Corrosive Shame

From grh

The iRack

The usual story - something I like with a ridiculous price tag. So ridiculous in fact that no-one at all has bid. This says to me that the starting price is perhaps a little too high for the market to bear. I let it expire then contact the seller...

Me: "Hi - I saw the xxxxx you had for sale didn't sell. I'm interested but thought the starting price was way in excess of what I'm interested in paying for such a piece. What are your plans for the camera sale now?"

Him: "hi there thanks for you email but its appears that the xxx to expenssive for you as you cant aford the starting price but thanks for asking regards"

Me: "Well - that's certainly one way of looking at it - another might be that the price is too high for the market! Do let me know if you decide to re-list or offer it at a lower price - where I might be more able to afford it. Thanks!"

In other news - Brummies are invited to go my artw*nk show at the Custard Factory Gallery for the next week and a bit.

Over the last couple of weeks I've taken to paying attention to TV a little - I use the term very carefully as I listen to TV in the background a lot - just don't always watch it. Anyway - the new season has brought, through the power of the internet, Battlestar Galactica and Lost. BSG is an interesting beast - it continues to heap scorn on American foreign policy from orbit which is always entertaining. It's a little crass and heavy-handed in places - but is compulsive viewing. Even if they did blow the entire series SFX budget in the first few episodes. The main characteristic of the series to date has been the lack of sacred cows and the speed of change of direction. I just hope the enthusiasm of the network doesn't run out before the story does. Lost has also been engaging - though the flashbacks are starting to feel more and more contrived. I'm "getting" it a lot more which I suspect means that it's been dumbed down - and again I worry about the longevity of the concept. I can't help feeling it'll struggle to make five seasons.

Pitch Black was on Film Four last night and was diverting enough, more so if you enjoy Vin Diesel. Its quite budget origins were a little obvious in places but it passed a unchallenging couple of hours. In a fit of televisual ecstasy I also watched Death of a President which, while being terribly right-on and came across as trying too hard, did manage to hold my interest for its duration. Research on wikipedia (so it must be trueTM) showed the pedigree of the production team in doing speculative mockumentaries. Nice work if you can get it!

For some reason, I suspect miss_soap's Q&A, I was reminded of seeing a badger the other weekend - running along the road away from me. From the speed it made it would have been more at home in the M6 roadworks than on a quiet road in the dead of night. Still, I was glad I was in a car and not going nose-to-nose with it.

This weekend I shall be hearing a lot of music and hopefully remembering to repair my earplugs first. Friday is Mechanical Cabaret, Zeitgeist Zero, Tin Omen and ACID Tongue in Birmingham. Saturday probably Kryogenix in Nottingham then the M1 to Black Celebration for more XPQ-21 action. Plus some other bands on my friendslist :-P

Business continues to develop at a geological rate, but following the example of velvet_the_cat and having been annoyed by having to deal with a cheque - I'm now registered for online payments. Go me, etc. Now I can look forward with more interest to an expanded tax return next year.

Finally avid readers will remember my entry a couple of weeks ago about "control of distribution of photos" - well last night I was cruising MySpack and discovered the artist in question was using some of my pics - obviously ones he liked - on his page. A few positive comments reinforced my ego and then I found more on unter null's page and last.fm entry. Indeed if you are registered on last.fm do go to the Panzer AG page and vote for my picture! Fame at the moment stretches to Combichrist and unter null on last.fm; and Panzer AG, Tin Omen, Voltaire and the (contentious) Dream Disciples on wikipedia. So that's not very far! Spread the work!

I just had a comment on my Flickr account saying "I invite you to post this pic to ILoveMyWristWatch.com -- rate watches and get yours rated by other watch aficionados."

Ok, I thought - it's my first bit of Flickr spam, taking me to some kind of phishing/ad site. But it's not... it's actually legit.

For the first time in a while the internet has surprised me.

"Don't you love your wristwatch? I love mine. All of them. So I created this website for people like me who want to share their passion with like-minded folks.

Here you can upload a picture of your watch, comment on and rate other people's watches, and get comments and ratings in return from other watch aficionados. It's simple, it's fun, and it's free.

We have Rolex Submariners, Omega Speedmasters, and plastic Kermit watches. It's all for the love of the watch."

Researchers at Google have been talking up work on linking search engines with audio information. This might, for example, involve your PC listening on a TV programme being watched, identifying it and then presenting tailored search results such as the IMDB entry of a film or the website of the star currently on screen.

Analysts aren't convinced this technology will result in a finished commercial product but the idea that a PC knows what point you are in a film and offering the car or even domestic appliance that features in that scene for sale is either incredibly interesting or quite scary depending on your viewpoint.

http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?class=countries&subclass=0&id=1741

... is really quite funky. Go Google!

http://www.writely.com/

I was at a conference today on e-Saftey (the old term "Internet Safety" not being sexy enough) and the first main speaker was from the National Crime Squad. Superficially he made a lot of sense, anecdotes about armoured Land Rovers during his service with the RUC and talking about the internet as "any public space". But then he started going off as police officers sometimes seem to - trying to shock us and, I realised after, instill a real sense of fear.

Fear about paedophiles; fear about babysitters; fear that we had to help the police and fear that we're probably all criminals in one way or another.

It was all faintly distasteful. Another copper I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

Later it lightened up a bit later with the Juvenalian question "Quis custodes ipsos custodies?" which had been put up as "Quis custodiet ipod custodes?" - "Who's guarding the guard's ipod?".

I don't like fear. Instilling it is just rude.

I'm an ntl customer now... that means the customer services will become worse, there'll be a cap on ny internet use and...

Woe, woe and misery!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4304008.stm

http://oak.psych.gatech.edu/~epic/ols-master.html

It's worksafe, but needs flash. From hepstar

Well it's caught my imagination.