...beside the seaside, beside the sea.

Preamble: This was actually written yesterday afternoon.

This is nice.

Today is nominally the SeeByte outing, to the watersports centre at Elie, east of Fife. Most of the crew are wetsuited up and out on the water in one way or another, but I thought I'd take the opportunity to have a bit of a wander around. The sight of a light house on a small peninsula drew me in and so here I am: sitting in the shade* of what from a distance appeared to be a derelict lookout and taking a bit of time to record my thoughts. These cheifly revolve around:

The sounds of the sea really is very calming. On another day I might have jumped at the chance to have another go at windsurfing (the last time I tried it did not end well) or get hurled into the sea at high speed from the back of a banana boat. Today I am content to wander around, look and listen. Of course it helps that this might be the most gorgeous day we've had all year. It's also very nice to be surrounded by space and alone with my thoughts for a while. Living in the city I often forget how enjoyable this can be.

I'm thinking more and more that I might find myself in America somewhere down the line.

Random aside: two extremely posh ladies of a certain age just entered the lookout. Listening to their conversation is quite enjoyable. Apparently this is a castle, not a lookout. Silly me. I should also point out that on closer inspection it turned out to be not that derelict at all, really.

Back on point: It seems I'm not geared to the dating culture here. I keep asking girls if they'd like to get a cup of coffee. Apparently this is the American way and not the British. The British way amounts more to asking “Would you like to get completely wasted, shag, get together out of shear politeness and embarrassment, and then hope for the best?” and I hate this. Really not my style. I'd prefer to start with the coffee and conversation. Perhaps I'll go to California, or Phoenix, Arizona and some other such place. 

I want my PhD done and out of the way (I have been saying this for some time now). It's crippled my chat, because I always feel that I should be thinking about it and nothing else, and especially not that my grant has stopped I'm starting to tangibly feel the stress.

But hey, the sea is so damn pretty today. I think perhaps I'll walk around the bay to the other side.

*Nope, the screen on the AA1 does not cope well with sunlight.

Epilogue: I went on the speedboat for a while.

Celtx on the Acer Aspire One

So I managed to get the Celtx screenwriting (and general preproduction) software up and running on my shiny new AA1, and in the interests of sharing the knowledge I thought I'd post how I did it. Please note, this should also work as general recipe for installing any software not available under the package manager in Linpus Light Linux (provided there are no additional dependencies).

First of all you need to download the software from the downloads page of the Celtx website, here. I'd recomend getting the straight up Linux version in your choice of language (frustratingly there is no option for British English, though). There is an Asus eee specific version, but that just clears up some dependencies and doesn't really provide you with anything extra.

First of all you'll need a terminal, so hit Alt+F2, type "terminal" (without the quotes) and hit enter. A terminal should have popped up. If you're a Linux novice, don't worry, you should just be able to copy and paste everything from this page.

Now you need to unpackage the software. I put it in /opt, because it generally seems to be a dumping ground for user installed applications (as far as I can tell). Type these in the terminal one at a time:

cd /opt

sudo tar -xf /home/user/Downloads/Celtx.tar.gz

Now, if you type "ls" you should see a directory named celtx. So far so good. Next you need to add a link so Celtx can be run from the command line, like this:

sudo ln -s /opt/celtx/celtx /usr/bin/celtx

In theory that's all you need to do. Now if you type "celtx" on the command line (or after hitting Alt+F2) the program will run. We can make it a lot easier than that, though. Next we need an icon to represent it on the desktop. There are two options here. First of all you could use an existing one. Type this:

sudo thunar /usr/share/pixmaps

A file manager window should pop up and if you scroll down you'll find all the system icons. If you find one you want to use for Celtx: cool, if you don't then you're other option is to make one. I'm not going to get into that, but if you want to do it please bare in mind that is has to be a png, it has to be 90px x 90px in size and it has to be placed in that directory. I found on on the web and resized it myself. Assuming you have the icon you want in the downloads directory and it's called "celtx.png", you would type this to get it in the right place:

sudo mv /home/user/Downloads/celtx.png /usr/share/pixmaps/celtx.png

That done we need to create a desktop entry for it. You need to use a text editor for this. I used "vim", so that's what the directions here will say. "vim" can be pretty hard to use at first, though, so if you're not linux minded you might want to find a tutorial on the web, or replace the "vim" command with something else (mousepad is one option that might be easier to use and more familiar). We start by (basically) creating the file:

sudo vim /usr/share/applications/Celtx.desktop

If you're using vim, hit "i" (the word insert should appear at the bottom) and then paste the following into the file:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Celtx
Name[zh_TW]=Celtx
Name[zh_TW]=Celtx
Name[zh_CN]=Celtx
Name[de]=Celtx
Name[it]=Celtx
Name[fr]=Celtx
Name[es]=Celtx
Name[pt]=Celtx
Name[nl]=Celtx
Name[ja]=Celtx
Name[ru]=Celtx
GenericName=Celtx
GenericName[zh_TW]=Celtx
GenericName[zh_CN]=Celtx
GenericName[de]=Celtx
GenericName[it]=Celtx
GenericName[fr]=Celtx
GenericName[es]=Celtx
GenericName[pt]=Celtx
GenericName[nl]=Celtx
GenericName[ja]=Celtx
GenericName[ru]=Celtx
Comment=Write and edit media scripts
Exec=celtx
Icon=Celtx.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupWMClass=celtx-bin
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;text/mml;application/x-shockwave-flash;
X-Desktop-File-Install-Version=0.10
Categories=Work;
StartupNotify=true

Be sure to replace "Celtx.png" with whatever the icon you want to use is called. Also, all those language options are possibly not strictly necessary, but I copied most of this from another file and left them in to be on the safe side. Likewise, I could probably have done something a bit more clever with the "MimeType" bit, but decided not to bother. Next, save and exit the file. In "vim", you hit escape, then type:

:wq

and hit enter. Lastly, we just need to tell Linpus to display Celtx on the desktop:

vim /home/user/.config/xfce4/desktop/group-app.xml

You should now be looking at an XML file. You need to find this:

<id>6</id>

And insert this underneath it:

<app sequence="2">/usr/share/applications/Celtx.desktop</app>

Be sure to increase the "sequence" numbers on the other "<app>" entries as well, to make sure there are no duplicates.

That's about all there is to it. If you reboot the machine you should now find that you have an icon for Celtx on the desktop. After you put some .celtx files on the machine, you might want to right click on one and select "properties", then tell Limpus to open the file type with Celtx (otherwise it'll just treat it like a zip file).

This is quite a long post and I have work to do, but I might return in the next couple of days with some things to say about Celtx itself. Happy hunting!

PS Thanks to the users of the forums on aspireoneuser.com for the knowledge which was needed to work this out.

I'll see your eee and raise you One

My good friend Dougal got himself an Asus eee pc (relatively) recently. He likes it a lot. I like the idea of it, but not so much the implementation. On his version at least, the screen is too small for me, and the later versions are a bit too pricey. I love the idea of a small, light and eminently carriable laptop though. It's the premise I originally bought my MacBook under, but I found even that machine to be too bulky and heavy to carry around constantly. The MacBook Air might work, but it's very expensive (from the direction I'm looking at it from, anyway) and not really something I'd be prepared to pull out of my bag and start working on while sitting on the Meadows.

So I bought myself an Acer Aspire One. I like it quite a bit. I was worried about the size of the keyboard, but it's fine; I'm typing this on it right now. The fact that I don't (deliberately) touch type is probably an advantage in this case. I comes with 8 GB of SSD (hard drive, basically) which doesn't sound like a lot these days, but I've already bought an extension to this (just waiting for it to arrive). The RAM is also a little low, so I'm thinking of upgrading that. It's not expensive at all, but it is very fiddly, so I guess we'll see. I don't like laptop touchpads in general, and the one on the one is particularly lame, so I have a two part plan to help with this. The first part is software based and I'll come to that later. The second though is yet another fiddly hardware upgrade (how exciting!), namely the installation of a touchscreen. Battery life isn't great, so I might get a spare, or an external backup.

The next concern is software. This machine is basically intended to be a glorified word processor, so most of what I want it to run is writing software. Writing in this case means:

Blogging (like this)

Work (Thesis, papers etc)

Screen Writing (be nice to get back into this)

General Purpose Writing (of course)

and also:

Keyboard Control

Synchronisation with my real computer

The first obstacle here is the operating system. It currently runs Limpus Light Linux, which I recently heard referred to as “Linux for Pussies”. Unfortunate turn of phrase aside, this description isn't too far off the mark. It's very simple, very easy too use and boots in about ten seconds. But it's also not as easy to customise. It seems that it is possible to install OSX on the One (always my first choice of operating system these days), but due to the lack of Apple hardware it would be crippled to some extent. Even so, it would make finding the other software I need a lot easier, because Open Source and Graphical User Interfaces DO NOT MIX. It's one of those instances where to get what you pay for. Open source command line applications are almost uniformly fantastic, but anything with a GUI will probably look like the developer just shat on the floor when asked and then got his dog to do it while he cleaned up the mess. The two serious open source advocates I know both confess to a dislike of doing anything graphical, so maybe it's symptomatic. I dunno. There are exceptions, of course. Eclipse is one, to a lesser extent so is Firefox. Also an exception is the currently gestating Netbook Remix of Ubuntu Linux, which might just be exactly what the doctor ordered, operating system wise. As far as I can tell it's not quite ready for public consumption yet, though. As soon as it is I'll probably switch, but for the time being I'll hack away at the Limpus until I get something workable.

I'll probably use Open Office (with actually runs quite quickly on this machine) for most of the writing, with Celtx (surprisingly good and free) for the screen writing and maybe Kyle for Latex formatting.

Gnome Do should take care of the keyboard control. It's a clone of Quicksilver on OSX which works pretty well. It'll never work as well, since the architecture of OSX supports this sort of thing better, but it comes close enough. For the synchronisation I'll try and set up a custom rsync script to move things back and forward between this machine and my Mac, and then I'll do most of the heavy formatting and posting and such from there when possible.

Speaking of which...

You Don't Mess With The Zohan <= 15 Words

You'll laugh, but you'll laugh more if you've spent time in Israel, it seems.

Is it still limping if you're doing it with both legs?

On Friday night I went to the Silent Disco and danced away until 4 am. On the whole I think it was excellent. I think it (or some progression of it) might well be the future of night clubs. It was £10 entry, which might seem a little expensive, but is really no more than the entry to a lot of clubs in Edinburgh. The music was also quite mainstream, and not the hardcore dance I was expecting, which is good because I think his sort of thing is a lot more fun when you can shout along with the words. Especially when you can take of your headphones and watch everyone dancing away without there being any apparent music.

Then on Saturday I drove through to Dunbar with Helen and Dougal to attend a ceilidh for our friend Matt's sister, who is leaving the country. What the hell was I doing there? I was invited mostly for my Y chromosome, since it was thought there would be a near overwhelming majority of female types present. This never in fact materialised, leaving me feeling that I was massively intruding (situations like this bring out the English in me to an alarming extent... I feel as though I can't say "please", "thank you" and of course "sorry" nearly enough). I had a really good time though, and enjoyed the dancing a lot... even though it's the only ceilidh I have clear memories of participating in. Luckily I had a good impromptu dance teacher and I don't think I embarrassed myself too much.

I stayed in Dunbar at Helen's parent's house on Saturday night and then went for long (well... more mid length) walk around the town the next morning, after a truly fantastic breakfast. Then I was invited to have lunch with Dougal and his parents, which was very pleasant. Still don't feel I said those three magical phrases enough at any of those places, but all in all it made for a most enjoyable weekend.

Yesterday, though, I woke up and could barely walk. I seem to have strained both my calves, which really isn't ideal. I suspect that I over used them during the weekend and know the muscles are trying to build themselves up. I have hyper-tense muscles in my legs (I think that's the phrase the physio used), which on the one hand sometimes means that they resemble steel cables (which is nice), but I can't even come close to touching my toes with my legs straight. I suspect this is a participating factor.

Ouch.

As a result of this I've been doing some work from home, as I suspect driving isn't such a great idea just now. I could catch the bus in to the University... but... well... I just don't want to. Writing up ahoy!

Here's a bit more Swedish music for you, this time of a much more melodic nature:



Nevertheless, this is the same singer who appears on "Dead End" by In Flames, which is from the exact opposite end of the musical spectrum.

In search of shiny Swedish music

So in my last (none film review) blog entry I posted a video by a Swedish goth metal band called "Beseech" and then mentioned that they'd split to form two other bands.

I was bored waiting for code to run today and did a little digging. Seems there's a bit more too it than that. The female singer joined formed another band called The Mary Major, which also has a male singer.

The male singer from Beseech is called Erik. He has a beard and long hair.

The male singer from The Mary Major is also called Erik and also has a beard, but has short hair and wears a hat.

But I am not fooled! Though he dons a disguise, my eyes do not lie! For it is he, the same Penniless Sitar Player! Wait... no... that's not right...

Anyway. In my opinion they aren't very good. They do have one song I like, though. It's called "Split" and you can find it on their myspace page, here:

The Mary Major

Others members of Beseech formed a band called Those We Don't Speak Of (TWDSO, henceforth), and their story is a little more interesting. Also, their music is better. Among the musicians who also joined the band was singer Sara Löfgren, an established singer songwriter. That interests me because it pretty much never happens here. Their home page seems to be down (I'll try and shed some light on that in a moment), but you can find some music here:

TWDSO at MySpace

I quite like it. Not a lot of subtlety to be found, no, but there's a propulsive quality to the music I enjoy very much. Also I'm a complete sucker for a powerful female voice over the top of a driving heavy rhythm.

But wait... there's more. It seems Sara Löfgren left the band due to pregnancy and was replaced by another established solo artist. This time one Emma Varg, and you can listen to her here:

Emma Varg at MySpace

She also has a (mostly) working home page, here:

Emma Varg

...which says she is looking for new members to join her band... and that was circa February 2008. Also, no mention of TWDSO and a lot of media links are broken on the site. Confusing, no? I'll come back to that, because first I want to talk about her music. Again, I like it, for much the same reasons as previously mentioned. There's also a brazen quality to her lyrics I like... and the closest we get to that in the UK is the Sugar Babes singing "..who do you want me to be, to make you sleep with me..."

I find I really want to listen to this new band, but am a little starved of information. Emma Varg's MySpace says that she's taking over on a temporary basis until she gets her new band members, but another interview suggested she was a permanent replacement. I almost suspect this new band will have a different name, that would explain the missing / broken home pages.

I also learned a new Swedish music related word today: Melodeath. I have resolved to find out more about it.

In Bruges <= 15 Words

13/05/08 20:30

The darkest film I've seen in a VERY long time. Also one of the funniest.

Doomsday <= 15 Words

26/05/08 18:20

Utterly and completely retarded. I loved every giggle inducing minute of it. Go practical effects!

The Incredible Hulk <= 15 Words

15/06/08 15:30

It's just vacuous spectacle, but a lot of fun and I'm loving this casting trend.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull <= 15 Words

22/05/08 20:30

Tell you what, let's just pretend that it never happened, okay?

Gone Baby Gone <= 15 Words

18/06/08 20:40

Soon we will laugh that we thought genius director Affleck was just a mediocre actor.

The Dark Knight <= 15 Words

24/07/08 20:15

""

(The implication is that I'm speechless)

Hellboy II <= 15 Words

"Logical holes be damned, this is a damn fun and extremely beautifully made film."

Eclecticism

Seems the Facebook app does not do what it's supposed to. Never mind, I shall content myself with the (better) Wordpress interface. Maybe I'll look into writing a Facebook app which interfaces with my RSS feed. That would be cool.

I thought I would write a music related post, since I found a couple of things on YouTube which piqued my interest. First an entirely serious one:



When I first heard this on the radio I thought it sounded so fresh they must be a new band. But no, they've been around quite a while, I even knew other songs by them. Unfortunately I don't like many of them, but you can't have everything. Apparently.

Next, something quite different. Helen played me this at a dinner party on Saturday night for the comedy value. I went looking for it on YouTube, mostly out of curiosity regarding the identity of the female singer, and found a live version. Promise me you'll listen to at least some of it, and not just hit stop as soon as the guitars start. It might make you smile.



I think I genuinely like this. It helps that I actually like ABBA. I think they wrote really good songs. I also love cross genre covers, and this is definitely that. The female singer's voice really works for me as well. I had a look for some of their other stuff, but it's really not good, not good at all. It seems they split and formed two entirely new bands, both of which are a slight improvement, though.

Told you I had eclectic taste. Here are a couple more for your edification:



A soft one to start off with. Dido is so much better live. In my opinion her voice is perfect, but sounds overly processed on her recordings.



Bit of a heavier one, there. This is about as heavy as my taste in music gets. I love the singer's voice, though. If you're confused by this wait for the chorus. If you don't have the pertinence for that, try this one by the same band:



See? The band, if you're interested, are called "In Flames". Look up a song called "Dead End" if you want to know what happens when a Swedish metal (death metal? pop metal? disco metal? death pop disco metal?) band collaborates with a Swedish pop singer song writer...

How about another soft one? Okay, but I'm going to get it from an unexpected place:



Yes, that was Slipknot. Bet you didn't see that coming.

I'll skew a bit heavier again, but not too far.



I'm a little disappointed that YouTube couldn't supply "Father's Daughter" from "Like a Bolt of Lightning", but this will do.

I'm tempted to throw in a bit of Massive Attack, a bit of Evanescence, a bit of Killswitch Engage... but this post really could go on for ever, so I'll stop it here.

Starting again... again.

Blogging.

By my count I've had three previous attempts (on different services), none of which has entirely worked out. The problems which cause this to be are multiple, but two in particular tend to stand out. Firstly, I tend to write long rambling posts which take a lot of effort, and secondly I tend to not believe that anyone is actually reading them.

So I've come up with the two pronged strategy to try and solve this. First of all, I'm going to try and make it easier for me to blog. Thus, I'm switching to WordPress. Why does this make things easier? Well, it means that I can use their software to blog from my iPhone (which will theoretically also lead to shorter posts) and I can also use the web interface. Thus I can blog from (literally) anywhere, where as before I could only do it from my home computer, as I was using iWeb. I still think iWeb is an awesome program, but I was using a small portion of it's functionality, and thus a more bespoke solution becomes a better idea.

Secondly, I'm going to try and advertise it a bit better. So the particular web interface I'm using is the WordPress facebook application, which should drop a thingy into my friends' feeds when I write a new post. Maybe some will read it. Hopefully not too many will find it massively annoying. I like this synergy, it's certainly not something I could accomplish using iWeb.

I'm going to transfer over my previous film reviews, but stripped down without the header and the footer, and make this blog a bit prettier over the next couple of days. I'm also going to finish the my digital life post I start an age ago, so come back, ya' hear?