I have the following looking for good homes:

Interzone magazine - 261 issues, nearly complete run 25-284 plus a few earlier issues
Foundation journal of SF criticism - issues 5, 16-113 plus a few spares.

Any takers or suggestions for homes?

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comments.

How useful are old routers? I have three - two Netgear and a Be box. One of the Netgear ones has a 2007 sticker on it. I've had a look online and don't think I want to set up a network switch or NAS or repeater, any use to anyone/any use on Freecycle/just take them to small electricals recycling?

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comments.

A short I boom opped was for on the actual BBC a couple of days ago (I only found out a day late) and is on iPlayer for a while. LilMissCandy was part of the Born Digital shorts series. Two days shoot, the effects are all in camera and using back projection, half silvered mirrors, and pictures from some of the women's phone live streamed to the background behind them. That was fun - we circled them for 5-10 mins at a time, I was careful to keep the boom out of the camera's frame but sometimes they lifted a phone up and caught me or the camera or the overhead lights!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0003fqy/born-digital-first-cuts-11-lilmisscandy786

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comments.

My favourite ratatouille has been a bit hard to find lately (a staple meal is a tin of rat, a tin of haricot beans, and some corn cakes, loads of easy tasty veg).

It's back now, looking just the same, but with a ring pull can. And it tastes horrid :-(
Tomatoes down from 40% to 27%
Courgettes up from 30% to 37%
Tomato puree up from 2% to 17% YES 17%
Size down from 390g to 375g

It's edible but it's too salty and slimy to be something I "like". My diet is restricted enough that I get quite upset when I "lose" a staple food, but I'm at the whim of manufacturers and supermarket stocking decisions.

Yep, double the salt per 100g (but also more protein, more fibre, and less fat)

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comments.

The Treehouse film I made last summer is premiering at St Neots Film Festival on Wed 8 Nov!
http://stneotsfilmfestival.co.uk/
I'll be going along with my big Film Premiere coat :-)
It will be made public on vimeo the next day and I can post it here if anyone's interested.

Dish Life (short with children being stem cells in petri dish) has made New York Times' Ten Things To Do In NYC This Week list (For Children section) - the director and scientist are over there now and having a great time.

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comments.

It's the time of year when worms glow in Cherry Hinton chalk pits - spotting events on Wednesday evenings Jul 12, 19, 26 for those interested
http://www.wildlifebcn.org/whats-on?keys=east+pit

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comments.

I don't think I mention the film review radio show here much, other than occasionally that I do it? It mostly publicises itself on Twitter and Facebook which is where I share it. I was on the show on Saturday where we talked about Beauty and the Beast, Get Out, Personal Shopper and The Lost City of Z, and added The Salesman for the podcast. It was a great discussion, lots of different voices challenging each other's ideas. If you'd like to give it a try you can get the podcast here or at iTunes. Proper radio quality audio with balanced levels!
https://cambridge105.co.uk/category/podcasts/bums-on-seats/

Here's a review of the review on Facebook if you'd like to read what I missed talking about on the show.

I'm tempted to change my default icon to a chocolate biscuit or something, so I don't have to look at my tiny face at the bottom of every single blooming post on my feed.

No water leak, probably! My last meter reading was for 87 units in 6 months, not my usual 50. There were a few reasons why I suspected a leak, and a few why I suspected one-off weirdnesses. I tried to do the thing where you check your meter reading, use no water for 4 hours and check again, but the meter is outside down a manhole, with a square plastic Talisman cover. They instructed me by phone to lever off the cover with a screwdriver, it should have a couple of clips that would pop off. "And beware of spiders!" But I could not do it! Bent it up a fair bit, tried to get two screwdrivers in, a passing postman had a go too, but it would not come off. London Gigging Buddy came up for a visit and tried too, ended up taking the whole manhole cover off - at which point it became clear the plastic thing would never pop off, screwed in as an assembly and connected by wire to the meter.

I've not done the 4 hours thing, but the meter reading is where I would expect for 8 weeks of "normal" use so I'm reassured I don't need to worry about investigating leaks. Slightly low water pressure possibly an effect of new boiler. And now I know how to lift a manhole cover.

This might go humorously wrong. I signed up again to a social meetup group, and one of the events is a Sofar Secret gig! https://www.sofarsounds.com/

You buy a ticket for a city+date, it could be anyone and anywhere - a pub, a gym, a living room - they email the day before with the address.

8 people signed up to the meetup so it looked like a nice event to go to, for some new music and new people. But... I'm the only one who's been successful in buying a ticket, even the meetup organiser is just on the pending list. They have an unusual ticketing mechanism though, a guarantee with your first ticket that you can get 1-2 more (so you can take friends your first time) so I've got 2 more tickets for group members (and one definite taker) but...

EDIT: Two takers, both very pleased to have tickets.

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comments.

I've just imported my LJ into Dreamwidth, it all seemed to go quickly and smoothly. This is a crosspost test.

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comments.

Like a few others, I'm having LJ issues - hopefully they're temporary glitches.
I couldn't see comments on several journals, including my own, I thought it might be a style issue as I could see comments on nwhyte's journal which disappeared when I checked "View in own style" (then Air). Changed my style to his Minimal Blue and my journal and feed now look different but when I click to read comments the pages are still in the old style and I still can't read comments on my own journal, but perhaps you can...

Can't find a setting option to apply style/theme to the individual entries.

In other news, Southampton trip was good, got home easily despite tube strike (direct bus from Waterloo to King's Cross), and can definitely manage a 2hr 20min train journey now.

This is a day off after 7 busy days in a row, I was hoping to spend more of it doing fun things not fettling LJ :-/ Thought the change of journal style would be a quick fix, but no.

Oh, and I've lost the hover/drop down menus in the top bar, and the option to set to friends-only. Hello, world!

EDIT: Top Tip: If you're desperate to read comments on an entry and can't see them, View Source and Find the word article, which has five uses on the main entry and then precedes each comment.

EDIT2: fixed it for myself, though possibly temporarily
First I went here http://www.livejournal.com/customize/ and chose the theme Minimal Blue.

Then I went here http://www.livejournal.com/customize/options.bml and set
Disable customised comment pages for your journal = No

Now when I go to a comment page and can't see comments and tick the box near the top "View in own style", I can see comments.

Still don't have security settings or hover menus.

Films watched: 26 (total 200). 12 cinema, 9 BluRay/DVD, 2 tv, 3 stream, 2 LoveFilm.
My Feral Heart (Underwire fest)
In Every Home a Heartache (Underwire fest) (shorts)
Women In Motion (Underwire fest) (shorts)
Mommie Dearest (Underwire fest) (shorts)
Mean Girls (Underwire fest) (shorts)
Lonely Two-Legged Creatures (Underwire fest) (shorts)
Austentatious: Innocence and Indolence
Debuts (Underwire fest) (shorts)
Red Road (Underwire fest)
Ida
American Pie
The Room
The Apartment (rewatch)
Krampus
The Shop Around the Corner
Adult Life Skills
[REC]
Miracle on 48th Street
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
Rogue One
Office Killer
The Gift
Ethel and Ernest
Green Room
Your Name
Die Hard (rewatch)

Gigs etc: 3 (total 45)
Underwire film festival (also counted above - 8 films/selections of shorts)
John Kearns (comedy, London)
Slow Club (gig, London)

Totally mixed bunch of films. American Pie was on tv, I'd never watched it, now I understand a load of cultural references from several years ago. Tried to feel the love for Die Hard - I'd watched it on tv once, and seen scattered bits, this time was in 70mm at Prince Charles cinema with an afficionado but I just don't get it. I feel sorry for his poor vest.

Your Name is lovely, animation, would probably appeal to sf fans. In cinemas at the moment but limited release.

Nice to be given a bunch of Christmas classics for the radio review show - introduced me to The Shop on the Corner and Miracle on 48th Street (original version).

200 films is a nice total (111 at the cinema) - 215 last year, 179 the year before.

And all the best for the new year, may it bring all manner of good things to you and the world.

Figgie puddings are on trend for cards this year, a row of smiling puds above my telly :-)

1. Stop spontaneously telling people how old you are. No one who hasn't asked needs to hear that in the old days you had to post off film in an envelope to be developed, or that you only saw every other episode of Doctor Who because it was shown on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Tuesdays you had Brownies, and home VCRs weren't prevalent. If someone asks which Star Trek was your favourite in your childhood, TOS or Next Gen, just smile and say TOS. Don't ask teenagers "Did you never have the conversation with your parents where they asked you to get off the internet because they want to make a phone call" as it just leads to half the office making beeping whistling noises.

I don't know where this urge comes from, it's quite recent, but I'm annoying even myself and will try to stop.

This post is absolutely an invitation for people to share things about their childhood that were different from mine if you feel the urge, I am genuinely interested :-) Pretend this post is a themed genzine. Yes, we used to print out our thoughts and photocopy them and post them in envelopes to people in the old days.

Films watched: 109 (total 174). 2 cinema, 4 BluRay/DVD, 0 tv, 4 stream, 2 LoveFilm.
Phenomena
Arrival
The Innocents
Anomalisa
Notes on Blindness
Election
Look Back in Anger
Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead
8 1/2
Boogie Nights (rewatch)

Gigs etc: 2 (total 42)
Austentatious (improv, London)
Rumpelstiltskin (panto, Cambridge)

I'm having a good year for getting out to live theatre/music/comedy! Two more booked in for December.

Films: I've been trying to use my Mubi and LoveFilm subscriptions a bit more, as monthly subs they're only good value if you watch things! LoveFilm has a few DVDs that are hard to find now, and Mubi has a great curated programme, so I'm not looking for reasons to drop them.

Election was a hoot, nice counterpoint to recent events, though the teacher's visceral hatred of the ambitious competent girl campaigning to be student president was hard to stomach in places.

8 1/2 (first Fellini I've watched) and Boogie Nights turned out to be an interesting double bill - both to some extent featuring director characters who wanted to make an honest film. I liked a lot about 8 1/2, the shifts from dream to reality, the director's conversations about the meaning of his film which we clutch at to try to find the meaning here, beautiful images (early on, a train arrives at a white painted station, spotlight, with floral urns, churchlike), the immediate and crushing reaction of adults to early childhood sexual awakenings which the children probably don't fully comprehend. How many allusions - he wants to find the key, is it held by the cardinal? Or by Claudia Cardinale? Wonderful costumes.

Notes on Blindness is a new documentary, based on tape recordings theologian John Hull and his family made when he went blind in the early 80s, as he tries to understand the meaning of blindness. Scenes are recreated using actors, but all the sound is original from the tapes, or from interviews with John and his wife remembering events, the actors doing lip sync. There is an interesting layered effect, as in some scenes we're listening to John record and play back, the sound slightly distorted each time. It was distributed in several formats - with traditional Audio Description, a version narrated by Stephen Mangan whose voice added a lot of richness and nuance, and an enriched description using the family's narrative.
Loooook, you can watch the different versions here for comparison on the Accessibility page. http://www.notesonblindness.co.uk/

There was a stunning scene, coming from the experience of being outside in the rain and being able to hear where the trees and benches were as the the rain falling on them made a surrounding soundscape - and wishing it could rain indoors. Quite beautiful.

Here's Dish Life, part of the Cambridge Shorts film series to show university research in an interesting way. You may recall me talking in the summer about children in paddling pools pretending to be stem cells - here they are! (Sound Recordist) (8 mins)

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/dish-life-a-cambridge-shorts-film



Pain in the Machine is a good one too - whether we could create a robot that feels pain, and the reasons this might be useful
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/pain-in-the-machine-a-cambridge-shorts-film

I want to be liver.

Films watched: 29 (total 164). 27 cinema, 1 BluRay/DVD, 0 tv, 1 stream, 0 LoveFilm.
The Driver
Young Frankenstein
One of Us (Cambridge Film Fest)
I, Daniel Blake (Cambridge Film Fest)
Making It (Cambridge Film Fest)
Train to Busan (Cambridge Film Fest)
El Sur (Cambridge Film Fest)
ShortFusion: Glass Ceiling (Cambridge Film Fest)
Destiny (Cambridge Film Fest) (silent)
The Fabulous Nicholas Brothers (Cambridge Film Fest)
ShortFusion: Film Hub Central East (Cambridge Film Fest)
Things of the Ancient Wanderer (Cambridge Film Fest)
Paterson (Cambridge Film Fest)
Microcinema: Programme 1 (Cambridge Film Fest)
Two Timid Souls (Cambridge Film Fest) (silent)
Cambridge Shorts (Cambridge Film Fest)
Microcinema: Kingdom of Shadows (Cambridge Film Fest)
Francesca (Cambridge Film Fest)
Zanzibar Soccer Dreams (Cambridge Film Fest)
The Bacchus Lady (Cambridge Film Fest)
The Virus of Fear (Cambridge Film Fest)
The Breaking Point (Cambridge Film Fest)
Wonderland (Cambridge Film Fest)
Crash, and (Always Crashing) (Cambridge Film Fest)
The Love Witch (Cambridge Film Fest)
It's Only the End of the World (Cambridge Film Fest)
Gog 3D (Cambridge Film Fest)
A Quiet Passion (Cambridge Film Fest)
Snowden (Cambridge Film Fest)

Gigs etc: 3 (total 40)
Holy Fuck (gig, London)
margate/dreamland (poetry/gig, London)
Slow Club (gig, London)

Had a great time at Cambridge Film Fest, also did some interviews and three radio slots and a song. Mostly new films, not a lot of retrospectives/archive this time. Hope to write more later but it's Nov 11 already and these were October films...

You know I love Cambridge Film Fest! A good opportunity to see loads of things you might not otherwise, from all over the world and from so many different people. Another chance to see old movies, and a first chance for some new films which will be released later in the year. An only chance to see some films in Cambridge! It is 20-27 Oct this year, shorter and later than before (to be in half term week and when students are around), and coinciding with Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

Scroll down this main page to see this year's list of strands - Silents, Ingrid Bergman, Michael Curtiz, Korean cinema, Cambridge African Film Festival, Family Film Festival
And here for a filterable What's On list and a pdf of the brochure
http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/whats-on
http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/brochure-2016.pdf

I expect to be busy on three fronts -
i) watching lots of films
ii) roving for Cambridge 105 radio with Bums on Seats film review show, for reviews, previews and interviews
iii) transcribing interviews and a few other things for Take One, the festival newspaper

I've got my shortlist down from 55 to 35 films, which is still too many for 8 days especially if trying to get interviews - and it does involve some running and luck! And not enough sleeping. And I'm working on Thursday and not sure when I finish. Here's the draft which won't survive...

Asterisk means I've bought a ticket.

( Plan ACollapse )

Films watched: 11 (total 135). 6 cinema, 5 BluRay/DVD, 0 tv, 0 stream, 0 LoveFilm.
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (rewatch)
The Goob
Grosse Pointe Blank (rewatch)
Adaptation
Pontypool
Kubo and the Two Strings
Hell or High Water
Nine Lives
The Blue Room
The Blues Brothers (rewatch)
The Girl with All the Gifts

Gigs etc: 1 (total 37)
Made in Dagenham (theatre, Cambridge)

Blues Brothers is great, Edgar Wright presented, with special surprise guest John Landis for Q&A afterwards.
Hell or High Water was the best film.