Dunbar’s Number

Posted on by Alasdair

This morning, I am thinking about Dunbar’s Number, and my LJ friends list. I have noticed of late that there are an increasing number of people on my list whose journals I don’t read, because I simply don’t have the attention span to concentrate on them as well as everyone else’s, and in fact, that this is carrying over, and I am interacting less with other journals that I might like, because they’re getting lost in the churn.

So a question: should I
a) set up a default view?
b) have a cull?

If a), would you prefer to know if you were on the default view or not? I have not hitherto set up a default view, because I feel it’s kind of hypocritical to describe someone as a “friend” (god, how much simpler would things be if LJ hadn’t used the emotionally loaded term) and not read their journal, but then, as I’ve just admitted, that’s what I’m doing at the moment anyway. But one way round that hypocrisy might be to be open about who’s journals I am reading. Would it break anyone’s heart to discover that while I do consider them a friend, I don’t read their journal very often? Would that be better or worse than a Friends List cull?

Dear god, but I over-think things sometimes. Maybe I should just arrange to have 75 of you shot. That would simplify matters…

Splint Eastwood

Posted on by Alasdair

Splint Eastwood

The esteemed head ref for the LRG. I spent quite a chunk of the bout trying to get this as a natural shot (and half decent profile with back of shirt lettering visible would have done me), and in the end, was forced to give up and get him to pose like this.

Ready For The Off

Posted on by Alasdair

Posion Arrow Bambi Manslaughter

Poison Arrow and Bambi Manslaughter, of the London Roller Girls, at the start of a bout. I’m not enitrely happy with Poison’s eyes in this – I would have liked the whites a little less grey, but I couldn’t find a way to brighten them that didn’t either look very artificial, or throw off the colour balance of the rest of the shot.

Derby Or Bust

Posted on by Alasdair

Dolly BustHer

Dolly BustHer, skating for Team Pink at the London Roller Girls inaugural bout. I think this once captures a certain spirit of the thing, and is a decent opening for a few shots from the bout. I found shooting at the bout to be an utter bastard, as the one lens I’ve got that has enough zoom to let me get close the action is a zoom that has no anti-shake, and fairly narrow aperture and depth of field at full zoom, but as I said to someone (whose name I have forgotten) at the event who was remarking on the drawbacks of my chosen lens, while I have to take fifty shots to get one usable one, the scattered few like this I get with that lens are generally worth the suffering.

Sound effects question:

Posted on by Alasdair

Where might I go to find good public domain sound effect MP3s? City streets, dripping pipes, crowd noise, that sort of thing? (And willing to stump up small amounts for CDs if required, although I’d prefer just to download MP3s.)

Pownce

Posted on by Alasdair

I suppose I ought to take a look at this Pownce thing what everyone and their dog has been talking about for months. I haven’t up to now, because as far as I can see, it doesn’t actually fill any need in my life, but a client just mentioned it, and I felt a bit daft, so I should go look just for the sake of professional credibility.

So, anyone got an invite going spare in exchange for a promise of beer?

Rollerderby!

Posted on by Alasdair

It may of of interest to some round these parts to know that the London Roller Girls are having their first public bout this weekend. You may have seen them in the papers or on the telly in recent months, and now you can go see them compete in person!

If you’ve never heard of it before, this will give you some idea of what rollerderby is all about.

I’m going, along with several of my friends. You should too. It’s something different to do with your Saturday evening…

Via Popbitch

Posted on by Alasdair

All the news that’s fit to look upon in a skeptical manner:

  • “Tony Wilson was buried in a coffin numbered FAC 501. Factory’s last catalogue number.”
  • “My Bloody Valentine fans are getting excited about a possible comeback next year at Coachella.”
  • “Joss Whedon’s long awaited UK based Buffy spin-off, Ripper, starring Anthony Head, starts filming next summer for BBC.”

CSS help?

Posted on by Alasdair

So, my spiffing new website design has a bug, and I’m fucked if I know how to fix it. If anyone round these parts would care to take a look at http://ala.sda.ir, first in Firefox, and then in IE, and then tell me why the photos in the middle column line up in Firefox, but not in IE, and what I need to go to get them to line up nicely in IE, I’d be very grateful, in a beer-buying kind of way.

Cheers.