Dali says...

The Incredibles

2006-12-18T23:43:00.000+00:00

It was an unexpected surprise getting this 2-disc DVD a few days ago, but an even bigger surprise to see how less it fared with my all-time favourite animated film Toy Story.

Although the development, design and final imagery of the film is stunning, I thought the film was let down by the obvious use of too many animators with differing approaches. The change from grainy black and white imagery to colour to represent old footage etc spoilt the illusion that we we supposed to be in a single world. I found the changes distracting and this made me acutely aware that I was watching animation because of the conflicting styes. Long shots looked almost realistically photographic yet close-ups of the characters could often be seen as the flat and minimally shaded planes of colour they were.

Unlike Toy Story, The Incredibles actual storyline wasn't as unique as it coulfd have been, and we were faced with typical goodies versus baddies accompanied with musical hints of action films scores. Shades of James Bond / Mission Impossible etc. pervaded the otherwise original if not unique score.

The bonus disc was informative about the films technichs development, and the behind the scenes chat from the directors and animators also very interesting.

Grayson Perry

2006-12-18T09:59:00.000+00:00

Grayson Perry
Southbank Show 17-12-2006

Grayson Perry won the Turner Prize in 2003. About time a transvestite won it.

I'd imagine most people when hearing of artists' name will fall into two categories - those who haven't heard of him, and those who picture him dressed in womens (or is that girls?) clothes in his public appearances.

Grayson came out as a transvestite when he was 15 years old - he was outed by his step-sister after she'd read his diary. His father left the family home when his mother had an affair with the Jaguar-driving milkman.

Perry's step-father abused him and this is challenged / reflected in his art where as a child he spent many hours in his bedroom where he retreated into an imaginary world where he controlled the toy armies which he and his friend Alan Measles (his teddy bear) played.

Grayson's art is primarily in ceramics (pots), which from a distance look traditional and exquisite, but on closer inspection they reveal images of war, sexual perversions and other such unconventional imagery not usually associated with the decoration of pottery.

In a world or fast-food and instant gratification Graysons art is at odds with the permanace of his art. How will they be viewed in fifty or a hundred years? A lot of the content of his newspaper type imagery is usually consigned to the dustbin, but will the permanance of his pots and the statements they make anyone think differently now or in the future?

Driving Lessons (film)

2006-12-18T09:42:00.000+00:00

Driving Lessons 2005
Julie Walters OBE - http://www.world-of-celebrities.com/julie_walters
Rupert Grint - http://www.rupertgrint.net

It seems a treat to have both a Victoria Wood and a Julie Walters film / play on TV within a few days, as they don't do enough TV work in my opinion. Some people may remember their work together in the early 1980's as Wood & Walters - sadly a one series sketch show. Of course Julie appears in lots of Victoria's work (Pat & Margaret, Dinnerladies, Acorn Antiques etc), but is most famous for her role in Educating Rita and more recently in Billy Elliot and as Molly Weasley in Harry Potter on the big screen.

One thing is for sure, when she (Julie Walters) is on TV, I watch and she never dissapoints, and Driving Lessons was no different. The story is about a boys' coming of age along side the aging actress Evi (Walters) who claims to be a Dame, but I think that she "made it up" just as she did her "timebomb tits" for Tom and the sympathy she knew he would provide unconditionaly because of his innocence and good heart.

Tom's parent are both involved in the church at different levels - his father as actually priest and his mother as some sort of social organiser, who is having a low-key afair with Jesus (in the play she is organising at the local hall - where Tom plays a tree).

Tom and Evie have a couple of adventures, camping, drinking and a poetry reading session in Edinburgh where Tom loses his virginity. Evie has to make her own way to the Methodist Hall where she forgets her notes and although claiming she knows the Bard off by heart lapses into what seems more like a a bawdy limmerick than the recital she is booked for.

A strange needy character begins to live with Tom and his family and starts to wear Tom's mothers clothes and is accepted easily, yet in a final scene attempts to kill Tom's mother by driving at her in her own car. Her painted on bruises and weak excuses don't fool anyone and the husband asks for a divorce. The mother and lover move to Cornwall, and Tom gets a rjob in a local bookshop and applies to University. Evie is pleased for him but sad to see him grow though she accepts this, "a weeks for me is like a year".

Find The Fish [Monty Python]

2006-12-16T02:29:00.000+00:00

Saving from YouTube.com

2006-12-15T21:31:00.000+00:00

After what seems like an age searching on and off over the past few months, I've finally found free software which allows streaming downloads from www.youtube.com etc - which means you can save the file to your hard disc and watch it anytime you like. You can save the file in lots of formats (mpeg, avi and some I've not heard of - for mobile phones).

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

British Comedy Awards 13-12-2006

2006-12-14T04:07:00.000+00:00

British TV Comedy Awards - London 13-12-2006

Hosted by Johnathon Ross.

Sponsodered by Highliand Spring Water.

Notable presenters :

Madonna / Tenascious D.

http://www.britishcomedyawards.com/interesting.html

There hasn't been much new comedy on TV this year and what has, isn't new and the recipients have won in previous years (Little Britain / Ricky Gervais etc), so as well as the deserving and less so, there were a few surprises and a some names I'd not heard heard of as well as shows I didn't think even qualified as comedy (Russel Brand, Star Stories and I'm A Celebrity... were all represented).

Of course the bigesst hit this year (worldwide not just in the UK) was Borat The Movie, with Sacha Baron Cohan (presented by Madonaa) giving a minimal speech explaining Borat was at the Terhan Meeting, plus a lifetime acheivement award was presented to Chris Tarrent by a bored looking Lenny Henry supposedly reading bullet points from a speech someone prepeared on his behalf. Ha bloody ha Len.

At one point a huge snake (15 foot long and as thick as Grant Michels neck) was brought on stage and they were talking about someone eating a kangaroos testicle, but I was far too busy thinking about Lisa Tarbuck's boobs to care what was going on in that section, but it was probably something to do with 'I'm A Celebrity Shoot Me In The Foot .'

Ant & Dec were there again and god only knows why they won something (again). It must be my age but they don't appeal at all. They seem like a couple of kids doing hospital radio, but they were voted for in a public vote and are harmless enough. Comparisions with Morcombe and Wise are just rediculous though - the only similarity is the fact they are a middle of the road double act.

Thank god someone less mainsteam won (twice) - the brilliant surreal Harry Hill, although I couldn't beleive that the unique Leigh Francis wasn't even nominated at all and was only on to present an award. I don't know what the criteria is for the show, but Leigh Francis should be up there with the best of what British comedy has to offer the world. Similarly The Mighty Boosh were nominated but beaten by Little Britian (as if they needed the recognition), and Ricky Gervais - he's had his day and always was cringe-worthy in The Office and Extras. His stand up routine is another matter, but his once tongue-in-cheek bravura is now spilling over into his real life and will soon have others disliking him for it. No one likes a smart arse Dicky.

Housewife 49

2006-12-11T00:57:00.000+00:00

I just watched the much anticipated drama Housewife 49 - written by and starring Victoria Wood. Is there no end to this woman's talent?

Over the past 20+ years she's been the most unique stand up comedian & entertainer - observing the minutae of life and recounting them in her anecdotes, not forgetting also putting them in song accompanying herself on the piano. Some might remember her from That's Life in the early 1980's.

Wood - creator of Acorn Antiques (musical) and the Oscar nominated film Pat & Margaret (with Julie Walters) has scored another hit in my book. Pity it spread such a deep subject so thinly.

Housewife 49 is her screenplay based on the diary's of Nella Last - a housewife from Barrow-In-Furness. Set during the second world war. The story centres around the humdrum life of Nella and her family and how she responded to the war which made her more outgoing a person. This could so easily have been a six part series, but maybe it's for the better that it leaves the viewing wanting more.

Her previous TV outing was the brilliant over-too-soon comedy series set in a factory canteen - Dinnerladies. She'll soon be a dame I warrant it.

The goose is getting fat.

2006-12-10T01:45:00.000+00:00

I'm not looking forward to Christmas this year again as I can't buy presents for family and feel bad accepting gifts from them, but they don't seem to understand how that feels.

I wish it was all over and everything was back to normal, but it will get worse before it gets better.

And now there's the black cloud of Gran being in hospital to live with. She's had a long life, but that's not the point when it comes to the crunch. Grandad has been dead since 1986 - I don't see her much these days, but she never mentions him at all and the older I get, the more I feel and look like him. Our characteristics / personalities are very alike. It's strange as I used to feel closer to my fathers family in a way, but maybe that was because we lived in the same street when I was growing up and we seemed the same social class, but I aspired to a better class which my mothers parents seemed to have - a more affluent part of town etc. They actually ate cucumber sandwiches and drank tea, although professionally they were only a bus driver and school dinnerlady; nothing wrong there, but they lived a different type of life than you might imagine.

Dementia & Other Family Stories

2006-12-09T18:54:00.000+00:00

I just got a telephone call from my father who tells me my 93 year old grandemother (maternal) has ben taken into hopital with (unconfirmed) senile dementia. After a long lay down I thought I'd see if allowing my feelings out would make me feel any better - well I doubt I could feel worse at this moment.

My sister has gone to Scotland for a weeks holiday - she likes it up there as she has a Scottish surname (even though she's divorced from the person who gave it to her), and has in the past gone for summer holiday with her youngest son.

My brother is doing well in his job - his last meeting was in France and his next is in Canada (places where the company he works for is looking to expand). I didn't realise he was so far up the company ladder. He's come along way from being a lorry driver 10 years ago. I personally had hoped he would continue with his singing career as I knew he had the vocal ability to go far and I (selfishly) wanted to be his manager (my failed venture in to the local music sceneto blame I suspect... but that was a long tme ago).

My father always a betting man recently won over a thousand pounds on 2 separate occassion, which I could do with a slice of at the monent with Christmas approaching and only red digits in my bank account, but he doesn't realise that I'm broke as my wife takes care of the household bills etc. and everything seems OK to him and he probably thinks I have some social benefit income, although I don't and don't want to seem like I'm begging.

Merry Xmas everyone

2006-12-08T13:17:00.000+00:00

Merry Xmas everyone. Humbug more like.

Copyright dsp 2006 - use it but please give credit and a link back here http://dsp128.blogspot.com , or my website... http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/dspdesign/dspdesign

Thanks.

Created in Photoshop 3.4 (Thanks Scuthy).

The falling objects are...

Humbug candy sticks in the shape of umbrella handles.

Lamb chops.

I think it was Scrooge who said "Bah. Humbug!" (in Charles Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol'). Why he was doing an impression of Dolly the Sheep I don't know.

I had a dream!

2006-12-08T13:06:00.000+00:00

Last night I had a dream about being famous, and as usual when I awoke, I couldn't remember much of it by the time I'd walked to the toilet, so decided to try and remember it with a few key words. I ended up writing the following which could be seen as a poem or song lyrics.

Feel freel to use them as long as I'm credited fully as the author and that I get 10% of any royalties if you make money out of them :-)

I Can Do That
08-12-2006 - 10:00am

I woke up this morning and wrote a number 1.
Redecorated the bathroom before I went down.
Made myself scrambled eggs and some buttered toast.
Took off my dressing gown and read and reread my single piece of post.

Flew my car in to town, parked on the curb - I'm such a clown.
Went into my favourite bar bought everyone a drink and asked "what's going down?".
Fought off all the beautiful girls - put the bouncers head in the sink
Drank 15 pints and 20 shots, three kebaps and puked the lot, "what's that stink?"

Driving home at 2 O' clock I was stopped by 2 gay cops
But they let me off as I'd saved their lives the week before
In the bungled robbery at the grocery store.
Finally got my picture in the paper - I'd won the lottery.
Received a medal from the Queen - written a best seller.

The alarm went off it was all a dream.
I woke this morning and wanted to scream.

Some of it works, some doesn't. It was a dream what do you expect! Perfection in the first draft?

Designing websites

2006-12-06T21:07:00.000+00:00

I've been designing a few more websites over the past few days - not for anyone specific, but as templates for potential customers. It helps me realise my ideas and learn the code by keeping my hand in. Recently I learned how to add a javascript clock, and how to have borders on table cells (not the thick ugly global table border), but how to display just the top, bottom or side(s) with a border of any colour and width. This is done via inline styling (whereas I think it would otherwise be acheived within a css file).

I've also been experimenting with the "background=file.gif" in cells as opposed to "img src=file.gif" so a small background file can fill a whole cell by repeating plus there is then the option to put either a graphic over the background (using gif transparency), or to add text which makes quite a difference instead of having either a plain coloured background or none at all).

Other html elements I've been playing around with are opening small windows for photos (rather than opening another full page), and email forms. Tripod offer a free service where you can use their cgi-bin to associate an email with (which isn't in the form) this way spambot have nothing to eat. :-)

I've also been looking for codes to disable various browser options, mainly the stealing of images and actual code with partial sucess.

While Googling for a background (via the 'Image tab' for "bg.gif"), I found a few good ones and eventually surfed onto a doman registartion site and was reminded that both www.dspdesign.co.uk & www.dspdesign.com have been taken! Maybe I'll have to settle for www.dspdesign.tk (although that ran out months ago as I'd not had the default 30 visitors per month), but I could still buy it at some point I guess.

I'll have to upload my recent designs which will make 5 or 6 decent templates. If you're intereseted then here's the URL - http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/dspdesign/dspdesign/index.html

£$%^&*! Nepotism

2006-12-06T03:19:00.000+00:00

I recently discovered that my cousin and her husband had a vacancy at their business for which I am suitable and qualified, but when I asked about it I was informed that they don't take on family members in case it causes trouble! So much for... what's that word for giving family jobs? Damn!

EDIT - Nepotism is the word I was looking for .

Dual Disks

2006-12-06T02:59:00.000+00:00

I was surfing earlier today like you do and came across a manufacturing site which made CD's and DVD's and mentioned "dual discs". I thought I was fairly up-to-date when it comes to technology, but obviously not as far these new fangled "dual discs" are concerned as they have been on the market for over 12 months. A Sony invention if I remember correctly. http://www.dualdisc.com/faq.html

What's a duel disk I hear you ask? Well it's a disk like a CD but double-sided although the "b-side" is a DVD... clever. Apparently no new hardware is required to play them as you treat them like either a CD or DVD and insert them into your machine as normal. No doubt the marketing men will see an opportunity to sell us another player that can play both sides without turning the disk over but I doubt I'll be getting one soon. Took me a while to accept CD's and DVD's in the first place as I treasure my vinyl collection as it reminds me of my formative years.

Everyone's doing it...

2006-12-06T02:37:00.000+00:00

Just saw a TV documentary with Alan Yentob (UK TV arts director type) and he was learning about how to blog (from someone half his age) and the impact it is having one culture.

Well I thought I'd give it a go and see what happens. People apparently make money and become rich and famous through blogging and giving away free music via MySpace etc so what have I got to lose?

The Artic Monkey's apparently didn't have a record deal until the fans discovered them and wanted to buy CD's and t-shirts, posters and everything else. Now everyone and their cousin in Puru have heard of the Sheffield rockers.