Archive for October, 2007
Misplaced
I loved Long Way Round, both the TV series and the book. But it was far too short, with the last couple of episodes flying through too large an area geographically, and the US almost being missed out completely. Long Way Down started tonight, where rather than London to New York (going east) they’re doing John O’Groats to Cape Town, and this time it’s on the BBC rather than Sky.
That switch I hoped would mean more detail and a longer series, but my confidence seems to have been misplaced. It’s six episodes again, and having seen them spend the whole of the first episode just preparing to leave (and it should have been longer!) I just know they’re now going to skip through the rest quickly. At 14,000 miles to go we’re going to see them cover almost 3,000 miles per week and we’re therefore going to miss so much of the trip. They’re filming the whole thing anyway, so why are we limited to just six hours? Why can’t it be like a good US series, and do 24? Or even just 13? Is the trip really just boring and there really is only 6 shows worth of entertaining scenes?
Disappointingly, it seems like the DVD release is going to be exactly the same, with no increase in length. Isn’t this the perfect time for blu-ray or HD DVD to differentiate themselves by releasing an extended series on their fancy higher storage capacity medium?
Leopard
The new version of OS X is here, Leopard and of course I’ve got it.
On the positive side, it’s nice to finally have unified window elements, instead of the mish-mash of different window styles we had before. I can finally use the Finder with the sidebar switched on without being really annoyed at how bad it looks. Spaces is also great, I’ve set up my browser on one space, iTunes on another, Adium on another and Mail on another. It’s so easy to just flick between them, move apps around and for the first time, virtual desktops seem useful to me.
But there are negatives too. The new dock is just no good at all, the background is just too bright with not enough contrast to the icons, while the transparent menu bar just feels totally pointless. Stacks are the biggest mistake though. Since the very first version of OS X I’ve had my Applications and User folder in there and it was always good to not only have drag/drop access, but a single click way to open the window in the Finder. This functionality has now been ruined, because now when you click you get a stack, which if you have a lot of Applications or files, just isn’t big enough to let you see everything. So of course then you click the “show in finder” link, which means you’re now two clicks away instead of one. But worst of all, the stack shows the first icon from the folder you’ve dragged in there, so my Apps folder now shows as the Address Book icon, with some of the other app icons appearing behind. My Users folder shows as a document. What were they thinking? Why does my Applications folder look like Address Book you idiots. I’ve kind of got around this by dropping two alias’s in there instead, which gives me the one click access back, but removes my ability to drag and drop. I had to go get custom folder icons though, since the new folder icons are so bad you can no longer easily tell the difference between different ones. They’ve just broken the functionality, replacing it with something that’s worse.
It’s an odd release, because much of what is new doesn’t immediately effect me. Time Machine does nothing for me, because I don’t have an external drive and even if I did, it’s not exactly convenient having it plugged into a laptop all the time. I don’t actually create a lot of files, since everything is on remote servers, so the updates to Spotlight and the Finder don’t mean much either. Parental Control upgrades? Nope, no kids. Boot Camp? Nope, I use Parallels. iChat? Nope, I use Adium. But where it does get interesting is the sheer number of small improvements across the entire system. Notes and todo lists in a much faster Mail? Great. Virtual desktops that actually seem worthwhile? Excellent. Quick Look, for one keypress, instant previews of all files? Super.
But like all OS X releases, the real reason for having it is all the new developer tools under the hood. The sheer number of new API’s, and especially the introduction of Core Animation, is going to mean that in six months time we’re going to start seeing even more creative applications, as developers are able to leverage the new tools that they’ve been given to play with. No OS X user should want to be left out of all that potential, and that’s what makes upgrading a no-brainer.
Radiohead
Radiohead are selling their new album on their website, and it’s up to the buyer to decide how much they’re willing to pay. This is an interesting idea, and I applaud them for trying out a new way to distribute their music. But I have to say, I just don’t understand Radiohead fans, I really don’t. Despite a couple of listenable songs, their music is a bland, tuneless, droning noise. Whether £100, £10 or free, I still wouldn’t want to listen to it.
Benevolent
Our fish tank has been a bit green over the past few months, the algae has been getting worse ever since the move. I assumed it was just because the tank was closer to the window and was getting more light than it did before, but even with keeping the blinds around it closed and not putting on the tank light, it just didn’t seem to help. We did a water change at the weekend and cleaned it all out, but it just seems to have made things worse, the water never cleared and now it’s gone green.
I went to the pet shop tonight and bought a new filter, as well as some new stones to put at the bottom and make it look nicer, and did another water change while fitting it in. Thankfully this seems to have done the trick, and even now a few hours later it’s already starting to look a lot better. I was starting to get a little worried that they were going to die, so I feel quite proud of myself for managing to save them. I am like their God. And I am benevolent.
Layers
If you know me at all you’ll know that I like to do yearly Linux installs, just to see how far it’s come. Usually I’m disappointed, there’s always too many things wrong, from the way fonts are rendered to the inability to do simple things like play video from the web. It being October, the second Ubuntu release of the year has just arrived and I was keen to try it out.
Like every Linux installation I’ve done for the past few years, what I get right away is a lot of errors. It really doesn’t like my hard disks. I don’t know what it is, but it seems to think one of them is full of errors, even though checking the drive in Windows doesn’t show any problems and it always passes a fsck once finished. This happens on every boot too, but it seems to be unique to the PC I’m installing on. I also don’t understand why they’re now insisting on the default install being via a live CD. It’s actually worth installing via the alternate text-only download. The live CD is just slow, it takes forever to boot up and is totally useless once you finally get it going. It’s never a good experience because everything just seems to take forever to get anywhere.
Personal hardware and installation woes aside, once I actually got it on the machine, I can actually admit to being quite impressed. Fonts still don’t look right, the anti-aliasing is just wrong somehow. I don’t know what it is, it’s just wrong. Everything else however - very nice. A quick switch to a different theme (who picks brown as their default OS colour?) and everything is shiny and inviting. For the first time in a Linux install it’s also easy to activate Broadcaom wireless and Nvidia graphics card drivers straight from a menu, although you need to be connected to the net by some other means first (which is hard if you’re wireless only). Proper graphics card drivers also means you get to use all the funky animation effects, wobbly windows, transparencies etc, there’s even a nice control panel that lets you decide just how much funkiness you want. Disappointingly, despite this being the first version of Linux that automatically detected my dual monitors, it disabled the funk as soon as I tried to use them. Awww.
Also on the plus side, a nice looking version of Firefox, easy support for Flash and best of all - full video playing of Windows Media, Xvid, and anything else relevant without any real hassle. At last! They’re starting to realise that not everybody cares whether or not every piece of software they have is free (as in speech) or not and making it easy to install the closed source, proprietary stuff - and oh what a difference it makes. I even found a Perl editor that didn’t suck too much.
If all you’re looking for a is a computer to browse the web with, check some email, watch some videos and create some documents (which, let’s be honest, is most people) then we really are at the stage now where you could run Linux and be just fine. It’s taken a while, but the layers of polish are finally being applied, and at quite the rate. I look forward to seeing it again in another year.
Potter
This was just funny, as a Star Wars and Harry Potter fan.
Strider
I completed Episode Two in the late hours of this evening, and it kept up the quality right to the very end.
The final battle against the striders was exhausting, I actually had to take a break at one point and come downstairs to calm down and relax for a bit. I’d be absolutely useless in a real war. I had real difficulties firing those sticky bombs so that they would stick to the striders too, I’d either fire them way over their head, or fall short by a few hundred feet. In the end, I was getting them at the last moment, when they had slowed down to attack the base and I could get right underneath them. From that range not even I could miss.
The ending is brilliant, and there’s only a few games you can say that about. There’s a smoke trail that just looks incredible, even on the low-end hardware I was playing it on. And that’s followed by a final couple of minutes that actually stirred up a couple of emotions, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a game do that to me before. The only downside is that I probably now have to wait 18 months before the next one.
One thing I did find funny though, the end credits, scrolling up the screen with the jankiest scrolling motion I’ve seen in years. Even back on the Amiga could text be scrolled smoothly up a screen, but this was just laughable. After 7 hours of perfection, you’d think they’d spend longer than a few minutes writing a text scrolling routine.
Focussed
I don’t play PC games anymore, despite years of bashing away at Quake 3, the last one I launched was Half-Life 2: Episode One. I also completed it, and there’s not many games I can say that about. It was therefore with great anticipation that I loaded up Half-Life 2: Episode Two this morning, and now after a few hours play, I can honestly say that I loved every minute of it.
The original Half-Life 2 was great, but I got bored and never made it to the end, some sections just went on too long (especially the powerboat driving) and I just got fed up. Episode One improved on this significantly, the character of Alyx being beside you most of the way focussed the experience, and the short length was just what I want from a game. It still had the occasional problem though of bits that were just a little too frustrating or went on too long, such as the bit where you had to sprint across a darkened room filled with zombies to get into the elevator. Episode Two solves all of these problems, with a slightly longer gameplay time (around 6-7 hours) and more variety and focus than we’ve seen up to now.
Alyx is still a revelation, she’s still the most realistic character ever to grace a computer game, from the top quality voice acting and animation, to the way she moves around a level. And now there’s humour too, not just from her, but from some of the other characters in the game. They all make you feel a part of something larger, and the pacing is just sublime. No section stays longer than it’s welcome, and you’re constantly moving from area to area, each one better designed than the last.
I really can’t recommend it enough, even if first person shooters are not usually your thing, this really is on another plain.
Shorter
As much of a surprise to you as it is to me, whatentertainment is now simply whatfilm. Well of course it’s not that much of a surprise to me, I’ve been planning it for a while, I just didn’t think that it was going to come together as quickly as it did this evening.
The change comes for four reasons really. 1) it’s a shorter, easier domain name, and that’s always a good thing for a website to have. b) It’s been a while since I reviewed anything that wasn’t a film, and that’s likely all I’m going to review again in the future. I don’t play enough games, I don’t read enough books, I never knew what to say about the albums I’ve heard and I never thought reviewing individual television episodes was the best use of my time. And fourthly, I’ve got some ideas for what I’d like to see the site expand into, should I find the motivation to sit down and write a new content management system for it.
There’s two new reviews up there, the first from me for a while, and I have kept a list of every film that I’ve seen over the past few months, so hopefully there will be more soon. Or hopefully I can persuade more people to contribute.
Season
So after watching the first episode of a whole bunch of new shows, I haven’t watched the second episode of any of them. And in fact there’s a whole bunch of first episodes I never got around to as well. I don’t know what it is, because it’s not like I’ve given up on television completely. I’m still watching each weeks new episodes of House, Bones, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men and South Park. Maybe that’s just enough television for somebody, and I don’t need any more.
I tried to watch the second episode of Chuck, but switched it off after ten minutes because it was so boring, and I tried to watch the first episode of Life and did the same thing. It seems like this year is missing that one great new show that you have to see (like Heroes last year) and instead we’ve just got a whole bunch of average. I don’t think anything has been cancelled yet, but it surely can’t be long before they start falling.
There’s still plenty time for me to catch up, but I don’t particularly feel like I’m missing much.
Splat
This is what happens when you buy a dinner from a supermarket that uses a cheap plastic for their containers, therefore rendering them floppy and useless when hot.
Boating
Andrea and I were out on my bosses boat, and I didn’t get sea sick at all.
Squiggles
So I have a shiny new house which for the most part, is all ship-shape. There are a few minor issues, a cupboard door hung too high, a cracked tile on the lower roof, a shower that occasionally trips the switch on the electrical box and switches off while you stand there, soap in your eyes.
When I had my pre-inspection, I noticed various lumps and bumps on some of the walls in different rooms. Some of these were where the plaster wasn’t very smooth when it was painted over, others were where the paint had dripped or splattered to leave some unnecessary blemishes. I pointed this out and it was added to my snagging list. When I had my final inspection, none of these issues seemed to have been resolved. This was explained as a confusion between the sales woman and the builders, as while we had naturally assumed the master bedroom to be bedroom 1 and the smaller one to be bedroom 2, it turns out that the builder counts the bedrooms starting from the bathroom and moving out, so they were in fact the other way around. So the builders had gone to look and couldn’t see anything, and had therefore just crossed it off the list, not being sensible enough to go check the other room just in case.
Anyway, to stop this happening again and remove any further chance of confusion, the sales woman drew on the walls over the bumps with her pen, putting big squiggly lines right over the top of them. It probably seemed like a reasonable idea, and certainly made it difficult to not see where the problems lay. The trouble is, the builders have never come back to check my list of problems, so the squiggles have been totally unnecessary. Instead I get comments every time somebody sees one, “what kids have been drawing on your walls?”. The lumps were so minor, they would probably have been forgotten about in time, minor issues seem less noticeable once you have furniture in and pictures on the walls. No chance of that here though, not with the scribbles of a four year old to remind me.
Device
My iPod Touch turned up today, and it really is a spectacular piece of hardware. It’s so light, so thin, and the screen is so big, it’s amazing just how far the iPod has come since it’s debut. I’ve not used an iPhone before either, so getting to use what is essentially the same interface for the first time is as much of a joy as I hoped it would be. I’ve watched all the videos, I’ve read and heard all the comments about it and how it would work, but for it to actually be like that in reality is still a surprise. It really does work just like they say it will, and the first time you do a pinch movement and see it zoom in on a photo, or you rotate the device and see the photo rotate with you, a smile is likely to spread over your face.
The video quality is excellent, I didn’t experience any of the contrast problems or washed out issues that some people have been reporting online. I also worked out that I can convert any of my existing videos to play on there using Videolan in about ten minutes, which is perfectly reasonable. I got the 16GB model, and even though I’ve put my last years worth of photos on there, plus a couple of videos and some music, there’s still plenty of space. I need to shift the music around on my network before I can properly fill it up however. The reality is that there isn’t an iPod out there that can take my whole collection, so I’m always going to have to cut it back somehow. And 16GB is more than enough space to keep you going for a good few days without needing to repeat anything. Plus I usually listen to the same artists over and over anyway.
If somebody from 20 years ago saw this thing, they just wouldn’t believe it. It’s all your music, your photos, your TV shows/movies, all your contacts and calendar, and thanks to the internet connection; your library, news feed, and the sum of human knowledge, all in a device that fits in your pocket. I can’t even being to imagine what we’ll be putting in our pockets in another 20 years.
