Jonathan Sanderson’s weblog, since 2001.
From the news stories you’d think Microsoft had just launched an iTunes Music Store-beating package in Europe. That’s probably what the press release says, but thankfully Jack Schofield did some journalism. The truth isn’t quite what the headlines would have one believe.
Which begs the question – why is the media bit of the Guardian reporting the story one way, while Jack’s piece appears in the online section of the same paper?
…exactly how many people work in the department, but I counted them all out, and I counted them all back in again. Well, almost all.
They’re dropping like flies here: first the accountant went AWOL (three days later it turns out he’s OK, but isn’t speaking to us – we don’t know why), then a director found what one could term ‘an interesting way of tendering one’s resignation.’ Any more and we’ll be in Marie Celeste territory.
Something in the water?
The Diamond Age may soon be upon us; apparently in a decidedly ‘industrial espionage’ stylee. Cool.
I’ve finally finished posting my photos from America; they’re up in a gallery here:
If you click through the thumbnails you’ll find my comments on each shot. Be warned that there are rather a lot of them. There are probably some viewing preferences things scattered around in the system – feel free to play – and you can even leave comments on particular photos.
Caveats: (1) sorry about the \’ nonsense. Server problem; I thought I’d fixed it but it’s returned. (2) Re-reading my comments, they seem more melancholy than I’d intended/expected. Weird. I think I must have been going for ‘minimalist dry wit’ but missed, or something. (3) I think that lens’ days are over: the vignetting is simply dreadful. Annoying. (4) Still to come: video sequences, and desktop textures.
Anyway – enjoy. Let me know what you think.
While you’re waiting for me to finish posting my USA road trip photos, here are a few from the same sort of area, along with some appropriate musings. My own trip totalled 2,806 miles, spread over a fortnight; I didn’t go as far North as Salt Lake City, but I did hit bits of Interstate 80. Galleries coming soon. No, really, I mean it. I just have captions to write for Yosemite, and San Francisco to post, then I’m done…
Over the last few days I’ve been partaking of my landlord’s DVD collection, which consists entirely of 2001’s Band of Brothers. I saw bits when it went out, but not the whole thing – and it’s mightily impressive. Certainly, more convincing as a story and as a group of characters than Saving Private Ryan, and just as unpleasant. Which, in this context, is a good thing. Large parts of it are closer to combat than I ever wish to come.
Several aspects stand out. Episode six follows a medic; focussing on an ordinary individual to illuminate extraordinary circumstances is the oldest dramatic trick in the book for good reason – it works. Episode nine ‘Why we Fight’ is hauntingly powerful, as the Company stumble across a concentration camp, but such hindsight does concern me. It’s why we should have fought, but unless my grasp of the history is defective, it was regrettably not part of why we did fight. Telling ourselves now that we were purely doing the right thing then strikes me as dangerous; the Holocaust is Europe’s shame, not just Germany’s. We do ourselves no favours to gloss over that unpalatable truth.
The last episode is disconcertingly like that of any other drama serial, filling us in on what happened next to the characters we’ve grown to care about. I guess we need to know, but it’s a disappointingly gentle ending to what’s been a brutal, uncompromising, but surprisingly even-handed portrayal.
But in the end the whole thing hangs together astonishingly, and not just because the (true) story is so awesome. It hangs together because you genuinely believe the actors you’re watching are an initially green but increasingly battle-hardened unit. They move, act, think, give and take orders in a way I’ve not seen on screen before. Watch the ‘making of’ featurette, but more importantly the video diaries from the actors’ ‘boot camp.’ It’s astonishing – the speed with which they fall into their parts, particularly Damian Lewis moving from lanky British actor to natural leader Lt. Winters. Genuinely a stand-out performance.
It’s an unpleasant series to watch, in many ways. I’m glad I’ve seen it; it’s well worth the investment of time.
Hey, Vinay – Philip Greenspun on driving in the Bay (uh… ‘Bay Area’), and an interesting observation on what I take to be the Honda Impact (which seems to have disappeared over here – curious).
In unrelated news, I sat in a Smart Roadster the other day. Hugely clever car – very much a Lotus Elan for the new millennium. Tiny, very light, 3-cylinder 700cc-ish turbo engine at the back. Bags of fun, 55+ mpg, nicely low emissions. The local dealers have put me on the list for a test drive, but the right hand drive models don’t appear until next month. Boo! There’s also the minor issue of them costing a packet. Double Boo!
On the southside of Glasgow today, I drove past what appeared to be a motorcycle with a sidecar hearse. On closer inspection, it turned out to be exactly that.
There is, it turns out, precisely one of these things in the UK. Rock on.
Pirates of the Caribbean. Top nonsense.
Treasure? Arrr! Ghost ships? Arrr! Ancient curse? Arrr! Pirates bound by a loosely-applied Code? Arrr! Suspenseful will-he-won’t-he honourable rogue plot device? Arrr! Prissy British naval officers? Arrr! Ravishing Governors’ daughter? Arrr! Den of debauchery where everyone except our heroes appears to be brawling, drinking, carousing, or all three at once? Arrr! Classically-trained actors hamming it up something chronic, because it’s funny, dammit? Arrr! Ravishing Governor’s daughter turns out to be swashbucklingly resourceful? Arrr! Shadow of Richard E. Grant looming over every performance? (OK, so Depp claims it’s Keith Richards – looks a lot like Withnail to me, mate) Arrr, anyway! Ship’s monkey? Arrr! Romping Gladiator-pastiche soundtrack? Arrr! Incomprehensible ending leaving a big gaping hole open for a (probably rubbish) sequel? Arrr!
See, the thing is, by the time we got to the incomprehensible ending I just didn’t care any more. I was away, I tell you. Gloriously silly film – I loved it.
As Alan puts it: ‘Bugger.’ Big hugs to you both.