The Museum Of Modern Thinking

Not existential angst, but wondering where I need to position myself as a developer. I’ve missed out on some technologies, and I’m wondering how far down the rabbit hole I should go with some of them.

I’m still very much a web developer, so I certainly should be looking at ASP.Net MVC and jQuery, as well as upgrading my knowledge in the standard Web Forms, not forgetting the AJAX toolkit as well. Behind the scenes, looking at data storage layers such as LINQ to SQL and their enterprise patter, as well as applicable patterns such as the Repository Pattern and even the Active Record pattern.

That’s where things get, frankly, a bit dull and convoluted. I read a great post recently about how coding these days is how to link one library to another, or just whack some XML together to control a Spring.Net DI solution. I, like the author, can’t find the fun in that. Sure, it may get projects done quicker, and it’s standard, but it can also be a lot of overkill. That’s why I’d prefer a simple approach to projects, nice and lightweight, no navel-gazing about what might be required two years down the line, not coding an interface for every single class because “it’s the right thing to do” although it’ll never be used, adding tests to every single method (even private ones) because “it’s the right thing to do”, etc.

I’m a firm believer in Jeff Attwood’s mantra YAGNI - you ain’t gonna need it. If the customer hasn’t asked for it, and if there’s no chance it will be required within a year or so, don’t code it. Write your code in such a way that things can be replaced easily (and yes, I guess that does mean some interfaces, but surely not on every single bloody class), and keep it simple. I use as many syntactical shortcuts as I can, as I’m lazy, but that’s why they were added to the language.

Anyway, a bit off topic - I’m really writing this as a store for where I should be heading. I am a Microsoft chap, and I enjoy the products they put out and their technoology approaches. I find it amusing when I suggest a Microsoft solution (such as ASP.Net’s Forms Authentication) and am told by a colleague that he’ll write it themselves - how many people does Microsoft employ to work on stuff like this? How much R&D do they do? And one person thinks they can do it better? Heh, it’s another contradiction, I guess - I said I don’t like merely linking up one library with another, but I guess you could say that’s all I’m doing with the Forms Authentication, but hey, it’s sometimes a pain to get right and it’s fun wreslting with it BUT it provides a hell of a lot out of the box…

And don’t get me started on form validation - “oh, we don’t use the validation controls because they don’t work”. Yeah, ok, I’ve used them countless times and they seem just dandy.

Gah, back on topic. I really should be looking at what’s new in Windows Forms and the top best practices in that area as well, and look at Silverlight as well.

Hmmm, lots to cover - I’d better get started…

Do I really need to add anything else?

Although it’s embedded, I thoroughly recommend heading over to You Tube and watching in in HD - just click on the video above and select HD…

And damn, love that “suit in a briefcase” from the comics

Ok, it looks like a scene-for-scene remake of the Karate Kid - which it is. But, that’s not a bad thing… Starring Jackie Chan (praised be his name) and Jaden Smith (Will Smith’s nipper), it opens soon and frankly, doesn’t look half bad -I’ll take my son to watch it, I reckon. Nice to see some traditional Kung Fu training and philosophy in there as well.

H/T to The Movie Blog

Frankly, I don’t know how this guy is still alive - an 1,100lbs kick to the nuts? Here comes the science:

Seriously impressive ‘naddage… Is that even a word?

I’m a bit late to the party here, but seeing as none of the mainstream papers are carrying it, even if a couple of people read it, it’s worth it.

Old Holborn reports that the leaders of the English Defence League were arrested today on the way to a static peaceful protest in Edinburgh. Moreover, some of their homes were raided by armed police and computer equipment was seized - here’s a full report on what happened from the EDL.

I don’t see the police doing any raids on United Against Facism.

Make no mistake, a vote for Labour is a vote for more of this treatment from the virtual police state Labour have built - and mostly towards the indigenous population as they force us to bend over backwards, or more accurately forwards, and take their multiculturalism bullshit, along with their now-leaked policy of mass immigration as a method of changing Britiain irreversibly.

I’m not sure what to make of the EDL, I support what they are trying to do and some may compare them to the BNP, but last time I checked, we still have freedom of speech in this country - just. If some “radical” muslim zealot can hold up a sign saying “Death to those who insult Islam” and not be prosecuted (oddly enough), surely the EDL can march carrying signs that say “Laugh at those who insult freedom” and not be arrested.

A more important point: the EDL has been deemed to be dangerous (or whatever) by Labour / the police - who’s next? I doubt they will crack down on the United Against Fascism fascists (whose slogan should be “It’s not Fascism when we do it!”), but perhaps another small minority group like Fathers 4 Justice, who got unpleasantly shut down. Then maybe something closer to your beliefs - and then you.

Again, I have to break out Pastor Martin Niemöller’s poem “First they Came”:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

In case that’s not clear enough, and as Old Holborn says, what they do to the EDL today, they do to me tomorrow…

I cannot WAIT until the General Election and throw the current shower of shit out, and hopefully begin to reverse the horrendous damage they have done to this once-great sceptred isle of Britain.

Damn you Labour, damn you to Hell.

Well worth a watch, here’s Discovery’s “Stunt Stars” feature on the upcoming Tekken film, choreographed by Cyril Rafaelli, and starring, oooh, tons of real martial artists - no offence, Holly Valance :p

The vids are shown below using YouTube’s clever playlist, er, player - there are five in total, enjoy!

Chroma-key, colour-seperation overlay, blue-screen, green-screen… It’s come a long way, and this vid proves it. I can’t believe how many shows now use it, even Ugly Betty - yeah, I watch it, so what?!

As you’ll tell from the vid, it’s from Stargate Studios, and is amazing work… It’s stunning how far special effects have come in recent years, e.g. the burly man brawl in that 2nd Matrix film that was never made, any number of kid’s films, Avata - well, almost Just need to get out of the uncanny valley

H/T to Mike at The Raw Feed.

I’ve not even seen Ong Bak 2 yet (is it even out over here?), but apparently 3 wrapped sometime ago and will be out early this year - elbows!

Having playing Tekken (1) after being lured away from Mortal Kombat, I’ve been a big fan of the game and the current incarnation (Tekken 6) is awaiting my attention when I have some time. After a slew of so-so to crap martial arts game adaptations, the Tekken movie looks like it might be quite good - here’s the trailer:

The story focuses on Jin Kazama, out to destroy the head of the Tekken Zaibatsu, Heihachi Mishima, to avenge the death of his mother. Pretty much the entire roster is there: Eddy, Bryan Fury (yay!), Heihachi, Nina, Anna, Raven (not so yay), etc. The fight choreography has been done by an amazing martial artist / stuntman / loon called Cyril Rafaelli, who you may recal from the film District 13, where he starred alongside David Belle.

So long as they shoot the fight scenes well, it should turn out rather well. I found the trailer to cut away a bit too much, but it is a general trailer, not R / 18. The cast includes Jon Foo as Jin Kazama and Lateef Crowder as Edy Gordo, both of whom were in Tony Jaa’s excellent Warrior King - Lateef Crowder had the better fight with Tony Jaa in it, but it looks like Jon Foo will shine a bit more in this film. Incidentally, look out for Lateef Crowder in Undisputed 3 soon, with the always-awesome Scott Adkins.

The rest of the cast is rounded out very well: British martial arts star Gary Daniels looks spot-on as Bryan Fury, Luke Goss (very good in Blade 2) as Steve Fox, MMA star Cung Le as Marshall “cheap” Law, and I’ve pleased to see everyone’s favourite robo-ninja-cyborg-thing Yoshimitsu in there as well, played by Gary Ray Stearns. I’ve only mentioned a few of the cast, so head on over to the Tekken page on IMDB to read up.

Release date is March 5th, 2010 in the UK, but no theatrica release unfortunately - I wonder if it’s in Blu-Ray?

Here’s a “green band” (e.g. suitable for everyone) trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s film adaptation of Mark Millar’s “Kick Ass”:

It looks like a lot of fun, and it’s out in April - hopefully I’ll be seeing it then, still not got round to seeing Sherlock Holmes, hmmph.

Note: here’s a “red band” trailer (suitable for adults only - e.g. blood, violence, and fruity language) starring Hit Girl, another protagonist and all-round ass-kicker - worth a watch, but be warned, blood, violence, etc…

H/T to FirstShowing.Net