Baptismal Photos
I've been a wee bit busy of late - playing catch-up at work, after a few days off sick, and away for a christening at the weekend. Here's a few photos from the event in lieu of a real post:
"Chicks Don't Get Doctor Who"?
Chicks don't get it. Unless you are in a relationship where the woman is legally obligated to stay with you or you have possession of her car keys, for Time Lord's sake, don't bring up the Doctor.
I don't buy that. Back in the 1980s or 90s, Who fandom was pretty much all blokes. But those days appear to be gone - I'm sure there are as many new female Who fans amongst my Twitter followers, for example, as there are guys.
Anyone care to back me up on this?
Liking Me, Liking You (Ah-ha)
I've just added the new Facebook Like button to this blog - you can see it to the right, under the search box.
If you chose to Like it, you'll get updates in your Facebook news feed on those rare occasions when I post here…
Embodied Energy & Greener Houses
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
via andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com
Thought-provoking (but probably not much use, given how hard land for private development is to find in the UK right now).
Soho Sticker Escapee
I associate prostitute adverts with Soho phone boxes, not the post box outside the flat.
This is not a change to the neighbourhood that delights me.
50mm of Fun
So, based on many rave blog posts and articles in magazines, I treated myself to a 50mm f1.8 lens for my Canon DSLR, and I've been having fun out and about with it. Fast shutter speeds, really shallow depth of field. Just great. I see why people rave about these things.
These images were grabbed in my mother-in-law's back garden last week:
There's more to be found over on Flickr.
Film Finis?
I promised you an explanation of my current photo project, didn't I?
It was inspired (or, more accurately re-inspired) by this post over on Lemonlight. Angie's evocative pics reminded me of the particular texture of film and the images it produces. I went essentially 100% digital in my photography around late 2004, and I've had a bunch of unexposed, unused film lying around ever since. I'd been meaning to shoot them, rather than seeing them going to waste, and see what the results are.
To add a twist, I've decided that I can only shoot things I come across through the course of my day - I'm not going to go anywhere or do anything special to find these photos.
The image in this post, and the previous ones, were all shot around RBI's office in Sutton on, of all things, a roll of WH Smith colour negative film - which I have a suspicion was Mum's rather than mine. Most of the pics are straight reject, but a small handful of the scans are going into my Aperture library as a record of the texture of my life right now.
On to the next roll…
HipstaWalk #1
Spring finally seems to have arrived in London, so I took the opportunity to walk a chunk of the distance home this evening. I headed down Kingsway, across Waterloo Bridge and made my way to London Bridge along the south bank.
And the light was so very beautiful, I couldn't resist trying to grab some images using the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. After some experimentation, I settled on the Helga lens and Verichrome film as best suited to the conditions. And I'm pretty pleased with the results .
Buildings:
Plants:
Construction:
I'm really pleased with these results. I'm planning a few more walks if the weather stays good…
Labour Goes Keywording
This amused me - this is the feed from Boris Johnson's blog in my feed reader. Note the partial feed. Tsk.
Also note: the keyword-based feed advertising inserting an ad for Labour in the Tory mayor's feed.
Bonus note: does that mean if I'd clicked through, a small amount of Labour money would have gone to Boris?
A New Photo Project
Some pictures from the early stages of a little photographic project I've set myself:
The observant might be able to make an educated guess as to what it is - but I'll write more about it tomorrow.
Too Sexy for Who?
You just know that the new Doctor Who production team have got something right when the Daily Mail is complaining about the show after one episode.
In this case, it's about the new assistant, Amy Pond, played by the stunning Karen Gillan, being "too sexy" - a point they illustrate with multiple photos of said excessive sexiness…
QotD: The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done...
What's the hardest thing you've ever done?
Telling my dying mother that it was OK for her to go.
QotD: Sweet Treat
If you could only indulge in one dessert for the rest of your life, which sweet treat would you choose?
Profiteroles.
To Commute or Not To Commute
We're in the middle of trying to figure out where to live next. It's dawning on us that we're facing a choice between our ideal lifestyle and convenience, between the rural idyll and being 10 minutes from the office.
That discussion makes this piece in Business Week rather sobering: people spending three hours of their day commuting, while constantly planning how to escape this lifestyle. I spend between 90 mins and two hours commuting most days at the moment, and I find that pretty tolerable. how much would I trade off for a better life?
And how long until the internet allows us greater freedom for remote working, of the type espoused here?
Too many questions, and, once this place is sold, I need some answers to go with them…
Hello, New Tardis
I thought they'd save this for a big reveal on Saturday, but no, here it is.
Thoughts?
Holborn's Burning (Briefly)
OK, I admit it. the title's a bit of an exaggeration. But we had the excitement of a small fire here at EG towers this afternoon. As best I can tell, a pile of bags of shredded paper somehow caught fire just outside our Holborn office, leading to smoke, fire extinguishing and the arrival of the fire brigade:
The building security guard actually tried to stop me taking the last photo. Apparently photos of burnt paper in the foyer are a security risk…
Photoshop 5's magical fill tool
[youtube www.youtube.com/watch
via kottke.org
This looks insanely awesome. I have a whole bunch of scanning and cleaning up of old family photos to do - some going back to my great-grandparents' era. The time savings from these tools would be huge.
Is Le Wei Xiang, Lewisham any good?
We flicked through the menu and I was fair jumping up and down at seeing such gems as "Blood Curd, Pig Bowel, Ox Tripe, Ham & Veg boiled with Dried Chilli and Chinese Spice", "Shredded Beef Stomach with Preserved Chilli" and "Stewed Pigs Trotters in Soy Sauce".
via www.meemalee.com
Just up the road from where I live. Sounds well worth a visit.