Shapejam

Trying to follow Buckminster Fuller's example in life, one step at a time to bring you brain scrapings for a new millennium.
Black Hammer: Secret Origins, Jeff Lemire, Dean Ormston, Dave Stewart

This is a strange mix of old-school, foot-slogger costumed crime fighters with their bombastic and often simplistic lens through which they view good and evil, and a complex story of family warped by supernatural circumstance.

Mister Miracle, Tom King, Mitch Gerads

Mister Miracle starts sometime after the genesis of the New Gods, the war between The Highfather and Darkseid, and their eventual detente... with Scott, possibly encountering The Anti-Life Equation, and trying to break the cycle of Samsara in a more visceral, and destructive manner.

The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett

Back in the before times, before the Pandemic, when people still entered bookshops without the accoutrements of protection against aerosolised nastiness, I chanced upon a beautiful hardback version of the novel which kicked off the Discworld Cycle...

Nudge, Thaler & Sunstein

Simple changes and choice architecture can make huge differences in people's behaviour in both good and bad directions...

Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! Pat Mills

The secret history of the comic which squigeed the fleshy curlicues of my grey crenallated meat computer clean...

Quarantine, Greg Egan

A simple idea unpacks into one of the most thought provoking...

Installing Google Play on your Amazon Fire Tablet

I've been looking for a nice, cheap tablet which I could use in kiosk mode, and give out at Comic Cons to folks who might be interested in the biweekly comics newsletter I've been writing.

BaadFood Issue 1 Kickstarter Musings… Part 3

Onwards, ever onwards to Part 3 of a collection of musings, spurred on from completing a Kickstarter project for a new Indie comic, BaadFood (which today, you can purchase as a physical copy on Etsy, or digitally through ComiXology...

BaadFood Issue 1 Kickstarter Musings… Part 2

Here then, lies Part 2, of a collection of musings, spurred on from completing a Kickstarter project for a new Indie comic, BaadFood (which today, you can purchase as a physical copy on Etsy, or digitally through ComiXology...

BaadFood Issue 1 Kickstarter Musings... Part 1

"Failing to plan, is planning to fail" was the mantra which slowly burrowed its way through my subconscious with the horse power of a Eurotunnel excavator...

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x000B Released

Congratulations fair traveler, you have made it to the end of the next level, sit for a while by the fireplace, rest your weary legs...

BaadFood #1 Kickstarter Now On

Issue 1 of BaadFood, a new Sci-Fi comic series looking at the interactions between a couple of Human-Standard twenty-somethings and the robots, AI, altered-humans and ageing in a near-future job market, is up on Kickstarter now...

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x000A Released

The TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x000A compilation has been released...

Haiku Revu: Cheap Thrills

My Haiku Revu of the 2013 thriller/dark comedy Cheap Thrills

Maudlin money makes,
Birthday box bought by bribery,
Fallow for friendship

Shai Rosenfeld's Concurrency vs Parallel Talk At Scaleconf 2014

A quick look at various concurrency/parallel patterns in use at the moment from Shai Rosenfeld...

Disasterpeace Fez OST

Hugely impressed by the music Disasterpeace is bringing out...

Lord Finesse and Percee P

Saw this from Cypher Effect over at Facebook...

Attack Magazine 10 Best Digital Synths 2015

It looks like Maker culture took off big-style this year, with a set of great digital synth kits out...

Mighty Ohm Geiger Counter Build

I've been meaning to solder up the Mighty Ohm Geiger Counter Kit for a while. It was sitting on my desk forlorn and unused, and I had a couple of hours free just before Christmas to try it out.

P'tit Quinquin

Loose Lips, have just put up my review of Dumont's "P'tit Quinquin".c

808 A Documentary

Sometime near the beginning of August the surprisingly versatile culture blog, Loose Lips, hooked me up with a screener of 808, the documentary from Arthur Baker...

Haiku Revu: You're Next

My Haiku Revu of the 2013 thriller, You're Next:

Family repast,
With a dash of bloody gore,
No soup for you, Zee.

Mr Show Ep 1

I've never seen Mr Show before. Now I have, and now you can too.

Star Wars Force Awakens Teaser #2

The new teaser trailer for Star Wars The Force Awakens...

Antikythera Mechanism Article at the Smithsonian

I loved reading about the Antikythera Mechanism years ago in the flawed but interesting Fingerprints Of The Gods written by Graham Hancock. A recent post from the Smithsonian piqued my interest...

Der Samurai

I managed to get my hands on a preview copy of the strangely sublime Der Samurai...

Playing with an Arduino

Many moons ago, a young technologist would have perhaps seen the odd sci-fi movie, stared in wonder at a robot of some kind and pondered, "how can I make that?" A short conversation with an elder later, they might have found themselves entrusted with a copy of the Maplin's catalogue, marvelled at the future hinted at on the cover and leafed through it to be assailed by myriad arcane serial numbers to byzantine artefacts whose purpose could only be guessed...

Digesting Comics February 2015

It looks like 2015 is going to be a great year for comics, Image and Dark Horse are releasing a host of enjoyable series with great artwork gracing some of the most varied sci-fi, horror and super-hero stories around. February has seen a good crop of floppies, with new East Of West and Jupiter's Legacy issues amongst others...

Sega Mega-Drive/Genesis Collected Works

The last thirty years have seen computer games move from pixellated bats intercepting juddering phosphorescent squares to the hyper-realistic GPU powered content found on the current generation Xbox or Playstation.

Brandon Graham And King City

Currently reading through Brandon Graham's King City.

Aphex Twin 25 Questions

Really nice piece from Groove Magazine, which recently got 25 of Aphex Twin's peers to ask him questions

Reading Tekkon Kinkreet

Communing with comics in a bid to clear some of my reading backlog before the start of the new year.

Artists Who Get Paid Don't Truly Care About The Project

Strange thoughts courtesy of Jeremy Holt a while ago that started a conversation centred on whether paying comic artists upfront for a project would actually reduce their commitment to said project.

Battle Of Ideas 2014

Back in October I went down to the Battle Of Ideas for the most excellent Loose Lips pop-culture review site. This is what fell out of my smudgy grey brain-pump as a result..

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0007 Released

Wickedness, the TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0007 - Night Of The Living Dead Rescore has been released.

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0009 Released

TEFOSAV have released the latest compilation, the TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0009 with a field recording theme.

Frightfest 2014 Trailer Boss Attack - Main Screen Films

As the sun rose on a muggy June morning and the horror loving inhabitants of the Frightfest queue started packing their various portable lawn chairs and polyester sleeping bags away, a sombre and tired figure shambled his way zombie-like into the morass of yawning bodies.

No Man's Sky Announced At E3 2014

Hello Games have released more footage of No Man's Sky at E3.

Digesting Comics June 2014

First post in almost five months. This year has been super frantic, only barely managed to make it to MCM London ComicCon in May and found myself in comic shops on a few occasions where the confluence of cash plus merchandise allowed me to pick up some great new comics...

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0008 Released

Tis the second year of the rejuvenated TEFOSAV. To celebrate some old and new members have put together a release...

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0006 Released

Strangely busy at the moment, so pretty happy that Sinvice managed to curate this release with some help from myself and the other TEFOSAV bods.

Frightfest 2013: A Glorious Send-Off

It may seem incongruous, but reclining over sun-kissed sand whilst an azure sea fizzed across my slowly tanning feet was a good place to cogitate on the horror film festival that was Frightfest 2013

Holiday Reading Summer 2013

Summer is almost over and after an end-of-season sojourn in Corfu to soak up our brief allotment of solar rays, I find myself back in Blighty a little less pasty and having consumed a few more books.

Punk Rock Enforced By Law

Years ago, in the Pre-Torrent age there was an amazing piece in the Baffler from the record producer Steve Albini who ran some numbers showing how a band can sell hundreds of thousands of records but not make any money for themselves

Haiku Revu: Wither

My Haiku Revu of Wither:

Please check family for,
Black vomit, rolling eyes, sharp bite,
If found; run very fast

Haiku Revu: Frankenstein's Army

My Haiku Revu of Frankenstein's Army.

Recon squad confronts,
A Nazi Midnight Meat Massacre,
More Than One Head Lost.
Spoilers incoming...

Kids, Computers and a Worrisome Trend

It has been an enlightening experience growing up in Britain during the Information Revolution...

Procrastinating With Objective-C

One of my TaskFactory procrastination tasks over the last few years involved digitising my small pool of CDs and vinyl and pulling the resulting tracks into iTunes.

47 Ronins Trailer

Looks like 47 Ronins is about to hit...

Digesting Comics June 2013

I've been getting into sourcing floppies recently from the ladies and gentlemen at one of my favourite graphic art emporiums...

Reading All Star Superman

Just finished All-Star Superman after getting a hat-tip from Comicbookgirl19 in the attached review.

A Little Superhero Hangover

A little video from our Gallic cousins showing the aftermath of a party...

10 Films You May Not Have Seen From Edgar Wright

10 pretty decent films from Edgar Wright courtesy of Total Film...

Oldboy Remake Trailer

Looks like they have remade Oldboy...

Table Top Plays Settlers Of Catan

I've been playing the Settlers of Catan for a few years now...

A Boy And His Dog Trailer

A very odd old film based on a book by Harlan Ellison.

Tatami Galaxy trailer

Currently working my way through the first season of the Tatami Galaxy anime series...

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Trailer

My current favourite Anime TV series, Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex, shares the same characters as the Ghost In The Shell Manga but warped through a Heisenberg uncertainty filter...

Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity Trailer

Alfonso Cuaron who brought us the decidedly grimy Children Of Men surfaces a paean to agoraphobia...

Frightfest 2013 Trailer Boss Attack

Frightfest is here again, with its 14th incarnation, Frightfest 2013!

009 Re: Cyborg Trailer

New trailer from the guys that worked on Stand Alone Complex.

Silicon Bootdrive Short

Check out this short called Silicon Bootdrive which some of the guys that are working with Production I.G. have put together.

Make Your Own Synth

Looks like Make have created a handbook for building synthesisers.

Amazon Launches AutoRip Service

Amazon have a new AutoRip service which allows you to download 256k MP3s of any eligible music you bought from Amazon.

Indie Games The Movie

As an ex-non-indie-game maker it's interesting seeing some of this output.

Pandoras Promise The Movie

It looks likely at the moment that Nuclear power is our future as wind-power/tidal/solar aren't going to cut it as a replacement for fossil fuels without having some un-expected side effects in our environment.

How I Discovered A Love For Test Driven Development... Part 3

In previous posts we have concentrated on creating our first unit test. Today we'll look at a simple Dependency Injection example in C# and why this allows us to create better testable code.

World War Z @The Lounge

So World War Z... a brief review; a handful of amazing set pieces but nothing much like the book...

World War Z and the CDC

Just watched World War Z, so it was nice to see the CDC explain how to survive a zombie apocalypse...

Queens Of The Stone Age Release ...Like Clockwork

Finally listened to the new Queens of the Stone Age release "...Like Clockwork" and I have to say its pretty special.

The Cruel Tutelage of Ido Portal

Liking this from Ido Portal. Just started Jiu Jitsu properly recently and looking at my movement and range.

Haiku Revu: Tulpa

My haiku review of Tulpa:

"Laughter medicine,
Stat!" said the new director,
in Giallo writ small.

How I Discovered A Love For Test Driven Development... Part 2

In a previous post we covered an introduction to Test Driven Development. In brief it is a process by which a programmer can create simple, automated tests which capture application logic and allow for sections of the code to be continually validated.

Haiku Revu: The Possession

My haiku review of The Possession:

"Box contains small parts",
Hebrew label reads, parent
Spidey sense faulty.

Haiku Revu: Outpost - Black Sun

My haiku review of Outpost - Black Sun:

If zombie nazis,
Are nuked from orbit, would we
Notice or feign care?

Hard Ticket To Hawaii... WTF.

From Hard Ticket To Hawaii... not sure what I just saw...

Deep Level Shelters in London

I love the fact that we still have the Deep Level Shelters in London.

Et Temptationis Bonum... or How I Discovered a Love for Test Driven Development

...so after many days of furious coding the final feature is completed. The quality assurance team have okay'd the change and a gold release candidate is ready to hit the shops. In the meantime some team members tidy up the code, the final master disk is burnt and sent to fabrication plants in some far off land. A few days later, all is good in the world, you're sitting on a beach somewhere hot with a Cuban cigar and a mojito when a mustachio'd waiter trots up to your sun lounger carrying an inordinately shiny silver platter with a strangely out of place bakelite phone gently ringing. \"For you sir...\"

Breen Academy Basics EP1

The Breen Academy is putting up some of the basic material on Youtube at the moment. .

Haiku Revu: Maniac

My Haiku Revu of Maniac.

Thumping soundtrack binds,
Large eyed merciless stalker,
To a neon nightmare.

Knights Of Badassdom

Ok, so I will be watching this film at some stage...

Haiku Revu: Grabbers

My haiku review of Grabbers.

Only Ireland's
Children, can defeat space men
by their last orders

Haiku Revu: V/H/S

My haiku review of V/H/S:

five house breakers and,
A long dead man in a chair?
Horror film engage!

Haiku Revu: Cockneys vs Zombies

My haiku review of Cockneys Vs Zombies:

Zombie Destruction,
via the grey senescent,
and their TV heirs.

Haiku Revu: Stitches

My haiku review of Stitches:

What is so fearsome,
Of a painted sad faced clown,
that can never die.

Haiku Revu: After

Our haiku review of After:

They met on the bus,
But where did the humans go?
Black fog is dodgy

Parallel Programming with Parallels

I've been a Microsoft Windows user for a while, and after some mishaps with traditional Windows laptops ended up migrating to running Windows on a Macbook using Bootcamp. Recently...

Haiku Revu: Sleep Tight

My haiku review of Sleep Tight:

Catalan concierge
Makes unhappy bedfellow
But adept stalker.
The rest of this review might contain SPOILERS... just go and watch this film now, then come back and read the review. You really won't regret it.

Haiku Revu: Berberian Sound Studio

My haiku review of Berberian Sound Studio:

Gibbering Goblins
Trap foley artist lost soul
Mashing ripe melons.

Haiku Revu: [REC] 3 Genesis

Our haiku review of [REC]3: Genesis:

Guest bitten by dog,
Evil virus spreads too quickly,
Will chainsaw help us?

Haiku Revu: Sinister

Our haiku review of Sinister:

Family moved house,
Spooky movies found in the attic,
This will not end well.

Haiku Revu: The Seasoning House

My haiku review of The Seasoning House:

Broken ears protect,
Stole girl to slave existence,
Ready for revenge.

Frightfest 2012: A Tardy Review

Every year since 2000, London during the August bank holiday has been home to a festival of blood and gore as some of the best horror movies of the past and present have been shown at Frightfest.

Death Inc On Kickstarter

Some talented ex-Criterion and Media Molecule chaps have gotten together to release something beautiful through Kickstarter.

Charlie Frame Reviews Autechre's Exai for theQuietus

Autechre have a new album Exai out very shortly, Charlie Frame just happened to write a superb review...

Another reason to love the BBC...

Currently in the process of putting some modular synth noises together, was browsing some ring modulator sites and found this...

Skateboarding from Gou Miyagi

Loving the amazing boarding skills of Gou Miyagi...

Pselodux Releases "Titan"

TEFOSAV regular Pselodux has been generating rocking chiptunes for years, and his latest album rocks...

Korg Re-release the Korg MS-20

Korg have re-released the Korg MS-20.

Setting Up MediaWiki on an Apple Mac

After one too many issues with a Hackintosh and a short but painful trip to an Apple store my MediaWiki< Windows installation needed moving across into the unknown realms of OSX.

My Own Private Audit Trail...

When I was a child I felt that I had a mind like a steel trap, any fact that made it through my conscious barrier would be there forever. I took no photos since my memory would suffice, and taking photos was too invasive anyway... As I grew older I realised that rather like someone suggesting that 640 KB would be enough memory for anyone my younger self had failed to comprehend the sheer amount of data that would pass through my grey matter during my working life. As a computer professional I can honestly say that I have not stopped learning since I was even younger than the young self above, with new code, facts, problems and processes presenting themselves quite literally every day.

2012 Surprise

Only a couple of weeks or so to go before the end of the year, 2012 has been an odd one for me...

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0004

The EOY compilation is out from TEFOSAV, with some amazing tracks from the crew.

TEFOSAV AGGREGATION PROJECT 0x0003

A crimbo pressie from TEFOSAV, with DLs for the holiday season.

CcommD III

More new-retro sounds from TEFOSAV

CcommD II

Back in the olden days of the interweb TEFOSAV used to release compilation CD and digital releases on mp3.com.

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0002

Just in time for Halloween, a spookily themed compilation is out from the collective.

TEFOSAV Output

The last artifact from the previous TEFOSAV board has been made available again.

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0001 is GO!

Its been a bit quiet here of late with Frightfest and a variety of ideas slowly cooking at the same time. I should have some more time to update the site now one of the projects is ready for the light of day...

Who did Rupert Murdoch annoy?

Looks like Rupert Murdoch may actually be on the way out...

I'm Not That Bad At Ikaruga...

Ace piece in The EDGE highlighting a #firstworldproblem I’ve encountered playing Ikaruga on a new HDTV: Link to EDGE Online.

Bloc.2012, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Queues

It was the afternoon in London and the excitement was palpable. Amongst the besuited office workers winding their slow way home on the DLR were a smattering of ravers humming with anticipation at the prospect of a night of booze, electronics and disco biscuits. That smattering grew to a deluge, as ravers started pouring through Bank and the DLR to be dumped outside The London Pleasure Gardens for Bloc Weekend 2012. The afternoon started well, but culminated in the Bloc.2012 festival being closed, the Police being called in to evacuate people from the site and talk of recrimination and bankruptcy.

Frightfest 2012 Preview

Tickets for Frightfest 2012 are now on sale, and the list of films has been announced. This year sees the festival in the Empire cinema on Leicester square spread over three screens, with a Rediscovery screen showing some old classics, the Discovery screen for breakthrough films and the Main screen beaming the year's horror highlights direct into the neo-cortex of the attending midnight movie maniacs.

Haiku Revu: Prometheus

My haiku review of Prometheus:

Director finds god,
contained in human genome,
ruins film in process
Warning, SPOILERS. Also, wtf.

TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0001

I’ve been a bit quiet over the last few weeks, both trying to get over the travesty that was Prometheus and spinning up the first TEFOSAV music compilation to come out in five years… avoid Prometheus, but take a look at TEFOSAV Aggregation Project 0x0001, generate some music and join in.

I'll Be Your Mirror 2012

Managed to catch a couple of days of music from All Tomorrow's Parties; I'll Be Your Mirror 2012 this weekend. Its held at Alexandra Palace in a particularly beautiful part of North London.

eMagic Unitor8 and Windows XP

How big a MIDI chain is too big a MIDI chain?

Ah'm on Bandcamp

There once was a site called TEFOSAV that my younger self contributed music to in the dark days before making games sucked my time from me.

Matt the cat and the rat

Some random poetry about a rat and a Matt...

Haiku Revu: Happiness of the Katakuris

My haiku review of The Happiness of the Katakuris.

Inverted Von Trapp,
Building a dream together,
Serenading bones
Haiku Revu: I Saw The Devil

My haiku review of I Saw The Devil.

Irresistable,
Forces immovable nut,
Swift carnage ensues
65daysofstatic on tour April 2012

The lads from 65daysofstatic are on tour in the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK in April. Check them out if you can :).

FutureEverthing...

Like the look of this, FutureEverything is an art/technology/music conference held in Manchester this coming May...

Jim Marhsall OBE RIP

Dr Jim Marshall OBE, founder and creator of Marshall amps has passed away. His amps defined rock for generations, may he rest in peace.

Setting Up MediaWiki On A Windows Machine... Part 1

Have you ever encountered this; You've spent some time analysing a problem or investigating an issue and want the process you took or the results of the analysis available in a searchable form at a later date...

Micro-blogging is a Unix state of mind

Hello my name is FuncRandm, and I'm a Unix user. Its been a few years since my last dose, and I'm trying to fathom what happened since then.

Haiku Revu: DeadHeads

My haiku review of DeadHeads.

I'm talking zombie,
Running from the man and chomp,
More pathos silent
Haiku Revu: Martin

My haiku review of George A Romero’s Martin.

Man in a white suit,
Vampire Boy in a worn town,
Fast Kill Him With Fire!
The importance of data backup...

I've been pretty aggressive about backing up data, labelling things and having off-site backup etc. Unfortunately it looks like I lost a load of work...

You appear to be liquidating your stock, perhaps you would like to...

After attending post-mortems for various projects and raking over the grist of tasks complete and not so complete, it was easy to see that seemingly obvious problems in hindsight were missed when in the thick of things.

Any home as long as it's borked

Our current ConLib government appears to have been smoking ju-ju grass again...

Movements in My Musical Life: Squarepusher

It might be valid to say that I spent a great deal of my teens and twenties obsessed with music.

Setting up Hg on a Windows machine... Part 2

I thought I’d look at securing Hg through Abyss, turning on pushing and pulling through security and what it takes to sort out a backup.  I wanted to look at CVS and SVN which I’ll leave for another time.

Setting up Hg on a Windows machine... Part 1

Like most programmers I have a workflow which allows me to type code at one end, and a seamless, bugfree application will pop out of the other ;).