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Congratulations…

…to my sister and her now husband (yet another backdated post but this was the day/time they got married).

And a good day was had by all I must add, although I think it would be best to leave it quite a while before I decide I’m going to drink white wine, cider, rum and rose wine all in the same evening and in much larger quantities than is sensible for any man. It was also a great excuse to try out the camera I got for my birthday, my favourite picture of the day (taken by my cousin), is where every single member of my immediate family is looking in a different direction, with only me and my niece looking at the camera, I think it’s an accurate portrayal.

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…3…2…1……30!

I hit thirty today (and when I say hit I mean hit, boy that smarts).
Not much to else to say on the subject other than, c’mon boffins hurry up with that damn nanotech anti-ageing treatment, till then I guess I’d best start to exercise and treat my liver with a bit more respect. Hmm, don’t want to seem like I don’t trust them though, maybe I’ll give the boffins another 5 or 10 years first.

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R.I.P. Ringo

I’ve been neglecting this blog for a while now, and thought I’d start trying to make regular posts again, and ease myself back in by adding a few back-dated posts of some of the things that really should have been mentioned when they happened.

The most obvious one is that Mike Wieringo died of a heart attack at his home in Durham, North Carolina, at age 44. I used to regularly check his blog to see some of his almost daily warm up sketches and to read his commentary on life as a comics artist, and have a large number of the UK reprints of his and Mark Waids run on the “Fantastic Four”.

He seemed like a genuinely nice bloke, and I don’t think I’ve ever read a bad word said about him by anyone on-line, which is surely a mark of his character for a successful artist in a competitive industry. His brother and best friend are working with his web-hosts to keep his site active and just as he left it, and it’s certainly worth a visit if you’ve never been there before and a revisit if you have.

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New Job!

Well after 6 months of ‘actively seeking work’ interspersed with some freelancing jobs I’ve just started a new full time job as a Junior Web Developer, hooray for me 😀 . It means some of my other extra-curricular projects (planned flash games, sculptures, t-shirt designs, re-designing and building my own websites, CG models and animations, starting to keep fit, etc., etc.) are going to suffer whilst I re-adjust to a normal working week, but hopefully in the not too distant future I’ll be kicking the internet’s ass during the day and belting out some more artistic projects in the evenings (either that or watching tv 😛 ).

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100 Year Old Fish!

Blimey, the world doesn’t get any less weird (which of course is a good thing, more weirdness I say).

The age of the fish was determined by removing an ear bone, known as the otolith, which contains growth rings similar to those in tree trunks.

The estimated age was between 90 and 115 years old

Full Story

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For Sale

I’ve decided to sell my Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC if anyone is interested in owning it (one careful driver).

It’s a great machine, 2ghz processor, 1 gb ram and an 80 gb Hard Drive it’s comparable to some peoples desktop machines, with the added benefit of the wacom digitizer built into the screen so you can draw (512 levels of pressure sensitivity) write (built in hand-writing recognition) and even dictate to it (built in voice recognition).

I wasn’t using it to it’s full potential even with the Multi-Dock docking station I have for it (included for free in the sale), allowing you to use it like a monitor with a separate mouse and keyboard whilst still using the pen on the screen, either in upright portrait or landscape, or flat on your desk/lap and so thought as it’s still under a year old someone else would get better use out of it than me.

It’s already listed on the dreaded eBay Toshiba Tecra M4

To see one actually being used to it’s full potential check out the previously mentioned tutorial video’s by Onezumi HERE

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Canyon Shooter

I gave myself the challenge of creating an entire game demo in flash, including simple 3D models built in 3DS Max and rendered off for in-game graphics over a weekend and this is the result.

Canyon Shooter

Let me know if it’s too easy/too hard and if anyone would like me to continue the project and turn it into a full game.

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Real life Jekyll and Hyde?

A quiet night’s sleep is not an option for Derek Rogers or his wife – because he turns from a mild-mannered “Dr Jekyll” by day to a “Mr Hyde” by night.

First time I’ve heard of someone having to take a potion before going to bed to stop them, becoming ‘Hyde’-like

Full Story Here

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Blue Peter Scandal

Now if any more proof was needed to illustrate the decline of children’s TV in the UK, other than just trying to watch 5 minutes or more of it (there is the occasional good cartoon, but they are almost always imported), look no further than the following news story.

The hosts of BBC children’s programme Blue Peter have apologised to viewers after the results of a competition were faked last November.

Premium phone line regulator Icstis is investigating the incident, which was discovered when another visitor to the programme set, Mona Zahoor, wrote to the BBC’s Have Your Say messageboard.

It’s a sad state of affairs when a show with over 4000 episodes under it’s belt and nearing it’s 50th anniversary is found to be an out and out liar, makes you wonder how many other things they’ve lied to us about over the years, was that even a real elephant doing it’s ‘business’ live on air?, and how exactly did all of those pets die?!

Full story here