Month: March 2001

So today is my final day at Time Out as a full-time employee. I’ve worked with them since February 1999, shortly after completing my journalism course. I’ve got a certain amount of freelance work lined up – all of which looks fairly interesting – but it’s still going to be strange not going into the office every day. There are a lot of people that I am going to miss, and a couple that I probably won’t.

This evening is my leaving ‘do’ – to be held in the upstairs of a sausage pub in Fitzrovia (don’t ask) – and I’m really ‘conflicted’ about it. Obviously I want to say goodbye to everyone, but I don’t really consider it to be a time of celebration – more of necessity.

Unlike Prol, I have no intention of wishing anyone a nice time at SXSW because I’m overwhelmingly bloody jealous and gutted that I’m not going to be able to go myself. I’m going to be there next year. That much is certain. [How I reacted last year]

I think it says a lot about a person when a mere twenty minutes after The West Wing [We Love You CJ] ends on a Thursday evening, they are already bored enough to start looking for information about SMIL – the Synchronized Multimedia Integration language. Perhaps it’s too many stimulants in my diet. Too much nervous energy at the moment. Watch my head spin round. Let’s go knock over a 7-11. [Note to self: check to see whether I’m the only person who has never thought that Rob Lowe was attractive until he was in this series.]

I was on the tube this morning, flicking idly through my copy of A Complete Hackers Handbook, which I am reading because I think people should read books like that, whether or not they understand even one tenth of what is in them, and I suddenly notice the guy opposite me. He’s listening to a personal stereo – much too loudly – and my attention was drawn to him by a very familiar piece of music – it’s something from the film Hackers (1995) [Amazon], which is a really dorky film, but one that I really really love. So I’m sitting on the tube, with people milling around in front of me, with people squeezing me in on both sides, and I’m trying to manoeuvre the book into his line of sight, so we can make eye-contact and make a secret “we’re in the know” connection. I try this for twenty minutes. Then he gets off the train.

Completely fascinated, and slightly alarmed by the ever-updated Anarchist Cookbook / Terrorist Handbook. Build a fire bomb if you must. But be warned – apparently Sulphuric Acid is quite dangerous…

Do you want to do something actually subversive? Then go and look at this. It’s a tiny piece of code that can descramble DVDs. Make it your e-mail signature today – and make sure it is distributed far and wide so that everyone has at least one copy on their machine. You know – just in case. [Read all about it: Descramble That DVD in 7 Lines]

In the article: Amazon.com readers comment on the Modern Library’s Top 20 Novels of the 20th Century, Kevin Goldstein finds actual comments posted by members of the public about books that are acknowledged greats. The comments are – pretty much uniformly – rather embarrassing for their authors. But the tone of the article as a whole is patronising and insulting. I am a cultured individual who has spent six and a half years in University, and I haven’t read more than three or four of the books listed on the page. Rather than sneer at those who do read them and don’t get them, shouldn’t we be encouraging them to try other books? Not everyone (and I include myself in this) will necessarily complete or get much satisfaction out of reading Ulysses.

Random linkage: 1) Willow?! Noooooooooooooooooo! [more] 2) Apple’s new Ad Campaign kicks arse (via Luke).

Online for a bit: plasticbag.org | cam.

Australia and Copyright Law
“Over half a century ago the English writer Norman Douglas had occasion to observe that ‘all mankind is at the mercy of a handful of neurotics’.”