<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed version="0.3" xmlns="http://purl.org/atom/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xml:lang="en">
<title>Undercrank</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/" />
<modified>2007-12-05T11:58:51Z</modified>
<tagline></tagline>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2008://1</id>
<generator url="http://www.movabletype.org/" version="3.33">Movable Type</generator>
<copyright>Copyright (c) 2007, Mark</copyright>
<entry>
<title>How to cancel your Virgin Media cable contract</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/07/12/how-to-cancel-your-virgin-media-cable-contract" />
<modified>2007-12-05T11:58:51Z</modified>
<issued>2007-12-05T10:56:29Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2007://1.536</id>
<created>2007-12-05T10:56:29Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">If you&apos;ve been a long time user of cable and you&apos;re getting thoroughly fed up of Virgin Media and their not-so-clever traffic shaping methods, here&apos;s how I got myself liberated - it should work for you too, provided you&apos;re outside of your initial 12-month contract.</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Web</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p>If you've been a long time user of cable and you're getting thoroughly fed up of <cite>Virgin Media</cite> and their not-so-clever <a href="http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html">traffic shaping</a> methods, here's how I got myself liberated - it should work for you too, provided you're outside of your initial 12-month contract.</p>

<p>First, call <a href="callto://+448454541111">0845 454 11 11</a>.  Once you get through, you'll need to choose <strong>Option 4</strong> for <em>Moving Home</em>, then <strong>Option 2</strong> for <em>disconnections</em>, followed by <strong>Option 1</strong> again in order to confirm.</p>

<p>Hopefully within a matter of a couple of minutes you'll be connected to a real live operator.  Once you confirm your address, payment method and what have you, you'll get to the fun part.</p>

<p>After a brief bit of struggle and dispute about why you're leaving - and at least in my case, explaining that my new <a href="http://www.bethere.co.uk">Be*</a> ADSL2+ installation is working beautifully at a rock-solid 12Mbps, you'll be informed that <q>"Sir, I'm on a BT website now, I can clearly see you can only get up to 1Mbps at your location..."</q>.  </p>

<p>You'll get to fight this fight for a few minutes, and if you can resist the urge to scream "But obviously, you're wrong. I'm in my house now, I should know.", they will - finally - give up and accept that you've given them 30 days notice and give you confirmation of your disconnection date.</p>

<p>Oh, did I mention how marvellous <a href="http://www.bethere.co.uk">Be*</a> is, on both price and performance?  Sure, you'll never get the 24Mbps unless you're living next door to the exchange, but it's better than paying a premium price for 20Mbps and getting a realistic average of 5Mbps.</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>A catastrophic error message</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/12/a-catastrophic-error-message" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:27:16Z</modified>
<issued>2006-12-05T21:11:18Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.535</id>
<created>2006-12-05T21:11:18Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain"><![CDATA[ Now, I've seen some error dialogs in my time.&nbsp; Some are informative, some are incomphrensible and some - like this gem that Sony Ericsson have put together -&nbsp;are just plain scary What had actually happened (I think) was that...]]></summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Usability</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p><img src="/illustrations/catastrophic.png" width="239" height="164" class="thumb" /></p>

<p>Now, I've seen some error dialogs in my time.&nbsp; Some are informative, some are incomphrensible and some - like this gem that Sony Ericsson have put together -&nbsp;are just plain scary</p>

<p>What had <em>actually</em> happened (I think) was that it was busy querying my K800i when the signal dropped - I was on a train after all.&nbsp; So I'd rather it have just suggested something along those lines rather than&nbsp;proposing that the world was about to end.</p>

<p>Who'd have thought that a simple "Mobile Networking Wizard" was fraught with such danger?</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Christmas shopping still sucks</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/12/christmas-shopping-still-sucks" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:25:15Z</modified>
<issued>2006-12-02T12:37:34Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.534</id>
<created>2006-12-02T12:37:34Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">It&apos;s the one time of the year when I spend more than the normal amount of time on online shopping sites. And the same as every other year, it seems like major online retailers have learnt little about user&apos;s shopping...</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Usability</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p>It's the one time of the year when I spend more than the normal amount of time on online shopping sites. And the same as every other year, it seems like major online retailers have learnt little about user's shopping habits.  </p>

<p>One of the common horrors on sites such as <a title="Debenhams" href="http://www.debenhams.com">debenhams.com</a> is that that the designers seem to believe that people think in terms of brands, rather than categories of items - for example, I've visited the site thinking I'd like to buy a gift for an aunt - maybe something like bubble bath. Easy enough, right?  </p>

<ol>
  <li>Step one, visit the site.  </li>
  <li>Step two, go to the beauty section.  </li>
  <li>Step three, find the "Bath &amp; Body" range.</li>
  <li>Step four... Select a brand. Huh? </li>
</ol> 

<p><img height="300" alt="Debenhams.com brand selection options" src="/illustrations/debenhamsbrand.png" width="400"></p>

<p>The flaw here is that I can't just browse all the items in the "Bath &amp; Body" section - I have to pick a brand to continue. So now, I need to select a brand and browse through those items; if I don't like what I see, I have to go back, choose another and keep going. Often in these cases I don't even know the brands or have any suggestion of what sort of items that that brand covers - forcing me to navigate continually into areas that I probably don't care about.</p>

<p>Unfortunately for the end user, product managers think in brands whereas most consumers - with perhaps the exception of some high fashion items - tend not to, particularly if they're just trying browse and virtually "window shop" for ideas. </p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Usability rule #231</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/11/usability-rule-231" />
<modified>2006-11-21T22:14:51Z</modified>
<issued>2006-11-18T22:06:52Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.533</id>
<created>2006-11-18T22:06:52Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain"><![CDATA[Hey Nectar; don't ask me - repeatedly, and more than once&nbsp;on the same screen - for a piece of information that will only cause an error every time I send it.&nbsp; Dear me....]]></summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Usability</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p>Hey Nectar; don't ask me - repeatedly, and more than once&nbsp;on the same screen - for a piece of information that will only cause an error every time I send it.&nbsp; Dear me.</p> <p><a href="http://undercrank.com/WindowsLiveWriter/Usabilityrule231_136F1/nectar9.gif" atomicselection="true"><img height="310" alt="Nectar.com error dialog" src="http://undercrank.com/WindowsLiveWriter/Usabilityrule231_136F1/nectar_thumb3.gif" width="437"></a></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Russell Brand&apos;s got issues</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/09/russell-brands-got-issues" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:28:30Z</modified>
<issued>2006-09-08T22:39:11Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.531</id>
<created>2006-09-08T22:39:11Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain"> I am now on the YouTube bandwagon. Woo! (Filmed at Tottenham Court Road station, with an Nokia N93)...</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Miscellaneous</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zVC4cQtFHZk"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zVC4cQtFHZk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br />
<br /><br />
I am now on the YouTube bandwagon.  Woo!  (Filmed at Tottenham Court Road station, with an Nokia N93)</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Windows Live Writer</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/08/windows-live-writer" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:29:19Z</modified>
<issued>2006-08-14T15:49:23Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.530</id>
<created>2006-08-14T15:49:23Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain"><![CDATA[ Test post using the Windows Live Writer application. So far... so good.&nbsp; It seems to use the MT API to actually retrieve the styles of the blog.&nbsp; Very impressive. On the left is a complete idiot (who's NOT me),...]]></summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Blogs</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p><img style="margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px" src="http://static.flickr.com/96/212319603_ca5ef2d1ff_m.jpg" align="left">  <p>Test post using the Windows Live Writer application. So far... so good.&nbsp; It seems to use the MT API to actually retrieve the styles of the blog.&nbsp; Very impressive.</p> <p>On the left is a complete idiot (who's NOT me), getting drawn on in Tottenham Court Road last week.&nbsp; Despite having a good look, there didn't seem to be any TV camera's around (ruling out the Jackass theory), nor anyone else other than amused passers-by.</p></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Super Smiley Wallpaper</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/07/super-smiley-wallpaper" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:29:50Z</modified>
<issued>2006-07-23T20:33:50Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.528</id>
<created>2006-07-23T20:33:50Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">One of the nice things at Skype&apos;s shiny new office in London is a fantastic wall of emoticons on one of the stairwells - I wanted to take a shot with my cameraphone and post it online but wasn&apos;t sure...</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Miscellaneous</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p>One of the nice things at Skype's shiny new office in London is a fantastic wall of emoticons on one of the stairwells - I wanted to take a shot with my cameraphone and post it online but wasn't sure if that was cool or not (I am, after all, a newbie there).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clocky/197090690/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/74/197090690_33ba79caec.jpg" width="500" height="375" class="thumb" alt="Pixel Art Wallpaper" /></a></p>

<p>However, the <cite>Life at Skype</cite> blog has <a href="http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2006/07/the_emotional_wall.html">posted a short article</a> about it now that shows it in all its glory, thus saving me the bother!</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>So I started a new job at Skype...</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/07/so-i-started-a-new-job-at-skype" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:30:55Z</modified>
<issued>2006-07-20T10:03:24Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.527</id>
<created>2006-07-20T10:03:24Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">So, I&apos;ve officially been a Skype-r for 3 weeks now, and what an er, &apos;interesting&apos; few weeks it&apos;s been, what with the heat, travel and illness.</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Usability</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p>So, I've officially been a Skype-r for 3 weeks now, and what an er, 'interesting' few weeks it's been, what with the heat, travel and illness:</p>

<table width="100%">
<colgroup>
<col width="33%" />
<col width="33%" />
<col width="33%" />
</colgroup>
<tr>
<td align="center">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clocky/183196597/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/78/183196597_47e7200113_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Murky Tower" /></a>
</td>
<td align="center">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clocky/188811151/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/53/188811151_9802eb10c3_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Aleksander Nevski Cathedral" /></a>
</td>
<td align="center">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clocky/193557870/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/49/193557870_7476a97a14_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Catheter" /></a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Week 1: London</th>
<th>Week 2: Tallinn</th>
<th>Week 3: Hospital</th>
</tr>
</table>

<p>Do I win a prize?  I think that's reasonable... I should add I didn't actually fall ill in Tallinn, but I didn't really get a whole lot done when I got there.</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Freedom!</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/06/freedom" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:31:44Z</modified>
<issued>2006-06-11T12:57:06Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.526</id>
<created>2006-06-11T12:57:06Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain"> .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Not your usual wildlife, originally uploaded by Mark McLaughlin. There&apos;s a stray budgie spending a...</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Miscellaneous</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p><style type="text/css"><br />
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }<br />
.flickr-yourcomment { }<br />
.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }<br />
.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }<br />
</style></p>

<div class="flickr-frame">
	<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clocky/162634019/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/50/162634019_fc336c44c9.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a>
<br />
	<span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clocky/162634019/">Not your usual wildlife</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/clocky/">Mark McLaughlin</a>.</span>
</div>
				
<p class="flickr-yourcomment">
	There's a stray budgie spending a fair bit of time in my back garden these days. Whether he's escaped or someone let him go is anyone's guess. but he seems happy enough hanging with the rest of the bird gang.
</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Notes from &quot;The Future of Webapps&quot;</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/06/02/notes-from-the-future-of-webapps" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:33:00Z</modified>
<issued>2006-02-08T20:32:11Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2006://1.521</id>
<created>2006-02-08T20:32:11Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Notes from the morning sessions of Carson Workshops &quot;The Future of Webapps&quot; summit in London.</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Web</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p>Whilst it's still fresh in my mind, here are a bunch of notes I collaborated on using <a href="http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/">SubEthaEdit</a> at today's Carson Systems hosted <a href="http://www.carsonworkshops.com/summit/index.html">The Future of Web Apps</a> summit held in London today.</p>

<ul>
  <li><cite>Joshua Schachter</cite> - <a href="/summit/Delicious.html">Delicious - Things We've Learned</a> </li>
  <li><cite>Cal Henderson</cite> - <a href="/summit/Flickr.html">Building Flickr</a> </li>
  <li><cite>Tom Coates</cite> - <a href="/summit/TomCoates.html">Designing Web 2.0-native Products for Fun and Profit</a> </li>
</ul>

<p>Further and more detailed notes from these and the later afternoon sessions are available at <a href="http://nascentguruism.com/journal/liveblogging-carson-summit"><cite>Steve Marshall</cite></a>'s site.</p>
]]>
<![CDATA[<p>Also, in keeping with the day's theme I've tagged a heap of links that came up during the talks at my <a href="http://del.icio.us/undercrank/futureofwebapps">del.icio.us</a> page.</p>

<p>(With thanks to <a href="http://purebreeze.com">Levent</a>, <a href="http://marcusleemitchell.co.uk">Marcus Lee Mitchell</a>, <a href="http://randomcat.co.uk">Chris Stainthorpe</a> and the others who contributed.)</p>]]>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Gmail Web Clips for UK users</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/05/12/gmail-web-clips-for-uk-users" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:33:37Z</modified>
<issued>2005-12-19T13:32:39Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2005://1.520</id>
<created>2005-12-19T13:32:39Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Enabling Web Clip functionality on UK GMail accounts.</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Web</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p><img src="/illustrations/googlemail.jpg" width="300" height="85" class="thumb"/>If you're in the UK feeling a bit put out that your <a href="http://mail.google.com">Gmail</a> (er, I mean <a href="http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en-GB/googlemail.html">Google Mail</a>) account doesn't seem to feature the new <a href="http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=18219">Web Clips</a> functionality, then the easy way to remedy that is to go to your Gmail "Settings" link at the top of the interface and then select your "Gmail display language" to be <strong>English (US)</strong>.</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>RSS over instant messaging</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/05/12/rss-over-instant-messaging" />
<modified>2006-12-05T21:35:07Z</modified>
<issued>2005-12-03T19:00:31Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2005://1.515</id>
<created>2005-12-03T19:00:31Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Web app immedi.at notifies users of updates to RSS feeds via Instant Messaging.</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Blogs</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p><img src="/illustrations/immediat.jpg" width="240" height="180" class="thumb" />Web app <a href="http://immedi.at">immedi.at</a> takes a RSS or Atom feed specified by the user (selected via a small bookmarklet) and then sends alerts to the IM application of your choice when the feed is updated.  Currently AIM, MSN Messenger, Jabber and ICQ are supported.</p>

<p>At first glance, the idea is awesome, although it might get a little bit overkill with some more popular sites - say <a href="http://www.slashdot.org">Slashdot</a> or <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk">BBC News</a>, but it does do exactly what it says on the tin.</p>

<p>However, the killer app might just be a combining it with a keyword based feed such as my earlier <a href="http://undercrank.com/posts/05/03/yahoo-web-services-news-over-rss">Yahoo! News over RSS</a> article, alerting you to stories from multiple sources based on topics of your choice.</p>

<p>Currently the service appears to pick up its feeds via autodetecting the URL's in the selected site's meta tags, but with a little tweaking it might not be too difficult to point it in the direction of a XML file.  (The system is very much in beta right now, so the functionality might well appear in the coming weeks nonetheless.)</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>It&apos;s not normally how they do weight reduction</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/05/11/its-not-normally-how-they-do-weight-reduction" />
<modified>2005-11-30T21:46:47Z</modified>
<issued>2005-11-30T21:44:56Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2005://1.513</id>
<created>2005-11-30T21:44:56Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Bump and indeed ouch.  After just over three years and 24,000 miles I finally succumbed to the road (and indeed the black ice as well).</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Scooter</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clocky/66805685/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/29/66805685_9ea98658c8_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="2006 Farmyard Special Edition" class="thumb" /></a>Bump and indeed ouch.  After just over three years and 24,000 miles I finally succumbed to the road (and indeed the black ice as well).</p>
<p>The amazing thing was that the whole accident was a bit of a non-event.  I was slowing down some distance away from a T-Junction doing around 40mph and the back wheel just went and that was that - the bike sloped to the floor and I went bouncing down the lanes of Fifield.</p>
<p>I'm fairly sure the scoot itself is going to be a write-off; nearly every panel on the right hand side was either broken, scratched or scuffed and past experiences with Aprilia spares, particularly as the original Atlantic isn't a current model, suggest that will be the case.</p>
<p>As for me, I'm not a write-off just yet.  I do have the joy of four stitches just above my top lip and those funny little <a href="http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/healthcare/professional/node_GSFWXQWVM8be/root_GST1T4S9TCgv/vroot_GS2PVC6H4Dge/gvel_GSTGM553HTgl/theme_us_professional_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html">Steri-Strips</a> across my nose, making it seem I've done a few rounds with <cite>Mike Tyson</cite>.</p>
<p>So my biking future is looking quiet for the time being.  I'm trying to sneak in a <a href="http://www.uk.vespa.com/_vti_g2_vers.asp?brand=VESPA&country=GB&language=EN&mod=VGP-VESPAGTS&vers=VGP-VESPAGTS250">cheeky little Vespa</a> for the summer, but I think I'm resigned to finally taking driving lessons and getting a car licence.</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Korn&apos;s Twisted Transistor</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/05/11/korns-twisted-transistor" />
<modified>2005-11-17T10:07:10Z</modified>
<issued>2005-11-17T09:35:45Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2005://1.512</id>
<created>2005-11-17T09:35:45Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Reviewing Korn&apos;s &quot;Twisted Transistor&quot; video and their er, &apos;interesting&apos; new site design.</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Music</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<p>
<img class="thumb" src="http://undercrank.com/illustrations/korntwisted.jpg" title="Lil' John, David Banner, Snoop and Xzibit" />
<cite>Korn</cite>'s new video <a href="http://videos.antville.org/stories/1250558/">Twisted Transistor</a> was released earlier this month to mixed reviews.  The basic concept of the video is a fun  and ironic one - replace a the members of a rock band with hip-hop stars as they get more <cite>MTV</cite> airplay - but so much of the clip is taken up with in-jokes and poor efforts at a <cite>Christopher Guest</cite> style 'mockumentary' that the idea gets diluted and drawn out and ultimately, you wonder what the point of it all is. </p>

<p>To my mind, playing out the track with those four guys without making a big deal over it, completely throwing the viewer and leaving them with a "Wait a minute, isn't that <cite>Snoop Dogg</cite> & <cite>Xzibit</cite>?" would have been <em>far</em> more clever.  All that aside, if you've followed the band for any reasonable length of time the general idea is still quite a giggle, not to mention that Snoop is an inspired choice to play <cite>Munky</cite>.</p>

<p>In preparation for their new album the band have updated their website too, with a suitably over-the-top festival of Flash that laughs in the face of <cite>Merlin Mann</cite>'s idea that label and artist sites already have <a href="http://www.43folders.com/2004/12/06/five-mistakes-band-label-sites-make/">Too Much Flash</a> (Merlin's in the right here, though.)  Your average 14-year-old Korn fan will literally spooge over it; those who are a bit older will sit through the load screens and awkward menu's and wonder if it's the late 90's again.</p>

<p>(Of course, the truly old farties like myself will go, "Wait, wasn't there a game called <a href="http://www.adventurecollective.com/reviews/7thguest.htm">The 7th Guest</a> that looked <a href="http://www.mobygames.com/game/7th-guest/screenshots">almost exactly the same</a> as this about 10 years ago?")</p>]]>

</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Top Dog</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://undercrank.com/posts/05/11/top-dog" />
<modified>2005-11-22T23:08:55Z</modified>
<issued>2005-11-14T15:27:55Z</issued>
<id>tag:undercrank.com,2005://1.511</id>
<created>2005-11-14T15:27:55Z</created>
<summary type="text/plain">Benjamin Bertie McLaughlin of Sheerwater, 1989-2005.</summary>
<author>
<name>Mark</name>
<url>http;//www.undercrank.com</url>
<email>mark@mclaughlin.me.uk</email>
</author>
<dc:subject>Miscellaneous</dc:subject>
<content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://undercrank.com/">
<![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clocky/257467/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/1/257467_606979f7cf.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="My favourite dog" style="  border: #efefef 1px solid; padding: 1em;" /></a></div>

<p><cite style="display: block; text-align: center;">Benjamin Bertie McLaughlin of Sheerwater, 1989-2005</cite></p>]]>

</content>
</entry>

</feed>