Not left behind (Oct 17, 2011)
Well that was nice and easy. Transferring my account to the new world of h2g2 took six minutes. It would have been quicker, but I took my time to enjoy the journey.

And blimey - it's nearly seven years since my last journal entry, when I left the in-house team for this wonderful place. Let's raise a glass to the new owners.
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(9 replies, Latest reply: Dec 17, 2011)

And even more change (Dec 14, 2006)
Well that's that. The announcement is made so there's no going back now. As of January, h2g2 will have to do without my 'special' brand of humour as I'll be working with tapes and discs of material from the depths of the BBC Archives. It'll come as little surprise to anyone who knows me to learn that this is a pretty irresistable offer for me, so while I'll be leaving behind (officially) a site I've helped to develop during difficult times, I'm relieved it's for a project that seems speficially catered for my own rather odd obsessions.

I'm wracking my tiny brains to think of something that I can do for the Post, so I don't want to say too much here in case I can say it more economically with a cartoon.

And as I write, I can almost hear the voice of David Bowie singing 'Five Years'. I missed that particular milestone by two months. That means that from the second week of January, Natalie will be the longest-serving member of h2g2 EVER. I know I'm more the public face of the Italics, but Natalie's been at the heart of the team and helped us through some particularly tough times. I tend to get a lot of the credit (and a lot of blame, it has to be said), but we've been a brilliant team and the one consolation is that due to the unique way the BBC is desked, I'll still be sitting with the h2g2 gang for the first part fo next year, so I'll still be able to hear all the news from the site and hear her cheering on another great entry into the Guide.

The one annoying thing is that although the staff levels will be staying the same, the team won't have a permanet replacement for me (or, come to think of it, Beth) immediately so Natalie will be working with temporary team members for a while. So that it doesn't cause confusion, they'll be working behind the scenes on the editing, Scout recommendations and general feedback. It might feel like the Italics are a bit quieter for a while, but then that's also because I've tended to be a bit over-chatty at times

I've got an idea for that cartoon for the Post now...
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(32 replies, Latest reply: Dec 15, 2006)

All Change (Oct 11, 2006)
When I first joined the site as a member of the in-house team, we were encouraged to use our real names. As more work has been done on the perils of internet community living though, it's become clear that using a real name on a public-facing site isn't always a good idea. It can encourage stalking and even lead to your virtual self being defamed to startling degrees. Only a couple of years ago, I found myself on the receiving end of abuse from someone who'd never met me and was struggling with their own life issues when he encountered a post of mine that he took exception to. Soon, my work in-box became flooded with emails of abuse, accusations and veiled threats. A quick email to the BBC Investigation unit soon brought the matter to a close but it still left me a little chilled by the experience.

Second Life - the virtual community world - doesn't even let people choose their own surname on the site; you have free choice for your first name, but the surname comes from a list of available alternatives. It leads to an unexpected level of choices when you meet a stranger who has the same surname as you. Do you avoid them as you might at a party if you saw them wearing the same top as you (only carrying it much more stylishly)? Do you rush up and say 'hello cousin'? And how do you respond to people in real life who have the same name?

It strikes me as strange that people I work with have started to call me 'Jimster', despite the fact that it's not actually my name. I only chose that to differentiate myself from the other Jim on the team (the staggeringly talented Mr Lynn), yet now, people who've never even worked on h2g2 drop by and call me 'Jimster'.

As of today, I'm looking for a new online identity. Other people on here have done it and as a conversation at a recent meet-up taught me, it's not as if I'm spectacularly famous outside of the realms of the hardcore hootooers. So long as my name appears in bold italics, it shouldn't really matter what the actual name reads. So, here begins another experiment. See what happens now...

Smij

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(57 replies, Latest reply: Nov 7, 2006)

A Smaller Solar System (Aug 24, 2006)
So, scientists have decided that Pluto is no longer a planet [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/5282440.stm]. This afternoon, I edited our entry on Pluto - A387182 - and added a new paragraph to explain this foul treachery.

This ongoing battle between magic and science will never be truly resolved, simply because every time science uncovers new facts that take away a little magic from our lives, magic responds by coming up with something even better. Like why jam and peanut butter go together. Or ham and pineapple. Science can't explain that away - magic all the way!

In the meantime though, we're one planet down, when we could have been three more up. We could have all been sending in suggestions for a new name for object 2003-UB313. Personally, I would have liked to see it named 'Mavis', 'Sidney', 'Bill' or 'Sandra' - a nice, normal name that would annoy the astronomers who'd want to give it some awful portentous name like 'Icarus' or 'Ariadne'.

I do love the myseries of science and the focused dedication of scientists. I just wish, sometimes, their research could uncover something that felt more like magic for us mere mortals.

Never mind, Pluto. You'll always be a planet to us.

That and a yellow dog in Disney cartoons...
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(10 replies, Latest reply: Sep 4, 2006)

On the Art of Writing (Jun 18, 2006)
One of my favourite authors is the late Helene Hanff (A710056), who wrote the collection of letters '84 Charing Cross Road'. In her book 'Q's Legacy', she described her moment of revelation when she encountered the work of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, professor of English Literature, Jesus College Cambridge. His book 'On the Art of Writing' is an anthology of his lectures to his students and in one chapter, 'On Jargon', he spells out the difference between what one might subjectively call 'good' or 'bad' writing by presenting two sentences:

'He was conveyed to his place of residence in an intoxicated condition.'

'He was carried home drunk.'

The point he made in this lecture was that the first sentence was jargon and the second was good English prose.

As I read his view on the two sentences, I had to read it back again, as Helene explains she had done herself when she'd first read it. Surely the first sentence is a 'literary' sentence and the second just a bit bland? Surely the first sentence is an example of 'better' writing because more thought has gone into it?

But then Q went on to quote a former British Prime Minister who responded to a question in the House of Commons by saying 'The answer to the question is in the negative.' Quiller-Couch (known to one and all as 'Q') noted that the Prime Minister's answer just meant 'No'. Simple as that. 'Can you discover it to mean anything more.' he asked the students, 'except that the speaker is a pompous person, which was no part of the information required.'

For a project like h2g2, we encounter many writing styles. But I'd far sooner read something with the simplicity of the second sentence Q gave us than the complexity of the first. The second sentence tells us what we need to know; the first sentence tells us too much we don't need to know. Which is to say, some people are dismissive of those Researchers who prefer to write plainly and simply, but for me and the rest of the team, they're the kind of writers who reflect the style of our founder, Douglas Adams, who had the skill to write incredibly intricate sentences, but also managed to make us understand complex ideas through clear writing. His best jokes often worked through very simple use of language ('what's wrong with being drunk? 'Ask a glass of water.'). Similarly, the best h2g2 entries don't tell us more about the author than the subject; they break huge concepts down into parts, explain the issues simply, while using as few adjectives as they can get away with and only as many metaphors as are absolutely necessary.

... or even: 'Good writing should make us go "oh!" more often than 'Eh?"'
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(13 replies, Latest reply: Jul 7, 2006)

Longevity (Apr 8, 2006)
Speaking to some of the old team this week, I made a frightening discovery. I've now been a member of the h2g2 team longer than any other person in the site's history. Jim Lynn and Peta are still around, of course, but they've been a part of the wider DNA team for nearly four years; Sam was the previous-longest, at exactly four years, but I overtook him back in February. Everyone else left before they got to their fourth year.

How did that happen?

And as Natalie joined two weeks after me, if I leave, she'll be the longest-serving...
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(43 replies, Latest reply: Apr 14, 2006)

Eek! (Feb 1, 2006)
Today, I entered a new marketing category. Yesterday I was in the 25-34 age bracket, and today I'm... not.

Can I still play with toys now I'm 35? There are so many remote controlled dalek variants on the way this year and I just *have* to get them all.

And then there's the 12" David Tennant Doll and the 12" Tom Baker (with Cyberman as part fo a double pack), and the remote controlled K-9 and... and... and....


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(24 replies, Latest reply: Mar 31, 2006)

Inappropriate Giggles (Aug 30, 2005)


Just read this news story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4198766.stm

Apparently the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz have been stolen...

(WAIT for it...)

Police are looking for a green woman with a broomstick and a dog fixation.

Badoom-TSH!
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(35 replies, Latest reply: Sep 9, 2005)

The new h2g2 pet! (Aug 17, 2005)
Well, we all know the true power behind h2g2 is a well-trained hamster - or hampster, as some might say. We thought it was about time that he got the fame / credit / blame for everything, so we've decided to give him his own page.

Say hello to Elton: A710092
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(21 replies, Latest reply: Aug 19, 2005)

What's white, shiny and sitting on my desk at home? (Aug 11, 2005)
After years of dithering, I've finally made the leap from PC to Mac with the purchase of an iMac.

Okay, so I know people who have Macs tend to love their machines more than PC users do - I mean really *love* as oppose to a mere obsession - but it's not difficult to see why. The instructions to set it up were hilarious: Pop on a flat surface, plug in, add keyboard and mouse - hurrah, you're done! For a cable-tangled idiot like me, that was a great relief.

The strange thing is, it seems to have had an effect upon everyone else I deal with. I called my telephone/internet provider to ask for a new modem and it arrived this morning as they promised without any hassle. A book I ordered from one of Amazon's market dealers turned up in exquisite form just 48 hours after I ordered it. Last night, I bought a new mattress and was astounded that - unlike everyone else I'd been to, who said it would take upwards of a week - they could deliver tomorrow!

I know my Mac friends said that converting would make my life easier, but this is a little more dramatic and far-reaching than I expected.




... and then this morning, a designer who works near to me reminded me that Douglas Adams bought the very first Mac in the UK (his friend and my idol Stephen Fry apparently bought the second). Seems I'm in very good company here...




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(53 replies, Latest reply: Aug 18, 2005)

More h2g2 - now in the USA (Apr 28, 2005)
Yesterday evening I recorded some comments for a radio broadcast that will be going out tomorrow night (Friday 29 April). I understand it'll be part of National Public Radio's 'On Point', a nationally syndicated evening news program produced out of WBUR, the Boston affiliate.

Actually, I just copied and pasted that last bit from an email I received prior to the event. I hadn't realised it was syndicated nationally.





Aaanyway, I recorded my bits via one of the radio studios under BBC TV Centre, just me, our PR man and a box of flashing lights. I'm sure they'll be able to edit it into something coherent. I tried to big up some of the entries we have about America, including 'We Didn't Start the Fire', that fantastic project spearheaded by Master B, and Jimi X's contribution to Pennsylvanian historican research (although I had to ask for a retake on my first attempt on that because with all the info I was trying to pull out of my head at once, Jimi was suddenly transplanted to Philly by accident, so I'm just hoping if they use that bit they get the right take. Oh! the shame. (Sorry Jimi!)

Then I read out a couple of sample sections from h2g2 Entries, including a lovely piece about the aquarium in Boston where they show you how the salmon spawns and then you can find out how it tastes in the adjacent restaurant.

Anyway, if anyone's out there and listening, it should be on some time between 2 and 4PM EST.

Which thankfully I won't be able to hear.
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(21 replies, Latest reply: Mar 20, 2006)

Cult Review (Apr 25, 2005)
Nope, I'm not giving marks out of ten to satanists. The lovely folk at the BBC Cult Site decided to publish my review of the Hitchhiker's movie.

And it's here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2005/04/25/18890.shtml

Now, I don't think there are any spoilers in there, but if you're hyper-sensitive to such things, you might want to wait until you've seen the thing.
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(10 replies, Latest reply: Apr 29, 2005)

On my Radio (Apr 20, 2005)
So, at 7.30 this morning (yes, there are two 7.30s in a day, apparently), I got a call from Paul at GMR - Greater Manchester Radio. It's okay, I knew he would be calling, so I was already up, dressed and coffeed, but he was just giving me a courtesy call to make sure I was awake. Then at 7.45 he called back and put me through to the Breakfast Show studio to talk to Heather and Mark about the new Hitchhiker's movie and how h2g2 is the continuation of Douglas's legacy.

Having to play Devil's Advocate for the listeners, Mark asked me if the site was really geeky - to which I replied that there might be an element of that, but we have all sorts here, and besides it's always the people who can retain facts and figures that you turn to when compiling your pub quiz team so that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The next thing was my reaction to the movie (love it - loads of new stuff for the fans to enjoy, and it's an easy entry-level for newcomers too), before Heather asked the ultimate demon question - do Hitchhiker fans dress up? As an experienced Whoovian, I know how to answer this one: No, we don't - unless you consider jeans and t-shirts to be dressing up

(Now, I know that some of us do, but people always get the wrong idea about that - or as the great man said 'in an infinite universe they're so near to none as makes no odds'.)

On the way into work this morning I saw a man reading a newspaper with a full-page advert for 'The World Premiere' (a minor detail we weren't sure if we were allowed to mention when we ran the competition last week), while the London Underground is adorned with posters galore.

Last year, SFX magazine ran a small piece about the Hitchhiker's movie being trapped in Development Hell while the Red Dwarf movie was nearing pre-production. How strange to have Hitchhiker's first - and a brand new Doctor Who series, AND h2g2 on mobiles. AND (finally) a lot of lovely people wanting to take an interest in us, because they realise that h2g2's 'a bit of alright' really.

Truly, it's a great time to be a fan.

Jims

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(14 replies, Latest reply: Apr 22, 2005)

I can't be older!! (Apr 15, 2005)
Having heard a rumour that we'd be getting some news this evening, I've been waiting up to update the entry on Doctor Who [A215993] with the news that David Tennant has just been confirmed as the tenth Doctor.

Now, I'm loving this news series and really enjoying Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. While I'm disappointed that we'll only be getting 13 adventures with this new incarnation (already very high in my all-time faves), I appreciate the whole thing about not wanting to do more than one, and feel very grateful that he helped bring back such a uniformly brilliant new version of the show.

And I also have to say that, having heard David Tennant in some of the Big Finish audio dramas, and seen him in Casanova, I'm sure he'll make a superb Doctor, and will look forward to seeing how they achieve all this.

But...

David Tennant is three months younger than me!

For this reason alone, I have taken against the idea.

I feel old...


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(5 replies, Latest reply: Apr 20, 2005)

No More Chances to See... (Mar 18, 2005)
Just subbing an entry on Douglas's book with Mark Carwardine, Last Chance to See. Stumbled across a report that the Yangtze River Dolphin, a species Doglas highlighted in his book as one of the most endangered species in the world, was last counted in 1997 as consisting of just 13 individuals.

The likelihood of two compatible Yangtze River Dolphins being able to repopulate the species is so infinitessimally small, so unlikely that we can only assume that they've now gone the way of the dodo. The sense of despair one feels over such a loss is indescribable.




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(9 replies, Latest reply: Mar 18, 2005)

The h2g2 Centurians Hall of Fame (Nov 26, 2004)
Natalie came up with this idea, a Hall of Fame so that we can remember who our Centurians are and which Researchers might be inducted next into the Hall of Fame (those h2g2 Researchers who've written 100 or more solo Edited Entries.

So I went away and made one: A3331991
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(27 replies, Latest reply: Mar 21, 2005)

Disaster! (Nov 18, 2004)
Monster Munch crisps are yellow. How was I supposed to know they contain dye now that turns your lips and tongue BLUE! They never used to do that.

That's me not going to the departmental meeting this afternoon...
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(17 replies, Latest reply: Nov 19, 2004)

Irony (Nov 18, 2004)
Sell Out: v. The thing that a pop act hopes will happen to their records and concerts but not themselves.
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(11 replies, Latest reply: Nov 19, 2004)

Petulant Bovines (Jul 13, 2004)
Yesterday evening I was sitting in a train carriage reading a magazine when the train stopped. looking outside the window I noticed we'd paused right by a field of cows, all of whom were now eyeing the train. As I watched the cows, I noticed them staring at us, then looking around and then back, almost as if they couldn't quite believe our impudence in stopping at the end of their territory.

I returned to my magazine for a couple of minutes, and when I looked up again, the cows had all walked a few feet away, positioned themselves with their backsides pointing at the train and then looked back over their shoulders. 'That's what we thnk of you', their expressions said.

Aren't cows petty?
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(22 replies, Latest reply: Jul 24, 2004)

The Comp! (Jun 18, 2004)
We first heard murmurings about running a competition linked to the Hitchhiker's movie back in April. We realised that we didn't want to do something as easy / predictable / lame as asking a question that would have the answer '42'. We also recognised that a number of people had been kind enough to offer us their photos over the years and that maybe that might be a good idea to consider. But with one thing and another, the competition went on hold for a while. Then, last Friday, I was told the comp was back on. Cue a frenzied dash around the legal and business affairs advisers at the BBC to check that we'd covered every angle.

One downside with BBC competitions is that, perhaps unsurprisingly, they have to be aimed at license-fee payers - ie, they can only be open to residents of the UK. While we realised that our global audience might be disappointed by this, we're hoping that we'll still be able to bring the Community a lot of exclusives that won't be available elsewhere, such as Jim Lynn's set visit report and *that* behind-the-scenes clip (all of which can be found on our HHGTTG news page - A2642384). We're also hoping to launch *someting* in the near future that we think will capture the imaginations of everyone and allow Researchers from across the globe to take part (in fact, being a non-UK resident will be a distinct advantage!).

Finally having the competition up and live is such a relief - Robbie Stamp actually gave me a call at 10pm last night just to check we were all okay. Such is the dedication of the movie team; you really get the impresion they *love* this concept and are all working hard to make sure that all of Douglas's new ideas (and there were LOTS of them) are shown in all their glory. They have Douglas's family's backing and they're all so passionate about it all that I reckon that alone will make the film worth the wait.

In all this, with Jim Lynn's set report and one Researcher just two weeks away from being invited to the set, I have to say I'm only impatient for one thing: the first publicity photo of the Vogons. It was their appearance in the TV series that got me hooked and only then did I discover the radio show and the books. As a monster-maker myself I love to see other people's visions of monsters I've already built in my head. When the first publicity pic is released, showing a Vogon all moodily lit and lurking, I'll just explode with excitement. Until then, I reckon I'll be able to contain myself.

*Just*...
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(9 replies, Latest reply: Jun 18, 2004)

The History of Pop - part 65689 (Jun 4, 2004)
I mentioned in a previous journal my love for a song by The Associates called 'Party Fears Too'. Listening to it again the other day I have to again note that it's just such a perfect pop song. The jangly piano bits that they used on that Radio 4 show are so uplifting, but they're undermined by the shrill, warblingly emotional falsetto of Billy MacKenzie, who sounds so fragile and melodramatic.

'I have a shower', and then phone my brother up /
Within the hour, I smash another cup.'

I adore really dodgy rhyming. That one's sheer class.
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(14 replies, Latest reply: Jun 8, 2004)

'Island Shocked By Surprise Presence of Water' (Apr 27, 2004)
This afternoon, we were treated to a surprise thunder storm in central London. As we watched the skies darken, our manager noted that the rain looked 'really heavy'.

That didn't exactly prepare me for the journey from Hell back home. The roads near my house are flooded. Buses that don't usually go anywhere near there are inching their way through side streets to find an alternative route while fire engines try to push past so they can pump the water somewhere else.

It never ceases to amaze me that after 2000 years of civilisation in Britain people are still taken by surprise by rain. Even more ironic, how come we don't have storm drains like they do in LA - where it hardly ever rains!!
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(15 replies, Latest reply: May 5, 2004)

Alistair Cooke (1908-2004) (Mar 30, 2004)


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3581465.stm

My parents still listen to Radio 4 all the time. They have a radio in the kitchen, living room and my dad's office and it seems to me it was the sound of my childhood. I didn't identify the seminal pop classic 'Party Fears Two' as a song by The Associates; for me, it was and always will be the theme music for Radio 4's 'Week Ending'. On Saturday mornings there was a travel show called 'Breakway' hosted by Bernard Falk which had a jolly 1920s-style theme. And, every now and again, I'd be hushed by my dad when he was listening to the slow, comforting voice of Alistair Cooke, delivering one of his 'Letters from America'.

When I came to do my degree, the set text for American history was a huge brick that you often needed an annotated guide for just to work out what you were supposed to think on an issue. But my parents had a copy of Cooke's 'America', which seemed to make history both clear, easy to understand and even entertaining.

When someone who has been around as long as Cooke passes over, it's hard not to think back. I can see cold winter mornings, the curtains to the living room still closed. I can smell the sausages for breakfast and can picture the spread of sunday papers that seemed to be almost as tall as I was. I would read the funnies, and occasionally flick through the colour supplement, speeding past the pages of adverts until eventually I'd find an article on animals, ancient civilisations or outer space. And all the while, Alistair Cooke tells me via the power of radio about what's happening in a country that's thousands of miles away, but which even then I knew I'd visit often and come to love, even if it would be twenty years before that dream came true.

To read today of Alistair Cooke's death leaves me surprised at how sad I feel. I'm thinking back just 30 years, when Cooke was already 65. I suppose I'd just assumed he was one man who would actually be around forever.


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(5 replies, Latest reply: Mar 30, 2004)

Total Media Saturation (Mar 10, 2004)
I'm aiming to take over the world, medium by medium. Last week, a DVD of the Doctor Who story 'Pyramids of Mars' was released in which I appeared as a 'TV and film expert' (pah!) on the documentary discussing the era that the story comes from. This afternoon I recorded a five-minute thing about cult TV for a broadcast on the World Service this evening.

I am such a media tart.
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(29 replies, Latest reply: Mar 15, 2004)

The h2g2 Meet-up (Jan 12, 2004)
All I'm saying is, you've gotta be pretty daft when a question about your own Personal Space is in the quiz and you *don't know the answer*!

Me is fik.
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(7 replies, Latest reply: Jan 14, 2004)


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