Well, the new office isn't a complete disaster. Aside from idiot children not playing nice and not listening to The Boss (now back from holiday refreshed, and looking forward to tearing a new one for anyone who crosses her path) when they're told NOT to log in and check their email.
It's a nice place, at first glance. Certainly looks far more impressive than the Notting Hill tinderpile/cockroach hotel. It's not quite finished, in that there's still some painting to do (Boss observed that it was rather tacky to farm out painting any kind of design on the Production wall when we have two members of staff with degrees in Fine Art but, hey, that's the company all round), but it's looking nice and professional. And it's on the fifth floor, with a decent view over London. And balconies.
Of course, it's not all happy news. In the move, the Office Manager/PA to MD had her laptop stolen. Everything else - docking station, monitor, mouse, etc - arrived safe and sound, but the computer was gone.
Post-work celebrations took me down toward Kingston where, this morning, I ventured into Shakeaway (because, when in Kingston, one must have groovy milkshake), The Entertainer (TF display as sparse as ever, and nothing I really wanted to buy was on the shelves, though they do occasionally have a gem or two), and Woolworths.
Now, in my experience, Woolies don't tend to offer much of any great interest to me... but I was surprised to find a goldmine on this occasion. I walked out with Fast Action Battler Frenzy, Rescue Ratchet, Thundercracker and the 'Sector 7' edition of Energon Strongarm.
Frenzy is seriously cute. Not that well articulated, so posing him is a complete chore, but as an exercise in turning a CGI model that cheats its way into becoming a CD Stereo/Radio into a small model robot that turns into a tiny model CD Stereo/Radio, it's really not bad. The lack of articulation really kills it - Frenzy is a mass of joints in the movie, and this thing doesn't even have proper knees - but it's a fun toy, and the CD-shooting action is all present and correct.
Rescue Ratchet is just the same as the original Movie Ratchet... but this time predominantly in red and white, and so manages to look even plainer than the original. Also, while the ambulance redecoration may suit the character of Ratchet for the Gen 1 purists, the Humvee rescue truck just doesn't work as an ambulance. The roofrack and tool bays give it away as nothing more than fanservice. Robot mode does look great, but seriously in need of extra paintwork or more colours of plastic.
Thundercracker, meanwhile, is at once another example of pandering to the Gen 1 purists (how long till we see Movie Skywarp, eh?) and a brilliant use of a discarded movie head. One of the possibilities for Starscream's movie bonce has wound up on this non-movie movie toy... and it actually works quite well. It contains elements of the original Starscream, but with the movie aesthetic. While the colourscheme could have been better - the grey seems completely out of place, for example - the overall result is quite successful.
Sector 7 Strongarm I probably shouldn't write about, because I have to return mine thanks to a factory defect (superglue on one knee). This is the first colourscheme for this model that I've liked, aside from the BotCon '05 one - Fallback - so I felt compelled to add it to my collection.
Last week, I received a bunch of three DVDs, two of which I've been watching on and off today. Gilgamesh is a very strange - though also very samey Sci-Fi story where two kids are on the run, and just happen to be the key to everything. Good guys want them, bad guys want them, debt collectors want them... but we don't know who's who yet.
Apart from the debt collectors.
Season one of The Tick (animated) seemed like a good buy... but it's just not as funny as I remember it. It's still a spoof on the whole superhero genre, but the shoddy animation - by today's standards - and lack of any real 'funny' surprised and disappointed me.
Paprika I haven't watched yet... But I'm looking forward to it...
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Thursday, 27 September 2007
...And Other Comical Misunderstandings
I recently received an upgrade offer from the purveyors of the FTP software I use to update my website. It proclaimed an upgrade to their latest version would "help fight MS". My immediate thought was "Yes! They're making such huge advances, they're rivaling Microsoft!"
But it was not to be.
Their fight was against Multiple Sclerosis - another noble cause, to be sure, but not one immediately associated with software for taking full advantage of the File Transfer Protocol.
Oh well... The corporate giant lives to fight another day...
But it was not to be.
Their fight was against Multiple Sclerosis - another noble cause, to be sure, but not one immediately associated with software for taking full advantage of the File Transfer Protocol.
Oh well... The corporate giant lives to fight another day...
Chugged
One cannot fail to notice the change in methods employed by charities for the collection of donations. The coining of the word 'Chugger' - an abbreviation of CHarity mUGGER, because that's basically what they are - just makes the change more apparent - it has become so commonly accepted, there's a word to describe it.
So there are these people who are paid - they used to deny it, now they don't because it's true and they had been lying, which kinda reflected badly on the charities - to hang around on the streets and talk you into giving money to they charity du jour. Fine, I get that, it makes a twisted kind of sense.
But once the charity has your details, they employ other people - entire call centres-worth - to phone you up every so often and ask - ever so politely, but ever so insistently - to give just that little bit more.
And they're bastages, they really are. It's very difficult to get rid of them for starters. Then, give them half a chance, that they'll hit you with all kinds of psychological trickery to make you want to give more money. It's a massive guilt trip, followed by a convincing argument that any donation, however small, can make a significant difference.
I got a call from one of them tonight... Representing, I believe, one of the charities I no longer make a regular donation to... His offer went as low as 50p per week ("that's £2 a month!").
Perhaps I'm too polite, because I can't just hang up on them, or tell them to bugger off... The only way I got rid of him was to accept the offer of a postal form which I could fill out and send in whenever I can.
On the one hand, it's just sad that charities feel the need to take such measures... but on the other, do they really need to?
So there are these people who are paid - they used to deny it, now they don't because it's true and they had been lying, which kinda reflected badly on the charities - to hang around on the streets and talk you into giving money to they charity du jour. Fine, I get that, it makes a twisted kind of sense.
But once the charity has your details, they employ other people - entire call centres-worth - to phone you up every so often and ask - ever so politely, but ever so insistently - to give just that little bit more.
And they're bastages, they really are. It's very difficult to get rid of them for starters. Then, give them half a chance, that they'll hit you with all kinds of psychological trickery to make you want to give more money. It's a massive guilt trip, followed by a convincing argument that any donation, however small, can make a significant difference.
I got a call from one of them tonight... Representing, I believe, one of the charities I no longer make a regular donation to... His offer went as low as 50p per week ("that's £2 a month!").
Perhaps I'm too polite, because I can't just hang up on them, or tell them to bugger off... The only way I got rid of him was to accept the offer of a postal form which I could fill out and send in whenever I can.
On the one hand, it's just sad that charities feel the need to take such measures... but on the other, do they really need to?
Moving and Shaking (and Painting)
No, I'm not moving... Not specifically anyway, and not yet.
The office move away from sunny Notting Hill (with its overabundance of mediocre restaurants and about 17 branches of Starbucks within walking distance) to West Kensington (with... um... Tesco... and a subsidised cafe in the office building) is happening today... which is why I've been at home all day, rather than at work. Everything (well, almost everything... the significant stuff) was packed away yesterday in preparation. Today, the movers are shifting our crates from one office to the next. Tomorrow, my department pop in to unpack and see what's what.
It's times like this that show you how things have changed (when we bought a competitor a couple of years ago, their Production department basically had to do the move by themselves because the salespeople buggered off and left them to it, whereas we're now paying professionals to do it for us, and all we've had to do is pack), and how things really haven't (one of the salespeople asked if she could 'borrow' a CD or DVD to do a backup of some 'personal stuff' - and let's ignore, for a second, that the salespeople don't have burners in their computers, and she was clearly too dumb to realise - and couldn't understand why I directed her to the stationary shop over the road when the DVDs the company bought had cost pennies - individually - while the ones from the stationary shop would be quite expensive, and so clearly had not considered that 'borrowing' one should lead to a replacement being returned at a later date). While many of my colleagues are looking forward to working in a nice, shiny, modern office, I can't help thinking that it's just going to be the same old monkeys in a new zoo.
For the past two weeks, my boss has been on holiday, which made things a bit... different. Still, after two weeks of not-quite running the show (because I'm one of two Production Managers, and there's a Publishing Director who likes to consider herself important), I feel slightly more confident in my decision-making. Unexpected problems still throw me into a panic (one of my designers being off sick for the Friday - one of our deadline days - before taking last week as holiday, another taking this Monday and Tuesday off sick with a bad throat), I seem to settle down quicker, and get back to just doing stuff, rather than spending the whole day on edge.
Still, some management training wouldn't go amiss...
My problem with Managers stems from the fact that most I've worked for believed that Management was all about telling people what to do... It's really not. It's about making sure things get done, certainly, but it's also about ensuring the staff can get things done. If they can't, you figure out why and develop a solution... If they can, but they're not... That's when you start telling them what to do. Of course, after far too many tyrannical managers, I got lumbered with one who just let everyone do their own sweet thing (which included buggering off at 5.30 on the dot on any press day, regardless of how much work was left to do), before the current management took over and replaced him.
Wow... Eight years with this company... I really do wonder why I bothered sometimes...
Still, in my spare time today, I had considered visiting the Hayes branch of Toys'R'Us, to see if any new TF Movie toys had turned up. In the end, I didn't feel like it (it looks cold out!) so I spent the day reading, listening to music, watching a couple of episodes of Gerry Anderson's CGI version of Captain Scarlet (Season 2! Well done, Mr. Anderson!) and...
Wait for it...
FINALLY getting on to one of the TF repaint projects I came up with more than a year ago!
My friend Paul bought be Snarl from the TF Cybertron line when he visited Canada ages back, little realising I already had one. A short while after that, I got to thinking about this robotic wolf whose tail is a sword and gun... and came up with the idea of repainting him into Cybertron Sabrewulf, as a homage to the monstrous beast created by Rare (nee Ultimate). Ages ago, I bought the paints I wanted to use (three shades of brown and a couple of new metallics) but left Snarl in his packaging until today. Now, I've got him almost half done. Technically, probably more like almost a quarter done... I'm painting the wolf mode, and that's almost half done... Once dried out properly, I intend to transform him and paint the robot mode. Once that's done, I'll touch up whatever needs fixing for 'in between'.
I'm actually very pleased with the results so far. I came up with the clever idea of mixing one of the metallics (Humbrol Enamel MET55) and the dark brown (Humbrol Enable Gloss 10) to create a sort of bronze-y colour and it turned out very successful. Quicker to dry than the brown gloss on its own, and very definitely metallic, I think this will be the perfect colour for the main body of the model... Problem is, I only mixed up a little - intending to test it on one leg only - and used it all up... So now I have to mix up some more, and I'm bound to have trouble matching it, especially if I try for a larger quantity.
Still, it's looking pretty good, for a less than half done model...
The office move away from sunny Notting Hill (with its overabundance of mediocre restaurants and about 17 branches of Starbucks within walking distance) to West Kensington (with... um... Tesco... and a subsidised cafe in the office building) is happening today... which is why I've been at home all day, rather than at work. Everything (well, almost everything... the significant stuff) was packed away yesterday in preparation. Today, the movers are shifting our crates from one office to the next. Tomorrow, my department pop in to unpack and see what's what.
It's times like this that show you how things have changed (when we bought a competitor a couple of years ago, their Production department basically had to do the move by themselves because the salespeople buggered off and left them to it, whereas we're now paying professionals to do it for us, and all we've had to do is pack), and how things really haven't (one of the salespeople asked if she could 'borrow' a CD or DVD to do a backup of some 'personal stuff' - and let's ignore, for a second, that the salespeople don't have burners in their computers, and she was clearly too dumb to realise - and couldn't understand why I directed her to the stationary shop over the road when the DVDs the company bought had cost pennies - individually - while the ones from the stationary shop would be quite expensive, and so clearly had not considered that 'borrowing' one should lead to a replacement being returned at a later date). While many of my colleagues are looking forward to working in a nice, shiny, modern office, I can't help thinking that it's just going to be the same old monkeys in a new zoo.
For the past two weeks, my boss has been on holiday, which made things a bit... different. Still, after two weeks of not-quite running the show (because I'm one of two Production Managers, and there's a Publishing Director who likes to consider herself important), I feel slightly more confident in my decision-making. Unexpected problems still throw me into a panic (one of my designers being off sick for the Friday - one of our deadline days - before taking last week as holiday, another taking this Monday and Tuesday off sick with a bad throat), I seem to settle down quicker, and get back to just doing stuff, rather than spending the whole day on edge.
Still, some management training wouldn't go amiss...
My problem with Managers stems from the fact that most I've worked for believed that Management was all about telling people what to do... It's really not. It's about making sure things get done, certainly, but it's also about ensuring the staff can get things done. If they can't, you figure out why and develop a solution... If they can, but they're not... That's when you start telling them what to do. Of course, after far too many tyrannical managers, I got lumbered with one who just let everyone do their own sweet thing (which included buggering off at 5.30 on the dot on any press day, regardless of how much work was left to do), before the current management took over and replaced him.
Wow... Eight years with this company... I really do wonder why I bothered sometimes...
Still, in my spare time today, I had considered visiting the Hayes branch of Toys'R'Us, to see if any new TF Movie toys had turned up. In the end, I didn't feel like it (it looks cold out!) so I spent the day reading, listening to music, watching a couple of episodes of Gerry Anderson's CGI version of Captain Scarlet (Season 2! Well done, Mr. Anderson!) and...
Wait for it...
FINALLY getting on to one of the TF repaint projects I came up with more than a year ago!
My friend Paul bought be Snarl from the TF Cybertron line when he visited Canada ages back, little realising I already had one. A short while after that, I got to thinking about this robotic wolf whose tail is a sword and gun... and came up with the idea of repainting him into Cybertron Sabrewulf, as a homage to the monstrous beast created by Rare (nee Ultimate). Ages ago, I bought the paints I wanted to use (three shades of brown and a couple of new metallics) but left Snarl in his packaging until today. Now, I've got him almost half done. Technically, probably more like almost a quarter done... I'm painting the wolf mode, and that's almost half done... Once dried out properly, I intend to transform him and paint the robot mode. Once that's done, I'll touch up whatever needs fixing for 'in between'.
I'm actually very pleased with the results so far. I came up with the clever idea of mixing one of the metallics (Humbrol Enamel MET55) and the dark brown (Humbrol Enable Gloss 10) to create a sort of bronze-y colour and it turned out very successful. Quicker to dry than the brown gloss on its own, and very definitely metallic, I think this will be the perfect colour for the main body of the model... Problem is, I only mixed up a little - intending to test it on one leg only - and used it all up... So now I have to mix up some more, and I'm bound to have trouble matching it, especially if I try for a larger quantity.
Still, it's looking pretty good, for a less than half done model...
Thursday, 13 September 2007
1408
For the time being I'm not even going to try to recap any of what's happened or not happened since my last post... There's just too much, and I didn't (couldn't) keep on top of it at the time. Suffice it to say, things have been crazy.
So instead of a massive, rambling post, I'm just going to do a very quick movie review...
1408 is a fine example of horror by the numbers (Aha... 'by the numbers'? 1408?). Not only is it an adaptation of a novel (by Steven King which, let's face it, probably tells you all you need to know considering the quality of most other Steven King adaptations), but it's full of things you've seen elsewhere. It's very well done... just extremely bland. It has its share of shocks, but it squanders them. It utterly wastes its two stars - John Cusack is on fine form, but the film barely demanded anything of him, and Sam Jackson probably got the gig because the casting people knew he could deliver his few lines in his sleep and still sound good. I was suitably entertained, but there was nothing new about it, and the ending seemed deliberately obscure...
Curiously, the credits were rolling when I went in. Evidently the previous audience (if, indeed, there was a previous audience) left so quickly the cleaning crew were finished before the credits had finished. As the credits rolled again, I spotted a mouse in the aisle toward the front of the room... Easy pickings, with all that popcorn around.
So instead of a massive, rambling post, I'm just going to do a very quick movie review...
1408 is a fine example of horror by the numbers (Aha... 'by the numbers'? 1408?). Not only is it an adaptation of a novel (by Steven King which, let's face it, probably tells you all you need to know considering the quality of most other Steven King adaptations), but it's full of things you've seen elsewhere. It's very well done... just extremely bland. It has its share of shocks, but it squanders them. It utterly wastes its two stars - John Cusack is on fine form, but the film barely demanded anything of him, and Sam Jackson probably got the gig because the casting people knew he could deliver his few lines in his sleep and still sound good. I was suitably entertained, but there was nothing new about it, and the ending seemed deliberately obscure...
Curiously, the credits were rolling when I went in. Evidently the previous audience (if, indeed, there was a previous audience) left so quickly the cleaning crew were finished before the credits had finished. As the credits rolled again, I spotted a mouse in the aisle toward the front of the room... Easy pickings, with all that popcorn around.
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