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Quick and dirty tool to grab an LJ archive on any system that has python available, which includes OS X.
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SUP have knocked the american tech staff on the head. I don't believe they're going to fuck off tomorrow, or anything, but any way you slice it, this is bad news, and I'm going to have to find a good LJ archiving tool for OS X just so I do have a decent archive somewhere that isn't on LJ, but I should have done that anyway. Still, most of the public content over the least few years is already in databases on my own servers, anyway, but I'd like to get the private/friends locked stuff saved, too. I may also flip back to blogging on my own domain, and just mirroring the content into LJ, just in case.
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I may want to take this apart and rebuild it for other services since my tumblr account is used for my not-a-photoblog-honest. Or since the blog is called Dead Air, I might just pipe it in regardless, as it does kind of fit with the theme.
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I blog this mostly because I want to use the phrase "spime child", which is agreeably SF sounding. And because, well, it's an interesting application of the technology.
Author: Alasdair
Photo Project: At The Bus Stop
This is hardly the most original photo project in the world, but it’s something I think would be fun to do, and I want something a bit structured to force me to undertake a bit more photography this year, and realistically a 365 days type project is just setting myself up for a fail.
So, I live in this flat, see. And right outside my door, there is a bus stop.
So, I have these friends, see. And many of them like to dress up in interesting clothes and makeup. Fetishwear, LARP, cosplay, furries, goth gear, punk rock mohawks and ripped clothes, or even just really sharp suits. Not the sort of thing that one sees every day at a bus stop, anyway.
So the plan is: people turn up to my place at some mutually convenient time, with their chosen outfit and any required makeup, and I take two very similar pictures of them at the bus stop. One without makeup and in ordinary clothes – jeans and t-shirt, or whatever you’ve got as everyday wear that is distinct from the other look, and one all done up in their finery.
I am, of course likely to take rather more than two photos, as I attempt to get a shot I like.
Participants would receive my grateful thanks, tea/coffee/soft drinks and biscuits, and a full rez electronic copy of the published photos in whatever format they would like.
So, would anyone be interested in this?
ETA: The bus stop is quite a busy and public one, which is part of the appeal, that there is context for people to stand out of.
I will attempt to minimise the amount of time outdoors in more unusual attire for anyone who is uncomfortable with the idea of being in public in their finery, and to schedule times when there are likely to be less people about – evenings and suchlike. Plus, you will be accompanied by bloke-with-serious-looking-camera, which in my experience will provide context that will make anyone that might see you in your outfit suddenly become terrible blase about the whole thing.
New Year
More nonsense later in the year, but first the news:
2008 – The Year Of Living Boringly
I was going to do one of those year in review things, but then I realised I could do it in two sentences:
It’s been a shit couple of months at the end of a boring year. I have not enjoyed 2008, and that’s really no-one’s fault but my own.
So, 2009 is going to a be a year where I take the universe by the throat again. Honest. And in that spirit, here are a few of my plans for the year:
Bungee Jump. I’ve never thrown myself off a tall object. This is obviously a moral failing, and must be rectified.
Hallucinogens. I’ve never taken any. Always wanted to, just never found the opportunity. I would like to do something about that.
Travel. I make a semi-joke out of the fact that I don’t leave London, but it’s been 5 years now since I was out of London for longer than a week. So, Toronto. Some time in the spring, probably. Because the number of friends I have in that city is getting truly stupid, for a place I’ve never been. May attempt to tack a New York swing onto that, may save New York for either the autumn, or more likely, 2010.
More Exercise. About the only thing I impressed myself with this year was the progress I made on the exercise front. I’ve let that slip over the last three weeks, just because I’ve been busy stuffing my greedy fat face, but it’s time to get back on the horse. On the 2nd, obviously.
Fiction. In my case, this translates to running RPGs or various stripes, because I’m a big geek. But I approach RPGs in much the same manner I approach any creative endeavour, with the same hideous perfectionism and insecurity, and on that basis I will fight anyone who suggest that running or playing in a really good game is not a legitimate field of art. I’m already involved in the running of two regular LARPs, and one tabletop, so that’s probably about my limit for ongoing running, but I have decided I need some more short form practice – one offs, mostly, but also, limited runs of 3-6 sessions.
Photography. This makes the list every year, in a must-do-more and must-attempt-to-make-money sense. These things remain true, but I am more or less at peace with the fact that while I don’t produce a lot, and it’s of fuck all commercial value, I am very happy with what I produce. Still: must produce more things I am happy with. Am considering some kind of 365 days thing, just for the discipline, but will have to work out how to do in a manner that pleases me.
New Lens. Yeah I know it’s materialistic. But I find that if I have my really big purchase for a year planned in advance, I am less tempted by the random smaller shiny things. I know the beast I would like, and will have to see how I can juggle things to afford it after my birthday, I think, because it’s a massive beast.
New Ink. This remains a strong maybe, rather than a commitment. It’s something I would like, but it’s also something I’m not going to do until I’m sure of exactly what I want. Got a couple of strong contenders for phrases, but no real sense of the design or placement of either that excites, so will have to wait.
Right, better go and get some stuff set up. I hope your New Year goes well, and that your 2009 is better than your 2008. May your hand always be stretched out in friendship and never in want.
Wind Down
I love this time of year, these few dead days between Christmas and New Year. The old year is definitely over – work is done, family commitments, pleasant though I find them, are out of the way, and I’ve got some space to catch up with friends, do a bit of thinking, clear some mental clutter out of the way, and plan for a new year that still seems like it’s got a bit of life and promise in it.
I’ve had a busy enough few days. The traditional-when-I’m-in-London Boxing Day film with Mark (WINOLJ), a long-overdue catch up with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
budgie_uk on the 27th, and similarly with cairmen today.
Yesterday though, deserves special mention, as I had a completely superb dinner with athena25, burge, stu_n and tyrell – at christmas, the butcher downstairs from me does a traditional Victorian stuffed goose – that’s a goose stuffed with a chicken stuffed with pheasant stuffed with a quail. It was every bit as good as I’d hoped – both the goose, which was rich and meaty and meltingly tender (and accompanied by a number of dishes, sauces and other condiments prepared by my guests, all of which were just as good), and more importantly the occasion, which was a truly splendid day engaging in my favourite pursuits of eating, drinking, and talking with a number of my favourite people. Cheers, all. Same again next year?
I’ve spent this evening clearing up after yesterday, the flat is now tidy again, and tomorrow I intend to do more or less fuck all. DVDs, Xbox games, eating leftovers, and at most a quick trip to the shops to get some supplies in. Exactly what this time of year is for, basically.
Hope you’re all having a similarly splendid time.
Childhood’s Last Gleaming
An experiment in throwing the focus right out the window for effect. I’m honestly not sure about this one, but I thought it was worth putting on-line as an example of an experiment at any way – it’s not something I do a lot of, deliberately defocusing, and it’s something I might want to play with more in the future, given that a lot of my photography is (trying to be) about this sort of combination of light, impression and mood.
Samsara II
links for 2008-12-18
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Anyone who has seen my desktop will know it tends to er, fill up a bit. So let's see if this makes it easier for me to manage my home work flow. (I know it won't work in the office, because of the sheer amount of random crap I need to get swift access to in any given week…)
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I finally got around to watching Helevtica (the film about the font) while I was away at the weekend, and it was really very good. I look forward to seeing this.
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On the difference between Oliver Postgate's heyday and now: "There are no children, there are no adults, there is no wonder: only adolescents in waiting, being spoken to by screamingly selfconscious adolescents in their twenties and thirties."
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What it says on the tin. I'd need to play with it a bit to get it to work for me, but I do like the basic structure.
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Yes, I shall be wanting some of these for my phone, for those times when I get bored of my own photos.
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May of these are superb, and I would be delighted to own them. Just, y'know, saying.
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Digg/Reddit type site for design/branding/media stuff.
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I am torn between awe at these pictures, and horror at the events they depict. Even if you don't normally look at the photography links I post, you can't afford to miss this one.
Scrub Up
Spruced up the look of http://ala.sda.ir last night. Will probably leave http://www.alasdair.biz as-is for the next year – I haven’t found any clean and professional looking designs that I like as much as the one it’s currently using, and it is on my CV, so probably shouldn’t be anything too odd.
That just leaves me wondering what to do with site number three, the old and faded http://www.black-ink.org, which is traditionally where I put pieces of original writing, and is equally traditionally something that I only update in the first third of every year, after which point I become distracted by some other shiny thing.
Anyone got any fun suggestions for what I should do with it in the first part of next year?
Links For Wednesday 17th December 2008
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This was pitched to me as "the sound of a mall dying". I would call it the death knell of the holiday season. It is a massive dose of festive bitterness, as some genius has basically mashed up every festive song ever, and produced well, just give it a listen.