Science Fiction Blues

Last night, in spite of every review I've read, a gut feeling, and the obvious result of comparing Keanu Reeves with Michael Rennie, I felt compelled to drive to Northland (where the Malteasers cost more than six dollars a pack) to see The Day The Earth Stood Still. It turns out the reviews, gut feeling and especially the comparison were right. This is definitely not a movie for the SF dabbler, or for someone who expects more than B grade from their movie choices; more for the committed addict. Though in spite of its failings, I found some parts of it appealing: clato's metaporphosis was a new twist, the CG was quite good and not over done, the female lead was appealing and attractive. You just have to ignore the annoying kid, the pointless plot twists, the shmaltzy hollywood ending, and Reeves under-acting (like a house plant I read in another review).
The trouble is that good movie SF is almost impossible to come by so there is little choice for us addicts (yes I admit it, I'm a SFaholic, and I think I've traced it back to some early roots) we just have to watch the crap, hoping for a glimmer of brilliance. - A bit like reading Asimov.

Landing

The flight from Melbourne to Devonport takes approximately an hour and a quarter. The Qantas plane is a twin propeller 36 seat "Dash 8" with two rows of double seats and one aisle. I was seated on the 6th row in the aisle seat on the right. Being a Friday the plane was only about three quarters full and the window seat next to me was empty. As usual, as soon as we took off the fight attendants began their safety lecture. And as usual I took a little more notice than most other passengers. A habit I formed after attending helicopter safety training, the idea being that: in the event that anything should happen, it would be possible to snap from dazed and confused to reasonably focused with the prompting of the information recently stored in the back of my mind.

We had lunch - unusually a "Vegetarian Roll" (roast capsicum, rocket, mushrooms etc) which others complained about (no ham I suppose) I refused the coffee because, from previous experience on these flights it tastes like instant coffee. I can tell because I have to add milk to make it drinkable. I think It's likely that they just put several spoon fulls of Nescafe (or worse) in the coffee pot and add boiling water.

Afterwards I read a book; "Short Cuts" by Raymond Carver (thanks Tim), with the air vent turned on full to avoid the smell of the baby being held by its mother in the window seat in front of me.

I was still engrossed in the book when the captain made encouraging noises through the loudspeaker about approaching Devonport and an impending landing. I remember being pleased that the flight had seemed to pass so quickly, thanks to Mr Carver. And then went back to reading. Some time later, in spite of my engrossment, I noticed that an unusually long time had passed since the captain's statement. It must have been then that the plane started making funny noises and the engine changed pitch. The captain's voice once again came over the loudspeaker and said that the landing wheels had retracted by themselves but of course this was nothing to worry about and was due something to do with navigation circuitry which overrode the landing wheels. My initial thoughts were surprise at how candid the captains statement had been, and at how they could design landing wheels that would retract at anything other than a manual command.

As we came out of the clouds and over the water I thought: What if the landing wheels don't come down again. Surely then the safest thing to do would be to land in the sea. We'd all get out safely on liferafts (lifejacket under seat, don't inflate until outside the aircraft) but what about my fiddle, laptop, ereader, ipod & banjo? Maybe the plane would float and they could be retrieved later unharmed. Then I thought: what if on landing, the nose wheel collapsed back into the fuselage? The plane could go careering sideways along the runway and flip over.

That landing felt particularly bumpy, but I felt confident that I was attuned to all the possibilities even though there was nothing I could do about it. Being totally at the mercy of the skill of the pilot also seemed to have a strangely calming effect.

I walked across the tarmac, and as I was about to enter the building, an airport employee said "have you got any fruit or vegies mate?". The lady at the Avis counter had a welcoming smile.

When worlds collide

Last weekend I managed to get away from GV (the oil & gas platform) earlier than expected, so I went to the Guildford Banjo Jamboree. One amazing highlight was Noriko Tadano on the Shamisen (the instrument I didn't see when I was in Japan). They called it a "traditional Japanese 3 string fretless Banjo".

Here's a sample of her playing:



Other Highlights :
Greg Deering from the Deering Banjo Co in the US talks at length about banjos and the construction and adjustment of them:


Street band with guy playing the saw.


All in all, a pretty good weekend, with lots of banjos (and other instruments) being played in the concert hall and in the street.

Sony Reader

While I was in Japan I ordered a Sony Reader from the US (they don't have them in Japan or anywhere else except for the US, Canada and just recently the UK) and it arrived today. And it's great.

Just a couple of problems (more annoyances really):

• It doesn't strip line breaks from text files, so things can look a little screwed up sometimes. I had to write a little exe file that strips them out. This adds an extra step to the upload process but it looks ok now.
• It came with a program called "ebook library" which is supposed to manage ebooks and upload them to the reader, in an itunes sort of way. Problem is: it's a bit buggy. Strips out and ignores any meta data from the text files and thinks that all word files are still open. So it will copy text files over but leaves out the Author details. Found an XML file on the reader where this information is kept, and have to edit that after uploading with file manager.

Anyway this device is great for anyone with a short attention span. You can read 5 books at once (time multiplexed in 10 minute bites) this seems such a natural thing to do, I bet that once these things become popular enough someone will come up with a special word for it.

A Week in London

Tues

• Met Tim at the gallery
• Monmouth coffee
• Dinner at the wet fishCafe in west Hampstead
• Back to Tim's place

Wed

• British museum
• Tate
• Last.fm (Tim's work) and takeaway Vietnamese
• Coffee

Thu

• Bike tour
• Lots of walking
• The best fish & chips you've ever tasted in your life
• Coffee again
• Jazz cafe

Fri

• Hampstead heath, cheese & bagels
• Saw "Timon of Athens" at the Globe.
• Pizza

Sat

• McBreakfast
• Coffee & lunch at Neil's salad bar
• Covent garden & the Punch & Judy pub
• Theatre
• Hellboy

Sun

• Got up late & made breakfast
• Hyde park speakers corner
  
• Science museum
• Polish restaurant
• Wall-E
  

Lemon - A life

July 2005


On a cold and damp July day, the lemon tree is planted















It grows. Friends come to watch.



















April 2007


The first lemon appears.















July 2008

A moonlit night. That first lemon is now quite big. It has several siblings.














Its fate is sealed.
















The much anticipated ceremonial gin & tonic in whose shadow the lemon has lived.

Incredibow

Bought a new bow from the Incredibow company in Mountain View, Arkansas.


It's curved in the opposite direction to a normal bow. It has synthetic hair. It is very light, and has no screw on the frog so it's always at full tension. Almost as interesting was the packaging: It came in a pvc pipe with tissue paper and gaffa tape at the ends. Was wrapped in a plastic bag and a sheet of black satin tied with gold string. Along with the bow came a red plastic rose (if you look closely you can see the plastic dew drops too)


It's very different to use. The jury is still out as to whether it's better or not than a more conventional bow, but early impressions are good.

Amazing Breakthrough

Wow what a brainwave. I've finally figured out what to do with those annoying little stickers they put on fruit (especially apples). You know - you don't want to eat them, but if you peel them off they get stuck to your fingers and the only way to get them off is to stick them to something else. A couple of dozen of these on the fridge can look quite unsightly. The answer? Simply stick them on the plastic bag that the bread comes in. In a day or two the bread will be eaten and it'll be time to throw the bag out, along with the offending stickers! Another battle won in the war between me and stuff.

Violas for sale

Location: Melbourne Australia

John Van Wirdum Viola - 1987
with bow, shoulder rest, and case


Dimensions
total length: 405 mm (15.95")
nut to bridge: 376 mm (14.80")
width: 240 mm (9.45")


Excellent tone quality

$4,500 ono








_________________________________


Collector's Item Viola
with bow, shoulder rest, and case


Early Australian
William Johnson - 1908
Domain Street, South Yarra, Victoria

Dimensions
total length: 415 mm (16.34")
nut to bridge: 315 mm (12.40")
width: 235 mm (9.25")

If you're interested you can contact me at: psell@mail.com

Transport woes update

Well, I took the 3 month option. This is my current mode of transport:


It makes things difficult, especially in Melbourne's winter. But it's no big deal really. its just not what I'm used to. I don't think you could really categorise having to get to work by: motorised pushbike, public transport, and charitable loved one, a hardship.

I certainly don't feel any remorse or guilt over the incidents that put me in this situation. Travelling slightly faster than an arbitrary speed limit, on roads and in situations that could safely handle a much higher speed, is not what I would call criminal or being a bad citizen. In fact what I would call it is a cynical money making exercise. Or at best, that I was the victim of being caught in a trap designed for somebody else. Sort of collateral damage in the war against hooning.

Anyway it will only last 'till the middle of September. Then beckons springtime in the hills around Melbourne, astride my lovely Ducati.

Those Crazy Americans

Apparently a supercomputer built for the US government has performed the first petaflop in history. So what's crazy about that? Well the computer is called Roadrunner. It seems whatever they do, they have to include some form of cultural evangelism. I mean ok, call it something that's fast and ok, american too, 'cos that's where its made. But why name it after a cartoon character? A bad and boring one at that. (and I'll bet that to most people in the world it IS a cartoon character, not an example of the local fauna in new mexico). They should have just gone all the way and called it Speedy Gonzales, but then they couldn't have gotten out of paying royalties to warner bros. (Which is also why if one was built in Hobart, it wouldn't be called Tassie Devil) To be fair, it's quite likely however, that whoever named it was NOT thinking about the rest of the world at the time.

My mistress' eyes

Sabine came over to Tas for the weekend. Naturally, this reminds me of my favorite Shakespeare sonnet:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight


Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,--
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.

Taswegia again

Well, I'm back in Taswegia again while Charles is on holidays.
Check out the cool accommodation I've found:


See more pictures here

Apparently, Saturday night was cracker night in Tasmania. Charles had a bonfire and invited the whole neighborhood. They all came. It looked like this:


And This:

Transport Woes

Having some trouble with Vicroads. They want suspend my licence for 3 months because I have too many demerit points. Or I can opt to be very very good for 12 months, keep my licence, but lose it for 6 months if I earn another point. I only have until June 10 to decide.

This is a problem for work. Some of my options here include:

1. Holidays, but 3 months is too long
2. Going overseas for a while, maybe South Africa
3. Just being really really careful for 12 months
4. Taking the 3 months and finding another way to get to work (callouts could be a problem)
5. A combination of 1 and 4 or 1,2 & 4
   

Any suggestions would be appreciated. In the meantime, I'll have time to think about it while I'm in Tasmania for two weeks starting on May 23.

On a more positive note: I rode Ethel to work today (keeping her in shape while Tim's away). It was good to be up on the old girl again.

Bon Voyage Tim

tim has gone

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