Things I learned about wind from a 4 year old:

1. When the wind blows on your front it is giving you a hug.
2. When the wind blows on your back it is giving you a kiss.

I know nothing about wind except about orographic rainfall. It appears that science is useless here.

Also, apparently, on Wednesday, the world might end (according to lay-scientists and religious groups).

*fingers crossed*

There is a draft coming from my ceiling. This displeases me. GREATLY.
This means that Thursday evening after tattooing I'm going to be scrambling around in the roof laying down newspapers to act as insulation.

Ashlee, Cyrus and Jodi came over for tea, which Penny cooked. It was delicious. Now I have to do homework, which is not delicious.

Moving again tomorow. In part because I plan to go camping next weekend, so I may as well move when the transportation forces are all in alignment to get me somewhere without paying for taxis.

Went to a small gathering last night, not really a party, got sufficiently inebriated to ignore the cold, and further ingestation of liquid poisons meant that I was willing to have a go at Singster and Guitar Hero. Travelled back to S&J's today slowly via brunch and window shopping downtown. Is a bit odd gazing through the second-hand section of shops and spotting large numbers of items you used to own.

So, felt really down last week, weekend was good, next weekend should also be good.

Article on the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, which back in the day was quite an incipent Triad-tyranny in the making, and probably contributed a lot to dystopic visions of the future city.

A new blog from a game designer, this time a guy involved with the Warhammer game, but some of the figures he mentions are interesting about the financial viablity of investment in MMORPGs. Another trailer for that game.

Article from Prospect Magazine on video games: Modern video games mean big business, and big controversy. Yet most of the charges levelled against games—that they stunt minds and spark addiction—are based on an outdated understanding of what gamers do when they sit down to play.

Not part of the conspiracy? Try reading this News of the Weird site once per week. Probably the only place in the world that tracks the middle names of convicted murderers (looking for the incidence of X Wayne Ys).

A set of WoW comics. About two hours of giggles there. A good comic series about Drow. In it the Drow are presented as being a lot more morally complex than happens with D&D fiction and campaign settings.

Finally, my political thought for the day. If National is leaking so much confidential information now, while still in opposition, what does that say about their ability to maintain party discipline if they actually gain the Treasury benches after the next election?

this weekend has mostly been aboot famblie. you cant buy that shit, yo.

im full of lamb bum and cheez and tasty tasty lemon semolina cake.

needs my bed.

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( Stuff about my day )
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I feel amazingly domestic, yet very happy. I guess the earning money and teaching guitar bits don't really count as domestic, but they were in my living room, so they felt that way.

One sabre, 18th-20th Century European style, for wedding reception.

I bought these little birds at St Andrews Markets the other week:




Here they are protecting the lettuce and silverbeet:






Pretty flowers grown from seed:


Cabbages, garlic, chives and parsley are all going well:



Celery is ready to harvest!



And to celebrate, I'm making celery soup! We have lots of celery so stay tuned for more celery recipes...

Celery Soup Times Ten Recipe
Ingredients
Directions

In large saucepan, saute celery and onion in a small amount of olive oil just until vegetables begin to brown.

• Stir in stock or broth. Bring to a boil.
• Stir in potato, reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes.
• Cool slightly. Puree in food processor or blender.
• Return to saucepan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Stir in cream or half and half.
• Ladle into bowls to serve hot, garnished with a celery leaf.
• Chill if serving cold. Ladle into bowls and garnish with finely chopped celery and leaves for "crunch".
• Enjoy!

I won this little guy from the Softies for Mirabel Auctions. Here he is happy at home:

Yeah, we are that old skool.

My favourite song right now:



Also, the typing has been going well:

60,091 / 70,000 (85.8%)

Also, I updated on stonesoup:

http://www.stonesoup.co.nz/talula/archives/008150.html

I went to see Hellboy II on Friday with Nina; which given that she is German was moderately cringe-worthy about the time that Doctor von Stereotype stamped onto the screen. Apart from that the film was gorgeous, but as dumb as a rock.

Afterwards, on returning home, I discussed Star Wars with my flatmate for a while. I pointed out that I'm not going to see The Clone Wars because Star Wars is rather like a Pavlova. It started out okay with just the pavlova (which is a classic), and then went on to whipped cream and strawberries, which was all good. Even the kiwifruit slices, although not to everyone's taste, were fine as far as I was concerned. But the layers of custard and chocolate sauce were just completely wrong, and if I go as far as scoops of neopolitan icecream I'm going to end up puking under the table.

Don't even get me started on all the damn books; a string of endless wars just to give the characters something to do is just turning it into Warhammer 40K, and I'm not a fan.

All of this grizzling about George Lucas (he is after all such a munter) brings to mind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was an okay movie, but not really an Indiana Jones movie. It wasn't the von Däniken aliens that spoiled the movie for me as they did for some other people; if you've already done the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant you might as well complete the conspiracy theory history bingo card. Rather it was that the action never ceased. Steven Spielberg obviously tried hard to extract a watchable movie from a great big steaming pile of George Lucas^*, and succeeds to a point; but where did Indiana Jones talk his way into a castle, or solve a puzzle in the library, or wear a disguise, or evade the villains due to shear luck, or fight with female lead and then snog her? Nowhere! You could make a list of Indiana Jones tropes that were missing from this film, as long as your arm.

In fact, The Mummy was a better Indiana Jones Movie. Unfortunately The Mummy Returns got a bit Lucas-ed, and there is so much CGI in the trailers for Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, that I fear it's going to completely suck.

Edit: To elaborate further, even action movies (well, good action/adventure movies) require some space between stunts and special effects for the story and characters to go. The Crystal Skull doesn't have that. It's like bad sex or bad metal; it starts and goes flat out with out pause or variation until it's all over.

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* Or CGI to the rest of you.

so far ive done dishes, washing, and eaten a hearty breakfast. now im off to the vege market. its not even 11am. look at all this extra weekend i have!
[later] the vege market sucked me in. i now have Way Too Much NOM. =)

It's an absolutely beautiful morning here in Wellington - blue skies, no wind, and sun for all. I just spent some time out on the deck, playing with ze cat and munching on some croissants.

Life? It is good : )