Couch Media

Indulgent pre-birthday tunes on a Wednesday

2010-10-20T15:45:00.000+11:00

Some of my faves - tune in if you like - http://www.2xxfm.org.au/2xx.m3u or 98.3fm in Canberra

The host of Seraphim    Dead Can Dance    Wake (Disc 1)    6:17
The Collaborator    Gareth Liddiard    Strange Tourist    4:59
New Race (Orig)    Radio Birdman    Do The Pop - Oz Garage Rock 76-87    4:28
Crazy    Cordrazine    From Here To Wherever    4:37
Islands in the stream    Phillipa Nihill and Dave McCormack    Dead Sad    3:19
(I Know) A Girl Called Jonny    Rowland S. Howard    Pop Crimes    3:51
Don't Explain    Paul Kelly    A-Z Downloads    3:06
Free Way    Beaches    Beaches    4:09
The Night I Couldn't Stop Crying    The Devastations    Coal    4:59
My Pal    God    God    3:26
Aeroplanes    Paradise Motel    Flight Paths    4:53
(Are You) the One I've Been Waiting For    Jimmy Little    Messenger    4:08
In The Pines    The Triffids    In The Pines    2:36
Swansong    seaville    Swansong    4:10
Neon Flux    Bit By Bats    Let's Go Romeo    4:29
Alone With You    The Sunnyboys    Sunnyboys    4:00
For A Short Time    Tiddas    Lethal By The Kilo    4:59
She finally gets to travel    The Beautiful Few    Metal for Melbourne...and other stories    4:04
Chuck It Out    Wild Pumpkins At Midnight    The Secret Of The Sad Tree    2:25

Playing some music, being on the radio

2010-09-15T15:47:00.000+10:00

✓   Palaces of Montezuma   Grinderman   Grinderman 2   3:32
✓   Bellringer Blues   Grinderman   Grinderman 2   5:31
✓   Meditation Song #2 (Why oh why)   Cloud Control   Bliss Release   4:13
✓   The Rolling Stones   Cloud Control   Bliss Release   4:13
✓   How To Make Gravy   John Butler   Before Too Long: triple j's Tribute to Paul Kelly   5:31
✓   This Room   Fat Freddys Drop   Based on a True Story   5:01
✓   I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff   Regurgitator   Unit   2:37
✓   Solo Trip   prop   Small Craft - Rough Sea   3:55
✓   Goth   Cooperblack   Great Big Squiddy Fun - A Baterz Tribute   3:49
✓   Harry Was A Bad Bugger   Tex, Don And Charlie   All Is Forgiven   5:20
✓   Power Ring   The Lighthouse Keepers   Lipsnipegroin   3:00
✓   Over & Over   Sarah Blasko   As Day Follows Night   3:59
✓   Liar   Randall Blair And The Wedded Bliss   Tattoos And Taillights   4:57
✓   California   Paradise Motel   Still Life   3:09
✓   Caught Out In The Rain   Tom Woodward   32-20 Blues   3:24
✓   Crazy Thinker   TZU   Computer Love   4:34
✓   Run   Spiderbait   J Files - Best covers of all time   1:57
✓   Chuck It Out   Wild Pumpkins At Midnight   The Secret Of The Sad Tree   2:25
✓   Guenevere And The Fire   Penelope Swales   Justifying Your Longings To The Doctor   3:21
✓   Sweet 16   Tex Perkins And His Ladyboyz   No 1's and No 2's   3:13
✓   Farewellin   theredsunband   Peapod   2:12

Tunes for the post-election blues

2010-08-25T15:49:00.000+10:00

Ok, I'm on the old-timey wireless again shortly - 2XXfm 98.3 if you're in Canberra and http://www.2xxfm.org.au/2xx.m3u if you're more of an online type person.

Also using the hashtag #2xx during the show if you're Twitter inclined.

These are the tunes I'll be choosing from today.

Drunk On Election Night    Dan Kelly & The Alpha Males    Pirate Radio EP    3:50
What Did I Do    John Ellis    Praise    3:10
Antony Green    Drowsy Drivers    Keating!    1:59
Make It Count    Barb Waters & Kim Salmon    Rosa Duet    3:36
couchAngelOfDeath    Brown Couch    Brown Couch Soundtrack    1:17
Foreign Objects Waltz    Mikelangelo & Undine Francesca    Great Big Squiddy Fun - A Baterz Tribute    5:09
Giant Squids    Baterz    Baterz For Beginners    1:35
The Night I Couldn't Stop Crying    The Devastations    Coal    4:59
Sell My Soul    Midnight Oil    Diesel And Dust    3:37
Don't Dig My Grave Too Deep    Fred Smith    Texas    5:54
Lucky To Be Your Friend    Liz Frencham + Rebecca Wright    You & Me Volume 1.1 - A collection of live Duets    1:52
Stage Presence Featuring BVA (Mnemonic Ascent) and Nfamas (1200 Techniques)    Koolism    Part 3 - Random Thoughts    4:30
Under the Milky Way    The Church    El Momento Descuidado    4:52
Good Ol' Boys    The Fuelers    Hot Dang    3:19
Pop Star Girl    Tom Woodward    32-20 Blues    3:53
Jazz Song    The Lighthouse Keepers    Lipsnipegroin    2:06
All Cultures    Curse Ov Dialect    Lost In The Real Sky    4:28
Computer Love    TZU    Computer Love    3:50
In The Pines    The Triffids    In The Pines    2:36
Red Right Hand    Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds    The Abattoir Blues Tour 2004 (Disc 1)    5:25
Pop Crimes    Rowland S. Howard    Pop Crimes    7:23

We Think You're Dishy    B(if)tek    2020    3:54
revision    love of diagrams    e.p.    4:24
Master And Slave    Beasts Of Bourbon    Little Animals    4:51
The Clock    The Go-Betweens    The Friends Of Rachel Worth    4:06
(Are You) the One I've Been Waiting For    Jimmy Little    Messenger    4:08
For A Short Time    Tiddas    Lethal By The Kilo    4:59
Hearth    Philippa Nihill    A Little Easy    4:38
Fitzroy Strongman    Sodastream    Looks Like A Russian    4:11
Aeroplanes    Paradise Motel    Flight Paths    4:53
Dirty Harry    Gorillaz    Demon Days    3:44
Drowned    Youth Group    Rock Against Howard    4:16
7 Sisters    Wild Pumpkins At Midnight    The Secret Of The Sad Tree    3:04
Evil (Steve Miller)    Lisa Miller    Car tape    4:31
Mr Cheapskate    Cosmic Egg    Cosmic Egg    4:39
Waiting, Wanting, Holding    Jodi Phillis    Love Is A Four Letter Word    3:08
Labour Of Love    Frente!    Marvin The Album    3:03
Sandman    Tex Perkins And His Ladyboyz    No 1's and No 2's    3:55
A Midlife's Tale    My Friend The Chocolate Cake    Parade    3:27
Ocean Of You    The Black Eyed Susans    Reveal Yourself    3:29
A Can Of Lemonade And A Pastie    Rob Clarkson    Shirts & Skins: Songs 90-96    1:13

Returning to Sunset

2010-08-11T14:10:00.001+10:00

Well I've had a bit of a break from playing tunes on 2XX but now I'm back - on a new day (Wednesday - today) and with a slightly new format (more emphasis on the local music scene and Oz tracks) but still at the same time - 4.30 to 6.00 (AEST)

If you're interested, you can even listen to the stream - http://www.2xxfm.org.au/08/2xx.m3u

Here is the selection for today - though the laws of time and space mean that I won't get through all of it.

Hoodoo You Love The Drones Stoneage Cameos 2:48
Girl In A Sweater The Hard-Ons Born Out Of Time - The Australian Indie Sound 1979-88 2:45
Four Photos Fire On The Hill Endless Smiley Sunstar 5:41
Generation Abc Justin Heazlewood The Bedroom Philosopher - Living On The Edge Of My Bed 2:24
Party Started The Cat Empire Two Shoes 3:47
Bird On A Wire Sarah Blasko As Day Follows Night 3:14
April Of The Dickheads Tex Perkins Great Big Squiddy Fun - A Baterz Tribute 3:44
Twee Penelope Swales Great Big Squiddy Fun - A Baterz Tribute 2:57
The Cops The Paradise Motel Australian Ghost Story 4:00
Familiar Stranger The Paradise Motel Australian Ghost Story 3:47
Heathen Child Grinderman Grinderman 2 4:55
Long Days In Bed Lee Memorial The Lives Of Lee Memorial 3:26
Hoedown Beaches Beaches 2:51
Pop Crimes Rowland S. Howard Pop Crimes 7:23
(I Know) A Girl Called Jonny Rowland S. Howard Pop Crimes 3:51
Sweet Guy Adalita Before Too Long: triple j's Tribute to Paul Kelly 3:51
Wedding Day Sam Evans Brown Couch Soundtrack 2:54
Better the devil you know The Meanies Bigger than Tina 3:05
Mistakes The Devastations Yes, U 3:05
Shivers - 1 Nick Cave and the Dirty 3 Single 5:11

Quick Way To Hell The Fuelers Hot Dang 3:43
World Divided The View From Here Songs Of Protest 3:16
A Big Star The City Lights Rock Against Howard 2:55
Blade-running Elf Preview 4:13
Wired For Sound B(if)tek 2020 3:52
12 Gates To The City Suzie Higgie Songs Of Habit 4:57
Pop Star Girl Tom Woodward 32-20 Blues 3:53
The Illustrated man Konrad Lenz Living with the spirits of the dead 3:58
Under the Milky Way The Church El Momento Descuidado 4:52
Dirty Water Randall Blair And The Wedded Bliss Tattoos And Taillights 4:46
Blue Guitar Fred Smith Bagarap Empires 5:29
The Black Sea Waltz Mikelangelo & The Black Sea Gentlemen Mikelangelo & The Black Sea Gentlemen 3:24
Life's So Hard God God 4:02
My Pal (Live) God GOD 6:56
Electrical Storm (Live) Ed Kuepper This Is The Magic Mile 6:37
The day we lost Fitzroy The Bites White lines and runways 3:06
The Sandringham line The lucksmiths Naturaliste 5:27

Kill Bill Yakety Sax

2010-07-26T20:44:00.000+10:00

It's a little bit nuts how well the music works with this clip.

(Not for the squeamish)

Bravo to wickedexp on YouTube

The Mechanical Man

2010-05-12T10:12:00.000+10:00

Robots, old timey cars and some very nice music - taken from a 1921 sci-fi silent film called The Mechanical Man

Ok, seriously, WTF - The Human Centipede

2010-04-30T23:34:00.000+10:00

Just watched a little bit of Charlie Brooker's You Have Been Watching that featured a clip from a 2009 (according to IMDB) or 2010 (according to Wikipedia) horror film called The Human Centipede.

I really want to see this now so I'm not going to look for a trailer or other info (even though a quick scan of Wikipedia has given away more of the plot than I already want to know) - suffice to say it's a story with a distinctly Cronenbergian vibe about a mad surgeon that creates what he calls a human centipede by sewing three people together mouth-to-anus.

That is a seriously screwed up idea - kudos to the creator.

All day long, Tory leader thinks about...

2010-04-27T09:36:00.002+10:00

This has to be the best photo taken during a U.K election campaign ever.

Conservative Party leader David (call me Dave) Cameron with a giant thought bubble that continues the proud tradition of closeted Tory politicians

I just wish that they were still using their slogan from the last election - "Are you thinking what we're thinking?"

(Photo credit to Michael Schofield, original at http://ow.ly/i/1g5M/original )

Elegant in simplicity - Mister Nice Hands

2010-04-25T16:49:00.001+10:00

Sometimes you stumble across something online that makes you extra glad to have the Internets.

Presenting, Mr Nice Hands
(needs sound)

Doing what now to unicorns?

2010-04-23T14:54:00.000+10:00

There's not a whole lot to be said about this video - let's just be thankful that the occult menace that is Latin words has finally be brought to light.

In fairness, it does look like there has been some judicious editing going on here - hard to say whether that was from the original producers of the video or the people at www.everythingisterrible.com - even then that could be to maximise the lols or make it fit into a viewer friendly 3:40.

Still, the fact that there is an audience for this makes me wonder about people sometimes

Alcoholic whipped cream in a can? Why yes, I believe I would, thankyou.

2010-04-14T13:45:00.000+10:00

One of my fave sources for pop culture info is the AV Club via The Onion website.

Their latest review/taste-test of Whipped Lightning, alcoholic whipped cream in a can, only confirms that I'm right.

As with the range of other taste tests that these guys do on only-in-America type products, they put a funny and informative description of the product together for you and follow it up with a range of quotes from the willing bunnies that they round up in the office to try out the new taste-sensation of the day.

My fave quote from this one:

I imagine this is what alcoholics think clouds taste like.

Pixels - this is why I like Twitter and YouTube

2010-04-09T15:02:00.000+10:00

Found this as a link on Craig (The Chaser) Reucassel's twitter feed - it's pixeltastic

From the pages of fail blog

2010-04-08T18:23:00.001+10:00

Or, to put it another way - LOL WTF

Law abiding engineer - beautiful game/movie mashup

2010-04-07T13:52:00.001+10:00

Stumbleupon, that amazing web timesink pointed me towards this video on YouTube that brilliantly integrates game footage from Team Fortress 2 and the trailer for the movie Law Abiding Citizen.

There is also a split screen version of this, with the original trailer that is well worth a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js2ixPcRT7U

It's not really that hard out here for a pimp

2010-04-06T12:51:00.000+10:00

Went to a costume wedding on the weekend and rather enjoyed my costume - I've always wanted to get a pair of red pants but until now have felt that they were a little too lairy. Maybe they are but so what.

Also quite enjoyed rockin' the cane - managed to get a bit of a strut happening by the end of the night.

There's nothing like - dumb ad campaigns and internet smart-arses

2010-04-01T16:21:00.000+11:00

A day after Tourism Australia launched their ill-fated (yes, I'm calling it - it's the iSnack 2.0 of tourism campaigns) new marketing scheme for Australia - "There's nothing like Australia" - a group of proud pisstaking Aussies have responded with their own version.

I don't know which band of coke-fuelled marketing gurus came up with this replacement for the charmingly desperate and sad "Where the bloody hell are you?" campaign that gave us tabloid darling Lara Bingle but it hasn't done this country, Tourism Australia and marketing doofuses any credit at all.

If for no other reason than half decent writing - surely it should be "there's nowhere else like it" - this slogan just begs mockery. Why on Earth would you put a negative word in the same phrase as the product name and no other words that cast a positive light on it. Even "you can't beat the feeling" has "feeling" in it.
Dropping "else" in there immediately invites you to think about other places - which, whether we like it or not, actually do have most of the cool things that we have here - particularly if we are focusing on nature. (Of course we have very nice nature and great diversity but there are still beaches, mountains, rivers, forests etc elsewhere, despite what the slogan might have you believe)

Fortunately, we do have a proud tradition of pisstaking, which makes me proud to see the response version of the ad campaign up and firing so quickly. (In fairness, credit should go to Tourism Australia for not setting the lawyers on these guys for parodying their IP - that part at least is classy)

These are some of my personal faves so far.

The Phantom •

2010-03-31T14:09:00.001+11:00

Hmmmmm, kind of having my doubts about this.
So now we have a reimagining of The Phantom, due for tv this year.

Looks a little generic - could be any modern chosen-one/superhero actiony thing.

Happy to be proven wrong though - but if the word badass comes out of this guy's mouth I'll know it's all over.

Castle: "Space Cowboy" (Firefly/Serenity)

2010-03-31T13:48:00.001+11:00

Got to respect the Firefly love still being shown in Nathan Fillion's new show Castle.

Hey Dad...! - "Was it good for you?"

2010-03-30T20:57:00.001+11:00

Clearly the whole Hey Dad alleged child-groping/etc is a terrible terrible story - either if it happened (and the weight of evidence seems pretty damning) or if it didn't (let's not completely forget presumption of innocence and due process). Clearly Robert Hughes is totally fucked either way.

All of which makes it extra unfortunate that there are so many track titles on this 1991 compilation of audio tracks from the popular Oz sitcom that seem to be darkly inappropriate.

From the obvious opening track "Was it good for you?" and "Electric touch" to the prescient "For whom the bells toll", you could almost believe that someone in the know was sending a message that they couldn't put out any other way - or perhaps more darkly having a quiet laugh to themselves.

Of course, its ridiculously easy to attach a double meaning that was never there in the first place to any innocent phrase or statement with hindsight, but there's still a whole lotta yick to all of this. (Including the fact that this story made me voluntarily watch both A Current Affair and Today Tonight)

For me, I never liked the show - I never knew exactly why, at the time I assumed I was being mr snobby highbrow-pants but it never seemed to ring true.

Sometimes though it's just better when you're not right about something.

The cd itself I picked up in a bargain bin for $3, figuring that I would one day get around to re-editing the wholesome/dorky dialogue tracks into something perverted/darker and clearly more hilarious. Never did though - and now I guess I never will. Some shit just isn't funny when it might be true.

What is it with the left and being hilarious?

2010-03-26T09:10:00.000+11:00

Nice work here from some Melbourne comedians with a lefty slant - they have a show on at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival that looks well worth checking out.

Find out more on their blog - http://thefirst3.blogspot.com/

Treme Trailer #2

2010-03-18T09:02:00.001+11:00

If you're a fan of The Wire, this show may not be news to you but it looks pretty cool nonetheless. Starting in April apparently.

Corporate much?

2010-03-15T20:54:00.001+11:00

So when 11 out of 32 of the words on the page at the start of your iPhone app description have little trademark or registered symbols, do you think that maybe you're going too far?

The Internet Is Made Of Cats

2010-03-02T13:45:00.001+11:00

It's not super brilliant but it's about cats and the Internet, so it gets a pass.

Lars Von Trier invites you to visit his Denmark

2010-02-24T12:08:00.001+11:00

Big fan of Lars Von Trier - love his thoughtfulness, his imagination, willingness to push the limit and his darkness.

Can't say that I would've chosen him to direct a tourism campaign though - but what do I know about marketing.

(Bless those Onion folks for showing us how things might have been)

Denmark Introduces Harrowing New Tourism Ads Directed By Lars Von Trier

From Kirk to Spock via the worst Aussie accent ever?

2010-02-23T20:44:00.000+11:00

Completely unintentional juxtaposition here of two of the leads of Star Trek TOS - sometimes you just get lucky I guess.

No idea what the film was, I'm guessing mid to late 60s, but I think I'd like to see it now.

Can't stop saying Denny Crane

2010-02-18T12:37:00.001+11:00

I'm a late-comer to Boston Legal but now that I'm there, I'm kind of hooked.

It's not that I think that it's the most amazing tv show ever made or anything - The Wire and pretty well anything that's ever screened on HBO is still well ahead there - but there are a couple of things about it that I seem to be fixated on at the moment.

For one thing, while it's a fairly clever show and definitely well made, it's relatively light and fluffy in comparison to the excellent/worthy shows on my "to-watch" list. We're talking about The Corner, Generation Kill (both from The Wire creator, David Simon), Breaking Bad, Caprica and a few others. Truth be told, these are all fantastic shows - I do believe that we live in a golden age of tv - but over all, there is something of a seriousness, even a modern grimness to all of them.

Boston Legal creator, David E Kelley, has an admirable track record in sharp, funny production over the last few years - Ally McBeal and The Practice of particular note. Shows that take a very tv look at current events and issues by popping them into the middle of a busy, big-time law firm peopled with fascinating and ridiculously good looking and witty staff. Rather unlikely in reality but perfect for tv.

Boston Legal's core is the great Denny Crane - played, of course, by William Shatner. A more than a little bit eccentric, larger than life character who has never lost at anything. His catch-phrase is simply his name, repeated frequently as though the words themselves are simply all that need to be said. And, like songs on commercial radio, after a little while, the repetition really does its job.

The phrase "Denny Crane" becomes shorthand for "don't worry, it's me, what bad thing could possibly happen" or "of course we won, it's me". It's a call of absolute and utter confidence, mixed with that dash of justified egotism and there is something incredibly affirming about just saying the words. It says - everything is ok and yes, I am freakin awesome.

Forget that Denny Crane is a full-blooded right winger, forget that he is gun-crazy and even shot Omar (yes, from the Wire) in the head with a paint-ball gun in one episode, all that matters is Denny Crane.

(Personally, I'd like to be more like his best buddy, the brilliantly played James Spader character Alan Shore. Incredibly intelligent, wry, sound lefty, incredibly magnetic and with a nice measure of dark self destructiveness to keep things entertaining. One day. )

Denny Crane

Hep cats demand Miaow

2010-02-13T11:55:00.001+11:00

It's clearly the cat lover in me but I'm rather tickled by the name of the new moral-panic of the week party drug Miaow.

Can't say I'd heard of it before reading this story on the ABC website (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/12/2818459.htm) but it seems to be similar to ecstasy and cocaine, with a come-down that's a "little bit more subtle. "

As you would expect, the police report also mentions links to psychotic episodes and possibly deaths and so on.

Still, I can't help wondering if it makes people purr. :)

Daybreakers - what do vampires do when the blood runs out?

2010-02-11T12:52:00.001+11:00

Daybreakers is the new film from Oz genre-masters the Spierig Brothers. It is set in the near future (2019) and tells the tale of what happens when vampires rule the earth and the supplies of humans are seriously dwindling. It offers a refreshing new perspective on the genre as well as through in some spectacularly gratuitous (but fun) gore and effects.

I saw Daybreakers last night and Undead, their low-budget zombie effort, a few years ago. I'd call it a really solid film but not yet a great film or a classic. The style, effects and gore are unmatched for an Oz genre film and the story and pacing held together really well until the final act. The guys also have a real knack for putting action sequences together. (There's a nice reference back to one of the highlights of Undead, when a zombie vampire hangs by his feet from the ceiling in mid-battle)

It is an improvement over Undead but mainly because of the evolution of fx technology and (of course) the larger budget. The Sperig Bros have some interesting ideas and aren't afraid to look at a genre from a new perspective - the concepts alone in Daybreakers are worth the price of entry. (Maybe a tv series would have been a better direction?)

Having said that, let me say this - they do seem to have a bit of trouble finishing stories. Undead had an interesting but unsatisfying finish and this one was more solid but still seemed to end with everyone distractedly wandering off to look at something else. For such a strong build up, a much bigger finish was needed. (Unless they are eyeing off a sequel?)

For the cast that they had to work with, the performances all seemed a little flat. Could be the George Lucas effect - strong with the whizbang but less so with working with actors. (Either that or the direction was all about underplaying things but I couldn't say why)

If you are looking for a smarter than average actiony/sci-fi/vampire pic, it's hard to go past this one.

Tony Soprano is a Wild Thing

2010-02-01T09:22:00.001+11:00

James Gandolfini's role in Where the Wild Things Are revoiced with his work in The Sopranos. What's not to love?

iPad pwned by MadTV - back in 2006

2010-01-28T16:13:00.001+11:00

It's a name that just begged to be messed with.

Jon Stewart is with me

2010-01-28T15:06:00.000+11:00

I posted about a fairly under-reported but significant piece of American political news the other day - the Supreme Court decision to remove restrictions on corporate political campaigning.

Jon Stewart explains it much better than I ever could. (And sidekick Jon Oliver delivers a blindingly funny response celebrating the end of discrimination against corporations)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Supreme Corp

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

The big deal is really that for a bit over 100 years, corporations have enjoyed the same legal status as individual citizens.

Even Barack Obama is less than impressed.

Brother Ali - Uncle Sam Goddamn

2010-01-25T09:05:00.002+11:00

I've been listening to this guy for a few weeks now - I knew he was from Minnesota but never realised that he was white. Not that it matters I guess - great tunes.

Update: I just noticed that poster image that YouTube decided to take from the video - not the most appealing one I know but the song is still well worth checking out (yo)

Scarier than Skynet - the corporations are winning

2010-01-22T17:18:00.000+11:00

I've posted more than a couple of times here about advancements in military robot technology that make me a little concerned (and probably make me look like a tin foil hat wearer but that's neither here nor there)

This news story from the US though leaves me seriously troubled.

WASHINGTON — Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.

The 5-to-4 decision was a vindication, the majority said, of the First Amendment’s most basic free speech principle — that the government has no business regulating political speech. The dissenters said that allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace would corrupt democracy.

The ruling represented a sharp doctrinal shift, and it will have major political and practical consequences. Specialists in campaign finance law said they expected the decision to reshape the way elections were conducted. Though the decision does not directly address them, its logic also applies to the labor unions that are often at political odds with big business.

Maybe I'm missing the finer detail but it seems to me that corporations in the U.S are now free to spend as much money as they can raise on making sure that the people they like get elected. They can potentially spend billions of dollars if they choose on tv advertising and all the other costs of campaigning - money that they have never before been able to kick in.

The most telling part of this case for me is the almost Orwellian name of the body who brought it to the court - Citizens United. ( funnily enough, one of the anti-internet lobby groups in the GTA universe is Citizens United Negating Technology - although it just doesn't seem so funny any more)
This isn't going to end well.

Update: got some more info that reveals that things could be worse -

"The judges also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, enacted in 2001, which barred union and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns.

The court's ruling leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions and did not touch a ban on unlimited donations from corporations and unions to political parties."

(from The Age)

Still, there's a whole lot of wrong about this. Supporters might (disingenuously) argue that this is a matter of free speech but if you have the money to ensure that yours is the only voice heard over and over and over, what does that do to the free speech of everyone else?

How about some fair speech?

Breaking news Breaking Bad great

2010-01-22T09:36:00.001+11:00

So, sure - Breaking Bad has already finished its second series and the lead actor Bryan Cranston (the dad from Malcolm in the Middle) has already won two Best Actor emmys for his role in the show but until last night I hadn't seen it so in Couch Media world, I guess this passes for breaking news.

It was just the pilot that I saw - possibly the hardest episode of a series to make because you have just under an hour (or half an hour) to set up your premise, introduce your characters and give viewers a reason to come back. Tick, tick and tick.

In a nutshell, Cranston plays high school chem teacher Walter White who is struggling to make a living and then discovers that he has inoperable lung cancer. Cheery start right. (Did I mention that he also has a mildly disabled son?) After learning just how much money is to be made in the production of crystal meth (ice), he decides to go into business, with the intention of setting up his family for the future. Despite the premise, it's not a depressing story - it's real (but not too real) and Cranston's White is a genuinely interesting and likeable character. (And it's always good to see kinda-nerds being a bit badass)

It's also won the Emmy for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series for the last two years - one was for the episode that I saw last night - guess it helps to have a good editor.

Pay Attention

2010-01-20T15:14:00.001+11:00

A great spiel about why if you're not using technology in teaching, you're losing your students.

Countries with the Southern Cross on their flags

2010-01-19T22:08:00.000+11:00

I've seen the stars of the Southern Cross painted, tattooed, on stickers and hand drawn in texta across the persons and vehicles of any number of nationalistic young people in recent years. Personally I think these kinds of displays of nationalism - while often made by perfectly decent people - are a little American - over the top and tinged with a kind of intolerant tribalism.

Saying that everyone who feels proud of this country is an ignorant bogan or redneck is to oversimplify things - there is a lot to still celebrate about Australia (something that the joyless, overcritical wowsers on both sides of politics forget sometimes). The things that I like most about Oz is the laid back but practical nature of how we do things. The whole quiet achiever thing. This strikes me as the greatest sign of confidence - not needing to jump up and down and wave your arms around.

The rise of the Southern Cross as a sign of national pride is extra puzzling because it's a constellation that can be seen from most places in the Southern Hemisphere. Four other countries like it so much that they have it on their flags. You could argue pretty easily that the Federation star, with its 7 points representing the states and territories is a more distinctive symbol of national pride. (Let's overlook our colonial master's flag still perched up in the top corner - even the Barmy Army has been heard to say "get your shit stars off our flag")

The Eureka flag - which has been adopted by a range of groups from trade unions to white supremacists - could also be ripe for reclamation. Of course, it would be better if it was accomplished by some kind of meaning popular movement against unfair oppression - but like that's going to happen.

I've got nothing against the Southern Cross itself - it's a good looking group of stars and handily can be used to find south without a compass - but it's not uniquely Australian.

Australia

Brazil

Brazil actually wins in the story about why the Southern Cross is on their flag. It represents the stars they saw on the morning of the 15th of November, 1889, the day the Republic of Brazil was declared. Each star on the flag represents one Brazilian state. On top of this,

the flag portrays them as they would be seen by an imaginary observer an infinite distance above Rio standing outside the firmament in which the stars are considered to be placed.(flagspot.net)

New Zealand

Papua New Guinea

Samoa

(images from Wikipedia and in the public domain)

Exciterrifying - Augmented ID

2010-01-18T16:27:00.000+11:00

The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) has a video up of a prototype of a system for your phone that excites and terrifies me. In essence, you point your phone cam at someone (with an account set up presumably) and it displays on screen a range of info from their social networking footprint.

I'm excited because it's another step forward in this amazing digital era we find ourselves in, where the concepts of knowledge and information are being radically reimagined every other day and terrified (ok, perhaps not that extreme but it worked well with my exciterrify portmanteau) because of the potential for evil it displays. When you think about it though, face recognition has been around for a while and who knows what the powers that be are doing with that tech.

Or, in their words:

Augmented ID is a TAT concept that visualizes the digital identities of people you meet in real life. With a mobile device and face recognition software from Polar Rose, Augmented ID enables you to discover selected information about people around you. All users control their own augmented appearance, by selecting the content and social network links they want show to others. Modifying your augmented ID is easier than fixing your hair in real life and, of course, TAT Cascades will make sure you look great!

Time for a new hairstyle?

2010-01-16T11:52:00.001+11:00

Time for a new hairstyle?
Originally uploaded by couchmedia

Just found a nifty iPhone app called OldBooth that makes it verrrry
easy to Photoshop your face into other styles.

Beautiful and simple interface.

Dreaming

2010-01-16T08:48:00.001+11:00

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

Because C3PO needs a more obvious package.

2010-01-14T12:51:00.003+11:00

It seems like almost every day Youtube gives me something to be thankful for. I'm not sure where to start with this but it does appear to have answered my questions about what Star Wars would have been like with more C3POs and Darth Vaders - dancing badly and in too-much-information tights.

Thankyou late 70s French tv.

The guy who did the spider drawing to pay a bill has a whole website

2010-01-13T18:21:00.002+11:00

You must have seen the email detailing the amusing email exchange between a guy trying to pay his power bill with a drawing of a seven legged spider and his power company right? It's gold.

Anyway, I found out today that he in fact has a whole website of similar exchanges - either he's a massive smart arse or a very imaginative writer. Either way, it's entirely worth a look.

Personal highlights for me include his response to a client asking him to do some graphic design work for free (a not-uncommon request in the design world) as well as creating some pie charts.

The general modus operandi seems to be responding to irritating and/or officious requests with a beautiful hybrid of rambling, absurdity, trolling and sarcasm. I'm not normally that great a fan of sarcasm - on its own it's generally what people who overrate their intelligence use to feel witty - but in combination with everything else, it works a treat.

Other posts seem to be even more random, possibly grabbing images from social networking sites and concocting bizarre stories around them. One resulted in a threatening legal letter (which he of course took the opportunity to play with) before agreeing to "change the name" of the target - the name which funnily enough remains listed in the legal exchange.

In fairness though, the guy does have a very clear message on the complaints page of his site to

Go away

this site contains none of your business
and is for my amusement only.

You do not have permission to access the content and if you do decide to enter this site, you agree to waive all rights.

From what I can gather, this guy is also from Adelaide (for which he has my deepest condolences)

WiFi winners

2010-01-12T13:52:00.000+11:00

It's been a little while since I've visited Passive Aggressive Notes.com - a very amusing site that allows people to share some of the notes that get left around the place.

This particular post made me lol - mainly because it reminded me of the all-time best/worst wifi network name I have ever seen. I was riding through the industrial part of Footscray (near Melbourne) just before Christmas and my phone asked me if I wanted to connect to a network called cuntseepage.Classy.

Belated Win

2010-01-11T20:16:00.001+11:00

Love this pic that I found up in the Win section (the antithesis of the Fail section) on the ICanHasCheezburger.com site - natural home of lolcats.

I can only imagine the neihbours wondering if this guy is taking the piss. (sorry)

Penisly? Oh Portia De Rossi, is there anything you can't say?

2010-01-08T22:06:00.001+11:00

From old sitcoms to new (and apparently cancelled but never mind) - just started watching a new(ish)y called Better Off Ted.

Taking laser guided aim at corporate culture but with a strong cast of likable characters and some sparkling writing, this show is quickly growing on me. So far each ep has also made beautiful fun of corporate videos and even, in the last ep I watched, foretold a recent problem where a company's webcams (I think) didn't recognise black people.

Portia De Rossi absolutely pwns with immaculate delivery of lines like these:

I bought you some new boxers - they didn't highlight your assets. Penisly.

And

Walk away tall. Walk away - tall.

Whoever knew that the dad on Growing Pains was cool?

2010-01-07T20:59:00.002+11:00

So it turns out that not only did Alan Thicke write the theme songs for Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life, but he also worked with Richard Pryor in his 70s heyday.

And to think that I just thought he was a funny looking twat in a pisspoor 80's sitcom.

This interview in The Onion'sAV Club tells all.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/alan-thicke,36751/

Loving: Stuff white people like - the Melbourne version

2010-01-06T21:27:00.003+11:00

I seem to have been in something of a Melbourne frame of mind lately - enjoying a few weeks down there, catching up with best friends and family, going to Meredith - complaining about the country-ness of the music scene there and then promptly stocking up on "good" alterna-country as soon as I got back to Canberra, and reading (and loving) Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap.

So I guess I got a few extra lols when my housemate pointed me towards this blog post - Stuff White people like - the Melbourne Version.

A couple of the highlights:

Not Liking Football
Sport is popular with the wrong type of white Melburnian, and the most popular sport amongst these people is Australian football. It is no accident that Melbourne is considered Australia’s sporting capital AND its art capital because art is the best way to hide your love of football. In the white Melburnian brain, art and football are mutually exclusive. If you profess an interest in one, everybody will assume you hate the other. Melburnian white people do this to hide their shame, because all of them carry around little shards of pain in their hearts caused by North Melbourne’s shock loss to Adelaide in the 1998 Grand Final, or the 1996 merger of the Fitzroy Lions with the Brisbane Bears, or Essendon’s agonising one point loss to Carlton at the ‘G in 1999.

This one resonated particularly with me as a North Melbourne supporter, remembering only too well an increasingly drunken pub crawl around Richmond on Grand Final Day in 1998 with some close friends and realising in almost slow motion that North was done for.

I got nailed by a few other items but mostly recognised people or at least types that I've known over the year: most of it fortunately relates to the hippy trendies I've known but never entirely bought into the bullshit of.
This comment in particular though got me:

Talking about how Meredith isn't as good as it used to be (despite the fact that most people who go these days only started going a few years ago)

(At least I was there in 99 - and still have the tshirt to prove it)

I've never been to Confest but love this description:

Confest
Filled with oppressively friendly men who ‘just want to give you a massage,’ Confest is sort of what you imagined the seventies to be like, except with a lot more AIDS and variants of hepatitis. White Melburnians like Confest because they get to experiment with creating a perfect society, which for them means being able to fuck anyone they want. Don’t sit down in the sauna because it’s the equivalent of touching a thousand naked and sweaty assholes.

The Wire - 100 greatest quotes

2010-01-05T13:25:00.000+11:00

If you haven't converted to The Wire-ism yet, why don't you take a moment to hear the truth and feel it.

(There aren't any major spoilers in this one but if you haven't seen the whole thing, I'd stay away from the second 100 greatest quotes vid as there are some major ones)

Getting it done - 2009 style

2010-01-04T21:05:00.000+11:00

Last year was a pretty good year for me - all things considered.

Maybe it is the looming 4-0 but after years of pfaffing about, I decided that it was time to start taking action and I decided to make 2009 my year of determination. Both in terms of helping me to determine who I really am as well as being determined to make some progress on a number of life things that I've been dissatisfied with.

No more would I see, think or hear about something and say to myself - I really must do that sometime - my new resolution was to actually do it. No more excuses, laziness or procrastination (which I must say I'm bloody brilliant at - it can sometimes take me days or weeks before I even realise that I'm procrastinating about doing something) - just doing. As Yoda says, there is no try, there is just do or do not. Even failing is still doing on many levels.

So Mr bloody Wonderful - what did you do then?

Well, the short highlights list (and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to miss a few things here):

Took a tandem hang glider flight
Travelled to Tasmania and more extensively around Darwin and Kakadu
Started learning piano
Became a dual AUS/UK citizen
Presented at a (reasonably large) education conference
Took up mountain biking (strained back aside I'm calling this a win)
Put a towbar and bike rack on the car (not huge but had been on the list for years)
Rode some very pretty rail trails, including a ride longer than any I've done before in a day (100km)
Made some real progress on the second draft of my loooong neglected script
Lost 8kg
Put some solid work into improving my posture
Bought some Aboriginal paintings
Went away for a cycling weekend with a group of complete strangers
Developed some useful work skills

Mostly the achievement for me came in gradually shifting my mindset to be more focussed and determined.

Taking the time to understand how I work and particularly how to get past the equally determined procrastinator in me has also been really useful. Something I worked out very early on was that I've long used relationships and the attendant lack of independence while in one (or the quest for a new one when out of them) as my do-nothing excuse numero uno. Which has clearly been unfair to the girlfriends I've had (and loved) - in terms of using them as the excuse for my own lack of will and perhaps even trying to blame them, knowing all the while that it was probably actually my fault.

So to be sure of this, item number one was that the year had to be a solo mission - remove the excuse/scapegoat and take complete responsibility. So now I know that there are times when I can be completely slack (I had hoped to finish the second draft of the script entirely rather than the 10 - 15% I currently have done - though I'm pretty happy with the quality so far at least) and times when I can push myself to get things done. On reflection, I probably haven't actually answered the question of whether relationships have slowed me down or just been an excuse (and I am very sorry for any confusion I may have caused on this front as well - a man's not a camel, as the poets say and my head has been turned a couple of times this year before I got back to the project.

As for this year - probably still leaning towards keeping things going as they are at present - I'm really enjoying the sense of taking control of my destiny and the lack of complications that singledom brings. Honestly though, who knows what might happen - at least now I think I have enough self-awareness to know what's an excuse and what's an obstacle.

So for this year - the plan is more of a sketch at this stage but so far:

Finish 2nd draft of Boonsville script.
Try Fencing
Piano – continue lessons and practice
Present or co-present at an International educonference
Organise 2011 NZ cycle tour
Under 90 kg
Have at least $12,000 in savings by setting a solid budget and sticking to it
Resume Couch Media blog
Resume Gamer/Learner blog
Become a Moodle/Equella/Wimba guru
Focus

There's probably still more - but the wheels are slowing turning and I've come back here.

So what about you - how are you going with your goals/dreams/etc and what do you want/need to do?

Can't stop listening to Monsters of Folk

2010-01-03T13:59:00.000+11:00

It was only a few weeks ago that I was sitting at the Meredith Music Festival, Melbourne's alterna-music mecca, wondering to myself if the current trend in music toward the folky/country-edged had run its course.

Band after band seemed to be churning out very competent and polished performances that just left me thinking meh. They seemed to be drawing directly from the old school sounds of 50s and 60s country and I really just found myself longing for some good solid dirty rock or even just something with some edge. Scene faves Wagons and Kitty, Daisy & Lewis seemed to fit particularly into this mire but there were a number of other less memorable bands that were much the same.

The one artist who really seemed able to work this style was the great Paul Kelly - even Jon Spencer's Heavy Trash had me wandering off for a bite to eat half way through the set. (All of this might well be more a reflection of my non-addled state of mind, an overreaction to drinking/etc too much last time I hit Meredith and trying to balance the scales by swinging to far the other way this time around or maybe I'm just old and/or jaded)

Anyway, track forward to a small end of the year cd binge at JB (2010 plan is to budget much more effectively but any pre-2010 purchases don't count, right) - where I pick up new stuff from Calexico, Roland S Howard (vale), The Dead Weather (new Jack White supergroup), Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Monsters of Folk. All of them solid gold selections based on buzz read or heard from reputable sources.

It's Monsters of Folk though that has utterly dominated the cd player since I bought it on Thursday. This made all the more impressive by the fact that there's actually a small crack in the cd that renders the first 3 tracks pretty well unlistenable. I couldn't tell you exactly what it is about this album that has me so enthralled - one or two of the tracks veer dangerously close to the wrong side of the country line for me but taken as a whole, it just seems perfectly balanced and flawless. It's definitely got twang and all the other country touches that I heard at Meredith, there's just something extra in there that takes it to a whole new level.

Of course, it's not really fair comparing some well-liked and highly skilled Melbourne acts with a super group composing M Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes and Jim James from My Morning Jacket, all hugely regarded artists in their own right. For me the issue just seems to be that the Americans do it better and just get it more. Having been out of Melbourne for coming on to a decade now, I can't help but wonder (slightly tongue in cheek) whether the RRR mafia that guides the Melbourne sound has lost it's touch.

Or maybe it's a Melbourne thing. (though I have made the same criticisms of the Canberra music scene)

Anyway, if you haven't heard much of Monsters of Folk, here's a few samples

Daybreakers - from the people who brought you Undead

2010-01-02T22:41:00.000+11:00

I remember hearing murmurs of The Spierig brothers working on some vampire film and thinking - hmm, this could be interesting - but imagine my surprise when I found this trailer for it. (Watch the HD one if you can, go on, treat yourself).

Apparently coming out in Oz on the 21st of Jan.

I have to confess that this post was initially going to titled - Claudia Karvan in a sci fi vampire film OMFG - there may be a small fancrush going on there (but I do think she's a great actor)

Here's the Undead trailer if you haven't already seen it

Share your Mogress

2009-11-15T11:44:00.000+11:00

Share your Mogress

The emergence of Skynet - Part (what part am I up to now?)

2009-09-16T09:47:00.000+10:00

The language is slightly sensationalistic (but we are talking about killer robots here so can you blame them?) but this story in The Register offers just one more sign of our impending robotic overlords.

An American "Reaper" flying hunter-killer robot assassin rebelled against its human controllers above Afghanistan on Sunday, and a manned US fighter jet was forced to shoot the rogue machine down before it unilaterally invaded a neighbouring country...

It wasn't clear from the US military announcement whether the erratic death-bot had turned on its masters and was planning an attack on critical US logistics bases located north of the Afghan border, or whether it had sickened of reaping hapless fleshies like corn and was hoping merely to escape. Alternatively the machine assassin may merely have succumbed to boredom or - just possibly - a mundane, non-anthropomorphic technical fault of some kind.

(Originally tweeted by William Gibson)

It's a good morning

2009-07-30T08:58:00.001+10:00

It's a good morning
Originally uploaded by couchmedia

A weeks leave ahead, the view from my hotel and the North Melbourne
1996 grand final on foxtel

Fogbound in Canberra sigh

2009-07-27T09:04:00.001+10:00

Fogbound in Canberra sigh
Originally uploaded by couchmedia

Mac Cool

2009-07-16T15:24:00.001+10:00

Mac Cool
Originally uploaded by couchmedia

This is the presenter of a 10 hour series of training videos I'm about
to start watching

IMG_0011.jpg

2009-07-07T19:40:00.001+10:00

IMG_0011.jpg
Originally uploaded by couchmedia

Wine in a bag 1
Colin 0

Lesson learned: don't try to open the wine tap of your bag'o'wine with a pointy knife

IMG_0011.jpg

2009-07-07T19:39:00.001+10:00

IMG_0011.jpg
Originally uploaded by couchmedia

Wine in a bag 1
Colin 0

Lesson learned: don't try to open the wine tap of your bag'o'wine with a pointy knife

The Super-B

2009-07-02T22:44:00.001+10:00

The Super-B
Originally uploaded by couchmedia

Yes? Can I help you?

So can I call myself "gangsta" now?

2009-06-23T09:06:00.003+10:00

Flicking through the trashmags over breakfast this morning (hey, it was on the table, what am I going to do, get up and look for something else?), I noticed a story about one of the contestants on Australia's Next Top Model.

In essence, Cassi Van Den Dungen caused a little bit of an uproar in our shared home town of Sunbury, Victoria by describing it as ghetto - ok, like a ghetto. (Well, when I say grew up, I lived there till I was 15 - still waiting for test results to prove that I have actually grown up)

According to her fan site, in response to criticisms about her quick temper and bogan nature, she was reported to have said:

"Sunbury’s a good place to grow up in but if you get in with the wrong groups of people, it’s kind of like a ghetto for you."

The fan site goes on to helpfully explain that "The definition of a ghetto is “a slum area occupied by a particular group"."

Now my personal recollections of the place are of a relatively boganish outer outer suburban town - never anything quite so cool or urban as a ghetto but there you have it. (I should mention that I do like the fact that Sunbury is widely held to be the birthplace of The Ashes - the cricket match that prompted the burning of the bails signifying the death of English cricket was held there)

Anyway, blah blah blah, there was the usual town outrage she's since retracted her statement and apologised, all very soft and wussy.

Can I still be gangsta though?

Update: Just noticed the Herald Sun coverage of this story (yes it happened in late April, I'm surprising unworried that I haven't seen it until now) - their reader feedback is superb. They open it with the question: Do you think Cassi Van Den Dungen should continue to live in Sunbury? Let us know below.

(Cue invitation to run her out of town on a rail)

The deliciously bogan-named Shannyn of Digger's Rest chimes in with one of the more reasonable remarks

Yikes!!! Bec had the right idea. Why take a 16 year old seriously? This Cassi girl has done the right thing by getting her publicity, and in a couple of months when the show has finished, no-one will care about her. She'll have to deal with Sunbury when she (if she) comes back because everyone will know her face. THAT'S what I'll be waiting for - and boy will I be laughing my a** off. Posted by: Shannyn of Diggers Rest

And it just gets better from there.

Justin of Sunbury clearly has a few concerns/issues:

Actually... Sunbury is a HOLE, not a ghetto. Apart from the fantastic chicken kebabs at Cheeky's, there not much else going for this bloody boring place. The police are completely useless against moronic garage bands and late night party goers thanks to the molly coddling police ethic these days. They 'could' hand out $500 noise fines... but no. Idiots roam the streets at night smashing up street signs and petrol station signage. New graffiti replaces old as soon as it's cleaned up...and that's IF it's cleaned up. Residents keep voting for the same useless councilors over and over who do pretty much nothing to improve any of the problems because they prefer have group hugs with aimless youth than discipline them and they to pander to Hume/Broadmeadows rather than take care of business right here. There's even some crack head who likes diving into moving vehicles and damaging them

Why would a church make a video with someone wearing a t-shirt that says "Jesus is a c*nt"?

2009-06-18T09:44:00.000+10:00

Possibly because they are everyone's favourite bat-shit insane church, the home of "God Hates Fags", the Westboro Baptist Church.

If you haven't already heard of them, the wikipedia link should give you some impression of their beliefs.

Or you could just watch their catchy rendition of their version of "We are the world" - titled "God hates the world". I still find it hard to believe that this isn't some kind of extreme Chaser style prank but it seems like these people are for real.

By the way, if you find yourself nodding your head or thinking "hey, these guys are on to something", you probably haven't read anything else on this blog (or, for that matter, in the bible)

Movie trailers recut David Lynch style

2009-06-16T18:15:00.000+10:00

Found some very nice work on YouTube, sadly embedding is disabled but well worth a visit.

First up we have an outstanding glimpse at what Dirty Dancing might have looked like if DL had brought his freak to it. If David Lynch directed Dirty Dancing

This one, Three Men and a baby - Lynch style, doesn't have a lot to it but is nicely done nonetheless.

And who wouldn't want to see David Lynch's Return of the Jedi

Finally Science comes up with something useful - the Comfort Wipe

2009-06-15T11:51:00.000+10:00

A lot of people question the value of Twitter, seeing it as a series of meaningless vanity postings about someone's life - it really comes into it's own though when people share links.As far as I can see, the Comfort Wipe is a real product.

This one came from Clerks director Kevin Smith

His comments are the chocolate icing on the cake:

ThatKevinSmith

As a big fan of thorough ass-wiping, I'm thinking of getting: http://tinyurl.com/mkbe5q But is it a "fat guy" appliance? Is this giving up?

Am I hot or (gee, I wish I could think of a word that would fit there - Microsoft, can you help me?)

2009-06-14T22:32:00.000+10:00

United States Patent Application 20090150203
Kind Code A1
Baudisch; Patrick ; et al. June 11, 2009
ONLINE PERSONAL APPEARANCE ADVISOR

AbstractArchitecture for providing feedback to a viewer and/or contributor on fashion and other personal appearance decisions that the contributor desires. The contributor uploads self images for viewing and rating (or voting) by viewers who choose provide an opinion on different fashion and/or cosmetic looks of the contributor. The contributor takes images show the contributor presented with a number (e.g., two) of different fashion choices. The snapshots can then be processed for upload to a website or other accessible location by one or more viewers. The viewers can cast a vote for one of the images by selecting the desired image, in response to which the viewer and/or contributor will be presented with overall statistics for that set of images as to how other viewers voted, as well as a next set of photos depicting the user in a different fashion and/or cosmetic choice. This process can continue until terminated.

According to this US Patent application, Microsoft just invented Am I Hot Or Not?

In December 2007.

Yeah that'll stick.

(And corporations wonder why average people laugh at copyright)

Banksy - the gallery show

2009-06-13T11:12:00.000+10:00

This looks great - a few pieces remind me other other work (Tweety looks like something by Patricia Piccinini and the Ice Cream van echoes a piece from a Sydney sculpture comp a few years back) but hey, that's art for you.

The Paradise Motel - Back in town.

2009-06-07T13:28:00.001+10:00

The Paradise Motel are one of my all time favourite bands - lush (some may say sumptuous) swirling guitar rock with a melancholy pop twinge, fronted by one of the most haunting female vocalists I've ever heard in Merida Sussex.

I saw these guys supporting the Dirty 3 at the Plaza Ballroom, a magical space beneath the Regent Theatre all done up like some kind of fairytale. (Also the first smoke-free gig I'd been to - the restoration of the space had just been finished and they didn't want it getting all dirtied up). I still rank this as one of my best gigs ever.

Very happy to read this morning while idly wondering whatever happened to Merida that they have reformed and recorded a new album, release date as yet unknown.

This clip for one of the songs though suggests that they are back in form - and I was particularly happy to note that it is set in Burnley St, Richmond (95% sure), not far from my old house.

Welcome back guys.

There's also some Paradise Motel spin-off news - a new Melbourne "supergroup" - Lee Memorial

The new band from Karl Smith of Sodastream. Off the album The Lives Of Lee Memorial released on Dot Dash and featuring Laura MacFarlane from Ninety Nine, Tom Lyngcoln the guitarist from Nation Blue and Matt Bailey former bass player with The Paradise Motel.

I'm sure it's stupid but I still want to see it - Mega shark vs Giant octopus

2009-06-06T11:57:00.000+10:00

Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus is a real film starring Lorenzo (Renegade) Lamas and Debbie (sorry Deborah) Gibson.

I'm hoping they play it perfectly straight down the line serious and don't try to be funny. Either way, I'm sure that it can't be half as good as the trailer but I'd still watch it.

Farewell Frankenstein

2009-06-05T14:02:00.001+10:00

Frankenstein! Frankenstein the legend, Frankenstein the indestructible! Sole survivor of the titanic pile-up of '95, only two-time winner of the Transcontinental Road Race... Frankenstein! Ripped up, wiped out, battered, shattered, creamed, and reamed... a dancer on the brink of death... Frankenstein, who lost a leg in '98, an arm in '99! With half a face and half a chest, and all the guts in the world.

Other people might laud the recently departed David Carradine for his name-making role as Caine in the tv series Kung Fu or for his recent come-back as Bill (in Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2) but it was his work in Death Race 2000 that I like him most for.

According to the internets, it seems as though it could well have been auto-erotic asphyxiation that killed Carradine (a much cooler term than "tragic wanking accident"), in a weird way I kind of hope it was. The alternative, suicide, is just a bit too much of a bummer.

Anyways, thanks David, you were tops

LOLchoms

2009-06-05T09:19:00.000+10:00

Not the best photoshop job I've seen but you've got to love a LOLcat starring Noam Chomsky
Thanks Internetz

The Chaser or The Chafer?

2009-06-04T09:56:00.002+10:00

The Chaser boys have set up the jump ramp over the shark tank and are revving the motorcycle while Pinky Truscadero looks on in horror.

Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that they are desperately trying to land some lucrative overseas sales (or move altogether), which is why they have prepackaged so much content from their individual world tours last year. They hold onto these clips for dear life in the hope that something vaguely relevant pops up that justifies playing them. (This also means that they don't have to do as much work week to week preparing content that is actually topical)

I thought the sick kids sketch was the highlight last night of a pretty thin show. I've definitely seen that Oscar movie sketch done (better) elsewhere and I thought that the bored expression on the cops face at Buckingham Palace said it all. His comments about them going away if he gives them the punchline they so clearly wanted so they could get some laughs for their show were pure pwnage. (Points to the team for including them).

The Fritzl sketch was outrage for outrage's sake - way to stick it to a girl who was imprisoned in a basement for decades, raped repeatedly and made to bear children to her demented father. That'll show her. Seriously guys, satire is really meant to stick it to the powerful. Inbreeding and incest is funny (wrong but funny) when it's consensual but this just wasn't cool and seemed a lot more like callous attention seeking.

Generally speaking, the skits where you pick on poor schmucks working in shops or dumb vox popees on the street are similarly weak and paint you as self important tossers. I'll admit that I laughed when you did the whole bandit/stocking mask thing last season but when I think about it, those poor shopkeepers didn't deserve that kind of fright just for turning up to work.

How about trying a little harder to be funny (like the original newspaper) and a little less hard to be the naughty attention seeking boys sticking it to soft (and dated) targets.

Interestingly, it seems like the sick kids sketch - The make a realistic wish foundation - is the one that has got the Limited News media all upset.

Viewers swamped the ABC's switchboard with complaints after The Chaser's War On Everything skit called "Make a Realistic Wish Foundation", the Daily Telegraph reports.

Chaser members Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor asked actors playing terminally ill children what they wished for.

One girl's wish was to meet Hollywood teen heartthrob Zac Efron, but instead she was handed a stick by Taylor who tells the camera, "why go to any trouble when they're going to die anyway".

Taylor went on to say the foundation's aim was to help "thousands of kids to lower their extravagance and selfishness in the face of death".

Update: Evidently my keen eye for outrage has failed me again and it is indeed the "Make a realistic wish foundation" sketch that has stirred everyone up, to the point that they have issued an apology and are cutting the sketch from a repeat of the show this even.

Sure, sick kiddies are poor taste but I still can't help feeling that the Fritzl sketch was worse.

I thought I'd coined a new word but Google told me I was wrong

2009-05-31T21:08:00.001+10:00

The new word?

Mehtitude - feeling meh about things

At present there are 414 other instances of this word listed in Google. Oh well, meh.

Gillette: Because every man should look like a 10 year old boy

2009-05-31T11:04:00.001+10:00

The most disturbing part of this video is that the guy appears to have accidently cut his penis off and hasn't yet noticed.

Total Eclipse of the...WTF - Arthur Fonzarelli has an army of clones

2009-05-30T09:53:00.003+10:00

I have blogged about the literal music videos created by Dust films previously, but I have to mention this particular effort from dascottjr, it's his take on Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.

I still have tears at the corners of my eyes from one viewing of this clip - they have done some incredibly beautiful work here. Kudos.

Ok, here's another - the literal version of The Beatle's Penny Lane.

ZOMG!!1! - Two movies I want to see in one day

2009-05-14T15:53:00.001+10:00

This is a very nice job from secretsaucetv

New from the writer/director of Brick - The Brothers Bloom

2009-05-14T13:02:00.000+10:00

Brick was easily one of the coolest films that I saw in 2005 - a clever suburban film noir set in an American high school. It gets extra cool points because most people have never heard of it and my knowledge of it therefore makes me superior :)

Seeing the "from the writer/director of Brick" at the head of the ad for The Brothers Bloom was all I needed to mentally add it to my mental must see list. All I know is what I have seen in the trailer - and that's pretty well all I want to know.

It's a con-artist movie with some amusing slap-stick moments and what appears to be a big bucket of style.

Playing Plants Vs Zombies - from an educational perspective.

2009-05-07T10:03:00.002+10:00

Casual gaming wunderkinds Popcap have just released their latest game, Plants Vs Zombies.

It takes the classic Tower Defense game mechanism of placing a variety of offensive and defensive objects in a space to prevent enemies from making it all the way through your space to your house. In this instance, it pits cutesy (but not sickeningly so) plants - including energy generating sunflowers, potato landmines, pea-shooting vines and obstacle providing walnuts against a horde of increasingly difficult (yet lovable) zombies. This video gives a sense of the aesthetics of the game.

Popcap are also the producers of smash-hit casual games including Bejeweled and Peggle, so they know a thing or two about casual games.

The success of casual games, particularly among non-gamers, is something that educators interested in using games in learning should give close attention. From my experiences - including a moment of "where did the last two hours go?" last night playing Plants vs Zombies - the core elements of good casual gaming are a simple interface, comfortable learning curve, regular rewards and pleasant aesthetics.

All of the Popcap games that I have played involve the player using one button - left mouse click. When you look at "hardcore" cames - particularly in the Real Time Strategy (RTS) and Role Playing Game (RPG) genres, it is possible to have different actions mapped to the majority of keys on the keyboard. Clearly a fairly daunting entry point to someone not familiar with gaming controls and conventions. Even the consoles (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3) have around 12 -15 usable buttons on their controllers. (The Wii on the other hand has 2 or 3 in most games - and leads the console market on sales by a wide margin).

In Plants Vs Zombies, you have a front yard which is 9x5 squares. You click one of a range of plants in a top menu and click again to place it on the lawn. From here, it's largely a matter of managing resources and adapting your plant placement to the oncoming zombie hordes.

The learning curve is gentle - each level introduces another fundamental element of the game and gives you an opportunity to succeed with it before adding another element - be that a new type of plant weapon or a new, tougher zombie. This reinforces prior learning experiences and adds a need to continually learn new skills. The increasing challenge keeps you engaged and motivated and new weapons/obstacles provide new forms of entertaining feedback. These are the first two levels and a later one, which show you how the gameplay evolves.

Regular rewards are another key element of casual games - these don't have to be big things, just pleasing aesthetic elements such as score boosts, cute noises and perhaps most satisfying so far in this particular game is the whump of an exploding potato landmine and the mound of mashed potatoes (and zombie) it leaves behind. (In a cute way, of course). Games such as Peggle are much more demonstrative in this regard, flashing and dinging almost like a pinball machine with virtually any successful action and offering praise and reinforcement for positive player actions. (Perhaps a little behaviourist but it's hard to argue with the success of the game). An interesting story that came out of the initial playtesting of Peggle is that players who were initially "meh" about the game found it much more engaging when the points values of their rewards had a few zeros added to the end, making them seem more valuable.

The aesthetics of the PopCap games are generally pleasing to the eye, bright (but not to bright) colours and cheery (but not annoying) music and sound effects. These clearly mark the experience as one of play rather than work and I feel that they tap directly into the need for escapism that brings people to these games.

Not all of these thing will work in educationally oriented games but in terms of creating a space that is welcoming to new gamers and which provides motivation, it is hard to see a better approach.

Have I mentioned recently that Skynet is here?

2009-05-06T14:55:00.001+10:00

Yes, my mildly disconcerting obsession with our future robot overlords continues.

This time it is a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that can be picked up for between $900 and $5000 (U.S) which can carry a number of different types of video cameras and which is flown remotely by someone wearing video glasses that see exactly what the Draganfly sees.

(I am thinking how awesome it could be to have one of these for shooting movies)

Yet another reason why Firefox is best - Hyperwords

2009-04-30T09:34:00.000+10:00

The astonishingly awesome Stephen Fry mentioned his love of Firefox add-on Hyperwords in a tweet this morning and I have to say that it's easily the coolest add-on I've seen since Ubiquity.

Nifty, no?

The coloured waterfall of the office

2009-04-29T10:34:00.000+10:00

I could be the killjoy lefty who bemoans the pointless waste of natural resources that this represents but it's also very pretty, so I'll let it pass. It's also conceivable that they are still usable.

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Dashing* towards the Script Frenzy deadline

2009-04-28T09:44:00.001+10:00

*By dashing I am referring to my hopes and dreams.

Ok, so unless I start typing in my sleep, it's fairly unlikely that I'm going to knock out the 80+ pages remaining to be scripted in my magnum opus for Script Frenzy by the end of the month.

Script Frenzy is a month long screenplay writing exercise intended to get dusty screenplays out of drawers (real or mental) and onto paper.

In spite of my failure to get the writing done, I'm actually feeling pretty good about the work that I have managed to get done over the last 28 days.

I have completely reshaped the story behind the first draft of the script that I put together, incorporating virtually all of the good ideas I've had in the last #cough11yearscough#.

I've learnt how to use a very nifty piece of screenwriting shareware called Celtx that has freed me from the onerous script formatting conventions and I've also (eventually) got a sense of the best way for me to work on my writing. (Funnily enough, it's not a million miles away from the process that I developed to write uni essays over the last two years. I just need to develop a process for actually staying put in my seat during writing time now.)

All in all, it's coming together. I have a nagging suspicion that this draft will come in at somewhere around 3 hours long and with a $100 million budget, but that's for the producer to worry about, right?

Taking the spycam pen for the bikeride

2009-04-27T17:44:00.001+10:00

A few lessons learnt from this - the pannier clips on the front of the bike are at more of an angle than I thought and the noise of the rubber hitting the road is surprisingly loud. The camera also appears to quit after 30 mins filming, which is good to know.

Anyway, this is the first 30 mins of the ride (which is approx 45 mins), compressed to a bit over 3 mins. (Which by rudimentary mathematics suggests that this is what it might look like if/when I ride my bike at 200km/h.

(Oh and the music in the clip is just some generic production music from the Ulead video editing software package)

Nice and elevating - Lost Generation

2009-04-21T09:45:00.000+10:00

I'm not normally one to post motivational/inspirational stuff - indeed I'm far more comfortable cynically decrying it - but I was quite taken with this short video. It's a remake of an Argentinian political advertisement called "The Truth" by RECREAR and was placed second in the AARP U@50 video contest.

It's only about 2 minutes but has to be watched right to the end.

(Thanks to Sue at work for sending this around)

Whatchootalkinbout? Mr Drummond gets creepy

2009-04-16T15:36:00.000+10:00

Fantastic example of how much different music can make to setting the mood. I know find the opening credits of Diff'rent Strokes entirely unsettling - thanks Internetz

The most awesome fun ever - indoor skydiving

2009-04-13T10:43:00.001+10:00

No doubt this guy is a seriously practiced professional indoor skydiving and a schmuck like you or I would spend the majority of our time slamming into the glass walls at the side, but how much would you like to find out?

It truly is a golden age that we live in.

I am not an upskirter

2009-04-09T16:32:00.000+10:00

I got a little geeky yesterday when a gadget arrived for me in the post - it's a spypen - the MP9 Digital Video Pocket Recorder to be precise.

It came from gadget-bargain-a-day site Zazz.com.au and cost around $30 if memory serves.

The picture quality is surprisingly good, considering that it comes from a lens no bigger than the head of a pin. (That's it above the metal clip in the picture above). This clip was the first thing I filmed - it's a little all over the shop but gives some idea of the image.

The sound is a little problematic and appears to have gotten a tiny bit worse in subsequent filming but I think that running it through some audio software might help.

It connects to the computer using an inbuilt USB connection.

What I find most interesting is that the first reaction of the first two guys I showed it to was "oh, upskirting"
Not in a "that's a good idea" way or an "I assume that is what you got it for" way - at least I hope not, as the thought had and has never crossed my mind - I guess these kinds of gadgets have different associations than my somewhat naive mind gives them.

I just asked a female friend of mine what she would think if I told her I got a pen/spy camera and she was simply unsurprised - no aspersions cast at all. (She did also think about people cheating in exams but that's an occupational thing)

So maybe there's hope for me yet.

Me fail English - that's unpossible

2009-04-08T09:29:00.002+10:00

(Click image for full size version)

Thanks to Matt for this one.

This is apparently an ad in South Africa.

It's like the Internetz heard my prayers

2009-04-08T09:28:00.000+10:00

One of my first tweets (twits?) this morning told me that The Onion has put Close Range - The Game up online. (They're also selling a poster but I'm not that crazy about it)

It plays pretty well exactly as you would expect, with some great cutscenes to expand on the story in between.

As I played it, I was fully aware of how disturbed it was and what it says about our society but I couldn't help smiling.

Hooray for the Internetz

Protest drummer get theirs

2009-04-07T12:04:00.002+10:00

I realise that I might as well just turn this blog into a direct link to The Onion but this story appealed to me far more than it probably should. (I can't stand hippy drummers)

I know they're mocking me but I don't care.

2009-04-07T10:22:00.000+10:00

The Onion folks have this nifty video up taking the piss out of videogames and gamers but I don't care, it's pretty funny and a small part of me still wants to play this game. Hasta la vista, pony.

Hot New Video Game Consists Solely Of Shooting People Point-Blank In The Face

Oh dear

2009-04-05T16:05:00.001+10:00

Update: Apparently this was an April Fools joke - nice story though.

Good deeds

2009-04-04T16:56:00.000+11:00

It's probably just the tiredness talking but if a complete stranger does you a good deed, without being asked, does it take something away from them to give them a reward?

I mean, if someone does something because it's the right thing to do (and perhaps also they get to feel like a good person) and then you give them something for doing it, does it create a hidden subtext that the receiver assumes they did it for gain - even if this isn't the case?

To get a little less abstract, I took $500 out of the ATM at the Canberra mall this afternoon - or rather I asked the ATM for that money and then in the middle of the transaction it flashed up a "Can't issue receipt, do you wish to continue?" message.

I said, yeah, sure, just display the balance on the screen afterwards. Now apparently this is some kind of funky whiz-bang silent ATM because I didn't get the whoosh whoosh whoosh sound of the money being dispensed, just a display on the screen that said account balance $168.

Now I've been juggling money around between accounts in the last few days so I assumed that this was the machine telling me that I didn't have sufficient funds for that withdrawal and to go away. Not entirely sure why I thought this but there was a queue behind me and I figured that I'd just do my shopping on the other card, that I must have transferred this money to instead.

Twenty minutes later, heading away from the counter at JB Hifi, some bloke stops me and asks if I was just using the ATM. I had no idea what I had done so I said yes, waiting for enlightenment. He paused for a while - I guess he was trying to make sure that I was the right guy - and asked me if I had completed my transaction.

Suddenly the penny drops and I realise that I've just left $500 sitting in an ATM and presumably this guy has it. So I tell my story and after a few moments he opens his wallet and starts counting out the cash. (Knowing how much money it was meant to be was a help to me here I'm guessing).

I am feeling so relieved and grateful at this time that I tell him that he can keep 50, figuring that if it wasn't for him that I would be out 500 bucks having 450 is a whole lot better than that.

He asked a few times if I was sure and mentioned that he was just trying to do the right thing. Anyway, he took (and I was happy for him to have it) but now I'm wondering if that might have cheapened the moment for him a little.

Oh well.

How do you defend yourself against a man with two dildoes?

2009-04-04T10:52:00.002+11:00

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Borat when it came out so I'm holding more hope out for Sacha Baron Cohen's new film Bruno

I actually get the feeling that this isn't one of those trailers that gives away every good joke in the film (a rare occurrence these days)

We don't want zombies on the lawn

2009-04-04T09:57:00.000+11:00

Coming soon from Popcap, the insanely successful developers of casual games like Bejewelled and Peggle, is Plants vs Zombies.

It looks somewhat like a Tower Defense style game, where you add different sorts of cannons and other weapons to a winding path that advancing enemy hordes stream down but who can say for sure.

All I know is that they have a hella catchy promotional music video which is rather cute (and features zombies with butter on their head)

Computer says we're doomed

2009-04-03T13:10:00.004+11:00

Terminator over-watcher that I am, I like to keep an eye on our robotic and computational friends for signs of imminent uprising and Judgement day.

The top entries on my feedreader this morning didn't exactly fill me with confidence.

(Click image for full size version)

Two separate instances of robots and computers learning things under their own steam. Riiight.

And by the way, what is going on with the Google ads - are they being written by neo-cons now?
Two stories about President Obama and in the same space, two ads for the National Security Hotline - dob in a terrorist service.

Implying much?

A what-now peeler?

2009-04-03T09:11:00.001+11:00

(Kudos to Shane for tweeting this when it first happened and leading the way to the Facebook group dedicated to this moment)

3.6 pages in the red and counting

2009-04-03T09:00:00.001+11:00

(Image by Aaardvaark )

Got up early this morning and managed to write 3 fairly decent pages. 3 handwritten pages anyway - not really sure how this will translate to typed pages but I'm hoping it's around 1:1.

I've had a few realisations about my writing - I'm better than I was afraid I would be, I can be a somewhat twisted motherfrakker at times and so far I have struggled to write a line of dialogue without a "fucken" in it. (In fairness, pretty well all of these were justified by the action).

Where previously I would write ideas down and almost always pop a question mark after them, when ideas are coming to me now, I'm tossing them in to see where they might lead.

I have only a scant idea as to what the next scene is but I'm on the way and feeling a little buzzed about it.

(Ooh and I just found an image of self-bite wounds on a cockatoo, which may actually be kind of useful)

3.3 pages in the red and counting

2009-04-02T13:38:00.000+11:00

It's now been around 11 or 12 years since I completed the first draft of my zombie movie screenplay (working title Boonsville) and I'm thinking that I've now had (way more than) enough time for new ideas to percolate and mature.

Enter Script Frenzy.

This is a month-long writing activity, brought to you by the people behind NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which is intended to provide the impetus for people (such as myself) to blow the dust off old ideas (or bring forth new ones) and write one hundred pages of script by the end of the month.

By my calculations, this means 3.33 pages per day.

I did take a look at some of my notebooks yesterday in search of ideas that I've jotted down over the intervening years but didn't quite get to writing anything.

I must admit that I'm rather terrified of this process, particularly the possibility that in spite of the plethora of brilliant ideas I have and the artistic vision, it will come out rather crap,

Just need to keep remembering that this is only a second draft, each draft gets easier and good films often run through 20 or 30 drafts.

Inappropriate for the workplace

2009-03-24T09:52:00.001+11:00

I'm wearing a black t-shirt inside out today.

I hadn't intended to wear it inside out but faced with a choice between that or my sweaty bikeride-to-work top, this is the better option.

This is what it looks like around the right way.

Now personally, I think that this image is a celebration of a woman's right to celebrate the more sexual side of life - it was a gift from a (female) friend who went to (and loved) a Peaches concert a few years back.

Funnily enough though, it's not considered "appropriate" in a snaggy PC ACT public service workplace - and in fairness, on first glance without understanding the underpinning philosophy, I admit it could be confronting or discomfiting to some.

So I'm wearing it inside out to play nice and counting how many people notice. (Just one so far)

Ironically, the tshirt that I thought I had grabbed and which I had considered appropriate enough, had this rather grotesque depiction of a slobbering diseased heavy metal looking fly.

Go figure.

Update: One of my cluey co-workers asked me if my t-shirt was inside out because there was something inappropriate on it - clever woman.

Hanging on The Wire

2009-03-18T10:42:00.002+11:00

I came to The Wire a little late - the 5 series of this show had long finished by the time I found it but this kind of works for me anyway as it makes it available to pick up a season and plough through it in big slabs, without having to wait for the next episode. (This has its own excitement - the current season of Battlestar Galactica for instance, but waiting is so 20th century)

Last night I finished watching season 3 and while I've been hugely impressed with the show since the start (seriously from the first episode), I hit a new point last night where I thought to myself, this is actually better than Goodfellas.

TV has the advantage of being able to take its time in developing stories and characters, dropping tiny details here and there that form a full, rich viewing experience. The Wire brings this like virtually no programme I have seen before (and you'd better believe I've watched my share of good tv).

The show itself is a gritty cop show set in Baltimore. This description alone was enough to provoke a big Meh in me the first few times I heard/read people raving about it but the chorus of raves grew louder and louder (particularly from British TV critic Charlie Brooker) and eventually I grabbed a copy and checked it out.

From the first episode I knew that this show was something special. It drops you right into the middle of the police department (and the corresponding ghetto drug trade), they're all doing their thing and speaking their fairly distinctive jargon heavy language and you are expected to keep up. The writing is sharp and intelligent and most importantly, it's real.

The characters are the real core of the show - there isn't anyone who gets more than half a dozen lines that you don't feel some measure of sympathy towards and interest in and they all behave like real people.

Rather than focus on crime of the week, The Wire tells a story (or rather several stories) across the span on a whole series. You get the perspective of the crims, the cops and some of the people living on the periphery of these worlds. From Bubs, the hapless but likable junky informant to Omar, the ultra-cool robber of dealers, from McNulty, the talented and slightly self-destructive detective to Stringer Bell, the sharp, business studying head of the dealing operation - everyone has a life and a soul.

There's a lot of twisting and turning in the story so I'm not going to dig into that but each season is underpinned by a theme/location - the housing projects in the first, the docks and the wharf unions in the second and city hall/politics in the third. (This is nicely reflected in tweaks to the opening titles each season) This included a serious examination of the drug war as a whole, including a possibly quasi-legalisation scenario that played out over most of the series.

It also maintains its own universe - there was a nice moment in the last episode last night where a guy (nearly said who but avoiding spoilers) threw some guns off the pier and a faded election poster for one of the main union characters from season 2 flapped sadly on a pole - just for a second but long enough.

As I mentioned at the start, I'm no huge fan of cop shows but The Wire is so much more than that - it truly does deserve the critical acclaim.

(And oh yeah, it's an HBO series as well, so you know it brings the awesome)

Here are a couple of clips, including a funny one where Bunk and McNulty examine a crime scene using only swear words.

Treating my inner child

2009-03-14T15:44:00.007+11:00

I've been in the mood for a little retail therapy this weekend, I wasn't planning on any big purchases, just a few trivial items to give me the economy a little boost.

I had read on my favourite tightwad site, Economical Gamer, that JB HiFi will be running a "trade in 2 DS games, get GTA:Chinatown Wars free" deal, which ties nicely with the fact that Game has a sale of old crappy DS games at $8 a pop, giving me a $50 game I was bound to buy anyway for $16. (Just like hunting, isn't it)

So with that and the need to pick up some new tubes for the pushbike (oh and food and stuff), I set off for Canberra Mall.

Cruising around JB though, I came upon this baby, which pretty well leapt out and started begging in a childlike whine to come home with me. After all, here we have zombies (tick), a big fake gun (tick) and shooting virtual stuff (tick), all wrapped up in a sleazy 70s style exploitation film style video game. (tick and tick).

I remember playing the original House of the Dead game in the arcades, back in the day - they did a nice job of hyping it up by having the playing area/screen covered up by a curtained off area that you had to step into - such was the horror and gore of the gaming experience. The game itself was fun enough, a zombie killing rail shooter (you don't control where you move in the game space, just where you shoot) and it had a nice line in badly translated Japanese dialogue.

This spun off to Typing of the Dead, which replaced the guns with a keyboard and had you quickly type words at attacking zombies in an oddly effective typing practice exercise.

Anyway, I haven't even played this game yet, I've just been impressed enough with the peripheral - which actually feels pretty good in the hand - and the box it came in.

The House of the Dead Overkill also has some nice functionality, including a poster generator that I used to put this baby together. (click for full sized version)

Guess I should go and have a play now.

Pew pew pew urrrrhhhhhh

Update: That should probably be POW POW POW

And man, that gun gets heavy after a while - two handed grip is definitely the way to go. Music is very 70s exploitation funky cool though and shooting zombies is rather satisfying. I have died a few times already though, so better get some practice in before the (real-world) inevitable zombie apocalypse

Wondering if Ed will sing Weeping Song with Nick

2009-03-13T09:38:00.000+11:00

Old news to some no doubt but a few weeks ago I heard that Ed Kuepper is joining the Bad Seeds, replacing the recently quit Mick Harvey. (Me fail English? That's unpossible)

I've been a fan of both outfits since I was a (relatively) little tacker and so I'm pretty interested to see how this will all play out - particularly if it brings a little of the Kuepper deep north gothic sound to the band.

It's a little unclear as to whether this is just for the tours over the European Summer season or a longer term thing but I'd love to hear a version of the Weeping Song with Ed taking Blixa's place in the duet. (Who has been singing that since then, by the way?)

United States Patent Application	*20090150203*
Kind Code	A1
Baudisch; Patrick ; et al.	June 11, 2009