Listening to 'Permanence'-Gramsci
I love bookfairs. Mainly because I love books, and the reading thereof. There is possibly a causal link between this and my skill at quizzes. A quick glance around my place reveals four books that I am reading concurrently, not counting magazines. I treat books like TV, changing channels/books depending what I feel like. I don't generally use bookmarks. I just flick through until I find where I was at.
Its very mild tonight. I have the dryer on, so the back door is open, and it isn't even cold. This and other portents, like my car being covered in pollen mean that spring is here. This also means that my annual purchase of antihistamines and preventers is due.
Anyway, I was talking about bookfairs. I love the not knowing quite what you'll find, and the thrill of the hunt as you chase down a book you have been looking for for years. Several books in my library have been sourced from bookfairs, after long quests. I don't like the crowds, or the fanatical hard core collectors who carry boxes around and get in everyones way.
The two biggest fairs in Wellington are the Downtown Community Mission fair in the Queens Wharf event center, and the Upper Hutt Rotary fair, usually held at CIT.
On Saturday in company with regular fairers Rich, Dennis and Fi, I hit up the DCM fair.
$34 later, this is what I came up with.
A selection of magazines, mostly related to model aircraft. I spend more time reading about building them than actually making them, which is a habit I need to reverse. Still, the magazines are a great source of hints and tips, and most importantly, inspiration. I get a cheap thrill from looking at the close up photos of the subject of an article and knowing 'I can do better than that'.
'Treasures of the National Air and Space Museum', $1
Pocket size companion to the US NASM, located in Washington DC. Basically if it is a historically important air or spacecraft, it is there. The Wright Flyer is there, along with the Spirit of St Louis and the Apollo 11 Command Module. Very impressive place which I hope to visit someday.
'Metamorphosis'-Mike Wilks, $2
Basically an enormous spot the difference book. Every page is doubled; the double has differences. As this includes pages of text, as well as detailed paintings, this one could take a while to peruse if I have the patience.
'I learned about flying from that'-From the editors of 'Flying' magazine, $1
A compilation of columns from an aviation magazine where pilots describe near-misses, incidents, accidents, and how they got into and out of them. Lessons about complacency, over confidence, lack of preparation abound. I find it interesting as I like flying and work with complex machinery, so some of it cross pollinates. Plus they are usually pretty good stories in their own right.
'Contact'-Carl Sagan, $1
Source novel for the movie. Read it ages ago, enjoyed it, so I picked it up.
'40 Squadron RNZAF, To the four winds', $1
Brief paperback history of the RNZAF's transport squadron (the ones that fly the Hercules and the Boeing 757's, which I have heard referred to as 'Helen's broomsticks' in certain circles). Interesting little publication from the early 80's.
'The riddle of the Titanic'-Robin Gardiner and Dan van der Vat, $1
Despite the naff title, this is a very interesting mid nineties analysis of the Titanic disaster, origins and aftermath. I have always been fascinated by the 'Titanic' and her story, from as early as I can remember. The well researched book examines the myths and legends versus qualifiable reality of the ship and her fate. It also considers the consiracy theory that it was not the Titanic that sank, but her sister ship the Olympic, the identities having been swapped after the Olympic was made uninsurable by a collision in 1911. The Olympic had a long and peaceful career, finally being scrapped in 1937. Third sister the 'Britannic' wasn't so lucky, being sunk by a mine while serving as a hospital ship in 1916. At least one of the crew to survive the Britannic sinking also survived the Titanic disaster.
'Swirly World'-Andrew Fagan, $4
Mocker's lead singer Fagan buys a tiny yacht and makes solo voyages all over the place, including setting the record for the smallest craft to complete a double crossing of the Tasman according to the blurb. If his musical and DJing style is anything to go by, this should be an interesting read. The blurb lists partner Karen Hay's occupation as 'novelist'. I didn't know that. I just thought she was a former TV music show host and killer of good radio stations.
Modern Fighting Aircraft, Bill Gunston $6
Not so modern as it turns out, being published in 1984. This is a large format reference book, with details and illustrations of military aircraft. I have the equivalent volume from 1977 also. I devoured these things when I was a kid. I find them interesting now, as they are reflective of the time they were written, at the height of the cold war. Planes that were still current then are now history. While western types are pretty well documented, anything from the Soviet Union, China or the Eastern Bloc is reduced to fuzzy blurry photos, speculation, ridiculously inaccurate in hindsight 'artists impressions', and in one case a satellite photo (a lot of Chinese stuff still falls into this category occasionally). They are fun in that things that are widely known about now were still very secret at the time. The Stealth fighter, which was operational in 1984, gets one paragraph of rumours, a completely inaccurate sketch, and an incorrect designation. It's also fun for me in seeing how the great projects of the time have panned out twenty years later. Some things that were ultimately never built are anticipated in great detail. Others show how complex and complicated defence projects can be. The French 'Rafale' fighter is an example. In 1984 it was known as the ACF, and is shown in model form, as it hadn't been built yet. Where is it in 2006? In the process of entering full scale service, after twenty years of development. Plus Gunston is one of my favourite aviation authors. He really knows his stuff, and often manages to get some humour into fairly dry topics.
'Above Wellington'-James Siers with Alex Veysey, $5
Probably the best buy, this 1985 book consists of aerial photos of Wellington and its surroundings. The photos are all from the early eighties, and are of a Wellington that I remember. Some parts are still familiar, others are very different. The picture of central Lower Hutt has no Queensgate mall or Huia pool. Where the mall is now there is a patch of waste ground that I remember as a good source of treat plants for our pet rabbits.
The thing that struck me the most, and which took me a while to figure out, is in a lot of the shots of the central city in particular, there are very few cars. I wondered where they all were, until it occured to me that in the early eighties, there was still no Sunday shopping, and Saturday shopping was only until noon generally. On the weekends the city was a ghost town, so I figure a lot of the pictures were taken on a weekend, hence no cars.
I love books like this, and am amassing a small collection of them. It helps connect you to the place you live when you see how it used to look, and you can remember the time when it looked like that.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Dinner Party
Tonight Fishy and I hosted her sister Carol, neice Megan, and the Rich/Kirsten Gestalt for dinner. I cooked. All day I was looking forward to getting home and cooking. Odd.
Menu
Entree
Chilli philly with rice crackers. The cook had scorched almonds, not liking chilli philly or rice crackers.
Main
Crumbed beef schnitzel. Crumbed with egg yolk, breadcrumbs and secret herbs and spices. Accompanied by 'perfect' boiled rice.
Sides
Mushrooms pan fried with butter and cajun seasoning.
Steamed broccoli and peas.
Omelette from leftover crumbing egg
Drinks
Steinlager, Chardonnay, pinot noir and apple juice (I wasn't hammered, but I could see it from where I was. Lucky I was sober enough to cook.)
Dessert
Saucy chocolate ice cream.
Yum
Good time was had by all
Menu
Entree
Chilli philly with rice crackers. The cook had scorched almonds, not liking chilli philly or rice crackers.
Main
Crumbed beef schnitzel. Crumbed with egg yolk, breadcrumbs and secret herbs and spices. Accompanied by 'perfect' boiled rice.
Sides
Mushrooms pan fried with butter and cajun seasoning.
Steamed broccoli and peas.
Omelette from leftover crumbing egg
Drinks
Steinlager, Chardonnay, pinot noir and apple juice (I wasn't hammered, but I could see it from where I was. Lucky I was sober enough to cook.)
Dessert
Saucy chocolate ice cream.
Yum
Good time was had by all
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Flying High
My favourite plane movies, largely based on accuracy as I understand it (as a plane nerd). This combines two loves, planes and movies. Inspired by a comment on my snakes on a plane post, this is where I get all nerdy on yo asses.
Flight of the Intruder (1991)
Based on a book by someone who was there about the latter phases of the air war over Vietnam, well, it works better as a book (the book is something of a benchmark in the 'telling it like it was' scheme of things). The movie isn't that great plot wise. The planes however, are exactly right, right kind of plane, correct colour scheme for the period, even correct weapons load under the wings for the mission being depicted (something usually ignored by film-makers). Also all of the in cockpit instruments look like the real thing.
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Great book, not quite as great movie, but still has my favourite movie shot of all time, the track-pan from behind Jim that keeps both him and the Mustang flying past him in shot. The airfield attack shown is pretty much how it was done for real.
The Battle of Britain (1969)
Again, the planes look right, and is in general as authentic as the film-makers could make it. Notable for a shot where a low flying aircraft is seen to climb in order to not collide with a fence. Also great for the soundtrack during some of the takeoffs. An unmuffled V-12 aero engine will always sound better than any V-8, turbo or rotary. Always (I'm not really into Ford v Holden because of this).
Terminator 2 (1991)
On the list solely because the helicopter chase down the freeway was filmed for real and not faked, including the bit where it flies under the overpass.
BlackHawk Down (2001)
If the book is anything to go by, what you see on screen is pretty much the way it went down.
The Dam Busters (1954)
Again, pretty much as it happened. The Peter Jackson produced remake will likely be more realistic, as some details of the 1943 mission were still secret in 1954.
Goldeneye (1995)
The bit where 007 skydives to catch the plane is technically possible.
Thunderball (1965)
Another Bond movie where things looked right. Bond movies generally suck in terms of things looking right.
Memphis Belle (1992)
This one is interesting, as it is inspired by the first US bomber (the 'Memphis Belle') and crew to survive a tour of 25 missions over europe. It is interesting because a documentary was made about it at the time (1943), and so there is ample scope for comparing fiction to reality. And it stands up OK.
King Kong (2005)
Clearly made by someone who is into aircraft (as Peter Jackson is) and cares about the details. If you look closely in the bits when Kong is on top of the Empire State being attacked by the planes, you can see the control surfaces (rudders and stuff) on the planes moving as they manouvre, which is only stuff which will be seen by the viewer that is looking for it. The effort put into the aircraft in King Kong gives me great faith for the remake of 'The Dambusters'.
Executive Decision (1998)
Cool in that some of the plane stuff was filmed for real and not faked. There is a great shot of the F-14's turning to intercept the 747, from behind the F-14's as the 747 shoots across the frame in front of them.
Airplane (Flying High) (1980)
Awesome in so many ways. Particularly when the plane (jet) is shown with the soundtrack being of a propellered aircraft, which is very different.
Tora Tora Tora (1969)
A US/Japanese co production about the Pearl Harbour attack. They actually built a fleet of replica Japanese aircraft for this one, many of which are still flying today. Lots of great unfaked flying in this one, including an unplanned crash landing that didn't happen historically but looked so good it made it into the final cut, and a scene where the extras are literally running for their lives in a not acting kind of way, due to a completely out of control replica aircraft.
Dr Strangelove (1965)
The US Air Force wouldn't let Stanley Kubrick anywhere near an actual B-52, so he reconstructed the interior from aviation publications, and did it pretty well. Also funny as hell. And my mum wagged a uni lecture so she could go see it when she was a student. How cool is that?
True Lies (1994)
Cool again in a mostly filmed for real and not CGI'd way. Also the Harrier vertical take-off and transition into forward flight shot is very cool (I have seen this in real life, it is very impressive. And noisy).
Apocalypse now (1979)
Hueys thundering over the surf. 'Ride of the Valkyries'. Apocalyptic. No CGI.
The Bridges at Toko Ri (195?)
About US navy pilots in the Korean War. Great flying sequences, unbelievably good effects for the time, and a hero killing downer ending. Great movie.
Plane movies that make me laugh
Too many really to list.
General points about planes in movies:
Soundtrack (engine noise) is often wrong for the plane shown, or for what the plane is doing.
CGI jets often have afterburners, regardless of whether or not the real plane has them (an afterburner injects fuel into the jet exhaust, doubling the thrust, but quadrupling fuel consumption. If you see a jet with pretty yellow or purple flames coming out the back, it either has afterburners on, or is actually on fire). Real aircraft do not fly around with afterburners on all the time, but use them only as required. This would be like driving your car around with the accelarator at full throttle all the time. The main reason planes don't do this is because they would run out of fuel too quickly. If you have to ask why this is a dumb idea in your car you shouldn't be driving.
CGI planes often do things that are aerodynamically impossible.
Being able to successfully loop a helicopter is determined by the way it is built, not by the incredible skill of the pilot (sorry 'Blue Thunder'. Cool movie though).
Top Gun (1986)
Probably the best aerial photograpy ever, in any movie. I love watching this for that reason. In terms of accuracy, it is not so good. The film-makers suffered from the limitation of having to keep everything in frame, so the distances between the duelling aircraft are somewhat closer than in real life, but swirling dots don't make good cinema. From what I understand of air combat tactics, Maverick's trademark pull up manouvre would probably get him killed in a real fight. Also most of the F-14s (Maverick's jet) are seen dogfighting with their wings swept forward, which is unlikely in a real fight. Wings forward means slow; in reality there is a saying 'speed is life' (speed can be traded for height, turning, or escaping. If you have energy you can use it to better your position, if you don't you run out of options), which means F-14's dogfighting properly would have the wings swept back for speed, maximising their aircraft's good abilities to neutralise their opponents good abilities (the Skyhawks (Jester, Viper) could easily out manouvre an F-14 at slower speeds, but could not compete with an F-14 in terms of outright speed or climbing ability).
According to the commentary on the DVD by the actual Top Gun pilots who did the flying, there is only one realistic combat manouvre on screen (a 'rolling scissors', which is kinda complicated to explain, but I know what it is). Also according to the commentary, the way Goose dies actually happened to someone. Yes I have the DVD. It's brilliant. I used to hate this film, but I have learned to love it again.
Iron Eagle (1985)
Terrible in many ways. Kind of the evil twin of 'Top Gun'. Not realistic. Interesting in that while it is an american movie, the F-16's used for filming are actually Israeli (the camouflage paint scheme is unique to Israel, and very different from US F-16s). I'm not sure if it was filmed in Israel, or in the states before the aircraft were delivered to Israel.
The sequels are worse.
Pearl Harbour (2001)
Dire. Just dire. Maybe ten seconds of good flying stuff in the whole movie. Mostly a cartoon really.
Executive Decision (1998)
Hmm. On both lists. The Stealth plane that delivers the commandos to the 747 as depicted has no room for engines. Still, Steven Seagal's character dies because of it, so maybe it is a good thing.
Stealth (2005)
Didn't actually see this one, but the trailer showed fictional 'stealth' aircraft zooming around at low altitude and in daylight, which isn't that stealthy if you think about it.
Airforce One (1997)
I've seen better CGI on a PSone. In 1997. Also exhibits the 'afterburners all the time' syndrome.
Flight of the Intruder (1991)
Based on a book by someone who was there about the latter phases of the air war over Vietnam, well, it works better as a book (the book is something of a benchmark in the 'telling it like it was' scheme of things). The movie isn't that great plot wise. The planes however, are exactly right, right kind of plane, correct colour scheme for the period, even correct weapons load under the wings for the mission being depicted (something usually ignored by film-makers). Also all of the in cockpit instruments look like the real thing.
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Great book, not quite as great movie, but still has my favourite movie shot of all time, the track-pan from behind Jim that keeps both him and the Mustang flying past him in shot. The airfield attack shown is pretty much how it was done for real.
The Battle of Britain (1969)
Again, the planes look right, and is in general as authentic as the film-makers could make it. Notable for a shot where a low flying aircraft is seen to climb in order to not collide with a fence. Also great for the soundtrack during some of the takeoffs. An unmuffled V-12 aero engine will always sound better than any V-8, turbo or rotary. Always (I'm not really into Ford v Holden because of this).
Terminator 2 (1991)
On the list solely because the helicopter chase down the freeway was filmed for real and not faked, including the bit where it flies under the overpass.
BlackHawk Down (2001)
If the book is anything to go by, what you see on screen is pretty much the way it went down.
The Dam Busters (1954)
Again, pretty much as it happened. The Peter Jackson produced remake will likely be more realistic, as some details of the 1943 mission were still secret in 1954.
Goldeneye (1995)
The bit where 007 skydives to catch the plane is technically possible.
Thunderball (1965)
Another Bond movie where things looked right. Bond movies generally suck in terms of things looking right.
Memphis Belle (1992)
This one is interesting, as it is inspired by the first US bomber (the 'Memphis Belle') and crew to survive a tour of 25 missions over europe. It is interesting because a documentary was made about it at the time (1943), and so there is ample scope for comparing fiction to reality. And it stands up OK.
King Kong (2005)
Clearly made by someone who is into aircraft (as Peter Jackson is) and cares about the details. If you look closely in the bits when Kong is on top of the Empire State being attacked by the planes, you can see the control surfaces (rudders and stuff) on the planes moving as they manouvre, which is only stuff which will be seen by the viewer that is looking for it. The effort put into the aircraft in King Kong gives me great faith for the remake of 'The Dambusters'.
Executive Decision (1998)
Cool in that some of the plane stuff was filmed for real and not faked. There is a great shot of the F-14's turning to intercept the 747, from behind the F-14's as the 747 shoots across the frame in front of them.
Airplane (Flying High) (1980)
Awesome in so many ways. Particularly when the plane (jet) is shown with the soundtrack being of a propellered aircraft, which is very different.
Tora Tora Tora (1969)
A US/Japanese co production about the Pearl Harbour attack. They actually built a fleet of replica Japanese aircraft for this one, many of which are still flying today. Lots of great unfaked flying in this one, including an unplanned crash landing that didn't happen historically but looked so good it made it into the final cut, and a scene where the extras are literally running for their lives in a not acting kind of way, due to a completely out of control replica aircraft.
Dr Strangelove (1965)
The US Air Force wouldn't let Stanley Kubrick anywhere near an actual B-52, so he reconstructed the interior from aviation publications, and did it pretty well. Also funny as hell. And my mum wagged a uni lecture so she could go see it when she was a student. How cool is that?
True Lies (1994)
Cool again in a mostly filmed for real and not CGI'd way. Also the Harrier vertical take-off and transition into forward flight shot is very cool (I have seen this in real life, it is very impressive. And noisy).
Apocalypse now (1979)
Hueys thundering over the surf. 'Ride of the Valkyries'. Apocalyptic. No CGI.
The Bridges at Toko Ri (195?)
About US navy pilots in the Korean War. Great flying sequences, unbelievably good effects for the time, and a hero killing downer ending. Great movie.
Plane movies that make me laugh
Too many really to list.
General points about planes in movies:
Soundtrack (engine noise) is often wrong for the plane shown, or for what the plane is doing.
CGI jets often have afterburners, regardless of whether or not the real plane has them (an afterburner injects fuel into the jet exhaust, doubling the thrust, but quadrupling fuel consumption. If you see a jet with pretty yellow or purple flames coming out the back, it either has afterburners on, or is actually on fire). Real aircraft do not fly around with afterburners on all the time, but use them only as required. This would be like driving your car around with the accelarator at full throttle all the time. The main reason planes don't do this is because they would run out of fuel too quickly. If you have to ask why this is a dumb idea in your car you shouldn't be driving.
CGI planes often do things that are aerodynamically impossible.
Being able to successfully loop a helicopter is determined by the way it is built, not by the incredible skill of the pilot (sorry 'Blue Thunder'. Cool movie though).
Top Gun (1986)
Probably the best aerial photograpy ever, in any movie. I love watching this for that reason. In terms of accuracy, it is not so good. The film-makers suffered from the limitation of having to keep everything in frame, so the distances between the duelling aircraft are somewhat closer than in real life, but swirling dots don't make good cinema. From what I understand of air combat tactics, Maverick's trademark pull up manouvre would probably get him killed in a real fight. Also most of the F-14s (Maverick's jet) are seen dogfighting with their wings swept forward, which is unlikely in a real fight. Wings forward means slow; in reality there is a saying 'speed is life' (speed can be traded for height, turning, or escaping. If you have energy you can use it to better your position, if you don't you run out of options), which means F-14's dogfighting properly would have the wings swept back for speed, maximising their aircraft's good abilities to neutralise their opponents good abilities (the Skyhawks (Jester, Viper) could easily out manouvre an F-14 at slower speeds, but could not compete with an F-14 in terms of outright speed or climbing ability).
According to the commentary on the DVD by the actual Top Gun pilots who did the flying, there is only one realistic combat manouvre on screen (a 'rolling scissors', which is kinda complicated to explain, but I know what it is). Also according to the commentary, the way Goose dies actually happened to someone. Yes I have the DVD. It's brilliant. I used to hate this film, but I have learned to love it again.
Iron Eagle (1985)
Terrible in many ways. Kind of the evil twin of 'Top Gun'. Not realistic. Interesting in that while it is an american movie, the F-16's used for filming are actually Israeli (the camouflage paint scheme is unique to Israel, and very different from US F-16s). I'm not sure if it was filmed in Israel, or in the states before the aircraft were delivered to Israel.
The sequels are worse.
Pearl Harbour (2001)
Dire. Just dire. Maybe ten seconds of good flying stuff in the whole movie. Mostly a cartoon really.
Executive Decision (1998)
Hmm. On both lists. The Stealth plane that delivers the commandos to the 747 as depicted has no room for engines. Still, Steven Seagal's character dies because of it, so maybe it is a good thing.
Stealth (2005)
Didn't actually see this one, but the trailer showed fictional 'stealth' aircraft zooming around at low altitude and in daylight, which isn't that stealthy if you think about it.
Airforce One (1997)
I've seen better CGI on a PSone. In 1997. Also exhibits the 'afterburners all the time' syndrome.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Freakin Nirvana
Nevermind is predictably number one album you should own according to C4 voters. At the risk of cynically incurring a controversy, Nirvana made great music, but I wonder if they would be on the pedestal they seem to occupy if Kurt Cobain wasn't dead.
I like the Uchoose top 40, even if the top 10's tend to be a little predictable.
It is gratifying to note that I own a healthy proportion of tonights top 40, although once your CD collection gets big enough this is probably inevitable.
Last time I counted I had over 350 CD's, but that was a few months ago, so I have no idea how many I am carrying at the moment.
I know a guy who had 1500 CD's, but that was ten years ago, who knows how many he has now.
I like the Uchoose top 40, even if the top 10's tend to be a little predictable.
It is gratifying to note that I own a healthy proportion of tonights top 40, although once your CD collection gets big enough this is probably inevitable.
Last time I counted I had over 350 CD's, but that was a few months ago, so I have no idea how many I am carrying at the moment.
I know a guy who had 1500 CD's, but that was ten years ago, who knows how many he has now.
Snakes on a plane
Listening to: You choose top 40 albums you must have. 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac is in at 20. They are playing a recent live version of 'Go your own way', which is my second favourite Mac song after 'Dreams'. 'Go' is one of the best driving songs ever. It's just such a good track. And yes, I have a copy of 'Rumours'.
So I wound up at the above on Friday night, despite having a publicly stated non desire to see it. And I enjoyed most of it, which is good. Having an audience willing to shout and clap helped immeasurably.
I don't generally like horror stuff, and found most of the various snake related dispatches disturbing no matter how wildly implausible. I enjoyed what I thought was a knowing effort on the part of the producers to include every disaster/action/horror movie cliche they could think of.
It reminded me of the time D3vo and I went to see 'Last Action Hero', and Rich and I went to see 'Starship Troopers', and how both times we were the only ones in the audience who got the joke.
Since a plane is important to the plot, and some readers will know my tendencies, here are some plane inconsistencies, in a not at all serious way. This probably contains spoilers.
-There is no avionics compartment below the cockpit in a 747 as shown in the movie, as the flight deck is directly above the forward main cabin and there is no room. So all the people getting bit down there couldn't happen.
-If the snakes were released in the cargo hold, which is below the passenger cabin, how do they get into the roofspace above the cabin? Ducting maybe, but for that matter, how do they get into the cabin at all, prior to the dropping from the ceiling stuff?
-How come the snakes use the roofspace to get into every part of the cabin except the forward section?
-The upstairs first class section appears to be too big, but its been a while since I've been in one of those, so I could be wrong.
-The decompression thing probably wouldn't work, but it does look cool.
-The flight simulator teaching you how to fly thing actually has some basis in reality. I know this from personal experience, having several hundred hours on various simulators, and one or two fying an actual aircraft. I have been told by instructors that time on a good PC flight sim does give you more of a clue when it comes to the real thing, and I found that to be true in practice.
The above in no way detracts from my enjoyment of the movie.
Useless 747 trivia
-It is an icon. The term 747 needs no explanation when used in conversation.
-It is aparently possible for a 747 to achieve supersonic speed (which it isn't designed for) in a dive. I'm not sure anyone has actually tried this and survived, but it has been done with its older the Boeing 707. The 747 has the fastest cruising speed of any airliner now that Concorde has been retired. A 747 brought down by a bomb in the 80's reputedly went supersonic as it dived into the ocean.
-A 747 has performed a loop-de-loop (not intentionally) and remained intact. One was caught in extreme turblence over the Indian Ocean. Later analysis of the flight recorder showed that the plane had technically completed a loop. It had a load of passengers aboard, which must have been a hell of a ride. It is theoretically possible to barrel roll a 747 (also done with a 707, also done in a Concorde), but again I'm not sure if anyone has tried it.
-The main cabin of a 747 is longer than the Wright Brothers first flight.
-A 747 briefly became the world's largest glider in 1982, when one flew through a cloud of volcanic ash, which caused all of the engines to stop one by one. Eventually once clear of the cloud the engines were able to be restarted.
-A 747 holds the record for the most passengers ever carried on one aircraft, after one evacuted 674 people from Darwin after Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
-A 747 has recently been trialled as a water bombing aircraft, for the purposes of fighting forest fires. Air Force One is a 747 (actually there are two Air Force One's. They only officially become 'one' when the president is aboard). The 'Doomsday' planes are 747's as well.
-Boeing took possibly the largest commercial risk in manufacturing history when it started developing the 747. If it had been a failure in the marketplace the company would have failed with it. It essentially created its own market.
-It is one of the few aircraft that still makes me stop and stare when I see one in real life. It has spent 30 years as the largest airliner around. Only the new Airbus A380 is bigger.
-Contrary to popular belief, 747's can be flown in and out of Wellington airport safely, and Qantas did just that in the 70's and early 80's. They don't come here for economic reasons, as the length of Wellington's runway limits the maximum weight of the aircraft (heavier planes need longer runways), and thus reduces the amount of weight available for important stuff like fuel or money making passengers and cargo. The 747's that Qantas flew here were special models that weren't as affected by the weight issue. They were replaced by 767's in the 80's, which have since been replaced by smaller 737's, for money reasons rather than performance ones.
-When it comes to the 'Waynes World' thing of sitting on the end of the runway as a plane fills the sky above you, a 747 is pretty hard to beat. Never managed it myself, although I have sat under a few 767's, which are almost as big. Wellington is unique in it's opportunties to fill the sky directly above your head with fast moving metal, with roads close to both ends of the runway.
So I wound up at the above on Friday night, despite having a publicly stated non desire to see it. And I enjoyed most of it, which is good. Having an audience willing to shout and clap helped immeasurably.
I don't generally like horror stuff, and found most of the various snake related dispatches disturbing no matter how wildly implausible. I enjoyed what I thought was a knowing effort on the part of the producers to include every disaster/action/horror movie cliche they could think of.
It reminded me of the time D3vo and I went to see 'Last Action Hero', and Rich and I went to see 'Starship Troopers', and how both times we were the only ones in the audience who got the joke.
Since a plane is important to the plot, and some readers will know my tendencies, here are some plane inconsistencies, in a not at all serious way. This probably contains spoilers.
-There is no avionics compartment below the cockpit in a 747 as shown in the movie, as the flight deck is directly above the forward main cabin and there is no room. So all the people getting bit down there couldn't happen.
-If the snakes were released in the cargo hold, which is below the passenger cabin, how do they get into the roofspace above the cabin? Ducting maybe, but for that matter, how do they get into the cabin at all, prior to the dropping from the ceiling stuff?
-How come the snakes use the roofspace to get into every part of the cabin except the forward section?
-The upstairs first class section appears to be too big, but its been a while since I've been in one of those, so I could be wrong.
-The decompression thing probably wouldn't work, but it does look cool.
-The flight simulator teaching you how to fly thing actually has some basis in reality. I know this from personal experience, having several hundred hours on various simulators, and one or two fying an actual aircraft. I have been told by instructors that time on a good PC flight sim does give you more of a clue when it comes to the real thing, and I found that to be true in practice.
The above in no way detracts from my enjoyment of the movie.
Useless 747 trivia
-It is an icon. The term 747 needs no explanation when used in conversation.
-It is aparently possible for a 747 to achieve supersonic speed (which it isn't designed for) in a dive. I'm not sure anyone has actually tried this and survived, but it has been done with its older the Boeing 707. The 747 has the fastest cruising speed of any airliner now that Concorde has been retired. A 747 brought down by a bomb in the 80's reputedly went supersonic as it dived into the ocean.
-A 747 has performed a loop-de-loop (not intentionally) and remained intact. One was caught in extreme turblence over the Indian Ocean. Later analysis of the flight recorder showed that the plane had technically completed a loop. It had a load of passengers aboard, which must have been a hell of a ride. It is theoretically possible to barrel roll a 747 (also done with a 707, also done in a Concorde), but again I'm not sure if anyone has tried it.
-The main cabin of a 747 is longer than the Wright Brothers first flight.
-A 747 briefly became the world's largest glider in 1982, when one flew through a cloud of volcanic ash, which caused all of the engines to stop one by one. Eventually once clear of the cloud the engines were able to be restarted.
-A 747 holds the record for the most passengers ever carried on one aircraft, after one evacuted 674 people from Darwin after Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
-A 747 has recently been trialled as a water bombing aircraft, for the purposes of fighting forest fires. Air Force One is a 747 (actually there are two Air Force One's. They only officially become 'one' when the president is aboard). The 'Doomsday' planes are 747's as well.
-Boeing took possibly the largest commercial risk in manufacturing history when it started developing the 747. If it had been a failure in the marketplace the company would have failed with it. It essentially created its own market.
-It is one of the few aircraft that still makes me stop and stare when I see one in real life. It has spent 30 years as the largest airliner around. Only the new Airbus A380 is bigger.
-Contrary to popular belief, 747's can be flown in and out of Wellington airport safely, and Qantas did just that in the 70's and early 80's. They don't come here for economic reasons, as the length of Wellington's runway limits the maximum weight of the aircraft (heavier planes need longer runways), and thus reduces the amount of weight available for important stuff like fuel or money making passengers and cargo. The 747's that Qantas flew here were special models that weren't as affected by the weight issue. They were replaced by 767's in the 80's, which have since been replaced by smaller 737's, for money reasons rather than performance ones.
-When it comes to the 'Waynes World' thing of sitting on the end of the runway as a plane fills the sky above you, a 747 is pretty hard to beat. Never managed it myself, although I have sat under a few 767's, which are almost as big. Wellington is unique in it's opportunties to fill the sky directly above your head with fast moving metal, with roads close to both ends of the runway.
I want you
Rolling out another oldie here...
From mid 1997, its Darth Vaders recruiting poster. Saw a guy wearing this at the cricket at the basin reserve (us vs Zimbabwe I think), and being an star wars fan, had to have one. I got it at Ground Zero as it was, in the James Smith's market. This was at the height of the hype surrounding the re release of the special editions of the original trilogy. At that time Ground zero had a fairly complete collection of all the original kenner Star Wars toys on display which was cool.
The text reminds me of Private Jokers interview in 'Full Metal Jacket' ("meet interesting people and kill them"). I don't have too many memories specific to this T. It was my netball T for a while. It has seen a lot of court time. For some reason I was ultra conservative in my 90's T shirt purchasing, so the thing is an XL, and doesn't get out much these days, unless I'm wearing something else under it.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
It's all a conspiracy
Listening to: 'Further down the Spiral'-Nine Inch Nails
Popular conspiracy theories I believe in:
UFO's.
I have seen enough to be convinced that there is definitely more governmental knowledge about this phenomenon than is in the public domain. This does not mean I think they are alien spacecraft. The automatic UFO=Alien association really hacks me off. Think about it. If an Unidentified Flying Object is an alien craft, well, its not unidentified is it? Lots of things could be UFO's. In the absence of decent evidence beyond observation, speculation is useless.
Area 51.
Very loosely tied to the above. There is likely to be lots of stuff going on there that we don't know about, and possibly never will. Top of my list of places to go if I had unrestricted access to anywhere. Do I think there is a secret alien base there? Possibly (in the sense that it probably isn't impossible), but I doubt it.
Oil as a pretext for invading Iraq.
No brainer.
Alternative technologies are being suppressed by Oil companies.
Again, a no brainer.
Popular Conspiracies I don't believe in.
To my mind, these make evidence fit hypotheses, and rely on too many assumptions. Good investigation is the other way around, making hypotheses and theory fit the evidence, with few or no assumptions. Scientific investigation was a big part of my tertiary training, and is a big part of my job also. The government and then DSIR reports into the 1978 Kaikoura UFO sightings are classic local examples of making evidence fit.
The moon landings were faked.
My stated opinion that I'll happily stand by and argue is that it would be easier to actually put astronauts on the moon than to fake it to the degree required to withstand intense scrutiny. EVERY piece of 'evidence' I have seen for this theory has explanations that don't require a conspiracy (think Occam's Razor. Simplest explanation with fewest assumptions is usually correct).
Various 9/11 theories like 'The missile', and 'The pod'.
Again, a lot of 'evidence' for these does not survive Occam's Razor. I'm not going to get into details but I have spent some time looking into these as they do intrigue me. There was a conspiracy that day, to hijack airliners and crash them into iconic structures. Two of them collapsed completely due to the damage caused by the collisions. I have seen no reason to doubt that this is what happened.
Before and after the event, however, I am open to skullduggery occuring.
The Masons/Illuminati/Knights Templar/Osmonds control the world.
Too many people required to keep too many secrets. Secret international treaties are much more likely, and infinitely more plausible.
Stealth and other high technology has been reverse engineered from alien spacecraft
We shouldn't sell ourselves short like this. Not plausible, and unnecessary (stealth for example isn't really that complicated at a theoretical level).
Conspiracies I am undecided upon.
JFK
Lone gunman is just as possible as Cubans/Mafia/Military industrial complex/whoever
The KGB orchestrated the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II
Both plausible and possible.
KAL 007 was allowed to be shot down.
This was the Korean airliner shot down by the Soviets in 1983. Murkiness and nefariousness in order to protect ongoing intelligence gathering operations is possible. Or that the Soviets were trying to make a point.
Aliens are among us
Too intriguing to dismiss entirely, how matter how unlikely
Pretty much all of human history will involve high level conspiracy in the form of secret plan making at some point. The problem is in the definition of 'conspiracy'. I am conspiring to go to Sydney for Labour weekend. Not-kate, Fi and I are conspiring to go to her 80's quiz on Friday. I am conspiring to leave work early in order to attend.
None of those things are secret but I'm sure you get the point by now. Are conspiracies such because they are secret? Lots of secret stuff exists that isn't necessarily conspiratorial. There are good reasons for some things to be secret. Conspiracies exist in the eye of the beholder I think, and people see what they want to see.
I am open minded, but demand proof, which a lot of 'conspiracies' either don't require (in the sense that they can neither be proved or disproved) or can't provide.
A lot of 'proof' I have seen is people encountering stuff out of context, saying 'WTF', and accepting it as unusual, when it often has completely prosaic explanations the observers were unaware of or simply hadn't encountered before.
I'll close with an observation. Every form of media is a conduit for what other people want you to see and hear. Newspapers, TV, the internet, all are identical in this respect.
Popular conspiracy theories I believe in:
UFO's.
I have seen enough to be convinced that there is definitely more governmental knowledge about this phenomenon than is in the public domain. This does not mean I think they are alien spacecraft. The automatic UFO=Alien association really hacks me off. Think about it. If an Unidentified Flying Object is an alien craft, well, its not unidentified is it? Lots of things could be UFO's. In the absence of decent evidence beyond observation, speculation is useless.
Area 51.
Very loosely tied to the above. There is likely to be lots of stuff going on there that we don't know about, and possibly never will. Top of my list of places to go if I had unrestricted access to anywhere. Do I think there is a secret alien base there? Possibly (in the sense that it probably isn't impossible), but I doubt it.
Oil as a pretext for invading Iraq.
No brainer.
Alternative technologies are being suppressed by Oil companies.
Again, a no brainer.
Popular Conspiracies I don't believe in.
To my mind, these make evidence fit hypotheses, and rely on too many assumptions. Good investigation is the other way around, making hypotheses and theory fit the evidence, with few or no assumptions. Scientific investigation was a big part of my tertiary training, and is a big part of my job also. The government and then DSIR reports into the 1978 Kaikoura UFO sightings are classic local examples of making evidence fit.
The moon landings were faked.
My stated opinion that I'll happily stand by and argue is that it would be easier to actually put astronauts on the moon than to fake it to the degree required to withstand intense scrutiny. EVERY piece of 'evidence' I have seen for this theory has explanations that don't require a conspiracy (think Occam's Razor. Simplest explanation with fewest assumptions is usually correct).
Various 9/11 theories like 'The missile', and 'The pod'.
Again, a lot of 'evidence' for these does not survive Occam's Razor. I'm not going to get into details but I have spent some time looking into these as they do intrigue me. There was a conspiracy that day, to hijack airliners and crash them into iconic structures. Two of them collapsed completely due to the damage caused by the collisions. I have seen no reason to doubt that this is what happened.
Before and after the event, however, I am open to skullduggery occuring.
The Masons/Illuminati/Knights Templar/Osmonds control the world.
Too many people required to keep too many secrets. Secret international treaties are much more likely, and infinitely more plausible.
Stealth and other high technology has been reverse engineered from alien spacecraft
We shouldn't sell ourselves short like this. Not plausible, and unnecessary (stealth for example isn't really that complicated at a theoretical level).
Conspiracies I am undecided upon.
JFK
Lone gunman is just as possible as Cubans/Mafia/Military industrial complex/whoever
The KGB orchestrated the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II
Both plausible and possible.
KAL 007 was allowed to be shot down.
This was the Korean airliner shot down by the Soviets in 1983. Murkiness and nefariousness in order to protect ongoing intelligence gathering operations is possible. Or that the Soviets were trying to make a point.
Aliens are among us
Too intriguing to dismiss entirely, how matter how unlikely
Pretty much all of human history will involve high level conspiracy in the form of secret plan making at some point. The problem is in the definition of 'conspiracy'. I am conspiring to go to Sydney for Labour weekend. Not-kate, Fi and I are conspiring to go to her 80's quiz on Friday. I am conspiring to leave work early in order to attend.
None of those things are secret but I'm sure you get the point by now. Are conspiracies such because they are secret? Lots of secret stuff exists that isn't necessarily conspiratorial. There are good reasons for some things to be secret. Conspiracies exist in the eye of the beholder I think, and people see what they want to see.
I am open minded, but demand proof, which a lot of 'conspiracies' either don't require (in the sense that they can neither be proved or disproved) or can't provide.
A lot of 'proof' I have seen is people encountering stuff out of context, saying 'WTF', and accepting it as unusual, when it often has completely prosaic explanations the observers were unaware of or simply hadn't encountered before.
I'll close with an observation. Every form of media is a conduit for what other people want you to see and hear. Newspapers, TV, the internet, all are identical in this respect.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
I look like...
Since I shaved my head on Friday I have been compared to:
Billy Corgan
Andre Agassi
Bruce Willis
Kojak
Some guy called Shawn
I'm getting used to it. It took a few days, and a few times walking past the mirror saying 'who is that and why does he have no hair?' The first couple of days were cold, now I have desensitised enough not to notice. I like how long it takes to dry in the mornings. I like not having to worry about bed hair. I have been as short as #2 comb before, but the enthusiastic fourth form girls shaving my head on the stage at UHC didn't even ask if I wanted a number before plowing in with the #0, and here we are. I like supporting my wife in this way.
In other news, I joined d3vo, Fish and Curtains for the becoming regular run in Petone. Ran about 3+ K and didn't die, or have to stop involuntarily. I am way fitter than I think it seems. I also made the crew think I was going to jump off the end of Petone wharf, which was fun. Half of the way I ran along the top of the seawall, jumping gaps and on and off the wall as required. A passing jogger called me a smartarse in a respectful way. I love moving around on top of walls, rocks and things. Fi called me 'Dances with mountain goats' while I was clambering over a rock pile at Castlepoint once. I seem to have a natural affinity for it.
I did the 'Daily' crossword in todays dom in about five minutes today. To be fair, the daily isn't that hard, but my wordsmithery impresses my workmates (I also do the back page much harder crossword, the target, and the codecracker). Most common questions: Do I read a lot? Yes. Do I use a dictionary? No.
I don't do Sudoku. My verbose mind can't handle all those numbers and shit. Actually I probably could do Sudoku, but don't apply myself.
Billy Corgan
Andre Agassi
Bruce Willis
Kojak
Some guy called Shawn
I'm getting used to it. It took a few days, and a few times walking past the mirror saying 'who is that and why does he have no hair?' The first couple of days were cold, now I have desensitised enough not to notice. I like how long it takes to dry in the mornings. I like not having to worry about bed hair. I have been as short as #2 comb before, but the enthusiastic fourth form girls shaving my head on the stage at UHC didn't even ask if I wanted a number before plowing in with the #0, and here we are. I like supporting my wife in this way.
In other news, I joined d3vo, Fish and Curtains for the becoming regular run in Petone. Ran about 3+ K and didn't die, or have to stop involuntarily. I am way fitter than I think it seems. I also made the crew think I was going to jump off the end of Petone wharf, which was fun. Half of the way I ran along the top of the seawall, jumping gaps and on and off the wall as required. A passing jogger called me a smartarse in a respectful way. I love moving around on top of walls, rocks and things. Fi called me 'Dances with mountain goats' while I was clambering over a rock pile at Castlepoint once. I seem to have a natural affinity for it.
I did the 'Daily' crossword in todays dom in about five minutes today. To be fair, the daily isn't that hard, but my wordsmithery impresses my workmates (I also do the back page much harder crossword, the target, and the codecracker). Most common questions: Do I read a lot? Yes. Do I use a dictionary? No.
I don't do Sudoku. My verbose mind can't handle all those numbers and shit. Actually I probably could do Sudoku, but don't apply myself.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Long video
The previous post was composed and published entirely within the length of the extended 'Thriller' video.
Reminds me of the time I got through a complete 15-balls sunk game of doubles pool within the length of the 'Macarena' a few years ago.
Reminds me of the time I got through a complete 15-balls sunk game of doubles pool within the length of the 'Macarena' a few years ago.
This week's T
Listening to: The U choose top 40 again. This week it is 'Most shocking videos'. But 'Thriller' is at no 14. 'Thriller'? Shocking? Please. It's too camp to be shocking. Good bass line though. I am old enough to remember a time when seeing the full video gave you kudos.
This week: "Fast Food"
Kind of self explanatory really. For the record, I actually quite like cats, despite their native bird eating ecological disasterousness, so any cats reading this shouldn't take it personally.
This week: "Fast Food"
Kind of self explanatory really. For the record, I actually quite like cats, despite their native bird eating ecological disasterousness, so any cats reading this shouldn't take it personally.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Short sentences
Listening to 'Seeds'-Brother Cane
Cutting off all my hair was very cathartic.
My birthday celebrations have so far been excellent. I have received great thoughtful gifts.
Cutting off all my hair was very cathartic.
My birthday celebrations have so far been excellent. I have received great thoughtful gifts.
Birthday dinner with my family last night was fun. Roast beef followed by chocolate cake and sweets.
And mum made me a plate of chocolate fudgecake to take home. Which is delicious.
I also bought myself a new pair of boots. I didn't find the camera equipment I was looking for.
Something monstrous is coming to life on my workbench
I am having an excellent weekend.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Happy birthday to me
Why is the blogger homepage logo a dog with a party hat on today?
Hmm. Maybe its because today is my birthday.
Today I turn 30. Well technically, according to family legend I don't turn 30 until about 1630 this afternoon, but a date is a date. Also Sean Connery's birthday. But I am cooler and suaver than he.
Anyway.
I was going to bombard you with some interesting statistics from my life in the past three decades, but that will wait for another post, as it is 0247 and too late to think of that kind of stuff. When you do three hours of overtime on an evening shift, this is when you get home.
So instead of the stats (which I know will crush you with disappointment. Later bloglings, later.), here is my plan for the day.
In about four freakin' hours I will get up and drive Fi to work (cue the V). This is a tradition after my week of evenings, it lets us catch up after five days of not really seeing each other.
After that I will head into the city for some breakfast at the small cafe around the corner from Felix, across the road from the Town Hall which I can't remember the name of but does a great mix grill. Anyone who reads this early enough is welcome to join me. I'll try to get a window seat so as to be visible to random wanderers. ETA at the Cafe is 8-830ish.
Once breakfast is done, I will do some shopping. For camera stuff, footwear stuff, magazine stuff, music stuff and model stuff. That should take most of the morning.
At lunchtime I will head back to Upper Hutt for Fi's head shaving. And hopefully get shaved myself. It's a solidarity thing primarily, but also very cathartic on such a momentous day.
After schools out I expect we'll go to the pub with all the other teachers.
After the pub we'll be heading to my folks place for roast dinner with the family, which should be noisy and entertaining with all the niblings in attendance.
After dinner an amble into town is kind of on, a workmate is having a leaving dinner, no doubt followed by drinkies.
By that time I'll probably be drunk or asleep or both, so home will no doubt be beckoning.
Hmm. Maybe its because today is my birthday.
Today I turn 30. Well technically, according to family legend I don't turn 30 until about 1630 this afternoon, but a date is a date. Also Sean Connery's birthday. But I am cooler and suaver than he.
Anyway.
I was going to bombard you with some interesting statistics from my life in the past three decades, but that will wait for another post, as it is 0247 and too late to think of that kind of stuff. When you do three hours of overtime on an evening shift, this is when you get home.
So instead of the stats (which I know will crush you with disappointment. Later bloglings, later.), here is my plan for the day.
In about four freakin' hours I will get up and drive Fi to work (cue the V). This is a tradition after my week of evenings, it lets us catch up after five days of not really seeing each other.
After that I will head into the city for some breakfast at the small cafe around the corner from Felix, across the road from the Town Hall which I can't remember the name of but does a great mix grill. Anyone who reads this early enough is welcome to join me. I'll try to get a window seat so as to be visible to random wanderers. ETA at the Cafe is 8-830ish.
Once breakfast is done, I will do some shopping. For camera stuff, footwear stuff, magazine stuff, music stuff and model stuff. That should take most of the morning.
At lunchtime I will head back to Upper Hutt for Fi's head shaving. And hopefully get shaved myself. It's a solidarity thing primarily, but also very cathartic on such a momentous day.
After schools out I expect we'll go to the pub with all the other teachers.
After the pub we'll be heading to my folks place for roast dinner with the family, which should be noisy and entertaining with all the niblings in attendance.
After dinner an amble into town is kind of on, a workmate is having a leaving dinner, no doubt followed by drinkies.
By that time I'll probably be drunk or asleep or both, so home will no doubt be beckoning.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
T-Shirt of the week
Listening to: Top 40 power ballads on C4 (though I'm not sure that Metallica's 'One' is technically a power ballad).
This week, to entertain you on a Monday, the Caution:Mosh Pit.
Worn at the Big Day Out in 2002. The image captures perfectly the heaving sweating ecstatic crazy mass of people that is the mosh pit. I have been the poor dude on the floor a couple of times. I have crowd surfed. I was never dumb enough to stage dive. I moshed through most of the nineties. I don't anymore generally. I feel I have earned the priviledge to stand back these days and focus on enjoying the show rather than trying to remain standing. I don't have anything left to prove. Being at the gig is the main thing. That said, I still pit occasionally.
I bought this one because I thought it was funny and understood it perfectly.
I like the Caution label, they've done lots of cool stuff.
Mosh pit survival tips:
Wear hard footwear. Your feet will be stood on. If laced, double knot them, and tuck the bows inside your shoes/boots. An untied shoelace can be dangerous. Just bending down to tie it up puts you in danger of being jumped on. Worse, if someone stands on it, and the crowd moves you away, you're going down, where you are in real danger of incurring injury. To most of the people around you you will be an extra squishy bit of floor.
Empty your pockets if you can. You don't want to be dropping stuff on the floor.
Wear stuff you are happy to get ripped.
Keep your fluid levels up. Lots of mosh casualties occur through dehydration. It gets very hot with all the jumping around and other shenanigans.
Remember to breathe. Seriously. It's really easy to start hyperventilating, given that you're basically in a supercharged aerobics session. Start hyperventilating and going into oxygen debt, and sooner or later you'll be on the floor, which we've already established is a bad place. Asthmatics like me can find this breathing thing difficult. It's very hot, and there isn't a lot of good air around. If you're going to mosh, take your ventolin, before, during and after.
Don't mosh drunk. Be hammered by all means, but seriously drunk no. You'll probably get into some bad karma which will involve physical violence, never mind the increased potential for faling down.
If the crowd moves, move with it. Be split from your friends if required. A moshing crowd is basically a fluid entity, with tides, currents and eddies. It doesn't care that you been standing in the best spot in the venue for the last four hours. If you don't move with the crowd, bad things happen.
If you're a petite, pretty girl, find a nice boy who will earnestly try to prove his manliness by giving you a shoulder ride. You'll get the best view in the house.
Avoid slam dancers. Mutants.
Ignore being groped, boys and girls. The groper probably doesn't even know they have groped you.
If you are being crushed at the front, get a bouncer to rescue you. That is basically their job, apart from stopping stage divers, and if they are doing it well your distress will quickly be spotted. You'll lose your spot, but you will survive. People have died from being crushed in this way. I was in the crowd at the 2000 Big Day Out during Blink 182's set when things got really out of control (they had to stop playing to calm things down), and it was damn scary.
Stupid people will call you weak and unspirited, and they are kind of naff and uncool but earplugs are worth it. You don't lose any sound quality, and your hearing is worth more than a night's entertainment. Your ears will respect you in the morning.
Crowd surfing is fun, and looks cool but can be very dangerous. I've done it, but would absolutely not do it again unless under quite specific circumstances. Getting up is easy, but getting down is the thing, and if you are unlucky you will land on your head from a height of six or seven feet. Prevalent throughout the nineties, it is somwhat less practiced now, as at a lot of gigs if the bouncers get their hands on you post surf you tend to be kicked out of the venue.
Scream, dance, yell, wave the metal salute, sweat through all your clothes, and lose yourself in an experience you'll remember forever.
Mosh etiquette:
There isn't much really. If someone falls, pick them up. Don't use others as launch pads for pogoing. If you care about pogoing that much, pogo on the off beat. That way everyone sees you and you get a momentarily spectacular view of the crowd below as they compress after landing from their own pogoing efforts. Don't slam dance unless everybody else is. It's an excellent way to start a fight after you accidentally punch someone in the face.
Waving a lit cigarette lighter is a really good way to burn your fingertips, and set someones hair on fire if you're really lucky.
Don't hang at the back of the pit waiting for your favourite song and then try to rush to the front. It will take you half the song to get there, and you'll annoy the hell out of everyone you blunder past.
After the gig has finished check out the floor as you leave. You'll find all kinds of interesting stuff, usually in the form of money that has fallen out of peoples pockets.
Favourite Mosh Pit memory:
Being very near the front for Supergroove's set at Mountain Rock in 1995. They opened with "You Freak Me", and the crowd went apeshit. The guy next to me shared his rum and coke. In my top ten favourite all time gigs. It was legendary. That gig also had to pause for safety reasons.
Worst mosh pit memory:
The aforementioned Blink 182 fracas. They were playing the stage by the entry stairs. People were flooding down the stairs to see Blink, preventing anyone going up them, while at the same time hundreds of people were pushing from the back. Lots of people wound up with nowhere to go (including me and Fish), and it got genuinely scary for a few minutes. People were getting squashed around us, 40 meters from the stage. I think people were injured closer to the front. We forgot about watching the gig and instead concentrated on not getting hurt, which was quite difficult. Being in a crowd like that is like being in a rip. You have to remain calm and move with it while looking for a way out. We managed to escape, and took a time out under the bleachers to recover. I think after that the organisers reduced the number of tickets sold for future events. There were way too many people in Ericsson Stadium that day.
Second worst memory is the mutant redneck with the broken arm at a Shihad gig in 2003, who was going to get to the front during his favourite song and wave his arms around, regardless of whose head(s) he bashed his cast on. Mutant.
This week, to entertain you on a Monday, the Caution:Mosh Pit.
Worn at the Big Day Out in 2002. The image captures perfectly the heaving sweating ecstatic crazy mass of people that is the mosh pit. I have been the poor dude on the floor a couple of times. I have crowd surfed. I was never dumb enough to stage dive. I moshed through most of the nineties. I don't anymore generally. I feel I have earned the priviledge to stand back these days and focus on enjoying the show rather than trying to remain standing. I don't have anything left to prove. Being at the gig is the main thing. That said, I still pit occasionally.
I bought this one because I thought it was funny and understood it perfectly.
I like the Caution label, they've done lots of cool stuff.
Mosh pit survival tips:
Wear hard footwear. Your feet will be stood on. If laced, double knot them, and tuck the bows inside your shoes/boots. An untied shoelace can be dangerous. Just bending down to tie it up puts you in danger of being jumped on. Worse, if someone stands on it, and the crowd moves you away, you're going down, where you are in real danger of incurring injury. To most of the people around you you will be an extra squishy bit of floor.
Empty your pockets if you can. You don't want to be dropping stuff on the floor.
Wear stuff you are happy to get ripped.
Keep your fluid levels up. Lots of mosh casualties occur through dehydration. It gets very hot with all the jumping around and other shenanigans.
Remember to breathe. Seriously. It's really easy to start hyperventilating, given that you're basically in a supercharged aerobics session. Start hyperventilating and going into oxygen debt, and sooner or later you'll be on the floor, which we've already established is a bad place. Asthmatics like me can find this breathing thing difficult. It's very hot, and there isn't a lot of good air around. If you're going to mosh, take your ventolin, before, during and after.
Don't mosh drunk. Be hammered by all means, but seriously drunk no. You'll probably get into some bad karma which will involve physical violence, never mind the increased potential for faling down.
If the crowd moves, move with it. Be split from your friends if required. A moshing crowd is basically a fluid entity, with tides, currents and eddies. It doesn't care that you been standing in the best spot in the venue for the last four hours. If you don't move with the crowd, bad things happen.
If you're a petite, pretty girl, find a nice boy who will earnestly try to prove his manliness by giving you a shoulder ride. You'll get the best view in the house.
Avoid slam dancers. Mutants.
Ignore being groped, boys and girls. The groper probably doesn't even know they have groped you.
If you are being crushed at the front, get a bouncer to rescue you. That is basically their job, apart from stopping stage divers, and if they are doing it well your distress will quickly be spotted. You'll lose your spot, but you will survive. People have died from being crushed in this way. I was in the crowd at the 2000 Big Day Out during Blink 182's set when things got really out of control (they had to stop playing to calm things down), and it was damn scary.
Stupid people will call you weak and unspirited, and they are kind of naff and uncool but earplugs are worth it. You don't lose any sound quality, and your hearing is worth more than a night's entertainment. Your ears will respect you in the morning.
Crowd surfing is fun, and looks cool but can be very dangerous. I've done it, but would absolutely not do it again unless under quite specific circumstances. Getting up is easy, but getting down is the thing, and if you are unlucky you will land on your head from a height of six or seven feet. Prevalent throughout the nineties, it is somwhat less practiced now, as at a lot of gigs if the bouncers get their hands on you post surf you tend to be kicked out of the venue.
Scream, dance, yell, wave the metal salute, sweat through all your clothes, and lose yourself in an experience you'll remember forever.
Mosh etiquette:
There isn't much really. If someone falls, pick them up. Don't use others as launch pads for pogoing. If you care about pogoing that much, pogo on the off beat. That way everyone sees you and you get a momentarily spectacular view of the crowd below as they compress after landing from their own pogoing efforts. Don't slam dance unless everybody else is. It's an excellent way to start a fight after you accidentally punch someone in the face.
Waving a lit cigarette lighter is a really good way to burn your fingertips, and set someones hair on fire if you're really lucky.
Don't hang at the back of the pit waiting for your favourite song and then try to rush to the front. It will take you half the song to get there, and you'll annoy the hell out of everyone you blunder past.
After the gig has finished check out the floor as you leave. You'll find all kinds of interesting stuff, usually in the form of money that has fallen out of peoples pockets.
Favourite Mosh Pit memory:
Being very near the front for Supergroove's set at Mountain Rock in 1995. They opened with "You Freak Me", and the crowd went apeshit. The guy next to me shared his rum and coke. In my top ten favourite all time gigs. It was legendary. That gig also had to pause for safety reasons.
Worst mosh pit memory:
The aforementioned Blink 182 fracas. They were playing the stage by the entry stairs. People were flooding down the stairs to see Blink, preventing anyone going up them, while at the same time hundreds of people were pushing from the back. Lots of people wound up with nowhere to go (including me and Fish), and it got genuinely scary for a few minutes. People were getting squashed around us, 40 meters from the stage. I think people were injured closer to the front. We forgot about watching the gig and instead concentrated on not getting hurt, which was quite difficult. Being in a crowd like that is like being in a rip. You have to remain calm and move with it while looking for a way out. We managed to escape, and took a time out under the bleachers to recover. I think after that the organisers reduced the number of tickets sold for future events. There were way too many people in Ericsson Stadium that day.
Second worst memory is the mutant redneck with the broken arm at a Shihad gig in 2003, who was going to get to the front during his favourite song and wave his arms around, regardless of whose head(s) he bashed his cast on. Mutant.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Love and Hate
Watched some Rock Star Supernova tonight. Difficult to find the words to describe how much I HATE it. Can't stand it. Shithouse covers of good songs. Performances that are more about swagger and looks than important things, like say, remembering the lyrics. Dude sang Peter Gabriel's 'Solsbury Hill', one of my favourite songs, and couldn't even get the first verse right. Chick sang 'Cat's in the cradle' and munted the lyrics on that too. I've got nothing against the people performing in it, I just hate the concept that brought them there. This and Idol have nothing to do with picking the best person. They are about picking the most popular person. Can you imagine say, Joe Strummer or Billy Bragg or P J Harvey winning one of these things? Neither can I.
Anyway, enough of the hate, on with the Love.
I love how at night, noisy busy places become quiet and peaceful.
I love how electric lights come on at dusk as the sunlight fades.
I love how at dusk things can take on the colour of their surroundings.
I love how mist holds light, and makes it surround things
Top left: The Terrace from the Benny Party
Top right: Paraparaumu and Kapiti Island from Paekakariki Hill Road lookout
Lower Left: My car at the Paekakariki lookout
Lower right: My street on a cold misty night
Anyway, enough of the hate, on with the Love.
I love how at night, noisy busy places become quiet and peaceful.
I love how electric lights come on at dusk as the sunlight fades.
I love how at dusk things can take on the colour of their surroundings.
I love how mist holds light, and makes it surround things
Top left: The Terrace from the Benny Party
Top right: Paraparaumu and Kapiti Island from Paekakariki Hill Road lookout
Lower Left: My car at the Paekakariki lookout
Lower right: My street on a cold misty night
Monday, August 14, 2006
Monday monday
Another weekend gone. I find I get kinda depressed on Sunday nights now, cos I know the weekend will soon be over. Still the sunday night spa's ease the pain somewhat.
Fishy's done a good weekend wrapup here.
Saturdays netball tournament was hard. 6 games, with 6 minute quarters. Given that most of the players were sourced from Wellington Indoors Superleague teams (including Fi and myself), the games were played at that level, which is kinda demanding physically. By the end of the last game I was ready to fall over. I fell over quite heavily in game four and my right leg wasn't quite working right, which made things more difficult (this was later fixed by a judiciously applied combination of nurofen and beer). Still I enjoyed it. Our team was competitive generally if not winning, and we didn't disgrace ourselves. It was good for my self confidence as a player with trials for the summer season fast approaching.
Still working on a positivity list after the positivity post was reposted after being yanked by its author.
Got to disappear for more netball now, but I'll leave you with this, which I found very funny:
I'm not gonna flinch
The commentary is priceless
Fishy's done a good weekend wrapup here.
Saturdays netball tournament was hard. 6 games, with 6 minute quarters. Given that most of the players were sourced from Wellington Indoors Superleague teams (including Fi and myself), the games were played at that level, which is kinda demanding physically. By the end of the last game I was ready to fall over. I fell over quite heavily in game four and my right leg wasn't quite working right, which made things more difficult (this was later fixed by a judiciously applied combination of nurofen and beer). Still I enjoyed it. Our team was competitive generally if not winning, and we didn't disgrace ourselves. It was good for my self confidence as a player with trials for the summer season fast approaching.
Still working on a positivity list after the positivity post was reposted after being yanked by its author.
Got to disappear for more netball now, but I'll leave you with this, which I found very funny:
I'm not gonna flinch
The commentary is priceless
Decisions decisions
If you book it they will come....
My 30th birthday party.
A certain function room in the central city.
Friday, September 15th, early-mid evening til late.
More details including the precise location (which has been booked as of fifteen minutes ago) will follow in a much classier email/paper invite. If you are wondering if you'll get an invite, you probably will.
There will be a theme, and it is T-shirt oriented.
My 30th birthday party.
A certain function room in the central city.
Friday, September 15th, early-mid evening til late.
More details including the precise location (which has been booked as of fifteen minutes ago) will follow in a much classier email/paper invite. If you are wondering if you'll get an invite, you probably will.
There will be a theme, and it is T-shirt oriented.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
T-Shirt of the Week
Listening to: Hail to the thief-Radiohead
This weeks T is the legendary Hypercolor. For those who don't know or don't remember, the colour of these T's could change when subjected to heat. This particular one would develop pink patches depending on the heat generated by the wearer, usually across the chest and upper back, and below the arms. There were other colour combinations, like green/yellow, and brown/red I think. These were generally only worn by males, as female wearers could develop prominent, attention drawing, patches in the chest area.
These were popular in the early 1990's. I got mine in early 1992. After being initially disappointed with the colour, as I preferred something darker, I later grew to like it.
As cool as the hypercolor T's were, they suffered from one serious flaw. The colour changing element of the dye was not very robust. Sooner or later, all hypercolor T's stopped changing colour. Maybe you just weren't meant to wash them. Sadly, my T no longer changes colour, and is forever fixed at sky blue. The stains below the collar I think are paint. Or blood. I'm not sure which.
Process explanation here
I'm not sure about the colour combinations listed there. Mine was definitely blue/pink.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Random stuff
Listening to: Anthology disc 2-Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Thanks Ed for playing it at your party and inspiring me to listen to it again.
Had a good weekend, went to a couple of good parties (at one of which I finally found out exactly what Cal meant when she referred to me as milk chocolate, and decided on a most likely idea for my 30th) and a curios and collectables fair. Fi was fascinated by my knowledge of 1980's Matchbox Cars. Judging by the prices on offer, my near mint collection of about 100 cars which are currently stashed at my folks could sell for several hundred dollars. Which is kinda scary.
I had a cold all weekend, and took yesterday off to kill it finally. Which I have achieved, and had my first beer tonight in ages. I don't drink when I have colds. My sinuses (which I am reliably informed are far from ideal) can't handle booze when I have a cold. Plus decongestant medecines have a known catastrophic effect on my already low alcohol tolerance.
Netball was fun last night. The first half anyway, which is the half in which we won the game. The second half was a shambles, but the game was won by then, so we could afford a shambles. My indoor soccer team got smoked tonight, 8-3. I got one of the three (my fourth goal in two years), despite my usual position of full-time goalkeeper. I was on the field as one of our team can only play goal for fear of re-injury to a delicate knee. One player of the oppostion team got five of the goals. I'm not sure I am any good at indoor soccer. When I played outdoor I was a specialist defender/midfielder, and goalkeep. I have a reasonable defensive game, but no real attacking game. Indoor requires both a defensive and attacking game, as there aren't enough players to specialise. This is why I prefer keeping. The objective is clear (stop the ball any way you can, pass it out to your team, who will promptly score at the other end), and thanks to netball I have reasonably quick hand-to-ball reflexes (I am sometimes referred to as 'The ninja' by my team).
Fi didn't want to watch me play soccer, so scored two netball games with teams we recently retired from. I scored no freebies. I could have filled in for another team, but I watched them win 58-23 with only five players on the court ( 1 A), and figured I would have just slowed them down. Admittedly they had one of the best two point shooters I have ever seen (like a metronome). Tuesday night netball at Petone is either really mediocre or stratospheric when it comes to skill level. Lots of good players there.
Notkate has been prolificly posting in the past few days. Her latest list is most thought provoking. It will take me a little while to come up with ten things I really like about myself, but I like a challenge so will give it a go.
I like how ideas and inspirations like the above spread through the blogosphere. I love the written word, it allows for a clarity of expression I seldom attain verbally.
Had a good weekend, went to a couple of good parties (at one of which I finally found out exactly what Cal meant when she referred to me as milk chocolate, and decided on a most likely idea for my 30th) and a curios and collectables fair. Fi was fascinated by my knowledge of 1980's Matchbox Cars. Judging by the prices on offer, my near mint collection of about 100 cars which are currently stashed at my folks could sell for several hundred dollars. Which is kinda scary.
I had a cold all weekend, and took yesterday off to kill it finally. Which I have achieved, and had my first beer tonight in ages. I don't drink when I have colds. My sinuses (which I am reliably informed are far from ideal) can't handle booze when I have a cold. Plus decongestant medecines have a known catastrophic effect on my already low alcohol tolerance.
Netball was fun last night. The first half anyway, which is the half in which we won the game. The second half was a shambles, but the game was won by then, so we could afford a shambles. My indoor soccer team got smoked tonight, 8-3. I got one of the three (my fourth goal in two years), despite my usual position of full-time goalkeeper. I was on the field as one of our team can only play goal for fear of re-injury to a delicate knee. One player of the oppostion team got five of the goals. I'm not sure I am any good at indoor soccer. When I played outdoor I was a specialist defender/midfielder, and goalkeep. I have a reasonable defensive game, but no real attacking game. Indoor requires both a defensive and attacking game, as there aren't enough players to specialise. This is why I prefer keeping. The objective is clear (stop the ball any way you can, pass it out to your team, who will promptly score at the other end), and thanks to netball I have reasonably quick hand-to-ball reflexes (I am sometimes referred to as 'The ninja' by my team).
Fi didn't want to watch me play soccer, so scored two netball games with teams we recently retired from. I scored no freebies. I could have filled in for another team, but I watched them win 58-23 with only five players on the court ( 1 A), and figured I would have just slowed them down. Admittedly they had one of the best two point shooters I have ever seen (like a metronome). Tuesday night netball at Petone is either really mediocre or stratospheric when it comes to skill level. Lots of good players there.
Notkate has been prolificly posting in the past few days. Her latest list is most thought provoking. It will take me a little while to come up with ten things I really like about myself, but I like a challenge so will give it a go.
I like how ideas and inspirations like the above spread through the blogosphere. I love the written word, it allows for a clarity of expression I seldom attain verbally.
1985 redux
Listening to: Anthology disc 1-Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.Fi plays netball at the courts in Taita. Which are across the road from my primary school, St Michaels Catholic Church School. I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a while and show you what it looks like now. 2Treesandahorse should like this, as he attended also. We have known each other for a very long time. Anyway. things have changed a little since my final year of 1986 (standard four. The girls stayed to complete form two, but the boys were evicted after standard four, usually to go on to catholic boys intermediates such as St Bernards. The girls would usually go on to Sacred Heart College. Consequently, this was the only time I attended school with my elder sisters).
Everything is smaller now. The path (which is straight in reality) runs from the front gate past St Michaels church to the School at left. Visible at left are rooms 11 and 12, although the adjacent rooms 9 and 10 have disappeared, so I'm not sure if the numbering is the same. Rooms 9, 11 and 12 were mine. I never had my home class in the older rooms that make up the rest of the school. The fenceline in the background at right is the source of my '1985' post. Except it was a hedge then. In the far distance (beyond the rugby posts) there was a small building which has since disappeared. I never figured out what it was for, but it had bright paintings of cartoon characters on its inner walls. The huge gum trees in the foreground were young 3-4 metre tall saplings in my time, which were too small to climb (it's the trees that really show the passage of twenty years). They would attract Emperor moths (probably still do), with the attendant huge caterpillars, which were endless fascination.
Somewhere out on that field I lost my 'Kenner' Luke Skywalker's stormtrooper helmet. It's also the same field where I hit a home run at Danish Rounders, and beat Raymond Changtung in a sprint race to become (briefly) the fastest kid in school. On the days it was mowed we would build forts out of the grass clippings and throw wads of grass at each other (this was during my brief 1982-1986 non asthmatic/hayfevery period; probably couldn't do that now without the aid of large preemptive antihistamine doses). The rest of the school with its courtyards, other classrooms, library, admin and playground are out of shot to the left. The smaller field in the foreground is perfectly sized for games of bullrush or rugby.
I wouldn't mind visiting the school someday when its open, to see what the inside looks like now (smaller no doubt). That could be a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure one teacher from my era is still there.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
I like a good T-shirt
I love humorous or ironic T-shirts as a form of expression. I have many. I wear them because they make me smile and laugh, and amuse others when they see them (I often see people reading me and smiling). I can use them to say things for me that my reserved nature might otherwise prevent. Also they can be great conversation starters.
Here are but some of my collection, which some of you may recognise:
For the sake of sharing, every week or so I will try and profile one of my T's.
First T-shirt of the week is 'Kermit Klein'
I got this one in 1995, and still wear it occasionally, as due to baggy T's being fashionable a while ago, all of my old T's still fit ( I still wear T's I got in the 80's. You wouldn't know if I didn't tell you). Kermit was available in white or lime green. I went for the green, which is somewhat faded now. I liked the send up of Calvin Klein, and Kermits model pose. Plus Muppets are eternally cool. I wore it to the survivor party, and also removed it during my planned sacrificial eviction Both events are recorded in the video presumably.
Here are but some of my collection, which some of you may recognise:
For the sake of sharing, every week or so I will try and profile one of my T's.
First T-shirt of the week is 'Kermit Klein'
I got this one in 1995, and still wear it occasionally, as due to baggy T's being fashionable a while ago, all of my old T's still fit ( I still wear T's I got in the 80's. You wouldn't know if I didn't tell you). Kermit was available in white or lime green. I went for the green, which is somewhat faded now. I liked the send up of Calvin Klein, and Kermits model pose. Plus Muppets are eternally cool. I wore it to the survivor party, and also removed it during my planned sacrificial eviction Both events are recorded in the video presumably.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Heh heh, cool
Go here and for the next 24 hours or so you'll find me on the front page of the 'Modeling Madness' webzine, linked on my links as 'Primo plastic modelling site #1' My first published thing that isn't a letter to the editor. Told you I was a geek. I've already gotten emails from strangers complimenting my work, which is stoking as I don't get to share with other modellers very often.
Also cool is that Fi left a glass of wine out for me when I got home from work last night, and found my missing Sigur Ros CD for me. How cool is that?
My day has been made.
Also cool is that Fi left a glass of wine out for me when I got home from work last night, and found my missing Sigur Ros CD for me. How cool is that?
My day has been made.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Netball musings
Listening to:'Binaural'-Pearl Jam
Wow the last post was difficult.
I now turn to the easier topic of sport. Eventually I will delve into my sporting history as I'm sure you are all eager to read about it.
I'm still sore from last night's indoor netball game, where fill-in Phil tried to intercept a pass meant for me and instead connected with my testicles. Fi will be most relieved that I'm pretty sure that there is no permanent damage. Not really Phil's fault, just something that happened. Still owie owie though. Boys reading feel free to empathise, girls be thankful you don't have to deal with this as a day to day possibility, and then feel free to rant about how you put up with worse. I found last nights game difficult primarily for that reason, but also due to the umpire's style of not ruling contacts, pretty much ever. Still he did call people for stepping into me when I was shooting, which I appreciated. I now have the step away ploy to draw a foul from any foolish D who tries to follow down pat, to the point where it is almost automatic. I seem to be learning to adjust my shot correctly as well, thus becoming able to step away and still core from outside the circle. I thought I had a good game last night. I've got to get better at the calm and composed thing though. I hate that I get so worked up sometimes on court.
Played again tonight, as a fill in for the Tuesday team I recently quit. Shot some more twos, and enjoyed the game way more than Monday's. We lost, but I relaxed in the knowledge that the Monday team would have crushed our opposition tonight.
Fi and I succeeded in reducing our netball consumption by dropping Tuesday and Wednesday. We happy to fill in, but not having a fulltime commitment is kinda liberating.
Wow the last post was difficult.
I now turn to the easier topic of sport. Eventually I will delve into my sporting history as I'm sure you are all eager to read about it.
I'm still sore from last night's indoor netball game, where fill-in Phil tried to intercept a pass meant for me and instead connected with my testicles. Fi will be most relieved that I'm pretty sure that there is no permanent damage. Not really Phil's fault, just something that happened. Still owie owie though. Boys reading feel free to empathise, girls be thankful you don't have to deal with this as a day to day possibility, and then feel free to rant about how you put up with worse. I found last nights game difficult primarily for that reason, but also due to the umpire's style of not ruling contacts, pretty much ever. Still he did call people for stepping into me when I was shooting, which I appreciated. I now have the step away ploy to draw a foul from any foolish D who tries to follow down pat, to the point where it is almost automatic. I seem to be learning to adjust my shot correctly as well, thus becoming able to step away and still core from outside the circle. I thought I had a good game last night. I've got to get better at the calm and composed thing though. I hate that I get so worked up sometimes on court.
Played again tonight, as a fill in for the Tuesday team I recently quit. Shot some more twos, and enjoyed the game way more than Monday's. We lost, but I relaxed in the knowledge that the Monday team would have crushed our opposition tonight.
Fi and I succeeded in reducing our netball consumption by dropping Tuesday and Wednesday. We happy to fill in, but not having a fulltime commitment is kinda liberating.
Danny Boy
Listening to: 'Grace'-Jeff Buckley
My Dad's big brother Harry died last night from lung cancer, at the age of 76 (Dad's a bit upset naturally, but also philosophical). I confess I did not know Harry well, nor were we close, given that we lived on opposite sides of the world. I was only around him for a six week period in 1989-90, when my father and I visited his relatives in England. That's us in the photo on the Seaham breakwater, County Durham, Harry on the left, 13 year old me in the middle, Harry's dog 'Lady' on the right, in December 1989. As you can see (and those of you who have met my father can attest to this), height is not a strong trait in my family. At 13 I was taller than everyone I was related to in England.
Although all my memories of Harry are now 16 years old, they are good ones. He was fun to be around, always talking and telling stories (like my father), most of which I couldn't understand due to the accent and dialect of the english north-east. The first time I met him he said "So what do you think of us Geordies then?", which Dad had to translate for me before I could formulate a response. He had a lot of time for a 13 year old nephew he'd never met before.
We spent a lot of time at his place where he lived with his wife Kath while we were there. The photo was taken one morning when we took Lady for a walk. We wandered past pubs, and abandoned coal mines, each place with a story. Lady was one of the nicest dogs you could ever hope to meet. Friendly, not at all aggressive, well trained. She liked me because I gave her a lot of attention. We came across Harry walking her once and she ran straight over to me looking for a pat or a head scratch. Harry would sing 'Danny Boy', and Lady would yelp along with him. That song always makes me think of Harry and his dog. Lady must be long gone by now. I like to think she's waiting for him.
By the way, I'm not trying to neglect Harry's wife in all this. I just don't remember her as well. I do remember that she was pretty sharp, and also had a lot of time for me.
Harry was already sick when Dad last saw him in May. He said he wouldn't take painkillers "because I don't want to wake up dead!" Apparently his end was peaceful; he was found by his housekeeper in his chair in the lounge.
I would have liked to have known him better.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
What if and other questions
Listening to/watching: C4's 40 greatest #1's ever. I'd forgotten how great the video is for the Aerosmith/RunDMC remake of 'walk this way'...........
My great uncle, Michael Tarleton, signed up for the New Zealand 2nd Expeditionary Force during the first world war, the 'great' war as it was known, at least until until the second world war showed the world what greatness we were really capable of when it came to killing each other en masse. His story is part of an collection of stuff that includes several photos of long dead ancestors who look like me (which is kinda disturbing, even if highly logical), which we were looking at at my parents place earlier tonight.
He left New Zealand in March 1917. He was sent to a frontline unit in France on the 9th of July. On the 10th of August 1917 he was wounded. It is recorded that he reached a casualty clearing station, where he died, from a 'G.S.W penetrating, chest' (G.S.W-Gunshot wound I assume). The dates and details form part of the telegram sent to his mother in Dunedin to inform her of his death in action, which my mother has. It's a fairly terse document. Mum also has the clipping of his obituary from the local paper, alongside the other soldiers who died that week.
He was buried next to a Private Sautherly. Did they know each other when they were alive? If so did it occur to either of them that they would spend eternity together, thousands of miles from home? Did the German who shot him survive the war? How did he end his days? What if my great uncle had lived? Would he still have been around in 1976, when I was born? What would he say if you could have told him in 1917 that someone would be writing about him 89 years later?
I wonder about these what if things, when I'm not concentrating on what is, which is far more important. Still wondering can be a fun indulgence. I like the idea of endless parallel realities, where every possible outcome can occur.
What if I died in a car accident in 1995, a 'what if' that came very close to being a 'what is' (that's a whole future post in itself right there...) ? How would that have affected the lives of those around me? What if I had been merely maimed?
What if the Soviet Union had decided to act pre-emptively in late 1983 when its leadership thought (seriously) that the US and NATO were about to attack them? That one is somewhat unpleasant to ponder at length.
What if Labour hadn't won the 1984 election?
What if Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, JFK, had lived?
We'll never know.
My great uncle, Michael Tarleton, signed up for the New Zealand 2nd Expeditionary Force during the first world war, the 'great' war as it was known, at least until until the second world war showed the world what greatness we were really capable of when it came to killing each other en masse. His story is part of an collection of stuff that includes several photos of long dead ancestors who look like me (which is kinda disturbing, even if highly logical), which we were looking at at my parents place earlier tonight.
He left New Zealand in March 1917. He was sent to a frontline unit in France on the 9th of July. On the 10th of August 1917 he was wounded. It is recorded that he reached a casualty clearing station, where he died, from a 'G.S.W penetrating, chest' (G.S.W-Gunshot wound I assume). The dates and details form part of the telegram sent to his mother in Dunedin to inform her of his death in action, which my mother has. It's a fairly terse document. Mum also has the clipping of his obituary from the local paper, alongside the other soldiers who died that week.
He was buried next to a Private Sautherly. Did they know each other when they were alive? If so did it occur to either of them that they would spend eternity together, thousands of miles from home? Did the German who shot him survive the war? How did he end his days? What if my great uncle had lived? Would he still have been around in 1976, when I was born? What would he say if you could have told him in 1917 that someone would be writing about him 89 years later?
I wonder about these what if things, when I'm not concentrating on what is, which is far more important. Still wondering can be a fun indulgence. I like the idea of endless parallel realities, where every possible outcome can occur.
What if I died in a car accident in 1995, a 'what if' that came very close to being a 'what is' (that's a whole future post in itself right there...) ? How would that have affected the lives of those around me? What if I had been merely maimed?
What if the Soviet Union had decided to act pre-emptively in late 1983 when its leadership thought (seriously) that the US and NATO were about to attack them? That one is somewhat unpleasant to ponder at length.
What if Labour hadn't won the 1984 election?
What if Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, JFK, had lived?
We'll never know.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Man working
Listening to 'Urban Hymns'-The Verve. Can't believe this album is now nine years old.....
Just got home from Murphy's Irish Bar in Petone after having completely banjoed all opposition at the quiz night. I'm not sure of the final score, but ours was 92 or 93 out of a possible 110. Got the ponderous 2nd round for nine points, round scores were something like 10, 10, 9, 10, 7, 6, 9, 8.
Crazy.
I thought I'd show you all around my modelling workbench, otherwise known as the dining table. I've captioned it to help with the explanation. I'm working on two major projects at the moment, another 1/72 scale Skyhawk (the one mentioned in the Geekiness post), and a 1/24 model of my car. Observe the chaos at the top of the page.
Anyway, the explanation.
At left we have sandpaper of various grades. Since not all seams between are perfect, and real world objects generally don't have huge join lines running down them, ever finer grades of sandpaper are required, along with filler to make things nice and smooth. The finest grades of sandpaper can be used to sand clear plastic to remove flaws, which is a trick I've heard about, but never actally tried.
As the sand paper is 'wet and dry', a dish of water accompanies it (the water removes sanded material from the paper, maintaining its sanding ability.
Above the dish is the box the Skyhawk is in, with the assembled, sanded and primered rear fuselage sticking out. On the box is some painting instructions, and plastic sheet. Plastic sheet, as the name implies, is a thin sheet of the same plastic the models are made out of, and you use it to scratchbuild (make your own) parts if they are not in the kit.
Just below the water dish is plastic cement (glue), for plastic-plastic joins.
Below and around the glue are various MX-5 (car) sub assemblies. The under body has the suspension, engine, exhaust and stuff. It has been painted appropriately, and then sprayed with a tan colour like the tyres above to simulate road dirt (a process known in the hobby as 'weathering'. Making stuff look like it has been used, and thus more realistic). I made the floormats from plastic sheet, and they roughly match the ones in my 1/1 MX-5 parked outside, including the diamond plate. The kit I have of the MX-5 represents an earlier model than mine, and I have been doing a lot of scrtachbuilding to make it match. So far I have built the stereo, floormats and stiffening bar (the grey bit with white ends), and put in fake carpet. Still have to do the mudguards and seatbelts.
The Mcdonalds stirrer is incredibly handy for stirring paint, applying putty, or attaching small parts to for painting. Various restaurant and airline strirrers are scattered all over the table.
The steel ruler is essential for measuring and cutting things. Steel doesn't wear like a plastic or wooden ruler would, so it maintains a straight edge at all times.
The knife is the modellers multitool. Many, many uses, not least of which is cutting stuff, like plastic and fingers.
A cutting board is essential to protect the surface below your knife, and the grid helps with measuring and aligning. Visible above and to the right of the cutting board are the assembly instructions for the MX-5. These can often be treated as mere guidelines. Following these to the letter can actually work against you at times.
Next to the cutting board is another modellers friend, yesterdays news paper. Primarily there to soak up paint/glue spills before they reach something expensive.
At the top of the paper is gum glue for paper/plastic joins, and other stuff where plastic glue is inappropriate, like the fake carpet (which is fine fibre scattered onto a glue covered surface).
Since I use acrylic paints mostly, I have water for washing my brushes.
The tape has a multitude of uses. Masking things you dont want to paint, holding things together while glue dries etc.
Various paints are next to the tape.
Below the tape, a Skyhawk drop tank (right underneath the word 'tank') has been attached to a Mcdonalds stirrer, painted silver, then then masked with tape for another colour to be applied. Called a drop tank as it can be discarded from its aircraft in flight if need be.
Below the tank is a saw. For sawing things that would be too difficult or messy to cut with a knife. Next to the saw is a pencil, for marking where you want to cut stuff, or where you want to paint stuff, or for labelling similar looking bits so they aren't mixed up.
Super glue is used for plastic/metal, plastic/rubber, plastic/resin, or difficult plastic/plastic joins.
Tweezers are for delicate stuff, where fingers are too big or clumsy.
Sprue is what the parts come attached to. Molten plastic is injected into a mould along the 'framework' that is visible (this sprue has had most of its parts removed, the pointy bits show where they were), and goes on to fill the mould to form the kit parts. Hence the term 'injection moulding'.
The old cutting board is my familys old breadboard that is probably older than I am.
The marker pen is also used for marking cutting lines.
I have a range of brushes, from very broad to very fine, not all shown here. For applying paint obviously. Paint can also be sprayed on via an airbrush, or the spray cans visible at top right.
The scriber is used as a cutting aid, since it makes nice neat lines in the plastic, and removes its own debris so it doesn't jam itself like a knife blade does. Mainly used to reapply moulded detail you may have removed during sanding.
The grip is used to loosen the lids of paint jars if necessary.
Files are for, well, filing. Shaping stuff, finishing stuff, doing hardcore stuff that would either take ages or be impossible with sandpaper.
Caution: Man working here
Monday, July 24, 2006
Ramble on
Listening to: 'August and everything after'-Counting Crows.
I'll be thirty in about a month. I need help deciding on how I am going to mark the occasion.
Options include:
Renting out a Lighthouse cinema and screening a movie of my choice. Maybe 'Airplane'.
Coercing D3vo into letting me borrow his house and his mind (for ideas) for some kind of themed party.
Function room somewhere.
Restaurant somewhere.
Barbecue somewhere.Or you can all come over to my place and get drunk Hutt styles. It's only the Hutt. There's no need to be afraid....
I'll have to decide soon. Help me decide. Give me suggestions loyal readers.
Speaking of loyal readers, several nice people have said nice things about my missives, and even linked to them, which gives me validation and warm fuzzies. Heart to the nice peeps.
I found something I like about Winter (re the 'winter' post). You can sit out in the sun at lunchtime and not worry about getting sunburned. That and frosts. I deliberately walk across the grass on frosty days, so I can feel the ice crunch beneath my feet, and see the trail of my footfalls in the white.
I tried to think of ten dorky things, but really they were only 8 dorky things with repetitions.
On the way home from netball tonight we came across a recently deaded cat in the middle of Woburn road. I picked it up and placed it on the footpath, so that whoever is looking for it will find an intact dead pet, rather than a mashed dead pet. Seemed like the right thing to do.
At some point I will post about my sporting history, a la not-kate and morgue. It feels like the thing to do, as there are stories to tell. My story is not as illustrious as theirs however.
5 things that are frustrating me at the moment:
-Israels behaviour in the Lebanon. To a lesser extent, Hezbollah and Hamas' behaviour as well.
-The seemingly endless amount of largely meaningless paperwork I have to contend with at work.
-My continuing lack of self confidence, and associated badness of handling criticism.
-Winston Peters.
-The murders we seem to be capable of. Who beats to death a 66 year old woman? Who? Who kills a pair of three month olds? Who does these things? What sort of person does this?
Now listening to: 'Finn'-Neil and Tim Finn
I got about 250+ of my photos put on to CD last week, something I've been trying to get done since February, so I have a nice feeling of accomplishment. They are almost all of Skyhawks, in response to requests from the aviation forum I inhabit. One or two might even end up being published in a book. Which would be kinda cool.
I got selected for Jury Duty, but had to turn it down due to work needing me more. Which is a pity, as I enjoyed it last time I had to do it. I found it interesting.
Film festival is on again. Sigh. I got addicted to it when I was a student, but had to go cold turkey when I got a job in Upper Hutt, amongst other things. I make my fantasy picks from the programme, but seldom get to see much.
Shout out to Richie, who is currently journeying through Russia of all places, last heard from in St Petersburg. I travel vicariously through him. Still, he is single, and less spendy than I so finds travel somewhat easier to arrange than I do.
Currently putting together a trip to Sydney for Labour weekend with my Dad. Some fathers and sons bond through sport, or fishing, or careers. We go to airshows together. There's one happening near Sydney over that weekend which looks promising, and given that it costs about the same to go there as it does to go to the Wanaka show, we may as well.
I cunningly diverted the money that was until recently paying off my car into a new savings account, optimistically named 'House'. It's easy once you learn to live without it. It's not much but it is a start.
I'll be thirty in about a month. I need help deciding on how I am going to mark the occasion.
Options include:
Renting out a Lighthouse cinema and screening a movie of my choice. Maybe 'Airplane'.
Coercing D3vo into letting me borrow his house and his mind (for ideas) for some kind of themed party.
Function room somewhere.
Restaurant somewhere.
Barbecue somewhere.Or you can all come over to my place and get drunk Hutt styles. It's only the Hutt. There's no need to be afraid....
I'll have to decide soon. Help me decide. Give me suggestions loyal readers.
Speaking of loyal readers, several nice people have said nice things about my missives, and even linked to them, which gives me validation and warm fuzzies. Heart to the nice peeps.
I found something I like about Winter (re the 'winter' post). You can sit out in the sun at lunchtime and not worry about getting sunburned. That and frosts. I deliberately walk across the grass on frosty days, so I can feel the ice crunch beneath my feet, and see the trail of my footfalls in the white.
I tried to think of ten dorky things, but really they were only 8 dorky things with repetitions.
On the way home from netball tonight we came across a recently deaded cat in the middle of Woburn road. I picked it up and placed it on the footpath, so that whoever is looking for it will find an intact dead pet, rather than a mashed dead pet. Seemed like the right thing to do.
At some point I will post about my sporting history, a la not-kate and morgue. It feels like the thing to do, as there are stories to tell. My story is not as illustrious as theirs however.
5 things that are frustrating me at the moment:
-Israels behaviour in the Lebanon. To a lesser extent, Hezbollah and Hamas' behaviour as well.
-The seemingly endless amount of largely meaningless paperwork I have to contend with at work.
-My continuing lack of self confidence, and associated badness of handling criticism.
-Winston Peters.
-The murders we seem to be capable of. Who beats to death a 66 year old woman? Who? Who kills a pair of three month olds? Who does these things? What sort of person does this?
Now listening to: 'Finn'-Neil and Tim Finn
I got about 250+ of my photos put on to CD last week, something I've been trying to get done since February, so I have a nice feeling of accomplishment. They are almost all of Skyhawks, in response to requests from the aviation forum I inhabit. One or two might even end up being published in a book. Which would be kinda cool.
I got selected for Jury Duty, but had to turn it down due to work needing me more. Which is a pity, as I enjoyed it last time I had to do it. I found it interesting.
Film festival is on again. Sigh. I got addicted to it when I was a student, but had to go cold turkey when I got a job in Upper Hutt, amongst other things. I make my fantasy picks from the programme, but seldom get to see much.
Shout out to Richie, who is currently journeying through Russia of all places, last heard from in St Petersburg. I travel vicariously through him. Still, he is single, and less spendy than I so finds travel somewhat easier to arrange than I do.
Currently putting together a trip to Sydney for Labour weekend with my Dad. Some fathers and sons bond through sport, or fishing, or careers. We go to airshows together. There's one happening near Sydney over that weekend which looks promising, and given that it costs about the same to go there as it does to go to the Wanaka show, we may as well.
I cunningly diverted the money that was until recently paying off my car into a new savings account, optimistically named 'House'. It's easy once you learn to live without it. It's not much but it is a start.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
1985
Listening to: 'Little Creatures'- Talking Heads
In 1985 I was in standard three at Saint Michaels Catholic Primary School in Taita. One warm spring lunchtime I was out on the sports field. I looked around at the green grass, the hedge that marked the edge of the property, the blue sky with wispy cloud in it, my schoolmates playing, and said to myself, "I want to remember this moment in 1985". Why this would even occur to a nine year old as something to do is beyond me. But I did, and thus I remember.
Some things I remember from 1985:
-Being woken up late at night and taken outside to see more stars than I ever had before, and having the small pale smudge that was Halley's comet pointed out to me by my Dad.
-The Cold War. Since the issue of nuclear weapons had been so significant in the election the previous year, a lot of us kids worried about not getting to grow up. The glasnost thaw wouldn't begin until the next year. The early to mid eighties were a scary time.
-Going to see 'Back to the Future', and telling a friend about it. She told me her dad wouldn't let her go and see it because it had bad language in it.
-Getting a Transformer for Christmas, and deliberately playing with it in the family photo.
-Going to Auckland for our family Christmas holiday.
-The fortieth anniversary of the end of World War two being commemorated.
-Saving up pocket money to buy Corgi cars from the Taita bookshop.
-The music. 1985 was a really good year for 80's music. Ready to Roll was required viewing at 6:00pm on a Saturday night.
-My sister's bike being stolen from our garage.
-Talking with my grandmother and her sister about what life was like when they were growing up. My grandmother died in 1987, her sister in 1992.
-The big winter storm that cut power to our house, and dad cooking breakfast on a portable gas stove on top of the oven.
-Going to the opening of the BNZ centre, and losing my helium balloon. I was very proud that Wellington had the tallest building in the country.
-Going to the airport to see the first Qantas Boeing 767 service arrive at Wellington airport.
-Crowding around the stereo with my family listening to my first radio broadcast in stereo as 2ZM became ZMFM (now 91ZM).
In 1985:
-None of my cousins had yet had children (theres now about a dozen)
-Our family cat Blossom was 2. She would live to be 17. We acquired two rabbits for my sister, Radar (albino), and Frisky (black/brown).
-Our family cars were a brown Mazda 929, and a bright yellow Mini 1000.
-We didn't have a VCR. We did have a push button phone though.
-Train stations still had little shops where you could buy papers and sweets.
-Queensgate was still being built.
I'm not sure why I'm reminiscing about life 21 years ago, but here endeth the ramble anyway.
In 1985 I was in standard three at Saint Michaels Catholic Primary School in Taita. One warm spring lunchtime I was out on the sports field. I looked around at the green grass, the hedge that marked the edge of the property, the blue sky with wispy cloud in it, my schoolmates playing, and said to myself, "I want to remember this moment in 1985". Why this would even occur to a nine year old as something to do is beyond me. But I did, and thus I remember.
Some things I remember from 1985:
-Being woken up late at night and taken outside to see more stars than I ever had before, and having the small pale smudge that was Halley's comet pointed out to me by my Dad.
-The Cold War. Since the issue of nuclear weapons had been so significant in the election the previous year, a lot of us kids worried about not getting to grow up. The glasnost thaw wouldn't begin until the next year. The early to mid eighties were a scary time.
-Going to see 'Back to the Future', and telling a friend about it. She told me her dad wouldn't let her go and see it because it had bad language in it.
-Getting a Transformer for Christmas, and deliberately playing with it in the family photo.
-Going to Auckland for our family Christmas holiday.
-The fortieth anniversary of the end of World War two being commemorated.
-Saving up pocket money to buy Corgi cars from the Taita bookshop.
-The music. 1985 was a really good year for 80's music. Ready to Roll was required viewing at 6:00pm on a Saturday night.
-My sister's bike being stolen from our garage.
-Talking with my grandmother and her sister about what life was like when they were growing up. My grandmother died in 1987, her sister in 1992.
-The big winter storm that cut power to our house, and dad cooking breakfast on a portable gas stove on top of the oven.
-Going to the opening of the BNZ centre, and losing my helium balloon. I was very proud that Wellington had the tallest building in the country.
-Going to the airport to see the first Qantas Boeing 767 service arrive at Wellington airport.
-Crowding around the stereo with my family listening to my first radio broadcast in stereo as 2ZM became ZMFM (now 91ZM).
In 1985:
-None of my cousins had yet had children (theres now about a dozen)
-Our family cat Blossom was 2. She would live to be 17. We acquired two rabbits for my sister, Radar (albino), and Frisky (black/brown).
-Our family cars were a brown Mazda 929, and a bright yellow Mini 1000.
-We didn't have a VCR. We did have a push button phone though.
-Train stations still had little shops where you could buy papers and sweets.
-Queensgate was still being built.
I'm not sure why I'm reminiscing about life 21 years ago, but here endeth the ramble anyway.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Top ten exemption
See not-kate for the origin of this particular random missive. Not in order.
1. "Titanic" era Kate Winslet
2.Rachel Weisz
3.Petra Bagust
4.Karen Olsen
5.Claire Danes
6.Franke Potente
7.Alison Mau
8.Sarah Ulmer
9.Janeane Garofalo
10. Shirley Manson
Also rans: Julia Deans, Julie Delphy, Winona Ryder, Uma Thurman, Kim Deal, Irene Van Dyk, The Evers-Swindell twins, Barbara Kendall, Samantha Mathis, Madeline Sami, Helena Bonham Carter, Phobe Spiers, Michelle Yeoh, Sarah Mclachlan.
Reasons will be proffered upon request.
1. "Titanic" era Kate Winslet
2.Rachel Weisz
3.Petra Bagust
4.Karen Olsen
5.Claire Danes
6.Franke Potente
7.Alison Mau
8.Sarah Ulmer
9.Janeane Garofalo
10. Shirley Manson
Also rans: Julia Deans, Julie Delphy, Winona Ryder, Uma Thurman, Kim Deal, Irene Van Dyk, The Evers-Swindell twins, Barbara Kendall, Samantha Mathis, Madeline Sami, Helena Bonham Carter, Phobe Spiers, Michelle Yeoh, Sarah Mclachlan.
Reasons will be proffered upon request.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Spooks just wanna have fun
Listening to: Fish and Kirsten watching 'Must love dogs'Area 51 has a baseball diamond (top right).
I know its a standard feature of US military bases. Still I love the incongruity of it.
Secret base, middle of nowhere, what does one do with free time? Do they have a league? Is it social or serious?
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Rant o rama
Listening to: 'Higher ++ '-HDU
I don't mind that people smoke at work, what annoys me is that the only designated smoking area on site (thus the only place they are allowed to smoke) is right in front of the cafeteria doors. The doors are under a verandah, and I hold my breath from the time I approach the verandah until I get safely through the doors (about five paces), so as not to inhale the clouds of filth that the smokers produce. I don't care if they mess up their own lungs, I object to my lungs being messed up due to them exercising their 'rights'.
Still, me and my non-smoking co-workers get to sit inside on cold wet days and point and laugh at the smokers outside.
I don't care if you smoke. Just don't make it compulsory by smoking in my presence.
So the traffic guy and the morning guy on Active were raving about this great documentary "Loose Change" this morning.
*SIGH*
My moan about LC is that it was made by people demonstrably ignorant of the subjects they were discussing, who made no apparent effort to address their ignorance, and it is being lapped up by people who, through no fault of their own, don't know any better. Not trying to insult anyone here, but that is my opinion. The problem with conspiracy theories is that they can't be disproved. They don't suffer from the burden of proof. Any disproof offered is likely to be just 'part of the conspiracy'.
I have to go back to work in a hour. Yes, at this hour. I have an interesting job sometimes.
Fishy is in Blenheim for the night, catching up with her sister, brother-in-law, and niece. I'm alone again.
I don't mind that people smoke at work, what annoys me is that the only designated smoking area on site (thus the only place they are allowed to smoke) is right in front of the cafeteria doors. The doors are under a verandah, and I hold my breath from the time I approach the verandah until I get safely through the doors (about five paces), so as not to inhale the clouds of filth that the smokers produce. I don't care if they mess up their own lungs, I object to my lungs being messed up due to them exercising their 'rights'.
Still, me and my non-smoking co-workers get to sit inside on cold wet days and point and laugh at the smokers outside.
I don't care if you smoke. Just don't make it compulsory by smoking in my presence.
So the traffic guy and the morning guy on Active were raving about this great documentary "Loose Change" this morning.
*SIGH*
My moan about LC is that it was made by people demonstrably ignorant of the subjects they were discussing, who made no apparent effort to address their ignorance, and it is being lapped up by people who, through no fault of their own, don't know any better. Not trying to insult anyone here, but that is my opinion. The problem with conspiracy theories is that they can't be disproved. They don't suffer from the burden of proof. Any disproof offered is likely to be just 'part of the conspiracy'.
I have to go back to work in a hour. Yes, at this hour. I have an interesting job sometimes.
Fishy is in Blenheim for the night, catching up with her sister, brother-in-law, and niece. I'm alone again.
DreamTime
Listening to: 'Diesel and Dust'-Midnight Oil
Note: If you haven't seen Richard Linklaters philosophical meditation on dreaming 'Waking life', this post won't make much sense.
So after rewatching 'Waking Life' last week, I tried to give this Lucid Dreaming thing a try. One of the fundamental ideas propounded was that in dreams, light levels are non-adjustable, and this can be a clue that you are dreaming if you are experiencing a particularly realistic dream (another being unable to tell the time).
So anyway, I was dreaming the other night, and being aware that I was dreaming, decided to try a little experiment (I know this was a dream, I was riding a pushbike to work in my underwear, and the building next to me was on fire).
On the wall there was a light switch. I turned it off.........
And the lights went out. So light levels in dreams are adjustable (at least in that particular reality). Thrilled with my new found powers of dream manipulation, my next experiment was to see if I could influence all the women inhabiting my dream to take off their clothes. While this had promising beginnings, unfortunately the alarm clock intervened before this experiment could run its full course. The next step was to see if I could fly.
So. Was the light/dream theory incorrect? Or was I just able to manipulate my surroundings due to being aware I may not be able to? Was my test self defeating/self proving?
Who knows. I generally enjoy my dreams, and look forward to them. I seldom have bad dreams, and even less true nightmares. I have had one or two recurring dreams since childhood. I usually remember my dreams for a day or two. I love that we dream.
Note: If you haven't seen Richard Linklaters philosophical meditation on dreaming 'Waking life', this post won't make much sense.
So after rewatching 'Waking Life' last week, I tried to give this Lucid Dreaming thing a try. One of the fundamental ideas propounded was that in dreams, light levels are non-adjustable, and this can be a clue that you are dreaming if you are experiencing a particularly realistic dream (another being unable to tell the time).
So anyway, I was dreaming the other night, and being aware that I was dreaming, decided to try a little experiment (I know this was a dream, I was riding a pushbike to work in my underwear, and the building next to me was on fire).
On the wall there was a light switch. I turned it off.........
And the lights went out. So light levels in dreams are adjustable (at least in that particular reality). Thrilled with my new found powers of dream manipulation, my next experiment was to see if I could influence all the women inhabiting my dream to take off their clothes. While this had promising beginnings, unfortunately the alarm clock intervened before this experiment could run its full course. The next step was to see if I could fly.
So. Was the light/dream theory incorrect? Or was I just able to manipulate my surroundings due to being aware I may not be able to? Was my test self defeating/self proving?
Who knows. I generally enjoy my dreams, and look forward to them. I seldom have bad dreams, and even less true nightmares. I have had one or two recurring dreams since childhood. I usually remember my dreams for a day or two. I love that we dream.
Friday, July 07, 2006
News in brief
Listening to: 'Black Love'-The Afghan Whigs
Drinking: Grolsch
Fan celebrates ten year association with favourite band
Off-black, blogger, of Lower Hutt, recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of discovering one of his favourite bands, The Afghan Whigs. Off-black found the band after repeated airing of the video for single 'Honky's Ladder' on Sky's Juice TV music channel, or 'Orange' as it was known at the time. "It was the winter of 1996", the blogger related, "and I was single, and a student. It was only natural that I would spend a lot of time watching music videos late at night. I noticed this song that had this crazy video with pimps and lawyers and angels, grooving bassline, pounding drums and loud guitars, with a key lyric of "got you where I want you motherf***er". I was taping music videos at the time, and watched this one a lot as the song totally hooked me."
On the basis of the single, Off-black would subsequently purchase the american alternative rockers 1996 release "Black Love". "It was so the right album at the right time for me personally", he said, "I was going through, lets say, a difficult time in my life, and the lyrical content of celebration, love, hope, anger and alienation really spoke to me. The first track, "Crime scene part one", instantly became a favourite. Tracks two and three, "My enemy", and "Doubleday" combine to make one of the best openings of my CD collection. The 8 minute epic "Faded" is one of the best closers". Off-black then went on to recall "I was doing work experience at the Wallaceville Agresearch facility at the time, and I would listen to the album on my walkman while I was on the train."
Purchased initially on cassette tape in 1996, Off-black would later obtain the album on CD, purchasing a promotional copy, clearly marked 'not for sale' at Lower Hutt's Wonderland records. The bands classic 1993 release "Gentlemen" soon followed. Eventually Off-black would acquire most of the bands back catalogue. He would not comment on a rumour that he finds the pre "Gentlemen" material somewhat less developed and accessible, and prefers the bands later offerings. Off-black would also not be drawn on another rumour that he thinks that 1998 release "1965" may in fact be a better album than "Black Love", with such strong material as "66", "Crazy", and "Cite soleil". He did say that "1965" was slightly more suitable for roadtrips than either "Gentlemen" or "Black Love".
The Afghan Whigs broke up some time after "1965", but lead singer Greg Dulli's "Twilight singers" project also appealed to Off-black, leading to his acquisition of their first album "Twilight" after hearing it in a music store in 2001, and the 2003 release "Blackberry belle", continuing a now decade long association with the group.
Sun comes out, Wellingtonians confused
In a magnanimous gesture, the sun came out for the first time in several days, possibly as part of a PR campaign to remind residents of Wellington and surrounding districts that it still, in fact, exists. The sun appeared mid morning, and remained present for most of the subsequent daylight hours on Friday, before disappearing at approximately 5pm.
Residents were confused by this sudden change of heart, given the 3 days of flood and landslide causing rain that preceded it. "The residents were confused", one local was quoted as saying.
Man goes to wrong theatre to see DJ movie
Lower Hutt man Off-black asked for a ticket to DJ mockumentary "It's all gone Pete Tong" at the Rialto cinema complex earlier this evening, before realising the comedy about a deaf DJ was in fact playing at the Paramount. Discussing the incident later he said "the listings were side by side in the paper. I must have got them confused. Maybe there are too many cinemas in Wellington". Arriving at the Paramount, it was confirmed that this was the correct cinema, and Off-black successfully enjoyed the movie, as well as a nice bottle of lager, "It was damn funny" he said. "I thought the 'Cocaine Badger' was classic." When asked about a similar mistaken identity incident at the Realm tavern in Haitatai the previous night, as related by not-kate however, he abruptly ended the interview.
Cause of arm problem assessed
After consulting a physiotherapist, the cause of the arm pain recently experienced by Off-black (see previous post), could not be definitively determined. In the physiothearpists opinion, the pain was most likely caused by a muscle or tendon strain about the right shoulder, causing transmitted pain in the shoulder and upper right arm. This strain likely caused stretching of a nerve in the lower arm, leading to acute pain in the right forearm. The pain disappeared after a day or two.
Drinking: Grolsch
Fan celebrates ten year association with favourite band
Off-black, blogger, of Lower Hutt, recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of discovering one of his favourite bands, The Afghan Whigs. Off-black found the band after repeated airing of the video for single 'Honky's Ladder' on Sky's Juice TV music channel, or 'Orange' as it was known at the time. "It was the winter of 1996", the blogger related, "and I was single, and a student. It was only natural that I would spend a lot of time watching music videos late at night. I noticed this song that had this crazy video with pimps and lawyers and angels, grooving bassline, pounding drums and loud guitars, with a key lyric of "got you where I want you motherf***er". I was taping music videos at the time, and watched this one a lot as the song totally hooked me."
On the basis of the single, Off-black would subsequently purchase the american alternative rockers 1996 release "Black Love". "It was so the right album at the right time for me personally", he said, "I was going through, lets say, a difficult time in my life, and the lyrical content of celebration, love, hope, anger and alienation really spoke to me. The first track, "Crime scene part one", instantly became a favourite. Tracks two and three, "My enemy", and "Doubleday" combine to make one of the best openings of my CD collection. The 8 minute epic "Faded" is one of the best closers". Off-black then went on to recall "I was doing work experience at the Wallaceville Agresearch facility at the time, and I would listen to the album on my walkman while I was on the train."
Purchased initially on cassette tape in 1996, Off-black would later obtain the album on CD, purchasing a promotional copy, clearly marked 'not for sale' at Lower Hutt's Wonderland records. The bands classic 1993 release "Gentlemen" soon followed. Eventually Off-black would acquire most of the bands back catalogue. He would not comment on a rumour that he finds the pre "Gentlemen" material somewhat less developed and accessible, and prefers the bands later offerings. Off-black would also not be drawn on another rumour that he thinks that 1998 release "1965" may in fact be a better album than "Black Love", with such strong material as "66", "Crazy", and "Cite soleil". He did say that "1965" was slightly more suitable for roadtrips than either "Gentlemen" or "Black Love".
The Afghan Whigs broke up some time after "1965", but lead singer Greg Dulli's "Twilight singers" project also appealed to Off-black, leading to his acquisition of their first album "Twilight" after hearing it in a music store in 2001, and the 2003 release "Blackberry belle", continuing a now decade long association with the group.
Sun comes out, Wellingtonians confused
In a magnanimous gesture, the sun came out for the first time in several days, possibly as part of a PR campaign to remind residents of Wellington and surrounding districts that it still, in fact, exists. The sun appeared mid morning, and remained present for most of the subsequent daylight hours on Friday, before disappearing at approximately 5pm.
Residents were confused by this sudden change of heart, given the 3 days of flood and landslide causing rain that preceded it. "The residents were confused", one local was quoted as saying.
Man goes to wrong theatre to see DJ movie
Lower Hutt man Off-black asked for a ticket to DJ mockumentary "It's all gone Pete Tong" at the Rialto cinema complex earlier this evening, before realising the comedy about a deaf DJ was in fact playing at the Paramount. Discussing the incident later he said "the listings were side by side in the paper. I must have got them confused. Maybe there are too many cinemas in Wellington". Arriving at the Paramount, it was confirmed that this was the correct cinema, and Off-black successfully enjoyed the movie, as well as a nice bottle of lager, "It was damn funny" he said. "I thought the 'Cocaine Badger' was classic." When asked about a similar mistaken identity incident at the Realm tavern in Haitatai the previous night, as related by not-kate however, he abruptly ended the interview.
Cause of arm problem assessed
After consulting a physiotherapist, the cause of the arm pain recently experienced by Off-black (see previous post), could not be definitively determined. In the physiothearpists opinion, the pain was most likely caused by a muscle or tendon strain about the right shoulder, causing transmitted pain in the shoulder and upper right arm. This strain likely caused stretching of a nerve in the lower arm, leading to acute pain in the right forearm. The pain disappeared after a day or two.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
A dark and stormy night
Listening to: Cinematic-Cinematic
Well it is. It's night, so by definition it is dark, unless you're in a polar region in summer, which I'm not. And it certainly is stormy. The southerly is howling and whining around the house like a sad lonely dog. So I sit beside the heater and blog.
Spoke to Fishy earlier. She left home just in time to develop a nasty cold. She sounds not very well. Missing having her around.
I got validation and affirmation from a totally unexpected source earlier in the evening. Early in what was my last official game for my Tuesday netball team, I was lining up a shot from outside the circle. The D was getting in my face a little so I stepped away (a defender must be three feet away from your first grounded foot, and if you step away onto your other foot, they cannot follow). The D followed (should have instantly been called for obstruction, wasn't), and then fell into me (again should have been penalised, wasn't). As I was taking the shot, the whistle blew, and the umpire called me for 'held ball' (the ball can only be possessed for three seconds, probably a fair enough call by that time). Slightly miffed I cried 'falling in umpire', as the ball disappeared up the court. This getting no response, I muttered 'f***in bullsh*t' in response to my team mates query about how we lost the ball (I often have trouble with the inner monologue thing during competitive sport) . At the quarter break the umpire called me over. I thought I was to be chastised for undermining her authority, but instead she said I was right to query the call in not penalising the D, as in hindsight it was incorrect, and apologised, admitting it probably cost us a couple of points. In all my playing days, this has never happened before. I was so stunned I could only say 'that's alright; thank you' in a sheepish polite voice. I had my superleague shorts on, which the umpire recognised as she had also played superleague, and this may have had something to do with it.
Between quarters we discussed superleague in general, and the game we were playing, which was very clean and polite, in large part due to the umpire being really good. Having mentioned that I played for the lowest superleague team, the umpire then said that everyone starts somewhere, and that I was a good player, with a very clean game. It's very stoking to get validation like that from a source like that. I've played two games this week and feel I played well in both of them. This is important, as I have a very erratic self impression of my sporting ability (which I think stems from not having much at high school, and being hassled for it.I was a late developer in many respects). Sometimes I think I'm quite good at netball in particular, most of the time I don't. Were it not for not-kate, fishy and ms_netball's exhortations I never would have played superleague. Umm thanks guys, er girls.
For the record we came from 7-0 down to win 21-18. Sure they only had five players, but player for player they were way better than us. I shut down their best A when I was on D (after playing 3 C's, and shooting about 60% for maybe 8-12 points) though, which was fun and rewarding. By the way, never believe a team that calls itself 'Rookies'. They almost never are.
I have pulled something in my right shoulder/upper arm, in an 'injury you don't notice at the time, but which manifests later' sort of way. It isn't quite working right. I noticed this at work, when I almost dropped the cue while playing pool due the to weird pain I was experiencing whenever I drew my arm back for a shot. I think it may be a muscular thing.
When it comes to comments, I'm with homeperm right now. I have noticed I don't accrue comments at nearly the rate that my immediate blogosphere whanau do. I have no idea how many people actually read this stuff. It's not really about comments, mind. It's about expression dude...
Well it is. It's night, so by definition it is dark, unless you're in a polar region in summer, which I'm not. And it certainly is stormy. The southerly is howling and whining around the house like a sad lonely dog. So I sit beside the heater and blog.
Spoke to Fishy earlier. She left home just in time to develop a nasty cold. She sounds not very well. Missing having her around.
I got validation and affirmation from a totally unexpected source earlier in the evening. Early in what was my last official game for my Tuesday netball team, I was lining up a shot from outside the circle. The D was getting in my face a little so I stepped away (a defender must be three feet away from your first grounded foot, and if you step away onto your other foot, they cannot follow). The D followed (should have instantly been called for obstruction, wasn't), and then fell into me (again should have been penalised, wasn't). As I was taking the shot, the whistle blew, and the umpire called me for 'held ball' (the ball can only be possessed for three seconds, probably a fair enough call by that time). Slightly miffed I cried 'falling in umpire', as the ball disappeared up the court. This getting no response, I muttered 'f***in bullsh*t' in response to my team mates query about how we lost the ball (I often have trouble with the inner monologue thing during competitive sport) . At the quarter break the umpire called me over. I thought I was to be chastised for undermining her authority, but instead she said I was right to query the call in not penalising the D, as in hindsight it was incorrect, and apologised, admitting it probably cost us a couple of points. In all my playing days, this has never happened before. I was so stunned I could only say 'that's alright; thank you' in a sheepish polite voice. I had my superleague shorts on, which the umpire recognised as she had also played superleague, and this may have had something to do with it.
Between quarters we discussed superleague in general, and the game we were playing, which was very clean and polite, in large part due to the umpire being really good. Having mentioned that I played for the lowest superleague team, the umpire then said that everyone starts somewhere, and that I was a good player, with a very clean game. It's very stoking to get validation like that from a source like that. I've played two games this week and feel I played well in both of them. This is important, as I have a very erratic self impression of my sporting ability (which I think stems from not having much at high school, and being hassled for it.I was a late developer in many respects). Sometimes I think I'm quite good at netball in particular, most of the time I don't. Were it not for not-kate, fishy and ms_netball's exhortations I never would have played superleague. Umm thanks guys, er girls.
For the record we came from 7-0 down to win 21-18. Sure they only had five players, but player for player they were way better than us. I shut down their best A when I was on D (after playing 3 C's, and shooting about 60% for maybe 8-12 points) though, which was fun and rewarding. By the way, never believe a team that calls itself 'Rookies'. They almost never are.
I have pulled something in my right shoulder/upper arm, in an 'injury you don't notice at the time, but which manifests later' sort of way. It isn't quite working right. I noticed this at work, when I almost dropped the cue while playing pool due the to weird pain I was experiencing whenever I drew my arm back for a shot. I think it may be a muscular thing.
When it comes to comments, I'm with homeperm right now. I have noticed I don't accrue comments at nearly the rate that my immediate blogosphere whanau do. I have no idea how many people actually read this stuff. It's not really about comments, mind. It's about expression dude...
Monday, July 03, 2006
Monday night
Listening to: 'Houses of the Holy'-Led Zeppelin
Curious fact. The well known Led Zeppelin song 'Houses of the Holy', is not actually on the album of the same name. At least it isn't on my copy anyway.
It's Monday night. Fishy is at a choirschool in Masterton for the week. Masterton is one of my least favourite towns. I just don't get the place. Still, it has the Old Stick And Rudder Company and the SVAS at Hood Aerodrome on the outskirts of town, who put on a great airshow every couple of years. Other than that, well, it holds few attractions.
I am alone for the week, with only a rat for company. I talk to the rat sometimes, but he isn't very good conversation, e.g:
Me: "Wee-man it's 1am. Will you quit with the scampering and pushing your foodbowl around and generally making too much damn noise! Why are you even awake?"
WM: "I'm nocturnal, dickhead. That means I am a night person. I live for the night dude. Is that food?"
M:"Is what food?"
WM:"I dunno. I expect you to bring me food, so you must be carrying food. See how I'm up on my hind legs trying to sniff my way out of the cage? I'm going for the food man."
M:"I have no food. I just came to pay you some attention so you'd shut up and I can get some sleep."
WM:"That's just a story you made up to trick me into thinking you had no food. Seriously, where is it? Don't make me crawl up inside your sleeve to try and find it."
M: "There is food in your bowl."
WM:"I know. I'm after the treats man, the gourmet stuff. I know you have it somewhere. And don't you dare say how cute I look when I'm begging."
M:"Seriously, you'll have to wait 'til morning."
WM:"Nah, nah, you're still hiding something. Give me a treat now, and I'll put in a good word for you when the revolution comes."
M:"If I pat your head for a bit will you calm down?"
WM:"Maybe. Some food would definitely induce calmness though."
Etc etc.
The not-kate is having flatmate issues. Yerghh. Been there, done that. I can think of better ways to spend an evening. Empathy girl! Be calm and strong. You will prevail.
Had a cool weekend. Nice dinner on Friday with Fishy's workmates. 30th on Saturday, which I snuck away from to watch the fireworks at Petone. I watched from the concrete block things next to the tugboat restaurant. The water lapped quietly on the concrete as I watched the distant pyrotechnics, accompanied by somewhat disconnected cracks and booms due to the distance. The 30th was nice and relaxed, in a nice cosy venue. From there we snuck away to another party, strongerlights. There it was established that while fishy is a queen, Twotreesandahorse is a deity, Anna is an angel, and I am a legend. I met the hottieperm, but I can't remember if she gained a status other than 'Honorary hutt boy', that title being conferred by D3vo. Also Pip is a lovely dog. Fun party. Quote of the night goes to Brad, who opined after the third person in a row walked into strongerlight's room and asked "whose room is this", that "this is getting like a sitcom".
Rewatched 'Waking Life' with the crew last night. Still interesting.
Getting late, the pumpkin awaits, so I shall sign off.
Curious fact. The well known Led Zeppelin song 'Houses of the Holy', is not actually on the album of the same name. At least it isn't on my copy anyway.
It's Monday night. Fishy is at a choirschool in Masterton for the week. Masterton is one of my least favourite towns. I just don't get the place. Still, it has the Old Stick And Rudder Company and the SVAS at Hood Aerodrome on the outskirts of town, who put on a great airshow every couple of years. Other than that, well, it holds few attractions.
I am alone for the week, with only a rat for company. I talk to the rat sometimes, but he isn't very good conversation, e.g:
Me: "Wee-man it's 1am. Will you quit with the scampering and pushing your foodbowl around and generally making too much damn noise! Why are you even awake?"
WM: "I'm nocturnal, dickhead. That means I am a night person. I live for the night dude. Is that food?"
M:"Is what food?"
WM:"I dunno. I expect you to bring me food, so you must be carrying food. See how I'm up on my hind legs trying to sniff my way out of the cage? I'm going for the food man."
M:"I have no food. I just came to pay you some attention so you'd shut up and I can get some sleep."
WM:"That's just a story you made up to trick me into thinking you had no food. Seriously, where is it? Don't make me crawl up inside your sleeve to try and find it."
M: "There is food in your bowl."
WM:"I know. I'm after the treats man, the gourmet stuff. I know you have it somewhere. And don't you dare say how cute I look when I'm begging."
M:"Seriously, you'll have to wait 'til morning."
WM:"Nah, nah, you're still hiding something. Give me a treat now, and I'll put in a good word for you when the revolution comes."
M:"If I pat your head for a bit will you calm down?"
WM:"Maybe. Some food would definitely induce calmness though."
Etc etc.
The not-kate is having flatmate issues. Yerghh. Been there, done that. I can think of better ways to spend an evening. Empathy girl! Be calm and strong. You will prevail.
Had a cool weekend. Nice dinner on Friday with Fishy's workmates. 30th on Saturday, which I snuck away from to watch the fireworks at Petone. I watched from the concrete block things next to the tugboat restaurant. The water lapped quietly on the concrete as I watched the distant pyrotechnics, accompanied by somewhat disconnected cracks and booms due to the distance. The 30th was nice and relaxed, in a nice cosy venue. From there we snuck away to another party, strongerlights. There it was established that while fishy is a queen, Twotreesandahorse is a deity, Anna is an angel, and I am a legend. I met the hottieperm, but I can't remember if she gained a status other than 'Honorary hutt boy', that title being conferred by D3vo. Also Pip is a lovely dog. Fun party. Quote of the night goes to Brad, who opined after the third person in a row walked into strongerlight's room and asked "whose room is this", that "this is getting like a sitcom".
Rewatched 'Waking Life' with the crew last night. Still interesting.
Getting late, the pumpkin awaits, so I shall sign off.
One glove
Last week I lost one of my beloved Kathmandu polypro gloves. I missed it. I had cold fingers on bitter mornings. I searched high and low, but to no avail.
Anyway, today I bought a new pair, just in time for the next southerly.
Which leaves me with just one question.
WaddoIdo with one glove?
Seen here modelled by the lovely Snoopy.
Answers on a postcard please. Or alternatively just use the comments.
5 things I like
listening to the news
5 things that have made me smile lately:
Someone at work telling me that she feels more intelligent when I'm around, as she learns things in my presence.
The resident dog at stronger-lights party.
Friends reminding me why they are my friends.
Paying off my car.
Listening to two DJ's discussing the best way to segue from Concord Dawn into Bic Runga, at 3am on Active, then listening to them try it...
5 things that have made me smile lately:
Someone at work telling me that she feels more intelligent when I'm around, as she learns things in my presence.
The resident dog at stronger-lights party.
Friends reminding me why they are my friends.
Paying off my car.
Listening to two DJ's discussing the best way to segue from Concord Dawn into Bic Runga, at 3am on Active, then listening to them try it...
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