mssv

  • Heroic Studio 60

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    1 comment on Heroic Studio 60

    I’ve got four weblog posts that have been ‘in progress’ for the last two months, I’m writing up to 1000 words a day of fiction for a game, and it’s crunch time. But let’s forget that for a moment. Masi Oka – also known as ‘Hiro’ on Heroes – was on this week’s Studio 60.…

  • The Ruby in the Smoke

    ·

    3–5 minutes

    ·

    5 comments on The Ruby in the Smoke

    Lately I’ve been seeing many people cursing the name of AA Gill (a TV critic for the Times), declaring that if they see his name, they skip to the next page. Given that I don’t watch any British television, I haven’t had much cause to join in on the cursing until now. I quite enjoyed…

  • Belgian Split

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    No comments on Belgian Split

    The ghost of Orson Welles strikes again – according to the BBC, ‘the Belgian public television station RTBF ran a bogus report saying the Dutch-speaking half of the nation had declared independence.’ Lots of faked footage of celebrations, traffic jams, and 2600 calls were made to a phone number given out during the show, which…

  • Notes on the Futuremedia TV conference

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    No comments on Notes on the Futuremedia TV conference

    “No-one’s watching TV any more, and even worse, all this user-generated content is killing us.” That was the cheerful attitude at the C21 Futuremedia TV conference I went to last week. The audience was composed mainly of TV executives, with a smattering of smug ‘internet people’ like myself, who alternately confirmed their worst fears and…

  • Notes on the BBC Audio Drama Festival

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    3 comments on Notes on the BBC Audio Drama Festival

    On Tuesday, after about five hours of sleep following the Second Life ARG panel, I found myself at the BBC Audio Drama Festival in London. As usual, I was due to give a talk about ARGs. I did think it was a little strange that I was invited to speak, because while we do have…

  • Doctor Who on Earth

    ·

    2–3 minutes

    ·

    1 comment on Doctor Who on Earth

    Despite my dislike in the direction that Doctor Who is currently going (immature jokes, nonsensical plots), I found Russell T Davies’ remarks on why Doctor Who never seems to leave Earth very refreshing: “People will say, ‘Why doesn’t he visit alien planets more often?’” he said. “But that’s because they are expensive. They’re hugely expensive.”…

  • London happenings

    ·

    1–2 minutes

    ·

    1 comment on London happenings

    Two interesting developments have occurred in London in the past few days. The first is the Sultan’s Elephant. I haven’t been able to see the three-storey mechanical moving Elephant myself, since I’m in Oxford, but I intend to come back early on Sunday to see it off. The Sultan’s Elephant is performance art of the…

  • Found

    ·

    2–3 minutes

    ·

    2 comments on Found

    A conversation at work: “I wonder what’ll be in the adverts for Lost tonight?” I pondered, thinking about the imminent ‘Lost Experience’ (aka ‘we didn’t want to call it an ARG because it might put people off and look as if we didn’t think of it first’). “It’s going to be a phone number.” “I…

  • Holiday bumper issue!

    ·

    2–3 minutes

    ·

    No comments on Holiday bumper issue!

    Prepare for a special holiday bumper set of posts in the next few days! I’ve spent the last week or so getting up late, reading books and watching a lot of TV, which surprisingly has given me the time to think about a lot of interesting things, such as Sky Movies, zombie language, boardgames, the…

  • Why not, Who?

    ·

    2–3 minutes

    ·

    No comments on Why not, Who?

    I didn’t think I’d see the day when the BBC made good science fiction, but it has finally come with the new series of Dr. Who. I was never a big fan of the show when I was a kid; it seemed completely inferior to Star Trek and I can’t remember a single episode. In…