Toms View of the World

Well, it's that day again - when gangs of children, dressed up as ghosts, witches, wizards, and characters out of horror movies go on the rampage terrorising innocent householders with threats of "tricks" (more likely, vandalism and criminal damage than any "trick") if they don't get the "treats" they demand.

There are 2 "classes" of kids here - the "little" kids with their parents a short way away keeping a watchful eye, and the gangs of teenagers out to cause trouble using Halloween as an excuse.  The first, I don't mind so much, it's the second that make people scared in their own homes.

This is one American holiday we shouldn't have imported and turned into something really evil.  Ollie wrote a nice piece last year, and I agree with him wholehartedly.  In fact, this post is just a shorter version of the one I wrote on the same subject in 2004.

The only difference is that this year the Police in Cardiff are apparently taking a hard line - so we might actually see them patrolling the streets looking for kids making trouble. 

I've written my first Wordpress Plugin - a little gadget that allows readers who are regular commenter's on the site to create an avatar of themselves which will appear when they post a comment.

It's not quite tidy enough to release for other sites to use - there's some extra work to do on the avatar management screens, and it needs to be modified so that there are some options (things like the size of the avatar, and the number of posts before a user is considered a "regular") - but on this site, if you've posted more than 10 comments before, you'll see a link under the comments posting box where you can create or manage your avatar.

I’ve just upgraded to WP2.0.5 - a minor stepup - a few security fixes and the like - but it might cause some RSS readers to relist every page in the feed as being “new”.

Sorry if that happens to you!

I’ve replaced the “Last Music” block at the bottom of the page with my “recently tagged in Delicious” list - I’m not sure if it’s any more interesting however…

For those who are interested, the music list is available from my Last.FM Profile Page

Also, if you’re a Delicious user, why not add me to your network.

This weekend saw the European Coaster Club's return to Alton Towers and Drayton Manor Park for "Airpocalypse 4"… I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of the trip, just pick up some key points really.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is not as bad as everyone is saying - It's certainly not as good as it could have been, but it's not anywhere near as awful as, oh, let's say the rethemed Bubbleworks at Chessington.

Rita was down for the day, so our evening dark ERS was moved to Nemesis which was absolutely superb.

The weather on the Drayton day deteriorated rapidly after the (as usual) superb lunch that the park provided - it's not often a club trip features a 3 course, table service meal, but Drayton's is always first class. I personally didn't hang around for the final ERS on G-Force. A truely awful drive home through torrential rain on a packed M42 called the end to the weekend.

Now for the "thank-yous" - to John and the rest of the ECC Trips Team, to the staff at Alton Towers and Drayton Manor Park, well done!

Thanks to James for booking the hotels and being willing to be my travelling companion for this trip, especially the drive down the M42 - I was not at all happy during a very tricky drive, and I'm glad I had someone sitting alongside me.

Final words then, this trip, like the many UK trips the club does are (at least for me) far more about meeting up with friends than the actual rides - it's always a pleasure to meet up with folks I don't see that often, especially when I'm already into the "winter blues" and may not be the most fun person to be around.

So thanks must go to James S, Richard, James L, John, Jonathan, Margaret, Robert, Chris and the others who spent two days wandering around the parks in my company. Here's to doing it all over again next year.

Finally it’s arrived, the Doctor Who spin-off show “Torchwood” - and it’s no kiddie show, with CSI style aerial photography over the city (which is subtley referenced by one of the cast who mentions that they’d love to see a “CSI: Cardiff“) much nastier and darker plots and much more adult themes intertwined.

As yet we don’t know the significance of the severed hand in a jar that Jack keeps in the Torchwood Hub.

I kinda liked it, but I think it’s gonna take a few episodes to “get going”. However the production is very slick and very “American” looking.

As for the set design, keeping the Millennium Plaza fountain under which the hub is located running on downwards through the Torchwood complex was a stroke of genius, and locks the location of the Torchwood Hub very precisely.

In this world of on-demand video and advert skipping video recorders, any advert which has people talking about it and actually trying to seek it out before it’s release is a success - as the message will get to the kind of people who’ll skip it elsewhere… like me!

Sony’s advert for their HiDef TV’s shot in San Fransisco with thousands of bouncing balls was one such advert - now they’ve produced a sequel of sorts, involving clowns, paint and a tower block.

It’s amazing to see, and the Bravia Advert website not only has the advert itself, but also a making-of documentary and loads of “how they did it” photos.

I’m actually looking forward to seeing this one on a bigger screen - given that the “balls” advert appeared at my local cinema, I’d guess this one will to.