Despite how it may look, I am not the next Doctor Who. We went along to the Astor Theatre on Saturday to watch the two 60’s Dalek movies — back from that curious time in British TV and film when they often seemed to remake television shows as big screen movies — in this case ... [More]
Category: Culture
TV, movies, music, that kind of thing
Some best ofs in my current favourite lists. Best derivatives While most of the music on my favourites list are original compositions, here are some cover versions and songs that sample others that I currently like a lot: Something For Kate — Born To Run — I almost like this more than Springsteen’s original. P ... [More]
An article in The Age today notes that while there were a few issues, last weekend’s inaugural PAX Australia video game festival went well. We went along on the Sunday, and had a good time. We avoided the sessions with long queues, and instead saw an XBox launch event, played some games in the retro ... [More]
I hadn’t noticed these before — these poles at the western end of the Bourke Street Mall commemorate the 1956 Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth Games. 2006: Delays expected â Blame the games
An obscure music video from 1993, twenty years ago. I caught this video on Rage one night, and got into the band Jellyfish from there. I’m not even sure quite why I like it. The quirky music video (it was never clear enough on VHS, but it is here — all the band’s shots are ... [More]
I get The Age delivered on weekends. On Saturdays in particular it’s good to lazily read its numerous sections in the morning. So I picked it up wanting to know who won the football last night: Richmond or Fremantle? I just want to know if I tipped it right. Sometimes they have the score on ... [More]
Those who have been paying attention might have noticed that the episode synopses for Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell (seen for instance in the Electronic Programme Guide on most TVs) have been getting weirder and weirder. Courtesy of the ABC TV web site, here’s a summary of them this year so far (including the next ... [More]
20 odd years ago, when I was into music videos (and television in general), I used to regularly record (yes, on VHS) a few hours of Rage on a Friday and/or Saturday night, and watch it the next day. I’d categorise each song as a 1, 2 or 3. 1s I would copy onto another ... [More]
My retro iPod
I just realised my iPod is nearly nine years old. That’s an age in the world of computers and electronics… does that make it a retro item? It’s a third-generation iPod, back from before they had silly features like apps, movie playback, and colour screens… And yes, it’s still going strong, though admittedly most of ... [More]
In looking through my late father’s papers, I found the following, which he wrote about an incident on Rupert Murdoch’s Sydney Daily Mirror in the mid-1960s. I found it fascinating in light of the News Of The World controversy that was uncovered during 2011, though of course one should not jump to conclusions about the ... [More]
Not live, from studio 13 at Gordon Street
A little while ago I bought myself the Collected Shaun Micallef — a box set of numerous shows of his, including The Micallef P(r)ogram(me). The kids and I have been watching our way through it. I remembered that I had gone to a recording of the show, but had no idea which episode it was. ... [More]
Over the past 24 hours, seeing the stories of the asteroid close-call and the meteor falling in Russia, it’s been a bit like those scenes in Doctor Who where they have a news bulletin about the latest alien invasion.
I’m not a great cuff link wearer, but recently I inadvertently bought a shirt that needs them, and I couldn’t find any at home. I noticed the school Old Boys association sells them, so (I guess to mark 25 years since I did VCE — gulp) I bought some. I don’t mind these… they aren’t ... [More]
Bye bye home phone, hello VOIP
I finally got around to replacing my home fixed line phone with VOIP. I took the easy route of sticking with my ISP, Netspace/iiNet. Previously each month I’d been paying $59.95 for ADSL2+ broadband, plus for the home phone $22.95 rental, plus $6 for caller ID, plus $2.93 for an unlisted number. Local calls were ... [More]
Before you go looking for it, be sure to read the updates at the bottom. The gigantic transport mural was perhaps one of the best features of the old Spencer Street station. By Harold Freedman, it depicts the first century of Victoria’s transport — from 1835 to 1935. It was commissioned by the state government ... [More]
A little experiment in visual art
When I visit the data centre for work, I get my photo taken for a visitor pass. It’s often on a Friday — casual clothes day. The camera (and/or the printer) is black & white, low-resolution, and slightly awkwardly placed. For some reason, the visitor passes have been accumulating in my desk drawer. Here are ... [More]