Today’s New Toys

Posted on by Alasdair

It’s strange how rewarding I find adding bells and whistles to my http://ala.sda.ir domain. I need to go back and take another look at how the automatic calendar fetching is working at some point, because it’s not really very nicely formatted, and it seems to be ignoring weekends which is a bit fucking useless really.

But before I do that, I’m quite pleased with this one that I knocked up at lunch, a tool that will automatically fetch and post my weekly last.fm track charts whenever they publish a new set for me (which should be Sunday evenings some time, I think).

I do, incidentally, realise that things like the calendar, and the music charts are of no interest to anyone but me, but part of the point of the site is to serve as an second memory for me (since my built-in one is increasingly dying on its cognitive arse), as well as being an aggregator for my web presences.

In other news, I am delighted to discover a better del.icio.us plugin for firefox than the one they released themselves. It doesn’t have the handy toolbar buttons, but it does, crucially, allow you to manage multiple accounts, meaning I can finally stop polluting my workblog with non-tech/media links, and bung them into a linklog that is expressly about “shit Alasdair finds interesting”, which would also cover y’know, shit like current events, food and drink, photography, comics, gaming, and just general stuff.

Date for your diaries

Posted on by Alasdair

April 2nd, Jason Webley is playing South London Pacific. If you get there before 9, it will only cost you a fiver to get in, for an evening of cocktails and cabaret.

Jason, as you’ve all heard me say before, is really very very good. Sufficiently good in fact, that if you turn up before nine, and really seriously don’t enjoy your night out, I will refund your money personally, I am that sure you’ll enjoy it. No-one, no-one I know that has seen him has thought him anything less that bloody good fun, and over half the people I’ve dragged to see him have bought his albums.

London has historically not been good for Jason, gig wise – bad venues, tiny crowds, last minute cancellations, etc. I (and I’m sure, he) would really like to change that. He’s playing a reasonably central venue, and I would really like to try and fill the place.

Jason’s act is a klezma-punk cabaret. If you like Kurt Weil, The Dresden Dolls, Tom Waits, Gogol Bordello, or just bloody good, different, live acts then I’m sure he’ll blow you away.

And since I’m offering to refund your money if you don’t enjoy your night out, the very least you’ll get is a chance to drink cocktails in a tiki lounge. When was the last time you did that, eh?

So, if you’re in London, help me help a mate out and turn up on the 2nd of April. You’ll have fun. I promise.

Fisting Chickens in the House of the Lord.

Posted on by Alasdair

Or, “they do things different in the country”. I would write my weekend up in depth, but feel that the preceeding two sentences sum it up quite well.

I am back from rural parts. It was ace. Thanks and etc. to all. Photos to come when I’m not mostly asleep, including documentary evidence of this post’s title.

Edit: Evidence.

If you’re ever in need of a weekend away, I can wholeheartedly recommend The Shaven Nun Badger Crown. Bloody good food, cracking beer, roaring fires, and lovely staff.

Politics: Pay Attention

Posted on by Alasdair

I’m sure a good number of you know about this already, but give the discussions of “V for Vendetta” recently, this is perhaps an appropriate time to flag this one up, just in case anyone has missed it:

The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill.

This is a bill that will, broadly, allow ministers to change the law without requiring the changes to be ratified by parliament. Students of history may remember that similar laws were passed in Germany in the 1930s. Now, it’s only fair to point out that this bill has a number of curbs in place, like for example, ensuring that any term of imprisonment resulting from crimes arising such change not exceed 2 years.

Shall we just look at that again?

Under this bill, it would be possible for a minister of the crown to criminalise almost anything they felt like, provided the sentence wasn’t greater than two years.

Is there anyone here not boggling at that?

And it can get worse, but I won’t ask you to take my word for it.

Just go and read one MP’s view of the subject.

I cannot urge you strongly enough to stop by WriteToThem.com and ask your MP to vote against this bill.

More design nonsense

Posted on by Alasdair

If anyone should happy to be feeling bored and creative, I could really do with tiny (20×20 pixels) icons to represent http://www.alasdair.biz and http://www.black-ink.org. And something in the same dimensions that says “Calendar”.

Usual beer and undying gratitude offered.

Interview with Alan Moore

Posted on by Alasdair

Further to that discussion on mr_tom‘s LJ the other day, here’s Moore himself talking about the films that have been made of his comics, and the ownership of various rights to his creations. Honestly, reading this interview pretty much convinces me not to go and see V, just because it’s all so basically fucking shabby.

An Old Mentalist Fragment

Posted on by Alasdair

I was reminded today that some time back, I took part in the 1000 journals project, and after a quick check, I discover that the long forgotten piece (written in about 15 minutes) is available on line. This is what I wrote, just so I’ve got a record of it:

It’s tipping it down, so naturally, the randomiser on the iPod threw up The Pogues “Rain Street” the minute I stepped out the door.

Do you believe in magic?

Loaded question. You can’t answer it properly until you’ve defined what magic is.

So, move towards definition. You can make yourself believe anything, according to Robert Anton Wilson, whose model of the human brain composed of “Thinker” and “Prover” doesn’t entirely convince, but offers a start point, and would suggest that there’s magic wherever you think there is, that consensus reality doesn’t matter.

He’d suggest that if you think something to be true you’ll encounter mountains of evidence in support. Your brain’ll prove what you feel. In evidence, he offers “23 skidoo”, the idea that if you convince yourself that the number 23 is important, you’ll soon find that your life is inextricably tied up with that number. It’ll show up everywhere. Important phone numbers, house addresses, restaurant bills, all on its own.

“Whatever the thinker thinks, the prover proves” is Wilson’s phrase. It’s both the heart of magic, and it’s biggest weakness. The suggested answer would be that magic only exists if you believe in it, and if you do, you’ll see magic everywhere. Against that, of course, one might easily point out that this engenders credulousness.

Perhaps the Art of magic is as much in sifting out pattern from random chance, in diving meaning from chaos, and still maintaining some semblance of healthy sketicism. Looking at it square on, that seems like the heart of magic – another filter on the world through might we may imbue any event with meaning, render it more significant. And if we give it more power, more impact, who’s to say it doesn’t have it? And if we’re lending something power, creating something from nothing, isn’t that magic?

Alasdair Watson
22/1/2003, in Journal 203

Points to anyone who find the slightly obvious hidden message.