Glenn Broadway

Adobe Illustrator, why are you so strange?

WARNING: Graphic design software post. Probably of no interest to anyone but graphic designers. And, come to think of it, probably not of much interest to them either.

I've been exposed to some of Adobe Illustrator's idiosyncrasies already. For example: Want to align three objects to one other? Probably just lock the main object in place, select them all and click align right? No! Instead SHIFT+Click them all, and then release SHIFT before clicking on the main object again (don't worry, it won't deselect the others!). Now this little guy becomes the special master object to which all others will align. Huh?

Well, armed with the knowledge that Ai is somewhat quirky, I was thinking about really getting to grips with it - maybe buying a Deke McClelland book or two... Then I read JET's forum post here:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/321974

I think I might just leave it then.

Let's Make Morph

On Sunday I traveled up to London to attend Let's Make Morph - a tribute to Tony Hart. Not quite a Flash Mob (as reported by several news sources) but still a fairly large gathering of people, many of whom brought along their own Morphs. The Facebook group which started the whole thing had around 800 members. There were probably more like 300 people there on the day, gathered at the end of the Millennium Bridge outside Tate Modern. The Morphs came in all shapes, sizes and colours. I just added a black armband to mine, which otherwise stayed fairly faithful to Lord and Sproxton's original design.

I had written to the Aardman founders in the hope they might attend (alas, no response) but we were joined by Tony Hart's daughter Carolyn. She seemed really pleased to see so many people gathering in memory of her father, and took a lot of time talking to everyone there.

Throughout the afternoon, as I listened to people talk about Tony Hart, I would repeatedly hear the same phrase: "Tony Hart, legend." And although it's probably mostly just a language meme (like wicked or well gutted) it's also completely true. Tony Hart was legendary. I did become an artist because of him (and my Dad). It's a travesty that his death was marked by a three minute segment on the news the following day and nothing more.

I met two other people on Sunday who, like me, had succeeded in the ultimate goal of getting a picture on the Gallery (actually a Jim'll Fix It badge was probably tops, but there was always the lingering fear that you'd get vilified like that kid who got a TV, computer AND Intellivision in his bedroom make-over).

Buy some plasticine, make a morph. Then go and draw a chalk New York skyline or add a cartoon face to a boot print.

(click here to see my photos from the day)

A gosh darned beautiful website

I wish I had designed this! Tell me it's not wonderful.

Sorry, George

I'm not a fan of George Lucas. I should be. I mean, I was born in 1971, making me a prime candidate for Star Wars super-geek of the century, but George Lucas ruined all that when he made Han Solo walk over Jabba's tail in his Episode 4 re-hash. In fact the whole, 'Episode 4' thing is what started my disdain.

I simply could never believe that he had planned, all along, for Star Wars to be part four in a six (or even nine) part saga. It just seemed so obviously like a stand alone action flick that it didn't make sense. Well, it looks like I might be completely wrong. In this interview from 1980 Mark Hamill reveals that episodes 1, 2 and 3 will be set many years before their trilogy and will feature a young Ben and Darth Vader etc.

Obviously this was after Star Wars, so Lucas might have only worked all this out following the success of his space western. But, if not, then I'm sorry George.

You've still got a massively fat chin though.

Diagram

I love a good lie

I love a good lie. Nothing like it for winding up minors. And it would seem my eldest son (Frank, 12) has inherited one trait from me, at least. Conversation at dinner the other night:

Eric (11): Dad, Frank me told me something and I don't know whether or not to believe him.
Me: If my life depended on it, I would bet on not, but go on, let's hear it.
Eric: Frank said that oxygen is a tiny bit poisonous and that's why, even if you are otherwise completely healthy, you will always eventually die.
Me: No, that's true.

I honestly wish I had thought of that.

Link Dump

During my hiatus I've been dropping interesting web finds into my "To Blog" bookmarks folder. Well, the time has come for me to have a clear out. Rather than sending them all to the bin I thought I'd just whack them into a massive blog post in the hope that either one of my readers might find something of interest. So, without further ado, here are a few finds which tickled my fancy:

(Why not CTRL/CMD+Click them all into new tabs? You are using a tabbed browser aren't you?)

The Hobnox audio tool. Old Roland and Boss gear recreated in Flash, to stunning effect. [web tool]
Attenborough uses slug sex to prove the wonders of Mother nature. [YouTube]
A simple equation. [image]
An amazing resource for pub quizzers. [web page]
Dog vs Porcupine = Ouch. [image]
Real life Gary Larson cartoon. [image]
Chris Ware animates two true tales to brilliant effect, from This American Life. [video]
My calendar's smaller than yours! [web page]

Eight more coming soon!

The Sad Truth

Okay, so here it is... the sad truth behind why I haven't been updating my website. Burnout Paradise.

Possibly one of the finest video games ever made (it certainly ranks in my top five) and the first, in a very long time, which has compelled me to play to 100%. It took just over 80 hours to find and complete every Smash, Super Jump, Barrier, Drive-thru, Shut Down, Race, Marked Man, Stunt Run and Road Rage. The last five or six hours were a bit of a slog, but by then nothing on Earth would have stopped me.

I've only ever done this a couple of times before (Outrun, Marble Madness, Bubble Bobble, possibly one or two more) and for it to happen now, at a time when I have become completely jaded about the creativity and originality of video games, was a real surprise.

Only a few weeks before Eastwood and I can do it all again!

Is This Bye-Byebulous?

A while ago I pondered how long it would be before Scrabulous got shut down. Well, two days after being invited to join the Beta program for the new official Scrabble Facebook app, it looks like the highly popular, unofficial version of Butts' masterpiece is no more...

Nope! It's okay it's back... Now, all I need to do is work out how I can set up a proxy to allow me to play the US only Hasbro version and I'll be able to compare all three Facebook Scrabble apps. Hmm.

In absentia

There's a reason I haven't been updating this blog very regularly and that reason is nearly coming to a close. When it finally happens I will tell you all about it - you can count on that!