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14th of April, 2009
06:25 pm - Long overdue update
It's been some two months since I wrote anything here so I thought I should let you know I'm still alive.
Uni has settled into classes and courses. The text book issue was resolved. It turns out that both lists were incorrect and the class had no texts assigned as the Bookshop person had said. Our lecturer thought it would be cheaper for us if she just uploaded the various extracts online for us to view. After some discussion in the first couple of tutorials the overwhelming preference was to pay the copyright fee for printing and get them collated into a student reader. I know I vastly prefer having printed reading material than reading it online. Apart from being more practical it doesn't make your screen go funny when you write on it with a highlighter.
I've renewed some acquaintances from last year though most of the people I was friends with from last year are not doing the same classes as me this semester. Have to organise to catch up with Sarah for lunch at some point. The horrible cow went to Italy over the summer and did a course on Italian art. So very jealous.
The classes themselves are interesting. Though the Nazi Germany one is certainly more of a brain struggle. Mainly because there's a lot more being added to it than the usual tropes of "here's what the Nazis did and they were bad M'Kay". And so far its mostly been the origins. I know bits of this but the actually history is far more complex than I've given it credit for.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cold_echo will be pleased to know that the glass cabinet has finally been given a home in the hallway and it is now out of the lounge.
I discovered a tobacconist in Frankston, Cignall Specialist Tobacconist who must be one of the few remaining places in Melbourne that deal with pipe smokers. For those who may be unaware I have had the occasional smoke on the clay pipe I acquired for re-enacting. I then moved on to using a long stemmed Ropp Cherrywood that I believe used to belong to my uncle. I might only smoke once a month or so but I do find it rather relaxing. Anyway the vulcanite stem on the Ropp broke and the clay one had snapped both during the house move. Since finding pipe suppliers is harder than finding stems I gave them a ring to see if they could help. I headed down a few days later and came away with a replacement stem for the Ropp that I was able to fit in with a little bit of sanding, two types of tobacco and a pipe lighter. I'm not going to be paying off any of his kids school fees with what I will buy but I had possibly one of the best customer service experiences I've had in years.
Uncle Kev's incentivasation payment arrived and I've had a little splurge on Ebay, though mostly replacing VHS with DVDs, paid some bills and put some aside to get the windscreen replaced. But after today I'm glad I had the money in the bank. My watch is an old Seiko given to me as my 13th birthday present. It's a damn good watch but it was in dire need of a service. I took it into the service centre today and they said they'd need to send it off to Seiko, but it was going to cost me $120. I just about died. Yes I know it's a good quality watch and as such parts might cost a little bit more but for a clean and re-oil I wouldn't have thought it would be even half that. Ouch!
I'm also hoping to use Kev's cheque to pay for some wool fabric for the costume I want to make for Continuum. If anyone knows of any good suppliers for jacket wool in red please point me their direction. I am so out of touch with costuming suppliers it's not funny.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/sweat.gif) busy
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12th of November, 2006
05:41 pm - Blade: the series
Just finished watching the pilot of Blade: the Series. About the only common link they have to the movies is David S. Goyer but the new Blade (Kirk Jones or sometimes known as rapper Sticky Fingaz) is pretty good. He doesn't quite have the presence of Wesley Snipes but he makes a good Blade.
( For more 'biting' commentary )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/idea.gif) creative
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26th of October, 2006
06:16 pm - Video fest
The computer tonight will be in burn mode. I've been loaned a copy of the first season of Life Support to copy and I thought I'd dump some other stuff I have sitting on the hard drive onto disc.
So to that end I thought I'd head down to the video library and see what's worth a look.
Can anyone make any recommendations of something they've seen recently that's worth checking out?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/geeky.gif) geeky
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10th of October, 2006
10:51 pm - DVD rewinder
I wonder how many parents and grandparents would fall for this?
Don’t you just hate rewinding DVDs? Who doesn’t. It’s about time someone invented a way to rewind DVDs. And a stylish one at that. Visit http://www.dvdrewinder.com/
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/amused.gif) amused
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12th of September, 2006
05:45 pm - Star Trek gets the "update" treatment
George Lucas has a lot to answer for. Ok he wasn't the one who came up with the idea of colourising old Black & White films but he's made a career out of taking his old idea and tinkering with it just a little bit more: adding new footage, redoing special effects sequences, then redoing the sequences again when the technology got a little better.
It would seem this behaviour has inspired one of the official Paramount rehashers who have decided that for its 40th Anniversary the original Star Trek series (or ST:TOS as it's become abbreviated to) that they need to go back and update all the old 1960s special effects with nifty new digital ones.
I know the old effects were cheesy but that was the original show. It was embraced AS IT WAS.
Yet more evidence that nothing is good any more unless it's been remade or updated.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/annoyed.gif) cynical
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13th of August, 2006
11:19 pm - Australian Movie Meme
Ripped off Inspired by binka_boo's Australian movie meme but with more movies this time round. The list was ripped from the Murdoch University's Australian Cinema database but the "Australianess" of some of these films is rather dubious (just because the director of The Rocky Horror Picture Show was Australian doesn't mean it's an Australian movie!) so I've trimmed a few. I've also added a few notables and infamous ones that came to mind.
Bold if you've seen, Italacise if you own. Add as many as you can think of (with some details)
(New Zealand films count if they've been 'adopted', but mark them NZ)
( Bonza Mate! )
Current Mood: geeky
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10th of August, 2006
07:45 pm - Jeeves and Wooster
While it has been on my "to watch" list for some time, to date I have not seen a single episode of Jeeves and Wooster. This has apparently shocked one or two people and I have been reliably informed that I need to correct this grievous error with all haste.
Does anyone own a copy of the series that I might be able to borrow? DVD preferred though VHS would still be nice.
Anyone?
Current Location: Casa de Baralier
Current Mood: dorky
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26th of July, 2006
12:14 am - The Call of Cthulhu
Just finished watching The Call of Cthulhu.
Some of the production values are a little cheesy but 1) it's a no-budget movie and 2) they were trying to make it in the style of the 1920's films. So a stop motion Cthulhu would probably have been on the cards.
It works very well. Most adaptations of any of Lovecraft's stories are either crap, stupid or both (see Re-Animator for one that is both).
But then some twonks with a big(ger) budget come along and try to make a Lovecraft story and, if the trailer is anything to go by, manage to fuck it up again.
Cthulhu
It's based on Shadow over Innsmouth which doesn't actually feature Cthulhu.
Obviously making the central character gay was an essential plot development.
Tori Spelling is in it FFS!
*shakes head*
Current Mood: annoyed
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18th of July, 2006
06:23 pm - Movie recommendations
While pondering some movies I'd like to see and thinking about some whether I'll even bother once they're on DVD I'd like to ask for some movie recommendations.
I'm not after you favourite movie ever but something you've seen in the last 12 months or so (either at the cinema or on DVD/VHS) that you though was good.
As I say it doesn't have to be a recent movie, just something you yourself have seen recently. Knowing some-one who only saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time this month that would be the sort of thing to include.
So tell me: what have you seen recently that you think I should watch?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/cool.gif) relaxed
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6th of July, 2006
04:29 pm - Costume squee!
And while I think of it, I started watching The Duellists last night.
I'm only about half an hour into it but OMG the costumes!!!
I think I need a plastic cover on the couch when I watch the rest - or at least a bib :-)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/happy.gif) impressed
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22nd of June, 2006
11:08 pm - Casanova
Treated myself to a DVD this evening and got out Casanova.
While drooling over the costumes I quite enjoyed it. It's very light-hearted and a little camp without being too over the top. Even Jeremy Irons' 'villainous' inquisitor didn't get into the ridiculous stage.
And how gorgeous is Natalie Dormer!?! *sigh*
Heath Ledger seemed to be playing Heath Ledger in a costume, though I did love Omid Djalili turn as Casanova's manservant (and the constant use of "we" when talking to Casanova). Tim McInnerny's Doge seemed paper thin but I kept expecting Heath to turn round and say "Morning Darling". :-)
The scenery is breathtaking. It really makes me want to head over to Venice (in time for Carnivale would be great). I seems far more interesting then Rome.
Definitely a good film.
Current Mood: amused
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9th of June, 2006
08:20 pm - Steamboy
I missed Steamboy when it hit cinemas here last year and have been hearing some good things about it.
One of those things actually put me off though. Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira never really appealed to me. Yes there was some interesting visuals but it never grabbed me. So part of me was expecting something similar with Steamboy.
Oh boy was I happily disappointed!
13 year old James Ray Steam (called Ray by everyone) is third generation of scientific family. His father and grandfather have both been working on improving the capabilities of steam power with Ray's father believed to have been killed in a experiment several years ago. What they developed was the "Steam Ball" but the ethics of science have now divided this family.
The film has some obvious intentional anachronisms (it IS steampunk after all) but some of the more unintentional ones were a little glaring: such as the Great Exhibition being dated at 1866 rather than its actual 1851 or the inclusion of the modern Canadian flag.
Still, when Ray and Scarlett sneak inside Crystal Palace my first thought was "what I wouldn't give to be able to do that".
At just over 2 hours it's long by animation standards but the story holds all the way through. There's some great anachrotech ideas and some really strong characters.
I think this will be well worth watching again.
Current Mood: impressed
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8th of June, 2006
08:34 pm - Star Wars DVD arse! [rant ahead]
It seems my joy at the possibility that the *original* Star War movies were to be released on DVD was misplaced.
The story now appears to be that rather than subject the originals to primo super-duper treatment and release them as a old fogey's collectors box or something, they will be ripped from the old 90s laser disc (like the bootleg copies many people already have).
Director of publicity John Singh said the company felt there was little need to invest resources into sprucing up films that have already been restored to pristine form.
"We put a lot of time and effort into digitally restoring the negatives for the 2004 DVD releases," Singh said. "The late '90s theatrical versions represent George's vision for Star Wars. We hoped that by releasing the original movies as a bonus disc, it would be a way to give the fans something that is fun. We certainly didn't want to be become a source of frustration for fans."
Did you catch that last bit? "Bonus disc". Yup, you'll only be able to get these copies if you fork out for the "remastered" trilogy.
It's not like Lucas is short of a few million to fix them up and despite claims that the original negatives have been "lost" it's pretty amazing what you can do with digital technology these days (I believe Lucas has tinkered with the new technology a little). Even then it's not like he wouldn't make that money back from the bazillion DVD sales - though the embarrassment of having the original version (which he hates) outsell the *special* 90's edition might also have been a factor.
Fuck him! I'm just going to stick with my bootleg copies. They're probably in about as good condition as I'm likely to get off the new ones anyway.
Current Mood: cynical
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5th of June, 2006
08:28 pm - Movie help
I'm hunting for some movies set during the Victorian era that aren't rehashes of a Sherlock Holmes story (although I thought Without a Clue was very funny) or something similar.
I know there are two recent remakes of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (neither of which I've seen yet) and an IMDB search shows me four versions of The Four Feathers since the advent of talkies.
I've tracked down a copy of the David Nivin Around the World in 80 Days as well as the Pierce Brosnan version (the recent Jacki Chan on I'm not touching).
Also found a copy of Island at the top of the World and Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
I haven't had a chance to watch Steamboy but it's on my to-do list.
Can anyone recommend other movies of a similar nature that are worth watching? Even if you think it's obvious that I'd have seen it tell me anyway. It may just jog a memory.
Current Mood: busy
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7th of May, 2006
06:15 pm - Weekend happenings
Yesterday I went round to sjkasabi's place to assist in putting together some bookshelves. It's always interesting to see what other people have on their shelves. Once all the shelves moved and repacked we all went out for dinner and had some rather nice Indian. It was probably not even spicy for some but I thought it quite good.
Today I was inspired to replace my ugly green bookshelf and headed off to Ikea. I managed to work out what I wanted, and while all the accessories like additional shelves were in stock, the actual bookcase itself was not available in the colour I wanted. The sales guy said that something like 45 had been sold over the weekend.
However to cheer myself up I stopped in via JB and picked up the Angel DVDs. At $32 a season you can't do much better than that.
Current Mood: accomplished
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4th of May, 2006
08:43 pm - Lucasfilm finally caves!
This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD.
All I can say is about friggin' time!
After 3 versions of the original trilogy that Lucas just couldn't seem to leave be, Lucasfilm have finally bowed to the inevitable and will be releasing the originals on DVD.
Though the more cynical might suggest that Lucasfilm had always intended to release the original versions but wanted to milk fans of their money for the "Special Edition" DVDs first.
Not that Lucasfilm would ever do anything like that...
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/yawn.gif) sleepy
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24th of April, 2006
10:55 am - Movie watching
Got some movie watching in over the weekend.
( Thoughts on Jackson's King Kong and Napoleon Dynamite )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/thoughtful.gif) contemplative
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18th of April, 2006
04:17 pm - Long weekend update
Thursday night dropped some boxes round to mordwen and helped with a little packing. Along various discussion we got onto movies and I mentioned that I hadn't seen The Lion in Winter. It was Anthony Hopkins' second film and Timothy Dalton's first. There plenty of excellent dialogue and a visually authentic feel (though the Christmas tree was rather anachronistic). Certainly one the deserves repeat viewing.
Friday was pretty much a washout with nothing open. I ended up breaking one of the heals on my shoes and got into a rather grumpy mood and decided to pass on going to Golgotha.
Saturday I went out and treated myself to some retail therapy. Bough myself a Fujifilm s5600 digital camera which I'm rather happy with. It's supposed to come with a redemption for a 512 memory card which the salesmanager said was redeemable online. Fuji said they did have one but it finished on the 9th. Called back the manager and he's looking into it. I'm being the polite, patient customer so far but it won't last forever.
Saturday night headed down out to the 'burbs to Mum's. Dinner and Mum's first attempt at chocolate mousse. A little thicker than it should have been but still good :-)
Sunday was lunch at Mum's with my brother and his family coming around. I may be the "favourite Uncle" (not that there's much in the way of competition) as my niece asked me to sit next to her again. Perhaps it's because she doesn't run around like a screaming idiot so I have more patience with her than with her brothers. Though she is the eldest.
My brother brought the quote for the desktop we're looking at building and we had a bit more of a chat about powersupplies and video cards and the like. Headed back to his place and supervised him cutting up the rest of a gum tree they'd had taken down and picked up my Star Wars DVDs. He mentioned that he wanted to see Serenity and I said I'd loan him my copy. He said once I have the new pooter I wouldn't need to "loan" it... :-)
Monday I was supposed to catch up with cold_echo but she's been downed by the evil lurgi and is having trouble getting enough breath to speak (a rare occurrence) and so spent the day checking various pooter bits on the net.
A nice relaxing weekend filled with some chocolate.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/blank.gif) restless
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29th of March, 2006
01:43 pm - DVD woot!
JBHiFi in Lonsdale St have got new stocks of the Ultraviolet TV series in, still at the ridiculous price of $13.95.
Woo Hoo!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/hyper.gif) Happy Happy joy joy
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20th of March, 2006
03:53 pm - Recent media consumption
I've caught up on a few things recently that I've been wanting to look at.
Life Aquatic
Possibly one of the most boring films I've seen in ages. I've read some reviews that called it a great comedy. I didn't laugh once. I think it might have been a very particular satire on some of the documentary film makers but as far as being entertaining goes you could could watch paint dry. At least the fumes might make for a diversion.
The Proposition
I found the most ironic thing of the movie was that as something set in Colonial Australia, written by an Australian, and staring a large portion of Australians in the cast, it was a "UK Films production". It's a pity that Australian produced films are nearly extinct.
Anyway I quite enjoyed this one. The settings were very realistic and though some of the violence may have been a little close to the edge for dramatic purposes, none of it felt gratuitous. Some great performances from Ray Winstone and John Hurt (though I thought David Wenham was rather flat) and it was nice to see Emily Watson again.
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
*Finally* got round to reading this (thanks to drjon). A very enjoyable book. While I'd heard large chunks of it thanks to Neil's reading last year I still managed to hear Lenny Henry's voice every time one of the West Indian women started talking :-) It also reminds me that I need to read American Gods again though I've been informed there's an extended "Author's Cut" available.
The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
One of the classic 19th century novels that has since become the cliche of doubles and mixed identities. With a few anachronisms in it's social values it still reads remarkably well today. Very inspiring for my own writing.
Current Mood: busy
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14th of March, 2006
11:12 am - Weekend activities (and lack thereof)
Friday night and Saturday I finished the six tail doublet. Surprisingly I didn't sew any panel pieces in backwards - a first for me I think. The hand sewing on this was more than I had anticipated but after finishing that and grumbling about the number of buttons 17th century jackets have it was all finished.
Attended the Knights Hospitaller Feast Saturday night and had a great time. There were some guys who do falconry who brought some birds in and I got to hold an eagle! He was only 2 years old but already has a 2 metre wing span! Photos up as soon I get sent them.
From there to the remnants of dcrisp's housewarming with alcohol and hair-shaving abounded.
Sunday. Slept. Thankfully drill practice had been shifted owing to the forecast of 37 degrees and so I think I woke up and 12:30 spoke to my Mum for a bit when she rang and was back in bed at 3 to get up at 6. still feeling very tired and generally blah. Still I hired out Crash and was impressed. I think a lot of the whining that Brokeback Mountain didn't get the Best Picture gong is sour grapes. Crash was pretty damn good.
Yesterday I attacked the sewing room with the vacuum cleaner. All the off-cuts, toile pieces, threads, tapes, left-over fabric and patterns were put back in their proper places until I get around to make a new set of breeches or probably the pair of training pants I want to make.
Still feeling a bit run down today though I'm hoping to go and see movies tonight. All the ones I want to see have crap session time though.
Current Mood: blah
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14th of February, 2006
07:16 pm - New toys!
My own copy of Serenity finally arrived last night (after delays owing to wrong card numbers) along with its shiny collector's tin.
Also got my new phone today (though the bluetooth hands free arrives tomorrow. There's always something to go wrong). I have discovered that my old phone stored all the numbers on the phone, not on the SIM. So I am going through the labourious task of re-entering all the contacts of people from my old phone. Oh Joy. The new phone has lots of features that I probably won't use (why the hell would I want to do email via a mobile?) but it has a camera and an mp3 player and does have WAP if I really need to get online.
Current Mood: geeky
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6th of February, 2006
11:43 pm - Region 4 Vs The World
I discovered this article this evening on dvdbits.com and it pretty much sums up what shits me about the current state of things with the DVD market in Australia.
I love my country and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, but when it comes to Buying Australian, I just can’t do it. I’ve yet to find a hidden vain of gold in my backyard, or composed the next classic rock anthem, and until I do I’m just not made of money. So when the next DVD is released I’ll be asking myself two questions:
Is the price right?
And does it have all the goodies I desire on my release?
While i disagree with someof his choices in films (Mall Rats? Seriously?) his general points pretty much mirror my own. And I wasn't aware of the missing stuff from The Peacekeeper Wars local DVD release.
More here.
Current Mood: discontent
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5th of February, 2006
10:50 pm - Updatery
Wednesday I went and saw Underworld: Evolution with a few bods. All I can say is thank gods I got in on a free pass. I've seen worse but oh was this silly. I liked the first one (and yes it had its flaws) but I don't think I'll bother with this one again. Even having Sir Derek Jacobi in it didn't help.
Friday was off to MSFC for their monthly trivia night and what can I say but WE RULE! DEspite the best effort of dcrisp in not wanting to win, mortonhall and myself managed to draw with another team and won in a tie-breaker. Though I really have to worry about dcrisp's geek status: he hadn't even heard of Mork & Mindy. *shakes head*
Also thanks to Trevor for transferring my videos of Wizards and Warriors and Legend to DVD. Yay!
And I've finally got round to watching War of the Worlds with Tom Crui$e. I didn't think it was bad, just boring. Though I was impressed that they'd used the tripod concept rather than the 50's flying machine.
Current Mood: accomplished
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30th of January, 2006
08:48 am - Moofies
On Friday I saw Keeping Mum. It's a very black comedy that marks a fine return to form for Rowan Atkinson (after the dismal Johnny English).
Atkison plays Reverend Walter Goodfellow of the parish of Little Wallop. He's become so caught up with the workings of the parish that he's been neglecting his wife Gloria (Kristen Scott Thomas) and is oblivious to the extra-curricular activities of his Daughter Holly (Tamsin Egerton). With the arrival of a new housekeeper Grace (Maggie Smith) all the little distractions seem to disappear. The yapping dog that keeps Gloria awake at nights goes missing. Several days later the dog's owner has *gone to Australia* ("he mentioned something about going downunder") and things go progressively from there.
Working out who Grace's identity isn't particularly hard but the characterisation is just wonderful. Certainly worth a look.
I also watched Five Children and It. Apparently it's a "much loved classic" (which I'll rant about later) but it really came across as a low grade Narnia. Eddy Izzard voices the sand-fairy but other than that there's not a lot to recommend it. I'm not sure if the boy Robert is supposed to be such a little brat but that's how he comes across. The rest of the children are rather two-dimensional. Best moments are from Kenneth Branagh as Uncle Horace and Zoë Wanamaker as his house-keeper. Maybe I'm just getting jaded in my old age.
Current Mood: blah
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22nd of January, 2006
10:55 pm - Meltage
I managed to survive the heat today mostly by heading down to cold_echo's parents and swimming in the pool. That and perving at the women's tennis.
No gardening done as hoped for (or sewing for that matter) as it was pretty much too hot to do anything. Last night I ended up sleeping on the couch as I could set the fan up on the coffee table. Blah.
Yesterday I headed out to Scienceworks with a few bods. We'd hoped to see the lightning show but due to the heat that had been cancelled. Got to see the Planetarium which was good. As we'd got there fairly late there wasn't much time left for looking at the rest of the thing once the Planetarium was over but it does seem more generated towards kids than adults. I realise the hands on thing is an attraction but when the adult is almost unable to bend down far enough to look at the 3-D bugs then it's gone too far the other way I think. T'was fun anyway.
I finally got round to watching the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie last night and I quite enjoyed it. Martin Freeman did an impressive job as Arthur Dent and Sam Rockwell's Zaphod was the right amount of manic (though I wasn't very satisfied with how they did the two head thing). I did get a kick out of the various cameos that turned up through the story too.
Anyway, time for som domestic chores.
Current Mood: hot
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20th of January, 2006
10:15 pm - Lovejoy
And speaking of new discoveries, I was given permission to raid mortonhall's DVD collection while they were away and say a hole bunch of little covers about a show called Lovejoy. I'd never heard the title but I figured since there were a lot of these discs it was obviously something that some-one liked so I'll take a peak.
I've only watched the pilot but I enjoyed it. "Lovejoy" is played by Ian McShane who some people will remember more recently with American accent as Al Swearengen from Deadwood. Lovejoy is an ethically grey antiques dealer who also happens to get involved in the odd mystery or three.
I think I shall steal borrow the rest too!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/livid.gif) still hot
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8th of January, 2006
08:17 pm - Updates, some annoyances and news
Friday night I headed down to Mum's to fix the headlights on the Volvomort. Chris had bought a replacement switch but the socket that it fitted into was out of stock. Thankfully my brother said this wouldn't be a problem and, after stirring me about actually completing something to do with car maintenance myself, stripped the old socket and re-clipped the wires to fit directly onto the switch. At times it can be handy to have an electrician in the family. We also fixed the angle of one of the headlights as it had fallen forward.
Saturday I helped Mum out with a few computer things and looked through the Christmas scrapbooking pages she's making. There's some old memories there! I also sat through One Magic Christmas which turned out to be ok though rather predictable.
Mum and I headed off to the local Safeway to try and find a sink strainer: the little metal thing you put in the kitchen sink that that stops most of the bits left over from washing your dishes going down the drain. You'd think they'd be common as muck right? Both the local Safeway here didn't have any nor did the Coles. The K-Marts in Northcote and Preston didn't have them nor did the two Coles Express stores in the city. Or Target. Ans it turns out that while both the Coles and the Safeway in Pakenham do normally stock them they're both out of stock. Has this item suddenly become the "must have" item for 2006? It's just bizarre!
And while I'm on the subject of hard to find items, Kiwi black shoe cream. I've been trying to find this for nearly 6 months. There's a tonne of navy cream around but I can't find any black. I finally gave up and bought some shoe cream from the Myer shoe department.
Got some more read on The Historian which is proving rather enjoyable.
Saturday night went round to raven_'s and was there when they received some wonderful news. Bouncy happy people :-)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/confused.gif) curious
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4th of January, 2006
10:20 pm - Things you need to do and things you wish you hadn't
This evening I pulled apart the dash of the Volvomort to have a look at the headlight switch. The back had fallen off and at some point the connecting pins had become overheated and melted the plastic. My Mum's partner is picking up what we hope will be the correct replacement switch tomorrow and then I'm heading down to Mum's on Friday night for dinner and putting the switch in. This might almost be my first attempt at fixing a car fault on my own!
Today I received my DVD copy of The Hobbit. Big Tolkien nerd that I am I've never managed to see this when it turned up at the Valhalla or the Westgarth. SO I thought I'd actually buy myself a copy for completionist sake.
I knew the artwork was dodgy but I'm five minutes into the film and I already want to claw my eyes out. Aaaargh! I will force myself to watch it though just so I can say I have seen it. I can't believe people have fond memories of this film
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/wideeyed.gif) shocked
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2nd of January, 2006
10:13 pm - Happy New Year to all
After sweltering in the infernal heat of Saturday I finally headed off to a friend's NYE party only to discover the headlights on the Volvomort don't work. I think is the main switch but I don't really have the spare cash to take it off to the auto-elecs if it's a major wiring fault. I'll attempt to replace the switch myself and see if that fixes it.
Thankfully I was ablt to take advantage of the free public transport for Saturday night and after some drinking (which hit me a lot harder than expected) I toddled off home around 2:30 AM.
Watched the Edinburgh Tattoo last night as has become a bit of a tradition. They seem to be editing the broadcast shorter each year. Very disappointed with the 2005 showing.
Other than that I've spent the last couple of days doing housework in between watching/listening to the commentaries on the new Titanic DVD that I bought Friday. I've been interested in the history of the ship long before the movie came out and I can remember being blown away at the accuracy of the sets and the costumes and all. It's still a movie I enjoy and having the historical commentary was an interesting insight.
Time to get ready for bed. Work tomorrow :-(
Current Mood: blah
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28th of December, 2005
03:20 pm - Bored
I have a heap of paperwork sitting on my desk that I should processing while there are (almost) no phones to ring and interrupt me. But I'm just not interested. It's boring and tedious.
What I *want* to be doing is tracking down some DVDs that I either want or ones that I'm going to replace my VHS copies with as I did earlier this year.
I was chuffed to discover that Wizards is now available on DVD. I'm also looking at finally getting a copy of Simon Scharma's A History of Britain. Though I'm curious as to what the differences are between the 5 disc American release and the 6 disc Australian one. It looks like they've missed out on the Scharma interviews but I'm trying to clarify it.
I'm also looking forward to getting the 4 disc collector's edition of Titanic because I'm sure there's some fascinating behind the scenes stuff in there.
But sadly there's work to be done...
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/sad.gif) bored
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17th of December, 2005
05:02 pm - Week in review
Tuesday:
Saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with horngirl, dcrisp and quiet101. I enjoyed this one. While not my favourite of the 4 so far it has some great moments though things seem very rushed. Considering how much the story has been condensed I wasn't really surprised. It's NOT a kid's movie though. Stories I've heard of parents taking in 8 or 6 year-olds just stun me. Must write the review this evening.
Friday night was the Rawdon's Regiment of Foote break-up dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. I haven't been there in years. Despite the expense it was a great night out. Good thing I didn't drive!
Today I called in to Slow Glass Books to pick up some books I've had on order.
New books:
Class Dis-Mythed by Robert Asprin & Jody Lynn Nye
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Apprehensions and Other Delusions by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
These should keep me busy for a bit.
I also managed to catch up on a bit of movie viewing by finally watching The Island (very impressive), Bad Santa (meh), Be Cool (pretty average) and The Prince & Me (no, I don't know why either).
Now I'm off to make my nephew a Jedi costume for Christmas.
Current Mood: tired
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13th of December, 2005
2nd of December, 2005
09:17 pm - Aunty Jack comes to DVD
OMG!
After years of arguing over the music rights it seems Graeme Bond and the ABC have finally reached an agreement that allows The Aunty Jack Show to come to DVD.
This is definitely getting added to my list to Santa.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/bouncy.gif) bouncy
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1st of November, 2005
03:12 pm - Firefly DVD at No.1!
JBHiFi have released their current Top Selling DVD list.
1. Firefly (Season 1) (Box Set)
2. Batman Begins (Exclusive Slipcase)
3. The Longest Yard
4. Team America: World Police (Special Ed)
5. Dirty Dancing (15th Anniversary Ed)
6. Ghostbusters (Ultimate Coll Pack)
7. Kingdom of Heaven (Deluxe Ed)
8. Scrubs (Season 2) (Box Set)
9. Finding Nemo
10. Back To the Future (Box Set)
So for those of you still thinking "should I watch it?" the answer is "Yes".
Current Mood: hot
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22nd of October, 2005
09:55 pm - A busy day
Got up early (well for a Saturday) this morning and headed over to Flemington trying to find a pair of white leather gloves for my Hussar uniform but came away empty handed. The saddlery there have offered to try and contact one of their suppliers to see if they have the style of a pair of gloves they had in stock but in white. Fingers crossed. I hadn't thought finding a pair of white leather gloves - especially during Spring Racing Carnival - would have been so problematic. But then when you're looking for a plain something to fit an historical uniform there always seems to be something, like velcro or rubberised palms, that discount a normal riding glove.
On the way back I popped into Drummond Golf in Elizabeth Street to see about a cheap bag for transporting swords. I think the use for the bag threw the sales assistant :-) But I came away with a nice *Sunday bag* that fits both backsword and rapier.
From there on to brunch with mordwen, drjon and finally getting to meet artbroken. Met up with Mum at the train station and headed up to the Demonstration for Civil Liberties protest outside Parliament House. Saw tcpip, caseopaya and silverblue among the seditionists. Mum said to me she was glad I had told her about the rally and she was glad she could make it. Made me feel very happy that.
From there went home and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Blah. Time to organise dinner. And I shall be watching my newly acquired DVD of The Charge of the Light Brigade
Current Mood: tired
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12th of October, 2005
07:58 pm - VHS tapes up for grabs
I thought I'd throw this up here in case anyone was interested:
I've got some VHS tapes that I want to offload pass on to the true enthusiast.
They've all been watched but are still in pretty good condition. Some of them took me ages to find. If you're interested maybe a couple of dollars plus postage or if you're local we can organise a time for you to claim them.
The list is:
Sharpe (Sharpe's Rifles and Sharpe's Eagle)
Sharpe's Company
Sharpe's Enemy
Sharpe's Honour
Immortal Beloved
The Lost Boys
The Name of the Rose
Hook (Ex-Rental)
Dogma
Legend (Tom Cruise & Mia Sara) (Ex-Rental)
Return of the Jedi (original version
Robocop)
Die Hard 2
Tombstone (widescreen)
Romeo + Juliet
Real Monsters: Meet the monsters
Let me know if you're interested.
Current Mood: organising
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11th of October, 2005
01:06 pm - Mmmmm. Military goodness
Just thought I'd mention that I collected my newly purchased set of The Complete Sharpe Collection.
It's the "Asian Collectors edition" as opposed to the British release but $50 including postage beats the £84.99 + postage to get that one.
I just need to make sure all the discs work but it looks good.
Sean Bean before he did Lord of the Rings or even James Bond. *grin*
And there's a few in there I've never managed to see before.
Current Mood: busy
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12th of September, 2005
12:40 am - Update
Last Wednesday I went along to see the Dutch Masters Exhibition at NVG. Due to immense slackness on other people's parts it was just myself, Emilly and pink_kan who attended. I was very impressed with the details in the paintings. Many were familiar though many were very new (to me). One thing that I appreciated from a re-enactor point of view is the small items included in many of the still-lifes: a tailor's studio that shows the apprentices sewing cross-legged by the window, scissors on the table and an iron on the floor. While portraits can give you a lot of information on the clothes, reconstructing various everyday items can be a problem. Splurged on a nice thick catalogue (though I wasn't paying $70 for the hardback) and I've been lent a copy of The Golden Age by Rob & Gina. Mmmmmmm.
Saturday I did a bit of running around picking up a lay-by, getting tent pegs and a mallet and grocery shopping. I've hit the realisation that I've got about 3 weeks until Taminick. I need to finish Lon's jacket, make myself a pair of hose (and garters), get the accoutrements for my tent finished and possibly finish a pair of gloves (though realistically I doubt they'll be finished).
Today I went over to raven_'s, ostensibly to actually put up my tent (as I still have no idea how big the thing actually is) but due to incessant rain I ended up discussing options for removing press-studs from the newly acquired lay-by shirt, discussing movies, watching The Last Man on Earth and borrowing Josie and the Pussycats.
Tuesday I head down to Glen Waverley to see Joss Whedon!!!! Not that I'm excited about that at all...
Must do some sewing very soon. That and I still need to get this tent put up so I know how big it is. Anyone is the Preston-ish area have a back yard I can borrow for a day?
Current Mood: busy
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2nd of September, 2005
05:15 pm - Farscape
Thanks to an offhand comment from greylock I headed down to JBHiFi and am now the proud owner of the first two seasons of Farscape.
I've been eyeing them off for sometime but they were usually around the $120 a box and it was too overpriced in my opinion. But a new price reduction to $44.98 a box (with a full season in a box) is cheaper than even the best price the Buffy DVDs got to.
Shiny!
Current Mood: chipper
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