Writing (page 9)

The Mobile Web

23 Dec 2011

Kudos to National Rail for finally putting out a mobile version of their site. This site is indispensable when planning train journeys on-the-go, as I often end up doing. The desktop version of the site did the job - albeit cumbersomely, with a combination of squinting and pinching the screen to zoom in and out - but the mobile version is a lot more smart-phone friendly.

RIP Gary Speed

27 Nov 2011

It feels wrong to post about football today without mentioning Gary Speed. At aged 42, the Welsh national team's manager has been found dead in his home in Cheshire. It's a tragic loss, and one that has been marked with a flood of tributes on Twitter, from fans and players alike.

Gigs

9 Nov 2011

In September I started my 101 project. It's fairly slow progress at the moment, but one of the things on my list - #41 "See 25 Live Gigs" is well under way, and I'm really just posting this to use as a placeholder for my progress through the 25, and to keep track of who, what and where I've seen live music.

The Adventures of Tintin

29 Oct 2011

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn has just hit the cinemas in the UK and it's got me all reminiscent of the classic 90s television series that I grew up with, as well as the fantastic comic books by Hergé. I can only hope the new movie lives up to comic books and TV series.

Cloud Control in Brighton

29 Sept 2011

Cloud Control made all sorts of noises tonight in the tight Audio club on the Brighton seafront. The Australian band's first record Bliss Release has been out for well over a year, but the 4-piece still appear to have a lot of fun banging out track after track off it. Despite a few technical hitches, the band outperformed my expectations and showed they're worthy new indie kids on the block.

101 Things in 1001 Days

28 Sept 2011

Today, I am launching my project for the next 1001 days (or, in long, that's roughly 2 years and 9 months). The project is to list down 101 things you would like to achieve in that time. I got the idea off a friend, and my aim is to inspire someone to do the same (y'know, that and actually complete the list).

I love Coldplay

23 Sept 2011

I make no delusions of my love for Coldplay, they're definitely up there with my all time favourite bands. Which is why it was such a disappointment when Coldplay announced a meagre 3-date UK tour of their new album Mylo Xyloto. Yes, Coldplay are big; yes, they need no extra help in promotion, but with such an army of fans that they have earned since their inception 15 years ago, it's a big disappointment to know that many, many fans will miss the opportunity to see them live.

Being good at things

18 Sept 2011

Something dawned on me today when working on my ongoing project to create a lightweight, completely from-scratch PHP framework (I've blogged about this several times if you care to catch up). When you're starting out at something and learning the ropes, your rate of improvement, success and general productivity in the activity is far greater than when you've grasped it. In my experience, this is true of learning PHP