Spiceworks - Spiceworld Poster Competition #5

This was my last entry as commitments outside of the webisphere would make it difficult for me to regularly contribute to the Spiceworks Community.

I chose a DOS command-line theme with a fictional Spiceworks executable with it's program switches listed.

It didn't take me long to produce and was only a half hearted attempt due to my previous entries not doing so well.

Spiceworld 2012 Poster Entry

Spiceworks - Spiceworld Poster Competition #4

2011 saw Spiceworks make the competition movie-themed, forcing entrants to narrow their design focus even more.

For mine I chose Escape From Alcatraz, with Clint trying to break into Spiceworld rather than escape ;) I put a network RJ45 socket on the wall to ram home the point!

It didn't win and I was a little gutted with this one as I thought it was quite clever… ah well, you win some, you lose loads (story of my life, particularly with online gaming).

Spiceworld 2011 Poster Entry

Spiceworks - Spiceworld Poster Competition #3

The 2010 entry found me playing with 3D, using Strata 3D.

Creating the pipes took ages, with me painstakingly adding sections and moving the camera views in order to create a tangle of piping, I added an orange tinged mist to give it an industrial feel. The dial was created in Illustrator and added as a texture in Strata.

Rendering went pretty quickly as I was using a Mac Pro with plenty of processing power, I added the water droplets afterwards in Photoshop. One thing that really bugs me with this one is that I didn't add droplets trickling down the pressure gauge's face, always wished that I'd had at the time.

Like the year before it got some 'wow' comments but didn't win...

Spiceworld 2010 Poster Entry

Spiceworks - Spiceworld Poster Competition #2

This entry is another abstract (I'm a fan of creating scenes and graphics myself rather than Googling an image and slapping it into a design), it's based on a Matrix-like theme, we had to put the sponsors in for this one.

I didn't win anything but it got a few up votes…

Spiceworld 2009 Poster Entry

Spiceworks - Spiceworld Poster Competition #1

For a few years I was a regular contributor in the Spiceworks Community, during that time, every year, they ran a poster competition to advertise their annual gathering which usually took place in their home city of Austin, Texas.

The first time I submitted an entry I was actually invited by Spiceworks themselves as one of their team had noticed that I had put 'Graphic Designer and IT Admin' in my user profile.

So I came up with a design and submitted it, it came second and I got some goodies off Spiceworks. For the next few years I continued to send in entries (will be shown in other posts).

This entry for 2008 is an abstract idea showing a rough outline of the state of Texas made from computer circuits. If anyone noticed (and probably didn't at the time), the spicy pepper graphic floats in a position approximately where the city of Austin is located in that state.

Spiceworld 2008

Ori and the Blind Forest

w00t! It's out on March 11, I've soo been looking forward to this game, I love detailed platformers with a quirkly playstyle - Plok (Nintendo 64), Another World, Flashback, the Rayman series, Abe's Odysee, Shadow Complex, Limbo and, recently, Unmechanical - I've played 'em all and had mixtures and fun and frustration doing so ;)

There's something eminently satisfying in completing a platformer that other game types haven't got. For instance, when I finished campaign mode in COD: Advanced Warfare I was 'ah well, that's that then' whereas when I completed Limbo I felt like going out and celebrating! I guess its the extra mile the devs put for you in the old grey matter department that makes it so satisfying.

Which is probably why I harbour such a deep recurring frustration over never completing Manic Minor.

Thumbsticks at the ready! Wait, is that a bear?

RIP Leonard Nimoy

He lived long and prospered...

He wasn't my favourite in Star Trek (had to be old Bill Shatner!) but I accepted he was an important part of it and I'll admit that I was bit emotional when Spock was killed off in Wrath of Khan and happy to see him return in ST III.

I know he did many other TV and film roles and should be recognised for those too but we all knew and loved him as the venerable Mr Spock, a role that, initially, he struggled to cope with outside of the TV series but over the years grew to accept.

The Star Trek universe will have a gaping black hole in it without him.

RIP Mr Spock, I'd be tempted to say 'May the force be with you'
But that'd be a bit wrong wouldnt it?!

Enjoy it while it lasts... wtf?!

Our chief of the Bank of England has said "Enjoy it while it lasts..." when commenting on low food and petrol prices.

That sounds downright condescending to me... oh you're okay Mr Carney with your fat banker's paycheck and ridiculously high bonuses, it's almost as if it pains you to see us stupid little poor people enjoy a brief period of financial relief.

And then to top that comment off one of his colleagues said that interest rates may rise 'sooner rather than later...'

Yeah lets rub it in on the peons shall we? Can't have them out of the red for too long can we? Must squeeze them for every penny they earn...

Live TV Debates

ITV have got the first of several live political debates between the party leaders for this election… so that means some debating may just break out between all the ad breaks.

I can't think of anything worse on TV to be honest - watching politicians waffle on... with ad breaks!

Oh no, hang on, reality TV, with ad breaks… that's worse.

A fresh start mobile-wise

Ho hum, a new contract and a new smart phone... took minutes to setup initially and half a day to get all my apps and logins working.

One thing I can't fathom though is that it lets me unlock it via the fingerprint id with my thumb yet when I set it up I used my forefinger... strange, perhaps my thumb and finger share the same prints? That or the touch id system is a bit shit...

Anyway here's to another 24 months of financial servitude...

Photoshop - 25 Years

It may be 25 years old today and the subject of great celebrations across the t'interwebs but it's annoyed the fuck out of me this morning, taking ages to save across a network connection, spinning beach ball of death appearing when I least want it and fucking defaulting to CMYK colour mode for new documents when I definitely don't want it forcing me to reproduce two files from scratch.

I won't be buying you a present Photoshop, you can fuck off.

Mars One

I think it's an absolutely brilliant idea and probably, in my opinion, the best use of the reality TV format yet. We humans, when we're not fighting each other, are natural pioneers and stuff like this is what gets us to places we wouldn't normally go… think of what Columbus and Marco Polo did.

Unfortunately it will probably fail for two reasons:

1. It won't have Z-list celebs having hissy fits on it, that'll put off all the chavs which subsequently won't bring in the viewing audiences the advertisers need and;

2. It will probably be covertly derailed by the American, Chinese, or Russian governments because they will want to put one of their astronauts on Mars first for political purposes

Shame really, ever since the Apollo missions stopped we've been in a red-tape rut where Nasa and others have spent the time messing about with near earth orbit projects because they're easier and cheaper, I know that they've put robots aplenty on Mars but it's just not the same! We want to see humans there, and not only Mars but all the other pieces of rock in our solar system, once that starts happening technology developments will increase exponentially. As tech companies ramp up their research into making space travel better so the 'filter down effect' will improve the technology we use daily, think what Formula One has done for the car industry over the years.

We need to get on with exploring space, and quickly, before President Putin fucks it all up and drags us into a nuclear-armed conflict.

This is why Mars One must succeed, it'll give everyone the kick up the arse they need to get us off out into space and start colonising worlds.

So ends my ha'penny's worth ;)

SETI Plans to Reverse the Charges ;p

Plan to broadcast messages to alien worlds leaves cosmologists worrying

Have any of them even SEEN Battleship yet?!

I think they left a window open?

Birmingham 'safe' despite parent firm calling in receivers

Now this is what really fucking annoys me about what's happening in English football, one of our oldest clubs is threatened because they're owned by dodgy foreign investors. They couldn't give two shits about the club itself, just the prestige of owning a professional football club yet and that's happening all over our two top leagues!

Then there's the matter of £5 billion spent on broadcast rights for the Premiership, a great day for estate agents, football agents and car dealerships, same old day for grass-roots English football, i.e. they'll see fuck all.

A Cricketing Wake Up Call?

Moeen Ali admits England were given a wake-up call by defeat to Australia

You mean a wake-up call realising that they're shit at Cricket?

Conan the Destroyer

Just been watching Conan the Destroyer ...

Ahh Grace Jones, mad as a box of frogs but probably great fun on a night out. I think she'd be in my top ten list of celebs I'd like to have a few beers with. Arnie too :)

Brain Blasterz

I have just eaten one of these sweets…

Warning… may contain dark matter?!

…and it felt like my taste-buds were stripped from my mouth, raked over broken glass, stamped on, killed with fire then reinserted with a blunt, rusty implement. This one was Blueberry flavour apparently but that's in name only to be honest, the flavour didn't matter, it could be dog shit flavour for all I care, it's senseless raping of one of my senses is all that mattered!

and it was such a small sweet too, barely the size of my thumbnail.

Fifty Shades of pr0n smashes opening box office records…?

I can't believe that happened, are there THAT many pervs out there?

It's just a film adaptation of a book with loads of shagging in it, amateur porn is probably better, with more shagging… and you don't have to spend a small fortune on a cinema ticket and a bucket of popcorn.

I can see the Oscars - "and now the award for the best cock goes to…"

Mascot Race at the Ricoh Arena

During half-time at the Wasps v Harlequins game yesterday, which Wasps won 37-6, they decided to have the sports mascots from the local area race against each other. The mascots were Sting (Wasps), Wilbur (Warwick Races) and Sky Blue Sam (Coventry City FC)…

Sting won… by a mile ;p

Fawlty Towers - a cure for depression

I'd just like to personally say a big thank you to John Cleese, Connie Boothe etc... a couple of episodes of Fawlty Towers have cheered me right up! :)

Om Nom...

Best. Snack. Ever …

Full of chocolaty peanuty goodness!

Train Fail...

Caught the wrong train home last night and found myself heading the wrong way, I was so engrossed in a book on my Kindle I didn't notice until I was several stations into the route so I got off at the next station as soon as I realised.

Fortunately the rail route I was on wasn't going in the opposite direction but more of a 'fork' away from the rail route I was supposed to be on so I had the option of a long but do-able walk home however I didn't for two reasons: I couldn't be arsed and my smartphone maps app failed me displaying a message saying: "Couldn't load route information at the moment"

So I steeled myself, took a deep breath, did a few 'woosah's' to calm my anger, crossed to the other platform and waited for a train back the way I came… it's interesting that when you find yourself in this situation the Law of Sod becomes rife, enter's centre stage and takes great delight at flicking you in the forehead annoyingly whilst throwing inconveniences at you left right and centre based on your current predicament.

For my current predicament I was out of position from my normal commute, miles from home, it was dark and I had to face heading back the way I came guaranteeing a tedious time-wasting trip, time that could have been spent getting my favourite meal from Subway and arriving home earlier. So what did the Law of Sod do? It made sure that all the trains on my platform were delayed, 'due to a slow running previous service' and not only that, the next train wasn't stopping at any stations other than the one that I originally started from which meant that I had to go all the way back to the city.

I blame the Law of Sod because I catch trains every day and I'm lucky that the train services I use are good, they rarely get delayed so the probability of what happened above could only be from Law of Sod's divine intervention.

Anyway after waiting longer than I wanted to I got the train back,  then got the correct train home… Law of Sod must have gone to sleep then because I didn't have to queue to get my Subway meal ;)

Fifty Shades of pr0n

So the film adaptation Fifty Shades of Grey is out this weekend… a 'critically acclaimed international phenomenon'… wtf?!

My advice to everyone is to save your money, download some proper porn and watch that instead.

The price I pay for a night out...

So I went out Friday night to watch this year's Six Nations opener - Wales v England.

I don't get out much these days so when I do, I treat them as special and look to enjoy myself as much as possible, clearly the gods (if any) had other plans for my enjoyment.

Firstly the ATM I went to get cash out of threw a wobbler, turned itself off and retained my card so I had to spend 15 minutes on the phone to the bank, freezing my nuts off whilst I waited for them to confirm that the card had been cancelled and a new one ordered. Then, at the end of the night (most of which was spent cadging beers off the others due to not having much cash on me), I get some food from our local chippy which has had me almost permanently sat on the bog for most of the weekend.

Dodgy ATMs and food poisoning, it's no wonder I don't go out...

Oh and on a side note - why the hell don't people dance anymore? I was the only one on the dancefloor strutting my stuff whilst everyone else stood around looking miserable, and we were in an Irish pub so it's not like it was full of Welsh fans?!

A cure for the common cold?

British scientists have published a theory on a way to cure the common cold... from what I can gather it involves meddling with the virus at a genetic level, which will force it to adapt by mutating and the more we fiddle, the more it mutates... and then?

Zombie apocalypse!

Braiins!

Auntie Beeb looses The Open

So the BBC have lost out to Sky for coverage of The Open Golf Championship, ending a 60-year coverage relationship.

I don't play Golf or watch it much but I respect it's traditions and importance in the world as a sport, and with that in mind surely it needs as many people watching it as possible? They won't get that if Sky shows it, not everyone has a subscription… but pretty much everyone has a TV Licence. The Beeb also has Peter Alliss, his Golf commentary is legendary (and it's very relaxing to listen to).

Clearly, the people running The Open are only interested in the money… oh well, another one lost to free-to-air TV.

A big bogey for the Beeb then

Windows XP & Windows 10

I downloaded the technical preview of Windows 10 earlier on and ran it in a VM, then I loaded Windows XP, put the two next to each other on my Mac's desktop and made a screenshot so you can see what a difference 11 years makes ;)

To be honest I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about with Windows 8, I've been using Windows since Windows 95 and I didn't have a problem with the Start Menu gone… I guess some people are stuck in their ways.

Windows XP and Windows 10

Anyways, the Start Menu and has come a looong way!

Lookey Likey!

Whilst watching the film Serenity the other day it occurred to me that Summer Glau could be Sigourney Weaver's love child…

Of course both actresses get to play sic fi characters that kick ass too… plus Aliens and Serenity are two favourites of mine… so goes the inner workings of my mind.

Magical Powers

If I had magical powers I wouldn't use them to give myself a million pounds or make myself invisible so I could perv at women, I'd use them to solve small everyday annoyances.

Like when one of the printers I use at work output's a customer's prints at really crappy quality I could just stare at it to make them better or if the colours were off, I'd imagine them to be correct and they'd change. Or when my Sky HD box doesn't update it's planner, I'd speak some sort of spell and it'd sort itself out.

Those are just two examples that would've saved me so much grief and loads of time, enabling me to get on with my fucking life... and it wouldn't have affected other people either. In fact, pretty much all the little things I'd solve with magic would help me with a stress-free life and a guaranteed positive experience for everyone else.