| Favourite Films for 2009 |
[Jan. 6th, 2010|12:12 am] |
I really didn't see enough movies this year to do what I'd feel was an authoritative "best of" list, and it'd all be a bit personal and opinionated anyway, but for what it's worth this year I really liked the films listed under the cut.
For the impatient:
Film of the Year: The Wrestler
Male Performance of the Year: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Female Performance of the Year: Zhou Xun, The Equation of Love and Death
( Read more... ) |
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| Books (December to December) |
[Jan. 5th, 2011|09:28 pm] |
Not planning on anything formal here, but it's a start:
December 09
- Danny the champion of the world: Adorable, passionate dad and his boy Danny.
- (Re-read Secret scribbled notebooks again *cough*)
- My candlelight novel: Sequel to Secret scribbled notebooks. Just as lyrical and beautiful. Bonus points for the no-fuss, grounded fling Sophie has with a woman she met at uni.
- Mahalia: short novel about 17 year old Matt who becomes a single dad to the beautifully named baby Mahalia after Emily leaves. Realistic -- gets the monotony of day-to-day life down pat.
- Little wing: Emily's story. Short novel about her emerging from post-natal depression. Depressing, in a realistic way :P
- 1984: Finally got around to reading it. Am slightly bemused by Orwell's politics, and I'm reminded that these were Men, writing for Men. *resigned shrug*
January 2010
Currently re-starting Luck in the shadows
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Grabbed from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) deborahb because... wow.... |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|08:02 pm] |
Sometimes reality is far better than the fantasy...
These women are so much more *beautiful* than the photo-shopped images I usually am bombarded with...
*WOW*
http://models.com/v-magazine/v-size-2.html |
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| 2010 for me... |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|07:49 pm] |
In the tradition of a couple of friends' I've been thinking what I want 2010 to be about for me. I think what's becoming clear to me (though not set in stone) is the idea of 'connectionism'.
What this means for me (given it's not a real word) is:
- being connected to people
- promoting things that mean others get to be connected
- learning about what connection means, looks like, feels like etc in as many ways as possible
- connecting with new people
- deepening my connection with current friends
- being and living a life that gives people an idea of what connection is and can look like
- sharing what I know and have learned and experienced about connection with interested parties
That's the overarching theme to the year. It fits in well with the overarching theme to my life, which is 'love'.
I don't think I am in a space where I can begin to break that one down to such neat little dot points, so I will trust simply that it is obvious that the person I am is an expression of and intertwined with the associations of love :)
Other things I'd like the year to be about:
- cooking for and with friends, spending time and learning skills, teaching skills in the kitchen
- getting to know friends better, really appreciate them and what they're doing in their lives - what matters to them
- meeting new people and seeing the world through their eyes
- enjoy my love affair with academic learning, explore the wonderous things I get to think about and learn about, and do well marks wise in the process.
- continue my love affair with Fremantle, because I'm just head over tea-kettle for the place. It's the place I fell in love with here in Perth, first.
- cook new dishes!
- practice course meals and make gifts of these to people as pleases me
- continue to be open and honest about my life - the results of this have been stand out and phenomenal, I suspect this is something that will just become natural and fade to the background.
- fall in love as often as possible, and delight in it every time (this is actually standard experience for me, but I want to really notice it - I never want to take it for granted.
- spend time being less well behaved, in control and out of trouble - aka, have spontaneous, wild and wonder filled adventures in unlikely places.
- start learning French
- travel interstate and spend time with people who I'd love to be closer friends with
- see what it's like being an independent, hippy arts student exploring the country :) (and later - the world!!)
- inspire others in themselves, the things they're doing, the things I'm doing, and to come on spontaneous adventures with me just *because* hanging out and doing something unexpected will be *glorious fun* |
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| Toy hacking help wanted |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|10:33 pm] |
James' parents gave us a toy in That Category. You know, the one that makes an annoying and repetitive noise of some sort, that seems very cute to someone who is looking for a toy to give a small child and which causes twitching and the urge to create sudden death in the parents of said small child after the fortieth repetition. The kind of toy which you start to hope will break and turn into a useless piece of plastic junk after an hour of it being the favourite toy, even though you already have way too many of those already. The kind of toy for which Special Batteries were invented, because what-a-shame they don't sell that kind of battery down at the store it'll-just-have-to-stay-silent-until-we-find-some-somewhere.
It's a Fisher-Price set of Learning Keys, or something like that - I can't find the exact match on their website. It has three big artificial-coloured plastic things ("keys") on it that rattle or move or shake and which have "cute" (dumb) pictures related to three nursery rhymes. The keys are attached to a plastic block with a very-easy-to-press button, and the button toggles between six sounds: three little click-and-chirrups of various sorts, and the above-mentioned three nursery rhymes. It's a decent recording. What they call "rich" music - it's an actual person singing, there are multiple instruments playing the tune, and despite the tinny little speaker in the thing you can hear a fairly decent polyphonic sound. There's only one verse of each nursery rhyme, as my mother said "It's not insidious the first time you hear it", and each time the singer gets excited you want to slap her, but all things considered it could be much worse.
It could also be much better.
I'm thinking frog calls, or bird songs. Nature sounds, that I'd be interested in Sparrow learning. I don't care if she "is introduced to familiar and special nursery rhymes" by her toy - I can sing her plenty of those, and so can both her grandmothers. But bird or frog calls - that would be very cool (and something she doesn't get to hear at home normally). The only question is, how?
( Picture and discussion under the cut - any suggestions from electronics or toy-hacker types welcome ) |
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| I finally figurd out what it is about horror movies for me.... |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|07:28 pm] |
I've been squeamish about horror movies since I was little - I never grew out of it. This is despite my healthy imagination, ability to point to reality and not reality and my appreciation for good story and dark fantasy (probably other things, but that kind of list is boring). I've had it in my head that it was actually frightening, that what I was experiencing was fear.
It's not - not even close.
I'm squeamish from distress. It upsets me to consider that someone could do that (whatever 'that' is at any given point) to someone...
Some things it's easier for me to talk myself down from the experience of horror and upset. Other things I just don't deal with well - and gore movies are definitely one of them. I can even deal with true thrillers better than I can gore films...
I feel a little liberated in this realisation... it always bothered me to be scared of something that I knew very well wasn't real. It doesn't bother me in the slightest to be upset or distressed by the kind of suffering and torture, mind games and fucked up things that horror films glorify in.
I don't begrudge the genre - I certainly believe that fictional spaces are far better for the exploration of these kind of things than the real world.
But I don't need to 'overcome this' now. There's no fear to face... just a knowningness that I am not the target for the story and that there are other things out there for me to enjoy.
I feel my explanation is a little ambiguous... like I'm circling but not really nailing a point. What do others think - is anyone else out there in the same boat as me? |
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| Battlestar Rhapsody |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|02:20 pm] |
from @hexsteph, BSG as told by paraphrasing Bohemian Rhapsody:
(spoilers for the entire series :) |
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| AD&T Meeting 2nd January 2010 |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|12:16 pm] |
This post may also be found on the Archive of Our Own which is commentable by anyone with or without an AO3 account. I am disabling comments elsewhere as I would like people to be able to share in any discussion.
Sat 11pm to 1am but I've been practicing staying up late (am a morning person usually) so was pretty easy on me. This meeting was about an hour of 'stuff wot we have to work on' and an hour of 'winding up the 2009 term'. Winding up was good fun; we had a chance to talk about what we liked in 2009 and what could be better - mostly we want to keep improving our communication, processes and knowledge transfer. Plus, you know, keep working on and improving the AO3 - we know it still has a long way to go!
AD&T Update: AD&T has now officially dissolved as a committee, the 2010 committee will form and meet on 30th January. *hands over sparkly tiara of chairness* We tried to avoid doing any more work in the last two weeks but didn't quite succeed.
- 25 Dec 2009 Release 0.7.2.5 (5 items)
- 25 Dec 2009 Release 0.7.2.6 (1 item) - quick performance fix
- 26 Dec 2009 Release 0.7.2.7 (3 items
- 31 Dec 2009 Release 0.7.2.8 (20 items)
Full Release History found on the AO3
Deploy Schedule: We've got a few things coming up, the deploy is tentatively scheduled for 16th January.- Tag Wrangling: interface is no longer able to cope with the sheer number tags our wonderful users have been adding so we're sorting that out.
- Collections & Challenges: we built the bits that meant we could run Yuletide in an ad hoc fashion. Now we can start fleshing out the design and adding all the features it needs.
Wanted: people with JavaScript skills, people for the Support team, people with an urge to design the perfect search interface, and a plastic rocket.
If there are things you want to do/say - feel free to share either in comments, or by volunteering, or whatever medium you're comfortable with. You are invited to this party :)
This post may also be found on the Archive of Our Own which is commentable by anyone with or without an AO3 account.
This entry was originally posted at http://samvara.dreamwidth.org/446058.html. |
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| POLITICS - Climate Change |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|04:05 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  angry | ] |
I am a relatively patient person.
But when I encounter folk sneeringly stating that the Bureau of Meteorology are hiding 'the truth' by not displaying station records and only showing climate extremes australia-wide rather than by location to give the 'false' impression that Climate Change is real then I feel like smacking someone in the face until they fall over.
Stop.
Being.
Willfully.
Ignorant. |
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| improvements |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|03:51 pm] |
A little inspired by Facebook's Honesty Box application - what advice would you give me, or what should improve about myself in the coming year?
Anonymous comments enabled |
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| Movies for 2010, Part #1. |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|12:12 pm] |
1 January
Adventureland
The Princess and the Frog
3 January
Arachnophobia
Empire Records
5 January
Under Siege
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| So, New Years Eve... |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|09:33 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
I think I may be recovering from it, finally.
Er.
I am not young enough to do that any more! Good grief. Hours and hours and hours of dancing at a house party and lots of chaos.
When you're still trashed five or so days later...oops :)
Back at work. Nh. |
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| New laptop - likes and dislikes |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|08:37 am] |
James bought me a new laptop. An actual new one, not a secondhand one (which is what I'd buy myself). He was the largest influence on the purchase choice, suggesting the things I'd need to make sure I got, and which he hadn't necessarily gotten but had missed when he bought his new laptop at the beginning of the year. This means I've ended up with a laptop that was not top-of-the-range, but fairly high-end, as at November 09; a "HP Pavilion dv6 Entertainment PC". There are some things I like about it and some things I don't.
Likes:
- HDMI slot. That was something we wanted, so that we can play media straight from the laptop to the TV without the juggle/baling wire fix that we currently use (transfer to computer B in room 2, run back and forth between room 1 and 2 making sure that screen is set right and displaying correctly on TV, find computer speakers and drag them from room 2 to room 1 as the sound doesn't transfer, only video... you get the picture).
- Decent processor speed. I can now play most online video formats and podcasts without the sound and screen being constantly jittery. So I can watch Tracker School broadcasts, or World Science Week lecture recordings or whatever I've found, on my own machine instead of James'.
- Plenty of USB ports. I know that's standard, but I've been using a machine that only had one for a long time now so it's something you really appreciate when you get it.
- Inbuilt webcam. Again, a standard, but something to appreciate when you haven't had one.
- Windows 7. It's a bit of a pain to get used to a new OS, and I was using Windows 2000 before this (which was a *nice* system if unsupported by almost all of my purchased software), but 7 definitely seems to be giving me less headaches than Vista would have.
Dislikes:
- Widescreen. Unfortunately all the laptops with HDMI also came with a widescreen. While I don't mind the screen viewing size and I'm sure it'll be great when we're watching DVDs on the laptop or from-laptop-through-TV, I do prefer a laptop that I can take places with me. This one is heavy, bulky, doesn't fit in any of my bags. We found one laptop case of James' that it fits in, but only just, in only one pocket, and it has to be the right way up. And then I can't put much else in the bag with it (though thankfully the power cord fits - what is it with laptop bags that have no place for the power cord? Seriously?)
- Design and decor. I wish I could stencil my own designs on cases. I generally don't like decoration to begin with, and this one is covered in it - all this stupid techno-bubble stuff which is really ugly. James likes it -shrugs-. I miss matt black. I'd be OK if it was one of my own designs that I chose, but this is just... designer, in the worst sense of the word. My laptop is not a collectable, it's a tool, and aesthetics are very much a personal preference. I wish the design on this one was removable, because it's like a constant gritty itch at the back of my eye.
- Touch-pad mouse. I know this is a standard feature, and most people don't like the little clitoris-mice like the one I used to have, but this one is really annoying me. I'm sure I'll get used to it, if the definition of "used to" includes finding where all the special features are kept and turning them off. It's really irritating how the mouse cursor jumps all over the screen because I'm using *both hands* to manipulate the computer. I don't do one thing at a time with my fingers and brain, I do several. -sigh-
- Easytouch wireless on-off. I mean, why? It's not even a *button*, forchrissake, it's just a pressure (very) sensitive light on the bar at the top of the keyboard half. The sound and volume are the same, right next to it. They're OK, it's convenient once I worked out that it was a control and not just a display light. But having the wireless button right next to it means every time I turn the sound up I accidentally turn the wireless off. You just don't need that kind of control, and the location really sucks. I also can't clean the dust off the very glossy surface without switching the wireless off, and I tend to dust without thinking because it's all so glossy I can't see stuff when it's dusty.
- Power button is smaller than my fingertip. No button should be smaller than the thing you press it with. Do I need to say any more?
- Keyboard clicks. I almost didn't get this laptop for that exact reason, there was another one I was going to get instead, but they were sold out of it and this one was about as good overall from outside inspection and I needed to get the laptop that day so I had time to set it up before we went away.
- Too many lights when it's not actually on. And when it is on, for that matter. It's covered in lights, everywhere except the one place they might actually be useful - to shine on the keyboard so you can type in the dark.
Still to investigate - the weird HP "dock" thing and accompanying media software, to see if any of it is any use or not. And I haven't tried watching a DVD on it yet. I still want to find out if (as claimed) the battery life is long enough to watch a whole DVD on. James' laptop can't do that. |
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