iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 14/08/2026

I watched a *lot* of films over the last week (it's too hot to go outside) #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Rental Family
Aliens
Surrogates
Remarkably Bright Creatures

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 10/08/2026

my pigeon babies have reached their awkward teenage phase - not cute fluffy chicks anymore, but not old enough to fly off anywhere in their own

photo of the pigeons on the ledge next to my desk, taken through my window

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 24/07/2026

I have a few weeks left on an Apple TV trial, so my #LastFourWatched for the next few #LetterboxdFriday are going to be a bit Apple-dominated

Flora And Son
Swan Song
Finch
Death on the Nile

0110

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 10/07/2026

I enjoyed Project Hail Mary so much more than I expected - after finding the book a bit disappointing last year. The Grace/Rocky dynamic was somehow so much more charming in movie form... or maybe I was just in the right mood for it this time around 🤷 #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

12 Angry Men (1997 remake)
Project Hail Mary
Now You See Me Now You Don't
London Boulevard

0240

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 05/07/2026

DOOM looks like MOOD in the mirror (I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice this, but now I've noticed it I can't un-see it!)

030

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 26/06/2026

The Sheep Detectives is one of the most fun movies we've seen in a while #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

The Sheep Detectives
Local Hero
Radio
The Harder They Fall

0100

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 23/06/2026

This reminded me of the time that I (accidentally!) found the PowerShell command to crash my windows machine 😆 dalelane.co.uk/blog/?p=195

photo of a Windows blue screen of death (on a ridiculously large monitor that was the norm twenty years ago)

010

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 22/06/2026

the DeLorean is slow and doesn't handle well... but I'm sticking with it anyway because it's so pretty! #ForzaHorizon #ForzaHorizon6

screenshot of the Delorean in Forza Horizon 6

010

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 21/06/2026

wonder if I could sneak that air con unit out of here at the end of the concert and take it home... 🤔

photo of the stage ready for the concert with a 7-foot fridge sized air con unit at the side

010

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 09/06/2026

hard not to like a city where you can play video games while standing in the rain ;-) (I knew the Victoria and Albert Museum in Dundee has done loads on games over the years, but hadn't seen these before)

a simple six-foot tall outdoor multiplayer video game

020

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 09/06/2026

hey Dan, why so desperate?

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 08/06/2026

Novelty ice cream flavours are back at The Ice Cream Project in London this summer. I've never made it to this, and each year keep thinking that I really should. I'm a sucker for this type of silly gimmick 🤷‍♂️ www.anyahindmarch.com/pages/the-ic...

a freezer with a variety of novelty flavour ice creams: Oxo Beef Stock, Capri Sun Orange, Lurpak Butter, Green Giant Sweetcorn, illy coffee, Ginger Nuts biscuits, Paxo Stuffing, Shortbread biscuits, Muller Corner yoghurt, Mini Cheddars, Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire Pudding, Euthymol Toothpaste, Tunnocks Caramel wafers, Yazoo Milkshake, Kikkoman Soy Sauce

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 05/06/2026

I couldn't get into Operation Avalanche, but otherwise a great #LastFourWatched this week. letterboxd.com/dale_lane/ #LetterboxdFriday

Bright Lights, Big City
Operation Avalanche
Moon
Zero Dark Thirty

1120

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 03/06/2026

Last day of the "Americas Hursley Summit": a grand title for the annual event where we invite our customers in the Americas to visit us. We host them in Hursley House for a few days of presentations, demos, and discussions about what's coming next. It's gone well, but I'm exhausted now :)

Watercolour painting of Hursley House (credit: Sanil Nambiar)

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 22/05/2026

an unintentional fifty-percent Brad Pitt hit rate in my #LastFourWatched this week #LetterboxdFriday

Sleepers
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Two Popes
booksmart

0250

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 22/05/2026

the sunny weather has arrived - my walk to work was beautiful this morning 🌞

photo of a footpath through grass near Otterbourne

a cattle grid. behind it is a fence around a field with a herd of cows

a view of IBM Hursley (you have to look closely... it's on the left)

031

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 01/05/2026

second cinema movie of the year for Michael for this week's #LetterboxdFriday . It was okay... soundtrack was obviously amazing 🤷 #LastFourWatched

Michael
Still : A Michael J Fox movie
Miles Jupp : On I Bang
Sleepy Hollow

0141

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 10/04/2026

It's not like I was itching to go work in a restaurant, but wow Boiling Point made it look like hell on toast. letterboxd.com/dale_lane/ #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday

Boiling Point (4.5 stars)
Point Break (3 stars)
First Banana (3 stars)
A Knight's Tale (2.5 stars)

080

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 03/04/2026

Sunlight - weird Love and Monsters - fun Fundamentals of Caring - touching Two Distant Strangers - bleak They were all good! #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday

Sunlight, Love and Monsters, The Fundamentals of Caring, Two Distant Strangers

070

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 02/04/2026

I've completed two episodes of Dispatch so far, and I'm loving it - it's like another Telltale story again but better in lots of ways. The (not-removable) censorship boxes are weirdly distracting though. backloggd.com/games/dispat...

010

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 27/03/2026

Hacksaw Ridge was the highlight of my #LastFourWatched for this #LetterboxdFriday First half was fun (Vince Vaughn was an excellent hardass sargeant). Second half was an uncomfortably uncompromising portrayal of a battle. Great film.

Hacksaw Ridge, The Only Girl in the Orchestra, Haywire, War Machine

0140

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 23/03/2026

Reading about manhole covers, because I know how to have fun in the evenings. 🤓 I put a crack in the one on our drive by stupidly parking a van on it. This site says an "A15" cover is only suitable for pedestrian areas anyway, so oops 🤦 www.drainagesuperstore.co.uk/help-and-adv...

photo of a manhole cover... if you zoom in you can see a big crack through it

110

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 22/03/2026

Still thinking about this one When you launch it for the first time, there is a startup screen which tries to do the (impossible?) job of warning you about what is coming, without spoiling what is coming.

This game is a work of fiction.

However, it depicts certain uncomfortable aspects of reality.

We suggest that you only play this game when you feel confident that doing so would not overwhelm you.

If you ever feel overwhelmed while playing, please prioritize your well-being and take a break.

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 22/03/2026

Eastleigh brought its comedy home-made sign game this morning - my favourite was "Smile, you've paid for this!"

a selfie with my youngest daughter, just before the start of the run

a photo with my youngest daughter just after finishing a 10k run, half-heartedly holding up our medals

020

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 18/03/2026

running late this morning, because my route to work includes going through this gate 🐄🐮

herd of cows bunched into the track between two fields

140

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 13/03/2026

I think Pieces of April was my favourite of my #LastFourWatched for #LetterboxdFriday this week - it was simple and super-low-budget but touching. letterboxd.com/dale_lane/

Nixon : The Final Days
Much Ado About Nothing
Pieces of April
Snowpiercer

190

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 07/03/2026

so far, so good - I don't seem to have broken anything!

photo of a bass drum, boxes of stands and a speaker - in the back of a van

photo of a marimba and four timpani drums in the back of the van

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 07/03/2026

I'm being a white van man again this weekend, driving between Winchester, Eastleigh & Basingstoke to move a load of musical instruments between concerts. Fingers crossed I don't break any of them! 🤞

150

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 06/03/2026

technically broke my New Year's Resolution (to not rewatch films) with Ghost In The Shell I hadn't watched it for over 25yrs, and wanted to remind myself before watching the remake, so I'm giving myself a pass Watching them on consecutive days was interesting! #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Bridge of Spies
Ghost In The Shell (the 1997 anime, and the 2017 remake)
Bombshell

0140

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 03/03/2026

I've been tagging the movies I've watched this year with where I watched them - I was curious where I watch most stuff. Netflix seems to be winning so far, but it's close. letterboxd.com/dale_lane/ta...

Netflix - 13 films
Prime Video - 12 films
iPlayer - 6 films
Tubi - 4 films
Channel 4 - 2 films
itvx - 2 films
Cinema - 1 film
YouTube - 1 film

010

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 27/02/2026

Three out of #LastFourWatched were true stories for my #LetterboxdFriday this week. I Swear was amazing, and my first movie in a cinema this year letterboxd.com/dale_lane/

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead
I Swear
One Life
Marshall

0140

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 24/02/2026

Why are fictional Dales always assholes? ☹️ (at least there is Dale from Chip n Dale, who is of course awesome) www.goodreads.com/book/show/34...

photo of Artemis, by Andy Weir - the bit of the book where the character Dale is introduced

020

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 23/02/2026

I have to be very careful where I step on my way home from work because there's a mile-long stretch where *dozens* of frogs have started hanging out! 🐸

020

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 13/02/2026

Great week for movies. F is reading Children of Men for college at the moment, so it felt timely... but apparently the movie isn't super close to the book. I might steal the book from her when she's done. Plus I'm nearly caught up on my Tarantino #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Django Unchained
Children of Men
Inglourious Basterds
Thirteen Days

080

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 11/02/2026

CPR training in the office this afternoon (thanks to @hiowaa.bsky.social ) As much as the chance to practice on the training dummy, it was a useful nudge to think about what I'd do and where I'd find the nearest defibrillator at work and at home.

photo of the CPR training dummy we were learning with

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 08/02/2026

Shotgun Cop Man is a fun action game, with a clever movement mechanic based on the recoil from your guns. It's also delightfully bonkers, a lot like My Friend Pedro by the same dev. (I think this is a *lot* more fun than Pedro, but sadly somehow more overlooked)

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 06/02/2026

still working through my backlog of classic files I "should" have, but somehow haven't yet, watched disappointingly, I just didn't get Time Bandits, but I loved the others #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday

A Bridge Too Far
Time Bandits
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Apartment

0120

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 05/02/2026

we're in Winchester Cathedral to see the (massive!) sun sculpture Helios, and a night of geeky comedy www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/event/festiv...

photo of Helios - a massive model of the Sun, suspended in Winchester Cathedral

010

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 30/01/2026

the only downside to watching Godzilla Minus One is that now Netflix is recommending a seemingly endless number of other Godzilla movies #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Godzilla Minus One (3 stars)
Starter for 10 (3 stars)
Malcolm X (3.5 stars)
Eddie the Eagle (3.5 stars)

180

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 23/01/2026

continuing this year's effort to catch up on classic movies I "should" watch. Interstellar was great, but a little more bleak & depressing than I expected Good, Bad & Ugly was great... although the dubbed dialogue was super distracting! #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday #Letterboxd

Withnail and I - 3 stars
Interstellar - 4.5 stars
Prisoners - 3.5 stars
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly - 3.5 stars

0120

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 18/01/2026

each sprite has a prompt to translate between two languages, and they keep passing the translation around until you stop the project

screenshot of a Scratch project asking a sprite to convert English text into French

screenshot of a Scratch project asking a sprite to convert German text to Spanish

screenshot of a Scratch project asking a sprite to convert French text to German

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 18/01/2026

playing around with a translation telephone idea for a Machine Learning for Kids project in #Scratch

100

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 17/01/2026

Working on a new page for Machine Learning for Kids - with a visualisation of how the training for a regression model went. It's always a tricky balance between making things too complex for young students, vs patronisingly hiding too much useful and interesting info. 🤔

screenshot of Machine Learning for Kids, showing a visualisation of training loss

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 16/01/2026

Life of Chuck was weird but super thought-provoking and The Great Dictator was great Trying to avoid any rewatches this year - so far, so good 👍 #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday #Letterboxd

The Great Dictator (4.5 stars)
John Q (3 stars)
Now You See Me 2 (2 stars)
The Life of Chuck (4.5 stars)

3120

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 10/01/2026

updated my npx card so now running "npx dalelane" also uses letterboxd to show the most recent movie I've watched dalelane.co.uk/blog/?p=5570

screenshot showing the output from running "npx dalelane" in a terminal, which displays a list of what I've recently read, played, watched and listened to

050

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 10/01/2026

our local Code Ninjas has closed I'd never been in, but anything that reduces the number of opportunities for kids to learn coding is a shame

photo of the Chandlers Ford CodeNinjas with a sign in the door saying they are closed for good

110

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 06/01/2026

i'm a shameless fan of all of these promotional "Year In Review" summaries that companies send us, but even I find the Sainsbury's one kind of ridiculous 😂

We bought more salted caramel nuts than all but two of Southampton Sainsbury's other customers

tomato, cucumber, and lambs lettuce were what we bought most often

000

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 13/12/2025

turns out that my ML book is included in the Anthropic class action! probably a bad sign that my family's first reaction on seeing that I got a letter from a US District Court was "what have you done?!"

photo of the letter I received about the Anthropic copyright settlement - a 24-page booklet of dense legalese

010

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 11/12/2025

getting ready to kick off the last day of the apidays AsyncAPI track with a talk on how we could better document things like Kafka I've arrived so early the room still has a bomb shelter vibe, but it'll liven up once people arrive! I've got 55 minutes... hopefully enough to cover my *many* slides

photo of the room where I'll be presenting

120

Dale Lane @dalelane.co.uk · 09/12/2025

first day of #apidays Paris, by La Grande Arche by the looks of the agenda and expo stands, I'll (unsurprisingly) spend the next few days talking about AI as much as I do Kafka & AsyncAPI

the view from the base of La Grande Arche, including the sign that explains a bit of the history

the view from La Defense, including the Arc de Triomphe in the (far!) distance

040