Monday, May 31, 2004

When the library book you borrowed cheats you by having lots of empty pages at the end, instead of the final chapter of the book, or indeed an epilogue entitled "Why I sold out and she gets rescued in the end, instead of eaten by crab monsters from space", it can throw your whole tram journey into turmoil... I didn't know I was catching the 112 to Turmoil via Collins Street this morning when I got on it, but that's what happened. So I finished my book and contented myself with having bitchy thoughts about the other travellers on the tram, and that's when it happened. Bum Crack Trauma.

Some elderly - and clearly not all there - guy got on the tram wearing a pair (and I use this word loosely, because surely a pair would entail more fabric..) of those adidas type shorts, the really tight, short white nylon ones, with an elastic waistband (and I'm using those words loosely too, cause there was nothing elastic about them, and, well, that band wasn't anywhere near the waist). He stood in front of me while I tried desperately to look elsewhere. Fortunately, the BCT did not last for long (although just long enough for the image to be burned onto my retinas). And, strange as it may seem, I guess I have to be grateful, because at least I didn't have the view the woman sitting opposite me did!

Bleaarrchhh..

Friday, May 28, 2004

http://www.thetruthforyouth.com/standard/main.htm

Monday, May 24, 2004

I could post about the whole IGDC thingy but I'm just not going to. Yet, anyway.

I don't know if there are any budding seismologists on our happy little blog, but I found this today...

New Zealand's Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS) has installed a digital camera in the crater of a volcano which makes up most of White Island in the Bay of Plenty, east of Auckland.

The often-active volcano draws tourists by boat but most people do not go ashore on the uninhabited, rumbling island.

To keep a close watch, GNS installed a digital camera on the island and posts a shot taken every hour on its website (www.geonet.org.nz).

But last week a pink dinosaur started appearing in the photos:


"Some wag has glued a pink dinosaur in front of our digital camera," GNS's John Callan said.

"A number of people have been emailing us asking what the dinosaur is all about."

They are not planning to remove it, counting on the sulphur and high acid environment to deal with the creature.

Thursday, May 20, 2004

Via boingboing, the Kidrobot Dunny Show:

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usImage Hosted by ImageShack.us

Hey, it's the Designers Republic people. We know them, or something, right?

(Mmm, imageshack.us image hosting) </shameless plug>

No, I don't think they know what a dunny is.

Shutit Abbott!

Just 'cos i'm half way around the world doesn't mean i can't kick your ass.

...

Over here there's this show called 'The Swan' and in keeping with the forthcoming apocalypse it works like this:

Take 12 women of varying attractive levels. Some are just plain. Some have bad skin, or bad teeth, or one boob slightly smaller than the other.

Take them away from their family, their friends, their entire support network. Take away any mirrors, and then subject them to 3 months of plastic surgery, therapy, working out, bleeding, pain, and uncertainty about how a bunch of anonymous doctors and dental technicians have decided they should look.

(choice quote: "Great boobs by the way. I'm just going to do an implant here to even them up.")

After They're all healed, invite 2 of them to look in a mirror, applaud at the amazing transformation to beauty queen, and then decide which of the pair is the most attractive and will go onto the end of show beauty pageant.

Rinse and repeat until you're down to half.

Hold a beauty pageant filled with regular people who've undergone a *crazy* amount of surgery and crown the winner 'The Swan.'

:/

There's a strange obsession with plastic surgery going on here, and it's really contradictory. On one hand you have shows proclaiming the dangers of silicone injections into your face, and on the other you have shows following older models and their trips to surgery. Sometimes you get both on the same show.

I have seen the future, and it's completely unable to move any of it's facial muscles.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

hey, blogger got all funky...cool!

so...Using the amazing power of wireless, i'm writing this in a barnes and noble cafe, sipping coffee and wondering what to do tonight.

and a bird attacked me on the way here.

so, america then. Los angeles, e3, san-francisco. it's time for: 'HARRY'S ADVENTURES IN AMERICA-LAND!'

The flight
The woman behind me fainted and vomitted. Calls for doctors went out, paramedics turned up. Offers to set down in hawaii were made.
In the end, turns out she was just tired and hadn't eaten anything.
Didn't stop her getting through 3 tanks of oxygen though. Good job there wasn't another emergency. I'd have clubbed her and stolen it. She's old. I have my whole life ahead of me (well, except for the plumetting, burning plane.)

LA
Filled with homeless people. And crazy people. And homeless crazy people. They're everywhere. Shouting at every street corner, slouching in every public chair, holding up little placards. Best one i've seen so far was: 'Why lie? I want beer.' Hotel was ok, but it's an odd town. Really sprawling, you can't get anywhere without a car. public transport is almost non-existent.

Saw hellboy. I wanted to like it, i really did. But it was too stupid :( Parts of the character stuff were great, but overall it just didn't work for me. Shame.

Went to universal studios. Shrek ride is cool, terminator 3d thing is cool, van-helsing maze was ok. Back to the future is a really, really good ride!
The studio tour was pretty good as well. Turns out they were shooting some of the 'ring 2' stuff on one of the soundstages. Closest naomi and i shall ever come: Same zipcode.

Saw van-helsing. Shit-helsing more like. One of the worst films i have ever seen. Definately up there with all the real girls for the bottom (top?) spot.

e3
The best description i can come up with for e3 is this: Imagine one of those crazy flashing simon machines you had when you were younger, now imaging a giant one with you inside, turned right up to the highest difficulty. That's what e3 is like. it's all loud music and flashing lights; slightly skanky women and big fat nerds; free t-shirts and endless meetings.

still, there were some cool games on show, and everything looks really polished. As someone pointed out: looks like the industry is finally maturing. Well, in everything except project management :)

San Francisco
Thanks to my friendly agents at STA i ended up with a hotel smack bang in the middle of the worst neighbourhood in town. Thanks guys. I figured i could ride out the week, but the screaming outside my window last night forced me into finding a much more touristy hotel on the other side of town.

The cab driver laughed his ass off when he discovered that i was moving somewhere better! He said it happens all the time, people booking shitty hotels through agents and then having to move.
The receptionist at the new place seemed genuinely shocked when i told her where i'd been...hurrah :/

Feeling much more relaxed now though, staying in a little place in north beach, close to the wharf and financial district.

The interesting thing about san-francisco is how compact it is. I've pretty much walked everywhere (i have some insane blisters to prove it) I'll probably need to get a train to check out golden gate park, but apart from that, it feels like a pretty small city.

The views along the streets are incredible though, especially if you get up to the top of one of the hills and look back along the incredibly straight roads.

Saw a documentary called 'Supersize me' about this guy who ate nothing but mcdonalds for 30 days. It's really sickening (and incredibly funny) Hopefully it'll get a general release back home.

Also saw troy. Dull, dull, dull! Avoid it, and watch ROTK instead. The battles are heaps better.

alrighty, 3 days to go...still got alcatraz, golden gate park, and maybe yosemite to go...

Thursday, May 13, 2004

What happened though, Pol?

Did a plastics factory explode?

The Obvious Bag is now empty. You need more Obvious to continue.

Thursday, May 06, 2004

"Single serving friend,
You are quite a clever one.
How is that for you? "

Haikus inspired by Fight Club

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

IGDA - Press Release:

"While game development is a stimulating and rewarding career, the work conditions are often taxing, making it hard to sustain a balanced lifestyle and leading many senior developers to leave the industry before they've done their best work," said Jason Della Rocca, Program Director, IGDA. "And it is not just the community that is affected, these issues also impact the quality of games produced."

The survey also says:

34.3% of developers expect to leave the industry within 5 years, and 51.2% within 10 years.

Only 3.4% said that their coworkers averaged 10 or more years of experience.

Crunch time is omnipresent, during which respondents work 65 to 80 hours a week (35.2%). The average crunch work week exceeds 80 hours 13% of the time. Overtime is often uncompensated (46.8%).

44% of developers claim they could use more people or special skills on their projects.

Spouses are likely to respond that “You work too much...” (61.5%); “You are always stressed out.” (43.5%); “You don't make enough money.” (35.6%).

Contrary to expectations, more people said that games were only one of many career options for them (34%) than said games were their only choice (32%).

Bush To Iraqi Militants: 'Please Stop Bringing It On'

WASHINGTON, DC In an internationally televised statement Monday, President Bush modified a July 2003 challenge to Iraqi militants attacking U.S. forces. "Terrorists, Saddam loyalists, and anti-American insurgents: Please stop bringing it on now," Bush said at a Monday press conference. "Nine months and 500 U.S. casualties ago, I may have invited y'all to bring it on, but as of today, I formally rescind that statement. I would officially like for you to step back." The president added that the "it" Iraqis should stop bringing includes gunfire, bombings, grenade attacks, and suicide missions of all types.

The Onion | America's Finest News Source?

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Long time no bloggage... but I kinda feel like I'm returning victorious with this little gem, courtesy of MediaWatch...

From ABC's sunrise programme...

Sue Butler: Today’s taboos are all about labels that you use for people. So that the sentence, “you are a” is practically a no no. You cannot use...
David Koch: Even if you use boofhead.
Sue Butler: Even if you use boofhead because you’re putting it in the same context as things which are clearly rude. You know: “You are a fuckwit.” Well, obviously we know that’s bad.

You can download the video...
here

And you can read the whole thing...
here

In unrelated news, I went to register at a website the other day, and had to pick a security question for if I ever need a password reminder, and one of the questions you could choose from was "your first phone number". So, why did I immediately think: 01 811 8055?
(N.B. Only Pol may get this...)

It's the number from Swap Shop, a saturday morning kids show. From 23 years ago.

Monday, May 03, 2004

B3TA : WE LOVE THE WEB

apparently i have one of these: