I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

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The Dark Crystal

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THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

When I first heard that Netflix was going to make a series based on the Dark Crystal, I have to admit I was somewhat skeptical about the whole thing. However, I knew I was going to at least give it a try, as I’d been a fan of the original film from when it first came out.

I was, like many others I suspect, very happily surprised by just how good it was. Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is an excellent series that is entirely in keeping with the original and very respectful to everything that the film did. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve now watched the whole thing twice, and gone back to watch the original movie too.

In fact, I’ve now started reading the Dark Crystal Creation Myths graphic novels too. I suppose I’ve become a little obsessed with it, although there’s nothing especially wrong with that.

I was very pleased to hear that another season is also in offing, and I’m certainly looking forward to that. Personally I’m not sure I can get quite enough Dark Crystal for now.

But why is it so compelling? Why has it been such a hit? Sure, there are plenty of people who remember the original movie and have nothing but fond memories of it, but I think it’s more than that. Dark Crystal is a very traditional story of good versus evil. There’s nothing new there, but it isn’t always as simple as that. It’s about community, and joining forces, about loyalty and innocence and friendship too.

THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

Space 1999 (Big Finish Audio)

Posted by on in Audiobooks, Books and Audiobooks1 Comment
A new version of Space 1999 from Big Finish

I’ve been a fan of Space 1999 since I was a kid. I just loved it. The idea was awesome, the show was awesome, but it only got two seasons, which was a shame really.

I’d hoped for a long time that Big Finish would bring it back, and they did. Releasing the first story “Breakaway” on the 13th of September last year. The date was significant. In the series the 13th of September was the date that the moon left earth’s orbit. Of course, that was back in 1999, so Big Finish releasing it on the 13th of September 2019 marked 20 years since the original story’s event.

The new version is excellent. It keeps to the original story but brings in a few new elements. I’ve listened to it twice now and it’s simply excellent.

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And so that was Mixtape Alpha

Posted by on in TechLeave a comment

I had one of these for a fair old time, and did, on occasion play with it a little. In 2019, along with lots of other bits of technology, I decided that I didn’t really need it anymore. Don’t get me wrong. It was fun to play with. I enjoyed it, but at times you just need to move on.

So now it’s gone to someone else who will hopefully find it useful, fun or whatever. I hope that they enjoy it.

A cassette magazine from a long time ago

Posted by on in MusicLeave a comment
SFX Cassette

When this first came out I can remember buying it. It was such an exciting idea. A magazine that you could listen to! It was a revelation. I didn’t buy many of them. It wasn’t cheap, or at least I didn’t really have the money back then. But I’m pretty sure I bought a few of them.

Sadly, as they were on tape, I eventually recorded over them, and they’ve been lost along the way. So one day I had a look for them on eBay, and of course, there were quite a few available. After a while I’ve got hold of one of the ones I wanted.

So far I haven’t played this, I’m half expecting it to jam up the mechanism, and perhaps I won’t actually even try. We’ll see.

No more littleBits

Posted by on in Making things, MusicLeave a comment

Last year I decided that I wasn’t doing anything interesting with my collection of littleBits components and modules, so I finally gave them up and sold them. I hope that they’ve all gone to good homes.

They were fun, and very useful at times. I did enjoy them, but I think I had got to a point where I’d stopped doing anything creative with them.

No more littleBits

Last year I decided that I wasn’t doing anything interesting with my collection of littleBits components and modules, so I finally gave them up and sold them. I hope that they’ve all gone to good homes. They were fun, and very useful at times. I did enjoy them, but I think I had got to…

ashleyelsdon's avatar by ashleyelsdon

Sad to find out that bitLab is closed

The littleBits bitLab that is. I’d always wondered how sustainable it would be, but apparently there’s already an answer to that question. So it’s a shame. I think that there were some very nice projects in there but obviously not enough money to make it work. It’s a shame. It was a great idea.

ashleyelsdon's avatar by ashleyelsdon

Starting to build an automated twitter synth with littleBits

For a long time I’ve been thinking about the idea of being able to create a synth in hardware which reacted to the virtual world, more specifically, to being tweeted at. To that that end I got myself a littleBits CloudBit, which works quite well, albeit it isn’t able to provide as much data as…

ashleyelsdon's avatar by ashleyelsdon

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Hello 2020

Posted by on in Admin1 Comment

Well here we go again. Another year. Another 1st of January. What shall we do?

Well, I do plan to do a bit more here. 2019 was a bit of a dry patch for me in terms of posting, for lots of reasons. But I hope that 2020 will be a bit better and perhaps more posts, more news etc. I’d also like to revive the site and refresh some of the content in pages etc.

That’s the plan anyway. If you have any views or thoughts, I’m sure you’ll let me know. I shan’t be holding my breath though.

BBC’s War of the Worlds

Posted by on in TV1 Comment

I was actually really looking forward to seeing this. However, it has been a massive disappointment. It is actually one of the worst things I’ve seen, and most certainly the worst rendering of this story ever, and I include the Tom Cruise version, which was decidedly awful too.

I don’t really understand how they got it so wrong though. I mean, there’s a book. They read the book right? It doesn’t take much to get this right. They left out a load of stuff though. Stuff that was in the actual story, and they put in a load of stuff that wasn’t in the story. I’m not entirely sure why though.

It seems to me that this is a result of a very simple error that can be boiled down into a simple equation.

Original Story + Useless Additions – Cool stuff from the original = Crap Version

Sure, that’s probably an oversimplification, but basically it’s what happened, and it should have been totally avoidable.

As far as I can tell, no one (in their right mind) thought this was any good at all. I’d agree. However, if you’re interested in a far superior version, that is audio only, then you should try the version that Big Finish produced.

Big Finish’s version of War of the Worlds

Now this is excellent. Really good and really enjoyable. I can thoroughly recommend it.