On a recent visit to LA, our ‘man on the west coast’ Shann Biglione showed me the Griffith Observatory overlooking the city. The view was stunning, even if my crappy iPhone camera wasn’t up to the job of going it justice.

We had a short chat with a chap who can only described as an ‘Astro Nerd’. He was very unselfishly allowing passers-by to look at a bunch of stars through a telescope. Deep down I know we had some astronomy connections in our family and I mentioned my surname. Astro Nerd squinted, mumbled something about recognising the name but ultimately, wasn’t that impressed.

Googling “Burbidge” (and ignoring all the woodwork results) the main Wikipedia entry is indeed for my great aunt Margaret Burbidge, with a slightly smaller entry for my great uncle Geoffery Burbidge. To my knowledge, I have never met them but a quick scan of the Wikipedia entry, they sound really quite impressive.

In recent years, Geoffery is known mostly for his alternative cosmology theory, which contradicts the Big Bang theory. I actually get where he’s coming from here too. Have a look at his web site and you get the idea.

He also has an asteroid named after him called “11753 FKLG FG RTG Geoffburbidge“. Now pause… take a few moments to think how amazing that is!

Now, if that wasn’t cool enough, Margaret not only has the usual bunch of awards and what-not to her name but is also mentioned on the NASA website for her asteroid, the slightly snappier “5490 Burbidge“. The NASA page has a few sub links, all a bit dry for me but I did manage to glean that said asteroid is in orbit between Mars and Jupiter.

Here’s where it is right now… literally, right now…

Makes me think a little more when I look up at the night sky. I can say hello to old 11753 FKLG FG RTG Geoffburbidge and 5490 Burbidge… if I can remember their names. I may just call them the Burbidgaroids for short but I have a sneaky suspicion that’s a medical affliction. Can’t wait to tell the kids about the Burbidgaroids though.

Since the recession, I seem to referring back to my old work more and more as budgets require more simple solutions, i.e. cheaper. The stuff I used to do in Flash 4 was relatively sophisticated at the time, but on reflection, it’s a bit clunky. Still, you have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going and all that.

Main point is, my old flash examples page was a shocker. SEO wasn’t even invented back in those days. And an extra bonus, you can look at it on an iPhone… until you need to look at the flash pages anyhow.

So far, there are 86 examples. Maybe half of what’s actually worth showing, which is a bit mind boggling. No wonder I’ve gone grey!

They’ll be more to come as and when it appears but take a look and fiddle with whatever catches your fancy…

In the meantime, here are a few of my faves…

• Early Flash 4 microsite for Digimon
• Skimmer (my favourite game)
• The Mr. Men site
• Bra Blaster game
• Discover Pirate Island on Google Earth

If you manage to get your hands on the November edition of Revolution Magazine you may recognise the name on page 76! Well, you would if they spelt it right (it’s Dino Burbidge, not Dino Burbridge… story of my life).

I had the honour of writing the ‘Creative Review’ feature, where industry big-wigs pick campaigns and content that has caught their eye, or that caused a stir. I chose the ubiquitous iPint for the iPhone by Beattie McGuinness Bungay as my feature and also chose four others that I thought warranted some heat, both good and bad.

If you’re interested, click the page layout image below to get a bigger, almost readable sized version… or go and buy the magazine! :)

Still loving PGR4 on Xbox 360 even if it is old news. Did this image mashup a while back when I unlocked the Ducati 996… looks pretty much like me! Ok, there’s a bit of Photoshopping to match the colours and add the background but you get the idea. If only I got a free go after a crash in real life…