Cybogoblin's House of Sanity Loss

Two Months Till New Years Resolutions

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:29:30 GMT

Yeah, it's not the 'appropriate' time for such things, but if I left things till the right time I'd just keep putting it off because I'm spending the real New Years being social (or, let's be honest, working after everyone else has called in 'sick'*). So, with this in mind, I'm making resolutions now, to take effect immediately, or at least once I wake up tomorrow.

And why am I posting this here instead of just telling myself I'll do these? If I just tell myself, I know it won't happen. I need to write it down somewhere that others can see it. That way if I start to stray, as it were, then anyone who has read this will be able to get me back on track.

1. Get in shape
Yeah, I know the saying, round is a shape, perhaps I should say better shape. Now, I'm not planning on pulling a Charles Atlas, I just want to smooth off some of the edges. I'm getting married in a little over a year, so it is definately a good thing. Plus, my Mum and brothers got me a Wii Fit for my birthday, so I should probably use it.

2. Write like the dickens
No, I don't mean write stories featuring miserly old men and hungry children, I mean writing a lot more than I am at the moment. I've got a lot of things I want to write, but at the rate I'm going, I may never get them done. My plan is to write 1,000 words each day (500 if I'm especially busy). This may not sound like much on a day-to-day basis, but it will add up over a year. Plus, it is only a minimum target. Now, not all of this will be for public consumption, but most of it will be. I've got a few things up my proverbial sleeve that I'd really like to get out there. (Note: This post does not count towards today's word count.)

3. A new job
Let's face facts. I've been at my current job seven years now (give or take a couple of months). I'm still doing, more or less, the same thing I was doing on my first day. This may not sound all that bad, and that might be true if my job didn't involve talking to people on the phone, and having less tools available to me than I did even a couple of years ago. I won't go into the details, but it is time for a change to a job where I can actually do things, not just take notes and ask people to call back. This is going to be the tricky resolution to stick to. The job market is still pretty bad, which is why I haven't been in any particular hurry to get around to this any sooner. This is going to be 'fun'.

4. Paint some models
This is one aspect of my geekitude that really has gone by the wayside in the last few years. I have a whole bunch of miniatures that are crying out for some paint. On top of that I'm taking part in the latest Battle Challenge on TabletopGamingNews.com, which means I need to paint up some Pulp City models in the next month (BTW, if anyone wants to play, I have many monkeys with guns). On top of that, I have AE-WWII and Warmachine Elves that also need some paint. I have a plan underway at the moment to setup a painting area here at home, but having somewhere to paint and actually doing some painting are two very different things.

I think that's all for this year. I've got a good mix of personal and geek. I just hope I can keep up with them all.

Happy Samhain to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere, and Happy Beltane to those in the South.

*I'm not kidding. This happened last year.

PS. Now that I think about it, today is Beltane here in the south, so I'll rename these my Beltane resolutions.

Vegas/Indy Trip - Part 1

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:07:36 GMT

The time has come to try and sum up the week and a half karanina and I spent in the US. I'm doing this entirely from memory, so I may leave things out, but I'm sure there are people out there who can either correct me or fill in the blanks. This first part covers our time in Vegas, while the second is GenCon Indy. There is a third part, more of a rant, which I wrote during a bout of insomnia in Vegas.

Planes, Shuttle Buses, and the airport from Hell
There's one big problem with being a Kiwi and holidaying in the United States - getting there. This time we got a little lucky and out flight only took 11 hours. Add to this friendly service from the Air NZ cabin crew and in-seat entertainment loaded with movies, TV shows, and music, and the trip isn't nearly as arduous. I was disappointed to see only one Simpson's episode on the line-up this time, but I was able to console myself with Peter's Friends, Star Trek, and a few good albums.

Arrival at LAX was pretty standard. I introduced karanina to the joys of the American Immigration Service and it's many, many layers of security. I managed to get through without issue, but karanina flirted with danger when she tried to wipe down the fingerprint scanner before using it. To be fair, she had asked the officer if she could and he had said it was okay. No harm was done, and she was soon on her way... to sit and wait for our luggage to arrive. It didn't take too long, but it was enough time for another flight to arrive behind us, turning the limited space of the immigration area into a rather busy place indeed. It was about this time I decided that air travel is like working in television - neither should involve children or animals. Sure, there weren't too many kids around, but it only takes one or two infants running away from their parents to hold everyone else up.

With the 'joy' of immigration behind us, we thought it would be a simple matter of handing over our luggage to United (who were handling our internal flights) then checking back in for our flight to Vegas. In the past I've been lucky and had everything in the same terminal, but this time was different. It turns out the United terminal about as far away from Air NZ's as is possible. We asked one of the roaming airport staffers how to get there and were given the most generic of directions. This would have been fine if we had any idea of where we were going, but 'go downstairs, across the car park, then up a level' was simply to vague for us. With time running out - we had only an hour or so till our next flight - we ended up turning to the Air NZ check-in desk for help. The kiwi guy behind the counter was much more descriptive, and soon had us going in the right direction.

We managed to get rushed through check-in at United, and ended up making it to the plane with minutes to spare. It was then that we discovered the fun of traveling as a couple. We initially received our boarding passes when we checked in at Auckland Airport, but weren't assigned seats due to 'technical reasons'. We were told that we could get that sorted out when we arrived in LAX. This sounded fine at the time, but when we got to United we were given non-adjacent seats. This being karanina's first time flying in 10 years she was understandably nervous. United's solution: ask if you can get the seats changed when you board the plane. Not a problem with a partially empty flight, but when the plane is full, as ours was, it meant having the stewardess asking someone very nicely if they would swap. In the end we got lucky, and a window seat in the bargain.

Normally I don't care too much about whether I'm sitting next to a window or not. There isn't much to see between Auckland and LAX, although they can be good if you want to sleep. Flying from LAX to Las Vegas, however, sounded a lot more interesting. Sadly, it wasn't to be. I've flown over LA before, so I'm familiar with it's delightfully 2D terrain. What I had forgotten was how similar the terrain was once you get past the San Antonio mountains. There really wasn't much to see until we got close to Vegas. It is quite a remarkable sight, first seeing the pre-planned neighborhoods, then the green of a golf course and the more heavily built up suburban areas, and finally the Strip and downtown areas themselves. It really is an oasis in the middle of the desert wasteland. It wouldn't take too many years if abandonment for nature to reclaim this town - I guess Resident Evil 3 did get something right after all.

If I had any doubt that we were flying into the wrong airport, they were cast aside the moment we walked off the plane and out of the air bridge. Right there, in the middle of the departure terminal, was row upon row of One Armed Bandits. I was a little surprised at first, then remembered where we were. More concerned with getting to our hotel than anything else, we hurried through the terminal, traveling a considerable distance, eventually arriving at a large bank of escalators. We figured that these would take us to the baggage retrieval area, but instead we found ourselves waiting for a tram which took us to the main terminal. There we found our carousel and waited. And waited. After a while there was announcement over the tannoy that our baggage had been delayed, but would be with us soon. Apparently it didn't get to tram like we did.

It was now that the high-intensity advertising started. Almost every flat surface had been taken up by large posters promoting the many shows on offer on, and off, the Strip. That was fine, Vegas is all about selling you things you don't want. The only downside to this is that Carrotop appears to be the big draw in Vegas, so it was hard to travel anywhere without seeing his grimacing visage leering out at you. As you might have guessed, I'm not a big fan of his. I don't find him that funny. The bags eventually arrived, and we were able to trade in the delightful 90+ degree heat for the relative comfort of our hotel room.

Okay, this is getting pretty long, so I'll be cutting it up into 1-2 day segments.

Viva Las Vegas, not so viva the heat
It was late afternoon when we arrived in Vegas. After showering we realised that it had been almost a full day since we'd had a non-airplane meal, so we headed back downstairs and went wandering in search of food. A circuit of the Excalibur's main floor was not a success, so we headed upstairs to the food court and shoppes. We continued to wander, in and out of tourist trap stores and past some more unappealing fast food eateries with no real idea of where we were heading. A few minutes, and a couple of moving walkways later we found ourselves in the Luxor casino. We decided that this would probably be a good time to make some kind of a decision, so ended up at the Pyramid Cafe for giant sandwiches, bottomless cola and root beer, and free pickles. Mmm... pickles.

After the meal we headed out the front door of the Luxor and back to the Excalibur via the sidewalk. I must admit that the Luxor is a rather impressive place, both inside and out. Sure, it probably has a few ancient Egyptian pharaohs spinning in their sarcophagi, but it does look good. I was especially amused to see that they had incorporated panels from the Book of the Dead into the artwork as well. It's a bit like someone built a casino from those Chinese tattoos that never mean what the tweens who have them think they mean. karanina had her camera on her and spent a fair bit of time learning how to take night photographs, with varying levels of success. Once she gets around to moving them off her camera and upload them I'll be sure to post a link.

On our way back to the hotel I realised two things about Vegas. Firstly, it's really hot there all of the time. It was nearing midnight and still felt hotter than it ever gets in Auckland. Sure, there was no humidity, but there was also no large body of water nearby to cool it down at night. This is great if you want to make a 24-hour party town, but not so much if you're adverse to such conditions. The other thing I noticed was that Vegas is somewhat more accepting of sex and nudity. Case in point: many towns in America have sidewalk containers which hold local newspapers, Las Vegas has sidewalk containers which hold what I call 'Las Vegas Personals' - magazines which, based on their covers, are filled with contact numbers for escorts and or services. Sure, prostitution is illegal in Clark County, but that doesn't seem to stop them, nor does it stop the cars plastered in similar advertising cruising up and down the Strip.

Back at the hotel we finally crashed, a day and half after flying out of Auckland, only to get up a few hours later. See, on our way into the hotel we'd been, I guess you could say, suckered into attending a time share proposal at a resort on the far south end of the Strip. Sure, this may sound like a waste of time, but it was taking part in the hot part of the day, and we were getting a pile of vouchers out of the deal. Having never attended one of these things before I had no idea what to expect, but I soon caught up. The concept was sound, in theory, and the rooms at the resort were indeed nice, but I had no interest in putting down US$3000+ to get the place for a week. Yes, there was this whole theory about 'swapping' our time in Vegas for time somewhere else in the world, but there was just far too much theory and management to make it properly work. What really clinched it for me was that there were no available locations in Indianapolis. Had there been a hotel there, especially one conveniently close to the convention centre, I would have seriously thought about it.

I do admire their tenacity, however. The two guys we talked to were good salesmen, and were able to talk at great length about their product. Sadly for them, we're just the wrong market. If we were to return to Vegas it wouldn't be to sit around in a resort for a week, it would be to spend time on the Strip (15 minutes away by car) and Downtown. They really were barking up the wrong tree. In the end we strung them along for a while, made all the right noises, but ultimately decided not to sign up to their deal. We said our goodbyes and headed downstairs to collect our vouchers and board the shuttle back to our casino. In the end, we exchanged a little over three hours of our time for two tickets to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden, $25 in gambling vouchers for the Luxor and $100 in vouchers for food.

After a quick rest in hotel we headed out again in search of some dinner. We decided to just skip Excalibur altogether and headed straight to the Luxor. We looked around the rest of the eateries there (at least the ones on the ground floor) and didn't find anything to our liking - that wasn't horribly overpriced - so we kept going through to Mandalay Bay. There were some more shops in between, though these were a little more high class than the Excalibur's shoppes, so we took our time to see if there was anything that caught our eye. The only thing that caught my eye, however, was a poster promoting The House of Blues. It was at that exact point I knew where we would be going for dinner.

I'd heard stories about The House of Blues (or HOB) and it certainly lived up to them. Sure, it was on the casino floor, right next to one armed bandits, but once you're inside the doors you forget all that. The inside of the restaurant was decorated to make you feel like you were sitting out on the back lawn of an old Cajun house, under the eaves of a large tree festooned with lanterns. In the far corner was a stage where blues bands could perform. Considering the setting, I had to order the jambalaya, though karanina went for a more 'normal' choice. She did try something new for dessert, however, and ordered some key lime pie. Neither of us knew what to expect, but the result was a very pleasant surprise. The pie was so large, in fact, that I had to give her a hand finishing it. After dinner we checked out the HOB shop and picked up a couple of Blues Brothers bowling shirts.

We spent the rest of the evening checking out Mandalay Bay, which was quite a nice casino all-in-all. You could just about see a progression of increasing quality from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay. I'm not trying to make a point about proximity to the Strip and tackiness of casinos, it was just kinda interesting to see. Once we were satisfied that we'd seen enough to whet our curiosity, we headed back to our room via the Luxor again. I'd quickly come to realise the true benefit of air conditioning and staying indoors.

Weekend Foursome
The following day saw the arrival of two of karanina's American friends. This was her first time meeting them in meatspace, so there was a lot of trepidation on her part. Luckily enough, there was no reason to fret, they got on like the proverbial house on fire. We spent the rest of the day shopping and exploring the Strip, stopping at the Pyramid Cafe for lunch. The girls spent a lot of time chatting, I was mostly along for the ride and to act as navigator. That evening the girls decided to hit the Strip, but karanina was feeling a little queasy (possibly from improperly chilled milk) so we let them go on ahead. We caught up with them at Paris where we had a drink and took in the sights before heading up to Caesar's Palace. We looked around a little and karanina spend some money on the tables. It is a most impressive casino, and what you see in The Hangover is only a very, very small section. After Caesar's we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest.

The next day we headed out shopping again, this time the destination the eastern side of the Strip, starting with MGM and working our way up to the Miracle Mile (part of Planet Hollywood). The Hawaiian Market was especially nice - and filled with large fans providing cooling breezes. Miracle Mile itself was rather daunting. We went in not realising how vast it actually was, and only when we were about to leave did we find a map. We did make a couple of surprising discoveries while we were in there tho. The Bettie Page Shop, which was filled with 50's style garments and Bettie Page artwork, and Ben & Jerry's Icecream. I've heard many good stories about these guys, and the actual product certainly lived up to the hype. The only problem is I can't get it here in NZ.

After the shopping was done we decided to head back to Caesar's Palace to try and find some dinner and a casino shop (for the obligatory touristy items). I must profess a degree of ignorance to the workings of Las Vegas casinos. Most of the ones I had been in thus far had been laid out in a rather compact manner, with a central gaming area surrounded by shops and restaurants. The Palace is a little different. It's more linear in design, with the casino shop and most of the eateries located at the very rear of the building. This wouldn't have been too bad had I not already spent most of the day on my feet. By the time we got to the shop I was ready for a nice sit down. Fortunately, we found somewhere to eat nearby, so we were all able to take a load of for a while before heading back.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at the Bellagio fountain. It was just as I'd seen it in movies like Oceans 11, except that there were a lot more people around.To get a good view of the show we had to sit through one performance then, once that finished, moved up to the front as soon as a space opened up and camp there. Luckily for us, the shows were only 15 minutes apart at that point, so it wasn't too long to wait. The performances themselves were pretty spectacular, with each one featuring a different piece of music. After a couple of performances we decided that we had seen enough for the night and returned to the hotel. As karanina's friends were flying out in the morning she decided to stay up a little later and hang out with them. I opted for a relatively early night, mostly for the benefit of back and feet, both of which were complaining rather loudly at this point.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For
The next day, [Bad username: karanina> and I continued our exploration of the north end of the Strip. We started at Paris, with a trip up the Eiffel Tower. The view from the top was pretty spectacular, even if it did ram home how flat Vegas is. We were also well placed to watch a day performance of the Bellagio fountains, conveniently located across the road. We could also see the working of the machines behind (well, beneath) the display. We could also make out divers making adjustments in between shows. If I ever had to work in Vegas, that would be the job for me. Spending all day in nice cool water would be the perfect way to combat the 100+ degree heat. From Paris we kept venturing up the Strip, making our way up to the Mirage. We still had the two tickets to the Secret Garden, and wanted to use them before we ran out of time. The Garden consists of two main parts: the dolphin pools and the animal enclosures. The dolphins seem to have a pretty good deal going, with two large pools and regular interactions with the staff. The animals, on the other hand, aren't so well off. Their cages are pretty small, with little room to do anything other than lay about or pace back and forth. It's hardly ideal, but there might possibly be additional space out back that we couldn't see. Next up was Treasure Island. We'd heard about their free show, and I was interested at the prospect of a little swashbuckling action. I should have realised that Vegas would have other plans for me. Apparently, the old show had been replaced some time ago with one featuring scantily clad women singing and seducing the crew of a rival pirate ship. There was a little sword play, but it was pretty bad. The show did manage to redeem itself slightly with some big explosions and jets of flame, but it was still closer to a softcore version of Pirates of the Caribbean than anything else. Once the show was done we crossed the road to The Venetian. We'd been told they had gondola rides on offer and they sounded like the perfect way to get off our feet for a few minutes. We ended up sharing a gondola with another couple and a [guy who controls the gondola] who was more of a talker than a singer. It wasn't quite as nice as we had been told it was, but it was still a lovely way to spend a few minutes. We discovered another gondola ride inside The Venetian, though this one ran through the middle of the shopping promenade and was a little less intimate than the one we were on. We also found a rather unique shop, one which sold antiques (like coins emblazoned from the time of Alexander the Great) set into jewellery. They also had a first printing of the King James Bible inside a glass case and a small cannon from a pirate ship. Fun for the whole famliy. As time was getting on we had a quick dinner in the food court before heading back outside and across to Madame Tussuad's. We balked at the prices for entry, but <lj user=] still posed for a photo with The Rock, who was on display outside the entrance. From there we crossed the Strip to the Mirage, hoping to see their volcano show. Apparently we had just missed it, so we decided to keep going and ended up in front of the Bellagio again for their fountain show. Unlike the night before where the musical accompaniment had been classical pieces, tonight we were treated to more contemporary songs, including Viva Las Vegas - the first time I had heard the song since arriving in the city. At the end of the song I decided that the time was right, dropped to one knee, and proposed to karanina.

I'll give you a moment to let that last part sink in....

She was struck dumb for a couple of seconds, then accepted. Before you ask, there aren't any photos. There was someone filming the performance with a handycam, but she was gone before we could ask if she'd also caught the proposal. We listened to one more performance, then headed back to the hotel to call family back home and sleep.

Leaving Las Vegas
The next day we decided to take things easy. We cruised over to the Luxor to spend the rest of our food vouchers on lunch then spent the evening at the Excalibur's dinner show Tournament of Kings. For those who don't know what this is, King Arthur holds a feast in honour of his son, inviting the kings of Europe to take part in a series of medieval events. The real fun starts when Mordred crashes the party and vicious (fake) sword fighting breaks out. The theatre is divided up into sections, each one cheering for a different king. We didn't realise it at the time, but we booked tickets for the section who support Mordred, so we got to cheer for the bad guys and boo all the good guys. It was a whole lot of fun, and I was pretty hoarse by the end of the evening. It was a little cheesy, but not more so than the rest of Vegas.

Something of substance

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:32:26 GMT

Oh yeah, I have an LJ. I probably shouldn't ignore that for too long, y'know, just in case :p So for those of you I haven't seen or talked to recently, a quick catch up...

On Thursday, karanina and I are boarding are heading off to America for a little under two weeks. We're spending the first week in Las Vegas (where we're being joined by two of her friends for the weekend), then we're heading on to Indianapolis for GenCon.

I'm going to try and post regular updates (with photos!) while we're there (internets and time permitting), so what happens in Vegas might not actually stay there ;)

We're also both taking our cellphones with us, so if you need to get in touch just email or txt (if you call there may be international charges incurred at your end).

How to distract women

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:07:09 GMT

Step 1: Sit them in front of the computer.

Step 2: Press play....

Under the Mountain

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:28:31 GMT

The first trailer for Under the Mountain has been released. For those of you that didn't grow up in NZ, it's a sci-fi adventure story set in Auckland. Think of it as a Kiwi version of 'Race to Witch Mountain'. Kinda.

The movie looks pretty good, and the Wilberforces are a whole lot more scary than the the 80's TV version, though that is mainly thanks to the wonders of CG.

Weird Al - Craigslist

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:34:56 GMT

Weird Al + Ray Manzarek from The Doors + Liam Lynch =

Woah. Very kewl.

Attention Aucklanders

Tue, 26 May 2009 07:35:52 GMT

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, give this a try:

Designers 'n' artists market day - Featuring local fashion, designers and artists. Ponsonby Community Centre, 20 Ponsonby Terrace (Three Lamps end), 2pm-6pm.

This is being organised by my brother's girlfriend and her sister. This is their first event, but they hope to make it a regular thing.

Advanced Cat Yodelling anyone?

Mon, 18 May 2009 20:11:27 GMT

Must. Stop. MTV.

Sat, 16 May 2009 13:35:35 GMT

Apparently, MTV wants to produce a remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with an all new cast, and new songs. Blasphemy!

There is an online petition up to get MTV to not go forward with this project. You can sign it here. The target number of signee's is 5000 and I was number 4209, so there isn't much further to go. If this doesn't work, I guess people could always get dressed up and march on MTV HQ.

Success

Sat, 16 May 2009 06:45:50 GMT

Dollhouse has been renewed.

As has Better off Ted.

And Castle.

Yay!

Good ol' fashioned fun

Sun, 10 May 2009 18:42:04 GMT

For those of you who haven't heard about it yet, there's a new episodic web serial coming.

The Mercury Men

The black and white serial looks like it will borrow heavily from the pulp genre, with ray guns and evil aliens who shoot lightening from their hands. The production reminds me of The Fanimatrix, but with more of an effects budget.

Here's a quick synopsis of the series from the associated Facebook page:
"Edward Borman, a lowly government office drone, finds himself caught in a nefarious interplanetary plot when deadly invaders seize his office building as a staging ground for the destruction of Earth. Aided by a daring aerospace engineer from a mysterious organization known as “The League,” Edward must stop the invaders and their doomsday device, the Gravity Engine."

xkcd meets Firefly

Thu, 07 May 2009 14:40:48 GMT

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Very shiny!

There is also a Part 5

R.I.P.

Tue, 05 May 2009 20:38:32 GMT

Oddly appropriate

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:52:36 GMT

At one of the local bookstores, they have Robert Pattinson's Unauthorised Biography shelved in the Science Fiction section.

ROFL.

Movie Meme - Part 4

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:33:08 GMT

Okay, I've been neglecting this for a while. This is partly because I've been watching a whole lot of movies and tv shows lately, so here's an update.

16. The Boat That Rocked: The director of Love Actually gives us his take on the pirate radio stations of the 1960's. This movie has a great cast (including Kiwi Rhys Darby, and an unrecognisable Kenneth Brannagh), witty script, and some of the best music from the era. An excellent date movie.

17. Krod Mandoon (TV): Umm, this is a bit of a hard one to describe. Think Hercules mixed with the sensibilities of Rocky Horror Picture Show and starring a mix of British and American actors - including Matt Lucas as the villainous Chancellor Donold David Dongalor.

18. Race to Witch Mountain: Yes, it's a kids movie, but that doesn't stop it being a fun hour and a half of Dwayne Johnson playing guardian to a couple of extraterrestial children. This movie has a surprisingly good cast list, and at least one cameo, too. There were a couple of aspects which felt like they were borrowed from Stargate, but it wasn't too excessive.

19. The Listener (TV): It looks like Toronto is the new go-to city when it comes to making TV shows. This one features an EMT with the ability to read people minds. Had this come out before Heroes the premise might be a little more novel, but now it feels a little rehashed. Still, it's a fun show. Episodic in nature, but with hints of metaplot. Lots of fresh new faces, with an occasional appearance by Colm Feore.

20. The West Wing (TV): I honestly don't know why I didn't get into this series sooner. I guess back when it first started I wasn't that interested in American politics. A decade later I guess I'm a somewhat different person. There is one thing which bugs me about the show, however. The closing music is a little too upbeat, especially when you consider how many of the episodes end on a rather depressed note.

21. Better Off Ted (TV): The BEST new sitcom of this year. Yes, it's ballsy to say this so early on, but the show is just that good. It's a bit like Brazil meets Office Space with a healthy injection of funny - and Portia de Rossi as the boss.

22. The Unusuals (TV): Amber Tamlyn plays a former vice cop who is transferred to a unit of misfits after one of their number is killed. This is an odd show which seems to be wavering between drama and funny, never really spending too much time on either one. On the upside, it has a pretty good cast.

23. Harper's Island (TV): One island, 13 episodes, lots of murder. Sadly, not the premise for the next season of Survivor. This show is more like a TV adaptation of Ten Little Indians, except that not everyone on the cast is a murderer (as far as we know).

24. Religulous: I fully went into this movie expecting it to be the usual 'in your face' fare you get from Bill Maher, but I must admit that I was surprised. He felt somewhat restrained as he travelled the world and talked to members from the Abrahamic religions (except for the Mormons, who just used security guards to kick him out). He was also surprisingly candid about his own religious upbringings, beginning the movie with an interview with his Jewish mother (Maher himself was raised Catholic). I know a lot of people will not like this movie because of it's content, but it is still worth watching.

25. A dozen different Darwin documentaries: This year would have been Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, and to celebrate TV networks around the world are putting out their own documentaries about his life. I've watched a few of them, but there really is only so much you can say about one of the most famous scientists in history. The best ones, so far, have been where scientists have retraced his journeys and visited some of the locations which were so influential in his work. I've always preferred show over tell.

Easter weekend: a summary

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:56:02 GMT

The Good: Watching The Boat that Rocked on Friday. Lunch with my family and dinner with karanina's family on Sunday. Chocolate. New Doctor Who and Red Dwarf (!!!) on TV. Having Halloumi cheese at Mum's. Mmm.

The Bad: Having our washing machine break down on Saturday, leaving us without clean clothes for Sunday. Luckily, we stayed the night with karanina's parents and used their washing machine.

The Just Plain Crazy: Being visited by two Jehovah's Witnesses on Sunday... in the middle of lunch. They saw us eating through the window and decided to not knock on the door. I went outside and questioned them, finding out they were just trying to spread 'the good word', as it were. I was going to sting them along for a while before asking them in to celebrate the rebirth of our lord Cthulhu, but I was usurped by my Mum who stormed out of the house and bluntly told them to 'sod off'. To be fair, we have relatives who are JW's, but for them to be doing their rounds on Easter Sunday was just going a bit too far.

What a fun weekend.

Trent Reznor interviewed by Digg.com

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:05:02 GMT

Attn NIN fans, this might be of interest to you. Trent answers questions about the future of NIN and the music industry, digital marketing, the most embarrassing song on his iPod, and other topics of interest.

Some very interesting comments and thoughts in there. Well worth checking out, even if you're not a fan.

Julie Andrews makes everything better

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:30:30 GMT

Every once in a while, flash mobs actually manage to do something kinda kewl...

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:44:45 GMT

According to this article, the US Congress may finally be passing legislation which will allow Amerians to freely travel to Cuba. This is expected to create over 20,000 jobs, and generate $1.6 billion dollars each year.

There's only one thing I can say about that: sweet. (Oh, and about bloody time.)

Okay, so the trade embargo will apparently still be in place, but at least this is a step away from paranoid Cold War legislation.

Great moments in gaming

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:48:57 GMT

I was playing a skirmish game of Red Alert 3 the other day. I was playing as the Empire/Japanese and was engaging in my usual tactic for winning the game easily - building about 50 Rocket Angels (armoured flying infantry who fire rockets at their enemies). As I finished building the last of the Angels I ordered them to attack the enemy base. At this point a wonderful moment of convergence occured.

While playing the game I was listening to the soundtrack (not score) for The Watchmen. It's a good collection of classic tunes, so a nice change from the game's own techno soundtrack. Anyway, as my virtual army soared through the sky, the current song on the soundtrack ended, and the next one began.

The next song was Ride of the Valkyries.

Sure, it might have been more awesome had my army consisted of 50 helicopters, but I'll work with what I've got.

F'ing epic

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:16:44 GMT

Edward James Olmos talking to the United Nations about race:

So say we all!

100 Movies Meme - Part 3

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:08:19 GMT

Time for another update.

11. Zac and Miri Make a Porno: Does what it says on the tin. Two friends try to make a little cash by making their own porn film. Lots of Kevin Smith goodness, and a fabulous performance by Justin Long. Lots of laughs, but not for the sensitive or squemish.

12. Kings (TV): A contemporary retelling of the Biblical story of King David. This is about as far from Charlton Heston in a fake beard as you can get and, despite being a little dubious plot-wise, it looks like it could end up being fairly interesting. Most oddly, the show's idea of a long-running war is a line of guys in trenches facing off against a row of tanks, spaced a few metres apart.

13. Man of the Year: Going by the trailer, I was sure this movie was a pure comedy. Robin Williams is a talk show comedian who runs for President - and wins. There is actually a surprising amount of drama mixed in here, making this a little confusing to watch. There's a whole lot of Christopher Walken and Lewis Black, though, which is always good.

14. Castle (TV): Nathan Fillion. What? You want more than that? Okay, he plays a famous author who teams up with a female detective as inspiration for a new series of novels. Plenty of laughs, and Fillion is in fine form. I just hope it lasts more than four episodes. Much, much more.

15. Stephen Fry in America (TV): British comedian Stephen Fry takes a trip through all 50 of the United States... in a London Taxicab. Along the way he takes part in some delightfully American activities - lobster fishing in Maine, taking in the sights of Las Vegas, and helping make an Oscar statue in Michigan. Not all States receive the same level of attention, but it still an entertaining series which shows a side, or three, of America that not even many Americans might have seen.

Happy Drinking Day

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:47:40 GMT

It's Saint Patrick's Day, which means it's time to drink copiously, dress up in green clothing, and talk in a bad Irish accent.

Sadly, it's also a Tuesday, which is going to put a serious crimp on the drinking. I can still dress in green and talk like Father Ted, though the latter might be hard to explain to my boss :p

Oh well, I can still listen to traditional Irish songs....

Feline Interference

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:16:00 GMT

I can now finally share with you the big problem with playing Trivial Pursuit with karanina's parents.

Okay, it isn't exactly their cat, but it's pretty close :p

The Silver Lining

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:16:35 GMT

I'm glad that no matter how bad things may get in national or international news, there are always stories like this to balance things out:

Zoo chimp 'planned' stone attacks

A male chimpanzee in a Swedish zoo planned hundreds of stone-throwing attacks on zoo visitors, according to researchers.

Keepers at Furuvik Zoo found that the chimp collected and stored stones that he would later use as missiles.

Further, the chimp learned to recognise how and when parts of his concrete enclosure could be pulled apart to fashion further projectiles.