It's been a while since I last updated this thing, so I guess all three of my readers are getting a little impatient. Or not, who knows. Anyway, here's what's been going on lately . . .
Movies
I caught two movies over the last weekend - saw Michael Clayton on DVD, and Before The Devil Knows You're Dead on DVD. I didn't love either one. I thought I'd like Michael Clayton, seeing as it had good reviews, was nominated for awards, and starred Seth Gecko. Not sure if I just wasn't in the mood but I found it a little boring, and unnecessarily confusing.
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead was a little better, but I still didn't love that. It did star the talent and always-watchable Philip Seymour Hoffmann, although it did also feature him prominently in a graphic sex scene. I think there should be some kind of warning for those types of situations. Anyway this was OK, but I didn't really see what all of the fuss was about.
I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately, the decline in movies from the mid-nineties to now. In the last year or so I've seen two movies that I thought were really good - Knocked Up and Superbad. And then a couple more I enjoyed to varying degrees - 30 Days of Night, Smokin Aces, I suppose the Grindhouse movies. A quick search of movies from 1995 though on Wikipedia revealed the following films were released at the midway point of the last decade - The Usual Suspects, Heat, Mallrats, Higher Learning, Casino, Dead Man Walking, Dead Presidents, Desperado, Seven, Get Shorty, Leaving Las Vegas, Strange Days, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, and Twelve Monkeys. What happened?
Fine dining
Sunday lunchtime I took the girl to Cafe Primo (yeah I'm a classy guy). I discovered though that they have abandoned their "9.90 menus" for regular prices. Meaning a simple pasta dish now costs $15, and they have a steak menu which ranges from about $20-28. This is, I think, ridiculous, and reminds me of the time a few months ago when the Vietnamese bakery round the corner from my work started charging white people prices. The best thing about these places were they were cheap, now that they cost the same as everywhere else, you may as well go somewhere nice right?
Grand Theft Auto IV
So the biggest game of the year was released yesterday and I am currently sans Playstation (thanks AAMI!). I toyed with the idea of buying it anyway, figuring my PS3 will be replaced in a few weeks time, and JB had a good opening week price on it. But when I went back today they were all sold out. This thing looks amazing though, I can't wait to get into it.
Running
The last month or two I've been training for a half marathon. Now all of a sudden it's upon me. Well, this Sunday to be exact. I'm not really sure how I'll go - I did my last long run a few days ago on the treadmill and got to 21km (the length of Sunday's run) but that was in optimal conditions. The funny thing is that the run starts at 8am, with the winners presentations starting at 10am. By my calculations, I'll be crossing the finish line around 10.15am, most likely while everyone's attention will be diverted to a podium somewhere.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Two more things that suck
Australia Post
I got a note in my letterbox earlier in the week saying they had tried to deliver a parcel to me but couldn't. I rang the local post office and got them to transfer it into the city, where I could pick it up during business hours. I go in today to pick it up, wondering what exciting package I have waiting for me, and find that it is . . . the new copy of "Rolling Stone" magazine. Since when is that a parcel? And why can't they just leave it in my letterbox, like they do the other 11 months of the year?
Jack Johnson
For some reason he's on the cover of the aforementioned magazine. What year is it again? It was bad enough when people inexplicably liked him and his monotone tunes a few years back, but I thought we'd moved on from that. Obviously not.
I got a note in my letterbox earlier in the week saying they had tried to deliver a parcel to me but couldn't. I rang the local post office and got them to transfer it into the city, where I could pick it up during business hours. I go in today to pick it up, wondering what exciting package I have waiting for me, and find that it is . . . the new copy of "Rolling Stone" magazine. Since when is that a parcel? And why can't they just leave it in my letterbox, like they do the other 11 months of the year?
Jack Johnson
For some reason he's on the cover of the aforementioned magazine. What year is it again? It was bad enough when people inexplicably liked him and his monotone tunes a few years back, but I thought we'd moved on from that. Obviously not.
Things that suck
The Aviator
A friend whom I respect very much recommended this film. He said it was better than "The Departed" and Scorcese should have won an Oscar for "The Aviator" instead of this. He was way off.
I watched this over the course of two sittings, and found it increasingly boring. Maybe I'm biased against longer movies, although generally Scorcese's movies are long, and I like most of those. Let's just say this was no "Goodfellas". I had no interest in the main character, and all the women in it annoyed me. On the other hand, it wasn't as bad as "There Will Be Blood" so it's got that going for it.
Getting robbed
Last Friday my house got broken into again. For those of you keeping score at home, that's twice in three months. They took my new PS3 and all the games, which was especially annoying as I had mentally prepared myself to unwind on Saturday with a marathon gaming session. Now I get to wait two months for the insurance company to replace my stuff (missing the launch of Grand Theft Auto 4), which should give me time to figure out where I'm going to hide it when I get it.
The Biggest Loser
So Cosi got voted off on Monday, and I realised I couldn't care less about any of the people left (Sam, Gary, Alison and Kirsten). Especially Sam. For some reason that kid annoys me. I tried watching it Tuesday night but turned off after a couple of minutes, if you don't care about the people in that show, it's kind of a waste of time. I don't think I'll be back until the finale, I was to find out what that punk lesbian chick looks like by now.
A friend whom I respect very much recommended this film. He said it was better than "The Departed" and Scorcese should have won an Oscar for "The Aviator" instead of this. He was way off.
I watched this over the course of two sittings, and found it increasingly boring. Maybe I'm biased against longer movies, although generally Scorcese's movies are long, and I like most of those. Let's just say this was no "Goodfellas". I had no interest in the main character, and all the women in it annoyed me. On the other hand, it wasn't as bad as "There Will Be Blood" so it's got that going for it.
Getting robbed
Last Friday my house got broken into again. For those of you keeping score at home, that's twice in three months. They took my new PS3 and all the games, which was especially annoying as I had mentally prepared myself to unwind on Saturday with a marathon gaming session. Now I get to wait two months for the insurance company to replace my stuff (missing the launch of Grand Theft Auto 4), which should give me time to figure out where I'm going to hide it when I get it.
The Biggest Loser
So Cosi got voted off on Monday, and I realised I couldn't care less about any of the people left (Sam, Gary, Alison and Kirsten). Especially Sam. For some reason that kid annoys me. I tried watching it Tuesday night but turned off after a couple of minutes, if you don't care about the people in that show, it's kind of a waste of time. I don't think I'll be back until the finale, I was to find out what that punk lesbian chick looks like by now.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Pictionary
Last night Mike and Jess and Ash and Ange came round for pizza and a few drinks, and we ended up breaking out the Pictionary.
For a while there Michella didn't want to play this with me because of my desire to cheat, but now that she's my team mate, she doesn't seem to care so much. Anyway we started strong, and I had a feeling we were going to take out the game, but Mike and Jess staged an improbably comeback, and even Ash and Ange made things interesting.
Ultimately Mike and Jess ended up with the win, proving to be the most in-sync couple in the room.
Afterwards, we took group pictures, in recognition of the fact that it will possibly be another two years before we're all in a room together again, with Mike and Jess living in London and all.

For a while there Michella didn't want to play this with me because of my desire to cheat, but now that she's my team mate, she doesn't seem to care so much. Anyway we started strong, and I had a feeling we were going to take out the game, but Mike and Jess staged an improbably comeback, and even Ash and Ange made things interesting.
Ultimately Mike and Jess ended up with the win, proving to be the most in-sync couple in the room.
Afterwards, we took group pictures, in recognition of the fact that it will possibly be another two years before we're all in a room together again, with Mike and Jess living in London and all.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Weekend update
Being young, free, and (relatively) healthy, I spent most of my weekend watching movies and playing video games. Here are some of the highlights . . .
Saturday night I rewatched "Blood Diamond", but on Blu-ray. Since getting the PS3 a couple of weeks ago I'd been wanting to check out the Blu-ray thing, but I found most video stores in my area don't have these. Michella would say it's because I live in the ghetto, and her local video store has a ton because she lives in the eastern suburbs (defined as being east of South Road). Whatever.
Anyway, the quality of picture on the Blu-ray discs is just amazing. So clear and crisp and bright. The scene towards the end of the film where the helicopters bomb the mining field is particularly spectacular. From now on I'm going to try and search out movies on Blu-ray whenever I can, even if it means driving to the other side of town.
Sunday afternoon we saw "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", which Michella suggested I watch because of Leo's performance. Even though I don't normally like these types of films (eg Shine), I have to admit he was pretty convincing in his portrayal of a mentally handicapped kid, especially since he was practically a kid himself at the time. I didn't love the storyline, but I was intrigued by the obese woman who played the mother. After the movie was over I got on the internet and found out she was cast after the producer of the film saw her on Sally Jessy Raphael talking about her weight, and she went on to appear in other movies after this one. Then I found that there were a number of websites dedicated to her, with pics, and one that had the story of her life. You can find it here . . .
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Heights/1787/direction.html
It blew me away that there are pages like this scattered across the internet, often years after they've last been updated. When I told Mirjana about it this morning she suggested they need to have a clean up day for the internet like we have at our office. It sounded like a good idea to me.
Finally, last night I watched about half of "The Aviator", just to continue with the Leo theme for the weekend. It was rather good, but in the end I got tired and had to go to bed. I thought Katherine Hepburn (played by Cate Blanchett) was way too bossy and generally annoying, but Michella said she was awesome and a trailblazer because she wore pants. Or something like that.
When I wasn't watching movies this weekend I spent quality time with "Gran Turismo 5 Prologue" and "NBA 2K8". Both of them look much better since I found out how to adjust the system settings on my PS3 to make it run in HD (shouldn't this be automatic?)
I finished the first group of ten races on GT5P, and started on the first of the next, on a (fictional) race track through the Swiss Alps. It looks stunning, I ended up re-doing the race about ten times even after I'd won it, just to watch the scenery fly past.
In NBA 2k8 I started a playoff series, playing as the Warriors, taking on the Mavericks. I took out game one, so was pretty happy with that, although I was hoping virtual-Dirk would choke, just like in real life. Again this looks amazing running in HD, you really can't put a price on being able to see the minute details in Matt Barnes' neck tattoo.
Saturday night I rewatched "Blood Diamond", but on Blu-ray. Since getting the PS3 a couple of weeks ago I'd been wanting to check out the Blu-ray thing, but I found most video stores in my area don't have these. Michella would say it's because I live in the ghetto, and her local video store has a ton because she lives in the eastern suburbs (defined as being east of South Road). Whatever.
Anyway, the quality of picture on the Blu-ray discs is just amazing. So clear and crisp and bright. The scene towards the end of the film where the helicopters bomb the mining field is particularly spectacular. From now on I'm going to try and search out movies on Blu-ray whenever I can, even if it means driving to the other side of town.
Sunday afternoon we saw "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", which Michella suggested I watch because of Leo's performance. Even though I don't normally like these types of films (eg Shine), I have to admit he was pretty convincing in his portrayal of a mentally handicapped kid, especially since he was practically a kid himself at the time. I didn't love the storyline, but I was intrigued by the obese woman who played the mother. After the movie was over I got on the internet and found out she was cast after the producer of the film saw her on Sally Jessy Raphael talking about her weight, and she went on to appear in other movies after this one. Then I found that there were a number of websites dedicated to her, with pics, and one that had the story of her life. You can find it here . . .
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Heights/1787/direction.html
It blew me away that there are pages like this scattered across the internet, often years after they've last been updated. When I told Mirjana about it this morning she suggested they need to have a clean up day for the internet like we have at our office. It sounded like a good idea to me.
Finally, last night I watched about half of "The Aviator", just to continue with the Leo theme for the weekend. It was rather good, but in the end I got tired and had to go to bed. I thought Katherine Hepburn (played by Cate Blanchett) was way too bossy and generally annoying, but Michella said she was awesome and a trailblazer because she wore pants. Or something like that.
When I wasn't watching movies this weekend I spent quality time with "Gran Turismo 5 Prologue" and "NBA 2K8". Both of them look much better since I found out how to adjust the system settings on my PS3 to make it run in HD (shouldn't this be automatic?)
I finished the first group of ten races on GT5P, and started on the first of the next, on a (fictional) race track through the Swiss Alps. It looks stunning, I ended up re-doing the race about ten times even after I'd won it, just to watch the scenery fly past.
In NBA 2k8 I started a playoff series, playing as the Warriors, taking on the Mavericks. I took out game one, so was pretty happy with that, although I was hoping virtual-Dirk would choke, just like in real life. Again this looks amazing running in HD, you really can't put a price on being able to see the minute details in Matt Barnes' neck tattoo.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
New purchases
Saturday afternoon I drove down to Harvey Norman at Marion to pick up a few items from my recent insurance claim. I picked up a new home theatre amplifier, and new hard drive/dvd recorder. The third item I had to grab though was a DVD player, and seeing as I already have three of these (and only two TVs in my house), it seemed a little superfluous.
Luckily they let me pick something else from their wide array of electronic goods, and so I chose a copy of the newly released Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, and a new ipod shuffle.
I'm generally not a huge racing games fan, but I've really enjoyed GT5P. I've spent a bit of time on the single player option, and it's pretty cool, competing in a series of increasingly difficult races and time challenges to win money to buy more cars (there are more than 70 different models available, so I could be busy for a while).
Last night for the first time I had the option of playing with a friend so tried out the two player, and found it wasn't quite as good, as there just aren't enough cars on the track - in single player there is between 8 and 16, whereas with two player there are only two cars.
It's only a preview of the upcoming Gran Turismo 5, but with all the cars to choose from, and thirty plus races plus online stuff I think this will keep me busy for a while. And the graphics on it are pretty amazing too.
So onto my second purchase - a new ipod shuffle. This is the second one I've bought, although I'm pretty sure I've lost my original one for good. With the price down to $65 now I couldn't resist picking up another. Already I've found I use it almost exclusively, my old video ipod just sits on my desk at home. It still blows my mind that something so small can contain so many songs, and create such a big noise. Anyway if you don't have one of these already I highly recommend.
Luckily they let me pick something else from their wide array of electronic goods, and so I chose a copy of the newly released Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, and a new ipod shuffle.
I'm generally not a huge racing games fan, but I've really enjoyed GT5P. I've spent a bit of time on the single player option, and it's pretty cool, competing in a series of increasingly difficult races and time challenges to win money to buy more cars (there are more than 70 different models available, so I could be busy for a while).
Last night for the first time I had the option of playing with a friend so tried out the two player, and found it wasn't quite as good, as there just aren't enough cars on the track - in single player there is between 8 and 16, whereas with two player there are only two cars.
It's only a preview of the upcoming Gran Turismo 5, but with all the cars to choose from, and thirty plus races plus online stuff I think this will keep me busy for a while. And the graphics on it are pretty amazing too.
So onto my second purchase - a new ipod shuffle. This is the second one I've bought, although I'm pretty sure I've lost my original one for good. With the price down to $65 now I couldn't resist picking up another. Already I've found I use it almost exclusively, my old video ipod just sits on my desk at home. It still blows my mind that something so small can contain so many songs, and create such a big noise. Anyway if you don't have one of these already I highly recommend.
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