tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-333842442010-02-04T22:14:13.458ZPhotography and Writing of Scott M. LiddellThe Photography and Writing of Scott M. LiddellScott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.comBlogger226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-10699332041563445742010-02-02T21:25:00.001Z2010-02-03T09:58:33.956ZFarewell Blogger<div id="technology"></div><span class="dropcap">B</span>logger announced tonight via email the end of their support of FTP. I started this blog way back in August 2006 and have been happily FTP'ing to this domain a fairly constant stream of drivel ever since. From 26th March I won't be able to do this any more.<br /><br />Now, Blogger are offering me free hosting on a custom domain. I suppose I could redirect to that but, and here's the rub, I have so much content, particularly images, that are hosted on my domain already with full paths in the posts that I fear an attempt at migration could be, erm, long, laborious and perhaps ultimately unsuccessful. Maybe I'll see if their migration tool helps with this, maybe not.<br /><br />This is a bit disappointing really. Although there is much not to admire about this blog, I was happy enough with it not to tinker too much and I had chunks of custom stuff ( like the random header images ) and category support. So, I'd stayed loyal to Blogger despite beseechings suggesting I do otherwise.<br /><br />Now Blogger have forced me to do what I should have done a while back and migrate the whole thing to WordPress. This won't be entirely pain free (although I've done one Blogger to WordPress migration and it went pretty well ) but it's not something I have much time to do right now. I'm hoping all my absolute paths to pre-hosted content will work well for me. So, for a while, I guess there will be a bog-standard WordPress theme here soon until I get some time to tinker.<br /><br />I'm sure the good people of Blogger won't cry to lose me and I appear to be in a bit of a minority so perhaps it makes some sense that they can't be bothered with me any more. I should thank them really, I think the WordPress version will ultimately be better.<br /><br />I may have a go at punting another of my Blogger blogs across to a custom domain just to see what happens...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-1069933204156344574?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-88716114543143779542010-01-31T12:14:00.001Z2010-01-31T12:30:55.904ZiPad : Function From Design Desire<div id="technology"></div><span class="dropcap">I</span>'ve been watching all the iPad chat with only a passing interest. I've only recently got an iMac (which I love) but I don't have an iPod/iPhone or any other Apple kit. I can, however, see why people like them so much.<br /><br />I'm not going to add much to the glut of ongoing iPad debate other than to make one observation.<br /><br />When I first watched the iPad videos I found it hard to see how/when I would use it. I've got a lovely wee Linux Eee PC which does everything I need on the move (and quite a few things the iPad doesn't). The obvious occurred to me that most of the Apple techno-bling never has won the battle on function. Certainly, I've avoided the iPhone up to now because there were key things it <i>didn't</i> do. And yet, massive popularity and the <i>must have</i> tag results.<br /><br />So, when you consider the iPad, you can argue all day long about what it does and doesn't do but that doesn't matter. What Apple seem always to be able to pull off is to make people want their technology. I want an iPad and I have no need for it and I'm not really sure what I'd use it for.<br /><br />There is undoubtedly something a bit primal at the heart of this. Whether it is a basic need to 'keep up' or to reinforce self-worth through possessions the desire alone is enough.<br /><br />All Apple do is create the desire through glorious design and have a platform open enough for the useful killer app type stuff to come along later. If you create enough desire, enough people are interest in building the apps on the device. It's all a little back to front, normally you shell out on high price tech because what it will do for you right away. Seems to me that people will buy the iPad just because they want it and knowing that they will find a use for it later.<br /><br />Contrast with the desirable tech of my youth. When you were deciding whether or not you wanted a BBC Micro, Commodore 64 or a ZX Spectrum, you didn't care all the much how it looked or what it could do, you were primarily interested in the software/games that ran on it.<br /><br />There have been tablets before but they have never taken off because they weren't sexy enough so not enough were sold so there wasn't enough app investment to make them any kind of game changer. The iPad will sell plenty for being sexy alone and the rest will just happen.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-8871611454314377954?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-49079570115166283662010-01-24T15:51:00.005Z2010-01-24T17:00:01.826ZPhotoBlog : A Morning in the Museum<div id="photography"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">W</span>e went in search of buried treasure. My daughter asked last night if you still got buried treasure. She looked a little surprised when I said I would take her to see some the next day. The <a target="_new" href="http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/special_exhibitions/iron_age_gold.aspx">Iron Age gold</a> that was <a target="_new" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8469787.stm">recently discovered</a> is on display at the <a target="_new" href="http://www.nms.ac.uk/">National Museum of Scotland</a> for 3 weeks. So we had a very pleasant hour of a Sunday morning around the much reduced museum. Looking forward to its <a target="_new" href="http://www.nms.ac.uk/royal_museum_project.aspx">full return in 2011</a>.<br /><br />On a photographic note, if you have a Canon DSLR and you don't have the <a target="_new" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00006H1R6?ie=UTF8&tag=scottliddellb-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00006H1R6">Canon EOS 50mm/F1.8 Ef</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=scottliddellb-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B00006H1R6" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> lens then get that on your Amazon wish light right away. For a prime lens it is incredibly cheap and is pin sharp in good light. In the low-light, glass covered world of a museum it at least gives you a chance, albeit on very high ISO (if you can avoid the people who insist on taking reflections of their flash in the glass). All of the images below were shot with it.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/mus_blog/torc.jpg" /><br /></center><br />Treasure ahoy! One of the torcs we went to see. I call this one 'Peter'.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/mus_blog/chess.jpg" /><br /></center><br />I love these, very famous, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_chessmen">chess men</a>. Despite their age, you can see a definite 'peace out' message going on here. There is nothing new in the world.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/mus_blog/cannon.jpg" /><br /></center><br />Much to my daughter's disappointment I was unable to confirm her assertions that these were pirate cannons.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/mus_blog/mqs.jpg" /><br /></center><br />It seems a particular quirk of history or historians that most female royalty are always allowed the suggestion (Anne of Cleeves aside) that they were beauties. If this image of Mary Queen of Scots (on her sarcophagus) is anything to get by then, well, decide for yourself.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/mus_blog/eagle.jpg" /><br /></center><br />This eagle head is part of a grand golden lecturn from a church. I picked out this detail as I thought it looked entirely gormless.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/mus_blog/morse.jpg" /><br /></center><br />Museums are at their best, especially for kids, when they are interactive. This morse generator is good fun. As is required, everything should start with "hello world".<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/mus_blog/telepgraph.jpg" /><br /></center><br />...and then you can go on to explain how you send that message with one of these.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/mus_blog/jackie.jpg" /><br /></center><br />-- insert joke about bald tyres here --<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-4907957011516628366?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-81139831054748277412010-01-23T15:55:00.004Z2010-01-23T16:59:20.506ZWhy do we like Social Networking?<div id="technology"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">I</span> watched Kevin McCloud's <a target="_new" href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/kevin-mccloud-slumming-it/4od">excellent two-part documentary</a> of his stay in the Mumbai slum of <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharavi">Dharavi</a> last week. I'm a huge fan of Mumbai but this opened my eyes even further to parts fo the city I hadn't seen. Kevin was at his honest and frank best and reflected the balance of the good and bad of Dharavi very well.<br /><br />Clearly, in many ways, life in Dharavi can be seen as a squalid mess and Kevin didn't shirk from any of this. But one aspect that was also covered was the inherent happiness of the people, fuelled by the closeness and extent of the community around them. Although Kevin quite rightly pointed out that community isn't enough when you living in an open sewer, it was clear that was something there to be learnt in relation to the way we live, our city design and the architecture of dwellings.<br /><br />Yesterday I did a presentation on Social Media at a technology workshop in town. As the excellent discussion progressed, my thoughts turned back to Kevin's experiences in Dharavi.<br /><br />So, the question is, what makes social networking so popular? Obviously, the most popular things are those which satisfy a fundamental need. If we draw a contrasting parallel between our modern life and the close community of Dharavi, we see what we miss, at a fundamentally human level, is the day to day interactions with the humans around us. We sit in houses, flats, cars, offices, largely cut off. When we are in public we are still secluded, hiding in the fog our of business, glumness, frustration.<br /><br />What social networking gives us is a way to feel connected, to feel part of something, to feel we are close to people. Perhaps even to belong. The day to day, minute to minute, face to face interactions of the people of Dharavi are replaced my tweets, pokes and 'I likes'.<br /><br />So, could it be that the popularity of social networking is, at least in part, a product of a failure of urban planning and modern life that has has us feeling lonely and disconnected?<br /><br />As Kevin also concludes, in the documentary, you wouldn't swap the comforts of modern life to have a community spirit like Dharavi, but there is clearly something we can draw on to improve the way we live.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-8113983105474827741?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-49875606284108944582010-01-09T17:24:00.006Z2010-01-11T16:34:59.363ZPhotoBlog : Edinburgh Winter<div id="photography"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">W</span>hen you've nowhere to go and nothing to do the snow is a wonderful thing. Had a great couple of days out and about in the snow with the camera(s). Here is a quick selection of the photos. I've thrown in a (short) video as a wee test. It's Full <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">HD</span> taken with a wee Kodak <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Zi</span>8, quality looks <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ok</span> but the camera work is a little ropey.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 1 - Edinburgh and The Meadows</span><br /><br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/edin.jpg" /><br /></center><br />A fairly standard shot of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Calton</span> Hill.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/meadows_hdr2.jpg" /><br /></center><br />A very snowy Arthur's Seat from The Meadows.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/meadows_hdr1.jpg" /><br /></center><br />You can't really resist the perspective of the tree lined avenue.<br /><center><br /> <img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/meadows_hdr4_edit-1.jpg" /><br /> </center><br />Works well in black and white too. This is a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Gorman</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Holbert</span> conversion.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 2 - Botanic Gardens</span><br /><center><br /> <img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/castle_hdr-1.jpg" /><br /> </center><br />It's not easy to do this shot of the castle in any kind of new way. I tried. Didn't really work!<br /><center><br /> <img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/botanics_hdr1.jpg" /><br /> </center><br />I saw someone taking this shot through the trees. So I waited until they were gone and did the same. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Thank you</span> unnamed stranger. This is St. Mary's Cathedral in the distance.<br /><center><br /> <img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/robin.jpg" /><br /> </center><br />The wildlife was being very amenable. I saw this wee guy from inside the terrace cafe. I went outside to catch up and he not only hung about but set very close and very still.<br /><center><br /> <img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/squirrel.jpg" /><br /> </center><br />This squirrel was happy to pose too as he had a pile of food to get through.<br /><center><br /> <img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/winter/skyline_hdr2.jpg" /><br /> </center><br />St. Mary's again, this time with dramatic sky in the background.<br /><br />And here's a wee video. I need a steadier hand but the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Zi</span>8 seems to work OK and scores very high on convenience. Got a great film of the family snowball fight that broke out.<br /><br /><object width="450"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EfjC9D7jFho&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EfjC9D7jFho&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-4987560628410894458?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-82747203876934035122010-01-01T12:21:00.006Z2010-01-01T12:47:59.474ZDeath of the Butterfly<div id="zeitgeist"></div><br /><span clas="dropcap">M</span>any moons ago, I wrote herein about my tendency to <a target="_new" href="http://www.blogger.com/www.scottliddell.com/2006/09/butterfly-effect.html">flap about like a butterfly</a>. The truth is, I never really conquered that, until now. The butterfly is dead. Finally.<br /><center><br /><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/7wYMCV"><img src="http://mrg.bz/zqny1z" border="0" height="284" width="427" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Sorry pal... (click to download hi-res free from MorgueFile)</span><br /></center><br />This isn't a New Year resolution. Don't do those. Leading up to New Year, I have been planning all the things I want to do next year. There is a list. Nothing else is allowed on that list until something completes (or I bin it in a big hissy fit). I will allow left-field antics to jump in on an opportunistic basis but only if they are clearly more desirable that the stuff on the list and I'm happy to bin something.<br /><br />The only issue is that it is a pretty big list. It has to be, otherwise I'd let new stuff appear.<br /><br />I'm mentioning this here purely so <a target="_new" href="http://www.manicmorff.com/">@manicmorff</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://iriswildthyme.blogspot.com/">@stuartamdouglas</a> can keep an eye on me. And also because I just caught myself researching writing a REST API based widget dofer for 30 seconds and had to give myself a row. It worked. The butterfly is dead.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-8274720387693403512?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-35395165317690986382009-12-31T22:07:00.003Z2009-12-31T22:18:10.795ZHogmanay Wordle Quiz<div id="writing"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">A</span> final wee quiz for 2009. I generated this word cloud from the entire text of a novel**. If you can guess the novel you can win a copy of the book.<br /><br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/bm_wordle.jpg"><br /></center><br /><br />Second prize is 2 copies :-)<br /><br />If you like this kind of Word Cloud type quiz there are another EIGHTY over at <a target="_new" href="http://www.bimbogami.co.uk">www.bimbogami.co.uk</a> based on music and movies. All free and fun. And if you play you'll make <a target="_new" href="http://www.manicmorff.com">@manicmorff</a> very happy.<br /><br />Word cloud courtesy of <a target="_new" href="http://www.wordle.net">www.wordle.net</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">** there's a clue on this page</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-3539516531769098638?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-70823170627050679682009-12-31T21:15:00.000Z2009-12-31T21:20:16.542Z24 Hour Movie Challenge - My Entry<div id="zeitgeist"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">I</span>'m sure my reader would easily have guessed about 75% of these or more. I stayed honest and went for my favourites films to watch, rather than those I pretend to like for the purposes of appearing cool. It was a struggle, I think I need to know about 48 hours before I go as I've had to cut out too many good films.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Big Lebowski</span><br />You need to get off to a flier and I thought I'd start with probably my favourite film. I think there is a Facebook group called something like "I judge people by their appreciation of The Big Lebowski" - couldn't agree more. If you haven't seen it, well, come now. Get on with it. I need to know what I think of you.<br /><br />Just to show how great the dialogue it, it still very funny performed by 3 animated rabbits. Obviously, contains very strong language.<br /><br />117 minutes used so far.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GHD8OFu1Jb0&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GHD8OFu1Jb0&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">...And Justice For All</span><br />There are many great Pacino films to choose from, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico etc etc but this has always been my fave. Probably not as famous as his other performances (although he did get an Oscar nomination for it). It's a slightly offbeat lawyer/courtroom thing with many great moments and a fabulous ending. Top (ahem) trivia fact, when I was starting writing <a href="http://www.thebeatleman.com/">The Beatle Man</a>, I made Danny a lawyer because of this film.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sQzYNoLANrg&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sQzYNoLANrg&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />119 minutes, 236 used so far.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Star Trek II - Wrath of Khan</span><br />When a film is this good when you are 12, it will stay with you all your life. And, here in the (pretend) last hours of mine, it is only fitting that it should take it place. All of us of a certain vintage have a soft spot for this film. And those that haven't only <span style="font-style: italic;">say</span> they haven't.<br /><br />Altogether now...<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wRnSnfiUI54&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wRnSnfiUI54&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />( you have totally ignore the fact that Kirk had no reason to go this radge coz, unlike the viewer, he knew he was getting out of the cave... oh, never mind... )<br />113 minutes, 349 minutes used so far.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Apollo 13</span><br />Yes, yes, I know, I'm predictable. I'm ready for your ridicule, I don't care. It's a great film of a great story.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kf5yLuyCTag&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kf5yLuyCTag&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />140 minutes, 489 minutes used so far. I may get up and stretch my legs.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Goodfellas</span><br />You could easily go for a number of Scorcese films but this is my favourite (as measured by the number of times I've watched it).<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o_ff46b58Hk&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o_ff46b58Hk&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />146 minutes, 635 minutes used so far.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Aliens</span><br />Having recently seen Avatar, I was tempted to throw it in in place of this. But I have to stay loyal to a film I have watched a bizillion times and pretty much know off by heart. It's flawed, looks a little dated these days but is still a lot of fun.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/brEzYdLrPws&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/brEzYdLrPws&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />137 minutes, 772 minutes used.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Zulu</span><br />I think I was about 11 when I first saw Zulu. I remember being fairly blown away by it then. I suppose now it shows its age a little but it is still a great film. It is a great story although made bigger than it really was by a need to gloss over what had happened at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Isandlwana">Isandlwana</a> the day before. To a certain extent, the film is guiltly of continuing this. No matter, still love it, one of the first films I got on Blu Ray.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1csr0dxalpI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1csr0dxalpI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />138 minutes, 910 minutes used.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Inglourious Basterds</span><br />It is incumbent with all "Best of..." type things that they get skewed towards the now. There is no reason why this should be any different. One of my favourite films of the year (with A Serious Man and Avatar) but this makes the list ahead of them just for the Cat People scene alone. Just brilliant cinema. I would love to have gone with A Serious Man but, frankly, I couldn't bring myself to watch it on my death bed. Not without a Rabbi handy anyway.<br /><center><br /><object height="261" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/02OD8YnzzmE&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/02OD8YnzzmE&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="261" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />153 minutes, 1063 minutes used.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Silence of the Lambs</span><br />This is a firm fave of my beloved wife and I. It's the romance you see? Anyway, dunno who many times we've watched it but she always wins the 'spouting the dialogue' competition ( I can kick her arse with every other film in his list ). Personal reasons aside, it's a great film. I totally loved the twisty bit first time I saw it and, more top trivia, it was the kind of thing I tried (and didn't quite manage) in The Beatle Man. This film made me try though.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EMVqIISyp60&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EMVqIISyp60&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br />Pure West Virginia...<br /></center>146 minutes - 1209 minutes used.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gladiator</span><br />Another big fave of me and the missus. You gotta love that epic Roman romp thing. I just wish it had been made with the original ending. My name is Gladiator...<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mvAbGbFYAuk&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mvAbGbFYAuk&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />155 minutes - 1364 minutes used.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Life of Brian</span><br />I nearly had <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038733/">A Matter of Life and Death</a> as my last film, coz it's great. But it's maybe a wee bit too much about heaven and the like.<br />I liked the idea of "Bright Side of Life" being the song that sung me unto my death, so that had to be last. I also like the final irony of the fact that, as I've gone 18 minutes over 24 hours, I might die before the song. That's not the only reason though. A few scenes can still make a laugh a lot, especially this one.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XiDmMBIyfsU&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XiDmMBIyfsU&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br />94 minutes - 18 minutes too much!<br /><br />So, there it is, another list I'd probably change tomorrow. Really regretted leaving a large number out but I stuck to my guns and didn't go all cool for the sake of appearances.<br /><br />And with that, I sign off the blog for 2009. Happy New Year all.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-7082317062705067968?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-55430549952021378922009-12-30T10:54:00.001Z2009-12-30T10:55:48.339ZBlu-Ray Review : Red Cliff<div id="showcase"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">T</span>hey don't make them like this any more. Except, they do. Well, Woo does. Epic is perhaps slightly overused when it comes to films. You can't argue if it is applied here. Everything is on a huge scale, not least the 293 minute running time across the two halves.<br /><br /><a target="_new" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002GDM2S2?ie=UTF8&tag=scottliddellb-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B002GDM2S2">Red Cliff</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=scottliddellb-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B002GDM2S2" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> is actually two films that were originally released 6 months apart. We'll ignore the much shorter single film Western release. At a pathetic 150 minutes it's not worthy of consideration.<br /><br />The film tells the story of the <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Red_Cliffs">Battle of Red Cliffs </a>which took place in China in 208/9 AD. (<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Wikipedia link contains spoilers for obvious reasons!</span>)<br /><br />This is film making on a very grand scale. Check out this spanking HD trailer, you'll see what I mean and will give you a far better flavour than my attempts and finding more and more words that mean "big".<br /><br /><center><br /><object width="450" height="273"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pd0bqLQrtdE&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pd0bqLQrtdE&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="450" height="273"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><br />Looks cool, eh? Well, it is. And in Blu-Ray it looks consistently great. The video quality is excellent throughout, helped by some excellent cinematography and vivid colours, especially in the customers. I'm almost certain at one point of the film you will say "nice helmet" with abandon. Sound too is very good although I found the soundtrack to be good not excellent. Not quite of the quality of a <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Dun">Tan Dun</a> meets <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_Yo_Ma">Yo Yo Ma</a>.<br /><br />Now, I understand that approaching 5 hours of subtitled Chinese history may not be for everyone. But you could easily watch this as a mini-series spread over 5 nights. You watched Shogun didn't you? Bet you did. This is MUCH better.<br /><br />Sometimes the plotting of 'true' events can be a little pedestrian, real life doesn't always have the twists and pace to build tension or surprise - but there is enough artistic license allowed by the lack of known detail that the story entertains consistently. Although I suspect that much of the interesting detail was added by the <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms">historians much later</a>.<br /><br />Obviously, some of the fighting could be seen as a little silly. Single heroic warriors take on large gangs on baddies single-handedly in very choreographed sequences. You either like this or you don't but it is entirely fitting with the genre and I'm sure it played very well with Chinese audiences. And, I suppose, post-Matrix, we have more of a fondness of it.<br /><br />For a film that is essentially about a single battle, there is obviously a huge amount of depth around it. So battle lovers may drift off waiting for it to kick off. There are big lull's between the 3 main battle sequences but these are just as entertaining in their own way. And when the final battles comes, you won't be disappointed. It makes <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helm%27s_Deep">Helm's Deep</a> look like a square-go in the playground.<br /><br />There is some pretty decent CGI woven in here too. The shot of dove flying over Cao Cao's fleet is rather smart (you can see a short piece of this in the trailer) and I like the shots of the arrows flying straight at the camera.<br /><br />All in all, it's a cracking piece of entertainment and should be part of any Blu-Ray collection.<br /><br />So, if you have a spare 5 hours to waste and you love great looking movies then get Red Cliff, especially as the full two-disc Blu-Ray is only <a target="_new" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002GDM2S2?ie=UTF8&tag=scottliddellb-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B002GDM2S2">£9 on Amazon</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=scottliddellb-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B002GDM2S2" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" />.<br /><br />Mr Woo, what shall I do? I'll watch Red Cliff again for sure.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-5543054995202137892?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-2614985417384063302009-12-29T10:00:00.003Z2009-12-29T10:43:36.043ZReview of 2009 Goals<div id="zeitgeist"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">T</span>he time has come to see how I did against my <a href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2008/12/2009-goals-for-year.html">goals for 2009</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Throw Some Stuff Out</span><br />As previously reported, this went well, although their remains much to do. The garage still has to be reclaimed. But work has started on <a href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2009/12/hoarding-versus-storage-conundrum.html">recovering some storage space</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. A Great Photo</span><br />Still don't think I nailed it but <a href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2009/12/2009-photo-review-of-year.html">had a lot of fun taking photos this year</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. A Complete First Draft</span><br />I gave up on this fairly early on this year. There is now a very robust writing plan for next year and a shiny new iMac to write on in a lovely yellow study with fairy stickers on the wall. There can be no more excuses. I still have doubts about <a href="http://www.terraexitus.com">Terra Exitus</a> but I'm going to give it a serious go...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Sell Film Rights for The Beatle Man</span><br />This one was only ever here as a joke. I still think there is a good episode of Taggart in there though.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Spend Less Money</span><br />Well, this was a largely a fail but there was some sensible spending and the house is a lot better and we had a nice holiday.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. Lose Weight</span><br />Panic set in after going to Italy. I was back to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Simpson">record high weight</a>. So I went on a bit of a diet and it worked. I've taken a few backward steps over Christmas but I have found hitherto undiscovered discipline and can stop eating chocolate at will and have found a taste for muesli. Who knows, I might even do some exercise.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Time Division Multiplexing</span><br />Needs more work but I have a plan, so that's a start.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8. No Alarms</span><br />Fingers crossed. We're alarm free.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9. <a href="http://www.thephotoproject.org">The Photo Project</a></span><br />Approaching the start of success of a sort. I got the website live and started the first projects and got an excellent response with a large number of photos donated. I'll be building the first book very soon. Which is quite exciting really. Thanks to all who have helped and supported.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10. More Writing</span><br />I did the sensible thing for this year. I gave up. Going to start afresh with a gang of four separate things to write. I'm working on the basis that I might just be arsed with one of them at any given time. I'm already 25% through one and 80% through another so it's not that high a hill to climb.<br /><br />I'm not going to set any specific goals for 2010. As blog content goes, I'm finding it a little dull. I know what I want to write, I might need to think about a new job at some point but other than that, I'm just going to try and relax and enjoy myself. Something I'm traditionally not all that good at.<br /><br />Oh, and next year, I will be mostly 40... more on that later no doubt.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-261498541738406330?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-81038752711068473102009-12-28T10:52:00.001Z2009-12-28T10:55:00.949Z24 Hours to Live Movie Marathon<div id="zeitgeist"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">I</span> struggled for about 23 seconds to come up with my regular (ahem) end of year blog meme. Could I top the previous success (ahem) of the <a target="_new" href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2008/12/desert-island-c90-challenge-my-tape.html">Desert Island C90</a> at the end of 2008 or the infinitely forgettable <a target="_new" href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2007/12/best-album-tracks-ever.html">Best Album Tracks</a> of 2007 (or the <a target="_new" href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2008/06/amazon-desert-island-challenge.html">Amazon £50 challenge</a> I chucked in at some point)? Shouldn't be hard, some might say.<br /><br />This year, I thought I would stay away from music and try something in movies. So here it is...<br /><br />You have 24 hours to live. What films are you going to watch to fill the time? Yes, yes, I know, you'd want to spend your time the family/high class hookers etc but work with me here... it's just a game, go with it.<br /><br />Once again, I've made this take so incredibly long that only the deranged/devoted/bored will be bothered giving it a go. Again, you have to think about value for time and you should ideally focus on the films you would want to watch, not just those that make you look cool in a list.<br /><br />It's best to fill the 24 hours ( you don't want to waste precious time ), so going a little bit over seems acceptable. After all, when are Doctors ever that accurate. I'm sure you could hang on that final 30 minutes to find out who is the Dad in Mamma Mia. Also, you would gain some time back but chopping the credits.<br /><br />As an aid, 24 hours is 1440 minutes and <a target="_new" href="http://www.imdb.com/">IMDB</a> will give you the official film lengths.<br /><br />So, get a couple of big bottles of juice, a 24 pack of crisps, 6 pork pies and bucket to pee in and off you go....<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-8103875271106847310?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-24700053495437139552009-12-28T09:15:00.000Z2009-12-28T09:16:17.982ZTop 10 Best Goals<div id="zeitgiest"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">H</span>olidays are the time for trawling YouTube and making pointless 'best of' lists. So, in no particular order, my top 10 goals (with a very large Man Utd bias obviously).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mark Hughes - Wales Vs Spain</span><br />I got many a bruise trying to do this. Give it a go. It is nowhere near as easy as Sparky makes this look.<br /><center><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hBWa6pUvrUg&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hBWa6pUvrUg&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Eric Cantona - Man Utd Vs Sheff Utd</span><br />The goal is great, the celebration is probably even better.<br /><center><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wRHxjattf5E&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wRHxjattf5E&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Denis Bergkamp - Holland Vs Argentina</span><br />This is a thing of beauty. Taking into account the stage and time in the game, this is all kinds of awesome. Great commentary too.<br /><center><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mo7IgS_x_fc&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mo7IgS_x_fc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marco Van Basten - Holland Vs USSR</span><br />Woof! I remember watching this as it happened and it was more of an immediate feeling of surprise that he had even tried this.<br /><center><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bBNDlQvPYxw&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bBNDlQvPYxw&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Archie Gemmell - Scotland Vs Holland</span><br />When something like this happens when you're 8, you're never really going to forget it. At this stage of the game we still had a, typically Scots, hope that we could still go through.<br /><center><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nB0nFze1Fdw&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nB0nFze1Fdw&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ole - Man Utd Vs Bayern Munich</span><br />For any Man Utd fan, this will always be the greatest goal ever. I may never go this nuts again when a goal goes in. Only the second time I proper lost it at football. The first time was about 2 minutes before this. I had waited 29 years for a European Cup Final. I was allowed.<br /><center><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QXgDnjiGt-4&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QXgDnjiGt-4&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wayne Rooney - Man Utd Vs Newcastle</span><br />You don't save those. The thing I love about this is how he seemlessly transitions from monaing at the ref to a light jog to clattering it in the net. Take a bow son.<br /><center><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W6wO3HhOu6Y&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W6wO3HhOu6Y&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Maradona Vs England</span><br />As Alan Hansen would say, pace, power, pace, control, pace, power. This goal is the reason that the whole 'hand of god' thing doesn't really matter.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-rW-lK9F6TU&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-rW-lK9F6TU&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Roberto Carlos - Real Madrid vs Tenerife</span><br />I really like to think he meant this.<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WhVDFEW5348&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WhVDFEW5348&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Zinedine Zidane - Real Madrid vs Bayer Leverkusen</span><br />Best goal ever scored in Scotland?<br /><center><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b3m623uGCow&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b3m623uGCow&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><br />Goals I couldn't add because they weren't embeddable from YouTube were:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGvOY5tMm-o">Ryan Giggs' goal vs Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup Semi-Final</a><br />This is the goal that made me get Sky Sports.<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD80XYD1FvU">Steven Gerrard's 2nd goal from the 2006 FA Cup Final</a><br />90th minute and he does this? Outrageous.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-2470005349543713955?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-61847744736789860482009-12-23T17:18:00.004Z2009-12-24T13:18:16.227ZThe Space Shuttle<div id="showcase"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">O</span>n 12th April 1981, I was an 11 year old boy. I sat an watched in awe as Columbia made the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle. It looked not entirely unlike this.<br /><center><br /><a target="_new" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Space_Shuttle_Columbia_launching.jpg"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/sts/takeoff.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Columbia Taking Off<br /></center><br />The coverage of the launches in those days wasn't quite as sexy as it is now. You got the whoosh up into the sky for 90 seconds or so and that was about it. None of the on board camera showing external tank separation and the like. Even so, it left a very strong imprint on me.<br /><br />It seems pretty certain that that moment was the beginning of my mini space obsession and ultimately led me to go back and become a bit of an Apollo buff. And yet, it isn't lauded anywhere, in popular culture at least, anywhere near as much as the events on 1969. You can perhaps understand why but, yet, the significance and engineering achievement cannot be understated.<br /><br />I remember the first landing too. I was outside playing football and my Mum shouted out the window to tell me the Shuttle was landing. I got some odd looks as I sprinted up the 28 stairs. In many ways, the landing was a lot cooler than take-off. I'd seen the whole rockety lift-off thing before, but something coming out of space and gliding down to the ground was something else entirely. It just seemed like an implausibly tricky thing to do. Obviously, having read all about the landing process, I'm probably even more impressed than I was then. ( <a target="_new" href="http://wiki.ssm-fans.info/landing">Terminal Area Energy Management</a> anyone? )<br /><center><br /><a target="_new" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_Space_Shuttle_Discovery_STS-92.jpg"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/sts/landing.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Discovery Landing<br /></center><br />A lot of the detail of the first flight was lost on me. For example, I didn't really get how cool it was that the guy flying the thing that day had walked on the moon. Also, I didn't appreciate that this was the first time NASA had ever done the maiden launch of a manned vehicle with someone in it.*<br /><br />For those of my generation, this was our Apollo. Except it wasn't. Because it isn't associated with the same romantic notions or fond remembrances. I just missed being around for Apollo. I was in existence for all 6 moon landings and was breathing air for 4 of them, albeit far too young to remember anything at all. For the kids of the Apollo generation it seems to have been very seminal. Musicians from <a target="_new" href="http://open.spotify.com/track/0nODm9Rvu5uB1RBpQaeEYs">Billy Bragg</a> to the <a target="_new" href="http://open.spotify.com/track/0DmpuJtnZsfi8SfSjU4tsG">Inspiral Carpets</a> people have sung about it. As yet, it doesn't seem that the Space Shuttle has had a similar impact. I thought this particular balance needed to be redressed. By me. In a blog post. Watch the world listen.<br /><br />There is perhaps a tendency to view the Space Shuttle as no more than a truck; a big white <a target="_new" href="http://www.clubstobart.co.uk/">Eddie Stobart</a> lorry (sans girl's names). There is no romance of exploration, no big white moon, footprints or golf balls; just dull things like science and satellites.<br /><br />The problem is that the Space Shuttle was not as much of a human story so it doesn't have as wide an appeal. Sadly, and all main human stories were tragic ones. I remember both moments I found out about the loss of Challenger and Columbia. Both very sad events, not least because they were largely avoidable. It didn't need <a target="_new" href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2006/09/fine-man.html">Richard Feynman</a> so say what the issues were they were known. And this is where, ultimately, the struggle for balance will be. NASA made great strides forward off the back of making <a target="_new" href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2007/01/frank-who.html">measured risk judgements</a>.<br /><br />And therein lies the problem. Where do we go after the shuttle if we become too scared to take risks and even less inclined to spend any money?<br /><br />Soon the Space Shuttles will be retired to museums and will be (may be?) replaced with <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation_program">something entirely less glamorous</a> and, in many ways, a step backwards to something recognisable from the 1960's. This isn't how our <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Destroyer">childhood visions</a>**** of space development were meant to look.<br /><center><br /><a target="_new" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:151883main_ISS013E48791_hi_nasa.jpg"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/sts/space1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Discovery In Space - nice shooting kid<br /></center><br />Just like the demise of <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde">Concorde</a>, we are taking some backward steps in the way of more economic progress. Obviously, you can't ignore the fact the successes of Apollo and the moon (and indeed that of Concorde) were achieved with a significant economic burden. But it seems the more fiscally prudent approach could easily become counter-productive with the lack of glamour and excitement denuding public interest and support further. For as cool as <a target="_new"href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm">Cassini-Huygens</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://marsrover.nasa.gov/home/index.html">Opportunity and Spirit</a> are, if you ask 100 people on the street what they are and they will not have a clue ( and will scurry off to watch Family Fortunes ).<br /><br />As much I will be sad to see the Shuttles confined to museums, I fear more that the end of their missions will spell the beginning of a bit gap in space exploration and pushing new boundaries. If I can get a little grand, surely it is our duty as a race to do all we can do push those boundaries? If we can conjure up $800 billion from thin air to bail out a bunch of no-good greedy bankers, why can't we go back to the high spend days of Apollo and set ourselves bigger and better challenges? Have we all become too self-interested, entertainment fuelled and introspective to care about doing anything for the sake of exploration or adventure.<br /><br /><center><a target="_new" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Endeavour_on_Runway_with_Columbia_on_SCA_Overhead_-_GPN-2000-000160.jpg"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/sts/shuttles2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Columbia Flies Over Endeavour<br /></center><br />I fear I may never see my Apollo, someone walking on Mars or a space discovery of life-changing proportions. Why? Because we appear not to care enough any more. The best thing we have flying now are some ageing Shuttles designed in the early 1970's - a bit like me.<br /><br />Maybe it will only be after they are gone that a more romantic remembrance of the Shuttles will emerge. Although you never can be sure. I've not heard many songs about SkyLab.<br /><br />So, with only a few missions left the STS party is nearly over. Perhaps the only chance I'll get to see a Shuttle while still operational is if it lands at <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbeltown_Airport">Cambeltown</a>, but, on balance, I'd rather than didn't happen.<br /><h3>As an aside...</h3><br />I suppose that day in 1981 must have subliminally informed my decision to become an engineer.<br /><br />I was lucky enough to have my very first 'professional' job working in the space industry. As a very young student, I worked for the summer in the Space Group at Ferranti in Edinburgh.** There they made components for satellites and the like. My very first task was to write a procedure for applying ink to circuit boards. Sounds easy enough, except that the manufacturer's instructions were written in French.*** After a few garbled phone calls to Belgium, I had my procedure done and submitted for approval in the US. I don't mention this to break my own boring record. The point is that I have as much respect for the patience of the modern space engineer as I have for the ingenuity. You see, in a world where you get one chance to fire something into the sky and on a rocket and it has to work in the extremes of space for maybe 15 years without failure. You tend not to take any risks. And therefore you take your time. A lot of it.<br /><br />These guys can spend ten years (or more) working on a single project and, in the 30 seconds of launch, it can all go a bit explodey of they can experience a very singular joy of seeing their creation lift off into space. The extremes of possible emotion. I was lucky enough to see this first hand when we watched a video of a launch from Kourou with the Ferranti guys as one of their projects launched. On that occasion, nothing blew up, and everyone was happy. Very happy.<br /><br />I suppose I would have liked to have continued in the space industry although it's not entirely clear if I'd have had that kind of patience!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">* John Young had been offered a slight less risky first mission but declined saying "let's not practice Russian roulette"<br />** I now live half a mile from the flats that now occupy the site.<br />*** Luckily, I could read/talk French then. Et maintenant? Bof!<br />**** I love how that Wikipedia page appears to be in no doubt that these ships exist<br /></span><br />Images are courtesy of NASA/Wikimedia Commons and are linked to source pages.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-6184774473678986048?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-69842285414921666132009-12-21T09:30:00.001Z2009-12-21T09:31:46.099Z2009 - Photo Review of the Year<div id="photography"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">A</span>s a fan of the "end of year" meme, thought I'd start a new one with a look back over the photos I took during the year. Nothing more than an excuse to flick back through them all and have a bit of fun picking a few faves.<br /><br />So, here it is, 2009 - my year in photos...<br /><center><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/january.jpg" /><br /></center><br />What to do in January? Hide in the hothouse of Edinburgh's botanic gardens, where you will find robins, also inside, hiding from the cold, but also posing for the camera.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/march.JPG" /><br /></center><br />What to do in March while your family are at the Spongebob show? Walk round Edinburgh in the dark pretending to be <a target="_new" href="http://www.egglestontrust.com/">William Eggleston</a>.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/april.JPG" /><br /></center><br />April saw a wee jaunt to London for Easter. Didn't appear to be anyone else there.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/pallas.jpg" /><br /></center><br />May say an almost unheard of appearance of the Pallas Cat in Edinburgh Zoo. You can see more zoo photos <a target="_new" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=33384244&postID=6984228541492166613">here</a>http://www.edinburghseasons.com/2009-07-08/scott-liddell-vists-edinburgh-zoo-part-1/.<br /><h2>Sucata Split</h2>Also, in May, the small matter of a <a target="_new" href="http://www.generalignorance.org/">drive across Europe to Croatia</a>. I took about 1300 hundred photos. Here is a but a small sample:<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/sucata1.JPG" /><br /></center><br /><quote><span style="font-size:85%;">"There's a Christmas tree somewhere in London with a bunch of presents underneath it that'll never be opened. And I thought, if I survive all of this, I'd go to that house, apologize to the mother there, and accept whatever punishment she chose for me. Prison... death... didn't matter. Because at least in prison and at least in death, you know, I wouldn't be in Bruges. But then, like a flash, it came to me. And I realized, man, maybe that's what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in Bruges. And I really really hoped I wouldn't die. I really really hoped I wouldn't die."</span></quote><br /><br />I actually quite liked it. Very pretty. And empty. Which is ideal if you want to take photos at night. You can see more of the Bruges shots <a target="_new" href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2009/05/photoblog-bruges.html">here</a>.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/sucata3.JPG" /><br /></center><br />And here are three-quarters of <a target="_new" href="http://twitter.com/teamgi">@teamgi</a>, actually smiling in Bruges to prove it wasn't that bad. From left to right, <a target="_new" href="http://twitter.com/thomam">@thomam</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://twitter.com/dougier">@dougier</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://twitter.com/aigwilson">@aigwilson</a>.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/sucata2.JPG" /><br /></center><br />8 sad eyes looked backward down the hill as they headed to airport. There, below them, Dubrovnik, the jewel of the Adriatic and host of the Miss Croatia supermodel competition they stumbled into the night before.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/sucata4.JPG" /><br /></center><br />Of course, it wasn't all fun, there as the small matter of getting an ageing <span class="searchmatch">Citroën </span>over the Alps via the <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%BCela_Pass">Flüela Pass</a>. No, no, no fun at all. And we met some interesting people along the way...<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/sucata5.JPG" /><br /></center><br />like Morris Dancers...<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/sucata6.JPG" /><br /></center><br />...and gentlemen with large red noses.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/split.JPG" /><br /></center><br />And my favourite from from the Sucata trip is this one, an HDR shot of Split in Croatia at night. Go <a target="_new" href="http://www.ipernity.com/doc/scottliddell/5019855">here</a> to view it large with a black background.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/bg.JPG" /><br /></center><br />The summer saw trips back to the Botanic Gardens...<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/greenhouse.JPG" /><br /></center><br />...and many trips to the allotments as my Dad's <a target="_new" href="http://www.twitpic.com/gjzps">new shed</a> took shape.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/leuchars.JPG" /><br /></center><br />September saw a cracking day at Leuchars. Amazing sun and planes.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/kevzak.JPG" /><br /></center><br />Highlight of the whole year has to be the arrival of my wee nephew, here with his big lanky streak of piss Dad (love ya <a target="_new" href="http://twitter.com/khev">@khev</a>:-) )<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/sorrento.JPG" /><br /></center><br />And the day after he was born, we nipped off to Italy and a fun week in Sorrento.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/2009review/me.JPG" /><br /></center><br />Well, that was 2009. Happy days. Happy 2010 all.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-6984228541492166613?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-79637617401506114362009-12-15T14:44:00.000Z2009-12-15T14:45:21.364ZUpdated Social Media Map<div id="technology"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">W</span>hile preparing a presentation on Social Media last night, I thought I should update my Social Media Map to see what, if anything, had changed from the <a href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2009/01/my-social-media-map.html">original version</a> from the start of the year.<br /><br />Surprisingly, it hasn't changed all that much. There are a few additions but nothing that has dropped off. I don't use blip.fm all that much these days and Foursquare has only just arrived. I think TwitterFeed also got the bullet for being unreliable so I've recently switched to FeedBurner.<br /><br />Notable absences are any connections to <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmliddell">LinkedIn</a>, which I don't feel is right for me and Posterous which I like the look of but don't feel the need for.<br /><br />I should maybe add some info on Twitter clients but it's already looking a bit cluttered. Mostly I use Echofon in Firefox, PockeTwit on the phone and occasionally TweetDeck.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 420px;" src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/socialmap2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-7963761740150611436?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-61791532083910474622009-12-04T10:09:00.009Z2009-12-07T13:11:39.407ZHoarding Versus Storage - A Conundrum<div id="zeitgeist"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">I</span>'ve always been a hoarder. Obviously, I refer to this particular prediliction as <span style="font-style: italic;">collector </span>but, the fact remains, chucking stuff out is not in my make up. Aside for the ubiquitous <a href="http://www.bimbogami.co.uk/wp/modern-measure-of-a-man/">big box of wires</a>, I still have the postcard collection of my youth, all my coins, books I've read and won't read again, books I've never read and, crucially, all my music.<br /><br />I started buying vinyl at the end of the 70's and did so constantly until I started buying CD's around 1991. I have hundreds of albums and just as many, probably more, CD's. My vinyl has been lugged with me between houses/cities and very rarely leaves the increasingly battered storage boxes. I still have a turntable (2 in fact) but they're far from a state that I can easily set them up. So, the vinyl provides a rather perfect embodiment of a literal dead weight.<br /><br /><center><a target="_new" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/111402"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/vinyl.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />but ain't it lovely?<br /></center><br />A couple of years ago, I put myself through the modern day hell of ripping all my CD's. It took the best of part of 2 weeks but I got there. So, I now have a lovely wee NAS sitting under the TV and allows me to stream everything I own from anywhere in the house ( and two other copies on external drives, I'm doing down all that again ).<br /><br />So, let's recap:<br /><ol><li>I have many, many boxes of vinyl I <span style="font-style: italic;">never</span> play.</li><li>I have many, many boxes of CD's I never (physically) play in the house.</li><li>100% of the time in the car, I play ripped music on an MP3 player.</li><li>90% of the time in the house I listen to Spotify rather than my own ripped music.</li></ol>None of this was an issue when all these boxes were just strenuously lugged up into the attic. But, since a man passing himself off as a builder came and took all my money, that is now where I sleep. The vinyl and CD's are now spread about between the house and the garage.<br /><br />And here is the conundrum. Do I keep them? Why do I need them?<br /><br />The answer for the vinyl is fairly easy. I'm keeping it for HUGELY sentimental reasons. I tried ripping it with a USB turntable and got far too bored. So, for the moment, the vinyl is going nowhere.<br /><br />But the CD's? I could bin them, not that attached but, of course, the crucial thing is that, they would cost a lot to replace and the insurance company won't go for "<span style="font-style: italic;">there was £x000 of music on that NAS that blew up until a hail of cat pee</span>". So, binning the CD's would be little previous.<br /><br />So, I've decided I'm going to keep the CD's and throw out the boxes ( an idea I knicked from <a href="http://twitter.com/stuartamdouglas">@stuartamdouglas</a> ). I've ordered some CD wallets and transfer will start when they arrive. I may even do the same with DVD's.<br /><br />If you're looking for lots of CD boxes, I'm yer man.<br /><br />I suspect there will be some I'll be too squeamish to bin. We'll see. It'll be interesting.<br /><br />It does open up a lot of thoughts on the nature of ownership of digital media. Clearly, the MP3 world has led to a move away from the need for a physical thing to have. And, with more and more cloud based music storage solutions appearing, it won't be long before you don't really ever have a file either. You'll just buy the right to be able to listen to something stored in the cloud (or more likely you'll just 'own' a pointer to the file in the cloud, which is what Amazon should do if they'd <a href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2007/03/dear-amazonheres-my-prior-art.html">bother to read my blog</a>). This is already true with Spotify which is why I'm listening to music on Spotify now as I type. Truth is, I'd pay for Spotify, which is why they probably should make me pay before they go bust!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-6179153208391047462?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-22487816482009135902009-11-26T20:41:00.003Z2009-11-26T21:33:41.805ZPhotoBlog : Colours<div id="photography"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">A</span> selection of photos, each with a particular colour, click on any image to download hi-res for free from <a href="http://www.morguefile.com/">MorgueFile</a>. See me, see <a target="_new" href="http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0001425/">Kieslowski</a>...<br /><br />I do like the way I have handily annotated each image.<br /><br /><center><br /><a target="_new" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/163352"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/colours/yellow.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Yellow<br /><br /><a target="_new" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/198963"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/colours/red.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Red<br /><br /><a target="_new" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/133610"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/colours/blue.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Blue<br /><br /><a target="_new" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/625573"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/colours/green.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Green<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/colours/orange.jpg" border="0" /><br />Orange<br /><br /><a target="_new" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/192828"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/colours/gold.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Gold<br /><br /><br /><a target="_new" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/197845"><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/colours/pink.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Pink<br /></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-2248781648200913590?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-13404205059430262162009-11-20T10:00:00.004Z2009-12-04T09:27:56.237ZWhat The Romans Did : Part 2 - Up Pompeii<div id="photography"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">F</span>ollowing on from the unacclaimed post on <a href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2009/10/what-romans-did-part-1-herculaneum.html">Herculaneum</a>, the inevitable Pompeii post rears its head. This was my second visit to Pompeii which is perhaps reflected in my slightly unenthusiastic collection of images or perhaps I was just deflated after a rainy morning in Herculaneum.<br /><br />The thing that strikes you most on leaving Herculaneum and arriving in Pompeii is quite how much bigger the site is. And this, for the most part, is the largest source of frustration. In the requisite tourist trip 90 minute visit, you don't really see much and none of the further flung cool stuff like the amphitheatre.<br /><br />This also means that all the thousands of people arriving in Pompeii each day are concentrated in pretty much the same area. This makes it permanently busy and you find taking photos of anything without a fat American in the shot is next to impossible. It also means that you often have to wait to get into houses and villas as it is full of, well, more fat Americans.<br /><br />But before I appear too negative, Pompeii is a real treat. Just try to make your own way there, go early and have a really good explore. There is much more still to be uncovered at Pompeii but, like Herculaneum, most excavation has stopped in favour of preservation ( presumably from fat Americans ).<br /><br />Sadly, no images of the, ahem, erotic art, I sped my young daughter past that at high speed.<br /><center><table><br /><tbody><tr><td><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/pomp/p1.jpg" /></td><br /><td><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/pomp/p2.jpg" /></td><br /></tr><br /></tbody></table><br /></center><br />Unlike Herculaneum, the streets are very wide in keeping with Pompeii being busy port full of bustling commerce, chariots and the like. Again, the Romans rather kindly made it easy for the pedestrian to cross the street without getting ones toga caught up in the effluent and horse leavings.<br /><br />These photos are taken up the streets that the guides don't take you, hence the relative quiet.<br /><center><br /><table><br /><tbody><tr><td><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/pomp/p4.jpg" /></td><br /><td><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/pomp/p3.jpg" /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></center><br />To illustrate my point, I give you a fat American. I assume he was American. As you can see, even on a cold October day, it's a busy place. Don't expect to sit peacefully taking in the awesome Roman-ness of it all, your silence will soon get broken.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/pomp/p5.jpg" /><br /></center><br />The forum at Pompeii is very impressive. A big football field of an area (not pictured here coz it was just too full of folk). At the north end of the forum is the <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Jupiter_%28Pompeii%29">Temple of Jupiter</a>, seen here. That's Jupiter's head delicately placed on the bottom of a column like a talking head from Futurama. Wherever you go in Pompeii, the menacing presence of Vesuvius is always visible, which adds to the impact of it all.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/pomp/p6.jpg" /><br /></center><br />The <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Apollo_%28Pompeii%29">Temple of Apollo</a> features some very nice sculpture. Although a smaller temple, the enclosing walls give it a good atmosphere.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/pomp/p7.jpg" /><br /></center><br />If you were to ask the advice of Reeves and Mortimer on the tragedy of Pompeii, they would almost certainly say "<span style="font-style: italic;">If you're going to sit and suck your thumb will a volcano erupts behind you, try <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> to sit and suck your thumb will a volcano erupts behind you</span>". As you can see from this photo, this is good advice (albeit the thumb sucking is entirely conjecture on my part). This is one of Pompeii's famous body casts, presumably praying. That went well.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/pomp/p8.jpg" /><br /></center><br />For the purposes of balance, it's not just the Americans that were fat. Shotty! Volcano! Run fat boy run! ( a rare appearance from our intrepid blogger ).<br /><br />*Edit - Pompeii is now on <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=pompeii,+italy+ruins&sll=40.716428,14.537315&sspn=0.061672,0.132351&ie=UTF8&hq=pompeii,+italy+ruins&hnear=&ll=40.748902,14.484834&spn=0,359.991728&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.748902,14.484834&panoid=1e-bu_kis-dL1BnVGZhDdw&cbp=12,209.48,,0,7.63">Google Street View</a> - very cool.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-1340420505943026216?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-1461611529777974692009-11-03T09:30:00.000Z2009-11-03T09:30:00.973ZPhotoBlog : Italy in HDR<div id="photography"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">I</span>f you have a DSLR and you've not tried doing some HDR images, you really should. It's a lot of fun. You just need to guard against getting carried away with it like me.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What is HDR? You ask...</span><br />Have you ever taken a photo of some mountains and sky and either the mountains have been under-exposed and black or the sky blown-out and white? This characterises an image that a high dynamic range (HDR) i.e. there are dark bits and light bits and getting the camera to expose both correctly is a bit tricky. So, how you do conquer this problem? Well, the pre-digital way was to use grad filters and the like but now, with advent of digital, there are ways round this.<br /><br />There are many resources online that describe how to do this so I won't drivel on here. Suffice to say that the way I do it ( and did in the images below ) is to shoot 3 images in a burst with differently compensated exposures -2, -0, +2. Later on I combined these three images in a program that can tone map them together. I used <a href="http://www.mediachance.com/hdri/index.html">Dynamic Photo HDR</a>.<br /><br />A good place to start for more detail is the <a href="http://hdrcreme.com/tutorials">tutorials page on HDR Creme</a>. HDR Creme is a cracking site dedicated to HDR photography. Also check out the <a href="http://www.ipernity.com/group/hdr">HDR Group on Ipernity</a>, great stuff there too. I'm not a huge fan of the extreme end of the processing, I <span style="font-style: italic;">try</span> to keep things a little more natural.<br /><br />When I was in Italy recently I pretty much shot everything in 3 shot bursts (the joys of massive memory cards). It is much better if you do this with a tripod but as I was on holiday and didn't want to bore the family with setting up (and I didn't want to carry the tripod) I did all these either handheld or perched on a flat surface somewhere. This is a selection of the HDR images I generated.<br /><br />All can be downloaded hi-res for free by clicking on them.<br /><center><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/jPQA7A"><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/italyhdr/hdr1.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a><br />People walking round Vesuvius' crater rim<br /><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/o5LkOR"><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/italyhdr/hdr2.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a><br />Boats in Sorrento Marina Piccolo<br /><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/4Nbilh"><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/italyhdr/hdr3.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a><br />Sorrento, Marina Grande at Night<br /><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/r3lVEq"><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/italyhdr/hdr4.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a><br />Not my car<br /><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/0JK47U"><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/italyhdr/hdr5.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a><br />Not my scooters<br /><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/WkJLhM"><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/italyhdr/hdr6.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a><br />Sorrento at Night<br /><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/PPYevn"><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/italyhdr/hdr7.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a><br />Vesuvius Crater<br /><a target="_new" href="http://mrg.bz/urWh2V"><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/italyhdr/hdr8.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a><br />Beach huts at Marina Grande<br /></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-146161152977797469?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-58120749241538000732009-11-01T13:38:00.000Z2009-11-01T13:38:57.395ZWhat The Romans Did : Part 1 - Herculaneum<div id="photography"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">A</span>ny traveller with a sense of decency will, on visiting the vicinity of Naples, decide that a visit to some Roman ruins in on the agenda. Most will choose <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii">Pompeii</a> but many will find good reason to saunter along to its little brother in the '<span style="font-style: italic;">cities dug up from under volcano stuff</span>' stakes, <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum">Herculaneum</a>.<br /><br />The story is so famous it requires little re-telling here. Suffice to say that in AD79 property prices in the area of Mount Vesuvius took a bit of a tumble and Roman types were heard to say (in the Latin of the day) "<span style="font-style: italic;">shotty, big firey thing</span>".<br /><br />My visit to Herculaneum was odd in that I arrived on a day when the weather was more Ardrossan then Italy. As a photography type, this was a bit of a disappointment. A more flat, dull day you can't imagine. Undeterred, I clicked away and here are a few of the sites of Herculaneum presented for you in spectacular <i>almostnocolor</i><sup>tm</sup>.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc1.JPG" /><br /></center><br />Two things immediately strike you about Herculaneum (or Ercolano if you're feeling all local). The site doesn't seem very big and, in a weird way, it looks almost modern. In this shot you can see where the buildings of Herculaneum stop at the modern stuff starts, but it doesn't really leap out at you as you would expect. If it wasn't for the fact that arches are <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym#POSH">posh</a> and expensive these days it might be less obvious still. This shot also shows how deep everything was buried. 16 metres in fact. The arches at the bottom were where a National Geographic team found hundreds of skeletons, the old coastline was there and the people cowered there waiting for boats to save them. Sadly...<br /><br />There is much more to be uncovered too but it mainly lies beneath the modern city so, as our guide repeated a dozen times "<span style="font-style: italic;">this will never happen</span>". I think she was miffed about this. Having seen the modern city, I can sort of understand why. There is a frustration with not knowing what cool stuff might be in there. Although, having seen the Roman public toilet in Herculaneum, there will be dull stuff too. But Herculaneum proves that things in archaeology aren't just, as Eddie Izzard would have it "a series of small walls"...<br /><center><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/U6y-jn6jGbM&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/U6y-jn6jGbM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br />contains strong language<br /></center><br />Although that, in many ways, is what makes Herculaneum stand out as an archaeological site is that it isn't just about visualisation based on the small amount is left. Because Herculaneum has much that remains intact. You don't get many 2000 year old interiors these days. Although there is this one pub...<br /><br />Anyway, who lives in a house like this...<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc2.JPG" /><br /></center><br />Well, I did in the 70's, that kind of wallpaper was cool then. This is one of the most famous interiors of Herculaneum, frescoes depicting Hercules himself doing hero stuff in the Hall of the Augustals, a group of men was dedicated to the worship of Augustus and the later Emperors.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc3.JPG" /><br /></center><br />And the fresco on the other side. The guide was very clear to say that people shouldn't take photos with flash. As you can see, I didn't. But <span style="font-style: italic;">everyone</span> else there did. People simply don't know how to turn off the flash on their point and shoot. It has to be said the guide didn't bat an eye. I did. I let out a hurrumph not unlike the noise of the shutter of my DSLR set at high ISO.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc4.JPG" /><br /></center><br />And here's where they left their mark. Swearing in Latin, dead sneaky. This also shows some of the funky wall construction at Herculaneum. Weird mixes of brick and other stone. For a lover of textures it was great. Shame the light was bad. ( download some Roman textures <a target="_new" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/browse/#/?qury=roman%20texture&terms_all=roman,texture">here</a> ).<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc5.JPG" /><br /></center><br />As our guide was at repetitive pains to point (over our hard won and generally out of charge radio headsets), Herculaneum was largely a residential down of the fairly well to do. So the streets, such as they are, are very narrow. The pavements sit high above the 'road' surface for very good reason. Much of what was flung out would have ran down the middle ( stepping stones at crossing offer a safe way to cross). Again, this little street scene looks quite modern and be straight from the streets of <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Creatures_Great_and_Small_%28TV_series%29">Darrowby</a>. One of the benefits of a rainy day is that you can almost get shots like this with no one in them. This is quite a busy tourist place, so getting great photos is, well, not all that easy to say the least. As you can see, I enhanced the AD79 feel of this shot with a woman in a red jacket with a brolly.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc6.JPG" /><br /></center><br />Another of the famous houses in Herculaneum is the House of the Wooden Partition ( or door ). Herculaneum differs from Pompeii in that wooden artefacts were preserved carbonised. This house also has a wooden bed, not unlike the one I slept in during my 1st year at University. This is the view out the door looking away from the wooden door. Again, Herculaneum gives the best feeling I've known of an ancient interior. I can imagine myself walking in that door and laying my various mobile phones on that little marble table before pausing briefly under the <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compluvium">compluvium</a> to catch the last rays of the day.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc7.JPG" /><br /></center>One of the frustrations of the guided tour is being dragged round at someone else's bidding in a large group. I only had a few moments as I passed through the amazing baths in Herculaneum. I immediately start to think that I need to go back and try to get more time on my own in these places. You don't really get time to feel what the place is like. For a short trip, a whistle stop guided tour is fine but I felt I missed quite a lot and a longer, free roaming trip with a map and a book would have been far better.<br /><br />This is very true in these baths as there can be very little different from what it has been like originally. The amazing vaulted (and functional) roof is intact and everything of the Roman world is here, innovation, style, function, technology.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc8.JPG" /><br /></center>This fresco ( of Neptune and Amphitrite in the House of Neptune )shows the amazing level of preservation at Herculaeum and it gives an inkling into the current challenge of preserving all of this now that it is open to the elements. As at Pompeii, most new excavation at Herculaneum has been stopped so efforts can focus on <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_issues_of_Pompeii_and_Herculaneum">saving what is there</a>. The modern city above is causing issues and the elements will take their toll.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/herc/herc9.JPG" /><br /></center>One of the most famous houses in Herculaneum is the House of the Deer, named after the statues of stags, seen here being ravaged by dogs.<br /><br />There is a very simple rule of travel. Whenever you are within reasonable travelling distance of a <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO_World_Heritage_site">UNESCO World Heritage site</a>, you simply must go. This is doubly true for Herculaneum. Even on a dull wet day, there are very few glimpses into the past like it. I would definitely recommend getting a book and a map and making your own way round. The fact is, that I've only just been there, but know I should go back. There is much still to see.<br /><br />Here endeth part 1 - who can guess what part 2 is?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-5812074924153800073?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-43645490165296949192009-10-13T08:00:00.002+01:002009-10-13T08:22:38.620+01:00The Anatomy of Bottom Rung Football<div id="zeitgiest"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">Y</span>ou will often hear much talk about the '<a target="_new" href="http://www.grassrootsfootball.co.uk/">grass roots</a>' of football. Minor leagues, Sunday mornings, <a target="_new" href="http://www.mentholatum.co.uk/">Deep Heat</a> and industrial defending. The phrase 'grass roots', of course, implies the very lowest level. And yet, there lie many levels below this.<br /><br />I know this kind of thing has been done to death. But not by me.<br /><br />At the very lowest end, the level of the football is not defined by the players, the leagues or the strips. It is defined by the quality of the two most crucial things in the whole game, the pitch and the ball. Any brand of football that takes the pitch and the ball as a given is, as the Americans would have it, <a target="_new" href="http://web.mlsnet.com/index.jsp">Major League Soccer</a>.<br /><br />You see the football pyramid has a very wide, flat, squidgy base. And in this base we find <span style="font-style: italic;">real</span> football. Yes, I could steal someone else's description : "<a target="_new" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f2-Hw8ukqc"><span style="font-style: italic;">small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts</span></a>". But even having a park and jumpers is all a bit la-di-da if you ask me. You see, I grew up playing proper bottom rung football.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(pause briefly to fire up Spotify and listen to </span><a target="_new" style="font-style: italic;" href="http://open.spotify.com/track/5JSwNlLFklP088Dt2rQugk">this music</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> from the </span><a target="_new" style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mq59ykPnAE">Hovis advert</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> and play while reading the remainder of this post)</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Anatomy of Bottom Rung Pitches</span></span><br />The first thing to understand is that the definition of 'pitch' needs to be redefined and made a lot less grand. Maybe 'space' would be better. Of any shape. On any surface. Or multiple surfaces.<br /><br />First, lets look at the characteristics of an ideal bottom rung space.<br /><ol><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">No jobbies</span> - you need to work round what the dogs have left behind. A thorough <a target="_new" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FA-18F_FOD_walk-down_070814-N-1281H-130.JPEG">fod walk</a> is essential. This may mean that you may have to alter the desired quadrilateral into a funkier shape to avoid a smelly streak on your staypress.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Things that look like goals</span> - one of the main issues with bottom rung football is the lack of goal line technology. Even in the high-fallutin' world of "jumpers for goalposts" deciding if the ball is in is, well, somewhat vague and can lead to some disagreement Or, as <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_McLaren">Bill McLaren</a> would have it, "<span style="font-style: italic;">a little bit of argy-bargy</span>". This is spectacularly brought to life by an actual story from a youth (which I'll abridge for speed). Final of school 5's competition. Very grand skittles for goalposts (we had real goals the previous year, I guess they got nicked). It was even at full-time, the headteacher gave permission to play on beyond lunchtime and, with the whole school watching, I hit a shot that hit a skittle and went in, sending the skittle the other way. It was the world's very first Golden Goal* - next goal the winner. Cue mayhem. Half the school jumped on me <a target="_new" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3MylWnK-Iw">Mel Brooks style</a>. The other half started a fight. Members of the opposition went bananas. They attacked the janitor (who was the ref), back in the school, chairs were thrown. A few of them were suspended from school. I got a medal. Yes, this was Primary School.<br /><br />Anyway, you see my point, if you have something that makes a better job at goals, you can avoid an awful lot of aggro (especially where I grew up). If you look closely enough and with sufficient imagination, you can see goals almost anywhere. Obviously, trees, lampposts and the like make very obvious posts and offer a definitive ruling on the goal on not issue. But that is talk of nirvana. You were much more likely to get a section of fence, a patch of wall which was a different colour or the hemispherical arch of a climbing frame. All were good and were immediately commandeered by the massed ranks of footballers and anyone wanting to use them for their intended purpose had to shuffle off.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Surface</span> - obviously you want grass but if you can't get it then anything will do and, most often, something like tarmac/pavement/etc usually does the trick. This is, after all, is how you get good scabs. And you need to have good scabs to be doing bottom rung football right. The ultimate surface? Snow. Overhead kick heaven. This week I am mostly <a target="_new" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNgSpdbpxsE">Karl-Heinz Rummenigge</a>.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">No Ball Games</span> - invariably, a cunning network of "No Ball Games" signs will try to block your way like <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balrog">Balrog</a> meets <a target="_new" href="http://www.hhgttgonline.com/html/mrprosser.html">Prosser</a>. That is so incredibly geeky (or is it nerdy?) that I'm going to delight in it and say it again, Balrog meets Prosser. Thankyou. Thing is, eventually the best of these places will attract the police. They will move you on apologetically the first time with a "C'mon<span style="font-style: italic;"> lads</span>". The second time, the will start to get narked with a clear "<span style="font-style: italic;">I can't be arsed with this, I just ordered takeaway</span>" tone. Third time they are proper grumpy. In the end, avoiding the law is recommended.</li></ol>To give you a great example, let me talk you through one of the best spaces from my youth, the perfect bottom rung pitch.<br /><br />Where the flats ended, some waste ground started. We called it 'the field'. A triangle of barely grass was formed by the fence of the railway, the edge of the grass as it got wilder and taller and a hill that dropped off down to the flats. Yes, a triangle. I know. The goals at one end were a section of the railway fence. The goals at the other end were, well, the point of the triangle with coats/jumpers/whatever spread the the approximate width of the fence section at the other end.<br /><br />At the fence end, almost all was well. You could take corners, although you very rarely did. You see, the ball only crossed the line if it crossed the fence. And if it crossed the fence? Yes, it was on the railway line. It took a while to get the ball back. Up the fence, under the barbed wire, dodge the trains, get the ball. Bloody hell, just get on with the game. A corner only made it more likely for it to go back over again.<br /><br />The trains weren't the only peril. Down the rough edge of the grass, the thick stuff contained a fairly dense growth of hemlock**. Wasn't much fun getting the ball out of there either.<br /><br />And the third side of this sporting triangle? Get your <a target="_new" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuHIG1umPg8">John Robertson</a> jink down the wing wrong and you were arse over tit down a 10 foot grass bank.<br /><br />So there it is. The perfect bottom rung pitch. It's a miracle I'm alive. As a footnote, it was on this very pitch that I did the first of the mega-rips of my right ankle in a pot-hole.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Anatomy of Bottom Rung Balls</span></span><br />( say it out loud, it's just funny )<br /><br />A football is just a football? Nay not so. There are more to balls than you may think. They are seasonal. They are variable. They define demographic. Above all though, they decide the quality of the game. Let's look at the lifecycle and some of the ball-factors.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Filly Lifecycle</span><br />A 'filly' was what we called the thing that you would recognise as a football. It was called a 'filly' because it was a fabric/plastic outer <span style="font-style: italic;">filled</span> with a rubber inner. Rubber inner? The key characteristic of the filly is that they followed a very distinct and repeatable lifecycle. Sometime after Christmas (or perhaps a birthday) someone would appear outside with a shiny new filly. This was the happy time. Everyone loved playing with a brand new filly. It felt right. It was a higher rung. Ever touch was velvet on silk, every volley sweetly struck, every header like kissing a rose. Sadly, Christmas comes but once a year and a new filly didn't stay new very long. They didn't like concrete much. The shiny coating very quickly wore off. Gradually, the underlying fabric became exposed until the ball was a sad reflection of its former self. Soft, saggy and grey; a Brucie's scrotum of a ball. Nice to kick it? To kick it nice. You see, this was the keepy-uppy phase. All of your youthful keepy-uppy records were made with a filly in this state. The fabric was grippy on your Adidas Kick, the softness of the ball hugged your feet. You really couldn't lose control. It literally was like trapping a fish supper. Joy. And then it rained. They didn't like the rain. They got heavier and heavier. Water got inside and spun out into your face when kicked. And heading? Leave it out John.<br /><br />Not long after this phase. A filly would die. The a gap would appear in the fabric panels and the rubber inner would start to peak out like a displaying Amazonian frog. And the filly would die, flappy dead skin hanging off, burst and dead and, in those final moments, held aloft like the head of <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England">Charles I</a>. "<span style="font-style: italic;">Ma' filly's deid.</span>"<br /><br />If we were lucky, it wouldn't be long to Christmas because the alternatives were...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Captain's Ball</span><br />I know not the real name of these balls. I'm pretty sure they had "Captain's Ball" written on them. They were usually orange, sometimes white and made of very robust, thick plastic. This was a good thing in some ways. The tended to last. Kept away from sharp objects they might even last a whole summer. But there were drawbacks. Catch a fast one in the thigh or face and you might well be off home pretending you'd been called for your tea.<br /><br />They were cheaper than fillys too, so there were more of them around. After all, you need to have a ball to have a ball. Just don't head the feckers, that way remedial reading and <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Research_Associates">SRA</a> Tan lies.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Fly-Away</span><br />"<span style="font-style: italic;">Ba's burst, better buy a fly-away.</span>"<br />You need to have a ball. So when the filly's deid, the Captain's Ball got twatted on the railway, you had to fall back on a fly-away. They were light, cheap, thin plastic balls that were utterly useless to play football with. They were for toddlers. A slight breeze, a bit of spin and "<span style="font-style: italic;">whoof, it's swept away</span>".<br /><br />You gotta end with a bit of <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Macpherson">Archie</a>... the top rung of commentating.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">* - in a Derren Brown style, I'm going to predict that Stuart comments on this blog post saying, to this very day, that it wasn't a goal<br />** - there's a whole other blog post there<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-4364549016529694919?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-28318704277486622492009-09-14T08:10:00.004+01:002009-09-18T19:55:02.910+01:00PhotoBlog : Leuchars Air Show 2009<div id="photography"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">I</span>'ve waited many years to finally get to an airshow. As a younglet, I would always watch the coverage of Farnborough with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Baxter">Raymond Baxter</a> and fuel my forever love of planes.<br /><br />I wasn't disappointed. A blindingly (literally, when fully zoomed in, don't pan across the sun) sunny day in Fife and many great planes (and even more people and cars). Here's a short selection of some of the photos that what I took. Not the best, but I learnt quite a bit, I'll be better next time.<br /><br />To download hi-res versions of these images go <a href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/browse/#/?qury=leuchars%20airshow%202009&terms_all=leuchars,airshow,2009">here</a>.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog1.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />The Red Arrows flying in formation with an RAF Typhoon.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog2.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />Red Arrows in formation completing a descent.<br />(as featured on the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8253468.stm">BBC Website</a>)<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog3.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />The Red Arrows flew in and parked up before their show.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog4.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />Boeings old and new. A B52 with two Boeing Stearman in the background.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog5.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />An F-15 Eagle in the ground (with some HDR Action ).<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog6.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog7.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />Red Arrows in formation.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog8.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />And again.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog9.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />The Avro Vulcan was ace. The highlight of the show came for me on take off. It lifted up fairly gently. I was zoomed right in and followed in up when it did an unexpected roll. It was very cool. Especially with a soundtrack of Barber's Adagio on the PA.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog10.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />Lancaster on the ground.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.scottliddell.com/images/leuchars/blog11.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />Vulcan flies over the taxiing Red Arrows.<br /></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-2831870427748662249?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-47947456451850525822009-08-13T08:56:00.010+01:002009-08-13T12:13:09.732+01:00Just Another Drive to Work<div id="writing"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">T</span>oday started much like any other. The evilly sequenced set of alarms clattered into life. Each leaving sufficient time for me to return back into a dreamy doze before blowing the whistle to urge me over the top.<br /><br />The morning evolution begins. Hunched simian gives way to an upright and scratching Australopithecus. A large stretch reveals something more hominid in form before a final flurry of blinks and groans allows my final almost human shape to emerge; pale and hairy, like those bug-eyed nocturnal animals the beloved Mr. Attenborough chases about in the dark.<br /><br />Into the bathroom and the radio goes on. Someone, somewhere is moaning about something. Again. Shower on and in. Gurgle, gurgle, sploosh and we're awake; or what passes for awake. Comatose with a smile - forced - weekday.<br /><br />As in the days of yore, there is no charge in the electric toothbrush. As brushes go, they don't brush very well. I scrape and drag a bit. That'll do.<br /><br />Pants, trousers, shirt, socks. Socks? Off black, dark black, scudding gray, formerly approximating to black, black with a stripe, black with a slightly thicker stripe, black with Homer Simpson, black with a ridge band a the top, black with a slightly wider ridged band at the top. That's close enough, the last two will do as a pair.<br /><br />Shoes on and it's once a again an awful long way down to the laces. Cue that noise old men make when they get out a chair. Ergo, mmm... best not say it out loud.<br /><br />The car keys are usually in one of 97 possible places. I find them in place 93. Which I take as a positive. The glass may only be 4 out of 97 parts full but some days that's enough.<br /><br />In car and radio on. Some so-called expert is explaining why someone, somewhere who is moaning about something should stop moaning while someone from a so-called pressure group guffaws in contempt to the annoyance of the presenter. I sneer at them all. No one notices.<br /><br />The drive out to the motorway is more stop than start. This would seem to defy a few laws of physics, but that's how it feels with the two left hand pedals getting more involved that the right hand side one. Lights, cameras and not much action. Weaving idiots and fat arsed cyclists before the open-road sanctuary of the motorway looms; the 10 seconds of accelerating joy ahead of the nose-to-tail trundle.<br /><br />And we're off and there goes Mansell. There stops Mansell. A bus overtaking a truck. There endeth the fun. After a couple of miles I sneak past the sleepy-tacho-trucks and stick the MP3 player on to lighten my mood. Yes indeed, it is a Pleasant Valley Sunday, you're right, how rude of me not to notice. Pah.<br /><br />But still, the road is quieter, I'm making progress and leaving more things behind me that there are in front of me. Actually, there is quite a lot, quite far behind me. I strain in the rear view mirror but it looks like everything has backed off behind me to quite a distance. I'm not going quickly but nothing is keeping pace. No idiots in BMW's careering up my rear, no leather-cased bloodbags on bikes hurtling to their next accident. Nothing for almost a mile at least. Odd. Anyway, on with the journey, turn up the music, all the better for me to have the road to myself.<br /><br />And then I see them. Blue lights. One, then two, maybe more behind those. With the rest of the traffic still far behind a phalanx of traffic cars was making its way up towards me. I turned down the music and turned round to check what I thought the mirror was telling me.<br /><br />It was only then I saw the hand appear against the rear windscreen...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-4794745645185052582?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-20796862903333594282009-08-12T09:16:00.009+01:002009-08-12T13:08:32.565+01:00If You Build It...<div id="technology"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">T</span>hey might come? The world of Internet traffic generation has changed a lot since the days when I were thin. Used to be that you were worried about SEO, meta-tags blah-di-blah-di-page-rank-bobbins<sup>tm</sup> and, while much of this is still relevant to some degree, there are many more fun ways than the painful wait for your site to appear on page 10 of Google.<br /><br />Yesterday, I 'launched' <a href="http://www.thephotoproject.org/">The Photo Project</a>, a charity photo book web site. I won't go on about it here (check the site to find out more) but suffice to say, in the old order of web traffic generation, I wouldn't fare very well against all the other photography related site searches that go on. And yet, on the very first day, there was a creditable 421 hits from 181 unique users.<br /><br />Contrast this with my previous web dabblings. When I first put the <a href="http://www.lazywebtools.co.uk/refresh.html">LazyWebTools page refresher live</a> it took a while to pick up search traffic and it wasn't until that it got a few forums mentions that it took off. Several years on it still maintains a very loyal following in the 100's of hits a day region.<br /><br />Another website I did fared less well. I thought <a href="http://www.checkmyrequest.com/">CheckMyRequest</a> was the sort of daft thing that would be picked up virally eventually. It never did and I never really tried much (daft as it was).<br /><br />The simple fact is that in one day, ThePhotoProject outshone all the traffic to CheckMyRequest gets in months. (ignoring the fact the CheckMyRequest is inane and ThePhotoProject has slightly more substance).<br /><br />How? Twitter.<br /><br />ThePhotoProject has a Twitter account (<a href="http://twitter.com/thephotoproject">@thephotoproject</a>) so I tweet that the site is live. I then retweet this from my account to my ~300 followers and hope to get retweeted from there. If you get lucky (or know some lovely people*) you can get retweeted by people with very big networks and the word can spread very quickly. Even with a relatively small number of retweets there were a decent number of hits, harking back to previous blathering on <a href="http://www.scottliddell.com/2008/12/scale-free-networks-and-social.html">scale-free networks</a>...<br /><br />This is in no way a great surprise to anyone. There are many <a href="http://www.andrewburnett.com/">great proponents</a> of this art and it is one that will become increasingly important the more we rely on the "NOW!" and don't want the six week wait and painful SEO struggle.<br /><br />The challenge now will be to maintain the same level of interest. The re-tweet game is ideal for an initial splurge but any more than that and it becomes inane spamming and has a negative effect.<br /><br />So, I'd better keep it interesting...<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">* a big thankyou to those lovely people, <a href="http://twitter.com/the_emecks">@the_emecks</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/Sheamus">@Sheamus</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/applemacbookpro">@applemacbookpro</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/AmyVernon">@AmyVernon</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/davefitch">@davefitch</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/jerryjamesstone">@jerryjamesstone</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/ash_matadeen">@ash_matadeen</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/gamebittk">@gamebittk</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/chrisnixon">@chrisnixon</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/alpower">@alpower</a> for the retweetage...</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-2079686290333359428?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33384244.post-46396970375155908952009-08-10T10:17:00.007+01:002009-08-10T11:03:12.151+01:00Blu-Ray Review : Hidden ( Caché )<div id="zeitgeist"></div><br /><span class="dropcap">W</span>here do you start? Or, perhaps more importantly, where do you end? Let's get the obvious things out of way. The plot revolves around a TV presenter (Daniel Autueil) and his wife ( Juliette Binoche ) who are being sent VHS tapes (wrapped in alarming child-like drawings) of themselves being watched and their subsequent quest to find out who is doing it.<br /><br />Also worth very quickly stating that while the Blu-Ray print is decent enough, this is not a film that is in any way enhanced by watching in Blu-Ray. This is lo-fi French cinema. There are a few shots that look quite sparkly but, on the whole, you'll lose nothing from watching this on DVD.<br /><br />So, it seems to be quite a straightforward thriller plot. And, for the most part, it is. But you would be wrong to get drawn into the film on that basis alone. Fans of Michael Bay should stay well away. The pace is very slow, quite deliberately so. It's very stripped down and bleak. You get drawn in to the languid style so when the shocking moments come you really do get a shock and remain a little wary thereafter. And I did get a shock, I actually threw my hands up over my face like a Victorian woman on seeing a man's ankle.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">*** Caution : slight risk of spoiler from here ***</span><br /><br />What will make this film linger in the mind is the one thing that is the most irksome as you watch. We are used to a shape of cinema with a nicely defined beginning, middle and end. At the end of Taggart, we always know who did the <span style="font-style: italic;">murrrdurrr</span>(sic) and we have fun trying to guess which of the low-grade Scottish actors it was. We are used to neat resolution. Even the most challenging and convoluted of Hollywood movies like The Usual Suspects does it's best to explain to the audience what has been going on so you can leave the cinema thinking "ooh, that was clever". Hidden doesn't do that. It makes no allowances for our stupidity. You don't get a resolution. You are left with clues and the desire to work the rest out for yourself. There is even evidence online that many people missed the big clue at the very end of the film completely.<br /><br />What is revealed is that the film isn't about the central plot at all, it is about how the characters react to the plot. It's not that the plot dooesn't matter but it is simply the bones on which the messages of the film are hung. So, it's a good job that the acting performances are great. Autueil seems to do well at the guilt and retribution thing (albeit with nothing as colourful as carnations on show here).<br /><br />Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did it annoy me? Yes. Was I more interested in the plot afterwards because of the lack of discrete ending. Most definitely. And I'm not the only one. A very quick trawl of the interweb found many discussions on what exactly was going on.<br /><br />If you don't get irritated by the style and pace of French (or, more accurately in this case, German ) cinema and you don't mind being left with a challenge at the end, then I would definitely recommened this film. Although I'm almost certain that many people will get to the end with a simple "<span style="font-style: italic;">Eh? That was shite.</span>" type reaction.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/33384244-4639697037515590895?l=www.scottliddell.com' alt='' /></div>Scott Liddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249748329693158844scott.m.liddell@gmail.com0