If you’re lucky enough to have choices in your life this just about sums it up doesn’t it?

via: Poptimist

I just heard the other day that I’d been shortlisted for ‘best blog’ at this year’s BIMA awards. I don’t really know how I feel about it to be honest.

It’s a bit odd, because I don’t think that I could really ask for anyone to vote for me against the mighty Boing Boing or most of the other shortlisted blogs. Especially given that I’ve hardly had time to do anthing apart from whang on about babies for the last few months.

Obviously my blog is far superior to Faris’ piece of shit ‘Talent Imitates, Genius Steals’ ;-) so maybe I’ll sneak in at second last ;-) [just in case my double winkys haven't registered I love Faris dearly and the previous is a JOKE]

But regrettably, there is a competitive streak that exists buried somewhere deep inside me which really wants you to click here and vote for me. Even though I instinctively know the only reason that the ‘blog category’ exists is in the hope that people like me will blog posts like this and ultimately make people aware that the BIMAs still exist.

And just in case it helps I’ve got 1,000 Google Wave invites for people who vote for me (that’s an inappropriate joke by the way).

I feel so dirty.

You can argue all you want about the contents and the style of the report. But the fact that Talk Talk have decided to open up their Digital Anthropology research to all of us scumbags proves that they fundamentally get something…

TalkTalk’s Digital Anthropology Report studied how British people use the internet and found that there are six distinct ‘tribes’ of internet user in the UK. This video introduces you to the tribes from the report, the Digital Extroverts, Social Secretaries, Web Boomers. The full report can be found at: http://www.talktalk.co.uk/welovetheweb

You can download a PDF of the report here.

The ‘which tribe are you’ quiz is a bit throwaway, but I guess it does its job. No surprises but I was a ‘Digital Extrovert’ – hey everyone look at my digital things!

SoundCloud is a pretty nifty music upload / sharing / management tool. I’ve taken my last few mixes and stuck them up there. I think I might shift over my podcast arrangement to pull the tracks from there instead.

I’m on there at: http://soundcloud.com/iainmixedit/

I don’t think I ever posted this mix on here. I made it during the birth of the twins – literally. I was halfway through making it when Sophie went into labour. I finished it a few weeks later. So I dedicated it to the girls. I’m sure it’s the kind of music that will make them cry in the short term. But maybe when they’re older, like in 2027 when they’re 18, they’ll be able to listen to this and wonder what the fuck I was doing.

I’m not really sure what all this Hauntology thing is about, but I’ve got a feeling that parts of this mix might exist on the fringes of it somewhere… It’s dubsteppy in places and D&Bish in others, with a bit of droney electronica elsewhere. For tracklists and stuff go here.

For Eleanor and Josie – August 2009 by iainmixedit

You can download the MP3 via SoundCloud.

Why do I like SoundCloud?

• At a basic level it’s free
• The player is neat and compact
• The audio quality is pretty good
• The user experience is great – it’s got more Ajax bells and whistles than almost anything I’ve seen

I particularly like the way that you can add comments to particular bits of tracks, like you can see on this mix below:

From The Loft – Easter 2009 by iainmixedit

It’s also got a lightweight, but useful way of following artists / djs that you like which shows what they’re uploading and so on. I think I like it a lot.

I said I’d whore myself out for free t-shirts (and I meant it).

Biggestwigintheworld.com are going to sell the biggest afro wigs that money can buy online. At least that’s how their pitch goes.

The package they sent was nice. And tied with string which gets them a small, but significant, string-bonus.

The letter they enclosed was highly personalised and nicely written. It makes reference to specific relevant points in previous blog posts…

And mentions the twins.

Which proves they understand my current motivations. And they even noticed that I’d specifically asked for a size medium.

If I ever have need for a massive afro wig, I know where I’ll be going…

I have learned much.

National Geographic have whored themselves out to co-brand some air fresheners. Bloody disgraceful.

There’s this horrific BUY ONE GET ONE FREE advert for windows – I can’t find the actual ad online. But Safestyle UK does have a bunch of promotional videos on their YouTube channel. And you can glimpse the ad at the start and end of this clip. It’s real brain-rape stuff that would shake you out of your deepest pastel-coloured ‘This Morning’ haze.

The fact that this company has a YouTube channel and a blog and all that stuff makes me feel really queer inside.

Here’s another ad that makes me feel like renouncing everything I believed in. It makes me want to tell everyone that integrated campaigns are a product of a sick and twisted satanic messenger.

I’m just bursting with a whole bunch of confessions about bread. What on earth are they expecting? If you’re dying to let your sandwich secrets out, head to kingsmillconfessions.com. Actually, you know that bit in American Pie, how about a ‘British Butty’ remake?

Oh and there’s a Dettol ad that makes you believe that you ought to spray every surface in your house with chemicals or you and your children will die of flu within 48 hours. Thankfully that doesn’t seem to exist on the Internet.

Strangely I was rescued by a McDonald’s ad. Jesus, things must be low, or I’ve tired myself into full-scale brain damage. Seriously though, I actually really like these ads. I love the fact they’ve got proper writing in them. The voiceover is nice. The music works. The observations are sweet. And it feels appropriate, yet different enough.

And thankfully I don’t have to visit the ‘passing-by-o-matic’ to upload my buttocks onto a McDonald’s chair and become poem-a-lized.

So many things for me to love.

via: Justlikemusic

And the guy who made the video also made this, which I think is cute:

After what seems like months, but at the same time feels like only minutes Eleanor and Josie were allowed home with us last week. I’ve not really had a chance to write anything about it because babies appear to be time-leeches of the most amazing and wonderful kind.

The timetable to our life has been completely ripped up and thrown away. We currently have a funny batch of mini-playtimes in the middle of the night. Which, whilst enjoyable, leave you feeling like a hollowed out person the next day. I’ve tried convincing myself that I used to stay up all night for fun, and that this is really no different. However that mental trick only works for a minute or two.

Thank you to everyone for your positive words and thoughts. We’ve been blessed with two amazing little girls that seemed to stride confidently through an incredibly difficult and taxing start to their lives. As parents we had fears and concerns at every turn. But their ride ended up being so much smoother than some of the babies in the special care unit. Our thoughts are with the babies and parents who are still there dealing with things we’ve been lucky enough to only worry about.

Who knows how and why these things happen, and what’s enabled them to progress in the way they have. But if positive thoughts from friends and strangers hasn’t helped them directly it’s certainly helped me and Sophie through the last couple of months.

It’s incredible to think that they should still be in their mummy’s tummy for another 2 weeks. In fact the whole thing is pretty bloody incredible.

People often seem totally terrified for us having twins. But so far having twins is brilliant. In fact it must be really tough only having one baby. Like having a Wii with only one controller ;-)

Some photos from the last few days in hospital and the first couple of days home are below:

Thank you again everyone.

Here’s a story about how hackers are using massive interest as a way to sucker people out of their personal details.

Dear World,

I am @iaintait on Twitter. And I do not have 1,000 Google Wave Invites to give away.

I don’t even have a Google Wave invite for myself.

Since yesterday afternoon I’ve had thousands of people from all around the world re-tweeting #iaintait and sending me @iaintait messages asking for one of my supposed 1,000 Google Wave invites.

It’s kind of rendered Twitter unusable for me right now. Certainly if anyone tried to have a conversation with me using @iaintait there’s no way I can find it.

So, how did this start?

Yesterday morning @ihavenomouth tweeted this:

I don’t know if he meant to turn me into a hashtag or not. So I replied:

Which of course, in retrospect, to a bunch of people I know was like a red-rag to a bull:

There was basically a bunch of pisstaking going on, so I replied:

Then a couple of hours later. Mark ‘bloody’ Earls (@herdmeister) posts this:

And that my friends, is how it all started…

At its peak yesterday I was told there was a mention of #iaintait every 10 seconds on Twitter. And not only is it the hashtag that’s being sent around, people are now responding to @iaintait which makes Twitter kind of unusable right now. I’m guessing it’ll die down over time. But I thought that when I went to bed and it looks like we’re ramping up for the day:

Some conclusions:

• Stupidity is alive and well.
• Chain letters / emails / tweets still seem to suck people in
• Google Wave invites are hot shit
• It is IMPOSSIBLE to put the genie back in the bottle
• It’s strange feeling ‘viral’ in that way
• @herdmeister owes me a beer (or 1,000 wave invites)