Archives for November 2001

Watch in awed wonder. The (November 30, 2001) Watch in awed wonder. The crab that I coloured in yesterday has been wandering around London, scaring the tourists....

Must visit beautiful site of (November 30, 2001) Must visit beautiful site of the day is nothing.ch....

Interesting toy of the day (November 30, 2001) Interesting toy of the day is Moodstats - a little application by the people behind k10k. You input several key characteristics of your day, every day along with a few notes and a diary entry. This information is sync'ed with...

George Harrison has died. It's (November 30, 2001) George Harrison has died. It's being talked about on Metafilter and TCN. I've just listened to Here Comes The Sun - by way of a tribute. Ironically, it was only three months ago that Salon debunked rumours that he was...

Dan puts up a rogues (November 29, 2001) Dan puts up a rogues gallery of his time in England. See if you can spot me....

I also discovered that I'd (November 29, 2001) I also discovered that I'd got paid for something and immediately decided that along with my mother's traditional Christmas contribution I could now afford to buy myself an iPod. Ludicrous idea of course. Micro Anvika sold out yesterday. This moment...

Colouring in the Crab Bloke... (November 29, 2001) I have spent much of my lunch-time cutting out and colouring in a huge crab, to be worn around the head of rathergood nutter Joel Veitch. We had a whole pack of marker pens. It was great. The rest of...

I got an e-mail from (November 28, 2001) I got an e-mail from an old friend who's just fallen off the cliff into his thirties and has decided to celebrate the occasion by getting new heating. You couldn't make it up, frankly. He send me some pictures from...

Question: If something is funny, (November 28, 2001) Question: If something is funny, is it in fact more true than if something is merely true and boring?...

Working with Cal is a (November 28, 2001) Working with Cal is a strange and occasionally unsettling experience. But it has its rewards. Like watching him suddenly get obsessed with pixel fonts on a Tuesday morning, and produce four or five of them by the end of work...

Feeling horny? This will get (November 28, 2001) Feeling horny? This will get you off. Mmmm. iBook....

A useful tool for designers (November 28, 2001) A useful tool for designers looking for colour harmonies and contrasts: EasyRGB....

Now of course all the (November 28, 2001) Now of course all the Americans with any sense whatsoever will have watched the Buffy musical episode. And no doubt they adored it. And no doubt they'll continue to be smug about it for the many months it may be...

Today's submitted logos come from (November 28, 2001) Today's submitted logos come from Grant Cook....

You know what I need? (November 27, 2001) You know what I need? I need a logo. More to the point, I need two - two iconic logos - MTV adaptability and BBC2 style simplicity for both plasticbag.org and Barbelith. Send me some logos that you've made and...

You've no doubt seen the (November 27, 2001) You've no doubt seen the bloody irritating 'pop-under' ads for this webcam. According to an article at the BBC the adverts were so intrusive and annoying that they had to set up a page to deal with queries about them....

Saturday night in a nutshell: (November 26, 2001) Saturday night in a nutshell: Funny days Saturdays. The last year's been kind of difficult, so it was a delight to rediscover that I'm able to go outside and have an angst-free evening with people I really like. I went...

An interesting article that told (November 26, 2001) An interesting article that told me things I already knew only in a sexier way....

Omigod. I'm Britney. (November 26, 2001) Omigod. I'm Britney....

Glorious Day! (November 26, 2001) Today's anthem: Gonna make my move, gonna make it stay! Gonna make it last, never mind the past, Living for today! Gonna take my chance, gonna rock and dance! Gonna hit the ground with a brand new sound, Looking for...

On BBC Search Results... (November 24, 2001) When the BBC rebranded themselves as BBCi, they also relaunched their search facility on bbc.co.uk. They made it look something like this: At the time I wasn't very impressed by this arrangement and made myself fairly unpopular by mocking up...

Via Interconnected.org: Hofstadter's Law: "It (November 24, 2001) Via Interconnected.org: Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law."...

So Jason yet again tries (November 24, 2001) So Jason yet again tries to show the rest of us up by producing a totally practical, well-fashioned and elegant new design for Romenesko's Obscure Store and Reading Room. It's not revolutionary, but it's beautifully simple. He's truly dispicable and...

I've been ploughing through some (November 23, 2001) I've been ploughing through some of Mark's old weblog stuff hidden away on The Wayback Machine. I miss gems like this: "Top 10 Ways to Write Good 10. Avoid alliteration. Always. 9. Proofread carefully to see if you any words...

I'm fascinated by the way (November 23, 2001) I'm fascinated by the way that the Guardian Online's editorial team's weblog only writes about Apple products. Speaking of which, I've just seen my first iPod in the flesh, and while it wasn't quite what I was expecting, it may...

So today is "Buy Nothing (November 23, 2001) So today is "Buy Nothing Day" - the third such event that I've been weblogging during. This year it has quite a stunning 'uncommercial' associated with it: Buy Nothing Day. I'm definitely pro-Buy Nothing Day - I've been a supporter...

And Secret Santa is now (November 23, 2001) And Secret Santa is now #1 on Blogdex. Very exciting. Join up, you bastards!...

Those damn kittens with their (November 23, 2001) Those damn kittens with their evil, evil minds and staring lunacy - creeping up on me in the night and blowing hot breath on the back of my neck, making me sweat and making my eyes dart around in their...

Secret Santa makes Metafilter. (November 22, 2001) Secret Santa makes Metafilter....

Send me an MP3: I'm (November 22, 2001) Send me an MP3: I'm feeling old and staid and kind of dull. Fancy sending me an MP3 so I can try out some new music? Limited time only - only for a short time, as I'm not always on...

Blackadder: "To you it's a (November 22, 2001) Blackadder: "To you it's a potato, to me it's a potato. But to Sir Walter Bloody Raleigh it's country estates, fine carriages, and as many girls as his tongue can cope with. He's making a fortune out of the things;...

We don't have Thanksgiving in (November 22, 2001) We don't have Thanksgiving in the UK. As Mark quipped to me yesterday, "not a lot to be thankful for". I said we didn't really have many Pilgrim / Native American collisions in England. Or at least I can only...

Because it's interesting, and occasionally (November 22, 2001) Because it's interesting, and occasionally beautiful: BBC Television and Radio Idents (BBC2)....

Create Online's review of the Time Out site... (November 22, 2001) Create Online's review section includes a block of stuff on my old place of employment, timeout.com. I present a few quotes with no comment: "Worst thing: The lack of a good, solid navigation that lives with you throughout the site",...

An art moment with Gilbert and George... (November 21, 2001) So yesterday I was walking into work, and I spotted two overcoat-clad art-nutters wandering down Farringdon Lane. The taller one was weilding some kind of digicam, as if it were a comedy prop - like a flamingo or a banana...

On "Mad World" by Gary Jules... (November 21, 2001) So it turns out that the MP3 I've been searching for all this week isn't actually Tears for Fears' version of "Mad World" after all. Instead it's a version recorded specfically for the soundtrack to Donnie Darko - and is,...

The God of Banal Content... (November 21, 2001) I am a god of banal content. I defend myself by pointing to the success of Secret Santa. My limited involvement in that must surely counteract the bad karma I'm getting from writing such crap recently....

I'm sleeping too much... (November 21, 2001) I'm sleeping too much. Not vastly too much, but too much. I can't seem to wake up in the mornings! This morning I was woken up by my flatmate at 9am. Since I was supposed to get to work by...

I'm not just a freelancer... (November 21, 2001) I'm not just a freelancer... I'm a travelling gun-for-hire....

On bad chemistry "humour"... (November 21, 2001) Can anyone explain this "joke" to me? NO-Acetol Warning - probably need to be good at chemistry......

Who was the 'Tourist Guy'? (November 21, 2001) So who was the famous Tourist Guy after all?...

On hats of the Old West... (November 20, 2001) Of course the best thing about the web is that it's a place where you can find out all kinds of cool information that you didn't know about before. Like - for example - information on the various hats of...

On the TCN quiz... (November 20, 2001) In case you're wondering why I posted so little yesterday, the main reason was getting the TCN Quiz up and running. I spent ages making sure the questions were suitable ridiculous enough - so if you really want to know...

Introducing Secret Santa... (November 19, 2001) And lo from the moistened orifice of ThinkBlank.com did spring fully-formed - Secret Santa!...

On the Secret Holiday Gift-Giving Robot... (November 19, 2001) And lo, in the course of conversation, did J Ko say, "you could call it secret holiday gift-giving robot"......

On perspective and circumstances... (November 18, 2001) You know, pretty much everything's picking up at the moment. I've slept properly, had some money, found everything extremely easy to deal with, and - apart from living in a pig-sty - basically I'm pretty content. A year ago, in...

On other people's birthdays... (November 18, 2001) You know I'm completely sure that it's Max's birthday around here somewhere. Can't get it out of my head that it was around here sometime. He's probably about twenty-two now. Hmmm. Never mind. Corny's birthday in a week, Kate's in...

On "Mad World" by Tears for Fears... (November 18, 2001) After much searching and digging, it turns out that I wasn't looking for the song by The Church after all. Instead, I think I'm looking for a track called "Mad World" by Tears for Fears (of all people). Anyone have...

On "Under the Milky Way"... (November 17, 2001) If anyone knows where I can get my hands on an MP3 of The Church's "Under The Milky Way", then could they make themselves known. I need to know whether or not it is the right track before I fork...

On "Donnie Darko"... (November 17, 2001) I went to see Donnie Darko today at the London Film Festival. Kate and I weren't expecting much. But I was blown away....

On blades in the eye or butt... (November 17, 2001) What's it called when you have a stabbing pain behind your eye - like someone has slid a sharp silver cold thick blade into your socket and like it's clunked right into the bone, and there's a kind of squishy,...

A view from Skynet... (November 16, 2001) One of the most beautiful things I've seen in months - the view from Skynet. And there are many other satellites you can view, showing every angle of the Earth at fourmilab.ch....

On Smart Tags... (November 15, 2001) Because of this thread on Barbelith, I've suddenly become extremely politicised on the whole "Smart Tags" debate. There's more information over at Glassdog and you'll notice that I've added a button to the right hand side of the page to...

A reminder about branding... (November 15, 2001) Quick reminder. The name of this site is plasticbag.org. It is not Plastic Bag, or Plasticbag (unless it's the first word of a sentence). Branding is very important nowadays. Think of us like plasticbag industries or the plasticbag project and...

On The Wayback Machine... (November 14, 2001) Literally the best thing on the web at the moment is The Wayback Machine - it's the best thing on the web because it is the web - frozen at various points through time. Some archaic bits of Tomfoolery and...

Late night, maudlin street.... (November 14, 2001) Hmmm. Late night, maudlin street. Morning comes and everything looks sparkly and fine again. Or at least it would if Kate - my flatmate and personal morning alarm call - had bothered to get up this morning. Accidentally waking up...

Melancholy at 1am... (November 14, 2001) Packing your bags like people in the movies do, All severe, and not saying a word, And I'm sitting down here just watching you, And I'm thinking: Where is all the love gone? Where's the love gone to? Don't leave,...

On Max's Birthday... (November 13, 2001) I'm fairly sure it's Max's birthday around here sometime. Still - he's ponced off abroad for a year and a half, and he probably wouldn't like my t-shirt anyway. So, you know, whatever....

Chicks really are for fags! (November 13, 2001) Thanks for Ashley Frazier for this particularly fine piece of kit....

1.6 Gb of temporary Photoshop files... (November 13, 2001) I just stumbled upon 1.6 Gigabytes of Photoshop temp files on my Mac. Why does no one tell you these things? You can just pick em up and throw em in the Trash. It's that easy. It's put off me...

A plane has crashed in Queens... (November 12, 2001) The news is everywhere, but just in case you hadn't heard - a plane has crashed in Queens in New York - there is more information here, there's a thread at Metafilter here and Barbelith are keeping everyone up to...

Harry Potter: a brief review... (November 12, 2001) As Cartman said so eloquently, "Yes I've seen the Terrence and Philip movie - who wants to touch me? I said who wants to fucking touch me?!" The good news first - there is very little bad news at all....

Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter... (November 11, 2001) Guess who's going to see Harry Potter in three hours time......

The day the counter-culture died... (November 10, 2001) It's kind of ironic that in a time where civil liberties are under more threat than ever before - with Carnivore being forced in on ISPs, and laws being pushed through that give unprecedented access into people's personal lives -...

Lose your mind in twenty (November 10, 2001) Lose your mind in twenty seconds - while searching for a new domain name for a PWP (pointless web project), I stumbled upon WorldOfWhimsy.com - and my mind melted when the voice-over started....

As a counterpoint to yesterday's (November 10, 2001) As a counterpoint to yesterday's piece about the "No facts please - we're British" article, there's an article at the New York Times called British Take a Blunter Approach to War News which includes lines like this: "The range of...

Forgive me if I'm a (November 10, 2001) Forgive me if I'm a little bit cynical, but don't these Colorgenics results look like a way of getting people to ring the hotline (which isn't open yet). I'm not saying they're not accurate - I just wonder if they're...

There's an article on Salon (November 9, 2001) There's an article on Salon at the moment called No facts please, we're British, which alleges that while Americans are flocking to the British press for news and information they're not getting in mainstream US media, much of the reason...

With a few notable differences (November 9, 2001) With a few notable differences (boobs, jumping not being pushed, chicks), this pretty much sums up much of the last six months of my life....

A worthy cause made read (November 8, 2001) A worthy cause made read by noble men: the new stopesso.com....

A brief definition of satisfaction? (November 8, 2001) A brief definition of satisfaction? Being the forgetting to buy a lottery ticket and not minding afterwards - as if your future happiness did not (for one moment) seem to rest on a desperate denial of probability......

Pointless fun with Amazon buttons! (November 7, 2001) Play for yourself. Follow this link and then fiddle around with the URL. [Phil Rules]...

Ageless is an interesting site (November 7, 2001) Ageless is an interesting site that I will be sure to enter as soon as I have completed my complete absence of redesign....

Does the BBC search engine (November 7, 2001) Does the BBC search engine take up too much screen real estate with User Interface stuff? Compare and contrast... Searching for 'pop' on Radio One: bbc(i)'s live version, tom coates' mocked-up alternative... Searching for 'buffy' on Cult: bbc(i)'s live version,...

It's all change at the (November 7, 2001) It's all change at the BBC in terms of look and feel and structure and IA and stuff. Everywhere's affected - BBC films for one has been significantly improved......

Why won't Apple buy me a fucking iBook? (November 6, 2001) Oh Jason... Oh Jason, no! I can't believe you'd sell your integrity for an iBook! More importantly, I already agreed to sell mine for an Apple lap-top over a year ago! And did I get any offers? No! It's so...

An absolutely stunning piece of (November 6, 2001) An absolutely stunning piece of Flash work....

Ok, so I did the (November 6, 2001) Ok, so I did the bloody blogaholic quiz, and while I was still offended by the word blogaholic (what - pray tell - is this substance "Blogahol") I quite enjoyed it. More to the point, it said nice things about...

Bit of a heavy post (November 6, 2001) Bit of a heavy post that one, so let's compensate with something completely infantile - how tiny ancient people made a Stonehenge out of tampons......

On searching for 'father'... (November 6, 2001) Someone's been searching for 'father' on plasticbag.org using the Atomz powered search box (down the bottom of the page). Now normally this wouldn't be an issue, but of course since I haven't seen or heard of my father since I...

Like many men, I've been (November 5, 2001) Like many men, I've been spanking the monkey since a relatively early age. But oh - what genius could have found a way to spank the monkey on the internet. With an actual mouse pointer? And assessing your speed in...

After a conversation with Meg (November 4, 2001) After a conversation with Meg about Norfolk, I present where I grew up......

There's a TV show called (November 4, 2001) There's a TV show called "Roswell". On occasion it doesn't completely suck ass. On other occasions it sucks ass so heavily that whoever's ass it is would be literally turned inside out by the strength of the suckage. Which would...

You know - if I (November 4, 2001) You know - if I was foolish enough to do a redesign, everyone would immediately hate it. Like they did the last two times I did one. So I'm not. I'm really not. I swear I'm not attempting a second-birthday...

A song to be obsessed (November 3, 2001) A song to be obsessed about: Here's to Patti, And Tina, And Yoko, Aretha, And Nona, And Nico, And me... And all the strange rock and rollers, You know you're doing all right, So hold on to each other, You...

It's been a pretty bloody (November 3, 2001) It's been a pretty bloody bizarre evening. Just been slightly destabilised by an appearance of Mr Big on television. He looks much ... shorter ... and less sure of himself than he does in person. It's harder to dislike him...

I'm in a bit of (November 3, 2001) I'm in a bit of a strange mood suddenly. I've been in such a difficult place over the last year that I've often not noticed what's been going on around me - I've been strangely distant from many of my...

If this doesn't put a (November 3, 2001) If this doesn't put a chill right through you, then you're barely human. A month and a half on, you can read the reactions of people as they heard about the World Trade Center as it happened....

If anyone can find Weezer's (November 3, 2001) If anyone can find Weezer's "Blue Album" on Amazon.co.uk then could you let me know. I've been trying all morning and it doesn't seem to be there......

Because other crackers are counter-intuitive: (November 2, 2001) Because other crackers are counter-intuitive:...

Digging through the archives of (November 2, 2001) Digging through the archives of Haddock, it's amazing what you find... For example... Ex Sapient Creative Directors first web site......

Today I found myself bound (November 2, 2001) Today I found myself bound by Godwin's Law in a thread at Metafilter. Nearly eight years on the net and I'd never heard of it before....

I'm only linking to this (November 2, 2001) I'm only linking to this because I don't have time to read it properly at the moment and don't want to lose it. Forgive me, loyal readers....

Several Haddock regulars, Cal and (November 2, 2001) Several Haddock regulars, Cal and I spent much of yesterday evening talking to students about community sites, the public sphere, weblogs, issues of trust and representation. Some of the key sites we discussed over the evening included: H2G2 Jason's 9/11...

I've got a sweet tooth (November 1, 2001) I've got a sweet tooth For liquorice drops and jelly roll Hey Sugar Daddy Hansel needs some sugar in his bowl I'll lay out fine china on the linen And polish up the chrome If you've got some sugar for...