Monthly Archives: January 2008

Monster Munch!

Monster Munch blog by Nicky Gibson

Finally my missus Nicky has got her own blog – Monster Munch!

“Monster-Munch will be bringing to you the delights of the world of SockMonster making, nice Typography, Web things, Doodles, Toys, and generally any bits and bobs that take my fancy.”

It took her about 6 months to decide on a name and about 24 hours to design, build and fill with posts! I’m sure Nicky will be a brilliant blogger, she’s got a great eye for things, so get it in your bookmarks or subscribe to the RSS.

Also you check out Nicky’s FFFFOUND & Flickr.

Incidentally Monster Munch is the name I use for the dog I want, but haven’t got yet.

Update of my video solution for backpacking

Wolverine ESP 5250

I posted a few days ago my thoughts on what camcorder I should get to video my big walk. Most people didn’t think I’d be able to store the video on an iPod, but I’ve had a number of good alternative suggestions. Most promising of which is the Wolverine ESP 5250, it’s basically a 250GB portable hard disk with a memory card slot already built it. If think this would be plenty of storage and a reasonably minimum effort solution. The camera I like is about 460g with battery, the Wolverine is 290g with battery, so that makes the basic setup 750g. Which is dissapointingly exactly the same as my old camera… I was hoping to reduce weight, but at least only half of will be round my waist which should make walking with it more comfortable.

But I also like the idea of spending the £350 that the Wolverine would cost on eight or so 8GB memory sticks (can get them £45 on amazon), they hold 1 hour of full quality video and don’t weigh anything or take up much space. Not much total storage, but I think I might be able to juggle them about sending full ones to someone who can then copy them to a computer and post them back to a post office pick up point we know we’ll be going through. It sounds a bit more risky, lost or delayed/missed in the post etc, but would be incredibly light weight!

Also of note is the HDR-SR12E, which Sony have just announced. Looks nice, love the big metal knob on the front, plus it records full 1920×1080 video. Only problem is the 120GB hard drive isn’t quite big enough, would still need to juggle video around a bit on memory sticks, which I’m not sure is worth the 100g weight saving (comes in at 650g with battery).

So after all that, the solution I think I might go for is just the Sony HDR-CX6 and a bunch of memory sticks which I’ll have to send back and forth. It might end up being a bit of a headache… but I really don’t want the extra weight, sure it’ll all work out fine in the end. Going to sit on it for a while though before I buy anything, might still change my mind. Thanks everyone for your suggestions and advice :)

Passport Stamps

Open passport with stamps on it

One of the best things about the internet is folk giving away stuff for free. Whether that’s information, entertainment, tools, or services, I’ve taken my fair share of free stuff over the years and have been thinking it’s about time I start giving back. I’ve created a new category called Goodies – that’s where I’ll be sticking all my future free stuff for folk to use and abuse.

First up is some Passport Stamps I created at work today (they’re not the actual stamps these countries use, I just made them up). I’ve saved them out as a set of very high-res Photoshop brushes (first set of bushes I’ve ever made) Download the brushes here. To install you just need to double click them, but it’s best to put them in your brushes folder first: Photoshop > Presets > Brushes. Feel free to use them in any way you wish.