The widening gyre...

The day after tomorrow - today!

Now, yes it is a bit dumb, yes it is currently rated at 47% at Rotten Tomatoes and maybe I was a bit tipsy (god bless the licensed Sun Theatre), but I actually really enjoyed the Day After Tomorrow. It is an event movie, quite exciting, if sappy, a bit of a scary thought.... The central premise is that melting polar ice caps have cooled the currents in the North Atlantic, which disrupts weather systems and unleashes meterological terror. Twister has nothing on this baby - after a tidal wave (I know I shouldn't call it that, but I can't remember how to spell the proper name) swamps New York supercooled air is sucked down from the stratosphere, freezing all unfortunate enough to be around... We get to see a frozen Big Apple (including stuck Russian container ships inhabited by escaped wolves), twisters in Los Angeles etc. etc. Good special effects!! Its emotional core is founded in a father / son relationship, so expect yankee cliche, but it isn't bad enough to render this cringe worthy... Certainly worth a look.

We found a place...

Kate and I are planning a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia at Easter next year, and have decided to move into a cheaper place to help the holiday savings... After a lot of searching we have paid our bond for a tiny (but funky) little apartment in the ID Development at Port Melbourne. We are going to sign the lease on Saturday - very exciting! Lets just hope all our furniture fits in!

While I am on the subject of Port Melbourne - during our house hunting we found a great new service near the Beacon Cove Tram Stop - there is a service called DVD Station Australia that operates out of a 24 hour Kiosk that rents out DVDs - new releases are $2 per night!! You can even "reserve" your chosen DVD from home or work over the web. Very cool stuff. No more late nights hunting for an open DVD store! We tried it out the other day and it works as promised.

Its brutal, but brilliant....

Kate's copy of the 2nd series of "the Shield" finally arrived yesterday from the US. We have been eagerly awaiting its arrival after absolutely loving the first series. It is brutal, but fresh and real. The second season (we are 4 episodes in) is even more so - who would have thought that possible? It is a shame that they don't have the guts to show this on TV here - I think s 1 was on Ten for a while, but no sign of s 2. (We had better watch slowly, as it is likely to be a big wait for season 3 on DVD - it is still airing in the US)

If you haven't ever watched the shield you are missing out - it is an excellent cop drama, brilliantly shot and intensely acted - I have never seen TV like it.

Get your own copy at Amazon (that is where we got ours from, not too expensive at current exchange rates):
Amazon.com: DVD: The Shield - The Complete Second Season

Any available on eBay? Find out: Search ebay Australia for the shield.

Sucker for survivor...

I can't imagine how Burnett is going to top Survivor Allstars (the Apprentice doesn't count!). Very very impressed with this season, though somewhat disappointed that "Boston" Rob didn't walk away with the money - but then again, he proposed to Amber, so sans any pre-nup he will at least get to share some of the benefits!

I was actually most disappointed with Jenna as (apart from the fact that I got her in a sweep and she didn't win) she threw away the only chance she had to win in forcing a tie and the consequent "purple rock" challenge where someone pocks a purple rock from a bag and gets kicked off the island. There was never any way that she could have won against Rob / Amber for immunity, so the best she could hope for was that Rob could have drawn the stone from the bag, and then that would have allowed her and Rupert to vote off Amber (assuming that Amber didn't win immunity). Clearly not a great chance of winning, but a chance netherless. She couldn't have seriously thought that she would have beaten Rob at the ultimate challenge, or that Rob would have picked her over Amber.

I liked the final twist - they are doing a viewers poll to award an additional $1m prize. I say give it to the most popular survivor ever, and one who could clearly do with the money, Rupert!

Make it happen: Take the poll, vote for Rupert! Do it!!!

To my mum....

Thanks Mum for making me who I am.
For staying home for us, but inspiring us by going back to uni and starting a new career when the time was right.
Thanks for the cuddles, and the hundreds of books read. For helping me read before I went to school.
Thanks for giving me the chance to learn, to explore my interests.
Thanks for the trust, for being a real friend.
Thanks for giving me the chance to make my own mistakes, but being there to pick up the pieces.
Thanks for your faith in me, which gave me the self confidence to try everything I have.
Thanks for not pushing me, but helping me pursue my interests and talents.
Thanks for my Microbee when I was 4 - I know it must have been a major burden on you and dad, who just had one income at the time.
On that note, thanks for the exchange in Chicago when you had two...
Thanks for your artful subject changing.
Thanks for keeping it real.
With all the uncertainty in life, you are a constant that makes me feel safe.
Sorry if I have ever seemed like I have taken it for granted.
Lets hope I can help you to achieve some of your dreams too.
Love you mum.

The Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free - PopMatters Music Review

I was a bit of a latecomer to "the Streets", but I took to it with gusto. I wish I had more of a music vocabulary to describe why I like it so much... I think it is witty, highly original, great rhymes, great samples, genuinely catchy. While a bit worn from overlistening, "weak become heros" is a genuinely emotive and brilliant track.... So needless to say I am really looking forward to the release of the second album, "A grand don't come for free" on 17 May... Apparently it has a flowing narrative from track to track and tells the story of a year in Skinner's life - much of the fodder apparently pretty mundane, but all the reviews I have read think it is pretty successful, with a lot of them saying that it is better than the first album... If it is, you can be certain to hear it pumping out of my place, my car, my headphones etc. etc. for a long time to come...

Pop Matters weighs in:

On his newest release, A Grand Don't Come for Free, Skinner betters upon his debut, transcending hip-hop conventions to confect a fully realized, genre-bending adventure into the everyday. The emphasis here is on story, not rap. From song to song, Skinner weaves an ingenious narrative with a beginning, middle and end (two ends, in fact). The resulting record blends the wry appreciation for the mundane of Seinfeld, the honest romanticism of Swingers, and the plot twists of Charles Dickens. Sure, some of Skinner's couplets aren't as sharp as on Original Pirate Material, but that's beside the point.

Read on: The Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free - PopMatters Music Review

Blues beat Pies at MCG - News - www.realfooty.com.au

Its not like I am a big footy fan (this is possibly my first post on the subject) - but I do love the ol' blues... It is a love tainted with much frustration of late, but today things started to look up - if only because the smirk was wiped off Eddie's face for an instant... I might summon up the willpower to head to a live match before too long - though whether that is in the team's best interests is questionable - the last spate of game attendances on my part corresponded pretty closely with the great decline a couple of years back... But then again, there is nothing like a steaming Four and Twenty while huddled freezing in the rain at Princes Park...

Read on: The Blues trailled by 27 points early in the final quarter but rattled home with six unanswered goals to win 13.11 (89) to 11.14 (80).

Wired News: Fun in Following the Money

Does anyone fancy a job as a virtual economist? Read on: Wired News: Fun in Following the Money

Easter Photos....

Easter photos now live - click here to check out our family time in Wodonga, our camping adventures and our weekend with the Gleesons in Echuca.

Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind...

Wow Mr Carey, you can act!
Wow Mr Kaufman, Being John Malcovitch wasn't the sole highlight of your career!

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind is disjointed and occasionally confusing (both deliberately so), but a great and truly original movie. I was worred that Kaufman had lost it after the pretentious, depressing and self-conscious piece of crap "Adaptation" (you critics are fools). As I said above, Carey is very very strong in this - as is Winslet. All in all it is thought provoking, funny at times and doesn't invoke the usual feeling that you have seen it all before.

Without wrecking anything for you, the basic premise is that Joel (Carey) falls in love with Clementine (Winslet), but things sour and she uses a revolutionary new procedure to "erase" Carey from her memory. Following the upset of not being recognised by his lover, Carey decides to "erase" her as well - but things don't go smoothly as he desperately tries to cling to her memory, and his only moments of happiness....

The strangely disturbing poster above is from AllPosters.com.