Chris

Mal Anniversaire

2009-10-31T02:33:30Z

It makes one realise how quickly life passes these days when an anniversary like this arrives. On the one hand, lots of good things have happened over the course of the last twelve months to counteract the bad - far more good than bad in fact. I'm in a great relationship, career is pottering upwards, have had a Big Monster Role at LT and have been to various brilliant gigs (Clockwork Quartet I'm looking at you. Oh, and Bellowhead obviously).

Slightly more vindictively - Mum's neighbour-from-hell got convicted of obstruction in the case of neighbour vs. the emergency services. Probably good for all concerned that there was no contributary factor to Dad's death in the final analysis.

Still, 31/10 - Mum is in Australia with friends; us siblings and in-laws/partners are having a somewhat-morbid dinner party - sure it'll be fine; what with every couple (x4) being asked to bring 2-3 bottles of wine. Going to see if I can slip a bottle of home-brew into the mix :)

Steampunk Music-tastic

2009-09-09T11:48:33Z

Declan has put me onto this bunch: www.clockworkquartet.com, who seem rather good - if anyone's interested I'm considering going to see one of their London shows next month, although I'm slightly concerned that as of last Sunday they've claimed on their Facebook page to only have two finished songs!

Mememe

2009-08-01T01:25:14Z

1. Can you cook?
2. What was your dream growing up?
3. What talent do you wish you had?
4. Favorite place?
5. Favorite vegetable?
6. What was the last book you read?
7. What zodiac sign are you?
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
9. Worst Habit?
10. Do we know each other outside of Livejournal?
11. What is your favorite sport?
12. Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15. Tell me one weird fact about you.
16. Do you have any pets?
17. Do you know how to do the Macarena?
18. What time is it where you are now?
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21. Would you be my partner in crime or my conscience?
22. What color eyes do you have?
23. Ever been arrested?
24. Bottle or Draft?
25. If you won the Jackpot on the lottery today, what would you do with it?
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
27. What's your favorite pub/club to go to?
28. Do you believe in ghosts?
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30. Do you swear a lot?
31. Biggest pet peeve?
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33. In one word, how would you describe me?
34. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

Jack Steel Rides Again

2009-01-17T12:20:33Z

Well, we've come to the unanimous decision that Series 2 of Squadron Leader Jack Steel and the Starblade will be done, looking to start writing now-ish, recording and editing around June for a release in September this year. We'll probably be doing more "Unsheathed" episodes through the work-in-progress (mainly to let people know how we're getting on and keeping our sound editing skillz up to scratch at the same time!)

Meanwhile click here to see one of our marketting ploys from last year (and note the pride-of-place - thanks to us being the only advertiser not connected to a brewery or pub, and therefore the least controversial to put in pole position!)

elderlight @ 2009-01-15T22:52:00

2009-01-15T22:53:17Z

Not that I suspect anyone doubted my word, but here...

It's interesting how the news gets distorted though. Not that I'm in any way defending the bitch, but when the ambulance turned up it was because dad was feeling unwell and his doctor had advised him to call the ambulance. He wasn't a "heart attack victim" until about 20 minutes later in the hospital. One of the reasons the ambulance crew were so upset was that he was chatting to them on the way down and they had no idea about what was about to happen.

Expect the unexpected

2009-01-15T18:22:17Z

Against all advice and expectations, Mum's psycho neighbour has pleaded Not Guilty to the charge of impeding the emergency services in the course of their duties. On what possible grounds I have no idea, but it means the case is going before a jury sometime in March. It was apparently a surprise to her legal team as well, since they had arranged for a plea-bargaining type solicitor to be present to negotiate the expected fine for when she pleaded guilty.

I think this is a good thing, it opens up the possibility of a. harsher consequences and (more importantly) b. the opportunity for her to prove exactly how nuts she is to a courtroom full of officials. Of course it could also end in her getting off scot free.

Oh, and apparently the "news-presence" was up to and including a local BBC TV camera crew...

Online apologies

2009-01-14T09:52:50Z

Things to make you popular #23

"Drunkenly ring your ex-girlfriend at 3am to ask her for her spare key to your house, having lost your own set whilst at a nightclub"

Lauren, you are an absolute lifesaver and to say I owe you one is the understatement of the century...

Jasper Morello

2009-01-08T14:18:56Z

This Steampunk animation has been around for a while, but I thought I'd post a link having just watched it again for the first time in ages...

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v9108904NzqQs8e

Sir Terrence

2008-12-31T09:54:09Z

Gosh - that's a surprise, although well-deserved...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7804693.stm

Everything MUST go

2008-12-12T09:53:07Z

I took the train home yesterday, and since Norwich station is next to a large Woolworths I thought I'd take a last nostalgic wander around before they closed their doors for good.

I suspected something might be up by the carnage in the carpark, which was one solid maze of queueing traffic. The 50% OFF EVERYTHING! signs went a long way towards explaining this, but I soldiered on regardless - that last ever bag of Woollies Pick-n-mix was calling. But inside was bedlam. Shelves were literally pulled off the walls as people fought to strip them of the low-quality merchandise they contained. The CD and Games section was one of the quietest places in the place, presumably because that had been looted hours earlier and was now bare. All that was left were a few truly awful items that people were nevertheless still snatching up and joining queues that stretched the length of the store. My exit was pretty swift.

If you've got any nostalgic childhood memories of Woolworths I'd advise avoiding their shops in their last few days, it was a genuinely sad sight.

Timing

2008-12-10T19:24:57Z

I've just discovered that you can get Nectar points if you shop at Amazon by navigating via the Nectar website. Only to the tune of 0.5p to the pound but hey, would have been nice to know before I'd done my Christmas shopping :)

Worldwide Appeal

2008-10-23T13:49:28Z

A couple of days ago we received an e-mail from the guy who runs this site, asking if we would be interested in them featuring Jack Steel as a podcast show on their network. Naturally we've said yes (we retain all rights yada yada, it's just another way of getting more "exposure" for the project). One of the best things to my mind is that it's proof* that it's got beyond just friends and friends-of-friends listening.

Another (currently secret) marketting campaign begins next week. Time we got the merchandise page sorted really...

*along with the webservice reports, which show over a third of downloads are from outside the UK :)

Wishing one's life away...

2008-10-05T23:57:03Z

It really doesn't seem like it, but we're onto week six of Jack Steel and pod-casting the final episode this evening (http://jacksteel.itsatrap.co.uk/episodes.php) - there's another "Unsheathed" this week, but otherwise it's all hands to the pumps for Series 2. Of course, for those who haven't listened to it yet now's the perfect time, or you could always wait a couple of days until the audio CD complete with un-broadcast prequel episode hits our (as yet un-finished) merchandise page...

Thanks for listening...

Oh, P.S., just to keep you humming... http://jacksteel.itsatrap.co.uk/audio/jacksong.mp3

The things people do

2008-09-13T13:50:50Z

Sat next to a chatty american lady on the train home yesterday, which turned out to be a good thing since she was actually very nice and had an interesting job. In pest control. Specifically, flying birds of prey to scare pigeons away from office blocks and the like. Which knocks Rentokill into a cocked hat if you ask me.

In other news, Jack Steel continues to go well, with over a hundred website downloads of episode 2 (can't tell how many additional ones from iTunes) and about fifty of our "behind the scenes" podcast where James, Lucy, Wayne and myself waffle on a bit about how the series came together. We're still getting fairly regular downloads of episode one as well, which hopefully means that word is slowly spreading.

I've started playing in Ant's online En Guarde! game which is a good laugh, even if my first wealthy-yet-militarily-incompetent character did manage to get himself killed two minutes after arriving on the front line. I think he's still touting for players if anyone's interested; it's a turn-based swashbuckling-type game of musketeer-era french "gentlemen" trying to outdo each other in terms of status, duels and mistresses.

Warhammer:Online is proving a nightmare to enroll for - I'm still waiting a week after the pre-order open beta should have been accessible and on the verge of cancelling the entire thing and joining later when their useless registration system has had a chance to recover... D&D: Tiny Adventure on Facebook is proving sufficiently addictive anyhow, without the need for a new MMORG.

Launched

2008-09-01T08:04:08Z

It's here at last; Episode 1 of Squadron Leader Jack Steel and the Starblade is available to download. On Saturday evening we got the majority of cast and crew together for a launch party where they could hear all six episodes, but from now it'll be rationed to one a week, podcast every Monday.

Please take a look/listen if you've got the time - if you like it, tell your friends etc. etc. We're always open to comments, critical or otherwise; Series 2 will begin production in January 2009 so the more feedback the better.

It's here... Nearly

2008-08-21T14:26:51Z

Somewhere around two years in the (on and off) making, Squadron Leader Jack Steel and the Starblade is about to hit a podcast near you! PDF Flyer Here.

Toy Soldiers

2008-05-11T11:09:50Z

Yesterday saw me brushing the (rather thick) layer of dust from my Tallarn Imperial Guard and rolling the tanks out to do battle for the first time in years. Guy had got various wargaming mates together for a huge ruck using the "Apocalypse" rules recently released by Games Workshop to allow for fights using silly numbers of troops and vehicles. It seemed that an ancient artefact had been uncovered in the tunnels of an Imperial mining complex - the planetary governor thought that he could handle the situation with the assistance of some Eldar advisors; the Inquisition thought otherwise...

There were a variety of objectives to be seized and a tunnel complex crawling with Chaos monsters to be fought through to get to the artefact itself. Our heretical guard deployed first, forming a satisfyingly solid line of armour across the board. The forces of the Inquisition then rather unsportingly set themselves up on only one half of the board, leaving 50% of our force gazing menacingly across at empty fields...

Whilst terminators and harlequins fought it out in the tunnel complex the surface battle raged above them. With the heretics tank advantage somewhat balanced by the appearance of a titan on the loyalist side, a crack unit of Imperial Stormtroopers dropped bravely behind enemy lines and brought down the towering monstrosity with a Vortex grenade. They were then left wondering what to do next as their suicide mission proved to be nothing of the sort. Not to be outdone, the loyalist inquisitor threw his own vortex grenade... which promptly blew right back and sucked him and half his retinue into the warp.

By the end of the fight our heretics controlled much of the surface, including the three secondary targets of the landing pad, wellhead and crossroads. However, below the surface the terminators had waded through Chaos gore and harlequins to control the central chamber where the artifact lay. In the end the points were neck and neck, with only the achievement of certain personal missions on the Loyalist side swinging them a narrow victory of 9 points to 8.

Photos here.

Tea time

2008-04-26T08:16:58Z

You know you're a sad LARPer when you watch something like this and think "ooh - steamtech props"...

Steeling ourselves

2008-03-25T12:58:43Z

Well, we've finally got 'round to making a start on the recording for Jack Steel and the Starblade, thanks to the joy of discovering that the majority of our "voice talent" was available on Easter Monday.

In the space of about four hours we managed to get 20 out of 35 scenes in the can, including some of the long, exposition-heavy bits so probably about two thirds of the total we need - which to be honest was far better than I'd hoped! Of course, we now need to sort out the levels, stitch in the re-takes and generally tease out the best quality we can before getting onto the fun bit of adding the effects and actually pod-casting the damn thing! Still, a brief outtake to keep you entertained...

Audio outtake

Pioneer passing

2008-03-05T08:44:11Z

Apparently Gary Gygax has died. I was mildly shocked by this until I realised that I had no idea how old he was; he was in fact nearly seventy and had been suffering various health problems for a number of years. Time marches on I guess, and it certainly can't be said that he didn't leave a legacy behind...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/03/farewell_gary_gygax_the_dungeo.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html

Party Weekend

2008-02-17T18:50:50Z

Being one of those poor sods who has his birthday on Valentines Day, Wayne sensibly chose to celebrate the day after. Consequently we all made our way to the Kings Head for a few warm-up pints before heading on to "Sing Sing", a purpose built Karaoke club on Prince of Wales Road. Well, I say "purpose built" but the general opinion was that the purpose in question wasn't originally Karaoke...

We were guided through a pleasant enough reception/bar area where we discovered that bottles of beer were about three pounds a pop. A cunning ploy on behalf of the management who no doubt realised that your average punter requires a bit of alcoholic encouragement before launching into song. Luckily we'd had several pints of encouragement already so it wasn't a major problem.

Then we were shown downstairs into the basement where a number of private rooms equipped with a library of songs, speakers, two microphones and about three chairs. Most disturbing was padded velour of the walls - this evidently did little in the way of soundproofing as you could clearly hear what was going on either side of you so led to some slightly nervous speculation as to the building's former use (what with it being near the railway station and all...)

Much merriment ensued - as shown here...

Then, as if that weren't enough partying Lauren and I hopped into the car Saturday lunchtime and took a short trip to Cardiff* to attend a surprise anniversary party organised by greatbigshowoff for wildwinter. More drinking, ceidleih dancing and the like plus a chance to socialise with a load of LT types whilst dressed normally and not in a field. With pictures speaking a thousand words it's probably easier to point you here.

Having briefly dropped in on Ian and Rachel this morning we had another relatively swift drive back (although I stopped for half an hour for a doze somewhere near Reading...) and here we are in time for tea.

*Short time-wise at least - took less than five hours which is something of a record I'm sure!

Steampunk

2008-02-10T23:37:04Z

Just to spread the word a bit further (particularly in the direction of wildwinter, carnaaki and greatbigshowoff :) ); jitson and his crowd are running a one-nighter steampunk event in Birmingham on the 8th March. Details here on the steamtech pages; several of us Norwich types-plus-associates will be in attendance - should be a good one.

Mem-ish

2008-01-23T22:34:33Z

OK, so not exactly a meme but quite a cool idea I've nicked from a forum I'm on...

1 - Go to wikipedia. Hit "random".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random quotations:
http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on "explore the last seven days"
http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to mix it all up.

My first attempt...

100 Years Young

2008-01-04T14:36:53Z

Just had a phone call from my Gran to thank her for the bouquet we sent her for her birthday - to be honest I'm surprised she had the time, being a hundred years old today means that she's innundated with visitors, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Bournemouth, the local paper and most of my family!

It was great to hear from her - despite being a hundred she sounded excited enough for someone half... no, make that a tenth her age! :)

Our official celebration is next Saturday, for which we will have to fly down to from Scotland... Wouldn't miss it though.

That was the year that was....

2008-01-01T16:13:07Z

With New Year done and dusted that's the end of the seasonal festivities for now. Had a fantastic turnout last night - initial photos here. Great to see all of you who turned up, hope those that didn't had as good a time as we did!

The Christmas period saw me heading down to Bournemouth on the Friday by way of a job in Blandford (handy that :) ) Spent the weekend with the folks, caught up with Clive and Amanda and then ran a murder mystery for Mum, Dad, Katherine , Jason, Ali, Gary, Paul and Rachel. As usual the family all proved themselves to be closet roleplayers - particularly Mum (who I could hear interrogating the other characters whilst I prepared the meal next door!)

Headed back to Norwich Christmas morning and got back in time for a marvellous Christmas lunch with Lauren and Ross. I think that I may have strayed across the legal speed limit once or twice, but from the wrong direction as it were...

Kitchen's nearly done. Honest. Look, you can see...