stephenw32768

Having my entire music collection at my fingertips has given me a very pick-and-mix approach to listening to music. I tend to skip among my favourite tracks, or whatever I've grabbed from OCReMix recently.

Sometimes, it's good to listen the old-fashioned way instead — one album, from beginning to end. It helps remind me of why that album was so enjoyable when it was new, and why my favourite tracks became my favourites. And it can help rekindle enjoyment of tracks that didn't quite make the favourites list the first time and had subsequently been forgotten.

A chap I used to know at university, and with whom I also worked at my first job, interviewed with my current employer yesterday.

I wasn't involved in the interview, so I only got to briefly say hello. Hadn't seen him for over a decade. He has less hair than he used to, unsurprisingly.

Facebook has gone public, and is worth over one hundred billion dollars.

How many times could that amount of money pay off Greece's national debt?

We live in a world in which the most powerful corporations are valued higher than all but the wealthiest countries.

This weekend, I have been repeatedly listening to "Ignition", an enjoyable movie score-style track courtesy of the fine folks at OCReMix.

It's based on a tune from the Retro City Rampage soundtrack, which is itself notable because it's actually by a group of OCReMixers, though not the same ones who did this arrangement. The site is so full of ridiculously talented musicians that it's only right for some of them to have jobs in the industry.

Listen out for the Final Fantasy VII battle theme making a cameo appearance at around 2:45.

At 35, am I still young enough to enjoy music from OCReMix? At what age do I have to give up and start listening to Chopin instead?

Doctor Who seasons 5 and 6 in the style of a 16-bit RPG.

Funny stuff. Spoils seasons 5 and 6 though, so don't click unless you've seen them!

My friend sent me this interesting article with a visual representation of the origins of words in sample sentences. It was published on April 1, but doesn't appear to be an elaborate hoax...

The sample sentences illustrate that despite the copious additions to the language from French, Greek and Latin, English's core vocabulary is of Old English, and thus Germanic, origin. Definitely worth a look if you're even remotely interested in words.

It's the 30th anniversary of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

My first encounter with a computer was with a BBC Micro at school, but the 48KB Spectrum was the first computer I owned (though I had the later model with the slightly less-awful keyboard). It started me on the path that led to where I am today.

There's an interview with two of the designers on the BBC site. One of the questions, "why do you think it ultimately failed?" is quite unfair, I think; the reply from the designer rightly questions the assertion that the Spectrum "failed". It's true that there were no follow-on 16- or 32-bit machines, and the Sinclair name didn't survive in computing past the late 1980s, but none of this means that the Spectrum was itself a failure. It was the right product at the right time, sold phenomenally well, and helped to introduce a generation to computing.

If Xenoblade Chronicles were a multi-disc PSone game, I think I'd now be on the last disc, close to the point where the player is free to finish sidequests and tidy up loose ends before moving into the final stage of the story.

The story parts have gone very typically Monolith Soft, presented as lengthy cutscenes with the occasional break for a boss battle, and with some plot points that parallel some points in Xenogears. Although it's overall a very different story to Xenogears, the smattering of plot similarities is quite noticeable to someone who's played both. flabio will spot the similarities immediately, if he plays it.

I think it'll only take a few more weekends...

This is my new Uhren von UHR (which, if you speak any German, you will know to be perhaps the least inspired name for a watch company ever) model UHR-222.

I like classic-styled gents' watches: silver dials, simple hands and index markers instead of numbers. Now I own one. Seiko do a very similar model for about half the price of the UHR, but because I already have a Seiko, I fancied something different.

The movement is the ETA 2824-2; 25 jewels, automatic and manual wind, 28,800bph. The eight ticks per second sound really rapid compared with the Seiko's six.

Happy Easter, everyone!