ɔimoɈɒ – Page 8 – Just another WordPress site

The 12 x 12 Project

Very happy to be part of Alec Liddles 12×12 Project. The first movie of which is embedded below. I’d appreciate a like and a share if you’re so inclined. This will be one movie made every month for a year by Alec and his team. Related posts: Pi-Cade Complete Orange pimping HTC Touch Diamond ShinyShiny … Continue reading “The 12 x 12 Project”

Very happy to be part of Alec Liddles 12×12 Project. The first movie of which is embedded below.

I’d appreciate a like and a share if you’re so inclined.

This will be one movie made every month for a year by Alec and his team.

How til vote in Norn Iron in 2017

Time of the year when we start to discuss the voting system here. How it’s okay to start numbering candidates at the ones you like and stop when you hit a sectarian party. For some of you that means you only have one choice. For some of you it’s no choices. Then it’s okay to … Continue reading “How til vote in Norn Iron in 2017”

Time of the year when we start to discuss the voting system here.
How it’s okay to start numbering candidates at the ones you like and stop when you hit a sectarian party. For some of you that means you only have one choice. For some of you it’s no choices. Then it’s okay to just put A, B, C or write a Happy Birthday message. (That’s called spoiling your ballot and it’s an extremely valid method of protest).

So…

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3…stop when you see a bigot…

Yeah, that pretty much eliminates DUP/SF/SDLP/UUP/TUV/PUP….
I base this on designation. We have to deplete the ranks of parties who describe themselves in terms of being unionist or nationalist. It’s the things that hold us back. It’s the ultimate expression of “us versus them” and we built it into government.

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3…stop when you see a bigot…

2016 – you weren’t so bad…

In January I set myself new resolutions. Travel – and new adventure (Scotland Scotland (sailing) Spain and Portugal (sailing) USA, Mexico, Cuba Galway/Inis Mor (sailing) Croatia Scotland (with kids) Learn RYA Day Skipper Tidal Creative Writing (with Belfast Books) Woodworking RYA VHF Radio operator and licence Short Drama Course (with Rosie Pelan) BTEC Level 3 … Continue reading “2016 – you weren’t so bad…”

In January I set myself new resolutions.

Travel – and new adventure
- (Scotland
- Scotland (sailing)
- Spain and Portugal (sailing)
- USA, Mexico, Cuba
- Galway/Inis Mor (sailing)
- Croatia
- Scotland (with kids)
Learn
- RYA Day Skipper Tidal
- Creative Writing (with Belfast Books)
- Woodworking
- RYA VHF Radio operator and licence
- Short Drama Course (with Rosie Pelan)
- BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Performing Arts
Hope
- Be patient with anyone
- Laugh and spread your laugh to others
- Say yes, when it is to help
- Strive for great love (and ok, that was a cock up)

I’m working on my 2017 resolutions. I have my travel aims down. The rest, well, I feel the need to create, not only an expression of my “art” (whatever that is) but also a community effort. Still a work in progress.

Below Maslow

Stephen Hawking writes: This is the most dangerous time for our planet Hm. It’s hard to address this without first rejecting that TRUMP and BREXIT were anything like a cry for help and rejection of the elites. This is a calculated populism created by a subsection of elites who work to discredit liberals and experts … Continue reading “Below Maslow”

Stephen Hawking writes: This is the most dangerous time for our planet

Hm. It’s hard to address this without first rejecting that TRUMP and BREXIT were anything like a cry for help and rejection of the elites.

This is a calculated populism created by a subsection of elites who work to discredit liberals and experts while enriching themselves and taking advantage of mob stupidity.

The reason capitalism works is that the average human is greedy, selfish and unwilling to engage in critical thought.

It’s not just people who vote for racists, it’s as simple as the guy who throws his fag butt on the ground.

And this selfish indolence is not created by socialism or Liberals and Lefties. It’s a construction of capitalism to make those capable of working work and those only predisposed to consumption to consume.

I’ve never seen it but I reason there must be a missing section to Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. The lower half, what happens when you don’t fulfil these needs.

How about?

If our physiological needs are not met, we start to blame others for our misfortune. When these fears are not allayed, we act our violence to those we distrust. And when this is not prevented, we self-harm.

That tells me more about TRUMP and BREXIT than any other theory but it’s just a theory.

Hawking is more concerned with our inability to leave this world if the right-wingers fuck it up for everyone. I’m more concerned with what’s left for those who stay.

Making It

As I’m relatively new to acting/performing, I do wonder how this compares to people for whom it’s their dream and always has been. I was a nervous and shy kid and drama class for me was anxiety central. Since then I’ve done heaps of public speaking and been interviewed a hundred times. As a roleplaying … Continue reading “Making It”

I, like so many others, did the university and career thing. I’m now embarking on this with the knowledge that I really only have ten years to get it right. I’m envious of my classmates starting out, bright eyed and bushy tailed, with decades before them. And that makes me hungrier than most, maybe.

Aside from the luvvies in the class, I’ve met a few dozen actors and honestly, none of them are having what would be called by "normal" people a successful career.

But as Jimmy Carr said last night in conversation (ha!), it’s not when you’re a star that you’ve made it. It’s not when you’ve got your STAR on the Boulevard. It’s not even when you can see your name on a movie in iTunes.

You’ve made it the day you pay the rent with money made from performing. The day you buy Christmas presents with proceeds from acting. The day you drive away the car bought with cash from being in front of a camera.

(Post inspired by: Why Are You Trying To Be Something You’re Not)

What I’ve been up to….

Since September, I have been enrolled full time in a Performing Arts course with South Eastern Regional College. The course is mainly acting and movement based with segues into community arts, scriptwriting and the business of being a performer. I’ve been an extra in a feature shot in Belfast (ZOO) and been a feature in … Continue reading “What I’ve been up to….”

I’ve been an extra in a feature shot in Belfast (ZOO) and been a feature in a student short (Silence) with some students from Belfast Metropolitan College. Suffice to say I’ll act for free with any student shorts that appear – though typically they don’t have many stories for middle-aged nerds).

I’ve also been writing scripts and currently I have two productions in the offing. One is a science fiction series that I’ll detail below and the second is a student short with zero budget based on some other scripts. I’m keen to see if there’s any stickiness with them and keen to see if there’s methods of distribution I’d not previously thought of. In my head, these are Amazon or Netflix series’ and/or features. So that’s what I’ll pursue.

The current production I’m actively working on is going to require some animation for the title sequences so I’m wondering if I should start learning that in my spare time.

But in the meantime, read the bold sections below in your most erudite Richard Burton tones. I’d love your thought on it.

On a cosmological timeline, the entirety of human existence is a brief flicker, like a match strike in the darkness.

[Animation in the background show a small red dot on a black background with two tiny planets orbiting it. It explodes in cartoon fashion and a series of 2d shockwaves expand outwards towards the darkness. Until it arrives at a small solar system with 9 planets….one a blue pearl in the darkness.]

There have been great extinctions on Earth before but life always managed. Something escaped the destruction and thrived.

[2d animation of a dinosaur being watching the comet plummet down. Fade to white]

This time, there would be no survival. Everyone would die within the decade. And the challenges of climate change and ozone layers seemed suddenly insignificant. But we learned we were not alone.

[2d animation of alien spacecraft above the blue pearl illuminating the planet in their rays of light]

We were saved.

Is it time?

I met my friend Stephen for coffee (actually sparkling water with lime) the other morning to talk about some impactful work that we might want to do together and I found myself echoing some opinions (about myself) that I had repeated to friends before. I struggle with politics. I struggle because in my old age … Continue reading “Is it time?”

I struggle with politics.

I struggle because in my old age I have shed the trend in my family to become increasingly right-wing and instead have become solidly in the “progressive Left” camp.

I find myself being increasingly impatient with the needless compromises of our politics and I find myself unwilling to shake the hands of elected representatives who are standing in the way of progress (and by this I mean the unwillingness to bring the province in line with the rest of the UK in, for instance, a 40 year old law on female reproductive decisions.). How can I shake hands with these people if the things that should be the most basic in our society (that a woman is entitled to equality of opportunity and independence) is denied by them?

I’ve come out strongly in the Remain (in the EU) campaign not because I am a particular Europhile but because I want to maintain the ability to travel freely in the countries nearby (and as I just had to fill out another ESTA, I’d like to reduce or avoid that necessity in future for popping to France or Spain). I want to be able to get out-of-season fruit (despite their environmental impact) and have reduced costs of mobile roaming (something the EC Digital Commissioner has been very successful with). These are little, selfish things, but they are the things that really matter to me about Europe.

But, I wonder if I am too extreme for politics or not extreme enough. Where should I hang my hat. – as a progressive Left independent/activist or as a member of one of the Lefty parties. I’m arrogant enough to believe that I should be wooed and yet I feel pretty much pushed away by most. I don’t need a red carpet or to be bought a pint, but I need to see some rhetoric from them that I agree with. I need to know that the things I take issue with would be possible to address. And now, under three years from the next election, I think it’s time to start work.

My last election campaign had me walking the streets alone and not managing to cover much ground even though I expended much shoe leather. Everything was just so last minute and rushed and while there was plenty of grassroots support, it didn’t have enough time to be exercised. I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, goodness knows.

But is it time to try again?

Wintel declines except for developers

Interesting observations here. I can see the possibility of the MacBook line moving to ARM and iOS10/11/12 in the relatively near future. Essentially mimicking the evolution of the Newton from smaller handhelds to larger handhelds (MP2000) to a keyboard based device (eMate 300) The main use case for a desktop/laptop machine isn’t Word or Photoshop … Continue reading “Wintel declines except for developers”

The main use case for a desktop/laptop machine isn’t Word or Photoshop considering some of the excellent work done by Microsoft and Adobe, it’s actually developer tools. Developers are still forced to use large machines to produce the software we need. I wondered at Unity 3D a couple of years ago when they started offering Cloud Build and obviously it’s not a stretch for Apple either.

Plug your iPhone into a massive screen, attach a bluetooth keyboard and cloud-build your apps on Xcode Go.

( Is it not crazy that on Monday we will see the announcement of iOS 10? )

http://www.pundit.tech/blog/2016/6/10/one-more-nail-in-the-coffin-of-the-wintel-ecosystem-coming-from-apple

Fully Charged

This is great fun and it makes a lot of fun of the recent report the Electric cars are as dirty or dirtier than Internal Combustion Engine cars. I’m a bit sorry that QUB agreed with the nonsense (and NISP Connect reported it). Related posts: Cars … Are Friends Electric Bedouin workspace in Belfast Electric … Continue reading “Fully Charged”

Save the Day: 30th June 2025

Save the date, 9 years from now, when the last ICE (internal combustion engine) car will be sold in the UK. This is what is being proposed by Norway and it’s being considered by other nations within the EU and beyond. A complete change in the way transport works. Back in 1905, you could look … Continue reading “Save the Day: 30th June 2025”

Save the date, 9 years from now, when the last ICE (internal combustion engine) car will be sold in the UK.

This is what is being proposed by Norway and it’s being considered by other nations within the EU and beyond. A complete change in the way transport works.

Back in 1905, you could look at a photo of Times Square and not see a single car; the place was filled with horse drawn carriages. By 1913, the horses were outnumbered by the cars perhaps 100:1. That’s how fast a disruptive technology can take hold.
So what will happen here. We are already seeing Electric Vehicle sales rise (though they slipped slightly due to the brief drop in petrol and diesel prices over the last six months). And we will see them rise even more. On my Twitter feed (admittedly a self-selecting study of people interested in transport, innovation and renewables), I am able to see individuals who charge their home automobiles using a solar panel and wind combination to a domestic battery that then feeds their car.

This becomes the new normal. Where the cost of running a vehicle decreases to just the replacement of tyres and brake pads. Where the massive fuel costs dwindle to almost nothing. We aren’t there yet….or….more accurately, I’m describing the past, but it’s still the future for most of us.

My own car is up for replacement this year but there is no way I will replace it with an ICE vehicle – even though I might consider the vast majority of electric vehicles out there to be under-engineered, under-designed and under-inspiring. What we need a series of over-engineered, over-designed and absolutely inspiring cars.

At the moment only TESLA is providing that. Sticking a battery and electric motor into a Clio and calling it a LEAF just doesn’t do it for me. Making an eGolf or an electric BMW doesn’t do it. – especially as it’s beginning to look like all of the incumbent car manufacturers seem, without exception, to have been lying about their gas emissions.

It’s time we started thinking about this seriously.

What if we just stopped using Fossil Fuels. Today.
What if we replaced essential use of hydrocarbons with Renewable Gases?
What if we replaced inessential fuel consumption with solar, hydro and wind?
What if we circumvented the apocalypse by just taking action rather than just talking about it?