Archive - Blog entry

It should be fairly clear here that I can't draw. Never was very good. I did manage once to be able to draw a fair profile of Judge Dredd, but that was just his head.

If anything, I've regressed:

The results of your analysis say:

• You are driven and ambitious and tend to make radical moves to reach your goals.
• You are a thoughtful and cautious person. You like to think about your method, seeking to pursue your goal in the most effective way.
• You have a sunny, cheerful disposition.

What does your drawing say about YOU?

I think the analysis comes more from your own interpretation of your drawing, rather that there being any computer analysis of it.

Found on the blog of another Paul Campbell. The one that writes for EastEnders and Holby. Not the one that was in Battlestar Galactica and now Knight Rider.

On the subject of writing, I'm working on the script for episode 7 of Estalvin's Legacy. Sadly, when I came back to revise the original scripts that I'd written for episodes 7 through 12 last November, I was very unhappy with the structure of large parts of it. I haven't thrown all of it out, I do like a lot of the elements I had in there. So those are being cherry picked for the new scripts.

The biggest change from previous scripts is a much tighter focus. Instead of trying to keep up with all of the characters in each episode, I'm focusing in on one set in the A story and an other in the B story. That will be a two part story, episodes 7 and 8. Episode 9 will then move on to a different set of characters.

If you want to consider Episodes 1 though 6 as the Mini-Series, where the universe is setup, and we are now into the actual series.

After spending a week working with some Acer Aspire Ones at work, I caved and bought one for myself. Okay, I lied. It was two and a half days.

Anyway, that isn't the point. The Linpus distro of Linux (some Fedora Core 8 deirvative) was very quickly and easily replaced with Ubuntu 8.04.1 through booting from a USB. (Creating a Bootable Ubuntu USB key).

There are a number of hoops to jump though the get Hardy working properly, but not too much. Most things just work straight out of the box. (Install Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04.1) on the Acer Aspire One).

One of the updates that I've followed is putting on the UME-Launcher and the associated Window Picker applet. A simplified interface with much less clutter than a normal desktop. But not as stripped down as the Linpus. You get the main menu items from the Ubuntu menu down the left side. When you pick one the contents of the menu appear as icons in the main area in the middle for the screen. To the right is a list of nautilus Places (bookmarks, USB drives etc). However when you click on one of these a nautilus window opens. Might be nice if that could be integrated to display the contents in the center area too. They are both under active development, with new versions appearing every few days.

I've also installed Sun's latest release of VirtualBox 2.0.4. No, not the Open Source edition. I want to be able to connect USB devices, like my iPod, into it. I have an audible.co.uk subscription, so I need to use iTunes. VirtualBox is the only VM that I've found that supports passing through USB ports to the guest OS, and thus to iTunes. Unfortunately the Open Source edition doesn't include this USB support.

Not that getting the USB to work was straight forward, but thanks the fantastic documentation from Ubuntu, I managed to get iTunes to see my iPod. (VirtualBox USB).

An interesting feature I found with VirtualBox, is what it calls Seamless Mode. It's fairly simple what it does, but the effect is impressive and I'll find it very usefull at work where I have to work in both Linux and Windows environments simultaneously. What Seamless mode does is removes the Windows desktop background. You can see and click on the windows in the background. This simple change (yeah simple to describe, the developers might have a different opinion) allows Linux and Windows apps to run side by side. And with the performance I've seen with VirtualBox, it does it smoothly.

On a side note, I've noticed that sometime recently there must have been an upgrade to the touchpad driver in Ubuntu. Now when you slide up or down the right hand edge (about 20% of the pad area) this now simulates a mouse scroll button. Takes a tiny bit of getting used to, but it is so worth it. I must admit that I really miss the scroll button when I find myself on a PC that doesn't have one.

Now in Public Beta - no special code needed.

Dropbox is another internet file space. With built in encrypted network traffic, sharing, and automatic synchronisation, you can work on your files in any networked computer.

What especially appeals to me is the Linux client complete with Gnome integration.

Did I mention that you also get 2.0Gb free space?

I've only just installed the client, but it looks very promising.

No, really. I don't. The three PCs and two laptops I have in the house are perfectly adequate. I mean, they all work. Okay, the laptop that is actually mine has a couple of loose keys after I converted it to Dvorak. But that really isn't enough to consign it to a cupboard. Is it?

No, I haven't been looking at an HP Mini Note from Efficient PC. Comes with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 pre-installed rather than Ubuntu though. There, excuse found. Feeble as it may be.

But I am tempted.

For now, I resist. For now.

So Pathalogic is no longer supported on Drupal 5:

The Drupal 5 version of this module is no longer being supported. You may submit patches and issues for it if you'd like, but the Drupal 6 release is going to receive the majority of my attention. Time to upgrade, folks…

Now if only it was that simple. However there are several modules that my various site are dependent upon that have not been converted to Drupal 6 yet. I'm looking at you project, among others. Personally I'm quite patient, and am happy enough to wait till these things are ready.

So I could leave the module active and upgrade to Drupal 6 when I can. There is a problem with this however. The Update Status module will constantly report that I have an "Unsupported release". Which means that I will receive a steady stream of alert emails telling me to do something for the site. I won't know, without manually checking the status page, if there are any security updates needed. This leads to ignoring the alerts and possibly missing a critical security update.

Not good.

And Pathologic? Not that critical to be honest. I think I can live without it.

I've disabled the module and my Status Report is all green again.

When I can eventually upgrade to Drupal 6 will I use Pathologic again? Not if I haven't missed it. Chances are I will have forgotten all about it by then.

Bad move on the module developers part methinks.

(maybe some very minor spoilers)

I went to see The Dark Knight last night with friends. There was some trepidation that it might not live up to the hype, but being aware of that, we tried not to let our expectations run away with us.

The opening image, flying in over the city during the day was slightly jarring from what I was expecting. It didn't say Dark or Gothic to me. That passed quickly as we got into the goings on of a bank caper involving a gang wearing clown masks.

Heath Ledger does indeed give an absolutely compelling performance as The Joker. Some of the best moments being without dialogue. Just a look up from under that dirty hair, or clapping his hands in a cell. The scene involving the 'body bag' is still in and doesn't feel awkward. I'm glad they left it in. Heath left us while at the top of his game.

There is some gruesome violence that happens just as the camera blinks away to another angle. I think there may have been some re-editing to get a lower certificate. Although the trick involving the disappearing pencil was very nicely done.

The voice changer on the Batman's voice sounded a little harsh. There were a few too many lines where I couldn't make out what he was saying.

The fight scenes were much better than in Batman Begins. The fights scene there were like those in some of the Bourne movies where all you could see was a flurry of undifferentiated blurs. There was very little of those really fast cuts, you could actually see more of the action this time.

I had some credulity problems with some crowd reactions on the ferries. Too passive and resigned. I understand that there was a plot point being hit with this set-up, but I guess I'm thinking like the Joker on this. It jarred with me about as much as it did with him.

Gyllenhaal owns her character. Unlike the first film, Rachel doesn't feel under utilised.

Harvey Dent has a great story arc. Very satisfying. Strong performance especially towards the end.

This is a jam-packed film. At least three times I found myself thinking that the film was over, that we were heading into the denouement only to kick of again.

I'm so going to pay for this later today.

I was out at a house warming party last night. Great fun. Even getting beaten up by Leonie & Pam. They were practising to achieve a specific sound rather than anything else. Honest. Not because I told them they slapped like girls.

What am I going to pay for? Getting to bed at 2am, them getting up at 6.30am. On a Sunday, no less. I expect I'll collapse into a brief fit on somnolence shortly after lunch.

Yesterday I started completely rearranging my living room. Six years of house dust behind the bookcases. I'm still sneezing. That's actually why I woke up so early. It had gotten into my throat and made it all itchy and my ears weren't much happier. So that's pretty much why I got up so early.

Took the opportunity to finish wiring up the computer network and the TV now that things are laid out differently. I now have several extra cables that are redundant.

Time for breakfast I think.

I woke up this morning knowing that during the night, as I had been drifting in and out of sleep, I had been thinking about scenes and plot twists for Estalvin's Legacy. I couldn't remember what they were, but I know they had been great ideas. Cool twists that could pull me out of the minor knots that I had. An extra layer of the onion.

But, like I said, I couldn't remember them. I didn't care that I couldn't remember. Because what I did remember was each time, switching on my bedside light and grabbing my glasses, notebook and pen and scribbling down a paragraph to remind me.

Better yet, in the full light of a slightly over-cast and not-yet-burnt-off day, I can read those notes and still think they are good ideas.

It's this d**n blog again. Let's try prodding it with a stick and see if I can awaken the beast.

Finally got Episode 6 of Estalvin's Legacy finished and out the door at the weekend. That was really annoying as I had half of it done and ready mid-april when I put out Episode 5. Took a break after putting that one out and really struggled to get back into the swing of things when I got back. A few other personal problems hit me at the same time that didn't really inspire me to do much.

But that's behind me now. Moving on.

Writing for what is effectively Season 2 is in progress. Season 2 is essentially episodes 7 through 12 (or 13). 7 through 9 are 95% finalised. What does that mean? I'm pretty much happy with the scripts as they are, but I'm holding back from saying they are finalised as I know I'll need to go back and layer in a couple of things as I finish the scripts for the rest of the season.

The scripts for episodes 10 through 12 or 13 are about 50% done. The bulk of the scripts are written, but there is one plot thread that is being rewritten. I had written that plot thread already but wasn't happy with how it all hug together, so some things are changed to try and improve matters. This is also the main cause for a need to go back and layer in details to the earlier episodes in the season.

So, I should stop writting here and go do some writting over there.

Also, word of warning to anyone who is in anyway busy: Don't ready Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. It's addictive, I'm struggling to put it down. If I can write 500 words in the next hour, I'll let myself read a bit more of it tonight.

After only two days on Podiobooks.com, Rebels of the Red Planet has managed to reach the number one spot for the daily chart (click on picture).

I don't know what they are counting to decide this chart, but I'd guess it's the number of new subscriptions. Which means I'll probably drop of the chart real soon. I can't complain at that. I never expected to get on any of the charts, never mind at number one.