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Writing: 2005

  1. Not being me

    In two exercises I realised that although I tell myself I can let go and be another character, I find it incredibly hard to do that physically.

  2. Using a British/UK Windows keyboard with an Apple Mac in OS X (3)

    Using a standard UK Windows PC keyboard with an Apple Mac is surprisingly difficult. But you can follow these instructions to re-map the Option, Command and Control keys, and the punctuation characters.

  3. Two interesting improvisations and feeling hot

    I’ve taken part in a couple of fun, interesting, and partially successful improvisation exercises recently. But there are other things that still require much more work.

  4. Notating conversations

    Radio 4’s ‘Front Row’ had a piece about the ways playwrights have attempted to notate how speech should be delivered, particularly when it overlaps.

  5. Too many exercises

    I’ve been getting frustrated by all the acting exercises, and lack of actual acting.

  6. Three homeworks down

    I’ve done my Endowment exercise, a Sense Memory exercise, recited some text in front of the class, and begun singing.

  7. Where’s my TV?

    Steven Johnson and others have raved about how complex ‘Lost’ is. Why are they so enamoured of such shallow, glossy shows when the cinema serves up much more challenging material? Why can’t TV do the same?

  8. The Guardian’s re-purposing of online content

    The Guardian’s started using quotes from weblogs and forums in the paper. Good stuff, except some forum posters are upset.

  9. First week over

    Recounting the first week of classes. Lots of getting to know people and realising how much homework I’ll need to do.

  10. Back to school

    I had the induction for my acting Foundation course on Saturday, and am looking forward to this term’s schedule.

  11. Back online already

    A BT engineer mysteriously appeared only hours after I complained about how it would take them a week to come round.

  12. If you see Sid, tell him the future’s broken

    Our phone line’s gone but it’s going to take BT a week to get round to fixing it. This is the future!?

  13. UK gig ticket alert service wanted

    I want a service that emails me when a band I like are playing near me.

  14. The Method Studio Intensive Summer School, part 3

    The course is over. A busy week of practicing our scenes but I think I maybe, just about, cracked it.

  15. The Method Studio Intensive Summer School, part 2

    Half-way through the course and it’s been a mixture of mini emotional crises and a lot of fun.

  16. The Method Studio Intensive Summer School

    I’m three days into a two week acting course, and it’s proving hard work.

  17. I got in

    I’ve been accepted for the City Lit’s one-day-a-week, one-year drama foundation course, although not the day I hoped for.

  18. Slimming for August

    I’m going to unsub from one RSS feed a day for the month of August.

  19. My first audition

    Last week I had my first audition, for a place on the City Lit acting foundation course.

  20. Moving photos

    I’ve moved all 500 or so of my old photos that were on my personal site over to Flickr. A laborious process.

  21. Technical Voice Production

    I need to make my voice stronger for performing, but something didn’t quite click for with this class, and I still need to work on it.

  22. Ways Into Text

    I’ve been spending my Saturday afternoons doing this class for the past six months, and it’s been surprisingly emotional.

  23. I’m OK too

    I’m OK. You OK?

  24. Acting through improvisation

    Last term I did a fun improvisation class.

  25. Working on evnt

    I did some IA/design work on evnt a while back and it became visible a month ago. I’m a bit behind.

  26. Nice chart of my MP3s over time

    I did a chart of what years my MP3s originate from.

  27. Royal Society of Chemistry’s new website

    I built the templates for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s new website, which recently launched.

  28. ‘An Actor Prepares’ by Constantin Stanislavski

    Because I’m usually immersed in web stuff, it’s interesting to read a text whose ideas…

  29. The endless musical relay race

    Dan Hill passed the musical baton on to me, an excuse to waffle about music I like. How could I refuse.

  30. Introduction to acting

    I really enjoyed some of the Introduction to Acting classes I did last year. But some of it was excruciatingly difficult.

  31. The cast

    I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the kinds of people in my acting classes - no overly-excitable, precious wannabes, desperate to become famous.

  32. Lorca: A Dream of Life by Leslie Stanton

    I scanned a couple of biographies of Federico Garcia Lorca to look for information about Blood…

  33. Classic travel

    Paul Theroux on why he travels, and Levi-Strauss’s definition of “mana”.

  34. Europa and Hackensack

    The sadness of two “boy loses childhood girlfriend who then becomes famous and successful” songs.

  35. Royal Mail spam

    I like the Royal Mail a little bit less every time it shoves its junk mail through our letter box.

  36. Acting classes

    Last year I began taking a few acting classes. This is why.

  37. Ten days of Tiger

    After ten days of use, a few initial thoughts on Tiger, Mac OS X 10.4, and whether it’s worth upgrading.

  38. First time floating voter

    Because I can’t face voting Labour, I’m now a floating voter. I’m trying to decide who to vote for.

  39. The Hitchhiker’s Guide movie

    I thoroughly enjoyed the revamped, high-production familiarity, but I have no idea if it will work as a film for people who don’t already know it.

  40. Holidays and urban spaces

    We went to Avingon, Orange and Montpellier. The latter has a nasty modern development which isn’t a patch on its older parts as a pleasant environment.

  41. Piano Notes by Charles Rosen

    Fascinating insight into the world of professional piano-playing. I think you’d get even more…

  42. Mind Hacks by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb

    Finally got round to reading it and wasn’t disappointed. Very dense with interesting nuggets.…

  43. Vote for me and Jamie Oliver!

    JamieOliver.com, which I built with Poke, is up for a Webby award. So go and vote for it!

  44. HTML wot I wrote

    I spent a lot of time doing the HTML/CSS templates for a new version of Wood Mackenzie’s site (although you’ve, justifiably, probably never heard of them).

  45. With great audiences…

    At what point does an amateur weblog become professional? And what responsibilities does that entail? In sticking to its amateur style, I feel Boing Boing may be shirking some responsibility.

  46. I don’t understand

    MG Rover’s directors and the profitable but crap Thameslink train service confuse me entirely.

  47. Flickr article for BBC News

    I wrote an article about Flickr for BBC News Online last week, and it reminded me how different writing professionally is to all this personal publishing stuff.

  48. Guardian Review, 19 March 2005

    Ian McEwan on how one person taking someone else’s boots leads to the collapse of society (well, almost).

  49. London Review of Books, 5 March 2005

    Science should reconcile first and third person accounts of the universe, and novels written in free indirect style do just that.

  50. American passports and Mexican food

    Two old posts of mine that have generated disproportionate quantities of coomments via Google.

  51. Moving virtual house

    A week ago my sites moved to a new server. There are a couple of outstanding problems, but it mostly went OK. Here’s my exhaustive task list for ensuring a smooth move.

  52. Server moving…

    Gyford.com (and Byliner, Overmorgen and Pepys’ Diary) is moving to a new server… so there may be some broken things around over the next few days. Sorry about that.

  53. May the Government be damned for it

    An awesome, possibly final, speech from Brian Sedgemore in yesterday’s Prevention of Terrorism Bill debate. Why are people like him the exception rather than the rule among Labour MPs?

  54. Contextual signage

    Two newish things I like, which together are worth a post, a new sign at the Barbican and one of the new Channel 4 idents.

  55. Top Tunes of 2004

    Making a CD of your favourite music and giving it to friends is naughty and illegal and the cause of global terrorism. But if I was, perhaps, to make one of my favourite music of 2004, then it would look like…

  56. Ten years on

    I’ve been online exactly ten years. It’s been amazing, but I don’t know where I’m going from here.

  57. 1970s UK TV Fictional Celebrity Big Brother

    Create your own fantasy Big Brother cast list. The craze that’s sweeping the nation.

  58. Direct diet marketing

    A handy diet and exercise-tracking site that’s actually run by a direct-marketing company.

  59. Getting Things Done by David Allen

    Toward the end of last year I felt the need to take stock of everything I was doing (or, more…

  60. Barbican: Penthouse Over the City by David Heathcote

    Most of the book is a detailed look at the various stages of planning the Barbican went through…