I drew this after reading about Iorek Byrnison.

It was astonishing to see how lightly he dealt with it: the sheets of metal were almost an inch thick in places, and yet he swung them round and into place as if they were silk robes. -- The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

I was going to list the travesties that was Battlestar Galactica 2003, but it is taking a long time. I have to watch it again because as I write, I remember more problems.

I have been reading Northern Lights. I can't believe that people even dare compare this to the Harry Potter books. This is in a completely different league. It has a proper story and is well written for starters. I will review it when I'm done.

Are IKEA designers given a set of parts which have been left over from mass-production runs and told to make something? Or do they purposefully create these designs requiring at least 2 different allen keys?

Living With Hunger

I watched this program last night and I was shocked.

The people were hungry every day. There was usually nothing to eat but maybe some wild cabbage (a kind of weed). If they were lucky, their diet may consist of a sort of bread and bean paste. The wild cabbage was actually difficult to eat and caused stomach problems. They would eat it just to have something in their stomachs, albeit for a short period.

I was impressed by these people who would work tirelessly and without complaint, with no food. They would not complain if they had to eat wild cabbage. They wouldn't know what, if any food they would get the following day.

The documentary-maker (Sorious Samura) ate whenever his host family ate. And went hungry as they did. They would go and work their farms (actually just small plots of land) without any breakfast.

Some local men went to the town (some 35km walk) to find some work. They bricklayed for about 40p for the day. The presenter recommended they spend the money on a bowl of rice. They had never seen rice, let alone tasted it. There was no work the next day.

Imagine living day to day without knowing if you will have food the next day. Imagine going to work in the fields without any food. Imagine eating something revolting just because there is nothing else to eat.

On the C4 page there is a First Direct advert offering £25 for just opening an account. This seemed somewhat callous. £25 could buy about 100 bowls of rice. This would be enough to keep 3 people alive for a month.

Why are people paying more for a cup of coffee these days than ever before (£3 for a latte at Starbucks), whilst Ethiopia is getting screwed on their major export?

I ate my food with a very different perspective today.

• Filmmaker 'transformed' by hunger shoot (BBC News)
• Living with Hunger (Surviving Hunger), Ethiopia (Insight News TV)

I was going through some boxes looking for other stuff, when I discovered some of my old drawings and writing.

I haven't drawn in ages. The other weekend a friend almost convinced me to buy a lovely set of watercolour pencils. I didn't, because I thought I wouldn't use them. I asked her what she intended to draw. She answered, without hesitation: frogs.

I wish I had that kind of conviction. I know I have more drawings somewhere because I used to take paper and a pencil with me on holiday before I got more into photography. I used to sit and draw the scene in front of me. It made me consider the composition carefully before I started.

I think I will start drawing again.

I read some of my writing. I used to write short (200-500) word scenes. I even tried to write a longer story once, but got put off when the only person I ever showed it to told me it was like something she'd read before. Bang. That killed it. I didn't really want to continue any writing after that.

Well I've grown up since then. All writing will be like something you've read before. That isn't the point. If it were, then after you'd read Tolkein you wouldn't read any more fantasy.

I think I will start writing again.

I was further put off doing creative things when I started working. As a techie I encountered much snobbery. Or perhaps fear. I couldn't possibly be creative because I was a techie. I just consider myself lucky to have had an outlet for my creativity in coding.

I have been consuming other people's art for too long. I want to draw my frogs now.

You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It's their mistake, not my failing. -- Richard P. Feynman

After updating my kernel (security update), I noticed little red dots appearing on certain images and whenever I played DVDs.

At first, I thought this was due to my switch over from Ogle to Xine. I switched over because Ogle refused to show the menu on certain DVDs and would just start playing the DVDs. After the kernel update, I couldn't get Ogle to show any video and red dots were appearing on Xine.

I then checked my XVideo drivers. The modules had disappeared! After reinstalling the drivers and restarting the X Server, all was well again.

Animals on the Underground

This should give you something to do in the morning. Stare at the tube map and see if any more animals pop out at you. Don't be distracted by the colours though.

Anyone else found animals in their public transportation maps?

This is a very addictive game.

The only reason I've paused playing is because I've reached one of those points where my character is not powerful enough to continue. I always encounter these points whenever I play Final Fantasy games. They are a little annoying, as I have to fight purely to level up. The number of abilities, techniques, magic, etc. available is fantastic. Your characters can learn any number of powers limited only by their race. As your characters progress they will unlock more jobs, and therefore more powers.

Perhaps you would like to morph into a panther or blast a character with a flaming meteorite?

If you've played any FF games in the past then you'll notice some familiar traits. Magic is named as always: Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga. Ifrit, Shiva, etc. can be summoned to deal damage. Chocobos even feature in a stampede!

A clever feature is the mid-battle save. Particularly apt for the handheld market; I can get a few rounds in and then save and go.

Square (actually now Square Enix) have done themselves proud with this release. Now, I am really looking forward to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the Gamecube out on 12th March 2004.

The day out was quite a disappointment.

Why? Because it's half-term and no-one told us. We people, without children or siblings in school, are caught completely unaware when half-term comes around. Parents and children descend en masse on all our usual stomping grounds.

I don't mind half-term as long as I have been warned. I would then venture out at my own risk. There should be some sort of notice in prominent locations around town. Maybe it's just sadistic parents who like keep it all quiet.

HALF-TERM COMMENCES ON 14TH FEBRUARY. SEE YOU THE WEEK AFTER!

I have only seen a preview of the show. They tell us that the story is the same, but updated.

My main gripe so far is making Starbuck a woman. An angry woman. Sorry, this doesn't work for me. We need the buddy feeling of the two leads. He is supposed to be the relaxed cigar-smoking, gambler who stays cool. He's a joker and a ladies' man. Apollo is the one who gets emotional. Hopefully, the new Starbuck won't be too angry. Boomer is a woman too. Okay, I can deal with this because this is a support character and could be either. I cannot find Athena or Sheba in the new cast list. Did they decide they were now superfluous?

Katee Sackhoff, the new Starbuck, tells us to "Deal with it."

They appear to have made the Cylons human-shaped. Production costs are down, but will it work? Cylons don't stop. They keep coming. They don't have expressions, so you don't know what they are thinking. You would know if a 6ft+ Cylon had come into the room. They were scary.

If they look like humans, this is a different show. Number 6 is a female human-shaped Cylon. Well this has just become Bladerunner in space. Yay.

The uniforms are no longer brown suede. They look like the uniforms out of Enterprise. Not a bad thing in itself, but why change such cool looking outfits?

On the postitive side, the special effects look good. They have very good looking Vipers, and the Battlestars don't look bad either. I hope the writers remember that it's characters that drive the story, not special effects.

Apparently, the series has been commisioned so people must have liked it. Maybe I just don't like people messing with a good thing. Like Lucas adding a crap Jabba to a New Hope, but we won't get into that now.

This is airing here next week, so we'll see.

Let's never return, because it will never be as good.

A week long adventure in Tokyo for Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson). Two strangers thrown together in a foreign land. Both bored of their marriages, with the excitement of a new relationship bubbling. Coppola manages to transmit the sense of loneliness well. The language barrier being the most obvious. Mutual insomnia allowing for accidental meetings around the hotel. Unhappiness at the current state of their marriages.

The week long relationship unfolds, reminiscent of Before Sunrise. Brief encounters in empty corridors and lifts turn into adventure when Charlotte's husband (Giovanni Ribisi) leaves town. The ending, which I will not spoil, is handled beautifully.

This role seems to have been written for Bill Murray. His personal wit appears to have seeped into the character. I had only seen Scarlett in The Man Who Wasn't There, but I am eager to see more of her work now. Virgin Suicides was an admirable debut film, but Coppola has shown herself a most capable film-maker with this film.

UPDATE: Firefox 1.0 is now available

Mozilla Firefox 0.8

Firebird has been reborn as Firefox. Just one note for Linux users - ignore the release notes and run ./firefox not ./firefox-bin.

It seems pretty speedy so far. I download the occasional nightly build, so I'm not very surprised at the changes. There seem to be lots of goodies for Windows and Mac users - I don't know how they fare since I'm using neither. Any users care to comment?

All the cool features are still there - tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, customized searching, etc. The download manager is probably the most obvious change. I believe all versions have the new download manager.

If you haven't tried this browser before, then do give it a whirl. It's faster than ever!

Is photoblogging good for photography?

I think that taking photographs daily does make you a better photographer. Whether or not you should post your photos every day is debatable.

Do you really get a good shot every day?

I only like to show my best shots. Any one photo should be an invitation to see more. So why show mediocre work?

Do you show your friends & family all your holiday photos? I make people choose their best 3 shots per roll to show me.

It forces them to do the editing. Not me.

Do you criticise?

Another point made was the lack of crisitism in photoblogs. It is generally an encouraging environment as opposed to a critical one.

Photoblogs seem like a nice cosy place. You don't expect people to come in and start pointing out how the couch doesn't match the curtains.

However, I think that living in such a bubble is harmful for photographers. They start to believe their own hype.

I will endeavour to post constructive critism when I feel it is necessary, and hope people will feel free to do likewise.

So you think photoblogging is bad for photography?

Personally, I will not post a photo every day. I don't think I shoot often enough to get that frequency of good photos.

If photoblogging encourages people to improve their photography daily, then I think it's a good thing. If they live in their no-criticism bubble, feeding off their own hype, posting uninteresting photos, then it's a bad thing.

Here are some of the folks who I think can pull it off:

• Antipixel - wonderful images from Japan
• Blue Ridge Blog - Marie's snowy landscapes and farms have that Christmas feeling about them
• Chocolate & Zucchini - strictly a food blog, but I always admire photographs that can make me salivate
• Sensitive Light - missing for the last month or so, but good at demonstrating that interesting photos can be found on my doorstep
• Views of the Northeast - Ana's winter wonderland (bears included)

(via Boing Boing)

I followed American football for a few years while I was at school. I stopped because the Bills kept losing. No, I don't mean that they lost every match. I mean they would get to the Superbowl and lose. Every year.

I wonder if fading stars had used the half-time stage to get naked in my day, would I still be watching? Would I know who the Carolina Panthers were?

Will I take her seriously again as a singer? Probably not. Now, she's just the silly bint who got her tit out on live telly. Timberlake? Well I never took him seriously as anything but a twat.

I guess if you've run out of songs you may as well give one-hand Timberlake a call and decide where best to get felt up.

This week has been full of dealing with the Inland Revenue and banks, so not much posting or visiting I'm afraid. Hopefully, all dealt with until April.

Other than that, I have been wasting my time on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and playing guitar.

So all in all, a balanced week of good and evil.

PS to my bored & pregnant friend in New York: Get a GBA and FFTA. I promise it will keep you entertained until the time comes.

After a brief hiatus, iPods have finally returned to these shores.

I have been waiting since Christmas to buy an iPod for my sister. Every week I dutifully went to the Apple site looking for refurbished units. Every week they were shut.

This morning however, a fine selection of goodies were available. Armed with my £15-off voucher, I battled the extremely slow loading site to come out with an iPod.

My sister was very pleased with the news, especially as it is a 3rd generation iPod.

Why do people still insist on using e-cards?

They are spam harvesters. Nothing more.

I go to great lengths to avoid having my email reach spammer lists. But it only takes one person to screw that email address by submitting it to an e-card spammer.

Do I need to attach a note to my emails?

What possesses people to do it?

Are they too busy to write me something personal? Do they feel they cannot express their greeting in words? Do they not understand how to attach images? Maybe they actually hate me...

Bastards.

I got fresh strings for my guitar.

I haven't played for a number of years, but I fished my guitar out of the cupboard. I have always liked the sound of new strings, so I stopped by the guitar shop to pick up a set of hybrid slinkies. After a few hours of stretching and re-tuning, I revelled in a crisp E chord. I tried to play a riff, but my memory failed me. Tears in Heaven. Greensleeves. Stairway to Heaven. I used to know how to play them.

My iPod has allowed me to take an interest in playing music again. Listening to some Metallica or Megadeth reminds me why I played guitar. I remember hunting down Yardbird tapes just because they were the origin of the music I listened to.

Now, I want to learn some new songs by the likes of Nick Drake and Nanci Griffith.

My bass, which I was planning on selling, may not go after all. I'm going to listen to Billy Sheehan, and Jaco Pastorius again before I decide. Also, bassists I've not studied before like Kim Deal, and Metallica's new bassist Robert Trujillo. The amp is coming out of the garage next week.

I played music all the way through school. I regret not having continued learning piano or violin. I wish I'd worked harder on playing the saxophone. I wish I'd picked up my flute earlier.

I'm glad I've got this opportunity to rediscover music fully. It's like talking in a language you haven't spoken in a long time.