Foxen
Firefox 2.0 is out today. Well, sort-of. It was supposed to be "officially" released this afternoon (US time), but somebody leaked the download link. It looks quite nice so far. Hardly revolutionary - it feels more like 1.6 that 2.0 - but it has some nice new features including a seemlessly integrated spell-checker for multi-line text boxes. I was using Flock for a while there, but since a) it's slow as a week in the jail on my steam-age home pc and b) Google Reader has had a facelift and made Flock's built-in feed reader redundant, I'm going back to the 'Fox.
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Tuesday, October 17, 2006
I Cannot Wait To Play This
Clicky
And yes, it is real.
That's Your Mum, That Is
History Matters is encouraging people around the UK to keep a diary, in as much detail as they please, of how they spend today, Tuesday 17th of October 2006. The entries will be stored in the British Library's archives of a record of this day in history. I might post my entry here tomorrow, though it's likely to be pretty dull, even by the standards of this blog. Still, todays trivia is tomorrow's historical detail. You might not care that I had a tuna sandwich for lunch, but it might be of some comfort to a future historian living in a hellish distopia under the iron fin of super-evolved megatuna.
Having a surfeit of holidays, I took Friday/Monday off work, with many good intentions. While I didn't do as much as I had hoped, I did at least manage to get up early both days and go to the gym, which is better than the "staying in bed until noon then get up and play videogames for the rest of the day" schedule that I had feared I would fall into.
Last night we went to see Shirley Collins give a talk about her time spent travelling around the deep south making field-recordings with Alan Lomax. Fascinating stuff - she's led an incredible life - and while I'd heard a lot of the recordings before, placing them in context, with accompanying photographs and Collins' recollections, gave them a whole new power. It's remarkable how well-preserved those recordings are. The Sacred Harp Singers proving especially impressive.
Came back to work this morning to find my inbox stuffed full of defects and support calls. That's what I get for taking time off, I s'pose. Baws.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
What's big, black and hard and makes Alex happy?
My new desk, of course!
It might seem pretty sad to be so excited about a something as prosaic as a desk, but when I sit at it, in my new comfy chair, I feel quite... well... empowered, I suppose. Not that there is anything I can do at it that I couldn't at my old desk, but it was rickety and tiny, impossible to declutter, impossible to clean, shoved in a corner behind the sort of chair that looks reasonably comfortable - all padded and adjustable - but actually numbs both cheeks in a matter of minutes. My new chair has a straight back, no padding, and the only adjustment you can make to it is to pick it up and move it somewhere else, but it's a million times more pleasant to sit on. At first I thought I had made a bit of a mistake with the chair, having tried it only in front of a completely different desk at the shop. At home it seemed a bit too low initially, but in fact it's working out quite well, and has the added bonus of forcing me to sit up straight for once. The desk itself is just a big slab of laminated wood on a pair of trestles. No drawers, no cd-rack, no slidey-out keyboard shelf, no nonsense. Perfect.
With the exception of that ill-advised year of hell in which I moved back into my parent's house in order to save up cash to buy a place (my advice to anyone considering a similar move: nooooooooooo!) I've always had a desk at home, ever since my dad mounted a blue-painted piece of wood to a corner of my bedroom for me to stick my portable telly and ZX Spectrum on, and as a result I don't see it as one of the shackles of working life. It's a place to both be creative and have fun, to tinker with programs and write stories and make music. The desk has been my garden shed and the cockpit of my Cobra Mk III, so it's important that I be comfortable there.
The other night I dragged my old chair, a knackered bookcase and the old desk out onto the pavement for the bulk refuse collection. In the morning they were all gone, except the desk, which they apparently don't want, and is just getting rained on. I don't feel particularly sorry for it.
Labels: diary, games, memories
link | 0 comment(s) | links to this postZidane: A 21st Century Portrait
My review of this is now on Diskant.
Labels: movies
link | 0 comment(s) | links to this postMonday, October 09, 2006
It gets earlier every year.
No, not Christmas.
(Though it does.)
I just heard my first wheeeeeee... BANG! outside.
Looks like Guy Fawkes' month has started, then.
Labels: diary
link | 0 comment(s) | links to this postSaturday, October 07, 2006
Washing-Up Noisecast #4
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Labels: podcast
link | 0 comment(s) | links to this postFriday, October 06, 2006
I Think We Should Support Independant Film-Makers Who Use Film To Make Films Shot On Film Film Fiillllllmmmm....
As well as the Spanish, R and I have also signed up for a class at the GFT called "Contemporary World Cinema". A somewhat more relaxed affair, it alternates weekly between a screening, and a lecture and discussion of the film and similar works. Last night was the first in the series - a showing of Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait. An interesting work of art, yes, and often a beautiful one, but I didn't much enjoy sitting through it for the duration. R got a lot more out of it than me, however.
Anyway, I scribbled a load of notes when I got home, so I would remember how I felt about it and have something to say next week, but I might also try turning them into a review.
The next two films are, according to the handout, The History Boys and Red Road. So, two British films and a British/French co-production, then? Not very international, is it? I get the feeling it's just whatever the GFT happened to be showing anyway, with a loose structure of lectures around it. I'm sure it'll still be interesting, though.
Labels: movies
link | 0 comment(s) | links to this postThursday, October 05, 2006
Curry Pain
Spanish class went ok last night. The first couple of weeks were spent in a constant state of terror at the thought of being asked a question and having no clue, but I'm feeling a bit more confident now. I'm still at the "I have cat" stage, and I struggle to follow spoken Spanish unless it's quite slow, but I feel like I can gain more understanding now, without it being a horrible mountain to climb. Having someone else to learn with is invaluable, if just to be able to practice simple phrases around the house.
After class we went to Dhabba for an absolutely fantastic curry, that was, perhaps, taken a bit late in the evening, since I still felt all bloated this morning. Worth it, though.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
¿Que Blog Es?
After another all-too-brief flurry of blogging activity, I've gone quiet again. When life's kinda boring I feel like I don't have anything to write about, and when it's interesting, like when we went to Iceland, it feels like too much to tackle and do justice to. And anyway, the pictures do a better job than my rather dry prose.
Here's what I've been doing lately...
Learning Spanish - Every Wednesday night R and I have a Spanish night class. It started a bit shakily - the teacher immediately strolled in and started talking to us in Spanish, and neither of us had much to begin with. Glancing around the room revealed, however, that most of the other folk in the class were in the same boat, and looking nervous. The college's website made it sound like it was suitable for near-beginners, and I think the teacher just likes to set the bar a wee bit higher than you can manage in order to motivate you. It's hard work, but I am enjoying it, though I'm not doing as much mid-week revision as I'd like.
Buying furniture - Ok, so I was briefly tempted by the Daft Punk coffee table and the opportunity to make the flat look like the set of a 1970's science-fiction movie, but the £999 price tag was a bit offputting. I do have a new computer desk coming this weekend, though, which I'm actually quite excited about, given that my current one is tiny, falling apart, and shoved in a cluttered wee corner of the spare room. There's also a comfier chair to accompany it. One side-effect of this could be more regular posting both here and on the noisecast, since being at my desk should no longer be an open invitation to orthopedic pain.
Growing a beard - What started out as laziness has developed into full-blown facial fungus. I'm quite enjoying having something to stroke while thinking, now that it's grown out of the itchy phase and has gotten quite soft. I'm going to have to buy a beard trimmer soon, though.
Playing Lego Star Wars II on the PS2 - Massive free-wheeling fun, and the first non-DS game I've picked up in month.