Happenings

Squatters

Via Simon Willison comes a link to a religious tract called “Squatters”.

Wow.

I’m totally awed by this strip (in the sense that it is mind-numbingly shocking). It’s like catching your boss fuck a carrot on your lunch break. Words can’t describe it. Featuring Vatican conspiraces, evil arabs, World War 3 and other insanity. Nuts.

Chupacabra, Eskiv And Sealab

Random links. Far too many for a single post, so expect more tomorrow. Today is the usual mix of games, stories, CSS and other such stuff:

  • Radio Shark – An AM/FM radio device that connects to PC and macs to provide time-shifting and recording functionality.
  • English Pronunciation – The many problems apparent in trying to do proper text to speech in English underlined here.
  • Mobile Atom – Makes J2ME devices become Atom enabled.
  • Princess – Short cartoon from the Matt Stone and Trey Parker (of South Park fame). Not work safe.
  • 12 Steps To Better Code – All sound steps if you work in a corporate environment.
  • Variable Resolution Layout – Interesting way of giving different screen resolutions different layouts. Not just resized, but more appropriate layouts.
  • PHP 5 object references – Differences in the way objects are referenced between 4 and 5. Vital reading for anyone doing serious development.
  • Reverse – Irritating flash game where you have to move a cursor from one end of a course to the other. There is, of course, a catch.
  • Opera Supports XMLHttpRequest – Expect to see a lot more sites using this feature over the coming year, now that the major browsers all have support in some way.
  • Tarantino and Takashi – Apparently, Quentin Tarantion has given Miike Takashi permission to do a Kill Bill side story. Not as a film though.
  • CSS Properties – An index of all CSS 2.1 properties. Handy.
  • Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Game – The HHGTTG text adventure game now on the BBC website.
  • Face To URL – We should all put a face to our sites. Not entirely convinced, but might do it later.
  • Sealab Interview – Interesting interview with the creator of Sealab 2021.
  • Eskiv – A flash game somewhat like snake and Jezball.
  • Metadata For The Masses – Absolutely agree with this. Tagging is the way forward for categorisation.
  • If Architects Had To Work Like Web Designers – Amusing.
  • Zombie 3 – The 3rd iteration of the zombie simulation. Now a java game where you have to kill the zombies, but keep humans alive.
  • Comple Guide To Isometric Pixel Art – Learn how to draw pixel art in Paint.
  • DVD Hacks – Exactly what it claims to be.
  • New Ed Wood Film – The once thought lost hardcore copy of Necromania has resurfaced and is being released.
  • Pixies Interview – An interview with The Pixies.
  • Chupacabra – Everyone’s favourite Mexican goat eating demon.
  • Google IM – Speculation that Google will hit the IM market next.
  • Onchange Dropdown menu – Javascript widget to make more accessible and intuitive dropdown menus.
  • Crazy Train – And finally, an amusing tale of zealots being ridiculed on the subway.

More tomorrow.

Bush Wins

The election is over. Kerry has conceded, Bush has won. There was no fiasco this time. Bush got the electoral vote, and the popular vote. Another 4 years of not ratifying pre-arranged treaties, ignoring others fixed years ago and generally screwing over the world.

America you did it to yourself. The rest of us just happen to be in the way.

Not Halloween Styled

I was going to put up a temporary Halloween theme tomorrow, but I’m rather busy so I haven’t had a chance to do it properly. The header was going to be along these lines:

Halloween Solitude Header

That was just a quick mock-up I got started, hence the really poor font choice. It’s the best I’m going to manage this year, so enjoy. (Also, posting this helps my effort to get more images on this site).

Oldboy

Korean cinema has been getting more interesting recently (or maybe it’s just getting more attention). Oldboy continues the trend of minimal dialogue, highly stylised Asian cinema with something to say.

The story is decent: a man is kidnapped and left in solitary imprisonment for 15 years. Waking up on a rooftop, he begins the search for revenge and the reasons behind his incarceration.

It’s got the style, it’s got a fairly solid plot, direction is not at fault. There are faults though. The hypnosis sub-plot was entirely unnecessary and could have been handled through less jarring means. The pacing was sloppy towards the end; the film should have ended before the final scene (cutting out when the elevator doors close). Apart from that though, a good film. Certainly worth your time.