Ali's Space: Blog

BBQ Fun

Mon, 05 May 2008 09:22:21 GMT

...And it stopped raining. Woop.

We had our first BBQ in the new garden yesterday which was fun. Really great to catch up with everyone, and enjoy a few drinks. Jo cooked, we all ate and drank, I didn't have to drive.... Good deal really!

After the food came Leanne's drinking games...

And, of course, no party would be complete without somebody falling over (and for once, it wasn't Maz)...

And, us adults, rediscovered the fun of balloons...

More photos here

Ready For The BBQ

Sun, 04 May 2008 09:19:28 GMT

We got around to finishing the garden yesterday (after my manly effort a few weeks ago), ready for a BBQ this afternoon.

Here's the before and after...

Before

There once was a pile of mud...

...and next to it was more mud...

...And then along came Ali and his power tool...

...And his elves (his mother, Jo and Elle)...

...Ali rotorvated, Jo and Elle raked and flattened, and Ali's mum laid the turf with precision...

...The next week, Ali got bored, and bought some Australian palms and some funky grasses (not actually their technical name), and some of those bark chipping things...

...Then Elle planted some vegetables, Nathan bought a horrible garden "Snail on a Ball", the grass grew, Leanne bought Jo and knome called Jim, the furniture and BBQ were put up, and the final result was a garden...

After

...The end.

BBQ later. And it's raining.

David Ford: New York

Fri, 02 May 2008 11:52:24 GMT

But all these good ideas, they never come to all that much I know.
So raise a glass to liberty, and let it go.

Stumbled across this rare track the other day (from a limited edition CD he gave out at some gigs a few years ago) - it's quite a cool song.

A much better present (Sam's brownies)...

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:53:57 GMT

Far better than a Snail on a Ball is the present that Sam gave me for maintaining her web site.

A swear these are the best tasting brownies I have ever had. The batch lasted around 7 hours with the housemates around.

Further verification of their tastiness - the last time Sam made me some, I was in London cutting the 5:13 trailer. Whilst we were editing, a squirrel came through the window and took one straight from the cooling tray. Lucky thing.

If you're going to buy me a present...

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:11:29 GMT

...at least get me something nice. I mean, come on:

How am I even supposed to pretend to be grateful for a "Snail on a Ball" garden ornament? Thanks Nathan. Ah well, having a BBQ next weekend. Hopefully somebody might accidentally smash it.

David Ford - Go To Hell's Kitchen

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:37:50 GMT

My absolute favourite artist of all time, David Ford, has recorded a live version of his recent(ish) single, Go To Hell, in a kitchen in New York beginning with kitchen utensils and a looping system... Genuis. Gutted I missed his last tour.

He's on tour in the states at the moment.

Mutant Cows

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:29:46 GMT

This is why: a) we have artists, and, b) why I probably got a D in GCSE art.

Link

(Actually, the real reason I really got a D in GCSE art was that my crazy art teacher thought it would make my "Dolphin Shoe" (for some odd reason, we had to make animal themed shoes out of paper mache) more authentic if we left some dead fish in it over the half term break. Anyway, needless to say, the shoe not only smelt vile, but the room couldn't be used for a week, and everyone else's work had to be thrown away after moderation)

Back to work....

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:40:32 GMT

I used to think it was a bit pointless to take time off work, and not go away or something, but it's been quite nice to be honest. I haven't done a great deal, really. I was sort of planning to get stuck into a couple of projects for Chaos but I ended up managing to avoid work for the entire week, which is a record (I even managed to work in Mexico last year, and had to work for two days when in Paris last year).

Anyway, the most productive I've been last week involved me doing my garden. I'm feeling sort of old and grown up typing this, but, yes, I managed to turn the soil and rubble pit that was my back garden into a full blown garden, with a lawn, flower bed (complete with palms) and a vegetable patch. Heck, I even hired out and used a rotovator for the task. Anyone who knows me should know that when it comes to DIY, I'm beyond useless (my last attempt, putting together a bedside cabinet resulted in a drawer being constructed before realising I forgot to put the bottom in), so I'm sort of proud of myself in an oh shit, I'm growing up kind of way. The lawn was a group effort mind. I rotovated, Elle and Jo raked and jumped on boards to level it, and then my mum helped lay the turf. Thankfully, they're still building houses behind us, so we could dump the excess dozen loads of unused mud on the new gardens (although they wised up to us midweek, and have locked all the gates). So, yeah, all ready for Summer BBQs.

Otherwise I have: Drank in the afternoon whilst sitting in the Royal's beer garden in hot sunshine which got me excited about living here throughout the Summer (especially when the bars open on the waterfront), completed Condemned 2 (the scariest game I've ever played) with Leanne, tried teaching bunny tricks and failed but at least he's toilet trained now, went shopping in Bath with Ben and bought some new clothes and three new albums (Barenaked Ladies, One Republic and Scouting For Girls), read a book (something I only seem to do when I have time off) called Plum Island, reached a 68% score on Brain Challenge (Elle is still hovering around the 9% mark), drank a lot of coffee in a lot of coffee shops, got back into some sort of fitness routine (realising I'd paid out £90 in gym fees over the last few months and I hadn't used it was a good motivator), read the scripts for the new movies I'm editing this year, caught up with Dave and Jade and met their new baby, Jack, and otherwise, just sort of chilled out...

Maths Software Enters Beta Testing

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:27:58 GMT

Finally, after many many (about seven?) months worth of work, the project I've been developing for the London Grid For Learning, has entered beta testing. The project, developed for Electronic Blackboard, features games and activities for every item on the national curriculum.

It's been a bit of a hard slog, but at least I know, for sure, that I am smarter than a ten year old.

Which means, I can actually have some time off. Woop. Ten whole days worth. So, if anybody fancies a catch up, give me a shout. Hoping some of the Clevedon lot might be back (those that are still students, at least).

More details here on the maths stuff

New "work stuff" blog...

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:54:23 GMT

Just set up a blog on my work web site (Chaos Created). I'd imagine most of the stuff I post there will get duplicated here, but if you want a nose around some of my work stuff, the link is here.

New Movie Details...

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:24:51 GMT

A few details have been released via a cast advert for the first of the two feature films I'll be editing on this year.

Perantauan Pictures and Befour Media UK, the team behind S'kali are now casting for their new feature-length horror/drama, written by Arivind Abraham and Keith Leong and to be directed by the former.

The film now has a name, 5:13, and I had an almost-final draft of the script sent over last week and I think it's going to turn out to be a great film. It has a far more universal appeal than S'kali and horror/thriller films from smaller film companies seem to be doing rather well as of late.

The film begins shooting on 5th May.

Teaser Trailer

Alton Towers

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:41:12 GMT

Went up to Derby to see my brother (and his new house) and we hit Alton Towers yesterday, along with Jo, Leanne, Rebecca and Maz.

It was a pretty fun day, and a nice break from the never ending projects I've been working on. Alton Towers was pretty much dead (great for us). The longest queue was ten minutes and for the most part, we could just walk onto any ride we wanted. Air is still easily the best coaster in the UK (Stealth at Thorpe comes a close second).

So we pretty much had the park to ourselves, allowing multiple rides on everything (along with the excessive riding of the river rapids - Maz came prepared with her umbrella.... Leanne got soaked).

Jo has his height/coaster phobia (although, he did ride Air), so because of odd numbers, we took it in turns to ride with "Justin", our imaginary friend for the day, hence the odd photos. That's me and Justin in the photo above, sat in the front seats of Rita Queen Of Speed. I also lost on Duel.... I blame my gun.

Anyway, it was a cool long weekend, and now I'm into a 3 day week before the bank holiday weekend (wrapping up, finally, on a major project), which shall be a designated lazy weekend, unless we get some nice weather in which case I'm going to start on the garden, as bunny needs a run around.

Photos from Alton Towers are here.

Elleism: Number 756

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:01:34 GMT

Another reason why I love living with Elle...

"I used to love silent movies as a kid. What were they called? The talkies?"

We Have a Rabbit

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:11:10 GMT

I'm not sure exactly what happened. Maybe blame the freak weather for limiting what I could do with my day off yesterday, but I seem to have bought a rabbit on a random trip to the garden centre to look at garden furniture. He is actually adorable. He's a Netherland Dwarf Rabbit, which apparently are meant to be quite skitty, but he's beyond sociable and seems content to just snuggle up, he's been out with Elle watching Jeremy Kyle and daytime trash for most of the day, and then out with me since I got home from work.

So he's living in my office until I get the garden done, which is great as I can now talk to myself all day and not feel quite as crazy.

"Big Day Out" - My Next Project

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:09:52 GMT

I had a meeting yesterday about my next project for Electronic Blackboard. Once the maths project ships, and the Climate Project is through (and I've had a week or so to recover), I'll be moving onto Big Day Out, a series of flash based applications commissioned by the UK's learning grids.

One of these projects was commissioned for the South West Grid for learning, and if you want to check it out, the link is below.

It's a neat online service, built in Flash and hooked into a database that allows children to explore certain areas of the UK and discover what they're famous for. They can then complete an activity, and every activity has an outcome that can be stored in a scrapbook for the individual school, shared with any other pupil on the network and emailed to anybody with an email account. For example, I could go in, visit Weston Super Mare, build a sandcastle, and then share the results.

From the press release for the West Midlands version (which I'll be working on):

Did you blink and miss this year’s summer? Not to worry, you can now revisit the Summer by making sand castles in Bournemouth, go fossil hunting in Dorset or have a day at the beach in Cornwall. These are just some of the many Foundation and KS1 modelling activities available to all schools at http://bdo.swgfl.org.uk .
After completing the activities pupils can send postcards with their results. The activities are designed to be facilitated by an adult and promote discussion. They are ideal as whole class activities on an interactive whiteboard.
The 15 activities have been produced by i-Board in collaboration with the South West Grid for Learning. More activities are planned for all around the country including the West Midlands. WMnet are working with i-Board to produce 15 activities which will highlight the best of the region especially in terms of industrial heritage.

If you fancy a play, you can have a look at one of the South West builds here. There is a cool interface that is being worked on at the moment that will take pupils between the different areas of the country in a similar style to Google Earth.

Play with the South West Big Day Out here

The Work "Home Stretch"...

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:02:45 GMT

Coming to the end of a couple of major projects over the next week or two. The Climate Change project for Birmingham schools is nearly complete (it's just going through a bit of tweaking/bug catching) and I've developed two out of the three activities for this one, and the i-board Maths project, which I've been working on since Q3 last year is just about complete too.

The maths project has been absolutely huge - it's basically activities to cover the entire curriculum for reception, year one and year two, tied together with a pupil and teacher interface and will be appearing in all London primary schools this year. Apparently there's 264 games in there now. That explains the tiredness.

Also, a couple of web projects, including the redesign for i-Candy, a salon and spa in Bristol, are just awaiting final text.

So, the plan is to get a week or two off an unwind a bit. I seem to have fallen into the trap of having very little free time, and there's a few things I wouldn't mind doing. It'd be nice just to get away from the computer, catch up with some friends that I've not seen for a while, maybe get away for a couple of days, turf my garden ready for the Summer, play some games, catch a movie or two and just relax a bit.

Oh, and sleeping in would be nice.

Film Ratings - The "Elle" Test

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:57:58 GMT

I'd like to put forward a proposal for rating films in the future that wipes the floor with the BBFC classifications. It's what's become known as the Elle test.

The procedure is simple. Sit Elle down in front of a scary film. If she's ok, the film passes the Elle test and we can label it a 15. If she throws up, the film fails the Elle test - label it an 18.

Black Christmas failed the Elle test last night, and it wasn't very pleasant for anybody... Although incest and the consumption of human eyeballs is enough to put anyone off (and makes Black Christmas the least Christmassy Christmas film ever). Previous films to fail the Elle test include The Descent (where she mistook a pile of twigs outside our house for bones) and Hostel (although that may have been my fault for bursting into the room with a drill at an opportune moment - I'm a joy to live with sometimes).

Our New Neighbour??

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:29:03 GMT

Yes, apparently, Johnny Depp is moving in with his family down the road (joining other Port Marine "celebrities" - term used very loosely - such as Johnny Briggs, Helen Adams and one of the Atomic Kittens). Leanne, ever so slightly confused when I told her, was under the impression that he was moving in with us.... Elle, on the other hand, is already investing in a camera and a pair of binoculars.

Chaos Created: Climate Change House Game

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:06:00 GMT

I'm working on another climate change game for Midlands schools.

I finished the transport game yesterday, and I'm now working on a second game which teaches primary school children about saving energy (and therefore creating less CO2) around the house.

It's quite a simple idea - there's a house with two children in, and they're cold and shivering. The pupils have to make them comfortable, and they can either do this by turning up the heating, or by doing other things, such as putting more clothes on the children and closing windows and doors.

It's quite a simple concept, but I've ended up having to code up a working boiler system. I'm sure it won't be appreciated by six year olds, but the game has an "outside temperature" a "standard house temperature" which increases and decreases based on the number of windows and doors open, and a "target temperature" on the boiler which the pupils can change.

Anyway, the boiler kicks in when the target temperature is higher than the temperature of the house. Switch off the heating and the temperature will drop (slowly, if windows and doors are shut, quicker if they are open) to the "standard house temperature" (which again, is lower if windows are open). Whack the heating up and the boiler fires up, creating CO2, and warms up the house until it hits the target temperature, then it switches itself off, like a thermostat. The temperature will try and drop, but every time it decreases by a degree, the boiler will fire up to try and maintain the house temperature.

The children then have their own feedback system - they freeze and shiver, remain comfortably happy, or sweat depending on how much they are wearing and the temperature of the room they are in.

It's a pretty complex system, but it gets the message across. The pupils are timed and have to maintain the happiness/comfort level of the children in the game, and obviously the best way to do that is to stick some extra clothes on.

Once they've completed the game, and the two others (saving energy around the house, and the transport game), they're issued with a printable certificate of their eco-friendly-ness.

Chaos Created: Climate Change

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:23:52 GMT

Been busy over the past couple of weeks working on a climate change project:

The project, developed for primary school children, features three games, as well as a narrated story. The games explore how children can have an effect on our planet and explores the effects of transportation and the use of electricity. Chaos has developed one of the three games for use within the project.
In one game, developed by Chaos, children can decide by simple drag-and-drop how a street of children travel to school and how much fuel they can save by doing things such as car sharing, or cycling.

The game I'm working on sits in with two other games (one of which is about saving energy around the house), and has been commissioned for use within primary schools in the Midlands.

The end result is quite impressive. Children can see how much CO2 (Collin CO2) is produced, and then see news reports from around the world in a sort of "if everybody did what you have done" manner.

Maz's Cake

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:23:31 GMT

It was Maz's birthday a few weeks back, so we threw her a surprise kiddies party with jelly and ice cream, sausage rolls, cheese and pineapple sticks... Everything she loves!

Highlight of the night was Jo and Elle's cake!

Looks like something from Pimp That Snack.

Oh, and this is why I should stay out of the kitchen when they're cooking...

Chaos Created: EJ Rocks

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:58:54 GMT

Last week, EJ Rocks went live. It's a flash web site I created for Rhoda Rocks, a fashion store based in Clifton Village which is hoping to increase their online business in addition to promoting their shop and products.

There's an online store element coming shortly, initially powered by ebay, with a view to creating a bespoke store later in the year.

Anyway, the site is here.

(Very Late) Happy New Year

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:23:00 GMT

Ok, so it's February, but it's been a manic couple of months. We moved up to Port Marine just before Christmas, which is great. The new place is great.

Port Marine's nice. There's a lot more around me now, which is great. Gemma and Jamie live just on the other side of the water too which is nice, and Maz is slightly closer now too. The down side is that Elle has been having night terrors about the local swans (her bird phobia isn't helped much by the marina, nor is it helped by Leanne's stuffed peacock being hidden in her bed). They're readying some more bars on the waterfront at the moment, which will be nice.

Christmas was cool - spent the day with the parentals, then had people over in the evening, and had a New Years party/housewarming which was fun, I think.

Since then, I've been busy on a few projects during the week, and just been enjoying having the weekends pretty much free (the work/life balance is better these days) for catching up with friends.

Hopefully going to be off to California later in the year. Planning on doing the Pacific coast drive around November, if all goes to plan.

And I'm Off....

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:15:12 GMT

...Well, Friday, but I'm losing my broadband connection here tomorrow.

The whole moving plan kind of went through a lot faster than I thought, but that's not such a bad thing. So, a day or two from now, I'll be living up at Port Marine along with Elle and Leanne who are going to be renting the spare rooms, which will be much fun!

It's such a nice place, and there's a lot more around - bars, restaurants and a leisure centre at the end of the road - and the harbour and waterfront should provide a more inspiring outlook than the motorway roundabout which I can see from here.

Oh, and I should probably recruit some flat-packers as my DIY is about as shit as my sense of direction. In the time it took Jo and my brother to assemble all the furniture for my current place, I managed to construct a shelf for the computer desk, and a drawer which I managed to forget to put the bottom in. So, I'm a bit of a DIY charity case.

Anyway, I lose my land line number tomorrow along with the interweb, so if you need to get in touch, drop a line to my mobile.

Chaos Created: S'kali opens London Filmmakers Convention

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:02:15 GMT

Just found out that the film I co-edited on last year, S'kali, is being shown in London:

Perantauan Entertainment is pleased to announce that S'kali will be opening the London Filmmakers Convention on 07/12/2007. We are pleased to finally have the film shown in London.
The screening is free and open to all members of the public.
Here are the details:
Location: Westbourne Studios, 242 Acklam Road, London W10 5JJ
Time: 1800hrs
Westbourne Studios Website
Festival Website

So, if you're nearby and want to see what it's all about, pop on down!

Chaos Created: Animal Height and Length Games

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:34:28 GMT

As part of my programming work with i-board, and their Online Club interactive service, we've released "Animal Height and Length" as the latest topic today.

It's a series of six games/interactive screens, for use within schools (normally on interactive whiteboards), geared towards year one.

There's a couple of really cool ones in this series - Frog High Jump and Ostrich Long Jump, which were kind of fun to work on (and Jack, our artist, did a great job with these). If you fancy wasting a few minutes (and you think you're smarter than a five year old), you can play them for free:

http://www.iboard.co.uk/thismonthfree/

We're also going live with our Christmas activities later in the week - previous year's ones can be found at:

http://www.iboard.co.uk/christmas/

David Ford: I'm Alright Now

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 11:07:37 GMT

The tide came in and nearly buried us here,
But we saw things like they wouldn’t believe.
You hear a lot of stories about love and romance
But I swear nothing quite like you and me.

And every scar sits like a marker.
Every line on the face is a small souvenir.
Of all the places be they good or be they bad,
That we stopped into on the journey to here.

Find more videos like this on Independiente

David Ford's just announced he's releasing "I'm Alright Now" as his third single from his second album, "Songs For The Road" in January. I love this song. It was one of just two songs that I hadn't already heard him perform live before the album came out, and it's amazing.

Off to see him live at his Milk and Cookies charity gig later in the month. These gigs are amazing.

Two movies I'll be working on next year

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:34:33 GMT

Perantauan Entertainment has made an official announcement regarding their forthcoming features:

Perantauan will be shooting 2 movies in the middle of 2008, both of which are fully funded and green-lit.

I'll be editing on both of these films next Summer. I believe that the horror film (teaser trailer here) begins shooting around April 2008, with the edit to begin immediately afterwards. The second film is being shot straight after the first, so it looks like I'll be tied up with editing for several months. I'm not entirely sure on the release details yet.

I think I'm most excited about the horror film. The plot is actually rather intelligent and the drama is handled in an Open Water/Right At Your Door kind of way, which should make for an interesting movie. I love horror/thriller films anyway.

Trailer - Untitled Horror Project starring Azwin Andy

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:45:30 GMT

The teaser trailer I worked on in London yesterday has just hit the net. It's a short trailer, designed really to do two things. Firstly, it was to test the HD equipment that the crew will be using on the shoot (which included a rather tasty HD camera, and a MovieTube ST Lens Adapter) and secondly to start the publicity wagon for the film itself.

The quality of the test shots was quite stunning, coupled with the lighting. It was my job to take the footage, edit it together, and mix the audio track, which is quite effective.

Obviously, the film doesn't begin shooting until the Spring, so a trailer will no doubt follow around that time, which will start to reveal the story. I heard the synopsis yesterday, and it sounds like it's going to be a great film. It reminded me of Right At Your Door, but for the horror genre, and is inspired by real events.

Anyway, turn out your lights, and crank up the volume.

And the trailer is done...

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:56:51 GMT

I've just finished cutting the trailer for a new feature film I'll be editing next year. It's a Befour co-production. Luke (DOP) and Arivind (Writer/Director) filmed the footage last night and it's very effective as a teaser trailer. I've been editing in London today and we've just seen the cut on the big screen and it's quite chilling!

The trailer is being circulated now as a teaser (the feature enters production in the Spring). I'll upload it when I get home.

Off for some ice cream at Tower Bridge. London's so pretty this time of year.

London

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:51:25 GMT

Ugh, it's early! I'm in London today working on a trailer for a new film. The footage was shot last night, and we're putting the edit together today, and no doubt it'll escape, magically, onto You Tube by the end of the week.

Chaos Created: Postcards

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:38:29 GMT

I took delivery a week or two ago of 10,000 flyers I designed, split between Look It's My Car and Pixartra, two social web sites I developed recently for clients.

It's been quite hard to attract visitors to brand new social web sites, but we're getting there. Hits this week are four times what they were last week, so we're tweaking the sites a bit over the next week or three to encourage a better sign-up rate.

Anyway, here are the designs...

Pixartra

This postcard was designed largely for mail-outs to art clubs and artists. The brief for this was to design a postcard that gets over the message of the site which is "social art" - the idea of sharing art/photographs with others. Although the site is hardly crammed with users yet, the ones we do have seem to be using the site a lot, and uploading some really great collections. Visit the site.

Look It's My Car

The brief for this one is slightly different. The postcard needed to be striking, as these will mostly be handed out at car shows, and left in student bars at universities and exhibitions. I tried to include some striking imagery to bring together cars of all types (classic, modified, new, American....). Visit the site.

Chaos Created: Divali Games

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 10:49:50 GMT

The Divali games I created for i-board's Online Club is now live, and part of this month's free trial too.

Try our new Divali topic (found in Green, for Year 2). Pupils can explore the story of Rama and Sita through storytelling and sequencing activities and design a firework display.

http://iboard.co.uk/thismonthfree

Thorpe Fright Night

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:58:57 GMT

Headed off to Thorpe Park yesterday with Maz for their Halloween Fright Night and to get Maz over her fear of The Detonator (she passed out last time we went).

Of course, Maz lived up to her name (Maz Fell) by falling over before we even got into the park. It's a tradition for her to fall over at least once per trip.

We hit Stealth first (0-80mph in two seconds) and a few of the smaller rides, then did Maz's phobia rides: The Slammer and Detonator.

For Halloween, Thorpe had added three 'experiences' - basically, these were mazes set up like asylums with live actors inside to, basically, scare the shit out of you. You had to go through in a sort of conga line with five other people. Maz, despite injuring the man in front of her by squeezing his neck out of fear, did pretty well (although she did get upset with one of the actors - "I don't want to play! I just don't want to play any more!") compared to the girl in front of us who broke down in tears on the floor.

We hit Nemises Inferno after dark, which was amazing, rode the river rapids, left the park, got lost, and ended back at the park half an hour later (in a spectacular game of "let's ignore the sat nav") before heading home.

Photos are here

Port Marine

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:33:07 GMT

Woke up and started work early today, which gave me time for an afternoon of apartment hunting with Maz. Took a look in at the Mirage (we had to wear hard hats and reflective clothing.... We looked so cool) and also the Spinnaker (which I've been quite keen on for a while) and a few other places up the waterfront.

I'm definitely quite keen on Port Marine, there's a lot of creative businesses moving up here, and a whole load of commercial space which should be occupied by coffee shops, restaurants and bars. My problem with where I am now is that there's not a great deal around.

The Mirage

The apartment available at the rear

The show apartment

The Mirage is rather cool. The only apartments left that I can afford are on the back, so they sort of miss the marina views. But they're rather swanky, with pop up power sockets in the kitchen. Ah, the things that captivate me.

There's also a rather nice balcony (from the bedroom and the living room), but the view's a bit sucky. All the front ones overlook the Marina though, but I'm too late.

The Spinnaker

The Spinnaker is next door to the Mirage. I'm sort of in love with these. Wrap around balconies, giant floor to ceiling windows, and Marina views. Plus they're sticking in a Jacks Brasserie underneath, a Bottelino's next door, and a coffee shop (Boston Tea Party) under the Mirage.

The Others

I looked at these a couple of years ago with Andrew. They were pretty hot at the time, overlooking the Marina. But then they stuck the Mirage in the way. Ha. But yeah, they're still nice. And I could spend my days staring out the windows at what might have been.

There were a few more a bit further up, not quite as nice but still pretty enough. But, at this point, we got distracted a bit and went for lunch with Dave and Jade.

So yeah, a productive afternoon. I really quite like the area, there's a lot going on, and it would be nice to have places to go to if I feel like escaping for a break from work.

Just got back from Saw IV. Maz nearly threw up. Marc jumped like a girl. Gemma was brave.

Thorpe in the morning!

Crazy (Non) Customers

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:22:42 GMT

I set myself up with an 0845 number last month as part of my ongoing battle to differentiate between work and social.

Anyway, last week, a phone call came through on the work number from an elderly lady, and Jo answered the call and had a conversation similar to this:

Jo: Good evening, Chaos Created.
Lady: Hello, I'm ringing up about a television I ordered which hasn't been delivered.
Jo: Errr.... We're a media design company.
Lady: A what?
Jo: I think you have the wrong number. We work on things such as web sites.
Lady: Yes, yes, that's right - I did order my television from a website.

Fantastic. Apparently I'm now responsible for the entire Internet.

Even better still was an answer phone message that was left on the business number yesterday. The funny thing is that the outgoing message describes exactly what we do with regards to web design, and offers the web site address as a reference point, which is probably why there was such a long pause after the beep whilst the lady hesitated over the number she dialed, before she finally spoke:

"Err... Yes, hello there. I'm ringing to to enquire about my flights and tickets that I booked with you to....... Erotica...... er.... at the end of the month. Could somebody call me back as I'm really very eager. My name is Maxine....."

I have a feeling Maxine may have been into a completely different kind of media production.

Busy, busy....

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:05:32 GMT

Things are as crazy as ever...

Work wise, I'm working on a new Maths CD-ROM for the London "Grid" which should see the product pushed out to all London schools. It's a bit of a major product - the essence of it is that it provides at least one interactive activity/game for every single item on the curriculum for reception, year one and year two.

In between that, I've been working on some i-board Divali games which should be released later today. I'm also busy working on a couple of web sites and, a couple of weeks ago I submitted a proposal for what could be a decent project for me in the new year.

Non-work wise, I'm off house hunting later this afternoon with Maz - I've got my eye on a couple of places, but thought I'd see what else is out there. Tomorrow, I've got the day off, so I'm off up to Thorpe Park with Maz. There's a spare seat or two in the car if anybody else fancies it. Off to see Saw IV tonight as well.

What's been really good, over the last couple of weeks, is that a couple of ongoing situations have sorted themselves out at last. Over the least year or so I've had to be responsible for a couple of things/people in ways that maybe I shouldn't have been. In many ways, it was my own fault for letting the situations get as bad as they did, but it's difficult to say no to people you care about and, in all honesty, I'd do it again for the same people. But I'm glad that it's all sorted. What's really nice is that both of these people sorted it out for themselves and so suddenly I've got a lot more freedom and a few fewer responsibilities and I'm getting to be in a position where I can see the work I've been putting into projects paying off, and better still, I'm able to enjoy it. Hence the random day off in the middle of the week.

It's quite nice really. And it will be even better once I've moved. I'm sort of in the mind-set of it all now. As much as I love my house, it does feel restrictive now that I work from home for most of the week and I'm quite looking forward to the change of being somewhere a bit busier.

I'm also going to be shooting a short film next month in London, which will be cool. It's going to be a bit of an intense couple of days, filming one night and editing the next day. It's been a while since I've worked on fictional film (Bored Billy was the last project) so it should be a lot of fun, and it means I get to work with Luke and Arivind again, which is always fun. And a trip to London, of course.

House Detail Sheets

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:09:29 GMT

....Ready for the influx of viewers (hopefully)!

Funnily enough, about two weeks after we moved in, Jo and I were sat on the sofa eating lunch and watching a DVD when we heard a noise coming from upstairs. Shortly afterwards, a couple walked through the living room and into my kitchen, nodding at us on the way. I was a bit too bemused to say anything, but they returned from the kitchen moments later when they realised that they weren't in a show apartment, as they obviously thought.

House For Sale - One Careful Owner

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:07:14 GMT

After 15 months, it feels like the right time to move on to something new. So, as of this morning, the house is officially on the market!

It was a pretty easy decision to make really. I bought the house last July when I was still working in Clevedon and, for various reasons, staying in my "home town" seemed like a good idea at the time. But, for the past few months, I've felt a bit uninspired here, and there's a lot of changes going on at the moment that I feel good about, so it seems as good a time as any to give something else a shot.

Anyway, the estate agent came over this morning to take some photos - thought I'd snap some of my own seeing as the place was so shiny and all!

The Living Room/"Office" and Dining Area

The Kitchen

The Bedrooms

Anyhow, we should be listed here shortly...

Woodlands

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:43:31 GMT

It's been a bit of a crazy few weeks, so it was nice to get away for the weekend and catch up with Elle, who moved down to Devon a few months back.

Headed to Woodlands for the day, just for some crazy child-like fun, with Maz, Brett, his friend Jo, and Elle. Rode some rides and slides, freaked Elle out with a peacock (her bird phobia is so useful sometimes), and got Maz soaked on some water rides (her water phobia is so useful sometimes).

Things are a little on the crazy side here at the moment, there's a lot of changes going on - all for the better, but it all seems to have hit at once, as per usual. But it's all good.

Decimate Video (Part 3)

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:37:24 GMT

Why anybody needs three music videos for one song is beyond me, but anyway, this is the "T-Shirt" version, and my favourite (although, they seem to be promoting the song more so with the "bundle" version).

(Keep an eye on the weird guy to the left)

Gutted I couldn't get tickets to the Glee Club gig tonight, but got a proposal to write now anyway.

Decimate Video (Part 2)

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:02:35 GMT

Ok, so there's a second video for Decimate... Slightly more in keeping with the usual style...

That one's called "Bundle" - the other one, "Cowboy Legs", is here.

Flying Lesson

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:49:28 GMT

Headed down to Honiton yesterday for a flying lesson with the family!

Was a cool day, photos from the day are here.

I was a little bit surprised just how much flying I did - once the instructor had the plane in the air, I was in control up until, quite literally, about five seconds before we touched the tarmac.

Flew down to Sidmouth and along the coast, flying over the "ship wreck" of the MSC Napoli at Branscombe.

Flying was cool, definitely something I'd like to do again, although it took a bit of getting used to the idea that the foot pedals are actually used to steer the plain - it was so tempting to treat them like accelerator/brake pads - which may well have brought down the plane.

The trip also gave me a chance to try out my new Kaiser and the Sat Nav. It worked a treat, got me there quickly, although - in an effort to get me there via the quickest route - it took me a really odd way, via tiny country lanes and through a village that blatantly hasn't seen traffic for thirty years - I passed five people in this village - all of which stopped what they were doing to wave at me. Heck, one man put down his shopping bag and pint of milk to give me a wave. Devon's such a funny little place.

So that's scuba diving and flying I can tick off the list this year of things to do before I die.