Anvil the Movie

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What do you do if you’ve been trying to make it as a Rock God for thirty years and not made it yet?

Keep trying.

The story of Anvil is the kind of thing you wouldn’t make up, because nobody would believe you. The tale of two childhood friends that formed a band, headlined in Japan thirty years ago as the Heaviest of Heavy Metal and then, through bad luck and bad management, totally failed to go anywhere, is utterly implausible.

And yet it works, mainly due to the likeability of the two men behind the band. When we first meet them they are going about their day jobs, delivering school dinners and doing a bit of building work, planning a tour of Europe that could be their big break.  Except that it doesn’t really quite turn out like that.

So they come back again, and try with their thirteenth album to break through into the mainstream. And then? Well, you will have to get to the movie and see.

But I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Horizontal Rain and Degrees

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Number one daughter got her degree today, so it was off to York to sample somebody else’s degree ceremony for a change. It was a great occasion and a good time was had by everyone although the experience was slightly marred by the cloudburst and he horizontal rain that we got as soon as we arrived which persisted until we left.

The ducks (there are lots of them about at York) looked like they were really enjoying the weather, but I think they were the only ones. After this lot my suit definitely has an appointment at the dry cleaners. In fact, anything with the word dry in it sounds good to me at the moment.

Graze at your Desk

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Number one son is with us for a few days, which is nice. Today he is working from home. In this case our home. In these situations he has his lunch sent in, so today he had it delivered to our house. The lunch itself comes from http://www.graze.com/ who will post you a balanced box of nuts and fruits that is designed to keep you going through the day.

I must admit it looked rather nice, and it is supposed to provide 3 of your five portions of fruit too. Number one son looks quite well on it, and reckons that their delivery is very efficient and the system works well.

Me, I had an enormous cheese sandwich…

It Felt Like a Kiss

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Adam Curtis makes scary documentaries. Not “Man coming up behind you and shouting ‘Boo!’” scary, but “How on earth did we get ourselves into this mess?” scary.

Now he has made something which is a mix of both kinds of scary. In an office block in Manchester. It Felt Like a Kiss is a walk through interactive event with a movie in the middle. Number one son and myself made it all the way to the end and I must admit it was a fascinating way to spend a couple of hours, with some really scary bits here and there. It tells you things you didn’t know about the way the world works and gives you the odd fright, including one bit where a man with a chainsaw chases you down a darkened corridor…

Graduation Daze

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Did a couple of graduation ceremonies as Graduands Marshal today. I was helped out by Bernie, who is learning the trade.  I hope he didn’t mind when I referred to him as my “glamorous assistant”.

I took a camera along and had a go at taking pictures of the graduates. The audience is pretty much in darkness, but you might be able to pick out yourself amongst the noisy pixels.

Ceremony 3 : 10:30
 g1

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Ceremony 4: 2:30

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Open Day

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Today we had a university Open Day. I like giving talks at these, and despite my condition (which you really, really don’t want to know about) I went along to do my bit.I took a picture of the audience at the start. We were in the vertigo inducing Physics lecture theatre.

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Thanks very much to those who turned up, I hope you enjoyed the visit.

Imagine Cup Presentation

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I’ve seen some things in my time. No, really. Now I’ve also seen an awards ceremony in the shadow of the pyramids. I’m not sure that the pharaohs, as they laid their plans for their final resting places, were also thinking “And you know what? This would be a great place to hold a the awards ceremony of the Imagine Cup in a few thousand years….”. Either way it worked.

When we arrived the sun was just going down.

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Postcard Shot

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The Backdrop

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The stage

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The winners of the Software Development Challenge, Romania, with second placed Russia and third placed Brazil. I helped judge these, all worthy entrants – well done folks!

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A whole bunch of happy people.

The Imagine Cup has been, as ever, amazing. The venue, the events, the attention to detail. And, of course, the students. Thanks to Microsoft for making it possible, making it work, and letting me come along.

Park for Tea

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After the visit to the pyramids it was back to the hotel to freshen up, and then out again to a park near The Citadel. We arrived just as the sun was setting, which was rather nice.

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On the way in they had these chaps in whirly skirts to welcome us.

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The view of the sunset was rather nice.

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A nice place to have tea

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Pretty flower.

Then, back home to bed. It is the desert finals tomorrow in front of the pyramids. Can’t wait.

Pyramids

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I’ve been told that however much you prepare for the experience, seeing the pyramids for the first time will blow you away. And it does.

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The first glimpse

They really are impressive. Close up they are beyond huge, and when you reflect who made them, and how, you just get even more impressed.

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Not small

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The key is 52 degrees apparently. Anything else falls down.

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Antiquities Police

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Obligatory tourist shot

Finals Time

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Today we did the final presentations. For me that meant sitting with the distinguished judges and watching six presentations, and then coming up with the top three. Before I did that I thought I’d watch some of the other finals, starting with Game Development. They have set up mini-studios and are projecting the presentations into halls around the complex.

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This is the UK team beginning their presentation. Good job guys.

In the afternoon it was me and the other judges in the mini-studio, and an assembled multitude outside hearing me ask my, hopefully not stupid, questions. After that it was time for judgely deliberations.

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Posh food in the judges room.

After that it was a walk back to the room to get ready for the evening meal.

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How not to photograph a mirror.

The meal was at the top floor of the shopping centre next door, which is huge.

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Sitting down together.

You could also go outside to take in the views of the city at night.

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This is part of the hotel complex.

Then it was home for an early night. Tomorrow we are leaving at 7:30 am for the pyramids, and I don’t want to miss that.

Judgement Day at the Imagine Cup

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Today was the first round of judging in the Software Development competition here in Cairo. All the judges had to be formed into groups and then sent out to watch presentations from the 68 or so teams from all over the world. Each team had to give a 20 minute presentation, with 10 minutes after that set aside for questions. Then we had to note down some comments, grade the work, hand the judging sheet in and repeat. This made for rather an intense time, but I really like watching students strut their stuff, and so for me it was great fun.

I even took on a bit of overtime, by helping out with the judging in the Imagine Cup Interoperability. Then, after all of this, a list of the top 12 teams out was assembled, and each of them had to repeat their presentations in front of more judges so that we could arrive at the top six for the finals tomorrow.

Joe Wilson announced the finalists for all the categories, and it was particularly nice for me because the UK made it into the next round for both Software Development and the Game Development competitions.

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Joe with some of the finalists.

After the judging we all staggered back to our rooms and collapsed. I’ve got some more to do tomorrow, as I’m also one of the distinguished judges for the Software Development final, which should be fun.

Imagine Cup Open for Business

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Today the Imagine Cup 2009 started properly. I've been involved with this competition for a very long time, since computers filled entire rooms, and were programmed using punched cards.

Actually no. But I did attend the first World Final in 2003. Lots of things have changed since them of course. The competition has gone from 14 teams to 70, and it now takes on many forms with strands involving such things as robotics, embedded, photography and short film.  My favourite part has always been the original contest, which is the Software Development one. Nowadays I'm involved as a judge, as well as promoting the competition to students back at Hull, and I really love taking part and seeing just what enthusiastic people can do with technology.

Tomorrow is when all the judging actually starts, but today we had the opening ceremony which took place at the citadel in Cairo. We even had Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's Chief Technology officer give a presentation to the students, which was a great thing to see. That the guy who took over from Bill Gates reckons the competition is worth taking seriously is an indication of just how important Microsoft takes this contest. I took a camera a long (of course) and got a few pictures.

 

Outside the Citadel

 Inside the Citadel

The ceiling is fantastic

Joe Wilson gets things started.

The view on the way out.

 

Blogging the Imagine Cup with Flickr

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I’m trying a new approach to blogging the Imagine Cup this time. I’ll be putting bits and bobs up on these hallowed pages (of course) but I’ll be also putting up shed loads (if you can load a shed onto a server) of pictures on Flickr, with the usual insightful comments.

From what I’ve seen of Cairo this is going to be great, follow the magic at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertmiles/