One Man's Notes

Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" movies have been given official release dates and titles. The first will open Dec. 14, 2012, as "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," and the second will be released on Dec. 13, 2013, as "The Hobbit: There and Back Again."

via www.variety.com

Huzzah!

Spoilers are called “spoilers” for a reason, people: when leaked too early, they spoil.

via www.kasterborous.com

Amen.

But having been away from France for some years, what struck me afresh was the sense of generalised respect in the public realm. When you go into a shop, you say bonjour, and merci au'voir when you leave. When you sit down on a train or get into a lift, likewise you acknowledge the Other. This was emphasised with perfect clarity for me on the train home, as a loud party of Brits got on at Avignon, oblivious to the way they disrupted others' space. I'm inclined to agree with Schofield, the French really are more socially-minded, and there are things we should be thinking about.

via neighbourhoods.typepad.com

I noticed the same thing while in France the week before last.

I find the increasing lack of respect for people's space in British culture a challenge - surely on such a tiny island, the ability to respect others' space is necessary to a well-functioning society?

Just chillin' at my brother’s place in France.

Top 10 Things To Do In The Borough Of Lewisham

I'm busy selling my flat on Lee High Road, because the time has come for us to move on to a different phase of our lives. But this post reminds me of the great things you can find around Lee High Road and the surrounding streets.

Pretty much what drew me to the area in my mid-20s.

Been using Camera+ on my iPhone over the last few days, and getting some really great results with it.

Really pleased with this one of the Shard, taken from London Bridge's newly-roofless bus station.

I'm one of the two scriptwriters from The Archers team who have been working on a spin-off from the main programme. 'Ambridge Extra' will launch on BBC Radio 4 Extra (the new version of Radio 7) in the first week of April.

The idea is that you'll be able to hear more stories from in and around Ambridge, and also we'll be able to go further afield with Archers-related characters.

via www.bbc.co.uk

WIN!

This is the 2,885th post to this blog - which means I've added 317 posts over the last year. That's slightly below my yearly average of 360.6. But it's not the start of a decline. I imagine blogging is here to stay for a very long time to come, and I'm convinced I'll be blogging here, in some form or another, right into my dotage...

via www.onemanandhisblog.com

Eight years. Eight years.

How has that time passed so fast?

This winter has felt far too long, and that's despite spending three weeks in Florida in the middle of it.

I'm going to record ever hint of Spring I can find to cheer myself up.

Vampires may be popular, but they've paid a terrible price for it. Simply put, they're not scary any more. They're not monsters, at least not in the traditional sense. And so, having been de-fanged (as it were), they've been shoved to a different place in the cultural marketplace while center stage for monsters has been claimed by an entirely different species of undead: zombies.

via www.escapistmagazine.com

Once vampires start sparkling, they aren't monsters any more...

[vimeo www.vimeo.com/19447662 w=560&h=315]

via vimeo.com

A really fascinating look into how creativity builds on earlier creative works.

More here. And I'm going to make a donation now.

Many of you have noticed the Widget Gallery is no longer available. Most widgets, however, can be found by performing an online search for the type of widget you want to have (e.g. RSS, Music, Amazon, Etsy, etc).

via everything.typepad.com

The space between the first and the second sentence there is exactly where the explanation of why the widget gallery is gone should be.

Its absence is so glaring as to call attention to the fact that there's no explanation. And sure enough, the comments are picking straight up on that...

Introducing Jeff Reine, Our New GM of TypePad

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Today we are pleased to announce the latest addition to the SAY Media team: Jeff Reine, General Manager of TypePad.

As GM of TypePad, Jeff is responsible for guiding the business and product strategy of the TypePad platform. His first priorities include bringing to market the next generation of the TypePad application and furthering investment in its fundamental capabilities to optimize the user experience of the valued TypePad community.

 

via blog.saymedia.com

Rather glad to hear this. I was getting a touch skittish about the future of Typepad, after the once-busy Everything Typepad blog went quiet last November…

But she encourages families to unplug periodically. "One way to do it is just to have that one screen-free day a week. Not as a punishment — not by saying, 'I've had enough!' — but by instituting it as a special thing," she said. "There isn't a kid on the planet who wouldn't really rather be playing a board game than sitting at the computer."

via news.yahoo.com

Great quote. Sadly, it's almost certainly complete nonsense...

via dailybooth.com

…is kicking my ass. And it's beginning to show…

Actually, I have only one New Year's resolution this year - to give myself a new resolution each month, and then blog about progress. Expect some more blogging on that shortly…

    <blockquote>
        Actually, I have only one New Year&#039;s resolution this year - to give myself a new resolution each month, and then blog about progress. Expect some more blogging on that shortly…
    </blockquote>
    <div class="convstar-answer-meta">
        <span class="convstar-branding">TypePad Conversations</span><span class="convstar-separator"> &raquo; </span><span class="convstar-call-to-action"><a href="http://conversations.typepad.com/questions/447" target="_blank">Answer this question!</a></span>
    </div>

Big show this year…

via www.telegraph.co.uk

Talking of the Doctor Who Christmas special, one of the guest stars is Welsh warbler Katherine Jenkins. She's a successful quasi-classical singer and generally regarded as, uh, not ugly.

Which made this photo of her, which appeared above The Telegraph's My Perfect Weekend piece about her, all the more surprising because, frankly, she looks like every other actress/model/singer whatever. Her hair looks like a wig, for goodness' sake. It's below the standard of photography I expect from The Telegraph - and sure enough, it's a stock shot.

Nasty.

A photo from yesterday, the result of being caught in the rain, in lieu of an actual post…