So, yes, the London Expo. On a Sunday, for a change.
It all got off to a rather slow start, thanks to traffic, but my usual partner in crime and I got there in the end. And, as seems to be the case every time we head to one of these things on a Sunday, it was a vastly more civilised affair than the Saturdays tend to be.
So here's the thing, London Expo: I can see you're trying. I can see that you're changing things around, improving the layouts, actually using more of the hall, rather than cordoning off half of it so the place seems more densely packed with cool stuff. I can see that you're altering the ratio of "what's on show" to "what's on sale" every time... but you're still not quite getting it right.
I really appreciated that the walkways were far wider than they have been, and that the retail section was basically clubbed together along the front, so that the tenderhearted newbie can stay near the exit while they shop and, perchance, explore the heady worlds of videogames, tabletop RPGs, CCGs, anime, cosplay, and celebrity guests. The programme was well formatted, rather than the frequently jumbled efforts of the past.
Perhaps, though, there should have been a bit more on the retail side? There was just barely enough variety, but really not the quantity or quality that I would expect from an end-of-year show. The usual suspects were there - Gundam Nation, Genki Gear, Retro GT, the folks with all the swords - and a good few stalls had a selection of TransFormers in their miscellany. TokyoToys seem to occupy more floorspace every time they appear, but they do have plenty to offer.
The cosplay was a mixed bag, as it always is... Some of the costumes are excellent, others would benefit from a little more time and attention... Some of the cosplayers could do with learning to sew their own costumes, rather than making do with the off-the-rack stuff.
Celebrities were there, and panels were being run throughout the day for the likes of Eureka and Warehouse 13... and the stages were placed logically enough that - hopefully - the impact of the queues was not as heavy and intrusive as the last time I tried to get into one of the panels at a London Expo.
But, let's face it, I was there for the retail element and, while there wasn't a great deal of particular interest to me, I did get some TransFormers - Human Alliance Jazz, Deluxe-sized Darkmount, Elita-1 and Hailstorm - a couple of Genki T-shirts (one for my baby niece), and an artbook for Capcom's Monster Hunter games, from Otaku Publishing (putting in a very rare but very welcome appearance). Quite a modest haul, by my standards, and I was genuinely tempted by the repainted/remolded Armada Unicron and Cybertron Primus, both very reasonably priced on one stall (£120 and £100, respectively, if I remember correctly), but I do have the originals of both... and I didn't have the cash on me.
Or the space at home, frankly.
Still, it was good fun... quieter than a Saturday, with much more room to walk around and browse property... Maybe Sunday is the better day, on average... but I do always wonder what I missed out on buying on the preceding day/days.
Sunday 31 October 2010
2 Rounds of Shopping, 2 Lunches out, 2 Home-Cooked Meals
My sister came down from Swindon on Friday, and we met up for lunch and shopping in Covent Garden. The reasoning behind this decidedly odd choice of locale was that StoneGinger Designs have a stall there three days a week. My sister had happened upon them and was intrigued by the prospect of a bespoke carving as a birthday present for our mother. It seemed like a good idea to me, too, so we decided to go halves on a large carving.
Our first port of call, though, since we were meeting at lunchtime, was a restaurant called Maxwell's, right near the station. It seems to have opened quite recently, as they were handing out flyers last time I was in the area. We were seated immediately, and service was actually very swift, considering we had arrived around 1.30, and the place was already busy. By the time we left, however, there was a long queue outside. The food was excellent, and we had a brilliant waiter who clearly knew what he was talking about, enough to joke with my sister about the way a swordfish would be served, and make recommendations on the desserts.
Bellies full, our search for the sculptor's stall began... and, since we hadn't exactly confirmed the precise whereabouts of the stall, we ended up pottering about entirely the wrong market before stumbling upon the right one inside the central structure of Covent Garden. Around this time, I realised I'd forgotten the bag I'd brought with me, containing six cookies for my sister to take back to our folks, and a bottle of Mojito mix my boss had bought me. I dashed back to the restaurant (I had put the bag down by my feet under the table) and announced to the waitress at the door that I'd had lunch there a short while ago, and stupidly left a shopping bag under the table. She asked me what kind of bag it was and, upon confirmation that it was a reusable plastic supermarket shopping bag, she retrieved it from behind the front desk. Phew.
I dashed back to the stall, and initially thought my sister had wandered off but, thankfully, she had just been obscured by other, taller folks until I got in close.
When we first arrived at the stall, we had both been struck by a particular carving - a 50cm tall hanging carving of a blue dragon - possibly water-based, because it seemed to have fins rather than wings or legs. Since it was within our price range, we snapped it up, and considered ourselves very lucky that there was a dragon on show at all - while my sister had dropped the sculptor an email requesting to see any dragon-type carvings in our price range, the email had not been received. The sculptor said she'd have to have words with her email provider, since she pays for that service...
After that, the main reason for our shopping trip fulfilled, we set about browsing, first in Covent Garden, then into Seven Dials (my sister commenting at one point that it was like walking through Diagon Alley... it took me a minute or two to guess that she was making a Harry Potter reference) and on to Forbidden Planet. The Tron Legacy toys were pretty cool... but their selection of TransFormers was exactly what I'd expect to see in any toyshop. We had a quick spin in the book/comic/DVD section downstairs, before my sister realised it was getting late, and that we should probably head home.
So late was it, that I figured I should follow her to our parents' house, rather than attempting to get home and deposit our mother's birthday present before joining them all for dinner. I sneakily hung up the shopping bag underneath my raincoat, so as not to draw attention.
And since we didn't buy any wrapping or Christmas presents, as had been the original plan, we popped over to Brent Cross yesterday. Again, we had lunch first - Pizza Hut, where I was somewhat disappointed by the alleged blue cheese and portobello mushroom pizza and the fact that we had three different waiters during the course of our meal. Just like the Friday, the queues were longer by the time we left - some were already quite long when we first arrived, though Pizza Hut's was nonexistant until we'd nearly finished out meal.
The shopping itself was only mildly successful. I picked up a couple of DVDs that might become Christmas presents if nothing better turns up. My sister got some wrapping paper, and we saw a few things we might buy as Christmas presents, but most likely closer to the time - now is a little bit too early if we buy clothes, and it turns out our mother doesn't like them.
I had another dinner at my folks' place, collected up a few nicknacks, then headed back home. I may be going to the London Expo today... Just waiting on confirmation from the friend who's doing the driving...
Our first port of call, though, since we were meeting at lunchtime, was a restaurant called Maxwell's, right near the station. It seems to have opened quite recently, as they were handing out flyers last time I was in the area. We were seated immediately, and service was actually very swift, considering we had arrived around 1.30, and the place was already busy. By the time we left, however, there was a long queue outside. The food was excellent, and we had a brilliant waiter who clearly knew what he was talking about, enough to joke with my sister about the way a swordfish would be served, and make recommendations on the desserts.
Bellies full, our search for the sculptor's stall began... and, since we hadn't exactly confirmed the precise whereabouts of the stall, we ended up pottering about entirely the wrong market before stumbling upon the right one inside the central structure of Covent Garden. Around this time, I realised I'd forgotten the bag I'd brought with me, containing six cookies for my sister to take back to our folks, and a bottle of Mojito mix my boss had bought me. I dashed back to the restaurant (I had put the bag down by my feet under the table) and announced to the waitress at the door that I'd had lunch there a short while ago, and stupidly left a shopping bag under the table. She asked me what kind of bag it was and, upon confirmation that it was a reusable plastic supermarket shopping bag, she retrieved it from behind the front desk. Phew.
I dashed back to the stall, and initially thought my sister had wandered off but, thankfully, she had just been obscured by other, taller folks until I got in close.
When we first arrived at the stall, we had both been struck by a particular carving - a 50cm tall hanging carving of a blue dragon - possibly water-based, because it seemed to have fins rather than wings or legs. Since it was within our price range, we snapped it up, and considered ourselves very lucky that there was a dragon on show at all - while my sister had dropped the sculptor an email requesting to see any dragon-type carvings in our price range, the email had not been received. The sculptor said she'd have to have words with her email provider, since she pays for that service...
After that, the main reason for our shopping trip fulfilled, we set about browsing, first in Covent Garden, then into Seven Dials (my sister commenting at one point that it was like walking through Diagon Alley... it took me a minute or two to guess that she was making a Harry Potter reference) and on to Forbidden Planet. The Tron Legacy toys were pretty cool... but their selection of TransFormers was exactly what I'd expect to see in any toyshop. We had a quick spin in the book/comic/DVD section downstairs, before my sister realised it was getting late, and that we should probably head home.
So late was it, that I figured I should follow her to our parents' house, rather than attempting to get home and deposit our mother's birthday present before joining them all for dinner. I sneakily hung up the shopping bag underneath my raincoat, so as not to draw attention.
And since we didn't buy any wrapping or Christmas presents, as had been the original plan, we popped over to Brent Cross yesterday. Again, we had lunch first - Pizza Hut, where I was somewhat disappointed by the alleged blue cheese and portobello mushroom pizza and the fact that we had three different waiters during the course of our meal. Just like the Friday, the queues were longer by the time we left - some were already quite long when we first arrived, though Pizza Hut's was nonexistant until we'd nearly finished out meal.
The shopping itself was only mildly successful. I picked up a couple of DVDs that might become Christmas presents if nothing better turns up. My sister got some wrapping paper, and we saw a few things we might buy as Christmas presents, but most likely closer to the time - now is a little bit too early if we buy clothes, and it turns out our mother doesn't like them.
I had another dinner at my folks' place, collected up a few nicknacks, then headed back home. I may be going to the London Expo today... Just waiting on confirmation from the friend who's doing the driving...
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Spooky
Work was, frankly, a bit crap today. In theory, it should have been a simple case of tidying up the remaining ads on a magazine that was virtually finished yesterday.
In theory.
In actual fact, the magazine wasn't finished till after 5.30 because of numerous instances of copy going missing, late-sold clients not being chased by their reps, and far too many piddling little changes to the overcomplicated sales features.
I was sat around doing more or less nothing for a good chunk of the day, which had the usual effect of driving me stir-crazy. I even tried getting up to date on my magazine backups, only to find one of our idiotic Temps has regularly been saving ASCII-encoded EPS files, despite having been provided notes on how to save them properly. I'd swear he was doing it deliberately. The upshot is that a magazine that might take up three quarters of a DVD in an average month now requires 2 DVDs, or a huge amount of time spent resaving the ASCII-encoded images as something vaguely sensible.
We did have a visit from the JobCentre Plus today, for those of us being made redundant in December... it was reasonably informative, if rather poorly presented by a woman who initially seemed put out that there were fewer folks in the presentation than she had been expecting (largely down to absences due to illness or skiving), and who came 'prepared' with hand written 'notes' from which she basically read her entire presentation. The Job Centre, we were told, has improved immeasureably since any of us were last in there... Except that the 'improvements' sounded more like costcutting. Gone are the job boards (from which I gingerly plucked my very first job, at the tender age of 19), replaced by internet-enabled consoles with job listings (very much a case of po-tay-to, high-tech-po-tah-to, if you ask me). Gone are the queues, allegedly... but all because you are required to call to book an appointment, rather than just turning up. And if you do just turn up, you're directed to a phone, through which you can... call to book an appointment.
I came out of the presentation wondering why anyone would bother with the JobCentre Plus. If you have the whole of the interwebs available to you, why jump through their hoops?
After work, I popped uptown with a friend to sample the delights of the Ghost Bus Tour (go on, say it quickly). Initially worried that it would commence very late due to terrible uptown traffic, we found the experience interesting and engaging... if a little unsophisticated. It was probably better than the similar, on-foot tour I did in Edinburgh many years ago, but largely because of the clever setting (aboard a London Necrobus), the performance of the conductor and the Ring-influenced look of the Health & Safety inspector, who caused merry hell at crucial points of the journey. The mock seance at the end might not be to everyone's taste, but it was a fun experience from start to finish.
In theory.
In actual fact, the magazine wasn't finished till after 5.30 because of numerous instances of copy going missing, late-sold clients not being chased by their reps, and far too many piddling little changes to the overcomplicated sales features.
I was sat around doing more or less nothing for a good chunk of the day, which had the usual effect of driving me stir-crazy. I even tried getting up to date on my magazine backups, only to find one of our idiotic Temps has regularly been saving ASCII-encoded EPS files, despite having been provided notes on how to save them properly. I'd swear he was doing it deliberately. The upshot is that a magazine that might take up three quarters of a DVD in an average month now requires 2 DVDs, or a huge amount of time spent resaving the ASCII-encoded images as something vaguely sensible.
We did have a visit from the JobCentre Plus today, for those of us being made redundant in December... it was reasonably informative, if rather poorly presented by a woman who initially seemed put out that there were fewer folks in the presentation than she had been expecting (largely down to absences due to illness or skiving), and who came 'prepared' with hand written 'notes' from which she basically read her entire presentation. The Job Centre, we were told, has improved immeasureably since any of us were last in there... Except that the 'improvements' sounded more like costcutting. Gone are the job boards (from which I gingerly plucked my very first job, at the tender age of 19), replaced by internet-enabled consoles with job listings (very much a case of po-tay-to, high-tech-po-tah-to, if you ask me). Gone are the queues, allegedly... but all because you are required to call to book an appointment, rather than just turning up. And if you do just turn up, you're directed to a phone, through which you can... call to book an appointment.
I came out of the presentation wondering why anyone would bother with the JobCentre Plus. If you have the whole of the interwebs available to you, why jump through their hoops?
After work, I popped uptown with a friend to sample the delights of the Ghost Bus Tour (go on, say it quickly). Initially worried that it would commence very late due to terrible uptown traffic, we found the experience interesting and engaging... if a little unsophisticated. It was probably better than the similar, on-foot tour I did in Edinburgh many years ago, but largely because of the clever setting (aboard a London Necrobus), the performance of the conductor and the Ring-influenced look of the Health & Safety inspector, who caused merry hell at crucial points of the journey. The mock seance at the end might not be to everyone's taste, but it was a fun experience from start to finish.
Monday 25 October 2010
Forgot to mention...
During this last week, I had a truly bizarre dream which involved, at one point, riding a bicycle through some rather hilly area of suburbia, and racing Wil Wheaton along the way.
Bear in mind that, until recently seeing him as the villain in a particularly weird episode of Criminal Minds (think Vacancy, and you won't be far wrong) the last I'd heard of Mr Wheaton was his appearance in the second and third seasons of Penny Arcade's D&D4E podcast... Why on Earth would my subconsious throw up the image of me racing with him on bicycles?
In other news, RED was pretty cool... I'm sure I'd read that it was based upon a DC Comics property, but I'd forgotten that until their logo flashed up on screen. It reminded me in some ways of A History of Violence, only the story was better. It could have done with being a bit more fleshed out but, already running to around 2 hours, they probably felt it best to keep it simple.
Also, I'm really having trouble with my boiler now... it's losing pressure inside of a day. Time to call in an engineer, I believe.
Bear in mind that, until recently seeing him as the villain in a particularly weird episode of Criminal Minds (think Vacancy, and you won't be far wrong) the last I'd heard of Mr Wheaton was his appearance in the second and third seasons of Penny Arcade's D&D4E podcast... Why on Earth would my subconsious throw up the image of me racing with him on bicycles?
In other news, RED was pretty cool... I'm sure I'd read that it was based upon a DC Comics property, but I'd forgotten that until their logo flashed up on screen. It reminded me in some ways of A History of Violence, only the story was better. It could have done with being a bit more fleshed out but, already running to around 2 hours, they probably felt it best to keep it simple.
Also, I'm really having trouble with my boiler now... it's losing pressure inside of a day. Time to call in an engineer, I believe.
Saturday 23 October 2010
Sunsets of all kinds
I had to snap this picture as soon as I caught sight of this sunset. Now the nights are drawing in, the sun is moving in a much shallower arc across the sky, and consequently sets very conveniently around this location for the next couple of weeks. This effect lasted only a couple of minutes, thanks to an incoming shower which quickly became a downpour. There's now no sign of the sun apart from a pinkish tinge to the grey clouds right at the horizon. Not even 6pm as I write, and it's about to get dark...
Didn't get up to much today, thanks to being very tired after an incredibly busy week. It shouldn't have been as bad as it was, but with all the veteran Copy Controllers off either on holiday or sick, our best Copy Controller in the office has only been working there for two weeks. That's not quite long enough to prepare for the 300-odd page behemoth we had to get to Press on Thursday.
Thankfully, even though my boss was out of the office that afternoon due to family matters, she was able to make the call I was too pig-headed to make: She contacted the Printers, and asked for an extension into Friday. I was convinced, right up till the last minute, that we'd be able to finish... but I was wrong. We were in a good state, but not good enough... and, for reasons beyond my control ('upgrades' to the Printers' file delivery system), we wouldn't have been able to finish uploading the magazine even if we had everything ready to send.
Friday, therefore, should have been a quick tidyup, having got ourselves into such a good position... but this was not to be. The 'upgrades' and their bizarre effects continued throughout the day to such an extent that, while the magazine was effectively finished around lunchtime, it was not all loaded and signed off till closer to 5pm. At the point of completion, I announced "Ladies and Gentleman... Leviathan has fallen. [The magazine] is done."
This should, in theory, be the last crazy month of the year, as next week was the schedule's October dead week. Following this, we are back to the normal schedule for November and December. Considering this month was supposed to be far busier than it was, I think we got off lightly - it was hardly the time to be bedding in new staff. On the other hand, if this month was supposed to be busier... I dread to think how slow and small my last couple of each magazine will be. Certainly, in one case, we lost money publishing a magazine this month... It may well be that we'll be saying goodbye to at least one title before we're made redundant.
I got up quite early today but, mid-afternoon, having restocked my freezer and had some lunch, I sat down to watch Confucius on DVD, and started feeling drowsy half way through. It's a slow movie, but really not that slow. Figuring that it was a sign that I should probably get a bit more sleep, I went back to bed for an hour or so.
Tomorrow, I shall be off to see RED with my old mate Paul... Looks like it'll be a lot of fun.
Monday 18 October 2010
Down on the Upside
I popped into Uxbridge yesterday for a bit of shopping - there are DVDs and Wii games I've been meaning to pick up for quite a while (awaiting release dates in some cases), and I also felt like bolstering my wardrobe, having recently collected a bunch of clothes with the intention of getting rid of them one way or another.
Clothes came first and, considering the pile of mostly red laundry I have that's not quite big enough to be worth washing yet, I figured I'd buy a bunch more in red. I picked up a smart shirt, a comfy, thick shirt and a cool, fun shirt in varying degrees of redness, then a kind of t-shirt that tries to pretend it's two t-shirts, with buttons on the 'top' one that are sewn in place and do not function. I may well wear some of it to work tomorrow...
In the line of DVDs, I finally picked up Juno, having seen it on TV recently and been reduced to a blubbering - but happy - wreck by the denouement, and it was only £3. I further nabbed both Kick Ass and Confucious (who could resist Chow Yun-Fat portraying the Chinese philosopher?) which were on kinda-special, new-ish-release offer. Then I picked up Triangle (I felt the need for some horror in my weekend and, while I was intrigued by the trailer, I missed it in the cinema). By sheer chance, I saw the DVD release of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal, a TV movie/miniseries based on the eponymous book (far superior to The Colour of Magic, and at least on a par with Hogfather). Then I tripped over to the Disney section, where they were doing a 'buy one, get one free' offer. Tempting as it was to pick up everything (hey, I have a baby niece who needs to discover Disney sometime!), I made do with Up - which I missed in the cinema - and Bolt.
Up... is a real tear-jerker. I hear that one of my colleagues took his young son to see it, and both were crying by the end. I'm honestly not surprised - it caught me out not once but twice... the first time in the opening 11 minutes, with its incredibly well-judged (in the sense of manipulative) opening montage, charting the life of the protagonist. At the turning point in the movie - when he finally really reads the Adventure Book - it caught me again, stupidly off-guard. Damn, but those Pixar writers are good. In so many ways, Up is not a movie for kids - a huge chunk of it is far too mature, thematically... but then, the bulk of the movie is very much kiddy eyecandy, so I guess it all evens out.
Just remind me never to watch The Iron Giant, Voices of a Distant Star, Up and Juno on the same day.
Later on, as a form of therapy, I watched Triangle... which is also very well done... it's like Groundhog Day, only with far more blood and violence... And very definitely no happy ending. Possibly no ending. Of any kind.
For the Wii, I snagged Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions which, thusfar, although I haven't played it much, suggests I've avoided Spidey games for good reason. I'm not sure if it's the Wii controls or just me, but swinging around is proving quite complicated. There's also Capcom's Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes... which is proving interesting. While it's basically a run-and-fight game, there's a tactical element in that each area must be conquered by beating its general... but the enemy can regroup and reclaim areas you've previously held. Even the first level proved too sneaky for me on the first attempt... but I did get to the final boss, at least.
Yesterday, I popped over to my folks, and shared Going Postal with them - I was not surprised that my father didn't fall asleep. It was very well done, overall, though I did feel Richard Coyle was playing Moist Von Lipwig for Theatre, while everyone else was playing for Film. It has been suggested that this was intentional, as Von Lipwig is a showman... but it wasn't just his flourishes that seemed off-key, it was many little details of his performance. Relative newcomer Claire Foy as Adora Belle Dearheart was inspired casting, as she suited Pratchett's own description of the character perfectly (just as well as Michelle Dockery suited Susan Death, I'd say). David Suchet's villain was well played, and Charles Dance as the Patrician was very different from Jeremy Irons' portrayal in The Colour of Magic - certainly more menacing. I loved all the subtle movie references throughout - a Pratchett staple these days, it would seem - and the very brief cameo by Joan Hickson at the beginning got me thinking of an on-set, off-camera face off between Suchet's Poirot and Hickson's Marple. Shame Agatha Christie didn't get round to that...
Clothes came first and, considering the pile of mostly red laundry I have that's not quite big enough to be worth washing yet, I figured I'd buy a bunch more in red. I picked up a smart shirt, a comfy, thick shirt and a cool, fun shirt in varying degrees of redness, then a kind of t-shirt that tries to pretend it's two t-shirts, with buttons on the 'top' one that are sewn in place and do not function. I may well wear some of it to work tomorrow...
In the line of DVDs, I finally picked up Juno, having seen it on TV recently and been reduced to a blubbering - but happy - wreck by the denouement, and it was only £3. I further nabbed both Kick Ass and Confucious (who could resist Chow Yun-Fat portraying the Chinese philosopher?) which were on kinda-special, new-ish-release offer. Then I picked up Triangle (I felt the need for some horror in my weekend and, while I was intrigued by the trailer, I missed it in the cinema). By sheer chance, I saw the DVD release of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal, a TV movie/miniseries based on the eponymous book (far superior to The Colour of Magic, and at least on a par with Hogfather). Then I tripped over to the Disney section, where they were doing a 'buy one, get one free' offer. Tempting as it was to pick up everything (hey, I have a baby niece who needs to discover Disney sometime!), I made do with Up - which I missed in the cinema - and Bolt.
Up... is a real tear-jerker. I hear that one of my colleagues took his young son to see it, and both were crying by the end. I'm honestly not surprised - it caught me out not once but twice... the first time in the opening 11 minutes, with its incredibly well-judged (in the sense of manipulative) opening montage, charting the life of the protagonist. At the turning point in the movie - when he finally really reads the Adventure Book - it caught me again, stupidly off-guard. Damn, but those Pixar writers are good. In so many ways, Up is not a movie for kids - a huge chunk of it is far too mature, thematically... but then, the bulk of the movie is very much kiddy eyecandy, so I guess it all evens out.
Just remind me never to watch The Iron Giant, Voices of a Distant Star, Up and Juno on the same day.
Later on, as a form of therapy, I watched Triangle... which is also very well done... it's like Groundhog Day, only with far more blood and violence... And very definitely no happy ending. Possibly no ending. Of any kind.
For the Wii, I snagged Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions which, thusfar, although I haven't played it much, suggests I've avoided Spidey games for good reason. I'm not sure if it's the Wii controls or just me, but swinging around is proving quite complicated. There's also Capcom's Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes... which is proving interesting. While it's basically a run-and-fight game, there's a tactical element in that each area must be conquered by beating its general... but the enemy can regroup and reclaim areas you've previously held. Even the first level proved too sneaky for me on the first attempt... but I did get to the final boss, at least.
Yesterday, I popped over to my folks, and shared Going Postal with them - I was not surprised that my father didn't fall asleep. It was very well done, overall, though I did feel Richard Coyle was playing Moist Von Lipwig for Theatre, while everyone else was playing for Film. It has been suggested that this was intentional, as Von Lipwig is a showman... but it wasn't just his flourishes that seemed off-key, it was many little details of his performance. Relative newcomer Claire Foy as Adora Belle Dearheart was inspired casting, as she suited Pratchett's own description of the character perfectly (just as well as Michelle Dockery suited Susan Death, I'd say). David Suchet's villain was well played, and Charles Dance as the Patrician was very different from Jeremy Irons' portrayal in The Colour of Magic - certainly more menacing. I loved all the subtle movie references throughout - a Pratchett staple these days, it would seem - and the very brief cameo by Joan Hickson at the beginning got me thinking of an on-set, off-camera face off between Suchet's Poirot and Hickson's Marple. Shame Agatha Christie didn't get round to that...
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Ha! Suckers!
I haven't quite decided how I feel about this little epiphany, but the closer we come to the end of our tenure as a Production Department, the more I hear of the plans being concocted for next year, the less I am inclined to morn the impending loss of 'my' magazines.
More and more, I look at the three designers who chose to remain, who interviewed successfully for the three available positions as Editorial Designers across our portfolio of titles, and I feel sorry them... they have no idea what they've let themselves in for, or how much better off they'd have been if they'd just thought ahead and decided to clear out.
Their new boss cannot adequately manage his existing (Editorial) staff, and has absolutely no idea how to manage Designers and their time. Three Designers will be tackling the work previously done by six. Sure, they won't be designing advertisements as well, but most of the time - knowing the Editors - they'll have nothing to do... and then the Editors will complain that so little of their work has been laid out when it all arrives, in bulk, two days before Press because they're so fucking lazy, they can't be bothered to get it ready before then.
The Publishing Director wants to switch to three Press Days a month, effectively doubling the workload on any given Press Day, and ensuring that two Designers will have to stay late every time. I have not yet dared consider how the workload will be split between Press Days... but, frankly, the Editorial page counts are so low, even in the larger magazines, most of the work can easily be done in the last two days before Press.
The Publishing Director has not considered how this affects the Advertising side of things... it's quite obvious she doesn't really care, either. It's in Norwich. It might as well be in India, for all she cares.
So... Farewell to my magazines, monthly lifestyle rags that I have loved for more than ten years...
...But to all those who remain...
...If you think things are going to get better for you, if you truly believe you have won a great opportunity... you are poor, deluded fools.
I cannot congratulate you.
I have not the heart to truly pity you.
Suckers.
More and more, I look at the three designers who chose to remain, who interviewed successfully for the three available positions as Editorial Designers across our portfolio of titles, and I feel sorry them... they have no idea what they've let themselves in for, or how much better off they'd have been if they'd just thought ahead and decided to clear out.
Their new boss cannot adequately manage his existing (Editorial) staff, and has absolutely no idea how to manage Designers and their time. Three Designers will be tackling the work previously done by six. Sure, they won't be designing advertisements as well, but most of the time - knowing the Editors - they'll have nothing to do... and then the Editors will complain that so little of their work has been laid out when it all arrives, in bulk, two days before Press because they're so fucking lazy, they can't be bothered to get it ready before then.
The Publishing Director wants to switch to three Press Days a month, effectively doubling the workload on any given Press Day, and ensuring that two Designers will have to stay late every time. I have not yet dared consider how the workload will be split between Press Days... but, frankly, the Editorial page counts are so low, even in the larger magazines, most of the work can easily be done in the last two days before Press.
The Publishing Director has not considered how this affects the Advertising side of things... it's quite obvious she doesn't really care, either. It's in Norwich. It might as well be in India, for all she cares.
So... Farewell to my magazines, monthly lifestyle rags that I have loved for more than ten years...
...But to all those who remain...
...If you think things are going to get better for you, if you truly believe you have won a great opportunity... you are poor, deluded fools.
I cannot congratulate you.
I have not the heart to truly pity you.
Suckers.
Monday 11 October 2010
An Implication of Zombies
It's not rare for me to have dreams involving zombies. They tend to be set in some extrapolation of my old family home, which then frequently becomes something else entirely as the narrative progresses. In more recent years, my dream-self seems to have become wise to these undead shenanigens, and generally moves without fear through the hordes of monsters, safe in the knowledge that I will come to no harm.
The latest development did away with the zombies entirely, and focused on a group of people - eerily similar to myself, my sister and her husband, and an old schoolfriend of mine. We had holed up in an otherwise abandoned house (just round the corner from my parents place), with a pervading sense of dread to accompany the lack of light. Towards the end of the dream, my brother-in-law decided he was going to go outside - in the middle of the night - to prepare a car for the next part of our journey. I knew this was a bad thing, but was afflicted by dream-muteness... I kept thinking someone should go with him, because he wouldn't be able to look out for zombies while mucking around with the car, but I was also acutely aware that there were flesh-eating undead things lurching around outside, and that I didn't want any of us to be out there.
Strange, how not seeing any zombies in the dream made it that much more tense...
In other news, the medication I'm taking for my stomach problem has some interesting side effects. The most common - generally hitting mid-afternoon to evening - is that it induces a feverish state. My temperature goes up noticably, and I start feeling very unwell. I should probably check back in with my GP... but I want to see how it goes at least till the halfway point in the course.
The latest development did away with the zombies entirely, and focused on a group of people - eerily similar to myself, my sister and her husband, and an old schoolfriend of mine. We had holed up in an otherwise abandoned house (just round the corner from my parents place), with a pervading sense of dread to accompany the lack of light. Towards the end of the dream, my brother-in-law decided he was going to go outside - in the middle of the night - to prepare a car for the next part of our journey. I knew this was a bad thing, but was afflicted by dream-muteness... I kept thinking someone should go with him, because he wouldn't be able to look out for zombies while mucking around with the car, but I was also acutely aware that there were flesh-eating undead things lurching around outside, and that I didn't want any of us to be out there.
Strange, how not seeing any zombies in the dream made it that much more tense...
In other news, the medication I'm taking for my stomach problem has some interesting side effects. The most common - generally hitting mid-afternoon to evening - is that it induces a feverish state. My temperature goes up noticably, and I start feeling very unwell. I should probably check back in with my GP... but I want to see how it goes at least till the halfway point in the course.
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