Thwen

wellinghall @ 06:39 pm: Websites
I recently came across this website again, and I thought some of you might enjoy it.

And I know I've put this up before, but some of my newer friends might not have seen it.

I'd like to go and see this exhibition.

I'd like to go and see this one.

And I have just spotted this news about a film that has long been a favourite of mine.

And finally, I see that tomorrow's "Times" will be running a piece about the Dr Who Prom that is coming up on Sunday.

tigerfort @ 03:24 pm: Shiny hardware
I now have backups of all my important data that are not inside the machine that contains all the original files. This is, on the whole, a good thing, although I still need to organise some kind of automatic and/or regular system for keeping them up to date.

Also, I have a shiny new camera toy, courtesy of my brother. This needs playing with :)

Tags: backups, camera

emily_shore @ 09:27 am: "Though just too late for me..."
When it comes to making icons, my artistic skills are not very well developed. Still, I do read poetry and I love to quote from it. Allow me to claim far too much when I say that I think this icon achieves a certain level of haiku-like allusiveness.

And in case you can't tell, yes, he is holding the Beatles' first LP.

Tags: beatles, icons, poetry

shimgray @ 08:42 am: Dentistry.
My dentist has a handy system whereby you give them a mobile number, and two or three days before your appointment they send you a text message with the date, time, and who to phone to cancel as a reminder.

This is a very good thing.

This morning, having got up at seven and just about to leave the house to trek to Kidlington (for there they be), I discovered it can also be used for cancellations.

This is probably still a good thing, but I wish my knowledge of it was a bit more academic.

emily_shore @ 08:56 pm: Epigraph inadequacy
I need to work harder on my userpic descriptions

Tags: icons, musings

emily_shore @ 07:46 pm: Vid Recs (BSG)
What is it about BSG that results in it giving birth to more fantastic fanvids than any other show I've seen? Some combination of great color-saturated visuals, kinetic action, big themes, symbolism and (for me at least) a copious supply of interesting female characters. Not to mention talented vidders with something to say.

Three really note-worthy vids have gone up in the past month or so:

Hera Has Six Mommies by tallulah71 and cyborganize

so say we all I (Handlebars) by kiki_miserychic

there's a war going on for your mind, Laura by beccatoria

The last one in particular has grabbed me today. It takes a lot to get me to forgive the lack of DVD-quality source (I know, I know), but I forgive! It's all lyrical complexity and anger and gender and politics and religion and most of all, yes, the inside of Laura Roslin's mind. Which mysteriously seems to be coterminous with everything important about the series as a whole. And, my god, isn't that refreshing?

What goes on in her mind matters. And, my god, isn't that even more refreshing?

Tags: bsg, gender, vid recs

opportunemoment @ 04:06 pm: In which Steven Moffat is awesome, again.
From the Guardian:

Screenwriter Steven Moffat has withdrawn from writing two Tintin films for Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson to concentrate on Doctor Who. Moffat, who in May became the show's executive producer, was planning to write the Tintin scripts before resuming duties on the TV series, but was prevented by the US writers' strike. "Nothing less than Doctor Who could have torn me away," Moffat told the BBC. Tintin, he said, was a "stunning project" he was proud to be part of. But he felt it was "the proper duty of every British subject to come to the aid of the Tardis".

It is the proper duty of every British subject to come to the aid of the TARDIS.

That should just be the tagline of the whole show. And I want it on a t-shirt. Really quite a lot, actually.

(I'm a little sad he's not writing Tintin any more. I love Tintin and wouldn't necessarily trust just anyone to get it right. On the other hand, Spielberg and Jackson, so it probably won't suck. :P)

Tags: dr who, movies, squee, tv

aranelcharis @ 10:23 pm: Gake no Ue no Ponyo
Tonight I saw the new Miyazaki movie. The following is a review I wrote for it: (oh, Gake no Ue no Ponyo can be translated as "Ponyo on a cliff")

3 words describe this movie: Death By Cuteness.

If you thought Totoro was cute, you ain't seen nothing yet. Ponyo is the cutest little...fish-girl ever. The movie is loosely based on "The Little Mermaid," but don't think Disney. Think instead of when you were a kid, and the world was brighter, magical, full of wonder and delight. Those are the feelings which describe what happens when you enter the world of Miyazaki.

Story - Although there's more story to Ponyo than your average Miyazaki film (eg: Totoro again), the film is geared more to a younger audience, and therefore has simply a slow progression of events which unfold for the main character Sousuke, who saves what he calls a "goldfish" from the ocean. She's trapped in a jar that someone threw into the ocean (kill! kill! kill this person!). Unbeknownst to him, her father is looking for her, as she has run away from home. Sousuke, however, promises to protect the "goldfish" he names "Ponyo," and Ponyo slowly becomes more and more human as she spends time with Sousuke.

Art - The art is great Miyazaki as usual. This time, the art reflects a child's view of the world. I particularly liked the backgrounds that look they're colored pencil/crayon/chalk (though still drawn with lots of detail) and the sea creatures. Actually, any of the ocean scenes are amazing. It felt like I was in an aquarium.

Sound - The beginning of the movie was an opera piece, which was quite interesting, and a normal orchestral score after that. The seiyuu who played Ponyo has the most adorable voice too. Voice acting throughout was top-notch.

Character - If you do not fall in love with Ponyo, you have no heart. She's innocent and adorable. Sousuke seems really smart for a 5-year-old, and very kind, obedient, and generous. If I had kids, I'd want them to be like the characters in this movie. The "grown ups" seem to be overly cheery, and this was the main thing I found incredulous in the film. What kind of mom leaves 2 kids alone at night? What kind of adults seeing 2 kids alone in a candle-powered boat, simply wave hello to them? What kind of adults calmly talk to sea-spirits like they're next door neighbors?? Yeah, this only happens in Miyazaki world.

Enjoyment - I love the ocean, and little kids (when they're not brats), and the whole fish-out-of-water element (haha, this movie literaly has a fish-out-of-water), so I obviously loved this movie. You know it's great when you get come of the movie theater smiling.

If you like other Miyazaki movies, I think you'll like this one. If you don't like slow paced, slice of life (with a dash of magic) movies, then you probably won't enjoy it as much. If you do, just sit back, relax, and let Miyazaki take you to another world...Go watch it when it comes out near you!!

dr_biscuit @ 11:07 pm: Oh, Jeffrey
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7520343.stm

And all I can think of is Steve Taylor on the phone:
"Jeff... Jeff... just calm down OK....Look, three things. One, you should not be using your mobile on a plane. Two, the name of the island is pronounced 'Lez-boss'......Yeah, well that was fairly optimistic of you wasn't it?.....Three, the behaviour of breast implants at altitude isn't something I can claim great knowledge on...Yeah, no I'm fairly certain you can't raise it with a complete stranger...No, whatever danger you think she's in....No, not even with the people in 'shrapnel range'...'

Also seen recently on bbc news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/7505443.stm

This sounds highly suspicious to me. I think some bungler of a Sugg is behind it, and this is a case for Lord Peter.

shimgray @ 10:30 pm: Day 204: edited bridges
I took a batch of photographs of the Bridge of Sighs today (Oxford's worst named landmark), and as usual it proved very hard to get a decent photograph. This wasn't helped by my having left the camera set on ISO 400 - I wondered why I was needing to be taking photographs at f/8 and 1/800th of a second, exposures which normally suggest I'm photographing some form of nuclear explosion, but failed to quite think this through to its logical conclusion until afterwards.

Um, yes. Anyhow, I picked the best of the lot, and chopped it around a bit; for the curious, you get both the original and the final version.

( ...photographs... )

Unrelatedly: tomorrow is lovely and warm and we will be going canoeing at five. As before, anyone who wants to come is more than welcome, let me know for directions...

pozorvlak @ 07:00 pm: Mountaineering terminology
I'd like to clarify the question in my last post, namely "what is mountaineering?". Let's start by introducing some standard terminology so we've got something to work with. ( Fun things to do in the mountains ) Clearly, a given mountaineering trip may involve some or all of these, and in addition may involve skiing, snowshoeing or abseiling (rappelling). But how many of the ingredients need to be present for a given trip to count as mountaineering? Let's consider some scenarios:

1. An ascent of a classic face in the Alps or Greater Ranges. Multi-day, involving technical rock and mixed climbing, gaining a major summit at the end.
2. An ascent of an Alpine 4000m peak by its easiest route.
3. An ascent of a lesser Alpine peak by its easiest route.
4. A multi-day "big wall" climb in Yosemite.
5. A single-day, multi-pitch rock climb on a roadside crag or sea stack.
6. A single-day, multi-pitch rock climb on a mountainside.
7. A single-pitch climb on a crag.
8. A single-pitch crag on a mountainside.
9. A boulder problem on a mountainside.
10. A sustained scramble up a Scottish hillside in summer.
11. A walk up a hill of 1000m or so in summer.
12. A walk up a hill of 600m or so in summer.
13. A sustained scramble up a Scottish hillside in winter.
14. A walk up a hill of 1000m or so in winter.
15. A walk up a hill of 600m or so in winter.

I think I'd count 1, 2, 6, and 13 as mountaineering, and possibly 3, 4, 10 and 14. How about the rest of you? I've never done any walking or climbing in the Alps (though I have skied there), so I'm unclear on the level of difficulty involved: my vague understanding is that the high Alpine peaks require little technical ice- or rock-climbing by their easiest routes, but involve plenty of movement over snow and ice, and may involve some scrambling on icy rock and movement over glaciers. They also have much greater objective dangers (avalanche and rockfall) than are encountered in the UK. Perhaps the experts can give us the benefit of their experience :-)

Tags: mountains, munros, rock climbing

wellinghall @ 07:07 pm: Holiday photos
Please, please, please suggest something for me to photograph for you on our trip to Norway! I love taking photos, but sometimes I need a bit more inspiration.

If you all suggest something (something different!), that will be 144 photos for me to take! Come on, you can do it ...

(Yes, I know we're not going for another two weeks - but making these posts seems to bring it closer. I'm already saying, "Are we nearly there yet?" ;-) )

Tags: holiday, norway, photos

teh_elb @ 02:42 pm: Engineer today was young and pretty, and he called me "the young lady". Heeeeee.

I burnt my finger! D: But, as I just been reminded, "the trick is not minding that it hurts."

Show the Colours: Hostage-taking! Stand-offs! Slaughter! Drugs! Spyhattery! (Corbeille/Broussard OTP!) I think I want to marry Padstowe.

fhtagn @ 01:24 pm: And here's the update I've been promising. Parts of it, anyway, as things have wandered in and out of priority in my mind.

( Look here for films, books, phones and, you know, interesting stuff too ... )

tigerfort @ 01:14 pm: Martian skies
Someone elsewhere pointed me at this page, which collects together photographs from the half-dozen assorted probes currently orbiting round/sitting on Mars. It's actually about a month old, but there are quite a few images I'd not seen before there.

dreiviertel @ 12:56 pm: Мой моск неровно вскрыт консервным ножом
I have installed some exciting new parsing software. Now I can parse the whole corpus of Old English in seconds - and get lots of nice statistics to play with before the next conference. With a big BUT.

"installed" is not the word - it only runs under the bloody MS-DOS, and every time I mistype the long command line (all these D:\qq\ee\fjhs\AARGHHs), I have to start over again. It reminds me of a game of Mario - there is no Save!!! and no copy-paste!!! If you screw up, you start all over again!

"new" is not the word - it was deliberately written so that it can be processed by any operating system, so "new" is rather a hazy notion.

"in seconds" is not quite the word - sure enough, once you've typed the command line correctly (on Nth attempt), once you've made the query file and written down the path correctly (if there is a typo, it's back to square one), so provided all this goes well, it can do wonders with the corpus. But then you have to set the parameters correctly as well, or else your data will be utterly worthless.

So far, I've managed to get to the stage where I am getting results comparable to those I obtained when writing my thesis, with texts I have parsed with my own fair hands. And this is good indeed. It's such great fun when you get it right!

But I will never ever say an unkind word about Bill Gates in future. Not until I am forced to buy a computer with Windows Vista, that is.

And I have a profound respect for my friends who are computer programmers.

Tags: lytdybr, phil

pozorvlak @ 01:03 am: Mountain CV
I'm going to Skye at the weekend, to spend some time with my parents and to do a section of the Cuillin with a couple of friends. We're going to try and link a couple of the cruxes (the Inaccessible Pinnacle and the TD Gap) in a day - the full traverse is apparently better attempted as a two-day trip. My Dad offered to hire us a guide, which struck us as both generous and sensible. Said guide asked us to fill in a form detailing our levels of mountain experience, and I thought I'd share:

( If you're still alive at the end, it was mountain experience )

It was quite a fun exercise, writing it all out like that, and (like all such exercises) it's helped me to see both how much I've done and how much further there is to go. I've been consciously trying to push my grade a bit this summer, hence the A'Chir traverse and Curved Ridge, both quite challenging scrambles. I really enjoyed the winter climb I did back in February (a colleague took Michael and I up Ledge Route on Ben Nevis - great conditions, and lots of fun), and would like to be more au fait with technical terrain, ropework and general mountaineering skillz so I can get the most out of the coming winter climbing season. Sadly, the thesis (or rather, my inability to get anywhere with the thesis) keeps getting in the way.

By the way, I have a question of terminology: what counts as "mountaineering" to you? Any activity in the hills? Climbing hills whose summits are greater than a certain height above sea level? Anything involving a rope? Anything involving crampons? The intersection of the above? I veer towards the "intersection of the above" definition myself, and hence don't count what I do as mountaineering: it's either hillwalking, or it's rock-climbing. Stuff like Curved Ridge (where we were roped together, and mostly climbing with hands and feet) might count, I suppose. And what about the title "mountaineer"? I certainly wouldn't describe myself as a mountaineer - at best, I'm a hillwalker with ambitions to better myself. Maybe when I've done a guideless Alpine four-thousander or two.

My Munro-count has gone up by one this weekend, after a ( trip to Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Sgor na h'Ulaidh on Sunday )

You can see our route here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2100666 . Total distance a bit over 22km, in just under 10 hours.

Returning briefly to the subject of the dreaded thesis, I added an index this evening, and managed to add four pages with a couple of hours' work (bringing me up to 108 pages). I think it's a worthwhile activity: it's given me another pass over the whole thing, so I have a better handle on what's there; it'll be easier to find definitions when I'm looking at a printout; it should help the examiners; it'll help me to identify gaps; and it'll make it easier for me to demonstrate to my supervisor that yes, I do deal with that issue :-)

¹ A col (also called a saddle, bealach or pass) is the lowest point on the ridge between two mountains, or, from the valley-dweller's point of view, the highest point you need to travel over to get from one valley to another.

Tags: mountains, munros, scotland, thesis

aranelcharis @ 08:38 am: Aranel in...BL land.
Yesterday was quite an event. I looked up Otome Road on yahoo maps, and ventured off into Ikebukuro. This turned out to be me going out the wrong exit (curse their being 2 bic cameras in one city) and down aways before I turned back and stood for about 5 minutes looking at a map posted on the sidewalk. While I was looking at it, a businessman came up to me and asked in flawless English if he could help me. I showed him my map (complete with horrible messy katakana and kanji) and he knew exactly where I wanted to go. Then he said since he was "killing time" (the Japanese love their English idioms) he`d take me there. So we walk a loooong way, while he explains that he read an article that foreigners think the Japanese are rude because they don`t talk to them, so he decided to talk to me. We get closer and closer to Otome road, and walk down this small side street. Then he sees a sign which has two guys hugging on it and says "This place has comics...only for girls."

You see, where I had this poor businessman leading me was the heart of the BL (boy`s love), shonen ai, yaoi world. Here was where frumpy looking Japanese girls wheeled around small suitcases to carry their porn doujins, where butler cafes abound, where animate includes sections for Miyazaki films (so one can be killed from the cuteness), where stores give your purchases in black bags, so no one will see your porn doujins. Ah, what a hilarious pair we made, traipsing down the street.

I left him at K books, the biggest doujin store (I think) in Ikebukuro. There I proceeded to go wild looking at all the Okita X Kagura doujin...I bought too many. Yes, these stores also have het pairings, though not many. :) Wow were the Reborn sections huge. Hibari had his own shelf. There were also other stores that sold older character goods (saia I got you x-mas presents from Ouran). You could find some good deals if you dug through the huge bins of stuff. There also, Hibari stuff was waaay overpriced.

emily_shore @ 07:34 pm: Fannish things
With only a few days to go before the X-Files movie premiere, I remain somewhat unspoiled. The odd thing is that this state has arisen out of apathy more than effort... I really haven't been around that much. Having said that, maybe it's just that my standards are different and thus I set the bar for "spoiled" higher than wendelah1 does.

(How can you tell when you've been spoiled? Any helpful measures?)

What it comes down to, I think, is that I've got progressively less excited about the movie with every new revelation about its content. So I've simply stopped seeking out revelations. At this point I plan to go into the film with an attitude of pessimism, prepared to be pleasantly surprised. My benchmark for happiness is that I would like to see Mulder and Scully onscreen together at some point. Everything else will be just icing.

***

Why did no one tell me that July 19th was the International Day of Femslash? On reflection I've concluded that I'm a femslasher for political reasons, in the way that some people are lesbians for political reasons. My feminist statement--and that long-unfinished Samantha Mulder/Melissa Scully story--will have to wait for next year, though.

My main (uh, only?) act of observance was to watch charmax's excellent new fanvid, I'm Your Man. It was funny and cute and thought-provoking, and mostly it made me think about how unusual it still is to see a fanvid that is so full of women. Plenty of slashy and non-slashy vids alike are almost all about men, but the reverse? Not true, not by a long shot.

BSG is really one of the few single fandoms that satisfies the vidding version of the Bechdel test. I loved tallulah71 and cyborganize's Hera Has Six Mommies for the way that it rubs the viewer's face in the fact starting right with the title. I mean, six women from one show in the same vid? Isn't that... overkill, or something?

***

Right now I'm reading a book about the Beatles written by their... I'm not sure what to call him exactly. Geoffrey Ellis, the Chief Administrative Executive of NEMS. I have a soft spot for Geoffrey Ellis because he is a fellow Oxonian. And I'm amused by the notion that you can tell exactly how popular and enduring a band's fame is by looking at the books written about them. Specifically, how obscure a connection to the band can be parlayed into a book contract.

It has got to be the case that the Beatles win this contest hands down. There are readily available books on them written by their...

Manager [Brian Epstein]
Manager's PA [Alistair Taylor]
Press officer [Tony Barrow]
Generic assistant and childhood friend [Tony Bramwell]
Manager's other PA and generic shadowy force of darkness [Peter Brown]
Management type [Geoffrey Ellis]
Producer [George Martin]
Recording engineer [Geoff Emerick]

I'm not even counting all of the wives and ex-wives and girlfriends and assorted people whom no doubt I've missed. It's still pretty impressive. Can you come up with another band that can compete with that list?

Tags: beatles, meta, vid recs, xf

osymandias, posting in ousfg @ 02:58 pm: Catalogue
After an evening of data entry, part of the OUSFG library (about 1/3 of the open shelves) is now detailed online at http://www.gurulib.com/ousfglib.

Hopefully over the next few weeks the rest should go up as well.