Published by Si at 11 April, 2007
in Screen.
Last night, I had the pleasure of watching Shaun of the Dead. If there was one way to get me looking forward to the rest of the movie, it was to stick Dylan Moran in the first few minutes of the film. He plays “obnoxious twat” so well it’s scary.
The film starts out as a regulation British romantic comedy until a zombie mistaken for a very drunk lady wanders into Shaun’s backyard and is impaled on an umbrella stand. It doesn’t get any better than this folks ^_^
What I love most about this film is how bloody British it is. From seeking the local pub as a place of refuge to the deadly serious TV newscaster as he informs the public to “remove the head or destroy the brain.” If you like British comedy, and let’s face it - who in their right mind doesn’t - then you’ll like Shaun of the Dead. Next on the to watch list is Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright’s follow up.
I also recently saw a trailer for Black Sheep, a comedy/horror about, um… killer sheep. And before you ask, yes it’s set in New Zealand.
Published by Si at 8 April, 2007
in Games and Net.
Well, I just solved the White Chamber puzzle from master Toshimitsu Takagi and co. Just as annoyingly addictive as Crimson and Viridian, but easier I think. Can’t believe it was made way back in December 2005 and I’m only finding about it now! Still haven’t managed to solve the Blue Chamber. It’s impossible, man.
Published by Si at 6 April, 2007
in Geek.
While trawling through my files for something interesting to post, I came across this list of computer lab rules written one very fun afternoon by the Whitley IT Committee. Enjoy :-)
- I will not infest the lab with viruses.
- I will not infest the lab with pr0n.
- I will not infest the lab with rats.
- I will not infest the lab with Futurama episodes; room computers are another matter.
- I will not infest the lab with pictures of your mother.
- I will infest the lab with pictures of Janel Moloney.
- I will not infest the lab with pointless lines of gibberish.
- I will not infest the lab with vomit caused by spinning around on the spinny chairs.
- I will not infest the lab with pro-Mac propaganda; I wouldn’t want to make the ITC members cry.
- I will not infest the lab with n*Sync.
- I will not steal all the black whiteboard markers.
- When asked by an ITC member what operating system my malfunctioning computer uses, I will not reply “Office 97″Â.
- I will not attempt to use a Mac, and I will not imply that the puck mouse is a real mouse.
- I will not too use Norton Antivirus.
Upon reflection, I am astounded how anti-Mac some of us were…
Published by Si at 6 April, 2007
in Geek and Net.
The only possible outcome when visiting xkcd.com.
Inspired by these comics.
Published by Si at 5 April, 2007
in Tech.
Woohoo! I’m writing this from my newly resurrected PC. About 2 weeks ago it stopped booting, and I was sad :-( Took me a week to figure out it was a dead motherboard. And another week to receive the new parts. Rebuilt it last night. One BSOD and Windows Repair later (as expected), and a reinstall of the kX Drivers and I’m back in business! With a bit of an upgrade too! My old CPU was a P4 2.4 GHz of Socket 478 persuasion, and these motherboards (with AGP) are not that easy to find so… time for a new CPU!
New motherboard is an ASROCK 4CoreDual-VSTA which is great. Some Firewire headers would have been nice but at $99 from Scorptec, I’m not complaining. New CPU is a P4 3.4 GHz Socket 775. Contemplated a Core II Due but they’re too damn expensive. Haven’t noticed a great speed increase and my comp boots slower now but I blame that on the Windows Repair. Need to run BootVis and defrag again. Actually, need to reinstall my whole system but can’t be arsed!
Published by Si at 2 April, 2007
in Games.
For those who haven’t played Grim Fandango there’s a scene where Manny enters a poetry bar called “The Blue Casket” on open mic night. As Manny you can recite various pieces of poetry, none of which seem to make any sense, and are purposefully over-the-top beatnik and thus quite amusing.
I later discovered the game saves ALL of the dialogues played out in the game as HTML files. Way back when I was playing it, to use up surplus creativity left over after high school english assignments, I went back over the logs and assembled some of the better lines into a semi-coherent poem. All of the lines below are copyright LucasArts, so no suing me OK?
Continue reading ‘The Blue Casket’
Published by Si at 1 April, 2007
in Screen.
Heroes. What can I say but: Truly the most awesome series I’ve seen in a good while. At the moment, it’s filling the Battlestar Galactica “favourite show” void left by my decision to wait until the Season 3 DVDs are released in Region 4. I love the way Heroes is presented in a comic book style. At first glance, some might label it as an X-Men ripoff, and both series share a lot of the “classic” superpowers. But it’s pretty much impossible to come up with an original superpower now anyway. Radiation-man is a possible exception, but feel free to correct me.
Initially, I was skeptical and thought Heroes would just be another one of those “convergence” series that over capitalises on mystery and melodrama (think Lost). Heroes is a convergence series but unlike Lost, it has a plot that makes sense without the need to take drugs. It’s obvious the overall storyline has been planned well ahead of time. A lot of recent series feel like they’re written episode by episode without any real goal in mind. You feel like you’re watching the series just for the sake of cliffhanger relief and it gets pointless after a while. Being a serial format a certain amount of cliffhanging is to be expected, though but I don’t think Heroes gets carried away with it.
What convinced me to watch then? Mostly, Hiro Nakamura, the Japanese guy who can manipulate the spacetime continuum. Hiro is hilarious, and I’m always cracking up at his silly one-liners. So much about Hiro makes him look as if he’s been plucked straight from an anime. And with his mate Ando, the self-assured ladies man, the pair provide essential comic relief that reminds you not to take the story too seriously. Heroes also has a sci-fi edge to it, without going fully hard-core sci-fi, separating it from other current mainstream series. In my opinion, this adds to its appeal; I am wary of shows touted as “The hottest new show in the US!!!” Maybe Heroes was when it first aired, I don’t remember now.
Anyway, It’s awesome. If you haven’t seen Heroes yet, give it a go. It won’t make a great deal of sense if you jump right into the middle so maybe you could somehow “acquire” the eps that have already aired… *cough* bittorrent *cough*
Last weekend I went to the Avalon Airshow in Melbourne. It was truly awesome. Impossible aerobatics with pilots throwing their planes all over the sky and the audience staring up in awe thinking “how the hell is that plane still in the air”. An impressive showcase of the wide variety of aircraft responsible for “protecting our freedom” as the announcer so melodramatically put it. Initially, the F/A-18 Super Hornets were my favourite, but that was before we saw the F-111C take to the skies. Both are bloody impressive, but there’s something inherently appealing about watching a jet scream past sporting a giant flaming tail. Took some videos during the day but they simply don’t do any of it justice. This is something you have to see with your eyes and hear with your ears at least once in your life.
Full photoset is here.
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