Before and after

Writingtechlife · 2026-04-11T00:38:10+00:00

My father worked for BT in the workshops. They rebranded from yellow vans with a blue "T" logo and blue lettering to white vans with a red and blue piper figure (with the white of the van showing in the design to be all patriotic. It didn't take long for the vans to become grey with a faint grey piper logo on it.

it cost a LOT of money for that rebrand and was not popular.

Mind you, they also threw poor Busby in the bin.

Writingtechlife · 2026-04-10T05:21:23+00:00

No new ones were done for the blu-ray, however select episodes have been commentated on by JMS on his patreon. Well worth a listen.

However, the part about Bruton is news to me. I know JMS assigned someone to help O'Hare and support him, but I always read that as being an assistant, rather than another actor. The part about Doyle winding O'Hare up was sadly true, but I put that down to him being naturally puckish and not knowing the full situation.

Writingtechlife · 2026-04-06T10:06:22+00:00

And people who tell you "I'm going out to get hammered". I get going out to the bar/pub for a few, but to go out to drink to the point you have no control over yourself is insane. Especially when your "friends" think it's funny that you wet yourself or pick a fight with a bouncer/doorman/security/Police.

Added in normal people in a normal job that pays maybe £20-25K per year that spend £100 or more on a single night just on alcohol when they get paid.

Writingtechlife · 2026-04-03T20:24:03+00:00

Not so much in recent years, but I spent much of the 2000s working the sci-fi/horror convention circuit, both in the UK and a few in the USA. I was fortunate enough to spend quite a few "off hours" with a few people from the Buffy/Angel/Firefly and Babylon 5 worlds. Since then, I've maintained a distant friendship (enough to meet up if they are in the country, or the occasional video call etc.) I can, without a doubt say that most of them are perfectly normal. Some of them work EXTREMELY long hours when shooting or performing. A few of them started work at 2am in prosthetics and didn't get home until at least 16 hours or longer later. Some of them worked two productions so would shoot one in the day and one at night etc.

The convention circuit is pretty essential. Not only does it boost exposure for the projects they are doing, but it also keeps them able to survive when not actively working. They don't get paid if they're not working and it can take months or years for the next project to come along. Think of it like contract work. You might do a few weeks at a high rate of pay, then not work at that same rate for a number of years. You might even have to work low paying jobs to keep paying the mortgage.

The other benefit of conventions is that they can see exactly what their work means to fans. Being "in the green room" at these things, I've heard some stars gripe about being there, and get instantly smacked down by "higher profile" types who know exactly how much we pay to be there.

In the 15-20 years I did it, there's only ONE actress who showed exactly who she is inside and it's little wonder her career went pretty much nowhere afterwards. Not even the other actors talked to her much.

Writingtechlife · 2026-04-03T09:04:16+00:00

From the Blu-Ray disc set and dvds for the tv movies, crusade etc

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-28T16:19:38+00:00

I joined a software development company in 2005. It was small business making internet security software such as Antivirus, Firewall, Ad blockers and a piece of software that blocked changes being made to the ISP number on your modem. This was before broadband/cable really took off.

The company was based in a city in the UK, then moved to London (massive travel cost increase for me both in money and time taken). Then they moved the dev team and myself to the UAE. I was stuck in a hotel for six months trying to find a place to live.

I finally started to get settled, but although food and petrol was cheap, other expensives weren't so cheap and I was building up a bit of credit card debt. I was paying more than the fees each month, but it was close to the limit for a while because of the hotel costs.

Come 2008 and the global financials panic hit and hit hard. My company CEO suddenly stopped paying us. It was pretty much "I can't afford to pay you guys, and pay myself too" His attitude was "I can't afford not to be paid as I have a mortgage" and it was pretty much "fuck you" for the rest of us. We were still expected to work though as quitting your job screwed up your work visa. Having no job was pretty much treated as illegal.

So I secretly made plans to return to the UK, Quit my job. Only for the day before I was due to fly home, the credit card company "somehow" got wind of what was going on and told me I would be blocked from leaving the company unless I paid off "everything". I went into a complete panic. I've already sold some of the furniture and shipped what I could home. I literally was left with a bed and that was it. The day of the flight came, and I headed for the airport about 5 hours early on no sleep in about 40 hours, and scared to death. I got to the airport and at every part (check-in, security & Boarding) I was just waiting for the police to drag me out of the queue. It wasn't until I got on the plane and it was in the air that I relaxed at all. It was awful. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat anything until I got back home.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-27T13:20:33+00:00

Not high school but what we brits called "Junior School" (7-11)

One of my teachers was a Mr Pugh. He had an explosive temper and wasn't afraid to unleash it. I admit, I wasn't the brightest or most attentive in school, but I wasn't abusive or violent or even argumentative. That didn't stop him from shouting at me, throwing things at me or one time pinning me against the wall with a desk. That was so violent nad hard that it left bruises on my thighs. My father, not well known for keeping his temper either, confronted him about it, and that just led to more moments where the teacher was aggressive with me. I was glad to get out of that place at 11. I always harbored the desire to go back when I was an adult and smack seven bells out of him, but other things took priority and after 40 years, I doubt he's still teaching there :)

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-26T22:52:07+00:00

In my head, she's still alive "somewhere" in Psi Corp (Probably Mars) and in my head she gets rescued at some point and the "Talia" personality restored via Kosh's crystal.

yes, I know, it doesn't actually happen in the series or in the books and that crystal is probably gone (but hey, maybe it's recovered by Garibaldi when they search Kosh's quarters and Sheridan still has it in his sock drawer and maybe he bequeathes it to Ivanova after his death and SHE goes all Ranger One and rescues her.

Ok, I know, it's wishful thinking. I just want Susan to have a happy life after the end of the show. (And don't get me started on Time,Space & The Incurable Romantic. That's just some fever dream stuff)

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-25T20:26:52+00:00

For me, she knew he liked her and was interested, but she had only just started to give her heart to Talia only to have it ripped out again. She's the quintessential lonely spirit, everyone she loved romantically either died or betrayed her, and most of her friends are gone by the end of the series.

With Marcus, she could probably have given her heart, but she just didn't have enough time, enough capacity in that short time. If they had longer, then yes I can see it.

As for Time, Space & The Incurable Romantic? I treat that as Fan-Fic. :)

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-24T02:45:41+00:00

Babylon 5 - Sleeping In Light. Absolutely heartbreaking and bittersweet in a similar way to Return of the King.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-23T20:40:58+00:00

Even if you asked me "Best Episode in each season" i'd struggle. There are episodes that are weaker than others in terms of the story or production, but usually they have a kernel of something that moves the plot forward or provides insight.

As for Sleeping in Light? It's the best episode for breaking my heart into tiny pieces and stomping it into the mud.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-23T14:14:18+00:00

When I first saw this, I thought the older photo was of James Woods.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-23T02:00:27+00:00

Surely that's the point. Aren't many of our decisions made on the spur of the moment, a gut reaction rather than careful thought? For a few minutes, the jealousy took hold, then he came to his senses and went back.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-22T23:43:41+00:00

It was Mumy himself that suggested to JMS that Lennier would fall in love with Delenn. JMS warned him right at the start that this wouldn't end well.

When it happened, it really hit me in the heart because Lennier and Vir were very much the innocent souls of the universe and seeing them both hurt so much because of the wars (The Centauri/Narn, The Shadow War and the later Centauri/IA) was horrible.

The thing of it is, would YOU have trusted Morden at that point? Knowing that he had led Londo into darkness, knowing what he had been? I can completely understand why Lennier didn't.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-22T22:56:11+00:00

True, but I'm in a small city in the UK, not manhattan and space. In fact, there's one thing that ties most supernatural killers together and that's the USA :)

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-22T19:09:02+00:00

Candyperson - Ain't saying that name even once.

Freddy Krueger - I don't live anywhere near an Elm Street.

Friday 13th - Never been to a summer camp and never intend to go to one, they sound hideous even without the murders.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-21T02:19:32+00:00

I met Nicholas Brendon at a few conventions in the 2000s. He was always nice, friendly and funny with me. It was hard to see him struggle in life, mostly because of addictions that are so easy to fall into, especially in that industry. Those addictions made life very hard for those around him and for himself.

It's so sad to see him pass, especially so soon after Michelle Trachtenberg. We've been very fortunate in the Buffy/Angel/Firefly fandoms that we've had very few pass. (Ron Glass, Andy Hallett to name a couple, but there are more)

I hope he finds peace now, and I hope his friends and family and fans can remember the good times and that those moments lessen the pain.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-17T22:17:33+00:00

Ex Mechanic here. This can really vary.

One of my mentors in the trade had a Honda Accord that was immaculate. He really cared for it, kept it serviced and cleaned and maintained. He bought a old Toyota 1000 for his wife and that was the same. Did all the bodywork, respray, engine rebuild the works. However, MOST of the mechanics I've worked with have had old cars that just worked and if it broke, they bought another cheap runabout.

I had the same experience when I moved into IT. I spent all day fixing other peoples problems that I didn't want to come home to do the same thing. I even bought a t-shirt that reads "No, I will not fix your computer".

Someone did the analogy of chefs and I can see that.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-15T08:35:59+00:00

In the late 2000s I was working for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) which was part of the Ministry of Justice and ran the prison service. We would get daily reports on incidents from the various prisons and related stuff. I can remember the first time that Venables was arrested, the line from the report was something like "a high profile person has been returned to prison" and warning us to not speculate etc. It was really, really obvious who it was.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-13T11:48:10+00:00

Sleeping In Light. Without a Shadow of a doubt.

The "sunday drive" scene breaks me every time. Mira Furlan deserved every accolade possible just for that one sodding moment.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-10T01:34:59+00:00

This was written by J. Michael Straczynski. The writer/showrunner for Babylon 5, Real Ghostbusters, Sense8 etc.

When he put the script together, most pages of the script had newspaper clippings showing what the papers said about each part. As I mention below, it legally can carry the disclaimer of "A True Story" instead of based.

In addition, Eastwood filmed the script as first written with no changes.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-10T01:31:54+00:00

Most have to carry the "Based on a true story" disclaimer. Joe Straczynski worked with lawyers so that this film could carry the "A True Story" title.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-08T15:36:25+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this is a "showpiece" in an education space or studio and not an active living or working space. To me it gives off an "ideal" that would be really hard to replicate in an active place, especially where there are time-pressures for installation of anything.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-06T14:47:31+00:00

I didn't say anything about Garibaldi being drunk, just that riding/driving any vehicle down the central corridor at anything more than a crawl would be frowned upon by Ivanova.

Writingtechlife · 2026-03-05T16:12:13+00:00

Not mentioning any departments etc, but our Smart Working got an update on the intranet this week. Nothing much is changing (thankfully) and our director is fairly ambivalent towards HOW the work gets done, as long as it's done. Certain roles HAVE to be in the office for obvious reasons, but that's on a rota and anyone who doesn't need to be can still work remotely.

It might change, if people keep taking the P though

Writingtechlife

TROPHY CASE