Charlie's Worldtea rooms and lesbian vampires
Posted on September 20, 2009
Now I have your undivided attention..
Starting in reverse chronological order, we went to the Mundijong Tea Rooms today and had the most average Devonshire Cream Tea available anywhere. Its a nice setting though and some of their food is yummy, but they didnt really inspire us with mid-morning goodies. Jay’s review of the cream tea went like this:
“I wish I’d have stayed at home and finished off my art this morning and then gone to Freo for tapas”
Not a very positive recommendation, but I agree 100%. Next time 🙂 Still, we had a nice morning just chilling out and doing something different.
So, onto the lesbian vamipres. Its a film, one of 4 films we’ve watched this weekend.
1. Lesbian Vampire Killers
A low budget movie set in deepest darkest Norfolk, where the legend of the Lesbian Vampire Queen combines with a comedy duo on a hiking trip. Its funny like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz – some good one liners, laugh out loud moments and the dialogue and action, whilst cringey, fits perfectly with the film’s intentions. Oh, and those who want hot lesbian action are going to be a bit disappointed, theres not really any. 8/10, would watch again, its genuinely funny.
2. Killshot
ex-mafia hitman, Blackbird (Mickey Rourke) gets caught up with a young crazy armed robber/wannabe killer Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The film tells the story of them tracking down a couple placed in the witness protection program after witnessing one of their many screwups thanks to Nix’s wild and unpredictable nature. Good film, interesting, captivating and well shot. 7/10.
3. Dead Like Me
When you die your spirit could be asked to become a “reaper” – one of the many people on earth tasked with harvesting the souls of the living at the point of death. They walk amongst us, but get their schedules every morning and have to touch the body to get soul out. They dont know how many souls they have to get before they can get released and continue on their own way to heaven. sounds promising. And it starts off ok, some funny moments, a plot of sorts. But then it turns into dreary emotional feelgood claptrap. And the end is boring. 3/10. Dont bother, unless you only watch the first 40 mins and then stop.
4. Tenderness
Russel Crowe plays a retired cop on the case of a released teenage serial killer – absolved of his crimes, the state is convinced it was his anti-depressants that were to blame, Crowe on the other hand doesnt buy it and vows to stop him committing more crimes. The story follows a girl of who is obsessed with the killer, traveling around with him and narrowly misses out on being killed herself a half dozen times. The story kinda fizzles out and nothing really happens and the ending is typical ponsey arthouse movie crap where we are left to interpret and apply to the film we have just seen. meh. boring 4/10.
So thats it for the films, 50% hit rate, not too bad I guess.
So, what does the rest of the day hold in store? no more films, thats for sure :))
new toys
Posted on September 19, 2009
Its been one of those weeks. My laptop died a few weeks back and despite updating it to Windows 7, repeated surgery for new drivers, disk defragmentation, memory parity checks and so on, it just kept freezing.
So I had to buy a new one.
The big debate then – another PC or go the Apple Mac route.
Well, Jay’s Dell has been plagued with issues from Windows Vista, my Sony was the same, so I decided to spend a few dollars more and get a MacBook Pro. 15 inch screen.
macbook pro
and very shiny it is too. I’m not totally sold on the large clickable touchpad and there are some things the operating system does that I still need to get my head around, but apart from that- it just works. No crashes, freezes, complaints or anything. It goes to sleep when asked and wakes up on cue. And the battery lasts forever. A few hours of surfing and stuff only used 25% of the battery. Very impressive.
So it gets my vote for the time being.
Whine Flu
Posted on September 17, 2009
I have it, I do.
*wheeze, moan*
In other news, I went out to meet a bunch of photographers from Flickr last night in Kwinana and had a blast.(except when it rained) I didnt take a lot of shots and mostly I’m sure they’re the same as everyone elses, but it was good fun. Good to meet some of the people I’d been chatting to for the last year or so. Or more, in the case of Bruce.
I’ll sort some pics out at the weekend. Have lots of work to do today and tomorrow..
updates
Posted on September 16, 2009
been a bit of a delay in posting as I’ve been sick. really sick. stay in bed for 48 hours kind of sick.
meh!
Just about getting over it now, but now the family are starting to go down with it, which is not good. Jay is ok-ish for the moment, but both the kidlets are off school and have a high fever. Hope they get better soon.
Hope I continue to get better too, I have a customer meeting tomorrow in Perth that I have to go to no matter what.
So, whats been happening..
Well, not a lot, as I’ve been sick, but apart from the usual nice stuff, theres been stuff that really irks me. So I’m going to write about it. I guess the people concerned might guess this is about them should they read it but I don’t care too much.
Friends who plead poverty and borrow money from their families for essential items and then go and splash their own money on luxuries like flat screen tv’s and new pets the very next day
Mothers who smoke when they have a newborn. There have been so many studies done about this, even if they dont smoke around the baby, the second hand smoke linkers enough in the mothers lungs to breathe significant volumes of carcenogenic tars over the child. Its not as if this should be a surprise, these health warnings are advertised everywhere and have een for years. This annoys me just as much as parents who smoke in the car with their kids. If anyone reading this smokes with young children – you really need to think about your children and their health before your “needs” Grow the fuck up.
Friends who want us to babysit after school but then go home from work and leave the kid with us but dont actually let us know. Pick her up almost 3 hours late. No apologies. Nice.
People who still text whilst they are driving.
The news sickens me. People are capable of the most horrible things. For instance, I just read about a man in the US who threw his 4 year old (and gorgeous too, looking at the photos) daughter off a cliff and killed her because he didnt want to pay child support. I mean, who the fuck does that. With their own child. Forget jail time, just chuck the gutless piece of shit out of a moving car at 100mph. I have to say, this news has totally ruined my day – not my mood, but its drained the colour from me totally. How can I look at the world the same way knowing this kind of thing. I’m not reading the news any more. Back when there was no internet and global awareness, perhaps current affairs were useful, but now it seems to dredge up so much hideousness, for me, its become irrelevant. I don’t need to know.
Politics. Fuck me, they are all petty point scoring children. Watched a clip on the news from the Federal Parliament and it was embarrassing and it struck me right then, again, how irrelevant it is, not only to me, but to the way a country needs to be run. I’d rather campaign for a “vote for nobody” box on the election form and pay the fines for missing mandatory voting (honestly, what kind of a choice is it when you cant vote for “none of the above”) than vote for anyone who participates in that kind of petty kindergarten nonsense. I’d expect better debate from my children. Seriously.
In positive news, the Olympus Trip 35’s arrived – very nice they are too, although the low light shutter lock on mine doesnt work, but the red flag pops up ok.
Off to buy some film for them right now. And a subway, I’m starving.
upgrading
Posted on September 9, 2009
Well, due to repeated crashes and stupidity from my laptop, I’m upgrading to Windows 7
Its almost done. Hope it fixes the problems, gives me some time to save for a replacement.
Which will be an Apple Mac.
oh sooo true
Posted on September 8, 2009
Shenanigans on the forums again reminded me of this old chestnut..- a parody of a Gilbert and Sullivan song.
Tom Holt, from a newsgroup posting dated 1998/03/07
I am the very model of a usenet personality.
I intersperse obscenity with tedious banality.
Addresses I have plenty of, both genuine and ghosted too,
On all the countless newgroups that my drivel is cross-posted to.
Your bandwidth I will fritter with my whining and my snivelling,
And you’re the one who pays the bill, downloading all my drivelling.
My enemies are numerous, and no-one would be blaming you
For cracking my head open after I’ve been rudely flaming you.
I hate to lose an argument (by now I should be used to it).
I wouldn’t know a valid point if I was introduced to it.
My learning is extensive but consists of mindless trivia,
Designed to fan my ego, which is larger than Bolivia.
The comments that I vomit forth, disguised as jest and drollery,
Are really just an exercise in unremitting trollery.
I say I’m plain and simple, but that’s merely lies and vanity,
The gibberings of one who’s at the limits of his sanity.
If only I could get a life, as many people tell me to;
If only Mom could find a circus freak-show she could sell me to;
If I go off to Zanzibar to paint the local scenery;
If I lose all my fingers in a mishap with machinery;
If I survive to twenty, which is somewhat problematical;
If what I post was more mature, or slightly more grammatical;
If I could learn to spell a bit, and maybe even punctuate;
Would I still be the loathsome and objectionable punk you hate?
But while I have this tiresome urge to prance around and show my face,
It simply isn’t safe for normal people here in cyberspace.
To stick me in Old Sparky and turn on the electricity
Would be a fitting punishment for all my plain simplicity.
Clarkson wisdom
Posted on September 7, 2009
I’ve been reading another Jeremy Clarkson book and one thing jumped out of the page at me.
Its something an American policeman said to him when he was trying to load a van in a no loading zone outside a closed airport – so at that time, the no loading thing was meaningless – noone was there. Clarkson suggested the cop use common sense – but the cop didnt see it that way and replied..
“we don’t need common sense, we have laws”
now bugger me if thats not a reflection of how authority in Australia, well, WA in particular thinks.
I was looking at a sign on the train today, a new and updated sign. Its all the don’ts. Dont do this, that, the other or its a minimum $100 fine. There’s no common sense, no argument, no reasoning or room for negotiation. What if it was hot and you needed a drink? well, its a $100 fine if you drink on the train. Someone was done for that very thing in front of me this morning. Is it really too much to ask for a bit of common sense? Having a sip from a drinks bottle is a world away from eating a smelly Big Mac and large spillable coke. But no, the train guards obey the Clarkson observation. We have laws, we don’t have to have common sense.
Its the same with people who fall over in the street and want to blame someone else (fell over a cracked paving slab – boo fucking hoo – look where you are going, moron) Common sense.
The Police here are the same with speeding. 1km over the speed limit and you’re caught, bang to rights and lectured to like you were driving a tank through a primary school playground at recess.
Common sense would tell you that not everyone looks 100% of the time at the speedo and yes, just occasionally, they might speed up 5, 10km over the limit. They didnt mean to do it, they would probably slow down again naturally a few moments later and actually, unless they’re doing it in a crowded carpark, it matters very little. Would be so useful if Plod would see it that way too. But no, they laws – common sense not required.
Politicians are the same – have to stick to their guns about stuff cos its something they promised years ago that is now irrelevant and actually counter-productive, but hey, promise is a promise (this is the vote on shopping hours) or partisan voting because you have to support the party line – the opposition cant have anything useful to say.
Well – all I can say to this stupid authoritarian, inflexible, unthinking, sheep like, brainless, don’t blame me, if I don’t my boss will chew my arse nonsese is :
fuck. right. off.
Get some common sense, use that brain you were born with once in a while. Break the rules a little, its really quite liberating
Big Day Out
Posted on September 6, 2009
well, not big, but as Jay’s back has been really sore for months, it was a big deal for her.
We took the train into Perth yesterday so we could go to the WA Art Gallery and also see Kevin Ballantine’s Holga exhibition in the Spectrum Project Space on Beaufort Street.
Had lunch in the Belgian Beer Cafe on Murray St – was deserted but the food was excellent, all washed down with a little Belgian beer, of course 🙂
Fully fed, we popped over to the art gallery – there were quite a few new bits downstairs which was nice. For more information see http://www.artgallery.wa.gov.au/exhibitions/current.asp
There was an abstract photography exhibition by Richard Woldendorp which had some amazing and huge shots of bits of Australia taken from the air. Very impressive stuff.
Also an exhibition of mini metal sculptures by Mari Funaki -amazing little steel things and also jewellery – not wearable, but so intricate and very different. Along the jewellery theme there was a wonderful exhibit by David Walker – the most exquisite pendants and broaches and stuff. Would love to see how he makes them.
Bumped into a guy in the cafe who commented on the Holga (I was taking pics of the teacups stuck on the wall) – he had a very tasty Leica M6 strung around his neck. I’d love one of those!!
We then hobbled to the Spectrum gallery (backs starting to hurt now – mine included) to see what Kevin Ballantine (www.ruelepic-e-gallerie.com) was showing – amazing stuff – the Holga images are so evocative, even more so in the flesh. He had a load of digital works too which were cool, very expressive. Kevin was there too and was happy to share his tips and tricks with the Holga – he’s was a cool guy, we chatted a while about photography and stuff and was very engaging. Was totally worth the back pain of going.
And then we came home again.
Oh, and The Watchmen – man, thats a long film and not that good either. an average 5/10
And that was Saturday 🙂
first films
Posted on September 4, 2009
so, as you know, I’m on the quest for photographic enlightenment and that involves a forray back into the world of film. Starting with the basics – a Holga medium format toy camera and (still to arrive – Monday hopefully) Olympus Trip 35
As I said in the previous post, the first of the Holga films came back and they are wicked!
Holden EH
Freeway
Steps
Anja
The only problem is the cost – $100 to post, develop and return 5 films. *eep*
Looks like I’ll be venturing into the world of home developing a little earlier than I had anticipated..
first prints
Posted on September 3, 2009
got the first set of prints from the Holgas back, and by all accounts (a 15 minute phone critique), there’s more practice needed. ah well – thats why these things are fun, right?
I’m still at work and haven’t see them yet but I can’t wait to have a look and scan a few later – watch this space. well, the space above, probably as I’ll do a new post cos I’m too lazy to edit this one… :p
Charlie's World 