stephenw32768

Doctor Who's 2011 season will be split into two blocks. There'll be six or seven episodes in the spring, ending on a cliffhanger; then the rest of the season will air in the autumn.

Interesting. The Internet rumour mill will be overheating next summer.

Well, that was a pleasant few days in Norfolk.

I usually prefer to sit alone on the train, but this is obviously not possible when the carriage starts filling up. For part of my outward journey, a small family was sat in the same group of seats as me: a mother and her two daughters. The girls were aged around seven and four, at a guess; the mother looked to be in her mid-forties. All of them were nicely turned out. The older girl was reading a Roald Dahl book, and read a chapter aloud to her mother. The younger girl was mostly looking out of the window, with the mother doing her best to keep her amused; it would have been a long journey for a little girl. The kids were well-behaved, and friendly towards each other and their mother. Given the utterly wretched behaviour of some children and "families" on trains, sitting opposite these three helped restore my faith in humanity a little.

Although it was only a short stay in Cromer, and the weather was mostly dismal, we were able to fit in a visit to Thursford to have a look at the traction engines, and a nose around Felbrigg Hall, which is smaller and less ostentatious than some stately homes I've been in.

Because my parents now have broadband, my mother asked me to set up an email address for her. She hasn't had one before, though she's used the Web occasionally.

Return journey was via Cambridge due to engineering works on the line between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, and was thus longer than desirable. This is par for the course at public holidays.

Escaping from Reading over the summer bank holiday means avoiding the noise and chaos caused by the Reading festival. Given the inclement weather, the festivalgoers had a muddy old time this year.

On my way home from the railway station yesterday evening, as I was waiting to cross the road opposite the Royal Berks, I was approached by two people, a guy and a girl. They looked to be in their early twenties, probably students. He was all in black, with big sunglasses; she looked vaguely hippie-ish. They were carrying a pair of green wellington boots. The conversation went like something this:

Them: "Did you go to the festival?"

Me: "No."

Them: "...oh. Ah well, did you have fun anyway?"

Me: "Yes, I did."

Them: "That's good! We didn't go to the festival either, but we found these wellies."

Me: "...as you do."

Then, there was a break in the traffic, and they legged it across the road, waving goodbye. I waved back.

They had probably been drinking something, or smoking something, or perhaps they were just naturally bonkers. But it was an amusing incident.

Back to work tomorrow. Hooray for short weeks!

August bank holiday is nearly upon us, so I'm taking a long weekend and visiting my parents for a few days. Now that they have broadband (yes, it really is available in Norfolk), I may even be reading email while I'm away.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox calls for the new Medal of Honor game to be withdrawn from sale because it permits the player to side with the Taliban.

It's perhaps a bit soon for the Afghan conflict to be featuring in a game, but there's nothing illegal about this game, it has been rated 18 by the censors, and whether or not to play it is a matter for the individual.

Not really surprising that a Tory politician has come out as an outraged, moralizing hand-wringer, of course.

Crimson Echoes has put me in a throughly Chrono mood, so I listened to the Chrono Cross soundtrack this afternoon.

Now, Yasunori Mitsuda is a genius, but no-one's perfect. A couple of tracks on the soundtrack are almost frustratingly disappointing because they start out so strongly, then just sort of peter out. "Dreamwatch of Time" (or "Time of the Dreamwatch", depending on whose translation you believe) is one such track. There's a nice introduction which slowly builds tension, then an utterly wonderful, one-of-the-best-things-on-the-whole-soundtrack string riff (is it a violin, viola or cello? Can't tell) with glorious backing, but after that the track just seems to lose all its energy. The tempo doesn't change, but nothing else in the track is nearly as good as the opening section.

"Dragon God" is the other disappointing one. The introduction is great, all twisty and turny and strange-vocally and unsettling; but it isn't sustained, and the rest of the track isn't nearly as interesting. (6/8 time, though, which is always good; gives the piece a sense of both grace and urgency).

It's much better when the really great bit comes right at the end of the track, after a decent build-up.

Given the overall quality of the soundtrack, perhaps I'm just splitting hairs. Anyway, as with all discussions about music, it's completely subjective.

It's the Australian general election tomorrow. Things are looking pretty close.

To the Aussies reading this: any opinions on the election? Interested? Excited? Not interested in the slightest?

The TV Tropes page about Australian politics is a decent read. I was reading it over lunch at work today and found it difficult to avoid laughing out loud.

My thirty-third birthday was four months ago, so I am now a third of a century old. They should make greeting cards for that.

(A third of a century, and I've never had to wear a suit. I consider this to be a success).

Crimson Echoes would have been a fan game acting as a direct sequel to Chrono Trigger. It was made by disassembling and reverse-engineering the existing game code, writing a brand-new script, and adding new graphics and scenarios. Unfortunately, it got cease-and-desisted by Square Enix when it was 98% complete. (Although a real shame for the developers of Crimson Echoes, this was absolutely the correct thing for Squenix to do from a legal point of view. If trademarks are not enforced, they're lost).

The game survives as a playthrough on YouTube. I've been watching it for most of the afternoon, and I'm nowhere near even halfway through. It's engrossing; it's like a really good Chrono Trigger fanfic, presented using the game engine. The tone is somewhat different to the original game, though; it's closer in feel to Chrono Cross, if anything.

If you've ever played and enjoyed Chrono Trigger, you might want to give it a go. It gets really epic in part 19.

Two episodes ago, she apparently rediscovered her mojo, having been a little directionless for a while. In today's instalment, she appears to have marked the occasion with an Important Haircut.

Huzzah for tropes!

I thought my Seiko SNK809 might look good on a red and black strap from natostrap.com. I think I was right. The red on the strap picks out the red tip on the second hand, and the text on the day wheel.


Watches make pretty nice photographic subjects. Actually, watches are pretty nice, full stop.