foolstop.

Too good not to blog.

2008-06-14T21:38:00.001+01:00

Just a quick one - as I haven't posted in months it's obviously taken something really good to get me going again.

Watch the video!

Hey! That's My Photo!

2007-07-21T10:55:00.001+01:00

Virgin Mobile using my photo, originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

So out of the ashes rises the first blog post in... oh... 3 months. Obviously it took a pretty big event to get me to post again, but hopefully the trend will continue.

Virgin Mobile Australia are currently running a national campaign using photo's they've acquired from Flickr under the Creative Commons licence. One of the photo's they're using is mine. I've been contacted by a couple of people who are interested in how I feel regarding the photo's use. That's pretty easy - I'm completely stoked that they're using a photo I took. It's not like I'm a professional photographer, so to see my photo being used in an advertising campaign is pretty cool.

The biggest issue around Virgin using CC licenced images surrounds those that feature people. Take for instance this poor girl. Judging from the comments she's left she's not so impressed by their use of the photo and my gut reaction is that they really should have obtained a model release from the subject before using it.

I for one have no complaints about it's use... unless of course there's a realistic chance I can wring some beer tokens out of Virgin...

No really, I'm just stoked at the use of the photo. It's previously also been featured on the Yahoo homepage, which generated about 150 000 hits for my Flickr account. It was quite a suprise.

I'm in awe of the Creative Commons licence, and while I don't want any cash... you know, a small token would be nice. An iPhone wouldn't go amiss...

New York City

2007-04-22T22:20:00.001+01:00

Knysna Loerie, originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

It feels like ages since I last sat down to write something on here. Tons of stuff has happened, most of which is now old news and confined to the history bin and therefore won't be appearing in this space.

There are two rather largish bits of news that are still current and probably worth mentioning.

Firstly, Nat and I are off to New York city on Friday. It's a holiday that's been coming for a long time and now that it's almost here it feels unbelievable. New York is a city that I've always wanted to see. I know next to nothing about it (more since I started reading guidebooks a few weeks ago) and yet it's always held an special appeal for me. I have no idea why - it could just be Hollywood indoctrination. Whatever. I'm going now anyway and I can't wait.

I've spoken to so many people about this over the last couple of weeks and if there's one thing I've discovered about anyone who's been to NY before it's that all know THE BEST place to get a meal. Whether it's for the biggest juicest steak, the best Jewish cuisine, or NYC's answer to the Fat Duck, everyone knows that one place that is the best place to eat in New York. No doubt I will come back also knowing THE BEST place to eat in the city and from that moment on everyone will be urged to get a meal there... because it is THE BEST.

The second major bit of news is that Natalie and I are now eligible for a mortgage. Well, technically I suppose we always were but we've now actually been and spoken with the bank and they've told us what they're prepared to lend us. It's a good feeling. Better for the fact that they're willing to lend us pretty well as much as we're willing to take from them. So we're slowly starting the hunt for a property that appeals to us. Something that will give us some respite from the mania of London but that at the same time will give us very easy access to the city. So technically we're looking for the best of both worlds. Is that too much to ask?

And in the minor news stakes I'm currently working off a brand new machine. After my second laptop in two years packed up on me I've finally had enough with the damn things. Really, it's not like they led rough and mobile lives. They really just sat on my desk all day and sometimes on my knees in bed while I streamed episodes of Family Guy. Not exactly the most demanding usage. You'd think they'd be able to hack it for more than a year! Anyways, it broke so I replaced it with a new desktop (the rationale being that if something breaks on this I can just unplug it and buy a new component). At the same time I also took the opportunity to buy myself a rig that was capable of running some new games. And I tell you, ask not what your 512meg 3D accelerator can do for you, but what you can do with you 512meg 3D accelerator!

All I do is get my ass fragged in F.E.A.R online.

Table Mountain

2007-03-27T21:48:00.001+01:00

Table Mountain
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

Holiday snaps available on Flickr here.

On Hiatus

2007-02-23T06:46:00.000Z

I'm away in Cape Town until the 18th of March. The time will be spent lying around in the sun, climbing the mountain, drinking ice cold lagers and enjoying sun downers overlooking the beach.

Updates are not high on the list of priorities.

Double Teamed!

2007-02-08T18:22:00.000Z

Ah mate, just got double teamed by Vaughan and ZNADAN! for 2 music memes.
First up, my top 5 albums and memories attached.

1) Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpmins: I guess this goes back to somewhere around '95/96. High school. Grunge was in. The Pumpkins were big. I was an unknown, a kid flying under the radar, not cool enough to hang with the cool kids but staying well clear of the outcasts. And I worshipped this album. It's an epic, a masterpiece... one of the greatest rock albums ever written. From melodic pop goodness to heavy fuzz box bad boys, with a good bit of real angry alt rock thrown in for good measure. No matter what your mood you can always find a track off Melloncollie to fit it. And who could ever forget 1979...

...or Tonight, Tonight, or Zero, or Bullet With Butterfly Wings, or Love, or Muzzle, or Bodies, or Thru the Eye's of Ruby, or Thirty Three. God, I'm going to go listen to it right now!

2) London Calling - The Clash: My first years in London, so around 2003/2004. Initially got into The Clash for their epic single London's Calling. Then quickly realized that it wasn't really even their best work. Oh no, this album also includes gems like Spanish Bombs, Rudie Can't Fail, Jimmy Jazz, and Guns of Brixton. It's an album you can listen to straight through and enjoy every song. It's timeless. Find it. Listen to it. You owe it to yourself!

3) Ten - Pearl Jam: Reminds me of chilling in my mate Jay's room as teens, with beers when we could get them. Good times. It's still one of the best grunge albums ever, standing shoulder to shoulder with greats like Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

4) Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys: The album that defined 2005/2006 for me. Every track is good enough to be a stand alone single and most of them ended up as such. 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' was all I wanted to listen to for about 2 months straight. This also became the fastest selling UK debut album of all time.

5) The Ultimate Collection - The Kinks: This is recent and I have no real memories around it. 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion' always reminds me of my dad though, in a funny and good way. It's a long story, but lets just say that he owned a Crombie coat, an Aquascutum jacket, and car with a record player in it! I'm cheating as well because this is a 'best of' album. But still, The Kinks! How good were they! Why did no one force me to listen to them before?!

And now, from Dan, this great free music streamer... with track from the albums above. Did you see what I did? Clever eh?!

2007-02-06T17:53:00.000Z

"About 25% of sexually active South Africans are HIV positive, according to the government."

That's totally the scariest statistic that I've ever seen. Complements of the beeb. What the long term impact of that will have on working age South Africans who knows. In twenty to thirty years the face of South Africa will have changed completely.

US friendly fire kills British soldier

2007-02-06T15:17:00.000Z

Gut wrenching stuff... even for the USAF pilots. The subtitles aren't in sync with the video, but they also run on for a bit longer than the video actually shows.

Where you been?

2007-02-05T11:29:00.003Z

Mama Shamone @ Metro
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

Gawd, what is this blog thing again? In an attempt to write something, anything, here's a recent summary of Ian.

1) Going to A LOT of gigs... and loving every minute of them
2) Taking loads of photo's... of which some are okay
3) Loving the Six Nations... welcome back Johnny you legend!
4) Trying to get back into the habit of work... it's taken a month but I think I'm almost there again
5) Trying to convince myself that I don't need a new 24-70mm f2.8 lens... trying in vain
6) Drinking too much beer... and watching my boep swell in return
7) Looking forward to South Africa in 18 days... sun glorious sun
8) Looking forward to Berlin in March... lederhosen JA!
9) Looking forward to New York in April... expect cheesy tourist pics

Oh yes, and number 10, a large truck drove into the side of my shiny BMW. I was not impressed. Both doors need to be replaced, rear bumper and right hand rear quarter panel need respraying.

From the hard 'c' to the sharp 't'

2007-01-16T07:29:00.000Z

I used to collect background material and make notes and write salient points and themes and areas for debate. Now, mostly, I’ve got one newspaper cutting with four letters scrawled at the top of it and the rest is window-dressing. When John Reid panics the nation by telling us that it is highly likely we will be under attack from terrorists in the build-up to Christmas and absolutely nothing happens, and I recall that this is the same man who, as Defence Minister, justified dispatching more British troops to a hellish, lawless region of Afghanistan by glibly suggesting they would probably leave without a bullet being fired, I no longer think of a thousand words. I think of one.

From Martin Samuels' column in The Times.

Ludmilla's Broken English by DBC Pierre

2007-01-13T11:27:00.001Z

Ludmilla's Broken English by DBC Pierre
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

For Nat's meme that she tagged me with ages ago.

1. Take the nearest book and go to page 123.
2. Go to the fifth sentence of the page.
3. Copy down the next three sentences and tag three people.
4. Either do this at work, or do it on a book about or relating to your work.
5. Did you know about the information in these sentences? Does the information affect your day-to-day work, ie, is it an aspect of your work that you actually use or have interest in?

I have absolutely no books relating to work right now so I just went with the novel that I was reading. I've included a couple more sentences.

'I can only tell you this: that last night, while you bumbled around talking nonsense about the healing properties of mud, and other senseless inutilities about nothing, and probably already lounged with bread and drink while I fought my way through the snows - I secured our first shipment of communication technologies. The result of this action, even as you scorn me to my face, is that within a week - two at most - I predict you'll insult me instead from the balcony of a duplex on the Caspian.'
Irina's head puckered like an old party balloon. 'Just tell us,' she whispered.
'And let me announce' - Maks raised a glorious finger - 'in case you thought it was shit what I now said, that these are the first instruments of their kind anywhere in these republics. Better even than Nokia.'

I'm not going to tag anyone because I would struggle to deal with the rejection of one of them not actually propagating the meme at my request. However, if you feel the need why don't you run with it.

Watch more gigs, take better photos, play club hockey

2007-01-08T17:16:00.001Z

The Rebecca's @ Lovebuzz
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

Those are my new year resolutions. Nothing really ground breaking but they're all things that will make Ian happy.

I kick started the gig endeavor with a trip out to Archway with Gill to catch The Rebecca's live. It was meant to be a quiet night as funding is short, and we would catch the last train home. As the adage goes, quiet nights often end up being the biggest. By 1am we where 7 pints better off, had missed the last train home (but managed to find a place to stay), and watched four great unsigned indie bands. It was a good night... I crawled home at 13:00 the next afternoon... just in time to shower, have a meal, and head out the door to watch the football (arg!), drink more beer, and then go for cocktails at Chateau 6 in Fulham.

Wash, rince, repeat. It was a good weekend.

I took about 500 photo's on Friday night but only managed to salvage about 8 thanks to crap light and beer affected camera skills. Was then handed my arse on a plate by Mr Neal who did some post production work on a photo I took that completely pwned the stuff I'd done. Bah, I'll get it eventually... although if anyone wants to share hints for reducing noise in low light shots, please do.

Other than that life ticks along. The South Africa holiday creeps ever nearer (late Feb for anyone interested), and the bun fight for the New York trip starts this week as well. I need to prove that I've done enough at work to be eligible for an all expenses trip to New York for Nat and I. I'm in the running at the moment but will only find out on the 17th/18th.

I also did the unthinkable and signed up to Myspace. I feel like I've sold out completely. I loathe Myspace almost as much as I do 50 Cent. The flip side is that I can stay up to date with local indie band gigs. I'm here (if you're also lame enough to have a Myspace page).

Signing out.

How to Wrap a Headphone Cable

2007-01-02T18:14:00.000Z

This has got to be one of the most useful videos I've ever seen. Complements of Lifehacker.

I promptly went and wrapped both my headphone cables in this manner, clawing back a tiny particle of organisation from the usual maelstrom of my life.

Mistletoe and Wine

2006-12-28T18:30:00.001Z

Wasn't built in a day
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

Ahhh... so Christmas has come and gone, but the spirit still lingers around as people gear themselves up for the new year celebrations.

I had a great, although very quiet, Christmas. Santa bought me a new 55-200mm Canon lens for my EOS, a USB coffee cup warmer, a new t-shirt (thanks Cha - it fits and it rocks baby!), a book, and some socks.

There's something so perfect about getting socks for Christmas. I don't think I've always felt this way. I think in my teens I was more interesting in getting a new Pentium 7 million CPU with a million megs of ram and a million megabyte hard drive and a one million inch monitor. Socks are good though. It may be that I've grown up, but it may also be down to location. Christmas in London was a parky 3 degrees C and didn't get much better for a few days after. New socks may be the single most comforting piece of clothing when the weather's drawing in.

Speaking of the weather... it's pants. I haven't seen a blue sky for about a fortnight now and I may be in danger of actually forgetting what one looks like. With every day that passes I look more and more forward to 3 weeks in the African sun come February. Not to mention the prospect of a week in New York come April - possibly.

I PWN FLICKR YAHOO PWNS ME

2006-12-22T11:50:00.001Z

100,000+ Views
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

I have no idea what the hell happened to my flickr account overnight but I scored a fair few thousand hits. They're literally climbing in hundreds every couple of minutes and I have no idea where they're coming from. I've checked the 'interesting' pages in Flickr and they're not showing there. Theories currently are thus: either thousands of people searching for Christmas photo's are finding mine, or somewhere someone with a VERY popular website has linked to my picture without mentioning it to me.

Still, I feel rather good about myself right now. Merry Christmas everyone.

I've now also gunned the pic across a whole host of extra pools to see exactly how many hits I can get - it's for experimental purposes.

**UPDATE**
The question has finally been answered. Yahoo put together a Flickr photo set of Christmas lights from around the world. Mine was lucky enough to be first in the set, as well as being used for the link on the main Yahoo page.

Sick Like Dog

2006-12-19T19:34:00.001Z

Well, it was always going to happen. It's not that I'm particularly unlucky myself. I haven't walked under any ladders, broken any mirrors, or even seen any black cats recently. It's just the way of life really.

Today is technically the last time I will work in 2006 - I'm on holiday until the second of January. This is also pretty much the first holiday I've had since March (barring a long weekend to Dublin), so it's been a long time coming and it should feel great.

But it doesn't.

Nope. Instead it feels like slight dizziness, scratchy throat, headache and fever. In fact I think I have a mild form of pretty much every symptom I care to think of. And I hate being sick. Really. Really. Hate it.

Today I've tried the modern remedy: pills. The traditional remedy: Lucozade (the fact that I have an unending supply of free Lucozade has nothing to do with it). And even the Jewish remedy: chicken soup.

The chicken soup worked best.

If anyone has any other recommendations I'm willing to try anything right now.

Work on Sunday... WTF!

2006-12-17T18:17:00.001Z

Work on Sunday!
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

This past weekend seems to have just shot by while I was looking in the other direction. I finished work late on Friday, slept late on Saturday, went to London, got royally lambasted with Nat, Gareth, Craig and Ed (who we randomly bumped into at the pub), slept late on Sunday, and then worked through Sunday afternoon and evening.

I still have a mild Hoegaarden headache from last night. Well it was either the Hoegaarden or the Smirnoff Ice and Pimm's cocktail that Ed and I created and happily christened 'Spimms'. It was quite a success.

Tuesday is my last day at work until the new year - what a great thought. I intend to spend much of my time relaxing, getting in some good photography, and teaching myself how to build a database from scratch so that I can take over the world with my fantastic idea (and become mega-rich in the process). More about that later.

Christmas is still looking dire - no definite plans yet. Nat and I have decided that we're going to wait until it snows somewhere and then just go there for a few days holiday. At least that plan is suitably 'on the spur' be quite exciting. Unless of course if it snows in Mansfield or something...

Bored, Tired, Stressed Out

2006-12-13T20:18:00.000Z

Oh Lord. I'm so bored, I have nothing to write about, Christmas plans seem to be falling through, no one seems to no what's happening for New Year, work is MENTAL, I wake up tired every morning, and I think I'm losing my mind.

Well it's all true except for the last one, which I wish was true - I could use the entertainment. Thankfully after the 19th I'm on holiday until sometime in the new year. Hopefully it will be enough time to recharge and do something apart from the usual 9 to 5 grind.

Looking back I think I've only had about 2 days holiday since February, which probably accounts for my current lack of energy. And when I say lack of energy I kid you not... I can't get out of bed before 8am at the moment. Thankfully my job gives me some modicum of control over what time I start work because I really don't know what I would do if I had to be in an office at 9am.

I think this is just me hitting the blocks at the end of the year. I've been chasing some pretty stretching targets all year and have (I think) just managed to sneak across the line with, literally, days to go. But enough about that.

Winter is definitely making itself felt right now... but I love the UK winter. It's gives Nat and I the perfect excuse to drink sherry on a rather regular occasion. Sherry is good. REALIZATION: Sherry could in fact be the reason that I can't get out of bed in the morning!

;) No really, that was a joke.

I'm getting massive photo frustration at the moment. I've got this great new camera and I'm struggling to find opportunity to use it. I'm tired of photographing the inside of my flat.

Which reminds me how much I hate it when people whore their photo's out to a million zillion pools in Flickr! I've decided to conduct a Flickr test to see how many thousands of hits I can get on one photo: I'm going to take a lewd photo of my girlfriend (when she's not looking... haha) and post it on Flickr with as many sexual tags as my twisted mind can think of. Then I'm going to shotgun it across as many Flickr pools as possible (including all the stupid ones which have no real subject). I mean, 'Flickritis'? WTF! Their goal was to become the BIGGEST group of Flickr. Bah. So no everyone just posts random pictures there to "thank the creators of probably the best site on the internet." What crap. Now their mission is to be the FUNNIEST group on Flickr. Yes, because Flickr is a joke website. IDIOTS. The result is that they've managed to create a subject-less photo database within Flickr. Isn't Flickr itself a subject-less photo database.

Well done you muppets. You've intra-Flickr'ed Flickr.

Anyways. I just want to prove how easy it is to get a billion zillion hits if your photo has even the slightest sexual element and is gunned out across the whole of the network. It's just for shits and giggles really. The photo's of mine that have the most hits are the weirdest. I mean... a stack of books, a poster for a festival, and a sign that says 'Deaf Cat'. Well, there's also the photo of Natalie sleeping with the remote in her hand... but 'sleeping' could be construed as being slightly sexual and would have attracted all the Flickr perverts.

PS. That was a joke about taking lewd pics of Natalie and posting them on Flickr. I keep those ones for myself. Not... I WISH! I'll post some naked photo's of ME instead. Waaaaaaaay!

Ho ho ho everyone.

Danish War on Speed

2006-12-03T10:36:00.000Z

“It’s degrading,” said Randi Theil Nielsen, of Denmark’s Women’s Council. “It is based on the idea that young men are preoccupied with sex and this view of young men is wrong.”

Uh... no it's not. We are.

From this article about the success of Denmark's new road safety campaign (which involves topless Danish blondes in hotpants holding 50km/h signs above their heads).

See video here.

PS. It's a campaign... this doesn't ACTUALLY happen in Denmark... although I personally feel it's an option.

Mrs Ball's Original and Steers BBQ Sauce

2006-11-30T20:11:00.001Z

Mrs Ball's Original and Steers BBQ Sauce
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

All is good in the world when you can get your favourite home grown South African brands at your local Sainsbury's.

Well you can at my local one anyway.

Schnappy schnapps

2006-11-26T20:40:00.000Z

I finally, after fighting it for about a year, gave in to my urge to splurge on new gadgets.

1) Tomtom 510
2) Canon EOS 400d Digital Rebel XTi (which sounds more like a car than a camera)

The Tomtom was a replacement for my old navigation system, which after months of threatening, finally gave up the will to function properly. Well it still works fine as a device but it refuses to charge through the car unit, which pretty much makes it useless. The Tomtom is fantastic, does everything bigger, faster, and better than it's predecessor and is loaded with a bunch of fantastically useful features (like hands-free bluetooth phone calls via your mobile and real time traffic updates and rerouting).

The Canon, and I completely admit to this, is a far better camera than I am a photographer. But having said that I've been using my old S85 for about 4 years and it was time to upgrade. Already the trial photo's I've taken have illustrated exactly how much better this camera is. Auto focus, with the supplied EF-S lens, is almost immediate and start up time is down from the 4 seconds that I'm used to, to about 0.2 seconds. Read and write is like lightning, largely thanks to the Scandisk 1GB Extreme III card I bought to go with it.

On that note, with regard to the previously mentioned offer from Jessops to price match any UK online price: they usually retail the 1GB Extreme III's for £64.99 but price matched this site and sold it to me for £23.90.

I don't know what prices are like in South Africa, but as I'm heading there in February if anyone wants me to bring over a few bits just drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.

Lastly. GOD DAMN IT WAS GOOD TO FINALLY BEAT ENGLAND AT TWICKENHAM AGAIN! Viva la Springbok return to form... almost.

Doppelganger

2006-11-21T22:46:00.000Z

In my quest to find the cheapest EOS 400D on the market (well actually I already know where it's cheapest) I stumbled across this weirdness...

Jessops.co.uk - Well known UK camera store

Tecno.co.uk - Who?

Can you spot the similarities?

I'm not sure if it's just a complete rip off or, as Natalie suggests, Jessops are just trying to own the online camera market. Who knows.

PS. If you, like me, are looking for a EOS 400D then Amazon have them going at the special Christmas price of just £479.96. I would suggest printing that out, taking it to Jessops and getting them to price match it, and then getting yourself the silver model (which is exclusive to Jessops). That's what I intend to do.

P.S.S I was hoping to go a whole month without blogging but just couldn't pass up the opportunity to post about the duplicate sites.

You're On!

2006-10-26T13:55:00.000+01:00

So Natalie and I have a bet...

I say that the Democrats will win the next US presidential elections. She's backing the Republicans.

The wager has only one rule - if, just before the next election, the Republicans announce a specific and timed plan to withdrawn all troops from Iraq then the bet is void.

The stakes are 2 Eurostar tickets to Paris.

I reckon I'm a sure winner.

Wishlist

2006-10-23T17:48:00.000+01:00

1) Canon EOS 400D Digital Rebel XTi (£532) - why: because my current digicam is now 4 years old and dragging it's back legs. I'd like to upgrade to D-SLR anyway and will settle for the 350D XT at a pinch.

2) TomTom Go 510 Personal Navigation Device (£300) - why: because my existing system is 18 months old, doesn't charge properly anymore, doesn't support 7 digit post code navigation, and stalls on a whim. I should have bought a TomTom device originally but I was a dumbass (and the reviewers all LIED!)

3) 32" Sony Bravia (£1000) - why: because my current television isn't hi def compatible and is a measly 24".

New Politiks

2006-10-12T16:29:00.000+01:00

Disclaimer: This is not a post about politics. This is not a post about supporting the Tories. Neither is it a post about rubbishing them. This is just a post about the web providing new ways to consume information about politics.

I've been loosely following WebCameron since it launched, mainly for interest sake but also because I find it a very easy, even enjoyable, way of keeping up to date with government opposition. It's a great way to get insight into a political party, get an idea of what they're about, and also find out exactly what they do on a daily basis. I think the site is a fantastic example of useful application of the internet (unlike this blog). I'm sure that the site helps engage with a massive audience of people who otherwise might not be bothered with politics.

So, for your enjoyment I'm proving a quick excerpt from the site.

For those not in the UK. David Cameron is the leader of the Conservative Party, often known as the Tories. They are the main opposition of the Labour Party, headed by Tony Blair, who are currently in government.

Needless to say Mr Cameron is a great conversationalist so having a videoblog really plays to his strengths. Good for him I say. Just remember, you're watching a video by the leader of the Tories talking about the Tories. Don't expect it to be objective.