I know a kid who thinks he's hip hop cause he buys it
I know a kid who thinks he's hip hop cause he never buys shit
Underground or mainstream
Some are bound to change schemes.

     -- Sage Francis, Underground For Dummies

So I'm listening to Sub.FM a lot lately -- I first saw it mentioned on Warren Ellis' twitter -- seeing as dubstep and its related spinoffs seem to be the in thing of late, and for once I actually like the genre. (There's also the more obviously-titled Dubstep.FM, but I'm not so keen on that one; DubTerrain is pretty neat though.) The quality of the stream's not brilliant, but in a conversation elsewhere there was some talk of audio enhancers. Normally I'm skeptical of these, but mikosquirrel pointed me in the direction of the DFX Audio Enhancer, which (on certain types of music at least) works really well; with dubstep, you can crank the bass to obscene, bone-shuddering levels, as it should be.

( In which I ramble a bit about music and other cultural stuff. )

Finally a couple of arty type things that I rather like: Multicolr Search Lab lets you pick up to 10 colours and use them to navigate a selection from "10 million of the most 'interesting' Creative Commons images on Flickr". It's a nice idea. Also, New Math is all kinds of awesome; reminds me a bit of one of my favourite artists, Jenny Holzer.

Another week, another update, I guess. On the whole, things have been good since I last wrote; today's been a pretty lazy day, though I did just get out of the shower after dying my hair again -- a darker red this time, which I'm not sure I'm as keen on Scratch that, it's a reddish/purplish brown and I hate it, I'll have to buy better dye tomorrow -- and, of course, it's afforded me time to write here.

( My week, then. )

At home, I've been using my notebook to chat to a couple of friends with video and audio via Skype; I was surprised at how effortless it was to get it all working, and it feels like closer contact than talking over IM or whatever. It was good to hear Russ' voice again, and I spent a good while talking to huskion one night as well; among other things, we talked about NEET and Hachikō. Subsequently he linked me to some interesting things about where he lives: some myths about Poland and this picture of the British Embassy in Warsaw.

That's pretty much everything that's been happening, and I think we should be having dinner soon. There's not a lot planned for the weekend, though hopefully I'll be seeing actively_lazy for a bit tomorrow afternoon [edit: due to a mistake with the buses, he's not able to visit as it'd not be worth it for the little time he'd be able to spend here, so we'll have to make it another time] and with luck, I'll see shirosirius before I go back home some time next week. (I'm thinking luck maybe isn't on my side at the moment though.)

I try and avoid rambling about games too much (perhaps with limited success), but the new Alone in the Dark is, for me, a very pleasant surprise. I was expecting very little of it, having seen next to no coverage and feeling even more dubious when there were no reviews until a few days after release, yet it's quite possibly my favourite survival-horror game since Silent Hill 2 (which was nearly 7 years ago, improbably). I'm going to write a review of it when I finish it -- and I will finish it, unlike so many others -- but I'd certainly recommend it if you can put up with some control awkwardness (but since when has there been a survival-horror with a smooth control scheme?) and the occasional frustrating sequence.

With that out of the way, ( today was pretty good. )

The general point that I'm getting at with all this is twofold: first, as has been remarked upon by a few folks, it's finally starting to seem like the future, as promised to us in sci-fi and especially cyberpunk in the mid- to late-80's and early-90's, is here. This is as self-evident -- I mean, I just bought an entire computer that's smaller than the screen of the monitor on my desktop -- as it is fucking awesome. Which means that the future of the future will be even more awesome.

The other part of what I'm getting at is a little bit more difficult to explain. I'm still a fluctuating percentage of certain that I'm Buddhist, but even so, I don't think that withdrawing from all things of the world is either practical in the modern-day context, or even something that would particularly benefit people. That's why I've been interested in documentaries on the natural world and books on what I suppose comes under contemporary sociology.

I think this is technically Engaged Buddhism, though at present what I'm doing is more a process of learning than taking any action as of yet. I'd prefer to be in a position to make a well-informed decision that's somewhat planned, though, than to just go after whatever cause seems appropriate at the time. I tend to think more than act, anyway, though I'd like to be able to make some kind of change for the better, even if it's only something minor.

Tomorrow I have to go to the doctor's to get a new prescription; I can't just get a repeat this time, as I have to see the doc periodically to confirm the meds are still right. That being said, I can't get them changed any time soon, for various reasons, so it's all a little pointless.

On Saturday, as I said, I have my ticket booked to go and stay with my mum and stepdad for a while. I should be in Leeds for about 2 1/2 weeks, picking up the stuff I've ordered while I'm there and hopefully seeing a few friends. It'll be nice to see my folks again and find out how their trip to Amsterdam went, and I could do with a break anyhow.

Image by skyseeker

Schrödinger's Dog - Sakura [Trip-Hop / 70bpm / 4:42 / 7.3mb] Another piece that I'd been working on and forgotten about, this is supremely chilled trip-hop. I've decided to dedicate this track to the awesome folks at HardDrive.FM. To paraphrase H2G2, it's so laid back it's practically horizontal, so chilled you could keep a side of meat in it for a month. The title has a lot of meanings; as an article I found points out, Sakura holds of lot of significance for the Japanese...

I'd use one of my own photographs to go with this, but I didn't have anything suitable; that's the beauty of Creative Commons, I guess. I'm planning to take more pictures soon, though, and I have a couple of links to post on the subject. First of all, someone from b3ta has a pretty useful Beginner’s Guide to HDR, and El Reg has an article about police action against photographers, which is pretty worrying stuff.

To sneak in a couple of more light-hearted links, these t-shirts are all kinds of awesome, and this is possibly the best edit of a webcomic that I've ever seen.

Hope folks like the music...

I'm headed to my mum's tomorrow, for a little over a week (though I may decide to stay longer), and as usual I'm going to have limited net access, as I'll want to spend time with them rather than online -- plus, there's three people sharing one computer, which obviously restricts use. Anyway, I figured that since I'll be away for a while, I should make something of a catch-up post here while I have the chance.

( Yesterday was pretty good. )

I was also finally able to track down a copy of Robotech: Battlecry, via the ever-useful Chillout Games. I'd borrowed it off kitsunefury and I think it's really good, but I couldn't find it in any of about a dozen other places I looked. I'm pleased to have found it, anyway. (Amusingly, to me at least, the automated transaction confirmation email began with 'NEW ORDER (Details attached)'.)

The only thing that's really bugged me today is that my mouse suddenly stopped working, so I had to go into town and spend the last of my cash on buying a new one, which I could have done without. It was the last one in stock, so they had to take it off the display. This mouse is cheap as hell and doesn't have a middle button/scroll wheel, even though I keep instinctively reaching for it. I'll just have to buy a better one some other time, but this is functional enough for now.

Finally, I wanted to mention that I started watching Angels in America last night, and it's really good. There's several friends I can think of that would like it; still, it's very evident that it was written for the stage rather than the screen, and I don't think there would be a lot of difference between watching the miniseries and seeing it in the theatre -- though as the play performed in both parts is about 7 hours long, having it on DVD and being able to watch just one chapter at a time (it's split into six, at about 1 hour each) makes it a whole lot easier.

[edit: kitsunefury came over for a little while this evening, and it was good to see him; I'm glad we were able to spend some time together before I went away. I slept rather too long in a nap and thought I'd missed my chance, but I sent an email anyway and he got it just before he left work, and was thus able to visit.]

On a scale of one to awesome, things are pretty damn good lately. I just beat God of War II (judging by the ending, there's bound to be a sequel -- but there's little else in Greek mythology that Kratos hasn't already slaughtered), and I'm really pleased with my latest music and machinima, but the most positive events happened on Wednesday.

I had an appointment in town with Hugh, whose job title escapes me for the moment, but his role was to help me find training, education, and/or voluntary work. I didn't really want to go at first, but I'm glad I did. After meeting, we went for a drink in the Winter Gardens, and proceeded towards what's termed the "Cultural Industries Quarter", which is a bit of a pretentious name for an area where there's an independent cinema and a few media-related organizations.

( Read more... )

Before parting ways, Hugh took me to the Voluntary Action Sheffield office, where -- because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do -- I was given a booklet with some examples of what was available, an application form where I could mark my areas of ability and interest, and a pre-paid envelope to return the form, which I filled in and sent later the same day. Hopefully they'll find me something interesting to do.

We also made plans to attend the Gyaltsabje Centre next Wednesday evening, which should be interesting. I've been meaning to go for a while, but I don't know exactly where it is, and I'm really not comfortable travelling on my own to unknown areas.

Although I never saw 300 when it was at the cinema, I'd read a couple of issues of the comic when it first came out, back in '98, and I'd still like to see the movie sometime. Recently, though, I'd picked up a few similarly-themed games; most obviously Spartan: Total Warrior, but also God of War and its superb sequel, the obviously-titled but nonetheless stunning God of War II (thanks to Penny Arcade for the truth, and to mattlazycat for the charming mental images).

I've often said that I tend to get a lot more out of games than some fairly mindless(?) entertainment. They can often make me think about things in a different way, or inspire me to look into something in more detail. In this case it was the latter; curious about the Greco-Roman myths and legends, with only a dim recollection of studying history in school, I decided to read some literature of the classics. I now have Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, along with Virgil's Aeneid, waiting to be read.

Whilst I was out earlier in the week -- I've been in town today, as well as on Tuesday and Wednesday, and may be out again tomorrow, some or more of which may merit a writeup -- I also saw (and bought) the graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, apparently to be released on DVD at last on the 23rd April. In the same shop, I found another graphic novel, The Fountain. This is based on the Darren Aronofsky film of the same name, which I'd never heard of before, but it looks absolutely fascinating; I'll be picking up the graphic novel when I next have opportunity, and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie when it's released on DVD here on the 28th. In a way, it looks a little reminiscent of Pan's Labyrinth, another film I never managed to see at the cinema.

[edit: Forgot to mention, as a little bit of trivia -- five years ago today, the Nintendo Gamecube was launched in Europe. Can't believe it's been that long; nice enough machine, some very good games, but it really didn't enjoy a lot of success.]

[edit2: Been watching trailers &c. for 300 on YouTube, and it looks like they did a great job of converting it from the comic. I also found an awesome video using the sound from the trailer and footage from the God of War games - mindblowing stuff. Check out Ghost of Sparta.]

I've been meaning to post these for a while now, and just haven't got around to it. I have more stuff to write about, but this a) needs doing, and b) is quick and relatively painless to post. So, without further ado, my latest pieces of machinima, which (imo) are the best I've done yet:


We Are Infinity (1956)
Running time 2:36
Download high-quality .wmv (5.8mb)
Watch it on

An all-female cast stars in this sci-fi short. An alien, a robot, and a cyborg are on their spaceship when disaster strikes -- but just who was behind it all? And who can be trusted?

This is a landmark piece for me, the first where I've used special effects and costumes (rather than just regular outfits) to any great extent. Unfortunately, a bug caused a prop to be missing in the final scene.

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The Mathematician's Daughter (1959)
Running time 2:35
Download high-quality .wmv (3.75mb)
Watch it on

A near-future cyberpunk/SF short, possibly a prelude to something longer, in which the titular character carries out a risky mission... or does she?

This was initially some 20-30 seconds longer, but I had to cut out an entire block of scenes as they just didn't work and disrupted the smooth flow of the piece. Unfortunately, due to the design, it's not possible to add any more scenes after everything's been shot...

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You can also find a selection of movies on the game's official site; look under cineaesthete for my work. I should also point out that I've taken down the highest-resolution renders, at least temporarily; the file size was large and I don't want to piss off my hosting provider. If anyone really wants them back, just ask. The YouTube versions are embedded ( after the jump. )

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( More possibilities... [text only, no more videos here] )

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Finally, I thought I'd add a couple of videos not of my creation, but that I really liked.


Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva Dance

Via bikerwalla, this is just incredibly beautiful. I can't say anything more than that.

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The last one is called "Whatever You're Into", and is (to err on the side of caution) NSFW, but no less genius for it. See if you can spot all the references.

Previously: Six flicks

So, I picked up some movies today, amongst other stuff. I finally got around to getting a copy of Hostel, as it was in a 4 for £20 offer; of the DVD's I bought, it's the only one I've thus far watched, and one of the worst films I've seen in a long time, to the point where I'm actually going to take it back for a refund.

I was going to post a critical review of it, but that might entail watching it again, and/or effort. So I looked it up on the IMDb instead, and found the perfect synopsis¹, courtesy of one 'betterthanliz':

"see porn! meet creepy people! see more porn! watch people get their limbs hacked off by psychopaths for fun! escape! REVENGE REVENGE REVENGE!!"

Even that review makes it sound better than it was. You could have compressed it into half an hour if you trimmed out all the useless parts, and it still would have sucked. That being said, it did have Takashi Miike in it. Briefly. I probably should have watched Ichi the Killer instead, but really you'd be hard-pressed to find a worse alternative. Avoid at all costs.

¹ Though a comment by a certain 'mjk280' summed up what the concept could have been quite aptly: "Hey, everyone liked those 'Saw' movies so let's whip up something similar, and as quickly as possible regardless of quality!"

The last couple of days have been treating me pretty well. I was somewhat down on Tuesday night, for reasons I really don't want to go into, but rest helped. I got woken up earlyish on Wednesday by the concierge, saying that someone was coming to check the gas soon; this is something they legally have to do once a year. I had to wait a fair while, and obviously I couldn't put any music or anything on as I wouldn't hear a knock at the door, but on the upside, the guy who came to do the work was pretty cute.

Anyway. After finding a shiny, I got in touch with kyu_diary to arrange going to the Buddhist centre in the evening. I pretty much just killed time until I had to go out, though passing the time with games and such was by no means unpleasant.

Due to a bit of a mix-up, Kyu ended up staying at ashakura's place later than intended (though not by much), and I totally misinterpreted what he was suggesting and we ended up meeting in town, instead of at the centre. Still, it wasn't much of a problem, and we got there in time.

( It was the first time I'd been there in quite a while... )

When we got back into town, we stopped off at the Lion's Lair for a couple of pints. I picked up some leaflets from there about the Site Gallery (though I'm not too interested in the current exhibition), and the Showroom, the local arthouse cinema. When we'd finished -- the pub is open until midnight -- we parted ways when I caught the last tram home. I was very tired when I got in, and so went to bed after spending a short while online. I slept very soundly and deeply, and woke up fully refreshed, though I had a short nap for an hour or two around lunchtime.

I haven't really done a huge amount with my day, but I've been pretty content with how I've spent my time. I'm hoping to get some creative work done, if not starting tonight then certainly in the next few days before going away; I'll probably try and write some music, maybe do a little painting, see how things go.