Petition

There’s currently one of those e-Government petitions on the Downing Street website calling for Gordon Brown to resign as PM. Obviously the results will be ignored, but I thought I’d share the link in case anyone was interested in making their opinion known.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/

Woodstock House Hotel

Over the previous weekend we visited the Woodstock House Hotel in the village of Charlton, near Chichester. It’s such a lovely place that I feel compelled to recommend it to everyone.

The village is small and picturesque, and nestled in the heart of the South Downs, and there are three good pubs within a mile; The Fox Goes Free, the Partridge Inn and the Star and Garter.

The staff at the Woodstock were very friendly, and served us complementary tea and cake on arrival. They were also kind enough to phone the local pubs for us to book a table for our evening meal, and even phoned a second pub without complaint when we changed our minds about which one we wanted to visit.

Our room and en suite bathroom were lovely and clean and included a small flat screen TV. We were able to order a newspaper for delivery to our room on Sunday morning, and a very tasty full English breakfast is also included in the price of the room.

It was a wonderful friendly place and I’d definitely visit again, as well as recommend it to anyone who would like to get away for a relaxing weekend break without travelling too far.

Twitter (sigh)

Whoops, it seems I haven’t blogged for a little while. Well let me assure you that I’m still alive, just quite busy.

Anyway, there seems to have been a lot of talk on the TV and radio about Twitter lately, with many people talking about it as though it was something brand new. I’m pretty sure it’s been around for ages, but never mind…

So under peer pressure I’ve signed up for an account. My page (profile, feed, what’s the right term?) can be found at http://twitter.com/chris_buxey if any is interested in “following” me. Let’s hope it lasts longer than my MySpace page, which was approximately 2 hours.

The Internet in SPAAAAAACE!

I thought this story on the Register was quite interesting, and just wanted to draw people’s attention to it. The story concerns tests of a new communication protocol called Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN), specifically designed to be an alternative for TCP/IP communication across the vast distances between planets, moons and space stations. Over such vast distances, lag and interruption are obviously very common. If this sounds interesting, then I urge you to take a look.

Quantum of Indifference

So earlier this week I saw Quantum of Solace, the next instalment in the revamped James Bond series. Unfortunately, after the wonders of Casino Royal, I felt it was a bit of a let down. It was still an alright action film, just not up to the ridiculously high standards set by its predecessor.

There were two main problems, the first of which was the plot. There didn’t really seem to be much meat on it, just the lingering aftertaste that it was simply there to thread one action sequence into another. The film opened immediately with a car chase, and because it wasn’t set up in any way – who were these people, and why were they chasing Bond – I found it a little difficult to get into. All it needed was about 30 seconds before hand to give us some idea of what was going on.

The second problem was the action. In Casino Royale, all the action had been fairly realistic, or at least plausible. This time, the action felt a little more ‘comic book’. Would Bond really have survived falling off a roof, through a large glass window, and landing on metal scaffolding? Well, maybe - he is awesome after all – but wondering about that drew me out of the film.
Although the action may have been more comic, the locations were still all realistic, which I think jarred slightly. If Bond is going to be blown up and thrown around in an over-the-top action style, he needs to do it somewhere appropriate, such as the interior of a hollowed-out volcano lair, or atop a giant radio telescope. Wondering around a desert doesn’t quite cut it I’m afraid.

Nevertheless it wasn’t terrible by any means. If you like Bond films or action films in general, then there’s no good reason not to see it. Just don’t expect another Casino Royale. Final score? 7/10

Obama wins US election ‘08

YAY! Thank f*** for that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a truck load of sunshine and lollypops being delivered, and I’ve got to find somewhere to store them.

Great South Run Success

It all started back in April when Sarah suggested we entered the Great South Run. A long training regime followed over many months (which I meant to document on this blog, but forgot), culminating in the run on Sunday. Alas I didn’t take any pictures, but I’m sure there are countless other people talking about it on the intertubes, so I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say both Sarah and I finished the course, with a time of 2h 40m 36s. My position was 11,484 out of 19,500 entries, so at least I wasn’t last. We also managed to raise some sponsor money for CLIC Sargant, so that’s cool too.

Next year we’d like to do the course in less than 2 hours, which will obviously require a lot more training. Maybe I’ll remember to document it this time…?

Birmingham International Comic Show 08

Last weekend Sarah and I attended Birmingham International Comic Show 2008 - hosted at the Think Tank – and had a very good time. Admittedly we were a tad disappointed when we first arrived as it wasn’t as extensive as we’d pictured. But once we’d looked at the list of lectures being given by famous artists and writers from the industry, we realised there was actually a lot that we could get out of it.

1. Sarah sketching on the train. 2. Our hotel room. 3. View from the balcony.

4 & 5. More views from the balcony. 6. The Think Tank.

7 & 8. Think Tank interior. 9. My flash fails me in the main hall.

10. The smaller hall. 11. “God, are you still here?” asks Sarah.

We came away from the weekend with lots of ideas for improving our own webcomic, and as we had only been running for a few weeks we’ve decided to start again from the beginning.

One of the most interesting parts of the weekend for us was talking to independent comic writers and artist who had their own stalls. Sarah and I have set ourselves the objective of returning without our own stall in two years time. Maybe we’ll see you there…?

Thirteenth Black Crusade

Back on the first weekend in September, I attended the Tempus Fugitives’ Damocles Gulf Crusade with the PCRC, hosted at Warhammer World. I’ve attended similar events before, and this time I was playing on the Imperial team using my Deathwing army, helping to defend the Cadian Gate from Abaddon’s 13th Black Crusade.

I haven’t mentioned it until now, as I was waiting for Graham to put the finishing touches to the video of the weekend, which can be seen here.

The Imperial teams didn’t do so well in the end. We were only just able to stall the Chaos advance with a last stand on Cadia, with Eldar assistance. So the forces of Chaos couldn’t claim a total victory, but they came pretty damn close!

My win/loss record for the weekend’s five games was as follows:

1000 points doubles vs. Night Lords Chaos Marines – Win
1500 points vs. Death Guard Chaos Marines – Loss
3000 points Apocalypse vs. Dark Mechanicus – Loss
1500 points vs. World Eaters Chaos Marines – Draw
3000 points Apocalypse doubles vs. Thousand Sons Chaos Marines – Loss

So one win, one draws and a three losses – not by best performance, but I still had a great time as all my opponents were pleasant and fun to play against. All in all it was a fun weekend, and we hope to return for the next event – The Great Crusade in May 2009, when I plan to revive my Orks.

Canal Holiday 08

Just like last year, I went on the canals for my summer holidays this year. We followed a partially similar route to last year, although we didn’t have time to do the entire four counties ring. Instead we set off from our base near Shardlow on the Trent and Mersey canal, reaching Penkridge on the Staffs & Worcester canal by Wednesday, and then turning around and retracing our route for the remainder of the week. Click on the thumbnails below to see a selection of photos from the journey.

I enjoyed it just as much as last year – the canals are such a relaxing holiday. I feel I should also draw attention to The Bridge Inn at Branston, Burton-upon-Trent (seen in one of the photos above).  It looks like just another pub from the outside, but they offer a wonderful Italian menu. Well worth a visit if you’re passing by on the canals.