expecting to find something that I disliked the experience of, from the installer onwards.
I first downloaded and installed VirtualBox so I didn't have to install the OS on a real computer, and then started the Windows 7 installer. A few sensible questions later and . . . it just worked. Only one reboot, compared to the half a dozen of previous versions of Windows, and no intrusive "we are the greatest" marketing, just a nice-looking informative install screen that did its job with no fuss. After this bombshell (normally by now I'd be in a less-than-charitable state of mind), I got to the OS itself. And once more it all just worked. The new Aero UI does its job and lays things out so you can find them. You don't need to hunt down various menu trees for information that should be easily accessible and if you do something dumb Windows just shrugs and gets on without falling over.
I was impressed enough to re-install my laptop, which is saying something as I normally try not to go anywhere near a new version of Windows. Even that just worked. The only issues I had was LotRO not wanting to play, but for some reason the laptop has problems with LotRO, so it's Dell's fault, not Microsoft's. And finding how to disable the wireless card is not easy if you're used to previous versions of Windows like me, but again as this is so different to previous versions it's more like learning a new OS . . . not a bad thing really, it's only techies like me that will be digging this deep, most people should find everything is laid out in an intuitive fashion.
I also installed the Cisco VPN client for work, and unlike Vista which needs a patch to work, Windows 7 again 'just worked'. (version 5.0.03.0560 for those who wish to know)
It really goes against the grain to say it, but I think Microsoft have done a very good job at fixing most of what was wrong with the Windows experience (there are a few things that still need addressing, such as the default of not displaying file extensions still allowing the use of file.ext.exe as an attack vector, but the list of issues is shorter by far than usual for a 'new' Windows)
Thankfully Kubuntu 9.04 is out and looking and working brilliantly as a balance to MS having produced a decent version of Windows, so I won't be losing my geek card just yet :-)
current mood: geeky
current music: Abney Park - Dark and Twisty Road
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| Thursday, March 12th, 2009
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7:54 pm - Recent pics
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Last weekend was ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) taldragon's birthday, at which my execrable photo taking skills were enhanced by alcohol, leading to a set of pics only worth viewing if you were there...
Speaking of there, they're their:
http://pix.ie/gleth/album/336474
On the way home I tried to capture the ringbow I could see outside the airplane window, leading to much failure. The last one I tried kinda worked, especially after messing with the colour values to bring out the double ring visible around the plane's shadow.
http://pix.ie/gleth/album/336473
It's a shame all my pics are so bad this time, hopefully the video I shoot at the football game tomorrow will more than make up for it.
current mood: bouncy
current music: Various Rovers crowd songs
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| Friday, February 13th, 2009
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5:17 pm - And now the end is near...
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Tomorrow is clean, pack and leave day, a shame after such a fun week of snowboarding.
Today saw us doing the typical last-day-of-skiing type of things, ie trying runs far too
hard really, and going off-piste to play in the powder, oh and timing how fast we could get
down certain runs. This also meant various silly bits of music suggested themselves during
the day, the best of which was King Julian from Madagascar doing "I like to move it".
Though in our case the words were changed to "I like to nose it" . . . (especially after
the phrase of the last snowboarding holiday ended up as "just nose it" thanks to an
enthusiastic person we met in Andorra)
Once we've found the rep and sorted tomorrow out it'll be time for junk...erm...souvenier
shopping before food and beer. Snowboarding is odd, it takes a lot of falling down before
things click, but once it does the fun more than makes up for the learning process.
I really do have to thank Al for making this year's holiday possible, it's been a lot of
fun. It's a shame it has to end, but hopefully the journey home will be stress free.
current music: King Julian - I like to move it
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| Thursday, February 12th, 2009
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5:11 pm - Only the lonely
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Today saw me heading up the mountain on my own, which is never as much fun as when you're
with a group. I kept on from yesterday's breakthrough by only falling three times all day
(twice on the first run of the day and once during the last), so managed plenty of good
runs, slowly pushing myself faster each time. Lunch was once more in Le Rhododendron, the
restaurant near the top of the piste, as was the afternoon cup of hot chocolate (no
alcohol in it, unlike the ones in Andorra, which is a shame). Being on my own I found
that while I enjoyed the day's boarding, it wasn't as much fun as when I could stop and
chat when bumping into others, or when having lunch etc.
Tomorrow is the last day of skiing, so I hope to try a blue run or two rather than the
greens I've been keeping to.
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| Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
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7:43 pm - By George, I think he's got it!
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After an early night we managed to get up onto the slopes fairly early, for us. Once more
the day started with 'how do I do this...oops...crunch', but that didn't last too long as
bodies suddenly remembered how to steer a plank of wood with no brakes that was hurtling
down the side of a mountain.
Being a beginner of sorts still, little goals were in place to help show progress. Things
like making it down the whole run without stopping for argh! (the silent sound made by feet
that *really* didn't like being crammed into tight boots before being tightly strapped to
a plank of wood). Another goal was making it down the green run without falling over,
something I was hoping would happen sometime by Friday. After completing the first goal
with only two minor offs, I was jubilant in making goal two on the very next run. In fact I
didn't fall over again all day after that, something I am highly pleased about though I
have no doubt tomorrow will start with 'how do I do this...oops...crunch' as normal :-)
One problem, of course, is now that I find myself in the position of being able to use the
equipment, purchasing my own is the next step, and these things ain't cheap... oh well :-D
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angry