cloudy sky blue cloudy sky blue cloudy sky blue cloudy sky blue cloudy sky blue cloudy sky blue magic 8 ball
blogonblogoff

blogonblogoff - side b

'everything is nothing if you've got no one'

Saturday, June 28, 2003

What a result
Tim has won the Mando Group Student Website Design award for 2003 for his brilliant Balloon Sender. I really thought he deserved to win because the idea is so simple yet so darn effective. It has that 'just one more go' effect on you. I know people who have played on for hours during the boring office hours. Most of the others were just good graphic design but placed into a Flash movie. Congratulations Tim! I'm expecting a postcard from New York, either that or a balloon message! I almost have faith in the web design world now, they can see past the lots of gimmicky Flash bobbins out there. It would be unthinkable if he went away with anything less than top prize at Submerge next week.

Commiserations to Steve though, his Purr website was a great feat of ideas and technical expertise with great music.

Posted by Edward @ 02:21 PM GMT
[ link ]

Thursday, June 26, 2003
Random thoughts from the packer
Have just spent hours taking down my posters and getting the white/blue tack off the walls and posters. Probably one of the most tiring and mundane things I've done in a while. Once I had taken a few posters off the walls the room felt empty and any sound echoed off the walls. Quite a strange feeling really, it's almost like taking my life down. Really worried that all my belongings won't fit into the car, especially my Yucca plant.

Just been listening to the classic Animal Farm on Radio 4, triggers off memories of my English Literature lessons with Mr Rigby.

Posted by Edward @ 11:02 PM GMT
[ link ]

Wednesday, June 25, 2003
I'm not myself today
Forgot to mention that on the way back the trolley attendant who sells coffee and refreshments up and down the train was a bit of a character. He seemed to know most people by their first name and when giving people their change he would turn into a bingo caller like so... 'On the floor, four, makes a deep sea diver, fiver'. He would ask people whether they would like it weak, medium or strong and then go on to say 'You wouldn't get this on the Starline ferry would you'. Guess there is someone inside trying to get out.
Posted by Edward @ 02:44 PM GMT
[ link ]

Gimme five
Here they are, the G5 64 bit Power Mac desktop computers with cheese grater styling. You can't tell from the store picture, but it has a wire mesh type front and thin metal handles. Serious power but they need to port over OS X. Which of course they have been doing in OS 10.3 codename Panther. Finally a better explorer style finder, font management tools, and hopefully a better way to handle all the windows that clutter the desktop with expóse.
Posted by Edward @ 12:48 AM GMT
[ link ]

So this is goodbye
So I've just come back from Manchester having said goodbye to my Auntie who is lucky enough to emmigrate to New Zealand. Although a hell of a journey back and forth it was made worse by the fact someone threw a brick or large stone at the train carriage moments just leaving Manchester towards Cheadle. It was a good job the double glazing was quite tough and it was safety glass so no sharp points. I find it sad that kids (I'm guessing no adult would such a thing) do this for kicks.

So I enjoyed the sunny Manchester weather with my Auntie, we chatted about the past, present and future. It's great to hear her point of view because she's English which was real tough marrying into a Chinese family. Will miss her a lot. Nice also to see our kid again albeit very briefly, things seem to be working out well for him. Finally I managed to meet up with a friend who always puts a smile on my face with her vibrant outlook and optimism on life. All in all a fine day.

Back to packing for the next few days.

Posted by Edward @ 12:45 AM GMT
[ link ]

Saturday, June 21, 2003
What time is it?
It's quite surreal to have time on my hands, I'm just thinking I can read books, draw, listen to music without the need to rush about. I do need to tidy my room and pack up everything though which is going to take some doing. I think having some time to reflect on the past year will be nice. Then to think about the future even though I tend not to look too far.

We had an end of course barbeque at one of our coursemates house just before and it was quite a subdued affair. I think it was because everyone was so tired from working so hard these past few weeks. I know my body clock is really messed up. I can't get to sleep until two in the morning these days which just makes me tired the next day.

Next week I plan to sleep more, do more excercise and get my portfolio sorted. Last thing recommended album is 'Happy Songs For Happy People' by Mogwai which is a brilliant album and puts together some of their best qualities with some nice changes.

Posted by Edward @ 09:17 PM GMT
[ link ]

Friday, June 20, 2003
Hello hello hi
That's it, the course officially finishes once I hand in my personal project in about 12 hours time. Does this mean I can celebrate. Actually still have loads to do, not the very least to pack up my belongings and move out of here. I'm wondering if that means it's the end of this blog's lifespan because I set this up just before I left my last job to do the course and was going to use it as a place to share my thoughts. I'll have to decide when I move on to the next stage of my life.

As it's the last day here's the link to This Room Of Wonder - my personal project that I have been working on for the past few months. It's all about the items in your room making your own wunderkammer. In there I have dissected my room and some of my belongings. You will need Flash 6 in order to view some bits like the Object Explorer and animations I've done. The Object Explorer contains some weird and wonderful things to play about with including a recreation of alleyway on the iPod. Let me know what you think. There is also a blog set up there too but only for me to go on at how much junk I have.

Posted by Edward @ 12:12 AM GMT
[ link ]

Monday, June 16, 2003
Taking a bite
i think the original iPod community are getting might peeved with Apple. There is a point though. Apple will announce the new version of OS X today codename 'Panther' yet the question will be if they charge for the upgrade. Most people who went from OS X 1.0 to OS X 1.2 had to pay which does seem a bit unfair considering it's pretty much only an upgrade. If it was only a few quid for a CD then people would happily pay for it. Will have to wait and see. I can't see it being that radical other than being even more stable and not being as hefty.

See the full letter and advert - Planned obsolecence at it's best

Posted by Edward @ 06:04 PM GMT
[ link ]

Sunday, June 15, 2003
Blogging over
I'm going to start up a new blog very soon in conjunction with my personal project This Room Of Wonder. It's all about personal belongings and meanings and values behind objects we keep. Well I keep trying to convince myself it's that deep but it's not really. Will be launched next week when I finally hand it in to my tutor.
Posted by Edward @ 08:31 PM GMT
[ link ]

When the stars come to town.
On Friday it was the Bath School of Art And Design preview open evening. A few of the MA students set up machines to show their almost complete work. The PGDip students had three machines to show each of the group's Museum of Costume prototypes. I setup some of my other project work on a machine too. Everyone else seemed too busy to set up their work or actually bother to turn up except Anna who was in the same group as me anyway. Since there were no signs pointing to our multimedia studios we thought there wasn't going to be many people. And we were right, although I did have to explain and demo our MOC prototype to the Mayor of Bath and his wife which was rather humourous. I had only had one can of beer at that point but felt a little sleepy because of the heat and hayfever symptoms. Trying not to look out of it is the hardest thing in the world as you try so hard to pretend to look alert you end up doing/saying daft things. Anyway he seemed impressed along with his entourage so I guess it was a result. I know I was talking some bobbins stuff to him. One thing I did notice was that he was wearing his nice mayorial gold chains but he had a naff modern Bath and North East Somerset plaque attached to it that looked out of place something rotten. Someone should have told him.

More people were interested in my Lomographic site which was pleasing. Someone managed to nick a load of business cards off Steve which was strange. Must be some competitor. Must say that some of the work from the students at the college is fantastic. There some brilliant screen prints of high rised tower blocks and urban landscapes which were most impressive.

Just when I thought I'd shaken off my hayfever I have a nightmare of a weekend sneezing and having a runny nose. Did not look pleasant no matter how hard I tried to keep it together when serving Oxfam customers.

Posted by Edward @ 08:28 PM GMT
[ link ]

Thursday, June 12, 2003
A splash of colour
That's what we all need in the bright sunshine, but what about artificial colour. The lomographic society have taken this further with a Lomo style camera for long exposures with a flash that has a colour wheel built in. As usual the pictures are amazing and different from the Lomo.

View the Coloursplash site.

Things are currently winding down as we presented our Museum Of Costume projects in yesterday. Only a video and personal project to complete. It's going so quick now in a few weeks it's back to Manchester again.

Posted by Edward @ 10:52 PM GMT
[ link ]

Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Gee gimme five
A guy on my course has come back from a meeting with Apple in Salford. He said the rep there let slip that the new G5 range of processors will be released on the 23rd June. There was a posting on MacRumors which has been taken down for legal reasons. Supposedly a 64bit processor. Not sure if this is for servers or desktops. Might be why Apple have been beefing up their range of G4 computers to promote sales of current ranges. Should be interesting anyway.
Posted by Edward @ 12:40 AM GMT
[ link ]

Monday, June 9, 2003
Come on Eileen
Over the weekend I spent about 16 hours on the train going almost the length of the country twice, been on 8 different trains, listened to 200 tracks on my iPod and read three papers. It's was a beautiful setting for a wedding. The University of Glasgow Chapel is quite magnificent. The rain managed to hold off for most of the day too. Good to see my old University friends again and catch up. The whole thing really made me feel that I still had a long way to go before I am going to settle down and get savings, mortgages and marriage in my life. Going back to university to study this year may have set me back a few years but I am really pleased I did it. So back to wedding, it was a pretty standard affair but Mr 4 Play Disco (ho, ho) really was a bit pants in terms of the music he was playing, he didn't have any classic wedding tunes apart from Abba so it was just Britney, Christina, Steps to keep the women happy on the dancefloor. Anyway some of us went down to the Barfly and continued the night there. I still feel I have a hangover or that's probably a lack of sleep.

Congratulations Dave and Sarah!

Posted by Edward @ 06:09 PM GMT
[ link ]

Thursday, June 5, 2003
Competition for the horses
Sorry that's Mando Group not Mondo Group. The Mando Group competition website with the shortlist is up and running. Feel free to browse and vote for Balloon Sender or for Purr Interactive. Both brilliant in their own right.

Still wondering whether David Seaman going to City is a good move by Keegan. I hope he doesn't bottle it next season with the new stadium, Europe and renewed hope by fans that they will be upper table rather than a mid table Premiership team.

Posted by Edward @ 02:57 PM GMT
[ link ]

Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Balloon madness
It's quite unusual for me to put a real great link here but I have an exclusive. One of the guys doing the MA bit of the Interactive Multimedia section of the course Tim has done a brilliant thing for his project. It's a online random messaging thing based on the old balloon distance competitions that schools have at their summer fairs releasing hundreds of balloons into the sky seeing if they reached further than the high street. Rather than attach a name and address, you attach your message and email. Anyway it's brilliant in that the idea is so simple and the animations and look is dare I say it perfect. The more people that play it the more messages that get added to the database and you may get more random messages to the question you attached to your balloon.

It has been shortlisted for the Mondo Group web design award. Good luck Tim! Steve on the course has also been shortlisted for his Purr Records website which is great as well.

Less of the talk, the best way is to experience visit Balloon Sender yourself. You do need Flash 6 but it's well worth it.

Posted by Edward @ 04:13 PM GMT
[ link ]

Tuesday, June 3, 2003
Hot air, airhead, recycled air
This has been around for a while but I've only just found it. It's the Clarks Originals Shoe website. The Flash site is really nice, full of weird clubs about doing your own thing and things to mess around with, if you are bored. It's made by Airside a bunch of designers who make nice T-shirts including the brilliant Battle Royale promos. Speaking of which the follow up to the film is going to be released sometime late Summer. It's going to be an even more of an impact on your mind than the first.
Posted by Edward @ 12:10 PM GMT
[ link ]

Monday, June 2, 2003
There goes that place without much reason
Does anyone actually like using touchscreen displays. I commonly have to use one in order to collect prepaid train tickets. The only reason they are okay is because there is minimal interaction. Some museum kiosks can be very interesting but tend to always give the feeling that you could be viewing it at home on a CD-ROM. You always find that the most interesting ones attract a crowd and that someone tries to hog it for as long as possible. I was thinking about it when developing a kiosk prototype for the Museum of Costume project and it just struck me as being a silly gimmick. Was testing it out in conjunction with a real touch screen which wasn't effective for the only reason that the computer connected to it runs awfully slow. Still it's kind of a nice gimmick.
Posted by Edward @ 11:51 PM GMT
[ link ]