15th October 2011 : Well, you may have noticed there hasn't been a new Frontlines, and the forums have been locked. Sadly interest in both was pretty minimal and didn't justify the effort in producing them. That wasn't entirely surprising - interest in the Speccy stuff I produce has dropped steadily over the past couple of years as the shape of the retroscene evolved. Gone are the days when there's interest in the creative aspects of the scene, today the scene is mainly passive ex-gamers or die-hard techies and coders - the "heart" of the scene (which I considered myself a part of) has shrunk to almost nothing.     As there isn't a large enough audience to entertain nor a crowd to run with, it's time to move onto something else. Judging by the website access stats, even the recent massive plug in RetroGamer didn't produce a spike in interest! Ironically I'm now feeling nostalgic for the times when Speccy nostalgia was more rewarding! Sadly this means that all work on the documentary has stopped and all other Speccy-related stuff shelved until if/when it becomes worthwhile to do - I'm not going to break my back just to please a couple of dozen people! Unless I have an itch to scratch that is - not saying never, but...     Anyway, my current project is Christmas UK, a Facebook page and Twitter feed tracking the current Christmas hype cycle in TV adverts, news items, high street news, plus lots of videos from this year and lots of previous years. It's another stab at a Christmas tracker as I'm sure there's a way to share something I love with others effectively. As a sucker for anything festive, I'm getting a kick out of it, and you might like it too! It's refreshing to work on something with such a positive vibe after a couple of years of Speccy scene politics, bitching and back-stabbing. Hopefully it'll involve fewer obsessive nutters stalking me too :) 1st August 2011 : The August 2011 issue of Frontlines is now online - go get your monthly news fix! 28th July 2011 : The "Ratings by other magazines" box has been tweaked a little - if CRASH Online doesn't have a webpage version of a CRASH review, but the ZX Spectrum Reviews Database has it (it looks to have ALL of the CRASH reviews!), then I link to the ZXR version. I've also added a selection table at the end of regular features (e.g. YS Adventures) for easier navigation. 14th July 2011 : Finally got around to adding the YouTube video to the "Hold My Hand Very Tightly (Very Tightly)" page - plus a link to a cover version! 12th July 2011 : For the completists out there, I've just uploaded a two-minute video up onto YouTube advertising the relaunch - it's my first ever 1080p HD video, and will probably be the only one I do for a while until my PC gets upgraded and upload bandwidth improves. It was a 470MB upload! Game Footage Advent Calendar 27th June 2011 : It's my birthday today :) Still on the right side of forty, but getting on a bit! This year I've been thinking about this website and its future, and today you see the products of those thoughts. The site's being relaunched today - well, given a new direction anyway:      * The YS archive, the videos and the extra features (in this case the Advent Calendar, but there'll be more in the future) are now better integrated. Whenever you see the Advent Calendar snowglobe or Game Footage icons, just click on them and be whisked away to see them. The Game Footage icons will take you to the YouTube video page of a documentary chapter, fast-forwarded to the bit of it which covers the relevant game.      * The YSRnRY is now has a Facebook and Twitter presence. This has been trialling for the past month or so, but now the basics have been covered, it's time to take that to the next level. Expect various features and events which will be anchored to this website, in particular in...      * The new forum! I'm rather excited about this - finally a place to talk about YS-related stuff, including the magazine itself, related magazines, this website, plus general Sinclair and SAM stuff. As an added bonus, there's a forum dedicated to '80s nostalgia where we can wallow in each others' memories from that time. I also find the odd cool thing from the decade, be it video clips on YouTube or old catalogues, and will be sharing them with everyone in that forum. There's also...      * Frontlines! It's a sort of cross between a blog and a newsletter. - think of it as a mini-fanzine which I intend to write every month reporting on some of the goings on in the Sinclair/SAM retroscene, bundled with some of my own thoughts on whatever's on my mind at the time. It's all part of making this website a little more interactive - a fun place for Sinclair/SAM enthusiasts to read and hang out in so that they get a break from everyday Real Life Stuff.      * As for the events... well... watch this space. ZXmas (back in 2009) is a fading memory, and I have a few ideas for similar events in the future should all this take off.      * Aside from the new stuff, the old stuff has been polished up a little and the virtual magazines expanded to cover the recent uploads to WoS - I'm quite chuffed to have ACE covered. I've expanded the open pages at the bottom of the review/preview pages to show up to six magazine double-page spreads as they really do look rather cool.      So, I hope you enjoy and take advantage of the next direction this website's taking. And with 2012 being the Speccy's 30th anniversary year, there's going to be more stuff happening - not least of which the conclusion of the documentary series! 28th May 2011 : June 27th 2011 - because everyone needs a deadline every now and then. 23rd May 2011 : OK, maybe just one more go... :)     Been getting a bit of a second wind after having a ponder about various things, and then seeing a new direction to head in. So, things are happening behind the scenes, the site's going to change and expand a little, and it's going to be a little more interactive. To start off with, the Daily Fix is now available on Twitter (@YourSinclairRRY) and also on the new Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years Facebook fan page - if you're a Facebook user, "like" the page and you'll get Daily Fix postings on your Facebook feed, together with site news and a few other things that are in the pipeline.     Watch this site over the Summer - everything should then fall into place.