Matt Grover - Freelance Camera Operator & Editor

Is this what I've been reduced to??? A virtual shadow of my former self??



Discuss.

it's the little things..

Well Apple have relesed their 8 core MacPro (that's 8x 3GHz) and today is highlighting my need for one, as my 800MHz PowerMac (which I love and am eternally grateful to Rich for!) took 20 minutes to render a 15 second preview in LiveType and is wanting around an hour to render a 35 second livetype file in FCP.

A realistic £3,517 will get me a nice MacPro base unit, alternatively any kind souls wishing to purchase for me, the £8,222 model I've just specced out is quite welcome to. :D

I'll ever get bored of PhotoBooth???

I love digg, I browse it several times a day, mostly there aren't any major changes during the course of the day, but still I get most of my daily dose of what's going on in the world of stuff that interests me on there and it suits me fine. (and Diggnation FTW!!)

Sometimes I feel motivated to comment on a story, or simply browse what others are saying, sometimes even comment on a comment, within this, I've been dugg, buried and ignored.

This is where digg starts to slip into the hate side of things, and I guess it's not really digg itself, more 'people' and their differing viewpoints, the ones that get dugg down generally retailiate, blaming all the world's problems on digg itself, there are also a fuckload of idiots on there, not just people who's opinion differs from mine (as would be the internet accepted definition of idiot), but genuine stupid people. People who have trouble forming a sentence, who can barely spell (I know I'm nowhere near English literacy professor standards but I'd like to think I'm not a complete loss), who's basic general knowledge is way out and seem to have no want to improve themselves in anyway.

More often than not, these people (diggers) find themselves the victims of mass burying and flaming comments all round, some of them retaliate with some fire of their own, others simply skulk away to lick their wounds and find something else to comment on.

Increasingly there are the rationalists cropping up, the ones who part way through what genuinely is a futile argument (such as this one) simply chime in with the "Get over it" or "FFS..etc", they usually get dugg then ignored.

This sort of futile warring is mostly tiresome, and grinds me down, however occasionally something brightens things up...

dugg.

Just read an article in Metro about 10 year old Lewis Green, who's committee a string of drugs and violence offences.
He's been given a wide reaching ASBO, fair enough.

District judge Nalla Lawrence said the purpose of the order was 'not necessarily' to punish Lewis.

And there lies one of the major problems with England today.

Couple that with some charity calling for early release of youth prisoners to ease over crowding.

It seems crime doesn't pay, but it's not that bad either.

:/

Sent while mobile.

you mean I've gotta wait like a MONTH before the next episode of Heroes?!?!?! There's little else that has sucked more!

Via Digg

But not on a new 1.83GHz Core2Duo Macbook :/

SO, if anyone wants to kindly donate 2Gb of RAM (under £120 from Crucial), that I currently cannot afford to buy, please feel free...please. :/

After just browsing Mike's blog (sorry.. Slog), i realised that I hadn't taken the opportunity to post some PhotoBooth pics, as every other new Intel-Mac owner does ;)...

A cool one to start ;) The rest will be the "hilarious" ugly ones..



This one askes "Where's Dec?"






Not currently liking Safari's refusal to deal with Java based WYSIWYG blog editing :/

I just found this, from the Mayor of Yokohama City...

"Letfs start saving the environment from every dayfs activities by switching off unused power and not wearing neckties to work!"

Amen.

To all users who shun Windows.. go here to smite the BBC proper like...

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/iplayer/

I've just realised I don't know where my copy of Ichi The Killer is :/ must've lent it to someone...but who?!?!?

However, my MacBook has arrived!!!!!! :D

not quite as good as I was hoping for, but at the end of the day, I'm getting a replacement.

so, the backstory, my 12" iBook G4 1GHz 30Gb 256Mb, Combo (did expand with airport + another 512Mb), is dead (see earlier posts)

After a bit of faffing and having to send it to the insurance company, they agree that it's dead, or "beyond economical repair". Thank you.

They are going to replace it with a current bottom of the range MacBook (13" 1.83GHz C2D, 512Mb, 60Gb, Combo), after we gave them the princely sum of £75 excess!!

I was hoping for the mid-range model (2.0GHz, 80Gb, Super), but they wouldn't budge on that, still it's a replacement laptop for essentially £75 instead of around £800, so that's not bad I suppose.

Oh and to get my old one back they're charging another £75 + VAT! damn them.

Should arrive Weds, so I should be unpacking on next weekend!

Currently most excited about: Built in iSight! :D

Came across this recently while doing research for the doc I'm working on. Apparently it's massive in Japan.

http://reader.kaywa.com

QR Code will be popping up on my website, probably this weekend!

Please follow these guidelines, they may just save your life!

http://www.safenow.org/

to see what I've been up to recently..

Jessie Younghusband School

Well, after finally getting the Apple Hardware Test to run, it froze and then crashed completely on the RAM test section, so I force shutdown, whipped out the 512Mb Crucial stick and restarted the AHT...which didn't even load this time.

Apparently the basic RAM in an iBook is soldered onto the board. Damn.

Ok, I've been fiddling about for about a day and a half now, and as far as I can tell at the mo, my iBook has entered the world of the mentally retarded.

The light's on but nobody's home.

I have been "politly" told on the mac support forums, when I posted to a thread where a guy had pretty much exactly the same symptoms as me, to start a new thread for mine, as it may not be exactly the same thing and it would get confusing dealing with two different people. I didn't ask directly for help I merely explained my symptoms and said I was gonna watch the thread. Dickhead. in answer to the question.. No, this answer was not helpful.

Sometimes people online are wankers.

Anyway, as I've been fretting over my iBook and wanting to get a shitload of important stuff off (who the hell backs up their entire system regularly anyway?), I tried slamming it into Target Disk mode.

What Target Disk mode is, is a nifty way of turning my ibook into what is in essence a rather chunky and expensive 30Gb firewire drive.

Bloody useful, this confirmed for me that my HDD isn't dead and I can drag all my files onto my PowerMac, cheers.

But wait a minute...so anyone with their own Mac, basic knowledge of boot keystrokes and a 6-6 FW400 lead can do the same thing?!?

That seems a bit daft now.

As I don't currently have FileVault enabled on there, I don't know if this would make a difference and at the mo, I can't be arsed to read up on it. Also I did see on the instructions that it is possible to disable TD mode, however again, this seems a bit cack handed as it may provide the required security, but I'd be buggered for getting my shit copied.

And Mike..not giving up on it just yet, but certainly tempted to go for the insurance and then a new MacBook ;)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!



My iBook is buggered...keeps..freezing...out of warrenty...help

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/consumer-freedom012807.htm

bloody activists! >:/

Well it seems we've had our snow for the year, and what a day of now it was, I was half an hour late for work!!! HALF AN HOUR!?!?! I thought even a few flakes was supposed to completely cripple the rail networks over here?!? But no, I STILL managed to get to work. :/



Well at least it didn't snow on Wednesday 'cos I had the pleasure of crewing on an interview with none other than Dawson's Creek hearthrob himself... Joshua Jackson!! Well there were several girls/women that I mentioned it too who were more than a little excited at the prospect (even though they weren't the ones meeting him?!), including my girlfriend, for whom I was forced to forgo any sort of professionalism and get her Dawson's Creek soundtrack signed for her. Which she was incredibly pleased about and I felt like a right cunt.

He was very nice by the way. I was there allegedly to do sound, however they hired in kit for the shoot, including a load of sound gear I'd never used before, including an SQN2S (may be a 4S mini as it looked like the one in the pic, but I'm sure it said 2S on it) mixer, very snazzy, proffessional mixer, a lot better than the smaller MixPre's we have, however a shitload more knobs and switches and by the time we came to shoot, I wasn't confident that all these switches were set correctly as it didn't sound quite right, so we left the mixer and went straight into cam from the radio packs, thus Will on cam monitored and I did..well bugger all really.

Dissapointing, but I'd rather do that than fuck up the sound! Hopefully company's gonna sort out some training from where they hired from, and I suggested possibly getting them to make up a one-page PDF quickstart guide, something Google (or SQN as they didn't answer their damn phone) couldn't help me with on Weds. Anyone who knows the location of one, please do let me know :)

Currently working across two documentaries, one on mobile phones in learning environments, the other on whether school league tables are working or not. One of them offers the prospect of filming abroad, the other offers baffling academic statistics...

Either way, it's something slightly different and there's a load of filming coming up so hopefully I'll get out of the office a tad more, which is always nice :)

I'm getting a little behind posting my vague reviews to my review blog, so you may find two or three pop up in a session, I'll try and be a little more regular as I have started watching more films again (btw.. Hot Fuzz.. 14th Feb!!!!!!!)


Oh yeah and apparently, according to the optitian, I need to get some glasses for when I'm operating a VDU (sounds so 80's..."V.D.U.")...more expense, and I have a hard enough time finding sunglasses I don't look a complete cock in.

Well go here dammit!!

as my mate Steve who did the stills photography and has been working on the poster/promo for my last short want's to do more and is going freelance with it..he has a page full of mockups so check it out!

www.stevewrench.com

And it's this...

I'm currently sat listneing to Godsmack while downloading Girls Aloud.

That's fucked up.

A) didn't realise I'd reached 100 posts on here, (this is 101)

and

B) I've updated my personal website... www.mattgrover.me.uk

will add more bits but I've run out of time today :)

Get yourself a whiteboard, draw a line on it with PERMANENT marker (yes permanent).

Let it dry.

Now draw over it with a normal DRY WIPE marker

Now wipe both lines away.

AMAZING!

NB you'll probably have to use some cleaner to properly clean your whitebaord, but at the end of the day I was pretty damn impressed with that here in the office!! :)

A very merry Christmas to you all!! Hope everyone is having a top day!! In the true self-obsessed nature of personal blogs, have a selection of pictures of presents I have revieved this year, from Mum, Vicky and then the gang (bear in mind the gang ones are for comedy value above all else!). Festivity-odey-doodey

Who can drive now? Oh that's right... I CAN!!! :D

Yes finally, today, I passed my driving test!!!!!

Happy? Me? FUCK YES!

I now have one on Facebook.com so, if ur on Facebook, look me up innit. (mainly as I can't post a direct link to the profile, cos u have to log in to see it, so you may as well just do a bloody search for me on there)

:)

1. Flooding
2. Signal Faliure
3. Broken Down Train ahead
4. Line side fire
5. Line side fire involving gas canisters
6. trespasser on the line
7. road vehical striking a bridge
8. suspicious package on the train ahead
9. passenger taken ill
10. person under a train
11. Doors not opening properly
12. Passenger incident
13. Security Alert (@ Blackfriars)
14. Dead beaver on the line (!!!!! Apparently so according to Carrie)
15. Temporary signal failure
16. Points Failure
17. Earlier service disruption
18. Defective train
19. Poor rail conditions
20. 7.16 from Brighton suffering door problems thus holding up other trains
21. Overcrowding
22. Derailment at Brighton
23. Over running engineering works
24. Major signaling systems failure
25. Temporary fault with signaling equipment
26. Suspected fire alert
27. Poor rail conditions that affected the preceding train
28. Train still in depot as staff are attending to a fault on the train
29. Earlier slippery rail conditions
30. Emergency engineering works
31. Non-availability of staff
32. A man on the train in front has suffered a heart attack and is being treated in the carriage
33. Held at a red signal, we're trying to fix the problem
    

Fashion. You seem to get the same sort of amount of people with 'eclectic' fashion sense in London as you do in Brighton (esp. on my route, via Camden), but you also get the almost unfeasibly co-ordinated.
For example, the woman across from me on the tube, black trousers, black shoes with red trim that compliments the red tank top type affair over the red-striped white shirt, and the chunky bracelet and necklace that almost perfectly match her bleach blonde hair.

You just don't see that sort of effort in Brighton.

Sent while mobile.

Bloody commute, there are certain things i hate about having to commute each day, one being the homeless black guy who stinks of shit being in the same carriage as me on an unsettlingly regular basis >:/
www.mattgrover.me.uk

Sent while mobile.

1. Flooding
2. Signal Faliure
3. Broken Down Train ahead
4. Line side fire
5. Line side fire involving gas canisters
6. trespasser on the line
7. road vehical striking a bridge
8. suspicious package on the train ahead
9. passenger taken ill
10. person under a train
11. Doors not opening properly
12. Passenger incident
13. Security Alert (@ Blackfriars)
14. Dead beaver on the line (!!!!! Apparently so according to Carrie)
15. Temporary signal failure
16. Points Failure
17. Earlier service disruption
18. Defective train
19. Poor rail conditions
20. 7.16 from Brighton suffering door problems thus holding up other trains
21. Overcrowding
22. Derailment at Brighton
23. Over running engineering works
24. Major signaling systems failure
25. Temporary fault with signaling equipment
26. Suspected fire alert
27. Poor rail conditions that affected the preceding train
28. Train still in depot as staff are attending to a fault on the train
29. Earlier slippery rail conditions
    

Dammit, I've lost the A-Team badge (Hannible + BA) off my rucksack!! :( had to happen at some point I guess.

Earlier, faster train....10 minutes later into the office! WTF?!

Why is my template all screwed up?!?!? I'm hoping it's just IE not rendering it properly...it better be anyway!! >:/

There he is!

Yet more abomniable reasons...

1. Flooding
2. Signal Faliure
3. Broken Down Train ahead
4. Line side fire
5. Line side fire involving gas canisters
6. trespasser on the line
7. road vehical striking a bridge
8. suspicious package on the train ahead
9. passenger taken ill
10. person under a train
11. Doors not opening properly
12. Passenger incident
13. Security Alert (@ Blackfriars)
14. Dead beaver on the line (!!!!! Apparently so according to Carrie)
15. Temporary signal failure
16. Points Failure
17. Earlier service disruption
18. Defective train
    

One of the problems with this whole blog thing is that i think of loads of stuff to write or rant about while i'm out and about or, like this morning, sat on the train, but then forget to actually blog them when i get online.
This morning i've just remembered that i (hopefully got it right) set up email on my phone, although now i've forgotten what i had in mind to blog in the first place :/

Sent while mobile.

Continuing the list, here's a couple more

1. Flooding
2. Signal Faliure
3. Broken Down Train ahead
4. Line side fire
5. Line side fire involving gas canisters
6. trespasser on the line
7. road vehical striking a bridge
8. suspicious package on the train ahead
9. passenger taken ill
10. person under a train
11. Doors not opening properly
12. Passenger incident
13. Security Alert (@ Blackfriars)
14. Dead beaver on the line (!!!!! Apparently so according to Carrie)
15. Temporary signal failure