Null Space

Public Service Announcement: Dried Wakame

2009-06-09T05:33:00.005+08:00

So, today I purchased a package of dried wakame, or seaweed, to put in my miso soup. The instructions of the packet were innocuous enough.

"Cover amount of wakame to be used with cold water. Let stand for 4 to 6 minutes, or until rehydrated and desired tenderness is reached."

What they fail to mention is just how big each little flake of wakame becomes when exposed to water. Look!

Each one of those little pieces at the bottom becomes the size of the ones above. Store away from water. Do not feed after midnight, lest your 57g packet swell to size of your kitchen and beyond!

This has been a Public Service Announcement!

In London

2009-04-10T06:56:00.002+08:00

Well, I've been in London since Saturday and haven't updated my blog and don't really have time now as I should be alseep as I'm heading to Bradford tomorrow for Eastercon. (Wimpy British can't handle a 5 day con, apparently. Eastercon is only 4!)

Suffice to say that I'm alive and well and have trodden a fair bit of pavement the last week. And just to prove I am here, here's a nice picture of the London Eye at night, from the Hungerford Bridge.

Off to New Adventures

2009-04-03T22:59:00.003+08:00

Typing this from a public terminal in Changi airport in Singapore, while eating a red bean bao.

I love being out in the world.

And now to catch my flight to London, on an Airbus A380. Awesome!

Big Afoots

2009-03-06T18:26:00.003+09:00

In my NYE post I said "Plans are already afoot for big things, big changes and big adventures in 2009."

So here is the big one.

On the 3rd of April, I'm going to the UK. I'm going to go to Eastercon this year, instead of Swancon.

And then I'm staying on for the next six months.

The plan is to try and find work and use the proceeds to see bits of Europe.

It's all big and huge and exciting and a bit scary at the same time.

But definitely a big adventure.

The Day the Music Died

2009-02-04T01:27:00.002+09:00

It's been 50 years since Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Boppper (J. P. Richardson) died in a plane crash near Clear Lake Iowa, with their pilot, Roger Peterson.

Of the three recording artists, one is the subject of a long running stage play, another was the subject of a Golden Globe nominated bio-pic, and the Big Bopper remains an unlucky bit part.

And So It Begins...

2009-01-21T02:30:00.002+09:00

The Presidential Oath of Office could have gone a little bit smoother, but the speech was nice. Full of so much conviction that all things are possible, and that everything can be made better with hard work and smart choices.

Good luck!

A New Start

2009-01-21T01:01:00.002+09:00

Right now, the most densely populated place in the planet is the National Mall in Washington DC, where 2 million people are gathered for the Presidential inauguration.

*boggles*

And it's -5C degrees.

NYE 2008/NY 2009

2009-01-01T19:13:00.005+09:00

Some stats:

Number of parties attended: 5

Distance travelled: 167km

Number of parties where I forgot to take photographs: 4 :(

Number of parties where I delivered portions of someone else's wedding cake: 2

Time that left home: 6:35pm 31 December 2008

Time returned home: 5:05am 1 January 2009

And here's a picture of dawn's first light.

Plans are already afoot for big things, big changes and big adventures in 2009. Looking forward to it all, and will document here once things are a bit firmer.

Consumerism Kills

2008-11-30T00:24:00.002+09:00

A Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death during the the 'Black Friday' post-Thanksgiving sales in Long Island.

By a crowd of shoppers.

After discounted goods.

I'm wondering what sort of a deep discount balances the loss of a life and injury to several others.

Some observations

2008-11-13T23:18:00.000+09:00

Drumming is hard.

I like guacamole.

Resurrecting the Fallen

2008-11-11T23:21:00.002+09:00

After a hard drive failure last week, I got brave this afternoon and undertook an open-case transplant on my faithful G4 PowerBook. There were a couple of tricky moments, with case clips and keyboard cables, but iFixit had a pretty decent guide, with pictures.

I put OS X 10.5 on the new disk and was pleasantly surprised to discover that, compared to 10.3, the machine seems to perform better! So far, things are familiar, but different enough in places to cause some mild irritation.

With the reinstall, I'm on the lookout for a new multi-protocol IM client. I was using Fire, but the project shutdown a while ago. I've loaded Adium for now, but was wondering if anyone had any better recommendations?

Haven't had any luck trying to get data off the old hard drive as yet (which is failing to spin up. Trying real hard, just not quite getting there), so I've left in the ITS Data Recovery Chamber (aka the freezer in the kitchette at work) overnight. We'll see what happens.

I was...

2008-11-06T00:31:00.003+09:00

going to post about how it was a bleak, rainy and windswept night and how it matched my mood, but that was at midnight after having collected my mobile which I'd accidentally left on my desk at work before rushing off to a play without having had any dinner, but now that I have eaten something (some pasta with oily stuff and a sandwich), I think I'm just really tired rather than desperately unhappy.

Oh, and the play was good too. Had Angriest and Lie_xin in it. It was called 'A Laughing Matter' and has three more nights to run. Go see it.

Hack Your Hardware - Links

2008-10-21T20:58:00.003+08:00

Some links from the 'Hack Your Hardware' panel at Wastelands.

Canon Digital Camera Firmware "Extensions" - CHDK

Twilight Hack / Wii Homebrew Channel

Johnny Lee's Wiimote software

Wiimote interface software for Symbian 60 based mobile phones

SCUMMvm Virtual Machine for running certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games (from LucasArts and others), provided you already have their data files.

Korg MS-10 emulator for the Nintendo DS

If anyone can remember anything else we talked about, leave a comment.

Queen of Facebook

2008-10-18T00:28:00.003+08:00

To commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Google yesterday, the BBC commissioned Sue Townsend to write a piece imagining the Queen up late surfing the 'net.

It can read, or listened to (as performed by Dead Ringers cast member Jan Ravens) here.

Macroeconomic Slasher Flick

2008-10-14T23:36:00.005+08:00

For the last few years in Australia we've seen the Federal Government, in conjunction with the Reserve Bank, with the exception of some blatent showing off for the girls in the backseat around election time, drive the economy fairly cautiously down the road, tapping on the breaks occasionally with a series small interest rate rises and recently a well publicised tightening in government spending to try and stop the whole thing from spinning out of control.

Except, I've been noticing that the other economies along the side of the road have been throwing money at their banking systems, trying to shore things up, bring in the signage and boarding over the windows. There's less people on the street.

And we've just suddenly stomped on the acclerator, with a massive single interest rate cut, signalled that there will be more, and are going to push $10 billon dollars out of back the car.

Have we come up to a hill? Or is there really something out there in the darkness that's got our scent?

Unexpected Social Commentary

2008-09-18T23:01:00.002+08:00

Go and see WALL-E. Now. Even if you already have.

Very cool and clever movie, and quite emotionally engaging, considering the two main characters are animated robots. I laughed (a lot), I cried (a bit) and came out feeling much better and uplifted than when I went in. (maybe not hard - I've not been having much fun lately)

And I think, coz of the positive emotional impact, I think it's my pick for best movie I've seen this year.

And the short was very funny. Simple characters, appropriate setting and a clever conceit used for a lot of rapid-fire jokes and it's done before it outstays it's welcome.

South Park Freak Out

2008-09-01T21:07:00.002+08:00

I'm not quite sure why, but tonight's episdoe of South Park, featuring Britney Spears with no head, is freaking me out. I mean, really, really freaking me out. Hoping The Mighty Boosh will make me feel better.

Nope. Not helping.

Magpie

2008-08-18T22:47:00.001+08:00

There's a magpie outside warbling. I usually don't mind such a thing, but it's nighttime and I need to sleep.

Ssshh!

The Male Dress Code

2008-05-15T22:30:00.002+08:00

Being a terrible clothes shopper, I succumbed to the adverts I saw and watched 'Trinny and Susannah Undress the Nation' episode on Men's clothes.

Whilst I'm not entirely sold on the rules they came up with, they might be worth at least having a go at, but I'm not quite sure what body shape I fall under.

The Male Dress Code pamphlet can be download here.

Stupid Adverts

2008-04-23T21:04:00.002+08:00

Earlier, Red Rooster invited me to grease for lunch, and now the ABC have invite me to shower them with gold.

Does anyone think these things through?

Dear Reader's Digest

2008-02-21T21:27:00.003+09:00

What on earth makes you think I'm going to be fooled by an envelope that has "Express Day Timed Delivery" and "Deadline Document Enclosed" printed on, when it's quite obviously and more importantly marked on the top right "Postage Paid - Off Peak - Australia"?

Super Paper Mario

2007-12-31T13:14:00.001+09:00

(Warning: some very minor spoilers)

I've finally gotten back into playing SPM after bit of break after Guitar Hero III arrived on the scene, and I want to finish it before I really get into Super Mario Galaxy.

Super Paper Mario is a hybrid of the RPG and platforming genres. The Paper Mario series to this point (at least the ones I've played) have been almost pure RPG, complete with turn-based combat. This time around its mostly a platformer, with RPG elements. You have party members, hit points, attack points and special items. You don't get to choose where to put points when you level up, which I think is a bit rotten, as I'd really love to put up my defense level.

The plot: Count Bleck, using a book of dark prophecy, has set in motion a series of events which will result in the destruction of the multiverse. Fortunately, there's a book of light prophecy that gives clues on how to stop that from happening, so that you, the player, get to use your party of Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser to travel to various universes to collect seven 'Pure Hearts'. To aid you in a number of the puzzles are helper icons called 'Pixls' that perform various functions, such as making you tiny, or giving you the 'ground pound' move.

Some of the game is a bit repetitive, but then the plot will go somewhere unexpected - in one chapter you end up being stuck in a universe when it collapses. The other thing that's really keeping me going is the unexpected emotional depth in the character interaction. Things aren't what they seem, the villian is becoming more and more grey in his motivations and the end of the chapter I finished last night was truly heartwrenching.

Definitely recommended.

Super Paper Mario(Minor Spoilers

2007-12-31T13:14:00.000+09:00

I've finally gotten back into playing SPM after bit of break after Guitar Hero III arrived on the scene, and I want to finish it before I really get into Super Mario Galaxy.

Super Paper Mario is a hybrid of the RPG and platforming genres. The Paper Mario series to this point (at least the ones I've played) have been almost pure RPG, complete with turn-based combat. This time around its mostly a platformer, with RPG elements. You have party members, hit points, attack points and special items. You don't get to choose where to put points when you level up, which I think is a bit rotten, as I'd really love to put up my defense level.

The plot: Count Bleck, using a book of dark prophecy, has set in motion a series of events which will result in the destruction of the multiverse. Fortunately, there's a book of light prophecy that gives clues on how to stop that from happening, so that you, the player, get to use your party of Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser to travel to various universes to collect seven 'Pure Hearts'. To aid you in a number of the puzzles are helper icons called 'Pixls' that perform various functions, such as making you tiny, or giving you the 'ground pound' move.

Some of the game is a bit repetitive, but then the plot will go somewhere unexpected - in one chapter you end up being stuck in universe when it collapses. The other thing that's really keeping me going is the unexpected emotional depth in the character interaction. Things aren't what they seem, the villian is becoming more and more grey in his motivations and the end of the chapter I finished last nioght

An Invite Down the Pub

2007-12-21T10:02:00.000+09:00

Me and Grant and Sonia are going to hang out at the Brass Monkey in Northbridge for a bit from 2pm on Sunday afternoon (23rd of December).

If you feel like coming and joining us, please feel welcome to do so!

Liquidity in the UK

2007-12-13T22:56:00.000+09:00

As I was standing there with my three-quarter size Gibson Les Paul shaped controller playing Guitar Hero III, strumming along to a new version of 'Anarchy in the UK' that the Sex Pistols recorded especially for the game, that it crossed my mind that maybe they always were only in it for the money all along...

Happy Doctor Who Day!

2007-11-23T10:47:00.000+09:00

Doctor Who turns 44 today! Hurrah!

As a special treat I watched this year's Children in Need Special last night. It's called "Time Crash" and is written by Steven Moffat and starred David Tennant and Peter Davision, both as the Doctor, and it was fab. A lyrical, heartfelt vignette to the Fifth Doctor.

"Brave choice, celery. But fair play to you, not a lot of men can carry off a decorative vegetable."

And the speech at the end was written by Tennant. You'll know it when you see it.

Me Vs. The Garden

2007-10-01T17:32:00.000+08:00

Whilst I was away in August (I'll get some photos up one day!) my garden went a little wild. I was intending to at least mow the lawn before I left, but it rained pretty much every Saturday and Sunday in July that I wasn't busy. So I came back to metre high grass and overgrown garden beds.

Managed to mow the lawn last Sunday afternoon - it now resembles brown stubble, and this long weekend I took advantage of the nice weather to weed the garden beds. Came across all sorts of wildlife - worms, beetles, lizards, snails, spiders and even a frog, so hope I haven't damaged the ecosystem too much.

Whilst it is all looking much better, disadvantage is that my allergies are playing up (which are already bad this time of year), so currently feel like quite drained and a bit crap. Still have to get all the weeds out of the gaps between the bricks in the patio, too.

Travel Tips - Mt Eccles National Park

2007-08-10T18:55:00.000+08:00

Go here, particularly if you're heading somewhere near it, as it's a very worthwhile detour.

Mt Eccles was a volcano some 19000 years ago. So, there's a nice crater. And lava canals.

Oh, and a perfect formed lava tube you can just walk into for a bit of a squizz. Take a torch for better viewing. (I didn't have one, sadly.) Awesome.

Travel Tips - The Great Ocean Road

2007-08-09T18:52:00.000+08:00

I can highly, highly recommend driving the Great Ocean Road in south-western Victoria. I would suggest going from east to west, and allowing more than one day to traverse from Lorne to Port Fairy (which is what I did, and there was plenty I didn't have time to stop and see).

The Otways spilling down into the Southern Ocean is amazing.

Don't both with the lighthouse at Cape Otway if you're in a hurry - it's a 21 km detour of winding road with a gatehouse at the end that charges you money to see the lighthouse. Not what you want if all have time for is a quick squiz and a snapshot. (I didn't get either for my trouble)

Hyperdrive

2007-07-25T23:37:00.000+08:00

I gave it a chance. I watched a whole episode. Plus some bits here and there over the past few weeks, and frankly, dysentery is funnier, and that kills people.

Ear Wax

2007-07-25T22:27:00.000+08:00

One of my ear canals is blocked at the moment, which isn't an uncommon event, and seems to occur almost annually. The procedure for getting them clear is pretty straight forward: put in wax softening drops for a couple of days, and then visit a nurse or doctor to have the canal flushed with water with a big syringe.

The problem is the wax softening drops. I've tried a couple of brands and the one that works best is pretty horrid stuff. It's smelly and oily, and comes warning to 'Avoid contact withe eyes and skin'. But it's fine to go in your ear, right?

My favourite direction for use is this: after putting the drops in your ear, they should be 'left for 10 - 30 minutes according to the degree of hardness of the ear wax'.

...

The degree of hardness of the ear wax? How exactly is one supposed to ascertain that? Given the generally accepted wisdom of never putting anything in your ear bigger than your elbow, what instrument is supposed to be used? Should I be using Mohs scale of hardness as a reference? Does a value of 1 (talc) mean 10 minutes, where a value of 10 (diamond) gets the full 30? And how do you get ear wax as hard as diamond anyway?

Enquiring minds need to know!

Spider-Man 3 - An Invitation

2007-05-06T22:52:00.000+08:00

Spider-Man 3 is now showing in cinemas and I'm going to go along and see it on Tuesday. You're more than welcome to come and see it with me! (and we be disappointed about the overly laden script and how is wasn't as good as the previous film together)

When: Tuesday, 8th May
Where: Hoyts Carousel
When: 7:15pm

If you're coming, just leave a note in the forum or drop me an email, so I know to expect you.

UK Politics

2007-05-03T14:12:00.000+08:00

After ten years as PM, Tony Blair is going...

but the moment has been prepared for!

Irony

2007-04-18T13:30:00.000+08:00

Went to the shops at lunch today. In amongst the post-Easter sales I noted that the Bart Simpson Easter Eggs proclaimed loudly on the box to be 'Vegan Friendly', but the chocolate Lisa Simpson head wasn't.

Animal Rescue

2007-04-18T13:25:00.000+08:00

Interrupted night last night. Rescued a frog (gorgeous markings, red-ish belly) from the cat-from-up-the-back in my back garden around 11:30, then some exotic beetle (black with white spots) from my hallway around 1am, and this morning rescued said cat from my back garden. (It's a stupid kitten, and can't jump back over the fence.)

*builds up karma*

Hot Fuzz - An Invitation

2007-03-19T10:42:00.000+09:00

Hot Fuzz, the lastest film from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Spaced) is out in cinemas and I'm going to go and see it, and you're more than welcome to come along!

When: Tomorrow, Tuesday, 20th March
Where: Hoyts Carousel
When: 6:30pm

If you're coming, just leave a note in the forum, so I know to expect you.

Lightning Strikes Out

2007-03-01T22:03:00.000+09:00

One of the thunderstorms during Monday's unusual weather passed right over my workplace, giving us a fairly impressive light and sound show, and putting all us techies on edge waiting for the seeming inveitable power outage (it didn't happen). We're fairly sure at least on bolt came down in the courtyard outside my window and I'm fairly sure the library got struck as well.

So, it was this recent experience in mind that I settled down to watch the science documentary of the ABC tonight. It was a BBC programme called 'Lightning: Nature Strikes Back'.

From the programme description: 'Lightning: Nature Strikes Back' looks into the cause, effect and current understanding of one of nature's greatest enigmas.

Cause was covered in a single sentence: "Lightning is caused by the friction of ice particles in storm clouds." It was pretty much down hill from there, relying mostly on sensationalism and hyperbole. To give you some idea:

Here's Apollo 12. It got struck by lightning just after launch, causing the primary computer to fail. It it wasn't for the massively redunant systems, people might have died. Lightning is to be feared!

Here's a man who was struck by lightning - he seems normal, but in this MRI test shows that his congnative functions have been remapped to the other side of his brain. Lightning is to be feared!

Here's a research facility in Florida where they fire small rockets attached to long lengths of copper wire into clouds to cause lightning strikes. See how the research assistant runs back from the launch platform. Lightning is to be feared!

Equipment near by registers X-Ray radiation from lightning strikes. That's totally unexpected! (obviously not, or you wouldn't be looking for it) We see gamma rays too! We have a physicist make a statement that the raditation levels are really, really low from 20m away from the impact point, but "we've never measured directly in the lightning channel. Who knows what doses people who get struck are exposed to." (I suggest he goes and reads up on the inverse square law and works it out) Lightning is to be feared!

Lightning causes forest fires! Lightning is to be feared!

There's more lightning than you know. Above the clouds you get huge bolts of lightning in enormous sheets that go more than 15 miles up. Lightning is to be feared!

It was almost over at this point, but I'd had enough and turned it off. For a science documentary, there wasn't much good science. It didn't give a good explaination of how lightning works, and talked about phenomena without talking about why it works. I found the X-ray and gamma radiation fascinating, but had to figure it out for myself - lightning produces light, ie electro-mangnetic radiation in the visible spectrum, and it does seem to have a blue-ish tinge, from the upper end of the spectrum, so it's not too surprising to discover higher-frequency emissions.

I also found the upwards lightning interesting, but no explainations were offered. Lightning is basically a bunch of electrons moving from an area of high charge to an area with a lower charge - what the hell is there to create an electrical potential with more than 24 kilometres up? Wikipedia confirms my thoughts that it could be arcing to the ionosphere, but it's very disappointing no explaination was offered in the programme.

In short - reading the Wikipedia page on lightning was much better use of my time.

Apologies to LJ feed readers!

2007-02-13T19:30:00.000+09:00

I logged into Blogger today and it insisted on converting me over to Blogger 2.0, and republished my entire blog. Which means the LJ feed has picked everything up as being new.

*sigh*

Some Links

2007-02-13T18:18:00.000+09:00

Just want to close off some browser windows, thought I'd share:

Scary accident. No blood or anything, but obviously luck to be alive.

Australian National Public Toilet Map. Doesn't seem to have mobile-phone friendly version, oddly.

Some Links about AJAX web applications I'll probably never get around to reading.

Damned Hot!

2007-01-26T23:51:00.000+09:00

It's midnight. It's 31 degrees C outside. That's silly.

Expect Saturday night be roughly the same. The forecast is 40 C max for Saturday and Sunday too.

I'm heading home after a productive day in the office with no interruptions. Got almost to the end of step 8, and doubled the length of my documentation. Step 8 is the most complicated so far. Think I've finally got on top of the routing funnies the loadbalancer has caused with the backend servers tring to talk to each other. A non-optimal solution, tho.

Blame Oracle!

2007-01-25T20:31:00.000+09:00

It's a war of attrition.

Since resuming work on the 3rd of January, I've been trying to set up a fully redundancy Oracle Portal instance. Which basically looks like this:

1. Install Oracle clusterware
2. Install Oracle ASM
3. Install Oracle Database (so, RAC install to this point)
4. Make a blank database
5. Make this into an Oracle Metadata repository
6. Configure the load balancers
7. Install Oracle Identity Management
8. Install Oracle Portal
9. Upgrade Oracle Portal to the latest release
10. Test failure and backup scenarios
11. Take it all apart, do it again, fixing mistakes and checking documentation.
12. Profit.

The deadline for all of this was months ago. Basically, it's a setup for a Student Portal, which was supposed to be done for the beginning of semester one. I didn't get to work on it last year, due to a major upgrade of our student records system.

Unsurprisingly, it's not been going well. Every step of the way keeps throwing weird shit at me. (currently stuck in 6 and 7) And I need to get it done. So this week, been working stupid hours. Will do next week. And for some of the weekend. Definately having Saturday night off, tho.

So if I'm grumpy, or non-responsive for a while, you know why.

It's Christmas Time!

2006-12-25T11:07:00.000+09:00

Merry Christmas All!

I've just heard on the radio that's its snowing in Tasmania, and in Mt Bulla in Victoria, which was burnt to the ground by bushfires mere days ago. (Can't find links yet - ABC news site might be a bit slow today). Welcome to Australia!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2006-12-22T22:51:00.000+09:00

"Hallo, Ron! Hallo, Hermione!" said Harry.
"Gosh, Harry. You sound deathly." gushed Ron.
Hermione rolled her eyes.

Wii Greet You

2006-12-22T22:06:00.000+09:00

Nintendo released the trial version of their "internet channel" today, which is basically the Opera browser for the Wii. So far, it seems to work pretty good - even does flash. Using the wiimote to point at the on screen keyboard makes text entry a little slower but the predictive text interface helps a bit, so this blog entry wasn't too painful to write. Not sure it'll be used all that often, tho'.
The browser has been tailored to the lower resolution of a television quite well.us The fonts are clear and readable, but you normally have to zoom into the page for best effect. Scrolling is intuitive.
The start up screen says the browser isn't yet feature complete. I wonder what's missing?
UPDATE: Text highlighting is missing. Or I've yet to figure out how.
UPDATE 2: Popup windows are curious.

Weird Little Thing

2006-12-15T19:04:00.000+09:00

I've just noticed that my belly button isn't as centred as I recall it being.

*prods stomach*

I'm sure it's normal, really.

Vegetable Stock Contain Vegetables Like Girl Guide Cookies Contain Girl Guides

2006-12-08T17:07:00.000+09:00

Recently, I've been buying the Campbell brand 'Real Stock' liquid stock. It's great for soups and risottos and the like. I made some soup a last week and while shopping this afternoon was reaching for the shelf for a new one when I decided to recheck the label.

The bastards have changed their recipe. Now one of the ingredients is "Vegetable Paste (contains milk products)". Or worse, have made their label more accurate.

...

How the hell does milk end up in liquid vegetable stock?

The other major brand of liquid vege stock that Woolworths carries, Gravox, also contains milk.

Luckily they had a third brand, Massel, that boldly proclaims on the label "Contains no animal products" and is gluten free as well. Massel also make a liquid chicken stock that's also free of animal product.

UPDATE: I've checked the pantry - I have a carton of Vegetable and Garlic 'Real Stock' that has 'Vegetable Paste (contains milk)" on the label, unlike the older carton that's still in the fridge which makes no mention of it. If anyone wants it (the one from the pantry), who's likely to see me soon let me know. I'm allergic to the fucker.

Things That Piss Me Off

2006-12-05T21:52:00.000+09:00

I'm sure this happens to more than just me.

You're driving along, as I was this evening, along some sort of dual carridgeway, Row Highway in this case, in the top lane, because i) the left lane has cars in it and ii) you're going faster than they are. In my case, I was just doing under 110kph, and trying to find a gap in the left lane so I can take the next exit.

Enter the Fucktard.

Some dickhead in a fairly new silver/grey holden sedan rushes up behind me, starts tailgating, and then starts to flash their lights. I'm already doing over the speed limit. Just an aside - why do people want to drive these metallic grey cars that are roughly the same colour as i) the road and ii) an overcast sky. Presumably you have a deathwish, so being invisible appeals.

Now, at this point, I could just find a gap and force my into it and let the moron zoom on. Except that's not actually possible as the car to the left is a PRIME MOVER. Untrailered, but I'm really not taking his braking space.

Meanwhile, Driver With Tiny Penis (it's his Indian name. Kid you not) is now so close to my rear bumper that I can no longer see the headlights he's continuing to flash.

I'm pretty pissed off by this point. I've not had a pleasant day. It's been long and hard. I'm tired as I no longer seem to sleep like regular humans. My eyes hurt, due to a new complication I've developed, which seems to be related to my skin and lack of sleep. I've already slowed down to exactly the speed limit, but shit-for-brains doesn't seem to be getting the point to back off, or indeed, noticed the dirty large truck next to me.

So I do what everyone should do in situations like this: Plant the brakes.

The driver of the prime mover seemed to have figured out what was going at this point, and gave me room to move into left lane.

And the slowlearner predictably speeds past, pausing only to show me the bird. Or at least I assume that's what the gesture was about. If you want to gesture rudely to other drivers, I strongly suggest you don't get the darkest tinting you can buy.

All in all, a fairly crap day. If anyone wants me, I'll be under the doona.

Some Rhyming Couplets

2006-11-27T19:13:00.000+08:00

And so upon my chair I sit,
Waiting just a little bit
For this program to shutdown
All awhile I wear a frown.

This database may well be broken
'Tis Oracle, it should be spoken
Not even Larry knows what it's doing
It does not respond unto my cooing.

I've waited for two hours now,
Much longer I cannot allow
Of course, this is the student system
It is essential to the mission.

The time has come, it must be said
to face my foe and kill it dead
This action taken, with much gumption,
has the risk to cause corruption.

But the chance must be aweight'd
with access to data being delayed
But now, afraid, I bite the bullet
and yank upon the plug to pull it...

Success at last! I am now free!
For I have restarted this rogue db!
Finally I can now roam
Towards the place I call my home.

Remember all - tell your barista:
Hell, thy name it is Callista.

Long Awaited Housewarming

2006-11-11T12:57:00.000+08:00

Finallly, I think, it's about time for a housewarming.

It'll be next Saturday, 18th November.

It's a bit late notice, so thinking of starting at about 4pm (to allow for other commitments, or get children home or whatever) and going to late. Probably do a mass pizza run (to one of the chains, sadly) or something for those who are around at dinner time.

You'll have to bug me for the address, as I'm not posting that on the blog. My email isn't to hard to find - if you have an old @central.murdoch.edu.au address, just drop out the 'central' bit and make it @murdoch.edu.au. (Otherwise, I won't get it, and it won't bounce for 3 to 5 days)

(I intend to get an email out later - please don't be offended if you don't get one.)

Torchwood Begins!

2006-10-20T16:17:00.000+08:00

Torchwood begins its thirteen part run, with the first two episodes screening on BBC3 at 9pm on Sunday night, UK time.

Russell T. Davis says "he ensured there was some swearing early in the first episode to make it clear the show was not meant for children, though he expected some would watch. I did that very deliberately so that you cannot get confused about what you are watching."

"It's saying very clearly, if you are watching with a child, get out of the room

So it looks like it'll be a bit more gritty than Doctor Who.

I've stuck some pre-publicity stuff up in the usual place, if you're lucky enough to know where that is.

Sod

2006-09-15T01:03:00.000+08:00

So, I noticed that the lj feed that Callistra set up (thank you!) wasn't copying my entry titles correctly.

Which was because, when I set it up three years ago, I didn't actually turn on titles.

I've now fixed this.

But, I wanted to fix some previous posts, so the title was in the right field. Little did I know that the LJ syndication uses the last modified time in the atom feed.

*sigh*

So, I apologise for all my old posts (and now, two new ones) suddenly appearing in the friends list of the 30 people who have my blog feed friended.

Nintendo Wii

2006-09-14T23:20:00.000+08:00

As I write, the Nintendo Corporation is engaged in a rolling series of press conferences worldwide to finally announce the street date, pricing, final features and launch titles of their new games console: the Nintendo Wii.

If you're even slightly interested in computer games, then the Wii is certainly the console to watch in the new generation of consoles. Will Nintendo's highly differentiated approach, intuitive controller and appeal to the "casual gamer" help then win back the mindshare from Microsoft and Sony's faster-cpu-and-better-graphics testosterone fuelled pissing competition?

Iwata-san, Nintendo's CEO, led the presentation at the kick-off in Japan, which was pretty much immediately available on-line, with tonnes of video and can be found here, but is, unfortunately (at least for me), in Japanese.

But, this is the net, so here is an automatically translated version.

I'm not going to comment on it just yet, until after the Australian press event tomorrow (which is rumored to include an exclusive "first look" on Channel Seven news tomorrow evening), but for now I'm going to leave you with this auto-translated gem on the pricing of games for the new console:

"Software with a wide dynamic cooking stove is flexibly priced according to the game genre and the volume feeling and it will come in the future."

Which I think is good news for fans of cooking simulators.

Crazy Time!

2006-09-08T14:41:00.000+08:00

I keep seeing Nintendo DS games out cheap. So far I have purchased two - Brain Training, and Animal Crossing: Wild World, and strongly intend to get the new Mario and Luigi RPG (Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga on the GBA is great. One day I will finish it.)

Eventually, I'll be able to save up and get an acutal Nintendo DS to play them on.

(There's a black DS Lite coming out at the end of the month - I'll definately hold off until then.)

Black Out

2006-08-31T08:19:00.000+08:00

There's no power at my place at the moment. I'm able to write and post this due to having a laptop and having my server and adsl modem on an uninterruptable power supply.

I'm sort of curious to find out when the power might be coming back on, so I can shut things down before the UPS's battery runs out (although when it gets critical it signals the server to turn things off). Western Power don't seem to update their webpages with outage information, but they do offer a phone number you can ring.

The ironic problem being that I only have a cordless phone and the base station has no power.

RSI

2006-08-16T18:28:00.000+08:00

I just had to sign my name and write my job title and the date 29 times.

I hate paperwork.

Dear Diary,

2006-04-15T21:20:00.000+08:00

Today I bought a house.

your friend,
Simon

I Think I'm Not Well

2006-03-23T23:03:00.000+08:00

I got given a PDA at work today. It techncially belongs to work, but from a practical stand point, it's mine.

It's Dell Axim X51. And I can't think of a thing to do with it. I think part of the problem is that it runs Windows Mobile 5.0, and having been a Palm user (before it died) a number of years ago, I'm finding the whole interface bordering on the obscene.

Any suggestions?

Not So Simple

2006-01-21T00:26:00.000+08:00

Some of you would be aware that Lisa and I are having some problems at the moment. It's very important for me to stress to everyone that I do love Lisa and care for her dearly and want to pursue positive outcomes for the two of us.

2005-10-19T14:46:00.000+08:00

Intoxicated and In Control of Root Password

We've had a rash of people leaving at work lately. Today was a lunch for our Business Manager, who's heading back to the mining industry. And it was on campus, so no driving was involved.

The best thing about being drunk at work is that my boss is more drunk.

2005-10-18T21:43:00.000+08:00

Phrases You Don't Use Every Day

The rim on my colander has split.

No, really.

*pout*

Hey!

*blows dust off the blog*

It has been awhile, hasn't it?

2005-08-03T11:30:00.000+08:00

World Gone That Little Bit Crazy

Lisa and I went up to my folks for dinner on Saturday night. After dinner, we four of us were going to be carpooling to head even further north to my brother's house, where my sister-in-law was having a birthday party.

Just before dinner, I noticed my Dad messing with the VCR.

"You're not setting that up to Doctor Who, are you?", inquires me, jokingly.

"Maybe." replies my Dad.

Gobsmacked. My parents. Hooked on Doctor Who. It's like some strange vidication of part of my life.

2005-07-04T18:29:00.000+08:00

It Could Only Happen In... Russia?

Following the successful collision of the Deep Impact projectile into the comet Tempel 1, a Russian astrologer has filed suit against NASA.

For $300 million US, no less.

Uh-huh.

2005-06-27T23:11:00.000+08:00

It's Not A Skirt, OK?

On Saturday I was fitted for a kilt. For Grant's wedding.

It's very strange when they go to take leg measurements and only go down as far as your knee.

2005-06-08T23:22:00.000+08:00

Meanwhile, In Topsy-Turvy Land, Where Everything is Back to Front

A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced they'd be releasing software that ran and hardware that was based on the PowerPC architecture. (Hint: The XBox 2. BTW, I'm trying to never refer to it as the XBox 360. It's a silly name).

Yesterday at WWDC, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was going switch to Intel processors. I can understand him being a bit pissed off at IBM for not delivering 3GHz or low power G5s (aka, PowerPC processors), and I always suspected that porting OS X to Intel would be relatively trivial (The core, Darwin, already runs on the x86 architecture), but abandoning the crisp, clean design of PPC in favour of x86, with its twenty years of baggage and backwards compatibility hacks, reeks of Thinking That's Not Quite Right.

Plus, it destroys my vision of Apple swapping to the Cell Processor and destroying the Microsoft/Intel hegemony forever...

2005-05-28T23:09:00.000+08:00

That Library/Sex Meme

Hell yeah.
You scored 82 bookishness and 66 kinkiness!

You love books, you're down with the kink...you'd almost definitely
have sex in the library. Find a partner, find a good spot...and go for
it.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 84% on bookishness
You scored higher than 17% on kinkiness

Link: The Sex In The Library Test written by missthang8 on Ok Cupid

Huh. How about that?

2005-05-17T17:56:00.000+08:00

The Same Again, Only Faster

I've been vaguely following the recent string of console launches from Microsoft and Sony.

What particularly caught my eye was this paragraph from the GameSpy coverage of the PlayStation 3 launch at E3

Later, Sony trotted out a whole host of publishers that are backing the PlayStation 3. And in the process, it confirmed several games for the console. Hideo Kojima introduced Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, Capcom showed off Devil May Cry 4, Namco unveiled Tekken 6, Polyphony Digital trotted out a fifth Gran Turismo, SCEE showed off the next Killzone, and Rockstar Games showed a new Western title.

Wow. Five sequels and one new concept. To showcase their "new and innovative" console. The article does go on to discuss some other games, but there's nothing new there either, and, are mostly sequels.

It seems sort of ironic in that now consoles are genuinely at the cutting edge of computing, with untold computing grunt and potential, that there's now so much money involved that marketing will only let out "more of the same" that will, to their mind, guarantee a return on investment.

The company that is pretty much guaranteed a huge ROI in all this so far seems to be IBM, as the three major player are now relying on IBM's PowerPC CPU at the hearts of their respective consoles.

(And anyone who's immediately jumped up and shouted "but the PS3 uses Sony's mighty new Cell Processor" you might want to go and do some reading about it.)

2005-05-11T23:51:00.000+08:00

There and Back Again

I've spent the last 3 nights in Canberra and have returned this very evening to go back to work tomorrow. I went for a work-related conference. Will write more about it tomorrow when I've had some sleep and re-acquainted myself with the Internet. (There was no way I was paying what Telstra wanted to charge for access to their hotspots.)

2005-04-19T22:10:00.000+08:00

Listen to the Bongo Beat

Those of you who were at my birthday last year may have sampled Donkey Konga. It was that Nintendo GameCube game that was running in the loungeroom. That's right. The one with bongos.

The idea was simple enough - play the bongos and clap (that's right - clap) along with your chosen piece of music. If you do it right and in time you get points.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a new game. It's a platformer. It features Donkey Kong. It's called Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. And you play it with the bongos!

Once again, it seems simple enough. Tap on the left drum to go left. Tap on the right drum to go right. (Tempo determines speed). Tap both to jump in the air. And clap to do special things, like grab bananas you can't reach and hurt the bad guys.

I've played through the first four kingdoms. Took me about an hour. And my arms are sore. Really sore. I feel like I've been down the gym. So, naysayers, take note. Computer games can be good for your physical wellbeing.

2005-04-08T17:40:00.000+08:00

*Poke*

It's come to my attention that I have a blog. That I don't update nearly often enough.

Now Swancon is over and I'm no longer writing to people overseas every night, I might try and post neat stuff here more regularly.

And now:

A Cure For Cancer.

2005-03-16T00:08:00.000+08:00

How The Mighty Have Fallen

Driving home tonight I happened to catch some late night ABC radio on the AM band and was quite surprised to discover that the identity of the early morning presenter was a one Libby Gore.

She used to be on television once. She used to be popular. You might recognise her better if I said she was Elle McFeast.

Her career never really recovered from that Chopper Reid interview.

2005-02-24T22:22:00.000+08:00

Memein' Right Along

You are 'programming in QBASIC'. This programming
language (of which the acronym stands for
'Quick Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code'), which is so primitive that
it cannot easily be used for any purpose
involving the Internet nor even sound, was
current more than a decade ago.

You are independent, in a good way. When something
which you need cannot be found, you make it
yourself. In writing and in talking with
people, you value clarity and precision; your
friends may not realize how important that is.
When necessary, you are prepared to be a
mediator in conflicts between your friends.
You are very rational, and you think of things
in terms of logic and common sense.
Unfortunately, your emotionally unstable
friends may be put off by your devotion to
logic; they may even accuse you of pedantry and
insensitivity. Your problem is that
programming in QBASIC has been obsolete for a
long time.

What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I'm not entirely sure I like what this one is implying. And to be equated with a Microsoft product! *shudders*

Which Villain Character Are You?

Ok, now I'm not logical, just a deranged pawn. I wish these memes would make up their minds.

The First Doctor: Ill- tempered, and cranky, you
have very little patience for the failings and
the limited knowledge of ordinary humans. At
times you seem willing to place your companions
into dangerous situations in order to satisfy
your own curiosity. Nonetheless, you care
greatly for those close to you, and would never
fail to act upon evil or injustice.

Which Incarnation of the Doctor are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Do I get bonus points for knowing where the picture was cropped from? (Hint: Radio Times cover)

Cocaine.
You like to talk,
you like to run,
but most of all you like to have fun.

Which drug should you be hooked on? [now with pictures]
brought to you by Quizilla

I seem to be getting the same as other people. This makes me seem less of an individual.

Whispering Nightmare

What sort of Nightmare are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Ooooh. I likes.

My inner child is sixteen years old!

Life's not fair! It's never been fair, but while
adults might just accept that, I know
something's gotta change. And it's gonna
change, just as soon as I become an adult and
get some power of my own.

How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

My inner child is legally allowed to get nasty. *blink*

you are darkslategray
#2F4F4F

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well.

Your saturation level is lower than average - You don't stress out over things and don't understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan.

Your outlook on life is dark. You're generally a pessimist and everyone knows it; you're the one the come to when they don't want the sunshine blown around, they just want to straight truth. You can miss good things in life if you make up your mind too early though.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Fairly accurate, 'cept I do stress over things.

2005-02-10T23:05:00.000+08:00

First-Run TV!

A whole bunch of new tv shows started in the past fortnight. Here's some comments on a couple I saw.

Lost - Seven, 8:30pm Thursday
A passenger jet out of Australia (heading to the US?) crashes... somewhere. Looks like this will be a pretty good series - there's lots of characters, and each one seems like they may actually have a story, rather than just being ciphers. Of course, there's a twist. Or two.

There's something else in the jungle. It's large and sounds like it escaped from Jurassic Park. Spoiler:(highlight with mouse) And tonight they found a polar bear! And the aircraft was not where it was supposed to be.

Fun watching a bunch of white people run about a tropical island with no hats not getting sunburnt.

Spicks and Specks - ABC, 8:30pm Wednesday
The ABC gave absolutely no clues as to what this show was, other than it was presented by Adam Hills (who I've heard on JJJ and think appears on Rove from time to time), neither in the specific adverts or in the ghaslty 'Wednesday Night Wrap' promotion. (Wrap == Rap, geddit?)

Turns out to be a quiz show. About music. In a strangely familiar format.

Because it's Good News Week, with questions about popular music, rather than current events, and with musos and comedians to fill the seats, rather than comedians and pollies.

Someone should sue over this one.

Medical Investigation - Ten, 9:30pm Thursday
This show very obviously wants to be CSI. But doesn't quite make it. The cast want to be engaging, but don't quite make it. The plots want to be interesting. But don't quite make it.

Follow the adventures of a crack team of medical professionals from the US National Institue of Health as they travel from outbreak to outbreak of exotic diseases. Remember the word team, coz that's what they are - there's an experienced team leader, two pathologists/epidemiologist/insert-specialised-medic-test-here-ists, an investigative specialist to climb through ducting, and public relations person to fend off the press - a team. Which is why there's a B plot every episode for another, convieniently geographically located, medical emergency each week which SPLITS THE TEAM UP!!

One thing that became terribly clear tonight is when you have characters that are all supposed to be intelligent, dynamic thinkers, it becomes even more painfully obvious when the writers aren't. Maybe this is deliberate, a ploy to let Joe Average think they're up there with the big guys when they second guess what's going on. I just find it frustrating when characters can't see the obvious painted out in front of them.

Unlikely to be watching again.

2005-02-10T22:41:00.000+08:00

Out to Dinner

It was my brother's birthday on Tuesday, so he organised for family and friends to go out to dinner to a nice cafe he knew in Joondulup. Which turned out to be a little disappointing.

When you discover you're having dinner at a venue called "Trendi Cafe", you'd maybe have expectations of a sense of self-deprecating irony. Maybe painted in bright pastels with big pictures of 80's hair models with lemon trousers, wide lapels and skinny ties. Women in pink rah-rah skirts with black braces. A crappy blue and pink neon sign flashing the word "Trendi's" into the night.

But no, basically a cloned upmarket-ish cafe that you could have swapped with one from Mt Lawley, Subiaco or Leederville and no-one would notice, except for where the plumbing didn't quite match up. Complete with Italian-ish style cafe menu.

However, the stirfried pasta dish I had was quite edible, and my brother seemed to have a good time.

2005-02-08T01:16:00.000+08:00

Pre-Written Post

Because I haven't updated for a while, I thought I might post this little excerpt from an email to Lisa about some of adventures on Australia Day.

Just to set the scene - I'd walked from my place to the South Perth foreshore (about 5 or 6 km) to try and find the GenghisCon crowd, but arrived just as it was getting dark:

While looking desperately for people I got stopped by this tallish bloke, who leaned in and muttered in my ear.
"Got any spliffs?"
"Err. No."
He stood up straight and looked surprised.
"But you normally do, don't you?" he asked slyly.
"Umm. No."
"What? Really? Never?"
"No."
"Oh. Well, nice to meet you."
With that, he shook my hand and I continued on my way.

About 30 minutes later, while I watching the fireworks, I noticed a figure making their way through the crowd towards me. It was the same guy. He walked up to me and started to say something, but I cut him off.
"No, I still don't have any."
He looked surprised.
"Have I asked you already?"
"Yes"
"And you still haven't scored."
"No."
"Do you usually shop at Bunnings in Inglewood?"
"No."
"And I already asked you?"
"Yes, you did."
"Oh." he said, with a confused expression and disappeared back into the crowd.

There might have been more than just beer involved.

On my way home, a kid who was maybe 18 wandered up, introduced himself as James, and told me that his 'pussy' was in Wollongong, and that his solution to this was invite one of his sister's friends over and 'poon' her instead.

Drunk people are funny.

2005-01-26T17:50:00.000+08:00

Hah!

And The Dresden Dolls' Coin-Operated Boy came in at number 12. *looks smug*

2005-01-26T16:56:00.000+08:00

Yay!

The Shat got 21st place in this years Hottest 100 with his cover of Pulp's Common People!

2005-01-19T23:50:00.000+08:00

The Incredibles - May Contain Minor Spoilers

I finally went and saw The Incredibles last night. (Why'd it take so long? I guess that the usual crowd I got to the cinema with just assumed that being the rabid Pixar fanboy that I am, that I would have seen it on Boxing Day. Or at least, that's what I tell myself.)

Let me preface my discussion with the opinion that the film was indeed very wonderful.

Many people have commented that the first hour is a bit slow. Maybe I was forewarned and forearmed, but I had no problems with the pacing of the first act. This was not laugh-it-up action cinema. This was about poor Bob - born to be a superhero, yearning to fight for the common good, yet forced to live a mundane existence, working in insurance and towing company policy about the bottom line.

Which did make the second half of the film all the more exciting.

My only real gripe with the film, I think, was that a couple of plot elements where too predictable - the point about capes on costumes was hammered home a little too heavily (but still gave me a good laugh when I figured it out) and Violet. But it's not her fault. She's the shy, gawky teenager, who hides behind her hair and is the ultimate invisible girl in a film that's essentially about not hiding and being true to who you are to the best of your abilities. There's really only one way she can go. But unlike many films with these sort of thematic elements, The Incredibles is very genuine and emotionally engaging.

From a technical perspective, The Incredibles is flawless. Particularly during the Island scenes. Jungle and rocks and water that you have to look twice at to realise it's not real. Fantastic cloth and hair modeling. WET hair modeling. And cinematography that beats the pants off a number of live action films and visually gives the film so much more depth. (unlike say, Shrek 2 and other Dreamworks offering that noticeably lacked depth in their visuals and textures. And plot and character for that matter. How do they make so much money?)

But the most important thing about the film and what makes all the Pixar movies great (that Disney and others doesn't seem to understand) is that the writing is King. You can have all the flashy CG you want, but character and plot, as ever, are what make an emotionally engaging and satisfying film. And The Incredibles is one such film.

2005-01-19T08:41:00.000+08:00

Ragnarok

"... Fenris will swallow the moon and the dead men's ship shall slip its moorings. And the ancient enemies will seek each other out for the final battle..."

Norse version of the Apocolypse, or accurate prediction of the Australian political landscape? (Amongst speculation that Kim Beazley will rise once more to take the reins of the Australian Labor Party.)

2005-01-17T01:38:00.000+08:00

Hyperbole

I caught a Tsunami Relief appeal ad on telly this evening that claimed that the Asian Tsunami "has devastated a continent".

China is so devastated that they're expected to be pushing their steel industry to record high outputs this year.

India, Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Indonesia do not a continent make. But who wants to let the facts get in the way of good copy?

2005-01-16T10:18:00.000+08:00

Ouch

Apparently the data centre where LiveJournal is hosted had a sudden, unexpected and massive power failure. A on-going write-up by the techies can be found here. There's only four of them and they've been working on getting the systems back for 24 hours straight. I've been in similar situations to this. (Not quite to the same scale, thankfully) I feel their pain. And I know how much thanks they'll get from the whinging users for their heroic efforts.

2005-01-03T22:41:00.000+08:00

Cool Shit

I was playing on the BBC website today. And I found the Radiophon-a-tron. It's Flash, and it takes some time to load, but you can make some incredible sounds. Well, if you like the sound of the Doctor Who theme, anyway.

2005-01-01T22:34:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year

Well, 2004 is over. 2005 has begun.

A whole new year. A whole new realm of possibilities. And this year could be very exciting indeed.

Once again, I'm struck by the whole psychological effect that an arbitary measure of time can engender, but it's so interwined into everything, it's just damned unavoidable.

2004-12-26T21:07:00.000+08:00

A Problem of Context

My Nanna got a DVD player for Christmas from my Uncle. As he conveniently lives in Bunbury, it fell to most tech-savvy member of the family to set it up. Namely me.

The actual installation - dead simple. Showing Nanna how to put a disc in the player and switch the TV to the AV input, more difficult, but she got it. However, her next question caused some problems.

"So, after I put the disc in, the movie just plays, right?"

Well, it does. Sort of. The disc 'plays', but before the movie, first you have the menu. And menus were something Nanna hadn't come across before, and it's much harder to teach than you'd expect - there's nothing really analogous to concept. But with demonstration and doing, I think we got there.

Didn't help that the movie that Nanna hired from the video store (Kate and Leopold) has two menu screens before you get to a third one with a 'play' option.

2004-12-25T00:39:00.000+08:00

Change is in the Air

Goodness.

I've changed some bits of my blog template for the first time in an absolute age. Mostly just the links. Something I've been meaning to do for an absolute age, I might add. More changes to come too. Thinking about adding links to pretty much all my friends blogs and lj's. Which is a fair old number.

One of the ljs I was reading a couple of days ago (I don't remember whose) summed it up along the lines of "Perth is a city of bloggers".

Merry Christmas, all!

2004-12-24T01:22:00.000+08:00

There and Back Again

OK, so I haven't been anywhere. But I haven't been posting here. Poor neglected little blog. *cleans a few cobwebs out of the corners*

Basically, the time I would spend blogging, I've been writing emails to Lisa. And this time of year is busy.

Anyway, I'll try and write more tomorrow, now that I'm not working for two weeks. It's late and I want to go to sleep.

2004-11-28T20:47:00.000+08:00

Someone Must Have Thought About That, Surely?

On my walk this evening, I walked past a newsagent, which had one of those A3 posters advertising The Sunday Times and its lead headline.

"Man Tells - I Ran From a Shark"

These new land sharks do sound scary.

2004-11-15T11:24:00.000+08:00

I've Been on a Film Shoot

I've spent the past four days on the set of the proof-of-concept pilot for THe Angriest Video Store Clerk in the World.

Quite frankly, having seen what was shot and having a fair idea of how it will edit together, if SBS turn it down, it's because they've had the humour portion of their brain removed with a hot wire. It looks good, it's well written, superbly acted and creatively directed by Andrew Thorn.

I was on set filming a 'behind-the-scenes' style thing, which I have to edit and turn in to Mark Lazarus, the producer, at some point in the future. Except for yesterday morning when I suddenly became an extra, playing a Siberian Yak herder, in four layers of wool and furs, inside an insulated yurt, with two television lights and 20 people, which in turn was inside a tin shed in 30 degree heat. The sort of thing you want to hit the writer for, but he was right their next to me, dressed to go out into a snowstorm.

2004-11-03T22:41:00.000+08:00

A Great Day

What a wonderful day. I turned 30 (I don't think I can get away with describing myself as young anymore), Dubya is more than likely going to be re-elected (frustrating), and my Uncle died this evening. (quite upset now).

Encore, anyone?

It's traditional in my family to die on another family member's birthday, generally a member of the next generation. And my Uncle has been quite sick and did deterorate rapidly in the last week. At least we were together as a family this evening when the news came. (Obviously, not everyone was present. Just most of us)

Rest In Peace, Uncle Bob.

2004-11-01T21:26:00.000+08:00

Partay

I'm getting old next week *cough*30*cough*, so I'm having a bit of a gathering on Friday night. So -

Where: My place. If you don't know where it is, please ask.
When: 8pm, Friday 5th of November.
What to bring: Booze, if you want it. I'll be putting on some drinks and nibblies.

It's been pointed out that the 5th is Guy Fawkes Day, but I haven't been able to work Gunpower, Treason and Plot into a workable theme. No burning effigies on my front lawn. ^_^

(OK, so I've cheated and cut'n'pasted an email I sent off elsewhere)

2004-10-25T22:49:00.000+08:00

Geek Tests

Since recently reading John's blog, I've been playing around at BBSpot doing geeky personality tests.

And the results are:

Which OS are You?

Which File Extension are You?

I think that's enough of that.

2004-10-11T00:10:00.000+08:00

Mixed Weekend

Wish I had time to write more right now, so I have to be brief.

Wasteland was great. Thanks to John for running it. I had a great time, and had the opportunity to hang out with Danny and Sean, which I usually don't as I'm normally running about doing con things.

Got to catch up with Grant and Sonia this evening, for dinner and a movie, which brings me one of the down points, being Aliens vs Predator. More of a review later, maybe, if I can bring myself to relive it.

The worst thing that happen on the weekend, though, was the Federal Election. What the fuck were the population at large thinking? And now with an increased House of Reps majority and probable control of the Senate, we are no doubt going to hear more crap about 'a clear mandate from the people', although in reality, only 41% of the primary vote. (Source: ABC website). It's said that the interest rates scare tactic may have made the difference. Which should be rather interesting to see which way they run when the Reserve Bank (who set interest rates. Government has nothing to do with interest rates, directly) raise rates by 0.25% sometime before the end of next January.

2004-10-07T01:40:00.000+08:00

John K

I went to see the John Kricfalusi Retrospective at FTI tonight. It contained a selection of work from animator John Kricfalusi, better known as John K, and even better known as the creator of Ren and Stimpy.

The evening contained a selection of work, from his video clip for Bjork, a number of television advertisments (including Log!), a pilot for something called 'He-Hog' ("I have the audacity!") a tribute/rip-off to Hanna/Barbara called 'Ranger Ralph' and two-not-at-all-likely to screened on Nickolodeon new episodes of Ren and Stimpy.

Whilst a large percentage of John K's work is pretty much comic genius, it can be argued that he crosses certain lines with regards to taste. I disagree. I'm not convinced that he knows that any such lines exist, let alone know where they might vaguely lie. But somehow, it's still funny.

2004-10-04T23:34:00.000+08:00

Six Feet Under

I really like Six Feet Under. One of those wonderfully written quirky HBO dramas. Channel Nine is currently screening season four. Which makes it terribley confusing as I've seen none of season three. Sorta picking it up. Along with the major plot development from the end of season three.

2004-10-03T23:49:00.000+08:00

Back, Alive, Just

I've been back exactly a week now. (To the minute the plane touched down, pretty much) I spent my first days in bed sick (bung eye, fever, runs, sore throat), but had to drag my sorry carcas into work Tuesday afternoon for a meeting about the Student Records upgrade I was going to be invloved with this weekend. Pretty sucky, huh?

Actually, find it pretty ironic that having come back from 10 days leave accrued from overtime from the last upgrade, that I've come straight back for another upgrade that I've overtimed me another 2.5 days. Or 5, if you count it at over time rates. (Which some detailed reading of the EBA this afternoon states explicitly that you do. There's going to be an uncomfortable conversation come Tuesday morning.)

Despite illness, I did have a really nice time away. And I miss Lisa still. Possibly more so.

2004-09-23T18:11:00.000+08:00

Ayuthaya

As it turns out, we didn't go to Lopburi as we'd planned (after shelving the previous plan of going to Sukothai).

You see, instead of taking us to the train station as we thought, the tuk-tuk driver that was organised by the tour company rep that we booked out hotel through (her name was Ping Pong. No kidding) took us the Chiang Mai bus station instead.

"Ooookay. We'll just take the bus" we said. It then transpired that the next bus didn't leave until 1:30pm. (It was 8am at the time), so we changed plans a little and headed for town closed to Bangkok called Ayuthaya - lots of ruins and stuff, as it was the 14th century capital of Siam).

So off we went on the bus. It soon became apparent that not many people outside the large cities spoke any English. Particularly at lunch where it proved impossible to acquire any sort of vegan food.

It was when we got to the stop for Ayuthaya that things became very interesting. Basically we were turfed off the bus on the side of a major highway (Some five kilometres from town, as it transpired) after a 9 hour bus journey in the middle of the pouring rain.

Fortunately, there was transport at hand! In the form of a couple of guys with motorbikes. So, we got handed a couple of flimsy helmets, our packs were put somewhere (Lisa wore hers, mine was... I've no idea where mine was. It was given to me when we arrived, so I don't care), and off we went at high speed down slippery roads to a destination that I randomly selected from my Lonely Planet. Which fortunately did have space for us. And is very friendly. It's a guest house - in an old teak Thai home. About 80 years apparently. With rock hard beds (no so bad, actually), no hot water (also no as bad as I thought) and no airconditioning (I slept like a log, didn't I?).

We wandered out for dinner and ended up at yet another Lonely Planet recommendation. Very nice food - everything on the menu can be made in a vegetarian fashion, with either tofu or fake meat (also tofu). It had still be raining a bit when we'd set out, but seemed to have stopped by the time we'd finished eating.

Nuh-uh.

Bucketed down on us. And the town is small - most things are closed by ten, and not a tuk-tuk in sight. Almost got savaged by dogs (spooked by the thunderstorm, methinks). We did eventually get offered a lift - 50 metres from the guesthouse.

Today was far less eventful. We got up a civilised hour (unlike the previous few mornings), chatted with a British backpacker and ate a nice breakfast. The we wandered over to the train station to see how often the trains to Bangkok are (the adventure is almost over for me), and took a boat tour around the island the town is centred on. (It's the meeting place for about 4 or 5 rivers, so of which are important shipping routes). Plus we got dropped at various temples along the way. (One of which had the biggest Buddha I've ever seen - the largest ancient Buddha image, apparently. Note the word 'ancient'. I'm a like scared of how big the 'modern' one is)

Now posting from a net cafe which earlier had the Thai dub of Teletubbies playing. *shudder*

Will get to Chiang Mai stuff eventually, I promise.

2004-09-22T01:54:00.000+08:00

A Bit Put Out

We were going to go to Sukothai tomorrow. There are very impressive ruins there. World Heritage listed. You really need a bicycle to get around them all.

Except the rain over the last couple of days have apparently made the roads there impassable.

*sulks*

Which has resulted in massive changes in plans.

Tomorrow will either work well or fail spectacularly with us having to sleep on the street. (OK, so that's incredibly unlikely).

I'll post later about the Chiang Mai adventures - which include more night markets, beautiful hilltop temples, a cooking course and running with elephants (complete with hippie geek tour guide. Well, as hippie as Thai people get)

2004-09-18T18:13:00.000+08:00

Go North, Young Man!

Hmm. I've probably got an old post with that title already.

Come with me, if you may, back in time to Tuesday evening....

Shortly after my last post, Lisa and I headed off to the Chinatown area of Singapore. They've got a fantastic evening market there - lots of stall selling all sorts of things. Lisa bought me a pineapple moon cake (David, they come in more flavours that you can imagine) and lucky Chinese buns. And fruit.

For dinner, we met up with Daniel Oi for dinner at Orchard Road and stuffed ourselves with yummy Japanese food before going to Clarke Quay to see the river at night time. I also got to see the crabs on leashes that Lisa sms-ed me about a few days before I left Australia. Oddly, the thing we didn't do at Clarke Quay was eat more food.

On Wednesday we flew to Bangkok in Thailand. We were on separate planes that left from separate terminals at different times, so I got to wait around for a bit at the airport in Thailand waiting for Lisa's flight, which was late. Got to explore the airport and find out what happens to uncollected baggage (mine).

Bangkok is a large, noisy, hot and humid city. It's messy and chaotic - on several occasions I gasped a little and backed away from some reasonably dodgey wiring. We didn't do much the first afternoon, except venture out for dinner to a vegetarian restaurant, which came highly recommended by Lonely Planet, and was much further away than anticipated.

Thursday was spent hiding from the heat and organising more things to see later via a friendly travel agent down the road from the hotel. In the evening we went to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

Instead of walking, we braved the rail system, using both Skytrain lines and the MRT subway. Lisa was very impressed that I could read maps and navigate.

The night bazaar was great - it had a huge food hall with a live band and beer girls. We had some very yummy food and a coconut and banana slushies, before exploring the stalls. Of which (so the brochure claimed) there was 3700. It was a bit like a weekend market in Perth, but without the produce and with a staggering array of locally produced silks and clothing and metalwork and wood carvings and painting and...

You get the idea.

I purchased three new t-shirts from a stall that specialised on anime styled shirts for the princely sum of $18. So now I have an Astroboy, a Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets and a Transformers t-shirts. I'm such a fanboy.

We didn't leave the bazaar until close to midnight and skytrain had finished running, so we took a Tuk-Tuk back to the hotel. Taking a tuk-tuk is supposed to be part of the quintessential Bangkok experience. It's a three wheeled motorcycle essentially, with a roof. It's pretty much open air and can corner at high speeds. Quite exhilarating, but I'd hate to be stuck in Bangkok traffic in one.

On Friday, we explored more of the local shops (we did eventually discover somewhere you could get groceries, but you really had to look)and then made our way to the train station to catch a night train to Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand.

Chiang Mai is about 750 km north of Bangkok - just over 13 hours by train. I'd never gone anywhere very far on a train before and certainly never in a sleeper car. A very different experience and quite fun. Chiang Mai so far seems like a smaller version of Bangkok, but much less polluted. We haven't been hassled by tuk-tuk or taxi drivers (yet) and outside our hotel it's actually quiet.

We're here until Tuesday - I'll let you know.

2004-09-14T16:48:00.000+08:00

Singapore

I'm in Singapore today. I arrived yesterday to discover a very hot, humid city. If I was Emma I would be a small pile of goo on the pavement.

The plane arrived a little earlier than expected, and hardly anyone on the flight from Perth actually got off at Singapore, so I breezed through immigration and Customs and was on the street by 6:30am. Lisa was supposed to meet me at the airport, but due to my earliness, hadn't left for the train station yet, so I caught the train to her. The Singapore rail system is very neat. Ask me about it sometime.

After a bit of time reacquanting with each other, Lisa took me to Funan - the IT mall. 5 floors of geeky paradise. And a food hall in the basement labeled 'Food For Geeks'. I asked Lisa to get me a coconut drink like the ones we have in Perth when we go out, and she came back with one. It's served in the coconut. You basically cut off the top and put in straw. Sitting in a food hall, surrounded by business people and cans of coke, me sipping at my coconut felt weirdly lotech and out of place. Not that it was. It's absolutely normal. (For Lisa's take on the this incident, check out her blog.)

After retiring for a nap (I don't sleep in planes, so midnight horrors kill me), we went out again for dinner to a Hawker strip in Newton. I also got to try freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. Yum! Will try another with lemon juice later. We then walked down to Orchard Road before heading back to the hotel.

We got up very late this morning and headed out to Little India, which is the Indian quarter. We had a very nice lunch at a vegetarian Indian restaurant, before taking in the sights and smells. Very busy - lots of jewelry and clothes shops. Continued my foray in to traditional desserts by having a strawberry and logan and shaved ice thing for afternoon tea. (I seem to be talking about food alot. Food is important here. I now understands Lisa's obsession with food.)

This evening we're hoping to head out to Chinatown and maybe take a river tour.

Tomorrow, we're off to Bangkok!

2004-09-07T23:19:00.000+08:00

Fun with Puppets

I went to a course on puppetry for television at FTI on last weekend.

I had a ball.

I love puppets. There was a time where I wanted to be a puppeter when I grew up, but it seemed to have gotten shelved along with the rest of my theatrical endevours when I discovered I was quite good at mathematics and science. I guess I've been lucky enough to rediscover such things as an adult.

Anyway, Grant told me the course was on and that he thought it might be neat idea to go so that he could recommended us as puppeters to himself when it came time to cast the Executive Bunnies. And it was an opportunity to mess about with puppets under the watchful eye of someone who knows all about it.

The course was run by Ian Tregonning. He started off in the Spare Parts puppet theatre troupe before moving to London and has since worked on feature films like Doctor Dolittle, The Little Shop of Horrors, Labryinth and A Muppet Christmas Carol and is now back in Perth. He's a really nice guy and his love of the art really came across in the two days.

I was a little bit late to the first session - it had taken longer at the travel doctor's than I'd anticipated. That's right. Before I went to course that involved lots of arm work, I had intramuscular injections. At least I was smart enough to get the tetanus shot in my left arm.

During the introductions, I felt a bit out of place. Pretty much everyone who was there was either an actor, or worked with puppets. One woman had even interned on Sesame Street. None of that really mattered though.

The bulk of the exercises we did involved us improvising short pieces and performing them for the class, from behind a playboard, but with a monitor, so that we could see what the camera could see. All the monitors we could see as puppeters were flipped - so that when we moved right, the puppets moved right.

I ended up with two favourite puppets - one was a green monster type puppet, with a very muppet like head and a glove-like hand built into its 'skin', so basically it's hand was your hand. It ends up being very expressive.

The other one was a dead-on muppet look-alike. Purple head, large mouth and sunglasses. A very cool dude indeed. I got him to sing the blues for one of our pieces with a generic blues song I made up on the spot.

Something that Grant and I discovered, that we'd never noticed before (which suprised us that we hadn't) was that television cameras have no sense of depth whatsoever. Which we then used to out advantage to do a 15 second commercial for a growth drug, in real time.

Anyway. I had lots of fun, learned heaps and got a certificate in the mail.

2004-08-31T00:44:00.000+08:00

...For No Reason

Trip to dentist wasn't that scary after all. After a bit of a poke and some x-rays I was declared cavity free. Much to my complete suprise.

They did a clean and polish and now my teeth don't quite feel right without all the calcus buildup, and I can't stop my tounge from probing the rediscovered crevices which is driving me a bit mad.

The only downside was that I'm not to use 'hard' toothbrushes any more. Apprently I've done some permenant damage to my gums in a few places.