boakes.org » Video

Back in the last century after Netscape merged with AOL, a 3-year deal was struck between AOL and Sun Microsystems such that the Professional Services groups from Sun and Netscape would work together on projects that benefited both companies. The Netscape server software became (to all intents and purposes) jointly owned and developed, and Sun paid AOL a large retainer for each year of the deal regardless of how much software it actually sold. Our small and specialised consultancy group got a lot bigger overnight. The joint venture was initially called “The Sun|Netscape Alliance”, though after a couple of tongue-twisting months a less orally demanding brand name of iPlanet was announced. More…

The recent demolition of Killay House left a lot of memories without an anchor. It was a familiar shape to the thousands of people who travel on Gower Road daily, and it had been so for over 120 years. Growing up in Heol Glasnant (where the houses are tall), and going to school in Hendrefoilan (futher up the hill) meant that the old building was always in our line of sight when we looked across the bay to the view’s focal point, Mumbles Head. I understand that before NCH sold the site there was talk of getting the building protected: why this didn’t happen is not something I know. More…

This film has almost certainly never been seen by most of the cast. It was taken during my fifth birthday party in late 1977 (a fact that I’ve deduced from comparing the guests and their clothes with higher quality photos that I have; photos that also contain a birthday cake with five countable candles). More…

Thirty one years ago, my grandfather, thought it might be interesting to fix his cine camera to the outside of his car, and go for a drive from his home in Wimmerfield Crescent, down to Sketty and back. More…

This cine was taken at the Hendrefoilan School Sports Day, sometime between June 1978 and June 1980… ish. More…

Wimmerfield Crescent is a residential street located in Killay, Swansea. It feeds three small residential cul-de-sac roads, one of which is called Heol Glasnant where I used to live. Heol Glasnant has the unusual property (in Wales) of being flat, and the lack of throroughfare made it an ideal venue for street parties. More…

Having converted my Grandparents stash of cine film to a digital format earlier in the year I’ve at last found a few minutes to extract something of general interest (as opposed to the family-interest stuff), so here it is. More…

I’ve already mentioned the photo’s (which I’ve pretty much finished scanning; although I do keep finding extras) so today I’m announcing the impending digital availability of the (larger) part of the collection - my Grandparent’s Cine films. I just got a call from the bloke who’s been transferring it for me , and it’s all done…

I’ve not seen it yet; well, not in digital form anyway. I’ve not seen the movies for at least 10 years, and I know I’ve not seen the majority of them for 20+ years.

More later!