20091231

Happy New Year...



Well, this is it. Goodbye 2009. I'll miss you. You were the best year ever. No, really, I'm not just saying that to make you feel good. I really loved you. But we need to move on. We've grown apart and, well, you know there is no use trying to hold on to something that is slipping away. But before you go, let's just take a moment to remember how much fun we had together. 2009, I love you.

20091227

I do love 3D...

and Avatar is worth seeing in 3D. The surprise for me was Sigourney Weaver was in this film. Had I known that before seeing it I would have been slightly dubious about seeing it. But as it turned out she didn't detract from the film for me.

When I go and see a big special effects film I often sit and try and work out what composite layers and filters are being used to produce the effects and often I can roughly figure it out. However, this film has me stumped. I'd love to know more about it.

The film is colour rich. I'd love to know the file size of some of the scenes in raw format. Digitally producing faux neon colour is not easy. I have heard that one of the animators had to go back to the director over 150 times with edits trying to achieve the correct look on just one of the illuminated plants.

Then thinking more about that while watching the film the 3D aspect puzzled me. Ok, lets say you're an animator working on a scene and want to see how it looks in 3D. Can they render and then view the polorised 3D on their monitors? Can they edit in 3D? Getting a natural depth of field would be tricky. Yeah, I know the computers work it out, but too composite on top of that would be challenging.

So all that aside, the movie did actually take me along with it and sometimes I just forgot all the technical questions in my head and enjoyed what I was watching. I thought it was long. Maybe a little too long, but you get that from 'epics'.

This movie does signal a change and a step forward in entertainment. I would imagine this film is the modern day equivalent of going from silent movies to talkies and then b&w to colour. It is the benchmark. And judging from the lines of people waiting to see this I'm glad I'm one of them who had the chance to see it on the big screen.

20091221

Island hopping...

Had a great weekend away visiting Mark and my family. Mark and I were up for a bit of adventure so we grabbed the GPS and a few co-ordinates for some Geocaches located out on the bay. This is how it went:
Stop 1: Russel Island.
Not really a stop as we didn't jump off the boat here. I'm guessing the residents of Russel were already in the Christmas party mode because at 10am the locals were on the deck drinking their cans of Southern Comfort and cola. Probably best not to get off here.

Stop 2: Lamb Island.
Step back with us to the year 1939. Where the corner store was attached to the house. The fridge only had 2 kinds of coke and only available in cans. The ice-block fridge was exactly that, a fridge. Lollies were in glass jars and the shop keeper was not really impressed to serve people who weren't locals.

Stop 3: Macleay Island
Hmmmmm. Welcome to The Paradise Pub. I liked it here. We sat out on the varandah and enjoyed a good ol' pub lunch of hamburgers. Cheap as chips as they say. I was enjoying the beers and the $1 a ticket meat raffle. We didn't win either of the two draws.

Last stop: Karragarra Island.
Probably the pick of the islands. This one had a beach... with people playing cricket and cartons of beer and vibrant pink Cruisers.

It really was a great day. Mark is one of those good lads that enjoy life and we bounce off each other so damn well. Lots of laughs and energy through out the day.

20091218

Dear Santa...

what you see above is my latest item of lust. The Midnight Shipstern Tidemaster watch from Rip Curl. Actually, it's the Titanium Tidemaster version of this watch that is my true heart's desire, however the price of this lovely time piece is way beyond my budget and almost made me drop the watch when the shop dude told me. He also gave me that "duh" look and said, "Yeah, that's because it's titanium."

Santa, I know this is late notice and I know I have been a little naughty this year, but if you can find it in your heart to just drop one of these safely down my chimney then you would make me a happy man.

I'm not usually a watch man, but in recent months I've been really finding watches are such a good look on men. I held this watch in my hot little hand yesterday and it was heavy. Very heavy. I loved it.

Oh, hold on, I don't have a chimney... Damn!

20091215

It's stupid and it has zombies...

therefore I loved it.

If you like good old fashion horror flicks with a sense of humor than get yourself to the cinema this xmas break and watch Zombieland. The highly predictable storyline, those silent pauses where you know something is about to happen and a cliche romance makes this movie one fun road-trip film. Even the visual effects of blood and guts pouring out of the zombie's mouths were totally un believable and worth a good laugh.

I like Woody Harrelson in films and he is great in this one. There is a surprise cameo which brought a few unexpected laughs as well.

I give this one 4 out of 5 brains.

20091214

I do like where I live...

On the weekend I went for a walk. Mark joined me on this walk. He was down from Brisbneyland for the weekend. Now, I have to say, it was one of the most beautiful days for a walk.

So we started at The Spit and headed towards the pub in Manly (where else would I head?!). On the way we came across many beautiful places to stop and enjoy the view.

Sydney Harbour is really one of the most amazing harbours in the world. There are tiny little coves like the one above dotted all around the perimeter. Some only accessible by boat, others only by walking a long way from the main road and others are just at the end of your average suburban street.

There was a nice breeze blowing and the yachts were out enjoying the harbour as well.

Yeah, pulling a bit of a face here in this one. Not only did we enjoy the paths through the national park we also snuck off the well worn paths to sit on the edge of the cliffs and climb over rocks looking for a geocache or two.

Top of the world Ma... Top of the world. I think Mark has more of a fear of cliff edges than Judo does. I was reprimanded once or twice for getting too close to the edge. One thing I really loved about this walk was that there was no time limit on it. We allowed ourselves time to just stop and enjoy where we were. No pressure, no hurry... until we got hungry and then enough was enough, we couldn't arrive at the pub quick enough.

20091209

The 2009 Muzbot Music Awards...

So, by stealing a couple of questions from another 2009 review meme, I've come up with this one (Thanks Kookyknut for the inspiration).

1. Who was your favourite female artist?
Ladyhawke

2. Who was your favourite male artist?
Miike Snow (Yeah, I know they are a band)

3. Favourite band?
Friendly Fires

4. Favourite album?
“Ladyhawke” Ladyhawke

5. Favourite song?
“Shooting Stars” Bag Raiders – And you thought I was going to put “My Delerium” but I Think that was my track for 2008.

6. Favourite dance track?
“Poison Lips” Vitalic

7. Favourite music video?
“Parlez-Vous Francais?” Art Vs Science

8. Greatest musical discovery of 2009 was?
This chord progression: Am, F, Am, C, F – seriously!

9. The gayest track of 2009 that you liked, and will only admit to it here?
“She Wolf” Shakira. Hmmmm, actually I know a gayer one: “Release Me” Zoe Badwi

10. Best live gig?
Art Vs Science

11. Best pub/club night out?
Oxford Art Factory

12. Best remix of which track?
“A Funny Thing” (Monarchy Remix) Penguin Prison

13. Favourite music related website?
[Redthreat]

14. Favourite music related Twitter/Facebook fan page?
Diplo. He’s funny as. (Twitter)

15. Song lyric that sums up the year?
“I close my eyes on the dancefloor and forget about you.”

20091208

I wasn't impressed...

and I really thought I would be.

Where The Wild Things Are was one of those movies that I didn't really enjoy. Ok, I didn't walk away hating it either, but it was more of a "Meh" kind of feeling.

Visually it was ok. Not great. It seemed to be more brown in hue than the book. I kind of get the feeling that it could have been filmed in black and white or sepia and it wouldn't have made any difference.

I laughed a couple of times. I felt no connection to any of the characters.

I usually love a good family movie or fantasy film, but this failed for me. But, hey, that's just me. I know others who totally were wowed by this film.

20091205

Breaking up is hard to do...

apparently not. The bizarre behavior in my tank continues. Blanket suddenly decided to clone itself. This is the first time I have ever witnessed this sort of behavior in marine life - or any life for that matter. It was fascinating. In the above pic you can see blanket is stretching himself out into two forms.

In this pic above he has really started the split. His body has separated and he is still held together by his outer skin.

*Snap* Still has a small hold but that's about it.

Ta daaaa. Two Blankets. Both are very healthy. But this raises an important question for me. Which one is now Blanket? They are both the same genetic material. Do I continue to call them both Blanket? I'm thinking I should re-name one of them.... Hmmmm. Meet Blanket and Blanket's clone "Snuggie".