It's all so 21st century

Our thoughts are with you Richard

2006-09-21T14:43:00.000+01:00

Richard Hammond is seriously ill in hospital following an accident while filming for Top Gear.

You can read more here

He's a good guy. Get well soon Richard.

The wedding of the year

2006-09-09T22:26:00.000+01:00

So this weekend I attended the wedding of the year. My friends Rich and Lorna tied the knot after what feels like an age of anticipation. It was a lovely day and as I write this I am sipping on a small night cap of some of the whisky I got as a thank you for helping out.

Pictures can be seen here.

I took most of the week off to attend and generally help out in what small way I could. The weather was unusually good, especially considering that it was pouring with rain at the start of the week and my accomodation was excellent, I have a number of regular haunts in Glasgow and I cannot thank my hosts enough for looking after me despite having to work themselves and also recommending activities to keep me entertained and out of their hair.

As a result this trip to Glasgow feels like it was something of a mini holiday. I went to the Kelvin Grove museum, I adopted a small project to keep my weekends from being dull, met up with an old friend for the first time (that's not a typo, we really only properly met for the first time this trip. See if you can figure that out) and I checked into an expensive(ish) hotel at 2 am after a wedding.

I may not be able to spend any money on anything other than beans for the next couple of weeks after this excess but I had a really great time with some very dear friends. Not bad going ...

Things they don't teach you at project management school

2006-09-05T09:58:00.000+01:00

Things you will need that they don't mention in the handbook

1. An ADSL modem so you can use the router part of it to connect people to the network
2. Lots of spare USB mice
3. Fruit - people bitch if they don't get any
4. Spare laptop power supplies - because people don't bring theirs
5. A local cheap film processing lab - so you can process teh random roll of film you find in your new desk

I'm sure I'll add to the list over time.

The right to protest

2006-09-04T16:41:00.000+01:00

Comedian Mark Thomas tried to organise for as many people as possible to meet in Parliament square protesting on anything they wanted to avoid the government SOCPA laws.

My nephew took a load of pictures, they're really good and very funny.

You can see them here. I'd highly recommend you go take a look.

That's Buddha for you

2006-08-28T08:04:00.000+01:00

This phrase came up in conversation the other day while I was with some friends. Aside from the fact that I'd really like to see that written on a tshirt I also feel like the domain should be registered. Can you think of what that domain might do though? Answers on a comment to this address :)

My laptop could kill!

2006-08-25T11:54:00.000+01:00

Yeah, so it looks like my iBook is part of the terrible exploding battery fiasco. What's worrying is that when I enter the serial which should be within the recall range it tells me that the number isn't valid.

A call to Apple to check this out revealed that the website is being updated! So my laptop may or may not be a killer but either way I should request a new battery. Terrible customer service and, I'm sorry to say, a pattern with Apple.

Family moment

2006-08-14T19:17:00.000+01:00

JonathanIainClare&Kev IMG_0167
Originally uploaded by liswarren4.

Love this picture. It was taken by my older sister at my brother's wedding a couple of week's back. Love it :D

Was a cracking day ...

Old news that is ;)

2006-08-10T08:15:00.000+01:00

Old news that is ;)
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

It's funny if you know me :) If you don't get it just move along. In fact, if you get it do what the old man is doing and stop a moment and if you don't do what the woman is doing and walk off.

You don't just get rubbish on my blog, oh no ... you get rubbish that tells you what to do in response to it!

Does it mean anything that ...

2006-08-09T08:54:00.000+01:00

... I went to the gym before work today and came out humming "I want to be a producer" from The Producers?

It's the first time I've gone before breakfast ...

Go see cars!

2006-08-08T16:57:00.000+01:00

It was described to me before I went as "Shoe people on wheels" but I really enjoyed it. The first 15 mins are a challenge, it feels like the whole world inhabited only by cars is a little too weird, but I got into it and enjoyed it and came out of it wanting to be a racing car :)

This can't be real can it?

2006-08-04T16:33:00.000+01:00

It just can't ...

I've been away but I'm back - here's a Goose!

2006-08-04T09:33:00.000+01:00

So here's the Goose.

I got a complaint yesterday from a long time reader of the blog that I've been away and when I've come back the quality of the posts hasn't been stellar. Thankfully I've been kicked in the nuts again of late, metaphorically speaking, in search of romance so chances are that you'll be hearing more from me :)

I've now started planning some serious travels next year. A friend is getting married in New Zealand and I've never been southern hemisphere so I've got 9 months to save up for my trip and get down there. My plan is to do NZ for about three weeks, then come back this way via Vancouver and New York. Should be very exciting and I've never been to any of these places should produce good blog postings and many many photos.

Admittedly I'll need to eat baked beans for the rest of the year but I'm hoping I can coax donations out of relatives around my birthday and Christmas.

Had I been writing this post last week I'd have said work was great. It still is at the moment and I feel like the project I'm working on at the moment is the most interesting at the moment, certainly from a PM perspective, in the company. It's just at the moment we're feeling the pinch in some areas and it's hard. Still that's what I signed up for and whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger ... right? ;)

Back in black

2006-07-16T21:34:00.000+01:00

Back in black
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

Just back from a friend's wedding. Black Isle tartan, terribly contemporary don't you know.

Cakes with edible ball bearings

2006-07-11T19:24:00.000+01:00

Cakes with edible ball bearings
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

Was passing a shop and there was a bit of a do and they had a tray of cakes with ball bearings on :)

I don't think they got the Doctor Who reference and looked a bit confused when I asked to take a picture. They did say I could have one though, it was very tasty.

Why drunk people shouldn't have phones

2006-06-30T07:39:00.000+01:00

I got home from a company drinks sesh last night to find that a friend of mine has become engaged since I last heard from her. She lives in Canada and being excited, drunk and with Skype credit I called her and left a congratulatory message.

I'm not sure it was very good but the sentiment was there :) I got up this morning to this e-mail

Hey you!

I just got your drunken message and it's lovely, I'm keeping it!

I hope you had a good night...it sounds like you did, I hope you feel ok in the morning ;)

xx

Oh dear ... I'm not sure I should be allowed access to the internet or phones after a couple of glasses of red ...

Her fiancee is going to think I'm a loon too.

A lesson to us all

2006-06-25T22:57:00.000+01:00

A lesson to us all
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

I don't know quite how but apparently if you are, then you are ... If you see what I mean ... didn't think so :)

If it's not nailed down ...

2006-06-18T22:37:00.000+01:00

The bastards stole my phone! Not only that but they went through the stuff in my bag in my gym locker. I wouldn't mind but the phone cost £20 outright. It was a super simple Nokia like this:

How is that worth stealing! They also got a crisp £5 note and some loose change leaving my wallet and cards for me. I got that phone on the basis that it wasn't worth taking and I'd be safe with it. I'm just glad I decided against taking my DS Lite with me.

Things not to do in the gym 4,357

2006-06-08T14:05:00.000+01:00

Don't spend slightly too long doing your hair when the man stood next to you is bald. You get a nasty look.

2 years today

2006-06-07T08:51:00.000+01:00

As of 10am this morning it will be 2 years since I started working down here. 2 years in and I think it's safe to say it's been a lot more than I'd thought it would be. I've achieved a lot, I've met a lot of great people and I've made the odd screw up too but I'm here and I wouldn't change the decision to come down here even if I could.

I was considering a long and drawn out post about my time in London so far but I'll opt instead for my own reflection. You poor souls have read about most events of note anyway :)

Iain Farrell got Lei-ed

2006-06-05T09:32:00.000+01:00

Iain Farrell got Lei-ed
Originally uploaded by Scavenger Hunt.

Nice picture from this weekend's scavenger hunt :) I got Lei-ed!

Home sweet home ...

2006-06-04T08:56:00.000+01:00

Home sweet home ...
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

It worries me that this is where I live but it seems that while I was away it all went off! Thankfully I was out of the country. I wonder what the most dangerous borough is ...

Adventures in the Eastern bloc - Part 2

2006-05-31T22:35:00.000+01:00

Part 2 - First day on the road

So we headed out to Braşov. The main roads in Romania are few and so they're pretty easy to find. Interestingly most of the main aterial roads between towns seem to be lined with massive trees. Perfect rows of clearly very old trees lined nearly all of the roads we used on our journey and seemed so large that they must have pre-dated the tarmac. We contemplated that maybe it was a good way to mark a road in poor light or from a distance before good lighting on transport but our trusty rough guide was no use and so we may never know.

The drive to Braşov was pretty uneventful. When you're travelling with 3 people you don't know that well there's a lot of chatting and "getting to know you" that goes on. This passed the time as we journeyed north stopping off briefly to check out a castle in the rain. It wasn't as impressive as I'd hoped in the drizzle but we did see lots of traditional stalls punting the kinds of hideous holiday tat that you buy under duress from gypsies on mountains in the middle of nowhere. By this time I had been massivly impressed by Jason and Mike's lack of fear when it came to talking to people. I was worried about my lack of linguistic prowess but what I was starting to realise was that eye contact and smiling help, a lot. I was also beginning to get swept up in the excitement of it all. Throughout the entire trip Alia mocked me for being like "a puppy wagging it's tail" I was so pleased with being in a whole other country that was so different.

A spot of lunch later we were back on the road and soon arrived in Braşov. Weather had been kind but the drizzle from before was becoming more convincing rain so with a scout party dispatched to find the hotel the rest of of sheltered in the town's biggest hotel. Described as Mafioso it looked like it had been decorated in the early 80s by someone who'd been told about the glitz and glamour in Dallas or Dynasty but was working on what they imagined it to look like. Horrendous gold trim with terrible light fittings and brass and gold juxtaposed with mirrors. It was a sight to behold. I was too scared to crack open a camera but did do the monkey walk out of the place much to the dissatisfaction of the staff.

That night we dined on a fine meal of high quality food setting us back only a few pounds and then went onto a bar where we were offered painfully strong shots and invited to a club that ran downstairs until 8am. We agreed and were lead from the bar out back. Once there we went through a weighty metal door and into a dark metal staircase. At this point I was reasonably sure that being in Transilvania I would be lead to some vampiric death but instead I found myself in a dingy basment bar filled with metal topped tables equipped with poles for dancing. Turns out I'm a natural. I'll post the pictures when I get them from a friend's camera :)

We danced/ drank the night away watching girls dance on tables. One bloke in particular seemed to have been blessed with 2 blonde contemporaries of the Cheeky Girls for company who were determined to make up for his lack of dancing prowess by rubbing and grinding their way about him to force him into some sort of dancing motion. It was an interesting night.

As a result we awoke the next day to room where the air was thick with the smell of alcohol and the world seemed a decidedly average place ;)

Next time - Braşov's sign, bullet holes, a cable car and the long and winding road ...

Romania photos - part 1

2006-05-30T09:45:00.000+01:00

My first batch of pictures are now up. I've done a brief pass of them, adding tags and names to the most note worthy but will be adding more over time. 2 rolls of 35mm will follow.

Romanian photos set on Flickr

Adventures in the Eastern bloc - Part 1

2006-05-29T21:45:00.000+01:00

All to come in this review of my holiday:
- saw stars and watched an electrical storm
- danced on a beach
- avoided zombie death
- chased massive trucks down pot hole filled roads
- and drove a left hand drive car for the first time ...

Part 1 - Arrival in Romania
Thursday of last week so began my holiday adventure to eastern Europe. Some friends and I decided to go to Romania over the long weekend having never ventured so far east. A car was hired, contacts already in that part of the world established and a 3 hour flight later we were in Bucharest.

I had downloaded a BBC holiday MP3 of basic Romanian phrases which I listened to on the flight as well as reading a book on the regions we were heading to. Confident of my ability to say "hello", "pleased to meet you", "thank you" and "Cheers" I was surprised by how unprepared I felt ;)

An 11pm arrival in a city you know nothing about is never pretty but between the three of us we claimed our bags and secured some initial funds and a taxi. Money in Romania recently underwent a change to make it, slightly, less crazy. Instead of withdrawing 3,000,000 Leu I can now take out 300 Leu. About 44 to the pound was not a particularly easy piece of maths to do even for my recently trained brain so as a result I often had no idea how much I'd spent. Stepping into the cab we got our first taste of the Romanian music scene. The Beatles 'All you need is love'. It was about 4 records before we got anything Romanian and this would prove to be a good indicator of the attitude towards western culture. For a place which has such an obvious communist past there's a real sense of aspiration in between the dark and grim architecture. They're clearly looking to the west for their route to progress. Whether that feels like the right thing to do is another matter.

Our first night was spent in a grim hotel in the central university district of Bucharest, Romania's capital. The building was pretty big and like a lot of the hotels we'd encounter had clearly been either something else or a pretty important place at some time. Large rooms, high ceilings and spacious long corridors were let down by ancient and or drab fittings. It's not that things were dirty as much as they were so old that they would never really be clean again. The reaction of the hoteliers to our arrival was apathetic to say the least. Forms containing our passport details were filled in and we proceeded up the stairs to our rooms. I was travel weary and my excitement at listening to the Beatles and Elvis on the way was waning. Thankfully our room provided sufficient interst to motivate me out of my fatigue just long enough to sort myself out. It's hard to say what I liked best about our room that first night. The bathroom with it's toilet and other fittings that felt like an afterthought was pretty good, as was the noise from streets below of people fighting as they emerged from a local pool hall. The stray dogs, of which there are thousands in the country as a whole, fighting at about 4am was also pretty special as I'm quite sure a particularly barbaric mauling was taking place. I couldn't bring myself to actually look to confirm this, however.

Day light brought a more optimistic view of the city. Waking up late we found workmen busily constructing a church over the road. An old lady asked us in fluent Romanian if the Church was open. I couldn't answer not only because I didn't understand her words but also because I was distracted by the way her teeth moved up and down independantly of the rest of her mouth. Reeling we found a local book shop and bought maps for getting around in our shiney hire car. The road system seemed pretty straight forward with few main roads connecting major towns so we figured out our route over a breakfast of ham, egg, white bread and cheese. It's fair to say Romania is not a great place to be vegetarian. They like their pork products in particular and ham gets added to a lot of dishes.

Figuring that we'd be best to come back to Bucharest on our way out of the country we hopped in the car and headed north for our first town, Braşov (pronounced brash-off).

Next time ... castles, a large sign and secondary roads ...

The odd things you see in the gym

2006-05-19T16:36:00.000+01:00

So first day of my holiday and I decided to go to the gym. As I was getting changed a little lad comes in with either Dad or older brother or something, neither of them speaking English. The older brother was blind and what was incredible was that this little boy who couldn't be more than three was telling his brother/ dad everything about where he was, directing him to lockers, warning him that I was in the room, everything.

Such responsibility on such tiny shoulders was incredible to see. He was so independant. Able to look after himself and his brother. How many three year olds can help a blind guy in his late teens go swimming? Such a verbally adept little guy. It was incredible.

Because movies teach us what our parents don't have time to say

2006-05-19T00:09:00.000+01:00

Tonight some friends and I decided to see Prime. I enjoy a good chick flick from time to time and my friend Sarah and I agreed that this one looked mildly entertaining. Despite the panning it received in the press and the fact that some scenes were ruined for me by an excitable radio reviewer, I enjoyed it. A slow movie exploring the relationship between a guy in his early twenties and a woman in her late thirties.

It was engaging and ended well but the weird thing is that I'm now all restless. I keep thinking about aspects of relationships I've had which echoed parts of the movie and find myself after midnight tapping away at a computer to try and stop my head from ticking over.

I can't help but think that perhaps that in itself is part of the problem :)

Don't get me wrong, the geek in me loves the idea of coming home to a Macintosh (I'm going to regret writing that) but it's coming home to stuff rather than someone. I was hoping that it would be the sort of movie that made me come home and feel happy and positive about relationships but actually it's made me dwell.

I'm sure this gushing comes in no small part from

A) The fact that I have been working very hard of late and am shattered and am technically on the first day off I've had since March

and

B) That I broke up with someone not all that long ago who the main character reminded me of

No doubt a sleep will cure me of what ails me and I'll wake up daisy like in a brand new day but it is funny how things like movies and music can shut out the rest of the world and focus me on a topic or an idea and make me think about that for a long time afterwards.

I think I really need a break ... :) Roll on Bucharest next week...

The many faces of Iain

2006-05-18T10:53:00.000+01:00

The many faces of Iain
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

Do I really look like Jennifer Garner?

Upload a picture and try it yourself atwww.myheritage.com.

I'm calling it

2006-05-04T15:10:00.000+01:00

4G 60Gb ipod pronounced dead 15:00 on May 4th 2006.

I was asked to look at an ipod belonging to one of our designers. HD making a noise not becoming of a healthy hard drive. I'm calling it ...

Man walks into a room ...

2006-05-04T14:16:00.000+01:00

Comes over to me and says "Hey nice shades".

"Thanks!" says I, "They're a bit big but I like them"

"Well, that's cool ..." he replies, "for a gay man like yourself."

He seemed serious! Do I need to start farting loudly and talking about "birds"?! WTF!?!

Quality or Quantity

2006-04-27T10:17:00.000+01:00

My esteemed colleague NMEC makes an interesting comment on my previous post about Quality over quantity in the photo stakes. He’s right. A look at his photo stream reveals infinitely better pictures than the majority of my snaps – although I do now entertain the notion that I’m taking better pictures these days and that my work is of slightly higher artistic merit than before. I think it comes down to the way that I’m using my new film camera in particular and the way I use Flickr. I’m testing the camera to see what kind of conditions give what kind of pictures. Consequently I’m getting through a lot of film and not all the pictures are good.

Flickr serves as my backup storage as much as anything else. Should the drive/ backups fail on my trusty Mac then thankfully I won’t have lost all my pictures because the vast majority of them are on Flickr. This does mean, however, that I have nearly a thousand images on there now. There is something to be said for the fact that I’m also able to see and share my progress. I think I’m getting better and it’s fun to be able to put all this stuff up and share it with the world and say “look at my progress”. Having said that I do protect my images. As I explained in a photo brainstorming session at work, my pictures are like a girlfriend. You can look but you can’t touch :)

1000 pictures and counting

2006-04-26T15:20:00.000+01:00

So I've burst through the 1000 picture barrier on flickr in terms of total pictures uploaded but I'm trying to think of something fun to do to get through 1000 public ones. Any ideas? I was thinking B&W shots of my friends might be a nice way ...

Suggestions welcome though :)

Gay Dalek

2006-04-20T17:01:00.000+01:00

Gay Dalek
Originally uploaded by tallguydraws.

Couldn't resist - highly silly.

The Reading Half Marathon 2006

2006-04-10T13:38:00.000+01:00

So I did it! I made it through in 1hr 48 mins - the official website time is 1hr 49 but my stopwatch says 1:48 so I'm going with that ;)

The run felt really good and as much as I was sure that I hadn't trained enough I beat the time I was expecting by 12 minutes and collected my shiny space blanket and chunky Jim'll fix it medal. I'll no doubt get around to posting a picture on Flickr at some point to share with the world but in the meantime I have to go and find one to do again in June. There's a Glasgow based one in September too which should be fun and I've already looked into getting into that one. It would be good to do as it means that I can sponge off mates to stay with them ;)

As a treat I had a roast dinner and a couple of pints yesterday and today for lunch have had the biggest ciabatta sarnie I've ever seen. I'm sure I shouldn't pig out that much but I'm feeling rather hungry and it's probably better to feed my body at the moment than starve it. Recovery tips from other runners are more than welcome.

Wassabi peas!

2006-04-04T16:32:00.000+01:00

The most morish snack ever devised! I will get fat - sadly ... someone help me eat this packet ...

Lomo Colorsplash

2006-04-02T12:56:00.000+01:00

71340034.JPG
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

My new Colorsplash camera has resulted in some interesting pictures. I've uploaded them to my flickr account so you can take a look.

It seems like a party in a mostly white room was the perfect testing ground.

Hats off to The Economist

2006-03-31T12:27:00.000+01:00

This week's edition sports this April Fool's article. As I'm still in my first year of subscription I wasn't really expecting to see one of these but it's pleasing to see a publication with their pedigree still playing with their readers a little.

Shame though, a Dragon at work would have been really cool :)

More weird dreams

2006-03-28T07:54:00.000+01:00

Last night saw more dreams about spiders or rather one spider in particular which bit my leg. Then later in the dream I was travelling around America in a Superman cosume. George Lucas wouldn't have his picture taken with me again even though the first time it came out very badly and I've developed an eye infection - which is real.

I'm not sure why I'm not sleeping well at the moment. Work is pretty stressful I guess, I'm moving in the next couple of weeks and I have some family stuff is going on in the backgroundso perhaps it's all of that but coupled with the dream I had the night before last where my boss told me I couldn't have time off I think these things can simply be put down to needing a break. I have holiday which I have to take before the end of April and can book it in about the third week. I think some R&R is in order. A road trip, something new and different to being in the city.

Another worrying mail

2006-03-27T13:35:00.000+01:00

Amazon have just mailed me to recommend the following book. A colleague commetnted that it looked a little old for me ...

Hippo Has A Hat

Should I be worried?

2006-03-27T12:26:00.000+01:00

Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1 is running a contest to go out with a girl who works on his show. A part of me, the show off part, had considered entering for a bit of a laugh but I didn't. Should I be worried about this e-mail from my step Dad?

Iain

Have you applied for an interview for the one night with Laura currently on radio 1

Chris

Am I really giving off the desparate vibe to the extent he feels he should help me along? :)

It's the little things

2006-03-20T08:31:00.000Z

This weekend I was going to have a quiet one. Was going to sit around and watch movies and catch up generally with stuff. Instead I found myself drinking heavily on Friday night, walking for hours around London with coffee on Sat, spent Saturday evening eating curry and Sunday ran, more walking, bumped into my MD, ate cake at the river cafe.

More active than I had planned but I quite like that I didn't really have a plan all weekend and it still all worked out :)

I also saw the first person I've ever seen outside of a film wearing rose tinted spectacles. I can only assume that he was the happiest person I saw all weekend. happier certainly than the red haired woman listening to her ipod in the branch of Eat on the South Bank who could not have been more annoyed when I sat next to her waiting for a friend to get me a coffee. All I did was sit down but there was a definite prickly vibe. Not sure she fully appreciated me playing Sonic on the gameboy while I waited either. When the coffees arrived we quickly moved to a stool at the front of the shop where we watched Guybrush Threepwood finish a Mocha before strolling off to towards the Tate.

Sticking out

2006-03-17T15:06:00.000Z

sticking out
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

Look at the dodgy cart. Doesn't even fit in my machine properly! Rubbish!

The plot thickens

2006-03-17T11:42:00.000Z

It's like they're reading my blog ...

Hello Iain,
I have felt so guilty about this, I have just refunded your money (through Amazon). I would still appreciate you returning the game, as I can then take the matter up with where I had purchased it from. The cost of you returning the game, as I said before will come via Postal Orders. Please can you let me know if this is acceptable to you. So sorry!
Regards
Lynn

Trying too hard or genuinely duped themselves? I will be investigating ...

Pirate games - the update

2006-03-17T11:33:00.000Z

This e-mail comes in from my pirate seller ...

Hello Iain,

I am so sorry that this is a pirate copy, I was unaware of this and would not have sold it, had I known. I will fully refund you and your postage without hesitation. I am able to refund the game costs through Amazon, your refund for the return postage will come through Postal Orders. As soon as I receive the game I will immediately re-imburse you. Again I apologise for this problem. I will email you to let you know the refund has gone through.
Regards
Lynn

So a result, assuming the money comes in, and I will, of course, be reporting them anyway as there's no way they didn't know it was pirate. It says "NIntondo" on the back of it for F's sake! I think for her not to have known I do think it's an overreaction. They're protesting way too much in my opinion.

F**king pirates!

2006-03-17T09:44:00.000Z

I am sooo annoyed! I ordered a copy of Mario Kart for the GBA on Amazon - second hand apparently. Turns out that "second hand" in this case meant pirate. I am so annoyed. It doesn't even fit into the GBA properly and I've not even tried turning it on for fear of damaging in some way my shiny GBA Micro.

My annoyance is heightened on the grounds that this is on top of me feeling a little sick. Stand back seller lynndavies11! You are a pirate and I am going to flag you as such. The whole of Amazon will know by midday!

This may seem like an overreaction but my feeling is that if you're selling pirate games which are at a price point that grown ups can be duped that's fine. I'm old enough and stupid enough, it seems, to get caught and a tenner loss if I don't get my refund is not the end of the world. However, when it's cheap enough that kids can buy them that's when I feel it's unacceptable. I had a guy mail me once apologising that I wasn't happy with my "backup version" but the fact is that they aren't always perfect copies of the final game. Many times I've seen versions which are badly translated or you don't get the whole game or it's in the wrong language completely and when kids can afford that and be duped then that pisses me off. A tenner to them is quite a lot and it makes me mad. Last time I saw this being done it was with Pokemon games and given that's a game where if you pirate you're pretty much exclusively targeting children I guess it's easy to see why this sort of thing winds me up so much.

Reading back over that it's not terribly eloquent but it will do for now. I'll update you on how well I do in getting my money back ...

Weird dreams

2006-03-16T10:46:00.000Z

That's 2 nights in a row now that I've dreamt about Spiders.

Last night's dream had 2 spiders in. Both were a bit like this one and one of them was carrying a kiwi fruit. I don't know if it means anything but it's certainly a little odd.

The greatest DVD club of all time

2006-03-15T11:43:00.000Z

A William Shatner endorsed DVD club!

If only I could join from the UK ...

It's all so new media

2006-03-15T09:58:00.000Z

These posters have been put up on the walls for us to fill in. It's all very new media and I was dismissive at first but then started playing with it and now I'm addicted :)

Brief encounter

2006-03-15T08:49:00.000Z

The title makes it sound far more sordid than it actually was but I bumped into an old school friend last night. Strangely enough she was on the same bus as me and as she was getting off asked if my name was Iain. I said yes and then realised who it was.

She was in my art class and the daughter of the head of drama. Very vibrant and seems to have lost none of her lively nature in 3 years in London. Turns out she lives near me and while there was no exchange of cards so I'll probably not see her again for years the 5 minute bus catch up was interesting.

Made me wonder how many people on a daily basis either bump into one another or just miss one another and what the odds are of actually meeting somone one you know in this big 'ol city.

Looking for a leopard?

2006-03-13T12:01:00.000Z

I was and it was a drag but now I can sing this song and searching for him doesn't seem so bad :)

Fight club reference on Kelkoo

2006-03-10T13:48:00.000Z

Fight club reference on Kelkoo
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

Look at the soap and tell me that's not a nice designer's nod to the excellent Fight Club :)

My gaming blog

2006-03-05T22:31:00.000Z

Thought I'd make a different place for me to talk about games and stuff like that so I don't burden the regulars with too much in depth gamey stuff.

You can visit the new one by visiting http://kojichu.blogspot.com.

The 1up show!

2006-03-05T10:37:00.000Z

This is a link to the 1up Show

Non gamers look away now ...

Just before Christmas I discovered 1up.com and their weekly video download the 1up show. One of the presenters recently left 1up to go develop a game at Microsoft and what's sad is that my favorite piece of weekly gaming news looks like it's not going to last. Obviously I'm writing primarily from a selfish point of view. I enjoy the show and want it to continue, of course.

I also feel that it's a really important piece of games journalism. As an ex-games journo who pines for the industry from time to time, I feel it's important to keep providing fresh content and new ways of looking at things. The UK journalists I speak to are focused, it seems, on writing and blogging and what I like about 1up compared to say Gamespot is the enthusiasm they bring to their video content. It's more human and more accessible than the bland videos chucked up by other games sites which feel like the presenter was forced at gun point to talk about this or that title.

If you've a passing interest in games I'd say go for it, try out this latest episode and see what you think. You never know, you might just like it and your extra hits might convince them to carry on making it. You could save my Sunday mornings ;)

... and then I broke a tradmill!

2006-03-03T15:46:00.000Z

So I went to the gym to work out my frustration only to find that the treadmill I was on was also going to die on me!

F**ks sake!!

A laptop with Latitude!

2006-03-03T10:21:00.000Z

I think my Dell Latitude laptop finally got pissed off with the fact that we started a Mac chat user group at work. It was the lat straw and so this morning when I woke it up to so some work it felt totally justified in blue screening me and telling me that there was no boot volume when I restarted.

I don't like windows bashing. I get no pleasure from reminding myself that every day I use a sub standard system on cheap buggy hardware but Dell and Microsoft make it easy. It's now 10:30 and I've got nothing done having had to wait for a new machine to be built and have system performance slow while it installs countless updates and I restore all my preferences. I'm told I've had an upgrade - from Latitude D600 to D610 but all I can see is it's bulkier, has a lower resolution LCD and is still made by Dell :) On the plus side it has an interesting rubber foot on the underside which says "strike pad" next to it. I'm assuming this is where I hit people with it.

Given my smoothie related disaster yesterday I can only assume I'm waiting for one more thing to go wrong in an annoying fashion.

When smoothies attack

2006-03-02T09:07:00.000Z

As I'm moving soon and in a effort to cleanse myself of unnecessary technology I decided to sell some of my toys. I found a buyer at work for my trusty Xbox and agreed to bring it in today for him. Unfortunately I had a minor accident on the way in which resulted in one of the controllers being completely covered in raspberry smoothie. It's completely out of commission and I am now going to have to give him back some of his money -sigh. Controller wasn't that old either which is quite annoying.

To have something as simple as this hit the fan before 9 this morning I can only assume it's going to be a cracking day.

On Ask Iain next week ....

2006-02-28T10:47:00.000Z

I'll be asking the questions in a Mastermind style quiz special. Think you've got what it takes to be a part of it? Then e-mail me - address can be heard at the end of episodes 2 and 3 of the podcast.

Be sure to include your name, a contact phone number and the country you're from as well as your chosen specialist subject.

Get mailing, it could be you!

Ask Iain Episode 3

2006-02-27T23:24:00.000Z

Which is the stupidest race?

You can listen to this new podcast by clicking the links below!

MP3 version

AAC version - enhanced for iPod and iTunes users

You can also subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified when the podcast is updated using;

iTunes
http://www.iainfarrell.co.uk/podcast/askiain.rss

Mp3 version
http://www.iainfarrell.co.uk/podcast/askiainmp3.rss

Mac OS X on intel

2006-02-27T17:28:00.000Z

A trip to my company tech support department yielded an interesting surprise. One of the guys has managed to install the hacked OSX onto a spare machine and I enjoyed the 5 minutes or so that I spent playing with it. It was on a 3ghz machine with a couple of gig of RAM and felt responsive and very close to the experience I'm used to from PowerPC based Macs. There were a couple of redraw differences I could see but they weren't so much bugs as different behavior.

I'm sure it's unsustainable and anyone intent on making it their OS of choice would be well advised to actually just buy an intel based Mac but it was cool to play with and seemed to work well enough. Was weird seeing it running on Dell hardware though :)

Cavemen prefer blondes

2006-02-27T09:40:00.000Z

Turns out I'm not a dirty old man I'm just under-evolved. I can't fight my genes! This article from The Times - London, prooves it.

Cavegirls were first blondes to have fun

It's something of a running joke amongst my friends that I have a thing for blonde women. It's pleasing to hear that it's not my fault - entirely ;)

She had a plan all along!

2006-02-23T12:06:00.000Z

So I got a haircut last night and my hair dresser admitted to me that she's been planning that I get longer hair ever since I've been going there! The cheek :) As a result I have floppy hair at the moment, which is probably for the best given it's windy and snowy at the mo. Less hard to manage.

Woke up to snow today, very exciting ...

Salad balls

2006-02-16T16:12:00.000Z

Salad ball
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

So this is what happens to a normal salad when it bounces up and down in your backpack for half an hour while you run into work. So bizarre, really couldn't believe it when I saw it :)

Running man

2006-02-16T09:59:00.000Z

This morning I ran into work for the second time. My legs ache but I ran it in about 25 mins which is a little bit less time than it takes on the bus - oddly enough. I actually managed to keep up with the bus for quite a way - he got stuck for ages at traffic lights. This extra running as well as my gym visits should mean that I'm ready for my half marathon in March.

I also meant to mention ages ago that there's a new site I'm contributing to which is made by the company I work for. It's called Stream and I'm going to be trying to make as many publicly viewable posts as possible. It would be very interesting to see more comments there.

You can visit Stream by clicking this link

Ask Iain Episode 2

2006-02-13T21:56:00.000Z

Episode 2 of "Ask Iain" is now up! This week's show we ask the question "What price a monkey?"

You can download the MP3 here

Or the higher quality AAC file here.

iTunes users can also subscribe to the RSS feed by subscribing to http://www.iainfarrell.co.uk/podcast/askiain.rss

For information on how to subscribe to RSS feeds see Apple iTunes help.

fame at last!

2006-02-10T11:53:00.000Z

fame at last!
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

so the RSS feed is working and I'm live on the iTunes music store. Terribly exciting stuff!

Need some reviews so pop over there and let the world know what you think of Ask Iain. I'm going to make it a series of 5 so make sure you get your question in early!

Sex tips for geeks!?!

2006-02-09T09:49:00.000Z

Click here for a most apalling read

Truth be told I didn't have the stomach for all of this. A truly bizarre document which features such gems as:

"In general, make noise when she's pleasing you. Feedback should go both ways"

and

"If you've set up your no-lose situation properly, you can safely let instinct pretty much take over"

and the classic

"Tastes differ, and you need to adapt to local conditions with each partner"

Truly horrible and more worrying is the comment from ther person who posted it on Digg who said it was "Kind of interesting, check it out."

Update on RSS

2006-02-08T15:53:00.000Z

So there are now 2 RSS feeds for your podcast listening pleasure.

iTunes users get the enhanced iTunes experience by subscribing to the following feed
http://www.iainfarrell.co.uk/podcast/askiain.rss

This gets you the higher quality AAC file complete with bookmarks and artwork!

Users of other MP3 players can subscribe to the MP3 version at:
http://www.iainfarrell.co.uk/podcast/askiainmp3.rss

I promise that next week's will have better sound quality - hopefully made with a better mic.

Podcast RSS now available

2006-02-06T16:31:00.000Z

You can now subscribe to the podcast using the following RSS feed!

http://www.iainfarrell.co.uk/podcast/askiain.rss

Astronaut vs. Caveman

2006-02-05T15:49:00.000Z

So I've done it. By, not so, popular request I have made a Podcast. This week we answer the question, In a fight who would win? An Astronaut or Caveman?

Click here to download Astronaut vs. Caveman.mp3

Send in your questions and it could be you I feature on the next podcast. Include your name, where you're from and your e-mail address.

Flying scotsman

2006-02-03T00:06:00.000Z

So I know it's been a dog's age and I should have answered lots of questions already but I've been terribly busy. Answers to questions should be done this weekend although I'm losing my bottle on the whole podcast front. Aside from the fact that the feedback to such an idea was overwhelmingly negative I also had a grumpy anonymous comment from, I assume, one of my exes who was into internet radio. No doubt considering herself a pioneer she expressed the opinion that life was getting in the way of her iDJ'ing and I have to agree at least with the fact that mostly that's what has stopped mine to date.

The impulse purchase of an Xbox 360 probably won't help matters but I think I still want to try making a podcast, even if only to see how hard it is to do.

The weekend looks reasonably free and with so many new toys to choose from I'm quite sure I'll get around to some kind of feedback on questions and hopefully get around to developing more fully one of my many little projects bubbling away inside my head. I need to get at least one of them off the ground, and soon!

Just had a really fun idea

2006-01-24T23:03:00.000Z

Well ... fun for me anyway. I used to do a thing on my website ages ago called "Ask Iain". The idea was that people would mail me with things they wanted to know about and I would try and answer them. They could select whether to A) Get what they were given, or B) Get a sensible answer.

I would love to bring this idea back so drop me a mail or leave a comment if you'd like to get your question answered and how you'd like me to answer it :)

My first effort

2006-01-23T23:04:00.000Z

I made a 5 min podcast and sent it to my test audience (little brother). He told me I was too whiney. This radio lark isn't as easy as it sounds ...

Would you listen to my podcast?

2006-01-23T20:49:00.000Z

Should Iain do a podcast?
If I put up a podcast to accompany this blog would you download it?

Yes! That sounds groovy.
No you narcissistic prick!

view results

Are you too hot?

2006-01-20T11:12:00.000Z

An e-mail just went round to the whole company

From: JM
Sent: 20 January 2006 11:07
To: UK Everyone
Subject: Is anyone else too hot?

Too hot, too stuffy, headache, can’t breathe?

Just doing a working environment health check. If you have a serious answer, can you let me know where you are in the building – the Medicine Massive on Level 2 are feeling a bit hot and bothered and Iain Farrell’s got his shirt wide open to expose his chest.

Thanks,

J

I feel I should defend myself. I'm not exposing my chest and if I was it wouldb't be bad because I've got a great chest so there!

Top 5 jobs

2006-01-19T20:00:00.000Z

Conversation with a mate of mine turned to what your top 5 all time jobs might be. If money and time were no obsticle. Didn't have to be doable, could even include astronauts and cavemen. In no particular order I came up with :)

Games Journalist
Radio DJ
Actor
Comedian
Computer animation guy in movies and TV

The price of fame!

2006-01-19T13:38:00.000Z

I just walked into the design room to discover that the screen saver on the Mac mini in there that was streaming this RSS feed has been abandoned in favour of a screen saver seemingly streaming my pictures from flickr!

It's nice to feel wanted I guess but I was a little concious of the fact that the many ages of Iain are randomly being displayed to the room. I do hope they don't get that cinema display they wanted ... :)

Decaff

2006-01-16T09:15:00.000Z

Anyone else find that they have more pep and ginger when they've NOT had caffeine?

Wankr

2006-01-15T18:16:00.000Z

A new Web 2.0 project

Slightly cynical but entertaining :D

What a compliment

2006-01-13T16:10:00.000Z

"David Tennant in Who garb reminds me of you for some reason. Take as compliment if you wish"
I shall, being told that the a sci-fi icon remids them of me has made my day :)

Blogging for RSS

2006-01-13T11:43:00.000Z

Now that I've seen the setup in the design room something occurs to me. I've been moving towards blogging in a visual way, making posts shorter and uploading images. Now I have to think about how my post is going to work on RSS. It's a nice challenge.

Can someone mail me and let me know how quickly this gets to the Mac?

2006-01-13T11:35:00.000Z

ta!

Hello to the crowd of designers watching and waiting!

2006-01-13T11:34:00.000Z

Broadcasting LIVE to the design room!

2006-01-13T11:30:00.000Z

Hello to the designers! Stop looking at this screen saver and move some pixels about! :)

We're a frightfully new media bunch at Framfab UK and to prove it we even have a Mac Mini set up playing music to the design room. I've just been informed that the screen saver is set to the RSS feed reader and is pointed at my blog!

This will lead to ridiculous posts just to see if I can send messages to the room.

Farrell in sex scandal!

2006-01-12T09:13:00.000Z

Farrell in sex scandal!
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

The truth's out, I wanted to hide it but I couldn't :(

I want that one!

2006-01-05T20:46:00.000Z

Can someone tell me what the link is between this machine for automatically dispensing hot towels and the M&Ms next to it? I really don't see the connection. I also love that the website shrouds it in such secrecy and claims it's "Practically Luxurious" as well as being "Luxuriously Practical" :) What a ridiculous invention. I can only assume it's for people obsessed with the experience of eating out but don't want to have to leave the house.

I'm very pleased I saw the random ad for this and will have to check back once I can buy one of these bad boys.

Click here for the full Towelit site.

A brief history of a time machine

2006-01-04T00:11:00.000Z

WARNING - I am often prone to sad/ self indulgent posts. This is one of the saddest and most self indulgent ever!

One of my flatmates had not heard of Dr Who before and so was not as excited as me about my being photographed in the TARDIS. In searching for pictures from the TV show to prove that I wasn't just having my photo taken in a random police box I noticed that the panel on the left door which explains it's a public call box is blue and not white as in the current one.

After trawling pictures of the TARDIS from the 60s to now I think I've found where my TARDIS was used. In 1999 there was a spoof of Dr Who done for Comic Relief entitled "The curse of fatal death" with Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor. Looks to me like this is the one I stood in :)

Click here for the best image I could find

The next Doctor?

2006-01-03T15:51:00.000Z

The next Doctor?
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

A friend of mine works for the BBC and very kindly offered to take me on a tour of my spiritual home. The place is amazing. I saw studios and the Blue Peter garden - the main reason I wanted to go, and then we saw this just sitting there.

We were poking around looking at bits of sets for BP and Top of the Pops and I was joking that it would be cool to bump into a TARDIS there it was! This one's up there with meeting Stan Lee.

Snowy house

2005-12-28T12:12:00.000Z

Snowy house
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

Yes the snow was a couple of days late for Christmas this year but that's about average for second class post isn't it? :)

Falling in love again

2005-12-27T01:06:00.000Z

It's true! I can't hold it in any longer! I'm falling in love again with computer and videogames!

Since I've been home for Christmas I've spent a lot of time with my little brother and him, the weather and the small country town my folks live in have been the perfect excuse to get down to some old fashioned gaming. It's been a key part of my R&R programme and just what I needed. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this hobby. What's also good is that my brother and I have sat and helped one another when we've been playing at different points in games and have introduced each other to new games we'd not played before.

It probably sounds a bit sad but when there's games being played and general noise coming from what was my room, now more of a games room, the rest of the family come and see what's going on. It's one of the things that has always made gaming more of a social activity in our household and I think that's key to making sure that kids play the right games/ watch suitable movies. My room was on the ground floor and people could stick their heads around the door and see what I was up to when they were moving from room to room. I could involve them in it and try and draw them in. The same's happening now and it's made me realise that as annoying as too much time with your family can be over Christmas I do miss some of that when I'm in London.

My first Christmas pressies

2005-12-19T23:06:00.000Z

My new scarf and Smoothie recipe book
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

How do I look? One of my flatmates very kindly made me this scarf for Christmas. The other got me a smoothie book to help feed my fitness craze for smoothies and juices.

Can't wait to try it out while I'm home for Christmas. Not sure what my little brother is going to say ...

Top 5

2005-12-19T12:21:00.000Z

From time to time I come across a site I wish I'd invented. This is one of them

5ives lists out 5 things based on random topics. For example:

Five terrible fake names for your new massage parlor
Jackin’ Jill’s
Please Release Me
54U
Handjobwerks
Messy Manor

And ...

Five excellent words
monkey
robot
pants
sandwich
bulbous

Give the po' man a break

2005-12-19T11:01:00.000Z

So as of today I've finished work for 2005. Feels great actually. I've not had time off in such a long time and I'm knackered. I head home tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to some rest, exercise and gamesgeekery. Along with that obviously it's Christmas and with the project manager in me having all my shopping done by the first week in December all that remains is to get the stragglers in the post and sit smugly while the rest of the UK dashes about to get last minute presents.

Actually, my smuggness has already backfired as I tried to arrange a coffee with a friend who says she just has too much on at the mo and she can't do it.

Also saw Kong at the weekend. If you can let yourself get swept away with it you'll thoroughly enjoyable, no harder to believe than little people fighting the darkness contained in a ring. Saw it with a lady friend of mine who said it passed the time. I think it may be a guy thing ...

Officially demob

2005-12-16T16:31:00.000Z

I've had enough, I finish today for Christmas and I can't be bothered anymore ...

Things my friend and I are are agreeing to disagree about

2005-12-15T12:57:00.000Z

1. Sonic the Hedgehog
2. That a friend of mine is a "mental"
3. Pandas as house pets
4. Highlander
5. Fading desktop icon things
6. Blondes
7. Batman Begins
8. Batman Returns
9. Mushrooms
10. This conversion should be blogged

NOTE: We're pretty sure there are things we've not agreed to disagree on but we can't think what they are just now.

Snowmen at work

2005-12-14T18:07:00.000Z

Snowmen at work
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

We have builders in doing work on the ground floor and aside from the banging of hammers and some weird type of techno this was put up to tell us to beware. It's an interesting way of warning us :)

Weird autograph scam?

2005-12-14T17:29:00.000Z

So I get a mail which says the following

Hey!
I'm a really big fan of yours and it would mean so much to me if you could
send me your autograph. I know it's a big ask, but I'm a lifelong fan of
yours.

Thanks in advance and sorry for bothering you.

Adam Langron
...

Goes on to list an address in Sheffield. How bizarre is that? :)

I can't help but feel I'm being baited. Oh the life of an internet celebrity ...

Smoke from explosion

2005-12-11T13:27:00.000Z

Smoke from explosion
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

There were a series of explosions at an oil storage facility in Hertfordshire. That's 26 miles from where I live but look at all the smoke in the sky.

Inside the TARDIS?

2005-12-11T11:51:00.000Z

Inside the TARDIS
Originally uploaded by Iain Farrell.

I wouldn't say I was obsessed with Doctor Who at the mo but I keep seeing things that remind me of it. This is down by Smithfield market.

Flashing lights are for Chavs

2005-12-11T10:46:00.000Z

Vernon Kay asked on Radio 1 whether he should get flashing or normal Christmas lights for his tree. Back me up people, flashing lights are for Chavs right ...

Go sushi!

2005-12-10T09:14:00.000Z

Yumm!

I love sushi. I got a random call from a friend of mine yesterday asking if I had plans last night. I said no and met up with Caz for some yummy sushi. I love sushi so much. I think I could actually calculate that a resonable percentage of my income gets spent in Yo Sushi in Angel. I kid myself that it's healthy, although I'm sure it's still reasonably bad for me.

I was very good though. My new diet book has got me thinking about the foods I eat and I am going to miss the braded chicken and deep fried prawns but I'm saving myself for Christmas dinner.

This picture is indicative of what's to come now that I have a digital camera again. I've bought it for Christmas with contributions from a number of people and coupled with my new Flickr registration means you guys are likely to be subjected to more pictures. You have been warned ;)

You can see my photo collections by going to my flickr photo stream.

Meetings

2005-12-09T12:29:00.000Z

Meetings

Great! Now I have a practical alternative to work! :)