I uploaded my film to Atom Films (search the URL yourself) because I wanted a better quality version of the film than YouTube offer. Also, I uploaded it under my name rather than my nom d’internet and amended the film credits accordingly. It was entirely kosher, as far as I could see. So you can imagine how stunned I was to receive an email tonight, ironically from “yourfriend” which said that my film violates the Terms of Service which state that a user may not

“…create a user name or screen name or upload to, distribute through or otherwise publish through the Site any Materials which are indecent, libelous, defamatory, obscene, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, illegal, harassing, contain expressions of hatred, bigotry, racism or pornography, or are otherwise objectionable, or that would constitute or encourage a criminal offense, violate the rights of any party or violate any law.”

Some of you have watched the film so tell me, which part of this EULA has my film violated? Personally, I’m at a loss.

I have appealed.

I stuck a MyBlogLog thing on the sidebar. I don’t know why. Because I could, I suppose. Plus I saw in one set of stat reports that someone was reading my blog through the MyBlogLog site. Which is both interesting and infuriating. Interesting because it’s clever how it did that without my apparent knowledge (although yes, I did sign up to the site for some gods unknown reason) and infuriating because they’re not coming here dammit!

Everytime I start thinking about a redesign, I lose the will to live because I wonder why the hell I should bother. (Also, I then get distracted and go and do something else instead like bash my head repeatedly against a wall, my lack of ideological principles or someone elses head until everything goes comfortably numb) Fuck syndication, fuck it up its stupid arse. Why bother maintaining a site that no-ones coming to visit. Apart from Matt. And Endie. And Lyle occasionally. Where was I?

Oh yes, so anyway, MyBlogLog. I actually hate it. I think it’s one of the ugliest widgets I’ve seen and I’m not entirely sure I like the data its presenting. More to the point, I’m not sure I want people to see the data its presenting. It’s interesting to me but when I see it on a site, I actually feel like I’m being violated. Just a little bit but even so. Still, I thought it would be interesting to see what happens here for a little bit, even though it’s heinously horrendous to look at. Then again, so are the other widgets I’m throwing in with gay abandon over there. Colour me bothered.

Back to syndication: I know that my posts get published elsewhere. The fact that I write occasionally about MMOs mean that my posts get published to some news aggregator sites. This irks me. (Annoy would be too strong a word). It probably doesn’t help that this site is named after a much anticipated, yet to be released MMO as well. So I wondered whether I could/should edit my RSS feed to provide indication of a new post but rather than contain the contents of the post, leave a message saying something like “Yes I’ve posted something new and it might be worth your while to read so perhaps you’d like to get off your lazy arse and come to my site and read it there, fucker!”

A different message, less polite perhaps, might be in order for blog aggregators.

Of course, I won’t get around to doing any of this because I just won’t. MyBlogLog will stay there forever beneath my never updated Last.fm list on that bland background shade of pale white with insipid pastel blue bordering, waiting for the darkness to descend and claim it for its own. I just need to take the step to rip the entire guts out of the beast.

No flesh shall be spared.

The London Frightfest horror film festival is taking place this weekend from Thursday evening through until Monday. The festival climaxes with the premiere of Day Watch, the sequel to Night Watch (which I loved and some others didn’t) on Monday night. I discovered this morning that the lovely Gia, fresh from the success of her Sunshine movie blog, is now doing the Day Watch movie blog. Some people get all the good jobs! (Admittedly, being inundated with a load of a small brained, dim witted yanks insulting you on your blog is not actually something I’m envious of.)

Unfortunately, I’ll be 250 miles away in Wales next week so won’t be able to go and see it. Boo and, verily, hiss.

I’ve been messing around with my film a little more and added a soundtrack to it. I’m quite pleased because I managed to find a piece of music that is not only the right length but also amazingly suitable for the video. Not only that but I can use it freely under the Creative Commons license.

The track is called “All I See It Burns My Eyes” from the Mindwatcher album by Atmosfear. I found it on Jamendo which is a site that lets (unsigned?) artists upload and share their music for free. It’s proved very useful for this and is a site I’ll definitely keep looking at for future projects.

Anyway, here it is: A Very English Fairy Tale - Special Edition.

This has been sitting on my hard drive for longer than I care to remember.

Some time ago, I persuaded a few people (at least one of whom owned a DV camera) to help me make an ultra-short film. Up until recently, the BBC website had a 1 minute movie challenge and I had found myself with a two minute script. It didn’t take much to trim it down to be even shorter than that, secure a willing crew, a gullible cast and any old location. Shooting took all of about 6, maybe 7 hours, interspersed with a couple of hours down the pub for lunch.

Shooting got slower after the pub visit.
(more…)

I’m not doing the Dublin marathon. The online website I booked through eventually came back with an apology for the delay and a message that they had refunded my entry. I’m a little disappointed but it solves my quandary. I should point out, while I’m at it, that the quandary wasn’t so much about not having the funds but more that if I’m going to take a day off work and spend that amount of money then I should probably spend it on something that I can do with my family and not just spend it on myself. I’m nice like that.

Anyway, there’s always another time for the Dublin Marathon. Or the New York Marathon. Or, well, you get the idea.

What it all did confirm to me, however, is that I’m mentally ready to attempt that 26.2 mile distance. So instead, I’m going to enter the Luton Marathon. That is, I’m probably going to enter it. There’s one or two things holding me back at the moment. You see, the plus side to going to Luton is that it’s cheaper (under 20 quid for an entry - a bargain for these things), it’s at the beginning of December so I have longer to train (15 weeks this coming sunday), it’s geographically closer and it’s on a sunday. (What is with that Dublin Marathon being on a monday anyway? Is it an Irish bank holiday or just a fucked up day to have an event?)

The downside to the Luton race is that rather than being a single lap race, it’s 3 laps of a 9 mile course (just under 3 laps - whatever!), half of which goes through the city centre. And it’s in Luton. I always thought my first marathon would be a little more, I don’t know, exotic.

It does also have a strict time limit of five hours to complete the race which is a useful target and one that I should achieve. While it’s not overly ambitious, I would be aiming for 10 minute miles - at the very minimum - which would mean a time of somewhere around 4 hours and 20 minutes. I wouldn’t necessarily rule out getting closer to the 4 hour mark either but at this stage, the goal is simply to finish and to finish in under 5 hours.

There’s no question about it really - I’m going to do it.

I’ve just got to remember that I’ve got another event in London at the end of September which I need to get ready for. (Follow the link and watch the video and then watch this one and you’ll get a good idea of what my team is going to be doing.) After the run I did today, I have got a lot of work to do! :/

In a bid to spread love and happiness and warnings about creepy internet strangers, I bring to you what you want: the 2nd episode of The Guild.

But Dragon, you lament - possibly with much wailing, gnashing of teeth and pulling out of hair but probably not, you haven’t mentioned this before. What happened to episode 1?

Actually I have. Only not here. Live with it.

However, because I love you and care for you and will send you bits of toe-jam from my trainers to prove my undying devotion to you, I’ll give you some more information.

The Guild is a series (although only two so far) of webisodes about a gaming Guild that play a popular online game that is somewhat reminiscent of World of Warcraft or Everquest etc. It was conceived, written by and stars the actress Felicia Day who, amongst other roles, was Vi, one of the potential slayers in the last series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has a very readable blog. She is also very funny. So are her videos.

Even if you’re not a gamer, these are worth watching and you’ll probably recognise some of the stereotypes portrayed.

Episode 1: Wake-Up Call
Episode 2: Zaboo’d

Or: The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.

It didn’t take a couple of months. It took a little over two hours.

I can be quite impulsive at times. Impulsive and obsessive. I can temper it most of the time or something will always work against me which means that when I try to act on impulse (which to date has never involved buying flowers for some lady who simply walked past me) I am obstructed by an obstruction that is not of my doing. For example, I never wanted a Playstation. I never needed a Playstation. But every now and then I’d get it into my head that I did and I’d think about it (in a “must buy one, must buy one, must buy one” kinda way) and I’d venture out to go and get one. Three times I did this (with months in between) and I never ended up with one. On the first occasion, the shop had sold out. My credit card was declined on the second attempt and on the third attempt, when I’d found a deal which would let my buy one on credit, I didn’t have my passport of other form of identification and so couldn’t get said credit. After that last time, I went home and didn’t go back as I knew I wasn’t meant to be the owner of a PSOne.

I sometimes find myself believing in fate/destiny/karma.

On Tuesday, I entered the Dublin Marathon. (No, Lyle, not the Paris-Dakar on foot. That’s the Marathon Des Sables and I gather that there isn’t an available space until the 2010 race at the earliest. But yes, I have been considering it. Believe me - when I enter that, you’ll know because I will definitely be getting sponsored for it!) By Tuesday evening, I was regretting it.

But it’s not what you think. You see, I’m ready to do a marathon now. Yes, I know I’ve done a couple of mountain marathons (albeit only completed one) but that was only 15 miles in one day. And yes, the Trailwalker was over twice the distance of a marathon (100km = 62.5 miles) but that was walking. (And yes, I’ve considered doing it again but running it too. If I can find a team of people to do it with me). What all this means is that I’m mentally prepared for a marathon. I’m fine with the idea of keeping going for 5 hours or so (4 if I’m dreaming). Being prepared physically is another matter. I’m out of shape and found a 5 mile run hard going the other day. That being said, I am of the belief that 12 weeks preparation is doable. Hell, I ran my first half marathon with only 2 weeks notice!

What it comes down to is the money - it’s going to cost a lot. Firstly, there’s a flight over which is not as cheap as Ryanscare would have you believe. Secondly there’s accommodation on the sunday night because the race is on a monday (???) which brings me to my 3rd point - I’d have to miss a day of work which, now that I’m self employed, is not an insignificant factor. Not to mention the entry fee. Quite simply, if I’m being sensible, I can’t afford to do it. I’d be better off entering the Luton Marathon in December. (Luton or Dublin? Luton or Dublin? Where would you rather go?)

It might still happen though. I’ve entered now and race entries are notoriously difficult to get refunded. I wouldn’t be too disappointed if I ended up doing it either but I wouldn’t be very popular at home. Part of me still wants to do it because it’d be great but the fires of my enthusiasm and excitement has been dowsed by the waters of reality and if I do end up doing it, it’ll be a littlle soured because I know I shouldn’t be.

Still, it’s given me the impetus to get back in training. I mean, you never know…

This stop motion film, made by two guys from Massachusetts, is quite simply awesome and one of the best things I’ve seen recently. Simply fantastic.

I think I’ve just done something that I’m going to regret in a couple of months.

Oh well.