My best photos at Max Hammond Photos.
More of my photography on Flickr.
Stock Photography at Alamy

Was in Frankfurt at the weekend. I’ve been through many, many times but haven’t visited the city before. Nice enough, big city, impressive skyscrapers.

My best photos at Max Hammond Photos.
More of my photography on Flickr.
Stock Photography at Alamy

The true taste of Sweden – not Smörgåstårte, Janssons frestelse, meatballs or anything else. No, it’s mini Daim bars, imported all the way from Ikea in Croydon (which is really pronounced ee-kay-ah).

Those of you with good memories will recall that I reviewed the book a while back, and liked it. I’d heard mixed things about the movie, so I decided to give it a look, courtesy of Blockbuster.

This is not a bad action movie. The fights are well staged, the atmosphere is just right, the characters are for the most part believable.

The book’s better, though.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good adaption, the plot modifications were all sensible, but it didn’t inspire in me anywhere near the level of emotional engagement that the book did. Perhaps this is one of those stories which is best left untold; in any novel or graphic novel it is up to the reader to fill in the gaps, whereas this film fills in the ideas about the physicality of the characters for you. The cinematography is first-rate, but it still compresses V from a larger-than-life idea, to a real man in a wig and a mask.

So. Good action film, definitely worth watching. Don’t expect to be moved by it.

Writing about: BBC NEWS | England | Passengers explain pair’s removal

Passengers on a Manchester-bound flight have described how two men were removed from the plane because they were acting suspiciously and speaking Arabic.

Oh dear. Travelling whilst asian appears to be a problem now.

An oldie but a goodie. Contains naughty words.

I just thought how ironic it is that although the USA is the only western country where evolution vs. creationism is still a topic of debate, the USA is also the world’s greatest proponent of genetic engineering.

Go figure.

Writing about: China First Hand

China First Hand is the story of my trip to China [...] The delay in publishing was caused by various factors, but not least by the restrictions within china on controversial internet activity. I try to be fair in all my articles, but I am also honest.

So a friend of mine is writing a blog about her travels in China. I imagine it’ll be an interesting read…

Writing about: Bruce Schneier Facts

Most people use passwords. Some people use passphrases. Bruce Schneier uses an epic passpoem, detailing the life and works of seven mythical Norse heroes.

Bruce Schneier doesn’t even know the meaning of the word ciphertext, because to him, everything is plaintext.

Bruce Schneier’s secure handshake is so strong, you won’t be able to exchange keys with anyone else for days.

Bruce Schneier is the ideal man. Alice loves him; Bob fears him; Charlie wants to be him.

When God needs a new secure certificate, he uses Bruce Schneier as the signing authority.

My best photos at Max Hammond Photos.
More of my photography on Flickr.
Stock Photography at Alamy

Home from home? It’s always nice to head out to Sweden, meet the family, eat some ice cream.

I used to be there for four or five weeks each year, when I was a child, but since I started university it’s really been only for a week, at most. The last couple of years have been long weekends, really. I’ve travelled in sweden a bit in the meantime, but not really spending time with my family – interrailing and doing a cycle tour.

The building in the photo is my mum’s stuga: her little cottage in the forest. Or rather, what’s left of the forest; the area is being rapidly developed and there’s not so much forest left.

The road we used to travel down on is the E6, and I can remember that road being basically deserted. Now it’s a relatively busy motorway, partly because of the bridge from Copenhagen to Malmö. Sweden seems to be doing fairly well at not letting the development destroy the culture, but I guess that only time will tell.

Exciting news: I’ve got a new mobile :-)

I’ve always had Nokia phones, since I got my very first 3210 way back in ‘99. But now I’ve jumped ship – Sony Ericsson it is. K610i. V. nice. Recommended.

On the other hand, my landline has broken. ADSL and CLI work, but there’s no dialtone and it doesn’t ring. So I reported the fault to BT online, it did a line test automagically, and let me divert calls to my mobile until they fix it. Which is nice of them.