Apfrod Works

Inappropriate Joke replaced by several minutes of silence

paul — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:39:20 PDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gioP_kxFSU&

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/26/michael-jackson-tnt-show

A new category of error, as Channel 4 pulls a sketch about Michael Jackson just as the news comes in about his death, leading to several minutes of the Channel 4 ident being played silently instead of the segment.

This also highlights how much easier it has become to capture and re-publicise live-broadcast television errors, which I'm hoping will lead to greater archiving of these kinds of errors.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Low contrast colour schemes

paul — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:33:43 PDT

My eyes were feeling a bit tired today so I installed the Stylish extension and an excellent style called "NightShift - eye care" that changes all colours and even dims images. Another reason to stick with Firefox.

I also installed this Zenburn Windows XP Theme (zip) based on one by Jason McBrayer. Zenburn is a low contrast colour scheme originally for Vim.

Now it's like my eyes are resting in a pool of cooling grey.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

7 Extensions that keep me rooted to Firefox

paul — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:15:19 PDT

I continue to be addicted to Firefox largely because of the following extensions:

Adblock Plus - development of the original adblock stalled a long time ago. I have barely seen a banner since 2001, and wonder how others cope.

FireGestures - Once you learn gestures, everything else is too slow. I've been through several other gesture extensions, and this one is the current favourite, although I do have to switch off a lot of options.

British English Dictionary - It's easy to forget to install your language variant dictionary, as US English is so often the path of least resistance.

Custom Download Manager - I like downloads in a tab not in a separate window.

Undo Closed Tabs Button - A tiny change, but so useful. Other tab options are available.

NoScript - For security and annoyance avoidance, turning off javascript is often a good idea.

Firebug - the last word in web development awesomeness.

Honourable mention to Live HTTP Headers and User Agent Switcher which I install when called for.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Humour in films: a requisite of greatness?

paul — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:47:57 PDT

In photography class, I was taught that a properly executed black and white print should contain a perfect black and a perfect white, however minute. The full range of tones in between were then available to the image. This serves as a metaphor for a statement about film-making I would like to assert for discussion: that no film can be called great if it doesn't contain a moment of humour. It may not be a joke, it may not be an element of comedy, or a deliberate insertion agreed upon by the whole chain in the film-making process, from writer to director to actors to DP and so on. But something of the classic dichotomy of drama.

I don't seek to exclude abstract film, or non-narrative sequences - these can be funny, light-hearted or even comedic too, of course.

Even a comedy film, or a great joke, must therefore contain an element of tragedy, however minute. Perhaps an element that is only exposed on reflection, dissection, analysis; but a perfect black, or white, nonetheless. A counterpoint.

Maybe this approach excludes too many films from the echelons of greatness. But don't debase the value of non-great films - I don't want to assert that non-great films don't deserve our attention or time, just that they don't reach the level of true greatness.

Try and think of a Hitchcock film without at least some moment of wryness. Or try and think of justifying the greatness of a loved film that doesn't have some humour in it.

Maybe the same can be said for theatre, literature, music or other arts. I'm working on it.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

2008 in review

ken — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:17:05 PST

This year we:

- got well into spinning around on bikes - going to Brighton, Box Hill, Brasted, between Seville and Cordoba, 47.5 mph down Titsey Hill and through London at night (occasionally without lights or a full complement of contact lens – neither recommended)
- got sonically sliced and reassembled by a blistering Autechre and .snd gig in Hearn street car park. Had to leave early, but could still hear the beats a good five minutes walk away
- started a dangerous habit of European city breaks, and had a series of glorious meals in Paris, broken only by some serious dancing in the original Favela Chic
- tried to keep rock climbing, semi-successfully
- left one career; got another job after visiting the pub
- saw (and loved) my first Chagall at From Russia, an exhibition teeming with quality, exhilarating to see Kandinsky’s and Malevich in the flesh
- marvelled at Richard Serra’s malleable steel playground
- shook out some demons at various dread sound systems at my first Notting Hill carnival
- grasped and gasped my way round Roger Hiorn’s Seizure
- tasted madelines (metaphorically) at a Mogwai gig
- cried at a Rod Stewart song
- probably reached the crux of hipsterdom seeing a poet do a reading along to Gang Gang Dance in Hoxton. Whilst wearing jeans that were probably on the skinny side.
- got even more hipsterish when watching some free jazz in Dalston, including a man playing a bin bag filled with gas. It was a furious, exhilarating concert though
- politely clapped to a man prancing around on a JCB
- spontaneously combusted to Herbie Hancock encoring with a Keytar
- pestled my own pesto
- visited Riverside for some World Championship darts, discovered that it’s really not my sport
- still haven’t used the mango destined for that fish curry
- sat on cushions in the Tate's turbine hall and got assaulted by some early computer animation, it was well techno

- completed Crysis on a 32" LCD
- saw Public Enemy at Brixton Academy; Alva Noto at the ICA; 808 State, Arthur Baker and IF at Jacks; Squarepusher and LFO at the Astoria; Loefah and Hijak, Mala and Skream at Black Sheep Bar
- Stuart Lee at the Hen & Chickens and at the Soho Theatre
- Richard Herring, Phil Nichol, Josie Long, Bridget Christie, Will Adamsdale, Pappy's Fun Club and Dave Goreman with free bangers at Battersea Arts Centre
- Steve Coogan at Apollo
- Elizabeth and Rayleigh at Croydon Library Theatre
- lots of Bug at the BFI with Adam Buxton
- Sean Locke at Hammersmith Apollo
- Mighty Boosh at the O2
- Frank McGuiness' Oedipus with Ralph Fiennes at NT
- lost my father
- felt like I was having a heart attack from grief and fury at 3am
- played a lot of Mass Effect
- bought an iPhone
- got a massive boil on the right eyebrow which had to be surgically removed
- moved offices and employer without changing jobs
- properly got into podcasts (Collings and Herrin, Dream Chimney, TwiT, The Tone Generation)
- got Miró, Calder, Giacometti and Braque in some perspective at the Royal Academy

- worked as a teaching assistant
- in the same 6-hour period: attended York Museum of Popular Culture, dressed like a hippy and swore at numerous children despite it being my jobsworth and met Tom Baker while eating a penguin
- had the drummer from the Housemartins and the Beautiful South give a workshop for da kids

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Mike's Five Culinary Coups from the Croydon Crew

ken — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:46:29 PST

If I was being brutally honest, the five best eating experiences this year have probably all been ice-cream based, eaten after midnight having consumed a few beers. But that would be a very boring list, and the photos of me dribbling down myself should probably never find their way onto the internet.

(5) Birthday Fishcakes

Great because they’re almost a meal on their own, and they neatly combine the comfort aspect you get from fried food, but with the health kick of eating fish. Bonus.

Peel and boil your potatoes, then start grilling your fish, for which I prefer salmon. I generally have too high a potato-to-fish ratio, but you need at least 40% potato if you want the cakes to hold together when you’re frying them. Mash the spuds, flake the fish. Stick them in a bowl and combine with a handful of fresh coriander, garlic, some chilli, a dash of soy sauce and the zest of a lime. You can chuck in the juice of the lime as well, but probably not all of it. Beat an egg and then tip a bit onto a plate, while waiting for the mixture to be cool enough to handle. Get another plate and make a bit pile of breadcrumbs. I’m an unreserved ponce, and so like to use Tesco’s ready made ciabatta breadcrumbs with parmesan, but this is a bit silly given the amount of crusts we have knocking around.

Place a fair wack of oil in a pan and heat, around a centimeter deep. It depends on the size of your cakes – the oil needs to come up halfway.

Wet your hands. Get the mixture and roll into fist-sized balls, then gently squish both ends. Place on the eggy plate, then turn over, then place in the breadcrumb pile, again turning it over.

Place in the pan. All the ingredients are already cooked, so you’re just waiting for the breadcrumbs to turn golden really. Place on kitchen roll to get rid of any excess oil. Serve with peas.

(4) Weekday Randomness

We’re home, and the fridge is full. More often than not, this results in two or three meals on the same plate, but occasionally it comes together. This photo is of some girolle and enoki mushrooms sautéed in white wine vinegar and white wine, some gnocci in tomato sauce with some fresh basil, and some wilted spinach. Does anyone know what they put in gnocchi to make it so good? Potato doesn’t normally taste that good.

(3) YC

This is an institution. Everyone is invited. Guest speakers each week, rotating membership.

Yoghurt club.

YC.

This is the name a friend gave to the practice of having yoghurt after a meal. He went to public school and found in constitutionally impossible not to give acronyms or nicknames to almost everything in his life. It is pretty contagious though (both the eating of yoghurt, and the habit of giving things nicknames that are no quicker to say and only serve to confuse the uninitiated).

Popular guests include YCF (fruit), YC neat, and YCH (honey). The picture shows YCF (figs), which was very well received. Heat the oven to 200°C, half the figs, place on a baking tray, and drizzle with honey and white wine. Leave for about 10 minutes. The flesh should start to be oozing out of the skin. Place in a bowl with some Y. Get involved.

(2) Chocolate Fudge Cake

Baking. Good for the soul. We also had cookies, beetroot brownies, normal brownies, and cheese cake.

(1) Okonomiyaki

Osaka omelette style yumminess, cooked on a hotplate in your table by a waiter/waitress. Garnished with fish flakes, and mayonnaise and sweet chilli type sauces. Awesome.

Honourable mentions to the brownies of both Riverside Terrace and St John’s, the first time we went to Fisherman’s Catch on Southend Road, dukka and butternut squash, rhubarb crème brule, gazpacho, and the numerous four-hour stews after a session at Scream studios. Out to all the cashew nuts. Beers of the year: Kwak did constantly surprise me, although Duvel is becoming a firm favourite. Big up all triples, and everyone keeping it Trappist.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Five films of 2008

paul — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:45:39 PST

The King of Kong (Seth Gordon)

imdb amazon
Personal, amazing and often amusing look into the trials of obsessively competitive classic arcade video-game players.

There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)

imdb amazon
Epic parable of ambition and family, selfishness and power, driven by the incredible performance of Daniel Day-Lewis as the ruthless and charismatic Daniel Plainview and a vivid rendering of early twentieth century America. I drink your milkshake!

No Country For Old Men (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

imdb amazon
Beautifully rendered, exhilarating criminal mayhem and the elegiac ruminations of an aging sheriff. Best haircut award to Javier Bardem.

Du levande (You, The Living) (Roy Andersson)

imdb amazon
Funny, unassuming yet fantastical dream about a set of people that seem peculiarly Swedish. Table-cloth trick lol

Manufactured Landscapes (Jennifer Baichwal)

imdb amazon
A study of the work and subject of photographer Edward Burtynsky, who photographs the artificial and affected landscapes created by industry around the world. Featuring astounding, memorable and significant images, particularly of China.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

RIP IE - meet Google Chrome

paul — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:28:46 PST

Google Chrome has arrived. They've used many of the best user interface features from Firefox 3 (for example the amazing address bar auto-completion) and combined it with an already highly impressive speed and finesse for a first beta, to rival that of Opera

Here's the five features I instantly miss from Firefox 3

adblock plus
noscript
/ keyboard shortcut for quick find
the ability to move the bookmarks toolbar to next to the address bar (but that might change because you can hide the bookmarks toolbar for open tabs)
delicious plugin

I would miss FireGestures, except I'm using StrokeIt which works with any application.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.