Categories
transport Video games

Retro trains

Melbourne’s Comeng trains date back to the early 1980s, about the same time us Gen-Xers were cutting our video game teeth with Donkey Kong and Space Invaders. (Original unmodified pic) There’s certainly other things of the 80s around the place on the train network, for instance this sign on a now unused gate at Caulfield  ... [More]

Categories
Culture Melbourne

Solar Equation

Solar Equation, by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, part of Federation Square’s The Light In Winter, is a simulation of the sun, “100 million times smaller than the real thing”. Here’s how it looks in daytime, when inactive: At dusk it fires up:

Categories
TV

Incorrect assumptions

You know when you have some of the information, and the brain tries to fill in the blanks? Many times I seemed to be watching Lateline, and a report from Norman Hermant would come on, often from Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East. He works for the ABC, but has an American accent. For  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism TV

Televisions

I would love a new TV, but can’t afford it. That is, the cost/benefit ratio isn’t there to replace my 68cm Loewe CRT television just yet. So while I’d love to get a high-definition flat screen with digital tuner, the prices will have to drop a bit more before that becomes viable, especially with the  ... [More]

Categories
music

Right now

Right now I’ve got no blog post written for today, so here instead is Van Halen’s Right Now (1992) — one of my most favourite ever music videos. I wouldn’t like the song half as much if it wasn’t for the video. (Better quality copy here which can’t be embedded.) Here’s another old music video  ... [More]

Categories
Film Melbourne

Bentleigh once had a cinema

I lived in Elsternwick once, and since then have always envied residents there. Everything’s there: supermarket, lots of shops, restauraunts, train or tram to city, bus to the beach. And a cinema: The Classic, which originated in 1913, and thanks to investment and renovations in the 90s, survives (and thrives) today. Bentleigh, where I now  ... [More]

Categories
Social media

Twitter highlights part 4

This post in a continuing series covers the first half of 2009. (Why?) January 2009 noted a lot of joggers about. New year’s resolutions? There’s a few people out on the roads who should resolve to indicate. 5:28 PM Jan 1st from txt watching Marita beat up virtual people in Wii boxing. 12:23 PM Jan  ... [More]

Categories
Video games

The hero

A while back we were in EB Games in Swanston Street having a look at the big Nintendo area on the first floor. Jeremy sat and played a bit of New Super Mario Brothers with another kid. Both being experienced players, they gave the very last level a go. But towards the end, Jeremy’s character  ... [More]

Categories
Clothes Working life

Ties

I have a love-hate relationship with ties. When I started my working life in 1993, almost all white-collar male workers wore ties. Over the years this has dropped somewhat, and I’d hazard a guess that perhaps around 30% now do so. I still wear a tie. I switched a few years ago to a Windsor  ... [More]

Categories
Video games

It’s Mario month!

Isaac noticed the Best Before date on our current jar of Vegemite is MAR10. That makes it Mario Month this month! I think I’ll go play some more New Super Mario Brothers Wii. Then maybe I’ll make a Vegemite sandwich. (Though it doesn’t strictly have to be used by the end of the month; note  ... [More]

Categories
Culture

Sunday Life

Sometime last year one of the magazines that came with The Sunday Age, Sunday Life, changed its formula. I used to find at least something interesting while flicking through it. Since the change, nothing. I was thinking that it had turned into a women’s magazine. One only has to look at the author names of  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism Food'n'drink Home life TV

Brief things and followups

Star Trek TNG — We started watching them all about a year ago, and are so far up to season 6. I wonder if in remastering for DVD, they changed the framing of some shots — it’s surprising how often we spot a boom mike in shot. (Reminds me: Must watch the “Car Pool” interview  ... [More]