moving wallpaper

I've just been reading 'The Gum Thief' by Douglas Coupland. My version has the pretend novel 'Glove Pond' with it, which is written by one of the characters in the Staples store where the main novel is set. Its a clever idea wrapping a fiction inside a fiction (Midsummer Night's Dream, anyone?) and the new television drama by the folk who produced 'Life on Mars' does the same thing.

First there is a television episode about the writing of a creaking generic TV soap set in Cornwall stuffed with stock characters and a plot-line as wobbly as the set walls. The beleaguered producer decides to go after every populist drama award category in a series of tick the box episodes of a made-over version of the soap, where the ratings demographic is based upon the views of a single twenty-something female office assistant.

And then there's the show itself, renamed from Polsomething to Echo Beach now with supersaturated yellow sunny beaches and retro VW camper vans against a backdrop of hyper-fit surfers. Stilted acting reminiscent of old school soap, real soap star cameos and the money from the soundstages diverted to the producer's office furnishings.

I watched this entertaining pair of programmes thinking it was a two parter - I've just noticed they are implying a full series. It will be interesting to see whether the running joke can survive.

Technorati Tags: rashbre, soap, moving, wallpaper, echo, beach, echobeach, life+on+mars,

frontier dressing

My previous post about Apple might be a bit space aged for some, so I thought I'd turn briefly to the business section for other news.

Today's launch (no pun) of the new IS3C space suit from Orbital Outfitters caught my eye. I suppose the high visibility colour has something to do with it. I'm intrigued that for something so 'high tech' it looks a little bit like something one would make for a carnival procession. I'm told these can be hired though, which I suppose implies a great deal of confidence from the providers that they will be used for two way trips.

In true wild west frontiers terms, the main action around space travel is in the 'new space' sector of business, but its notable that some of the early companies like Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) seem to be providing capabilities which have sort of defence related implications.

I suppose its best to be safe up there.

Technorati Tags: rashbre, orbital, outfitters, space, suits, IS3C, new+space, newspace

apple predictions 2008

azerty is a slight giveaway this ain't American, comme-ci, comme ça
Apple sent me their announcement about the new Mac Pro in Japanese. It was still surprisingly readable, considering the language differences. rashbre central is made on a mac, so if that Japanese thing is a pre Mac World announcement, what else have they got up their kimonos for next week's show?

Just for fun, my Thursday Thirteen guesses/suggestions:

1. Mac movie Rentals - iView? obviously as a new revenue model
2. Mac touch tablet device based on iPhone -iTablet? -iSlice?
3. iPhone update 16Gb and 32GB
4. iTV with blue ray inc DVD recorder/improved media center/Mac mini integration (just like I've already done)
5. OLED (touch) cinema screen
6. Glass reconfigurable keyboard using iPhone technology (maybe not)
7. Aluminium keyboard with touch area -or alu mouse
8. Sundry speed bumps and thinning of form factors
9. Matt screens for the iMacs (please) - unless the iMacs go touch sensitive
10. more slave technology to let one device run another (e.g.) iPhone runs a mac?
11. iMovie2 is as good as iMovie HD was
12. iGames - for the iPhone including Nintendo tie-in
13. firmware upgrade for iPhone to shoot video and support .mac

Any other ideas?

Technorati Tags: rashbre, apple, mac, secrets, predictions, macworld, 2008, ipod, iphone, iTV, iTouch, leopard, mac+pro, pro, tablet, OLED, cinema, display, kimono, rumours, rumors, blog, leaks, gadgets, engadget,

safe handling of alien objects

For whatever reason, I've been getting searches about alien objects recently. I thought I'd make it easier to find some sensible guidelines. Shields down, warp to Sector 5,3 and easy on the parsecs.

john peel sessions

I noticed that the BBC has put a fair number of John Peel Sessions on line now, although the ones from the late 1990s and into the 2000s seem to be track listings only without actual tracks to play.

I've picked a few live track extracts available for some of the well known bands, just as an example of the type of material available. Certainly worth a look and a listen. Every so often the BBC seem to isue a complete CD of one of the sessions.

billy bragg cat power david bowie faces jimi hendrix nirvana pj harvey pink floyd pulp t.rex top 125 gigs

rana picada - dadaist rock

It seems ages since I partook of chocolate and vodka, so I thought I'd sip this evening and yippee - a meme from WhatIFoundThere, the Dadaist rock band album cover meme:

Instructions:

1. The first article title on the Wikipedia Random Articles page is the name of your band.

2. The last four words of the very last quotation on the Random Quotations page is the title of your album.

3. The third picture in Flickr's Interesting Photos From The Last 7 Days any nice appropriately Creative Commons licensed photo will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics programme of choice to throw them together, and post the result.

So, although I've broken the rules very slightly by using two pix together (thank you Mc Beth and Beautification Syndrome - the pix were too good to choose between. I suppose I'd better make some genre specific tracks so that its like a proper CD.

Track 3 : memetic eight
Track 5 : higher fire distortion (tx christina x)
Track 7 : ring modulation psychotic dadaism

So c'mon budding cover art designers - give it a try!

frog robin plumber season

Back to normality this week. Whatever that means.

I'm admiring the Spring-like sunshine out of the window today whilst working from home, and also knowing that half an hour ago there was a kind of sleety-snow drifting around in a rather grey sky. Now its sunny-bright and the robin is oscillating between the fence, table and wall again, which I believe is its way of showing territory.

And rashbre central has been noisy today, with earlier busy cleaning sounds to ensure the needles from the tree disappear from the carpet and right now the gentle tap-tap of Mark the plumber who is fixing various taps and pipes in between discussing rainforest frogs and ways to make an environmental difference.

I'm mainly 'heads down' on an assignment, and then later in the week disappear back into the world of hotel meetings before catching my first flight of the year at the weekend.

paths

I dismantled the christmas tree today, all the dex are ready to be boxed for next year and the lights have been tangled into a carrier bag as a time delay for the next season. It's my last excuse to post pictures of illuminations but also a point for reflection.

I'd decided not to set up lists of resolutions to break by next week, but I think the picture provides some thoughts.

Firstly, it was taken whilst fooling in great company on the way to some revelry during the festive season. There's an obvious path leading forward, but there's also a lot of semi hidden side turnings, which could be worth exploration. There's some bright sparkly lights, places to sit and muse, some signage which could provide clues and an array of possibilities in the various windows, with only one apparently shuttered view.

I hope its a good metaphor for 2008.

I'm also going to add the 'strangers' clicky to rashbre central which I spotted at elby's, as a way to branch from the main route (not just in blogworld).

But for now, its time to reset everything for another exciting year.

Technorati Tags: rashbre, new+year, 2008, resolutions, strangers, sparkly,

sparkle

I did find Swindon's Magic Roundabout yesterday. I assumed, rightly, that if I just drove to my destination along main roads, I would somehow need to pass throught this strange area.

Yesterday, I described the roundabout as reminiscent of a dreamcatcher, the artifact used by first nation tribes to filter dreams permitting only good to come through. The rest is caught in the web and disappears with the dawn.

So some interesting metaphors flicked through my mind as I passed the adjacent fast food shrines and retail sheds of the area. Was the catcher holding them here, or were there more adventurous ideas held back by the strange forces?

I found myself thinking of the sky, the land, freshness of the air and the sparkle of water as I reached my destination, which suggests either a positive force nearby, or I'm going down with a cough and cold and the codeine has kicked in.

Technorati Tags: rashbre, swindon, magic, roundabout, dreamcatcher, dreamkatcher, will+young, hidden+message, teardrops, mp3, sparkle,

magic roundabout

Excitement as I go to Swindon today! I've previously seen the famous 'Magic Roundabout' of Swindon and will be interested to know if it is still there. I believe it was an experiment in the middle ages of road planning and has amazing dreamcatcher wheels within wheels. I was thinking of checking on Google, but it will be more fun to see if I 'happen' across it.

yes, its the real streetsign

Technorati Tags: rashbre, swindon, magic, roundabout, dreamcatcher, dreamkatcher, will+young, hidden+message, teardrops, mp3, sparkle,

first footing

An accidental "First footing" occurred at the hotel on New Year's Eve. For those that don't know, the tradition of "first footing" is that the "first foot" in the house after midnight should be male and dark (ie not a Viking about to bring trouble). Getting this right is supposed to be a sign of good luck for the year.

So arriving back at the hotel room on the First, at about one thirty a.m. it was a little unfortunate that the key didn't work. To be honest, we just thought it a bit funny and a member of the Hotel staff was nearby delivering a snack and joined in our attempt to get back in. Yes, it was the right room and, yes, we had the right key etc. He then called for backup and the lady in charge arrived a few minutes later. Same questions and we even had the little card showing our room number.

Still all frivolity as well.

Then the person in charge called for the duty engineer, who arrived a couple of minutes later. He did some thing slightly forceful to the door which then opened and he was, indeed, the first person in the room. He was a tallish person, with a complexion suggesting relatives in India.

So a tall, dark, stranger was indeed the 'first footings' for 2008.

Technorati Tags: rashbre, new+year, 2008, 2007, first+footings, tradition, superstition, coal, bread, whisky, hotel, berkeley

bad drive

I'll call today the first normal day of 2008, complete with me properly back to work. A slight problem though, in that I became involved in a rather long traffic jam losing around two hours as a consequence of an unexpected motorway closure.

Londoners are used to random commuter problems but today's was particularly severe. When its 'leaves on the line' or 'wrong kind of snow', its easy to be irritated about the situation, but when there's ambulances and fire-engines moving along the hard shoulder it creates a different impression.

I eventually used some local knowledge to sneak off of the motorway at an access point normally used by police. I knew the whereabouts of the exit and sure enough they were encouraging the few of us who knew this route to escape back into the country lanes.