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Diary
By sven (Sun May 23, 2004 at 05:26:50 PM EST) (all tags)
Inside: Thunderstruck, Supersize Me, German motoring survey, CDs, weird Hong Kong signs, and more holiday photos.


Thunderstruck

We saw the movie Thunderstruck last night. It was reasonable as Australian movies go. The premise was five AC/DC fans who promised that if one of them died, the others would take them to Fremantle Cemetary to be buried next to Bon Scott. Things I found notable in this movie:

  • I particularly liked the dad's love of his Tarago (which they stole to drive from Sydney to Perth)
  • I didn't understand why the Tarago kept getting mud on it. They weren't driving through mud.
  • I also didn't understand road signs saying "Playground" and "Blind Children" in the middle of the desert. I think it was meant to be funny, but I'm not sure.
  • The cameo from Roy Slaven was funny.
  • It was also funny when they spontaneously started singing a Celine Dion song that I'm trying to remember the name of.
  • I found it a bit strange that there were at least two people in the cinema who were in the movie. Hearing someone say "there you are!" to her friend was odd.
  • The storm clouds at the end were so obviously fake it was funny.
  • The movie was far better than The Chase For Skase, which was so crap it isn't even listed on IMDB.
Question for Sydney people: If you were driving from Sydney to Perth, would you start by heading north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge? I don't think so.

Supersize Me

On Friday Supersize Me is showing in Perth, with an introduction and Q&A session with the director Morgan Spurlock. Should be good. It's an exposé into McDonald's, where he eats nothing else for 30 days to see what happens.

Speaking of documentaries, it was good to see Farenheit 9-11 win the golden thingy at Cannes. I wonder if they'll release it in America now.

German motoring survey

In the 7:30 news the other morning they announced the results of a survey of members of a German motoring organising, asking what they thought about when stuck in traffic. 30% thought about sex, while only 6% considered taking an alternative route. Interesting.

CDs

On Thursday night I accidentally bought The White Stripes' Elephant and Chili Peppers' Greatest Hits. I like the White Stripes. I particularly like these lyrics from The Hardest Button to Button:

We started living in an old house
My ma gave birth and we were checking it out
It was a baby boy
So we bought him a toy
It was a ray gun
And it was 1981
We named him Baby
He had a toothache
He started crying
It sounded like an earthquake
It didn't last long
Because I stopped it
I grabbed a rag doll
And stuck some little pins in it
The Chili Peppers CD pissed me off though. It's one of those bloody copy protected ones. In the past I've put up with them when the CD was one that I really wanted, but this was an impulse buy. And it had a "Copy Protected" sticker on the front cover, but it was almost entirely covered by a "2 for $50" sticker so I didn't notice it until after I'd bought it.

I couldn't play the thing at work (no admin privileges to install the player) and couldn't play it at home (no Windows) so I made a copy and then took it back. Yes, I agree that it was very wrong of me to copy it first. Anyway, the nice people at Sanity weren't paying attention and gave me a store credit for $31.99 instead of the $25 I paid. So now I have a bonus $7. Bargain.

Except now I have Chili Peppers stuck in my head.

Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, the city of Angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry

No Paraphernalia

At the lookout halfway up Victoria Peak in Hong Kong is a sign that says No Paraphernalia. But what does it mean in this context? I'm not sure, but I photographed it and stuck it to my door at work. Several people have asked me about it already. I wish I knew what it meant.

More photos

Photos from the Bath and London parts of my holiday are now on the website. I'll link it properly this time. One of the photos that provides particular amusement is the one of me dressed in armour at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Obviously it wasn't my idea.

I also finished the trip report for posting to Flyertalk. It's probably not very interesting unless you're an aviation enthusiast.

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Collection of thoughts from the last week | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
North to Alaska by cam (6.00 / 1) #1 Sun May 23, 2004 at 11:38:26 PM EST
I didn't understand why the Tarago kept getting mud on it. They weren't driving through mud.

I recall when the old Toyota and Nissan 4WD's started making it into suburban garages in the late 1970's that you could buy "spray-on Kalgoolie Dust" to spray up the side of your 4WD. To give it the impression of having been off-road; A precursor to the SUV craze.

Question for Sydney people: If you were driving from Sydney to Perth, would you start by heading north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge? I don't think so.

It depends; if you are going out through Penrith you might, it sometimes can be quicker to take the M2 to get to the Great Western Highway as the Great Western Highway between Annandale and Strathfield is (or at least used to be) a mess. Or they might want to have gone out through Bathurst in which case the M2 is a good choice.

But, if I was heading west to Perth, I would head south along the M5 to Camden and then west toward Goulbourn. They are good open highways. Better than the city clutter of the M2 and Great Western Highway.

At the lookout halfway up Victoria Peak in Hong Kong is a sign that says No Paraphernalia.

Maybe it is the Hong Kongese version of Sydney's "eternity".

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic


Collection of thoughts from the last week | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback