Author: frans

Professor of Information Studies and Interactive Media, esp. Digital Culture and Game Studies in the Tampere University, Finland. Occasional photographer and gardener.

Our sleeping baby

Our sleeping baby
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

Reading the gesture: a fighter spirit, perhaps? (I will be posting more family photos in the future to my Flickr account and to the pics folders in my own server.)

New Life


New Life
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

Announcing: our firstborn baby arrived this morning. A small, thoughtful-looking boy opened its eyes to the world for the first time this morning, half past ten. Wrinkling his eyebrows, flashes of half-articulated feelings, unthought thoughts of tomorrow pass over his tiny face like quick flashes of light and shadow, clouds and the sun. New day today — a new day and a new life.

DIY: a changing table

Launching a new category here: Do-It-Yourself. Starting from a simple woodworking project, this is how to make a baby’s changing table.

1. You create/obtain some beautiful drawings (here made at the back of an envelope in a cafeteria):

Chancing table: drawings

2.You get some wood (I used some planed sawn timber and hard MDF plate that I got from the local Bauhaus store). Continue reading “DIY: a changing table”

DiGRA 2007 program announced

As the DiGRA Japan team just announced, they have just released the full program for DiGRA 2007 conference. Quickly glancing through, the very first impression: looks promising! Take a look at: http://www.digra2007.jp/Program.html.

Edit: The second look: there seems to be some timing conflicts in this version, though. E.g. in Friday at 16:30 one is forced to choose between MMORPG symposium and the panel session of RPGs (“Character, Player, Game”). The audience for both is pretty much the same, though. There are overlaps also in game design research presentations (Aki Järvinen and Jesper Juul having their sessions at the same time in Saturday), but I suppose it is impossible to avoid totally such overlaps in a conference that is so tightly focused on game studies as DiGRA conferences are. Hope there will be some finetuning of the program yet, though.

Ubuntu troubles

I have now spent more than a week trying to sort out the various troubles I have been having with my Ubuntu linux server. I have upgraded to the most latest versions, then given up and downgraded. I even bought a new hard disk and did a totally clean, new install of the 6.06 LTS server release to get the most absolutely stable version of Ubuntu possible. Yet, I still continue to have issues with the Postfix mail server and now Samba/CUPS printer sharing is working no longer either. I just have to give up, far too much time and energy has been spent to this.

I have consulted and used most of the available how-to guides and installation manuals, including:

I suppose that in most cases most contemporary operating systems work, most of time. But I think these things are still far too fragile to really serve people reliably — each server needs couple of admins to hold its hand, rather than the other way around, having the reliability needed to serve its users.

Ubuntu, WordPress, Copyblogger

As you might see from the site, I am currently evaluating a new style for this blog. Upgraded into Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty, setting the WordPress into its most recent version 2.2.1, it became apparent that I needed either a thorough rewrite of the old theme I had been using, or find a new one that would support the new functionalities. The one that I have chosen is ‘Copyblogger‘ theme by Chris Pearson. I liked the style because it is typographically clear, simple, yet visually strong. It is also fully compatible with Worpress 2.2+, supporting widgets and opening up opportunities for more customisation. I have tweaked yet only little bit with its code, but under the hood I have several new plugins doing their work. Hope you like the style too — and please tell me if you notice anything odd. This site is even more ‘under construction’ than usual for some time now. If I’d only have a more powerful server, to speed things up a bit…
Ubuntu, WordPress, Copyblogger

Wonderful world of home video

Sony DCR-SR52EStricken down by a persistent summer flu, I have got time to browse the Internet in bed and tweak my system. Particularly the VNC remote desktop has been open a lot (upgrade of my server into Ubuntu Feisty Fawn did give some nasty errors and sorting them out has taken days — and the mail system still does not work). On more positive side, we finally got the digital video camera that I have been thinking about a lot. Originally I considered an AVCHD camcorder for the hi resolution benefits, but after looking a bit into the downsides (and price) of that technology, I decided to go for SD instead. The corder we got is Sony DCR-SR52E, a 32 meg hard disk model, which we picked up mainly for the interface: a touch screen and good usability makes this a nice choice for those occasional family clips. I have now tested the image quality and bundled software a bit, and (after some Vista specific upgrades) everything seems to be ok now. Projected to the large screen of my media room from a processed and compressed archive DVD the screen is blurry, but directly plugged into the living room television, I get sharp and colourful image. Some more tweaking is still needed to see what is the optimal way to archive. (These HDD camcorders use MPEG2-PS standard for recording, which means compression taking place when compared to DV tapes.) There would already have been some MPEG-4 camcorders on the market, aimed squarely at Youtubes and other net videos, and I suppose much of delivery to our extended families will also take place trough such online services. (Much easier for everyone involved if I send an email link rather than organise an entire evening of home video watching 😉

Blade Runner Ultimate

Yes, I am that much of a fanboy, I definitely could go for this — any more details available anywhere? This Binary Bonsai/EzyDVD leak still the only detailed data?

Blade Runner Ultimate Collection

Disc 1 – The Final Cut (2007):

  • Ridley Scott’s definitive new version of his science-fiction masterpiece includes added & extended scenes, added lines and new and cleaner special effects.

Disc 2 – 3 Complete Film Versions:

  • ‘82 U.S. Theatrical version

  • ‘82 International Theatrical version

  • ‘92 Director’s Cut

Disc 3 – “Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner” Documentary

  • Newly created documentary: Through interviews with the cast and crew, critics and colleagues, this feature-length documentary provides a mainstream-friendly yet meaningful in-depth look at Blade Runner’s literary genesis, its challenging production and controversial legacy. When all is said and done, this will be the definitive documentary on the film.

Disc 4 – Enhanced Content Bonus: (TBC)

  • INCEPTION – Featurettes and galleries devoted to Philip K. Dick, the birth of Cyberpunk and adapting the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

  • PRE-PRODUCTION – Featurettes and galleries devoted to script development, conceptual design and abandoned sequences.

  • PRODUCTION – Featurettes and galleries devoted to principal photography and locations.

  • POST-PRODUCTION – Featurettes and galleries devoted to deleted scenes, music and visual effects.

  • RELEASE – Featurettes and galleries devoted to marketing and reaction including Trailers, TV Spots and Promotional Featurettes

  • LEGACY – Featurettes and galleries devoted to the film’s resurrection and impact.

Disc 5 – Work Print Version & Enhanced Content:

  • Including the rarely seen Work Print version and potentially the 52 min. Channel Four (UK) documentary which was the first serious documentary created for the film.

Additionally, the set will come packaged in a limited “Blade Runner” briefcase holding the five-disc digipack with foil-enhanced and embossed slipcase. The goodies inside will include a lenticular motion image from the original feature, a collectible model spinner, an origami unicorn, a collection of photographs and a letter from Ridley Scott. Holy shit.

The street date is going to be in September. Unfortunately, the retailer is not taking international orders for this thing. However, don’t be too surprised if Region 1 gets the same thing. We’ll keep you posted.

Almost 100 per cent improvement in US console sales

Another note from the FT tech blog: notes of optimism in games industry.

(Rainy day, flu. In bed. The usual holiday stuff.)

FT blogs on casual and skill gaming, MIT's Scratch

Note to myself: come back to this in more detail when back to work — Financial Times Tech Blog writes about casual games, skill gaming and MIT’s Scratch (easy, do-it-yourself style game design and digital storytelling tool).