TV, movies, music, that kind of thing
Why do some people quote their phone numbers in funny ways on voice mails? Most Australian phone numbers come in two varieties: A local number, eg 7010 5105. (Let’s ignore the two digit area code for now; it’s not usually relevant in voice mails). Or a mobile number, eg 0491 570 156. How I’ve written ... [More]
I used to give either thumbs up or thumbs down. I’m switching to thumbs up, thumbs down, or neither. Microserfs — This is the kind of book I should just lap up, isn’t it? A geek novel? But I didn’t. It dragged. J-Pod — More enjoyable than Microserfs. Douglas Coupland’s self-referential bits were a bit ... [More]
Plenty has been written about this before, but I’ll put my oar in. Facebook knows lots about you. Most users key in a bunch of stuff about their hobbies, favourite music, TV shows, all that kind of stuff. They know (roughly) where you live, how old you are, often your marital status, your interests. So ... [More]
How’s this for a scheme? 1. Buy discounted Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bars for $1.29 at Safeway. (On special only until closing time tonight; normal price $1.88) 2. Eat bar. 3. Use code inside wrapper that gets me a $1.69 song from iTunes. 4. Profit! I like chocolate, and I already have an iTunes account. ... [More]
One night last week I was flicking between the six o’clock news services and I came across a Channel 9 story about someone’s wedding dress being delivered late for the wedding. WTF? Look, I feel sorry for them, but THIS IS NOT NEWS. You don’t want your journos to be aloof and distant from the ... [More]
It was like stepping back in time. Down the stairs we went, into the darkness. Electronic beeps and bloops could be heard from all directions. Flickering lights. Most of the classics were there. Centipede. Galaga. Ms Pacman. Asteroids. Space Invaders. Donkey Kong. And more. A handful in cocktail tabletop cabinets, but most the way God ... [More]
Maybe things haven’t changed all that much in the last 119 years. And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street, And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting, Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet. — ... [More]
OMG. Why did nobody tell me about this before? The King of Kong. I know, I know… I didn’t actually list the original Donkey Kong in my top ten games… I don’t know what I was thinking of — it’s definitely one of my favourites. My own high score is around the 31,000 mark. It’s ... [More]
The top ten Daniels, according to Google Australia (which shows pages from worldwide, but skews slightly in favour of Aussies): 1. The biblical Daniel. 2. The accompanying Book of Daniel. 3. Daniel Boulud’s Restaurant Daniel in New York City. 4. The Daniel Morcombe Foundation, working for protection of children from abduction. 5. Daniel Measurement and ... [More]
Keating! — the musical. It was great. Very funny script, great cast, great band. Really good. I’m still chuckling over the election night coverage bit. Highly recommended, but if you’re pondering catching it, get a move on: apparently it’s only on for another fortnight. PS. Interestingly, we (in our late-30s) were among the youngest there. ... [More]
Damn. Superparma.com is no more. And they built the site in such a way that it seems to be impossible to get at anything except the splash page via archive.org, so the ratings they compiled may be lost forever. Groan. WarGames 2: The Dead Code now in pre-production, and aimed at direct-to-DVD. OK. I was ... [More]
Even before the ABC switched over to the ABC1 branding to help emphasise ABC2, I had started shopping for a digital Set Top Box to get the new channels. I’ve been able to sample them through the TV tuner in the computer, but of course watching on the big screen* from the couch is always ... [More]