This morning on my commute into work I sat next to one of the worst smelling men I have ever come across. After a while I started to worry that the smell was attaching itself to my body and clothing, both of which I had gone to the trouble of recently cleaning. I wanted to ask him exactly how you could smell that bad, especially first thing in the morning. Naturally though, I didn't.
Saw the funniest numberplate I've seen in a while on my way home last night. DUBL-07. What type of car was it on you ask? A classic Aston-Martin? No, a Toyota Corolla.
One of my colleagues today told me a story about how Alby Mangels tried to pick her up in a bar when she was 22, then left messages on her phone for the next week, trying to get her to go to Africa with him. Then another colleague added that he also pestered her friends' Mum for a while. I thought this was awesome - I always wondered how he always had a different lady friend with him on all those "World Safari" movies, as it turns out, the key was hitting on every woman in sight until someone said yes.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
I'm not racist, but . . .
It would be nice to ring my internet provider and talk to an Australian. In Australia.
I rang Dodo on Friday to complain about what I believed to be overcharging on my account. The girl (presumably based in Mumbai) told me that it was because I had 10gb of downloads a month, only five of those were in peak times, and I would have to use the other five in off peak periods (which would be awesome if my hobbies included surfing the net between the hours of 1am and 9am).
So anyway I told her I didn't believe I had that explained to me when I changed my package, and she said someone would call me back within 48 hours to play me the audio recording of my phone call, presumably with me agreeing to said conditions. It's now Monday and this hasn't happened, but whatever . . .
At this point, I suggested I might like to upgrade my package, to include an extra 10gb of downloads a month (giving me 10gb total in peak periods) for an extra $10.
She said she could help me with this, and after putting me on hold, came back after a while and explained two things.
1) My increase in downloads would occur with my new package starting at the end of March, a month away, and
2) If I wanted to downgrade my package at any point, there would be another fee, of roughly $100.
At this point I told her to cancel the upgrade, leave everything as it is. It seemed like she understood me. She asked me if I was happy with the call, and I said "Not really", to which she said "I understand".
Evidently she did not.
Because I got into work this morning and found an email from Dodo explaining that they were upgrading my account with increased download limits in March.
Now I think Indians are generally pretty smart people. They seem to make fine doctors and engineers. Not so much with the call centre jobs though. I presume it is because of the "English as a second language" thing. All I know is that I feel like I'm talking to a child when I try and explain myself to them. I was saying today that because they work on standard scripted answers, it's like talking to a computer, not a person, if you don't ask the right question, phrased the right way, they don't know how to deal with it. The whole time I was on the phone (including all of the breaks to "go talk with a supervisor") I couldn't help but think if I could talk to an Aussie in an Adelaide call centre I'd have the whole thing sorted in two minutes.
I rang Dodo on Friday to complain about what I believed to be overcharging on my account. The girl (presumably based in Mumbai) told me that it was because I had 10gb of downloads a month, only five of those were in peak times, and I would have to use the other five in off peak periods (which would be awesome if my hobbies included surfing the net between the hours of 1am and 9am).
So anyway I told her I didn't believe I had that explained to me when I changed my package, and she said someone would call me back within 48 hours to play me the audio recording of my phone call, presumably with me agreeing to said conditions. It's now Monday and this hasn't happened, but whatever . . .
At this point, I suggested I might like to upgrade my package, to include an extra 10gb of downloads a month (giving me 10gb total in peak periods) for an extra $10.
She said she could help me with this, and after putting me on hold, came back after a while and explained two things.
1) My increase in downloads would occur with my new package starting at the end of March, a month away, and
2) If I wanted to downgrade my package at any point, there would be another fee, of roughly $100.
At this point I told her to cancel the upgrade, leave everything as it is. It seemed like she understood me. She asked me if I was happy with the call, and I said "Not really", to which she said "I understand".
Evidently she did not.
Because I got into work this morning and found an email from Dodo explaining that they were upgrading my account with increased download limits in March.
Now I think Indians are generally pretty smart people. They seem to make fine doctors and engineers. Not so much with the call centre jobs though. I presume it is because of the "English as a second language" thing. All I know is that I feel like I'm talking to a child when I try and explain myself to them. I was saying today that because they work on standard scripted answers, it's like talking to a computer, not a person, if you don't ask the right question, phrased the right way, they don't know how to deal with it. The whole time I was on the phone (including all of the breaks to "go talk with a supervisor") I couldn't help but think if I could talk to an Aussie in an Adelaide call centre I'd have the whole thing sorted in two minutes.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Dreams
I have some weird dreams sometimes. One that I have as a recurring one is being chased, actually more being hunted down. These dreams seem to last several hours, and often end up with me hiding out in a warehouse somewhere. I have no idea what, if anything, that means.
Last night I had one of these dreams, but with a twist - I was getting chased by Lee Harvey Oswald.
This is unusual on a few levels. First of all, Oswald is dead. Also, you wouldn't think he was suited to a chase situation, since he was apprehended like five minutes after the assassination, so probably isn't that good at running. Finally, he's a historical figure - what kind of a nerd dreams about men from history?
Anyway, the dream began innocently enough with Oswald sitting outside of a barber shop, handcuffs around his feet and his wrists. I assume my dream was set in 1963 because for some reason I knew he had just been arrested for shooting JFK. Anyway, I was sitting across from him, generally making fun of him for getting caught so quickly and easily. He took my insults for a while, his head hung low. I looked away, then looked back and noticed he was smiling at me. I looked down and saw he had somehow removed the chains around his feet and hands, and was ready to go.
And thus the chase begun. It felt like he pursued me for several hours, although I suppose in reality it was probably only a minute or two. Once I felt like I couldn't run anymore I managed to call the thing off by waking myself up.
Hopefully this will be a once-off type of thing, because I really hope I don't have to outrun John Wilkes Booth tonight, I just don't have the energy.
Last night I had one of these dreams, but with a twist - I was getting chased by Lee Harvey Oswald.
This is unusual on a few levels. First of all, Oswald is dead. Also, you wouldn't think he was suited to a chase situation, since he was apprehended like five minutes after the assassination, so probably isn't that good at running. Finally, he's a historical figure - what kind of a nerd dreams about men from history?
Anyway, the dream began innocently enough with Oswald sitting outside of a barber shop, handcuffs around his feet and his wrists. I assume my dream was set in 1963 because for some reason I knew he had just been arrested for shooting JFK. Anyway, I was sitting across from him, generally making fun of him for getting caught so quickly and easily. He took my insults for a while, his head hung low. I looked away, then looked back and noticed he was smiling at me. I looked down and saw he had somehow removed the chains around his feet and hands, and was ready to go.
And thus the chase begun. It felt like he pursued me for several hours, although I suppose in reality it was probably only a minute or two. Once I felt like I couldn't run anymore I managed to call the thing off by waking myself up.
Hopefully this will be a once-off type of thing, because I really hope I don't have to outrun John Wilkes Booth tonight, I just don't have the energy.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Home Improvement
I spent most of the weekend doing handyman work around the house. It was a rather frustrating experience.
For example, in my experience, nothing ever goes right for me (in handyman terms, that is). I had to put a new doorhandle (which I bought three years ago) on a door, and after digging it out from my shed, realised I had lost a key part of it. I spent about half an hour looking around the shed, to no avail, so went to the hardware store. Since they only had one size of this particular part at Mitre 10, I assumed it was a one size fits all kind of thing. I was wrong. I got the part home and realised that I must have non-standard doorknobs, and my new standard part didn't fit. So I had to use my trusty angle grinder to grind it down to the correct size. Half an hour later it was done, and a job that should have taken me an hour to complete (ie one a qualified tradesmen would have finished in 15 minutes) took me an entire morning.
This scenario was repeated several times on Saturday and Sunday. And I realised that being a handyman isn't in my blood. I can usually complete most tasks, but not quickly, and certainly not well.
I can't wait to move . . .
For example, in my experience, nothing ever goes right for me (in handyman terms, that is). I had to put a new doorhandle (which I bought three years ago) on a door, and after digging it out from my shed, realised I had lost a key part of it. I spent about half an hour looking around the shed, to no avail, so went to the hardware store. Since they only had one size of this particular part at Mitre 10, I assumed it was a one size fits all kind of thing. I was wrong. I got the part home and realised that I must have non-standard doorknobs, and my new standard part didn't fit. So I had to use my trusty angle grinder to grind it down to the correct size. Half an hour later it was done, and a job that should have taken me an hour to complete (ie one a qualified tradesmen would have finished in 15 minutes) took me an entire morning.
This scenario was repeated several times on Saturday and Sunday. And I realised that being a handyman isn't in my blood. I can usually complete most tasks, but not quickly, and certainly not well.
I can't wait to move . . .
Friday, February 15, 2008
We lost in the finals!
Well, we forfeited anyway. Jess and Wheelie had to woo their women, and Ash had to go to Sydney for work leaving us with four players, and ending our season.
It's unlikely we would have won (see previous post detailing our fantastic win/loss record for 2007/08) but it would have been nice to at least give it a go.
I'm not sure where this leaves us. I suspect our team has played its last game together, I think I'm ready for some time off at least. As you get older everyone starts to go their separate ways with wives, kids, careers and it gets harder and harder to get a full team each week (although having none of those three things, I'm usually pretty reliable).
Now all we're left with is the memories . . . Boris getting suspended for a season and then having to move the team to Port Adelaide to get around this, losing every year to Jarrad until we conviced him to join our team, the season Mike played for us and never learned how to do a lay-up, the Jamie era, Jimbo filling in and trashtalking to Jarrad, and Jarrad responding by kicking our butts, sharing a single jug of complimentary beer and a pizza after each grand final appearance (regardless of whether it was a win or a loss), winning in the finals, then within a year losing 90% of our regular season games . . . ahh, so many memories.
It's unlikely we would have won (see previous post detailing our fantastic win/loss record for 2007/08) but it would have been nice to at least give it a go.
I'm not sure where this leaves us. I suspect our team has played its last game together, I think I'm ready for some time off at least. As you get older everyone starts to go their separate ways with wives, kids, careers and it gets harder and harder to get a full team each week (although having none of those three things, I'm usually pretty reliable).
Now all we're left with is the memories . . . Boris getting suspended for a season and then having to move the team to Port Adelaide to get around this, losing every year to Jarrad until we conviced him to join our team, the season Mike played for us and never learned how to do a lay-up, the Jamie era, Jimbo filling in and trashtalking to Jarrad, and Jarrad responding by kicking our butts, sharing a single jug of complimentary beer and a pizza after each grand final appearance (regardless of whether it was a win or a loss), winning in the finals, then within a year losing 90% of our regular season games . . . ahh, so many memories.
Valentine's Day
Being the romantic guy I am, I chose to celebrate Valentines Day yesterday by spending the night alone and indulging in a mindless action movie, called approproiately enough, "Shoot 'Em Up".
I can't compete with the plot recap posted on wikipedia, so I won't try . . .
The film follows Smith (Clive Owen), a down-and-out squatter with both an extensive military background and a fondness for carrots, who wants nothing more than to be left alone. Smith finds himself embroiled in a complex political conspiracy once he aids a pregnant woman who is being chased by a hitman. He takes the baby and goes on the run with a lactating prostitute (Monica Belluci). The unlikely family is trailed by the intelligent and ruthless Hertz (Paul Giamatti) and his army of thugs. A myriad of elaborate gunfights ensue, between which Smith pieces together the plot. A United States Senator who strongly supported gun control had been breeding babies for bone marrow to cure his cancer; a prominent gun manufacturer contracted Hertz to kill the babies, effectively killing the Senator. In the end, Smith, the prostitute, and the baby survive.
Yep, that's right. "Fondness for carrots", and "lactating prostitute" - not exactly mainstays of your typical action movie. It was good though, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact it was basically a 90 minute long gunfight. I quite liked Clive Owen in this, and even that annoying wine guy from "Sideways" was quite good. If you've got a night to yourself, or your loved one isn't averse to copious amounts of blood, you could do a lot worse than this for a quiet night in.
I can't compete with the plot recap posted on wikipedia, so I won't try . . .
The film follows Smith (Clive Owen), a down-and-out squatter with both an extensive military background and a fondness for carrots, who wants nothing more than to be left alone. Smith finds himself embroiled in a complex political conspiracy once he aids a pregnant woman who is being chased by a hitman. He takes the baby and goes on the run with a lactating prostitute (Monica Belluci). The unlikely family is trailed by the intelligent and ruthless Hertz (Paul Giamatti) and his army of thugs. A myriad of elaborate gunfights ensue, between which Smith pieces together the plot. A United States Senator who strongly supported gun control had been breeding babies for bone marrow to cure his cancer; a prominent gun manufacturer contracted Hertz to kill the babies, effectively killing the Senator. In the end, Smith, the prostitute, and the baby survive.
Yep, that's right. "Fondness for carrots", and "lactating prostitute" - not exactly mainstays of your typical action movie. It was good though, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact it was basically a 90 minute long gunfight. I quite liked Clive Owen in this, and even that annoying wine guy from "Sideways" was quite good. If you've got a night to yourself, or your loved one isn't averse to copious amounts of blood, you could do a lot worse than this for a quiet night in.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
For sale: One brothel
Found out this week that our neighbourhood brothel (or so I'm told) is for sale. I always wondered what it looked like inside one of these places, and now I know. Although I have to say, just looking at that bathroom makes me feel ill . . .
As Corey pointed out, the key to the previous owners is in the first line of the descriptive text . . . "Unique 2 Storey Residence That Can Be Utilised For Various Purposes. In Need Of Urgent Sale - Vendor Relocating Interstate" . . . Corey said replace "various purposes" for "pimping" and it all makes sense.
I'm really enjoying the latest season of The Biggest Loser. Shannan is undoubtably the highlight, he's what Steve Irwin would have been like if he went into body building instead of crocodile hunting. There are many other characters which grab your interest to though, both good (Cosi from SA) and bad (Racheal the lazy punk lesbian).
I've been listening a lot to the Juno soundtrack lately, and have decided I really like it. Totally different from the stuff I'd normally listen to, most of the songs are pretty folkish and a bit child-like. It's quite good though, and fits in perfectly with the movie (which I also recommend).
Finally, there's a lolly shop in the city that sells Jelly Bellys by the flavour, and I've become quite a fan - I especially recommend the peanut butter ones.
As Corey pointed out, the key to the previous owners is in the first line of the descriptive text . . . "Unique 2 Storey Residence That Can Be Utilised For Various Purposes. In Need Of Urgent Sale - Vendor Relocating Interstate" . . . Corey said replace "various purposes" for "pimping" and it all makes sense.
I'm really enjoying the latest season of The Biggest Loser. Shannan is undoubtably the highlight, he's what Steve Irwin would have been like if he went into body building instead of crocodile hunting. There are many other characters which grab your interest to though, both good (Cosi from SA) and bad (Racheal the lazy punk lesbian).
I've been listening a lot to the Juno soundtrack lately, and have decided I really like it. Totally different from the stuff I'd normally listen to, most of the songs are pretty folkish and a bit child-like. It's quite good though, and fits in perfectly with the movie (which I also recommend).
Finally, there's a lolly shop in the city that sells Jelly Bellys by the flavour, and I've become quite a fan - I especially recommend the peanut butter ones.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Notes on a Scandal
Caught this on DVD on the weekend. I think it's safe to say that any time you have a movie starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, it probably wasn't my choice. However, I can't lie, I did really enjoy this.
(Spoiler alert)
The plot is as follows . . . Cate plays a new art teacher at an English school, and Judi the older teacher who befriends her. Right from the start Judi seems a little creepy and needy, and as the movie progresses she gets more so. When she finds out Cate is having an affair with one of her 15 year old students, she takes the opportunity to manipulate the situation and separate her from her husband and family, and have her move into her house. Eventually Cate realises Judi is psycho, they have a fights and Cate moves out, and the film ends with Judi chatting up a new woman.
The one thing I found weird was it felt like the movie was building to some act of violence the whole time, but it never happened, it was a little unusual. Although maybe that was all by design. It kind of reminded me of the movie "Match Point", which had a similar sort of feel, but ended with an inexplicable amount of bloodshed, certainly in comparison to what the rest of the movie would have you expect.
Anyway, this was a pretty good film. Definitely kept my attention, although seeing as you pretty much know everything that's going to happen, it may not do the same for you.
(Spoiler alert)
The plot is as follows . . . Cate plays a new art teacher at an English school, and Judi the older teacher who befriends her. Right from the start Judi seems a little creepy and needy, and as the movie progresses she gets more so. When she finds out Cate is having an affair with one of her 15 year old students, she takes the opportunity to manipulate the situation and separate her from her husband and family, and have her move into her house. Eventually Cate realises Judi is psycho, they have a fights and Cate moves out, and the film ends with Judi chatting up a new woman.
The one thing I found weird was it felt like the movie was building to some act of violence the whole time, but it never happened, it was a little unusual. Although maybe that was all by design. It kind of reminded me of the movie "Match Point", which had a similar sort of feel, but ended with an inexplicable amount of bloodshed, certainly in comparison to what the rest of the movie would have you expect.
Anyway, this was a pretty good film. Definitely kept my attention, although seeing as you pretty much know everything that's going to happen, it may not do the same for you.
Monday, February 11, 2008
We're in the finals!
So this year my basketball team won one game, drew in another, and lost the remaining twelve. Naturally then I was a little surprised to find out today that we're in the finals, starting this week. Not exactly sure how that happened, but I assume it involved a combination of forfeits by the opposition, losses that became wins because the other teams played unregistered players, and teams dropping out.
So we apparently ended up ranked 4th on the ladder, despite the fact that we lost more than 80% of our games.
Our reward is that we get to play the top ranked team this week in the first round, just to prolong our worst season ever a little bit more.
Our chances probably aren't great, even more so since we will be missing two key players, with Wheelie and Jesse having Valentines Day committments. A special Doug Christie jersey is in the post for both of them. You don't see me missing finals games. The fact that my girlfriend is in Queensland this week is irrelevant. Disappointing.
Anyway, I guess we could win, stranger things have happened . . . check back Friday to find out . . .
So we apparently ended up ranked 4th on the ladder, despite the fact that we lost more than 80% of our games.
Our reward is that we get to play the top ranked team this week in the first round, just to prolong our worst season ever a little bit more.
Our chances probably aren't great, even more so since we will be missing two key players, with Wheelie and Jesse having Valentines Day committments. A special Doug Christie jersey is in the post for both of them. You don't see me missing finals games. The fact that my girlfriend is in Queensland this week is irrelevant. Disappointing.
Anyway, I guess we could win, stranger things have happened . . . check back Friday to find out . . .
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Shooter
I'd been meaning to watch this for a while, and finally got around to grabbing it Monday night. If you like watching guys get shot with sniper rifles, and people being blown up, I highly recommend.
Mark Wahlberg plays a retired army guy who was left for dead by his Army superiors in an operation gone wrong. He returns to America (alive obviously) and lives a life of solace in a log cabin in the woods. Until some Government guy (played by Danny Glover) visits him one day, and tells him they need him to help them foil an assassination attempt on the President. Except, being the Government, they are all corrupt, and they end up setting him up as an assassin, and the rest of the movie is Marky Mark getting revenge on all the guys who tried to screw with him.
I thought for what it was the movie was really well done, lots of great action scenes, and Wahlberg continues his stretch of awesome movies (Boogie Nights, The Departed, Four Brothers, Three Kings, The Italian Job).
Rating: Somewhere between four stars and two thumbs up.
Mark Wahlberg plays a retired army guy who was left for dead by his Army superiors in an operation gone wrong. He returns to America (alive obviously) and lives a life of solace in a log cabin in the woods. Until some Government guy (played by Danny Glover) visits him one day, and tells him they need him to help them foil an assassination attempt on the President. Except, being the Government, they are all corrupt, and they end up setting him up as an assassin, and the rest of the movie is Marky Mark getting revenge on all the guys who tried to screw with him.
I thought for what it was the movie was really well done, lots of great action scenes, and Wahlberg continues his stretch of awesome movies (Boogie Nights, The Departed, Four Brothers, Three Kings, The Italian Job).
Rating: Somewhere between four stars and two thumbs up.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Big Day Out 2008
Last Friday Muzz and I went to the Big Day Out. For me it was possibly the last time, like any old timer will tell you, music is getting worse, and this is reflected in the lineup. How could I pass up the opportunity to see a reformed Rage Against The Machine though? I couldn't, so I made it to Wayville one last time . . .
We got there around 1pm, and looked for a park in the side streets off Goodwood Road. I knew we'd have to walk a bit, but that wasn't the problem - this year the council had made every single carpark within about a 2km radius of the showgrounds a 2 hour zone. I suppose it's fair, you wouldn't want all the rich people in Goodwood to have strangers parking outside their house for one day in January each year.
We ended up parking a way away at Forrestvile and so were a bit late, and missed the start of Gyroscope's set. They were playing on one of the side stages at 1.30pm and someone must have severely underestimated their popularity, because the place was packed. We eventually got in a position where we could see OK but the sound wasn't the best. And they mainly seemed to play songs from either their really early albums, or their latest album, none of which are as good as the stuff from "Are You Involved"? They were OK, but nothing close to how good they were when we saw them a few months back at Fowlers.
After they finished playing we realised he didn't have anyone we wanted to see for the next six or seven hours, so went to the bar. We had a couple of beers, and laughed at a middle aged security guard who was fighting a losing battle, trying to stop people entering via the exit. I thought he was going to break down in tears at one point. Still, pretty amazing that people don't even listen to security guards these days.
After a while we got a call from Corey, and headed out to the main oval to watch the bands. The Hilltop Hoods were OK, better than I expected, although that might just be in comparison to everyone else. It was pretty funny watching thousands of white people trying to dance like they were black.
We went and got some food, then hung out at a bar some more. After this we headed back to the main arena to try and get in to the D-section up front well in time for Rage.
We got in during the Arcade Fire's set, which was actually a bit of a drag as it meant we had to listen to them play. I counted ten musicians on stage, and yet they still struggled to make something you would describe as "music". Then silverchair were next, and sucked it up real good too. Not only was their music boring, but Daniel Johns just comes across as completely full of himself. He also took the time out to tell us that he wasn't gay, not that anyone actually asked.
Speaking of people who are gay, during Bjork's set Corey started chatting to one of the crowd members, and the guy took the opportunity to try and pick Cors up. He was quite persistent, was good for a laugh, and to distract us from the horrible sounds Bjork was making a few hundred metres away. If you can imagine a musical equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard, that's what it sounded like. It was so bad I actually started to reminisice about silverchair.
So basically that takes us to about 8.45pm, at which point it was officially the worst BDO I'd ever been too. I mean, I knew the lineup was thin going in, but I wasn't ready for it to be this bad.
None of that really mattered when Rage finally took the stage though. From the moment they started with "Testify", they were simply amazing. I think they actually sound better live that on record. You kind of take the sounds that Tom Morello pulls out of a guitar for granted, until you actually see him pull in off live, while stomping across the stage. For four guys they have a huge sound, and it's completely their own - noone else comes close to sounding like they do.
Highlights were Wake Up, Bulls on Parade, Know Your Enemy, Vietnow, and Guerilla Radio. Yep, that's about half their set, they were that good.
They finished at 10.15pm or so, and thanks to the council and their awesome carparking regulations, and music fans who walk about 3km/hour, we got back to the car at 11pm. It was great to see RATM at least once, but I don't think I'll be back to the Big Day Out. Consider me retired.
We got there around 1pm, and looked for a park in the side streets off Goodwood Road. I knew we'd have to walk a bit, but that wasn't the problem - this year the council had made every single carpark within about a 2km radius of the showgrounds a 2 hour zone. I suppose it's fair, you wouldn't want all the rich people in Goodwood to have strangers parking outside their house for one day in January each year.
We ended up parking a way away at Forrestvile and so were a bit late, and missed the start of Gyroscope's set. They were playing on one of the side stages at 1.30pm and someone must have severely underestimated their popularity, because the place was packed. We eventually got in a position where we could see OK but the sound wasn't the best. And they mainly seemed to play songs from either their really early albums, or their latest album, none of which are as good as the stuff from "Are You Involved"? They were OK, but nothing close to how good they were when we saw them a few months back at Fowlers.
After they finished playing we realised he didn't have anyone we wanted to see for the next six or seven hours, so went to the bar. We had a couple of beers, and laughed at a middle aged security guard who was fighting a losing battle, trying to stop people entering via the exit. I thought he was going to break down in tears at one point. Still, pretty amazing that people don't even listen to security guards these days.
After a while we got a call from Corey, and headed out to the main oval to watch the bands. The Hilltop Hoods were OK, better than I expected, although that might just be in comparison to everyone else. It was pretty funny watching thousands of white people trying to dance like they were black.
We went and got some food, then hung out at a bar some more. After this we headed back to the main arena to try and get in to the D-section up front well in time for Rage.
We got in during the Arcade Fire's set, which was actually a bit of a drag as it meant we had to listen to them play. I counted ten musicians on stage, and yet they still struggled to make something you would describe as "music". Then silverchair were next, and sucked it up real good too. Not only was their music boring, but Daniel Johns just comes across as completely full of himself. He also took the time out to tell us that he wasn't gay, not that anyone actually asked.
Speaking of people who are gay, during Bjork's set Corey started chatting to one of the crowd members, and the guy took the opportunity to try and pick Cors up. He was quite persistent, was good for a laugh, and to distract us from the horrible sounds Bjork was making a few hundred metres away. If you can imagine a musical equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard, that's what it sounded like. It was so bad I actually started to reminisice about silverchair.
So basically that takes us to about 8.45pm, at which point it was officially the worst BDO I'd ever been too. I mean, I knew the lineup was thin going in, but I wasn't ready for it to be this bad.
None of that really mattered when Rage finally took the stage though. From the moment they started with "Testify", they were simply amazing. I think they actually sound better live that on record. You kind of take the sounds that Tom Morello pulls out of a guitar for granted, until you actually see him pull in off live, while stomping across the stage. For four guys they have a huge sound, and it's completely their own - noone else comes close to sounding like they do.
Highlights were Wake Up, Bulls on Parade, Know Your Enemy, Vietnow, and Guerilla Radio. Yep, that's about half their set, they were that good.
They finished at 10.15pm or so, and thanks to the council and their awesome carparking regulations, and music fans who walk about 3km/hour, we got back to the car at 11pm. It was great to see RATM at least once, but I don't think I'll be back to the Big Day Out. Consider me retired.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
The good, the bad and the ugly
The good
American Gangster - Saw this yesterday at Arndale (the perfect setting for a movie about gangsters). Really enjoyed it, although it took a while to get into, and I don't really think it's necessary for any film to be over two hours long. I don't really like Russel Crowe, but Denzel is great and as always, he's so charming you forgive him the occasional outbursts of violence. However, (spoiler alert), I thought it was a bit ridiculous that in the end his character only served 15 years in prison - even though he did help put away 75% of New York City's DEA for corruption, he did some bad stuff in the film, like shoot guys in the face over monetary disputes. Seems like that would justify a lengthy sentence. Also liked the fact that Stringer from "The Wire" and Saul from "Deadwood" had major roles.
The bad
Getting robbed - For the second time in 2 1/2 years, I got robbed. This time they took all the regular items (home theatre amplifier, playstation) but also upped their game and took my laptop and camera, with all my photos from the last year. Thanks guys! Now I'm looking at how I can sell up and move to a suburb without so many poor people.
The ugly
Trying to entertain myself last Thursday night in a house with no internet and no dvd player. That pretty much cut out all of my traditional entertainment options. After getting robbed I was too annoyed to read, so I just went to bed.
American Gangster - Saw this yesterday at Arndale (the perfect setting for a movie about gangsters). Really enjoyed it, although it took a while to get into, and I don't really think it's necessary for any film to be over two hours long. I don't really like Russel Crowe, but Denzel is great and as always, he's so charming you forgive him the occasional outbursts of violence. However, (spoiler alert), I thought it was a bit ridiculous that in the end his character only served 15 years in prison - even though he did help put away 75% of New York City's DEA for corruption, he did some bad stuff in the film, like shoot guys in the face over monetary disputes. Seems like that would justify a lengthy sentence. Also liked the fact that Stringer from "The Wire" and Saul from "Deadwood" had major roles.
The bad
Getting robbed - For the second time in 2 1/2 years, I got robbed. This time they took all the regular items (home theatre amplifier, playstation) but also upped their game and took my laptop and camera, with all my photos from the last year. Thanks guys! Now I'm looking at how I can sell up and move to a suburb without so many poor people.
The ugly
Trying to entertain myself last Thursday night in a house with no internet and no dvd player. That pretty much cut out all of my traditional entertainment options. After getting robbed I was too annoyed to read, so I just went to bed.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Weekend in Melbourne
Being the spontaneous, seize the day kind of guy that I am, I decided last Monday to take advantage of $10 one way Tiger airfares to Melbourne and go across for the weekend. That's one of the great things about not having kids, or even a vibrant social life - you're pretty much free to come and go as you please. Of course it wasn't really hard to sell Michella on a weekend of eating and shopping in Melbourne, so I had a travel partner lined up in no time.
We got dropped off at the airport just before 7pm on Friday night, by Michella's mum. Which was great, as it meant we got to save valuable money, which Michella could spend on shoes over the next few days. It did feel a little weird though, like we were siblings getting dropped off at summer camp, or something like that.
We found the Tiger check-in desk (it was their second day flying out of Adelaide, so they hadn't got onto anything like signage just yet), and the nice lady behind the counter must have thought we looked like the responsible type, because she gave us exit row seats. The flight attendant on the plane explained our responsibilities, which led to a discussion about whether Michella could lift the 15kg door in case of an emergency. Eventually she admitted that she couldn't, and I suggested she should tell someone and asked to be moved, but she ignored me.
We sat next to a lovely young man who was heading to Cambodia to volunteer at a hospital as part of his medical degree. If I was to pick one thing that was slightly annoying, it would be that he would often listen in on our conversations, then join in if he had something to add. But I'm not the complaining type, so live and let live eh?
We got into Melbourne at about 10pm, and took the Skybus into the centre of Melbourne (kind of a misleading name, as it unfortunately travelled on the road, much like a regular bus). We then grabbed a taxi, and I told the driver (or indeterminable African descent) "The Sebel at Albert Park thanks". He didn't exactly look confident that he knew where that was, but then he didn't say anything about not knowing either. On the way out of the city it became obvious he wasn't sure when he asked me what route he should take. I felt like responding "You picked me up from the airport and are taking me to a hotel - why would you think I'm a local who knows their way around". Anyway after some trial and error we found the place.
Saturday morning we woke up about 9ish. Well Michella did anyway, pictorial evidence would suggest I was a little slow getting out of bed.
We asked downstairs for directions to the Prahan markets, and the concierge replied "Well, it's a little beyond walking distance." We took that as a challenge and set off on foot. On our way there we stopped at a nice little French cafe for breakfast. Michella had fruit and yogurt. I considered my plan of eating healthy over the weekend, decided to change the play on the fly, and went with a bacon and egg sandwich. One of the waitresses at the cafe was French, and had a great accent. I think you can get away with a lot with an accent - I know girls are big fans of the Scottish accent on guys, and the French one on girls is pretty cool. Not so much with guys though.
After breakfast we walked to the Prahan markets. The neighbourhoods we walked through were really nice, although very gay. I'm not sure if it's something in the water, but there seems to be a lot more men who love other men in Melbourne. The markets themselves were pretty nice, quite small compared with the Adelaide Central Market, but smelled a lot better.
I was surprised to find a shop that sells your stuff on ebay - someone must have watched "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and thought "that actually sounds like a decent idea".
Exiting the markets we came out onto Chapel Street. Over the next few hours we entered about 1,453 shoe stores, 1,325 handbag stores, and a few that combined the two.
Also, I had an awesome burger from TGI Friday's, and Michella had Yum Cha from some Asian Tea House (which I shared in - the weekend of healthy eating continues!). Michella bought some shoes, I bought a black polo shirt from Country Road, and we began the long walk back to our hotel.
After showers and a bit of a rest, we took a cab down to Toorak Road for dinner (no more walking for us). We settled on a nice Italian restaurant called "ecco", and had a rather pleasant dinner. Michella had pasta with oxtail, I had what was basically a meatlovers pizza (although as it was a classy joint, the pieces of meat were few and far between). After dinner we walked to the Jam Factory complex on Chapel Street to see "American Gangster" but it was all sold out, so we had coffee in Borders and read magazines we had no intention of buying. We got back to the hotel about 9.30pm, had a drink in the bar and then went to the pool/gym area. There was already another couple in the spa and Michella didn't feel like sharing water with them so she just waited as I lifted weights for a while, then it was bedtime.
Sunday morning we got up a bit later, and went back to our favourite French cafe for breakfast. On the way we passed an incredibly creepy looking gay man (ie he was wearing a very loose fitting pair of underwear, and a leather jacket, and that was pretty much it). Unfortunately he stopped off at our cafe, rambled a bit, ordered a coke, got up and walked around, then finally left. Luckily he never got within a few metres of us, I'm pretty sure we could have caught something just being in his presence.
We walked back to the hotel, and enjoyed their complementary business centre, where I checked my fantasy team's progress, and was pleased to discover they had banded together in my absence and were kicking butt. At about 12.15 Michella's friend Nat and her partner Geoff picked us up and took us to the Docklands for lunch. Since it was only about an hour since we'd finished breakfast I wasn't exactly hungry, but ordered a main serve of calamari anyway. It was good.
After lunch Nat and Geoff took us to a place called "Misty's Diner" - an American-style diner attached to a car wash - for thickshakes.
We got dropped off at the airport just before 7pm on Friday night, by Michella's mum. Which was great, as it meant we got to save valuable money, which Michella could spend on shoes over the next few days. It did feel a little weird though, like we were siblings getting dropped off at summer camp, or something like that.
We found the Tiger check-in desk (it was their second day flying out of Adelaide, so they hadn't got onto anything like signage just yet), and the nice lady behind the counter must have thought we looked like the responsible type, because she gave us exit row seats. The flight attendant on the plane explained our responsibilities, which led to a discussion about whether Michella could lift the 15kg door in case of an emergency. Eventually she admitted that she couldn't, and I suggested she should tell someone and asked to be moved, but she ignored me.
We sat next to a lovely young man who was heading to Cambodia to volunteer at a hospital as part of his medical degree. If I was to pick one thing that was slightly annoying, it would be that he would often listen in on our conversations, then join in if he had something to add. But I'm not the complaining type, so live and let live eh?
We got into Melbourne at about 10pm, and took the Skybus into the centre of Melbourne (kind of a misleading name, as it unfortunately travelled on the road, much like a regular bus). We then grabbed a taxi, and I told the driver (or indeterminable African descent) "The Sebel at Albert Park thanks". He didn't exactly look confident that he knew where that was, but then he didn't say anything about not knowing either. On the way out of the city it became obvious he wasn't sure when he asked me what route he should take. I felt like responding "You picked me up from the airport and are taking me to a hotel - why would you think I'm a local who knows their way around". Anyway after some trial and error we found the place.
Saturday morning we woke up about 9ish. Well Michella did anyway, pictorial evidence would suggest I was a little slow getting out of bed.
We asked downstairs for directions to the Prahan markets, and the concierge replied "Well, it's a little beyond walking distance." We took that as a challenge and set off on foot. On our way there we stopped at a nice little French cafe for breakfast. Michella had fruit and yogurt. I considered my plan of eating healthy over the weekend, decided to change the play on the fly, and went with a bacon and egg sandwich. One of the waitresses at the cafe was French, and had a great accent. I think you can get away with a lot with an accent - I know girls are big fans of the Scottish accent on guys, and the French one on girls is pretty cool. Not so much with guys though.
After breakfast we walked to the Prahan markets. The neighbourhoods we walked through were really nice, although very gay. I'm not sure if it's something in the water, but there seems to be a lot more men who love other men in Melbourne. The markets themselves were pretty nice, quite small compared with the Adelaide Central Market, but smelled a lot better.
I was surprised to find a shop that sells your stuff on ebay - someone must have watched "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and thought "that actually sounds like a decent idea".
Exiting the markets we came out onto Chapel Street. Over the next few hours we entered about 1,453 shoe stores, 1,325 handbag stores, and a few that combined the two.
Also, I had an awesome burger from TGI Friday's, and Michella had Yum Cha from some Asian Tea House (which I shared in - the weekend of healthy eating continues!). Michella bought some shoes, I bought a black polo shirt from Country Road, and we began the long walk back to our hotel.
After showers and a bit of a rest, we took a cab down to Toorak Road for dinner (no more walking for us). We settled on a nice Italian restaurant called "ecco", and had a rather pleasant dinner. Michella had pasta with oxtail, I had what was basically a meatlovers pizza (although as it was a classy joint, the pieces of meat were few and far between). After dinner we walked to the Jam Factory complex on Chapel Street to see "American Gangster" but it was all sold out, so we had coffee in Borders and read magazines we had no intention of buying. We got back to the hotel about 9.30pm, had a drink in the bar and then went to the pool/gym area. There was already another couple in the spa and Michella didn't feel like sharing water with them so she just waited as I lifted weights for a while, then it was bedtime.
Sunday morning we got up a bit later, and went back to our favourite French cafe for breakfast. On the way we passed an incredibly creepy looking gay man (ie he was wearing a very loose fitting pair of underwear, and a leather jacket, and that was pretty much it). Unfortunately he stopped off at our cafe, rambled a bit, ordered a coke, got up and walked around, then finally left. Luckily he never got within a few metres of us, I'm pretty sure we could have caught something just being in his presence.
We walked back to the hotel, and enjoyed their complementary business centre, where I checked my fantasy team's progress, and was pleased to discover they had banded together in my absence and were kicking butt. At about 12.15 Michella's friend Nat and her partner Geoff picked us up and took us to the Docklands for lunch. Since it was only about an hour since we'd finished breakfast I wasn't exactly hungry, but ordered a main serve of calamari anyway. It was good.
After lunch Nat and Geoff took us to a place called "Misty's Diner" - an American-style diner attached to a car wash - for thickshakes.
After arriving and perusing the menu of American style junk food I kind of wished we ate our lunch here. A couple of Asian waitresses came over to take our order, but only one seemed to speak English. Seemed a bit weird, if you're going to hire waitresses in an American style restaurant that can't speak English, shouldn't they at least speak Spanish? After a bit Misty herself came over to talk to us and take us through the menu.
I chose the Reeses Pieces thickshake, which she said came to her one night late in bed (the idea that is). It was indeed a wonderful shake.
Back at the hotel we had a rest then went for a swim in the hotel pool, and sat for a while in the lukewarm spa. We couldn't really be bothered going anywhere for dinner so went downstairs to the hotel bar. I had a pizza which had a "secret bolognese sauce" on it, and was topped with a rocket salad. It was surprisingly tasty.
Monday morning we got a 5.15am wakeup call, which is, in my experience, too early to get a wakeup call. Grabbed a cab outside the hotel, and got dropped off at Spencer Street station. The fare came to $12.40, looking in my wallet I saw I could make that exact amount so paid him without tip. Needless to say, the driver didn't get out to help us with our bags after that. We jumped on the extremely efficient (if a little mis-labeled) Skybus and found ourselves at the airport just after 6.30am.
We checked in, then walked over to the main domestic terminal to get some breakfast. Unfortunately Hungry Jacks at Melbourne Airport don't serve a breakfast menu, so I was faced with a dilemma - go elsewhere or order a Whopper with cheese for breakfast. I don't think I need to tell you which way I went. Although I did wash it down with an orange juice, which was rather breakfast-y I thought.
The flight back was rather uneventful, other than the fact that we didn't have exit row seats this time, and I possibly would have had more space on one of those Africa - America slave ships. Also, there was a minor issue with a tap in the toilets that I couldn't turn off. Got into Adelaide around 9.30am, and got a lift into work with Dad. All in all a good trip, and for $20 return I certainly can't complain.
Monday, January 07, 2008
At the movies with Darren
Last Monday I believe (New Year's Eve) it was, as I recall, ridiculously hot, so the girl and I decided to stay cool and grab a DVD during the day. We settled on "Lucky You", which I thought would have something for both of us - it's a romantic comedy (for Michella) starring Drew Barrymore (for me), and also about poker (me again). Also, Michella picked out some really dodgy movie starring Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser which I knew she wouldn't actually watch. The funniest part was watching her reaction to finding it, plus her reaction to my comments like "Michael Keaton AND Brendan Fraser, that's amazing - how the hell were they both available?!?!"
Anyway, we sat down to watch "Lucky You", and it was a pretty big disappointment. Eric Bana plays a professional poker player who falls for Drew Barrymore, treats her like crap, steals her money to gamble, realises he's made a big mistake, tries to get her back, fails, somehow gets to the final table in the World Series of Poker, realises that winning isn't everything and lets his Dad (a fellow poker player) beat him, and then of course wins Drew back since she's inexplicably travelled back to Vegas to see his big game. So it's not really that surprising or original.
Last Friday night we decided would be a "date" night. Not sure really how this differs from a regular Friday night, other than the fact that I had to spring for a nicer restaurant than normal. Anyway we had dinner at Cafe Eros, which was pretty disappointing. You would think that in a Greek cafe, you could get a yiros or something similar, but there was no such option. I went with the "mixed grill" which was like a regular mixed grill I suppose, but being Greek, much more oily. Michella had some sort of pastry thing and salad. We shared some pita and dips which were pretty good, although that's pretty hard to stuff up. The worst part was we were on a tight schedule - we had a 5.30pm dinner reservation, and 6.40pm movie, and didn't get our mains till 6.30pm. I stress out a lot over stuff like that so was pretty wound up by the time we finally got our food.
The movie we decided to see was "No country for old men". I thought it was brilliant. It's directed by the Coen Brothers (Fargo, The Big Lebowski), and is about a Llewellen Moss (played by Josh Brolin) who comes across $2 million in cash in the middle of the desert, in the midst of what appears to be a drug deal gone bad. Later that night his conscience gets the better of him, and he returns to the scene to take some water to a dying man who was injured in an apparent gunfight, but when he arrives he finds the man is dead, and that the owners of the money have also returned, and give chase. The rest of the film sees a psychopathic killer Anton Chigur on Moss' trail, while the local Sherrif (played by Tommy Lee Jones) tries to keep up with the two of them, and keep Moss safe.
The guy who plays Chigur does a great job - he's one of the creepiest movie characters I've ever seen. Woody Harrelson is also great as a rival hired killer who shows up in the middle part of the film. The best part of this is the direction though - the cinematography and music are tremendous, and create an incredibly tense mood throughout. Because of this, Michella wasn't a huge fan. In fact, I think she may have described it as the worst "date" of her life. Nevertheless, I had fun.
Finally, last night we watched "The Bourne Ultimatum" on DVD. People seem to love these movies but I'm a bit ambivalent. I can see the appeal - exotic locations, spectactular car chases, violence . . . but I just kind of lose interest. Maybe it's because I'm not a huge Matt Damon fan. Who knows. Anyway this was OK, but at the end of the day, I think I'd rather watch a James Bond movie. So if you like Matt Damon and think it's conceivable he could be a lethal killing machine, go see this. Otherwise, don't. It's up to you.
Anyway, we sat down to watch "Lucky You", and it was a pretty big disappointment. Eric Bana plays a professional poker player who falls for Drew Barrymore, treats her like crap, steals her money to gamble, realises he's made a big mistake, tries to get her back, fails, somehow gets to the final table in the World Series of Poker, realises that winning isn't everything and lets his Dad (a fellow poker player) beat him, and then of course wins Drew back since she's inexplicably travelled back to Vegas to see his big game. So it's not really that surprising or original.
Last Friday night we decided would be a "date" night. Not sure really how this differs from a regular Friday night, other than the fact that I had to spring for a nicer restaurant than normal. Anyway we had dinner at Cafe Eros, which was pretty disappointing. You would think that in a Greek cafe, you could get a yiros or something similar, but there was no such option. I went with the "mixed grill" which was like a regular mixed grill I suppose, but being Greek, much more oily. Michella had some sort of pastry thing and salad. We shared some pita and dips which were pretty good, although that's pretty hard to stuff up. The worst part was we were on a tight schedule - we had a 5.30pm dinner reservation, and 6.40pm movie, and didn't get our mains till 6.30pm. I stress out a lot over stuff like that so was pretty wound up by the time we finally got our food.
The movie we decided to see was "No country for old men". I thought it was brilliant. It's directed by the Coen Brothers (Fargo, The Big Lebowski), and is about a Llewellen Moss (played by Josh Brolin) who comes across $2 million in cash in the middle of the desert, in the midst of what appears to be a drug deal gone bad. Later that night his conscience gets the better of him, and he returns to the scene to take some water to a dying man who was injured in an apparent gunfight, but when he arrives he finds the man is dead, and that the owners of the money have also returned, and give chase. The rest of the film sees a psychopathic killer Anton Chigur on Moss' trail, while the local Sherrif (played by Tommy Lee Jones) tries to keep up with the two of them, and keep Moss safe.
The guy who plays Chigur does a great job - he's one of the creepiest movie characters I've ever seen. Woody Harrelson is also great as a rival hired killer who shows up in the middle part of the film. The best part of this is the direction though - the cinematography and music are tremendous, and create an incredibly tense mood throughout. Because of this, Michella wasn't a huge fan. In fact, I think she may have described it as the worst "date" of her life. Nevertheless, I had fun.
Finally, last night we watched "The Bourne Ultimatum" on DVD. People seem to love these movies but I'm a bit ambivalent. I can see the appeal - exotic locations, spectactular car chases, violence . . . but I just kind of lose interest. Maybe it's because I'm not a huge Matt Damon fan. Who knows. Anyway this was OK, but at the end of the day, I think I'd rather watch a James Bond movie. So if you like Matt Damon and think it's conceivable he could be a lethal killing machine, go see this. Otherwise, don't. It's up to you.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Mistaken identity
There is someone else who works in our office named Darren. Except he spells his name with an extra n. Also, he is Scottish. Because of this the girls think he is adorable. With the accent and all.
Anyway, last week we all got an email with the heading "Social: House for Sale". Now from time to time people in here will send out emails with the word "Social" in the subject line, either to promote some cause (today Darrenn sent us all one trying to get us to save the whales), or sell/give away tickets to an event. However, noone to the best of my knowledge has ever used the medium of internal email to try and sell a house before. Until now . . .
Anyway, this would be mildly amusing on its own, but yesterday I got caught in a conversation in the kitchen with a colleague. It went something like this . . .
Her: "Did you get much interest in your house?"
Me: "That wasn't me. You're thinking of Darrenn in Events".
Her: "Oh" (slight pause). "Where did you and your wife move to?"
Me: "I didn't move anywhere. I haven't sold my house. You are thinking of an email from Darrenn downstairs. Not me."
Her: "Oh, right".
Man sometimes people are dumb.
Anyway, last week we all got an email with the heading "Social: House for Sale". Now from time to time people in here will send out emails with the word "Social" in the subject line, either to promote some cause (today Darrenn sent us all one trying to get us to save the whales), or sell/give away tickets to an event. However, noone to the best of my knowledge has ever used the medium of internal email to try and sell a house before. Until now . . .
Anyway, this would be mildly amusing on its own, but yesterday I got caught in a conversation in the kitchen with a colleague. It went something like this . . .
Her: "Did you get much interest in your house?"
Me: "That wasn't me. You're thinking of Darrenn in Events".
Her: "Oh" (slight pause). "Where did you and your wife move to?"
Me: "I didn't move anywhere. I haven't sold my house. You are thinking of an email from Darrenn downstairs. Not me."
Her: "Oh, right".
Man sometimes people are dumb.
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