Thursday, July 3rd 2008
wales book of the year gaffe

This story's got legs, hasn't it? If you haven't heard it, the Welsh Assembly Culture Minister announced the wrong winner at the Wales Book of the Year awards ceremony on Tuesday night, despite reading it off a piece of paper - Tom Bullough, who thought he'd won, got as far as the stage before he was told it was actually Dannie Abse. Mind you, Bullough's blog has now exceeded its bandwidth, so maybe he's got some useful publicity out of this. Probably not enough to make up for the public humiliation, mind.

I was at this ceremony last year, as our friend Robin was one of the contenders, and I remember thinking it was unusual in being one of the few awards left where the winners didn't know in advance. I had no idea that not even the presenter knew either - I'm sure that'll change now.

But what on earth did that card say? "The winner isn't TOM BULLOUGH! He's one of the runners-up along with Nia Wyn. The actual winner is Dannie Abse."

Jim Finnis
9:55AM

Tags: twunts wales writing news
Tuesday, July 1st 2008

Wish I had my proper camera with me...

Jim Finnis
9:36PM

Tags: mobile photo
Monday, June 30th 2008
positive feedback loops in the NHS

Patients' rating of the quality of their NHS care will affect hospitals' and GPs' funding in England in the future, ministers have announced.

So good hospitals will get better, while bad ones will get worse, until we're left with a very few good ones (given that funds are limited) and a whole load of bad ones which can't get the funding to attract better staff or buy newer facilities.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Jim Finnis
3:56PM

Jim Finnis
10:24AM

Tags: photo mobile
and that's it

for the food. This was the dessert, apparently an elderflower and lemon balm parfait and a gooseberry er.. goo :) Tasted like very expensive mango kulfi to be honest.

The next night we went to the Circus restaurant, where I seem to remember having crab, followed by lamb (for the first time in months) and Eton mess.

Jim Finnis
10:24AM

Tags: food mobile photo

And the main course, turbot in a mussel and pea veloute (one of those hundreds of gastronomic words that mean "goo"). There was some mash under there, too, with chives in.

Jim Finnis
10:23AM

Tags: food mobile photo
A weekend away...

...in Bath. I did take a fair few pics with the proper camera, but as usual I documented food with the mobile. I like to remember meals I've spent a fair bit of dosh on :) The meal was in the Olive Tree, the restaurant attached to the Queensberry Hotel - very posh, we were staying there as an present from Catrin's parents.

Anyway, this was the starter - salmon in sloe berry and fennel vodka! Before that was a little appetizer in the form of a cup of beautiful butternut squash soup, too.

Jim Finnis
10:22AM

Tags: mobile photo food
Tuesday, June 24th 2008
royal pizza

Bloody hell - we're working late in the office again, so we ordered some pizza. Quite a lot of pizza, to be honest. When the guy delivered it, I apologised for not having the cash for a tip (which was why we were paying by card), and he left, obviously displeased. Within a minute or so he was back, verbally abusing us for being "the worst people he'd ever come across" and asking "hands up any of you who've got a girlfriend." He's apparently the manager. Unbelievable. He stormed out again, forgetting his pizza bags. They're still here.

Jim Finnis
11:20PM

Tags: twunts
Friday, June 20th 2008
warren ellis on ideas

Because of a computer problem, Warren Ellis hasn't been able to update his (excellent) free weekly webcomic, Freakangels, this week. So instead he wrote a little note explaining this, and tacked on the end as a bonus was this answer to an old FAQ:


I still get asked with appalling regularity "where my ideas come from."

Here's the deal. I flood my poor ageing head with information. Any information. Lots of it. And I let it all slosh around in the back of my brain, in the part normal people use for remembering bills, thinking about sex and making appointments to wash the dishes.

Eventually, you get a critical mass of information. Datum 1 plugs into Datum 2 which connects to Datum 3 and Data 4 and 5 stick to it and you've got a chain reaction. A bunch of stuff knits together and lights up and you've got what's called "an idea".

And for that brief moment where it's all flaring and welding together, you are Holy. You can't be touched. Something impossible and brilliant has happened and suddenly you understand what it would be like if Einstein's brain was placed into the body of a young tyrannosaur, stuffed full of amphetamines and suffused with Sex Radiation.

That is what has happened to me tonight. I am beaming Sex Rays across the world and my brain is all lit up with Holy Fire. If I felt like it, I could shag a million nuns and destroy their faith in Christ.

From my chair.

See, this is the good bit about writing. It's what keeps you going. It's the wild rush of "shit, did I think of that?" with all kinds of weird chemicals shunting around your brain and ideas and images and moments and storyforms all opening up snapsnapsnap in your mind, a mass of new and unrealised possibilities.

It's ten past two in the morning, and I'm completely wired, caught up in the new thing, shivering and laughing and glowing in the dark. Just as well it's the middle of the night. No-one would be safe from me right now. I could read their minds and take over their heartbeats with a glare.

Faster than the speed of anyone.

That's how it works.

Jim Finnis
1:06PM

Tags: writing
(auto)scymraeg

Check this out. Even non-Welsh speakers can tell that "must" is not the Welsh word for "must", for example. Ditto "please."

Actually, every single thing is wrong - the whole thing is virtually incomprehensible. I suppose the Welsh on that bottom line might translate something like "The building of sites is dangerous, please keep children on walking" if one were bloody-minded enough to try to get some sense out of it.

This is, I suppose, what happens when you get that bloke in the office who went on a day taster course to do the Welsh (instead of, for example, paying my mate Robin).

UPDATE: Obvious in hindsight, but Telsa reports it's a really, really bad free machine translation system. There's more info here, if you speak Welsh. Actually, if you don't, you can still go there and zip to the end for some examples of really well-known Welsh songs translated into awful English, with a challenge to the readers to guess the songs. Here are a couple I know (although I couldn't recognise them):


Grade good crookedly the she persuading / Signs the Volvo medal tongue the dragon

...

With Gwen he ear I / he was the firstly I pass group posts

The first one is Datblygu's incisive masterpiece Cân i Gymru - "gradd da yn y Gymraeg, ar y Volvo bathodyn Tafod y Ddraig" - usually translated as "A good grade in Welsh Language, and a Dragon's Tail badge on the Volvo."

The second is, of course, Catatonia's Gyda Gwên - gyda gwên, o glust i glust / fe oedd y cyntaf i basio'r pyst - better rendered as "With a smile from ear to ear, he was first to pass the posts."

I can sort of see how the second one happened. Heaven knows what went wrong with the Datblygu song, though.

Jim Finnis
12:35PM

Tags: welsh funny notactuallyfunny
Thursday, June 19th 2008
eugene evans

...is still in the industry! Working as marketing manager for Mythic Entertainment (now part of EA), who are working on the Warhammer MMORPG. Due out in Autumn. A Warhammer MMORPG. Ugh.

Anyway, great picture down that first link. He's not changed a bit.

Jim Finnis
9:33PM

Tags: games
Wednesday, June 18th 2008
limbo of the lost

This is just sad. A tiny British games developer (there's only three of them, apparently) has produced a point and click adventure (remember those?) which has managed to get a wide - albeit budget - release in the States. Whereupon it becomes obvious that an awful lot of the artwork is ripped off from other games. Really - go and have a look, they've just taken screenshots from Oblivion, UT2004, Morrowind and a few other games and slapped their own stuff over the top. Here's an example - on the left, LoL, on the right, Thief: Deadly Shadows:


How did they think they'd get away with it? Perhaps they'd promised an all-singing, all-dancing 3D game for their new reworked version, realised they couldn't do it, and panicked. However, the wikipedia entry suggests there were allegations of plagiarised art from that earlier Amiga version, so maybe this really was something they thought they could do with impunity. Or maybe they used the stolen artwork as placeholder - to be replaced later with their own work - and didn't have time, or perhaps foolishly showed it to the publisher who loved it. Hm.

The more we think about that last possibility here in the office, the more likely we think it is. Many smaller publishers don't know much about games - their expertise lies in retail marketing. They wouldn't recognise the stolen images, and perhaps wouldn't understand why perfectly good placeholder art needed replacing. They also wouldn't understand why the new artwork would take so long to do, pressurising the developers still further. Who knows?

I'm not excusing them, but I can see how a bedroom coder team could get themselves into such difficulties.

UPDATE: I'm not one to judge by appearances, but look - three dodgy geezers from Maidstone.

Jim Finnis
12:42PM

Tags: programming games
Tuesday, June 17th 2008
root canal

Ow. Hopefully it'll stick.

Jim Finnis
11:24AM
Friday, June 13th 2008
I feel like kevin warwick

If one were of a nervous disposition, one could add this news story to this news story and get somewhere scary.

Jim Finnis
3:48PM
difference between software and civil engineering

A month before the project is due to finish, no-one says to a civil engineer "Actually, we don't like the cantilever bridge idea, could you just change it to a suspension bridge? And keep everything else the same."

Jim Finnis
10:33AM
Wednesday, June 11th 2008
proverbial

Still incredibly busy, hence the silence. It's tough here at the code face, and the amount of overtime being done by everyone here is just ridiculous. But you never know, we might actually be winning.

Ah well. Here's a cute story about a piglet who's scared of mud!

Jim Finnis
4:12PM

Tags: work funny
Saturday, June 7th 2008
morning from the wrong bloody side again

Jim Finnis
5:31AM

Tags: mobile photo
Wednesday, June 4th 2008
new hair colour!

Blimey!

Jim Finnis
8:10PM

Tags: catrin photo mobile
Sunday, June 1st 2008
Nant-y-Moch

Went up there a couple of weeks ago, but I've only just had the time to sort out the pictures.

Jim Finnis
8:03PM

Tags: photo 400d
Saturday, May 31st 2008
Radio Luxembourg

Radio Lux, one of the bilingual Welsh rock scene's biggest groups, playing to an apparently empty field - a rare sight. They'd been asked to open the festival so people were still slowly turning up, and I think the mist put a few people off. They were bloody excellent - the true successors to the Gorkys' psychedelic throne, with more upbeat, accessible songs and jangly guitars, but the same whimsical and unpredictable air. They've learned a lot from working with Euros Childs. A really tight live act, too. Shame they only had time for a half-hour opening set before heading up to another gig in Llandudno - I think they did this one as a favour to their old friend and bandmate Sam, who organises the festival. They've got stuff on Myspace, but then who hasn't?

Jim Finnis
1:30PM

Tags: music mobile photo
Castell Roc

A misty day at Aberystwyth Castle's annual free rock festival. Appearances are deceptive, though - it was really warm, and Catrin got a sunburn.

I did need a bit of relaxation - I'd finally got out of work at six in the morning that day; that's a solid 21 hours of frantic coding. My brain was fried. Some of my colleagues didn't leave the office until six hours after that...

Jim Finnis
1:15PM

Tags: photo mobile
Thursday, May 29th 2008
coder spelling

Working with another company's code is not made easier when you have to look for a condistion in the intercations folder.

Jim Finnis
10:08AM

Tags: programming
web 3.0

From Dan Crisper: Web 3.0 = ( Web 2.0 - Northern California )

Jim Finnis
9:33AM

Tags: funny www
Wednesday, May 28th 2008
overheard

One of our coders, trying to explain something to one of our artists: "Stop looking at me like I'm trying to show a dog a card trick."

UPDATE: a different artist has just casually dropped into the conversation the wonderful simile shaking like a shitting dog.

Jim Finnis
2:50PM

Tags: overheard
Tuesday, May 27th 2008
teef

OK, the dentist has closed my teeth (which have been open the last two weeks, and yes, that is as weird and grim as it sounds), having squirted about three different kinds of antibiotic down there, and given me a prescription for two other kinds. That should do the trick.

Jim Finnis
10:21AM
Saturday, May 24th 2008

Jim Finnis
2:17PM

Tags: photo mobile

not exactly secret now, is it?

Jim Finnis
1:22PM

Tags: mobile photo

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Recent Comments

re limbo of the lost Ben wrote:

"Many smaller publishers don't know much about games - their expertise lies in retail marketing." The only problem with this is that Tri-Synergy (the US publisher that withdrew the game when the abysmal plagiarism came to light) is not a 'smaller publisher' that only knows retail. They published The Longest Journey (one of the most important & influential adventure games of the last decade) in the US, amongst others. Shame on Majestic, however. What they've done is arrogant and naive in the extreme.

03/07/08 10:16:10 PM

re royal pizza Jim wrote:

No, this is a different place. What is it about pizza guys? No idea what happened to that bloke; but the place where his pizza place was is now a rather nice Thai, oddly run by (and from) the Home cafe.

30/06/08 10:57:53 AM

re royal pizza Elfie wrote:

Is he any relation to the manager of the pizza place that went mad on you and Jane that time? Sounds like he isn't going to be doing any repeat business...

26/06/08 07:38:40 AM

re (auto)scymraeg Jim wrote:

You're right, of course. Don't know why I said "tail." The song is an extended bitch about a certain type of person.. "A good grade in Welsh and a Dragon's Tongue on the car / Fond of attending boring meetings, especially on the future of the Welsh language. / Masters minority languages as a hobby ... Always going to Brittany, never to France / Always going to the Basque Country, never to Spain ... From nursery school to the University of Wales / A lifelong ticket on the gravy train / I'd be better off as a junkie ... Not forgetting to raise hell / about the terrible strain of my husband's job / working from one till three / as a BBC presenter." Or something like that. Oof.

24/06/08 01:35:36 PM

re (auto)scymraeg Dan wrote:

I believe that 'tafod y ddraig' refers to the dragons tongue (as opposed to tail), as used by Cymdeithas yr Iaith in their logo. I could be wrong though. I always thought it was a beautiful image which represented some of the views/aims of the society very well.

24/06/08 11:42:29 AM

re (auto)scymraeg Telsa wrote:

What, you haven't met Intertran before? Type "free online welsh english translator" into Google and all will be revealed. A friend once mentioned that on a translators' mailing list, they spent a particularly slow day in the office feeding it lyrics from well-known Welsh songs, pasting the English version to the list and inviting everyone to guess what it might be.

20/06/08 05:39:25 PM

re limbo of the lost Melanie Rimmer wrote:

I hardly ever get to boast about this any more, but I knew Matthew Smith in the MM and JSW era, through a mutual friend. Mel Croucher was one of the people behind Automata, perhaps that's who you're thinking of Steve. We need people like Mel Croucher and Matthew Smith in the games industry nowadays - barking mad people with original creative off-the-wall ideas. Actually, there probably are still people like that, but they can't get the backing to produce the games they want, instead we just get Grand Theft Auto 57 and Manhunt 23 etc etc.

20/06/08 01:11:55 PM

re limbo of the lost Stephen Usher wrote:

How could I forget "Eugene's Lair"? Mole eating toilets!!!

19/06/08 08:42:58 PM

re limbo of the lost Jim wrote:

Nah, Imagine was er.. David Lawson and Mark Butler, with the inimitable Eugene Evans (remember Eugene's Lair?)

19/06/08 09:57:32 AM

re limbo of the lost Cat wrote:

IMO, any publisher who's incapable of understanding the concepts of 'placeholder' &, more importantly, 'plagiarism' shouldn't be in the business.

18/06/08 11:12:28 PM

re limbo of the lost Stephen Usher wrote:

Hmm.. Tim Croucher.... wasn't he one of the people behind "Imagine..." in the early 80s? You know the company... said that it had a super-game called "Bandersnatch" and spent all its money on teaser adverts in "Your Computer" and the like and then went bust. Or am I thinking of another Croucher? Or maybe even the author of the "Morris Minor" series of games for the Spectrum and cartoons in computer mags.

18/06/08 11:01:31 PM

re new hair colour! Cat wrote:

Err... The colour. I don't think you've got a square head.

07/06/08 08:32:57 PM

re new hair colour! Cat wrote:

Cool!

07/06/08 08:30:53 PM

re Names Ben wrote:

Oddly, it has us still in Aberystwyth (1998 data) and we'd already moved to the LL area by then. Of course, we're off the map now in the IM area ;)

06/06/08 03:47:39 PM

re new hair colour! Catrin wrote:

Ooh I've got a square head.

05/06/08 11:16:30 AM

re Castell Roc Jim wrote:

I don't think Sam (whose brainchild it is ) was more than a toddler 20 years ago! It's been going for four or five years, I think. It's excellent.

04/06/08 10:17:14 PM

re Nant-y-Moch Jim wrote:

I'm glad you like it - I don't remember Ian, but I hope the picture brought back good memories, if bittersweet. *hug*

04/06/08 10:16:07 PM

re Castell Roc Rachel Hartland wrote:

How long has this been going? We could have done with an event like this about 20 years ago - or was I still being boring then and missed it?!

04/06/08 03:57:15 PM

re Nant-y-Moch Rachel Hartland wrote:

This is a wonderful image, and brings back very emotional memories. I spent part of my hen-weekend here with my ex (don't ask, but all above board). He like black and white photography too, but tragically died of Leukaemia shortly after he married a year or so later. (Jim - you might remember Ian, very tall bloke, visited me a lot at 4 Northgate Street!)

04/06/08 03:54:05 PM

re overheard Melanie Rimmer wrote:

Harry, you've turned into Mr Tulip.

31/05/08 11:37:16 PM

re overheard Harry wrote:

^ing

29/05/08 03:40:52 PM

re overheard Harry wrote:

You make me sound cruel, but somedays it's like watch a whale knit.

29/05/08 03:40:29 PM

re well weapon Jim wrote:

In this post-modern, self-satirising world we find ourselves in, there are very few things I'm entirely sure aren't a spoof. That's an awful sentence. It reminds me of that bloody awful line from "Live and Let Die" - "but in this everchanging world in which we live in." Anyway, you know what I mean.

26/05/08 12:01:25 PM

re well weapon Melanie Rimmer wrote:

"I'm not completely sure it isn't a spoof" - you're just covering your back since Alec was caught out by the Apple tattoo April Fool. That's a mark of a good April Fool, but the Lorem Ipsum bracelet is just ordinary twattishness.

26/05/08 10:32:17 AM

re you can't fool owls Catrin wrote:

Ayyy.That's ace. The BBC's lawyers will probably be on to them soon though - the owls are clearly brown adiposes.

23/05/08 03:47:22 PM

re well weapon Catrin wrote:

Ooh pretty...even though I am slightly bitter about bracelets that don't go all the way round because they just slip off my pathetically thin wrists. Bah!

23/05/08 03:43:23 PM

re Cornish acb wrote:

Though, given the fact that Cornish is a dead language which has been reconstructed (does that make it a zombie language?), is the number of native Cornish speakers likely to ever exceed the number of native speakers of, say, Volapük or Klingon?

23/05/08 12:46:23 PM

re Names Jim wrote:

Stands to reason I suppose ;) The only other Shaw I know well is from Castleford, which isn't a million miles away. Although I suppose in West Yorkshire terms, it is.

21/05/08 11:10:44 AM

re drowned church Jim wrote:

I think it was in the Cambo last week, but I'm pretty sure it said that someone had repainted it back. Is that right?

21/05/08 10:55:29 AM

re drowned church Cat wrote:

You know the 'Cofiwch Dryweryn' wall on the way out to Aberaeron? Some bright spark has added 'an' at the front & 'LOL' at the end. I'm sure that's going to make the CN, if it hasn't already.

21/05/08 10:48:58 AM

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