Last night I went to see the movie Sin City, an adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel (comic) series of the same name. It was good, although not as good as my (admittedly high) expectations for it.

It was visually very interesting, a faithful frame-by-frame recreation of the graphic novels shot entirely digitally, but somehow the characters were often flat, and the dialogue didn’t always quite work.

It was also ultra-violent, although the comic-book “neo-noir” look took most of the sting out of the gory horror — which was fortunate, because I can be pretty squeamish!

But I have been thinking about the movie today, which is a sign that it might be growing on me… Perhaps I’ll rent it from Netflix when it comes out on DVD.

Sad news today about MG Rover, the last British-owned volume carmaker, going bust with the loss of 6,000 jobs. MG Rover’s Longbridge plant has been manfacturing cars for 101 years.

I still have very fond childhood memories of riding in my father’s shiny black Rover SD1, which at the time was one of the most futuristic-looking vehicles on the road (and slightly reminiscent of the KITT car in the TV show Knight Rider!).

Whoshouldyouvotefor.com is an interesting website that gives guidance about who you should vote for (obviously!) in the upcoming UK general election, based on your answers to 23 questions covering Europe, freedom and defence, tax and employment, pensions, health, crime, education, immigration, transport and childcare.

My results surprised me — apparently I should vote Lib-Dem:

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Labour

Your actual outcome:

	Labour 3
Conservative -26
	Liberal Democrat 50
	UK Independence Party 2
	Green 1

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Channel 4 News has launched a new minisite called FactCheck which aims to provide unbiased analysis into the increasing political spin and mud-slinging in the run-up to the UK General Election of 5 May (the original idea was taken from the U.S. based factcheck.org site).

For example today’s story, “What’s wrong with this photo?,” shows how Ed Matts, a Conservative candidate for Labour’s marginal Dorset South seat, photoshopped an image of himself and former Conservative Home Office Minister Ann Widdecombe at a demonstration by changing the text of their placards to better fit the Tory manifesto on immigration policy reform.

The weather today in New York is absolutely gorgeous, it’s a beautiful Spring day — sunny and warm, but without any humidity.

Thanks to the miracle of wireless broadband internet access, I’ve been sitting on my brownstone stoop for the last hour or so, working on a consultancy project in the sun.

It looks like I’ve got myself a new job, and it’s in New York! I’ll hold off on posting details until I have a formal offer letter, but I’m very excited about it.

Welcome Florian, born perfect at 5:10am on Tuesday 29th March 2005 in London, weighing 7lbs 4oz, and many congratulations to new parents Lucy and Dirk!

After slagging off Hewlett-Packard a while ago for supplying small office/home office peripherals with a gigabyte of flaky driver and utility software (see blog passim, Farewell Carly Fiorina), I feel I should now highly commend them on their HP Planet Partners recycling program, which makes it easy and free to recycle printer consumables such as laser and inkjet cartridges. Just fill out the online form, and they will send you a postage-paid mailing envelope to send the used cartridges back to a remanufacturing plant.

I’ve been commenting for some time on the number of Brits living in New York (particularly in Brooklyn, where I live), and have been warning American friends that a “stealth recolonization” by Her Majesty’s Subjects is already well underway.

According to a recent New York Times article titled “URBAN TACTICS; Close Your Eyes And Think Of England,” it seems that I was correct:

“IF you live in one of the more gentrified swaths of Brooklyn — Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene — you can’t mistake it these days: a British presence so strong you have to pinch yourself to realize you’re not in Hampstead or Manchester, but rather the borough of New York that brought the world the Dodgers, Walt Whitman and fuhgeddaboudit.

“It’s not just the cacophony of British accents, it’s the creeping growth of Brit establishments. Bars have mutated into pubs, with darts, microbrews, trivia competitions and even cheese-and-onion-flavored crisps. Fish-and-chip shops do booming business, and food products (American friends might dispute the term) like Marmite and spotted dick are available in local bodegas and supermarkets.”

Thanks to Jamie (another Brit in Brooklyn!) for spotting this one.

I finally got around to making a selection of images from last year available on my main website, at http://www.tonygill.com/photo2004/