Click Bits!

Pilot show Click Bits - Episode 2!

(RSS/Can’t see the link? here you go: http://bit.ly/clickbits002 )

This is what I’ve been up to the last month, as well as doing quite a bit for bbc click recently… including working with the marvellous Maggie Philbin on our futurology piece. She’s done such a brilliant post here about our visit to Kingswood Warren that I don’t need to add anything…

OK, I will add that we both turned up on the ShiftRunStop podcast last week.

Here are some behind-the-scenes pics of the birthing of ClickBits.

My bag with script in - and an impressive amount of useless stuff

– yes I did eat that twirl. And I didn’t bother taking pics of the usual tv stuff including filming pieces to camera, script wrangling and finding pictures to fit. Unless you want me to next time?

Also the madness of only having a finite amount of time to do an infinite amount of work is the sort of thing is familiar to techies everywhere. Editors, I’m thinking of YOU when I type this.

tape of episode 1 ! yes, tape! Click on this if you want to see episode 1, but episode 2 is better 🙂 Click on the top pic for that.

The grown-up edit suite was double booked for our first episode, but it didn’t stop us – we squeezed into a small office and crowded around a desk and computer meant for 1 person.  Final Cut Pro, in case you were wondering. And yes, we ate a LOT of choccy in  a room so cramped all our knees were touching.

on its way into the BBC system?

This was our 2nd attempt to ingest 3 mins of video into the BBC, we were thwarted by technology many times! It’s always worse when a BIG machine borks – I always (illogically, irrationally and incorrectly) expect computers with 4 screens to be, I don’t know, cleverer.

Humans 3, Machines 2

Finally, the wondrous Zoe (who is producing this with me and is the illustrious @zsk on twitter) came across this hidden terminal and executed some kind of Harry Potter spell that meant the machines had to obey her – and they did.

As I’m off to CES Las Vegas 2010 next week, Zoe and I will be attempting to make the 3rd Click bits episode a few thousand miles apart… we’ll be using yousendit and psychic powers to make that work, but if anyone can do it, it will be the 2 most stubborn people at the Beeb – us!

Nom Nom Nom 2009

…is only 10 hours away, and I’m ready.

No, of course I’m not ready, but I did source a particularly effective chef’s hat…

The last month has been brilliant, manic and, alas, almost completely sleep-free.

Excitingly I’m going to be on the BBC again next week as my piece on Music Recognition should be cooked by then – first I have to get 2 or 3 internet shots at some ridiculously unsociable hour on Monday morning, before crawling into the Edit with both Callie the Editor and the sort of coffee that causes spontaneous leg-shaking and hallucinations.

But before that in 10 hours’ time I shall be entering NomNomNom 2009, a charity cook-off where the fabulous Jemimahknight and I are charged with making a 3-course meal and serving it to 2-michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens – so no pressure there, then…

Our team is called Bork Bork Bork – will report back with pix and video assuming I survive.

Crazy Shop Websites

One of the things I had to do over the weekend was to find some crazy-looking online web shops, and thanks to everyone on twitter who kindly suggested some sites when I was struggling !  Thanks are also due to http://webpagesthatsuck.com, I spent much longer than needed on there.

It’s for a piece on BBC Click that I’m producing,  just at the beginning of the feature – all will become clear when it’s aired on the 28th February.

I promised that I’d put my favourite ones on my blog, so here they are:

http://www.fabricland.co.uk/  – WOULD YOU LIKE SOME FABRICS?????

http://www.cccp.com/  Errr, hello, I’m a person, just walking out of my webpage.

http://www.yvettesbridalformal.com/  Ow! my brain!!

Finally, these two are fabulous but not online shops, so they don’t count, although I thoroughly enjoyed the craziness of both of them.

http://www.havenworks.com how much can you fit on one page?

and lastly,

http://fletchowns.net/ NB please do not  click through to this if you suffer from photo-sensitive epilepsy: it’s a very, very, bright flashing site filled with bright flashy stuff that repeats over and over until the end of time. It felt like I’d looked at it for about 10 seconds, but I missed QI as I was under for 4 hours.

Right, I’ve finished my filming, will update you on that once I’ve done the edit at the Beeb!

CES 2009 – more pictures

A few pics from the last few days at CES – I’ve got a couple of great interviews in the can including one from a guy at Microsoft who was on the development team for Windows 7, and Akon – although I’ll edit these on the plane home tomorrow (if I don’t sleep, that is).

Fatal1ty kicking butt at the Creative Stand CES 2009

 

Said like Comic Book Man from the Simpsons: thickest.... cables.... ever!!!!!

 

CES 2009 Networking centre

 

Emptying the floor at the end of the day, CES 2009

 

Stevie Wonder and the BBC Click team - shooting the interview

 

Diana Ross singing at the Monster Party, CES 2009 - I'm at the front!

 

Lamborghini at CES 2009

Quick Click Blog

View from Click Towers

…And the reason I’ve been so utterly busy is partially explained by the picture, which is the view from BBC Click‘s offices at BBC TV Centre!  Wow!

I’m putting together some packages (which is what we call the 4-minute features in the programme) which will be transmitted across the whole world!

Some of the more techy readers may well have seen me pop up on a couple of episodes already – and you’ll be able to see me on the iPlayer on the coming edition, talking about gadgets with Spencer Kelly, Click’s main presenter, in the soon-to-be-revealed Click Lab.

I am chuffed to bits to be at the BBC!!!!!  As I (and others) would say on Twitter: “Woop!  Woop!”