The Hickensian

16.01.07

Technorati Tags 2006, drwho, lists

Lists of 2006

Excuse me for a moment while I blurt out some random lists…

Telly

In 2005, Doctor Who had finally been brought back, and given proper respect. This year, David Tennant just went on to fully restore my faith in the show. I’ve not enjoyed or looked forward to TV as much as this year with Doctor Who. Sure there were some stinkers – “New Earth’ was an awful way to start the season, and ‘Love and Monsters’ might’ve been OK it if it weren’t for the Peter Kay ending – but the rest was decent drama. ‘Girl in the Fireplace’ and ‘Army of Ghosts/Doomsday’ were my highlights. Now when I think of 2006, I always think of that farewell scene on the beach.

The Doctor and Rose say goodbye on a beach in Norway

Music

(Once again, not everything on this list was released in 2006, it’s music I listened to in that year).

The National - Alligator

The National – “Alligator”
Pelle Carlberg – “Everything. Now!”
Starflyer 59 – “My Island”
Mew – “And the Glass Handed Kites”
Beck – “The Information”
Duke Special – “Songs from the Deep Forest”

Honourable mentions for Thom Yorke’s “The Eraser”, The Submarines’ “Declare a new state” and “Imogen Heap’s “Speak for yourself”. Hammock’s new album “Raising a voice…” came too late to make the list, but will definitely be high in this years.

Podcasts

The Garrett Murray Podcast
The Show with ZeFrank
Ask a Ninja
MacBreak (hiring Merlin was genius!)

When I finally got to meet Garrett and Shawn at @media, I had no idea that they were podcasting together, but I’m glad I found out. Most of my favourite moments are summed up in the End of year best o, especially Shawn’s relaxation tapes. The grizzly bear and xylophone prank calls didn’t however.

OS X Software

Omniweb 5.5
Camino 1.1a
Firebug Extension for Firefox (the best thing to happen to web development since the WebDev extension)
Letterbox plugin for Mail.app (finally – a 3 paned vertical view in Mail, what I’ve always wanted)
Linotype FontExplorer

Finally, 2006 brought a new version of Omniweb, with the updated Webkit, and what a difference it made. I’ve been living it in pretty much since it came out, which I guess means I’m playing around less. I just hope that Omnigroup give it some much needed interface love in 2007 to bring it in line with their other apps. Camino is also becoming a shining light amongst OS X browsers, and I think that all Mac users need one webkit browser, and one Gecko-based. I know which 2 I use!

Web Apps

Twitter
Basecamp
Bloglines
(the revamped) Google Reader
Flickr Gamma

Rather than use IM now (which I never did much anyway), I just dip in and out of Twitter. Sometimes just leaving a status (that previously I would’ve done via my IM status), other times joining in the conversation. It particularly made watching the MacWorld announcements more fun, with Garrett every now and then chipping in with just “HOLY HELL!”.

Resolutions for the new year

Must finish the Correo icon for Nick. Version 0.1 had to go out without a final icon for me! The shame!
I want to use this journal for more of the throwaway screenshotty stuff that I’ve been posting to Flickr. Be warned.
Get that darned book written. Somehow.
Be more adventurous with colour.

OK I’m done. Thanks!

Comments | RSS

No.1

kitsimons said 901 days ago:

Totally agree with you on Dr Who. I had my doubts when Tennant came in, but thankfully he proved them unfounded.

And I’m intrigued to know If the “more adventurous with colour” resolution means we can expect to see any changes around here?

No.2

Garrett Murray said 900 days ago:

Wow, Jon, thanks for giving us the coveted number one spot! Oh, and here’s a direct link to the crank calls you mentioned. Thanks again!

No.3

Luke Lanchester said 900 days ago:

While Doctor Who redeemed itself this year, I felt that Torchwood just burnt the entire Dr Who concept into the ground. How bad could it get?!

No.4

Anthony Baker said 900 days ago:

Gotta agree—Dr. Who has gotten brilliant. Looking forward to Series 3 (and am hoping they find a way to dig up The Master). Thanks for the pointer to Garrett’s podcast, btw, which I hadn’t been listening to. Looking forward to it.
As for Camino 1.1a—I was never a fan, but it’s now my default. Wonderful stuff.

No.5

Alun Rowe said 900 days ago:

Yep Doctor Who rocked and I’ve become a convert to Camino. Damn you Jon Hicks!

Oh and Luke, you’re absolutely right Torchwood was a blazing pile of poo although I quite like the policewoman in it :)

No.6

Nice Paul said 900 days ago:

Spot on with Doctor Who, even down to my favourite episodes. The Girl in the Fireplace was an excellent twist/explanation at the end! I got the DVD box set for Christmas and the first one I watched (on the train to work) was Doomsday, just for the intensity of the final scene.

Also with you on the Mew album, and though I’ve not heard much from Duke Special I did see him live supporting fellow singer/songwriter David Ford in Brighton at the start of Feb, and he was pretty good.

No.7

Alexander Graf said 899 days ago:

Camino… I think it’s an excellent browser and I always wanted to switch to Camino from Firefox. But just how do you get by without addons?

No.8

Karl Brightman said 899 days ago:

Doctor who doctor who doctor who, i have the same thing when i think of the last season…that beach scene(and that image) are so so good. The girl in the fireplace would have to be my favourite episode behind doomsday. I just love how the writers are able to do whatever they want to with the story and it will still make some sense.

If you like Imogen Heap(amazing artist) then check out Kate Havnevik’s Melankton, a female artist with a similar style to Imogen all the way from Norway. I just hope that one day Imogen will decide to head down under and share the music.

Resolutions for my new year
-Keep money ready for the book.

No.9

Karl Brightman said 899 days ago:

Oh i forgot to mention….imogen heap live performances @ aol here

No.10

Owen said 899 days ago:

Book? Have I missed something? On Web design? Web typography? Or is this a personal project, like a slim volume of cheese poems?

No.11

Chris said 897 days ago:

Oh dear, seems I’m the only one who loved Torchwood. Combat was a brilliant episode, like Fight Club with aliens. There were a couple of duffers, but generally I found it exciting! I liked the way the characters evolved their relationships with each other over time, so there was an added theme during the series. And the way they didn’t shy away from adult issues like lesbianism. My only real gripe (but this applies to Doctor Who too) is sometimes things happen that stretch the limits of believability. And there was a major continuity error in one episode: they were heading for the pier in the middle of the night, and Owen said it would only take minutes to get there. But when they did, it was broad daylight! Oops.

No.12

Ian Adams said 897 days ago:

You know, I actually think that David Tennant has become my favourite Doctor; even over Tom Baker, who I always loved watching when I was little. It was pretty sad to see Billie Piper leave the series, even though that farewell scene was really well done.