Recently updated blogs

In my teens my Grandpa gifted me a first series of books from his collection. In this were the Paul Karau OPC GWR branchline series and I found Hemyock. It wasn’t much later that Dapol re-released the 14xx with improved motor and thoughts turned building my first solo model railway…It was Hemyock, my first love, that fuelled my first documented attempt at ‘proto-freelance’, Stapley. Paul’s book focused only upon termini …

Accidentally discovered something very interesting while messing around with the Photoshop remove tool, which on certain settings uses generative AI to replace out whatever you select with it. In this case, was just playing around removing stuff from a photo of our living room, and saw that the tool was inventing paintings or posters that don’t exist: That one in the corner, I zoomed in on and went through a …

Some time in 2020 I started collecting CD-ROMs from old Macintosh magazines. Whilst the discs are of Japanese origin—because the supply was plentiful during the extended spring clean of lockdown—they contain a great deal of software from all over the world and a lot of it is therefore in English. They’re an amazing source of old gold: sofware, images, demos, documentation, and many other files. As of today I have …

If you’re going to ask me my favorite foundation at the moment, I’d immediately tell you it’s the Kanebo Lively Skin Wear which I got in an event last 2023. After I tried that, most foundations just couldn’t compare. When I saw that Kanebo has launched another foundation, I knew I had to get it. […]

Just over five years ago (over New Year’s) Viv and I visited Los Angeles, and the part we were staying in is now under an evacuation order 😳 I think it’s still only the second-most shocking thing that’s happened in a place I’ve stayed, though, after the metro station I used, like, every day when I visited Santiago in 2013 was reportedly converted into a torture facility by cops (carabineros …

Sonic Advance 3 is a curious game. It disregards the speed-focused design of its predecessor, but it doesn’t return to the classic style of the original Advance. Instead it forges its own path, partially based on the teamwork-based systems of Sonic Heroes, to create an experimental co-operative 2D Sonic platformer. One that’s long-winded and often tedious, but nevertheless ambitious enough that it might be worth trying out. The story’s slightly …

An exceptional deposit of 141 Roman gold coins dating to the late 4th century has been unearthed near Holzthum in northern Luxembourg. The coins are gold solidi struck during the reigns of nine emperors who reigned between 364 and 408 A.D. Three of the 141 solidi were issued by Emperor Eugenius whose coins are rare because he reigned for only two years (392-394 A.D.) and was never acknowledged as western …

Young Stars, Dark Nebulae

An end of week recap “If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher. Overlong, detailed to the point of distraction-and ultimately, without a major resolution.” – Jasper Fforde (born 11th January 1961) This is a post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming publications, see what …

Vengeance Most Fowl was the best thing on TV over Christmas, and I'm fascinated with how it is made. So, here we find out.

Boy on Carousel, Trail of Lights – Austin, Texas We are jumping back to the 2024 Trail of Lights for a few posts to show you how well the Leica D-Lux 8 performed at this outdoor event at night. I featured two of these images and much more in my monthly magazine coverage, which you can read for free. I zoomed in to the maximum 75mm equivalent as I saw …

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actress Julia Stiles for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). She grew up in a loft in Manhattan's SoHo district, and her mom was and is a ceramic artist and novelist. Julia is most famous for her co-starring role in the Bourne film series. Now she has directed Wish You Were Here, a romantic drama film due …

Ingrid Fetell Lee with the wisdom in her email newsletter: Progress is the tangible evidence that we’re moving closer to our goals. We’ve been conditioned to measure success in terms of progress… Growth is a subterranean shift, not what you made or did, but a change in who you are. It’s hard to measure, harder to describe. And it’s deceptive because in a growth moment, everything might look the same, …

Tommy Henriksen– I See The Sun Cherry Poppin' Daddies– So Long Toots Sonichrome– Honey Please Block – Rhinoceros Dishwalla– Pretty Babies Everclear– I Will Buy You A New Life R.E.M.– It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) Squirrel Nut Zippers– Trou Macacq Flying Neutrinos– Mr. Zoot Suit Perry Como– It's A Good Day Randy Newman– Political Science Celeste Prince– A Little Belief Steve …