January 2012
5 posts
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Big Daves Gusset
So I was a little sad the other day when I caught the train into Olde London Towne and discovered that the old shed that wore my favourite bit of graffiti1 had been demolished.
This loss inspired me to do a quick google to see if anyone had been as affected by this mysterious piece of graffiti as I had, not really expecting to find any results.
But not only did the results turn out to be...
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Marmite
The more I think about it, the more convinced I become that the long-running Marmite advertising campaign Love it or hate it is the best marketing concept EVER.
It’s been so successful that these days, whenever something polarising is discussed, people will describe it as being “like marmite”.
And the reason this is so bloody brilliant is that, actually, if I think about it,...
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December 2011
1 post
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On Latin Words
Brent Simmons recently published a critique of the words used in the tab labels of Twitter’s new iPhone app. It’s a fine piece, but one part of it doesn’t ring true.
In a section titled “What we know about people and words”, Simmons writes, “English speakers respond best to non-Latinate words.” He then goes on to criticise Twitter’s use of the...
October 2011
8 posts
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How to Write Better Female Characters →
You know you’re doing something wrong when you have to ask people who make porn1 how you could improve your portrayal of women.
Note that all of the interviewees say exactly the same thing. It’s not rocket science, people!
(via Jess Fink)
Admittedly, the porn in question probably isn’t the sort of porn you’re thinking of. But still. ↩
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Ireland vs Wales
The group stages are over! And Wales made it through! Splendid. And as long as Wales are still in the tournament, WYWG will keep watching the matches and then, several days later, posting commentary about them, [ably assisted by friend-of-WYWG, Tom.]
Today’s commentary team: Simon Ward, Michael Owen, and Alan Quinlan. Ref: Craig Joubert. [I feel sick to the pit of my stomach. I’ve...
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Wales vs Fiji
This is the fourth instalment in WYWG’s series of liveblogs of the Welsh campaign at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. WYWG is aware of the irony involved in calling something posted over a week after the match a “live” blog. As always, these words are written by WYWG, [and these words are written by WYWG-collaborator, Tom.]
The strangely muffled ITV announcer is talking as though this...
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Wales vs Namibia
Due to circumstances outside our control, our increasingly inaccurately named “liveblog” series on the Welsh campaign at the Rugby World Cup is now running over a game behind schedule. IT IS STILL, AWESOME, THOUGH. As always, these words are mine, and [these words are Tom’s].
Wales seem to be playing Shane Williams at inside centre. That’s… interesting. Oh,...
September 2011
5 posts
3 tags
Whilst we’re on the subject of dance, Ze Franks’s Star.me site has a “Mission of the day”. Today’s challenge is to “Paste a link to the best dancing you’ve seen on YouTube!”
By far the most frequently posted clip is the Evolution of Dance routine by comedian Judson Laipply. As someone who spends way more time than is healthy watching dance on...
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Wales vs Samoa
Having had a little time to think about it, I’m now a little more bullish about the Welsh performance against South Africa. At times, it really was like watching a completely different team from recent Six Nations tournaments. The level of competence and, dare I say it, professionalism was a cut above. Let’s just hope that they can carry it over into today’s game against their...
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South Africa vs Wales
It’s the Rugby World Cup! And you know what that means. Yes! Super-insightful and timely running commentaries on all three four of the Welsh games right here, on WYWG! As always in WYWG’s “live” sports blogs, the normal and amusing words like these are written by me, WYWG, and the [bracketed, italic, and dreary words like these] are written by WYWG’s close ally, Tom....
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“I do work on the road using a MacBook Air, not an iPad, because I’m one of those...”
– John Gruber, who obviously did get the memo that the iPad is only for consumption, not creation.
August 2011
3 posts
5 tags
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July 2011
2 posts
8 tags
“[A] man wants beer, and it’s wronging him, in my opinion, to say he...”
– A London cabbie, as interviewed by Charles Dickens, in 1860.
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June 2011
5 posts
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“Oooh. Sick burn. Walt should give out some ointment with a burn like that....”
– The Macalope, in his Macworld column of June 11th, who has been on fire (no pun intended) over the past few weeks. I also loved the coining of the phrase “Dumb springs eternal.” the week before.
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Surprising Discovery of the Day
The song Place Your Hands, by Reef has a break1.
Can’t wait for the first time I hear a DJ drop this in a breaking battle.
Roughly between ~2:15 and 2:24. ↩
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All You Care to Eat
I hadn’t been to the real USA for some time1 so I was surprised to see that many food outlets have rebranded their “All You Can Eat” buffets in a manner which is presumably intended to promote more healthy eating. As if somehow it were the wording used rather than the very concept of offering unlimited portions of food that has turned so many people into fatties.
I didn’t...
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So wait, a few months ago Apple rejected tap tap tap’s Camera+ app from the App Store because of a setting which allowed you to use your iThing’s volume buttons as a hardware shutter release because “it uses iPhone volume buttons in a non-standard way, potentially resulting in user confusion”, and now they are touting that very same feature as one of the innovations in iOS...
May 2011
2 posts
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March 2011
3 posts
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France vs Wales
It’s the final match of the final weekend of the Six Nations tournament, and WYWG is going to liveblog every exciting minute for you! By which WYWG means that WYWG will watch it on BBC iPlayer late on Sunday night, and post ~2,500 words on it several days after the tournament is over. As always, my words are unadorned, and those of WYWG-contributor Tom [are surrounded by square brackets and...
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Wales vs Ireland
While You Were Gone has been following the Welsh campaign in the 2011 Six Nations tournament. This is the fourth liveblog in the series. As you will no doubt already be aware, text that looks like this was written by me, While You Were Gone, and [text that looks like this] was written by esteemed associate, Tom. Except for that bit just there. That bit was me doing Tom’s voice VENTRILOQUIST...
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Italy vs Wales
This is my “live” blog of the Italy vs Wales match on Saturday. As usual, contributor Tom will be chipping in with bits that [are delimited thus].
BBC iPlayer seems to have the whole TV show today. Which means the Italy vs Wales broadcast begins with an extended preview of the England game. I faff about for a while trying to figure out exactly how much to skip, and then to get...
February 2011
4 posts
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Scotland vs Wales
This is the second in my series of almost-liveblogs on the Welsh rugby team’s campaign in the Six Nations tournament. As always, I’m ably assisted by WYWG special-correspondent Tom, whose contributions will look [almost precisely like this].
I’m watching this game a few hours late on BBC iPlayer. There doesn’t seem to be a download option for some reason, so I’m...
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Wales vs England
It’s that time of the year again! The Six Nations tournament is upon us, so I can look forward to 2 months of Welsh underachievement, and you, dear reader, can look forward to another series of not-quite-liveblogs written collaboratively by yours truly and intrepid WYWG pitch-side reporter, Tom. [Almost literally pitch-side! These are awesome tickets. Wow, rugby players are MASSIVE. Bigger...
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Have you heard of Girls are Pretty?
It’s an ongoing collection of hyper-short stories that are whimsical, hilarious, and heart-achingly sad. Sometimes they’re absurd, sometimes they’re so true it hurts. Often they’re both at the same time.
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WatchAn Experiment In Cord Cutting by Hill Holiday
We asked five families to spend a week without their cable TV and instead use one of the new “connected TV” devices - Roku, Boxee Box, Google TV, Apple TV, Xbox360.
I found this video fascinating. In its first five minutes the subjects of the experiment complain about the poor choice of shows on their new boxes and their bad user...
December 2010
1 post
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November 2010
3 posts
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Apologies
…for the extended hiatus. Normal scheduling will resume as soon as possible.
September 2010
5 posts
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Pelé as a Comedian →
I’m linking to Brian Phillips’s article about Pelé and David Foster Wallace on Federer for two reasons:
It’s a fantastic article,
Because apart from the “Run of Play” banner at the top, its design is precisely what I had in my mind when I set about half-finishing the design to my photography tutorial. That is what While You Were Gone is supposed to look like.
...
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The iPad and Content Creation
nerdgap:
Most of the examples of people doing crazy shit on an iPad are to show that said shit is possible, not efficient or even practical. If I really wanted to, I could hobble my way through a game of tennis using my iPad to hit the ball, but it doesn’t mean my iPad is an excellent or even passable tennis racket.
I don’t mean to get all ranty here, but I find the endless grandstanding...
August 2010
4 posts
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Counterpoint →
…to my recent link to operationmargarine’s post about the axing of the UK Film Council. Video Jon says good riddance to it.