I’m not sure how to start to the Roast this week. After last weeks fun and lesbian frolics, let’s face it, anything is going to be a bit dull. Plus, I’m having an off week and I can’t seem to locate my trademark sarcasm and wit. If you do find my trademark sarcasm and wit, could you please return it to me please? I miss it 🙁

What is becoming something of a fixture (I blame Moose for constantly asking me if I’ve seen this or that trailer), here are the movie trailers that have caught my eye for whatever reason this week.
Penelope – your standard boy-meets-pig/girl story. With James McEvoy.
Tortilla Heaven – one of those movies I probably shouldn’t want to watch, and that you just KNOW is going to turn out as corny as all get-out, but… I admit, something about the trailer got me.
Paprika – now THIS I want to see, though I will undoubtedly have to wait for the DVD release.
Peaceful Warrior – another of those corny, feel good, up-by-the-boot-straps kinda movies. I’m a sucker, I just can’t get enough of a happy ending.
Black Sheep – mutant evil sheep. In New Zealand. How could life get any better?

Apparently, they’ve found the tomb of Jesus. And his family. And his children. And no, this isn’t from the pages of the Da Vinci Code. Really, archaeology has been perverted from some seriously weird things in its time, but this has to take the biscuit. And how the hell are they going to prove it’s Jesus through DNA testing?!

As mentioned at the top of the post, I’m currently desperately seeking mojo – but it turns out I still have reasons to write. 11 of them. Thanks Liz!

Are you a writer? I know I am, if only like, because Liz, I simply must write. It’s what I do.

Should soaps be more political? Will it engage more people? I have my doubts. I don’t think that engagement is something that can be inspired by watching your favourite TV characters engage. It’s something deeper and more systemic and relates to the political parties themselves. I got into a conversation earlier this week with two clients from work – they were very vocal in their political views. Both were vehemently anti-Labour (though background-wise they should be dyed-in-the-wool Labour supporters). One came out as Conservative, the other as BNP. Both said they supported the party in their area, to the point that they help with leafleting and such. But neither of them voted. “There’s just no point – what difference will it make to my life?” And that’s a direct quote.

Edible Chess Moulds. I want. I want now.

BBC has struck a deal with YouTube to show clips etc online. I was initially all ‘yay!’, then I read a bit more about it and started to have second thoughts. Though I’m still on the side of opening up content, I’m not convinced YouTube was the best choice…

And you thought the Swiss were all peace-loving.

And finally, just look what you can do with CSS. Quite makes me want to weep in envy.

What to roast, what to roast… That’s something that goes not only through my mind throughout the week, but through the minds of my minions spread around the globe. Boy do they do sterling work! As they are already have my eternal love and devotion, all I can do is give them a shout-out at the head of the Roast – thank you this week in particular to Moose, Divine M, Neko, Surly and illyna (and she’s the one responsible for the title as well).

ProBlogger (who I haven’t linked to in a while. I feel bad) has an article on the 10 mistakes that will kill a blog. Whilst I know I’ve been suffering from 6 (slow blog) lately and trust me, it’s annoyed me far more than it’s annoyed you! And I try not to let 2 (cliques) form, I like to think that I’m not doing to badly against that list. Um… You will let me know if I’m starting to go to the dark side, won’t you?

Blurbs in the publishing world are much maligned, yet they do a vital job – getting you to read the book in the first place. As a dedicated library-surfer, I’m always on the lookout for new books, but if that blurb doesn’t catch me then the book stands no chance. Conversely, I’ve also fallen foul of brilliant blurb only to get three pages into the book and go WFT?! and put it down in disgust. Blurbs however are not only needed in the literary world – I’m struggling to write leaflet blurb/bumf for one of the projects at work at the moment and Damn, but it’s hard! So I could do with all the help I can get.

Kristin, one of my long-time blog-crushes has a stellar how-to on making fancy-pants WordPress sidebars. Even if you’re using a theme/mod you didn’t design yourself, it’s always good to understand what the code actually does so you can play and not break things.

danah’s thoughts on how musing online can make things ‘real’ came at around the same time I (once more) accidentally-on-purpose gave the URL of Bright Meadow to the RLO at work and at the time I was having a mental hissy fit over the Cute Canadian. Timing. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who does this kind of thing.

I know when I really want to Roast something when I go digging through archives to find a post again after my bookmark got broken due to permalink re-structuring (grrr, btw). Turns out, Josh has a bit of an icon obsession going on. My own obsession with icons is slowly growing. I’ve not got to the point where I’m rethemeing my entire desktop, but there’s a fair smattering on non-standard graphics in use now. It just makes the whole computing experience more personal.

The things people do for charity. I wouldn’t go quite that far, though work are trying to get me to have a sponsored tattoo for Red Nose day (no), but I am doing this.

Want your shiny gadget laser-etched? Go to adafruit.

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to stumble across this blog! Penguin Geek. It’s all in the name.

It’s long, but the ending makes it ALL worthwhile. What do you get when you mix two Top Gear presenters, a Reliant Robin, and eight and a half tonnes of rocket fuel? Watch and find out.

I thought I was bad enough with my pens, but Gnorb takes it one step further into a pencil obsession.

And lastly four film trailers that have caught my eye for various reasons. Not saying I want to watch all of them at the cinema, but if I saw the dvd I’d most likely rent it.
Fracture – Anthony Hopkins really has cornered the market in crazed psychopaths, hasn’t he? (And yes I know that ‘crazed psychopaths’ is a tautology).
Wild Tigers I Have Known – I want to watch this if only to work out what the f*** the film is about!
In the Land of Women – we all know I’m a sucker for a happy/fluffy.
The Condemned – this I really don’t want to see, but the soundtrack for the trail is just perfect.

Happy Chinese New Year everybody!

I am sorry that the Roast is on the later side of the afternoon today, but as I had a near escape from being eaten by a Chinese dragon in the city centre, feel fortunate you’ve got one at all! And then we went to go and see Hot Fuzz and now I am horrendously homesick. The movie was very funny though 🙂

Continuing the ‘Chinese’ theme, I (OK, the BBC) bring you these sickeningly cute picture of a Panda cub playground. I challenge you NOT to go “awwwwwwww…” at some of these, especially pictures three and nine.

World of Warcraft can teach us valuable life lessons. No, really – see, respectable people say so.

Pictures of the Hot Fuzz premiere – as I already said at the top of the post, Hot Fuzz is a very funny film, go see it – . I just love that they not only filmed in Wells, but they held the premiere there! In the local cinema that was once a Scout Hut! And god-damnit, I’m still feeling bloody homesick.

Feeling inspired? Fancy writing a chapter of a story? Now you can. But it had better be good, because you will be up against me, mwhahaahhaaa!

And lastly (eek, this is a short Roast!), it’s getting to that time of year again when I ask you all for money – once again, I’m doing the Race for Life for Cancer Research UK. I’ll be talking about it more in the lead up to the race in July, but I just thought I would give you some warning.

And, yep, that’s it for this week. I’ve clearly been spending far too much time over at 9rules notes and not enough time finding things to Roast. I’ll try to do better for next week, promise.

I’m sorry for the rather gruesome subtitle for today’s Roast. I blame illyna! She’s been carping on for… well, as long as I’ve known her actually… about how good Bones is. For the price of playing with her Wii one evening (oh, the jokes just keep coming) we got to borrow Season One on DVD. Damn, it’s addictive. The first few episodes were a little rocky, but it’s settled down now and it’s really rather watch-able. David Bore-what’s-his-face (I can say the name, but not spell it) has the most amazing smile. Yes, SMILE. So he’s pretty much all over hot, but his smile – which you saw all to rarely on Angel – is just the icing on a very tasty cake. On top of that it’s just plain funny with great supporting characters. Good show. But with rather gruesome subject matter, which tends to lead to quoteable’s that are also a little macabre.

And I really should stop talking about my TV watching habits and leave you with what you came here for.

Something for Moose to start with – she regularly finds things for the Roast, and puts up with being mentioned with monotonous regularity on the internet, so it’s only fair. Here you go Moose: a blog about Formula One.

Ever wondered what six pounds of dynamite might look like? Wonder no more.

I keep bookmarking these posts that would make great memes and/or “I am still alive” posts, but then I just never get around to doing them. So what are your reading habits? Mine are remarkably similar to Nils’, so just go read his 😀

I’ve been holding off talking about Clive Cussler’s big whole lawsuit against the makers of Sahara because it’s just TOO silly. But then this little article came up and I just had to say something. Mr Cussler? The movie didn’t damage your book. In fact, I only read the book because of the movie. What damaged your book is that it is just BAD. Very, very bad. Painfully so.

So I was going to do this review of my new (green) iPod shuffle when it arrived, wasn’t I? Yeah, that’s not going to happen because, as usual, Paul’s done a much better job. From my own POV, the thing is just so tiny! It’s adorable and wonderful and just what I needed, but I am petrified of loosing it when it’s in my bag NOT clipped to me. I like the new shorter headphones – being smaller than Paul, the length isn’t a problem for me, and shorter cord = less to tangle. I haven’t noticed any real problem with the sound quality. Then again, I’m not an audiophile, I have dodgy hearing as it is, and I rarely listen to ‘quiet’ tracks anyway. I’m on more of a Bon Jovi kick at the moment. So yes, I love my shuffle. My poor old iPod hasn’t left the house since it arrived… Consequently, I haven’t forgotten to set my alarm clock all week. Result 😀

Lately people have been saying nice things about my writing style. Thank you 🙂 I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I do feel I’ve finally settled into my own ‘voice’ and that this is partly what makes people seem to like Bright Meadow. (I am fully prepared for y’all to correct me here!) If you want help finding your own ‘voice’ all I can say is be true to yourself and read this article for some pointers.

Continuing a sort-of theme about penguin shaped gifts, how about a penguin shower radio. Cute, no?

More on the Megapixel Myth (sounds like some new thriller or something, doesn’t it?)

I’m having a bit of a “I want to bake” thing at the moment. The following are things I would cook if there wasn’t this whole big nut allergy going on in my house and office:
baklava
flourless chocolate cake

Who said you should never play with your food?

Apparently, no sleep = no brain. Told you I wasn’t at my best when I’d had no sleep 😛

Oceans 13 trailer. I loved Oceans 11, I loathed Oceans 12, this one looks like it might make up for the hideousness of the middle one. Hopefully.

Glen is going to be trying to live the 9rules way. I like to think I already do (especially 1,2,4,5,7 & 8) and I like how I’ve turned out, so way to go Glen. Good luck 🙂

And the reason the Roast is so late is a film. You should go and see Music and Lyrics. It’s actually very funny, well done, and a damn good example of it’s type. If you absolutely loathe rom-coms in all their forms then OK, don’t go. But this was a highly enjoyable film. The opening alone had me and Moose in hysterics for the first ten minutes of the film. Always a good sign.

Well, how to start this Sunday’s Roast?
…
Yup.
I’m drawing a blank on the whole ‘snappy intro’ part of the post. That’s the problem when you spend the week at home vegging on the sofa – nothing fun to talk about! Ah well, enjoy the Roast 🙂

Apparently Adobe are releasing PDF for standardization. I shall put my open-source hat on now and give a big “Woop!”

David Pogue’s NYT videos are now available on YouTube and iTunes. If you don’t watch them already, I do recommend you do – very, very funny. And insightful as well of course 😉

What sort of man are you? That’s question I’m going to go away and ponder some more for myself actually…

Reign Over Me – probably predictable, but I still find myself wanting to watch.

Sunshine – we saw the big-screen trailer for this last night and it looked very, very good. I will admit that I am probably being swayed more than a little by the soundtrack, but I do so want to see it. You can normally rely on Danny Boyle to pull something good out of the hat.

We all get writers block. The good writers are the ones who get through it. One of my favourite tricks is using a song lyric then playing around with the ideas that inspires. Or going for a long walk, just me and the iPod. What about you?

Since I’ve decided it’s OK for me to have crushes on much older men, I am all happy that the Police are reuniting.

Now, a wedding proposal is something I’m not expecting any time in the foreseeable future (never say never, but, well, the chances are a little slim). I just hope that I don’t get this proposal. Call me old fashioned, but an actual ring, maybe a nice dinner… Are candles and roses too much to ask?

Since I live in expectation of the day someone buys me a surprise present, look – aren’t these penguin speakers the perfect present for your favourite penguin obsessed blogger?

Black Snake Moan – one of those trailers you have to watch over again because you can’t believe they really just showed that…

Want to get published? Listen to Liz.

More fuel to my imminent post on Tagging, BBC has news that it’s proving really rather popular. <sarcasm>No!</sarcasm>

21st of July 2007 is when Harry Potter 7 is released. Apparently, two characters die. I don’t care if one of them IS Harry, so long as Ron and Hermione finally get it together properly.

A Million Penguins – an attempt to write a collective novel. Using a wiki. Cool.

Female? Gadget-mad? Want to be on TV? BBC2 is looking for people.

New William Gibson goodness on it’s way…

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a community… or not. I like Tara’s point that a conversation or even a series of relationships doesn’t make a community. I’m starting to dip my toe very tentatively back into ‘communities’ or ‘groups of like minded people chatting down the virtual pub’ and I’m not sure of the need to try and find a clear definition of what a ‘community’ is as opposed to a ‘social network’ and so on. It gives a convenient handle upon which things can build. Then again… Oh, excuse me whilst I go, sit down, and think about this for six months or so 😀

Castle Smasher. Before you all start getting grumpy at me, Moose is entirely to blame for this one. I’m just sharing the pain and lack of productivity around best I can.

For all you Mac users out there (I know there’s at least one!) who might be in the market for a new mouse, go get yourself a Logitech MX Revolution and then read this article on how to make it work!

And we complain of one inch of snow in the UK…

It’s been a good week for me which culminated in a night out last night that really shouldn’t have left me feeling as blah today as I do. But I feel blah, so I’ve blown off going to go see Blood Diamond with Moose to stay home, write the Roast, listen to Lifehouse and drink endless cups of tea. It’s taken me a year to buy the ‘new’ Lifehouse album (can it be classed as ‘new’ if it’s been out a year?) and, as I expected, I love it. I’m always doing this – falling in love with a band, then never getting around to getting their latest stuff. Each and every time I promise it won’t happen again, but I can guarantee it will! Ah well, I’ve got it now, so it’s guaranteed I’m going to play it constantly for the next week or so. If only to drive Moose up the wall 😉

But on with the Roast. It’s movie heavy this week for some reason so I hope you’ve all got good connection speeds!

Hot Fuzz – I might have linked to Hot Fuzz before, but it does bear a new link as it looks so funny! Not just because it was filmed around my home town and the accents are just pitch-perfect! As for the Battle of Somerfield… I just can’t wait!

Blades of Glory – before we go any further I must stress that I do NOT want to see this movie. The trail did, however, make me giggle and cringe in equal measure so it deserves to be seen for that if nothing more.

Shooter – who would have predicted that Marky Mark would become such a good actor? This is most likely going to be formulaic, predictable, and violent enough to make me hide behind my hands for the most of it, but I still want to watch it just in case. Mark Whalberg is always watchable, no matter how bad the film. So maybe not in The Italian Job, but you know what I mean.

Live Free or Die Hard – there really should be no doubt that I will be watching this as soon as it is out. I *adore* the Die Hard movies and a large portion of my heart has always been reserved for Bruce Willis. I will hear no bad spoken against him, ya hear me?!

The Lookout – this one could go either way. The premise is good, Joseph Gordon Levitt has been known to act on occasion. Then again, it could go all a bit pants (he *has* to foil the robbers/get the girl after all).

Schools in England should teach ‘core British values’. Problem being, what the f*** are ‘core British values’? I dunno… This is one of those issues that I have a gut reaction of “you WHAT?! THAT will never work” too, then I think about a bit more and come up with other arguments. But I keep coming back to my “wtf?” reaction.

In preparation for a rant I’m planning out on tag clouds, here’s the 2007 State of the Union as a tag cloud.

I expect you’ve already heard this, but Bill Gates is to appear on the Daily Show on Monday (so it will be screened on Tuesday 30th in the UK). I like Gizmodo’s idea of a drinking game – a shot per mention of ‘vista’, ‘windows’ etc, two shots for a mention of ‘zune’, and a whole bottle if he mentions an Apple product 😉

How do you know when to stop blogging? Lorelle has some good points, but in particular eight, nine and ten.
8) You may not always want to blog. – You will have noticed that since New Year the frequency of posts has taken a bit of a drop here at Bright Meadow. That’s mainly because my job has taken a turn for the hectic and I just don’t have the time, energy, or inclination to blog. Rather than just churn out crap, I’d rather do number nine…
9) It’s okay to take a break. – I took a week out the other week and I expect I’m going to be on a bit of a go-slow for a little bit longer. The ideas and desire to write are starting to come back to me, but I don’t want to force them. I have faith that the words will return when they’re ready too. Till then, my wrists and RSI are thankful for the rest!
10) Don’t blog just because everyone else is. – I’ve been directly responsible for starting several people blogging. I’m not being big headed here: they’ve told me “I started this blog because I liked what you were doing”. The thing is, only two of them are still in the remotest way still blogging – Neko because she’s just started! and Moose who I say is ‘still’ blogging because she revealed to me last night that she’s got a few ideas. Blogging REALLY isn’t for everyone! If you don’t like writing, or don’t have the ideas, the chances are you’re not built for blogging. That doesn’t mean you can’t comment on mine though 😉

So THAT’S how you change individual icons! (Plus other good points on managing your OSX desktop clutter, like the lock command. I’m another person who likes to keep some stuff on the desktop). Though I’m still working out the finer points. Some folders are refusing to accept some new icons, whilst they like others. Odd.

And I shall leave you now to go back to bed and feel sorry for myself. I might watch some West Wing or read, but most likely I’m just going to mope around the flat like a wet weekend. I don’t have to go to work tomorrow though! *gingerly does a happy dance*

So the Roast is more than a little late (sorry). I’ve also got to apologize for the complete lack of blogging this past week. I’ve got things I want to say, just… My writing mojo is currently AWOL. To be honest, I’m having such a blast living my life that I just don’t have time to write about it. Tee hee 😀

That’s not to say I’ve forgotten you all. I’ve jotted down lots of ideas this week and even started a new story (shock!) but there’s nothing ready for public consumption yet.

Till my fingers feel like typing once more, have a munch on the Roast, which comprises two weeks worth of stuff.

Are you a member of the ‘Boutique Generation’? I’d have to put my hand on my heart and say I am.

So 2007 is well and truly started now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have a little introspection. Edrei had a think about what he’d learnt last year. My main thing for 2006 was how to be happy with me. There were other things as well, but that was the biggy. What about you?

I’ve told you all before how I like receiving postcards. To get this postcard would just make my day!

Damn global warming! It’s even affecting chess matches now!

More movie sillyness – The Astronaut Farmer.

Now, Moose got me a VERY fine calendar of Josh Holloway for Christmas (mmmm, Josh Holloway…), but if she hadn’t, this calendar would have done nicely.

One in five Home Office statistics are unreliable.
…
…
There really is nothing further I can add to that one. Sometimes these things just spin themselves.

One of the suspects in the 21 July London bombings studied chemistry. I hate to break it to you, but lots of people have studied chemistry. I myself have a very good A-level in the subject. I don’t think it is the study of science that is going to make someone want to blow lots of people up. Though I did have this one Physics teacher who could really rub me up the wrong way…

Pretty serotonin earrings. Did I say pretty already?