Counterculture Strike
27 January 2005. Inspired by .
Blitacorog
27 January 2005. Inspired by .
Blogs are much bigger in Spain than the Satin Pajamas would suggest, with at least two national newspapers also offering free (slightly censored) blogging services to their readers. (If you're wondering why there seem to be so few googlable under 'blog', it's because sometimes they use the term 'bitacora', which means 'ship's log'.)
Of course, a lack of Spanish-speaking judges makes life harder for the awards, but some are also blogging in English, aggregated here. Perhaps we should start an Englañol version - though to be a member, I'd have to start doing some posts in Spanish, and I'm infrequent enough on here without resorting to mangling another language too.
ESL blogging is an interesting phenomenon though. Seems like a good way to learn, if people are nice about it.
It was a meeting
24 January 2005. Inspired by .
Claude Lelouch, "C'etait un rendezvous", 1976
No idea why it's just surfacing now, but from the Porte Dauphine to Sacre-Coeur in less than 8 minutes in a Ferrari 275/GTB (with a typically French ending). Turn up the subwoofers for the full bass vroom effect.
How irresponsible. You could have someone's eye out if you're not careful. But a lot like playing Outrun.
Wïkïd
21 January 2005. Inspired by .
One of the wonderful things about Wikipaedia (apart from free, fact-checked by the community, archiving of points of dispute, fast-reacting to news, etc) is that it does semi-academic investigation into things that you wouldn't expect. Of course, so do academics, but that stuff is usually much harder to find.
Which is a long way of saying that I'm going to fish out my History of Top Trumps and submit it right now.
Update: inevitably... Still, I can add to it.
A collection of various different mixed miscellenea
21 January 2005. Inspired by .
Various things all fitted into one megapost.
Firstly, courtesy of LNR, this marvellous George Monbiot quote:
I want to live in a land in which wolves might prowl. In which, as I have done in eastern Poland, I can follow a bend in a forest path and come face to face with a bison. In which, as I have done in the Pyrenees, I can stumble across a pair of wild boar sleeping under a bush. I am prepared to exchange a small risk to my life for the thrill of encountering that which lies beyond it.
Amen brother. I once lived through a termite invasion where my dim flatmate thought the whole thing was a hoax and left all the windows open. We were finding them among the toothbrushes for weeks. If we have to live alongside nature, make it big, growling and dangerous, I say.
Next, Simon - a rather good photographer based in Barcelona - has come up with the very smart Thought Project. Great photos, great idea. And yes, for those who want to know, I'll be back with more doorbells very soon.
Furthermore, 'Tom Bohemia' - the alter ego of a writer whose real name is in the title bar of his own page - entertainingly reveals the true depths of travel writing over on his well-written blog. My favourites: this one I can relate to, whereas this one you probably can. It's funny because it's true. But you don't have to agree quite so readily. OK you can stop nodding now, you're hurting my feelings.
And lastly but bestly, the Good Lady Novelist has completed the first of the Imaginary Indices, which reads like the back of some wonderful atlas. If you're not sure what an Imaginary Index is, have a look over here for its origins, and here for how to enter. I expect yours on my desk by Wednesday, no excuses.
I will also be participating, now that I have some time. I have some time partly because I got rid of a huge block of work that was making me several inches shorter (and years older), and also because I now have a flat. And in a plaza that is, according to Fodors, "rife with artists, immigrants, students, and aspiring actors."
As someone who has, at one time or another, been all of those things, it sounds just perfect.
Babelfish swims again
20 January 2005. Inspired by .
In today's inbox:
Hi, as you photograph official of the Florence MARATHON 2004 ask, Only In the Case it was Interested Á. Ricevere The Photos In Vision Without Obligation Of purchase, to communicate us the address to which to send the containing packet the photos of the demonstration in object.
Who could object to that?
The grand ol' Dukes
19 January 2005. Inspired by .
Yeah, like it's cool because of the cultural metaphor.
You'll sea
17 January 2005. Inspired by .
Meanwhile, I went to see the Spanish film Mar Adentro for the second time, which just won a Golden Globe. Given recent judicial events in the UK, and - according to the front page of El País yesterday - potential ones pending here, this is a film that is going to receive a lot of attention.
Just thought I'd give you the heads up. It's great, too.
I harm what I harm
17 January 2005. Inspired by .
Madrileño menu spot:
York harm with cheese
Harm sandwich
Brave potato
Deceased languages
13 January 2005. Inspired by .
You know it's been a good life when Boy's Own bids for the serialisation rights of your obituary.
Alright, so that didn't exactly happen, but it may as well have done for Michel Thomas. Best known as the permatanned man with open arms on the cover of his language CDs, his own biographer was left wondering if half his war stories were true. If even half of them were, the man was a giant.
The Telegraph, as ever, has the name-dropping obit here - currently not behind a paywall, but grab it while you can.
Sad news as well, because it was Michel on CD that refreshed my virtually non-existant Spanish before I moved to Spain. As any Michel disciple will tell you, his is the most remarkable language theory there has ever been, Gestapo-induced or not. With heavy doses of psychology slotted into learning, it reassures you, lies to you in just the right places and pits you alongside a stupid student and a smart one in a classroom, without any homework, grammar tables or writing down. And it does work.
He recently brought out advanced booster packs which my dad is aurally devouring, quite literally as I type. Like a slightly smarmy but very clever great uncle, we're a little less for losing a character like Michel.
In a week when Beckham gets applauded for finally learning a few phrases over the course of 18 months, it's clear that his work was just beginning.
Time slip
11 January 2005. Inspired by .
In one of those mind-boggling facts that makes you remember that the only constant is flux, the Indonesia earthquake has made the length of a day shorter.
(via /.)
Install wizard
10 January 2005. Inspired by .
By the way, if you're wondering why I'm not in Madrid yet, here's your answer.
With a bit of luck, Mr Dell will be here soon with some boxes and then I can be on my way...
Heaven eleven
08 January 2005. Inspired by .
Still on gaming matters, the Decent People First XI plus subs has been pinned up on the board in the traditional manner, two days before the game.
Just so's you know, I've met two, had one stroke my chest, received a letter from one, spoken to one on the phone, seen one on the cricket field and seen one from the cricket field.
The next question: who are their opponents in the Beastly People XI?
Game on
08 January 2005. Inspired by .
Like everyone else in Britain, I've become fascinated by darts. For the last week or more, it's been filling BBC2 with repetitive and yet oh-so-watchable coverage.
As with most sports, there's something wonderful about watching human endeavour turn itself into statistics, the numbers now stored, kept and constantly reinterpreted, the averages and percentages merely hinting at the individual stories of human endeavour that brought them about.
There's also something very hypnotic about the thud of metal hitting felt.
More than that, it got me thinking about the playing of darts. It's one of those sports/leisure activities (argue with the UK sports funding bodies on that one) where, if your opponent is playing better than you, there is absolutely nothing you can do.
In some sports, the best man/team does not always win. In darts, as in some other sports and games, there's no question that they always do.
What else, I pondered, fits into that category? And how many categories of game are there? I've had a stab at this below, including all manner of activities that sprang to mind. Their only criterion is that they all must involve an element of winning/losing.
These things have probably been observed and categorised much more accurately by academics (studying game theory, natch). But rather than actually do any research, I thought I'd have a go myself.
Some games shift from one category to another at predetermined points. At such moments, the excitement level both for players and spectators seems to leap as well.
Also, it's amusing to see how many simulations of games actually are in different categories from what they purport to emulate, eg. Subbuteo, Scalextric, etc.
Feel free to add any additions or clarifications in the comments.
Eye life
07 January 2005. Inspired by .
A few weeks ago I wrote in the Guardian about a games console gizmo called EyeToy. The original piece is over here.
I'm happy with the piece, but unfortunately the word count of 800 wasn't quite enough to include the rest of what I wanted to say. Actually, it wasn't even half what I wanted to say, and having told the important story of the device and its background, I found myself having to wind the article up.
Maybe that was for the best, but recently, others have been pondering the future (and present) of interface design and human interaction, which hasn't helped get rid of the thing from my subconcious. So, rather than let my research go to waste, and to help me sleep at night, here's the follow-up piece that the Guardian never commissioned but that I've now written anyway. It's a bit geeky. And it's also in dire need of a good editor to trim it.
But then you probably guessed all that. Read the Guardian piece if you want some EyeToy background. And then press Start to continue for a 2000 word piece that I'm strangely pleased I've got off my chest.