Archive for the ‘Blog etc.’ Category
Join Me…(Part One)
Posted by Paul | Filed under Blog etc., Essays, Life, Tech
Yesterday, amid much fanfare, I joined Twitter. I’d been sceptical about it for quite some time, but also aware that it was seen as a ‘good thing’ by a large number of people that I was keen to get involved with in terms of work, so I thought I’d give it a go. Coupled with the ongoing use of Facebook, and the concurrent questioning of similar tools by parents and others, I set out with the intention of writing a blog post on why Twitter, Facebook and even blogging can be useful and fun, and *why* I feel the need to share my innermost (Well, sort of) thoughts with, potentially, the global population (or more likely at the moment, one or two people at most). I haven’t got round to fully fleshing this post out yet, so I may end up returning to this theme, but for the moment, here’s some quotes from a blog post by Jemima Kiss who sums up the reasons and advantages of this type of social interaction far better than (currently) I can - although I’ll have a go soon…
“Think of Twitter messages in three ways: functional messages (’Does anyone know a good site for cheap flights?’), discussion (’Can someone give me feedback on these photos?’) or, for the more poetically inclined, haiku-style notes about your day or observations on life. These are fascinating mini-insights into fleeting moments in our life that we may not remember otherwise and become quite special, in retrospect. (’Beautiful day, and walking with Mum by the river. Hoping the apple crumble doesn’t burn while we’re out!’)”
“There are so many possible uses for Twitter. It’s a very functional group messaging service - if your ten closest mates were signed up you could say ‘I’m in the pub’ and would only have to send one message instead of paying for ten. And you could also use it for more creative projects, something I’d like to explore when I clone myself and have some time to do ‘art’ outside of all-consuming work time.”
“It’s far easier to dismiss something out of hand than to be open-minded, creative and playful.”
So there you go. Join me - it’s free, it’s fun, and it’s up to you. Gwan, gwan, gwan, gwan, GWAN!
Dangling on a Motorbike
Posted by Paul | Filed under Blog etc., Doctor Who, Life, Tech
Grrr. Well, this isn’t working quite as I’d hoped. I am going to try to make more of an effort to post here. I’ve been tagging various things on delicious with the intention of then commenting on them here, but with no result, obviously. Check the link instead to see what might have been (including evidence of the bees returning..) So, in the hope of bucking the trend, let’s bring you today’s “misinterpretation of the day”:
From this BBC news report:
“The man was taken outside and left on a motorbike, but no further action was taken against him by police officers present.”
I can just imagine it - hurled out of the building, and placed carefully on a nearby motorbike…
Perhaps that’s not quite what they meant, though…
P.S. There is something on your back! Poor Donna 
Start from the beginning, skip to the end…
Posted by Paul | Filed under Blog etc., Comedy, TV, Tech
…and so begins the start of my (hopefully semi-) regular posting. Few things to mention today:
1. iPlayer 2.0 finally launched. It’s looking pretty good - having worked on the 1.0 version, I know that some of these features have been talked about for a while, so it’s great to see them finally out there. Of particular interest to me, and a feature which others might have missed, is the ability to watch/listen to something, leave the page and then come back to the same point automatically when you return.
I’ve not tried it out yet, but given that I like to watch stuff from iPlayer on the Wii whilst I’m having my breakfast, but I rarely have time to finish a whole programme, this will be a godsend, for instance when watching programmes like Doctor Who Confidential or…
2. MeeBox - The latest offering from Adam Buxton (of Adam & Joe fame) - reminds me of a cross between ‘The Fast Show‘, ‘The Adam and Joe Show‘ (of course) and Armando Iannucci’s ‘Time Trumpet‘. It’s apparently been a year in the making (or at least in the scheduling - and it’s pretty good. Some bits are funnier than others, but it’s great to see older characters making a reappearance (BaadDad, the alien from Takeover TV etc.), but I can’t help think there’s something missing…Joe?
Now that’s probably unfair, since I’m sure they’d rather not be seen as being joined at the hip, but I get the feeling that, given the short nature of the sketches, it loses something when Mr. Buxton appears in *every* one of them, almost straight away…
Worth checking out, though…(available until Monday morning)
3. Although it looks like I’ve got my arse into gear just as she’s leaving on a summer holiday, I just wanted to give a mention to Caroline Clifford’s superb “Local Girl’s Day in Pictures” - a very funny, appealing blog made up (mostly) of cartoons describing the life of a typical North-East Londoner (I hope that’s an fair description…)