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The Light Fantastic

20 Dec 2006
I don't know why I'm compelled to start this entry with "The Light Fantastic" really. I haven't been reading and 17th Century verse, nor anything by Pratchett. I haven't even been dancing. In fact what I've been doing is taking pictures of fantastic light, but then to just come out and say it wouldn't be filling my obtuse-quota!

Being able to amble down from work to the Tate Modern and across the Thames to St. Paul's can be a real gift sometimes. This afternoon the sky was clear, it was too cold for too many people to be out, the sun was low in the sky, high pressure overhead had created a sort of vague London haze that made Canary Warf indistinct in the distance. The whole thing basically meant that the light pouring low over the city was far more tangible than usual; I just hope some of the shots come out alright.

NON SEQUITUR ALERT! As my web skills improve year-on-year the time where I look at this website and feel slightly embarrassed is rolling round again, so I'm in the planning stages of a new design for this slightly neglected webspace. Running ideas at the moment include:

  • Non-pixel-perfect design (they're a pain, and my limited PhotoShop skills aren't enough to justify them)

  • Robust markup that will not only stand scrutiny with styles disabled, but hopefully outlive the design itself

  • Switching from MT to WordPress, without looking like every other WP site out there

  • Bringing in and expanding the portfolio as part of the blog site


And as I?ll be thinking about the site more there'll probably be more blogging too. I can tell you?re excited.

As a reward for reading all that here's a link to the world's tallest website. Enjoy.

Computagaimes

11 Dec 2006
Patch 2.02 hit World of Warcraft a couple of days ago. This was very important for many reasons that are easily summarised in the shift from patch number from 1.x to 2.x. It's an exciting time with new skills and game mechanics etc, problem is I can't really be bothered anymore.

This time last year I would have been all over it like a rash, but at the moment I'm mostly playing Medieval 2: Total War, a strategy game where you have to conquer Europe circa 1080. Even with the pile of bugs it totally rocks. When I get (temporarily) tired of that, I also have Neverwinter Nights 2 waiting for my attention. Another sweet game, this time a dungeons and dragons-based roleplaying game that I haven't really gotten into yet, but expect great things from. In the unlikely event I get bored of those two I have Dark Messiah of Might & Magic which was a present from my brother, the first first-person shootemup I've played that both had a fantasy setting and didn't involve shooting. I'm about half way through it and should probably try and finish it, though I'm playing a mage character so it mostly involves running away. Also I have Sims2 with about a dozen addons including the recent ?Pets? (strangely the animals are much easier to look after than the people). I'm not even going to mention flatmate Steve's new Wii. Apart from just then, obviously.

So yeah, I have very many more games that I possibly have time to play, especially when you take into account that I enjoy trawling the forums on these games to learn all the ins-and-outs almost as much as I do playing them. What is worse is the oh-so-long-awaited World of Warcraft expansion pack, chock full of new content to explore and master with my friends, is released in the middle of next month, and I'm rather hoping they put the release back further, because at the moment, I can?t see myself even buying it.

Pockets

04 Dec 2006
I love my new trousers. Though I admit the toggles are pointless, they're a pair of black 32-long combats with a vague baggy-ish shape perfect for stashing plenty in the 8 cavernous pockets without looking like a tool. Bugger jeans that make your legs look stumpy and shoes that make your toes look super-pointy.

Hang on, wait, I've just discovered a 9th pocket, woot!