I accidently let the cat out of the bag about my domain name to John today. Have decided I should do what I've been meaning to do for a while now - censor my blog. That is, remove stuff that makes people (including myself) too easy to identify, and perhaps some of my more embarrassing or heated comments. Not that I'd mind if people like John/Luc/George actually read this.. really the only person I'd rather not have read it is my mother. So I've been through 3 months of entries, and have 19 to go.

Today was a much more civilised temperature. In fact it was just about the most perfect you can get. Warm, with a fresh breeze. Not too hot or humid. It was great. Got home and opened every single window in the place to get rid of some of the heat pent up in the past three days.

There was a video night at Striker's tonight, but after finding out what movies were on offer, I decided not to go. It's rather a long way to go by yourself if you don't want to watch any of the movies. So just catching up on stuff instead. Will prolly go to bed soon!

A little alcohol and the thoughts come tumbling out. Like how cool it would be to see Brian May again (I saw him in concert a few years ago and it was utterly magic... It's a Kind of Magic? :) ) and seeing We Will Rock You (I'd know all the songs, would just need to find someone to see it with), and how the soundtracks to the Chamber of Secrets and the Prizoner of Azkaban are going to forever remind me of our trip to the US (I got the cds there and we listened to them a lot while we were away in the car) and how lucious Lucius is.. mmmmmmm yumm Jason Isaacs..

I didn't get nearly enough sleep this week.. damned servers.. definitely going to make an effort to get a proper night's sleep tonight..

and how lovely Alan Rickman's voice is.. and how much I love British accents .. and that I should probably cook some dinner... and how much Tom Felton grew in between the two movies .. and how much the rest of them grew between movies two and three..

FQ1: You've been given a million dollars to donate to a worthy charity! Which organization would benefit from your generosity and why are they deserving?
Probably CMS (Church Missionary Society)

FQ2: You've testified against the mob and have to leave the country! Where do you go to start your new life, and what new career will you pursue?
But Australia is the best country on earth. Really! If I *had* to go somewhere else.. hrmm.. possibly the US cause I feel at home there. Otherwise somewhere beautiful like Switzerland or Austria. New career? A pilot for sure.

FQ3: A movie studio has given you carte blanche to develop a sequel to a film of your choice! What's your sequel going to be about and who's starring in it?
gee most of my favouritest movies already have sequels. Or I don't feel there was any need for a sequel. How about this for thinking ahead - Harry Potter 8 - his first year at college studying to be an auror. Already I want to know what he's going to do with his life after school. Except that she's just as likely to kill him off at the end. Jason Isaacs would of course have to star as Lucius Malfoy, who takes over as the deliciously evil bad guy after the final demise of Voldemort.

FQ Re-Blog: A tragic computer malfunction has erased your current blog so you decide to start over again under a fictitious identity. Who would you become and what would you write about?
I'd become a talented writer, commenting on the world and current affairs with wit and humour. hrm that wouldn't exactly work since I can't write to save myself.

FQ1: What's something you find humorous, but probably shouldn't?
There are some movies that I laughed the entire way through but I'm sure they weren't meant to be that funny .. like the Poseidon Adventure, and Emma

FQ2: What's something that others find funny, but you don't?
There's Something About Mary would have to be the stupidest movie I have ever seen in my life. Everyone I went with were laughing like mad the whole way through it, but I was only mildly amused about twice in the entire thing.

FQ3: What actor/comedian/personality always makes you laugh? What movie? What book?
I remember seeing a travel doco by Clive James once, and I found his sense of humour rather appealed to me for some reason. I haven't seen anything of his since though. Movie? Probably Flying High (Airplane) is my favourite movie comedy. Book? I rarely laugh out loud when reading books.

FQ Stand-Up: Tell us a joke or funny story.
According to some study, the funniest joke in the world is:

A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator, in a calm soothing voice, says: "Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: "OK, now what?"

Although I don't find it hugely funny. I remember reading something of Heinlein's once (I think it might have been Stranger in a Strange Land), and he made a rather interesting point about comedy that I've rarely found exception to - he essentially said that in order for something to be funny, someone (or I guess something) has to get hurt. When you think about it, that's very true. It's rare to laugh at something without someone/something else getting hurt in the process.

I blinked and today disappeared.

The plan was to work through labelling my USA photos. The reality was spending most of it out of the house or doing boring houseworky stuff.

I did buy two new fish - a couple of cory catfish for the big tank.

Man I'm tired. Doesn't help getting only 6 hours sleep after a video night at Evilhouse East. I'm wondering whether I should keep going to them, they mostly play movies I have no interest in whatsoever. Last night they played "Friend", a Korean movie which I thought for the first three quarters was going to be a waste of two hours of my life. It got *slightly* better right near the end when I finally started to make sense of who was who and where they fitted into it. The alternative was Bowling for Columbine which I would like to have seen but the other guys had seen it recently, doh!

I saw Prisoner of Azkaban again tonight. Enjoyed it a lot more the second time round, was less hung up on all the things that annoyed me the first time and appreciated the fun things a lots more. Like the whomping willow bashing up birds and losing all its leaves at once, and Hermione altering things in time a bit more than in the book. I still felt a bit cheated with pretty much all of Lupin's thread though. He shows he knows how to use the map, but gives no explanation why. The meaning of who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are isn't explained. And the twist with Peter Pettigrew is hinted at too early and then badly handled in the shrieking shack.

We also saw I, Robot and the Chronicles of Riddick last night at Evilhouse (thanks to Simon and his lovely collection of movies hehe). I, Robot wasn't bad a second time around, but it was taped in a cinema and a couple of times a dude gets up to leave and comes back again. Don't think I've ever seen a bootleg copy of a movie like that. The Chronicles of Riddick was very average. Didn't realise til I got home it was actually a sequel (to Pitch Black). Not that there was a lot of plot to the movie to lose track of anyway.

Starting the feel the effects of a 3am bedtime and a 7am wakeup call from godzilla which crashed again.

100 things about Kazza the Blank One. Bren has had one of these for ages, and I've been thinking I should probably put one together. Just recently Dave and Dennis put theirs up, so I thought I would too. Some of my ideas were stolen shamelessly from them :)

I'm having a very Mel weekend. Thursday was The Patriot, tonight Chicken Run and Lethal Weapon. I've seen the first Lethal Weapon movie but none of the others, and none of the Mad Max movies. One day... It's also been a butt kind of a weekend - Dennis Quaid in Innerspace and Mel Gibson in Lethal weapon. (Also had a bit of a drool over Gary Sinise (cf Ransom) on imdb)

Some months ago Dennis very kindly sent me the four Lego mosaic kits. Well first they went on an overseas trip, and then I did, so I've only just finished all four of them. I'll leave them up for a while, then begin work on my next project, this time in colour.

FQ1: Suggest something to read, something to watch...
Star Trek VI by JM Dillard is just about my favourite book ever - it was the only book I ever read at least three times before Harry Potter. Probably only for Trekkies though. The movie is by far the best of the Star Trek movies too. But for something to watch well that would have to be Peter Pan now wouldn't it, being my current favourite movie and all.

FQ2: Suggest someone to admire, someone to stare at...
Well duh, like what other answer am I going to give than Jason Isaacs ;)

FQ3: Suggest someplace to go, someplace to avoid...
I liked stacks and stacks of things while I was away in the US, but one of the more off the beaten track places we saw was Craters of the Moon National Monument. It's a relatively recent volcanic area, and you can walk out on lava fields and climb volcanos. The colours and textures in the rocks are phenomenal. Plus we went in wildflower season, so there smatterings of flowers all through the lava. To avoid? I'll have to think about that one.

FQ PROJECT: Suggest an itinerary for somebody visiting your city by listing the five must-see attractions of the area.
Well that really depends on what you like doesn't it? :) I usually try to get to the highest point in a city, which in ours is the Centre Point, or Sydney, or AMP Tower. Tallest building in the city. For ~$20 you can go to the top, as well as a "virtual reality" tour of the city in those seats that throw you around. The harbour is an absolute must. You can go up to the top of the Harbour Bridge for ~$150 or up to the top of one of the pylons for ~$2 or across the deck for nothing at all. Take a walk around Circular Quay and the Opera House and then back through the Rocks, the original settlement of the city. The other big tourist attractions include Luna Park, Bondi Beach, Manly Beach, the Zoo with it's panoramic views of the city, and the Blue Mountains.

well the guys are back now, I'm off :)

Sitting at Striker's computer for this. The others have done a shop run, and with four people in the car I decided not to make it five :)

The subject of skiing came up at lunch today. Now you see before I went away I asked John if he was going skiing this year and if I could go with him. At the time he said yes. But today he said he was too exhausted to organise a trip and someone else would have to do it. This is where panic sets in, cause would leave it up to me or Jim, and we haven't discussed this at all. I have this horrible feeling that Jim will question the appropriateness of it all and won't want me to come. So now I have this scared feeling I won't get to go skiing this year after all :(:(

I saw Nina again this afternoon - she's very big now (8 months) and very cute, although seemingly not very happy. Took much effort to get any sort of smile out of her. Got some very cute movies though.

I'm also looking for someone to see I, Robot with me on Monday the 19th (won a free double pass on TripleM). Three people have already rejected me for varying reasons. I once had a similar problem getting rid of a free movie ticket. You'd never think it'd be so hard to get rid of a free movie ticket, but for me it is.

Well that was all very depressing. Hope this is not a trend. Silly because I was actually in such a good mood tonight. Maybe it was the fact that John (different John) had the music up so loud in the car on the way here that we couldn't talk. Very antisocial IMO. But anyhoo. The guys are going to be back soon, should run.