You can find more info on my userinfo page - but this is just here to say that I'm very happy to be friended by anyone that wants to read me. I rarely post friends-only, and that only tends to be about things that mention work, so if I don't friend you back you're not actually missing much...
If you do friend me, this would be a good place to leave a comment introducing yourself, and letting me know how you found me!
Additionally, I have lots of awesome friends - if you want to make a few more then take a look at here for Dreamwidth and here for Livejournal, add a few people, and leave comment so people can add you too.
Made from Truth and Lies
- Welcome
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1)
andrewducker- December 4th, 2020
- Late-breaking thoughts about The Avengers (no spoilers)
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- andrewducker
- May 26th, 12:15
Summary: I liked it. It was exciting. I don't think it was as good as some of the reviews were making out, and I think it's lucky they got Joss Whedon in, because he papered over the cracks very well.
Basically, Marvel's head of movies (Kevin Feige) came to Joss with the structure of the movie, and Joss then worked within that*, and it really, really shows. The basic story is dull beyond belief, repeated from millions of cookie-cutter comics. "Bad guys shows up, good guys fight amongst themselves, things get bad, good guys pull together, epic fight, good guys win." A plot so tired that it can fall asleep itself, probably joined by half of the audience.
What Joss does brilliantly is give character moments through the movie. The interaction of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, Captain America's observations, Black Widow being generally awesome, and numerous things that I shan't specifically mention, but added up to a sheen of fun and depth placed over the overall structure of nothingness.
None of which makes it a bad movie. For an action movie with a non-existent plot it's great fun, and more deserving of cash than most other examples of that type. It just felt like it could have been more, and it's a shame it wasn't.
My favourite two reviews are this one over on Angry Flower, which points out many of the good things the script does, and Abigail Nussbaum's review at Strange Horizons, which also looks at the good and bad bits of the structure.
*It started out basically with Kevin (Feige) and Jeremy telling me “We know the basic structure of how they come together, what works, what doesn’t work, and how we see the climax,” which was nice, because he gave me a basic skeleton of three acts that I knew I had to hang on and then it was just a question of “How do I get there? How do I earn that? What moments would cause these people to be in that situation?” - from here
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Interesting Links for 26-05-2012
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- andrewducker
- May 26th, 12:00
- Matt Smith set to carry Olympic torch
- The Bible actually gives instructions on carrying out an abortion.
- Retailer uses 3D QR codes and the sun to deliver discounts only during its quiet times
- 25 True Facts About Scottish Independence.
- The Treehotel in Sweden looks amazing
- From Love To Bingo: A 1 Minute Story Told Through 873 Stock Photographs
- My Heinlein Score is 14/21. What's yours?
- Elon Musk on what's next for SpaceX
- Chris Hemsworth breaks uncomfortable news live on the radio in Thor's voice.
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Random politics
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- andrewducker
- May 26th, 11:52
Poll #1842741
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 38
Forming parliament by taking a completely random selection of people from the population
View Answers
Much better than the collection of posh lawyers we mostly have right now. 
22 (61.1%)would let idiot normal people have a say in the running of the country. THE HORROR! 14 (38.9%)
Those two options being the main comments in this thread.
- More on my psychopath fiancee
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- andrewducker
- May 25th, 21:04
It's not the way she rampages across the globe destroying her enemies utterly that worries me.
It's the way she patronises them afterwards, when they appear on the "My empire is vanquished" screen.
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Cat+Toast=WIN!
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- andrewducker
- May 25th, 19:52
- Interesting Links for 25-05-2012
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- andrewducker
- May 25th, 12:00
- Tennesee police can just confiscate cash, without evidence of a crime.
- Community Studio Tells Cast How to Address Dan Harmon Firing
- The euro is slowly fixing itself
- It is already quite easy to sack people
- Google's Self-Driving Car Gets Mixed Reviews
- What Common Objects Used to Be Made Of (and how plastic democratised consumption)
- Where did dogs come from? It turns out we don’t really know.
- Female Pilot Ejects Passenger Over Sexist Remarks.
- An unbiased review of the Marvel “Thor” Movie (Hilarious if you know anything about Norse mythology)
- An Unbiased Review of the Marvel "Avengers" Movie (not _as_ funny, but still quite funny)
- Visual Studio 11 Express will not be able to produce standard desktop applications
- What's behind the Coalition's new tone on the economy?
- The Game of Thrones Cast In and Out of Character
- LimeWire Sued For More Money Than Exists In The World
- Three Myths about What Customers Want (Yup, that's right, we just want to buy stuff and move on with our lives.)
- Although sectarianism is still rife, Northern Ireland’s teenagers are gradually breaking down religious barriers
- Genetic Find Could Open Door for New Male Contraceptives
- How Newsnight demonised a benefits mother
- How the German Pirate Party's "Liquid Democracy" Works
- Why Take The Flour Back are wrong and I’m leaving the Green Party
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Interesting Links for 24-05-2012
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- andrewducker
- May 24th, 12:00
- Russia and Japan aim to build moonbases
- Phthalates in PVC floors taken up by the body in infants - suspected to cause asthma and disrupt hormones
- No, Facebook did not make Bono world's richest musician
- Where all the money goes when you pay for something on Kickstarter
And you can easily see how if you haven't thought it through you could take in a million dollars and then end up taking a loss on it.
- Greg Rucka: Why I Write Strong Female Characters
- 5 Internet Annoyances That Are Way Older Than the Internet
- Gay marriage: Conservative MPs to get free vote
Not unexpected. I am hoping that sufficient Labour support is there to carry the motion.
- Free banking in the UK is a dangerous myth
- Caesarean section delivery may double risk of childhood obesity: May be due to different gut bacteria
- Elephant mourns the dog she loved for eight years. Warning: Video will make you cry.
- A Rant: Enough Of Single-Player MMOs
- Peace talks between Apple and Samsung fail - the final line made my drink come out of my nose.
- The behaviour around the Olympics seems to be turning Britain into something out of 1984.
- Mad Men Style: a nice analysis of what the clothing in the most recent episode of Mad Men was being used to show.
- The average medical device has a clock running 24 minutes out.
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- How to use a paper towel (and save the planet)
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- andrewducker
- May 23rd, 17:43
- Interesting Links for 23-05-2012
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- andrewducker
- May 23rd, 12:00
- Could Angry Birds lead to mass murder? (and other tales of computer-game-inspired violence)
- Does alcohol cause 1 in 8 deaths before retirement? (No, no it does not)
- SpaceX ship has Scotty's ashes on board
- On road taxes, fat taxes and cigarette taxes
- Incredible realtime lighting demo in a browser. Pretty.
- What's going on with the UK's nuclear deterrent?
- MIT's Freaky Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
- Nine-year-old’s lunch blog shames school into making changes
- An interesting input method for computers. Still going to suffer from the Gorilla-arm problem, but nice to see new approaches.
- Which TV shows have the highest body count?
- HS2 rail alternatives no solution
- TaxPayers’ Alliance: opponents of tax cuts suffer from “sexual jealousy”
- I Don't Respect Your Beliefs
- Mozilla Collusion - see who's tracking your movements across different web sites.
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Miscellaneous questions to moisten the mind and enliven your day.
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- andrewducker
- May 23rd, 11:59
Poll #1842142
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 77
The pro-Indendepence and pro-Union campaigns have both started
View Answers
Huzzah! Two years will be just long enough to get all the information out there so people can make up their minds! 16 (21.9%)Two years? I already made up my mind! Make it stop! 10 (13.7%)I do not live in Scotland, and thus do not get to vote. 47 (64.4%)Tablets (iPads, etc.)
View Answers
Awesome replacements for computers 3 (3.9%)Pretty neat as an extra piece of kit, but not a replacement 65 (85.5%)Pointless toy 7 (9.2%)SEWIWEIC 1 (1.3%)Building a moon base
View Answers
Awesome idea - people need things to inspire them! 63 (85.1%)Awful idea - there's no use for it whatsoever! 11 (14.9%)
Context for question three
- Thoughts almost too depressing to post.
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- andrewducker
- May 22nd, 13:06
Poll #1841902
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 54
King Charles III
View Answers
Will be the end of the monarchy in the UK 19 (44.2%)Will be a resounding success 8 (18.6%)SEWIWEIC 16 (37.2%)Most depressing
View Answers
there are more millionaires than women in the British cabinet 13 (26.5%)There are more men from just one Oxford college than women in the British cabinet 18 (36.7%)There are more MPs called John than women MPs 15 (30.6%)I have something even more depressing that I will leave in the comments 3 (6.1%)Tell me something cheery
- Interesting Links for 22-05-2012
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- andrewducker
- May 22nd, 12:00
- Would Charles III be as bad fo the monarchy as Charles I?
- How Toy Story 2 Got Deleted Twice, Once on Accident, Again on purpose
- The government’s crackdown on tax avoidance is having an effect.
- How grammar schools can reduce inequality
- Read Every Line of Dialogue Rihanna Says in Battleship
- Taxpayers’ Alliance report on tax – good in parts, stupid in many others
- Scarlett Johansson On Ridiculous Portrayals of Superheroines
- Petition to introduct STV in English council elections. (Srsly, we use it for that in Scotland and it's awesome)
- The end of drug discovery?
- On Living in the Golden Age of Beer
- The social media marketing landscape is ridiculously complicated
- Government guidelines changes to give gay couples and women over 40 free IVF treatment on NHS
- SpaceX Dragon, first private ship to the ISS, launched successfully
- Why airplane bathrooms continue to have ashtrays
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Interesting Links for 21-05-2012
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- andrewducker
- May 21st, 12:00
- This is me at LAN parties
- Yo, Should I Dump This Asshole? (Yes, yes they should)
- Methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere
- What's it like in the quietest place on Earth
- Men are more and more involved with raising their children - even after separation
- How any doubts on Iran's nuclear program are edited out by the media
- This is what a philosopher looks like.
- Quotes about programming languages (in which it becomes clear that coders like to complain)
- Ministers dragging feet over key growth recommendations in Beecroft report (And thank goodness for that!)
- Waterstones to sell Amazon's Kindle book reader - and you'll be able to buy the books in-store.
- Who Wins, Who Loses if Google Launches Android 5.0 in Multiple Handsets?
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- A few more things I liked from around the internet
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- andrewducker
- May 20th, 20:55
100 years of dance in 100 seconds. Very nicely put together.
Terrifying Mass Cosplay:
viaoctopoid_horror
And something I have noticed repeatedly with people:
viadrjon
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Here is why I am in favour of gay marriage
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- andrewducker
- May 20th, 18:08
via
You filled in the consultation, didn't you?
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Houston, we have a gift problem
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- andrewducker
- May 20th, 12:14
One of the things remaining on our slowly diminishing wedding to-do list is "Make a gift list."
The problem being that there's very little we actually want. It's not like in ye olden days when a wedding was the point where children moved out from their parents and set up their own home, needing sheets, plates, etc. to get them started. We've been living together for two years, we've both been living away from home for many years, and we have pretty much everything you need to run a home.
Julie's currently clicking through the John Lewis website, looking at crockery and trying to decide if these are things we actually want people to spend money on. I've stared blankly at the numerous other tabs, thinking "Well, yes, a 93" TV would be lovely, but I'd feel actively guilty if people spent cash on a new TV for me when the current one is great."
The things we do want feel like normal household improvements. We'd like to replace all the curtains, because they suck. We need a new kitchen, because it's godawful. I suspect we're going to say "Please give us vouchers, and we will use them to replace our curtains and kitchen appliances." But we can't even say "Please give us a new dishwasher", because the whole kitchen needs to be ripped out, and that's not happening until the PhD is finished (a month-ish after the wedding), and we don't have anywhere to put a dishwasher for a month.
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- Interesting Links for 20-05-2012
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- andrewducker
- May 20th, 12:00
- An industrial band stands up against racism and sexism in the genre - watch the video halfway down. Really.
- Alain de Boiton talks a lot of nonsense about sex and porn
- Warren Ellis , IRON MAN 3 and IRON MAN: EXTREMIS
- It turns out the aborigines may still own Australia
- The Secret Meeting that Changed Rap Music and Destroyed a Generation
- Why Would Google Offer $1B For Music Rights? Because The Return Could Be Much Bigger
- Dan Harmon reacts to being sacked from Community
Dan
- How Facebook made only the rich even richer
- Pretty much everyone has a rare genetic variant. (You'd expect that, with the number of genes we have)
- Will Smith's kid asked Obama about aliens. And the president said ... | Blastr
- All photography set to be banned on Glasgow’s Subway
- Fiat brilliantly punks VW on Google Street View
- Government backtracks on fracking
- Africa is experiencing some of the biggest falls in child mortality ever seen, anywhere
- Is This Feminist? (I laughed)
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
- The funniest thing I have seen all day
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- andrewducker
- May 19th, 17:35
I'm not a fan of either Ricky Gervais or Elmo, but the out-takes from Elmo interviewing Ricky made me laugh until I literally cried:
viaami_bender
Original post on Dreamwidth - there arecomments there.
