Life is Short

So, last Thursday I went to Suffolk. I haven't felt like writing about it until now, because I was visiting my parents' grave on the first anniversary of my Mum's death. 

It has been a tough year. We cleared Mum's house and sold it within three months, but I'm still dealing with some of the stuff that came from it. But, more importantly, I'm slowly adapting to living without the reassurance of my parents being there. OK, I'm a grown man in my 30s, but somehow the thought that, if everything went wrong, I could retreat to my parents', regroup and start again gave me a sense of a safety net. 

That net is gone.

The year of mourning is gone. Time to face the rest of my life. 

UnTrendy TV: Last of the Summer Wine

Entwhistle, Alvin & Hobbo

It's not cutting-edge, it's not fashionable and it's certainly not innovative, but I'm not afraid to admit that I love Last of the Summer Wine. In a bizarre mix of modern and old, I recently used our BTVision PVR to record the whole of the most recent series of the gentle comedy - its 30th. 

Yes, for over 30 years, the misadventures of a bunch of elderly folks who seem to have reverted to childhood in the Yorkshire dales have been entertaining people. And I've been enjoying it ever since, as a child, I watched it with my father. He dreamed of a retirement in the Last of the Summer Wine mould. He never got that chance - cancer took him in his mid-60s - but the programme endures, and I still enjoy it. 

Most of the original cast are gone now - an inevitable consequence of a show featuring the elderly. Clegg and Ivy are still around, but there's a new trio of Entwhistle, Alvin and Hobbo, roughly taking the roles of Compo, Clegg and Foggy from the classic trio of old. But, on the whole, the show hasn't changed that much. It's still an ensemble piece around a central trio, and the humour is just an exaggerated version of the mishaps of ordinary life. There was a period about 20 years ago when the stunts got more and more extravagant, but then the original cast got older and older, and the jokes slowly returned to the more conversational, situational humour in which it excels. 

Yes, it's slow, childish and fundamentally unimportant. But that's the point. It's tried and tested humour, performed by actors with more comedy experience each than many TV comedies have amongst the whole cast. It's cosy, predictable and familiar.  And that's why I love it. There's a place in live for both trendy urban design and an old blanket.

UnTrendy TV: Last of the Summer Wine

Last-of-the-Summer-Wine-001
It's not cutting-edge, it's not fashionable and it's certainly not innovative, but I'm not afraid to admit that I love Last of the Summer Wine. In a bizarre mix of modern and old, I recently used our BTVision PVR to record the whole of the most recent series of the gentle comedy - its 30th. 


Yes, for over 30 years, the misadventures of a bunch of elderly folks who seem to have reverted to childhood in the Yorkshire dales have been entertaining people. And I've been enjoying it ever since, as a child, I watched it with my father. He dreamed of a retirement in the Last of the Summer Wine mold. He never got that chance - cancer took him in his mid-60s - but the programme endures, and I still enjoy it. 

Most of the original cast are gone now - an inevitable consequence of a show featuring the elderly. Clegg and Ivy are still around, but there's a new trio of Entwistle, Alvin and Hobbo, roughly taking the roles of Compo, Clegg and Foggy from the classic trio of old. But, on the whole, the show hasn't changed that much. It's still an ensemble piece around a central trio, and the humour is just an exaggerated version of the mishaps of ordinary life. There was a period about 20 years ago when the stunts got more and more extravagant, but then the original cast got older and older, and the jokes slowly returned to the more conversational, situational humour in which it excels. 

Yes, it's slow, childish and fundamentally unimportant. But that's the point. It's tried and tested humour, performed by actors with more comedy experience each than many TV comedies have amongst the whole cast. It's cosy, predictable and familiar.  And that's why I love it. There's a place in life for both trendy urban design and an old blanket.

Creationists: Their Dirty Secret

A scientist visits the Creationism museum in the US:


Daryl Domning, professor of anatomy at Howard University, held his chin and shook his head at several points during the tour. "This bothers me as a scientist and as a Christian, because it's just as much a distortion and misrepresentation of Christianity as it is of science," he said. 

Amen.

WTF?

Fluffy Mystery
Fluffy Mystery

QotD: RIP MJ

What's your favorite Michael Jackson song? Bonus points if you share the video.

The Jacksons - Blame it on the boogie

Too many sad retro club nights in my 20s, I guess…

QotD: Everywhere Has Its Problems

What prevents your city/town from being the best place in the country to live?
Submitted by Cherney.

IMG_0712
IMG_0712
IMG_0714
IMG_0714
Too much of this city is an unkemot, un-cared for stinking shithole.

Rev Stan showed us one side of London. This is the other side.

QotD: Environmental Confession

'Fess up: What do you do that's bad for the environment?
Sponsored by One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco.

In all honesty: drive. I commute to work by car two or three times a week, and often drive to family. I could take the train, but don't.


That said, I'm about to get a new car, which is a whole world greener than the old one. Moving in the right direction, but maybe not as fast as I should be. 

The Girl in the Lego Earrings

Finally met a Vox friend in the flesh at the weekend. CupCate was at TweetCamp over the weekend, and she managed to bag these cool Lego earrings:


Tacky Tissues

Hannah Montana Kleenex
Spotted, to my mingled disbelief and amazement in my local supermarket: Hannah Montana tissues.

For the fannish teenage girl... or the teenage boy in need of, uh, inspiration? 

Tacky Tissues

Hannah Montana Tissues Spotted, to my mingled disbelief and amazement in my local supermarket: Hannah Montana tissues.

For the fannish teenage girl... or the teenage boy in need of, uh, inspiration? 

What's that wierd mobile on the left?

Mobiles on Monday Morning
Mobiles on Monday Morning

Quick iPhone 3G S Tests

Here's a couple of pictures shot with my new iPhone 3G S


This was a test of its new macro capability, just shooting the Apple logo on my MacBook keyboard:

And this was a tricky light shot, focused on the commuter's face:

So far, so promising. 

Watching Karen Millen find its blogging feet

I love watching new blogs develop. I discovered a few months back that high street fashion chain Karen Millen has started blogging started blogging last year, and I've become an avid reader. Maybe it's because I spend my working life helping people get their start in social media, but watching a young blog find its voice and style over the first year or so of its life just fascinates me.

There's something really touching about the Karen Millen blog, because there's something very slightly amateur hour about it. It's hosted on wordpress.com without a mapped domain name, and there's a very clear sense of real people writing the post, without a descent into marketing speak. Even the photography is evidentally done by the posters rather than seasoned pros. Compare these two pictures, from a post about a Karen Millen dress won in a charity competition:

The original Karen Millen pic

Louise Roper in Karen Millen



The picture on the left is the original from the blog post, the one on the right a tweaked version just done in Preview.app on my Mac (I did nothing more than auto-levels). But that's cool. That feels more authentic. I get the same feeling of relationship and honesty that I do when I watch my bloggers do things like this. Good work, Karen Millen team.

Watching Karen Millen find its blogging feet

I love watching new blogs develop. I discovered a few months back that high street fashion chain Karen Millen has started blogging last year, and I've become an avid reader. Maybe it's because I spend my working life helping people get their start in social media, but watching a young blog find its voice and style over the first year or so of its life just fascinates me. There's something really touching about the Karen Millen blog, because there's something very slightly amateur hour about it. It's hosted on wordpress.com without a mapped domain name, and there's a very clear sense of real people writing the post, without a descent into marketing speak. Even the photography is evidently done by the posters rather than seasoned pros. Compare these two pictures, from a post about a Karen Millen dress won in a charity competition:

    <li class="asset-thumbnail on"><a href="https://addersdotblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/8102a-6a00d8341da3af53ef0120a95b21ee970b-pi.jpg"><img alt="Louiseroper" src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/wp-content/772/2009/06/6a00d8341da3af53ef0120a95b21ee970b-75pi-1.jpg" /></a></li>

<li class="asset-thumbnail"><a href="https://addersdotblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/b4596-6a00d8341da3af53ef01310fc2082e970c-pi.jpg"><img alt="Louiseroper" src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/wp-content/772/2009/06/6a00d8341da3af53ef01310fc2082e970c-75pi-1.jpg" /></a></li>
Louiseroper

The picture on the left is the original from the blog post, the one on the right a tweaked version just done in Preview.app on my Mac (I did nothing more than auto-levels). But that's cool. That feels more authentic. I get the same feeling of relationship and honesty that I do when I watch my bloggers do things like this. Good work, Karen Millen team.

Self-Portrait, in a mirror

DSCF1187
DSCF1187
I rather like this shot, which I grabbed in a mirror at my mother-in-law's.

The Default Doctor Who Companion

I just blundered across this on a Guardian blog:


But the thing about Doctor Who companions, whatever their age, background and ethnicity, is that they are all, essentially, the same character - the big-hearted Earth girl who finds the hero within herself. That's the story of Doctor Who, and what did for the original series was when they strayed too far. After all-time-favourite Sarah Jane, the Doctor travelled with a tribeswoman, a Time Lady, a genteel alien lady, an Australian air hostess, an American, and Bonnie Langford. It took until the rigorously badass Ace for them to get it right again, and by then it was too late.

And I think that it's a remarkably insightful comment. From the departure of Sarah Jane Smith onwards, there was never again a real companion that people could identify with. That didn't matter when people had a strong relationship with Tom Baker's Doctor, but after that, the steady decline was on…

Brown in the Bunker

Oh, I just knew that there would be European Elections / Gordon Brown / Downfall mashups kicking around:


Classy Dinner...

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photo.jpg

QotD: Why I Blog

Why do you blog?
Submitted by Syafira.

It's my job.

Although, to be fair, I also do it because I love it.