gambitch - now available in blue

Friday, October 15, 2004

It just occurred to me that Ian McG might want to acquaint himself with a man called Greg Palast...

gambitch [ 9:17 AM]

Premonition.

That's the word that keeps coming back these past two days.

I have somewhere in my stack of CDs the soundtrack for the Japanese drama Beach Boys. It's an old drama (late '90s) that gave the world the unlikely trio of Takashi Sorimachi, Yutaka Takenouchi and Ryoko Hirosue. They've been in the business before then, but this was a pretty memorable show due to its very relaxed theme.

Anyway, one of the tracks was titled Premonition. Actually that's a translation - the original title was in Kanji, and the characters meant 'premonition'. It's a slightly heavy-hearted piece, and the deliberate tension in the opening part gives way to a somewhat more pulsed tune that, according to some people, is so typically Japanese. I was listening to the music a little earlier, and it sort of reminded me about what I was feeling at the moment.

There's a niggling premonition somewhere that another brief chapter in my life may yet close. It's not that I want to close the chapter, nor is anyone chasing me out. Rather it's just reaching a point where perhaps the sensible thing for me to do would be to step aside before I start causing myself and others serious damage. Reining myself in while I could, as it were.

The experience has been very nice, and it does whet my appetite for even more. But perhaps this is not the place to get my second serving. Don't get me wrong, the folks are great to work with, and I can see the immense potential they have in them that's waiting to be unleashed. But someone else is going to have the pleasure of doing that unleashing, and I trust that person is adequately equipped to fill that role properly.

Then again, things may not be that bad. Maybe there's room for another person at the table. Let us see.

In the meantime, I should prepare myself for whatever comes, whatever that may be.

gambitch [ 8:21 AM]

Thursday, October 14, 2004

That we would put club before country

Actually, Steve Wilson's article has a really anti-club position. I wouldn't say it is wrong, because the bigger clubs are being motivated by their own gain. That's an undeniable fact. But I think we have to realize that the financial injection in the 90s have fundamentally changed sports into something else altogether. We can blame anyone we want, including Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB. But the fact remains that there is now so much money in the game it does change lots of things.

The club game is fundamentally different from the international contest because clubs can hire players regardless of one thing the players can't really control themselves - nationality. You can't change your nationality to anything you fancy, but you can choose which club you want to work for. That has effects, because clubs can hire in a true talent-based market without worrying about passport issues (unless the club is British and the player has to deal with DoE issues for coming from the wrong country). It's a different kind of capitalism.

I'm showing signs of illness, including fatigue and pain in the ears. So I might be offline for a while...

gambitch [ 2:21 AM]

Monday, October 11, 2004

It gets more and more interesting. Apparently Ian McG has linked me on his site. I don't quite know what I'm doing right, but I take it as a massive compliment that I'm listed as one of his many 'teammates' (though I'm not quite sure what he means; I've an idea but it's a hazy one, and it may be an incorrect one too). As a return of the favour I should definitely link him. The younger ones among you might want to check out his site - when you're done with your school books, that is. It's good thought-provoking stuff, plus it's American politics and that could just suit you...

I'm still writing the code for my new template. It's hard work trying to translate pencil drawings into code. Sometimes you just wish you could draw the template out on the computer - oh wait, that's a problem too because the computer doesn't really support freehand drawing that well. It's one of those tech things.

I'm having thoughts about doing some kind of 3D computer animation, slightly MV-ish, just for the fun of it, choreographed to a piece of music that's a re-arrangement of this tune that I know is being heavily flogged as a dance track. Except the rearrangement is played by piano, strings (can't quite decide if it's viola or cello) and woodwinds. To do all these things I need quite a few things, like skill in computer animation, the required hardware (I'm working off a laptop doubling as a home station because my brother refuses to share his PC and I don't have room to place a second PC), and certainly at least a synthesizer keyboard, or even a better electone organ (I still have my exam certs from my childhood).

Which reminds me - I haven't been playing music in a while...

Oh, and this just in. Someone who stumbled onto the Blue Chip Review then stumbled on my blog, thanks again to the Blogger bar on top. PF once said something about how there might be some coefficients involved when we click for the "next blog" to surf. In his view physical proximity might be a factor. I now think topic similarity could be another factor.

I've yet to actually read the site, but it's now in my in-trolley. If any of you have opinions on this site, do share them here, please.

gambitch [ 5:11 AM]

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Ian McG said hi! And I sort of figured out how he got onto my blog. While it is technologically not surprising, it's still a little scary to realize I'm currently ranked No. 1 on this search list! (At least for now...)

Out of curiosity I checked to see how many blogs have linked to me according to this service. As of now the number stands at one - thanks PF. Though, of course, I'm sure a few people will privately comment that this thing is broken. Perhaps, though there could be a few explanations - like encoding issues, blog domains covered by this service, etc..

Go ahead, play with it.

Anyway, the purpose of this entry: Can Steph please contact me as soon as you're done with your niggling little post-examination things? You're being summoned for questioning in connection with your involvement in... ah, never mind, you'll find out once we talk.

gambitch [ 4:39 AM]