Yesterday I went to a talk on tech journalism organized by the London branch of Geek Girl Dinners. I say 'went', I was allowed to go by my girlfriend as she's the girl geek and guy geeks are only allowed as guests of a girl.
This involved an after work scoot into the centre of London on the rush hour tube, which is never fun, but we were rewarded with some promotional hot pepper sauce as we left the station.
The talk turned out to be in the corner of a normal office and there were people sitting at their desk looking a bit fed up at having their space invaded. Stopping only to grab a few nibbles and a drink we made ourselves comfortable for the talks.
First of all we had a talk from Angela Saini, a freelance journalist who gave us her tips on becoming a tech journalist.
Next Connie St Louis told us about the journalism courses that she runs at City University.
Finally the most interesting talk by Ramaa Sharma. Ramaa is a trainer at the BBC and told us about a recent initiative to provide reporters with small portable, consumer video cameras. She told us the relative merits of the Flip and the Kodak Z series (she prefers the Kodak as it can take an external mic, although you can't monitor the sound levels). She went on to show us other kit (tripods and microphones), a video she uses to train journalist, and a short report made in Afganistan using just those methods. I was particularly impressed by the BBC's College of Journalism website, clearly an internal resource but not behind a firewall and very useful for anyone interested in journalism as a career.
Ramaa said that the idea behind the cameras was to give radio correspondents all over the world the ability to capture footage of breaking stories before the camera crews get shipped out from more central locations. She was keen to stress the skill set that a modern journalist must have: being able to shoot video, record sound and edit the final cut, as well as more traditional journalism skills. This image of a roving all in one reporter reminded me of the original Max Headroom drama, as the central character in that was a reporter with his own camera.
Looking at a clip on youtube now it's clear that the reporter character would have loved something as portable as a Flip.
Hmm... I also notice that the evil, bathridden computer genius has a very fashionable steam punk keyboard (47 seconds in). Weird.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
More Zombies
A few weeks ago I read that the Walking Dead, a comic book that I had discovered last year, was being made into a TV series. In fact, it was getting shown about a month later. It looked interesting, with a cast including Egg from that awful 90s lawyer drama thing."This Life"? Never liked it, although I think it was aimed at my demographic.
I'm happy to say that's not the case for "Walking Dead". I enjoyed it. It's a decent adaptation of the comic book. The effects aren't top notch (the torso only zombie early on is clearly a bloke buried below the waist the first time we see it), but they're acceptable on the whole. I did notice the curious American habit of being totally happy with seeing graphic violence, but not happy with seeing women's boobs (or maybe American women shag with their bra on?)
The story opens very like "28 Days Later" (or even "Day of the Triffids" if you like), with the hero, a police man, waking in hospital, alone, not quite sure what's going on. In short, the perfect vehicle to tell the zompocalypse story to the audience, via a survivor who he happens across. Every hero needs a quest, and this one decides that his family has survived and he'll go to find them. Any more and I'd spoil it.
If you aren't bored of zombies yet, give it a go: you should enjoy it.
I'm happy to say that's not the case for "Walking Dead". I enjoyed it. It's a decent adaptation of the comic book. The effects aren't top notch (the torso only zombie early on is clearly a bloke buried below the waist the first time we see it), but they're acceptable on the whole. I did notice the curious American habit of being totally happy with seeing graphic violence, but not happy with seeing women's boobs (or maybe American women shag with their bra on?)
The story opens very like "28 Days Later" (or even "Day of the Triffids" if you like), with the hero, a police man, waking in hospital, alone, not quite sure what's going on. In short, the perfect vehicle to tell the zompocalypse story to the audience, via a survivor who he happens across. Every hero needs a quest, and this one decides that his family has survived and he'll go to find them. Any more and I'd spoil it.
If you aren't bored of zombies yet, give it a go: you should enjoy it.
Monday, 18 October 2010
Sci Fi Saturday Night
Sci Fi old and new over the weekend.
Thanks to my girlfriend's organizational skills we went to see the original, 30 year old Tron on Saturday. This was a special showing at the October iteration of the Sci-Fi London Film Festival (a marvellous event - you really should go).
We arrived bang on time, made our way to Screen 5, and were nearly knocked out as the doors swung outwards:
"Are you here for Tron?"
"Yes"
"Head next door for the screening of the preview, sit where you like, then head back here for the film."
Obediently, we wandered into Screen 4, being handed 3D glasses on the way in, where an impressive CGI animation was under way. It became pretty clear that this was an extended advert for something, but we were never sure quite what it was. After about 10 minutes it became clear it was for Starcraft 2 - one of the major sponsors of the event. Fair enough, just a little confusing to sit through.
Then the guy that shoo-ed us from Screen 5 wandered in with a microphone : he was the Festival Director Louis Savy I think). A very affable chap, he explained why we had to shuffle between the 2 screen : the cinema was unable to project a cutting edge 3D short and 35mm print from the same booth. Louis (if that was his name - a very half arsed search on google suggests it is) told us we were lucky to be seeing the original Tron so close to the release of Tron Legacy, and to expect the odd scratch in the print as it was 30 years old. Finally he threw a few T-shirts into the crowd and left us to it.
Following an atmospheric short called 'Breathe' from Liam Garvo (it looked nice but, as ever with a short, there's not enough time to really engage with it) we were shown the 3D trailer for Tron Legacy and then 10 minutes of the film itself. The scenes were mainly concerned with Flynn Jnr's arrival in 'cyberspace', being captured, kitted out in his games armour and taken into an arena for his first game.
Like the trailers, this preview is incredibly slick. The effects look fantastic, I'm not sure that 3D is needed but hey- it was never going to avoid it. The 'waxy' looing young Flynn Snr doesn't look out of place, and I imagine a shed load of processing power went into generating him. Things I hadn't seen before? The kitting out scene sees Flynn being dressed by 4 highly objectified women in 'Seven of Nine' figure hugging catsuits. I guess the film is being pitched at teenage boys then? I've avoided reading too much about the film, so I had no idea that Michael Sheen was in it - there was a tiny clip of him giving Daft Punk orders to get the arena crowd more excited, and I have to admit that the score was getting the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. There's certain aspects of the film seems to have been influenced by the Matrix trilogy: the costumes are the kind of thing anyone who buys Cyberdog thinks they're going to look like (you're not). Cycberspace is certainly darker and more goth than it was in the early 80s - which is fine by me.
The trailer ended (polite applause) and we headed over to Screen 5, swapping our 3D galsses for goodie bags on the way, for the main event.
I have a bit of a fond spot for Tron. As a child I had been given the choice of seeing E.T. or Tron as my Christmas break film. I picked Tron : I've no idea why and I've never regretted it. It took me years to get around to watching E.T. and it never filled me with wonder the way it did for many children. When I told my girlfriend that I was excited about seeing Tron Legacy (after seening the trailer at the local cinema) she took the initative and booked tickets for this screening - mainly so she'd have some idea of what was going on when I dragged her to see Tron Legacy later in the year.
So, what did I get out of seeing Tron for the first time in (over 20) years? The main thing is that it's now impossible to take Jeff Bridges seriously - he's The Dude. Almost every line he said was met with a chuckle from the audience. The special effects are, on the whole, very dated (what do you expect) but a few hold up well. The outfits are probably the worst offenders - paper thin helmets, white drapes and the odd blue or red glowing line.
It was odd to see how lively a video arcade was protraid . I remember them being quite a draw for my pocket money at that age, but I don't remember
It was odd to see that a few lines of dialogue had been taken verbatim from the old film into the new (the breifing of the newly arrived Flynn Jnr) and I'd never noticed the Pac Man easter egg before. Nor had I twigged that the guy from the trailer giving Flynn Jnr the nudge towards his adventure was actually Alan/Tron until I found myself what had happened to that actor. The appropriately small appearce of the bit 'character' left me wondering why it left such an impression on me as a child. Finally, the 30 year old print was charming - I did enjoy seeing a film with scratches and 'pops' on it. I guess in the same way as I enjoy the clicks in any favourite vinyl record.
I did wonder if seeing Tron at such an early age propelled me into my current job, but I doubt it. If I was working on computer games that might have some validity, but hacking away at websites isn't really the same at all is it?
So that you can have a flavour of my own Saturday night : here's the trailer for the original Tron with the one for Tron Legacy.
Thanks to my girlfriend's organizational skills we went to see the original, 30 year old Tron on Saturday. This was a special showing at the October iteration of the Sci-Fi London Film Festival (a marvellous event - you really should go).
We arrived bang on time, made our way to Screen 5, and were nearly knocked out as the doors swung outwards:
"Are you here for Tron?"
"Yes"
"Head next door for the screening of the preview, sit where you like, then head back here for the film."
Obediently, we wandered into Screen 4, being handed 3D glasses on the way in, where an impressive CGI animation was under way. It became pretty clear that this was an extended advert for something, but we were never sure quite what it was. After about 10 minutes it became clear it was for Starcraft 2 - one of the major sponsors of the event. Fair enough, just a little confusing to sit through.
Then the guy that shoo-ed us from Screen 5 wandered in with a microphone : he was the Festival Director Louis Savy I think). A very affable chap, he explained why we had to shuffle between the 2 screen : the cinema was unable to project a cutting edge 3D short and 35mm print from the same booth. Louis (if that was his name - a very half arsed search on google suggests it is) told us we were lucky to be seeing the original Tron so close to the release of Tron Legacy, and to expect the odd scratch in the print as it was 30 years old. Finally he threw a few T-shirts into the crowd and left us to it.
Following an atmospheric short called 'Breathe' from Liam Garvo (it looked nice but, as ever with a short, there's not enough time to really engage with it) we were shown the 3D trailer for Tron Legacy and then 10 minutes of the film itself. The scenes were mainly concerned with Flynn Jnr's arrival in 'cyberspace', being captured, kitted out in his games armour and taken into an arena for his first game.
Like the trailers, this preview is incredibly slick. The effects look fantastic, I'm not sure that 3D is needed but hey- it was never going to avoid it. The 'waxy' looing young Flynn Snr doesn't look out of place, and I imagine a shed load of processing power went into generating him. Things I hadn't seen before? The kitting out scene sees Flynn being dressed by 4 highly objectified women in 'Seven of Nine' figure hugging catsuits. I guess the film is being pitched at teenage boys then? I've avoided reading too much about the film, so I had no idea that Michael Sheen was in it - there was a tiny clip of him giving Daft Punk orders to get the arena crowd more excited, and I have to admit that the score was getting the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. There's certain aspects of the film seems to have been influenced by the Matrix trilogy: the costumes are the kind of thing anyone who buys Cyberdog thinks they're going to look like (you're not). Cycberspace is certainly darker and more goth than it was in the early 80s - which is fine by me.
The trailer ended (polite applause) and we headed over to Screen 5, swapping our 3D galsses for goodie bags on the way, for the main event.
I have a bit of a fond spot for Tron. As a child I had been given the choice of seeing E.T. or Tron as my Christmas break film. I picked Tron : I've no idea why and I've never regretted it. It took me years to get around to watching E.T. and it never filled me with wonder the way it did for many children. When I told my girlfriend that I was excited about seeing Tron Legacy (after seening the trailer at the local cinema) she took the initative and booked tickets for this screening - mainly so she'd have some idea of what was going on when I dragged her to see Tron Legacy later in the year.
So, what did I get out of seeing Tron for the first time in (over 20) years? The main thing is that it's now impossible to take Jeff Bridges seriously - he's The Dude. Almost every line he said was met with a chuckle from the audience. The special effects are, on the whole, very dated (what do you expect) but a few hold up well. The outfits are probably the worst offenders - paper thin helmets, white drapes and the odd blue or red glowing line.
It was odd to see how lively a video arcade was protraid . I remember them being quite a draw for my pocket money at that age, but I don't remember
It was odd to see that a few lines of dialogue had been taken verbatim from the old film into the new (the breifing of the newly arrived Flynn Jnr) and I'd never noticed the Pac Man easter egg before. Nor had I twigged that the guy from the trailer giving Flynn Jnr the nudge towards his adventure was actually Alan/Tron until I found myself what had happened to that actor. The appropriately small appearce of the bit 'character' left me wondering why it left such an impression on me as a child. Finally, the 30 year old print was charming - I did enjoy seeing a film with scratches and 'pops' on it. I guess in the same way as I enjoy the clicks in any favourite vinyl record.
Pac Man 'easter egg'
I did wonder if seeing Tron at such an early age propelled me into my current job, but I doubt it. If I was working on computer games that might have some validity, but hacking away at websites isn't really the same at all is it?
So that you can have a flavour of my own Saturday night : here's the trailer for the original Tron with the one for Tron Legacy.
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