TV, movies, music, that kind of thing
Jeremy, Isaac and I were being chased by kind of zombie-type things, that on-touch would change you from human into their kind. It was a bit like a cross between Shaun of the Dead and Rise of the Cybermen. Somehow I knew it was a dream, but we kept on running. Isaac nearly got caught, ... [More]
Yesterday afternoon, reminiscing at ACMI’s Hits of the 80s video game exhibit — free at Melbourne’s Federation Square until May. While most of the games were running on Spectrum or C64 emulators, this copy of Way Of The Exploding Fist was running on a genuine machine. And just as it was back then, one of ... [More]
We don’t have the Village Green anymore, but many Australian suburbs do have this: a local cricket oval. In summer the local cricket club will be in residence. About every fortnight there’ll be a game on. I’m not skilled enough to tell who are the locals and who are the visitors, but they frequently show ... [More]
The Daily Show has vanished off SBS again. It’s still on Foxtel’s Comedy Channel (9:30pm nightly). Damn. Given my inherent laziness (I don’t want to bother with torrents), do I have to shell out for Foxtel to be able to watch it? I really don’t want to do that, given the tiny amount of television ... [More]
Yesterday at Fed Square, the white stationwagons were a dead giveaway that the TV guys were around. Sure enough, across the road on Princes Bridge, Ted was fronting the cameras. I got my go a few minutes later. (It was one of those days, if you didn’t know.) In the pack I can see Alan ... [More]
Wikipedia started a fundraising drive in December, and given the value I get out of it, I decided to contribute. Happily, I chose a day when all donations were being matched by some anonymous donor, which was a bonus. Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks after Christmas, I got a Christmas card from ... [More]
I know how much I’ve changed over the years. I’d like to think I’ve matured. My outlook on all sorts of things has altered. My lifestyle is radically different now from when I was 18 (if you think I’m a dag now, you should have seen me then), and has changed several times during that ... [More]
I wonder how much money actors make? I don’t mean the megastars, I mean just your average medium-sized stars. Random example: Gareth Thomas. Played the title character in Blake’s 7, which must have occupied him for the three-and-a-bit years he was in it back in the late-70s, and made him famous. Since then IMDB lists ... [More]
I’ve mentioned before my exploits with video, a set of productions made predominantly when we were teenagers, with zero budget, on equipment borrowed from school. The very last production was an episode of the Professionals-inspired “STRIKE”, about a secret crime-fighting organisation. Made in 1993, by which point all of us were either at uni or ... [More]
A big bunch of thumbs ups for all these, from the past couple of months. The First Casualty by Ben Elton — a mystery set close to a century ago, a bit like Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George, and also very reminiscent of Black Adder 4, but with a much more serious look at the ... [More]
Summer rolls on, with several hot days this week leaving us sweating. On Thursday night we had an evening session of street cricket, always good when it’s warm and the sun goes down late. It’s not exactly The Ashes, and some fielding slip-ups meant one tennis ball went down a drain. Oh well. If we’d ... [More]
Star “Sarcasmo” Foster has passed away, aged 33. (via Ren) I have to admit I didn’t regularly read her blog, but it’s always sad to hear a peer (of sorts; however distant) is no more, especially at such a young age. PS. Andy’s pulled together a list of posts on this sad event. Tue 31 ... [More]
I’m not going to name names, but it seems this needs spelling out. Ladies, DO NOT pull a gentleman’s tie. It’s not funny. It’s just annoying. A tie is a highly-tuned precision garment. Sometimes it’s a great deal of effort to get it looking just right. Sometimes it’s even a great deal of effort to ... [More]
So I was waiting for a train, while reading the geek history “On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore” (which — in my humble geeky opinion — really is excellent). The station host lady looked at it, and (given its lovely hardback binding and olde booke looke when it’s out of its ... [More]
(All the posts from the Sydney trip are now online) Read an article yesterday about new non-tuck school shirts to avoid the endless problems of students not tucking their shirts in. Seems to make sense, particularly in summer. As far as I recall, during my school-uniformed years (years 9-12), while most didn’t, I did tuck ... [More]
Here’s my quick reviews of the second half of this year’s Doctor Who. (First half here.) Some spoilers for people who haven’t seen it. (Les, this means you.) The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit — Terrific stuff. The tension in the first episode was fantastic, especially when the beast was stalking the archeologist. Scared the crap ... [More]