Dancin'

Courtesy of Mr. McCormick , who has a new location for his blog...

Front page news!

Calgary made front page news today on Guardian Unlimited. For all the wrong reasons...
It's a fair comment, but after being here 9 months and seeing a little of what Calgarians can and are doing in regards to climate change and sustainability issues, I'm a little more optimistic that things wont be as bad as Klein makes out. I may however have just caught the Cowtown bug. Yeehaw!

MySpace Outage Leaves Millions Friendless | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

MySpace Outage Leaves Millions Friendless | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

japanese contraption - Google Video

japanese contraption - Google Video

Engrossing ball runs from the Japanese childrens' program, 'Pythagoras Switch'.

Living on the Edge

Urban spread is like no other i've seen in Calgary right now. This is a wonderful collection by the 10 cent designer on flickr that i think describes the spread better than i could ever put into words.

Lost America

Amazing photos and a guide on how to "lightpaint" at this site.

Image: ©Troy Paiva / Lost America

Kitchen Diaries

courtesy of Kath

Eerie view at Dungeness

Eerie view at Dungeness
Originally uploaded by Spherical Roy.

I've uploaded my latest film - pics from Dungeness in October 06, new year at Gilly's, and Neel, Kath and Rowan's recent visit to Glasgow.

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

Donald Rumsfeld

loo in progress

loo in progress
Originally uploaded by Spherical Roy.

I've posted some photos of the flat renovations, as many have requested. Its hard taking photos indoors - my flat doesn't fit in my wee camera..

The collection is here [link might be below photo]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/royshearer/tags/flatrenovations/

Toutes les autos de Tintin

Toutes les autos de Tintin

Testament to Herge's attention to detail, via Core77.com

Frightened Rabbit: Sing the Greys: Pitchfork Record Review

Frightened Rabbit: Sing the Greys: Pitchfork Record Review

The Ol' FR get a respectable review at Pitchfork, something thats not always easily achieved. Hooray for the Rabbit! Hooray for Glasgow!

The role of Governmental websites.

I have always thought that progressive, democratic societies are built upon fundamental ideas such as freedom of speech and the right to a decent education (amongst many others). Considering both of these points makes me think about the internet.

Everyone has the right to write anything they so wish (as I am doing right now) and publish this on the internet, a freedom of speech that is incredibly difficult to restrict. Educationly, the internet has also enlightened many, even with a crappy 28.8k connection one could imagine that access to material (granted some of dubious educational quality) never before available to some has improved vastly. Corporations, NGOs, Universities and National Governments have all used the internet to their advantage, to inform and to educate the general public in whatever way they wish.

There is the problem however of institutional bias. What an NGO and a Corporation say about the same situation could be hugely different. This, I think, is unavoidable and it is up to the reader to decide who they believe. However, should this be the case when it comes down to websites operated by national governments? Should spin be allowed? I think not. I think there is a responsibility on governments, as the bastions of progressive, democratic societies, to provide the 'decent education' as I mentioned above.

Which is why when I recently checked out the Government of Canada's official Climate Change website I was so sorely disappointed. To be fair, you can eventually get to some musings on climate change after following a bunch of links from one government department to anothers website. But I was honestly shocked that one could simply declare an issue as huge as Climate Change a closed book, one that this government has decided simply to not provide any easily accessible information on. Could you imagine if they decided to not provide any information on HIV/Aids or simply had a page for a website instructing the reader that the site is 'temporarily unavailable'?

Perhaps there is no responsibility on any government to provide free and accessible information on any issue. One could argue with the reams of information on everyone elses website that this would be pointless. Perhaps that is what institutions like the UN are for, but at least, if you have an official page on an issue, maybe it should have a link to that institution?

It's a thinker...

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Adam Buxton but no Joe

Adam Buxton

Well, having spent about the last five days with the flu, I now have a long line in stories of sweating profusely for no reason, and whats good on On Demand. One of the latter is three series of the Adam and Joe show - you know what that means: three opening episodes that you have to pay absolutely nil for! (they're free). So they're the ones I watched, but I know the rest are there for me in moments of boredom, of which there are sure to be many seeing as I am living in one room with an armchair opposite the TV, which is on the fridge. (The builders have started).

Anyway, have had fun reading Adam's blog, which Jonny Greenwood linked to on Dead Air Space. Speaking of whom there was a Late Junction special last night dedicated to, from what I could tell, 'some tunes Jonny probably likes' seeing as they never actually talked to him. Still, it was good.

Useless Dog

What a Useless Dog... But lovely to have around the place no doubt.

'Compared to this, Iraq was easy'

'Compared to this, Iraq was easy'

Guardian correspondent Declan Walsh reports from Afghanistan, embedded with the 10th US mountain division, in a series of narrated slideshows. Good stuff.

Flickr distraction

DON'T OIL MACHINE WHEN RUNNING
Originally uploaded by equipeowen.

This is from the Stick Figures in Peril group.

Also, Dave Gorman's Interesting Flickr Coincidences set is quite, wll, interesting.

Soviet bus shelters

Polar Inertia, a photography site has an interesting gallery of Soviet bus shelters, of which this is one.

via Core77

Magischer Garten: nach acht und vierzig Stunden

Magischer Garten: nach acht und vierzig Stunden
Originally uploaded by Spherical Roy.

You asked for it: the Magic Crystal Garden, documented in Flickr glory..

Thank you Anneka!

Tatooine

Tatooine
Originally uploaded by chartno3.

Haven't been there for a while, but Jonathan Percy is still posting photos for Chartno3, now at Flickr..

Sandy

Strangely, I've never visited Sandy's website before - it's rather good

Dead christmas tree

Dead christmas tree
Originally uploaded by Jennifer Louise Taylor.

Jenny has astutely moved onto Chrimbo trees...

The Guy Dawg

yessir
Originally uploaded by gillyroche.

Gilly has posted some photos from our new year in Milnathort. Thank you Hurly Burlys!

It's Dave!

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/students/profile/573
Wow, you really liked that course, eh Dave?

And here he is again, this time at Culturelab:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/culturelab/people/profile/david.green

Dead umbrella

Dead umbrella
Originally uploaded by Jennifer Louise Taylor.

Jenny is documenting all those deceased umbrellas that tend to pop up in Glasgow every winter...

Festive Greetings!

And as a gift, something I think I forgot to blog about a month ago: Neel's pictures from our climb in Glen Coe, that is Aonach Eagach:
here
Best wishes,
Roy

WebbIE

This from Neel:

Just heard a really interesting interview with one of the members of the cinematic orchestra on gilles peterson from last sunday - new album coming out soon he plays one track as a preview. Forward to minute 44 or 45. (hold down numpad 6 to forward if using accessible listen again (link below))

try this out
http://www.webbie.org.uk/download/WebbIE3.exe
for a standalone version of the BBC listen again for all the radio stations. Saves going through the browser interface (which maybe only I find really annoying) Also installs accessible podcaster and podcatchers. The webbie website also has a really neat interface to project gutenburg for free, out of copyright books.

Snap

If you're wondering what on earth is going on here the following might explain it:
Snap

Reached via Geobloggers.com, an interesting blog about geotagging on Flickr and Google and the such like and possible intergrations with mobile technologies - very interesting, via the Guardian Technology supplement last Thursday.

I am Kritch

I am Kritch

Richard has pulled out the stops and cemented his web presence (he's a got a website)

theSound updates finally

I have rehashed the front page of theSound a wee bit to reflect the more fragmented nature of my web presence. I still like theSound. But that was then. This is now.

I suspect that that update was for the last time.

International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Glasgow this week

As produced by Suzy and co.

Google Ads

Don't you just love the 'user targeted' ads that Google puts into gmail?

Ladakh 06 photos!

I've uploaded my photos from Ladakh. For reference the address is:
http://www.zero-waste.co.uk/thesound/ladakh06

I hope you like the gallery. I chose the music myself. The initial view is a bit small though. If you click the bottom left button, you'll get a larger view of the gallery. If you want to turn off the music, which is likely, its the bottom right button.

Enjoy. I will happily give you a more comprehensive commentary if you come round my house.

Bell's Bridge

As you probably know, I have been cycle messengering since about May, and am loving it, although today was rather tiring having been off the bike for 7 weeks. Although I think the altitude in India did me good stamina wise, cos my bigger complaint was my sore bum! Anyway, I like couriering because I get to cycle all over the city and see new bits of it and get paid for the privilege. People say it must also be good for keeping fit, but I think the fumes from idling engines negate any beneficial physiological effects.

Today I did a long run from Temple in Anniesland to Sighthill (well, more like Royston) so I took the canal towpath all the way across teh north side of the city centre. I think its pretty cool that thats even possible. I also was at Bell's Bridge at just the right time to see it turning to let a boat through, which I've never seen before. It was much quieter than I expected, judging from teh condition of the painwork - its obviously better maintained inside than out. Also it was just a case of a couple of guys closing the gates at either end and pressing a button on the main mast around which it rotates - dead simple. It did grind a bit when meeting up with the other bit of teh bridge actually, but other than that very elegant!

MacKinlay enjoying Calgary sunshine

MacKinlay enjoying Calgary sunshine
Originally uploaded by ofreflection.

As you may or may not know my co-blogger and also I'm happy to say lover, er, best buddy, has moved to Calgary. But fear not! This is no reason to impede his Slogging, so while he gets sorted, here are some of his first photos on Flickr.

Valley of Flowers

Rishikesh
Originally uploaded by Spherical Roy.

I've uploaded some pictures from the first leg of this year's India trip to Flickr. I have more, but am nearing my upload limit on Flickr so will put up my own gallery in time. Got dust in my camera in Ladakh anyway so they're not that good sadly..

Element Magazine

I wrote a review of the Subtle gig way back in June for my friend Matt who works for Element Magazine and they printed it! Its in the August issue which may be found in selected venues in Glasgow and can be downloaded from the Element website. Its amazing what people will print..

The Global Rich List

Have a lok at where you come in the global wealth rankings...

popcorn ear

popcorn ear
Originally uploaded by gillyroche.

Gilly has put up some photos from when we went to San Fermin in Pamplona a coupla years back. see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gillyroche/

Gig Review: Low

Well, so much for resolutions. I've been to quite a few gigs since Battles and haven't written anything about them. Here's what I wrote to my friend Nick about the Low gig on May 2nd at the ABC. My Latest Novel supported:

>>
I enjoyed My Latest Novel more than the last time i saw them(which was the first) i think they've got better, Paul's calmed down a bit. They played better and the songs were more consistent. I love that loud acapella stuff, its really striking. There's a fairly dark thing to the lyrics i think which i'd never noticed before.

I donn't know Low all that well, just have a couple of albums but really like Trust. It was a nice gig in general cos its so subtle and down tempo everyone was so quiet and attentive. Its a shame the drummer and bass player looked so bored at times! They make quite a noise for a three piece, despite playing very few notes - it was a real lesson in subtlety and craft - the quy was hardly touching his guitar strings - just exciting them at the specific volume
he wanted. A well spent evening, I think.
<<

Went to see Radiohead at Blackpool (Empress Ballroom) on Saturday. Still mulling it over somewhat, deserves a more extensive review probably. Mind you, there are plenty of other so-called reviews on the fansites already, and some live bootlegs.

My proposal to mysociety

mysociety have called for proposals for their next democratising web application, so I put one in to do with strengthening micro-communities, such as that which should exist in our close here in our Glasgow tenement. Please have a read and leave any comments there.

St. Georges Cross graffiti

st georges cross
Originally uploaded by gillyroche.

by Gilly.

New photos on Flickr

George and Aby
Originally uploaded by Spherical Roy.

such as this of George and Aby, some from Skye, some from Loch Lomond, some from Anstruther.

All sorts of wonderful geographic data

"Global-i is a 3-dimensional interactive globe that displays information about the world in your browser. The Earth can be rotated and inspected and displays can be changed to see information in the most appropriate form." from Core77

Thoughts at 2am on Sunday

battles are hard. They play with the vim and vigour I knew little of before seeing Frightened Rabbit a couple of weeks back. Apparently now that is the norm. All other drummers must up their game.

The difference between the Rabbit and Battles has to be intent however. Whereas Saturday night's Battles set was a lesson in performance and technique (by no means classical, but skilled nonetheless), Friday's was another display of shear heartfelt exuberance. FR's drummer plays like his life depends on it. So does Battles' except, that drummer appears to be directing his own fate. He looks like a drummer punishing himself. He doesn't play each with drum with both hands, he dedicates one stick to each. He doesnt put his crash and hi hat within easy reach, he makes himself work to reach them. The man sweats like a, cheese. or something that sweats an awful lot. It is as if the man is restricting himself in order that he can be the machine that Battles wants to be - one that pumps out a newborn montage of free dance and metal. Which it does, but with little overall purpose. I see the skill, the sweat and the conviction, but I can not clearly see the aim, the soul, the meaning. Perhaps battles are just an exercise, with no meaning.

Saturday was a night of drumming. We had battles, followed by Steve Reid and Keiran Hebden (Fourtet), two renowned rhythm mongers, all preceded by James 'Colditz' Chapman, trombonist turned drummer turned expert composer/producer. A tantalising set comprising all new to me tunes, played out to found sound backings on piano, cello, viola and trombone. James played with virtuosity, George blew assertively and lucidly. The performance was precise and so considered that it was played out serenely by all. A delicate and modest set that left the audience enraptured.

Later, Reid and Hebden would play with similar attentiveness but the sound let them down, as it did all the acts occasionally throughout the night. The venue was great for the event, large, open and friendly, and sufficiently trendy. But the sound was volatile, erring mostly on the high-end, and with various channels mysteriously droppiong out on occasion, while Reid's drums were almost constantly swamped by Hebden's belching samples. The quagmire lifted at one heady point of true dialogue between drummer and laptop but that was sadly unique. The perfomance showed great potential and given its brevity is undoubtedly an exciting work in progress.

The night ended with the Sun Ra Arkestra of which I feel unqualified to say much. It was simply a great way to end a great lineup, psychadelic and off-the-wall, trad and mod, simply a great big band. The first that I've seen in far too long.

[This is hopefully the first of many attempts to document the silly amount of time and money I spend at gigs and exhibitions.]

a short animated film

The cold beauty of car parks

Czech based photography via core77.

A big shared drawing pad

just try it

Moondog

September 8th last year saw the passing of one of the 20th C´s most respected musical icons. Louis T. Hardin better known as Moondog was a revered pioneer on the Avant-Garde/Minimalist scene, his revolutionary attitude towards composition and melody was lauded by such eminent notables as Philip Glass and Steve Reich, while his style and attitude drew comparisons to Harry Partch.

Crazy japanese chain-of-event type antics

some great chains of improbable mechnical systems delivered via the medium of video

april 6th early hours

april6 014
Originally uploaded by Spherical Roy.

What I've been up to of late. (one of a couple of projects. The others being some CAD tuition at the art school, and still plugging away at the 'tonepad' idea - a portable musical sketchpad for graphically scoring and playing back simple melodies, chord sequences and rhythms. Thats what the Webcam is for (atop the speaker). Click the picture for more info about what i was up to at this point.

Masters PDE graduates 2005 no.1

Masters PDE graduates 2005 no.1
Originally uploaded by Spherical Roy.

Here is a picture taken by I don't know who of my calss on graduation many moons ago...

Dave Gorman's Rock & Pebble Balancing Favourites

Banksy on Melbourne graffiti whitewash

Throwies

I like these little critters from Eyebeam in New York - build your own magnetic LEDs for chucking at metal stuff...

RecycleGlasgow Wiki

I've started a wiki (editable website) for recycling resources in Glasgow at:

http://recycleglasgow.wikispaces.com/

Please feel free to augment at will.
R

Found some better resources on recycling in Glasgow:
http://www.wascot.org.uk/html/glasgow_camp.asp?wsa=glasgow
http://www.wascot.org.uk/sort_it_website/html/frame_glasgow.htm

Also ordered a susbsidised compost bin.

Live Air Traffic Control | Live Airport Webcams | Live ATC

Ever wanted to hearLive Air Traffic Control broadcast off tinternet?

midnight motorway noises

Gilly has a new blog entitled midnight motorway noises. I like the look of it. She also has flickr pictures which are cool.

How Roy lost Edgar's parcel shelf and was forgiven.

You know when you unexpectedly put a lot of effort into what should have been a brief and mundane email, and emerge from the experience with pride for your tenacity and the work that sprung forth from it? Well that happened to me, when I was writing to the fine lady who helped me find a new parcel shelf:

"

Hi Natalé,

Well. Its a sad story. I was doing my friend, Gilly, a favour by donating my car, parcel shelf and driver and all, to the cause of the Student Theatre group at Glasgow (STaG). Gilly was producing STaG Nights, the group's annual festival of one-act plays, and desperately needed a bath. She didn't need to wash, she needed a physical, tangible, bathtub. And she found one, to her credit, as one tends to do living in the Woodlands area. Always some furniture on display in the street, for the general enjoyment of students. To the ire of most residents however.

Anyway, Edgar (my car) and I were employed to help move said bath from resting place on West End Park Street to the Gilmorehill Theatre. Not very far. Had I known the trauma that was to ensue I might have insisted that Gilly just carry the bath the few hundred yards up the road. I didn't though, so likewise I didn't. We got the bath alongside Edgar on the pavement, at which point Gilly took the opportunity for a wee rest while I opened up the boot.

I can remember vividly (and in the slow motion that often accompanies my memories of scoring the first and only goal that I will ever score, in a footy match on St. Thomas' CofE Primary School playing fields at the age of 7) carefully detaching the parcel shelf and placing it, oh so delicately, on the pavement, one end on the ground, the other leaning securely up against the railings of no.28 West End Park Street. That was my error, as no sooner had that occurred than the very memory of its occurrence was unexplainably erased from my, admittedly, shit memory. It took a fair while to wriggle the bathtub into what is, and only ever will be, a five door hatchback. All the time Edgar's amputated pacrel shelf watched on. Watched as we fought with the bathtub. Watched as I fought against Gilly's determination to get the bathtub in Edgar. Watched as I drove Edgar away, hot, angry and oblivious.

It was a wet weekend and the parcel shelf must have spent some time being rained upon before presumably being requisitioned by drunken students or the needy owner of a Mark 4 or 5 Fiesta with grey interior. Hopefully the latter. Probably the former.

A full 2 days passed before I had the need to use the car again (I'm a carbon emissions aware kinda fella) and it was only then that I realised my substantial and unforgivable error. Phone calls to friends who reside nearby to the incident as well as repeated monitoring of the site (presumably in the futile hope that the recipient of the parcel shelf might repent and compassionately replace the item, along with its snapped and redundant, yet loveable, fittings, where he or she had chanced across it) proved unsuccessful.

I thought all was lost. In desperation, monosyllabic with grief, I turned to my fellow man through the wonders of the interweb, and broadcast my plight. And you responded.

So thank you. Edgar now once again has a parcel shelf which, although entirely uncoordinated in colouring, works a whole lot better because the fittings actually fix onto the hatchback door. Cool.
Plus my flatmate, Gareth, with whom I share the car is talking to me again. He says thanks too.

"

Natalé replied to a request that I sent to the Glasgow Freecycle list, telling me to get one from the scrapper's on Scots Road in Paisley.

One explanation for my new found wordiness is I spent the whole afternoon with Mark refining his sitcom. Looking good.

none today sir

A blog for cyclists in Glasgow. Might go for the ol' critical mass ride this month..

I just spent a very enjoyable weekend in Durham with Dave and Maddy and friends. I met Roger who is editor of Durham21, if you're ever interested in student life in Durham - its very good. I also met Irish finally, of which I shall say no more..
except that I find him hilarious. :)

R

Season's Greetings!

and a festive start to the new Gregorian calendar year. We shall be here. Oh yes.
R
Lots of love to Dave, our regular reader.

The Arcade Fire!, Harry Partch!, Chris Clark!

Yo homies. My newst favourite band used to be the arcade fire, who, i have just discovered, have a charming website. Flash, but full of hidden treasures... You want the band site, not the fansite, although thats more useful for things like tourdates and stuff. Great band. Seemingly with connections to Supersilent and Deathprod of Norwegian fame..

Also, my friend Kath has just directed me to an archive of interactive instruments based on those created by American composer Harry Partch (1901-1974). You casn play em all!

Chris Clark (see earlier post) is playing at the Liquid Lounge, Glasgow this Thursday 11-3am, £6. If anyone would like to join me, I'll probably be goin'n
.
R

Paper Sculptures

more, and more specifically:

http://www.petercallesen.com/

Return

Hello. Gaz has reminded me of your existence, blog. It is indeed odd at the topsy turviness of the commercial sector lobbying harder than government in this particular area. My apathy says that its not really surprising from this government. the wrong attitude?

Today I have been recording with Adam Beattie. A good day, and chat often returned to general electronica themes and Chris Clark in particular, who, it turns out, Chris the guitarist has met and knows from his childhood days. How odd. I was told about him by Greg, my friend in Minnesota. A long way for a st. Albans lad to go. Chris Clark is playing at the Liquid Lounge here in GLasgow on December 8th, to which I shall go.
Anyway, this was partly why Adam and I were inspired to spend an hour tonight building contact microphones from piezoelectric transducers. The results were interesting, if surprisingly unversatile however.
I also returned to try my hand at a little electronic noise making as I have been meaning to do for ages. The results are here, on the newly rehosted thesound, and were made from the sound of my new printer (thankyou neel!) turning on.

Will you come to our party this saturday?

And have you met my nephew, Rowan?

And have you seen my business site?

So many new things.

lots of love
R

I got Picasa...

 Well lets see if this here works...
 

mnk::scanjam::words

mnk::scanjam::words

Adventures in Catherine Alice Kunguland

Adventures in Catherine Alice Kunguland

For those of you who haven't heard, Cathy, the beautiful and loving singer in our band, died two weeks ago after a long fight against leukemia.

There will be a tribute fundraiser in Glasgow around the end of July/ start of August, donations are welcome for the hospice where she stayed for a wee while. I''ll put up the details as and when.

www.strath.ac.uk

www.strath.ac.uk: "White band of support for poverty campaign

theSound has enjoyed an update: - I spent my Sunday playing around with pictures of my sanctuary like room with photoshop and autostitch

dBass remixes give preview of the much anticipated demo/EP

I don't know if they count as remixes since the original mix itself still isn't finished. Maybe these are the originals, and the dBass EP if it ever appears will be a remix...

Anyway, Quest (AKA Matt the beatboxer) has interpretated two of our newer songs...

IQ.mp3 which is sounding quite Nitin Sawhneyesque.
MutedMusic.mp3 which sounds nothing like the original Fraser's choon.

These tracks are copyright of Quest primarily and dBass secondarily cos all the playing I think comes from our sessions. Please respect that and don't go distributin' without creditin'.

PS. speaking of the Sawhney, he's playing the Arches this Monday: check it out. further upcoming gigs in Glasgow:
Esbjorn Svensson Trio, 21st May @ Arches, we've got our tickets have you got yours?
Ben Folds, Juneish(?), Royal COncert Hall, ditto
Sigur Ros, July 7th @Carling Academy, cannae go unfortunately.
Any other gigs of note Gaz?

mossgraffiti

mossgraffiti

... a mixture of the urban and rural, the vandal and the gardener?...

zero-waste

If anyone else is at all interested, a few weeks back I started another blog on the topic of my particular areas of thinking and interest, that is sustainable and open source design. For my own benefit but could be of interest. I should really put tangible interaction in there too - I keep finding inspiring stuff on that... There are already enough blogs on the web surely without me adding to the chaff.

I'm secretly quite happy that the success of my degree has basically come down to how quickly and well I can learn to sew. I am now about 7 hours in to my sewing career and its going quite promisingly, although I have an inkling that the thing may end up a coupla inches smaller than oringally planned...

Just me and a 'Pfaff' sewing machine (surprisingly little of that activity with it though) and my entire jazz collection which I'm wading through. So far we've had Esbjorn Svensson Trio, Brad Mehldau, Urban Connection, Miroslav Vitous, Miles Davis, Thelonious, Thelonious AND Art - moving on to just Art next, then maybe Art and Marsalis, then straight Marsalis, then back to the Davis I presume. I like to follow a fluid flow of players in my listening...

What I like about Thelonious is that, I'm sure entirely indeliberately, he hides little gems of genius within a whole heap of dire, blundering playing. In my humble opinion of course.

Make you rown Tory poster

She Only Says 'I Love You' When She's Drunk

Fantastic new theatrical experience coming to the Glasgow QMU Next Sunday and Monday, 24th and 25th April and in St. Andrew's on the 29th. Be there or be quadriequilateral

Intelligent plastics change shape with light

Intelligent plastics change shape with light - MIT News Office

Wow, how cool. Applications? Mapping wallets that automatically take strike and dip readings under certain lighting conditions? Or something less geeky?... Shoes whose (nice bit o rhyming) laces automatically undo under a certain invisible UV light, thus rendering the unsuspecting freedom fighter shoe less while fleeing... Cars with window blinds that automatically respond to sunlight but not street lights.... Protective packaging for , er, things that shouldn't be expoised to certain wavelengths. like paintings in museums. Arms that automatically slap any inconsiderate flash photographers in the theatre...
thats enough for me.

The Complete Guide to Isometric Pixel Art

The Complete Guide to Isometric Pixel Art Like it says... One to come back to.

Taste for Makers

An interesting essay on taste/'good' design? are they equivalent?

theSlog News of the Weird returns...

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Beds/Bucks/Herts | Biscuit-eating dummy tests crumbs

This calls for the resurrection of the title, 'theSlog News of the Weird' again, methinks.

The Observer | Review | Magnetic personalities:

"'We shower light rays on to a scene and analyse what happens as they interact with materials,' Wedge explains, grateful after his patient slog of the past 20 years that computer technology has finally made 3-D film-making so much easier. 'We had no idea what we were in for when we started Blue Sky,' says Wedge. 'We just had an idea of what we wanted to do. When we got to a point where it seemed impossible, we just kept doing it. After 18 years, we have a lot of it done.'"

Chris Wedge, animator of Robots (the new film from Ice Age creators)

What a lovely way to describe ray-tracing. And an inspiring comment.

The Postmodernism Generator: Communications From Elsewhere

A new postodernism essay with every hit. spot the difference?

The Observer Bloggin good

including amusing discourse on the nature of the blog and just how not-for-profit theObserver may or may not be..

http://www.worldjumpday.org/ Teehee.

Ex rector of glasgow uni writing about the nee dfor a play ethic as opposed to a work ethic.: playjournal

Vhairi's started up an excellent wee blog, namely 6amthoughts

Hark! Glad folk of woe, your confused meandering little minds wander. BUT never fear, I, grand caped master of pancakery, have found the cure. Always check the backs of your tiny ears. In the ways of our ancestors, "crumble!" but also "crumble!"

Word. BO!
Grand central conquistador, roy and little tiny insignificant miniscule wee infinitessimal bean. (pea)

Another great photo blog to feast yer eyes upon:

Express Train

Submit Response

A very well kept Glasgow blog. You may or may not find things of interest. Plenty of pics.

A new candidate for visuals? I really like these New York pinhole camera photos, what do you think? Good mix of London and NYC too.

Basically I'd like to link to most things I find through Jason Kottke (left, mumblings). worth checking out, normally his leftover links are better than his posts..

Gilly is back on the blog.

Its been a while, for obvious festive season reasons. One exam left now, my last ever. hopefully. Well, Its not like anyone resits their final year, do they? I son't think I'd want to anyway. Once is quite enough, whatever the result. Lasers and Optical Systems, the only thing between me and doing something interesting/useful/what i came to uni to do.

New year's res: get on top of the web thing again.

one of the latest Steve Bells...
The audacity of it all amazes me. and amuses.

How great is newscientist? Thanks Neel!

Nose controlled mouse anyone?

Remember I linked once to pacmanhatten? Trust the singaporeans to take it one step further.... Augmented reality Pacman baby!
yeah

dBass have somehow got themselves into a shortlist of ten bands in some Beat 106/Miller (yuck) beer competition. If you want to vote, which you should, go here and click 'unsigned bands' and read what it says. The prize for us is a gig, for you, its a guitar... great.

Today's record 25 emails, plus any excuse to not do work, means that I am purging my inbox. I bring you this from the Joe Bourdet Post Script Archive:

P.S. referring to and earlier email of yours: the expression is
"Bitch, bitch, bitchin" not "bitchin, bitchin, bitchin" not a big
deal. HOwever, I have recently retired "BItch bitch bitchin" from my
lexicon and replaced it with my new favorite, "Poppin' Fresh."
Example: "Yo dawg, those new bell bottoms are POPPIN' FRESH!" Note:
the following sentence should also be accompanied by wildly
exagerated gesticulations of the hands and forearms. and when one
says "Poppin" the person should jump at least one foot off the
ground, but never more than 3 feet.

to Loch Sloy

a snippet from today's work/study trip to loch sloy dam, just off the road up Loch Lomond.

OK Dougie has just been round, and I feel I should pass on some of his choice web cuts:

Firstly, a cool Yorkesque video from bizarre hiphop tripped out funky warp signed band Subtle. probably requires broadband.

Secondly, a nice experiment/performance in flash.

I'm going to add a link to Livesciences, as, despite being in direct competition with dBass (or because of it), they're darn cool.

c h r o m a s i a / 13 November, 2004 / tide down #3

Annoyingly, David over at Chromasia has been putting up a series of mind-numbingly brilliant pictures of the end of St. Annes pier - something that probably means little to most people but a lot to those of us from St. Annes. I'm most angered that I've never taken the time out to photograph my own home area. Maybe down to the assunmption that there is nothing of interest there - visitors to a place will always find it much more inspiring than those who have lived there a long time I find. He is making me see with new eyes, as it were.

My goodness. A photoblogger from, seemingly, Blackpool. And a bloody good one at that. He's certainly found a beautiful side of Blackppol that has often eluded me. Enjoy.

www.chromasia.com

Its things like this that make me love the MIT media lab.