Yesterday a friend used the phrase 'Web 3.0'. I think it was the first time I'd heard it said and it made me wonder if we are on the verge of the third age of the internet. Web 1.0, or just Web as it was known ,was a bit rubbish, (in hindsight) a bit beta, but Web 2.0 has been an unqualified success - Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Wikipedia, Google and all its spinoffs etc. that we now use day in, day out, without a second thought as to quite what these services are actually offering us.
Web 3.0 though. What's it going to be? Wolframalpha? Google Chrome? I'll admit I don't know what it will entail, or does entail already, but it seems likely that as we hurtle towards 2010 the phrase Web 2.0 will start to look outdated, especially to the new generation of technology developers who will soon be arriving on the scene, aged 15 - 21, who will no doubt design and develop the next web successes. It should be an interesting time. The future usually is.
Clearly a lot according to Aviva Union, or Norwich, as they're going to be called soon. Or are called already.
In the first adverts they released to inform us of this change, Ringo Starr asked "Would any of this (being in The Beatles) have happened to me if I'd have still been Richard Starkey?" to which the answer is, "Well probably yes actually. It did to the others, the best 75%, and they used their own names". Well Paul's first name is James, but we'll let that slide.
Then, in the newest adverts, a bunch of celebrities and normal people are shown demanding a list of things they want from their insurance provider ("don't treat me as a target market", "take me seriously" (asked by a clown - oh clever) "just recognise me" (this from a man who is shown to have 3 identical brothers - which I think is a bit of a hard request actually).
And what does Mr Ringo Starr (who, remember, would never have been world famous if he had been known as Richard Starkey), demand?
"Don't call me by my stage name"
What? Hang on a moment. Make your mind up. Is it Starr or Starkey? Richard or Ringo? Ringo Union or Nowich Starkey?
For work I regularly have to make use of copy right free images - perhaps from dedicated sites like Morgue File (a staple of university days) - or be perusing the various terms on Wikipedia and Flickr images to see if they are free to use. Being a small company it's important to be judicious with funds you see.
What I like about this is three things:
One - that people are willing to be so open with their images. They take them and uploaded them purely because they will of interest, benefit and use to millions of people around the world. Often in ways they couldn't imagine.
Two - how many talented people there are out there. Some of the photos you come across are truly fantastic, and yet they are in all probability taken by a keen amateur photographer who is happy enough to see the image online.
Three - the best reason though is just the fact you can come across some fantastic, striking and beautiful images completely at random. Earlier today I was looking for an image of Iceland. I found this one, which is a beautiful shot and will be the one we use, but I also came across this (the image above), which is also a wonderful shot and finding it through such a roundabout way makes it all the more enjoyable.
Okay, just a short Lost based entry here. Season five finished on Sunday night, with more twist, turns and surprises than you could shake a really suprised stick at. They certainly know how to keep you guessing. I said similar things about season four.
The show is so far on now that no-one who is still watching can surely hold any 'they're making it up as they go along' thoughts, and, in many ways the show has repeatedly showed how shrewd and crafty the writers are. Case in point:
Season four ended with a slow reveal over a coffin to show us the, as then, unknown inhabitant inside. As the camera rose up and over the open lid the music swelled to reveal...Shock! It's...(Spoiler potential - but you probably know if you watch the show).
Season five - final scene of one strand of the finale - slow reveal over a make shift coffin, the music swells as the camera rises in exactly the same angles over the coffin to reveal...the same person inside...who we thought was alive and well...
Now it's not explained yet how this has come to happen but I was suitably impressed by a show that can end a season finale, with, basically, the same shocking twist as it did a whole 18 episodes previous, and yet it be so utterly different and as baffling as before. Roll on the final season - if only to get this whole thing over and done with.
This morning it was a short walk over the hill to the start of the Crouch End 10k. During the night the heavens had opened so surely it was all set for a crisp, dry race? Perhaps not.
We queued up and, about five minutes before the start, the heavens opened...off we went, around the start which was in the local park, being slowed up by the narrowness of the course and the number of runners, which meant the first kilometre passed in a terribly slow 5.35m. The rain was sheeting down now and I was soaked through.
Kilometres 2, 3 and 4 passed quickly (after running a marathon 10km seemed quick anyway) and soon I had caught up with a friend who was running too and we ran onto kilometre 5. I had been aiming for sub 45 minutes on this run but halfway around I was at 25 minutes so clearly not on schedule. I made a quick calculation and figured if I really ran hard I could do 5k in 20 minutes.
So I pushed on and went careering around the course, overtaking everyone in sight; there's no better feeling in running that reeling in runner after runner, using the overtake as a catapult: you can almost sense their annoyance at someone passing them at pace. It's good, self-centred, motivation.
To kilometre 8 and I needed to run the last two kms in nine minutes something. Just about doable. Perhaps. So on I went, the rain lashing incessantly down, the wind buffeting us from all sides, and I spied the 9k sign coming into view. I sprinted on and after around 200 metres had to slow down. How the marathon professionals do it, I have no idea. I now had two minutes to finish the final 800m. Not going to happen.
I ran on and entered the finish area in the park. Around the final few corners, including a great sprint around the final bend to overtake two runners who had just overtaken me (ha!), and home in 47m 37seconds. Tantalisingly close. I think the lesson learned here was, need to run the first 3k faster and ideally start further up the field to avoid the 50m runners. This was my third 47 minute 10k, from three, so at least I'm consistent.
A delicious doughnut from a local bakery and a banana later and, with my two runner friends found, we headed home. As we did so the rain stopped and the sun came out. Typical.
P.S. In the race information booklet that was sent out, there was a comedy little mantra that read, 'remember, you'll go faster with pasta, but when you get to the end make our free doughnuts your friend.' Which I love. I actually thought about this at kilometre nine. Yum.
A friend's friend has been auditioning for the next series of X Factor (yes they're doing another one), and has so far had two rounds of auditions, and has another one coming up. Each time she's been told to get there at 5am, and not been seen to 8pm and 11pm respectively.
But the worst bit is this is just auditions with production people, not 'the people'. Well, 1/3 of them is off on Britain's Got Talent so obviously He's not going to be there. But this clearly means the 'hilarious', awful comedy people they get on must be going through this process too, being told each time something ambiguous like, 'Yeah we definitely think you've got something...(evil snigger), you've got a real...talent...heheheh...' and this is probably why, when these people arrive at the TV camera stage and are told, 'you are the worst singer ever, who ever told you you can sing, didn't know what they were talking about', it's no wonder they look so shocked and surprised.
They may be deluded to not have ever stopped and listened back to their voice and realised they're not as good as, say, Steve Brookstein, but it's no wonder they are so bewildered when they go through such a rigmarole which leads them to believe that perhaps they do have that 'X Factor' that is apparently so needed in the bloated pop world, only to find out they're actually a BIG JOKE!.
For more, better X Factor bashing, you can also watch this, probably again.
A very good friend of mine, who once was famous, but now is less famous / not famous, but still a very good friend, is offering drumming lessons in the Brighton area. If you're in and around there and want to learn, get on his MySpace (retro!) and drop him a line. You can listen to some of his work while you're there too.
Saw Star Trek on Sunday, very good it is too. Enjoyable, well-paced, exciting and with enough humour to be fun, rather than irritating (as shoe-horned in humour often can be in action films).
Two thoughts though.
One: Why in sci-fi films (most famously in Empire Strikes Back) do space stations / ships of the future have a vast inner section that plummet downwards into nothingness where the villain and hero always end up fighting, balancing preciously on the edge of narrow walkways and gantries, often leading to the villains demise? All that technology and they don't even bother building in a few handrails.
Two: I think the creator JJ Abrahams could be from the future. Both Lost and Star Trek contain time travel elements and the more I think about it the more I wonder if perhaps he is just normalising us to the idea of it before he reveals his true intention.
Last night I helped a friend cart a dismantled book case across London. This involved a bus to a tube, the tube across London, out of the tube, then a short walk to his new place, with the awkward, cumbersome shelves and units. We got a few odd looks, but we pay enough for the tube so we should be able to use it for such endeavours if we wish.
The first bus we boarded, as chance would have it, had a bus company official on as well as the driver, probably taking a freebie ride home, who told us we weren't allowed on as the wood 'constituted a health and safety risk' because it could 'kill someone' if it fell on them. The second driver didn't bat an eye lid.
Those with a penchant for puns will no doubt remember the fun we all had on Comic Relief day when @serafinowicz set up a 'vegtable pun game' and asked people to contribute a small donation in return for entry to the competition of having their winning entry painted. That was a long sentence.
The winning entry was The Notorious V.E.G. and on Mr S's new, fancy website he's put the winning image up. It's AMAzing, and done by the clearly supremely talented Jim Vance. I just wanted to share it.
I'd ban Vodafone from ever making another advert ever again.
Every advert they've ever made (off the top of my head) is always awkward and misjudged. The latest ones are the worst. In the first one, the fisher-price lookalike mimes incredibly badly, and couldn't look less like he was singing the song, while the second one is just so odd. The kid is just sitting at home, then out of nowhere, starts 'singing', then in the very last second of the shot, as he finishes 'singing' he starts to fight with his brother. Why?
Not only that, but the whole thing is just an advert for text / minute bundles that is apparently so freeking good it's akin to 'ruling the world'. Hateful stuff.
One of my best moments in my short journalism career thus far was when I saw my photography and writing in the glossy print pages of Cornwall Today magazine.
Since then I've done numerous features for them: Tops 10, various walks and a couple of interesting one-off features too. So I was delighted to see the magazine has won the Magazine of the Year award at the Press Gazette Regional Awards bash in London. I'll take a 1% share of the award, maybe?
It's great to see something you've been part of succeed and, irrespective of my connection to it, seeing something that represents the county I come from, being recognised and rewarded for its fine work.
Ever since I first heard feedback I thought I wanted to be a rock and roller. Not a nu-waver, or landfill indie-er, but a genuine Jimmy Page, Rock and Roller. So I had guitar lessons and so on and got quite good, but found I couldn't sing, but could play a mean (ish) guitar. But I was no Jimmy Page.
Still, as I grew up and enjoyed playing music for itself, rather than as an ambitious way to make money, I became less bothered by this, and just enjoyed impressing people by playing Wonderwall by Oasis at parties*. Then the internet invented Youtube and suddenly people like yours truly had an outlet to record and share their music. I was intrigued. Around the same time I received a mandolin for my birthday. Being the sharing sort I recorded a brief ditty I had come up with, uploaded it to the Tube (as people were calling it then), and sent it to a few friends through Facebook (remember Facebook, it was really popular), and forget allllllll about it.
Then, about two months later I checked my video again (out of sheer vanity you understand) and, with my eyes shooting out on stalks like a cartoon character, I noticed it had been viewed...15,000 times. Wow. Now, that number is 175,000 and rising. It goes up about 200 - 1,000 a day, sometimes I get two/three comments a day, sometimes just one a week, and most are positive, and the average rating is four AND a half stars. FTW. Watch here if you wish.
It's bloody weird. To have played a made up mandolin piece to over 175,000 people is just bizarre. There's no way I could sell out Wembley stadium two nights running on the promise of a 1m 55sec mandolin piece, I'm fairly sure, but I've played to that equivalent number, right? It's a stretch......but the reality is true. I also think, perhaps, I should go on Britain's Got Talent and see how I do. However, I remain unconvinced that Amanda Holden, that paragon of talent dissection, is a mandolin fan.
The whole purpose of this post though, really, was to tell you that my brother, who clearly wanted to emulate big brother (emulate being the correct word), has become a guitar andpiano player (show off) and can sing too. Bastard. He's starting to post his own Youtube stuff now, including an entire song he's covered, playing every single damned instrument on it. Watch below. It gets really good at 1m 45sec when the electric guitar kicks in. But then I would say that, being a flashy guitar solo obsessed guitarist wouldn't I?
Enjoy.
*. Note, this is a joke and I have never, ever, ever, ever done this.
The old addage is, 'Dog bites man = no story, man bites dog = story'. Also, as you may know, local newspapers are dying out there, falling standards, fewer readers, smaller advertising revenues and so on. Quality seems to be shrinking too...
On one and three the comments from readers go on and on, mostly bemoaning the quality of the story, or making he-lar-ious puns on the stories. Perhaps the future of local news is to report nonsense and hope people's love of puns will run riot on the comments sections below. This would increase page impressions and encourage advertising spend. It's an idea.
Hello. Welcome to my little slice of the internet. I am a journalist and have written various freelance articles for The Guardian, The Telegraph, TES, Runner's World UK, Cornwall Today, What Mountain Bike, NewNoise.net, Mpora.com, MyVillage.com, hereorthere.com and The Falmouth Packet.
Before that I completed a post-graduate diploma in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University and graduated with a degree in English Literature and History, also from Cardiff.
This blog is a sideline for thoughts, ideas, musings and ramblings on various subjects covering life, books, running, music, TV and so on. Feel free to add me to your blog roll if you have one and I'll be happy to return the link.
Posts
