Mr. Truepenny's Book Emporium and Gallery

Moving to Wordpress....

2008-07-09T17:12:00.001Z

From RIGHT NOW onwards, you can find this blog over at Wordpress:

http://tarnimus.wordpress.com/

See you there!

Y the last issue??

2008-06-26T19:57:00.004Z

It's been a good year for books so far. I've somehow managed to read three (well, five, I suppose, as one is a trilogy - although another is as long-running comic series, comprising ten trades...let's just forget the numbers), all of which have all leaped quickly into my 'all-time favourites' list.

His Dark Materials

I received these for Christmas - Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Surprisingly, I can't help but think the American title of The Golden Compass is more fitting for the first book, slotting in nicely with the 'objects of power' theme in the other titles.

Having been deemed slightly too old to read them when they were first released, they'd gone rather beneath my radar. My mum, who worked in the school library at the time, certainly seemed impressed with them, but I knew little else. It was only when the movie was nearing release and the denser end of the religious spectrum started trumpeting that I paid attention. If there's one thing that'll encourage me to investigate something, it's if reactionary religious evangelists dislike it.

Great stuff, as everyone knows, although the ending really did leave me with a rather gaping hole in the heart. Yes, it's important for events this epic to have resonance and consequences (I've always thought LotR's main flaw is that everyone gets off rather lightly...). Yes, it makes for a more memorable story. But...couldn't they all have just lived happily ever after?

p.s. I also thought the movie was good, though covered with dirty studio-meddling fingerprints.

Rendezvous With Rama
That it's taken me nearly 28 years to read this is rather unforgiveable. Despite loving good ol' hard sci-fi, loving Asimov as a kid and then Kim Stanley Robinson as a 'young adult', for some reason I never really discovered Arthur C Clarke.

I read a collection of his short stories a while back and then zipped through Earthlight while in hospital in 200...5? Rendezvous With Rama is one of the biggies, though, and thankfully it didn't disappoint. Clarke's power to describe something completely alien and bring it to vivid life is really quite enviable - I feel like I've been to Rama, like I know exactly what it looks like, in all its massive scale. I have memories of traversing the staircase and staring up at the sky/ground and the circular sea.

Y: The Last Man
Finally, I just this evening finished the last issue of Y: The Last Man. I am now in a mission to hunt down everything else written by Brian K Vaughan. I'm quite glad that I read the series over the last couple of years in the trades, rather than issue-by-issue since 2002. If I'd been invested for that long, the ending would really have been too difficult to bear. Not because it's sad (though it is, in some ways), but because it means there's no more.

No more tales of Yorick's bumbling foolery, no more ass kicking (and repressed feelings) from 355, no more disapproving glances from Dr Mann. No more poo throwing from Ampersand.

There's only one solution really: I'll just have to start re-reading the whole thing from the beginning.

Piece by piece

2008-06-16T19:07:00.002Z

We're building the set for the FXhome Film up at work at the moment. I've never really done anything quite like it (not being the DIY type) and it's rather fun, seeing it taking shape piece by piece, each beam or panel making it seem more and more like a space station and less like a bunch of chopped up trees. I've really no idea what it'll look like once completed, in terms of quality. Will it be Battlestar Galactica or Doctor Who quality?

Talking of which, Battlestar's mid-season break was fairly astounding. It really is the best show since Babylon 5, for me. I'm still not entirely sure how it manages to be consistently better than any cinema scifi of the last 10-or-so years (Starship Troopers and Serenity excepted, of course).

Mass Effect continues to be rather captivating, perhaps a little too much.

BOOK UPDATE!

Pages: 219
Words: 81,357

I must be approximately two thirds of the way in now. Our heroes are crossing the mountains en route to Aviar, where they will find many surprises. Everything's going to be gradually slotting into place for the finale from here. While I thought setting up the plot, setting and characters was a crazy juggling act, getting everything positioned naturally for the climax is looking like it's going to be just as tricky.

What I'm actually looking forward to the most currently - other than finishing the first damn draft - is the editing process. That's when I can really start to tighten all the strings, make sure all the themes are in and developing properly, iron out any plot creases and, hopefully, end up with a properly readable book.

Mass Effect

2008-06-10T20:30:00.004Z

The problem with being a PC gamer is that, while you sometimes get better versions of games, you tend to be writing about them a year-or-so after the rest of the planet. PC scoops are often old news to everyone else.

Which brings me to Mass Effect, a game that 360ers have been enjoying for a good long while already. The PC version is prettier, more stable and has better combat, while retaining all the good stuff from the console version. If you want to know more, it's probably best just to Google.

In an effort to raise a smile (or pitying shake of the head), above you can see my attempt to create a character that looks a little bit like me, if I happened to have a more heroically chiselled jaw.

In other news: I'm going to try to write my first legit gaming article soon, so that I can start pushing it aggressively in editors' faces. Not sure that's how it works, but the worst they can do is call the police.

Bring Firefly Back!!

2008-06-02T20:58:00.007Z

That was all I had to say. I'd rather be Zoe than Kaylee..

results:
You are Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)


Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		80%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		80%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		65%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		65%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		50%
Inara Serra (Companion)		45%
Wash (Ship Pilot)		35%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		30%
River (Stowaway)		30%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		0%
Alliance		0%

You are good at fixing things.
You are usually cheerful.
You appreciate being treated
with delicacy and specialness.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Future history

2008-05-28T19:58:00.002Z

I first came across the term 'future history' inside the pages of an Asimov novel - most likely one of the Foundations and almost certainly a reprint, probably containing one of the man's excellent introductions. Apparently it was coined by Heinlein as the title of a short story and was then co-opted by John W. Campbell (who else?) as an actual term.

By 'apparently', I do of course mean 'according to Wikipedia'.

It's something I've always enjoyed reading as well as writing - hence my vast collection of notes, historical timelines, character bios and maps for Evinden (though I suppose that isn't a future history, rather a fantasy history). Even for the 'Detective' stories that I wrote as part of the creative writing course we did last year (links on the right!) I worked out a simple history, both of the world and the character: The progression of robot development, the rise of anti-robot sentiments, how the detective's parents had effectively had their lives made irrelevant by the robotic march, thus fueling his hatred.

I find it fairly essential with sci-fi, as the kind of sci-fi I like to roll around in is all about ideas, often relating to technical advances or discoveries, and you simply can't do it without knowing what's what. This isn't to say that characters, story and structure aren't just as important - probably more so in most cases. But you can have the best characters in the genre and it won't matter one jot if they're emoting within an empty world, or - even worse - and inconsistent or clearly made-up-on-the-spot world.

The reason I'm gabbing on about this is that I spent a brief part of this afternoon indulging in some flagrant future history writing for the FXhome Film Project, carefully filling in the fictional details of the story's mining operation (well, prospecting operation, to be precise). Tomorrow we're opening up some of the design to the FXhome.com community to see if they can come up with some cool visual concepts, and I felt this background was essential for them to have a context, given that we're not releasing the actual script at this stage. I can't wait to see what they contribute.

On another note, we went to the gym this evening for the first (proper) time. Good god it was knackering. Fun, though, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Good to be focused and regimented from time to time, methinks.

Plot hole diary

2008-05-20T18:59:00.005Z

The big experiment begins this week - can we crew the film project partially with FXhome.com community members? It'll be interesting to see what happens. Completed this round of video interviews today (the one with the writer went extremely well - he's a very enthusiastic chappy), although I'm still waiting on the director to get me his in the post. Alas, the making-of budget doesn't cover flight expenses for me to go down there in person. ;)

In even more exciting news - I've finally resolved my Evinden plot hole! It all came about due to a idea that came to me rather suddenly and inconveniently while writing a recent chapter. Bearing in mind I'm over halfway through the book now (probably...), this idea was awkward in that it fundamentally changed the relationship between a couple of major characters (and, thusly, it also changed much of their impact on the story and world), which isn't normally something I'd want to contend with having already written so much. I couldn't get the idea out of my head, however, as it's simply a rather delicious plot twist - not in a Sixth Sensey kind of way, but more in an undermining-a-character's-faith kind of way. It's a mean, unpleasant plot twist that should make the reader wince with sympathy while simultaneously giggling with evil glee (actually, that might only be the prerogative of the writer).

The trick was that the plot twist rather invalidated a couple of earlier chapters, including a major sequence involving the introduction of the Tarn character. Typically, this introduction has always been a particularly favourite scene of mine, having been present in every single draft of the novel (and, prior to that, the film script). But, as they say, sometimes the scenes you love the most are the ones you need to cut.

Having wrestled valiantly to resolve the plot hole created by the plot twist via some cunning retcon, instead I've opted to completely re-write that earlier section of the book. I think it'll actually be for the better, resulting in a much more realistic couple of chapters at quite a crucial part of the book. That the favourite scene has been there from the beginning is probably a good indication that it hails from a time when the story - and my writing skills - were considerably less advanced than they are now.

It's all worth it, though. The plot twist is awesome. You'll see, one day!

The new project revealed

2008-05-18T11:02:00.002Z

At last the FXhome Film Project has been announced, so I can finally talk about it! I'm heading up the behind-the-scenes stuff, hence the previous blog about video interviews. The first one with Josh went up with the announcement and there will be lots more to come in the next few weeks, starting with crew intros this Thursday. All quite exciting! As for the film itself, we're currently trying to confirm studio space, as we've got a few options, each with their pros and cons...

There's other exciting news, but I'll try to get Leiali to post about that...

Video interviews

2008-05-13T20:12:00.003Z

I conducted my first proper video interview today. And, no, the amusingly rushed Zurich interviews don't count.

Of course, I've done my fair share of interviews while at FXhome, chatting away to various indie filmmakers all over the world. But almost entirely they have always taken place via email - which is a pleasant, easy way for interviewees to consider answers without feeling under pressure. It also enables them to formulate a decent, detailed and cohesive reply that is to the point and resists rambling on and on (well, unless it's the Atomic brothers, of course! But that's why we love them).

Video interviews are entirely different proposition, not least because I'm face-to-face with my subject and they're caught in the lens like a startled rabbit in the headlights. The main problem is that it leaves you far less editorial elasticity, especially if you're intending to remain an off-screen, implied interview presence. Ideally I don't want to have to include the question itself, or cut to lame reaction shots of myself nodding and stroking my beard: I want the interviewees to do the talking and guide the video piece from start to finish in a sexy, natural manner.

Which, inevitably, requires some rather carefully chosen questions. It's all about leading them down a particular route in order to provide editable footage. Easier said than done, considering that you have no idea what the interviewee is going to say.

The first interview went extremely well today, with Elly delivering some spiffy answers that ticked all the boxes. She was eloquent, funny and honest and her personality really shone through, which was great. Nils performed his own interview and, despite some sound issues, should also slot in nicely - he filmed it next to a ridiculously epic bridge somewhere in Sweden (hence I couldn't be there in person), which was rather impressive.

Next up is Josh tomorrow. Which should be interesting. :)

Bioware pull a fast one

2008-05-10T08:43:00.003Z

Remarkably, Bioware/EA have changed their DRM policy on Mass Effect and Spore, following the furore over the 10-day check system. Reading between the lines, I can't help but think that Bioware deliberately announced the system in order to provoke the inevitable uproar, so that they could then present evidence to EA in order to have it altered. Given that they're now owned by EA, they probably didn't have much say in the matter, unless they could actually make a decent case.

Bioware staff carefully focused all the discussion into a single topic, and even went as far as advising people on how best to complain, carefully steering the response down the path required. While still retaining plausible deniability.

Clever stuff, really. And I'm now chuffed as it means I can buy the damn game...

Bioware/EA turn DRM up to 11

2008-05-08T20:13:00.003Z

Bioware/EA have decided to employ a hugely draconian DRM system on the forthcoming Mass Effect, which rather aggravates me, given that it was a must-have purchase for me until the SecuROM anti-piracy gubbins was revealed this week.

In a nutshell, after the initial Internet activation (fair enough), the game needs to perform further Internet checks every 10 days, otherwise the game will cross its arms and sit in the corner in a huff, refusing to play with you until you do what it says. Ethical and privacy issues aside, the pracctical flaws in this system are pretty self-evident, with the only potential result being a) an increase in piracy and b) a drop in sales. Surely not quite what Bioware/EA wants?

Interestingly, it's extremely similar to the oooold anti-piracy system we used at FXhome, although ours was only turned up to 8-or-so on the Annoying-O-Meter. It required an Internet check every 6 months-or-so (can't remember exactly what the time interval was), otherwise it would cease to function.

The results?

1. Our software was pirated almost instantly anyway.

2. Many of our legitimate customers were inconvenienced when the check occurred.

3. Customers without the Internet were simply unable to purchase our products.

4. Many customers simply didn't purchase because they objected to the system, for various ethical/practical reasons. Reasons that, in retrospect, we agreed with.

There were literally no benefits. At all.

And so we dropped the system. We still have anti-piracy systems in place on our software, but it is much less intrusive and doesn't do silly timed checks and lock-outs. Piracy of our software hasn't increased - in fact, it would seem to have reduced a little, if anything, despite our current products being more popular and well-known than our old ones. I suspect this could be because we're no longer provoking them with a 'challenge', and because we're no longer pissing off potentially legitimate customers.

If there's one thing more annoying that the bastard pirates that cause this problem in the first place, it's short-sighted publishers resorting to dubious Orwellian tactics to try and 'solve' it. As with most aggressive, retaliatory action, all it tends to do is provoke.

The Guardian knows stuff

2008-05-06T19:45:00.004Z

The Guardian recently ran a rather inciteful piece on gaming, which you can read here. As you peruse the article, you'll no doubt notice the worrying lack of sensationalism; the clearly misguided lack of panic and fear; the disturbing amount of understanding and genuine research that has gone into Bennett's writing - in an unprecedented move, the woman actually played some computer games before writing about them. The deeply concerning conclusion is that a professional journalist has actually had the gall, the sheer rudeness, to treat gaming as a serious subject!

Still, The Guardian being The Guardian, the article will no doubt be completely ignored at best, or outright dismissed at worst, with the rest of the mainstream media sticking to their mission of demonising the medium of games. The politicians, after all, do need some kind of material to get their teeth into in order to rile up the plebs.

What never fails to amaze is the inability of politicians and journalists - both, presumably, enjoying at least a basic knowledge of cultural history - to identify that this has happened over and over again. It's happened at the dawn of every new form of art/entertainment. The poor old world of music has to suffer it again and again as new, 'threatening' genres emerge. And every time - every single time - the usual process of hegemony absorbs the new upstart and within a few years it is either diluted beyond recognition or entirely accepted. That those making all the noise fail to recognise this fairly obvious trend makes you wonder why anybody listens to them at all.

Anyway, all this is a prelude to me saying that I'm intending to stick my nose into gaming journalism a bit more this year. I'm not entirely sure how yet, of course, but it's something I'm going to investigate. Time to broaden my readership, methinks.

Northumberland 2008

2008-05-05T09:43:00.003Z

Northumberland 2008

We returned on Friday from our week's holiday to Northumberland, where we had travelled to see castles, walk through gardens and take in some refreshing sea air.

As you can see from the photo album above, we certainly got our fair share of all of those. First we had to contend with a 6-hour drive from Norwich to Dunstan, where we were staying. Twice as long as any drive we'd attempted before, I was a little intimidated by the distance but, in the end, if wasn't a problem - especially with Leiali taking up a good 2 and a half hours of the journey time.

While the cottage we stayed at wasn't anything special (and which had a kitchen so miniscule that it managed to make our one at home seem large in comparison), it was ideally placed as a central HQ for exploring the area. It proved to be a packed week, but here are the highlights:

Lindisfarne - A bit further north, this island is only accessible by a causeway that spend half the day submerged beneath the sea, thus requiring careful checking of the tides so as not to get stranded. The drive across was consequently rather exciting, as we timed our arrival to coincide with the causeway's appearance. On the island itself is an old ruined priory and the castle itself, perched up on a rocky hill. Intriguingly it had been used as a holiday home during the early 20th century.

Bamburgh Castle - The best thing about a castle-based holiday is that it doesn't really matter what the weather does. If it's sunny, great; if it rains, then it just makes everything more atmospheric! Bamburgh was a good example of this, as the fog rolled in off the sea during our visit and had entirely enveloped the place by the time we'd finished looking around its plush interior. This resulted in some great photos and a spooky walk over the dunes to the beach. Standing on the beach, looking out to sea, with all your surroundings past about 50 metres blanketed by a thick white fog is quite a memorable experience. It would have been easy to get entirely lost, if it weren't for the useful navigational hint of the roaring waves!

Alnwick - In contrast to the authenticity of Bamburgh and the ruined history of Lindisfarne, Alnwick felt more like an attraction created by Disney. The gardens, which have apparently received a huge amount of lottery funding lately, were a largely soulless affair, with most of the garden rather sparse and dead, with spring having not yet reached Northumberland. As such all that remained for viewing were a series of elaborate water fountains - which were, admittedly, extremely spiffy. Each highlighted a particular behavioural aspect of water and they were really quite fascinating, particularly the 'vortex' whirlpool. Overall, though, it was all a bit gimmicky and antiseptic. Alnwick castle was better, with parts having featured in the Harry Potter films, but there was still something rather staged about the whole thing. Rather too many photos of the current owners and inhabitants, lounging about in their posh, inherited luxury, for our liking, too! :) I did have my best Cake of the Week at Alnwick, however.

Cragside - The major highlight of the week for me, Cragside is an astounding place built by one Lord Armstrong in the 19th century. Armstrong was a highly innovative engineer and entrepreneur and the house and grounds show this at every turn. Most notably, the house was the first in the world to enjoy full electrical power, thanks to Armstrong's harnessing of hydro-electricity via the multiple lakes dotted about the grounds. Remarkably the building also featured a three-storey elevator! The grounds were equally impressive, including a 6 mile drive around the perimeter that reminded me ever-so-slightly of the tour in Jurassic Park - though less deadly, thankfully. An inspiring place that unfortunately can't hope to be properly represented in our photos.

Howick Hall - Earl Grey tea was invented here. Which may not sound like the most exciting of facts, but I'll admit to the tea being extremely good - and I'm by no means a regular tea drinker. The massive gardens were refined and tamed in comparison to Cragside's exciting wilderness but were nevertheless most enjoyable, with the Silverwood rohdedendron forest being particularly beautiful (it also sounds like a location in World of Warcraft, which makes it instantly cool). We had a particularly relaxing river walk here, aided by the sunny weather.

Warkworth - The final castle of the holiday is a generally well-preserved site on the coast at Warkworth, a pleasantly picturesque little village. Although the motte and bailey had long since collapsed, the keep itself was in good condition. With the help of a fantastic audio guide the place really came to life and was a satisfying conclusion to the week.

All we have to do now is win the lottery, thus enabling us to buy Cragside and go live there.

Evinden update

2008-04-21T19:59:00.003Z

Time for an update on Evinden, I think.

Current word count: 77,905
Current page count: 221

Start date for project: 11 April 2001, allegedly. This is the oldest file I have archived on the computer relating to the project - a file called 'Ideas.doc'.

Rather terrifyingly, that means I've been working on this damned book for seven bastard years. Seven! That's quite clearly utterly ridiculous - there are children out there whose entire lives encompass seven years, and yet I've somehow managed to take seven years to write a book; in fact, to write half of a book, it's nowhere near finished yet.

One thing's for certain: if Evinden turns out well and I write more books, I dearly hope that they prove to be rather less ponderous in their creation. Of course, Evinden went through a bit of a funny early development in that it was originally to be a screenplay and had an entirely different structure, before before restructured in (I think) 2004 as a novel.

Still, with James providing spiffy feedback and a few select other people having read and enjoyed the book, I'm rather more spurred on to finish the damn thing than I ever have been before. The Eastercon 2008 convention also rather invigorated my writing spirit - I couldn't help but think this is where I want to be. Once I got used to the lingering nerd smells and the Klingon guy, anyway.

Reading over this Ideas.doc file is really quite enlightening, reminding me of where I was coming from in the first place. While it's changed vastly and become infinitely more detailed, some of the early notes make for an amusing list of "Fantasy Clichés 101". This was back in the days when I hadn't read any fantasy, and before Fellowship of the Ring hit cinemas. A different age!

Check it out:

Basic ideas/concepts

Magic
Sword-fighting
Flying (flying characters, or flying vehicles?)
Hero’s Journey
Epic
Huge, towering cities
Demonic creatures
- invasion?
Dark/light? How ‘serious’ are we getting?
Mythology
History
Flawed characters
Characters have past connections
One character appearing to several, drawing them together?
- Mentor/wizard character?
Must protect somebody?
- on a journey?
- both physical and mental?
- Extending swords?
- must have!
- huge variety of extending cool weaponry!!!!!!!!
- Girl from above rescues Cut from work?
- City perched atop clouds (hidden)
- Waterfalls!
- Cut can save his people from the tyranny of the Telladors.

Not a particularly auspicious start.

I'm really not sure what I was thinking calling the lead character 'Cut'. I mean, there's no way a typo could have made that one embarassing, eh?

The wise words of Mr Gaiman

2008-04-14T19:47:00.006Z

Neil Gaiman wrote an interesting thing in his journal recently:

"The worst thing in writing something for someone else, and I've found this several times over the years, especially in movies, is where you talk to an editor or an executive and you think that you're talking about the same thing. Then you go away and do what you thought you were talking about and hand it in and find that you were quite wrong, and while you were describing (say) a romantic comedy with ghosts in they were buying a scary ghost story with perhaps some love in, and nobody is happy and the project is doomed."

A very similar thing happened on a film project I've been working on since last Autumn. Having wrestled through four incarnations of the script, plus another two written by other people, we seem to finally be getting somewhere. Unfortunately my scripts were rejected, but that's how it goes sometimes (though that actual rejection process was...interesting, to say the least!).

So, yes, we're now on track, it would seem, which is rather damn exciting. The team is slowly coming together and some of the people lined up to be working on the film are awesome.

The project will be announced officially soon, at which point I'll be able to say more...

In the meantime, time to write some more of Evinden.

s04e01

2008-04-06T21:55:00.003Z

Battlestar Galactica is back with season four. Remarkably, it is still extremely good. In fact, it remains quite clearly the best thing on television - at least in as much as I am aware. It's also the best sci-fi for about two decades, irrespective of TV or cinema.

So say we all.

Creative madness!

2008-04-06T09:51:00.002Z

The creative process is a pretty bonkers thing, especially if you're attempting to work in a group, with everyone bringing disparate and conflicting ideas to the table of what the finished article should be. As part of a film project I'm working on, this week has seen the most intense example of that process I've ever seen.

Remarkably, given how slow and ponderous I tend to be when writing creatively, I've completed three screenplays in the last four days. One was in collaboration with another writer while the other two were off my own bat. They're shorts, of course (I'm not that fast), but that's nevertheless the most creatively prolific I've been for a while.

It's partially helped by it being related to a larger project, of course, so that, rather than it just being for my own amusement, it's also intended to provide a solid foundation for the work of everyone else. Whether it gets to that stage or not remains to be seen, of course - I'm very happy with the third script, but I know other members of the team have their doubts.

It's an interesting exercise, to throw yourself into a script only to have it torn apart by peers. Painful, yes, but it most cases it does end up with a better final result, as long as you can pull yourself back together and look at the task from another angle - which is exactly what I did with this third script, abandoning the structure and characters from the earlier interations and retaining only the setting and themes.

I call the third script 'Katabasis', which is a vague attempt to sound intelligent. As I understand it, Katabasis has multiple meanings, all generally along the lines of 'going down' - most commonly with regards to going from the centre of a country to the coast, or a descent into the underworld. All quite apt, for numerous reasons.

You'll no doubt have noticed that I've not dropped any specifics about the project or the scripts - alas, until the project is officially announced that's the way it has to be! But with luck I'll be able to say more soon.

In other news, it's suddenly started snowing again. Time for jumpers.

If there's one thing that can't be rushed...

2008-03-30T11:00:00.003Z

I discovered something on Friday, much to my chagrin. Video, it would seem - yes, even YouTube videos - simply cannot be rushed. We were due to announce the winners of the FXhome VideoWrap competition, the selection process of which had taken a little longer than expected due to the excellent calibre of the finalists. After we had selected the overall winner and runners-up, I put together a spiffy article with mini-reviews of each with which I was perfectly happy.

Then it hit me. This had been, primarily, a YouTube competition, announced and managed through that distinctly low-fi phenomenon. We really, really needed to announce the winners through a YouTube video, not just a well-written news piece on our site.

In an attempt to make the announcement video interesting I unwisely opted for the 'throw everything in there' approach, and ended up with a bit of a mash-up involving a greenscreen, a greenscreen suit, a floating Holly-style head and wavy, dis-embodied arms, not to mention some slightly ropey motion graphics.

Needless to say, I wasn't overly happy with it, but that's the way these things go sometimes. It's a shame, as a lot of people that entered the competition clearly put loads of effort in, so I hope they don't feel we skimped on the announcement. Still, the decent prizes hopefully offset that.

Next time we'll make sure to put together an astounding announcement video that will amaze everybody. YouTube competitions are remarkably good fun, we've all decided.

Nothing like hundreds of people around the world watching you prat about. :)

p.s. In other news, lots of hugely exciting things going on at FXhome at the moment. Of course, I can't actually say anything about them yet due to contracty things....but soon, soon!

Orbital 2008

2008-03-25T21:11:00.004Z

We just attended our first convention! Or 'con' as everybody calls them, which was at first slightly worrying. On Friday we jumped in the car (after completing Leiali's Integral Cleaning Regime, that is) and headed off for a lovely long weekend break at....Heathrow. Not exactly the number one choice of holiday destination, but thems the breaks.

The drive down was surprisingly trouble-free given the Bank Holiday weekend (I was continuously expecting a gargantuan traffic jam to rear its head, and with every passing minute that such a creature failed to appear I become increasingly convinced that it was simply biding its time) and we arrived at the Radisson Edwardian hotel in good time - just in time, in fact, to get completely lost in its labyrinthine corridors, occasionally resembling a well-lit Shelob's Lair (look: a fantasy reference!).

After checking in (after locating reception) we carefully consulted our maps and started to discern a kind of reason within the architectural madness. Leiali became instantly excited when she spotted Neil Gaiman lurking in a room, mostly disguised by a slatted blind but clearly given away by his big, Gaimanish hair that really refuses to be hidden.

And thus commenced the panels. These usually took the form of about 4 people seated behind a desk talking at the overly-nerdy audience, before opening the debate to the floor. Almost all the panels were excellent, with particular highlights focusing on 'politics in young adult fiction', 'the use of mythology' and 'fantastical London'. Gaiman's solo talk and reading was also absolutely superb - he's a remarkably natural public speaker for someone that should, by all rights, be a quiet, bookish writery type.

Plus points:

+ Neil Gaiman & China Miéville (both frighteningly clever)
+ Graham Sleight & Roz Kaveney
+ The Canadian author whose name escapes me, but who was spiffy
+ Excellent panels
+ Very well organised event
+ Unexpectedly bumping into: Nat from Canterbury, Nik from the sci-fi writing course and Leiali's old mate Jo
+ Leiali finally managing to track down the elusive Joe Abercrombie in the bar (of course), making up for a false positive the first night (another tall guy with a Himalayan nose)
+ Really, really friendly atmosphere
+ Easy drive there and back (despite all the snow!)
+ I'm feeling properly inspired to get on with my book again!

Negative points:

- Lots of super-nerds = bad smells, nose picking & eating and other unsavoury habits
- Bizarre temperature changes in every other room, which would have deeply concerned Egon Spengler
- The guy that wasn't Joe Abercrombie
- I want to be on the other side of the panel

Simon attempting to 'act'

2007-12-19T20:19:00.000Z

Guess who this is:

Yes, that's right. It's me, being a tit!

A rather amusing (near) end to the year at work. This week is finally a little bit quieter than the last few, so I've had time to do some more interesting stuff and start to get everything back ship-shape.

Nearly Christmas woo!

My God, it's full of December!

2007-12-12T20:05:00.000Z

I'm not entirely sure how it got to be December - I'm sure it was only October a couple of months ago.

It's been an extremely busy few months for me, with work going utterly nuts due to our Christmas deals, two entirely new products (PhotoKey and VideoWrap) and brand new 1.5 versions of the Lab stuff. It all seems to have gone down extremely well with the punters, which is spiffy.

Outside of work it's also been a bit hectic. Last weekend, for example, I popped down to London to have dinner at the Houses of Parliament. Bit posh, eh? It was thanks to my Dad inviting me to join him for the annual Churchill Fellows' dinner, and an excellent time was had by both of us. Good food, excellent speeches from the likes of David Owen and, of course, the astounding building, which I'd never seen in close-up, let alone been inside. Hugely impressive, and I have to say it did restore a little bit of confidence in the UK's governmental system. Not so much in the current government, mind you, given their repeated data cock-ups recently...

On Monday I piled all the FXhome greenscreen equipment and the HVX into the car and moved it down to the Norwich Arts Centre, where I was supervising a visual effects shoot with Axis of Evil Productions for their next play. As with the previous Coalition gig, which was accompanied by the brilliant (and rather popular) Get Lost, the live on-stage antics this time are being interluded with some more modern TV spoofery. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that seeing Andy dressed up in a green lycra suit, straddling Will while whipping his shirt up and down frantically was a rather remarkable sight. The shots we got should turn out pretty awesome, I hope - going through the material on Friday with Tom.

Lots of other bits and pieces on the go, too, but they're far too top secret to divulge just yet.

Right, time for a spot of frivolity.

Bruges holiday

2007-10-15T20:31:00.000Z

Little late with this one, as we actually went to Bruges what seems like ages ago. In the meantime we've been quite ridiculously busy, both at home and at work (decoratingnewcomputerhendovisitvideowrapetcetc), and we never quite got round to blogging about it.

It's all a bit late now to go into massive detail, but here's a few highlights:

The trip

Eurostar is great! Really easy, very quick and pleasantly non-stressful. Brussels main station was slightly intimidating, but we managed to find our connecting train with about 30 second to go!

The weather

Somehow we managed to get three days of really sunny, warm, wonderful weather that brought out the city wonderfully and enabled us to have some extremely pleasant wanderings.

The chocolate

Goes without saying really, but the chocolate was excellent. :) I'm not really a chocolate person (unlike Leiali), so the fact it got me so excited really is saying something! Remarkably we managed to make the chocolates last for about a month on our return! Whether that was down to restraint or simply the mass quantities we bought is debateable, though...

The museums

Bruges is home to a wonderful collection of art and history museums. From an ooooold hospital to an eclectic collection of European art throughout the ages to a surprisingly interesting examination of chocolate (aside from a rather suspicious lack of due attention to the unfortunate slave trade connections...), it was all fascinating stuff.

The food

Bit of a mixed bag this one. For some reason, Belgians (or at least Brugesians) are obsessed with chips. Every damn meal comes with chips! Now, I'm not averse to chips, but it even became rather much for me. The first night we found a superb little restaurant, though, that was a little different from the masses of cloned eateries around the market square. It was here that I discovered Waterzooie, which is essentially a collection of seafood (prawns, salmon etc) in a fantastic creamy sauce. Not my usual fare, but absolutely delicious.

The Tower

Climbing the Belfry at the market square was my personal highlight. Astounding views from the top and an exhilerating climb, combined with brilliantly intricate clockwork machinery in the bell system itself. For Nadia, however, it was nearly her undoing. If it wasn't for a conveniently placed bench, she may very well have been too exhausted to make it back down the steps, and would instead have found herself known as the Moany Woman of Bruges Belfry.

The return

The only real snag we hit was on our return to the UK, when we arrived at the London Underground only to find that they'd just started a strike, about 10 minutes beforehand. Due to being away for a good few days we were blissfully unaware of this and got stuck in a rather mad human traffic jam, a few hundred feet underground. It was rather unnerving for a while, but we eventually fought our way to the surface and Nadia used her London Know-How to bus us to Liverpool Street.

All-in-all it was a marvellous weekend, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find us back in Bruges in years to come.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

2007-10-09T20:24:00.000Z

As soon as there isn't a strike, your prezzies and card will be winging their way to you. Until then, here's a picture to say we haven't forgotten you. Will add this on facebook too!

Happy Birthday Jen, from Simon & Nadia - See you in a couple of weeks?

The Detective and the Robot

2007-10-02T20:49:00.000Z

Following hot on the heels of Nadia's new stories, I've finally got round to editing my final piece, following Ian's comments at the end of the course. I've added a few bits and tweaked a few pieces and I think it's much better now, even though most of the changes are individually quite minor.

The story link can be found to the right under Tarn's short stories, so check it out and let me know what you think! For those of you that have previously read The Detective, I should note that it starts out quite similar, but follows a markedly different path.

Enjoy. :D

Stories

2007-09-24T20:11:00.000Z

Finally,

I have put my two stories up. The short one, entitled 'Goblins' is the first one I wrote for our creative writing class, so it was written at some point in May and based on a dream I had many years ago. The second is my final piece 'Journey of a King' with amendments after comments from the course tutor and Simon. It was hard work but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm fairly certain that at least two white hairs on my head are attributable to the course, which doesn't bode well for my Masters! I now know that for some reason, creepy stuff is my thing. Very strange. Maybe I should write a story about a werewolf to frighten Simon scare-de-cat?

I do hope people like them, and let me know either way by commenting on the blog, if you just email me Simon will be sad as he'll think no-one reads the blog.

New officey goodness

2007-09-15T09:27:00.000Z

This last week up at FXhome we've been moving down the corridor and into new offices, which has been rather knackering but also most excellent! I like to think that my recent DIY experience with the spare room came in handy, as I felt like I was decidedly less useless than when we put the last office together. :)

It's really rather grand - to think we were all still working from home just a year ago. We've now got oodles of space, which is essential for storage now that we're shipping, nice new monitors and even a proper leisure/meeting area with comfy sofas. All-in-all it's a far more pleasant area in which to work, and a far easier place to work with regards to sending out boxes and stuff.

The sofa area is particularly spiffy - we're going to get the webcam all set up so that we can do proper web conferencing with Malone and Hendo when they're not in Norwich.

Check it out: http://fxhome.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31435

Visiting Chris & Jen in Hastings!

2007-09-04T16:40:00.000Z

Llama hats are brilliant. During the summer they're slightly less brilliant, so I haven't had much opportunity to show off my membership of the Llama Hat club since the inaugural night with Mr Wayne. During our visit to Hastings a few weeks back, however, I got an opportunity to adorn my bonce with another Llama hat, as can be seen in this photo. Chris also appears to be wearing a jester's hat.

Since their return from traversing the globe, Chris & Jen decided to set up shop in Hastings, which gave us an excuse to go check it out. Rather further to go to see them than just two streets up the hill, but they're worth it! (well, except when Chris is physically abusing me - more on that in a moment)

After a fairly painless drive down from Norwich (other than an absolutely foul pub lunch at the roadside Blue Boy in Kent - DO NOT EAT THERE), we then proceeded to get utterly lost in Hastings. I firmly blame this on Jenny's rubbish directions. Once we eventually found their flat, I was then faced with one of the most ludicrously difficult parking situations in automobile history, thanks to late-19th century architects completely failing to predict the rise of the ubiquitous motor vehicle. Remarkably, we didn't lost any wing mirrors, although getting out again would require a similar feat of wheel wrestling, aided by a random stranger who was suspiciously sitting in his car nearby.

Anyways, Chris & Jen's flat is rather spiffy, being top-floor, right on the seafront and complete with C&J cosiness. And we like being cosy. First night Jen cooked a rather magnificent chicken/tuna rice + peppers spicy thingummy, which we really must have again sometime. Saturday involved a pleasant wander around the Old Town and a ride up the funicular (or up the vernacular, as Nadia would have it) in order to gambol merrily about the cliff-top (Chris beat me to the tip of the mound, but only just, and I reckon he'd been practising from childhood).

The afternoon involved an exciting round of Adventure Golf, which Chris actually invented (with a bit of help from his Dad, I believe). I don't know how much of a percentage Chris gets from inventing crazy golf, but he must be set up for life! Jenny somehow got two hole-in-ones, which left us all rather flabbergasted - not to mention in 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. The Hastings Wind was starting to play silly buggers, so we retired back to Chez Chris & Jen for fun and games, joined by Ian and Rachel.

A word of warning: Do not play 'Grab a Pig' with Chris Coleman. As some of you may know, he tends to take his games rather seriously (he also very much likes to count). Grab a Pig involves swapping cards until you hit on a particular combo that enables you to - wait for it - grab a pig, a pig being a small plastic thing in the shape of a pig that sits in the middle of the table. When you've got 6 people playing everything's fine. But that's how it always starts - 'ooh' and 'aah'. Then there's the running, and the screaming. Particularly after, having found oneself in the last round with only Chris remaining, one discovers one's finger bent backwards in a most unnatural manner after a particularly violent 'Chris Lunge'.

I shall get my revenge one day.

We came back to Norwich on the Sunday, and glared with malice at the Blue Boy as we drove past. Do not eat there.

Click here for our pics!!

The Computer(s)

2007-09-04T16:21:00.000Z

Long while since the last entry and there's lots to talk about! It's been a rather manic month-or-two, one way or another, so I wasn't entirely sure where to start. Given that I'm currently plonked in front of my new computer, however, I thought I'd start there!

Due to Nadia starting her new Masters course this month, she needed a computer. Rather than buy her something cheap and nasty, we decided that she would have my old computer (which isn't massively old, and is actually fairly spiffy still) and I'd get myself something new and sexy. So, yes, essentially it was just an excuse for me to get a beast of a machine.

Installation all went rather smoothly, other than Vista being a bit temperamental when it comes to the order SATA drives are plugged in. The lovely 22" Samsung monitor also had a nasty backlight error, but eBuyer sent a replacement for that swiftly, so all is now good. Certainly better than my first computer building session a few years back, which nearly sent me round the bend - admittedly it was mainly due to me forgetting to use the motherboard mounting thingies, and screwing it directly into the case. Ahem.

I have to say, I rather like Vista. General opinion on it seems to be very negative, but I've had a very pleasurable experience with it so far - even when running old games like The Longest Journey. All that remains is to reinstall XP on Nadia's computer, which is currently in-progress and proving to be a right pain in the arse. After the swift simplicity of Vista, XP's installation is a right old nightmare. Bah!

Next time, we get a pro

2007-08-06T16:30:00.000Z

This weekend I have been mostly getting covered in paint. As part of our Spare Room Rejiggling, we wanted to get rid of the deep, dark purple that has been on the walls since we moved in and shift over to something a little brighter and less girly goth.

The process got underway last week when we offloaded one of the beds into Tim's new place, which was all rather convenient as Jack needed a temporary place to stay and Tim needed some furniture to kit out his new pad! We still have one bed left, which is proving rather problematic as the mattress doesn't tick all the current 'fire safety' boxes and thus won't be taken by the Salvation Army etc. I'm sure we'll figure something out!

Having removed most of the furniture, however, it came time to get down to some serious painting. A quick trip to homebase discovered our new colour, a sunny, cheery, generally inoffensive peach. Despite Tim's kind offer to help me out next weekend (he was off in Wales this one just gone), I got all over-excited and decided to dive in by myself.

Silly me.

The first coat was a bit of a nightmare, given my general ineptitude when it comes to DIY and having never done Proper decorating before. The second coat, applied today, went much better and the room is now looking actually rather spiffy but, by god, painting a room is so dull. I really have no idea how some people enjoy doing this kind of thing, let alone do it for a living!

Still, the results are looking much better than expected. One more coat is probably needed mid-week. More photos when it's done. :)

Mike & Rachel's Wedding

2007-07-30T20:23:00.000Z

It would be more traditional, of course, to accompany this entry with a photo of the bride and groom looking all elegant and glamorous, but I simply couldn't resist this rather marvellous snap of Jenny's horror at the sight of a tumbling load of wooden bricks. Admittedly it was rather shocking, but we didn't realise it would cause her quite this level of trauma.

The wedding was fantastic - you might say a new level of fantastic, in fact. Great readings, all very carefully chosen and perfectly evading the cheesy cliches you sometimes bump into at these events. The whole shebang was really very moving, possibly due to Mike being such a big girl and breaking down into whimpers every five seconds. Beautiful location, wonderful people and rather marvellous desserts - all-in-all, a superb day.

It was marred only slightly by our taxi being 45 minutes late, which resulted in a very wet, very cold and slightly scary (there was a definite sense of mild peril) wait in a pitch black forest in The Middle of Nowhere, Norfolk, with only the militant rage of Chris, the righteous anger of Dave, the cow hunting of Sedger and the inappropriate singing of Nadia, Jen and Hena to keep us in good spirits. We eventually found our way back to civilisation, though, and it at least gave the day a rather adventurous climax!

Congrats to Mike and Rachel, who are currently swanning about somewhere in Italy, for putting on a spiffy day and, you know, getting married. Woohoo!

Transformers (2007) review

2007-07-21T19:19:00.001Z

OK, deep breath.

Where to start?

First off, I won't be reviewing this as a Transformers film, or comparing it to the stuff I remember from my childhood, or which I read in comics as a teenager. There's simply no point, as this film has nothing to do with any of that.

So, instead I'll look at it simply as a standalone film.

I was generally entertained for most of the film, in a typical being-bludgeoned-over-the-head Michael Bay kind of fashion. It's the kind of film where you almost don't have time to consider whether you're enjoying it or not, there's so much audio-visual mayhem going on. On the other hand, once it's finished, you realise that it was an utterly empty experience.

Let's deal with the stuff I liked first:

Shia Labeoeoeieieieiuuueoeouf. This guy is great! I didn't like him in I, Robot - but that was mainly due to his 'irritating sidekick' style character. In Transformers, however, he's fantastic. Really captured that Harrison Ford/Michael J Fox style of natural acting, which can switch between comedy and 'serious' absolutely seamlessly. As such, any scene that he's in was noticeably better than ones without. Can't wait to see him in Indy 4!

The visual effects. Dear god, these were fantastic! Practically flawless, and one of the first times that CG has felt properly 'there', to the same level as a animatronic or puppet version. The rest of the technicals were of similarly fantastic standard - this is a very, very well produced film. With the notable exception of the script, of course...more on that in a moment.

Peter Cullen. Despite being saddled with some seriously rubbish dialogue, Cullen did a great job. It might just be nostalgia speaking, but he really managed to inject a bit of character.

Other than those three elements, however, this was a remarkably shoddy film.

The biggest mistake? All the military and political scenes. Seeing the soldiers in Qatar and later in New York was ok, with some great action, although most of it was still fairly superfluous. It seemed mostly to be a big advert for the companies that make military hardware than anything else.

All the Jon Voight stuff, and anything relating to the Pentagon, hackers and Sector Seven, though, was utter guff. It was simply intensely [i]dull[/i]. This was particularly true in the first half of the film. When we [i]should[/i] have been focused entirely on Sam and Bumblebee's attempts to woo Ms Fox, all of which was highly entertaining and brilliantly reminiscent of the golden age of 80s action-comedies, instead we had to keep cutting back to dry offices, meeting rooms and made-up computer talk. The problem for me was that it was all so tiresomely generic - it really could have been footage cut out of any other random disaster/sci-fi movie. It's been seen so many times before, and it utterly sapped the energy of the film. How much better would this film have been if we'd seen it entirely through Sam's eyes, as this larger world was revealed? The military could still have shown up at the end, could still have been involved, but there was really no need to give them such a prominent role.

Then there's the muddled action. Sure, much of it was fantastic - the military's assault on Scorponok (a total non-entity, unfortunately), for example (my prior comment notwithstanding), was awesome, as was Prime's head-to-head with Bonecrusher. However, so much of the rest was shot in such major close-up that it was impossible to see what was going on, and the geography of the end battle was seriously perplexing at times.

This was compounded - or perhaps caused in the first place - by the crappy robot designs. Now, I'm not saying this from a 'purist' point of view. I don't mind that they've changed the designs from the G1 robots - there's been bjillions of Transformers incarnations over the years, some good and some bad. That they rejiggled them isn't what annoys me - that the redesigns were so uninspired does, however.

This is never truer than with Megatron and Starscream who, in both plane and robot mode, look almost identical - especially given that their scenes are almost all action-based, thus filled with wobbly camerawork, lots of blur and fast movement etc.

The general aesthetic was oddly fragile looking, too - it felt like these robots would just snap in two, or get their gears and levers jammed on something. There are so many exposed parts, all you'd have to do to stop one is stick a long pole in-between a couple of struts!

Then there's Frenzy (I think that's what he's called), the little mincing spaghetti robot. What the hell were they thinking? So many of his scenes were played out as if they should be scary, or at least slightly freaky. Instead, it was just hugely camp and a bit odd - almost like there had been a massive miscommunication between the director and the special effects guys. And why on earth could nobody see him, when he was wandering about in plain sight? Very odd.

There were also numerous action scenes that started to be fantastic.....then inexplicably stopped. The first car chase between Bumblebee and Barricade, for example. Given it was a Michael Bay film, I got rather excited as this began - I knew it'd be fantastic, no matter what the rest of the film was like. Instead, it stopped before it even began. Same happened with the Prime-Bonecrusher fight on the freeway, which ended rather quickly.

Then there's the Prime-Megatron battle, which turned into a total non-fight, and was mainly just two robots falling over constantly. Not exactly the epic final battle between to arch-enemies that have been fighting for thousands of years.

Finally, there's the general dialogue. While Shia somehow rescued his, the rest was decidedly ropey. No more so than Optimus', which ended up sounding more like a patronising school teacher, endlessly repeating asinine platitudes and blatantly obvious moral absolutes - while everybody else seemed to completely ignore him. This was no truer than at the end, where you had Optimus going off on yet another speech, while Sam and Ms Fox get jiggy on Bumblebee's bonnet and Ironhide and Ratchet look on in a perving manner, totally ignoring their leader's 'wise words'. The end result was that Prime came across more like a bumbling, slightly senile old codger, rather than a military and visionary genius.

Add in the bizarre over-acting of every black actor in the film, all seemingly willing to hammer home a bunch of stereotypes, followed by John Turturro apparently trying to upstage them all, and you've got a seriously odd film experience.

This was a film which had big stompy robots, but the filmmakers made them say things like "my bad." I guess that just about sums it up right there.

Story up

2007-07-18T20:22:00.000Z

I've got Simon to post one story up, will post the next one when it comes back from the tutor..marked. I hope people recognise the main character, and would appreciate feedback.

Final pieces submitted!

2007-07-10T22:00:00.000Z

We were rather last minute (or I was, at least) but we've finally handed in our final coursework for the Creative Writing: Science Fiction and Fantasy course that we've been doing for the last twelve-or-so weeks. It was thoroughly enjoyable throughout and I look forward to hopefully meeting up with members of the group again in the near future. With luck we'll be putting together a little anthology book of all our stories, too, which will be a nifty memento.

I'll have my final story - 'The Detective and the Robot' - up on the site ASAP. It's an expanded and massively reworked version of 'The Detective', though goes off on a considerably different tack. I believe Nadia is also planning to put her stuff online, but I'll let her write about that (if she ever bothers to write another post!!).

Meanwhile, we're investigating going to Bruges in August. Wee!

Looming deadlines and writer's block

2007-07-08T18:52:00.000Z

Back at university, entire semesters would go past with hardly any work to do, then we'd suddenly find ourselves deluged by multiple coursework projects, all to hand in the same week, leading to a manic final dash to get everything ready.

Other than occasionally strenuous FXhome release deadlines, I haven't had to worry about that kind of thing for years. Just recently, however, I've ended up in a similar situation, what with work busier than ever, my film-related work more active than it has been for yonks and, of course, our Creative Writing course that we're doing up at UEA.

Typically, a whole bunch of deadlines once again converged, the most troublesome of which has been the final piece for the Creative Writing course. My plan had been to take the Detective character from The Detective (see stories on the right!) and spin him out into a slightly longer tale. Easier said than done, especially given that my head has been focused on entirely different characters for the past few weeks.

This has proven to be more of a problem than normal. The whole point of the 1st person narrative in the Detective stories is to try something I don't normally do, and write from the point of view of a rather extreme, unpleasant character, in 1st person, while also playing with all kinds of noirish cliches. All well and good, but leaving Keila and Kamran behind in order to write in the voice of the grouchy, robotist detective was difficult. If only I'd chosen to write in good, old fashioned, easy peasy 3rd person perspective!

Ah well. I've finally got a hook into the story, so will have it finished by this time tomorrow, ready to hand in on Tuesday. Nothing like last minute!

Funky film work

2007-07-07T15:03:00.000Z

Back in the day, I used to make films. They weren't particularly good but they were great fun to put together. More importantly, they taught me a lot about what not to do. Unfortunately, just as I felt like I was grasping what was necessary to make something decent, I finished uni, got a job and found myself with precious little time to direct.

Fast forward a few years and I've found myself working on quite a few productions, here and there. I've stepped back from the directing ambitions to work on other areas - specifically writing and effects, two areas that spin naturally out of my work at FXhome.

I've just this second finished fixing up the English translation subtitles for NightCast, a Swiss action movie (a rare thing!) directed by my good friend Marco von Moos. Marco, of course, is the inimitable Sollthar from the FXhome.com community. I've also been doing some writing with Ashley Wing, director of Between the Lines, who is working on some very exciting future projects.

That's the nifty thing about working at FXhome - you get to meet a real variety of filmmakers from all over the world and get to be a part of their work, even if only in a tiny way.

Talking of work, this week proved rather entertaining as we did a quick greenscreen shoot in order to have some new promo material, for which we actually employed the services of a model for the first time - that's right, it's not going to be me in every single damn video! Our giant new greenscreen courtesy of the chaps over at Tubetape.com really helped out, so for once compositing should be smooth and easy!

Sounds like Nadia's just got back, so time to sign off. Until next time. :)

Completion!

2007-06-30T15:07:00.000Z

No, not of my novel, Evinden, but of a film script I've been working on for a fair few weeks now. Rather a long slog, and it's still only a first draft, but at last the entire thing is down on paper. As usual with everything I write, it's far too long and will require some judicious snipping. I knew it was going to come out far too long even as I was writing it but decided to complete it before delving into editing, so as to better discern the overall structure and pacing.

In other news, we're off up to UEA this evening for a 90s Reunion. Nadia's friend Emma is up for the weekend and there's going to be a whole gaggle of people converging on Norwich - Malone's coming up from Cornwall with Clem, for a start. Should be a good evening - will try to get some good pics!

What is a patriot?

2007-06-24T13:53:00.000Z

I was reading an issue of Amazing Spider-Man last night and unexpectedly stumbled across a rather nifty definition of what it means to be a patriot, written by Mr Mark Twain. I quote:

In a republic, who is 'the country'?

Is it the government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the government is merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

Who, then, is 'the country'? Is it the newspaper? Is it the pulpit? Why, these are mere parts of the country, not the whole of it; they have not command, they have only their little share in the command.

In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic, it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak.

It is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press or government, or the empty catchphrases of politicians. Each must decide for himself alone what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man.

To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may.

If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country. Hold up your head. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

A few stories more!

2007-06-23T19:55:00.000Z

I've added links to a few more recent short stories I've written. Most of these are literally 10-minute jobs written as exercises for the creative writing course we're on at the moment and are tests of style/character/POV etc.

Next up is to write the final 1500 word piece for the course - a horrendously small word count! My final piece is going to be based on the character from 'The Detective', probably with a mixture of plots from the two Detective stories I've put up so far, plus some extra bits and pieces.

Meanwhile, Evinden is coming along nicely. I've nearly finished the second part, at which point I'll be creating a new 'work print' for selected people to peruse. The story is really hotting up now, with the characters' journeys well underway and (hopefully) avoiding (or fiddling with) the usual cliches!

I'm also writing a new short film script, details of which I'm not at liberty to disclose at this point. The project will be announced in due course, at which point I'll be able to reveal some info. :)

There's also a bunch of other filmy stuff going on at the moment, particularly with the Axis of Evil guys. As it happens, I'm seeing them tomorrow for an afternoon of extreme puppetry at the Norwich Arts Centre - should be good!

A fistful of stories!

2007-06-22T17:53:00.000Z

I've just put links up on the right to a couple of stories I've written as part of the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Creative Writing unit we've been doing for the last 8-or-so weeks. They're pretty short, so take a peek! Please do let me know what you think, feedback is always appreciated.

More on the way...

p.s. I seem to have broken all the images in the previous posts. Will try to fix that soon. :)

And so it begins...

2007-06-11T21:26:00.000Z

After neglecting our little website for many a month, I've finally got round to rejiggling it a bit. The first step being to remove just about everything except this blog. Now that I've finally detached myself from 90s-style websites, hopefully this should prove much easier to update on a more regular basis.

We've been up to lots of exciting things lately, so we should have some short stories, artwork and photos to link to soon. In the meantime, enjoy this work in progress journal thing. :)

Hahaha I forgot this existed

2007-06-07T15:49:00.000Z

I forgot we had this, and now I remembered I figure I may as well post on it! First things first, I am now officially thirty two years old. How old is that? How grey am I? And how have things been these past thirty two years I know you are asking yourself and even if not, I shall reply. Well, so far my early thirties are a million times better than my twenties. For a start, I know myself better and am therefore less likely to make a complete idiot of myself in public, and when I do I don't actually care any more. It is very liberating.
My working life is a bit rubbish, poorly paid and bored in a nutshell but I am going to do a masters so all is well, other than working my socks off in the next two years. I'd never have been able to do it without Simon so I am counting my blessings. Urgh, how cheesemongery is this?! Sorry, but the truth is never pretty.
What else? Oh yes, creative writing is scary, difficult and stilted for me. I didn't realise I was quite as long winded as all that, but ponderous is a good way to describe my progress. However words trip lightly off of Simon's tongue, like honey from a bee so I am insanely jealous and downhearted. I think it is only right that I make a melodramatic statement of intent soon along the lines of 'I will never write again as long as I live!' or just edit and critique as usual and leave the writing to the more dedicated and confident out there. Or do poetry instead which I generally always preferred to write.
Hm...Things I have noted in the past few weeks:
I feel old
I miss my friends
I have a new 'perfect sister' badge which I fully intend to wear at the weekend
Simon is the best (but don't anyone tell him that).
Sitting outside in the sun all day is a fantastically indulgent and enjoyable thing to do
Sitting outside in the sun for too long gives me a headache
Fireworks are ok if you are really really far away
Old people have no shame
I've felt under the weather for nearly two months now....
Girly chick flicks rule
Heroes and BSG won't be around forever :(

So anyway, I'm going to stop now.

I wonder when Simon will notice?

2007-02-26T19:44:00.000Z

That I've been blogging on here? If that is the correct term. I've been ruminating on whether to go down to London to get a book signed on the 17th March, as I have the 16th off work anyway, and it would be great to meet some people from the forum. But then can I really be bothered to spend £30 odd for a chat and a couple of signatures? And sit on a train? As I'm going down in April anyway, I doubt I'll go but I never get to go to signings and they all seem to happen at Forbidden Planet. I wish there was cause for great writers to come up to Norfolk, but unless they already live here there never is :(

I've had a good day today, though I still don't feel well having contracted the lurgy over a week ago and still shaking it off, and I made the mistake of eating fresh pineapple, mango and papaya at the weekend in one of those little packs where they prep it for you. Never has such a great food sin been committed by me. Or at least, not in so long. I was still feeling quite ill today...I think I am actually allergic to fresh fruit - and apparently it isn't all that uncommon to be intolerant of it at least...So I'm not weird.

Anyway, the day has been good because: I drove around a lot and am determined to KEEP IT UP; it is my mantra. Having never ridden a bike, or a horse, I haven't always believed people saying that getting behind the wheel after a short absence is ' just like riding a bike, once you learn it you never forget how to do it,' 'once you get on you always fall off' is more likely. I hate idioms and similes like that, I never remember them right. It is clearly because I am foreign, which is a card I occasionally allow myself to wave around maniacally. Certain sayings come to you from your family so all of mine are Eritrean.

It was also a good day because I went to two meetings which took all day and were strategic and in someways visionary. But that is going to bore everyone so I'll stop there.

things to note:

My life is not that interesting
Fruit is sometimes bad, but heavenly
I don't know how to post pictures

I forgot to talk about hypnotherapy and the dirty dancing wedding first dance. So, next time I shall.

Just watched University Challenge:

Nadia 110
Simon 35. Not his finest hour.

Long time no type

2007-02-22T15:07:00.000Z

I thought I'd update the journal seeing as I am home, sick and bored. I've been off work for days now with a bad head cold - Simon's man flu seems to have affected me more:( and am going stir crazy.

Topics of interest lately have been: Slavery, as it is the 200 year anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the UK, but slavery still exists in the form of domestic labourers being bought and sold as well as sex trafficking in theUK, let alone what happens worldwide. I did a bit of reading on the activists in the US as I know very little about American history, and know know something of Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglas and Ulysses Grant (not an activist but someone who certainly had the power to make a difference). Sojourner Truth especially had a strong impact on me as a black woman who had been through such turmoil; her 'Ain't I a woman?' speech still resonates.

I also learned a bit more about marriage, the Baha'i faith, the mythical land of Punt which may be the land of my heritage, Eritrea, what else? Also, I learned a little bit about Aiken Drum the Scottish tale, and Solomon the wise of biblical times as well as Suleiman the Magnificent or Law Maker, who ruled the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia is great for browsing but I'm inclined to further any studies with real books, or at least learned texts. Some of the submissions on it were misspelled and I swear at one point someone wrote 'awesome'.

So, snobs are us. I just got a parcel from Amazon so I must now spend the next week trying not to start any of the books I've bought. It will be particularly difficult with Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel, which I know will be great and is his first book in ages. I didn't realise the dearth of his books til recently. Good writers should learn to type really, really, extra specially fast. The other two books I may start nowish, I have Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley (which kind of looks a bit traditional) and a book of short stories with an offering from Sharon Shinn whose latest series I really enjoyed....But I must resist as my to read pile is so enormous, I shouldn't have bought the books in the first place.

What else? I'm looking forward to going to Oxford for a few days, our first proper holiday together (gulp!). I should imagine that navigating, not getting lost, driving, and all things associated will be a nightmare. I hate that we are so conventional in our disagreements. Woman: Bad Navigator. Man: Bad instruction taker. It is so predictable. Still, it'll be worth it I'm sure. Blenheim Palace looks so good. I'm fairly certain that as I am looking forward to it in particular, the day will be too cold, raining or something which will dampen our enthusiasm. Fingers crossed it won't.
Next time: Hypnotherapy and what it means to me.

Posted not by Nadia and Simon, but by Nadia all on her own and who is an independent being. As Dave once said, there are at times too many ands and not enough commas.

Bond

2007-01-21T17:56:00.000Z

James Bond, to be exact. Not a man I either like or am interested in except to have an apoplectic fit whenever he is mentioned. But Casino Royale was actually ok. Just the right mix of action, irony, poker and lithe male and female bodies to appeal to a wider range of audience. Hurrah! And the Chris Cornell song went really well with it - threading its way through the film blending in marvellously with the traditional dum dum dee dum dom dee dum tune. I don't have a picture I'm afraid, but if I did, it would be of a random village by the med, with hot sun blazing down at people in sun glasses on powerful boats. Why are all the criminals [girlfriends/wives] in the world lazing on a sun lounger by the Mediterranean? Surely some of them like a bit of a change every once in a while?

Getting there...

2007-01-07T12:32:00.000Z

Now that all the festivities are done, I've finally had time to update the website properly. I've rejiggled most of the pages so that they can cope with more content. The Artwork section now works via the rather nifty Picasa web albums service - nice and free!

With a bit of luck we'll have some pseudo-science articles going up in the next couple of weeks, which will hopefully prove to be fun reads. They may even be collated into a book one day!

Simon

Evinden

2006-12-10T00:03:00.000Z

Some of you may already be aware that I'm working on a novel (aren't we all...?), currently going by the title of Evinden. As may be apparent from its meaningless and concocted title, it sits firmly in the fantasy genre, although I should probably point out that there are no pointy ears or orcs and nor is there a surprising abundance of the vertically-challenged.

It's been in the works since the turn of the century (I just wanted to say that) and was initially conceived as a movie script. When that became increasingly impractical, it went through various permutations including a brief dalliance with computer gaming before winding up as a novel. I started developing the concept into a novel in 2005 and have been making absurdly slow progress ever since.

Having finally realised that, at my current rate, the story would likely remain unfinished for the next decade, I've now embarked on something of a more regimented writing schedule. 30 minutes of writing a day is the minimum requirement and so far I've managed to stick to it - admittedly that's only been for two days, however. Except for a few close friends it remains unseen, as it's really not in an enjoyable state just yet. However, I intend to change that somewhat with the advent of this website, in the form of artwork and possibly even short stories outlining the 'world' of the novel and various sub-plots.

More soon.

Online!

2006-12-07T16:54:00.000Z

We're online at last! I say at last, but it actually didn't take long thanks to the age-old mantra of 'keep it simple'. I therefore apologise in advance to the techies amongst you who will no doubt be horrified at the inevitably bungled HTML hiding behind these pages...

Content is still a little thin on the ground, but you can already find some rough artwork and links to my SFFworld game reviews over in the Writings section, plus some rather spiffy and exclusive interviews with the fab chaps over at Introversion (responsible for such gaming classics as Darwinia and DEFCON).

We'll have some more stuff going up soon, as we're intending to keep this regularly updated with our various musings and what-have-you. So stick us in your bookmarks and make sure you check back regularly - and leave us some comments!

Enjoy,

Simon

It's our new journal!

2006-12-02T14:16:00.000Z

I refuse to call it a blog. That might be what it 'is', but I simply refuse to use the word: it annoys me.

Journal, diary, log, editorial, ramblings, drivel - all those are fine and apt descriptions of what you'll find on this page. But a blog? Pfft! That's just an invented word that was never really needed in the first place.

So, here it is. Nadia and Simon's diary/journal/thing. I hope you like it. :)

Cheers,

Simon