prehistoric dog discovered — if raptors are so smart, how come they don’t appear in better movies? i sure hope they negotiated a percentage of the gross…

so i got away from work early & made it to a five o’clock screening of JP3, & i guess at least i can say i got away from work early… it was pretty disappointing… i mean, i wasn’t expecting much, but i still found it all a bit underwhelming… i was prepared for a weak plot, & all kinds of dumb set pieces, & for things generally not making much sense, but wow, throw in some generally unlikable characters &, well, maybe i’m gettin’ old, or maybe the bbc spoiled me, but even the dinosaurs were kinda lame… personally i’m now hoping for another extinction level event…

rainy sydney — kinda cold & rainy all day today, but yeah, you know, kinda good too…

camera tips for rob — hey rob, here’s the links to a couple of the sites i found that night we were trying to figure out the different things your digital camera can do… they might come in handy at some point…

• steve’s digicams
• imaging resource.com

retailiation — so yeah, my old CD player thingy finally called it quits a couple of months ago, & i’ve been looking to get a replacement for a while… i thought about seeing whether or not it could be fixed, but i figured it mightn’t be worth the expense, & the tuner seemed to be on the way out as well, so…

after checking out a heap of places & fantasising about some expensive sonys for what seems like forever, keri & i stopped in at this hi-fi place on george street on the way back from lunch, & i found a cool little jvc system that wasn’t too much money… a quick flourish of my amex card & i was the proud owner of a jvc UX-V100, which means now i can listen to radiohead all the day long…

it’s not gonna shatter any windows unless i happen to pick it up & throw it, but it goes plenty loud enough for my little flat, & it plays CDs & cassettes & the tuner’s got a heap of presets, & it’s got a timer so i can wake up to, oh, i dunno, let’s say radiohead, & a remote control, & yeah, i’m still gonna be dreaming of expensive sonys but i’m pretty happy with what i’ve got… & it sounds kinda nice too…

applying myself — & now i’m listening to, uh, well, radiohead, & working on a job application that’s due real soon, so i guess it’s goodnight from me, & it’s goodnight from thom…

busy busy — wow, take a couple of days off work & suddenly there’s a queue outside my office… okay, this is gonna be a little heavy on the photos today, so it could take a while for the page to load, but you know, put your feet up, grab a beverage of choice, look out the window, read this banal introductory paragraph, whatever takes up a bit of time…

sniffer dogs — so rob disappeared beneath a pack of police sniffer dogs at central station on friday (i told him he was courting disaster wearing underpants made of bacon), but he was here long enough for me to grab a photo of him in front of his architectural namesake…

& rob was here just long enough to return the favour & take a photo of me in front of my, uh, mirrored dog with my, uh, toy monkey…

&, of course, what would a trip to sydney be without a visit to the museum to see the t-rex?

after rob escaped from the dogs & headed for newcastle on friday, i aimed the little car towards canberra to spend a couple of days catching up with the people out there… & this time, i remembered to take my camera… on saturday night i went to fiona & dave’s place for wine, dinner, wine, conversation & wine… (btw, dave, i’ve had icky lasagne, & your’s wasn’t it…)

here’s fiona & dave’s lounge!

fiona haunted by blurry simon…

yes, he’s always that blurry…

dave adds the 12th secret herb &/or spice: ricotta…

then on sunday morning i went to the war memorial, which was very intense… the aeroplanes & tanks & weapons & that kinda thing are kind of okay to deal with… you (that is, i) could just kinda look at them & consider them as old machines… it’s the personal effects & the letters & stuff that really gets you…

from the front steps…

this statue is on one side of the shrine…

& this is on the other…

stained glass over the entrance…

from a slightly different angle…

looking up into the dome…

the stained glass was incredible…

really luminous…

the central courtyard…

the eternal flame…

even in the rain…

ran outta time to see the whole memorial, but that probably wasn’t a bad thing… might try it again one day when i’m feeling particularly together… but yeah, had to get back to sydney to meet keri at the airport, so it was into the little car & off i went…

grey kinda day…

somewhere near goulburn, i think…

police now targetting photographers…

somewhere on the other side of goulburn…

heading to the airport…

so yeah, that was my weekend, more or less… keri arrived back after having a good weekend in melbourne, & brought me back an excellent book about robots! it’s called robots & spaceships, & it’s published by taschen in their icons series… the ISBN is 3-8228-5566-9, & basically it’s 180-odd pages of totally excellent photos of 1950s toy robots & rocketships (with a few slightly later ones thrown in for good measure)… it’s just too cool! & i estimate i’ve got about three months solid worth of ideas for robots to make in POV-ray! lucky, that… i was beginning to go into a bit of a slump… <grin>

www.toysclub.co.jp — is the website of the guy whose collection is featured in the photos in the book… (bonus points for anyone who can find a link to a version that doesn’t have the text in japanese…)

august 30 minus 28 & counting…

mad general mad mad mcmad — rob’s been stayin’ at my place the last coupla nights afore he flies back to tokyo, & we caught the train into town last night to grab some food (yo quiero taco bell!) & catch a movie… after struggling valiantly to keep our undoubtably authentic mexican-style meal down, we settled back to watch final fantasy: the spirits within…

we’re still not completely sure what it was about, & who knows what actually happened at the end, but wow, it was good… i especially liked mad general mad mad mcmad, who was some kind of crazy person… but if you’re possessed by the voice of james woods, then i guess that’s the sort of behaviour you should expect…

all in all i reckon it was the best sci-fi film i’ve seen since the matrix… (not that there’s been a lotta competition…)

my spidey sense is tingling… how ripped off were we not to get the JP3 preview??? not a single dinosaur… we did, however, get a preview for spiderman… from what we saw, looks like the webslinger’s gonna be barking all the way to the box office…

august 30 minus 22 & counting…

elizabeth bay, where it’s always twenty past ten… so i check my watch last night, & it’s about twenty past ten, & i think, cool, i can just do a bit more work on my job application & then maybe check the cricket score on tv, & then go to bed & read for a while… & then i decide to make myself a cup of tea, so i put the jug on & figure i may as well see if the cricket’s on, & it is, so i watch a couple of overs, then there’s a rain-delay, so i turn off the tv, & reboil the jug, & then i notice the siamese fighting fish is doing its i’m-the-hungriest-fish-in-the-whole-world routine, so i feed the fish, & then i sit back down at the computer & check my watch, & it’s twenty past ten, & i think, cool, still got heaps of time, so i work on my job application for a while, & then i decide to download the photos i took earlier in the evening from my digital camera, & i figure i might have another cup of tea while i’m waiting, so i go out to the kitchen & boil the jug again, & sit back down at the computer, & it’s twenty past ten, & i think, wow, that jug boils really quickly, & then i resize some of the photos, & i get up to tidy up the flat a little, & i think, yeah, might go to bed soon & read for a while, & i sit back down at the computer to shut everything off & i happen to notice the clock on the toolbar says 12.27AM, & i think, oh great, the stupid computer clock’s gone beserk, so i check my watch, & it’s twenty past ten…

one new watch battery later — who’s a sleepy boy this morning, then?

snapperhead — for those who need to know, here’s some photos i managed to smuggle out from inside the cheddington…

cheddington secret labs, final hiding place of the king of the monsters

 

zimbu & the mirrordog head for the kitchen

 

hey, it’s the kitchen!

 

my new(ish) fishtank, smaller than the previous one…

 

computer corner (in the sunroom…)

 

note to self: make bed before take photo…

 

what’s in the bathroom?

 

aaaaarrrrggggghhhh!

 

peekin’ round the mirror frame…

 

EXTREME CLOSE UP!!!

 

woah. would ya just put in away?

 

maybe if i hold the camera down here, i can take a picture of my nostrils…

 

et cetera, et cetera — of course, it’s not all badly lit & barely focussed snapshots round here, uh uh, nope… ummm… hey, look! a token link!

• photoshop tennis — via zeldman…

party at andrew’s — wednesday at 8.00pm… will andrew have a job to go to on thursday? & if he doesn’t, can i somehow dupe him into going to work for me while i stay home? probably not… he’s a smart cookie… which is a bit like a smart drink, but crumbier… i meant crunchier! ummm…

weekend ends — how wuz yr weekend? i had a good one, bike riding on saturday, did a bit more sortin’ stuff out at home, made some minor renovations to our little fish tanks, a trip to the gym at unsw this morning, helped out one of keri’s friends with a video she had to make, a trip to the bondi markets this afternoon… cruisin’…

august 30 minus 19 & counting…

work away from work — so after a few days of trying to extract myself from the office, the last day or or so i’ve finally made it to some temporary accomodation a couple of floors up, where the theory is i can do some configuration work on our database without getting interrupted every 35 seconds by a question or phone call… so far it’s all going pretty well… configurations r me… & gosh, we might even have a brand new, helpful, stress-reducing database soon…

new bus equals new city — it’s weird how different parts of sydney feel so, well, different… the bus trip to work through the cross, then along darlinghurst road to oxford street, up past hyde park then along elizabeth street to central & railway square is pretty much nothing like the trip from dulwich hill through petersham, enmore & newtown… hmmm… the guys at the café must’ve snuck an extra spoonful of banality into my coffee this morning…

august 30 minus 17 & counting…

looks like a monkey, barks like a dog — rob reports from canberra that the new planet of the apes ain’t all that good… gosh. no one saw that coming… oh well, they’ll never make a monkey outta me… in other movie-related “news”…

august 30 minus 15 & counting — dinosaurs! sam neill! téa leoni! dinosaurs! william h macy! dinosaurs! dumb plot! thin characterisation! dinosaurs!

more monkey business — hold the front page! fresh ape news, hot with lunch! two planets of the apes enter, only one leaves… david says he saw the monkey mark movie last night & really enjoyed it… although, when questioned further, he did say it was kinda crap… hmmm… could planet of the apes be starship troopers 2001? (uh oh… now i’m not sure which movie i’m slandering more…)

habit forming

microtectonic emblem of the self
your friends reconnoitre then avoid,
dropping the genius pills in a handful
of change at the latest bus stop,
faint aptitude for life keeps
the blood enjambed through winter afternoons
as stockbrokers relax
on a blanket of dividends
to ease you to sleep.

spatial coordinates of the reformation?
let chest equal X.
cholesterol wanders about
& your nose erodes,
like darlinghurst road or
your problem with authority.

hi rob — sorry i missed you when you called on sunday… i was out wandering around the cross… thanks for the JPIII review as well… dinosaurs eat people & offer marriage counselling? wow, no one saw that coming…

dodgy fusion beast

3 parts bravado to 1 part teeth,
a line of tour coaches annoys commuters,
avoiding the easy mythology & flashy neon
like a leopard skin business suit
fresh from the cleaners.
it’s the new interiority,
adjusting your rabbit ears
to minimise the ghosting
you never quite erase,
unif brand honey green tea (ingredients:
water, jasmin green tea, sugar,
honey, natural flavours & the text
of one & several biographies).
someone opens the rollerdoor
to meaning! nope. that’s a ford fiesta,
emergent & immanent,
embodying the metallic phenomenology
futurists dreamed of.
but i want a volkswagen
in an ethical vacuum
as the suburbs disappear into the haze
of your returning mental illness.
roll out the big projects! macramé effigy
to hang by your new shower curtain
& your sentimental approach to investing,
then home, hoping they’ve not
disconnected the power, three-eleven
gridlocked on oxford near taylor square,
face of john ashbury
framed in the window.

the yummiest thing in the world — is now officially KARAAGE from the fireplace restaurant in kings cross… what is it? well, it’s kinda like the kentucky fried chicken of the gods… little cubes of succulent chicken breast coated in a crunchy batter, then served in a SAUCE! & OH MY LORD what a sauce! words fail… suffice it to say, i’m never eating anything else anywhere ever again not no more no way no how, so it looks like i’m gonna be living within walking distance of the fireplace for the term of my natural life…

cat-related links ahoy

• my cat hates you — via linda…
• hello kitty nativity scene — via metascene…
• USS Kittyhawk
• kittymail!

hey — elizabeth bay at kings cross on-line…

hot soy! mmmm, mmmm… now with added caffeine…

stompalompas — the stompy people upstairs seem to have started treadin’ a bit more lightly of late… or mebbe i’m just acclimatisin’?

peppermint, schmeppermint — kez came over last night & confirmed my suspicions about the peppermint-scented oil burner… i’d been trying to ignore the general bizarrity of whole thing & simply live with the mint slice cravings, but really, having your entire flat smelling of toothpaste is just wrong… back to the oil drawing board, so to speak…

attack of the clones — gosh. everyone who thought george lucas couldn’t possibly come up with a lamer title than the phantom menace are laughin’ out the other side of their faces now… personally i’m looking forward to episode 3 — star wars: yeah, whatever…

hey, simonster! i couldn’t help noticin’ that tickets for livid (Fun Lovin’ Criminals, The Avalanches, Billy Bragg, Magic Dirt, Stereo MCs, et al) went on sale the other day… some airlines are allegedly offering cheap fares to brisbane, but hell, i reckon it’d still be cheaper to drive…

flagrant fragrant — so someone in one of the nearby flats is painting, & i decided to buy some scented oil for my oil burner to try to chase the paint thinner smell from my apartment… which was a good plan, except the first place i went to didn’t have much of a selection, & i finished up buying peppermint oil, which is nice, & allegedly has antibacterial qualities, but after setting up the oil burner last night i’ve now got the hugest craving for mint slice chocolate biscuits…

sexy beast — keri scored a free pass to sexy beast, a character-driven english heist movie starring ben kingsley & some other guy who looks like an english version of john goodman’s little brother… keri didn’t particularly wanna see it, so she passed on the pass & passed the pass to me… uh, anyway… it’s a nasty little film in an interesting way, very psychologically (& occasionally physically) violent, but i had a little tub of popcorn & a free pass, so you know, bring it on, i can cope…

anyway, i liked the film, although it mightn’t be to everyone’s taste… ben kingsley is really good in a completely unlikable role, & the guy who’s not really john goodman’s english younger brother is good too, as are pretty much everyone else… (did someone say ensemble drama? i guess it’s not quite an ensemble piece, but the cast is pretty outstanding…)

walkies — & then i walked home from oxford street down victoria street, up through the cross & down to elizabeth bay… pausing only to collect a cheque from berkelouw’s bookstore, who were good enough to buy some of the books i’d decided i didn’t need anymore…

additional weirdness — i’m reading a biography of marcel duchamp at the moment, & as i was about to drift off to sleep last night, i turned the page to find a photo of the young marcel (aged about 25) in which he looks exactly like a long-lost french baldwin brother… which may or may not explain a lot about the hunt for red october & other baldwin-fuelled films…

helpful links from chrisT — more handy-dandy links from mr chris:

• survival research laboratories
• dinosaur nostril controversy erupts
• petrol shoes

chris also writes (in an email very sensitively entitled “Oi, Four Eyes”):

I didn’t know you wore glasses. They make you look kinda hot with their
“take me off to see the real me” ways. Sorry, big fella, I didn’t mean
to scare you.

<grin> which just goes to show someone wasn’t reading magicdog vs sydney all that attentively last year… not that empirical proof was required or nuffin…

hmmm… what’s el davebot up to then? buffy the menu slayer? what the…?

i’ve got a real bad feeling about this — a couple of weeks back (hey, i’ve been busy, okay?) jimbo helpfully sent the following link, which, should you click on it & then scroll down the page a bit, will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about jurassic park III:

• click then scroll for JPIII review

although, now that i think about it, i already knew all i needed to know about jurassic park III…

back at work — caught the train from kings cross station to work this morning… made a nice change from the bus trip from dulwich hill… now that i’ve a new flat & a new trip to work, i’ll probably start writing boring bedsit & train poems, kinda like an antipodean philip larkin…