Kevin Gilmartin

Multimedia Journalist. Father. All-round geek.

How my achievements mock me…

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A wee bit of Shakespeare to kick off this particular post – the first in a while, for which I am duly repentant.

So I’m a player of games and, until just recently, I thought myself a rather cosmopolitan kind of gamer. I’d play any game, kill any thing on any gaming platform. I’m not a biased person.

A few days ago though a rather worrying thought fleetingly danced across a synapse. I fired up the PC to renew my EVE Online subscription and possibly have a crack at some old X-Beyond the Frontier when I found myself thinking “Why bother…there’s no achievements.”

Well, dear reader, I was in shock and disgust at myself. Have I become….AN ACHIEVEMENT WHORE??

No, of course I haven’t – I love my PC too much to demote it to a jumped up blogging machine. I still love Hitman, and X-Beyond the Frontier and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and all those good old titles that are pushing their teenage years. But it does raise a valid point.

Is the achievement and reward system on Next-Gen consoles killing the art of gameplay for its own sake?

There are of course people who will relentlessly chase achievements until they get all 1000 gamer points, even to the extent of hunting down like minded fok (Chievy Chasers, as I like to call them) to get the online and co-op points nailed. These are the guys who are killing gameplay for themselves. Maybe they enjoy it, but when you come across them in a lobby or in a random game they can quickly suck the joy out of the experience.

For most gamers, myself included, I think achievement systems make us better players. They encourage you to practice certain skills, they instill a sense of patience, and I think ultimately they keep many old games fresh.

I’m not an achievement chaser. If I accumulate points in the course of gameplay then it’s a bonus, but I don’t play a game until it’s exhausted.  The first achievment I ever got was in Crackdown – I’ve still got many to get in that game and the sequel is out soon; hell, I don’t even have all 1000 points for Oblivion!

Hmm, all this talk of playing games has me in the mood now. Some Assassin’s Creed 2 might be just the ticket.

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Written by Kevin

June 11th, 2010 at 2:02 pm

See ya…

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Last exam is over with, at least until the inevitable resits – I ballsed up Govt and I’m pretty sure I failed paper 2 of Law; it had two stinking questions that covered areas I was weak on.

So. Yeah. That’s uni finished now; I am no longer a MAMJ. I will miss most of the cohort and there were a few I didn’t really get to know as well as I’d have liked.
I’d like to think we’ll see each other around, but my job prospects are limited while the kids are the age they are and the rest of the guys have the world at their feet – some of them are moving city already!

Good luck in London, Gemma.  And to Martin and Christine who get to move to Edinburgh, I’m well jealous! You’ll love it there. If you stop by Robbie’s Bar on the corner of Leith Walk and Iona Street, keep an eye out for a crazy goth wummin with some mad colour of hair – she’ll be the island of sanity in a pished Hibee sea of madness. Tell her I said hi.

Right then. Time to get a full time job…

…maybe after I’ve played some XBox…

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Written by Kevin

May 27th, 2010 at 7:51 pm

Posted in Personal, Uncategorized

I’ve been too busy to blog

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So to all three of my readers, I apologise.  My life has been a riot for the last few weeks.

So I haven’t posted here for a while – mad busy with the MA, the kids and a few other bits and pieces. Not least of which was the return of Planet Holyrood, the Scottish politics comment/blog/stuff site I run with Alaster Phillips. It’s a bit sexy, I suggest you check it out and vote in our poll – tell us who you plan to vote for on May 6th.

Also, I’m about to start working on a new online project; domain names are bought, collaborators are signed up (hopefully with more to follow) and the webspace will be puchased just as soon as I can scrape £80 (+VAT and set up fee) together.  It’s a bit exciting, and has a lot of potential if we can do it properly. I’m not saying too much about it right now – but it’s going to be delicious!

Anyway, I was just checking in here as I’ve not blogged in ages. Next time I post I shall hopefully be able reveal  a bit more about the upcoming project.

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Written by Kevin

April 29th, 2010 at 9:52 pm

Posted in Commentary

Billy Wolfe: 1926-2010

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Today I attended the funeral of Billy Wolfe.

I only knew him a little; he was a friend of my father-in-law for many years and he attended my wedding and both of my kids’ christenings. He was a lovely, lovely man. When we first started Planet Holyrood a few years ago he tried to get us in to the SNP spring conference. It didn’t happen, ultimately, but he tried, and he didn’t have to, and he did it simply because he could.

I wrote his obit on Caledonian Mercury last week. But an obit never does justice to the person concerned. Today’s funeral ceremony, though, did Billy justice.

It was the closest thing I think there’s ever been – at least in modern memory – to a Scottish state funeral.

There was a simple mass at St Ninian’s in Hamilton, said by his friend Father Bogan (possibly the most entertaining priest I’ve ever encountered – he was quoting TS Elliot ‘off the cuff’); the church bell tolled as Billy’s coffin was brought in, and a standard funeral mass was held.

Among the congregation were notable SNP figures. Fiona Hyslop and Nicola Sturgeon were present as was John Mason, MP for Glasgow East. But the mass, the chapel, was time for family. Billy’s granddaughter bravely completed a reading, and soon Father Bogan was telling tales of Billy’s exploits.

There was little mention of Billy’s political life throughout other than a few jokes about his pride at being at arrested whenever he went on Faslane CND marches. I think he enjoyed that. He used to park his car outside Maryhill police station before heading to Faslane – they always took him to Maryhill, and this way he could get home easily after a time in the cells.

I’m told he was most upset the day they took him to Greenock!

At the Crematorium in Holytown the crowd was five-fold, at least. I have never before been to a ticketed funeral – I likely never will again.

Billy’s coffin, wrapped in the Saltire he loved, was brought in. The SNP’s Mike Russell stood at the podium; on the right of the chapel, in the front row opposite the family, sat the Scottish Government. Well, not all of them, but a fair chunk: Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney, Fiona Hyslop. John Mason, a Westminster MP, was there too.

Once the gathered throngs were seated and settled, the proceedings began.

Mike Russell spoke of Billy first as a friend, and second as a colleague. He spoke of Billy’s familiar New Year cards, “the last piece of Christmas post was always from Billy.” And he spoke of Billy’s last card, with a hand-written note on the back. It read “It’s all so different now, being an SNP member, with an SNP government, to what we did 40 years ago.”

Mike’s reply, one he had delivered before, was “Billy, we would not be an SNP government if not for what you did 40 years ago.”

Billy’s son, Patrick, and his daughter (Eileen or Sheila – I’m afraid I can’t recall which one) spoke at length of their memories of Billy and read some of his poetry. Poetry of which, I am privileged to say, I have been a recipient; he wrote one for Janice and I when we got married.

Following the family, it was the turn of friends. Specifically one friend – Michael Toner. My father-in-law.

Whenever Michael takes the stand you can be guaranteed that somebody will be embarrassed, but everybody will be laughing. He stood there, not 10 feet away from most of the Scottish Cabinet and said, “I’ll keep this brief, as I’m not a public speaker – as you can tell – and I’m not a politician either so you can be pretty sure that what I’m saying is thr truth.”

My mother law was embarassed. Everyone else laughed.

Michael ended his speech by announcing, “Billy died on the 18th, and on the 19th I submitted my application to join the SNP. Billy would have liked that – ‘ane oot, ane in’

But our First Minister is not a man to be outdone. Upon being introduced by Mike Russell he said “I have special dispensation from Michael to tell the truth today. Let me be the third person to welcome him to the SNP, and Billy would indeed have approved of ‘ane oot, ane in’ – fortunately for Michael the SNP has no such tradition of ‘last in, first oot.’

The FM read from Scotland Lives: The Quest for Independence, and recalled his last meeting with Billy. He quoted Father Bogan’s eulogy where he referred to Billy not as a conviction politician, but as a conviction human being. He closed by saying “it was said of John McLean that he could reconcile his actions with his conscience. So let it be said of Billy Wolfe.”

As I said at the beginning. I knew Billy Wolfe only a little, met him only a handful of times; but as I studied him over the last few weeks and heard stories from friends and colleagues, despite not seeing him face-to-face I feel like I’ve known him for many years. He was by all accounts a man of conviction and determination. He loved his Scotland second only to his family and he was quite simply, a good, kind man.

Whether or not you agree with his politics, whether or not you agree with Scottish independence, and all things considered, here was a man whose life’s work changed the face of Scotland and her politics for me, and my children; and that has changed the world we live in. How many of us go to our graves with that epitaph?

Damn few, an’ thir a deid!

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Pop

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No, not the musical style. Not even the noise. And most certainly not the hideous term for carbonated drinks.

“Pop” was the name that my granfather McGoldrick’s grandchildren referred to him by. I never had a grandad, I had a Papa on my dad’s side and Pop on my mum’s.

I’ve mentioned my Papa already this year, and how he was such an influence on me. But on Tuesday the 3rd anniversary of my old Pop’s death rolled around, and it’s time for a trip down Memory Lane.

I really have been very lucky with my family. My parents are still together, I get on great with both of them, and until four years ago I had four living grandparents with all their mental faculties intact. I still have both of my grans.

I mentioned before how my Papa gave me a love of the news and deepened my love of the martial arts. But my Pop….well, he was a different character altogether!

He was, in a word, brilliant! Forever tormenting my long-suffering gran with a great big cheeky grin on his face. I actually chuckle out loud to think of it – he’s just been up to some manner of mischief, my gran storms out of the room yelling something back at him, and he sits back in his chair with a grin of undiluted satisfaction and glee on his face.

I don’t doubt that’s a memory held dear by every one of his grandchildren and the older of his great-grandchildren. I’m not sure how many of us there are anymore – there’s more than 20 grand kids, and my daughter was the 10th great-grandchild.

Yup. Big family.

Where my Papa gave me current affairs and martial arts, my Pop gave me fun, an appreciation of the art of the torment, and just bare faced mischief. Remember when KitKats and Dairy Milk used to come in two wrappers? A paper one in the outside and a tinfoil  one around the chololate, remember?

Pop taught us all how to shape the tinfoil into wee trophies. Pretty harmless, you might think, and you’d be right. But part 2 of that lesson was how to soak a ball of bog-roll in spit and use it to stick tinfoil trophies to the ceiling! My gran used to go BANANAS at him for that!

He never met my kids, but Layne was born just before Pop went into hospital. Just days before he died I spoke to him on the phone and he said to me “I’m proud of you, son. Another great-grandwean! I can puff my chest out a wee bit further.” When I saw him in the hospital he was tired, and I think he knew he wasn’t getting better, but he was still joking about with my uncles and still insisted on being clean-shaven and was still being cheeky to the nurses.

So Pop, if you’re reading this wherever you are, rest assured that when the time comes Layne and Abi will be fashioning tinfoil trophies from sweetie wrappers and sticking them to their grannie’s ceiling. They’ll be fully aware of what to get when asked to retrieve a pair of stinkiningins, and they’re already being disciplined to respect the Golden Rule.

You’re never far from my thoughts; I miss you. See you in the white house up the hill.

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Written by Kevin

March 20th, 2010 at 12:47 am

Posted in Personal

Just Briefly: Physical & Mental Agony!

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Unbelievable! Nothing ever happens around here, at least not on the kind of level that makes the news.

But today, on this bright March Friday, news is breaking of a body being found in Airdrie. Not only has it been found, but it’s been found about 2 mins away from my house!

Every journalistic instinct in my body and mind is screaming at me to get over there dictaphone in hand, with my laptop and 3G dongle, and get something filed for somebody, maybe the Cal Merc.

But I can’t. Not today.

You see, Airdrie’s finest have found this body on the day when I’m laid out in bed, hardly able to move, with pillows placed strategically around me to maximise comfort and minimize movement. Yes, gentle reader, I’ve hurt my back. I don’t know how I did it, but it’s the worst physical pain I have felt in 30 years of life.

Normally I’d think “suck it up, Gilmartin – get over there!” and just battle through the pain, but I can hardly move to turn my head let alone walk up the hill to the police cordon.

It’s killing me. Not the pain (although, yeah, that too…) but the thought that I’m not up there doing my thing. I probably know at least one of the officers on duty too. This honestly sucks. As an old aquaintance of mine once said, this situation could suck-start a leaf blower.

Typical. This could’ve been a great scoop too.

You’re probably thinking to yourself “you’re well enough to write a blog post, Kev! Man up!”

Well, I’m actually posting this from my bed using the Blackberry WordPress app and moving little more than my thumbs. Gotta love technology.

Right. I’m going to try getting to the loo – I don’t actually need to use it, but I probably will by the time I get there.

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Written by Kevin

March 12th, 2010 at 4:16 pm

A niche future for SM developers?

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It’s all a bit quiet at the moment, isn’t it? This is my first post in nearly a month which is shameful, I know, but I just haven’t really spotted anything worth mentioning or opining over.

Google Buzz was a flash in the pan, and from what I’ve seen hasn’t had much of an uptake – maybe regular Gmail users will use it a lot, but I certainly don’t check it much. Google Wave has levelled off too.

The problem with Wave was that it was complicated if you weren’t a techie, but it did seem fairly active for a while. But now even the most active waves in my inbox have died off.

Twitter is still going strong, and Facebook is doing its thing quite happily, but I wonder if perhaps we’ve reached a plateau? Twitter and Facebook are massively successful, probably too successful and well established for any other app to come along and seriously compete. They don’t have to worry about each other; Twitter is broadcasty, for us to shout to, at and with the world whereas Facebook is more for close-knit community networking and one-to-one discussion.

If Twitter is the Microsoft of social networking, and Facebook is the Apple, then stuff like Wave, Buzz and the others are the little customised versions of Linux that you get on netbooks.

It could be that things have quieted lately because we’re seeing a calm before the storm. With Twitter due to release a load of new features on to the web interface maybe other developers are holding back. Maybe.

I think it’s more likely, though, that they’re not even trying to compete in the first place. The main reason for the success of Twitter and Facebook is that when it comes to it, they’re just downright good fun! That’s a market they’ve got cornered – so if you’re trying to develop a new social network then it better be the most fun you can have online without hearing the word “HEADSHOT!” or you might as well not even bother.

The future of social media, I reckon, lies in targetted development. For smaller developers to survive in a world dominated by Twitter and Facebook they need to start developing custom SM apps and tools for businesses and organisations and trade sectors. Like a scaled-down LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is 3 years older than Facebook, it’s still going strong with 60 million users worldwide (I was among the first million. Just sayin’) and it has never felt threatened by, or the need to compete with, Facebook. Why? Because it is aimed purely at professionals seeking work and contacts.

So before the Social Media Sci-Fi Apocalypse, I think we’ll see a lot of break-away developers trying to narrow their focus and cater to a niche. I joked about it in the post I just linked to, but when it comes to competing with Facebook and Twitter resistence really is futile.

Addendum: On an unrelated note….if you can please tune in to BBC Radio Scotland at 0900 tomorrow (Monday 7th March). There will be a documentary on about prostate cancer. It was written and produced by a friend of mine, John Thomson, who is himself a recovered prostate cancer patient. It promises to be informative and entertaining. If you can’t tune in tomorrow, check it on the iPlayer later.

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Written by Kevin

March 7th, 2010 at 2:41 pm

Resistence is Futile! or Why Social Media Heralds a Sci-Fi Apocalypse.

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God…so here’s another one. Google Buzz.
The short version is that it’s a nice mix of Twitter’s open broadcast and Facebook’s closer, intimate, networking all wrapped up in a lovely lovely Gmail platform. With a pink ribbon tied around it.

The long version is, frankly, much less intersting than the short and far too depressing to contemplate. Social Media is just getting silly.

As it is I look after 2 (sometimes 3) Twitter accounts, several email inboxes, a reasonably active Google Wave account – cos, y’know, I don’t require spoonfeeding to figure these things out – and a Facebook page. I do not want another social media tool making a grand entrance and getting a huge uptake.

But I’ll check it out anyway. Yup. Because I’m a drone – part of the social media collective. That rather sad self-admission led me to a revelation, dear reader; a vision, if you will. I now believe that social media will bring about the end of man kind as we know it.

Drastic? Certainly. Dramatic? No doubt. Possible? Possibly…read on.

Marshall McLuhan taked about a vast electronic information loop to which we will one day all be connected and interdepenent. It has been argued that this loop is the internet, and yes, that argument was probably right on the money. But social media is Internet 2.0, isn’t it. Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, Digg, Buzz and all these things that keep us talking and connected to one another all day every day, I believe that these are the real loop that McLuhan foresaw.

We’re all connected to that loop with PCs, mobiles and laptops right now – but think of this…

…what about 20, maybe 30 years from now when ultra-powerful computers are implanted in our brains? Our social media interfaces will be wetware applications! We’ll be one step closer to a collective online consciousness. I’m only half joking!

Ever read The Forever War? Man will become Man! Or worse, we’ll become The BORG!! Christ! We’re being assimilated by the internet! Resistence is futile!

Science fiction is full of collective or hive minds, all sharing information and living in harmony. I’ve already mentioned Haldeman’s Man, and Star Trek’s Borg (they sound Swedish) and those are terminal examples. But there are others.

Alasdair Reynolds’ Conjoiners are perhaps a more realistic vision of our future. They retain individuality but their mental capacity and abilities are augmented by neural implants that can be used for information sharing and communication. They are, in effect, a living, breathing social network.

Of course the Conjoiners were feared and persecuted by the rest of humanity and after losing a viscious war they were forced to flee across the stars – that would never happen to us, the Blogging, Facebooking, Buzzing, Digging Twitterati would it?

Wouldn’t it? Think of it! The Social Media Collective vs the Twitter’s For Twats Brigade. I reckon we’d win. Our social media would keep us connected to the troops on the ground and give us  a massive strategic advantage. Once victorious we could run the non-conformists off the planet and start a whole new hive mind utopia right here on planet Earth.

Hmm. That’s probably how the Borg got started.

Ah well. It’s coming and it’s time to start picking sides. Tweet you on the front lines! Qaplah!

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I sometimes wonder if I’m cut out for this. A digression.

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I sometimes wonder if I’m cut out for this. The media, I mean. Journalism. I wonder if I’m hard enough for it.

I heard the story today about a wee Haitian orphan baby – 3 months old – who needs life saving surgery on her skull, but the US Military won’t let her leave the country BECAUSE SHE HAS NO PAPERS! The US fucking Military!

This kid is a miracle. Pulled from the rubble, parents missing presumed dead. And now some pencil pushing twat with a national God-complex doesn’t let her get life saving surgery because all records of her existence were destroyed in the worst natural disaster her country has ever known.

Last I heard – and I’m not writing this from a computer so I can’t easily check – the Haitian government were going to step in to get her the surgery. That whole story makes me sad, and angry too. And I don’t know that I can keep that in check.

And then there’s the Campbell/Marr thing.

Honestly. Call me cynical but are we really expected to believe that the most famous spin doctor in the employ of the most successful (if controversial) Prime Minister in generations decides, on an unremarkable February morning, to show the world his human side in an improptu fit of emotion? In an election year? Just as Blair is confirmed as having a major role in the upcoming Labour election campaign? Pull the other one Al; you’re a director, not an actor.

But that’s not what pissed me off about this story. It was the treatment of it by tabloid telly that got under my skin.

I switched on the 24 hour news tonight once the kids went to sleep and the Campbell/Marr story was running, but the focus switched to Gordon Brown. They started talking about how Brown got emotional during interviews when talking about baby Jennifer, his daughter who died at just 11 days old.

They treated it like some sort of big scandal. They used phrases like “it has emerged that Gordon Brown got tearful” – it has EMERGED that he got tearful…well, you know what? I’d be pretty God damned worried if he didn’t!

That kind of newsmaking disgusts me. And I’m not the only one. If that had been the BBC I’d be complaining as a license payer. As it happens BBC News 24 ran the Campbell/Marr story too – no mention of Gordon Brown. Rightly so. That’s why I happily pay my license fee.

The story was on Sky News. Its report was sleazy, and it’s why when new people ask what I’m studying I hesitate a bit before answering.

Now you might want to argue that it’s publicity, an effort to humanise and engender feeling for Gordon Brown before an election. Nah.

Sky News is owned by Rupert Murdoch and he’s thrown his support behind the Conservatives this year. It was a cheap shot, pure and simple. Low-brow tabloid journalism at its sensationalist worst.

I don’t know if I could write stuff like that and have it sit right with me. I sometimes wonder if I’m cut out for this.

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Written by Kevin

February 8th, 2010 at 12:27 am

Ne quid false dicere audeas, ne quid veri non.

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Yup.

What? Oh, right, well it’s latin actually. It means “To assert no falsehood and to hide no truth” and it’s the motto of the Caledonian Mercury where I’ve been doing some work experience for uni.

It’s been an interesting experience. Although I didn’t get a by-line, as all their writing is done by hand-picked staffers and freelances, I did get some valuable insight into the way an online operation is run and the part that Social Media has to play in it. My job this week mainly revolved around tweeting links to new stories as they went live, sticking them on the Facebook page – yes, a newspaper with a Facebook page; that’s why it’s going to work! – and sorting out the following of followers and all that jazz.

On Thursday I emailed Stewart a few thoughts on how they could be using Google Wave too, so we’ll see what comes of that, if anything. I think it’s a good idea and it’s in keeping with the paper’s mission statement and ideals. I’m not going to say what it is right now but if they go for it and it works you can expect a post entitled “That was my idea!”

So what did I learn? Well, it’s taken a few days of calming my brain down (yesterday’s MAMJ News Day did NOT help with that!) to figure it all out. I knew it was worthwhile; I just wasn’t sure why. I am now.

What last week gave me was more valuable than a few paragraphs and a by-line. In Stewart Kirkpatrick I made a cracking contact – a wee gesture at the end of the week, while a bit cheesy, should make sure he remembers me – but even that was not the most worthwhile part.

I saw a new venture launch, successfully, from an almost 100% online and social media platform.

The Caledonian Mercury promoted itself completely on Twitter and AllMediaScotland, and on that first day it was almost viral. Word spread, links were tweeted and retweeted, and before the end of day 1 the site had smashed its projected traffic numbers for the year.

So what last week gave me was hope. If the CalMerc works (and if anyone is qualified to make it work it’s Stewart) then others will follow. Journalists – proper journos, not school kids with camera phones – will be in demand again. As long as they have the skills for online work, that is.

Journalism as an industry needs the internet. It needs social media. And it needs journalists who can ply their trade effectively across the online and SM worlds.

I think the Mercury will work. I can’t really say why, but I got the feeling I was in at the start of something big, in more ways than one.

I’ve been inspired with a renewed belief in the career I’ve chosen. I’ve been inspired to get Planet Holyrood’s blogs back up and running (this weekend – watch for it.)

New year, new vigour, new me. Maybe not that last one.

Maybe it’ll all be ok.

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Written by Kevin

February 2nd, 2010 at 9:59 am