"In other news"

Jan 7th 2011

SO I've been listening to a lot of cricket in the last couple of weeks...

One more habit I can dispense with now. No more cricket :-(

However that does free up time for other things - doing my tax return for 09/10 for example, there's always a cheeky load of washing to be done, I could clean up the desktop, vacuum the floor, feed the cat ...

Instead I'm blogging and with a serious point. The photo above demonstrates just a small corner of the sweeping changes enacted by my wife (Cristina) upon the kitchen that serves so well our generously proportioned family (except for Izel - whom the kitchen does serve, but who is not generously proportioned).

One or two things still to be done, but by jingo I think we can lick it. If not we'll just eat outside more often.

N

Now in TREBUCHET MS!!

Why name a font after a medieval siege engine? APparently those wits at Microsoft were one day discussing whether it would be possible to launch Angry Sam, the barmy English programmer with the BO and the vacuous conversation, from his nook to the sef-serve cafe a mile away on campus? Mr V Connare, a font designer, thought the word 'trebuchet' might serve both to deal with the limey, and also make a neat title for the new san-serif font he'd been designing (the one with the splayed edges on the uppercase M and curved tail on the lower case l)

Due to the evil that is Facebook I'm moving my musings to this blog.

Posting a video soon - look out for it.

N

Remarkable - only 10 minutes (barely that - try five) to break back into my old blog. Ahh - Z, R+W. Fells like snuggling into a big corduroy coat that you bought five years ago but it never fitted so you snuck it to the back of the wardrobe.

But now we're off to Mexico to pursue dreams of stardom and catch up with some business associates, so time to get the tale again.

I'll be wearing my New Inventors baseball-style cap around Mexico - and I'll take a video or at least a photo of everyone who recognises the show.

Blog Update

I've posted only a few times, but I realize that i might be the only person actually viewing this blog. In which case - hello me! Love my work...

The Mythopedia is at layout stage now, and also in the hands of Adam and Jamie (apparently). I'm loving the layout and even gaining a curious satisfaction from finding the photos...who would have thought?

So then, what's next?

What is next is a new book but this time for a different television show. This time we're going closer to home. We're taking ... inventions.

More details soon!

Science Show

Sunday, April 6th 2008

Just watched most of a documentary from the BBC called 'Human Being Version 2.0'.

Sadly, this was still a science documentary version 1.0.

I remember reading about all those experiments, ideas and personalities when I was working for a small television production company in 2003/04. I even interviewed and developed stories with some of their talent.

And yet this was science documentary 2008. Surely science has moved faster than that? Is Ray Kurzweil still the most interesting person in the world of post humanism? Is M. Nicolelis still leading the world of brian science?

Perhaps, but ... the music! The mock-horror of the voiceover! The tediously slow roll out of ideas, subservient to the 'sexy' images.

There is a way that science and ideas can exist in a fast, exciting and even comic way ON TELEVISION (still the greatest communications device yet demonstrated to billions). It's... the In Conversation meets The Glass House. I call it Boff'n.

The concept is that you get six or seven smart, funny, well-read and connected people (three or so regulars, three or so guests) and they go hammer an tongs on ideas and science, personal beliefs and intuitions, in front of a live audience, with the very occasional throw to a video package or animation.

Anyone interested in a pilot?