The Real Instagram Generation : The Last Resort – Martin Parr
There is something distinctly serendipitous about receiving this book from a kindly benefactor (yes, I've been reading Dickens) on the same day as I signed up for Instagram. You see, there is a very clear and distinct line of DNA between Parr's images and the 21c...
I’m Calling It, Draw Something is Boring
Like a gazillion others, I quickly jumped in the DrawSomething bandwagon and had a good laugh at my total lack of artistic talent. It's simplicity does have an immediate appeal and is good fun. $200M can't be wrong, right? Because it's so simple and because, initially...
PhotoBlog : From The Roof of @ntlmuseumsscot
Great day in town at the Science Festival in the City Arts Centre followed a trip to the National Museum of Scotland and the Fascinating Mummies exhibit. Didn't expect to take many photos today but I lugged the camera about with me anyway ( and discovered at the...
Before and After : Garage Conversion
Thought the completion of our garage conversion was worthy of marking by way of a short blog post. Also, I think it's important to give credit where it's due, so I'd like to thank the guys at Gain-A-Room for making it a painless and pleasant experience. We're very...
PhotoBlog : The Crazy Signage of Blackpool
As you walk about Blackpool, you can't help but notice the text filed vista before you. And, in almost all cases, it raises a smile. Not because it isn necessarily funny, mainly because it seems to be genuinely without irony. You have to admire the spirit that allows...
PhotoBlog : The Beautiful People of Blackpool
This is the second in a series of three posts of images from Blackpool. During my wander round, I took the opportunity to do a little bit of people gazing. Not something I do very often but it's quite good fun. I think it helped that it wasn't all the busy and...
PhotoBlog : Beautiful Blackpool with Billy Connolly
Was lucky enough to receive a most excellent of Christmas presents from my lovely wife, tickets to see Billy Connolly and a wee trip to Blackpool. We had a great weekend and, as a result of staying in the same hotel as the great man, we can also say that, despite...
Children’s Parties and the Futility of Communism
Before I get into what I will loosely refer to as the "meat", I'd like to start with a small disclaimer. There is a slight risk that this post could, to the untrained eye, make me look like a grumpy, ungrateful, tight-fisted, old curmudgeon. If you start to think that...
Blu-Ray Review : 13 Assassins
There is a lot to be said for simplicity in a film. Sure, a complex, surprising plot is always the most rewarding in a film but sometimes a straightforward good versus bad punch up is just what you're after. And if that is what you're after then 13 Assassins may well...
2011 – Photo Review of the Year
Well, here we are at the end of 2011. As I've done for the last couple of years ( 2010, 2009 ) time to spend a fun evening trawling through the year's photos picking out a few faves. Noticeably fewer photos this year, methinks it has been a busy one. Fewer photos...
My Top 10 Stock Photos Of 2011
As my avid reader will know, I give away my photos for free use as stock on Morguefile. Not been my most prolific year for new images but I was just flicking through them and was looking to see what had been the most popular by downloads in the year. It's usually...
A Dozen Reasons to Join @BlipFoto
On 1st January 2010 I uploaded my first image to BlipFoto. And now, as I head towards my second full year I started to think about what compelled me to make sure, on pain of death, that I always manage to take one photo a day. If you're not familiar with the site, it...
Book Review : Earth From The Air
Description The result of a five-year airborne odyssey across five continents and sixty countries, The Earth From the Air is the bestselling book of aerial photography ever published. This vibrant new edition of the internationally acclaimed original features an...
Would You Use SEO Power To Complain?
They often say that the pen is mightier than the sword and, yet, there is very little jail time associated with carrying a biro in your pocket. Recently I was wondering if the same can be said to be true of that which is written online. In the past I've written about...
Avoiding Bacon : A Game of Discovery
I was idly tootling around Wikipedia tonight. I started reading about a person and then clicked on a link about another person in the article and so on until I was nowhere near where I started. It's amazing where you can end up. Just don't click on Kevin Bacon. If you...
Book Review : The Complete Maus
I have a weird conundrum when I fly. I love planes and flying but, having done it so much, familiarly and boredom bring a weird kind of tension. Usually, as I am on approach to Edinburgh airport, I gaze fixedly out the windows for landmarks and make sure we're heading...
Lost Skills of the Ancients
As we look back in history we interpret the scratches and debris left on the earth to determine as much as we can about their lives, loves and labours. This reveals much about the ingenuity of the people who, before the industrial revolution, devised a myriad of ways...
On Visiting Auschwitz
When we looked at the route of our recent drive across Europe we realised that a visit to Krakow created the possibility of a stop at Auschwitz. This was something that we were all very keen to do and, despite a difficult week leading up to that point and a very long...
Smacked in the Pus for @bytenight
As part of our fundraising for Byte Night, myself and a few colleagues agreed to get pelted in stocks with wet sponges. Please show your appreciation of my bravery in the face of cold water by donating here. Here are a few pictures of me receiving some soggy face...
Software Development Success – With Spanners
There must be at least 7 other blog posts on the internet claiming to hold the secrets of software development success. Well, here it is, number 8. One of the very few benefits of being an old git is that you've been doing the same thing for long enough to know that...