After a long hiatus, finally a new post on my blog. And why? Well, because I’ve just made the new version of Commentpress public. Nothing to do now but wait for feedback — oh, and make a start some of the enhancements I’ve got in mind.

Nigel from Telepathy spotted Planet 10 — which we made together — spinning away in the background as Blair gave a speech on education recently. This was the speech if you have the inclination to read it.

I am so near to completing the hour-long cut of the Football’s Leaving Home movie that I can almost see it done… after two years of plugging away at the thing, I’m about ready to do something else. If only editing weren’t so compulsive…

Anyway, in the meantime, I’ve given the Football’s Leaving Home site a makeover and upgraded it’s blog from Greymatter to MovableType in readiness for the 2006 project kicking off. Which, given that we’re almost at half-time between World Cups, should happen pretty soon.

HyperFilm is a prototype interactive film that I made way back in 1997. I’ve rebuilt the online production file which used to reside on my Flowmotion site here.

Click here to go to the Online Production File

If you already have a copy of the film on CDROM, you can use this production file to find out more about the film. If you would like a copy of the film, please email me.

The days are getting longer… but it’s still winter until March 21st. In the meantime, here’s a resurrection of my seasonal game for you all. All the best.

Shockwave Status:

Click here to play

Cropper is a visual tool for Director which allows you to crop images directly in your movie’s cast libraries, while keeping their regPoints intact. You can also crop a button from it’s background, produce identically cropped On and Roll states, and drop it on the score for perfect positioning.

If you’ve ever spent hours in the Paint Window preparing buttons so they don’t jitter on rollover, or erasing unwanted areas of an image to keep its regPoint then you’ll know exactly why I made this.

Disclaimer: this utility works on my machine… theoretically it will work on yours, but I can’t guarantee it. Download and use it your own risk. Working on a backup is always advisable.

Download the source code for MAC (82K) or PC (86K).

See the Online Manual (the same text as the Read Me included in the download package)

Please email any comments, suggestions or bug reports to needle@haystack.co.uk

Shockwave Status:

Click here to play

Much of the local musical heritage is under threat of extinction as traditional instruments fall out of favour with the younger generation. The music could not have been recorded without the kind assistance of Mr Umesh Jadia of the Museum of Kutchh in Bhuj.

Postscript: As a consequence of the earthquake disaster in the region the following year, much of Bhuj was destroyed. I dearly wish I could find out if the people I worked with and recorded are still around. So far, I’ve found no way of confirming whether they are alive or dead, and this still makes me feel very sad when I hear their beautiful music.

Click here if you’re up for it.

It seems so obvious…

The Dome as Parliament

It may be a cliche to say that our institutions are shaped by their physical surroundings, and that the debates which take place are a reflection of that architectural form, but it seems to us that the old adversarial system embodied in the current House of Commons (sic) does not allow modern consensual politics to be conducted. The world has moved on, yet our institutions have not.

We suggest that the site of the Dome is ideal for a circular debating chamber; a form already in use at institutions such as the UN, the new German parliament, and so on.

Futhermore, we suggest that a glass structure, with high-speed data-links and a public access policy akin to the Tate Modern, would come to symbolise ‘open government’ to the many people currently disillusioned with politics and with politicians.

We now have the perfect opportunity to upgrade the ‘Mother of Parliaments’ to one which would be the envy of the world.

(written with Richard Higgs)