Indulge me, please, in a quick link dump. I love the idea of Felt Rocks, partly because since my good lady found out how to do felting – a term so close to a nose-wrinkling sexual practice that I always smirk when I hear it – we have agreed that felt does indeed rock, and partly because it amuses me that something so pleasing and beautiful is the by-product of manufacturing something completely different.

Then there's the rather beautiful Protea lampshade – this is part of what designers are talking about when they mention 'truth to materials'; it's using the physical characteristics of the petals to move them rather than relying on some over-engineered electro-mechanical solution. There's also a whimsical, humorous twist to the design, and the comment it makes on the inefficiency of converting electrical into light energy gives it a bite of politics too. So much from a lampshade...

Third it's the spectacular UV tattooing ink seen here; part of why I love this is that under natural light there are no visible markings. I always quite liked the idea of a tattoo, but I'd only do it if I was in better shape than I am now. I never bought into the whole 'think how it'd look when you're 70' argument; even assuming I didn't have the same aesthetic value system as I do now, I think I'd like the reminder of my youth.

Next up is Nintendo on their [deliberate grammatical error] official name for the Revolution, the next-gen gaming console. I actually do like the rationale behind the name and the logo – the two lower-case I glyphs do look like two people, and mirror the shapes we've seen of the new motion-sensitive controller – but this explanation does stray just a little too far into naff for a company whose products are aimed at pretty media-savvy folks. And I think we'll soon get heartily sick of 'And together, Wii will change everything'-type puns. Plus, there are just ... too ... many ... gags about urine.

Lastly, and for colleagues only, does this picture suggest to you that a slightly prettier version of one of PC Pro's young staffers is working in the Blu-Ray industry? The natty protective chapeau even looks a bit like his hair. In any case, doesn't the company concerned here have a legal minimum age for its workers? This guy looks like a school leaver...

That is all. This weekend we will be visiting eccentric relatives in the country. Plus a cat.

Remember my little tutorial on making photos of everyday scenes look like they were actually shots of little models? Well, as well netting me over 150,000 page impressions, and a decent wodge of cash from Google AdSense, it also caught the eye of a couple of photography magazines.

A big American magazine will be publishing just a link to this site, but the German title fotoMAGAZIN actually translated my tutorial into German. The kindly folks there even sent me a copy which arrived on my desk this morning; I know how difficult it can be to remember to follow up like this, and I really appreciate it. They've even been chasing me about payment, asking how I'd like the money to come to me; it would appear that the national stereotype of efficiency is rooted in truth somewhere.

Being in German, I can only assume that the content is correct. I may send a copy down to my dad – fluent in German* – to see what he makes of it, but I suspect that the language would be too specifically technical to give him much of a chance of understanding what's going on.

Emma, if you're reading this, keep an eye out for fotoMAGAZIN in the shops in Berlin. And if the security guard asks you why you're just staring at a page, point to my by-line and tell him that you know the author...


* and Spanish and French, though he's less confident with these latter languages. My folks both teach modern languages, and at various points my brother had at worst a good conversational grasp of French, German, Italian, Spanish and Catalan. Me, I can muddle by in French, but that's it. Basically, my grammar is shot to hell, but I still have a decent accent. It's all in the shrug.

Well, that's Chris B gone from MacUser. Well, ish, as he'll continue to write for the magazine on a freelance basis and edit some sections for us too, but in effect he's off, back oop North to be a house-husband. Friday, therefore, was bittersweet. We did the traditional leaving presentation, replete with faintly embarrassing photographs of the chap himself projected onto the board room wall and then went out for a fantastic evening's drinking at the Green Man, but it's a real shame to see him leave.

There was a good turn out, though. A few other ex-'User folks turned up, most notably Julian whom none of us had seen for ages. We all got a little squiffy, and the humour progressed – if that's the right word – from imitating esteemed colleagues to drawing pictures of willies. Here is Paul Trotter's attempt to render his proud manhood – are those two potatoes? 'Meat and two veg' right enough. Nik has a picture of Paul modelling the look.

It's a measure of how tipsy I got that when Dave suggested food at McDonald's, my immediate reaction was 'OK then'. Over a McChicken Sandwich meal – you can't buy class – we talked of work and weddings. I recognise the stress he feels from both – my good lady and I reached a stage when we just didn't want to get married any more because it was causing so many problems.

Yesterday was spent pottering and tidying, and today is all about catching up on paperwork and trying to get ahead on next week's work. Oh, and watching the Muppets.

The eagle-eyed (and terminally-bored) may have noticed that I've updated the Work section to reflect my new job title. New business cards ahoy, methinks.

Um, that's it for now. This has been a pretty disappointing post, n'est ce-que pas?

All the best, Mr B.

MacPeople is currently advertising the following vacancy:
PowerPoint Presentation Specialist (late shift) £neg

Jeez, when ya put it like that...

Here's a nice bit of intelligent design. Egg sent me a reminder about the loan I have with them, printed on lovely thick matt stock, and at the bottom left of the A4 letter there's a little tab, so that you can use this letter as a divider in your filing system. That's a thoughtful touch that demonstrates a good understanding of how users actually interact with documents once they're pulled out of the envelope.

Egg do documents incredibly well; everything's spectacularly clear and well laid out, and there's a very clear visual hierarchy of information that makes it simple to prioritise information. And the language used is the perfect balance between formal and chatty. Hurrah for financial institutions devoting resources to working out how to communicate effectively with their customers.

In other news, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes set arrived today; it's utterly captivating.

I've had money my folks kindly gave me for my birthday burning a hole in my pocket for ages; last night I finally spent some of it. When it was first published, I really wanted to buy The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, but at the time when I saw it, the first edition had sold out. I finally found out that it was scheduled for reprinting in April, and when I checked last night, it was back on Amazon. It should be here next week.

I had never even heard of Calvin and Hobbes before I met my good lady, but I immediately fell for the little kid and his stuffed tiger. The illustrations are beautiful, yes, and they capture expression just perfectly, but it's Calvin's attitude that makes the strips at once very funny and incredibly poignant. It really does suck being a kid sometimes, with everyone around you dictating your limits and behaviour. Here's a sample strip – it's impossible to find a favourite, but this one is lovely.



Continuing the theme, I also ordered The Muppet Show - Season 1 on DVD; should provide many a surreal moment.

If this were accurate, it would be a smidge under 231 millenia before this operation completed. By which point, I suspect, at the very least, we'd have a whole 'nother millennium bug-style dating problem to deal with.

In other news, I've imported all the entries from my previous blog; find them in the archives before October 2005. Some made me smile. Others made me realise I've felt this pressured for longer than I had realised. Nighty night.

Despite our best efforts today, we didn't get to Brighton as planned. There was a 'frank exchange of views' over which station to go from, so I checked online. 'King's Cross' it said. Ah, but no. Apparently, there are two King's Crosses in London. Right next door to each other. We did not know this, so having looked at the departures board at King's Cross (more accurately: a King's Cross), we went to Waterloo. Ah, but it's not Waterloo either. So we gave up and went to the Tate Modern for breakfast. (It's Victoria, by the way.)

Thence to Leicester Square via Paternoster Square (above) to see Ice Age 2 with young Mr Malcolm. I loved the stylish, slick treatment of the animation in the first film, and the sequel managed to be even more lush. We did get a running commentary from the kids around us – one of whom insisted on proudly reading out any and all text that appeared on screen and several for whom the 'plot' was too intellectually challenging and who questioned their loud-mouthed and oblivious parents throughout – but since it is a kid's film, I guess I shouldn't really complain. Is it so wrong to wish parents educated their children that they should be considerate of others, though?

Jim had work to do, so off he toddled, and the young lady and I wandered down through Trafalgar Square – our third square of the day – and the happy families and tourists clustered around the base of a be-scaffolded Nelson's Column, and caught the 53 back home.



We're hoping to go through to the seaside tomorrow, so long as the weather is half as picturesque as it was today. I asked Jason where he recommended we ate in Brighton – as well as the obligatory fish-and-chips-on-thePier-while-fighting-off-pneumonia – and he suggested Terre à Terre; we'll try to get there for lunch when it opens at noon.

Not going to Brighton was fun, so going to Brighton must surely be even more fun, right?

A few more photos from today on Flickr.

Internet access on the train is cripplingly expensive, and is itself crippled to 1992 speeds, so the Scottish trip is being summarised in four quick photographs; that's like writing a four thousand word post, but it's much less tedious for both of us.


Taken at the beach at Kirkcudbright; look at the pure, clear Scottish water!


The McRobbie's cat; this picture makes me laugh so much, and I don't know why.


Quick, somebody call Guinness – this Yorkshire pudding has to be a record-breaker!


Looking glam in the evening light – this is a cameraphone picture, fer chrissake.