Batman conundrum

This has been bugging me for a while now.  The first Batman computer game was a "3D" isometric game in the same mould as Head Over Heels, Alien-8, Nightshade etc.  Looked like this:

Anyway, I was sure that there was an occasional occurrence that the game would take pity on you after you lost your last life and gave you a "doggie's life" or something like that (probably a reference to the slang phrase "a dog's chance" i.e. a slim chance).  However, I googled as hard as I could and found loads of screenshots, reviews, cheats and maps but could find no reference to this phenomenon.  So the only thing to do was to go back in time and play it again, Sam.

I was right!

Back to the room you "died" in, zero lives left.  I KNEW IT!  Score one for Matt's memory, and now this fact is documented on the web.

Why is this even important?  Well, I am in the middle of restoring a 1975 Gibson Ripper bass and I thought that this particular video game moment was similar to the second chance that this bass is getting to be a viable instrument again.  So much so that I'm considering putting that bloody ugly, pixellated dog on the headstock, in homage to both the sentiment and the actual video game.

Photo a day 2012 (79/366) - where the noise comes from

Photo taken in the bedroom.  I'm a terrible one for having a poke about inside things, I've done it since I was a kid.  Not so much "user adjustable" stuff these days though.  That's one thing I like about bass guitars - apart from a few active instruments it's all deliciously "low-tech" - just wires, switches, pots and sockets.

Photo a day 2012 (55/366) - guts

Photo taken at work.  The innards of a Dell Precision M6300 "laptop" (for suitably sturdy laps - it's a massive mobile workstation).  Dodgy video card, and unfortunately out of warranty.  I might try to bring it back to life if I can score a suitable replacement part cheap on eBay ;)

Moffat bass bash, videos emerge

I had a great time at the Moffat bass bash last weekend.  This was the fifth one I have attended and they keep getting better and better.

This year was probably the best one yet - a structured, organised "bassyokey" where we pick songs in advance then go up and take our turns with the house band.  A nerve-wracking experience, considering the audience was made up almost exclusively of bass players - most of whom have been playing for many more years than me.  It would be like a driving examiner conducting a driving test in a people carrier full of driving examiners.

Anyway, I chose to play the theme from the TV series "True Blood" - if you don't know it it's a song called "Bad Things" originally by Jace Everett.  I did OK, a couple of bloops but I held it together.  Due to nervousness I lapsed back into bad left hand habits (excessive movement, "any finger will do as long as you get there on time" sort of mentality) which irritated me because I've been trying to get that out of my system.

Anyway, have a video:

There was a vast collection of basses on show as ever.  I took a sweep of the room where most of them were:

I had a great time, already looking forward to the next one!

Photo a day 2012 (33/366) - rescue mission

Photo taken at work.  This didn't look good at the start, but I was able to see the files via USB and so it's a case of lifting them off there as quickly as possible before the thing crumbles completely.

Photo a day 2012 (27/366) - "DO NOT EAT"

Photo taken at work.  With new toys comes ... silica gel packets!  I've always wondered why the sage advice not to ingest the contents is always in quotation marks.  Maybe it is a quotable quote.

Photo a day 2012 (23/366) - tools of the trade

Photo taken in my living room.  Not feeling very inspired today.  These were lying around so I thought I'd line 'em up.  Yup, I'm a geek who plays games using dice other than six-sided.

Photo a day 2012 (6/366) - dmesg devilment

Photo taken at my laptop.  Basically me in the process of trying to figure out why my MP3 bass trainer was not being recognised.  Despite some googling, it basically came good after a few connects and disconnects.  Oh well.

Another nail in Windows' coffin

I picked up a very cheap laptop a few months ago (a bit bashed, no battery or charger), but to cut a long story short I had a reasonable 2GB Intel Core Solo laptop up and running for about £50.  I decided to install Ubuntu on it and have a good go at it.

I used to dabble in Linux many years ago (usually Slackware) but always got frustrated with the software availability and the amount of time it took to fix something I broke if I was tinkering.  Things have changed since then - Ubuntu 10.10 is a very polished environment with good package management and both hardware support and software availability has improved greatly.

There are only a couple of things which prevent me from going to Ubuntu permanently.  One is the proprietary Windows based CCTV software which I need to keep for the installations I monitor.  The other main bugbear was Spotify.

I love Spotify - I don't mind ads and it's great for discovering new and old music alike.  Need to practice a set of tunes for a band - just queue them up.  Unfortunately a native Linux Spotify is only available to subscribers because they haven't found a way of delivering the ads yet.  However, I was surprised and pleased to read last night that Windows Spotify will work quite happily under WINE.  Bonus!  I gave it a go and apart from a bit of experimenting with audio settings (and having to go against the advice I found online) I got it working.  Sweet!

Now all I need is for the antiquated CCTV systems I referred to above to be replaced then it's bye bye Windows!