matthewpennell.com

A blog of acquiescent temper, miscellaneous opinions, and uncertain vote...

Zenit EM

17 April 2023

On a whim I recently bought myself a new toy. The Zenit EM is a 35mm SLR, manufactured in the Soviet Union for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. And, after almost 20 years using a smartphone, it's been a bit of a steep learning curve.

Retro / Gaming / Personal

Writing ZX BASIC on your PC

07 March 2023

One of the projects I'm slowly chipping away at in my spare time is a game for the ZX Spectrum. I really don't want to type it in using my actual Spectrum, so I started looking for a method that would let me write BASIC on my PC using a comfortable, familiar IDE.

Books / Personal

My favourite authors

23 February 2023

Now that the office bookshelves were ostensibly mine and mine alone, I decided that I would rearrange them in order to gather together the works of my favourite authors.

Music / Review

Metric @ The Roundhouse, Feb 1st 2023

03 February 2023

If you're a fan of Metric, it's a little surprising to come across them playing in such a relatively intimate venue. The multiple Juno winners seem like they should be selling out stadiums. Perhaps back home in Canada they are – but here in Europe the stops are decidedly on the smaller side.

Personal / Life

Meditation

26 January 2023

I find meditation to be similar to exercising or writing: you never really want to do it, but you always feel better after you have.

Music / Film / Books / Personal

My 2022 in books, films and music

31 December 2022

Year sixteen of sitting myself down in front of the computer on New Year's Eve and totting up (almost) everything I read, watched or listened to over the previous twelve months. I'm not even sure whether I enjoy this exercise any more, but it's been a thing for too long to give it up now.

Productivity / Life

How I Get Things Done

31 January 2018

Over the years, I’ve experimented with many different techniques for time- and task-management; here’s how I do it, 2018 edition.

Productivity

Personal Productivity Hacking

11 January 2017

When I look back over the last year, one area in particular stands out as needing improvement. Towards the end of the year, I resolved to address this petering out of productivity.

Life / Personal

How I became a web designer

09 November 2016

As I grow older, I increasingly often find myself indulging in nostalgic reminiscences, reliving periods of my life and reflecting on the multitude of decisions that led me to my present situation. One such recent reflection struck me as sufficiently interesting to share.

About

This is a personal weblog where I write about web stuff, writing, music, games, and whatever else captures my interest; it has existed in some form or another since 2004. This current iteration was launched in early 2023.

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Elsewhere

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