Spaceship789

Angry Birds finally!

2012-02-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

I now finally 'get' Angry Birds.

I played it once a year ago, and I found it boring:

- The gameplay reminded me of 'gorillas', one of the demos that came with QBASIC twenty years ago on the demos that came with MSDOS 5.0.

- The characters reminded me of the characters in Pixar's Birds, which I loved, and secretly wished they had made in to a feature length film.

Then I saw all the merchandising appear - so quickly! - and I wondered whether the makers were more motivated by money, and just got lucky on the game, and the characters....

I was wrong!

We finally got a smart phone (Erni got a galaxy) and I played it a bit and liked it more than my first time. Then I 'read' the instructions (which are awesomely simple). And then I started easily winning levels that I had previously thought relied on a pure luck. Then I got addicted. I wouldn't put down Erni's phone until I had completed the whole lot ( I decided to pick the St Patricks day holiday pack).

And along the way I attained a deep appreciation of the game design.

- Making the game so simple, yet never boring.

- Making it so addictive.

- Designing a game that wouldn't be frustrating on these new touch devices, where precise control is difficult.

- Doing it so soon after the iPhone release.

- Doing it with such great sense of design.

Maybe I just didn't appreciate Gorillas enough back in 1991 :)

PS I've only just realised that Gorillas looks more like WORMS. The underground PC hit that quickly became a cult classic, and spawned many sequels, and eventually made the successful transition to 3D.

Clooney Pitt Fantasy

2012-01-31T00:59:00.000-08:00

Clooney, Pitt, Fantasy . That can account for 7 of the nine nominations.

As a fantasy loving guy, I love the fantasy nominations. Even if they come at the expense of clearly better dark, realistic, gritty material. Having just spent the weekend catching up on Ghost Protocol, SherlockHolmes 2, Muppets, with Tin Tin and Hugo for next weekend, its a pretty good summer of fantasy.

And the Clooney and Pitt references I can accept as some indicator that we are in an era. Not the Tom Hanks era, not the Russel Crowe era, but the era of where two of the most charasmatic good looking heart throbs are also the ones in the best films. I haven't thought about it that much, but they seem like nice enough guys, so I don't mind at all. The perfectly chiseled jawlines of the heart throbs kind of match the perfrectly crafted visuals of the fantasy films that were nominated.

Maybe not fantasy, but fantastic visuals.

The Artist - Fantasy (with regard to filmmaking)

The Descendants - Clooney

Hugo- Fantasy

The Tree of Life - Pitt

Midnight in Paris - Fantasy, with beautiful shots of paris

War Horse - Fantasy yes, there is a war premise, but its really a boy and his horse premise

Moneyball - Pitt

The Help- ignore

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close- ignore

The indy cinema

2011-12-21T02:46:00.000-08:00

Saturday I found myself at the Video store, trying to rent out Crazy, Sexy, Cool. But it wasn't out yes, so I rented out a whole lot of classics. A woody Allen, 2 polanskis, A room with a view, and Vertigo. Watching Vertigo was a profound experience. I totally get the whole Kim Novak thing now!

Some how I got on to looking up Woody Allen movies, and discovered that there was one this year that was really good! It was 7.8 on IMDB and a whopping 93% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. And I was going to Paris next month - I HAD to see this film. I googled it and noticed that it came out in October...

Disappointment. That means its in that uncomfortable window where it's not on at the cinema OR out on DVD yet. But then I googled some more and found a single cinema where it was still screening. The Lido Of Epsom, where it was only screening at 11:15am and 3:15. I was excited!

The next day I woke up naturally to my favorite rainy weather. A Blurry check of my phone revealed 10:30: I could make the morning session! So I drove down to Epsom, and parked the car in side street and entered.

I love the Lido. I'd only been there once before, but remember the girl who sold me the ticket. That was two years ago, but nothing has changed. All three attendents looked like they were three beautiful sisters from a family owned business. More likely, I thought, they were just average local girls from the well-to-do epsom district, with all its grammar schools.

I got my ticket, and a frozen yoghurt, and settled down in to a nearly empty cinema - except for a bunch of oldies taking advantage of cheap tickets.

The verdict? Well the movie was magic. It was everything you expect from Woody Allen, and Paris. Simply magical. And so was the little theatre in which I saw it.

Nice packaging!

2011-12-21T02:30:00.000-08:00

I am a sucker for packaging this good!

Bridge creates shortcut

2011-11-20T01:26:00.001-08:00

When I was working back in Newmarket, I often walked home to St Johns at night. I usually took the northerly route down Kepa road, and Kohimarama road, but once I decided to take the southerly route. The route was exciting enough - I took quite a few little shortcuts through laneways, and through parks and schools. But I remember thinking that if I had a canoe, that the route would be much shorter.

Well now it is much shorter!

I don't have a canoe - better - they put in a cute little bridge across Orakei creek. This, combined with sneaking through a lawn cemetary, would make the late night trips home quite a bit shorter.

On the map shows the new route (green) vs the old route (pink). And I've also included the Kepa bushwalk, Orakei basin crossing that I discussed in my previous entry.

I wonder if I can convince Erni to take a walk from Newmarket to St Johns!

Here is a link discussing the newly opened bridge:
http://www.hawkins.co.nz/orakei-basin-walkway/

Suburban Bushwalk

2011-11-20T01:06:00.001-08:00

Today, Erni and I took a little bushwalk around the Orakei basin, by going through the Kepa Bush Reserve . It's hard to believe that only one minute from a big shopping centre in Auckland's suburbia, you can find yourself on a half an hour of bush walking bush canopied by tree ferns. We took a circular route starting at Eastridge Shopping Centre, then going down through the bush, crossing over the river, crossing the train track, walking over the newly opened Orakei basin walkway, then walking up the kill to the shopping centre.

It might seem like the "crossing the train tracks" bit to get to Purewa cemetary is unauthorised, however multiple signposts clearly indicate "Purewa" trail, and the "cemetary". And today, just before we crossed the railway line, we met a couple coming the other way. And just after you cross the railway line, there is a clear path in to the cemetary.

Before the walkway opened, you could have crossed over the basin by following the train track. But now its a lot less dangerous!

The cutest street in Auckland

2011-11-12T00:30:00.001-08:00

Erni and I just came back from a walk where we had the pleasure of walking down Haslett street, wedged in between the north End of Dominion road and the Motorway. I think it could be the cutest street in all of Auckland. Cute isn't really the right word, but its a street where all of the houses are very different, and its very high density, the houses are really wedged in next to one another. To top it off, it has a lovely little walkway over the motorway. Motorways have the effect of creating these secret little corners that can expect traffic from no one except the residents.

There were lots of little parks and trees nearby aswell. A Park at the end of Evelyn street that takes you through to Haslett Street. And then another little walkway down to Bright street, where you can turn and walk back up to the New North Rd-to-DominionRoad filter lane. Then there's a park between Ace place, and Dominion road. And then when you cross over the top of New North Road, and over the train line, there is a secret little park that can take you through to Akepiro street if you want (That's how we get home).

When I was talking down the street, I was imagining which houses the kids from Goonies or Super 8 would live. The rich kid would live in the big grey house. The poor Chinese kid might live in the house down the bottom that looked like it was in the watercourse. But childhood fun is not only about environment, its about your childhood friends.I didn't know if there were any kids living on that street, if you were the only kid on that street it wouldn't be fun at all!

Coco Pops and cereal box magic!

2011-11-08T03:12:00.000-08:00

When we were young, Ed and I would jump out of bed, and head straight to the breakfast table to have breakfast. (We had our showers at night, and brushed teeth after breakfast). Whilst were were shovelling comfort food in to our young mouths, our brains - half still in dream land - would focus on the back of cereal packets. Sometimes it was a promotion, sometimes it was a cartoon character, sometimes it had a cartoon character with puzzles for kids. It didn't matter what was on there, it would suddenly become magically fantastical. There was a certain magic that can occur when looking at the back of a cereal box.

Cut to 2003, and I'm walking with my flatmate thru the IGA Express in Newtown, and I see a game being given away on CDROM with packets of Nutrigrain. I mention to him that it was my fantasy at one stage to make little single screen adventure games based on cliff hanger scenarios and put them on the back of cereal packets with some way of getting to the playable games. Not motivated out of profit, but just because that's the place I went to mentally, when I thought about such games.

Cut to 2011, and I'm walking thru the Food Town in Mount Eden with Erni, and I stumble upon a packet of Coco Pops with Coco the monkey and a few leaves on the front. I pick it up and turn it around and lo and behold there was a jungle scene containing more than a few references to the same jungley things that my mini games reference, and a few extra ones that fit the same mold:

- a rope bridge

- a waterfall

- a giant pot

- temples with treasure on top

- a volcano

- rope swings

- log over the river

What a wonderful picture to have on the back of a packet of cereal. Coco Pops totally know about that cereal box magic!

Super 8

2011-06-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

"Just came back from #Super8 at Hoyts Sylvia Park. To everyone that grew up in the 70's and 80's - you guys rocked." was my initial reaction to Super 8. It was quite a nostalgic film for me. Six months I have realized that its my favorite film of the year, so I'm fleshing it out a bit more.

Six months later I barely remember the main character. I remember the rich kid with the large forehead, who owned the camera. And I remember the little zombie actor kid with the big teeth.

My favorite parts of the movie were the bit where they were filming at the train station. Wow that was awesome! And also the bit where rich kid and main character nearly jeopardise the mission to save the monster, because they like the same chick. This is an awesome device I think. Up until that moment, we didn't really know that rich guy liked the girl. But when you go back, you can see, duh, that's why rich kid put her in the film. This seems like a reusable idea that you can subtley use to link a romantic subplot to the main plot. Ie the romantic sub plot puts the main plot in to jeopardy. Its quite cool.

It reminds me of the romantic subplot of The Goonies (one of the films main refereces), in which the romantic sub plots are there at the start, and middle of the film but by the end of the film they have just about been resolved, and yielded to the main story.

And of course, the lady at the centre of attention is Elly Fanning, sister of the girl who I once as the last child actor. That wasn't true of course, but I wish more films took advantage of the great young actors that are available.

DeathSpank

2011-05-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

When Ron Gilbert kept reassuring us that his new RPG game had a similar humour to Monkey Island, I didn't really know whether to believe it or not. However having just ~~played~~ watched the game on youtube, I am happy to see that it is true.

It was really great to see that Ron Gilbert didn't just create a rehash of Guybrush Threepwood from Monkey Island - Death spank is a completely different character. Deathspank is basically a parody of self righteous heroes - from all genres - but in the guise of an RPG character. Deathspank is bold and super confident, and will automatically accept quests from anyone and everyone. Since RPG games are basically about questing, this fits well with the genre. It is funny noticing hints of Deathspanks frustration with all the needy quests people bestow upon him.

And he has proved that you don't need an adventure game to deliver that same brand of Monkey Island humour - you just need dialog trees. The format of dialog trees are quite the same as they were for the Monkey Island games. I've noticed that some branches of the dialog tree result in fixed exchanges between the two characters, where you don't have control over what Deathspank was saying. I'm not sure whether this occured in Monkey Island. But it works. Its like sneaking in a cut scene without using a cutscene.

I also like personification of objects of the RPG world - ie swords called "betty", swords that are resting their eyes.

Throw in chickens, orphans, and several sexy female interests. And you have quite a humourous game.

Are you even allowed to come back to a Blog five years later?

2011-05-01T15:55:00.001-07:00

I think so, since I'm still living the same dream: A young man in a city he truly loves.

Some big things have changed, like I'm married now, and living in a palace instead of the converted garages I previously was living in. But breathing in that fresh Auckland morning air makes me feel alive, and watching the grey clouds fight with the long-white-clouds still fills my mind with childhood fantasy.

Many moments of joy have occurred. Some of them are extensions of the various themes previously mentioned in this blog. Others are brand new sources of excitement. I think I'm going to have to cheat and add a few back dated entries so as to fill in the gaps in some cases. Let's hope I stick with it a while longer this time!

What your character wants, and how he overcomes obstacles to get it..

2011-01-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

I found these simple words on an excellent web site today.

When we say 'character' in day to day conversation, it is usually diffferent to its script writing context.

When we say 'He's a real character' , it usually means he is either funny, or has some interesting qualities that differentiate him from others.

When we say 'He is of strong character', it usually means that the person has integrity, and stands by their words.

In scriptwriting 'Character' is primarily defined by what a person wants - and the fundamental rule of scriptwriting is to have strong characters.

Here I was writing a game about a treasure hunter, and I was going to have it start by showing a guy getting frustrated with a day job, and deciding to do treasure hunting. In retrospect, it was a terrible way to indicate that someone wanted something. It may seem like a decision based on a whim. A better way would be to begin at a scene that made it obvious that the main character has previously undergone a very difficult , deliberate journey to arrive where he is at. This would indicate that he strongly wants the thing that is in the place he is at.

Monster House: everything I expected!

2006-09-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Its hard work to really enjoy a movie these days!
You have to see it at the movies...but at the same time, you can't watch the trailer, or learn too much about it, because you risk spoiling the movie. It's a cruel paradox

And then when the movie opens, you have to shut yourself off to movie reviewers - I'm not sure of the entire psychology, but if a movie is overhype, you get cynical, and if it is trashed, then you lose the ability to forgive early, and lose the ability to give a film the benefit of the doubt right up to the end.

Its such an effort, that it can be disappointing when the movie doesn't live up to expectations: eg Starwars Phantom menace was one such unrewarding ordeal of trailer celebacy. Recently, Lady in the water had me even more disappointed.

But this morning, one of those trailer celobacy efforts finally paid off: Monster House.

As soon as I saw the movie poster I knew this was a movie for me. It was like a movie poster for maniac mansion. The Ron Gilbert Video game which was a homage to many eighties movies of where a bunch of kids got together and confronted something scary. And I was doubly excited when I noticed that Spielberg and Zemeckis were involved. Some people write Spielberg off as just a talented director who had some lucky scripts fall on to his lap. And you can be forgiven for thinking that: how else do you rationalize his hot/cold run. But if you want to get to the core of a man: look to his writing credits. With Speilberg there are only a few of them: one of them is goonies, and one is poltergeist. Now you've got a better idea...

The movie poster was quite a work of art too. It left a thousand possibilities what the premise could be. I saw some other posters, and quickly regeretted seeing them as they revealed the plot of the movie - the house takes on human traits. Ie its windows are eyes. As well as being a lesser visual creation, this also spoiled the movie a bit. I hate that! The other movie poster, is just a black silhouette, with monster house in red. Everything except the title screams M or R rated movie, and would be totally lost on its young kid target audience, who want something colourful and interesting to look at.

Anyway, the movie was good. Wuold have been AWESOME if it was live action..but its no good to dwell on what might have been.

Dakota Fanning: the last child actor?

2006-09-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

A couple of moths ago, whilst walking inside the cinema to see a movie - I noticed that every movie poster I walked by was a 3D aniamted film with about animals! There was:

Over the hedge
In the wild
Curious George.
Cars - sorta
Ice Age 2
Little red riding hood (or whatever)
Barnyard
Open season
..and rumours of Madagascar2

And there are some positives to this. Many animated features do put more time and effort into getting the script right, than do live action movies. But at the same time it means a dearth of movies starring real people.

A few weeks ago, I came across a poster for the movie entitled monster house. I thought it might be one of those classic eighties movies that I was raised on, especially after noticing that it was produced by stephen spielberg. But I was disappinted to learn that it is a pure CG affair, with 3D mannequin kids running around.

The teenage girls still get real humans, in Gym-nice-tics (or whatever) and Step Up - but if you're a preadolescent boy - you're out of luck! Movies that were previously made as live action movies, with real people, are now being made in 3D and it sucks!

There are no more child actors like they had in the eighties :)

There would be no jobs for the two coreys, or river phoenix, wil weaton, ethan hawke, sean astin or jerry oconnel. I once joked that Dakota Fanning would be the last child actor - and last night, amusingly, she appeared by her lonesome on the charlottes web poster, whilst the trailers of the aforementioned 3D movies played in the background.

I blame the wiggles..

2006-09-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

Not for Steve Irwins death, but for making him so popular with the kids, causing unprecendented family grief across australia, and across the world.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1157450941131A236

I'm still grieving.

He was such a great guy.

I bought a bike.

2006-01-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

I had planned to go into work today, but last night I received an email from a guy I won a bike from in an online auction. I won it by bidding $190, but it sounded like a good deal:

"Brand new full size 21 Speed, Shimano gear, Avanti Bike. Un-wanted gift. Excellent condition as never used.Frame size is 58cm( 23" )XL. including Bike Helmet ( new ) Bargin at this price as over $369.00 with offer. Purchasesd in Thames and has a two year warrenty. Will make a excellent present for christmas.".

He lived in Thames, but I figured I could drive down and take it home, just like I took home Jed's bike when it got delivered to work. I was relieved to hear from him since he didn't get back to me before christmas, and I had thought he had given it to someone else. . And convenient too, with today being a public holiday. So I arranged to come down and meet him, and started driving.

I was making great time until I came to a queue just five kilometres from his address. It was a queue to cross a one lane bridge into Thames. I thought about parking my car and walking. And I had lots of time to think. I was in that queue for one and a half hours. Many others were getting out and walking. You could tell something was wrong because after some ten minute breaks the cars would move hudreds of metres, and other times, they would move much less. Finally as the single lane bridge was in view, a flashing light vehicle came along, and let over a kilometre of cars through at one time, including mine. yay!

When I got to the other side there was barely a hundred metres of cars built up at the other side. I'm not sure what happened, either the traffic lights were down on the bridge - or the lights were changing too quickly to be efficient, and favored the other direction.

Anyway patience prevailed, and I followed the directions to the traders house, which he had conveyed to me via mobile whilst I was sitting stationary in the queue. It is an absolutely lovely area with steep green hills rising up everywhere. I made it to his place, and was relived to see a massive big kid standing in the garage. The bike was indeed brand new, as advertised, so I payed the money without test riding it. I just checked the frame and the cranks for hair line cracks.

Anyway, after sitting in that queue for so long, and going stir crazy from the stillness, numbness of leg muscles, and the threat of deep vein thrombosis, I was subconsciously spurred into action and jumped on the bike, and rode it up the nearest hill. What a great feeling! When I got to the top, I turned around, and saw that Thames is a big estuary for a river, and from my vantage point it lay stretched out infront of me, framed by two big green hills nearby.

I asked for different directions home - I wanted to avoid queues at all costs! So I took a 28 kilometre detour. Traffic did get slow on the way home - everyone coming home from their new year break - but was never stopped dead ever again.

When I got home, it was raining lightly, so instead of getting my brand new bike dirty, I grabbed my skipping rope and did about a thousand skips, some stretching, and some cross over skipping.

Magical time to be a kid at the movies.

2005-12-10T02:17:00.000-08:00

That reads: Zathura, Chicken Little, Cheaper By the dozen 2, Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, Lion with and the wardrobe, King kong and Nanny McPhee.

All PG or lower, and all very good with the possible exception of Nanny McPhee, and chicken little, which I didn't see.

I hunted around through the eighties archives, and nothing came close to such a line up!!

Voting Day

2005-09-17T04:11:00.000-07:00

Today was voting day. Yes, this means I'll have participated in the fedaral elections of two separate countries, one year after the other! Lat year for Australian, and this year for New Zealand. There isn't so much riding on this election. The newspapers reckon the economy is just about to plummet, and that the election is much like a poisoned chalice. Chances are that during the next term, the public will blame the ruling party for the bad stuff that will inevitably happen, and vote them out the term after. But nevertheless, I was curious so I drove on down to the local public school, and cast my vote.

Noticable differences:
* New Zealand have an Mixed Member Proportional(MMP) system, similar to Germany. IT means that a government cannot rule alone unless they get a majority of the votes. If they get less than 50%, they must search around for a coalition partner and construct some sort of agreement. This has pros and cons over other systems.

* Easier voting, you just choose one box from one list, and another box from another.

* No political ads are allowed on the weekend of the election.

* No pamplet assualtists at the voting booths. And no big mess of wasted paper. This is great!

* It's not compulsory. This must certainly be a concern after the last couple of US elections.

Wined and Dined

2005-09-05T03:30:00.000-07:00

At 6:00, I awoke from an afternoon nap, and open the door of my room. My bedroom adjoins the kitchen and set out before me on the table are three of four dishes of delicious chinese food, all covered with a fly-swatter-mesh plastic dome. Now I have joined Claire and her husband Ywin for weekend dinner on many occasions - shes a great cook! - but I didn't usually receive food-leaving-out priviledge. When Claire appeared, turned on the lights, and asked me whether I was hungry, I knew there was a catch! I *was* planning on spending the night working on my 'own stuff', but Claire had this big assignment due and was having lots of problems with it. She had dragged me off to the computer labs a week earlier to work on her big assignment and we stayed there for eight hours. I felt a little sense duty to finish what I'd started, and I was pretty hungry, so I sat down and slowly began rising from my slumber state, as Claire dashed around heating everything up. The meal begins with some type of soup, then moves onto rice with pork boiled in its own seasoned fat in a big saucepan, and some very seasoned radish, and some omelette thing. I forget the vegetables. Eating yummy food when you're hungry and semi awake is nice :)

So 7:00 we head off to the uni labs. Its only a two minute drive. It's the reason Claire and Ywin moved into the location where they currently are, and the 'uni accomodation' tag of our suburb is the reason my rent is so cheap.

We enter the big electronically secured uni gates. This week, as was the case last week, absolutely no body is there, and we have this absolutely amazing facilty all to ourselves. the computer Science department of Auckland uni is quite reknowned, and posters from all sorts of robot control, and image recognition projects line the walls. The room claire likes to work out of has computer terminals all round the walls, but there are blue curtains, what I would regard as bedroom curtains, on all four walls. In the middle is a big new blue lounge with matching arm chairs. This is pointed towards a big TV which I'm *sure* they use for watching things other than educational. It looks just like somebody's bedroom! But its a really comfortable, non-depressing place to study!

We spend seven hours doing the work. Its a pretty good session, Claire is happy with what we built, and is eager to develop it further from home tomorrow. We drive home and off to bed.

I rise at ten, go to Pump, go to Work, and then come back home at about six. Dinner is once again made, and although I'm quite tired, I can tell that my evening is going to be put to good use. Sure enough, during dinner Claire reveals she has had some problems during the day, and I again agree to accompany her to the labs. Dinner tonight begins with two spring rolls, then moves on to rice with the same pork as last night, and some side dishes with red onions, egg and celery. I think yum! After I hang out my washing, we again hop in the car.

This time we only stay for about four hours, but we accomplish lots. Claire gets her test data recreated exactly. And I also give her a contingency technique to use if things turn bad - which they probably won't. Get home , and flop into bed, assessing the weekend. I have procrastinated away the weekend once again and my goal completion side is left completely unsatisfied - but my stomach isn't!

Up the snow

2005-08-18T04:29:00.000-07:00

Went up the snow on the weekend. Or should I say down, to a mountain southwest of Rotorua called Mt Ruapeuh or something similar. Its not the Mt Fuji-like mountain that was in the last samurai, its a taller one that consists of a conical volcano framed by two smaller peaks either side of it.

I drove down on the Friday night, with Mark, Nadja, and Jed in the back. We didn't leave til about 10, and aimed to get there at 2:00. It was a pretty boring drive, everyone was zonked out from a week of work, and the stimulant I took didn't appear to do anything.

Jed and Naja were Staying with Brian, Jerry, and Amelia in 'rustic' cabins, whilst myself and Mark had a bachelor pad to ourselves. Funnily enough, most people call the weekenders in new zealand bach's (pronounced 'batch'). I believe this is short for bachelor pad, but I could be mistaken. After a wonderful nights sleep, I woke up threw some clothes on just in time to meet the others down at the Eutopia cafe for breakfast.

Everyone had decided to Ski on saturday, so Mark and myself hired some gear, and zoomed on up the mountain. It was a pretty nice day - and no chains were needed. Instead of paying for a full mountain pass, I got a lower mountain pass and a lesson. The lesson wasn't really needed, as I found my prepubescent skiing legs hadn't left me. But good to know the basics. By the end of the day I was zooming down the big long run, taking parallel turns, and skiing fast down the bits where I couldn't - all without falling over once! It was pretty good weather throughout - there was a bit of snow, but very little wind.

Jed had promised us we could use their spa in the evening, so Mark and myself showered in our bach, and headed over there. The 'spa' was a cheap plastic thing stuck in a shed in the quadrangle formed by the owners house, two cabins, and childrens play equipment. It reminded me of our backyard in Oakville :) To save electricity, the owners kept the water at a constant luke warm temperature. The water wasn't very clean either. By sunday morning, my big toe, already a little red from being shoved to the end of my ski boot, would be swollen and infected! Icky!

Lucky for us, the evening we had chosen was also the evening of the Bledisloe Cup between Asutralia and NZ. So we headed on down to the wonderfully modern matterhorn/powderkeg pub/restaurant place just down the road from the bach. It was naturally very, very busy, but Brian managed to get us prime seats at a big table, with a massive projection television at one end which was tuned in to the Rugby. Amazing work Brian! To my surprise Vlad and Tania arrived just after dinner. We had a pretty good time, the Kiwis won, and we were in bed before midnight.

The next day I woke up with my big toe all red and angry. We had decided to meet at Eutopia at 8:00am to catch the morning weather (which is usually the better). Tania, Vlad Mark and Myself were there , but Jed didn't show up until ten to nine! This was too long for the others who took off up the mountain whilst I hung around for the Jed and Brian. I had a nice grilled breakfast with Jed, but told him that unfortunately my feet wouldn't enjoy being in ski boots that day. Just after I returned my ski gear, I got a call from Vlad saying that the conditions were atrocious, and asking to be driven in four wheel drive comfort to the top. I took off up the mountain, gave Vlad my car, and took his back down.

The weather ended up being pretty bad. Vlad took one run down the mountain, Brian, Jerry and Amelia didn't ski at all. So I didn't feel bad for sleeping the day away. It left me perked up for the drive home. Myself Jed and Nadja had a great fun time in the car on the way back. I let Nadja drive most of the way, and we swapped when she got tired.

All in all a great, fun weekend!

Two games in the shops - yay!

2005-08-06T01:34:00.000-07:00

In late 2003, me and Jed did a contract for Microsoft Games to create a whole lot of plugins for 3dsmax for the creation of car race tracks, and the application of mapping coordinates to them, for the obscene amount of materials that were applied to the roads.

We didn't know the name of the game at the time, but it ended up being ForzaXbox racing.

The game was launched in May, to much fanfare, and is considered the most realistic racing game for the Xbox. In Newmarket, which is where I work, the game has been a permanent fixture in the Xbox games section of the local Warehouse department store for a couple of months. I am pretty certain that it sells well - because NZ is not only big Xbox territory, but it is also car crazy!! (It's a little nuts, the car has replaced the sheep dog, as the biggest non-humand love of a persons life here).

So thats one game in the shops - enough to be a little chuffed about.

But down the same road in some games boutique, sitting on a shelf is another game which me and Jed worked on: Xena warrior princess! Yes, the crappy BDE title that I did animation for back in 2000 is still on the shelf of this lovely little shop. Its been stuck there all year, possibly because of its lovely looking box. And possibly because you never know when a fan of Xena will walk into the store and buy it for collector value. Lucy lawless , who played Xena is a kiwi, and the series was filmed here, so it was huge in NZ back in its day.

So two games in the shops that I worked on. Yay!

Enough to get computer game Industry closure? probably.

The Wunter Chull Arrives

2005-07-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

My favorite new trick is to climb into bed fully clothed.

I started doing it by accident - I usually have a shower then sit at the PC, do some writing, and then go to bed. One time however, I was so deliriously cold that I pulled back the sheets, and was half way into bed before realising I was fully dressed. By that stage, it was too late - I wasn't taking any layers off, especially considering how cold the bed already felt when I was fully dressed!

My room is great in the summer because it has two big windows: a sliding door window section, and a big bay window where I can look out from my desk. But in winter, these windows make it really really cold! To add to this, I have venetian blinds, and not curtains. And furthermore, I like to have my bed up next to a window so I can get enough air when I'm sleeping.

I have an electric blanket now, so warmth isn't really a problem anymore - except when I forget to turn it on.

I Blame Natalie Portman..

2005-06-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

If it wasn't for her 'chemisty' with Hayden Chistensen during starwars screentests the prequels might be quite different.

I saw starwars yesterday for $8.50. I was never going to pay full price for Hayden Christensen, not after Attack of the Clones.

I think its great how Hayden has put the spotlight back on 'Wooden' actors. Here is a great article from the UK Times. By treating the general history of wodden actors, it doesn't come across as a reactionary hatchet job, but a matter-of-fact article. It circles round the history of wooden actors, before placing Hayden at number #2 in the all-time list :)
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14931-1627099,00.html

Maybe Britain's subtle damnation got to him because he revealed to the the Sun tabloid that he now wants to be an architect. maybe.
http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2532212

Llets hope that in his absence, Hollywood chooses less Bloom's, Reeves', and Christensen's for their lead roles and more guys with charisma. ..

Actually, blaming Natalie Portman was a bit narrow minded - I should be instead collectively blaming teenage girls!

Nick Cave at St James Theatre

2005-05-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Me Jed and one of Jeds friends Mark went and saw Nick Cave. It was great, Nick, Seven of the bad seeds, and four gospel singers made it a treat. The standout track for me was Darker with the day , which he sung because the four gospel singers wanted him to. He hadn't toured NZ in ten years, so he let them request a song. They all wanted the ship song, and so he ended the concert with it. Ahh, happy endings :)

Definitely one of the greatest artists of my lifetime. He writes lyrics in a story telling fashion, which I particularly like, because it makes you listen to them. And they generally are quite witty, and often humourous, and full of all those poetic devices you got taught at school.

And then theres the way he speaks the lyrics, which always makes things interesting.
And then theres his band,' The Bad Seeds', which pull the sheets down and create the most amazing landscapes for these stories to be told against.

Whilst growing up, I copped alot of "Do you love me" from tripleJ in 1994, but it didn't appeal to me. Neither did where the wild roses grow. But I really got into Red Right Hand when it was used for the soundtracks to first the XFiles, then Scream in 1997. At this time I was seeing alot of him on Rage, with big long ballads like the ship song, and henry lee, which were ok.

But what me sit up and take notice was listening to the Good Son album, in about 2000. Every song was superb, including some brilliant horror stories to music - and what great music it was.

I listened to another old album called Your funeral, my trial, but was non-plussed - but I did like the Carny, an eerie story involving a roaming circus and dwarves digging graves, and lots of rain.

But what really blew me away was No More Shall We Part. Of Nick's albums that I've heard, I find this one to be my favourite (and was easily my fave album of '02).

I skipped Nocturnarama, and Nicks November '03 tour cos I took off overseas.

But I made sure I didn't miss out on this latest offering, a double album: Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus. It is more musically diverse than NMSWP, and practically all the songs grow on you. The lyricmanship and delivery are superb as usual. And I got to see most of it played live, yay!

Celebrating Movies

2005-05-09T01:15:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I was forced to choose my favorite movies, and I ended up with Temple of Doom, The Goonies, and Labyrinth. I felt like a little ashamed, with the last two since the Goonies *is* quite B grade, and labyrinth is an 80s rock musical in which David Bowie wears a cod piece.

But I'm not ashamed anymore .. nooosirrreee!

I've just found out that this winter (american summer) there are big fan gatherings for both Goonies and Labyrinth happening over in the states.

Jun 3-5th The Goonies 20th Anniversary Celebration.
http://www.oldoregon.com/EventReg/Goonies_Reg1.htm

July 8th The Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade.
http://www.labyrinthmasquerade.com/

The Goonies Anniversary Celebration is a one off thing that takes place in Astoria, the town in Oregon where the Goonies (and many other films) was shot. It doesn't say exactly, but it seems that a few of the original cast and crew are going to show up. You also can pay to take to take a tour around the real goonies house! It looks cool enough to attract several hundreds of people. There are gonna be brown plaid pants, and red hawaiian shirts everywhere!

The Labyrinth ball draws is an annual thing, now in its eighth year. It draws its inspiration from the Labyrinth movie - in particular the masquerade ball sequence. In this sequence, a 16yo Jennifer Connelly was dressed in all white, and was being danced around by David Bowie the goblin king. Other attendees were dressed in odd, often grotesque masks. I think maybe the main impotus is from girls who would like to act out such a fantasy. But thats ok with me!

Both are on the west coast and would've made an awesome holiday - had I decided to take the year off. But alas I am stuck in rainy wellington with lots of deadlines to get thru! Oh well, I hope there are lots of photos!

Stuff of Childhood Fantasy - Made Reality!

2005-04-03T00:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was invited to a party at Vladimirs. Mainly other russian programmers went, so I felt lucky to go. The party started at 4:00, but I decided to roll up at 7:15. When I got there the party was in full swing. After I had greeted the host I found myself making some snacks on bread at the sink. Nearby Jed was involved in a conversation with our CEO Mark, regarding sailing. Jed offered me to give details of a holiday package I found where you could go sailing in the gulf on a sailing ship. After I had interestedly recalled the details, Mark, seemingly satisfied with my boating desire, invited to me go out on a boat that he would be chartering on Sunday - tomorrow! Mark told me to meet him at 10:00 am, and gave me his address!

I woke up early, and drove to the address (I got it mixed up), where mark picked me up and drove me to the mariner - stopping to pick up Vlad and his wife on the way. At the mariner I met the rest of the crew: Myself, Mark, Mary, Jed, Nadia, Vlad, Tania, Brian, Jerry, Alex, Dmitriy, and Max. I also laid eyes on the boat, a two storey million dollar dual engined motor boat, which was to be captained by John, the driver we hired, and his wife Sue. We loaded the abundant food stuffs that Mark and Mary had bought into the boat and we were off.

I thought that the day would just involve us bobbing up and down on the water fishing so had brought a book to read. But I was told that I could very sea sick, and the best way to avoid sea sickness is to drink alcohol - so I quickly tucked into the beer before my body started fighting the effect of the rolling waves.

It wasn't long before I was very chatty and talking to everyone as we pulled out of Auckland harbor and passed underneath Rangitoto, the magestic archetypcal volcano which graces Auckland's skyline.

Just as I was gazing at the next island we were going past, the engine noise reduced, and we started slowing down as we neared a deserted beach. We couldn't possibly land? And we didn't. Instead, we anchored, and before I knew it Jed and the russians started jumping into the water and swimming. I joined the others in a hurry to take our shoes off and get in the water. I was a little nervous wearing speedos - but it was ok because so was Mark, Brian, Alex, Dmitriy, and Max! Although having previously spent the voyage in a comfort zone, I didn't hesitate to dive in to the cold water and join in the adventure!

The beach was surrounded by high cliffs, but whilst on the boat, I had noticed that in one corner, a big tree which had fallen from a cliff creating a natural bridge to the top. I had plans to climb it, so I asked Mark our CEO whether there were any creepy crawlies to watch out for. "None!" was the response! I interpreted that as permission to go climbing! Jed too seemed interested in the tree, and after a little joking around, both headed over to check it out.

We started climbing. Jed recalled how he had only rediscovered the joys of tree-climbing a few days earlier. We both threw caution to the wind and climbed the precariously placed trunk right up to the top of the cliff. We were both singing the praises of new zealands wildlife, or the lack of it, and the fact we could never do this in Australia without shoes! It was lots of fun. Jed was in a playful mood, and when we got to the top he started yelling "You maniacs - You blew it all up!" planet of the apes style!

We swum back to the boat in full sun, and played some more. After we got on the boat, we discovered that we liked it more in the water, and kept jumping off the boat. Brian was adventurous and tried a backflip, as did Tania. Me and Jed were feeling silly, so, having never done anything like this before, decided to do a tandem virgin backflip. The hilarious results were caught on camera, I can't wait to see the photos.

At this point, Mary had prepared all the wonderful food that herself and Mark had purchased and we ate like kings. We then drove off to find a fishing spot in the deeper water, and fished for half an hour. We didn't catch everything very big , but threw them all back. Jerry caught the most fish!

We then proceeded to find a secret little cove called Garden Cove. Our driver missed it at first, but on a second passing, found the secluded bay and brought the boat to a snails pace as he guided it between two narrow rocks. Garden Cove was a wonderland. After we first stopped the boat, we all watched in wonder as a giant stingray swam passed our boat. When it was far away we pushed vlad in, then all jumped in and swam to the beach. Jed found me, and eagerly wanted to climb to a clearing near the top of the of one of the cliffs that surrounded the cove. I told him that the route he had planned was very risky (involving many sheer faces!) but suggested an alternate route. The step-like bits would be easy to climb, then we would cut through the treecovered area at a diagonal, and easily make it to the clearing. We set off and in no time the plan had come to fruition. The trip up through the trees was great fun, involving lots of swinging from trees and avoiding giant mushrooms. When we got to the top, we looked down at our apparently little white boat sparkling in the water, and everyone else playing on the swing on the beach. After we had got everyones attention, and waved to them, we started on the much more difficult descent. With the minions bellow beckoning us to jump the last bit, we compromised and ran down the grassys steps.

Back on the beach the others were amusing themselves with a rope swing. Someone had climbed up and tied it to a branch of a big tree. The swing-tree was very suitable to climbing, as were many trees next to it. Eager from my experience this morning, I climbed up a tree next to it and watched everyone play on the swing. Eventually the rope swing got stuck, and we had to try and knock it down. We tried rocks, and then the oar, and eventually I let Jed climb on my shoulders and he knocked it down with a stick. It was a good problem solving exercise!

But the tide was going down , and we had to get our big boat out of this narrow cove. We jumped in the water and swam back to the boat. When we were near to the boat, we all held hands, and Mark took our photo. It was a lovely book end to what was a wonderful day!

The Beautiful People Club

2005-04-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

After weeks and weeks of 'Pump' at the Newmarket gym and no results besides sore knees, I decided to visit the gym of the inventor of Pump, Les Mills.

Les Mills World of Fitness is between Auckland City and Ponsomby. A good half hours drive away. At first I thought it was a small building, but then I noticed the sky bridge to a much bigger building beside it.

I went in the smaller building, paid my money, and was given directions to the pump room, called "Studio 1". It lead across the skybridge and up some stairs. Looking up the stairs, I could hear the loud music from the class in the timeslot before mine.

When I got to the top of the stairs I was awestruck. The room was huge, perhaps four times the size of the largest gym I've been in. All four walls were floor to ceiling glass, and sunlight flooded in. Throwing shadows on the thousands of people all moving in unisyn. I started counting them, but there were only 120. It still was a very impressive sight. What made it more impressive is that they all looked ultra fit. There were only a handfull of fatties - maybe this is a reflection of how effective Les Mills methods are, or maybe they are frightened away by the sight of this beautiful people club.

http://www.lesmills.co.nz/clubs.cfm?&clubid=1

Here is a link to pictures of the gym. Top left is the entry building. To the left (offscreen) is a much bigger building. The two ladies in front of the big silver Les Lills logo is 'Studio 1'. They are standing on a raised platform at the very front of a huge room - very impressive.

While I was doing pump I was meaning to write down all the techniques that Les himself endorses, and all the things that he doesn't:
- Warmup is mostly lower back, and legs with a tiny bit of bicep.
- Squats were shoulder length, then wider, then a distance of our choosing.
- Chest began with flys, and then was lots of fast and slow mixed presses.
- You can roll your shoulders at the end of a deadlift. It is fine. The instructor was doing it, and everyone was following. I'm glad Newtown gym got rid of the girl who pretended that it was bad for you >:)
- Tris were a standard combo of presses, and pullback - with some tricep pushups thrown in the dying seconds.
- Bicep was the familiar Robbie Williams 'Entertainme Me' track. The instructors back in oz reproduced this exactly.
- Lunge begins with hip flexor stretch. He doesn't do any squats in the lunge track - just lunges and dynamic lunges - including some really fast dynamic lunges.
- Shoulder begins with push up. Then side raises with weights, then upright row and standing shoulder press. THEY DONT DO ANY FRONT RAISE. I wonder if this is a new thing that has just come in. I think it is a pretty good decision, they were pretty dodgey. This also allows you to go much higher with your shoulder weight. They also did some start-stop movements with the side raises.

Flat hunting part 3 - evicted!

2005-03-09T02:42:00.000-08:00

First week with my car in my new place, I returned home to find the following notice:

TO: ANTHONY

RE: TERMINATION OF TENANCY

DEAR TENANT

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT I AM TERMINATING YOUR RENTAL OF THE ROOM AT 33 SIMKIN AVENUE ST JOHNS AS OF TODAY OR DATE YOU RECEIVE THIS LETTER. I AM GIVING YOU 42 DAYS OR 6 WEEKS NOTICE TO VACATE THE PROPERTY OR EARLIER IF YOU HAVE FOUND ANOTHER PLACE BY MUTUAL AGREEMENT.

THE HOUSE IS TO BE OCCUPIED BY MY FAMILY AND EXTENDED FAMILY.

REGARDS,

MICHAEL CHAN.

Wow. That was quick!

I felt a little easier when I found out that everyone else had been evicted too.

Apparently the landlord was doing it off the boards, to not pay tax, and one of the tennants had threatened to go to the authorities.

So the weekend came, and I was out looking for flats - again!

I saw some nicish places. One right below Mt Albert, which would have been nice - but it was living with some strange christian guy. Another was with a thirty something lady whose only source of income was rent, and who was fighting a campaign for free water by not paying water rates. I had found her at an exciting time: many of her friends were not showing up to court, and were risking jail sentences. Hmmn...

The next week, Sandra, the girl living in the room adjoining mine simply packed up and left for cheaper premises down the road. It was a shame, because she was the heart of the house really. Always happy.

Another week went by where I worked both days on the weekend and didn't look for a place. On monday I spoke to a flatmate who told me that the landlord had called, and that on wednesday the landlord would be back - and he talked about increasing the rent. Not for my room I hope!

The next night was nice. On a whim I decided to go home early. I get home, and chat to everyone. Then there is a knock on the door. It is Sandra, she says that there is a spare room in her house down the road, and that we should come and check it out. At this, all four of us walk down the street to Sandras house. We meet the head tennants are a couple, they seem nice. The wife is studying computer science. Sandra points out that I am a software engineer. I smile awkwardly. The room is great! It is big, has a bed, a desk, and has a big window oeverlooking the backyard And has its own door for entry. And did I mention that it has a MASSIVE wardrobe - bigger than any man needs! I loved it!

But I kept it inside. We all checked it out, nodding our heads, then waved good by and walked back to the street.

My first reaction is: "So should we draw straws?". But my other flatmates aren't interested! I think it is because their current rooms were not as bad as mine. They tell me to go grab the room now, because there are many people who are scheduled to check it out that very night. I run back and tell them that I love it and that I want to live there. They are offering $100, but having learned an ealrier lesson, I offer them $110. They accept. I tell them I can move in tomorrow.

The next day I get home earlyto deliberately try to avoid the visit of the evil landlord :) I put all my stuff in the car at once ( I travel light!) and drove about 200m up the road to the new place. It was all very exciting, made all the more so by my self inflicted goal of avoiding the landlord :)

I settle down, chat to the couple, and have a good nights sleep!

I think I am going to be very happy in my new place.

Flat hunting part 2 - buying a car

2005-03-09T02:06:00.000-08:00

So February came round, and this caused frustration for both myself and Jed! At this time I realised that there wasn't very many places in new market, and I really didn't want to be walking 15 minutes to work every day - especially not in the harsh NZ sun!

So the decision was made to get a car, and live out of town. I wasn't happy with going against my "plan" so I decided to punish myself, and look at all the cheapest places in the newspaper. Nothing over $110, and I wanted internet! One of the only places that fit these requirements was a $95 place just five mintues away from Jed, in St Johns.

After I visited, I discussed it with some work mates, and they agreed that it was a pretty good deal, no matter what the hosue was like. So I rang the owner to accept...

..Only someone else had apparently also shown interest, and it had gone up to $110! I helplessly accepted - it was still a good deal.

Now to buy a car!

In the afternoon, I paid the landlord a deposit, and he told me about car markets in Ellerslie. The next day, I borrowed Jeds car and attended, hopnig to find a cheap car with less than 80,000 km. But there was only three under 80K and they were all new and *very* expensive (>$10,000). So I left pretty quickly!

I was car-less, but since I lived close-by, Jed gave me his car at night time, and got me to pick him up in the morning. Jeds car was a celica with 70K speedo, and was $7000 ish. I thought that was a pretty good deal. He had got it from Turners Car auction, which sold imported second-hand Japanese cars. So the plan was made to go there on saturday. During the week I asked my brother about what car to get and he said to get a Camry or Corolla Wagon.

On saturday, there was only one car out of 100 that fit the bill - a corolla wagon. The auction started. Two auctions happening within twenty metres of each other. I positioned myself in the middle. Many cars were obscure japanese names that I'd not heard before, but were probably good. There were nissan pulsars going selling below reserve for $4.5K! But I stuck to my plan... the auctioneer introduced it as "one of the gems of the day". I got nervous :). I watched the other auction. I heard the hammer. I looked back and it was only $6000 (which is when the reserve light start flashing). I stuck my hand up, and my bid was counted. $250 dollars worth of bidding later, I was heading over to the payments office :)

yay!- I was the proud owner of a new-looking silver corolla G-Touring station wagon.

Maybe the crowd became cynical when it was introduced as a "gem" - I'm not sure! But I am pretty happy because it will hold its value quite well.

It was a bit of an ordeal trying to pay for it. In december, when I changed my Commonwealth bank account to an interest bearing one, they had ticked the wrong box and shut it out of net bank. Now wasn't a convenient time to find this out! I had to use all my RH earnings plus a few ATM transfers to finally pay for the car - 2 days after the deadline!

But I was happy!

...until everyone I met told me that Auckland has a MASSIVE car crime problem, and that hot looking station wagons are the number one stolen car!

After a few sleepless nights, I decided to take the mags off it to make it look less attractive to theives. I pertty much gave the mags away to some tire traders. But I was happy with plain steel rims that I could make to look nice when I needed it, by applying hubcaps.

I also pulled out the CD/MP3/Minidisc player one hot summer night.

..and got insurance.

Now I can sleep easy.

Flat hunting part 1 - finally settled down.

2005-03-09T01:42:00.000-08:00

I have FINALLY settled down in a nice enough house, five mintues away from jed, have my computer set up, with internet connected, and am finally sleeping on a proper bed!

Embarrassment has prevented me from discussing my house finding woes so far. But now that I am settled, I have found the courage to discuss this traumatic time in two exciting parts!

Up until the last week of march, I was sleeping on a chair that folder out into a bed. It was very narrow but that was fine when I was living in a room that wasn't wide enough for even a single bed :). That was the case in March, when desperation lead me to accept a place that may have been the least nice place I have lived in - and I have lived in a few!

It all turned pearshaped in January. The plan was to get a place close to work, and not have to buy a car. It was looking very good, week in week out, but suddenly at the end of january I didn't have a place to live!

Here is how it happened...

1. I was a shoe-in here. There were two rooms to fill, and the two interviewers really liked me - but some guy who wasn't interviewing used his flatmate veto...

Hi Anthony,
Sorry it took so long to get back to you.. Mikes just told us that his
cousin wants one of the rooms and the other one we gave to a girl (otherwise
too many guys in the flat).
I hope this is okay with you - good luck with the flathunting!
Dharsh
=======================================================
2. Christopher the Gay guy thought I was great, but his flatmate knew a couple...
Gday Anthony,
I have chatted with jessica and it seems we have decided to accept a couple that she was acquainted with. THe lure of lower rent and bill payments was too strong I reckon.
Sorry about that mate. I think you are a pretty wicked lad and if you are ever keen on tramping (hiking that is-not a 'come-on';)) gimme a ring and join me on some cool trails!
Cheers dude
christopher
================================================
3. Helen got me all excited, then burned me...
Hi Anthony
You sound like the perfect flatmate!
We're a really short walk to Broadway and have Jetstream - just not in the room that's for rent, but I'm sure we can figure it out. We're around tomorrow if you want to come and have a look. Give us a buzz in the morning on 522 0535 or my mobile 029 287 6743 and we can organise something that suits.
Cheers
================================================
Helen Part 2
Hi Anthony
Just wanted to let you know that we have offered the room to someone who we think will be a great fit for us. Best of luck with the new job and with flat hunting.
Thank you for your interest.
Helen

continued next entry...

The Grammys: Green Day, U2, Brian Wilson

2005-02-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

Bono has come out and said:
"Actually, I think this is the best Grammys we’ve ever seen.”

First reaction is, I guess U2 won something :)

And yes, they won best rock performance.

I really wanted Green Day to win Best Album for American Idiot.

They didn't.

They only won best rock album. But I got over it after a few times of replaying an mp3 of the close to perfect live performance they gave of the title track. A performance which was introduced by Tarantino with one of the most memorable quotes of the night :

"...releasing a concept album with a very novel concept: All the songs are good"

Even after clueless Rolling Stone mag gave them a mere 3.5 stars for it, and the self absorbed tatters of NME didn't even review the flipping album!! ..and after it was initially a struggle to convince people that Green Day had brought out their best album ever in 2005, I think that if they had won best album people could forget that the album gained credit the hard way: from people listening to the songs, not from the hype, not from the media, and not from winning a best album at the grammys. So I'm happy that the reason people convince other people that the album is good is not "they won the best album grammy", but instead is "because every song is good!".

Green Day were beaten to Best Album by Ray Charles, and some american chick, doing an album of duets. yawn. But Ray Charles died last year, which pretty much guaranteed him the Grammy. If I was on the committee, I too would have used the opportunuty to pay tribute to Ray Charles' awesome career - even without listening to the album. It means that they can wait another ten years before he is in the hall of fame, which means that, in the meantime, maybe they can stick some people in there while they are still alive!

Speaking of still alive, my other favorite moment was Brian Wilson winning for a track off his Smile record. To tell the story of the Smile record would easily fill an action packed miniseries :) , but simply put, it is the most famous "lost album" of all time. And while for most of his life Brian Wilson looked to die young, he has some how outlived the other beach boys, recovered from mental illness, and released the album they wouldn't let him release back in '67 - redone, with him on vocals.

Thats pretty special!

Speaking of lost albums, there are interesting parallels with Brian Wilsons Smile Album and Green Day's American Idiot:

1) Both are concept albums about America:

Brian Wilsons Smile is a tribute to classical Americana, starting at Plymouth Rock, heading past american indians, visiting the farms of middle america, the cabin essence of the rockies, and ending up on the westcoast beach with good vibrations.

American Idiot begins in a suburban home, moves to a suburban street, then goes on holiday to presumably the west coast (there is an arnie bit in track 7) before it becomes more of an emotional journey.

2) Both were born out of lost recording sessions:

Green Day had an albums worth of songs , and just as they were about to master them, they were stolen from the studio. This prompted Billie Joe to go on a month long bender, from which he returned with the motivation for the social commentary part of the record, and the rest is history. Brian Wilson was probably on a bender for the entire recording of Smile in 1966-67! :)Before the other beach boys returned from touring, told him he was nuts, and he allegedly destroyed the tapes (but he secretly didn't).

3) Both are rock operas with seamless transitions.

All the songs form a story and contain long segments that lead seamlessly from one song to the next. Smile, from what I hear is pretty much seamless all the way through, American idiot is seamless during tracks 3,4,5,6 and 16,17,18,19.

One ultra cool thing is that last year both Brian Wilson and Green Day make points of performing their albums in their entirity, in album track order. Brian Wilson did it all the time when touring on smile, Green Day did it in LA prior to Christmas. You would feel quite special if you made it to both those concerts!

And last but not least, it is very cool to see U2 win for vertigo. Even if its just for the sake of keeping Bono in the spot light as he continues to try to relieve poverty and bring peace to the world.

And so here I find myself agreeing with Bono - perhaps the best Grammy's we've ever seen!

And if Bono had more time maybe he would have given an essay explaining the above, and maybe also why U2's Rattle and Hum should share pride of place with Smile and American idiot as one of the great albums about America....

There are no creepy crawlies here!

2005-02-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

Just went skipping in the wonderful domain, and after wards, I sat down and did a whole lot of stretching.

observation #1. The grass didn't make me itch! Why is it that when your body makes you allergic to things, its the things from your birthplace? weird

observation #2. Evil ants aren't common in NZ. Nothing bit me the entire time I was stretching, and rolling around on the grass.

observation #3. The mosquitos are really slow. So you can get'em pretty easily whenever they strike.

And the same is true in regard to larger lifeforms. There are no snakes, few spiders, and not very many venomous creatures at all!

This is one of the reasons why there is so much bush walking, camping, hiking, tramping, climbing and outdoor activity in New Zealand.

And it means you can do things like this: http://www.maizemaze.co.nz/CornEvil.htm

Back on the farm, we grew corn a few times, just to rotate in with the pig yards for a few years. It was great, we would run in and out of it, and play chasings in it. But mum freaked out when she found out because we could easily step on a snake who would swing round and bite us. So we didn't do it after that.

But with no snakes - it is a major fun tourist attraction!

Can't wait to go there!

Down at the docks..

2005-01-20T01:25:00.000-08:00

Last night I had got home and checked the mail like Jed had told me. This time however, I noticed that aswell as a big pigeon hole, we had a metal lockable box. I opened it up and discovered the two Shipping Arrival notices that I was waiting for. They had arrived on Monday, and the three day grace period had expired meaning that I would have to pay a storage fee!

Today, at work I decided that it was very important to get my boxes, as every day I waited would mean more storage fees. I started calling people and so began the biggest game of telephone ping pong I have ever been involved in! Everyone was giving me numbers, telling me about all these documents I needed and who should provide them. Atleast half the people told me the wrong thing :) At one stage I was speaking with a customs official who told me that he would have to come and inspect my cargo, and had pencilled in a time tomorrow where he would come down to the port with me and do some quarrantine inspection.

(In his defence, it does say similar at this website)
http://www.maf.govt.nz/quarantine/personal-effects/index.htm

This turned out to be wrong, but he did however give great instructions on getting two documents: A customs delivery order and a MAF release form.

Now is where I hit badness. Since arriving in Auckland I have been told to just hop on a "Link bus" and it will take me to the city. And I did just that, except it took me about an hour, because they go both clockwise and anticlockwise in a loop around the city - something the bus driver failed to point out when I showed him my printed out map of where I wanted to go. I then arrived at Customs House (40 Anzac ave Auckland) and got a MAF document only to discover I needed a passport. Unwilling to pay for another bus, I walked the entire way back to work. It took about 15 minutes :). At work I took Jeds Celica home, and picked up my passport, and my Pack n Send receipt with my declared inventory on it - this would be prove vital. I filled out the MAF doc, and drove back to customs house. It took about 20 minutes for me to obtain both the required documents. The MAF (Quarantine service) only go out and inspect when your contains certain products in it - the same products that airports scan for - animal /plant products, shoes that have soil in them etc. I assumed this was the case back in Sydney when I had written the inventory. As a result, they didn't need to give my boxes an inspection, and gave me a release form!

Now I only needed one more document to pick up my boxes - a receipt for having paid all sorts of import taxes. the Eculine people hadn't sent me an invoice, so I went back to work, and harassed them. They faxed it to work. I then rang up and paid it. Complete.

Until this time I was expecting to pick up my boxes on Friday, but it was 4:00 - I could make it to the Airport in time. The Airport was where my containers were being stored. So I hopped back in Jeds car, and took off to the airport.

The storage place was in an industrial estate adjoining the airport. I found the ok, and gave the lady my outturn report. When she was preparing to tell me that I needed heaps of documents, I surprised her, and presented them all. She then quickly gave me a document to take "out the back"..in the hurry forgetting to notice that I owed them some storage fee! I had a lookat the document, it was a standard word template free from all signatures, and easily forgable. Oh well, maybe next time I'll just print it off myself :)

I headed off "out the back" and zoomed Jeds car out through a construction site, and weaved it in between a whole lot of moving trucks and fork lifts (who didn't seem to mind). I parked Jeds sporty Celica in between a couple of fork lifts and crates, and feeling like starsky and hutch down at the warehouse, I stepped out of the car.

I think I was meant to go to an office, but a big similing moari forklift driver zoomed by, took a look at my document and told me that he could go and get it. Suddendly the stern faced document driven world of customs was replaced by a whole lot of happy forklift drivers, whizzing about - and enjoying it, by the looks of things! . And sure enough a minute later, he returned with my good old familiar boxes! He then helped me put them into Jeds car - they all fit if you push both back seats forward.

And then I was off, giving my goods occasional glance in the rear view mirror to enhance the feeling of satisfaction. I even managed to get in a pump session at 5:15, and a bit of flat hunting back at work afterwards.

The whole thing cost
Pack n Send:
(First box $125, Second $55, Third $55) total $235
Baggage Declaration/MAF form processing fee : $28.70 - pay at customs house.
Shippping line charges:
(documentation $10, PSC/unpack $40, Forestry Levy $12.50, Eifs Delivery Order $45.00, Administration Fee $5.75 ) total $115.53

Total $379.23

Which is reasonable for 150 kg of stuff.

On my own!

2005-01-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

Today after work, Jed had to catch a plane to LA. We zipped on down to the airport, said our good byes, and then it hit me... I was alone in Auckland with a car and a nice place to stay! Woohoo! time to party!.. sort of.

First stop the gym. I was desperate to get to the gym because I had missed out on Monday, and I felt it! . Its a pretty nice gym, the abwork/floorspace area is quite big, and you get to watch people walking around down on the footpath. I stayed there doing sitsups and stretches for an hour, and then decided to find the 277.

The 277 was a big supermarket that was open late, but it is quite a walk from work. But now, with all the time in the world I ventured all the way down "broadway" to the elusive 277. The supermarket in there is actually called "Food town", and is some relation to Woolworths in Oz. The pricing structure is quite different however. There are two prices, one for people with Foodtown cards, one without. The card price is really very competitive, and the without price is darned right expensive!

I filled out a food town card, and bought a few things on my shopping list. By then it was nearly 10:00, so I went to bed.

Stuff of childhood fantasy

2005-01-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

There are many fantastic places in the world. Newyork is a big fantasyland for twentysomethings: entrepreneurs, designers, artists, film makers, musicians etc. Sydney is also appealing to this age group, and probably is attractive to a wider range of people, offering some of fine examples of the beach lifestyle, the harbor lifestyle, the city lifestyle, the bohemian lifestyle, the gay lifestyle, etc.

Auckland is ok for a twentysomething. But I reckon it would be an absolute dream if you were a child. When people depict places as areas of childhood fantasy in movies, and cartoons and stuff, they will always have the kids running off to do stuff. In country things the kids are always getting rides in hay wagons, and running through corn fields. In wetter areas, they are always out in the rowboat, or fishing. In beachside stuff its enjoying the beach and the sand. In more urban stuff the kids are usually on bikes. In all cases, there is usually a good portion of stuff to discover.

Auckland looks like one of those great places. It looks like the setting of the film The Goonies(1985), with trees, and hills, and big tracts of greenery - but with the added bonus of being surrounded by water that won't freeze you to death. So you also have Auckland harbor (more like a big lake), and boating, and kayaking, and cleanish rivers. Its roads also seem to meander and turn with a maze like randomness. It would be great to explore Auckland on a bike if you were a kid.

Welcome to Auckland!

2005-01-05T13:35:00.000-08:00

I touched down in Auckland on Sunday the 2nd of January, and immediately took a Taxi to Jed's place in Mission bay, to which he had given me keys.

First impression: Yikes, the UV rays are intense!

The most direct route to mission bay, was through various affluent suburbs of Auckland. Some houses are really nice. And there are lots of little grassy hills protruding out through the suburbia. Mission bay is a well off suburb, but the houses have a sixties or seventies feel.

As soon as I arrived home, I walked down to where I expected shops to be, and was confronted by quiet a happening little main street. One one side ltos of restaurants, and icecreameries, and on the otherside, a nice park with a foutain, and the beach of Auckland harbour. It is a little like Balmoral - but with more shops, and a cinema.

I withdrew a whole heap of cash from an ATM and purchased an international phonecard, and some food from a convenience store. I then walked back up the hill to the house, started reading one of Jeds books, and went to bed.

Keane

2004-12-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

Keane are a really good new English Band.

They are somewhere in between Travis (vocal style), Muse ( for the strong piano and synth forays) and, Coldplay.

Have been listening to them all week, and they are great!

Britney finds her perfect match.

2004-12-06T20:49:00.000-08:00

Britney Spears new song is a cover of a Bobby Brown tune, an infamous wife-basher.

Britney Spears signature tune is "Hit Me Baby One More Time"

Coincidence? I think not. :)

Fat Threshold Theory

2004-11-27T02:11:00.000-08:00

Last night was such a nice night, and I was feeling so out of it, that I decided to go nuts and binge on some truly wonderful food.

It worked a treat too!

It was ten past ten, and Happy Chef was closed, but the newish Vietnamese place nearyby was open, and I discovered they serve a WONDERFUL chicken laksa. I relished every last drop.

Then to cool my senses off a bit, I went to the Gelatissimo, and bought a cup of their Chocolette (my favourite of their 6 or something chocolate flavors)

But I still had a bit of a headache, so I went to Cafe Zero, and bought myself a huge piece of Mud Cake! That definitely put me into happy land!

Since your body can only obsorb so much fat at a time, if you've already gone beyond the maximum amount you can absorb, then I reckon just go nuts! *insert disclaimer here!*

Hollywood historical blockbusters.

2004-11-14T23:32:00.000-08:00

Who was the best hollywood historical hero this year?
Brad Pitt the Greek. or now Colin Farrel as Alexander the Great?
I'm sorry, but those irish eyes can't stop smiling at me.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346491/