stephen-turner.net -- everything and then some

Moving this blog to Wordpress -- go there for the new stuff

2008-03-21T00:35:00.002+11:00

I am somewhere in the process of moing this blog to Wordpress on its own server -- now properly and accurately at stephen-turner.net. But there seems to be no end of problems to the import/export process, to the point that I don't even know if it will happen properly.

So I suspect I might just start fresh at stephen-turner.net, and leave this here as an archive. There's enough links in the article to find your way there, so go for it!

And the good thing is, if I can ever figure out the import process, all past posts will be at my new locationm very soon anyway.

Easter Show day ...

2008-03-20T23:45:00.001+11:00

Took the family to the Royal Easter Show today. Hottest day in the whole Summer season most likely, and we all felt it by the end.

Mostly quite a fun day, but a little weird at times. I'm probably feeling a little too old for much of the attractions now, but the kids are probably still a little young.

Will was terrified by the animals for some reason we can't work out. It started with the chickens and birds we know he doesn't like, but it continued on with pigs, cows, goats and everything else they had. It all seemed to scare the bejezzus our of him for some reason. It didn't help that he hadn't eatern properly all day and was really hot, but that's how it went. Alex loved the animals though, and everything else we put in front of him.

Sometimes it's a great bit of family fun, but other things the show just seems like a cheap sell-fest. The art, craft and food pavilions were probably the most interesting things for me, especially the art and woodworking. When the kids got out of the stroller for a play that was fun too.

Thank bloody goodness we brought a lot of food and drink -- the prices were nuts. Showbags were ok price wise, but they hardly interest me now. One bag each for the kids, some chocolate and food ones for us, and that was it.

We decided that it was a fun day, but we're not likely to go again for a few years. Not sure if this is another phobia to add to the list for Will, but he has several relatives that would like to help him out of it :)

The Neverending sauce bottle

2008-03-19T21:42:00.002+11:00

Made a stir fry tonight, and it reminded me of something very odd. We have a large bottle of Chinese Sweet Soy Sauce ... that just won't ever finish.

This is the fourth house I've cooked with this sauce in, and it's lasted nearly five years now. We bought it from a small Chinese grocery in Canberra sometime in 2003, and it's lived with us there, at Newtown, then Westmead and now here in Wentworthville.

It's a thick sauce that probably only has a small amount used each time, but it still doesn't explain how it's lasted so long.

I figure it's probably an enchanted sauce, created by a mystical Chinese shaman and designed never to end. Or of course, it's just very thick and we've been careful with it.

Fortunately of course, it does taste good, and makes good stir frys. Which is I guess all that matters ...

Frustrated

2008-03-18T23:58:00.002+11:00

Frustrated because my blog isn't publishing but I won't stop writing on it anyway.

Frustrated because I really don't know why it isn't working.

Frustrated because I've setup a new site but I can't use it yet.

Frustrated because the import function in Wordpress scan't find my posts in Blogger.

Frustrated because that just slows everything down.

Frustrated by the seeming lack of time in every night.

Frustrated by CNET -- it should have been bettter but it isn't, and I'm still there.

Frustrated because I stil don't know where the money is coming from.

Frustrated by the huge delay when typing in Blogger!

Not frustrated by the last episode of Burn Notice tonight -- damn good. NCIS is back next week.

Not frustrated by my new job, but a litte frustrated by the fact I haven't started yet!

Not frustrated, because it is time for sleep ...

Joss Whedon's online comic book comedy musical!

2008-03-17T12:41:00.002+11:00

Now that was a mouthful! Word from various sources is that Joss Whedon has written and is currently filming a short online film -- an oddball comic book musical with some fairly well known actors and well known collaborators.

Found this at the Whedonesque blog, best if I just let Joss explain in his own words:

So.....

The bag is catless.

During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each. Writing with me was my brother Jed, his fiancee Maurissa, and my other brother Zack. To my shock and surprise, we finished it. To my greater shock and surprise, we managed (with the help of many people I'll be praising at length soon) to drag it into preproduction (yes, just as DOLLHOUSE was given a start date two months away and all my comics were due.) And today, after a grueling week of writing everything ever while trying to be a producer, I got to start shooting. A musical.

This much I will say: It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to. And I'm having the time of my life.

"DOCTOR HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG"

Neil Patrick Harris.....as Dr. Horrible
Nathan Fillion..........as Captain Hammer
Felicia Day.............as Penny

And a cast of Dozens!

Coming soon.

-j.

I already forsee this as the next mega Internet viral hit -- and it's one I actually want to watch this time :)

Run Tigers Run

2008-03-16T23:45:00.002+11:00

A double-header of entertainment today, with a trip to Moore Park to watch the Wests vs St George NRL game; the first round of the season. Went with Sallie and Wayne for that one, then just Sallie after for dinner and a movie -- the Simon Pegg comedy "Run Fatboy Run", which was pretty damn funny, with a lot of highlights with Pegg and costar Dylan Moran.

The football went mostly well, with Wests taking in a solid 24-16 win the start the season. Started badly, with Benji Marshall going down injured again in five minutes, but Wests ended up blowing out to a 24-4 lead anyway -- didn't really see that coming. Then naturally they had to almost blow it with St George back before losing 24-16. Ultimately, Wests were solid but not brilliant, with the usual guys like Hodgson (who's kicking goals well again) and Farah playing very well. Good start to the season, and better they get used to being without Marshall now I guess.

Run Fatboy Run is a damn funny movie, which is what we expected with Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran (both of whom Sallie probably likes way more than I do!) funny as always, and good performances from Thandie Newtown and Hank Azaria, along with various fun British comedy cameos. It evokes some of that Richard Curtis British comedy vibe, but is so much better than that stuff in so many ways. Example -- in Fatboy, the characters are not all white! It's a little thing, but it makes this far more real, with a greater setup of the humour as well. And the story was more believable as well, with some great funny beats, but a more realistic conclusion.

So Fatboy, tops, Tigers pretty good, good day overall. Quite expensive, so I'm glad the day was a gift from the parents for my birthday. Fun, fun, fun!

Review: Futurama -- the return of geek comedy gods

2008-03-15T23:45:00.002+11:00

My brother got me the new Futurama DVD movie for my birthday. He bought it Region 1 from the US, since it isn't due out in Australia for a few more weeks (I think he bought it before Christmas, but didn't get it delivered till January). I'm glad to have any kind of early mark though, because it is magnificent.

Sat down and watched it tonight, and damn it is funny. "Bender's Big Score" contains almost everything you could want from classic Futurama episodes, in a whole new story involving alien nudist scam artists, several time travel paradoxes, Bender stealing things from all of history, Fry still being in love with Leela, Leela falling in love with someone else, the Harlem Globetrotters being smarter than everyone, Santa (along with Kwanzaabot and friends) reaking havoc, several entertaining musical numbers, and a giant space battle against solid gold death stars.

In other words, everything you could possibly want from 90 minutes of animated entertainment.

I think one of the things I love the most about Futurama is its embrace of two completely different kinds of comedy -- they will go from high brow science jokes to low brow sight gags within the same scene. Matt Groening and his gang prove that animation can be all things to all people -- my three-year-old hasn't seen as much of Futurama as he has of The Simpsons, but he likes what he sees of Futurama already. Even if it will be years (more like decades) before he gets some of the jokes.

Early highlight: Planet Express has spent the last three years on cancellation because of the drones at the "Box Network". Drones that everyone hates so much they get turned into fish food. Yes, Matt and his crew are so loved they really can say what they like to the Fox people now.

So get out there and watch Futurama: Bender's Big Score. I mean, it goes without saying that you need to be a fan of what's come before to get into it, but even if you were only a casual fan, it's a great fun movie. And if you're a big fan -- you should already have it. And I'll be you're decoding the hidden messages and watching for all the hidden references as we speak.

Domains, servers and getting things right

2008-03-14T23:07:00.002+11:00

At the moment no one can really read this even, so it seems a bit dumb, but I do want to keep up the habit.

Either way, that shouldn't last for long, as tonight I've set up a new decent web space account, and am setting up Wordpress to go with it (where I can have also raw pages, FTP servers, databases, wikis, message boards -- in short, anything I feel like). No more Blogger for me I've decided, and I want to be able to transfer all the data from this to the new site, and really get this looking professional.

I mean, this new setup isn't even that hard or that expensive, but it will be seriously better quality -- just what I need.

And naturally, when the site is up and running, first job will be pics on the Underbelly story :)

In other news, the NRL started tonight, and I'm 0 for 2 in tipping already. And the Kings lost the last game of the finals as well.

That would seem to mark the end of Summer, not that you can tell from the sudden warm spell.

Happy birthday to me!

2008-03-13T23:44:00.003+11:00

Well, another birthday, another year ... a nice day to be sure, but I try not to think of too many other implications of course ...

Better than usual because I took a day off work today, then proceeded to go into my new job for four hours for some startup training. Knocked off there just before 1pm, did some various shopping and really long commuting to the point that I didn't get home until 4.30pm, but that was cool. It's my day, I got paid by 2.15pm and I could do as I pleased.

What I did do was buy a telescope from Aldi (of all places!) I'd written down a few wekes ago that I wanted to get a telescope at some point, as astronomy is something that's always had some interest for me. Then suddenly Aldi comes up saying they're selling some for $80, from my birthday and payday. Hard to refuse ...

After assembly and some outside practice, I've learned two things: it's nowhere as dark at home as I thought it was, and operating a telescope is harder than it looks. But it seems like a good unit -- bloody brilliant in fact for $80!

Nice enough dinner at the leagues club across the road -- it's amazing how well behaved Will and Alex are compared to most other kids :) Early start gave us an early finish and an actual dinner at the same time as the kids.

Life on Mars was brilliant tonight, probably the best ever. Should write about that more in the morning.

So, happy birthday to me :)

Toys for big kids ...

2008-03-12T18:11:00.002+11:00

While it's undoubtedly childish, it's also incredibly fun ... a guy in the US has started making custom weapons for Lego figures. Everything from world war 2 weapons to pulse rifles from Aliens and everything fictional and real in-between. Check out the pics at the Brickarms site or a Gizmodo interview with the creator.

It's funny really the new life that Lego has online ... adults who are either recapturing their childhood, or enjoying a new one with their kids are becoming Lego fans in a big way. And the Lego company has responded pretty well to this, providing custom brick sales and bulk sales of specialist pieces. And it's not even that childish of course -- adult creators are building complicated models and doing scientific designs, but most of all they're just having fun with it.

I can get behind that ... and while I haven't bought any new Lego yet, I would really like to. Both to get Will and Alex into it more, but also for my own fun :)

300 posts and other things that couldn't happen soon enough

2008-03-11T23:22:00.002+11:00

I noticed when I really got back into the blog at the start of this year that I was barely over 200 posts in the whole history of the blog. Now this is post 300, which is quite a pace -- and I like to think they're useful posts as well.

My personal highlight has been the Underbelly characters post, though I wish of course I'd een able to get the pics working on that one. And the minor post on the Google law suit with the real estate guys ended up being the most popular thing Ive done -- who knew that shonky real estate agents had so much Google juice!

As for everything else, now I wish that my current job would just end, and fortunately enough it will soon enough ... but I have to do as much as I can to keep in contact with people.

And the new job is a big challenge, one I start to get an idea of on Thursday with a half day's training (on my birthday -- the upside being the rest of the day off!)

Making and breaking

2008-03-10T23:30:00.003+11:00

Now that I'm letting myself think I can afford a few things, I am thinking about how to move the PC from the loungeroom (where it's mostly a media centre but terrible for the task) back to the office/sunroom where it can be used more usefully, especially by Sallie, who's sick of a nine year old laptop she uses for everything. And in its place, I'm looking at building a small, low power, media PCthat will be stripped down in features, quiet and easy to use, but do everything it needs to and be on the house network.

While working at home today, I spent some time researching all these mini-ITX motherboards and low voltage power supplies and other things for very cheap operation of a good media PC. This page is especially useful, just run by some college student in the US, but it really gave me tonnes of ideas. Even in the local lingo, I could do it for as little as $250, and I can see some wooden casemod plans in my future.

In other news, the blog still isn't fixed, but that will be in action by the end of the week ... ha ha ...

Nothing technical is working ... everything else is good

2008-03-09T23:28:00.002+11:00

Lunch at the parent's today, with Will positively gidy dwith joy at having the backyard to walk through, to sit by the barbecue fire with his Granddad, and run himself ragged up and down stairs to the sundeck. Alex just enjoyed the walking practice and the exploration. A fun afternoon.

But back here, this blog isn't really even working right now -- I suspect crap Optus web space is to blame -- so no one is even reading this! At the end of the week when I get paid, I am signing up for some real web space, converting all of this to Wordpress and diverting the domain for real. That will make it all legit, properly set-up and actually let me do things properly, like upload images. Then this site will really get the detail it deserves, and that will only cost about $50 a year!

And the media centre is mental, with the D drive crazy on that PC only. Something has got to change there ... depends on the layout and the money.

And for the first time in years, we might just have the money for that ...

I've got a new day job

2008-03-08T23:40:00.004+11:00

Yes, this came about pretty suddenly, even for me.

It's no real secret that I haven't been that happy with my current job. Great company, not so great position within it. All the fringe benefits in the world couldn't make up for a job that was restrictive, uninspiring, unexciting and woeful compared to everyone around me.

So I was looking around. Then in the space of less than a week, I applied for a job on Monday night, got a call on Tuesday, went to an interview on Wednesday morning, was offered the job Wednesday afternoon, accepted on Thursday afternoon and sent away the acceptance letter, then gave notice at my current job on Friday afternoon. Just like that.

And the new job ... well, very interesting. Its title is Web Producer, for a magazine, so I'll be in charge of the whole web presence and operation for the title. There's a hell of a good pay rise in it, which is always a good thing.

And it's for Australian Penthouse magazine. Yes, that's exactly what you think it is.

So while it's not all you know what all the time, there will be a lot of it :) But I'll also be establishing a men's lifestyle/entertainment web destination, something that should actually have a lot of variety. And a whole lot of other stuff as well ...

I case you are wondering, the wife doesn't mind at all -- she's most definitely amused, but also happy with the pay rise and the new responsibilities, and I'm trustworthy :)

Needless to say, I'm very impressed with the whole situation :)

Look at this ... new 24 sooner than expected

2008-03-07T18:18:00.003+11:00

After having decided to skip the whole season of 24 this year due to the writer's strike (effectively moving the season they've quarter-filmed to next January), Fox have revised plans and announced a prequel movie for the season, to air probably around September. Smart move I'd say, given it will be nearly two years between seasons otherwise.

So Jack is off to Washington, and the President is a woman, and there's more evildoers undoubtedly ... can just imagine what hijinks will occur.

Glad finally they're changing the setting ... those LA hills were looking awfully familiar.

And please, will people stop blaming 24 for the mindset of the current US government? 24 is the most fanciful and fictional of espionage fiction out there, so it's not their fault if dummies think it can be applied to real life!

It would have been like modelling US Cold War policy after the moves in classic James Bond movies ...

Return of the DIY generation

2008-03-06T10:45:00.002+11:00

An interesting story by Clive Thompson at Wired today, where he laments the general decline of the home handyman, and people's lack of ability to fix things, leading to a more wantonly consumer culture, while also highlighting the return of that culture through Make Magazine and other high tech returns to old school tinkering.

I think he makes some good points about DIY culture, and I think the stuff in Make is always interesting, but he also does miss a couple of points, which some of the comments fill him in on. He talks about people no longer repairing home gadgets, just throwing them away and buying new ones, but of course the point there is the increasing complexity of modern gadgets.

Old school home appliances and even cars were largely mechanical, while even the simplest gadgets today will likely be full of silicon and circuit boards. Unless you're extremely advanced, you can't do anything with those, no matter your knowledge. And they've become easier to replace than to try and fix.

That said, his better point is about the DIY culture -- making things yourself. It is a very satisfying thing in the modern world to make your own stuff, whether through woodworking, metalwork, or any kind of hybrid in-between. I am trying to do as much woodworking as I can, and to mix that with some electronics, which I haven't done as much of, but would like to.

It's a very satisfying hobby, one of that is so different to everything else I do (in short, sitting in front of a computer for one reason or another). You're thinking, and innovating, and working very hard with your hands in a way different to most jobs today.

In some ways the deliberate and heavy splitting of manual creativity from cerebral creativity can mean most people miss out on this sort of thing, but at the same time, more and more people are doing this out of either pleasure, or even necessity. DIY home building and renovating is of course increasingly popular, and the rise of home hardware mega-stores like Bunnings (or Home Depot in the US, as the article says), have helped contribute to this. Some people will do this because it is cheaper than traditional home building, even though it's harder work, others will do it on whatever scale just because it's different, fun and challenging.

For me, I just enjoy the effort, the design and creative skills, and the ultimate results. The big one for me is electric guitar building, which I'm still working up to, but will get there very, very soon.

TV: A while till the last season of The Shield

2008-03-06T10:24:00.003+11:00

From Michael Ausiello's TV blog at the US TV guide site, I find this morning that the last season of The Shield, the most amazing, intense, intelligent and well-made cop show of all time, won't be on until September in the US!

It was expected by about April, so there's some delays, apparently due to a combination of the writer's strike and not wanting to clash with the Beijing Olympics in the US summer. That makes sense I guess, but it will also have The Shield going head to head with the new network TV season in the US. Hopefully that will actually be good -- it will show people how much better most of cable is compared to network.

And it might even put the show in line for more Emmys and other awards.

Also, from the Ausiello blog, more news on Joss Whedon's new series, Dollhouse. An offical description of the series:

A group of people, known as 'Actives' (or 'Dolls'), have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas and hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies and occasional good deeds. When not imprinted, the Actives live, childlike and unremembering, in a hidden facility nicknamed 'The Dollhouse.' Although the Actives are ostensibly volunteers, the operation is highly illegal, and under constant threat from a determined federal agent on one end and an insane rogue Active on the other. The story hinges around a greater and more subtle threat: Echo, a female Active, begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.

Can't wait :)

Something good has happened

2008-03-05T17:36:00.002+11:00

And I won't be writing it here yet ... it's a big change that I have to go home and consult on, and think about, before fully committing to it.

It's been really quick, really sudden, but rest assured, it is really, really good as well.

I'm not really telling anyone outside of a handful of people about this just yet, so I won't elaborate here ... but it is very good. It's completely happened within 48 hours, which is astounding.

Thinking, thinking, thinking ...

Should I stay or should I go?

2008-03-04T23:48:00.002+11:00

I'm coming up on two years in my current job, and I really wonder where the future lies, professionally speaking at least.

It gets a bit conflicting at times, thinking about these future options. Apparently there are other jobs out there, but I really don't want to consider it most of the time. Instead of giving in to my "two year itch", I really feel like a I should stick it out where I am and look for the new opportunities there. Too often I seem to leave jobs after two years -- the first time not how I wanted, but the next two by my own choice.

That is of course if there is any opportunity there for me -- real chances for the future. The likelihood of that seems to change every day. Meanwhile, I try to stick with it and plan for the future -- try to prove there are real opportunities there for me.

And it doesn't get any easier -- the chances outside there seem slim as well, but possible. And then I find myself not wanting to say anymore here just in case ...

Oh well, back to thinking about it all, and acting, and planning ...

Walking boy

2008-03-03T23:34:00.002+11:00

Alex has, in just the last week or two, really started to walk. It's an amazing thing to watch, for all kinds of reasons. And it's nowhere near as sudden as I imagined, instead it's just a very gradual thing.

Even though, of course, I've gone through all of this already with Will, it's just different this time. Will had so many health problems at different stages that his development in those early years was always ... different, is probably the best word. But all the right things came for him eventually, though it did take longer.

For Alex, it's all happening faster, though I would say it's incredibly normal now. Alex is 16 months old next week, and by then I'd say he'll be walking freely. Right now he jumps from object to object, supports himself, but is increasingly just testing out how long he can stand up, just to practice. And it's so cute to see when he's so pleased with himself, when he's so clever because he somehow just knows what he did.

But at the same time, he's so naughty! I'm sure it's entirely normal, but he does things like pull all the books off the shelf, throw things around just because he wants to, and generally get into everything. He's become a little drummer right now ... with anything he can get his hands on (with a glass last week was the most unfortunate example of this ...) But he's still so much fun ...

Being a Dad is just the most fun thing right now ... and I don't think that will change, even when it is more difficult :)

Review: Jekyll or Split personalities really aren't much fun at all

2008-03-02T23:40:00.002+11:00

Whenever I see something by Steven Moffat I watch it. You may never even have heard of the name, but for me, it's that simple. For nearly 20 years now, he's been one of the best British TV writers, from Press Gang through Coupling, his various Doctor Who episodes and now Jekyll. He's the must watch writer, rivalled only by someone like Joss Whedon I guess.

As a sort of self-conscious followup to the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, Jekyll is modern, high tech and full of surprises. Tom Jackman (James Nesbitt) has two sides to himself -- a rather extreme form of split personality disorder. Literally.

There's mysteries everywhere -- an American group that wants to track and then capture him, an assistant who doesn't really seem to work for him at all, and an estranged family that has no idea what is happening, and are increasingly scared.

Nesbitt is excellent -- he has the charm to switch between nice guy and psycho and make it believable. Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman) is his assistant, and she is gorgeous, mysterious and somehow unbalanced with her ease at Mr Hyde's more extreme behaviour. And Gina Bellman (Coupling) is effective as his wife (she comes into it more next week) -- and hot in her always offbeat way (especially at 40ish).

It has Steve Moffat's fingerprints all over it -- diverging timelines, a mystery based on personal perspective and memory, and a twisting tale that is guaranteed to leave you guessing until the end.

Definitely worth watching -- Jekyll is a slick, modern and clever take on a classic tale.

Blog demand

2008-03-02T14:57:00.002+11:00

At Mum's birthday party last night, I found out from various friends and relatives of the family that they look at my blog quite regularly and were complaining about the lack of very recent pictures of the kids on the site.

This was both refreshing and disconcerting at the same time ...

But they're right ... while we've been taking plenty of pics of Will and Alex, I haven't uploaded any of them anywhere recently. That will have to change.

Coming soon ...

Happy perspectives

2008-03-01T23:59:00.003+11:00

Went to my Mum's 60th birthday party tonight. Nice restaurant by the harbour, good food, drink and company. I knew most of the people there, though it had been anything from a few to many years since I'd seen most of them.

It was a good night, catching up with people, talking about family and children, and talking as always about rugby league, and only slightly surprisingly, about Underbelly on TV. That's one popular show :)

What was interesting was the way I could see Mum from a different perspective. I mean, it wasn't a completely foreign one, but you grow up seeing your mother in a certain way, and it was really interesting to see all these other people tonight who knew Mum for various reasons, and to see the different ways they knew her.

From husband, to brother, to various kinds of friends, it was a good picture, but just different. I suppose it doesn't change anything, but it was still a happy perspective to have.

Review: Jumper or Teenage angst personified

2008-02-29T22:37:00.002+11:00

Checkout out Jumper at the movies tonight. Was pretty good -- probably not "magnificent", but still a good piece of entertainment. With a storyline both innovative and familiar, it takes you into one of those classic "good vs evil" stories with a mechanism that is pretty damn interesting and visually very entertaining.

Pretty good acting for the most part -- Hayden Christensen is good as the sometimes morally dubious hero, far better than he was in the Star Wars movies. Rachel Bilson is cute and natural and hot as his girlfriend. Samuel L Jackson is as badass as ever as the villain of the piece, something called a "Paladin" that hunts down the Jumpers. And Jamie Bell is possibly the most interesting character in the whole show -- a fellow jumper named Griffin who is both hero and villain in the story.

Being able to jump around the world at will is a fascinating idea, and it's presented excellently visually, especially when they are able to also jump objects around with them. This leads to one of the most amazing fight scenes in movie history, definitely the action highlight of the movie.

Jumper is based on a YA novel and you can see its youthful origins, but possibly it should have been deeper, with some more indepth stuff from the book. It's clear they chose to limit the scope of the overall story, becasue the ending is good, but pure sequel bait. And it does give me more fiction ideas as well, but that's for another day ...

So Jumper is a fun piece of entertainment with some interesting and appealing visual ideas.

Thinking ...

2008-02-28T17:25:00.002+11:00

I'm wondering if I need a career change. Or a career readjustment, or something.

Or just more focus on what I should really be doing ...

Damn the weather has been awful today.

The things you think about in that situation ...