About time I got this finished - apologies for the delay but I'm here now so here goes:

Centurion
I'm including this one as I've just recently seen the new trailer and it looks pretty good.  Another movie about the real-life disappearance of the 9th Legion in the Scottish Highlands.

The Losers
Another comic book adaptation but not a superhero in sight.  Instead this could be a "grittier A-Team" as Dark Horizons put it.  Trailer looks at least promising and Peter Berg has a couple of solid movies behind him

Paul
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost - enough said.  Admittedly without Edgar Wright, but still count me in for this tale of UFO buffs finding an actual escaped alien just outside Area 51.  No release dates or trailer yet.

Predators
Sequel from Robert Rodriguez, who has a lot of credibility riding on this one.  Please let it be good!

Scott Pilgrim vs The World
What Edgar Wright did while Pegg and Frost were making "Paul".  This is likely to be the major geel hit of the summer, and as I know nothing of the plot or the original comic book I'll leave it there.  Trailer imminent.

Shutter Island
Scorcese does psychological horror.  Saw the trailer for this in front of "The Wolfman" this weekend and liked the look of it - an on-form Decaprio and an adaptation from the writer of "Mystic River" and "Gone Baby Gone" make this a must see I think. Hoping for good brooding fear rather than constant jump-shocks (yes "...Wolfman", I'm looking at you...)

Toy Story 3
Pixar.  Enough said.  Check out the trailer

Tron:Legacy
The original is legendary for properly introducing the world to computer generated effects.  The teaser from ComicCon shows the updated light-cycles.  This will be something to see in 3D Imax no doubt.

So that's that.  I highly recommend you check out the full list on Dark Horizons, as I've only scratched the surface here with a few that appealed to me.  The original list is very detailed and a terrific bit of work.

 

 

Tags: awesome, comics, movies, sci-fi, spoilers, trailer, video, youtube
Categories: Comics | Geek | Movies | Sci-Fi | spoilers | trailers | Web

Anyone who has visited my site(s) over the past 15 years will know I've always had image galleries on there, showing the patchy results from my on-off hobby of computer imagery.  
I've finally gotten round to putting them back up on this site, albeit in a more modern fashion, using a Javascript gallery which I was directed to and must say I'm pretty impressed with.

To check out the Galleries, just click the "Galleries" link in the nav at the top of the page.

I'll be doing some more images pretty soon and I intend to render them at various wallpaper resolutions - unfortunately I don't have any of the current archived galleries in any larger sizes, as I have long lost the code to re-render them.  Shame really but such is the way with data...

Anyway, I'd appreciate some feedback, and also let me know if you have any trouble viewing - unless you're still using IE6 in which case shame on you!

Tags: art, galleries, toosurreal, site news
Categories: Galleries | site news | toosurreal | Web

There's been a flurry of interest in Google Wave this week, mainly people desperately trying to get hold of invites to the initial beta programme.  Google released 100,000 invites, and all of these people could invite 5 friends to the next test.  This, quite predictably, led to madness on eBay within minutes - but also has led to spammers jumping on the bandwagon, so be aware if you get an invite by mail from someone who probably doesn't have an invite themselves...

So anyway, what's all the fuss about?  Well, you could watch the whole amazing Developer Preview but its a bit long so here is something significantly shorter - just about 2 minutes total in fact and gets the point across nicely

So there you have it, Google Wave in a nutshell.

Anyone got a spare invite?

Tags: geek, tech, youtube, want
Categories: Geek | tech | want | Web

It's been a hectic couple of weeks - I've changed jobs and been plunged into the middle of a bunch of projects, the other coders are either on holiday or on-site with clients so I'm holding the fort, as it were!  Good job I like to be busy!!!

Anyway, because of all of this it's been a while since I posted and I'm just going through my notes to rectify that situation, so keep an eye on the RSS as there will be a few updates over the next 48hrs or so.

Also found time to change the blog skin again this morning - still in search of the perfect look so let me know how this one comes across.  I quite like it, its a modified "StarGazer" skin for BlogEngine.net

Next up is adding my galleries back in - I will be writing the code to display those today, so there will be an announcement when that is available.  Be nice to have those back on here.

I will also be giving a bit of space on here to a friend of mine who does a radio show in Dublin.  He's started podcasting his shows, and they are pretty cool so I'll be setting up a page here to link to those.  Be interested to see the reaction from those - again, announcements and full details as soon as things are ready.

That's everything I think - check back soon!!!

Oh, apologies for the broken Twitter feed on here - I've done some reading and it seems that Twitter only allows for each user to 70 request per hour.  As I've started accessing with my phone as well as on my PC that may be causing an issue so I've reduced the request time to see if that fixes it.

Tags: toosurreal, site news, galleries, forums,
Categories: site news | toosurreal | Web

Over the last couple of years I've been catching up with some of the Coen Brothers movies which I hadn't yet seen. One thing strikes me about Joel and Ethan, which is that they always seem to work best with less well-know character actors, rather than when they use huge names like Brad Pitt. "A Serious Man" seems to be a return to that after the star-packed "Burn After Reading".

Even if the movie doesn't get me, it's still one of my favourite trailers of the year so far.

Tags: awesome, geek, movies, trailer, youtube, coen bros
Categories: Geek | Movies | trailers | Web

I finally got myself a smartphone this week.  After many weeks of research (and waiting for Orange to get their fingers out of their arse) I got my hands on the HTC Hero.  It's a lush piece of kit, maybe not quite an "iPhone Killer" - only the next iPhone will be able to unseat the 3Gs I feel - but very very nice.  It's only the third Android handset to be released in the UK so far.  HTC have skinned the basic Android interface with their own "SenseUI" technology and it's a pleasure to use.  I've seen a lot of reviews saying it's a bit sluggish but I honestly haven't had any problems with it.  It's exactly what I wanted.

Or thought I wanted.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade the phone for any other, it's just that it's brought with it some unexpected side effects.  First there is the customisation.  Have I got the optimum layout in the home screen?  Are there any cool apps I'm missing?  Is it better to have a smaller Twitter app on the homepage or a full twitter panel on its own page?  I'm still not convinced I have it right...

Then there is the information overload I mentioned in the title of this piece.  Since I got the phone on Thursday last week I've found myself constantly checking it, seeing what new Tweets have been added, seeing if I have new email, has anyone updated Facebook.  I'm not sure that this is healthy.

I've been using the Internet and been in the Web industry for about 15 years now.  Been here since before most non-geeky people had heard of the Internet, remember using software other than a browser to get information (Gopher and Archie anyone?).  I've seen trends come and go (yes, Push is definitely going to be the next big thing!  Where are you now Pointcast? Marimba?).  A former boss of mine told me in 1996 - after I had been evangelizing to him about the Internet and that he should have a website for the company - that the Web is a fad and would disappear like Prestel.

Yeah, right.

I didn't see Web 2.0 being as big as it has become.  In fact its only in the last 6 months or so that I've embraced it myself - before that I had no Facebook account, Twitter account or blog.  Hell, it took me forever to even update my own site and I'm a web developer by trade!    It's partially due to being online all day - I have to use the web constantly as there is always a need to look things up, double-check some syntax, get help with a complex SQL query, whatever. It makes going home and working on personal projects, or just coding for fun so much less attractive. But then there is everything else going on in the world.

I commented to a co-worker this week that I dreaded days without web access - not because I'd get the DTs or anything but just that when I got back there would be so much to catch up with.  The first thing I do in the morning is check email and then my RSS feeds. These are split roughly 50/50 between feeds related to development and my job, and other interests (movies, etc).  Makes it very easy to skim through and pick out what I actually need to read, and is definitely preferable to having to actually visit all the sites I might be interested in and work out what is new.

The problem is, it's always changing.  There is always something new.  And here is where the phone comes in - I find myself checking Twitter when I can't sleep.  When I wake up in the middle of the night it gets checked. When watching TV I'm going to be telling my followers what I'm watching, and they are going to be doing the same.  This used be be a problem for people with Blackberry phones, always effectively "at work" and always contactable.  I have the same problem but it isn't work, its the whole world.

It was so much easier when everyone else took no notice of the Internet and just left us geeks to it.

Tags: awesome, geek, reviews
Categories: Geek | Sci-Fi | Web | Opinion