48 Hour Bloopers

Following on from our 48-hour film challenge entry Pressure Valve, here are the out-takes:

Tomato Plant Timelapse

Something new what I made.

My first attempt at a time-lapse video.  It's one of my tomato saplings growing.  One frame taken every half-hour for nearly 5 days.  I would have let it run longer, but some computer glitch scuppered it at about 2am this morning.  Still - you can see the growth.

I may try cress next time.

Pressure Valve

On a sunny weekend in early April 2009, The Middlemen assembled to make a film; an entry for the Sci Fi London 48 Hour film challenge.

We were given as our pre-requisites:

Title Pressure Valve

Dialogue I do not speak your language and you don't speak mine

Prop Five ring doughnuts

This is what we made:

(best full screen, and HQ of course)

Overzealous Steet View

After Google launched their new Street View service for several UK cities yesterday, it has been all over the press today that some compromising images have slipped through.

Google had assured the Information Commissioner that they could apply a complex imaging algorithm to their millions of captured images to recognise and blur-out faces and number plates. It seems that this algorithm can be over-active as well as missing the odd face. Take this image which I grabbed from a Street View scene in Edinburgh earlier today. It a view of the Queen's Gallery, outside the Palace of Holyrood House, opposite the Scottish Parliament building. You can see that Google have helpfully blurred the face of who I assume is Mary Queen of Scots (although, of course, it's hard to tell) on the poster hanging from the wall.

I have to say that I am impressed with Street View, and I'm sure I will be using it but I do find it ironic that they can immediately protect the privacy of poster subjects, pub signs and statuary all over the country but not people vomiting in the street or walking out of sex shops. Go fig.

Mini Blog

It works!
I've been using Twitter more and more recently. So - while I try working on revamping this place a bit, I've added a twitter feed as the Mini-blog on the right.

Lego Domination

One day robots will take over the world.
It begins here with Lego:

Platform Announcements

Heard this morning at London Bridge Rail Station - two immediately sequential loudspeaker announcements made by the same person:

"This is a passenger announcement. Due to overcrowding, London Bridge Underground station is inaccessible. We advice passengers to seek alternative routes"

"This is a passenger announcement. Due to signalling failure in the Blackfriars area, trains to London Blackfriars are suspended. London Underground are accepting rail tickets from this station"

We all know that problems occur, but a little joined up thinking is a good idea.