Archives for August 2002
If the BBC can't get it right.... (August 30, 2002) Now I've started using 'titles' to my weblog posts, but if you're not reading the site through some kind of RSS feed you won't know what any of them are. I'm not keen on breaking up the flow of my...
Cooler than you. Cooler than your heroes. The Web Pong Cometh. (August 30, 2002) If you've got something to smack your gob with, keep it handy. You're going to need it in a moment. When beautiful sword-fighting deviant geek goddess Anno Mitchell showed it to me, I wasn't prepared. My gob was left empty...
I've got that Friday feeling (August 30, 2002) Damn it. We've all been so good - working hard all week, trying to make a meagre crust to take home to our children, animals and additional dependants (adopted and virtual). I think we deserve to cut loose a little...
"You're a congressman's son! Why didn't you stomp that hippie?!" (August 30, 2002) If you liked Spider-Man, you'll love.... The Amazing George W.: "My father's downfall is my fault... Now I know... With Power comes Responsibilitude..."...
Ho! Mr Hammersley! Excellent article, old chap! Take a bow... (August 30, 2002) My XCOM co-panellee Ben Hammersley has finally done something useful with his time, other than write huge tomes on RSS, co-create Warchalking, figure out when his dogs were born and wear that bizarre murderer-style hat. He's written a good introduction...
We are all plasticbag.org (August 30, 2002) I can't be the only person who's in awe of how good plasticbag.org is. Each and every day that Tom fellow (what a looker!) writes extraordinary - self-promotingly - witty garbage about all many of things that I don't give...
Sex is a bit shit really... (August 29, 2002) Ok. Sex. I mean - why? I mean, let's be honest - It's a bit shit isn't it. I mean it's not like computers? It's all unreliable and irritating. Ok maybe it's like computers running Windows... People only pretend to...
Being "Blast from the past" time on plasticbag.org (August 29, 2002) Barely inspired by this very boring looking article which I couldn't be bothered to read, I've spent a good twenty minutes trying to uncover The Ten Secrets of a Successful Website - a much much less boring microsite bashed together...
On professional weblogging and BBC Scotland... (August 29, 2002) So it looks like Meg Hourihan's article about professional weblogging was prescient. BBC Scotland is the latest organisation to try their hand at corporately sponsored personal publishign (of a kind) with the launch of Scotblog. It's a fairly strange site...
Now this is the way to go about winning a bloody stupid competition... (August 29, 2002) "If it were up to a public vote, a la the bloggies, I most certainly wouldn't win, but with a panel of judges I've definitely got a chance. Of the eight judges, I've sent five of them a mince pie...
Being a heartfelt gesture of thanks towards Mr Matthew Webb, underappreciated OSXpert (August 28, 2002) [Note added September 21st, 2002: There is apparently a new driver - version 2.0 - that is available for users of MacOSX. It's available here. As of this date I haven't tried it, because I'm too nervous that it'll bugger...
One for the non-geeks... (August 28, 2002) We're seeing the acronyms everywhere at the moment - RSS & RDF. They're becoming icons of webspace like HTML and CSS. But interestingly, unlike HTML and CSS, almost no one seems to know what they stand for. So to clarify...
Shock news from the technology and entertainment industries... (August 28, 2002) Take a seat. No really, sit down. You're going to be shocked by this. Sony have decided to stop making Betamax VCRs! I know! I know! Who saw that coming?!...
BTOpenworld and ADSL - the news is good... Kind of... (August 27, 2002) [Note added September 21st, 2002: There is apparently a new driver - version 2.0 - that is available for users of MacOSX. It's available here. As of this date I haven't tried it, because I'm too nervous that it'll bugger...
So if you're going to sell your soul down the river for £25 and a box of liquorice allsorts, you'd better get your bloody move on... (August 27, 2002) Over the last few weeks I've become the semi-official online promotional orifice of the Guardian's Best British Blog competition, and with just over a week and a half to go, it's time to remember - if you're planning to sell...
On RSS feeds / CSS and Jason's Kottke's redesign of NetNewsWire (August 27, 2002) Yesterday I posted a substantial rant on kottke.org about the role of RSS feeds and readers. Here's an excerpt: "Perhaps this is one of those times when we all realise that the potential uses for an adaptation of the technology...
On BTOpenWOE (August 27, 2002) A brief ADSL related aside. Are you having problems with BTOpenworld? Then you need to know about btopenwoe.co.uk....
Insane ADSL update... (August 27, 2002) Ok. The latest news for BTOpenworld customers struggling with broadband access via crappy alcatel modems is that you might just as well stick your thumb up your ass for all the help they'll provide at the moment. In the meantime,...
MacOSX.2 and BtOpenworld (August 27, 2002) Warning: If you are an OSX user in the UK who is using BTOpenworld's broadband service and is thinking of upgrading to Appe's latest operating system OSX.2, then be aware that the Alcatel SpeedTouch USB modem does not work with...
WARNING: HALF BAKED AND BADLY WRITTEN ---> On having official work policies on weblogs and weblogging... (August 26, 2002) Anyone who's worked in any kind of office at any point in their lives has probably had to sign a contract or a piece of paper that outlines what is acceptable and what is unacceptable behaviour in the office. As...
Everyone will be famous for 15Mb... (August 26, 2002) The glorious Andy Pressman of beautifully designed Oh Messy Life! infamy has posted a picture of a singular poster. The poster reads, "Then it hit me, I'm not going to be famous, I won't get to be a rock star,...
On how I actually felt really quite bad for Wil Wheaton (August 23, 2002) When Wil Wheaton started weblogging, I though it was great. I loved the fact that the culture of weblogs allowed us all to enter a world that - for the most part - remains completely invisible to the general public...
"What have you done Erik?" (August 23, 2002) "Doesn't it wake you in the middle of the night. The feeling that someday they will pass that foolish law and come for you and your children? Take you all away?" Ladies and gentlemen, the X-men 2 trailer. 'Nuff said,...
On Public and Private - thanks to Matthew "Muscle" Webb... (August 22, 2002) I'm prone to ramble - so let's start with the link: Public and Private - random unposed portraits of people taken on the corner of Edgware Road and Marble Arch. The site is beautifully designed, simple and elegant and the...
Behold I am the City Creator, maker of tiny pixel empires... (August 21, 2002) From earliest times when man first scraped pointer cross pixel, the goal of all humanity has been the creation of almighty empires of pixels - vistas of microscopic blocks of brightly coloured light coming together to form perfect tiny universes...
On my obsession of the month... (August 21, 2002) Above and beyond the lustful need for a new iPod (mine is bashed and broken and lying in the basement of secret branch of MicroAnvika with Joe the iPod Man) is my need, my craving for Jaguar - the upgraded...
On a night of bad-sleeping... (August 21, 2002) You can arrive home at eleven exhausted and drained. You can try and watch TV for a while and fall asleep during the horrific climax of an episode of one of your favourite TV series. You can stay asleep on...
He went home, so they could live happily ever after, 2000 miles apart (August 21, 2002) Of all the terrifyingly heart-breakingly funny cartoons I've seen on Salon, Cold Pursuit is probably the one I identify with most. It's the story of two people in love with each other who individually conspire not to be with one...
On the launch of Haddock Blogs (August 21, 2002) Update-monitors of yesteryear beware - the dark-times have come for your kind. For Phil Gyford has shown the way of the future with Haddock Blogs. It's a very simple premise - a web-based interface that collates the various RSS/RDF feeds...
I'm Federal Agent Jack Bauer, and this is the hairiest gearstick of my life. (August 19, 2002) "Right now, fruit pastilles are plotting to carve runes on a forking brogue. My Tipp-Ex bottle is darkly-dressed, and Penny Blacks that I work with may be rotten. I'm Federal Agent Jack Bauer, and this is the hairiest gearstick of...
On lyrics of genius... (August 19, 2002) Some songs make you burst from sheer weight of emotion. Some make you want to dance like a coked-up electro-shocked duck in the mating season. Some, on the other hand, are dripping with ludicrously stunning lyrics... It's even more fun...
Incidence of Weird Shit in Maida Vale (August 19, 2002) A few months ago I moved house. I was living on Morshead Road in Maida Vale and I moved to a thirties block of flats on Shirland Road. Anyway - various things happened to me when I moved into the...
Curing Mo of Sinful Pride (August 19, 2002) There's a weblogger of some reknown called Mo Morgan. Mo has created a useful resource for webloggers which is very much worthy of a link. I heard about this resource because Mr Morgan sent me an instant message mentioning that...
On the discovery of a new word... (August 18, 2002) Metaspore n. A bastardisation of the word 'Metaphor' with semantic cross-over with the concept of the 'meme' - the metaspore being a violently self-propogating meme with particularly little interest in the survivability of its hosts, with propogation being of such...
An Englishman in Moscow (August 18, 2002) I think we'll start with a little background... Several years ago when I first moved to London, I stayed with an ex of mine who lived in Belsize Park with his boyfriend of the time. They had a spare room,...
On London Underground (August 17, 2002) London's Underground system is as frustrating as it is iconic and vital. It's the world's oldest underground system, it's teeming with people whenever it's open - which (ironically) isn't as often as it should be. The tunnels are too old...
iCal (August 17, 2002) For reasons I don't really want to go into at the moment, I'm looking for screencaps of iCal for a little project I'm working on. If you're unfamiliar with the application, it's Apple's new calendar application that you can download...
In which Tom takes a huge link-dump (August 17, 2002) I've been collecting links for a few days now - things that I have really wanted to talk about, but just haven't had time. So rather than get weighed down by them, consider yourself lucky - all the links, none...
On the Best of British - Nostalgia and Television (August 15, 2002) There are times when the BBC does something well. And when the BBC does something well it does it very well. Take their online title sequence archive for example. Loads of famous RealOne-Up-The-Wazoo-ed TV show memories from the last one...
On Cross-Cultural Associations: Hygiene, Flattery and the term "Blogrolling" (August 15, 2002) What follows is the definition of a word that is relatively well known to webloggers across the world at the moment, that has been taken up quite quickly by American webloggers, but has strangely not been taken up as quickly...
Popbitch factoid #1 (August 15, 2002) Another day, another stunning factoid from the popbitch people: "Newark is the only town in the USA which is an anagram of Wanker"....
Why you don't really need to buy "We've Got Blog" since you can get it all online for nothing! (August 14, 2002) Ok, before I start this one, you're going to want to bookmark this entry if you're even vaguely interested in weblogs, and it'll be much easier to both bookmark and read if you click through to the archived entry which...
The Fat State of Blogdom... (August 13, 2002) It's quite hard to reach my keyboard from the floor where I have been rolling around in glee for several hours now, delighted by the fact that Blogdom has declared itself more concerned with Domino's Pizza charging for delivery than...
Independent vs. Rogue States (August 12, 2002) I'm not going to comment on the Independent article that talked of regime change in the rogue state of the USA, except to say that it's very definitely the closest thing to a must-read on the net at the moment....
Translating with a Russian Accent... (August 12, 2002) Ok - first things first - today I noticed in my referrers for the first time an article about the 2002 Bloggies from what appears to be some kind of newspaper or magazine in Russia. Now my first instinct was...
The Olynciws in London... (August 11, 2002) Well riothero appears to be back and functioning - and with its rightful owner at the helm. It's diffucult to tell whether or not his meeting with Matt and I was what pushed him back into it or not. Here's...
Alarming quotes from "Public Relations Society of America" (August 11, 2002) Here are a two particularly alarming quotes from a piece from the Public Relations Society of America site, from the article: Pitching Blogs: Latest Type Of Online Media Vehicle May Provide Valuable PR Opportunities "The question is how to land...
Wishlists for schools and charities (August 11, 2002) Now this is a good idea - Wishlists for schools and non-profit organisations. I wonder if there's something like this for schools and organisations in the UK. It would be great to be able to donate something specific to a...
I'm conflicted by the wonder of our weapons... (August 11, 2002) I'm in the market for some threadless action. I need those t-shirts/posters/things. Oh yeah. There's a particular poster I'm very keen on. But can a young metropolitan homosexualist really get away with naked ladies on his wall - however phallic...
My poor iPod (August 10, 2002) Oh tis a sad tale, the tale of tiny wee iPod. iPod the daring, iPod the brave - now iPod the battered has gone to its grave. Or not to its grave, but maybe to the gluemill - for iPod...
Ellen Fleiss is my hero (August 10, 2002) So we're sitting at work the other day - the assembled table-age consisting of myself, other Tom, Dan, Phil and Dorian - and someone's watching the Apple Switch commercials, and then finally hits on the awesome wonder that is Ellen...
Weblogger Frustration 101 (August 9, 2002) I hate it when the one thing you really want to talk about is the one thing that you know you really shouldn't talk about - the one thing that you entirely can't talk about. It's Weblogger Frustration 101 stuff...
Barbelith goes to RSS... (August 9, 2002) Probably the most useful newsfeed that the world has yet seen - you can now get get Barbelith RSS-feeds, which can be restricted to any individual forum or groups of fora, and can be organised by most-recently-updated as well as...
Oompa Loompa (August 8, 2002) I've had the tune in my head all day and I haven't been able to get rid of it - so why the hell not just give in to those darker impulses - why not revel in the wisdom of...
If it's so bad, why does it feel so good? On Spy Kids 2 (August 8, 2002) I can't be the only person desperate to see Spy Kids 2. When Spy Kids came out no one would see it with me. I'd say, "but it's Robert Rodriguez!". But they wouldn't listen. Davo wouldn't go. Meg wouldn't go...
My first public and scary experience of homophobia... (August 8, 2002) I had a really nice evening last night. Really cool. But I don't want to talk about that. What I want to say is that wandering through Soho last night I experienced my first public piece of badgering because of...
Are you looking for Lord of the Rings on DVD? (August 8, 2002) Everyone I know seems to want to own Lord of the Rings on DVD and yet no one I know is buying it. They're all waiting for the four DVD set that's coming out in November. I'm no exception. But...
So it's all change at Blogroots... (August 7, 2002) Blogroots - which started as a metafilter.com style-board with a very narrow focus has gone through a bit of a transformation in the last 24 hours - and now celebrates a new look, a bit of promotion for the book...
This guy on the road kind of looked at me funny... (August 7, 2002) Ok. So I don't want to sound paranoid - because that would never do - but I was walking down Oxford Street this morning and this really tall guy with fluffy hair looked at me, did a moue of recognition,...
So it's that Buffy time of the month... (August 7, 2002) So it's Weird Buffy News time of the month again at plasticbag.org as once more I prove exactly why I have such trouble finding guys prepared to date me... Breeders to guest-star on Buffy? It's hideously-cool-life-collision time as NME reports...
Excerpt from an interview with Grant Morrison (August 6, 2002) From a new interview with Grant Morrison: "The time of lo-fi weirdness is almost upon us. This is when everyone has to open up their heads and spill out their personal shit for all to see, without trying to catch...
Mainstream Publishers & Weblogs (August 6, 2002) Mainstream publishers seem increasingly to be letting their readers start weblogs on their sites - but is this really the best way for them to connect with the personal publishing revolution?
Proposal for a new relationship between weblog and mainstream publishers (August 6, 2002) The Situation:Imagine, if you will, that a prominent web magazine had decided to start hosting Weblogs. Imagine if shortly afterwards another prominent online publisher said they were doing the same. And then imagine if rumours abounded that they weren't going...
Welcome to Princeton (August 5, 2002) True or not - this Princeton Acceptance Letter is such an unbelievably gorgeous and funny piece of design that you'll need it to be real....
Employment (August 5, 2002) So I found my favourite poem online again today - I talk about it every so often on this site - it's called Employment and it's by George Herbert. It's a strange poem - not particularly cheery, full of references...
The Guardian's Best British Blog Award (August 4, 2002) I've been quite outspoken about the Guardian's Best British Blog award - and for this reason I was asked to participate in an online debate with Simon Walden, representing the Guardian.
Mark in London (2000) (August 4, 2002) mark_taster.jpg
Mark's in town... (August 4, 2002) Long term weblog enthusiasts may remember a precocious web-brat called Mark Olynciw, who used to run the site riothero.com. Well turns out he's in London again and I'm going to see him this evening. What fun!...
If I were a bell... (August 3, 2002) If I were a bell Dinah Washington [being a song that makes me feel happy] Ask me how do I feel Now that we're cosy and clinging Well sir all I can say is if I were a bell I'd...
Addendum to a genealogy of weblogging (August 3, 2002) PS. In a conversation with Matt the other day about 'generations of weblogging' inspired by a post on sashinka.blogspot.com Matt made the stunning comment that 'first generation webloggers' basically means anyone who started weblogging before you did, while 'second generation'...
Towards a genealogy of weblogging... (August 3, 2002) So when they come to write the history of weblogging - will there be much evidence of the inter-relationships, the hidden parallels and links that lie between webloggers? One of the nicest things I've seen in ages, and potentially a...
On dumb linking policies (August 2, 2002) So I'm known for having little patience when it comes to dumb linking policies. Just in case you're not remembering the whole dumb-linking thing - this is when a company like KMPG says KPMG says you have to get permission...
Upsideclown 2002 (August 2, 2002)
In Which Tom Has Trouble Comprehending Kottke (August 2, 2002) I fear I may be alone in being utterly confused about Jason's latest post about Andrew Sullivan. The sheer number of similes swimming around the place like laser-mounted sharks in a very small pool make, erm, those sharks, erm, get...
It's tacky, it's crass, it fits nicely up your ass (August 2, 2002) Sometimes I think that I'm just like this poor (spoof) gentleman. So to make me feel better and superior, I sent the man concerned a little $1 donation. And the e-mail address the money is sent to? savemyhands@yahoo.com! On a...
Peter Mandelson (August 2, 2002) Now like him or loathe him, Peter Mandelson is Labour (and hence probably has his heart roughly in the right place) and a poof. So he can't be all bad. More to the point, he's clearly a very media-savvy gentleman...
Head like a field (August 1, 2002) Today my head feels as woolly as dozens of sheep. Ideas kind of have to fight for space next to smelly mutton and can't make themselves heard over the relentless soft bleating from every direction....
