Farscape Season 1 – Review

Plot – Astronaut John Crichton, on an experimental space mission, is accidentally hurled across the universe into the midst of an intergalactic conflict. Trapped among alien creatures wielding deadly technology and hunted by a merciless military race, Crichton is on an epic odyssey more spectacular than anything he has ever imagined.

Review : I saw Farscape years ago when it first aired on BBC2, an instantly loved it. I can remember looking forward to seeing what happened next, which isnt the case with most of the new tv shows. Farscape had it all, the effects and the fantastic puppets.

I watched every episode BBC2 showed, and can remember how MEGA upset i was when they showed the last episode of season 4 where “To Be Continued” came on screen, i then read that there wasnt any more…how crap. Then due to the fans saying bring it back they created a mini series, this is something i have still to watch as i got the complete box set which includes all seasons and the mini series.

Season 1 was very cool, it didn’t wait to throw you into the deep end and start with all the back story unlike a lot of new shows…so you were instantly taken in from the start.

My Rating : 8 out of 10

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Tags: farscape, review, season, series, 1, one

Ubuntu 8.04 – First Impressions

Ubuntu 8.04 was released on Thursday 24th April 2008, and this is the operating system (OS) I use as my main OS. Here is my first impression of the latest release.

The Good :

• The UI is just the same, no learning curve going from 7.10 to 8.04 (unlike with XP to Vista)
• New Theme : Its not a major difference but it looks a lot cleaner and sharper
• Firefox3 (Beta5) – This is a great version of the new FF browser, it loads a lot faster and the theme now fits in with Gnome
• Transmission – The new BitTorrent client, its very nice and a big improvement on what was in the previous versions.
• Brasero – The CD burning application, this is very nice and is very clean and fast. I used to use K3B as it was close to Nero, but now thats been removed and i use this.
• Xorg 7.3 – The new graphical manager system is VERY nice for me, i couldn’t watch videos (avi,mpg,flv) while playing SecondLife all i would get is the audio, now this is fixed (not that i did that a lot)
• General Improvements – things load faster, more stable etc

The Bad :

• PulseAudio – the new sound system within this OS, for me Pulse is very nice but if i use voice on Skype and open SecondLife i dont get sound on SL. This is due to audio conflicts (i have fixed this with installing esound). For me this should not have been included in this version as 8.04 is LTS (Long Term Support) this should have been included in 8.10.
• HP Pavilion 6000 Webcam – still doesnt work out the box

Overall it seems like it is the best version to date, I will review it again once I have played with it a lot more.

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Tags: ubuntu, hardy, linux, review

Me becoming a DJ

In late July I will be becoming a DJ, but only within Second Life. My preparation has all ready started, I have been trying to find cool remixes and dance tracks. My aim is to become very well known as a DJ within SL as I am for helping AICR, this combination will help with my success within the game.

I have created a group in the game so users can join, and find out about my performances. This group is called “Tenknation”, the name was inspired by the very cool Diggnation

If all goes to plan, I will be DJn on a regular basis at Club AICR.

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Tags: dj, secondlife, music, kris, tenk, munro, dance, charity, aicr, cancer

AICR – Second Life News

As from today I have started to plan the next AICR : Win a Date Auction, the last auction raised a great total of £810. The date of this auction is 14th June at 8pm UK time, and will be held at Club AICR on the AICR island.

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Tags: AICR, secondlife, second, life, sim, auction, cancer, charity, research

Trust : No One – Update 3

I am glad to announce that I am now half way through draft 1, at present this film is a lot more graphic in terms of violence and I am thinking of giving it an 18+ age rating. I am trying to make a major improvement in story and visuals for this film, compared to “Trust” which I felt lacked something. Trust introduced a few very artistic shots, and this is something I would like to continue within this production.

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Tags: trust, dragonproductions, kris, munro

Trust : No One – Cast Update

Here is the latest cast list for the 2009 Dragon Production movie “Trust: No One”

• Kris Munro – Jason Reaves                    
• Andrew Kyle – Dr Fredrick Trust                 
• John Hughes – BBC News Reporter                 
• Stuart Ireland – BBC News Reporter                
• Callum Henderson – Mr Jansen                   
• Christopher Kay – Phillip Pyke

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Ubuntu 7.10 – Final Review

As all my friends know I don’t use Windows as my main operating system, I moved over to Linux and started using Ubuntu ( www.ubuntu.com ). I have been using Ubuntu now for close to 2 years, and at first it was weird due to not knowing where things were and how to do simple tasks but after a week the basics fell into place.

Ubuntu 8.04 is out in 3 days so here are my final thoughts on Ubuntu 7.10.

Overall 7.10 is very stable and comes with a lot of nice features, but it still isn’t perfect.

The Good :

• Easy to install
• 99% of my laptops drivers worked out the box
• Software is 100% easy to install/uninstall
• Lots of alternative software available.
• Compiz desktop effects
• No viruses and no software firewall needed (use hardware firewall at work and home)
• Does everything I need it to do
• It just works

The Bad :

• Not a lot of mainstream games are available for Linux (not that am a gamer)
• Still a small percentage of tasks, rely on using the command line
• Hardware support – this is getting better and the only thing for me was my HP built in webcam (though drivers are out there, but Ubuntu doesn’t include these)
• Compiz – This still is very heavy in resources and when this is enabled games like SecondLife etc dont run smooth or crash. A basic compiz should be built in to Gnome that doesn’t rely on super graphical resources. Even simple stuff like shadow effects etc.
• If you like to be on the bleeding edge with software, Ubuntu only updates the main software every 6 months (security updates etc are released on a regular basis)

Overall i am glad i moved from windows to Ubuntu, it just works codecs install mega easy and don’t conflict, everything runs faster. I still using Windows but as a VM and only for work related tasks, but 99% of the time am using Ubuntu.

I look forward to upgrading to 8.04, I will post a first impression review soon.

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Social Networking – Bebo, Myspace and Facebook

Social Networking (SN) is still very popular with every age group, I have an account with Bebo, Myspace and Facebook so here are my thoughts on them.

Myspace – This was the main popular site back in the days, now its popularity has decreased  but it is slowly on the rise again. When i used Myspace i was pounded with friends requests from bands and people i DIDN’T KNOW. This was one of the things that i really hated about it, plus all the bad page codings and crap imported/advertisements/bad free custom layouts.

I have not been on my Myspace site now for a good few months, I am now thinking of closing my account due to this as its just one less thing/password etc to remember.

Bebo – Bebo is probably the most popular SN site at present, I have had an account since 2005 but only within the past few weeks have I really started to use it. The page layouts of everyones profiles are about 90% the same, so you know how far to scroll and where to look for that info you want about your friend.

For me it took me a day to get used to where to look to change a few settings but overall was easy, the only issue i have had so far is the Bands widget. I tried to add this, but it didnt show on my profile where it said it would…so i couldn’t add bands i liked (not that its mega important) but it would have been nice to see work.

Facebook – I have been using this as my main SN site, as I use Flock and Facebook is integrated nicely so its easy to make changes within seconds. This has a very professional look to the page, and like Bebo the layouts of everyone profiles are 90% the same. Most of my friends are found on Bebo, but a few also have FB accounts. It would be nice if there was an integration between the sites, but i don’t think this will every happen.

Overall I feel that Facebook and Bebo are going to continue to be the most popular, but with Myspace adding MyMusic service this could change this factor.

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Tags: bebo, myspace, facebook, review, socialnetworking

Trust : No On – Update 2

I have been busy trying to come up with ideas and good dialogue for this sequel, I am finding it a little tricky but recently the ideas have been flowing.

I am now about 1/3 of the way through the story, and getting close to the half way point. This is the most adventurace film I have ever done due to locations and FX….so hopefully it will work.

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Tags: trust, dragon, production, kris, munro

Trust : No One – Scripting Update

So far about 6 pages in Celtx have been completed, and Andrew has already started going over and making amendments. I need this to be longer than 12 page, which is equal to about 30mins. I would like to get this to 16 to 20 pages long as I would really like to have a production that lasts 30 to 45mins in length.

Cast Members (so far)

• Kris Munro – Jason Reaves
• Andrew Kyle – Dr Fredrick Trust
• John Hughes – BBC News Reporter
• Stuart Ireland – BBC News Reporter
• Callum Henderson – Mr Jansen

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Tags: trust, dragonproductions, dragon, productions, kris, munro