I'm Rory Parle, an Irish software engineer living in London.
At least these perks used to be secret. Thanks for posting them on the web, Cracked.com. Now everyone will know that,
New Google employees each receive a keepsake Google hacky-sack filled with pulverized sapphires.
This is even worse than the time xkcd let slip that we learn the secret of levitation after 256 days. By the way, I learned it about two weeks back. It’s pretty obvious once you think about it.
.jpg)
Ok, actually I’m wishing you a happy Christmas from Greystones, but Greystones isn’t known for its spectacular artistic tradition so I’ve reached farther afield to bring you a more distinctive festive greeting. Check out Anime & Manga Horizon for a glimpse of how Mrs Clause should have been…
This article has been sitting in a cold and lonely Firefox tab for a few days without comment so I figured it’s a good idea to finally post a link to it at least. It’s entitled Why 2008 Will Be An Awesome Year For Movies. My interpretation of that title is this: The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones, Iron Man, and two Rambos. Give or take a little Pixar and what we’re promised will be an improvement to the Hulk franchise and it looks to be shaping up to being a good year.
Popcorn for dinner again. The health risks of being a cinephile.
(from Twitter, by txt)
Esquire has a collection of semi-connected soundbite-sized chunks of wisdom from Michael J Fox. Some of it is pleasingly astute, and it’s totally free of the pretentiousness you often see when celebrities share their pet philosophies. Possibly because:
If you don’t have someone calling you on your shit, you’re lost.
Following on the robot theme from yesterday, here’s the first full length trailer for Pixar’s Wall-E. I think there just might be room for a friendship there between Wall-E and Luxo.
Sometimes I feel like I have no reason to post about a subject because a story broke a few days ago and it’s been analysed by a crowd of eager bloggers since then. Other times I stumble on an article written over six years ago that grabs me enough to make me want to share it. Elmore Leonard writes on writing, covering his most important ten suggestions (or in today’s parlance “top ten tips”) for improving your writing by keeping it out of the way of what you’re trying to say.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”…
…he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances “full of rape and adverbs.”
I’m not Derren Brown, but it doesn’t take a mind-reader to predict that I’m not the only person excited by the news that Peter Jackson will produce two movies based on The Hobbit (error corrections are mine, because Ain’t It Cool News‘s illiteracy dismays me):
One will be an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The second project is believed to be a bridge between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy – culled from the titanic amount of periphery/ancillary/notated material found in Tolkien’s works. Such material can already be seen in the existing films.
I’m not shocked by this news. I don’t think I ever really lost the feeling that this was ultimately inevitable. I’m happy to hear it’s finally going to happen though. Most importantly, before some of the significant players become too old.
I know I’ve stayed up too late and am too exhausted to function when I start to feel sorry for the “robot” in this story.
The phrase “web log” has been around for 10 years according to the BBC, who marked it’s 10th anniversary on December 17. I think it’s about time we came up for new word for what we do here. “Clogging the tubes” has the right feel. So to speak.
Terrifyingly, Soylent Red is coming up on its 5th birthday in less than a month. I’ve posted on average a little over once every three days throughout that time.