| QOTD |
[Sep. 11th, 2009|06:07 pm] |
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"When I became a man I put away childish things - including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis |
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| QOTD |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|09:34 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
(I've been watching a lot of Stargate SG1 lately)
After Dr Jackson , Major Carter and a Russian scientist are trapped on a minisub submerged on an alien water planet due to an electrical fire in the sub...
Scientist: "What do you want to hear? I don't understand why this why happened"
Daniel: "Well given the obvious craftsmanship that went into this thing I don't see how this could POSSIBLY have happened"
Scientist: "If you're implying that everything Russian made if of poor quality, actually.. the sub is Swiss"
Daniel: "So, they occasionally catch fire but they keep perfect time?....sorry, I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much"
1 minute later...after finding a strange reading on the pressure gauge.
Scientist: "The gauge must be malfunctioning"
Daniel: "But, it's Swiss" |
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| Has anyone else noticed... |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|09:44 am] |
The increasing number of "fake" quiz shows out there?
I mean the ones like Spicks and Specks, Good News Week and Talking About Your Generation that have all the set up of a quiz show but with celebrities instead of actual contestants so they don't have to give away prizes. |
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| Something that amused me today... |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|10:40 pm] |
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The number of people (at least 3 conversations) that assume for some reason (possibly because I'm a male living in sydney) that I care about football in general..and the State of Origin in particular. |
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| What is the world coming to... |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|10:33 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
when a show actually named "Supernatural" requires the warning "contains supernatural themes"
anyone who couldn't work that out for themselves really should have their remote control rights revoked. |
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| WICKED comes to Sydney |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|07:55 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
Very excited. Just heard on TV that Wicked is coming to the Capitol theatre in September. Tickets on sale as of monday...
Yes!!!!! |
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| ANZAC Day |
[Apr. 25th, 2009|10:16 am] |
Take the time today...
- to remember those who fell defending the things you take for granted.
- to thank those that who survived, and those who still risk their lives.
- to appreciate those who the laws didn't recognise, but STILL fought and died.
LEST WE FORGET |
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| hehehe |
[Apr. 25th, 2009|10:11 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
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| Star Trek |
[Apr. 7th, 2009|11:31 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | ecstatic | ] |
Just got back from the premiere. No spoilers, but I think they've managed to pull of something great. A modern interpretation of Star Trek that doesn't alienate old fans or potential new ones.(at least, I'm hoping not)
One of the best places this is shown is in the cast. They've managed to keep what was great about the original characters, without just plodding along trying to copy the original performances. Something which isn't easy to do.
For the old school fans, there's enough in jokes but not so much that people who haven't watched Star Trek before won't enjoy what is a great sci-fi movie.
The only thing I can even complain about with this movie, is that in one or two scenes I found the sound so jarring that it took away from what was happening on screen at the time, but that might just be a personal gripe and something others won't feel.
The personal experience part of the night
Got to the red carpet part of the evening relatively late. Around 6.45 of a 5.30 start, but the screening started late as well so I did manage to get a drink at the gathering beforehand and wander around (didn't really have anyone to chat with as I paniced when buying the ticket and didn't know how much I had on my card, so I only bought the one ticket (Sorry again to everyone I really wish I'd gotten more to share)). Ran into ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sophronia briefly both before and after the event though.
While sitting in my seat talking a little to the people around me, found out a couple of guys had apparently forged themselves a press pass and managed to interview the main cast on the red carpet, they plan to upload what hey got both pictures and audio to a website, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to find out which.
Although everyone was required to hand in mobile phones and cameras before the event I did see one or two people with cameras while the pre-screening speeches were going on, but none during actual movie.
Ok. That's it. Hope I didn't spoil anything (reads back) Nope, don't think so. If anyone DOES want to know something (you know who you are) I will grudgingly answer emials or whatever, but honestly I think you should just go see it and enjoy it unspoiled. |
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| So yeah... |
[Apr. 6th, 2009|08:54 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
Just to let the people who haven't had the chance to mock me yet (or in the rare case say "yay") .. I was one of the people that managed to get through to the Opera House in the 7 or so minutes it took to sell out the tickets to the World Premiere of Star Trek.
So..
Red Carpet
Celebrities on opposite side of Red Carpet
Possibility of people in costume
Removal of all camera and/or mobile phones
Metal Detector search
(no I'm not kidding about the last two, they specifically mentioned it when I bought the ticket)
and then!! *hums Star Trek theme*
YAY! |
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| Chimp Maims Woman |
[Feb. 21st, 2009|02:14 pm] |
Ok .. so most of you have probably heard about this already.. the 911 call which led police to the scene of a 50+yo woman being viciouslly mauled by the chimp owned by her 70yo friend. The woman has apparently suffered major damnage to her hands and face, and will most likely require something in the order of a face transplant.
From what I've read the ape was well known in the community, and when it was younger had appeared in commercials for such companies as Coca Cola and the like. It was apparently on Xanax (for what reason, your guess is as good as mine) when the incident happened, and I believe also tried to attack police officers when they arrived on the scene before they were forced to shoot it.
Now my personal feelings are that the situation should never have happened in the first place. The chimp was being kept by it's owner in a domestic situation, she apparently treated it much as you would a young child. While this is all good for the "aww isn't that cute" thing, it's a WILD ANIMAL, sure it can be trained and taught to act a certain way, but it still has instincts, ones that when would obviouslly come back to memory when it's freaked out by being on medication such as it was.
Is there a reason for keeping a pet in this kind of situation? Chimps are not domesticated animals, and DO have violent tendancies. There isn't the excuse such as with a dog that it's there for guard purposes, the only reason the woman had the animal was a) it's exotic and b) she made money off it from commercials.
I've even read a comment from Morgan Fairchild (who was in a commercial with the chimp years ago) where she said it was a SIN that the chimp had to have been put down by the police. |
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| 100 Books |
[Feb. 20th, 2009|06:22 pm] |
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' before those you have read (or listened to - audiobook)
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.
How many have you read?
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
X+ The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (counts as 1 work)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
X+ Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (any and all Counts as 1 work)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
X The Bible - Authors Unknown!
X Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
X His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
* Complete Works of Shakespeare (many of them)
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
X+ The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (Do we get pouints for
attempting?)
X The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
* War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
X+ The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
X+ Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
X+ The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
X+ Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (Counts as 1 work)
Emma - Jane Austen
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
X Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Animal Farm - George Orwell
X The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
Far rom The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
X Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
X+ Dune - Frank Herbert (Volume 1)
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
* Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
X+ Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (actually in the middle of reading this now)
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
* Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
* On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
* Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
X+ Dracula - Bram Stoker
* The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
* Ulysses - James Joyce
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Germinal - Emile Zola
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Possession - AS Byatt
X+ A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Charlotte's Web - EB White
The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
X+ Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Any 1 or set
Counts as 1 work) - am I allowed to put more than one + on this?)
X+ The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Watership Down - Richard Adams
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
X+ The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
X+ Hamlet - William Shakespeare (Duplicate)
X+ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Total Read: 22
Total 'Loved': 15
Total Planned: 8
oh well .. better than some.. worse than others.. There's a lot of good books which didn't make this list... "Fahrenheit 451", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Picture of Dorian Grey", "War of the Worlds", "Time Machine", "Frankenstein" etc that I've read so that should count for something. |
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| Back when I was a kid... |
[Jan. 21st, 2009|09:28 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pissed off | ] |
There was an old ad campaign, prompting people to help out other people. The song that played over it ran something like "be the first to say, do you need a hand?"
Apparently, there should be some kind of reminder of this attitude played again today.
Driving home from work today, on the main road near my place, I saw an older couple broken down in their old Torana. Were people stopping to help them? No. Every bastard in a car was just changing lanes and driving past, ever person walking down the street was huddling under their umbrella out of the rain and carrying on down to the station.
Not trying to blow my own trumpet here, but it took all of 5 minutes out of my day to pull over near the shop, get out and ask if they needed help, then push their car around the corner so they could pull up out of everyone's way and on the side of the road. To top it all off, even while I was doing this, not ONE person bothered to run over and try and help.
Fucking bastards .. all of them. |
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| Political Correctness. |
[Jan. 15th, 2009|09:04 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
There was an article in the newspaper today (and followed up on tonights Current Affairs programs) regarding an Australian Navel officer making certain remarks in an interview with Ralph magazine. I don't have the links to the actual articles, but I'm sure you can find them.
They included him being asked "if women in the navy were all hot,and wore bikinis do you think it'd improve recruitment?".. to which he responded "I think it'd attract the right demographic of men, but I don't know how feasible it is"
and another question where he was asked "what is the submarine version of the Mile High Club?" to which his answer was along the lines of "I call it the Going Down Club"
While yes these comments show a level of sexism, I think the context, the place of publication and the leading nature of the questions are also to be taken into account.
Now the thing is.. on the Current Affairs programs, they spoke to "experts" regarding women's thoughts on the matter.. an editor of Womens Weekly and I believe the other woman was an author in Womens Rights. This second women termed her responses as speaking for "all women". I have quite a few intelligent, outspoken and most importantly free thinking women on my friends list here.. so I would really like to hear your opinions. Do comments like this offend you? Do you like someone speaking for "all women"? that kind of thing. |
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| Especially for reb__x |
[Jan. 7th, 2009|06:31 pm] |
Remember.. GREEN = Go, RED = Stop, and you don't get points for pedestrians (at least, in the exam)
GOOD LUCK SWEETIE |
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| I like this story... |
[Jan. 4th, 2009|04:06 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
Buddha and one of his disciples were travelling on foot (being that Siddhartha had renounced the material world) and on the way, they both felt hungry. Seeing a mansion nearby, they decided to make a stop and ask for alms. The door was opened by a well dressed man. When asked for some food, the man insulted Buddha and called him conman- a beggar looking for an excuse to get food. This infuriated his disciple but he said nothing as his teacher walked away. When the mansion was out of sight, he asked Buddha why he didn’t reply to the rude man. Buddha stopped in his tracks, looked at his disciple and asked, “If someone gives you a gift on your birthday and you refuse to accept it, to which person does the gift belong?” The disciple answered instantly, “to the person who brought me the gift”. Buddha smiled and said, “I didn’t accept the rich man’s words”. |
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