supplementary notes

Maurice Dry Cleaners, Broadway Shopping Centre, Sydney, Australia

2012-01-12T23:34:00.005+11:00

Dropped off suit jacket, trousers and business shirt for a clean. PAID in full on the spot and they gave me a receipt.
When I go to collect my clothes, they claim I haven't paid, stating that the receipt needed to be marked 'paid'.

What. The. Fuck.

Those assholes have my money and my clothes and now they're gouging me the full price AGAIN.

Total fucking bullshit.

Fought it as much as I could for 1 month; took it up with Centre Management--was more than willing to get security footage to prove my point, and NSW Fair Trading, and they're still too stupid to remove their heads from their sphincters to recognise that the mistake was theirs. Lack of evidence has gone against me (read: poor bookkeeping).

If you live in Sydney, need good dry cleaning, don't want to get ripped off and don't want to deal with shitty service, DON'T USE Maurice Dry Cleaners in Broadway Shopping Centre.

They're stupid, incompetent, unrepentant, time-wasting, poor bookkeeping, double-charging thieves.

I'm telling everyone--I have no reason to burn them other than they done me very wrong; I was a recurring customer up to this incident.

FUCK YOU, Maurice Dry Cleaners Broadway. Burn in hell.

In Time

2011-10-28T23:39:00.002+11:00

watched Andrew Niccol's In Time. Started off ok, but the story got weaker until it devolved into a Robin Hood story.

Loved the nixie-like font.

The minimalist, eugenicised, class-struggle future presented reminded me of Gattaca:
-night swim in the ocean
-car aesthetics (stripped back designs)
-clothing aesthetics (esp. suits & dresses)
-frequent human-computer interaction (in Gattaca, the blood id; in In Time, the time transferral block)

Gattaca is far better.

In terms of pacing / editing, why the fuck did they add those moments of levity, espcially in gun fights? I thought it was jarring and broke the illusion of the movie. Really poor decision making.

In Time's base idea is good but there's not enough spirit propelling the movie.

Justin Timberlake had some good moments (particularly with a certain character's death) but overall was only ok. I noticed there were 2 other guys (Bomer & Pettyfer) who are better actors and could have played the role yet were cast as supporting players.

Amanda Seyfried is so ridiculously attractive, it's almost depressing; her cat-like eyes are fixating, especially when she half-blinks. Looked hot in that red wig.

Drive

2011-10-27T23:59:00.001+11:00

watched Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive.

It's fucking awesome. Brutal, subtle and realistic.

The driver was great; reserved, quietly menacing, strong, borderline sociopathic, complicated, and mysterious. Like his freelancing philosophy, he has little baggage in his life, everything about him before and after the movie are unknowns, but in this small time frame, he's yours.

That bald-mask is creepy.

There hasn't been a movie with this kind of brutal violence since Spielberg's Munich?.

Glorious soundtrack.

Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T00:23:00.002+11:00

My favourite businessman.
A great technologist, innovator, public speaker and futurist.

The flame that burns twice as bright lasts half as long.

Wimbledon 2011 Men's final

2011-07-04T01:49:00.004+10:00

random thoughts on the match:
Rafa's first serve percentage not high enough.
It's surprising and shocking to see Rafa lose points on long rallies.

Rafa was doing ok in the first set until 4-4, Djokovic played clutch at the right time to hold serve.
From there he had the momentum and ran out to 6-4, 3-0.

Djokovic's tactics against Rafa are working; serving out wide, dragging him wide in rallies, aiming for the lines; it's all working.

Add to that, his two handed backhand is able to withstand/neutralise Rafa's forehand and club winners back.

Is Rafa nervous? He seems to be; what's with the weak returns which sit up mid-court for Djokovic?
They must be some of the weakest returns I've ever seen Rafa hit!

Unbelievable, the number of errors Djokovic is forcing on Rafa. Rafa didn't play terribly, but just didn't look anywhere near his level against Murray or 2008.

Djokovic quickly ran out to 6-4, 6-1 in 74 minutes!

Djokovic went through a 'patch' like he has all tournament, allowing Rafa to get back into the match 6-1 in the 3rd set.

Djokovic beat Rafa, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3!
Unbelievable. He's really been unstoppable this year, only 1 loss!
Ok, now I agree he's put together one of the best seasons in tennis history, and we're only just past the halfway point.
I don't hate the guy, but from me he gets no love.

I never thought it would happen to Rafa but it's finally happened; someone who's game lines up effectively against Rafa's has finally come along.

Djokovic snapped 2 more Rafa streaks (in addition to snapping Rafa's clay streak earlier this year):
#1 ranking
20 match wins at Wimbledon
and he has a 5 match winning streak against Rafa (all finals!) and is 12-16 against Rafa, winning 8 of the last 10 matches.

How will Rafa take this loss?

Djokovic is having a Federer-like year! 2 slams, 1 Semi, 4 masters 1000 titles and more. Maybe Federer really did come along during a 'gap' where his competition were injured or under-developed.

Just as Rafa did to Federer, Djokovic has done to Rafa. This is what it feels like when doves cry.
I wonder which player will be the one to beget Djokovic?

GLUTEN!??!? This whole f#cking time it was gluten?!?!

Like Rafa this year, next year he's got ALOT of points to defend.

The trivalry's on! (Federer-Nadal-Djokovic).

Wimbledon 2011: Tsonga-Djokovic semi

2011-07-02T01:38:00.001+10:00

Gooooo Tsonga! Nooooo Tsonga!

Djokovic was relentless (and patchy) in his 4 set romp.
Tsonga had moments of brilliance but was way too inconsistent and gave away alot of easy points.

Congrats Djokovic, you're finally world #1.

Had to go 47-1 on the year, win 7 titles, including 1 slam and 4 masters 1000 titles to get there.

Btw, I'm seeing a 2010-2011 pattern here:
the player that beat Federer in the QFs went on to play Djokovic in the semis
Djokovic played an unlikely quarterfinalist (Rendy/Bernie)
Rafa played a 4 set quarter against a big serve, big forehand guy (Soderling/Fish).
Rafa played Murray in semis

Wimbledon 2011 so far

2011-06-28T02:04:00.000+10:00

Awesome wimbledon commentary from John McEnroe & Andrew Castle on Nadal v Sweeting, particularly about Rafa's OCD when he takes his towel.
They're right, Rafa really tries to take his towel at the exact same position on court between every point.

good matches so far:
Venus d Kimiko Date-Krumm; so close.
Ivanovic d Denilidou; crushing her 1st and 2nd rounds; through to 3rd round; good on ya.
Soderling d Hewitt; some exciting dives from Hewitt but wtf? He had Soderling beat in the 3rd...
Rafa d Sweeting; he's throwing down aces?!?
Rendy takes down Troicki, nice.

heaps of good 3rd round matches:
F-Lo dumps Roddick in the 3rd round
Vika's thru to the 4th
Pironkova's , looking pretty dangerous
Rafa finally overcomes Muller
Federer crushes Nalbandian
close throwdown between Djokovic and Baghdatis

I'm liking Llodra's attacking game, but he really shouldn't toy with his opponent when down 1 set, especially if the other guy is Djokovic.

No-one else seems to play serve-volley anymore, not even Federer.

pretty open on both men's and women's draws (really about 4 clear favorites) and so many good matches since 2nd round.

My picks to win:
Rafa, Federer, Djokovic, Tomic(!)
Masha, Lisicki, Vika, Kvitova, Pirokova

Notably, all the women have big serves.

Really enjoying Wimbledon this year, looking forward to all the QFs on both men's and women's draws.

Cibulkova-Masha and Pironkova-Kvitova should be good matches, full of power hitting.

the Tomic bomb

2011-06-28T01:08:00.000+10:00

Well, well, well; Tomic dumps Soderling in straight sets, including a 6-1 first set mauling.

6-1 6-4 7-5

Tomic was up 5-0 in 11' in the opening set against #5 Soderling, eventually taking it 6-1 in 17 minutes!

Holy crap, Tomic beat Malisse to make the QF! He did it dropping the same number of games in a similar pattern: 6-1 7-5 6-4

His run includes:
3 qualifying matches
(29) Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets
Igor Andreev from 2 sets down
(5) Robin Soderling
Xavier Malisse

Now he's got the winner of Djokovic-Llodra.

Awesome run, Bernie. Congrats to Australia's new highest ranked player (somewhere in the 70s, jumping about 57 ranking spots). No pressure now.

alot of hacking going on

2011-06-18T01:34:00.003+10:00

from joyoftech

sony, nintendo, codemasters, minecraft, eve online, bioware, Bethesda Softworks, citibank,
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/14/lulzsec-attacks-escapist-magazine-eve-online-and-minecraft/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/06/10/codemasters-hacked-first-details/#more-61934">http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/06/10/codemasters-hacked-first-details/#more-61934

Either that or its just getting more airtime. Regardless, internet security will never go back from this. I just wished they would take apart something that actually deserved it, like Facebook. Fuck that privacy whore.

wimbledon preview

2011-06-17T23:45:00.000+10:00

men's draw
section 1: Rafa could have to go through Haas/Raonic and del Potro to reach Quarters. I really hope boy wonder Raonic schools that fucker, Fognini.
section 2: pretty open, Hasse, Stepanek and Berdych lurking in here. Verdasco's been bit quiet lately.
section 3: Ljubicic v Cilic should be a good first round match, otherwise pretty open for Murray to make Quarters
section 4: there could be a Karlovic-Roddick shootout worth watching in the 4th round.

section 5: pretty open, but I expect Dologopolov or Tsonga to get through unless Dimitrov steps up
section 6: Isner v Mahut in the first round again. Don't expect another marathon. If Isner gets through, he should get to 4th round to play Federer. Write Federer into the quarters already.
section 7: Soderling-Petzschner first round should be good. Too erratic to call this section
section 8: Djokovic-Anderson 2nd round possible. Troicki better not play Djokovic. Llodra's pretty over the hill but his attacking game could still work on grass...

possible semis: Rafa-Murray, Federer-Djokovic...mmm, good times ahead

E3 2011

2011-06-12T22:07:00.001+10:00

E3 wrapup

Nintendo's Wii U debuts
Sony's PSVita showcase
More of the same from Microsoft

sidenote: pretty sure these are signs of my advancing age:
I don't 'get' Minecraft. Or Angry Birds.

super 8 review

2011-06-09T23:50:00.002+10:00

WARNING some spoilers below:

was an ok movie. some good points, some not so good points.
good:
kids can act. Not perfect, but mostly good.
borrows/apes tropes from E.T., Stand by Me & Goonies
'The Case' movie & scenes filming it
enjoyable enough that the 2 hours just flew by
Great VFX & CGI

bad:
shakey cam! Gddmn it, if I wanted to not see anything, I would have stayed at home.
Hiding the creature too much, then showing too much--you gotta balance it out.
Storyline wasn't strong enough

undecided:
lens flares!
Is this the same monster from Cloverfield? You know, 'Clover'?

French Open wrapup

2011-06-07T01:32:00.000+10:00

final interviews:
"Obviously I’m happy about that win.
Today was a very good match. Overall obviously I’m very happy about the tournament. Obviously you should be disappointed after losing in a Grand Slam final. Obviously I feel that a little bit today."
Federer (he says 'obviously' alot)

"For example, in 2008 I think I played better than ever, but I finished the tournament and, you know, I didn’t feel that I won Roland Garros because I won in three sets. Not that difficult fourth round, quarterfinals, semifinals, with not many tough moments."
Rafa

match report

French Open 2011 update 6: Men's Final

2011-06-06T03:49:00.003+10:00

Another Rafa-Federer classic. Red vs. Blue. Graceful skill vs. ferocious will.

Federer started the first set fast. Alot of points from serve-volley tactics and net rushes. On clay? It's working. He blitzed Rafa to get to 5-2, Ad-40, serving for the set.

Rafa claws his way back into the match with incredible defensive play and takes the first set 7-5. Mind-blown.

He also takes the first 2 games of the second, running up 7-games in a row.
Stupid rain delay at 5-4, 40-40 on Rafa's serve. Lasted about 5 minutes (just long enough for me to change viewing locations). The reprieve gave Federer a way back into the match, getting to a tiebreak, which Rafa takes 7-3.

Rafa's playing well under pressure, and his forehand is finding its range but alot of points are coming from Federer's errors. Nerves? Rafa on the brain?

Federer comes back to life in the 3rd set despite being down 2-4, taking it 7-5, courtesy of renewed confidence (wha?) and Rafa errors (double wha?). Wtf, Rafa?

First 3 sets took 3hrs.

Awesome play from Rafa in the 4th, going up two breaks to get to 5-1, serving for the Championship!

Awwwwwww snap! Rafa beasts Federer 6-1 in 36' in the 4th when at triple Championship point, Federer's forehand goes long.

7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-1

This match was Federer's closest against Nadal in all their Roland Garros matches, but still not enough. Pre-match I really thought Federer seemed like a bigger threat to Rafa on clay than ever, while Rafa seemed to be his most vulnerable ever.

A classic match, probably their best against each other on clay.

Rafa beat #3 Federer, #4 Murray & #5 Soderling en route to the title. He's the only player to get 6 titles in 7 years.

Rafa's now got 10 slams, ties Borg for all-time French Opens (6), also ties Borg for manner of wins (4 consecutive and 2 back to back), and keeps his #1 ranking!

Federer's trophy speech was impressive (en Francais) and very gracious.

Rafa's won 6 titles from 7 Roland Garros appearances. Incredible. You gotta wonder about his 2009 mid-season. And Federer's 2008 mono. Changed the tennis world completely.

sidenote 1: playing the first round against Isner might've actually helped Rafa--I'm not implicating Isner plays like Federer, but I'm saying playing against big servers before facing Federer couldn't have hurt.

sidenote 2: French crowd there are super douchey...booing these guys, wtf? If you don't want a reputation as assholes, don't be assholes.

sidenote 3: funny thing happened last year: 2 big 'ifs' happened:
If Federer lost before the semis
If Rafa won the title
then Rafa gets back to #1

Similar this year:
If Djokovic loses before the final
If Rafa defends his title
then Rafa keeps #1 ranking.

sidenote 4: Wonder how a Nadal-Djokovic final would've shaken out...guess that's a goal for Rafa, break his duck against Nole.

On to the grass season!

French Open 2011 update 5.5: Federer's post-match

2011-06-04T14:59:00.004+10:00

"It always seems to me that Rafa needs to be in a French Open final to make it special, and I got the match I guess I was hoping for."
...
“Beating Novak today was maybe a good birthday gift for him (Rafa) because he lost his four previous matches against Novak,” Federer said of Nadal. “I’m going to play against Nadal, my main rival, in another Grand Slam final. We live for these moments.”
...
“The first set was monstrous, and in the second set we were both tired because the pace was unbelievable.”
...
“What I would like to say, and I said it to him at the net, is that his record, although it’s not the best because other players have done better— today it’s so physical and professional—what he achieved is unbelievable,”
...
Now that's a statement; clearly stamping his authority over Djokovic and letting his ego run his mouth a bit, reminding Rafa he still hasn't beat Djokovic while he just did it. Watch out.

French Open 2011 update 5: Epic Semis

2011-06-04T06:40:00.004+10:00

stayed out all night watching Rafa v Murray and Federer v Djokovic.
I can't watch a choppy stream of this, too awesome to miss!

First up was Rafa v Murray. Ok match. Murray performed about as well as you'd expect on clay; his weapons come up short and Rafa mostly dictated play with his forehand finding its range.

Rafa took out a very dogged Murray 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
BTW, happy 25th, Rafa. 9 slams and counting...

Then, starting well after 1am, Federer v Djokovic.
Alot on the line; pride, ranking and a chance at the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

Federer set the tone early, incredible clutch serving, running around his backhand, cutting angles, wrongfooting Djokovic at every chance and playing aggressive and impressive backhand flicks under pressure.

Mostly vintage Federer (f#ck yeah)!

Both netted/shanked alot of standard shots and the stats were very very close.

Rallies mostly went to Djokovic who outgunned Federer with sharper angles and playing closer to the lines (though both covered every corner of the court in rallies).

Federer reduced deficits with unretrunable serves and aces. Djokovic was also clutch serving, often diggin himself out of 0-40 and 15-40 holes.

The first and fourth set were neck and neck--no idea who would take it.

In the 4th set, they played to deuce about 10 times at 4-4. Eventually the 1st and 4th went to tiebreaks. So nerve-wracking. Federer's clutch serving again the difference, earning him easy points.

Getting to 6-3 in the 4th set tiebreak, Nole saved 2 match points on his serve.
Federer won the match with an ace, 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), snapping Nole's winning streak and his own 3 match losing streak to Nole. Federer was incidentally the last person to beat Nole before his hardcourt rampage.

Never felt so tense watching a match. This was probably the best clay match I've ever seen and best match of the year! It was really close and mostly very good play from both for almost 4 hours.

It felt like Federer came out with a point to prove in this match--he raised 1 finger after winning key points in the match. Clearly signalling 'still better than you' to Djokovic (at least that's how I saw it).

I see what Djokovic is doing differently now. He's playing each point itself--he's mostly unaffected by previous games and sets. That's pretty much how he could play closer to the lines, even at 0-40. Old Djokovic usually got tentative and locked up or would move onto the next game but this one plays every point. Very dangerous. Hitting very fast groundstrokes (often caught Federer offguard); clutch serving; wide, wide angles, attacking Federer's backhand and improved mental toughness.

I don't think this loss will affect him too much. His face seemed to indicate he was ok with 'losing' while he as behind in the 3rd set. Nole has definitely had his next milestone. There's very little standing between him and #1. If Federer beats Nadal (and it could happen), he will be #1. He's only defending a semi and a runner-up in the other 2 slams for the rest of the year, while Rafa's still defending 3 titles.

Onto the 8th Rafa-Federer Grand Slam Final!
Should Rafa win this, he ties Borg with 6 French Open titles and keeps #1 ranking.
Should Federer win, he finally breaks his Roland Garros duck against Rafa, joins Rafa and Wilander as the only players to win multiple slams on all 3 surfaces, and Nole gets #1.

X-Men First Class review

2011-06-02T23:51:00.009+10:00

Mostly spoiler free.
Wow. Like JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot, this film brings back familiar and not so familiar characters in a fresh and exciting way.

I really enjoyed myself, in spite of the early positive words, campaign and clip oversaturation (usually kiss of death for anything I'm interested in), terrible early posters, and hype.

Hits:
Shockingly deep character development.
Excellent action.
Strong, strong leads (McAvoy, Fassbender, Hoult, Lawrence, Byrne & Bacon). Bacon excels a playing creepy weirdos who lord a power over you (this, Sleepers, Hollow Man & White Water Summer)
Mutant powers (Shaw!!! Magneto).
Events surrounding bay of pigs.
Light hearted moments and nods to character lore (Charles' hair jokes).
Deeper threads through the movie (tolerance, acceptance, morality of being god-like).
Backstory on Magneto's survival.
Origins of the names.
A very sharp, proactive Xavier as opposed to the passive one we've seen before.
Surprising relationships between Erik, Charles, Raven & Hank.
Good throwdowns at the end.
Great cameos (which stayed secret until I saw it!).
Raven & Hank and Mystique & Beast.
That guy playing Stryker even has the acne scarring down!
I love the blue-yellow jumpsuits.
Now dat's how you design a fucking Magneto helmet! From now on, dat's how you design Magneto's helmet! (The blue one with silver accents).
SPOILER ALERT! SELECT TO READ WRECK. YO. SHIP, SHAW!
SPOILER ALERT! SELECT TO READ Charles and Erik meet more than their match in Frost/Shaw.

Misses:
Jason Flemyng criminally underused!
Emma Frost (her acting didn't really do it for me), though she had some good scenes.
Some CG felt rushed and looked cheap, particularly the 'ice' scene.
Havok's goofy fucken power. Laser hula hoops? Don't hip thrust me to death, bro!
Riptide--is that his name? Say something, hombre!
Dialogue sometimes weak or too obvious.
You can get away with 'go fuck yourself' but can't show blood? After people get shot/stabbed, they tend to bleed. Alot.

Other:
montage felt a little strange--the comic book panels; where the heck did that come from?
Azazel's teleporting didn't feel as exciting as Nightcrawler's, in spite of added fire and brimstone effect...why?
I know this is their origin/coming of age chapter, but still thought Magneto should've been more God-like in his levitating pose at the end (see some Alex Ross).
Recurring story elements, while good, could've fit into dialogue better--felt a bit hamfisted.

SPOILER ALERT
How did SPOILER ALERT! SELECT TO READ Shaw die? I mean I saw the coin through the head thing, but if he absorbs energy, everything has energy or is a form of energy (stored, potential, kinetic). So, uh, explain how?!?! Also, doesn't he have reality warping/telepathic powers of his own?

In short, alot of praise from me. It's won the year in movies for me (thus far). I enjoyed Thor, but this is another level.

I think it's the best of the X-Men movies now. Very well balanced, refreshing and exciting. Tension was great. I'll have to see it more than once at cinema, and that's rare.

random: that kid that was Magneto in first X-men movie should be old enough to actually play Magneto now.
useless factoid: they were originally called the C-Men. Say it out loud and figure why.

French Open 2011 update 4

2011-06-02T03:42:00.002+10:00

the big four are through to the semis:
Rafa v Murray & Federer v Djokovic.

I expect Rafa to take his semi. Fed and Djoker too close to call.

Strange things have happened at Roland Garros the last 2 years:
2009: Rafa's unbeaten French Open run snapped.
2010: Federer's Semi-finals streak snapped.
2011: ???
2012: Profit?

Nole's due...

On the women's side, Winner of Bartoli / Schiavone to win over Masha in final. Is she really good enough on clay?

French Open 2011 update 3: showdown time

2011-06-01T19:04:00.005+10:00

Men's QTR-F: Rafa v Soderling. Bad blood or not, there's more than the match on the line when these to play; contrasting styles, dispositions and their history over the last 2 years here.

Rafa in 3.

Murray v Chela: tough call but I think at this point the clay-court specialist will take it. Murray's skills are excellent but in spite of his training, his weapons don't translate well on clay.

Chela in 5

Men's SEMI 1: Djokovic v Federer.
A real barn-burner here; Federer has extra motivation to win this: avenge 3 consecutive losses, get into another French Open final and probably win against whoever's on the other side (Rafa's sounding pretty vulnerable!).

History and statistics are also against Nole here: few players in tennis history have ever gone this many matches without a loss. That strapped knee...He's due.

Federer in 4

Women's draw:
Pavs got edged out (though she choked the 2nd set).

Semis:
Bartoli > Schiavone

QTRS:
Azarenka > Na
Masha > Petkovic

French Open 2011 update 2

2011-06-01T00:03:00.004+10:00

bizarre, refreshing comments from Rafa after beating Ljubicic in the 4th round:
...
"In 2006 I think I didn't play well the whole tournament; in 2007, normal; 2008, yes, I played fantastic, especially quarter-finals, semi-final and final; 2009, I think I played terrible all tournament; 2010 - so-so, semi-finals and finals much better."
..

Kind of funny he rated 2006 as poor--he ran through Soderling, Hewitt, Djokovic, Ljubicic (then world #4) and Federer (#1, ver. 2006).
Also played an epic against P.H. Mathieu, almost 5 hours needed for 4 sets.

Same goes for 2007; he beat del Potro, Hewitt, Moya, (fast rising) Djokovic and Federer (#1, ver. 2007).
2008: Beast mode
2009: played badly yet still made 4th round in straight sets before losing
2010: still won the tournament in straight sets.

I guess he's having a Borg moment; what to do after you've won everything?

my players:
Men's draw:
Rafa (to win), Federer, Chela.

Women's draw:
Vika (to win), Pavs

blacklisted: f#cking Fognini. Shame on Montanes for continually feeding him groundstrokes and not making him run on a bum leg. That's sport, dude! Start hitting some drop shots and move him side to side!

French Open 2011 update

2011-05-30T21:33:00.002+10:00

Dammit Fognini!

Didn't even show up to play Djokovic!!! Nole's through to the semis, likely playing Federer.
He should be pretty fresh for it, seeing as he didn't even have to play his QTR final match!!!

Should he win, he'll get number 1 ranking regardless of the Championship match.

To be honest, from a statistical standpoint, history's against him; AFAIK, no player has ever gone through 2 slams, 4 masters and 2 ATP 500 tourneys undefeated (yeah, even not counting Monte-Carlo, which he skipped).

On the women's side:
Pavs and Vika are still in the hunt.
Vika to win it

Roland Garros photos

2011-05-28T20:58:00.001+10:00

can't be good for your knees

2 things I noticed ages ago:
1. Djokovic has always got major derp-face when he serves (after bouncing a ball 20+ times)

" width="440" />

2. Soderling is an awkward looking player. Every. Single. Photo.

Roland Garros 2011 update

2011-05-28T18:18:00.004+10:00

Men's draw:
del Potro and Djokovic locked at 1 set a piece (3-6, 6-3) before suspension due to darkness. Dammit!, seems like they stopped play just as del Potro was building momentum. Whoever comes out of the blocks firing quickly (likely Djokovic) will probably take it.

Always liked that del Potro was respectful but never scared--see his breakthrough at Roland Garros 2009; he took eventual champ Federer to 5 sets and led 2 sets to 1 in the semis. Add to that, he dusted Federer in 5 at US Open Finals.

4th round picks: Rafa, Ljubey, Simon, Soderling, Murray, Hot Dog, Falla, Chela, Ferrer d Monfils, Federer d Wawrinka, Montanes d Fognini, winner of del Potro/Djokovic d. Gasquet.

My players: Rafa, Fed, Simon, del Potro.
Rafa to win.

Women's draw:
top 2 seeds (Wozniacki & Clijsters) out.

My players: Sorana, Pavs & Azarenka.
Kvitova could be a threat but I haven't seen her play on clay.
Azarenka to win if she doesn't have a meltdown or go headcase-y.

MacRecipes

2011-05-26T02:01:00.004+10:00

a big MacGyver fan made a vis of all MacGyver's creative solutions to problems. I don't know if this is comprehensive...

MacRecipes

clay tennis stats

2011-05-26T01:38:00.005+10:00

battle for #1

R.G. Result	R128	R64	R32	R16	QF	SF	F	W
Nadal	10080	10115	10160	10250	10430	10790	11270	12070
Djokovic	11315	11350	11395	11485	11665	12025	12505	13305

So if Rafa doesn't win the Championship, Nole's #1.
If Rafa wins but Nole's in the final, Nole gets #1.

more pre-Roland Garros stats
love 'em

Schedule: The 15-day tournament begins Sunday. The women’s singles final is June 4; the men’s singles final is June 5.

2010 Men’s Singles Champion: Rafael Nadal of Spain.
2010 Women’s Singles Champion: Francesca Schiavone of Italy.

Key Statistic I: 37-0—Novak Djokovic’s record in 2011, the best start to a tennis season by a man since John McEnroe went 42-0 to begin 1984.

Key Statistic II: 38-1—Nadal’s career record at the French Open. The only loss came to Soderling in the fourth round in 2009. Nadal will be trying to equal Bjorn Borg’s record of six French Open titles.

First rounds are complete--Rafa taken to 5 sets for the first time ever.
John Isner refused to go quietly: 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4
Really? By John f#cking Isner on clay? I heard Roland Garros changed the ball this year but really, the King of Clay, who's never played 5 sets in over 250 matches on clay, gets taken to 5 by a big serve? I don't know what to make of it.

Some second rounds are done: del Potro likely to battle NoDjo in 3rd round. Federer easily through. Only major upset has been Berdych.

Roseanne: "And I should know"

2011-05-26T01:35:00.003+10:00

enlightening write-up about hell in tv land by Roseanne Barr: And I should know

shit my dad says

2011-05-26T01:35:00.001+10:00

I don't follow trends much so I'm pretty late to post this:
twitter/shitmydadsays

some favs:
"You don't have to be good to succeed. You just gotta be the least shitty option. Example: We're eating at The Olive Garden."

"See, you think I give a shit. Wrong. In fact, while you talk, I'm thinking; How can I give less of shit? That's why I look interested."

"Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You didn't invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that."

tues 24

2011-05-24T01:34:00.000+10:00

13 hour workday--i'm seeing purple spots now.

Diet also very bad this week--ate alot of carbs, tiramisu and pizza.

mon 23

2011-05-23T01:32:00.000+10:00

mentally flatlined at work.

sun 22

2011-05-22T01:30:00.000+10:00

didn't even feel like going to gym;

managed 5.0km in 42'00" onto 6.0km in 49'35" (430 Cals)!
First 3.0km in 24'00" (non-stop @ 7.5km/h).

Benched 12x55kg, 14x50kg, 15x50kg.

Cycle 10'00" (50 Cals).

Not much else. No rapture

sat 21st

2011-05-21T01:29:00.000+10:00

sat: woke earlier than usual but felt mentally fried. running was really tough because of that--couldn't concentrate at all.

Anyways, I'm slow, but I stayed until it was over: 2.0 km in 16'00", onto 5.0km in 44'00" (400 Cals) onto 5.5km in 48'30" (430 Cals). That's some record for me.

Bench: 9x60kg, 15x50kg. Bike for 12'00" (70 Cals). That's it.

strange daze at work

2011-05-20T01:28:00.000+10:00

another designer's last day & crazy all-text-as-image email at work.

Dad's bday

2011-05-19T01:27:00.001+10:00

dad's birthday. Happy 66th, old man.

We had hotpot and sushi for him.

haircut

2011-05-19T01:26:00.000+10:00

thurs 19: got a haircut

bad diet

2011-05-19T01:25:00.000+10:00

thurs: ate fish and chips and wedges today. v. bad diet

sydjs

2011-05-18T01:24:00.000+10:00

attended sydjs meetup.

V. geeky. Alot to learn.

Free beer and pizza. V. bad diet this week

zomgwtfbbq?!?!1!ONE!!

2011-05-17T00:51:00.001+10:00

Nole Rafa'd Rafa in Rome Masters 6-4, 6-4.

That's four consecutive masters (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid & Rome) and all off of Rafa.

What. The. Eff?

It's usually the reverse situation: Rafa wins too much, plays too many matches, gets exhausted but still dismantles the other man. Or Nole folds. Not this year, and not for the last four finals though.

Aus Open: sure, Federer and Murray peaked pre-season, Rafa was sick pre-open which led to injury during open, Nole rode the Davis Cup high right to the title.
Indian Wells: hardcourt, it's anyone's game among the big 4...it's a three-setter, no sweat.
Miami: never been lucky for Rafa; I guess Nole's run is starting to look impressive. Rafa will get him in the clay swing.
Madrid: the altitude's never been in Rafa's favour, in spite of the clay. Hey wait a minute, that's not supposed to happen in finals against Rafa.
Rome: what what what?!? Shit just got real, yo. I thought Murray softened...but he's already played so many...why?!!? WHY!?!??!

Looks like Nole's on track to break McEnroe's 42 wins--he's on 39, but I doubt some random is going to beat in in the first week at Roland Garros. Mind-boggling.

7 straight wins (1 grand slam, 4 masters), over 6000 points, 4-0 on Rafa this year (2-0 hardcourt, 2-0 clay), 3-0 on Federer (all hardcourt), already qualified for year-end championships, only needs to reach Semis to claim #1 ranking.

If Nole loses before the semi-finals (it could happen) and Rafa fails to defend Roland Garros (it could happen), Nole gets #1. Otherwise it's onto the grass season. Nole will have many more chances over the rest of the season to claim #1, while Rafa's defending Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.

In head-to-head with Rafa, he's now caught up (still trailing 16-11) but has won the last 7 of 9 matches.

Full credit to both; the last 5 masters titles have gone to one of the them (4 for Nole, Monte-Carlo for Rafa). Rafa's been in all 5 finals too.

They're so far ahead of #3 Federer (3,000 points now) and Federer himself is about 2,000 points ahead of #4 Murray.

I guess this feel like somewhat like the Federer-Nadal moment all those years ago; a younger usurps the rule of a seemingly invincible player...this is what it sounds like when doves cry. I seriously thought it would be del Potro.

You gotta wonder about that 4-hour killer SF in Madrid 2009 between those 2...the aftermath and effects of that one match changed Rafa, Nole, Federer and Soderling's careers completely.

Australia's still home

2011-05-16T01:23:00.000+10:00

Uncle returned from Norway with my youngest cousin, little Sofia. She's gonna be a soccer player!

Also got a friend back in town for a few weeks

work sux right now

2011-05-16T01:21:00.000+10:00

what the eff is going on with work?

Everytime I complete one thing, 5 more things pop up in its place.
Worst of all it's the same Facebook project I've been hammering out for the last month. Grr! Frustration!

robot war journal: they attacked first, with their hammers...

2011-05-15T23:04:00.000+10:00

sunday running

2011-05-15T01:20:00.000+10:00

went hard at the gym despite poor prep.

5.0km in 39'39" (424 Cals)

and 30'00" on bike (181 Cals).

Total day Cal record, as well as single session Cal records for treadmill and bike.
Only benched 8x60kg + 12x40kg because I felt a tweak in my left elbow again.

I think I can run at about 8.1km/h pretty comfortably now...

big sat

2011-05-14T01:19:00.000+10:00

night: in spite of still being under the weather, went to a bbq, pictionary, balderdash, karaoke, drinking. Hammered. Skipped gymming today because I'm recovering from cold/flu/illness on friday.

bad friday night

2011-05-13T19:49:00.000+10:00

spent 2 hours (10' landline + 1 hour 45' mobile) just to figure out that our 'broandband' has been unjustly shaped to 32 KB/s. This shaping has been going on over a week now. What the f#ck, Netspace? You've burned us for the last time. Come October, we're switching! You guys owe us over a month worth of ADSL2+ broadband as well as almost 4 hours wasted on the phone with tech support (including that time I spent 90 minutes WAITING to have someone answer my call) just because they screwed up (this shaping, previous downtime, etc.). I'm going to go ombudsman on your ass! BTW, the guy working the tech support was great. He didn't resolve the issue but it seemed like he really stepped up to figure out what went wrong.

bad friday

2011-05-13T19:48:00.000+10:00

crushed it at work again. Adding functionality and cleaning up indecipherable javascript.

work week 09th -13th

2011-05-13T19:39:00.000+10:00

been killing it all week at work; crushing browser bugs and fixing stuff. Unfortunately it's also been alot of hours

bad night overall

2011-05-12T19:42:00.000+10:00

had an argument with mum--i don't know why i fought her about these issues; i guess it's just my personal frustrations spilling over. I wish I could harness my abilities better, but I can't.

dodgy hobo at the rocks

2011-05-12T19:41:00.000+10:00

tried some fish and chips from the Rocks. Ok, i guess. Dat fucking hobo may have ruined the experience for me.

lost that bit on my headphones, changed headphones

2011-05-10T19:18:00.000+10:00

switched headphones from in-the-box sony ericssons (they were good--I know, I checked the freq. response) to 'Sony MDR-EX57SL's.

These 57's are cheap ($30 all up) but comfy. The sound of the bass is really poor though--the frequency response indicated it should perform well but it's really harsh and scratchy sounding. I don't know what to make of it.

I also have some MDR-EX500 headphones as backups.

Nole, you're killing me man!

2011-05-09T19:50:00.002+10:00

Nole crushes Rafa in straight sets (7-5, 6-4) in the Madrid finals. That's his 3rd consecutive masters tourney win (along with Indian Wells and Miami) and his third (consecutive) Masters finals win over Rafa! He's extended his winning streak to 34 wins (since losing to Federer in the Barclays ATP Finals 2010 Semis). Beating Rafa isn't easy, but he dusted him on clay in Rafa's home country, snapping Rafa's 37 clay-win streak!

Full credit to Nole--34 wins, including 3 over Rafa in 3 finals (incl. a clay match), and 3 over Federer (including a straight sets shellacking at AO'11) is gddmn impressive; just look at these titles:
Aus Open 2011 d. Federer (semis)
Dubai (Masters 500) d. Federer
Indian Wells (Masters 1000) d. Federer (semis), Rafa (F)
Miami (Masters 1000) d. Rafa
Serbia Open (Masters 500)
Madrid (Masters 1000) d. Rafa

Indian Wells, I thought Rafa lost it more than Nole won it; Miami's never been lucky for Rafa; Madrid, even though it's high altitude and firmer clay/lower-bouncing, I still thought Rafa would take it.

BUT these are still 3-setters. Put him on clay in 5 against Rafa. If he wins, then he'll really have broken through, not just clay either; 6 of his last 8 wins over Rafa all have been 3 setters (5 on hardcourts). Never beaten Rafa in a 5-setter. He's now catching up in their head to head:
2011 start: 16-7 (5-7 on hardcourt, 2-0 grass, 9-0 on clay)
2011 (9th May) : 16-10 (5-9 on hardcourt, 2-0 grass, 9-1 on clay)

Possible outcomes after Rome Masters:
Nole #1, Rafa #2, Federer #3 (ending 380+ weeks of Federer-Nadal domination)
Nole qualifies for year-end championships! (that's absurd)

I remember back in 2008 Rafa and Nole had a match for the number 2 ranking (Hamburg semis?). Rafa won. This is just like 2008; Nole starts the year winning everything, threatening rankings, then Roland Garros and Wimbledon happen and order is restored(?)

Yeahhhh, so what's up with Rafa/Federer? They should have crushed Nole in Indian Wells/AusOpen. Problems seem to be mental these days...after winning everything, can hardly blame them.

Nole played the 'match of his life'--remember the last time that happened? It was a bloodbath for both (Madrid semis '09). Rafa wasn't right for the rest of the year, and Nole needed some months to mentally recover too.

“The No. 1 ranking is not in danger — it’s finished,”
"Let’s not lie to ourselves, that’s the reality.”
-Rafa after his loss

Tron Legacy

2011-05-09T19:17:00.000+10:00

watched Tron: Legacy.

The visual design work and soundtrack are spectacular, but story-wise, I didn't get it or didn't care.

What happens if you die in the Grid?
Where is their physical body?
It doesn't make sense for programs to exchange information/travel/exist at a less than electron-speed existence.

Why slow yourself down?

Another weak-point: CLU/young Kevin; he looked like plastic (no, I don't think that's how he's supposed to look).

lazy sunday

2011-05-08T19:16:00.000+10:00

sun didnt go gym; overslept by hours and ended up feeling too rotten for anything else

sat 07th run

2011-05-07T19:15:00.000+10:00

gym sessions are starting to feel a bit better; ran 5.0km in 42'00" (408 Cals). Still feeling out of breath through most of the run but I have more energy overall after the run.
Benched 16x50kg, 8x60kg, 3x40kg (incline).
Stopped because I felt a tweak in my left arm.

Rode the bike for 20'00" (100+ Cals and 12.00km).

new old games

2011-05-06T19:13:00.000+10:00

bought Burnout Paradise, Just Cause 2 and Modern Warfare 1. Played Burnout--pretty good.

Operation Bin Laden roundup

2011-05-06T01:25:00.003+10:00

Statements by George W. Bush | former President Bill Clinton | NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg

How they found him; how they killed him; who killed him; how they identified him; how they buried him; now what?

Front page coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death

more roundups here:

NYTimes latest updates
may 02 daily what

interactive NYT infographic with people's opinions about the significance and morality of Bin Laden's execution.

graphic photos from the Abottabad compound

CNN's write up of the events

team members of Operation Bin Laden

more opinions:
5 mistakes made by US govt.

Salman Rushdie calls out Pakistan for perceiving harboring or ineptitude.

This is not oly a watershed moment for international relations and politics, but a fork in the road for diplomacy and true justice. Bullets killed more than Bin Laden.

ANOTHER fucking 12 hour day

2011-05-05T22:55:00.002+10:00

a real shit day at work. Spent 12 hours in the office, 4.5 of which were unpaid.
Worse yet, it's not the first time, or the latest I've ever stayed back. FML.

Seriously, it's after 6pm, I got a personal life to go to; just leave me alone so I can make the magic happen!

And are we seriously making design changes and edits this far past Alpha? Come on, man!

phone shit

2011-05-04T22:10:00.005+10:00

Tethering for Android
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/
http://code.google.com/p/android-wired-tether/

Vodafone Australia have got the Nexus S for $29 per month including calls and data, $0 up front.

V tempted but won't get it because:
A. Voda are so shit. Really, really shit; for real.
B: This Nexus S is the model WITHOUT SAMOLED. You want SAMOLED.
C: Sony Ericsson's XPERIA PRO is just around the corner

These are the the official UIs (?) for Android:
Google Android
Samsung Touchwiz
HTC Sense
Sony Ericsson UXP
Motorola Motoblur
did I miss any?

Only tried Sense and didn't like it.
There's always the Cyanogen option...If you have an Android, replace the factory-skinned OS of your hardware with cyanogen mod.

Sphero, a smartphone controllable ball: www.gosphero.com/

Mirror's edge iPhone app: FREE

Gomorrah

2011-05-03T23:57:00.001+10:00

watched Gomorrah. I was disappointed--maybe because of the all the positive reviews I read before watching it built up my expectations unjustifiably. The realistic, unglamorous-ness of it was refreshing, but the multi-field narrative just didn't connect together enough for my liking. Add to that, the running-time felt exorbitant.

Random: the part about the tailor who secretly teaches could have been a movie by itself...I'd watch that.

1.10

2011-05-03T19:45:00.001+10:00

Australian Dolla busted through a new highs. We now buying $1.10 USD for every AUD.

Kick ass.

A post Bin Laden world

2011-05-03T19:43:00.002+10:00

kicking ass at work today; had lots of pressure, dealing with sneaky and or annoying types, and confusion applied but performed gracefully (at least I know I did).

Debugged the shit out of IE JavaScript--2 roadblocking bugs and came very close to a hat-trick with those display bugs on IE for WinPhone7. I blame that stupid CMS for marring an otherwise splendid implementation of a shit browser

Classy GIFs

2011-05-02T22:48:00.000+10:00

this website is hella-cool: from me to you
they seem to specialise in really classy GIFs, which take on a magical quality, mostly because of the high-quality photography

note: just appreciating Jamie Beck's work, not pinching it--I don't own or have any involvement in it.

best thing since Bokeh and tilt-shift

White House announcement

2011-05-02T21:56:00.000+10:00

America finally catches up with Osama Bin Laden--?

2011-05-02T20:18:00.004+10:00

It seems this event has happened but I remain skeptical--Osama Bin Laden has finally been terminated.

His death raises more questions, such as:
who shot the bullet(s) that killed him? These persons should be national heroes, shouldn't they?
where are the photos? I'm led to believe soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan have camera phones, webcams n shit.
where is the response from al-Qaeda?
was this a double? Saddam used many, why not Bin Laden?

Feels 'unreal' for lack of a better word-I really didn't think America would ever get him.

working class man

2011-05-02T20:01:00.001+10:00

the irony of work is not lost on me: I'm regularly working on FaceBook, Twitter, Windows, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android--all of which I don't use/have.

Voda just got the Nexus S for $29 per month--dat's cheep! If Sony don't drop the XPERIA Pro within 2 weeks, I gettin' the Nexus S. Sony, with every passing day, your handsets get more and more obsolete! I mean it hasn't come out yet and it's still single-core? WTF?

Consumer fallout

2011-05-01T18:48:00.001+10:00

Sony have screwed over their own PS3 users (yours truly included) by failing to protect account names, passwords, credit card information and online service for customers. A massive security breach has put these out in the wild and network downtime of over a week.

Apple are in hot water for 'tracking' iOS devices. I don't own one (shocking, I know) but I think it's too soon for me to be indifferent or outraged.

follow-ups:
Sony: have received a class-action lawsuit for their failings. FBI joins 22 US state legal departments and a Canadian privacy watchdog in investigating the cyber-crime.

Apple: apparently Steve Jobs commented that the location data isn't being sent back to Apple, and that the data is used to store local comms towers for improved performance.

sun 01.05.2011

2011-05-01T18:24:00.000+10:00

before today, when was the last time I renewed gym? 18 march?
approx 145 gym visits since 2003(?)
at least $650.75 spent on membership renewal since 26.04.2008

just renewed gym membership (10 visits) 9 to go...
felt pretty good at the gym today; ran 5.0km in 41'00" (412 Cals)--I think that's a single run Cal record. Spent 20'00" on bike (118 Cals) and benched 8x60kg, 12x60kg, 16x40kg. Decided against swimming.

sat 30.04.2011

2011-05-01T18:23:00.000+10:00

gym day: 3.5 + 1.5km in 28'41" + 12'30" (280 Cals + 120 Cals). Again, really struggled with running: cramps, sore throat, cottonmouth, lack of focus, breathing problems...it's all against me. Benched 12x60kg and 12x40kg. My energy felt lower than usual. Really need to figure out why I'm out of breath all the time.

friday night at grandma's and stitchy's

2011-04-29T18:23:00.000+10:00

Friday night drinks: went to grandmas and stitchy--I like stitchy. Had bourbon and coke (they put ALOT of bourbon in), canadian club and lemonade, and Miller's Gin + tonic + cucumber slice. Magnificent. Girl working in stitchy is gorgeous.

interesting friday

2011-04-29T18:22:00.001+10:00

interesting workday playing with BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone 7 phones for mobile browser testing. Very impressed with Windows phone.

Ended workday with midori mixers: Mule, Sour, Pomegranate and Mule again. Mule rules.

musings

2011-04-28T18:21:00.000+10:00

last day and a half have really got me thinking about my life. The time away from home has made me rethink my attitude about everything--I've definitely learned a deeper level of understanding about 'generosity'; about money; about being 'alive'. I just need to try and make myself worthy everyday. I'm gradually getting better at letting go of little things.

gym days

2011-04-27T22:28:00.001+10:00

Tues afternoon (26.04) went to the gym, I've gained 2.5kg in 3 days (shiiiiiiit!). I'm now 82.6kg. Ran 3.5km in 30'00" (270 Cals). Struggled to run 2.0km, cramped and sore too. Basically, just underprepared for the day. Nights of heavy drinking probably didn't help. Benched 16x50kg, 16x40kg. Hot girl in the gym. BTW, still feels like I'm on the boat.

weds 27.04: sore from yesterday's workout, but still went to gym. Ran 5.0km in 44'30" (310 Cals). Really struggled to run faster than 7.5km/h. Benched 12x50kg, 12x40kg. Rode bike for 5'00" but that's because I could barely peddle after 3'00". Tried some curls, can still curl 12.5kg but can't curl 20kg anymore. The cold, rainy, near-winter conditions aren't helping.

home in Sydney again

2011-04-27T22:27:00.002+10:00

caught morning flight home to Sydney. Arrived home Tues midday

I'm in Sydney

in Bris 25.04

2011-04-25T22:25:00.000+10:00

rented a Boat for 8 ppl.
I was Captain for some of it.

It's pretty unusual to steer a boat--rear steering and lack of immediate response.

Afterwards, went back to Franky/Dougy's for a BBQ, Wii games and more drinking games, which I won--hard.

Big ups to Franky, Dougy, Samy and Terrence for making me feel like family in their home, and driving me around. Awesome.

in Bris 24.04

2011-04-24T22:21:00.000+10:00

Sun: went to Dreamworld (I've been once before in January '06).

Rode the Donut, Giant Drop, Cyclone, Claw, Tower of Terror II, Wipeout and Giant Drop (again).
The queuing for the Cyclone and Tower of Terror were stupidly snail paced.

Then went to 'Mundo Churrasco' for Brazilian BBQ. I like!
Also met another friend Franky has never introduced me to (why not?!?).

After, went to Mt Coot-Tha for a look--nice skyline.

Ended the night drinking Jack Daniels Black label and fell asleep mid conversation.

Also Mum's birthday

in Bris 23.04

2011-04-23T22:18:00.000+10:00

Sat: went to explore one of the big markets, ate paella, okinomiyaki and spiral potato.

Went on a bushwalk.
We didn't get far because it was too soggy and we were underprepared but it did provide a big laugh when Franky went to 'cross' a log.
There were leeches in the woods too.

Chilled on a lookout.

Ate BEST (it's certified) szechuan in Bris. Then got hammered at the insistence of new friends who found out that it was coincidentally my birthday (27th).

Thanks for the drinks(?), Yumi, that shot killed me.

in Brisbane for the long long long weekend

2011-04-22T22:16:00.002+10:00

went to Brisbane for 3.5 days: fri night to tues morning (22.04.11 to 26.04.11).

I'm in BRISBANE!

Thor 3D

2011-04-22T22:13:00.001+10:00

watched Thor in 3D

...wtf? It's actually good!
Epic armor, epic Hopkins, epic Asgard! Grrr! EPIC!

It just worked. Some things I thought were weak (hammer design, time on Earth, Warriors three weren't really given anything to do) but overall it was good. Really liked shenanigans on Asgard/Frost planet and Odin, Loki and the Frost Giants.

Hemsworth was good enough but Odin, Loki and King Laufey were easily the best parts of the movie for me. The designs of armor, helms and Asgard were fantastic.

Only major criticism: pull the goddamn camera back from the action and less quick-cuts: I actually want to be able to see people fighting n shit.

thursday

2011-04-21T23:08:00.001+10:00

started my long-long-long weekend early, slept in, went to the gym: alot of things not right about my gymming today. Couldn't process oxygen at all--so I felt out of breathe the whole time, my sock slipped off my foot, felt crampy, and my contact lens (right) wouldn't settle in. Really struggled with running. Still 80.3kg.

Made 2.00km in 16'00" (180Cals, total ~2.9km in 25' and 250Cals).

Benched 14 x 50kg, 15 x 40kg.

First swim in awhile--was icy. Lost my right contact.

reddit joke thread

2011-04-21T23:07:00.000+10:00

link: http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/gp4p4/what_is_the_funniest_joke_you_know_winners_get/

some highlights:
[–]tehPwnerer46 708 points 5 days ago
How many alzheimers patients does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
To get to the other side!
permalink
[–]ignignokt-_- 200 points 5 days ago
I heard it as:
How many ADD sufferers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Wanna go ride bikes?
permalinkparent
[–]tehPwnerer46 465 points 5 days ago
How many Vietnam War vets does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
YOU WEREN'T FUCKING THERE, MAN!!!!
permalinkparent
[–]ggggbabybabybaby 256 points 5 days ago
Each time the joke threads appear, I make it a point to post these two:
How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?
THAT'S NOT FUNNY.
How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?
Trick question, feminists can't change anything.
permalinkparent
[–]ninjajoe 200 points 5 days ago
How many hipsters does it take to change a lightbulb?
It's an obscure number, you probably haven't heard of it.
permalinkparent
[–]Tusularah 90 points 5 days ago
I heard it as, "They don't: They leave it off and pretend they're still underground."
permalinkparent
[–]cesarjulius 35 points 5 days ago
I heard it as a statement about modern man's disassociation with nature, while referencing early Gary Shandling (~1985). I'm pretty sure that's what the artist intended, but they also built in a certain amount of ambiguity, so I guess your interpretation is not totally wrong.
permalinkparent
[–]Tusularah 23 points 5 days ago
Please, associating that man with the piece in question is an amatuerish stretch. And while we're on the subject of Shandling, I found his work in "Welcome Back, Kotter" to be both gauche and highly derivative. No, the joke is obviously meant to explore the ease with which men to inflict evil upon 'the other', and obvious reference to the work of Albert Camus and Don Rickeles.

[–]Dafman 280 points 5 days ago
The barman says, "We don't serve time travellers in here."
A time traveller walks into a bar

[–]Konceptz 595 points 5 days ago
What's brown and rhymes with Snoop?
Dr. Dre
[–]Presii [S] 326 points 5 days ago
Why does Snoop dogg carry an umbrella?
fo drizzle.
permalinkparent
[–]Demaroth 217 points 5 days ago
Why does Snoop Dogg carry a frying pan?
Fo sizzle.
permalinkparent
[–]InternetiquetteCop 135 points 5 days ago
Why does Snoop Dogg use a serrated knife?
Fo' gristle.

[–]kowabungo 291 points 5 days ago
What's brown and sticky?
A stick.
permalinkparent
[–]wzpgsr 237 points 5 days ago
Where do generals keep their armies?
In their sleevies.

Dave was bragging to his boss one day, "You know, I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone, anyone, and I know them."
Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, "OK, Dave, how about Tom Cruise?"
"No dramas boss, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it."
So Dave and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door, and Tom Cruise shouts, "Dave! What's happening? Great to see you! Come on in for a beer!"
Although impressed, Dave's boss is still sceptical. After they leave Cruise's house, he tells Dave that he thinks him knowing Cruise was just lucky.
"No, no, just name anyone else," Dave says.
"President Bush," his boss quickly retorts. "Yup," Dave say's, "Old buddies, let's fly out to Washington and off they go. At the White House, Bush spots Dave on the tour and motions him and his boss over, saying, "Dave, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let's have a cup of coffee first and catch up."
Well, the boss is very shaken by now but still not totally convinced. After they leave the White House grounds he expresses his doubts to Dave, who again implores him to name anyone else.
"The Pope," his boss replies.
"Sure!" says Dave. "I've known the Pope for years." So off they fly to Rome.
Dave and his boss are assembled with the masses at the Vatican's St. Peter's Square when Dave says, "This will never work. I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope."
He disappears into the crowd headed towards the Vatican.
Sure enough, half an hour later Dave emerges with the Pope on the balcony, but by the time Dave returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics.
Making his way to his boss' side, Dave asks him, "What happened?"
His boss looks up and says, "It was the final straw ... you and the Pope came out on to the balcony and the man next to me said, 'Who the hell is on the balcony with Dave?"

mini-crossbow

2011-04-21T23:06:00.000+10:00

from the dude who made mini-canon

huh? I have a 'weapons' tag?

what i've been up to

2011-04-18T22:12:00.000+10:00

thurs 14th april: going back in time a bit but 'fixed' my mouse--the scroll wheel felt really sluggish so I opened it up (curiousity got the better of me too). Opening it wasn't easy--I accidentally stripped the screwhead so I had to drill it out. Ended up breaking about 3 parts of the mouse only to find that the scroll point didn't need cleaning at all--oh well./li>
sun 17.april.2011: should've gone gym but i didn't--felt cold and I upchucked a big one last night so I'm fairly certain I'm dehydrated.

banksy tell'em

2011-04-18T21:57:00.002+10:00

exactly why I don't give a shit about what any art critic says or thinks, especially performance or conceptual-abstract-pontificating wankers who think they're so high and mighty creating ~~"art~~ shit.

Zoom Match Classic Perforated Pack

2011-04-17T17:17:00.001+10:00

smartphone rankings

2011-04-17T13:11:00.002+10:00

http://brianshall.com/smartphone_rankings

I'm inclined to agree with his system for the most part...it's more or less how I sort competing devices.

Here's his top 10:
1 iPhone 4
2 Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc
3 HTC Inspire 4G
4 iPhone 3GS
5 HTC Sensation 4G
6 Motorola Droid 2 Android
7 Motorola Droid Bionic Android
8 HTC Evo Shift
9 Samsung Galaxy S (includes Activate and Fascinate)
10 Motorola Droid

fatalities

2011-04-17T12:51:00.005+10:00

warning: this clip runs for 2 hours and is 625MB!

asura's wrath

2011-04-17T12:51:00.002+10:00

looking epic : )

what the what?

2011-04-17T12:50:00.000+10:00

YELLOW DINO: PEDO HUNTER from Everything Is Terrible! on Vimeo.

you're...finished!

catchup

2011-04-17T12:31:00.005+10:00

march

went out weds--shoot pool. parents freaked

finally got my macbook pro ordered...can't wait

went out thurs--catch up with former colleague. sangria + meet fresh + sharky's. parents really freaked.

slow week at work ended with korean lunch in capitol sq (nxt time remember to get the bibimbap) and fortnightly corporate mexican themed bbq. I had one burrito and split the f#ck outta there. Might be the earliest I've ever left work.

first time in a long time I've been to the gym after work on a weekday, in spite of having recently eaten (i know it gives me cramps). still weigh 81.9 kg. 20 x 40kg incline, 20 x 40kg bench, 20 x 40kg bench, 2.2km in 20' (120Cal), 2.75km in 25' (205Cal) and 10' bike (50Cal). No swim.

wussed out of sat gym. went to buy more contacts instead. 3 month supply for $200

gym sunday: still about 81kg; 2.4km in 20' (200 Cal); 3.2km in 30' (175 Cal); 20 x 40kg incline; 20x40kg bench; 20x40kg bench; 40Cal in 8' on bike. Set all-time personal bests: total distance run in one day (5.6km); 1.6km non-stop twice in one day. Hey, these records are gret for the amount of regular exercise I get.

shooting pool alot lately. Notably better but still losing more than I win.

got Dead Space 2, Mass Effect 2 & NBA Jam

saw 'The Adjustment Bureau'. Something really inconsistent/aloof with that movie. Feels like it should be set in the 60s what with all the fedoras/trillbys. Overall pretty not good. It's basically a romantic drama-thriller with a hit of science-fiction. Just not good. To add to the misery, there was 'modern' dance in the movie--one of the things I cannot keep a straight face at.

thurs night pool (10.03.2011). Worst performance ever. Literally couldn't see straight or shoot straight.

skipped after work food + drinks with workmates. Feeling the disconnect again but at the same time have legit reasons to not go (medical and financial).

Still haven't heard back about my payrise or laptop. Not good. Will chase these up next week. On the other hand, finally got the ball rolling on jQuery.

13.03.2011: woke late, motivation was very low for gym but I still went--good thing too, still about 81kg. 2.28km in 20' (175Cal), 4.56km in 40' (324Cal), 16x50kg, 20x40kg. That's gotta be some record, right? Total distance in a day? Didn't have any major physical problems with the run (aside from fitness) but concentration was really low today.

14.03.2011: woke up and dad was very sick; combination of gastro and diabetic attack. Luckily my sister was here. He seems to have levelled out now.

14.03.2011 running wasn't as good as other days. Felt unfocused and exceptionally lethargic. 4.36km in 40' (270Cal), 16x40 (incline), 20x40 (bench), 35Cal on the bike (really struggled).

finally heard back about the payrise--not good. Seems like I have to wait 3 months for a 'maybe' payrise to only half the expected amount. Is this insulting? I mean we just won new business-a very big client, so I don't know but sounds like they can afford it. I'm thinking over my options and trying not to do anything rash...

(semi-mandatory) birthday celebration and St Patrick's day. What is the meaning, if any, of St Pat's day? Seriously, people go way too far with the slightest excuse.

friday: FINALLY got my new MacBookPro! So much power...a really big leap from my PowerBook G4.

Same friday: finally watched the Green Mile. The crotch grabs were really unexpected

friday: run to a new personal best(?) 3.5km in 30' (192 Cals) non-stop at 6.9km/h. Also bench 6x60kg and 12x40kg.

Saturday: spent most of the day porting files and apps to new laptop.

sunday: run to another personal best(?): 4.06km in 35' (220 Cals) non-stop at 6.9km/h. Keeping concentration was tough. Also benched 12x50kg and 16x40kg and bike ride: 7km in 12' (70 Cals).

cleaned up alot of the mess I call my room/corner of the earth. Alot of dust accumulated in just a year. Gave almost everything a once-over with an alcohol wipe and threw out some really useless stuff/made use of my space more efficient. Loving all this reclaimed desktop space.

Holy Shit. I fixed a blurry icon bug plaguing Mac Snow Leopard--note: haven't tested this on any other Mac but it's working perfectly for me. It's very simple; all you do is duplicate the application and rename the old instance. Launch the copy ("iTunes copy", for example), you'll find the icon is razor sharp, just the way it should be. Rename&delete old instance as needed. I think this ties into the theory that the 'plist' for the icons are being 'befuddled'. Weird. Really happy I solved this within an hour of discovering the bug (yeah, I know, I'm v. late Mac upgrader, but in my defense, my PowerPC G4 couldn't run Snow Leopard).

saturday gym: (2.2 + 3.0) km in (20 + 25)' (163 + 219 Cals) and not much else. Just didn't feel good--bit cold, not enough airflow while running, couldn't concentrate, overslept night before...alot of things wrong.

workmate's birthday dinner at Bavarian Bier Cafe. Love that place. Biggie schnitzel, Bier and Strudel.

april

fri 01 april: bit of exercise after the malaise of work: 2.96km in 25' (186 Cals), 74 Cals on exercise bike, and 16x50kg bench. I should note these last 10-12 runs have been mostly continuous.

sun 03 april: big struggle just to go--I didn't go saturday out of lack of motivation. Ran 20' @ 7.5km/h (= 2.5km) onto 4.69km in 40' (376 Cals). 12 x 50, 24 x 40, 10' on bike (50 Cals). I'm finding it very hard to stay focused during running--I get uncomfortable, itchy, distracted, can't breathe or crampy...just don't know why I find running so tough. Still about 80kg. Still kinda bloated but feeling better.

stupid movie vouchers are expiring so I've been watching alot of movies: Limitless, Catfish, Devil & Hall Pass. Liked Limitless and Devil...

Used last cheap ticket on 'the Rite'. Still regretted it. Slow pacing and cliched if you've seen 'the Exorcist'. That guy, 'Michael' looks so much like Fassbender, and is even called 'Michael'...

thurs. 07. finally got a hair cut. Also walked around CBD. Where is everybody? It's 8 and the streets are empty...

fri. 08: Work really annoyed me today. If you ask 'would I give up free beer and social work events for more pay?', I'm now ready to say 'how soon?'. Over-assigned work next week, got a ridiculous workload dumped on me this week. Incompetant producers. Noisy, boisterous and substance-abusing workmates. Low pay and long hours. Every time I think I'm settling and enjoying myself, something happens to completely throw off my perception of work. I hate this. I want to escape all the noise, the rush and alienation. But every time I change, I move a little further away from my long term goals.

sat 09. ran 5.00km in 43'11" (323 Cals) onto 5.11km in 45'00" (331 Cals). Benched 16x50kg, 12x50kg. 12' on the bike (50 Cals).

saw Suckerpunch. On paper, it should be good--swords, guns, samurai monsters, dragons, steampunk zombie nazis and of course, girls in skimpy cosplay, but altogether it's a mess. Just kind of stupid and non-sensical. Also, Snyder needs to learn more directing techniques aside from speed-up and slow-down. It's a joke now. What happened to the guy who made Dawn of the Dead? Not pumped for his Superman at all.

Unveiled 'Baby Muscle III' to unanimous praise. Excellent

dammit work is really pushing my buttons this week. The noise, the glare, the lack of amenities, some pushy producers, and some two-faced, asshole co-workers. One co-worker in particular's offhanded-comment (whether in jest or not, it wasn't cool); man, I defended you for nothing. Last time you fool me. I'm fuckin glad to be rid of you. Seems like everything's really pushing my buttons to switch jobs: got an offer from a place previously applied & current run of bad experiences at workplace.

sat 16th april: I'm dehydrated and it's raining so I skipped the gym.

BIG night out for Franky's birthday. Drank so much sake with gold flakes I fell asleep while there. Got really f#cked up when I got home. I know I say never again alot but really mean it this time: never again!

tennis 2011: Miami and Indian Wells

2011-04-04T12:45:00.000+10:00

Strange musings by Federer about his rivalry with Nadal before their semi at Miami Masters 1000 2011:

Reflecting on what his rivalry with Nadal means to him and the game, Federer said: “I think in the beginning, early on in my career when I became the World No. 1 I didn't really have that rival, and I was very happy about it. I was just able to win, win, win, and dominate and go on and lose, you know, ten matches in two years kind of thing. That was quite incredible.

“So in the beginning I guess I struggled to embrace the rivalry I had with Rafa. Only later on I was able to say this is actually quite cool. Sleeveless, pirate pants, you name it, long hair, lefty, spins, more with the flat shots and so forth and double handed against one handed, lefty against righty. I think it all kind of made sense, and I was able to embrace it then.

It's been a while since they played each other in a match that wasn't a final or exhibition--and long since they battled on US turf (their first match was in Miami in 2004)...Rafa went on to crush Federer in straight sets, in both 2004 and 2011...

. . .

Djokovic d. Nadal (6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4) )

Holy shit, Nole, you're killing me. 26 consecutive wins since Davis Cup final, including 3-0 on Federer and 2-0 on Rafa? That's the first 2 finals Nole's won against Rafa, too. Let's see how you go during clay season. Vamos, Rafa

random roundup

2011-03-27T12:57:00.000+11:00

I'll try to post less random stuff from now on--just check out dailywhat.com

movie quote search engine: http://www.subzin.com/

bizarro sentence: buffalo...

free land here

kim jong il looking at things

philippe ramette

xenolinguistics & interesting thoughts on alien communication

constructed languages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loglan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solresol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravic

what's in a name?
http://www.etymonline.com/
behind my name

how project natal works
fascinating, groundbreaking stuff. Name is still stupid though.

better book titles

CES just happened, alot of new mobile, 3D and wireless tech. Amongst them this retro-futuristic looking thing:

It's like what people in the 80s/90s imagined the 21st century would look like.

spare a thought for Japan

2011-03-17T12:42:00.000+11:00

Japan rocked with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake on friday (march 11).

So much power, it was geographically displaced some metres. Yes, Japan moved permanently due to a f#cken powerful quake.

what have i been up to?

2011-02-27T22:57:00.001+11:00

january

slept in til 7pm...that's all

finally beat qualy time on Mirror's edge ch.2! Also watched most of the Safin d Federer AO'05 Semi. Was alot closer than I realized.

laze around

back at work--busy day but it's good to be back(wtf?)

crushed it at work; ran 3 laps after work. 1st lap very comfortable, 2nd and 3rd not so good

normal work day

fri arvo rain run after work. barely 1 lap due to mixed weather

paid bills; gym time: weight: 80.6kg, (1.6 + 1) km runs in (13' + 8'), 12x50 + 12x40 incline, 8x60 + 12x40 bench, cool down swim

another gym day: bench 18x40 + 18x40; cardio (2.0 + 1.2) km in (17' + 12'); cool down swim. Saw the first (?) electric car charging point in Glebe. Watched Shine--good music, contentious in truths, Rush was great.

normal monday: work, home, eat, sleep

normal tuesday: work, home, eat, sleep

afterwork run: 3 of the worst laps ever--mostly walking. Felt very uncomfortable, bloated and out of breath. My shins were ready to snap off.

bombshell at work: one of my better co-workers is resigning soon. I reacted with shock, denial, hurt, anger...all the signs. It made me think too--for now, I need to bide my time and build my skills, but I will need to be more proactive in my own career and aim higher.

free lunch at work (including cider). Overall sillyness--NERF guns and darts everywhere. Still reeling from the loss of one of my few allies. Soul searching over pool and drinks after. Watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Kind of shit except for Biel.

another bad run today; need to let shins recover and hydrate. The weather is terrible--not too sunny but very hot with no airflow, makes it hard to breathe standing still.

hurt my right big toe. It got so swollen it basically burst with blood at the point where meat meets nail. Gross.

had a very mediocre Aus Open 2011, lunar new year and valentine's day.

weekend of 19-20 feb: felt incredibly listless; just had no energy for anything. I got up late both days, then did nothing. This is completely new to me: feeling absolutely useless for no reason.

passed work review with mostly flying colors. Now onto that payrise...

Moral or ethical dillemma at work

stupidly went mid-week drinking with workmates. What were we celebrating? A former colleague's newly single status. I know I often say 'never again' but really, this won't be happening again if I can be even remotely true.

pool, edamame and takoyaki

MVC3--not as bad as I was expecting. They should've called the 'Sp' button the 'magic' button, because it's basically a one-button solution for linking things together.

Splice wasn't that bad

2011-02-27T22:55:00.001+11:00

hilarious review of Splice

exercising

2011-02-27T22:53:00.002+11:00

pretty good gym sess today (sat feb 27 2011):
run : 1km in 10' 90Cal
run : 3.1km in 30' 200Cal
bike: 50Cal in 10'
bench 18 x 42.5
incline: 20 x 30
cool down swim

pretty good gym sess today (sun 28 feb 2011):
run : 2.2 in 20' 140Cal
run : 2.6 in 25' 160Cal
bike: 20Cal in 5'
bench: 16 x 50kg, 20x40
incline: 20 x 30kg
no swim(?!?)

New laptop time!

2011-02-27T22:51:00.000+11:00

Apple finally refresh their MacBook Pro lineup; I'm finally upgrading my laptop:
MacBook Pro 15.4" 2.2 GHz Quad-Core i7(!)
8GB RAM
500GB @ 7200 RPM
1GB AMD Radeon HD 6750M
Glossy Hi-Res display

Not getting the 2.3GHz upgrade--only 0.1GHz upgrade? That sounds like diminishing returns to me. The 2.2GHz Quad-Core can still turbo-boost, so I'm sure how much better the 2.3 will be--prolly not enough to justify the price gap.

Doubling the RAM from 4GB to 8GB for $240? Apple finally price something reasonably for once.

Faster HDD = better performance, plus I'm not willing to invest in astronomical SSD prices. It seems like a volume downgrade but 500GB is plenty for me.

!GB video RAM at last!!! I knew it back then and I know it now; get as much as you can--it'll help your computer last longer. Back then my PowerBook came with a 64MB ATI Radeon but for $70, I doubled that to 128MB. Totally worth it.

I'm going with glossy because the bezel looks way better than anti-glare (and doesn't add a further $70 to the price). Also, I can make it anti-glare via a $30 screen overlay BOO-YA!

No apple remote--an iPhone or similar smart phone (even my current phone) will be able to do the same functionality)

related:
teardown
osx lion preview 2
lion first details

laptop anti-glare overlays
custom iDevice covers
comparison of laptop graphics cards
graphics card in my current PB G4
card in newest MBP
new benchmarks
aftermakret ssd upgrades
aftermarket optical drive replacement
the 2.3 GHz Quad-Core sandy bridge i7
the 2.2 GHz Quad-Core sandy bridge i7

Sandy Bridge's mind-blowing numbers:
There are close to 1 billion transistors inside a 2nd Generation Intel Core processor. If a car were to have 1 billion parts - compared to the 30.000 they currently have - it would take the most productive car manufacturer 114 years to assemble this car.
If a processor were a country and its transistor count was a country’s population, a 2nd Generation Intel Core processor would be the third most populated country in the world (995 million+) just behind China and India.
A 2nd Generation Intel Core processor contains 540 million more transistors than the number of registered cars in the European Union, the United States and the Asia Pacific region combined.
If you equate the power consumption of a laptop based on the 2nd Generation Intel Core processors to an electric clothes dryer, drying one load for 60 minutes is equivalent to running a laptop for 147 hours or 6 days and 2.4 hours. If you compare the processor to an electric oven. baking a pizza for 45 minutes at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit) is equivalent to running 67 laptops for 50 hours.

If every home in the United States had 30 light switches it would take the new chips about 1 nanosecond to turn on all 3.57 billion light switches.
Compared to Intel’s first microprocessor, the 4004, introduced in 1971, a 32nm CPU runs over 4.000 times as fast and each transistor uses about 4,000 times less energy. The price per transistor has dropped by a factor of about 100,000.
The Intel Core processor is printed on very pure silicon, which is refined from common beach sand. So the sand you once stepped on at the beach may be powering your notebook today.
The 2nd Generation Intel Core processor family is viewed by analysts as one of Intel’s most important product cycles ever.**
source

moral dillemma

2011-02-21T22:52:00.000+11:00

faced a moral dillemma at work today; dob in this asshole who's been annoying me, or stay stoic and downplay it. The decision wasn't up to me and I tried to be honest, fair and impartial, yet a part of me burned for revenge. Now I feel somewhat conflicted; on the one hand, I didn't exaggerate or lie in reporting my findings and it was very touching/humbling to know my workmates have my back, yet on the other, I generally don't bear anyone ill-will, I merely wish they leave me alone. I wished him well! I WISHED HIM WELL!

Egypt ousts its government

2011-02-20T22:54:00.001+11:00

Mubarak goverment overthrown by its own people, the last straw seemed to be shutting off the internet.

Australian Open 2011

2011-02-01T00:22:00.003+11:00

congratulations to Nole, who pounded a listless Murray in 3 straight sets.

A week ago I made an offhand remark about about a Djokovic-Murray final being a possibilitiy--this was while the Nadal-Federer dream final was still possible. Weird...

Even weirder, Nole's win was the only outcome which changed NOTHING in the tennis landscape; allow me to explain:
if Rafa won, he would have completed 'Rafa Slam', history would have been made;
if Federer won, he would extend the title haul to 17, history would have been made;
if Murray won, he would have ended Britain's 75 year wait, history would have been made.

Everyone already knew Nole's serious bizness on all surfaces:
taking Rafa beyond his limits on clay in Madrid SF 2009;
dumping Federer 3 times on hard court in Grand Slams--twice in straight sets;
Wimbledon semis twice;
Masters cup winner 2008

so Nole's win only cements his position as 3rd best in the current generation amongst Federer/Nadal, Del Potro and Murray.

from late last year

2011-01-09T19:55:00.001+11:00

finally finished Professor Layton 2 8(? 9?) months after starting. Don't get me wrong, The puzzles weren't that hard, I just stopped playing for a while. In short, most puzzles were TL,DR.

2011

2011-01-01T03:55:00.001+11:00

happy new year!

now let's tear down all this xmas/new year shite and wait for something real to celebrate (to me, xmas, new years, bdays are just another day).

2010 year in review

2010-12-31T07:32:00.002+11:00

stayed employed for the whole year
attended most social commitments like work events, but avoided some (like a certain someone's weeding)
still managing my anger and frustration with tepid life
trying to save money
life largely unchanged
completed/achieved 259 'things'--I'll try again to average 1 per day in 2011