Happy Sys Admin Day!

It’s the last Friday of July, and we all know what that means, right?
It’s System Administrator Appreciation Day!
Presents in the form of books I want, DVDs I want, or anything else from my del.icio.us wishlist are greatly appreciated.

Batman Shakespeare Bust Life-Size Replica - TV PROPS

Batman Shakespeare Bust Life-Size Replica - TV PROPS
Tilt his head back, flick the switch, turn on your stereo.

“Ghost Town” on Google Maps

“Ghost Town” on Google MapsA town that was laid out in the 1950s, but never fully built. Very creepy.

EffecTV - real-time visual effects

There’s a discussion on Thumped about the merits of ‘visuals’ at gigs/shows. Personally speaking, I’m all in favour of some sort of visual show to accompany the music, especially when the music of the particularly chin-stroking variety. Although I can see where many people’s complaints are coming from: it gets very tiring [...]

IGN has the first teaser for the new ‘Doom’ movie

IGN has the first teaser for the new ‘Doom’ movieAnd it looks just like the Resident Evil Movie.. except without Milla Jovovich in a skimpy dress

Unlocking Sony DVD players

I recently bought another new DVD player - a Sony DVP-NS52. Both the Sony Store and Peats offer to make this player multi-region for an extra EUR20. I opted not to go for this and take my chances unlocking it myself (albeit safe in the knowledge that I could bring it into [...]

A weekend wasted

My girlfriend took off to Westport on Friday for a hen weekend, leaving me with an entire weekend to myself. By Friday evening, I had slipped back into the exact lifestyle I lived before I met her. Watching bad movies, eating food that would rot my teeth (and my gut) and playing [...]

Watch Me Change - Gap viral marketing

Watch Me Change - Gap viral marketingLowbrowculture verdict: Not enough jiggling

So You Want to Write a Book?

So You Want to Write a Book?O’Reilly’s guide for new authors

Opinion Column by PC Magazine: Creative Commons Humbug

Opinion Column by PC Magazine: Creative Commons HumbugDvorak seems to have discovered trolling = outraged nerds = page hits = $$$

Shadow Billboard

Shadow BillboardBrilliant, original way of advertising sunscreen - use shadows to draw the main image

Potato Bravas

Browsing around the cookery section in Chapters, I came across a book called “Potatoes: Mash and More.” Atkins be damned, I love potatoes and I’m always searching to make the perfect mash. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t reveal any previously-unknown tips, so my mash remains at “average”, but it does have a few [...]

Something for the weekend, sir?

A few things before I disappear for the weekend (still no broadband at home!)
BBBQ
The weather being unnaturally sunny and warm, and I being Irish and a slave to tradition, we’re having a barbeque tonight. As well as making tabbouleh, babaganoush, Moroccan pork chops and the old favourite: cheeseburgers, I’m hoping to approximate the [...]

Edge’s review policy

Jason Kottke recently changed his movie review system from a 100-point scale to a 5-star scale, claiming that a 5-star scale is easier for him to judge (he asks “How can there be a tangible difference between a 75 movie and a 76 movie?”).
This reminded me of something from Edge magazine a while ago. [...]

The Triforce - Tubes really are cunts. So are terrorists. And Tony Blair.

The Triforce - Tubes really are cunts. So are terrorists. And Tony Blair.Ex-editor of Edge Magazine talks about his experience on one of the trains that exploded yesterday

The New Gamer:Grand Theft Outtakes

The New Gamer:Grand Theft OuttakesOne gamer decides to take a virtual holiday in the world of GTA:SA. I really wish I could get into this game as well.

Housekeeping

A lot of people have started asking me “Do you have a blog?” I’ve been trying to play this down with responses like “Oh maybe, but you’ll never find it - try Googling for ‘John Kelly’” But people have been getting smarter: “Yeah, but what if I search for ‘john kelly’ and uh.. [...]

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

The third level of *Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow*, which takes place on board a moving train, is simulatenously one of the most thrilling and exciting and yet **entirely frustrating** levels of any game I have ever played. And as such, it is a perfect macrocosm of the game as a whole.

Retrospective: Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi has no plot. Nor does it have any characters or dialogue. Apart from the credits and a translation of the Hopi prophecies from which the film takes its name, it includes no text nor attempts at explanation. By all accounts, it’s not a movie at all.

But it’s the most extraordinary movie I’ve ever seen.

Jesus, that’s a hell of an act

[The Arisocrats](http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/the_aristocrats.html) is a movie about *one* joke, breaking the record for “Least amount of jokes in a movie”, previously held by *Team America*.
Wikipedia [explains the joke well](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_aristocrats), but here’s the basics: it’s a non-joke. An in-joke among comedians. The start is always the same, the punchline is always the same, so [...]