The spirit of Christmas

Here we go, another obvious title. Some other self absorbed wannabe writer prattling out the same old rubbish.

But I am not writing for you.

I am writing for me.

The log fires, two of them, lots of candles, turkey, Christmas trees, the drawing room, mince pies, champagne, presents, running children, anticipation, decorations, the smell of holly, wreaths, more candles, wine, family, Father Christmas, bread sauce, aunts and uncles, hampers, Pictionary. These are in no particular order the things that make Christmas for me. Since I have grown up the magic has gone a bit as I get asked what I want, rather than it appearing under the tree from Father Christmas. However the magic still remains when my younger cousins come over, and excitedly asking me "when is he coming, how long". It makes me remember when the distance until Christmas was measured in sleeps. My father with the key to the drawing room (where the tree and presents were) in his pocket. The children unable to contain there excitement. Then the door would open and we were allowed to select one present at a time and open it. Then the next one, and so on until they were all gone.

Many years later I still love Christmas. Seeing all of the family, giving gifts, its all part of it. Its what makes Christmas. You don't have to be religious to enjoy it. The important bits are not the religious ones, at its heart Christmas is about having fun with the people you love. 

Happy Christmas.

Books, e-readers and the iPad

I like books. They have a nice feel, a nice smell, a pleasant weight. I don't like e-readers. They are tacky and plasticy they feel all wrong. I can't lend a story on one to a friend. I can't throw it in a bag and not worry about it. I can't take it on the beach and just leave it with the towels. In short I was sure I preferred the real thing, the e-reader was an impressive piece of engineering but I was a Luddite, an old fogey clinging on to the past, I loved books.

Then the iPad came along and I liked it. It helped that there was some design flair involved, that it was an item you would want to be seen with. This is something that may change my mind. You may notice that it doesn't have any of the attributes that I like about books. I can however see that it is something that I would use for reading more that just books. I could use it for the news and blogs, for videos and e-mails, for Facebook and Twitter. It is a screen that is light enough to take with you. It is for consuming content rather than creating it. E-readers on the other hand cannot be used for the news or video or even basic web surfing.  They have nothing I like about books in them and nothing I like about computers in them.

Despite all this I cannot picture myself curling up by the fire with a cup of tea and an iPad but for trains and buses I would happily use one, when you are on the go the new technology has many advantages. It will never replace books for me, but I can see myself enjoying both. Maybe it is time to embrace the future and go and buy one, maybe...

Football

To set the scene I should add that I know nothing about football. This post will be mostly me displaying my lack of knowledge and being sarcastic. I understand the rules and the way it all works I just don't understand the attraction of watching a group of men kick a ball up a field while a different group, (signified by a different colour t-shirt) endeavour to kick the ball in the other direction.

For those hermits among you there is the World Cup football tournament on at the moment. This is apparently very interesting and worthy of a vast amount of conversation where every last touch of the ball is analysed by experts/ blokes in the pub after a few beers. One of the key points about the world cup is that everyone should have an opinion, even if you know nothing. This results in red faced lardy middle aged men in a pub swilling cheap chemical laced larger yelling at a TV. Whoever called it the beautiful game clearly knew nothing about it. 

I am about to make huge generalisations and use stereotypes so if this sort of thing irritates you stop reading now. The players have more hair gel than brains, there wives are self absorbed bints painted in Dulux orange sunset and the fans are violent thugs. I know this statement will have some people fuming but that is half the fun of making a statement like that.

I apologise for the rag tag rant of a post but it was fun to write even if it isn't to read.

What is design?

As a designer I feel I should write something about what I do. Basically most people confuse what I do (Industrial design/ product design) with making machines, or furniture or fashion. An industrial designer actually looks at how people do things and works out ways to make things better for them. The looking at how people do things is the most important bit. It is this that differentiates the designer from the engineer. The engineer looks at what works, for example things that have worked before, and makes a solution. This gives you lots of products that work well at what they do but are all very similar(see http://bit.ly/b2RNXJ). The designer looks at what people do (different to what they say they do) and comes up with something that works better because it is based on what they user does rather than on what everyone else made.

Twitter?

I narrowly avoided putting a title like "To tweet or not to tweet" so I have avoided looking like an idiot for the moment. I joined Twitter about three months ago because I couldn't understand the point. I was roundly mocked by my friends who thought it was idiotic banal ranting and basically just a Facebook status list of people you don't care about. Three months in and I can understand what the point is. It is a way to share the amusing little moments in everyday existence, it is having someone to turn to and yell "WTF" to when something goes wrong, it is about having someone to whine to when you are feeling down. Most of the time it will make no difference but the very act of writing it down makes you feel better. It is banal, it is idiotic, but it is something you can't understand unless you throw yourself into it. If you haven't tried it, then do and see if you like it.

There a few points that I do agree with the sceptics on. "Stephen Fry tweeted yesterday" is not a headline, those of us who care are following him and heard yesterday, those who don't care, don't care. Tweeting about what you ate is not interesting and shows you have little imagination. Last but not least, tweeting about a cause is not the same as donating money or time.

Twitter does have some big uses, notably sharing information in a way that a lawsuit cannot block. Large papers are vulnerable to courts but trying to stop something coming out over Twitter is like trying to swat a swarm of bees, there is nothing you can do but hide until its all goes away.

Twitter is and will always be random musings and whiny self-absorption. But there is a place for that alongside serious issues, what is unimportant to the world as a whole is often important to an individual. I have found that I like twitter and the random twists and turns it throws up during the day. I will continue to use it and post my musings on life the universe and everything, for those who don't want to know don't read it.

Dressing

After a drunken conversation on the subject of dressing, some rules emerged on what to wear and when. It is these rules that I have chosen to share with you. So listen up, and listen good because I am about to share my pearls of wisdom.

Rule number 1: Always make an effort, if you don't the results are obvious.

Rule number 2: Never allow it to look like you made an effort. Looking like you made and effort is worse than not making one at all.

Rule number 3: Never wear any novelty clothing, examples include ties with cartoons on and t-shirts with phrases like "if found please return to pub" on. Both examples indicate the item of clothing has more character than the person wearing it.

Rule number 4: Don't try the scruffy suit thing, you look like a twelve year old who has just been given his new school uniform. A suit is the only time you can ignore rule number 2. You should be immaculate. Look in the mirror and ask yourself "do I look like a footballer?". If the answer is yes then take it off and start again.

Obey these rules and your life will be improved and you will only have to worry about witty conversation, the correct drinks order and opening the doors for those you wish to impress.

Good Evening

As someone who is new to blogging and the much vaunted blogosphere I feel that my blog should have a point, possibly even a direction. Unfortunately it wont, it will be as eclectic and random as I am. I hope to be vaguely interesting with an occasional dash of wit and possibly some cutting sarcasm. To those who take time to read it I thank you and hope to cause discussion if nothing else.


James