Five things on Friday #55

Things of note for the week ending January 17th, 2014.

monster club

These guys could be the five things on their own, bless ’em. But they’re not. They’re just here because I think they’re darn cool. Right, let’s do this –

1. Lessons from a dog

Lessons from Dog

There are a bunch of these over on My Modern Met, but this one above is by far and away my favourite. I guess we can all learn lessons from a dog.

2. How Broadway has changed 
Alec Baldwin has a semi-regular column over on the Huffington Post and he is, in my opinion, one of the smartest and sharpest writers I’ve read in a long time, and a huge advocate for the arts. Yes he can be an offensive loose cannon but, from time to time, I enjoy him. You might too. This piece from last year, on why and how Broadway has changed so much is a great case in point:

A critic’s job is to evaluate two things: what you are attempting to do and how close do you come to pulling it off. Highbrow, lowbrow, Shakespeare, Williams, movies like The Hangover, movies like Lincoln, they all deserve the same fate. If it’s trash, then call it. But is it good trash or is the bar too low? Then call it. Is the piece ambitious and groundbreaking? Factor that in. But never say “why bother?’

3. The man who hugs LIONS
This video, from those epic makers and takers, GoPro, was published in November last year but for some reason only started to go viral get popular over the past week or so. If you’ve not seen it, it features Kevin Richardson – aka ‘The Lion Whisperer’ and… y’know what? Just hit play and see if you don’t end up watching the whole thing. It’s incredible viewing.

If you want to find out more about this work, or make a donation to help preserve the habitat for the animals in this video, you can at Kevin’s Lion Whisperer website. Give a little, it helps a lot.

4. Awesome Street Art is Awesome

sex

Found via ‘10 street art images you need to see‘ – to me, the above is just so pure; the colour, the stance, the casuality of it all. It’s just perfect. Weirdly, it reminds of this punk girl I used to date back in college. I wonder where she is now.

5. DOOMED
The story behind the it-was-so-bad-it-was-never-released(-but-wait-that-was-the-plan-all-along) 1994 version of THE FANTASTIC FOUR, is looking for support to help tell get the documentary put together.

It looks like a doozy –

Background // Support

Amazing. Fantastic.

Have a great weekend.

The Robocop CES video

Watch this and tell me if you think it’s rubbish –

If you’re unsure of what this is about, Robocop (yes, that’s right, ROBOCOP) has been remade and is coming out later this year. No, I’m not kidding.

Robocop2014

I know. It’s terrible. Everyone knows. But much like Total Recall before, and Indy 5 and Die Hard 6 no doubt after, it’s coming whether we like (let alone want) it or not

The trailer isn’t actually that bad, but the marketing video above, launched to coincide with the real CES that has just finished up in Las Vegas, is a clear homage to the same style of video that Ridley Scott released last year for Prometheus. In that one, Guy Pearce’s character, Peter Weyland, gives a talk at ‘TED 2023‘ about how he ‘WILL CHANGE THE WORLD’.

If you’ve not seen it, it’s [still] worth watching –

It was smart, it was innovative, and it certainly stood head and shoulders above the usual trailers and teasers you see year in, year out (for what it’s worth, Prometheus was OK, but the plot holes were enormous).

This thing from Robocop is a poor imitation at best. At worst, it puts people off seeing a film that they probably didn’t want in the first place.

At the time of writing, the view-count is still sub-100k.

I wonder if the box office takings will be the same.

On Gmail? Here’s how to prevent ‘anyone on Google+’ from being able to email you

Have you heard the news? Google just launched a new Gmail ‘feature’ that basically allows anyone to email you if they know your Google+ handle.

OH NO

Given that your Google+ handle nearly pretty much has to be your full name, the potential for abuse here is not insignificant.

Fortunately (for you) there’s a handy way to get around this and you can thank Mr Will Oremus for the tip off. Ready?

And that’s that. Why oh why Google think this is a good idea, I don’t know. Alas, there it is. Question for you, dear reader, will you be adjusting your settings? Or will you be leaving ‘as is’? Which way and why. Leave a comment and let me know. I’m intrigued.

______

Update: Further clarification from a Google employee makes light of this. I guess the difference between having your contact details on your website and Google making you email-able by anyone on Google+ is that Google didn’t make the decision in the first instance, you did.

 

Five things on Friday #54

Things of note for the week ending January 10th, 2014.

Sweet...

I’ve made a list…

1. The Solar-Powered Wall Socket

Window Socket of WIN

I blogged tumbled this at some point last year, it’s still an awesome idea though. Create a solar plug socket anywhere; on a train, on a plane, in a hotel room, anywhere there is sunshine. This is awesome. SO AWESOME.

More.

2. The Secret Garden of the Mind

Open Your Mind

This photo doesn’t do the art justice; but this ‘deconstruction’ of a sculptured bust really speaks to me. I can’t place it. Is it the interpretation of the mind [breaking out of the confines of the skull]? Or is just the simplistic beauty of nature hidden away deep inside our heads? I don’t know.

I post a fair bit of art from time to time, but it’s rare that I see something that I’d like to own myself. The above is one of those rarities. That is all.

3. The Eye of Sauron.. sorry, SATURN

Hurricanes on Saturn

This is stunning. Just. Stunning. If, you’re like me, you’ll probably be wanting more.

4. Thor is the new Superman

Thor is fun, the way Superman should be; his cape is a bright, hopeful red and you want to hang out with him. The Superman in Man of Steel is a guy you want to keep your distance from, more coldly alien than the Asgardian who just arrived here. They’re both immigrants to Earth, but even though the Man of Steel Superman was raised here, Thor feels more connected to humans in his movies, more their champion. More their Superman.

Read the full article and see if you agree. I know I do.

5. Still

Peace Incarnate

To me, this is peace incarnate.

 

 

 

Abandoned Tube Stations: Aldwych

Or why Aldwych Station is the best ‘#EmptyUnderground’ ever.

Formerly known as ‘Strand’, Aldwych first opened in 1907, closed in 1940, reopened in 1946 and then closed again, for the final time, in 1994.

Twenty years later, sharp-eyed Sherlock fans (as if there’s any other kind) would go on to spot it in the first episode of season three, ‘The Empty Hearse’ (as confirmed by Buzzfeed and the BBC shortly after).

Back in November, my good friend Robbie managed to lay his hands on an extremely rare pair of tickets for the tour of the now abandoned station and, if you know anything about me and a certain hobby I have, you’d know that it was pretty much like Christmas coming a whole month early for me – I couldn’t have been more excited.

Aldwych is amazing. The above photo, for example, shows a track before the introduction of ‘suicide pits’ – a fairly recent addition that a medical study found halved the death rate of those falling onto (or under) the tracks (it was the first thing I spotted when we entered this part of the station; it’s weird to see tracks flat like this, I thought anyway).

Interesting facts about Strand/Aldwych:

  • Located on The Strand, the station is/was on the Piccadilly line and was the terminus and only station the short branch from Holborn.
  • During both World Wars, aside from being partially fitted out as an air-raid shelter, disused parts of the tunnels were used to store and protect artworks from London’s museums from bombing – including the Elgin Marbles.
  • While many old posters can be seen adoring the walls of the platform, nearly of these have been placed there by movie studios, to provide the ‘old abandoned platform’ look for many films.

There are no rats in Aldwych, apparently. What with a distinct lack of commuters down there every day, they have no opportunities to snack on our litter. Sad but true.

What’s also sad (but also quite cool) is that the tours aren’t really on that regularly. You have to be super keen to catch one. So keep your eyes peeled, you never know when they might open them again.

UPDATE: see the comments for an update on when the tickets might be available again in 2014.

___________________________________

All photos taken, by me, with the Nokia Lumia 1020, published under Creative Commons with the full set of photos available on my Flickr page.

___________________________________

Pebble: 48hrs in

I have a memory from when I was a child, of being in the supermarket with my mum and – it was when I was learning to tell the time – my mum asked me what the time was. I was wearing my brand new watch (probably He-Man-related in some way) and I was eating sweets. Smarties, to be precise.

Screen Shot 2014-01-04 at 16.44.37

‘What time is it, James?’, she asked.

I excitedly threw my wrist over and announced to all and sundry, ‘HALF PAST THREE!’, the sound that followed was like hailstones as, with near-perfect comedy timing, my Smarties tumbled out of their tube, all over the shop floor.

Now I have a Pebble watch and, instead of my mum asking me to look at my watch, the pebble itself asks me. Its little vibrations subtly nudging you that there’s something new to see. Over the past two days this has happened frequently whilst drinking coffee.

Every time I go to look, I stop.

Every time I stop, I remember the Smarties.

And every time I remember the Smarties, I think ‘One day, Whatley. One day it’ll get you’.

IMAG0195

More to come, soon.

 

Related: Pebble: first thoughts

Five things on Friday #53

Don’t call it a come back…

whatleydude says HI

After a year long break (and a few false starts with my Tumblr), I’m bringing Five Things on Friday back for 2014. The good news is, last year I managed to last FIVE WHOLE MONTHS before the itch finally got the better of me. That’s right, five, not twelve. Today’s date (the date of writing, not publishing) is May 1st 2013, and I’m writing this a whole seven months in advance. Mental, I know, but I’m finding a fire truck load of stuff at the moment and I need to bank it somewhere.

So here it is. The first Five Things of 2014. Pre-written, sometime in May 2013. From now on I figure I’d make this project a bi-annual thing. One year on, one year off. Yeah. That.

EDIT: this ^ is slightly untrue. I’m now updating  #5things each week and swapping stuff around (eg: the post from Zoe in at number 4).

Wait, where we? Oh yes, here –

Things of note for the week ending January 3rd, 2014.

1. Dioramas of Death
These are proper gruesome.

DIE O RAMA

These miniature death scenes remind me a lot of one of my favourite werewolf films, Ginger Snaps. In it , the two main protagonists have an obsession with recreating death scenes as art (and it’s kinda awesome). The artist behind this work, Abigail Goldman, covers everything from crime scenes through decapitation and death by lawnmower. I don’t know why I’m so fascinated by them, but they’re just really cool and, should I ever have a place suitable, they’d be on display in my house in a flash.

2. IRON MAN!!! YEAH!!!! IRON MAAAAAAAAN!

ZOMG IRON MAN!

At the time of writing, Iron Man 3 has just been released and the above photo was taken at a special screening of the film put on by Disney to say thank you to the teenagers of the Police Athletic League who volunteered to clean up the Hurricane Sandy-ravaged areas of New York.

Why is the kid freaking out so much? Robert Downey Jr. had just turned up, unannounced, to say thank you in person. Amazing.

Via.

3. Abe
This 8min short film about a human-obsessed android is dark, but beautiful; I loved it. Be warned: it is not an easy watch.

*Shiver*

4. ‘Ten’
I haven’t seen Zoe Margolis for too long now, but I stay on top of how things are with her via the wonders of social media and, of course, her blog ‘Girl with a one-track mind‘. Zoe’s latest post, published Jan 1st, 2014, marks ten years of blogging and is full of insight, life lessons, and love. This is one small excerpt –

Back then, it felt like I was shouting about sex into a vacuum where there were two extreme, opposing perspectives: one, in women’s magazines, where women were portrayed as basically ‘innocent’ non-sexual beings who ‘give’ away their virginity to men and whose objective is to a) find a man and b) please him; and two, the other end of the media spectrum, where women were seen as ‘sluts’, and sexual ‘liberation’ meant the ‘freedom’ to be objectified for men’s titillation and gratification. I related to neither position.

Take some time out of your day and read it. And Zoe, if you’re reading this, you still continue to inspire me and I remember our stroll around Soho fondly. Big love.

5. Because Bruce Lee

Because Bruce Lee

Guess I’ll see y’all back here next week…

COME ON 2014! WHATCHOO GOT?!

 

Pebble: first thoughts

Ooo, look!

Screen Shot 2014-01-02 at 19.51.54

Recently, in the last episode of The Voicemail of 2013 (Episode 079) Stefan and I were asked the following question:

‘Given that 2014 will be the year of the smartwatch, what would we be looking for in a next generation smartwatch when selecting one?’

At the time, Stefan had a Samsung Galaxy Gear and I… did not. I hadn’t tried a smartwatch before, and so couldn’t really comment (Stefan could though, and I’ve appended his words, with my own additions, to the end of this post). Those kind people at Pebble heard about this, and sent one out for me to try.

It arrived this morning, and I set it up over my lunch. Here it is –

pebble2

Yes, I went for white.

Now look, I’m brand new to this whole wearable tech thing so I’m quite intrigued about what kind of affect it’ll have on my existing behaviours. In the same way the iPad changed [and actually increased] my reading habits, I wonder what the world of smartwatches, nay, Pebble watches will do to the way I interact with my tech.

Moreover, I know I’m not unique in the Pebble-owning world (I know several people that both own and love theirs), but I am intending on writing up how I get on with it over the coming days, weeks, and months.

Onwards.

Out of the box, the Pebble is fairly simple to set up. You download an app onto your device (I sport 2013’s phone of the year, the HTC One) and then connect to the Pebble over Bluetooth. A minor firmware update later (and of course a spot of charging) and you’re ready to go.

Initial impressions (in no real order)

  • Firmware update didn’t work first time, had to unpair and reboot. Second time it worked like a charm and I hope all future updates are as painless.
  • The Pebble app is fairly limited, and the immediate urge is to download a new one. I’m trying Pebble Notifier [FREE]  but others recommend apps such as Augmented Smartwatch Pro [NOT FREE]. Until I know what I need from my Pebble, I won’t be making the leap quite yet.
  • It works with RunKeeper – YES! No new app installs, it just works. My RunKeeper app on Android shows a teeny little watch icon when it’s working too. Super cool.

pebble3

  • It works with Spotify – YES! Skipping a track is easy and, while track display is also available, I’ve found this to be a bit patchy and doesn’t always have anything to display. But when it does, it’s cool!

pebble4

  • It doesn’t work with my work email account. I’m desperately trying to find a work around but no joy, yet. More experimentation required. To be fair to Pebble, my employer’s email is run on Google Apps and they have IMAP disabled as standard. Bit of a ball ache, but I’m sure I’ll find a way through it at some point. Weirdly, Hangout alerts (and messages) come through just fine, so maybe a tinker with the settings somewhere will help.
  • The Pebble community is HUGE. I joined the Google+ group today (don’t laugh) and I turned out to be their 4000th member. I’m very excited about this.
  • Everyone is talking about ‘Firmware v2’ and the Pebble ‘App Store’ being ‘just around the corner’. Apparently these are good things and I should be looking forward to them. Fingers crossed for that then.
  • In the seven hours that I’ve been using it, the Pebble has already reduced the amount of times I’ve had to pick up my phone. This can only be a good thing.

And that’s it. I’m fully aware that I am very much in calibration mode with this thing at the moment. Each person, each device, and each experience is different. Some people like a lot of alerts, some people don’t.

Slowly but surely I’m working out the hierarchy of what I need and what I don’t (SMS’s? Notify me. Instagram comments and likes? Don’t notify me). And when that process is complete, I think I’m going to enjoy owning this Pebble device very, very much.

More to come, soon.

_______________

Stefan said:

  1. It needs to look good.
    Check! I got the white one, it looks great!
  2. It needs to work with your current device.
    Check! No problems so far.
  3. It has to perform well in terms of battery life.
    Apparently one charge should last seven days, so let’s see.

 

Incoming: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #GOTG

First post of 2014. Don’t be surprised now… 

Guardians of the Galaxy!

I know it’s literally just one image, but still: I’m so up for this.

The final film in Marvel’s ‘Phase 2’ (after IRON MAN 3, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, AND CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is the last piece of the puzzle before we see AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON.

It’s a risky move, but I reckon Marvel can pull it off.

Left to right: Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Peter Quill / Star Lord (Chris Pratt), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), and Groot (Vin Diesel).

The official synopsis:

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team – the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits–Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand – with the galaxy’s fate in the balance. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is presented by Marvel Studios. The film releases August 1, 2014, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Still want more?

Educate thyself.

 

PS. Release dates for GOTG (and more) on my Instagram.

2013: in review

Where do I start?

Screen Shot 2013-12-31 at 17.35.03

Photo from my trip to Aldwych Underground station in November.

Let’s start with numbers.

THE BLOG

The most popular post of 2013 was the publication of a rare DJ set from The Avalanches (I can thank Josh Russell and an appearance on Reddit for that particular bump), and coming in at a close second was my super excited review of PACIFIC RIM back in July.

Overall, stats-wise, 2013’s numbers are down on 2012’s. As you can see below –

Site_Stats_‹_whatleydude_—_WordPress-3

This is down to a number of things. First off, in 2012 I wrote up ‘Five things on Friday‘ every single week, without fail (maybe I should bring that back for 2014). Blogging regularly increases traffic – who knew?

That lift in 2012 combined with a general decrease in posts this year means the disparity is quite large. I’m not kidding on the post decrease either. YOY 2013 has seen my lowest publishing rate for some time. The lowest in seven years in fact.

Screen Shot 2013-12-29 at 16.49.23

[more here, thanks Jetpack]

So why the dip in output? 2013 has been a very busy year.

WORK

I’ve had pretty much had two jobs for most of 2013 (this is changing next month, but more on that in the New Year – shh), which has been as fantastic as it has challenging. From awesome travel brands kicking ass on Twitter, through to award-winning innovations for an online furniture retailer. To say 2013 had been ‘a bit full on’, would be an understatement – but in the best of ways.

I’m staying true to my mantra of ‘Great work, with inspiring people‘ – and long may it continue.

AMBITION

This time 12mths ago, I set out two very public ambitions. Speaking and Running. How did I do? In the former I set out to beat 2012’s rather lacklustre total of THREE and at least match 2011’s total of SIX.

Looking back over 2013, it looks like I topped out at a grand total of TEN. Each one unique in its own way and each one different from the one before. If you helped me achieve this goal in 2013, then thank you very much – I am chuffed that I managed to beat it so definitively.

On the running front, I started on Jan 1st 2013 at zero. I’m finishing on Dec 31st at 228km, with a couple of charity efforts in there for good measure.

Highlights? The British 10k for CALM and completing the Tough Mudder with Team Expedia at Ogilvy. Again, if you helped me achieve this goal in 2013 – then thank you. I feel an enormous sense of achievement, and I couldn’t have done it without you.

In the New Year I intend to continue these two even further. The speaking one I’ll continue plugging away at it – it isn’t the number of gigs, it’s the intention to keep doing them (and I’ve already got three pencilled in for 2014, and I figure that should be my baseline). And on the running front, I fully intend to smash the 300k marker for 2014.

Hurrah and hurrah again.

PREDICTIONS

In the summer of 2012 I wrote three social media predictions for 2013. Let’s review:

Prediction 1: The outsourcing of community management to emerging markets
I’ve got no proof of this happening yet. But I still think it will, if it hasn’t already (and I just haven’t seen it).

Prediction 2: 2screening + Advertising
The big thing I covered here was about ‘super micro targeting’, eg: Twitter allowing media planners to buy against actual TV shows. BOOM.

Precition 3: 4G networks spurring further innovation
I think I might have been a bit too hopeful on this front. 4G isn’t really hitting the ground here in the UK quite yet, so maybe it’ll be another year or so until it bears fruit.

Final score? 1/3.
Rubbish. My predictions for next year are out, hopefully I’ll do better next time.

FILM & MUSIC & GAMING

Film: I really went for it this year, I saw loads but managed an average of one write up a month (12 film reviews).
Music: Spotify’s got me covered.

Spotify

Gaming: I jumped off the Xbox ship and went for the PlayStation 4.
You should do the same.

ADDITIONAL BITS AND BOBS

AND FINALLY: LIFE IN GENERAL

I’ll be honest, 2013 has been a veritable roller-coaster of a ride. With super high ups, and woefully low downs. At one point, I honestly didn’t know if I was going to make it out alive. But here I am, in spite of it all, still kicking and at the precipice of a whole new chapter.

Who knows how it will work out.

I made a decision a couple of years back to keep a fair chunk of my personal life offline, and I’m pleased to say that I’m sticking to it. My friends, my true friends know where it’s at – and that’s all that matters.

There are some amazing people out there that have helped me through this past year. Friends and colleagues, old and new – you know who you are.

Thank you.

Next year is a whole new adventure.

BRING. IT. ON.

COOL STORY