fabric of folly

My Top 10 TV Programmes of 2011

2012-01-05T21:30:00.001Z

Somewhat belatedly, here's a list of the ten programmes which most tickled my televisual fancy last year. To be included, programmes must have been broadcast in the UK within the calendar year (hence no Sherlock). Do let me know in the comments what I should have been watching...

#1 The Killing - the most gripping 30 hours of 2011

#2 Rev. - matches, if not surpasses, the genius of the first series

#3 Frozen Planet - can I pay my license fee again, please?

#4 Holy Flying Circus - brilliantly Pythonesque and laugh out loud funny

#5 Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die - the toughest of watches but a documentary of real import

#6 All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace - characteristically brain melting fare from the inimitable Mr Curtis

#7 Wonders of the Universe - Professor Cox does it again, this time on an intergalactic scale

#8 Our War - bold, moving, terrifying

#9 Pan Am - partially alleviating my Mad Men withdrawal symptoms

#10 Masterchef: The Professionals - format TV at it's very best

Related posts:
My Top 10 TV Programmes of 2010

Next-gen London underground display

2011-12-16T23:38:00.006Z

Below is a mockup of my fantasy next-generation London underground on-platform display, which would not only show you exactly where incoming trains were on the line (and update their progress in real time), but also which carriages were more or less crowded (achieved by sensing passenger body heat or possibly carriage weight, to account for all those suitcases). That way, you could increase your chances of boarding and the platform announcers wouldn't have to keep telling new arrivals to move along the platform.

Go on TfL/CBS Outdoor - you've already got the screens...

How to get AirPlay working on BBC iPlayer iPhone & iPad apps

2011-12-12T20:49:00.003Z

Struggling to get Apple AirPlay working on the BBC iPlayer iPhone and iPad apps? Here's how:

1. Ensure your iPhone / iPad is running iOS 5.0 or above

2. Ensure your Apple TV is 2nd generation and running v.4.2 or above

3. Open the BBC iPlayer application on your iPhone / iPad

4. Find the programme you want to watch and press play

5. Double press the iPhone / iPad Home button

6. A menu will appear along the bottom of the screen

7. Swipe the menu left to right (once on iPad, twice on iPhone)

8. Click on the AirPlay icon

9. Select Apple TV from the menu

10. Sit back and enjoy!

Best Tracks of 2010

2011-01-09T11:56:00.001Z

Rounding off my best of the year lists for another 12 months, it's the ten most perfectly crafted pop confections of 2010. To be eligible, tracks must have been released as a single (whatever than means these days) in the last calendar year, so no hidden album gems. You can listen to all ten via this Spotify playlist.

Excuses - The Morning Benders

A serendipitous discovery via the Aweditorium iPad app, Excuses couples shimmering Californian harmonies with the unforgettable line "I taped my tongue to the southern tip of your body". The soundtrack to a perfect summer day.

Young Forever - Jay-Z feat. Mr Hudson

Ok, so Alphaville did most of the heavy lifting by penning the anthemic 1984 original, but Jay-Z's rapping adds some shade to the light of Mr Hudson's vocal and the whole thing just works.

Fuck You - Cee Lo Green

Admittedly not the most nuanced lyrical sentiment, but with a tune more catchy than swine flu, it doesn't much matter. Solving the Ferrari rhyming conundrum with the line "I guess he's an Xbox and I'm more Atari" also earns Mr Green bonus points.

Roll Away Your Stone - Mumford & Sons

I first heard this as part of their barnstorming 2010 Glastonbury set and its irrepressible energy hooked me on first listen. If you've not heard it, I challenge you to listen to all 4 minutes and not tap your foot.

Heaven Can Wait - Charlotte Gainsbourg

The production genius and trademark lyrical ellipticism of Beck, coupled with the captivating voice of Charlotte Gainsbourg and a gloriously surreal music video. What's not to like?

Pack Up - Eliza Doolittle

I'm not sure if I only love this because it reminds me of Jonathan Whitehead's brilliant theme to BBC Two Comedy Rev, but love it I do.

Runaway - Kanye West feat. Pusha T

Pared down piano and a disarmingly self-deprecating lyric, this is Kanye without the swagger and it really works (although the nine minute album version maybe slightly over-eggs the pudding).

I Like - The Divine Comedy

Neil Hannon cutting loose with a veritable meringue of a song which offers nothing more than three and a half minutes of well crafted pop frippery. I like.

Dancing On My Own - Robyn

Poignant disco. Not a phrase you hear everyday, but Robyn hits the mark with a classic not-getting-the-guy lyric and a cracking tune. Guaranteed to make you even more depressed if you are dancing tout seul.

Satellite - Lena

Showing us Brits how it should be done, this German Eurovision winner is a perfect example of disposable pop, with an irresistible hook performed by an untrained 19 year old with curiously endearing mockney pronunciation.

Related posts:
My Top Albums of 2010
Top 20 Best Tracks of 2008

My Top Albums of 2010

2011-01-03T11:38:00.001Z

The end of year list-making continues. Next up: the new albums which most tickled my musical fancy over the past 12 months.

Let me know what I should have been listening to using the comments link below.

		Come Around Sundown Kings of Leon Standout track: Mary
		The Suburbs Arcade Fire Standout track: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
		High Violet The National Standout track: Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
		Tomorrow Morning Eels Standout track: This Is Where It Gets Good
		IRM Charlotte Gainsbourg Standout track: Heaven Can Wait
		Broken Bells Broken Bells Standout track: Vaporize
		Bang Goes The Knighthood The Divine Comedy Standout track: I Like
		Big Echo The Morning Benders Standout track: Excuses
		End Times Eels Standout track: Paradise Blues
		Contra Vampire Weekend Standout track: White Sky
		Teen Dream Beach House Standout track: Zebra
		Lonely Avenue Ben Folds & Nick Hornby Standout track: From Above
		Eliza Doolittle Eliza Doolittle Standout track: Pack Up
		Body Talk Robyn Standout track: Dancing On My Own
		Brothers The Black Keys Standout track: Everlasting Light

Best iPad Games of 2010

2011-01-02T11:54:00.000Z

It's amazing to think the iPad is only 9 months old, during which time it's really started to mature as a credible gaming platform. Admittedly many of its strongest games are ports from other platforms, although compelling iPad originals are starting to emerge.

Below are the top ten iPad games which most rocked my accelerometer in 2010. I've tried to only include games which really take advantage of the iPad's form factor (hence no Drop7, Plants vs. Zombies or Cut the Rope which play just as well on the iPhone imho).

Let me know which gems I'm currently missing out on.

#1 Angry Birds HD (£2.99)

Yes, it's available on the iPhone, but the additional space afforded by the iPad's larger screen makes it that much more enjoyable to play. If you haven't played it yet, be prepared to be addicted; Angry Birds is the iPad equivalent of crack. Its surreal battle between bird and pig has even inspired a live action YouTube tribute.

Like This? Try Plants vs. Zombies HD

#2 Monkey Island Tales 1 HD (£3.99)

Telltale Games' update to the classic LucasArts adventure game franchise really comes to life on the iPad, with sumptuous visuals, great voice acting, intuitive controls and the witty dialogue and fiendish puzzling you come to expect from the series.

Like This? Try Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge

#3 World of Goo (£5.99)

World of Goo was born to be played on the iPad. A beautifully crafted game, which enchanted on the PC and Mac and on the Wii, its even more intuitive and enjoyable to play when you can manipulate the balls of goo with your fingertips. Pure class.

Like This? Try Moonlights

#4 Dominion HD (£2.99)

Superior to EA's official iPad version of Risk (which itself is excellent), this world domination board game captures all the magic of the original, but ratchets up the pace and tension and throws in some small but welcome additional features, including an online multiplayer mode.

Like This? Try RISK: The Official Game for iPad

#5 Let’s Golf! 2 (£0.59)

A playful and addictive golf sim which employs the trusty three-click swing action rather than attempting to more closely mimic a real golf swing (which almost always ends badly). Works best as a social experience, whether pass and play or via one of the multiplayer options (Online, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are all supported).

Like This? Try Real Golf 2011 HD

#6 Ragdoll Blaster 2 HD (£2.99)

A similar game mechanic to Angry Birds, with a canon rather than a catapult and a ragdoll rather than assorted birds. What sets RB2 apart, however, is its endlessly inventive level design introducing an Incredible Machine style physics dimension to the gameplay with predictably addictive consequences.

Like This? Try Angry Birds HD

#7 Puzzle Agent HD (£0.59)

Another Telltale Games production, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent (to give it it's full title) is a puzzle / adventure game hybrid with a distinctive visual style provided by cartoonist Graham Annable. Whilst the fidelity of the illustrations is quite variable, the overall effect is charming and the puzzles and narrative progression dovetail much more seamlessly than I expected.

Like This? Try Babylonion Twins HD Premium

#8 Broken Sword: Director's Cut HD (Free)

Another elegant port of a classic adventure game. Fourteen years on since it's original release and Charles Cecil's narrative stands up well, aided by gorgeous visuals, cinematic sound and an intuitive interface. Makes me wonder whether the iPad might stimulate a wider renaissance in the point and click (tap?) adventure game genre.

Like This? Try Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone for iPad

#9 Osmos for iPad (£2.99)

A simple but surprisingly difficult game in which you must propel a single-celled organism towards other, smaller motes in order to absorb them. Hit a bigger one and you get absorbed. It has a nice aesthetic / calming ambient soundtrack and would be very relaxing were it not so damn stressful...

Like This? Try Cut the Rope HD

#10 Mirror's Edge for iPad (£2.99)

A successful re-imagining of the first-person console title of the same name as a side-scroller, making smart use of the limited inputs of swiping and tapping to produce one of the most nerve-wracking games currently available for the iPad.

Like This? Try Canabalt

Prices correct at time of writing.

My Top 20 Films of 2010

2011-01-01T05:34:00.001Z

Following on from my Top 10 TV Programmes of 2010, below are the full-length feature films which I've rated most highly over the past 12 months. As usual, films must have had a UK theatrical release within the calendar year to be eligible (so The King's Speech, True Grit and Black Swan must all wait till next year's list).

In terms of trends, the faux-documentary appears to be a form very much in the ascendancy (see Catfish, Exit Through The Gift Shop and I'm Still Here). Dark themes also seem to be a discernible trend - even the wholesome Toy Story has swung a bit to the dark side for it's third outing.

As for on-screen talent, Nic Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio, Casey Affleck and Anna Kendrick appear to be this year's magic ingredients, all appearing in more than one film on the list.

Anyhoo, enough chit-chat; here's the list:

#1 The Secret In Their Eyes

Deserving winner of Best Foreign Language Film at the 2010 Oscars, this Argentinian thriller's 2 hours plus running time whizzes by thanks to a gripping narrative, delightful period production detail and compelling central performances.

#2 Winter's Bone

I was lucky enough to catch this at the Edinburgh Film Festival, with both Director and Lead in attendance and was blown away, both by the incredibly evocative cinematography and by the power of Jennifer Lawrence's performance. Not cheery, but an extraordinary piece of filmmaking that will stay with you long after the credits have rolled.

#3 Another Year

Mike Leigh at his most gentle but still hugely affecting. Great performances all round although for my money it's Lesley Manville's heartbreaking portrayal of Mary which most deserves the recognition of the Academy judges come February.

#4 Inception

As a piece of pure cinematic spectacle, it's hard to beat Christopher Nolan's brain-melting dreams-as-Russian-dolls thriller, which left the other summer blockbusters dead in the water thanks to a bold blend of CGI and live action stunt work.

#5 Catfish

2010's 'other Facebook film' served up far more food for thought on the profound implications of social networking for society at large than it's blockbuster cousin. Whilst many (re)viewers got hung up on the veracity of the footage and the knock-on implications for the integrity of the filmmakers, I allowed myself to be swept along by a genuinely compelling human drama.

#6 The Social Network

Less about Facebook and more about one man's drive for success and the collateral damage when that drive is matched by good fortune and timing. As you'd expect, Sorkin and Fincher ensure the dialogue and direction are a notch above most Hollywood fare and Jesse Eisenberg is hugely believable as Zuckerberg. Hell, even Justin Timberlake is good.

#7 Toy Story 3

It must suck to be Dreamworks, because when it comes to CG animation, nobody does it better than Pixar. Everything about this third outing from Buzz, Woody and the gang is note perfect, with the right blend of old and new characters and a cracking script ensuring it's equally enjoyable for adults and kids.

#8 Exit Through The Gift Shop 

As with Catfish, you could easily fixate on the authenticity and authorship of the various elements of this somewhat elaborate narrative tapestry. Or... you could just sit back and enjoy another gripping human drama delivered via the documentary form and doff your cap in Banksy's general direction. I opted for the latter :)

#9 Precious

The story of a overweight, illiterate, Harlem teenager, pregnant with her father's second child as a result of rape, the scope for getting this wrong was huge. But a combination of a deft adaptation of the original novel and knock-out performances from Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique and (I never thought I'd write this) Mariah Carey, keep this the right side of good throughout.

#10 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Wow. Nic Cage really is like the little girl with the curl. When he's bad (as he seems to be more often that not these days), he's terrible. But when the planets align, as they have done here, he's just incredible. Herzog allows Cage the freedom to really push the envelope and make the role his own, negating any need for comparisons with Harvey Keitel's Bad Lieutenant. Simply jaw-dropping.

#11 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Ahead of seeing Scott Pilgrim I couldn't help wondering whether it was going to suffer coming so soon after Kick Ass, another hyper-stylised, CGI-enhanced helping of comic book violence. I needed have worried however; Edgar Wright really turned the dials up to eleven for this one, out kick-assing Kick-Ass on the video-gamifciation (sorry!) of fight sequences and dowsing the whole thing liberally with pop-culture references.

#12 The Town

One of the best thrillers of the year came from the rather unexpected direction of Ben Affleck, who co-wrote, directed and starred in this Boston-set crime drama. Strong central performances from Jeremy Renner (of Hurt Locker fame), John Hamm (Mad Men) and Rebecca Hall (one to watch) helped distinguish this further. I'm now rather hoping he makes another one.

#13 Shutter Island

A Scorsese/DiCaprio billing's a tough one to call these day after the brilliance of The Departed (my number one film of 2006) and the overindulgent bilge of The Aviator (which got a dishonourable mention in my 2004 round-up). Mercifully, it's nearer to the former than the latter on the Scorsese/DiCaprio sliding scale, although it never quite tips the balance from engaging thriller to modern classic.

#14 The Killer Inside Me

Not an easy watch this one, with a wholly unsympathetic central character and some very convincing scenes of extreme domestic violence. It's a credit to Casey Affleck's portrayal then that this isn't an unbearable 109 minutes. Indeed, it's his charisma coupled with the character's psychopathic tendencies that brings to mind Michael Madsen's turn in Reservoir Dogs and leaves one with the same uneasy feeling of having been seduced (much like his victims), by the charm of a smooth talking psycho-killer.

#15 I'm Still Here

Unlike Catfish and Exit Via The Gift Shop, I'm Still Here does insist that you actively engage with the question of it's veracity rather than just sitting back and enjoying the ride. Unfortunately, this frequently threatens to destabilise the narrative and the viewer's emotional engagement with it. That said, there comes a point where you're left in little doubt that the whole thing's a hoax, that you can just sit back and marvel at the audacity and tenacity of Affleck and Phoenix's giant ruse.

#16 Kick-Ass

Coming, as it did, ahead of Scott Pilgrim, Kick-Ass was a much needed shot in the arm for comic book adaptations, successfully translating the kinetic energy of the original from page to screen with genuine verve and freshness. Nic Cage is once again in no-holds-barred scenery-chewing mode, although it's Chloe Moretz's Hit Girl who really steals the show.

#17 Four Lions

A comedy about a group of British jihadists from the creator of Brass Eye and The Day Today... I really wasn't sure what to expect from Four Lions going into the cinema and in particular, whether I was likely to come out laughing. Well, somehow Morris pulls it off, creating a film which is by turns laugh out loud funny and hugely emotionally affecting, with characters which are broadly comedic but never lose their humanity. Definitely has to be seen to be believed.

#18 Up In The Air 

Fresh from the success of 2007 Oscar-winner Juno, Jason Reitman has scored another hit by peppering what could have been a wholly mainstream adaptation with just enough indie juice to make it stand out from the crowd. An eminently watchable Clooney spars with both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick to good effect and there's a decent quotient of chuckles to be had along the way.

#19 Dogtooth

A thoroughly disquieting watch, Dogtooth is a taboo-busting Greek allegory addressing childhood, family and human conditioning which lingers on in the memory long after the final ambiguous frame fades to black. Not for the feint-hearted.

#20 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

It's tough to translate books as well loved as the Millennium trilogy to screen, but the Danish writing and directing team do an admirable job with the first (and best) of the three novels, aided by some smart casting and good decisions re. how best to compress the action to an acceptable running time (it's still 2 and a half hours). Crucially, Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist manage to convince as Lisbeth and Mikael, to the extent that they've now supplanted my own mental images of the characters, forged whilst reading the books.

Related posts:
My Top 20 Films of 2009
Best Films of 2008
My Top 25 Films of 2007
My Top 30 Films of 2006
My Top 25 Films of 2005
My Top 20 Films of 2004

My Top 10 TV Programmes of 2010

2010-12-29T15:04:00.029Z

'Tis the season to make lists (yay!) Kicking off this year's run-downs is my top ten TV shows from the past 12 months. To be eligible, programmes must have have been broadcast in the UK within the calendar year (hence no 30 Rock or Breaking Bad). Feel free to let me know what I should have been watching / rating via the comments link below.

#1 Mad Men - television to luxuriate in

#2 Wonders of the Solar System - genuinely awe-inspiring

#3 Rev - note perfect first run comedy

#4 This is England '86 - they do make them like this anymore

#5 The Big Silence - bold and affecting

#6 Peep Show - six more episodes of comedy gold

#7 When Harvey Met Bob - captivating 90 minute drama

#8 The Trip - indulgent yet delightful

#9 Sherlock - deftly written and brilliantly performed

#10 Glee - the dictionary definition of guilty pleasure

The next ten (in alphabetical order): The Apprentice, Being Human, Doctor Who, The Inbetweeners, James May's Toy Stories, Miranda, Newswipe, Outnumbered, Wallander, Who Do You Think You Are?

Aweditorium - awesome music discovery iPad app

2010-12-04T05:16:00.036Z

I used to blog quite a bit about music discovery apps but then Spotify came along, I moved from the BBC's Audio & Music Interactive department (to its television equivalent) and general app fatigue set in...

Then, a couple of week's ago, online streaming service thesixtyone released its Aweditorium iPad app and I was shaken out of my music discovery lethargy by an app of such elegance and utility that it's become almost a constant companion, introducing another ambient screen into my life (but hopefully not forcing me to buy another iPad... ;)

Like many of the best interfaces, none of its paradigms are particularly new or revolutionary - it just assembles existing paradigms with such grace that it feels fresh and delightful, displaying a number of those small but significant interface touches that I've banged on about in the past.

On opening the app, a monochrome splash screen announces the name of the app and introduces its wonderful tag line: 'Aural Happiness' before fading in a mosaic of rotating artist images and a 'Headphones Recommended' icon. (It had me at 'hello'...)

Once fully loaded, the artist thumbnail in the centre of the screen glows seductively with a one word invitation to 'Tap'. Doing so expands the image to full screen and fades in a track from that artist. 'Tap, swipe or pinch' appears briefly on the screen; no long winded explanation of which each will do, just an irresistible invitation to find out through trying.

Tapping brings up the title of the track, the name and provenance of the artist and a row of six icons. Pause is self-explanatory. The CND logo turns out to signify sharing (via Twitter or Facebook), with the number in superscript reflecting the number of 'earthlings' who have shared the track. The heart icon provides links to other tracks by the same artist within the app and a link to download the track in iTunes. The speech bubble pulls up a video about the band and plays it out in minature, while fading the volume of the track playing to background level. The HD icon plays the track's music video in high-def. The tiles icon returns you to the mosaic (as does pinching).

In this state, info bubbles appear on the screen, providing background on the artist. Tapping for a second time hides the icons and info bubbles and instead overlays the track's lyrics on the screen.

Swiping in any direction moves you through the image mosaic and starts the next track playing. Left to its own devices, once a track finishes the image scrolls to one side and the next track starts playing.

Returning to the mosaic, you realise your musical journey is being visually tracked by unfading the thumbnails of the tracks you've played. Top left of the screen is a orientation map, plotting your journey across the mosaic in miniature and displaying how many tracks you've listened to and what proportion of the mosaic you've explored.

The current mosaic is 27 x 27 squares giving you 729 tracks to plot a course through. Another nice touch is that the mosaic wraps so you move seamlessly from one side to the other, never reaching an edge.

Of course, all of this interface delight would be for nothing were the music crap. Fortunately (and entirely subjectively) it's great, introducing me to unfortunately monikered, but musically glorious, The Morning Benders, to name but one.

If I were to scratch around for a criticism of Aweditorium it would be its failure to implement OAuth, forcing you to enter your Twitter username and password if you want to tweet a track, but now I'm just being churlish. Update: Aweditorium have been in touch to point out that the Twitter implementation makes use of xAuth :)

If you're remotely interested in indie music or application interfaces (and if you have an iPad) I'd heartily encourage you to download Aweditorium and see why I'm waxing lyrical. Wish I'd built it.

Seven Days - a study of sudden celebrity in slo-mo

2010-10-09T21:49:00.026Z

Finally managed to catch up with Channel 4's new reality TV show, Seven Days, which I'd thought I'd missed (having wrongly inferred from the title that it was stripped across a single week...)

Apart from finding it more engaging than I'd expected, what really struck me whilst watching it was how the nature of the format means it very quickly becomes less a study of regular people and their daily interactions and more a real-time examination of the impact of suddenly becoming a public figure / minor celebrity.

While contestants on other reality formats like Big Brother are well aware that simply taking part in the show will have turned them into overnight celebrities, they are usually shielded from the consequences of that new status (aside from a few overheard boos on eviction night) until they emerge from the experience (whereupon it no doubt hits them like a tidal wave, as they wade their way through the tabloid backlog).

Seven Days is different in exposing the participants to their developing public profile in real-time and letting them choose whether to let that feedback loop moderate their behaviour or not. What's more, it's a cocktail not just of the usual tabloid fare, but also of comments from Joe Public via the moderated ChatNav service and the unmoderated wilds of Twitter.

We're only three weeks in but it's already interesting to see the different participants (I like the fact C4 has hosted their profiles in a /characters directory - hopefully a knowing nod to the inherent artifice of TV portrayals...) respond very differently to the feedback they're receiving. Whilst Susanne appears to be deriving a new found confidence from her feedback (to finally challenge her son to move out), Samantha's feedback has put her in a tail spin about whether she cares what people think of her or not.

Whereas Big Brother was always rich with the reality TV equivalent of dramatic irony, as the participants carried on oblivious both to the public reaction to their actions and to many of the on-camera actions of their housemates, Seven Days affords the participants equal access to the public's perceptions and the broadcast behaviour of the show's other participants (so Hannah will see/hear Ben describe her as a "bronze medal"...)

It's almost like the mirror image of The Truman Show, where complete obliviousness has been switched out for maximum awareness of their daily lives as national spectacle.

As Matt Locke (Acting Head of Crossplatform at Channel 4) acknowledges, the formula's probably not 100% right yet, but it's certainly one of the most ambitious attempts to date to try and harness the differing (and to my mind complimentary) strengths of broadcast and IP to create a genuine feedback loop, with many thousands of viewers also acting as contributors/influencers.

Whilst there's already speculation that the show may not have delivered large enough audiences to secure its future, I'd be intrigued to see how this dynamic evolves in the longer term as the participants' lives become increasingly affected by their new found fame.

Video game legends trump cards

2010-04-26T19:10:00.002Z

Along with marbles, Lego, roller boots, Star Wars toys and Rubik's Cube/Snake/Magic, Top Trumps were one of the defining play experiences of my childhood. In fact, my brother and I spent so long playing with one particular deck (cars), that I even composed an ode to my favourite card (the Ford Thunderbird), which I sang in a triumphalist fashion whenever victory looked assured.

Another source of defining childhood play experiences came from the virtual realm of computer games. From not getting enough forward momentum in Microsoft Decathlon on my American cousins' Apple II in the mid-Eighties, to the happy weeks and months spent puzzling my through LucasArts' adventure games in my teens, computer games sucked up even more hours than those beloved trump cards. Mercifully, the two diversions never collided.

Until now, that is...

Above and below are photos of the first few packs of my homebrew 'Video game legends' trump cards, which arrived from the printers this morning. They feature 32 of the most seminal characters in video game history, which can now be pitted against one another on the basis of age (number of years since first appearance), number of game appearances (according to the interweb), estimated height (surprisingly difficult to guesstimate), speed (on a scale of 1 to 10) and special ability (which introduces scope for an entirely subjective argument over how Luigi's Thunderhand would fair against Kratos' Blades of Chaos...)

I've done a modest first print run of five decks - mail me if you'd like one. Also feel free to drop me a line / comment below if you think I've made any major character omissions, so I can include them in the next deck.

The full list of character cards (in no particular order):
- Mario
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Link
- Lara Croft
- Master Chief
- Pac-Man
- Solid Snake
- Guybrush Threepwood
- Donkey Kong
- Sackboy
- Agent 47
- Crash Bandicoot
- Lemmings
- Buzz
- Bomberman
- Sam & Max
- Kirby
- Luigi
- Ryu
- Gordon Freeman
- Diddy Kong
- Ratchet
- Big Daddy
- Marcus Fenix
- Niko Bellic
- Cloud Strife
- Rayman
- Kratos
- Fox McCloud
- Pikachu
- Samus Aran
- Dante

(It hopefully goes without saying that these are intended as an affectionate fan tribute rather than a copyright-infringing invitation for Nintendo to sue my ass... :)

Who knows more about me - Tesco or Google?

2010-01-24T14:19:00.050Z

I like to think of myself as relatively savvy about how data about me is captured and stored. I know that by having (and using) a Tesco Clubcard I am offering up a veritable smorgasbord of valuable data about myself; not only where I live and what I like to eat and drink, but also what newspaper I read and - were I to take Tesco up on their full range of services - what clothes I wear, what car I drive (and when and where I fill it with petrol), what books I read, what DVDs and games I rent, what medication I take, my mobile phone and home broadband usage and even my bank balance and insurance provision. To what extent Tesco (or rather dunnhumby) joins the dots on all of this data is unknown although it's status as poster boy for successful CRM suggests, er, quite a lot.

Google is another company I'm aware knows a fair bit about me, although it wasn't until the launch of Google Dashboard last November, that I realised quite how much. Sure, there's my web search history (although that's possible to pause), but there's also my email, this blog (published using Blogger), my website stats, my online documents, my YouTube viewing, my RSS feed subscriptions, my checkout purchase history and - since I started trying out Google latitude - my location. Sounds a little scary when you put it like that, no?

The quality, convenience and competitive pricing (in Google's case, mostly free) of the products and services offered by both brands is what's keeping them dominant in their expanding (and no doubt soon to be overlapping) sectors. To what extent consumers will start factoring the volume, usage and transparency of personal data collected by these and other companies and how that will weigh against factors such as cost and convenience remains to be seen.

Of course, Tesco and Google aren't the only pretenders to the personal data throne. Through a combination of launches and acquisitions, Yahoo! now has access to my photos, email, bookmarks, conference schedule and - most potently - my social graph. The injection of users' social graph into the data mix is particularly valuable and Facebook is right at the sharp end of the personal data issues this entails, exacerbated by the rapid uptake of Facebook Connect, which is making its walled garden increasingly permeable.

Google Dashboard is a welcome baby-step in providing greater access to and - crucially - control over the personal data Google holds. It will be interesting to see whether Tesco starts moving more in this direction, whether by choice or legislation (clicking 'My Account' on the Tesco Clubcard site today returned the following message: "Sorry but an unexpected error has occured. We are currently trying to resolve the issue. Please try again.")

(Aside: Interesting to note that Tesco has dropped out of this 'Most highly-regarded business brands' ranking - although clearly the opinions of a selection of prominent UK leaders are likely to be very different to regular consumers).

My Top 20 Films of 2009

2010-01-17T08:16:00.006Z

Belatedly following on from my rather meagre list of top albums, below is my slightly more meaty run down of the twenty best (imho) movies released at the UK box office last year. Not a vintage year for cinema but still a few diamonds in the rough.

Films which I haven't got round to seeing yet which I suspect would have featured in the list if I had: The White Ribbon, An Education, The Class, The Wrestler, In The Loop.

		Slumdog Millionaire (dir. Danny Boyle & Loveleen Tandan) Wholly deserving of the plaudits heaped upon it, Slumdog is beautiful scripted, shot, acted and scored.
		The Hurt Locker (dir. Kathryn Bigelow) Don't be put off by the opaque title (army slang for 'place of pain') or the subject matter (bomb disposal in Iraq), this will quite simply blow you away.
		Fish Tank (dir. Andrea Arnold) Not the bleak kitchen-sink drama the synopsis suggests, but a powerful and strangely uplifting tale of working class Britain.
		Mesrine (dir. Jean-François Richet) A gritty two-part French crime biopic which makes a mockery of most British and American attempts at the genre.
		Milk (dir. Gus Van Sant) A compelling true story and a barnstorming performance from Sean Penn.
		Anvil: The Story of Anvil (dir. Sacha Gervasi) Proving that parody is no longer necessary when it comes to the world of heavy metal.
		A Serious Man (dir. Ethan & Joel Cohen) A seriously well made film with strong performances from a relatively unknown cast and gorgeous cinematography from Roger Deakins.
		Let The Right One In (dir. Tomas Alfredson) You don't have to like vampires or subtitles - this is a powerful human drama, not the Swedish Twilight.
		Che (dir. Steven Soderbergh) Steven Soderbergh and Benicio Del Toro deliver a worthy companion to The Motorcycle Diaries in the pantheon of Che portrayals.
		Religulous (dir. Larry Charles) Yes, it's unnecessarily polemical, but Bill Maher's sideways look at contemporary religion is as enjoyable as it is alarming.
		Frost/Nixon (dir. Ron Howard) Transcends the limitation of playing out known events with captivating central performances from Michael Sheen and Frank Langella.
		The September Issue (dir. R.J. Cutler) If documentary subjects could win Oscars, you'd have to hand one to Vogue's editor-in-chief. A real Wintour-de-force (sorry!)
		Moon (dir. Duncan Jones) A hugely disquieting watch with shades of Kubrick and a bravura performance from Sam Rockwell.
		35 Shots of Rum (dir. Claire Denis) Slow moving and slight, this intimate French drama won't be to everyone's taste but remains a masterclass in the artistry of film-making.
		Avatar (dir. James Cameron) Not what you'd call a nuanced plot, but as a piece of pure spectacle James Cameron's magnum opus delivers in spades (or should that be shades...?)
		The Hangover (dir. Todd Phillips) Not quite note-perfect (can people please stop employing Mike Tyson?) but still the best Hollywood comedy of the year.
		Vicky Christina Barcelona (dir. Woody Allen) Allen's most watchable film in years with engaging performances from Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem.
		The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (dir. David Fincher) An overlong but deeply affecting study of love and mortality. I challenge you not to shed a tear.
		Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino) Whilst overindulgent in places (e.g. machine gunning Hitler in the face), Tarantino's intuitive feel for making watchable cinema wins out.
		Synecdoche, New York (dir. Charlie Kaufman) Bold, ambitious and - for much of the running time - downright incoherent, this is a must watch for any would-be (or has-been) film student.

Geo social mobile apps (Foursquare & Gowalla)

2010-01-08T00:32:00.000Z

Until not so long ago the only things I 'checked into' on a regular basis were airports and hotels. That's started to change recently with my discovery of location-aware mobile social apps Foursquare and Gowalla which enable me to 'check in' to locations pin-pointed by my phone's GPS, share that location with my friends and earn points/rewards along the way.

It's not a new idea (Dodgeball was experimenting in this area way back in 2000, albeit using SMS) but it's an idea which seems to have suddenly come of age, thanks primarily to advances in the smartphone market, with GPS now coming as standard on most handsets and mobile apps enabling interaction with web services without the need to open a browser.

The other magic ingredient in this new breed of mobile social app is the leveraging of game mechanics to incentivise uses to keep using the app and checking in to new locations. Foursquare awards you points for every check-in (which are then stacked up against your friends' totals on a leaderboard), badges based on the patterns of your check-ins and mayorship for a location's most frequent visitor (with real-life freebies at some venues). Gowalla uses stamps in a virtual passport as its central conceit, with pins instead of badges and items which you can virtually geocache.

Aside from the pursuit of kudos, both apps not only let you know when your mates check-in somewhere (which really comes to life on the iPhone now apps can use push notifications) but also function as a handy guide of neat stuff to do nearby. Whilst this triple-whammy of functionality makes the apps hard to describe in a nutshell (Foursquare describes itself as "50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide, 20% nightlife game"), it potentially gives them the edge over apps which tick only one or two of those boxes (e.g. Google Latitude, Brightkite, Dopplr).

One of the biggest challenges for apps like this is coverage; most of the negative comments about Foursquare in the app store are about the limited number of cities it covers (currently Bristol, Brighton, Edinburgh, London, Manchester in the UK), although the ability to check in anywhere is apparently on the way (functionality already provided by Gowalla).

In terms of which app currently has the edge, Gowalla probably squeaks it thanks to its gorgeous UI and iconography although it's a close call and it's unlikely to remain a two-horse race for long as other developers wake up to the potential size of the prize in this area.

My Top Albums of 2009

2009-12-31T12:35:00.019Z

Continuing the pattern of a shorter list each year (as I get increasingly out of touch with the contemporary hit parade), here are my top albums of 2009. Feel free to let me know what I should have been listing to / liking using the comments link below.

		Be Set Free Langhorne Slim Standout tracks: Say Yes, I Love You Goodbye
		Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! Ben Folds & Various Artists Standout tracks: Magic, Jesusland
		Far Regina Spektor Standout tracks: The Calculation, Folding Chair
		Hombre Lobo Eels Standout tracks: Beginner's Luck, My Timing Is Off
		The Duckworth Lewis Method The Duckworth Lewis Method Standout tracks: Jiggery Pokery, The Age of Revolution
		The Resistance Muse Standout tracks: United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)

What should Zynga do next?

2009-10-24T05:15:00.021Z

Ok, so it's not too difficult to look at a successful company and describe some of the smart things they've done and why they might be considered significant; much harder to say what they should do next. Here's my attempt to map out four next steps for Zynga:

1.) Enable interactions between games
The logical step on from cross-promotion - hinted at by their dynamic CTAs ("Did you milk the cow? Take a break with a milkshake in Café World!") - Zynga's portfolio of games is just crying out to be joined up at a more molecular level. What better way to increase reach and dwell time than to start create rich interconnections and dependencies between the games, enabling the pigs raised on your FarmVille farm to be dispatched to your Café World caf é (possibly via your Abattoir City slaughterhouse - you can have that idea for free guys ;-) You wouldn't necessarily need to own all the businesses yourself - your network of friends could form a mini cooperative (or cabal, should you be so inclined) with one venture supplying another (not hard to see how Mafia Wars might fit into this setup).

2.) Prioritise development of mobile apps
Zynga have already made a start with iPhone apps for four of their titles, but if I were them, I'd be inclined to bump mobile app development right to the top of my to do list. They wouldn't need to be Rolls Royce ports of the desktop browser games - pared down versions which enabled you to harvest your crops or take your dish off the stove would be sufficient at this stage. There's obviously huge potential for push notifications announcing calamity (or opportunity) in your game world and Apple allowing free iPhone apps to use in-app payments clearly presents some attractive revenue possibilities.

3.) Fill in the obvious gaps in its portfolio
Accusations of derivative / copycat games are rife in the social gaming space at the moment (Psycho Monkey has sued Zynga, Zynga has sued Playdom as well as a number of other developers) so Zynga would need to tread carefully in filling in some of the holes in its current portfolio. One of the most obvious gaps is pets, which are big business in the social gaming world, as Pet Society, Neopets, My Fishbowl, Animal Paradise and countless others will testify. If I was in charge of the 'what next?' list at Zynga, a pet game would be somewhere near the top...

4.) IPO (or get bought by EA)
Both have been rumoured, with the former probably more likely than the latter. Either way, the next 6 months look like a good time to capitalise on its rapid ascendancy and position as market leader. Who knows what the landscape will look like in another couple of years time?

Having said all that, they do seem to be doing ok without my advice... ;-)

6 reasons why Zynga is truly game-changing

2009-10-20T05:05:00.026Z

Chances are you haven't heard of Zynga. However, if you're a Facebook user (and 19 million UK Internet users reportedly now are) then you may well have played one of their games and have subliminally registered their 'powered by Zynga' logo (a silhouette of the founder's bulldog). With 45 million daily active users (yes, daily!) across their portfolio of games and an estimated $150 million in revenue this year, they have rapidly become a very big fish, not just in gaming, but in the online world more generally.

This astonishing rate of growth is best exemplified by their Facebook app Farmville, a real-time farm simulation game which launched in June 2009 and now boasts over 50 million monthly active users, making it the most popular game on Facebook.

So, what's their special sauce, magic ingredient? Here's six reasons why Zynga is truly game-changing:

1.) Smart leveraging of your social graph (it's only fun with friends!)
One of the big draws for Facebook app developers is the ability to leverage users' social graphs, not only to enable social play, but to encourage the viral spread of the application. Most early apps which attempted to exploit this tended to be crude 'you're it' type games (e.g. Zombies) which achieved a lot of installs but didn't offer the user any real depth of gameplay and soon became regarded by many as tantamount to spam. What Zynga have done (although there's undoubtedly still some residual app invite fatigue for them to overcome) is to make games which offer more depth than the one-trick pony 'you're it' games and provide a more nuanced reward mechanic, with genuine ongoing incentivisation for users to expand their 'neighbourhood' of friends via gifts (cannily limited to one-per-day-per-friend), offers of help/employment, and rewards based on acts of citizenship). In fact, those interactions are so key to the game mechanic, that it's really only fun with friends, as Alice recently bemoaned.

2.) Stickiness through Tamagotchi-style plate-spinning
Part of the reason Zynga's daily reach is so high is that it's games are invariably 'high-maintenance'; in order to maintain your hard-won status and progress, you must return on at least a daily basis (and are invariably rewarded for doing so more often). This model might prove frustrating on a more traditional gaming platform, where you have to find time to fire up the console and load the game, but works perfectly on Facebook where frequent repeat visits are already the order of the day, largely driven by communication tasks (messaging, status updates etc.) There's both carrot and stick in this equation as neglecting your Zynga game will result in dead crops, spoilt food and unhappy customers just as surely as regular visits will send your revenue and status skyward.

3.) Persuading users to make micropayments
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Zynga is the amount of revenue it is now generating. Building a sizeable web audience is one thing; successfully monetising it is quite another (hello Twitter!) People's willingness to part with real-life cash for virtual goods has been well established by immersive 3D environments like Second Life and WoW, but it's testament to the engagement that Zynga's casual games engender, that once users virtual currency runs out, a sizable number of them are willing to dip into their pockets to keep progressing.

4.) Exploiting the endowment effect
Another genius element of Zynga's game design is the way in which they exploit some very basic aspects of human psychology, in particular the endowment effect. Whereas many game worlds are populated with alien objects for you to navigate or obliterate, with the main protagonist your only point of identification, Zynga's games tend to give you immediate ownership of a domain in which you very quickly start to take civil pride. You care how your room/cafe/farm/theme park is perceived because it's very definitely yours (a point reinforced by the status boasts / screengrabs you are encouraged to publish to your wall and your friends' homepages).

5.) Easily repurposable game-engine
One of the best things about Zynga's recipe for success is how repeatable it is. The basic game engine for CafeWorld is identical to the one powering FarmVille, YoVille and Roller Coaster Kingdom. The ability to apply this model to new domains, and in so doing, reach new audiences (as well as extended reach/time spent with existing audiences) is a game developers dream.

6.) Effective cross-promotion / upselling of its other games
With 17 Facebook games now in its portfolio, Zynga does an extremely good job of upselling its other titles from within the individual games. In addition to a carousel running underneath each game promoting their big ticket releases, dynamic CTAs are also inserted above the Flash app (e.g. in Farmville: "Did you milk the cow? Take a break with a milkshake in Café World!")

It's worth saying that Zynga aren't the only company pushing the envelope in online social gaming at the moment (check out Playfish), they just happen to be doing it bloody well.

30 Must-Download iPhone Apps

2009-07-26T12:00:00.004Z

So, you've just purchased a shiny new iPhone 3GS and you're wondering which apps to download? Here's an update on my previous lists, this time organised by category:

Best utility apps
The apps you'll fire up again and again
1.) Tweetie (£1.79) - the best iPhone Twitter app bar none
2.) London Tube Deluxe (£0.59) - a must for all Londoners without chauffers
3.) National Rail Enquiries (£4.99) - never have to call 08457 48 49 50 again
4.) Urbanspoon (Free) - find an eatery by location, cuisine and/or price
5.) Ocado (Free) - the weekly food shop just got even easier
6.) Stanza (Free) - eBook reader. $200 cheaper than a Kindle :)
7.) Movies (Free) - find out what's on at your local cinema
8.) Spoonfed (Free) - find out what events are going on near you in London
9.) Dictionary.com (Free) - check words without a web connection
10.) RadioTimes (£2.99) - the best of the UK TV listings apps

Best games
The apps which will make even the longest train journey fly by
1.) The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (£4.99) - pocket sized version of one of the best games of all time
2.) Fieldrunners (£1.79) - fiendishly addictive tower-defense game
3.) California Gold Rush (£1.79) - engrossing gold mining puzzle game
4.) FlightControl (£0.59) - draw finger-fightpaths to safely land aircraft
5.) Toki Tori (£1.19) - Lemmings-style platform puzzler
6.) Bejeweled 2 (£1.79) - a great port of the gem-swapping classic
7.) Rolando 2 (£5.99) - quirky platform puzzler, which makes full use of the iPhone's accelerometer
8.) Let's Golf! (£1.19) - the best golf game for the small screen
9.) Stoneloops! of Jurassica (£0.59) - Bejeweled meets Space Invaders
10.) Wurdle (£1.19) - no, not the word cloud generator, but a rip-off of that old family favourite, Boggle

Best novelty apps
The apps you'll show your mates that will make them want an iPhone
1.) Face Melter (£1.19) - hideously distort your friend's face and then animate it
2.) QuadCamera (£1.19) - passport booth in your pocket
3.) Rimshot & Crickets (Free) - for all your badum-tish needs
4.) Ocarina (£0.59) - turn your iPhone into a primitive musical instrument by blowing into the microphone
5.) Photoswap (Free) - creepy real-time random photo-swapping

Best music apps
The apps which make the world's best music device even better
1.) Simply Music 2 (£3.49) - remotely access your computer's music library
2.) Last.fm (Free) - stream over 5 million tracks for free
3.) Shazam (Free) - algorithmically identify that mystery choon
4.) midomi (£2.99) - Shazam for hummers
5.) GuitarToolkit (£5.99) - tuner, metronome and chord database

Recent BBC Vision web launches

2009-06-20T09:29:00.022Z

Quick round-up of some recent BBC Vision web launches which I've had varying degrees of involvement with:

Robin Hood game

Noteworthy primarily for its use of the Unity plug-in which renders Flash-beating in-browser 3D graphics - definitely a technology to watch. Game development by Playgroup and Specialmoves. BBC credits: Marc Ramsay, Richard Lynton-Evans, Paul Thomson and Rosie Allimonos. Trailer embedded below.

Adam Curtis Blog

Peak inside the mind of the legendary documentary film maker (The Power of Nightmares, The Century of Self, The Trap) and find out about his forthcoming collaboration with the Punchdrunk theatre company, It Felt Like a Kiss (see below trail). All I can claim credit for here is the green-on-black retro screen font which I used in a presentation I pulled together for Adam last year. The real props go to Nick Cohen, Roo Reynolds, Cathal Coughlan and Lucy Kelsall.

Comedy Extra

Made-for-the-web comedy clips from a mix of established and up-and-coming talent, including Adam Buxton, Mitchell & Webb, Matt Lucas & David Walliams, Stewart Lee & Armando Iannucci and the don't-try-this-at-home Amazing Wizards. Credit due to Al Boley, Martin Trickey and Will Saunders amongst others.

Remember, you can keep track of all new site launches from BBC Vision at the BBC Vision site launches blog.

BBC Apprentice clips widget

2009-06-09T12:07:00.003Z

Suffering Apprentice withdrawal symptoms after last Sunday's final? Here's a bundle of best bits (including James' car-crash interview - "In a nutshell, I put a leash on people who spunk money up the wall..." and "I can bring ignorance to the table") in an embeddable widgety package. No link back to bbc.co.uk unfortunately, so I'll have to provide one myself: Lots more good stuff on The Apprentice website and keep an eye out for more BBC widgets.

'Search online for...' - The return of keywords in advertising

2009-05-30T04:06:00.012Z

Hands up who remembers AOL keywords? Back in the late-90s / early naughties (when AOL was still spamming the world's letterboxes with CD-ROMs) it was commonplace to see an AOL keyword alongside, or occasionally in lieu of, a regular URL on marketing materials. Movie trailers and posters, in particular, would often carry them (see posters for 2001 box office stinkers Swordfish and 15 Minutes).

Fast forward to 2009 and search keywords in advertising seem to be experiencing something of a renaissance, although this time it's Google rather than AOL who are the go-to guys for finding stuff online. However, where AOL keywords were tightly controlled (check out the official Keyword Guidelines), keywords input into Google will return results entirely at the mercy of Google's special sauce search algorithms.

This presents a bit of a dilemma for marketeers; whilst inviting users to Google for your brand more closely mirrors online behaviours (80+ percent of online journeys start with a search), you don't have control over what appears on that results page.

The first URL-free ad I noticed recently encouraging users to search for a keyword was the Orange 'I Am Everyone' campaign, which boldly invited users to "search online for 'I am'", complete with magnifying glass icon (which seems to have inexplicably become the universally recognised symbol for search - I guessing either Microsoft or Apple is to blame...)

The problem was that the newly-created campaign site i-am-everyone.co.uk was decidedly short on Googlejuice (the top organic search result for 'I am' was i-am-bored.com on Google and i-amonline.com on MSN), forcing Orange to shell out for Sponsored Links (still live at the time of writing). Whether the additional cost of the Sponsored Links was offset by a greater response rate to the search-based call-to-action (or the insight they got from being able to more easily track the response rate) would be interesting to know (although the figures from Compete don't speak of a unqualified success).

The decision to promote keywords over a URL is probably easier when you feel confident of getting and retaining the top spot in organic search results. Tamlyn Rhodes points to More4 and Act On CO2 both using the 'search online for...' CTA; both having sufficiently distinctive names and Googled-up parent domains (channel4.com and direct.gov.uk) to ensure they secure the top spot. Warner Brothers also recently adopted the 'search for keyword' approach for elements of their Watchmen marketing campaign, banking on keeping the mighty IMDb off the top spot. Dyson went for belt and braces after its TV ad invited users to "Search online for dyson ball", taking a Sponsored Link as well as the top two organic search results.

Another example which recently caught my eye was the TV and poster campaign for Dido's forthcoming album, 'Safe Trip Home', which makes no mention of Dido and looks more like a movie campaign, inviting users to "view trailer now" by Googling for enigmatic keywords such as 'Lady Landfill', 'Mother Lay-By' and 'Blackeye Lashes'. What's interesting about this one is that the top matches are all YouTube videos which - YouTube being a Google property - get a thumbnail and visible rating; far more eye catching and inviting than your average search result. The video then directs users onwards to the official album site.

Despite the potential pitfalls of promoting search keywords in advertising, it seems likely to increase as marketers seek to respond to how users actually navigate to content online and counter the URL blindness which I'm certainly starting to suffer from. Just watch out for a resurgence of Google bombing/washing...

Holiday reading

2009-05-17T14:20:00.012Z

Just returned from a week's holiday at the Likya Residence and Spa in Kalkan (thoroughly recommended if you're looking to get away from it all - see Flickr set) and thought it was high time I ended my three-month blogging hiatus with a gentle re-entry post. So, with a nod to Roo Reynolds, who's 'recent reading' post format I've cribbed, here are the books which kept me occupied on the sun lounger:

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson - probably not a book that I would have picked off the shelf in a bookstore (the cover gives some of the wrong signals - the likely subject of a future blog post), but a loan from my brother, whose literary recommendations I trust - a trust rewarded with a thoroughly engrossing novel exploring the universality of love and loss through a rich tapestry of interwoven narrative strands and the birth of an irresistible hero in the shape of private investigator Jackson Brodie. I already have the next in the series (One Good Turn) lined up on the shelf.

Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody - an eminently readable, if ultimately inconsequential, memoir from the writer of 2007 indie hit, Juno, which pretty much does what it says on the tin, serving up enough memorable characters and anecdotes to justify the 200+ pages.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - probably still best-known as co-editor of Boing Boing (but better known to me as Mr Alice Taylor), Cory conjures a hugely engaging narrator and protagonist in Marcus Yallow, a 17-year old tech-head, battling to outsmart the Department of Homeland Security as it clamps down on civil liberties in the wake of a major terrorist attack. The book was released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license and can be downloaded from Cory's site. Go do it.

Twitter play: Lyric for the day

2009-02-14T14:26:00.005Z

Four weeks ago I set up a new Twitter account called Lyric for the day and started posting snatches of song lyrics on an (almost) daily basis. I then tweeted it's existence on my main Twitter account, encouraging fellow tweeters to guess the track and artist by replying to @lyricfortheday. 28 lyrics later and the account has 37 followers and a burgeoning sense of competitiveness, as well as some indie snobbery. There's only one rule (no Googling!). Below is the high score table (one point for the first correct answer) and the answers to date (only three of which went unguessed). Come play! :)

Lyric for the day hall of fame:
R4isStatic (4)
aarons (3)
LouiseBrown (3)
onpause (3)
willhowells (3)
chunkylover (2)
dogwinters (1)
helenroper (1)
ms_jackson (1)
rooreynolds (1)
slim_cop (1)
SplintUK (1)
tbgkerry (1)

Answers to date:
1. Sympathy For The Devil - The Rolling Stones (onpause)
2. Abattoir Blues - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (aarons)
3. Babies - Pulp (rooreynolds)
4. Our Mutual Friend - The Divine Comedy
5. Sit Down - James (willhowells)
6. O Maria - Beck
7. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand (willhowells)
8. When The Sun Goes Down - Arctic Monkeys (R4isStatic)
9. Faith - George Michael (slim_cop)
10. Mexican Wine - Fountains of Wayne (helenroper)
11. Mrs Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel (R4isStatic)
12. Playground Love - AIR (chunkylover)
13. Singing In My Sleep - Semisonic (R4isStatic)
14. Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) - Kenny Rogers & the First Edition
15. Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen (SplintUK)
16. Me In Honey - R.E.M. (chunkylover)
17. Cabron - Red Hot Chili Peppers (R4isStatic)
18. Mile End - Pulp (aarons)
19. The Bends - Radiohead (aarons)
20. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol (dogwinters)
21. Where Is My Mind - The Pixies (onpause)
22. Don't Speak - No Doubt (LouiseBrown)
23. First of the Gang to Die - Morrissey (willhowells)
24. Tiny Dancer - Elton John (onpause)
25. Mysterious Ways - U2 (ms_jackson)
26. Shakermaker - Oasis (tbgkerry)
27. Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols (LouiseBrown)
28. Frontier Psychiatrist - The Avalanches (LouiseBrown)

Job opportunity: Head of Multiplatform Products, BBC Vision

2009-02-14T08:26:00.004Z

Looking for an exciting new job and at a loose end this weekend? Why not spend it applying for the role of Head Of Multiplatform Products for BBC Vision? Don't know what any of those words mean in this context? My earlier post on my elliptical job title should explain some of them.

BBC widgets

2009-01-17T06:57:00.004Z

At the tail end of 2006, I confidently predicted that 2007 would be the year of the widget and thanks in no small part to Facebook and iGoogle both 'going large' in that year (see respective news stories), I wasn't embarrassingly wrong.

Yesterday marked a more modest milestone in the 'mainstreamisation' (warning: made up word alert) of widgets as some of my colleagues quietly launched bbc.co.uk/widgets. It's pretty light on widgets at the moment (four at the time of writing) but I've got a feeling that could grow pretty quickly, even if all it does is aggregate more of the BBC widgets already out in the wild (e.g. LiveUpdate, Lily Allen, Glastonbury, Olympics).

One of the new widgets available is the BBC iPlayer widget (embedded below) which promotes a selection of TV and Radio content available to consume on-demand via BBC iPlayer, with some very light-touch personalisation built in (thumbs up, thumbs down). You can't actually watch programmes within the widget (I guess the viewing experience might be slightly sub-optimal at 300 pixels), although the Clearspring wrapper provides easy integration with an extensive range of social media sites (incl. Facebook and iGoogle) as well as the vanilla embed code.

Designed more as a proof of concept than a major distribution play, it will be interesting to see whether it garners many installs. Of course it'll need to get linked to first; here's link number one for Google to spider: BBC Widgets. Now go forth any embed...