Designers prefer Macs whereas most computer users own a PC, so web design done in OS X should always be tested in Windows too. The reverse is also true.

A site should look good and work well regardless of browser and operating system, otherwise it's like having a big sign shouting: 'We don't care for you!'

Not every Mac-toting web developer has a PC lying around, or can afford to buy a copy of Microsoft's expensive platform (for use with e.g. Boot Camp, etc). So one solution is to outsource the job of looking at your website to a PC. This can be done via web rendering services. Many are available but the best ones are either too slow or cost money.

The exception is IE NetRender. Although it will only capture a preview of the screen (not an entire page), unlike all the other services, it's both fast and free.

Unlike most cross-platform browsers, such as Firefox, Opera and Safari, each version of IE has its own little "quirks". These cause it to display pages in ways that are... different, making sites look peculiar and/or unattractive.

Windows users surf the web using various versions of IE. Although it would be nice if everyone stayed up-to-date with the latest version, many internautes like the security of keeping a browser that they know for sure "works".

This is a headache for web developers, as it means testing the design and functionality of their websites in numerous older versions of IE. Moreover, as with most software, installing a new browser involves erasing/overwriting previous installations. A lot of technical know-how is needed to run multiple versions on the same computer, otherwise you may fall into DLL hell.

Fortunately TredoSoft have produced an all-in-one package that allows you to run IE3, IE4, IE5, IE5.5 and IE6. Download the executable program, double-click and you're done: you’ll be able to select one of several IEs to test your website.

Lately I've been rather evasive or downright secretive about work. That's because I've recently made a move into science writing! Readers of this weblog may notice that this explains my recent spate of rants on grammar and style.

Essentially, I realised that I prefer explaining concepts over testing theory through experiments. Over the last few months I've been writing a popular science book. It's only half-done, but I'm revealing this now because it'll have go on hiatus while I settle into my new job. So it's big announcement time: from next week, I'll be Staff Writer on BBC Focus, the PPA Specialist Magazine of the Year. My work will mainly involve writing copy for the magazine and website.

There were over 50 applicants, so I'm extremely happy and proud to have got the position. The interview involved a half-hour discussion with the Editor and Consulting (ex-) Editor, followed by 30 minutes to write a news story. I would describe my writing on the day as pretty piss-poor, so I gather that I must have interviewed well. After having designed a few websites (and spending too much time online), I suspect my knowledge of How the Web Works™ helped things.

The publishing and journalism industries don't pay well. Even with my PhD providing a slight bump, I'm effectively taking an over 40% pay-cut compared to a research salary. Not that I mind too much, however, as I'm sure the work will be much more fun. As a long-time technophile, hopefully writing for Focus will give me the opportunity to talk technology too.

I enjoyed a 2 week placement at Focus last December, where I got to write several news stories for the website (e.g. Memory Chimp), plus various bits and pieces that have appeared in the last two issues of the magazine (e.g. How to memorise a long number, March 2008, page 49). The thought of a 28-year-old going on "work experience" still makes me chuckle.

Focus are a small team in a friendly office atmosphere. I haven't been this excited about Mondays since working with Laurence. I'm a good writer, but not a great one. Like all things, the only way to get better is to practise, practise, practise. And getting words in print on a regular basis isn't just immediately rewarding, knowing there's a large audience also helps drive improvement.

Pre-emptive mini-FAQ

Will you still keep this blog?

Yes, but I'll concentrate on my personal interests outside of sci-tech. For biology specifically, I'll be launching a new website soon (more on that once it's ready).

Will you ever return to research?

Probably not, but one should never say never. Right now I certainly can't imagine a career that doesn't involve writing about cool stuff.

What's the book about?

Sorry, not telling! You'll have to wait until it's nearly finished.

My sister Steph got accepted to study Medicine at UCL. Despite repeatedly telling her how over-hyped the city is, she's really happy to be going to London.

My friend Joanna Parmley, who started her PhD after me, passed her viva voce exam, officially making her "Dr Jo". Last night we had fantastic time with former and current Hurst lab members at my ex-supervisor's country house. Laurence and his wife used to regularly host dinner parties, but I studied at Bath just as his family grew by two. I've always been curious at to what I was missing!

His dog and two daughters are all really sweet. The girls were keen to show-off their plush cuddly toys, including a maned lion named Milly. One day daddy the biologist will have some explaining to do!

Laurence was very pleased with himself after showing-off a birdie in Golf. Seriously, how many university professors do you know who play Wii?

Less eventful than last year, but no less fun.

Stepping into the Novotel Southampton, I always experience an awkward moment: looking around at the brightly-clothed cosplayers, the socially-inept teenagers and ever-present gophers, I wonder, What the fuck am I doing here?

The apprehension dissolves as soon as I see old friends, of course. But without Sweatdrop, 'the iCrew' and a few random acquaintances, I would no doubt feel out-of-place at such events.

Conventions are a gathering of fans, an event to share and celebrate an enthusiasm for a genre. For many, it also provides a sense of 'belonging'.

Given this freedom, some attendees seem to confuse "be yourself" with "act weird", taking liberties with social behaviour. Being someone who's reserved around strangers, feigned familiarity alienates me. So, while I can't begrudge a middle-aged man their annual opportunity to dress like a schoolgirl in public (without getting arrested), please no touchy.

Anyway, enough introspection, here's my report of another enjoyable Minami...

Friday 29th February 2008. I joined friends from the iCrew for an ASDA run, stocking-up on booze and snacks. I would later tell anyone who would listen an anecdote about how a six-pack of Pink and Whites costs just 27p. On a per-wafer basis, it would probably cost more than 4.5 pence to buy the marshmallow and cardboard separately. What a rivetting story.

The remaining itinerary: hotel bar, opening ceremony, the bar, TGI Friday's restaurant, the bar. Our TGI's waitress remembered a friend's embarrassing alcohol-related antics from last year. We rewarded her with a decent tip.

At 11pm my room-mate went upstairs to rest for a bit, then didn't come back down (is he showing his age?) I stayed up until 2am, chatting with Fehed Said (author of The Clarence Principle) and Nana Li, who won TOKYOPOP's Rising Stars of Manga competition (more importantly, she studies at Imperial ;)

Saturday 1st March. As usual, the evening masquerade was the highlight of the convention. Although, in general, the cosplay characters weren't as imaginiative as previous years, it did feature the single greatest costume: an 8-foot tall Optimus Prime. He starred alongside Leader-1 (from the Go-Bots), in a comedy sketch about Michael Bay making Transformers 2. Side-splitting stuff, but was it appropriate for an anime convention? The Squeenix Eye for the Straight Guy skit was also pretty funny.

I was lucky enough to snag a prime spot towards the back of the hall, so managed to snap a few half-decent photos of the costumes. My pictures are nowhere near as good as last year (note: please login if you're a friend with a Flickr account, as some images are restricted).

Dinner was Indian. Last year's Chinese was definitely better, but the curry only cost £10 and it came with good company. Back at the bar, I failed to convert others to the cult of old-school Top Trumps. Instead we attempted to solve riddles, told jokes on stereotypes and drew politically-incorrect Mexicans. Thanks Dock and Selina (I think!)

Sunday. Mother's Day meant the nearby pubs and restaurants were all booked-up for lunch, so we ended-up at McDonald's. Before I stopped attending cons in the 1990s, my body could cope with hamburger-based meals, but not anymore (stupid slowing metabolism!) I only made a paltry £15 from selling books at the Bring 'n' Buy, not enough to help fund my trip. At the newly exploitative hotel exchange rate, that equated to two and a half pints of beer.

After saying goodbyes, I took the over-priced and over-crowded train back home. Short and subdued, the weekend left me with a bad case of the post-convention blues, made worse by the depressing realisation that I'm getting too old for this shit. With each passing year, I find it increasingly more difficult to relate to the average con-goer. Unless there's a compelling reason to for me attend, I'll soon have to stop going. Another reason to start making comics again?

Consumers are so used to misleading advertisements that, if an offer seems too good to be true, it has become second nature to search for the small print.

Statements like prices starting from X amount or up to Y download speeds mean we should expect the bare minimum. But at least in these cases, there's enough information to imply that a range of values exists. Recently, however, companies are being allowed to redefine individual words.

Magazines often offer free gifts, some every single issue. Although we know that the cost of the gift has been factored in to the cost of the magazine, it's acceptable because you're partly paying for the magazine.

Amazon Prime recently came to the UK. If you frequently pay to have orders delivered, it isn't a bad deal: For just £49 a year, you'll enjoy an exclusive membership program that gives you and your family the benefits of unlimited Free One-Day Delivery on millions of eligible items sold by Amazon.co.uk. But if the delivery is free, what service are you actually paying for? They probably get around this issue by also offering a discount on Express and Evening Delivery. Technically, they can claim that you're paying for the discount, the "free" one-day delivery is just a bonus.

To a broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP), the noun unlimited doesn't mean "without limits". Instead, downloading is subject to a fair use policy, which is effectively a cap on how much internet you can use.

When Apple released the iPhone, O2 offered an Unlimited data plan. But after saying that fair usage meant under 1,400 web page downloads per day, they had to backtrack. Other mobile phone operators and ISPs get around this by not advertising how much web traffic they consider "fair" or "excessive".

Companies get away with such doubletalk and all the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) actually does is ensure that small print exists: Something can be described as ‘unlimited' even if a fair-use policy exists. However, the existence of the fair-use policy should be stated in the ad, and the policy should only be invoked to prevent misuse of the service.

Don't hope for intervention from the Government: a petition signed by over 9,000 people elicited a similar response. Both the ASA and the government miss the point. Although companies should have the right to impose limits on services to protect other customers, they shouldn't be allowed to intentionally deceive people on what they're selling.

It's unreasonable to expect consumers to look for quotes and asterisks before they can safely assume that a word means what it's supposed to. Adding a qualifier to a noun so that it means the opposite of its definition undermines language: use a different word.

15th December 2007: J's birthday, Newport. Friends came to stay at my dad's place for a sleepover. It was like being 16 years old again, but without girls in pyjamas having pillow fights (well, that's what used to happen in my teenage fantasy world). We lazed around, watched Futurama and played Nintendo. There were some interesting Wii Sports bowling techniques on display.

Pressies-wise, mes soeurs Amazoned me books from my wishlist, so now my Asterix hardcover collection is two-thirds complete! From Monica, I got the digital camera that I'd been after for ages: the multi-award-winning Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3, which sounds fancy and pricey because it is. The lens has a 10x optical zoom, which is, to the best of my knowledge, a whole seven zooms more than average.

28th: Xmas, Exeter. My sisters and The Parents spent the holiday season with relatives in Mauritius, so I was left to fend for myself in a fucking freezing house. That meant Christmas Dinner For One from Marks and Spencer. Pathetic, but delicious, gravy-smothered, pathetic.

Monica was with her family in Portugal, so I postponed "proper" Xmas until she came to visit. After the expensive camera, she surprised me with an iPod Shuffle. I've been meaning to get one for almost 3 years, but never thought I actually needed it. Now I can't go anywhere without a few empty-threes and podcats to listen to.

29th: David's birthday, Exeter. The Nobody Inn is a small pub in the middle somewhere outside Exeter. Dave's girlfriend organised a trip there, to drink pickle-flavoured cider and whiskies from around the world. Nostalgia always makes for much-appreciated presents, so I eBayed two decks of out-of-print Top Trumps cards: 'Aliens and Space Warriors' and 'Goblins and Faeriefolk'. A good deal of the evening was spent cursing Pet Smet's "Weapons: Zero".

31st: New Year's Eve, London. Monica and I spent the morning with the First Emperor at the British Museum. We got up early to queue for on-the-day tickets, because advance tickets are always sold out. Our picture-taking was limited to clandestine methods, as security had a strict "no photography" policy. It's a very informative exhibition (7/10), but there weren't as many statues as I thought there would be. One would definitely need to go to China to see the Terracotta Army in all its glory.

1st January 2008: New Year. We celebrated with Keds & Friends at the Namco Station in County Hall, next to the London Eye. It was pure, unadulterated fun: pool, bowling and bumper cars. To call them "dodgems" would be a misnomer, as we didn't do much of that.

The fireworks were close to the building, so unfortunately the safety people wouldn't let us out at midnight. Although we had to watch the display from the doorway, the area had been barricaded-off. So, unlike the sardines all around us, we had plenty of space to stretch.

Even though I've been blogging for 3 years now, it seems that I'm still shit at it :p December was really busy, but I promise to provide a substantial update next month.

I love football. Sometimes, on days like today, fanatically.

When it comes up in conversation, people will invariably ask, which team do you support? As someone who moves town every 2 years or so, I've never felt comfortable having a "club". Consequently, despite having spent only 86% of my life in the country, I support England.

Now that England are out of Euro 2008, I have no team to support in a major tournament until (hopefully) the 2010 World Cup. This is made even more depressing by the fact that international matches are also supposed to be father-son bonding time.

I will need to be kept distracted next summer. Wimbledon had better be fucking exciting!

No, I didn't reach the TOKYOPOP RSoM finals.

Having compared my manga to those of the finalists, I'm not too surprised. My guess is that my submission was let down by the art, which looks almost unfinished compared to the heavily screentoned finalists. Being a minimalist, I don't like screentone, as I feel it detracts from the simple beauty of line. Shonen, my favourite manga genre, usually employs only one or two greys.

To suit the story, I experimented with hatching and inking in a sketchy style, thinking that this would be enough. In retrospect, however, I should have used at least one shade of grey.

Yes, I'm disappointed but, on the plus side, at least now I can add some finishing touches! As well as putting some grey here and there, I'll also have the opportunity to re-do a few faces and speech bubbles. I consider the experience to have been practise for my next manga.

RSoM is a great way to showcase emerging talent, and TOKYOPOP should be commended for continuing to run this competition. The post-selection process, however, needs some work.

First and foremost, fix the website. Labelling something "beta" is not an excuse for broken hyperlinks and a disorganised layout, it only highlights a fundamental misunderstanding of web standards. Web 2.0 is not about fancy effects. Following on from this point, ditch the "manga player". Not only is it an unnecessary plug-in, it's also badly implemented. Imitation page-turning slows loading times and diminishes the user experience. Worse, a manga-sized book only works when printed. At screen resolution, text is too difficult to read.

Winners and runners-up should be revealed before enabling voting for "Peoples' Choice". The aim is clearly to prolong the excitement and mystery, but the title is misleading, as judges have already picked 7/16 finalists to go in the book. Theoretically, if popular opinion matches the judges' picks, the "choice" could be only the 8th most voted-for entry.

Nevertheless, register with TOKYOPOP to vote for one of the 16 finalists, just in case you and the judges have wildly different tastes! Overall, in my opinion, although most entries were well drawn, few had a compelling story or a truly satisfying ending. Due to my personal preferences, I can't imagine buying a whole volume based on any one story. The following three aren't my prediction for the winners, just those that I particularly like...

Parasites by Rachel Saunders was by far my favourite in terms of artistic style. Especially scary fact: the artist is only 18 years old. Until Death Do Us Party by Laura Watton was the only story that made me laugh more than once. Laura's bold lines have given her manga a distinctive (1980s/1990s) retro look, something that I've always been fond of. Two for Joy by Dock had the most believable dialogue and character interaction.

It'll probably take much coaxing, but maybe I'll enter RSoM again next year... we'll see!

Most people would have a hard time distinguishing between two mice. Whereas humans tell each other apart through visual cues like facial features, most other vertebrates use olfactory signals, such as pheromones derived from proteins encoded by the set of genes in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC).

MHC proteins are found at cell surfaces, helping to detect foreign antigens by presenting molecules to the immune system. An organism can't predict which pathogens will infect it, so the larger the repertoire of MHC genes, the greater its chances of possessing a protein that will bind a specific foreign antigen should the need arise.

The ability to smell and avoid related (genetically similar) individuals is beneficial in allowing parents to pick potential partners that would generate offspring with a wider variety of MHC genes. Women, for example, find the body odour of men with a similar MHC assortment to be more unpleasant than those with a different set of genes.

Rodents rely on Major Urinary Protein (MUP) signals and not MHC to recognise individuals, according to research led by Prof. Jane Hurst of the University of Liverpool. The group previously discovered that, in male mice, MUPs are more potent than MHC proteins for discriminating between self and non-self scents.

By exposing female mice to males from different genetic backgrounds, Hurst's lab have now found that only MUP signals allow actual recognition. When sibling males both differed from females in MHC type, females couldn't distinguish between them. However, females were more attracted to those whose MUP genes differed from their own. The work suggests that MHC signals may allow discrimination between individuals, but don't allow identification.

Not all vertebrates excrete signals in urine, so it remains to be seen whether other species also use pheromone-based genetic cues to identify individuals. Like humans, for instance, sheep remember individuals by face.

Do you suffer from megapixel envy?

Even if so, you probably still use your digital camera to take pictures at excessive resolutions. Besides taking ages to upload to photo-sharing sites (like Flickr), do you really want your family and friends to see those holiday snaps of you sunburnt at 3200x2400 pixels?

To reduce the dimensions and sizes of my files, I used to apply a Photoshop action to each, which was tedious and time-consuming. I recently discovered, however, that OS X has a built-in image manipulator which makes resizing multiple images very easy (via Verle).

Simple Image Processing System (SIPS) is powerful and, importantly, fast, here's an example of how it can be used. Launch Terminal.app from Applications/Utilities and then enter...

cd in_dir
sips --resampleHeightWidthMax 1024 *.jpg -s format gif --out out_dir

In the above example, all (3200x2400) JPGs would be resized to 1024x768 pixels and saved as GIFs, irrespective of their orientation (portrait/landscape). The input directory, in_dir, is where your original images are located, out_dir is where you want the save your new ones. WARNING: if you don't specify --out out_dir, you'll alter your originals!

Note that you don't need to type the full path (location) of each directory, simply find the folder in Finder, then drag it onto the Terminal window.

Other commands/options are available, type man sips or sips --help to find out more.

I spent a week in September with my girlfriend in the Açores, a group of Portuguese islands in the Atlantic Ocean, lying midway between Europe and North America. As an isolated archipelago in a temperate weather zone, the Azores experience a maritime climate without extremes.

With only a week, we spent the entire time on São Miguel, largest of the nine islands. Rather than being a typical island paradise, it's instead a place of unspoilt and understated natural beauty.

11th September: In Lisbon, Monica gave me a quick tour of the site of the Expo '98 World Fair.

We had a promenade in the evening, followed by dinner at a restaurant which specialises in food from the Alentejo region of southern Portugal. I had Octopus Salad and Dogfish Soup.

12th: Our holiday proved inexpensive, as we didn't pay for accommodation, thanks to Monica's friend Cajó, who kindly put us up (and put up with us) in his spare bedroom.

Cajó lives in Livramento, a small town near the capital, Ponta Delgada, with his cat 'Chimney' and dog 'Nigga'. Chimney's a cute thieving little bastard, while Nigga never barks and always seems happy. Someday I'll settle down somewhere where I can keep a dog, and Nigga's calm disposition has promoted black labradors to the top of my list.

We accompanied Cajó's girlfriend Diana while she walked Nigga to Praia do Pópulo (Pópulo Beach), just down the road from Livramento. In the afternoon, Cajó guided us around some nearby places of interest, including Praia da Caloura, after which we went to a small pub to eat grilled cockles and watch football.

13th: After renting a Nissan Micra, we soon discovered that it is the hire car on São Miguel, as we saw one parked at almost every place that we visited. We spent the afternoon at Lagoa do Fogo (Fire Lagoon), hiking down to the tranquil lake that fills the basin of the caldera.

At Caldeira Velha (Old Hot Springs) we bathed under a waterfall. The iron in the water gives the rocks a characteristic 'rust' colour, while the sulphur produces that distinctive smell of rotten eggs. I adapt pretty quickly to odours, but it takes Monica longer to get used to them. We had dinner in Ribeira Grande, at the fancy 'Ala Bote' restaurant, where I happily devoured the shellfish from a huge bowl of Arroz de Marisco (Seafood Rice).

14th: The first of our drives along the coast took us along the southwest of the island, to Praia dos Mosteiros. The beach is covered in the black sand and rocks that betray the island's volcanic origins. We dined at another posh place, this time in Ponta Delgada, where I tried to offset all the seafood that I'd consumed with a tower of tasty burger.

15th: Dolphin Day! After morning coffee at Praia de Água d'Alto, sightseeing from the Miradouro do Pisão (Pisão Belvedere) and Fried Squid for lunch at 'O Carlos' in Vila Franca do Campo, we went whale-watching along the southeast coast.

The whales must have felt shy that day, but we did catch three different species of dolphin, including a glimpse of relatively rare Atlantic Spotted Dolphins. The Common Dolphins were smaller than I expected, whereas Bottlenose Dolphins were much larger. The Bottlenoses did, however, conform to the playful stereotype that I've nurtured since watching Flipper as a child. The day was topped-off with some swimming and sunbathing at Prainha.

16th: We had a quiet, relaxing afternoon at the pair of lakes that make up the Lagoa das Sete Cidades (Seven Cities Lagoon). The green lake's colour can be attributed to algae, while "the blue lagoon" is linked to the sea via inlets. After a nap under some trees, we visited the Várzea dos Mosteiros (Mosteiros Floodplain) and Ponta Delgada.

17th: The roads of São Miguel have the worst sign-posting that I've ever seen. Crossing the island, from Ponta Delgada to Ribeira Grande, should have taken a few minutes, but instead it took around an hour. Our second coastal drive involved following almost two-thirds of the island's perimeter. We headed northwest, stopping at Porto Formoso, which has a secluded beach that probably gets busy on sunny weekends, but the skies were grey that day.

The north isn't particularly interesting, but there are a couple of impressive viewing spots on the east coast. The Miradouro da Ponta do Sossego has a flower garden, so we took lots of photos in 'macro mode' for my plant-mad dad. The belvedere was also home to Cat City.

Between navigating through sets of winding roads on the southwest coast, we stopped at the town of Povoção, where we failed to find the "mini zoo" that Cajó had marked on our map. Amusingly, upon asking an old man for directions, not only did he not know where the zoo was, Monica had to explain the concept of "zoo" to him.

18th: On our last day in the Azores, we took a small ferry to the Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo, a small crescent-shaped island with a shallow salt-water lagoon in the centre. When the sun's out, it's easy to see the wide variety of fish that find shelter there, all you need are a pair of swimming goggles. For lunch, we ate Cozido das Furnas, a dish of meat and vegetables that the residents of Furnas cook underground, next to the hot springs.

We spent the afternoon shopping for souvenirs in Ponta Delgada. Tourism is supposed to be the main industry of the Azores, but we didn't find the local inhabitants particularly warm or welcoming. Perceived rudeness can often the consequence of a language barrier, but that's unlikely to have been the issue on São Miguel because obviously Monica, being Portuguese, speaks Portuguese. Instead, she thinks that their attitude stems from Azorean history.

After flying back to Portugal, we stayed overnight in Sesimbra with Monica's sister Cristina, her boyfriend Rui and 'Buick', their golden retriever puppy/lampshade.

Monica and I had a relaxing time on São Miguel, we recommend it for a sightseeing trip.

I've done Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors for a Sweatdrop thread on mangafying/mangifying/magnifying your favourite kid's TV characters (via Laura). Technically, Jayce was one of my favourite shows (I didn't like him) and it was animated by a Japanese studio. This was supposed to be a "quick" sketch but took about 3 hours, after inking and colouring in Painter.

Like many 1980s cartoons, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors was based on a toy line. The series was produced by Babylon 5 creator JMS and ran for 65 episodes, but unfortunately never reached its conclusion. While the complete series is available in French, only one DVD is available in English.

Unlike apostrophe's simple rules, homophones and near-homophones can be tricky, particularly in pairs where both are verbs. Even some experienced writers will probably find it difficult to spontaneously explain, for example, the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'. I found this out over the phone the other day, while trying to explain it to my sister Steph. The examples given by Grammar Girl are good, as illustrated by an aardvark...

The majority of the time you use affect with an a as a verb and effect with an e as a noun.

Affect with an a means "to influence," as in, "The arrows affected the aardvark," or "The rain affected Amy's hairdo." Affect can also mean, roughly, "to act in a way that you don't feel," as in, "She affected an air of superiority."

Effect with an e has a lot of subtle meanings as a noun, but to me the meaning "a result" seems to be at the core of all the definitions. For example, you can say, "The effect was eye-popping," or "The sound effects were amazing," or "The rain had no effect on Amy's hairdo," or "The trick-or-treaters hid behind the bushes for effect."

The definition of 'genius' that I prefer isn't based on the so-called measure of intelligence, but instead relates to creativity and innovation.

Ratatouille, which comes out in the UK today, is the latest feature film from Pixar. To date, the director, Brad Bird, has probably been most famous for The Incredibles (8/10), although he was also the driving force behind the criminally overlooked animated masterpiece The Iron Giant (9/10, which also featured designs by one of my favourite illustrators, Michel Gagné).

Bird is the genius that turned a struggling project into perhaps Pixar's finest film yet. Although Ratatouille isn't as revolutionary as Toy Story and hasn't been as hyped as Finding Nemo, it's their best in terms of storytelling. I'm averse to spoilers, but I will say that there's a moment near the end, featuring one of the villains, which will practically pull you out of your seat and drop you into Bird's CGI world.

The plot is essentially 'rat aspires to become chef', a premise that's treated with depth, humour and, most importantly, sincerity. Unlike many non-Pixar CG animations, Ratatouille avoids the traps of cliché, musical numbers and self-deprecation.

Ratatouille is the best animated film this decade. I watched it in Switzerland 2 months ago and have been waiting to write about it ever since. It's the first film that I've seen in a long time where I'd have been happy to watch it again straight after leaving the cinema, and there's no higher recommendation than that (10/10).

My greatest childhood obsession was Transformers (which partially explains my review of the live-action film). While I loved the toys, I was an even bigger fan of the weekly magazine. In fact, I would credit the artwork in the UK comic, particularly that of Geoff Senior, with initially inspiring me to draw comics.

When I was 10 years old, I was lucky enough to get some serious sucking-up printed on the letters page. During the magazine's 8-year run, replies to readers' letters were handled by various Transformers, including Soundwave, Grimlock and Blaster. None of them, however, seemed to know much about the events in the comic or, indeed, about Transformers! Nonetheless, their responses were often entertaining. My favourite was Dread Tidings, as the 'answers' came from the Decepticon Dreadwind, who preferred to insult readers and make sarcastic comments.

As you can tell from reading my letter, even back then, I was a pedantic little bastard ;)