BBC2 @ 40

Finally reaching the joys of “middle age”, BBC2 is 40 today, and is celebrating, including a list of 40 of its best programmes. There’s also a small retrospective of BBC2 idents on the BBC site, and (via DG) a much bigger index.

In fact, DG’s post about the history of BBC2 is loaded with more links than I can provide, so go there, and read that instead.

Happy Birthday, BeebToo.

Five Years – Part 2

And another weirdness from the gig last night – bumping into an ex-colleague. He’d changed a lot, and so there was a good couple of minutes of “I know he’s familiar, but where the fuck from?” before it all clicked. We’d worked together for a company very soon after I’d moved up here, so again, we’re looking at about 5 years ago now. The company was a small ISP based in Manchester called GreatXscape – no link, because the domain has now been taken over by some dodgy porncam company thing.

Anyway, it was good to see him, and catch up on some of the people I’d worked with. It’s just a surprise sometimes, coming up against people you’ve worked with before, particularly when it’s so far from the old context in which I knew them.

Norah Jones
Manchester Apollo

Unlike Chris, I did manage to see the Norah Jones concert last night. Partly through luck (I’d seen an advert, and knew friends who wanted to see her too) and partly through opportunity (there was money in my account, and I could afford the £30 per ticket gouge price), so I managed to get the tickets. And pretty good tickets they turned out to be – 19 rows from the front (well, row “S” – I think that’s 19th row).

Despite the comments of others (“they’ll have needles in the chairs to keep you awake”) it turned out to be a pretty good concert.

In direct contrast to most of the gigs I go to, this one was all seated. Very sedate, easy-listening. In fact, it was almost like a huge living room, with it’s own singer and band. Well, it wouldn’t be my living room – the seating I’ve got is comfortable, and doesn’t make my arse numb. But that’s a small side point.

The gig itself pretty much fulfilled the meaning of the word “intimate” – or as intimate as the Apollo gets, anyway, with 2,500ish people in there. It was good – the lighting was dimmer than I’d have liked, but then, I’m used to blinding bright shows etc. The sound quality was pretty much spot-on, and the musicians were excellent too. All in all, it was a pretty good gig – although I’ll still admit to being surprised by her covering two of the huskiest voices in music, “Long Way Home” by Tom Waits, and “Ride On” by AC/DC, originally sung by Bon Scott. All things considered, a pretty good evening – but with only a 90 minute performance, was it really worth ?pound;30 plus booking fee etc.? I don’t think so, but most of the people coming out agreed it had been a brilliant concert, and would probably disagree with me about value for money.

Five Years

It was only while reading this story (via Gert) that I realised it’s now five years since David Copeland set off three bombs in London. For me, it was the last one, at the Admiral Duncan in Soho that will always be the one I recall most, as I’d been through Old Compton Street less than half an hour before the bomb went off. It doesn’t seem possible that it’s already half a decade ago – but obviously it is.

Inspiration?

Hmmm, today I’m trying vainly to look for some inspiration. And not really doing all that well at it. I’m doing three (probably) different design ideas for one site, as a demonstration of the versatility of the website/product I’m creating, as well as the uses of CSS and PHP.

But inspiration is lacking. We’re not talking rocket science really, just three different titlebar images, logos, colour-schemes, and page layouts. I’ve done two (pretty much) but the third is – well, problematic. I’m sure it’ll come to me in the end, but for now it’s absolutely annoying the tits off me. Ah well.

The thing is, I’m not a graphic artist. Thankfully, nor have I ever claimed to be. I can (usually) get Photoshop to do what I want, and the ideas eventually transfer over the brain/hand/Photoshop interface, but it’s not easy, and tends to drive me barmy. Still, it does mean that when I’ve come up with something that works, or got at least the ideas, then I’m a happy bunny. Until then, stress-head reigns supreme.

Home Again, Home Again

Back home. The weather in Nottingham was abysmal, and pissed it down all day. The weather in Leicester wasn’t much better. It’s been a good weekend – although most of the group seem to have developed a dollop of food poisoning, which is never good. Thankfully I haven’t had it, which is a bonus considering the two hour train journey.

The birthday surprise went well, with the DJ at Zanzibar in Leicester being utterly gobsmacked that a whole bunch of his friends could be so sneaky as to all congregate in Leicester and organise it without him knowing.

Mission successful. *grin*

Normality

Well, after the calm of last weekend, I’m back on the trail of being daft. Nottingham this weekend – not for anything hugely relevant, just social commitments. Back Sunday. Possibly photos, probably not, if I’m honest.

There’s a few things I should probably be commenting on, but for now my brain’s in Helen Keller mode, so no guarantees at all.