Procrastination man - Part 2

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Thursday 17 July 2008

Time for some campaignin'

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A fun and IMO fair video on the US campaign, discovered via BBC News. I really like the bit about Obama and change. I reckon the video manages to pinpoint most of the ridiculous aspects of the campaign (including the massive spending)! And it's fun anyway! :)

Wednesday 16 July 2008

Autostitch = awesomeness

Autostitch is an awesome piece of software that stitches images together. Imagine you're atop a mountain, and want to embrace the whole landscape that's before your eyes, but do not own a large-angle camera. Or that you're in front of a tall building and cannot move back enough to get it all into your camera. Then, taking many pictures next to one another is a solution, but sticking them on the walls next to one another is not exactly a great result. Autostitch allows you to do that almost perfectly.
Here's a few examples (in low resolution):

Edinburgh here in higher resolution

The city centre Ikea in Coventry here in higher resolution.
It is quite quick when you don't really care about the final resolution, i.e. to get a quick look of what the result would be. When you want to keep the 5m+ pixels on each small photo, though, it takes quite a while longer, but the result is worth the wait!
So far, I have had no problems using it: no aberrations as to where photos were placed with respect to one another, no sudden crash. Also, the brightness and contrast of the p hotos can be uniformised so that the boundaries don't show, which is pretty cool.
So yeah, a pretty awesome tool!

Tuesday 15 July 2008

Agrégé!

Yeehaw! I am now agrégé, i.e. I am amongst the top 252 in France for that competitive exam I've been going on about. Yippee!

Monday 14 July 2008

Earth Stolen. Journey Ended.

Right... now we're in trouble. Russel T Davies has done it again. He's given us a massive bonanza of a finale. With a plot that has many weaknesses - basically, once it's "the end of the universe", in the words of the Doctor, there is not much you can do short of a reset button. The basic plot itself is fairly weak, as Davros is brought back from the Time War (which we now know has been "timelocked", but it would seem, not impossible to access) and has a plan to destroy the universe. So far, so good. It's even fair enough that he needs to drag planets across the universe to do it. However, someone with such tremendous power could probably destroy the universe by other means, right? Ah well, never fear anyway, because the Doctor is there, and despite a situation which seems hopeless, he is going to save the day.
The Stolen Earth was pretty good, mind. It brought back all characters from the Whoniverse, including the spin-offs, as the Doctor was not there and Earth was left to fight on its own. Harriet Jones is probably the most interesting character that RTD has ever brought to life, as she stands by her actions and steers resistance. Rose blasts everything off, Torchwood remains calm in the hub under Dalek attack, Martha is given the mysterious "Osterhagen key", and we see all different kinds of reactions when faced with an invasion. What could have simply been a list of namechecks actually falls together into a consistent piece. Still, there are a few negative details on the Earth side of the episode. While John Barrowman seems to have found some acting ability back, it looks like Gareth Lloyd-Davies has lost all his talent. Hopefully he'll be better when Torchwood slimmed-down series three comes back. And, more importantly, the plothole of why the Daleks don't simply exterminate everything that moves. Indeed, the episode is sort of a Dalek Invasion of Earth mark II, except the Daleks don't need the slave force anymore (although admittedly, why they wanted to dig to the core of the Earth in Dalek Invasion of Earth is dubious) - and therefore there is no reason not to simply kill everyone off.
On the Doctor's side, however, things feel more like a massive checklist. The Shadow Proclamation is almost useless where the plotline is concerned, and very little is learned about it. The Medusa Cascade is another checked item in the list of references. As are the disappearing bees. Russel T Davies used to be subtler in his season arcs. Bad Wolf was explained, but was central to the plot of the episode; Torchwood did not need to be spelled out; Mr Saxon was central as well...
Still, some elements were implanted throughout the series and were solved more subtly in the second part of the finale, Journey's End. The famous Doctor-Donna idea, introduced in Planet of the Ood and even before that, was brilliant, and quite probably noone but Catherine Tate could have pulled off the three-level acting just that well. When Journey's End is concerned, it is much much better not to look at the plot at all, as it is pretty much a far too quick resolution of everything that was sown in the first part. What is great about episode 13 is what it allows for: the central question that resonates throughout Doctor Who of what it means to be human (as opposed to Time Lord). The Osterhagen key subplot (which could have as easily not been there), but more importantly Harriet Jones's reaction to it in the first part, is a clear example of what the human race is capable of doing when faced with imminent destruction.
Finally, we see what Russel T Davies does best: explore the relationships between the Doctor and his fellow travellers. Mickey stays behind with Martha (to join Torchwood? one can but hope, unlikely though it is!) as neither were ever in for the travelling bit. Rose has to leave the Doctor again, in a toned-down version of the beach scene from Doomsday. I am quite disappointed by the said scene, as it retroactively tones down the emotional intensity of the original scene. And then, there's Donna - and Wilf - in what may be the saddest end to a character ever, with the possible exceptions of Jamie and Zoe (who suffered just about the same fate, yet that was not explored in the original run of the series). Sadder than Rose, Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Adric - worse than death, forgetfulness. An Ood song in the background would have been good there.
Now there's no Doctor Who for ages. The Sarah Jane Adventures are coming back this autumn, quite fortunately, but the next proper Doctor Who story will be for Christmas 2008... and it does look good! Less Torchwood and much much less Doctor Who next year, though, as only four specials of the latter, and five episodes of the former, will be made. Ah well, it will give me a chance to catch up on the books!

Makepeace brothers and Jason Mraz

Saturday 5th July was the date of broadcast of Doctor Who's finale. It was also the celebration of Revelation's 15th birthday. And yet, I chose something else over those two pretty amazing things. Jason Mraz was having a concert at Warwick, on campus - and he is making such awesome songs that the decision was easy.
Yet the pleasant surprise of the evening did not come from him. Some friends of his, the Makepeace brothers, were around, and even though they were not technically the opening act for Jason Mraz, they did an impromptu one-hour performance while people were queuing. Let alone the fact that such behaviour is nothing short of fantastic, so was their music - you're greatly encouraged to go and check them out!

They obviously took the opportunity to sell their EPs, which is fine insofar as now I have it (and all signed too! Come to think of it, I got a maths book signed that day too...)



Then came the actual concert! Disappointingly, for someone of international standing like Jason, and despite the bargainous price of £15, it did not sell out. The opening act was by someone called Gideon Corr - and it was funny enough, but not as good as either Jason or the Makepeace brothers. And after a 45-minute interval, we (at last) got the man - and it was so good!
What is amazing is that he seems to be really enjoying himself, interacting with the audience, telling stories about Lakeside geese (seriously). He is also the only artist I know of who's able to improvise a reggae on the imposed topic "panty", as the video proves.

Really a great great night out. Recordings of the concert are available here. Pity it didn't last longer!

Sunday 13 July 2008

Fan-bloody-tastic!

Two weeks of being away. Ten days of pure awesomeness. Three days or so of exams. Even though I reckon they went ok, I shall not linger on them until results are out (theoretically on the 18th).
Still, following the exams, I stayed a couple of days in the Paris area, to catch up with old and new friends. I was blessed with sunny weather all time round (except for the last day), and did some (limited) sightseeing. It was kinda weird being back in Paris for the first time since my last oral exams three years ago, and it brought up a couple of good memories. Like the time I spent in the most splendid bookshop I had ever seen (until Oxfam at Warwick uni) - Shakespeare and Company.

It looks like some changes have been made - more commercial in some ways, but I guess that's the way these days. When even charities look not only to make profit, but to make more profit. Ah, but that's a digression.
Still, following on that, I heard a nice talk about semantics by a friend, and took advantage of the "Fête du cinéma" to see three films in a day. The "Fête du Cinéma" is a French initiative that works as follows - if you buy a ticket full-price, you are entitled to the reduced price of 2 euro per film. So I went and saw the magnificent Into the Wild, the not-so-good (no, really, it's meant to be funny, but... erm... it's not) In Bruges and the impressive Narnia 2. The first and the latter are heartily recommended! After that, I slept at a friend's in Orly, and the next day went, for the first time of my life, to...

The Ecole Polytechnique is a military-based further education institution, and it is the joint most sought-after in sciences in France (together with the ENS). Having had to climb the 300 steps, I was glad I didn't even attempt to get an offer from them, as oral exams would have happened there. Still, once I was on the campus, well, it was really good. They have a campus that is about as good, if not better, as Warwick's. And its student life and local slang are heavily tradition-laden. Pretty good really. I was there to listen to a friend's classical music concert, which was really good (mostly)!
The following day was to be my last one in Paris. I used the opportunity to visit the Musée d'Orsay, home to many impressionist paintings. Sadly, the white bear that is usually there must have been on loan. Still, it is a great place!


Then I flew to Birmingham on an Embraer 195, and the flight was delayed, still I can't blame it on flybe. In Warwick/Coventry, I spent most of my time seeing friends, and accommodation hunting. Some of the places were in a state that was totally ridiculous considering the price that was asked, though again, I suppose that is the way those things work. Still, I think I have found a room for next year - fingers crossed!
I also got the opportunity to see Jason Mraz on concert, to watch the final two episodes of Doctor Who, which will both get their separate entries as soon as I can be arsed, to go to the Odeon and watch Kung Fu Panda, which is not as bad as I feared - quite an entertaining piece of film, actually! I also could go to Elim, which was great, and had lots of fun.
Really an amazing ten days of pure awesomeness. Thanks to all involved.