Having recently returned from visiting family-to-be in New Brunswick, Canada, the dust has come off old projects and I’m looking to get things moving again. September begins and- good grief, I can’t believe 2015 is drawing to a close. Apart from the fast-approaching wedding in October, the end of this year is a time for finishing things.
So that’s what I will be doing.
Some years ago, I attempted to land on the moon.
Okay, it was the moon in the astrosim Orbiter. But it was, in logistical terms, still a huge challenge; Orbiter is a simulation, after all. So I decided to make things a little bit easier on myself. After all, I could learn the necessary astrophysical calculations to do it as NASA did in the 1960s. Or I could use the future! The science fiction future of Firefly, to be precise. I figured that the main challenge would merely be the limits of my vehicle. So, I postulated, if I was to use a high-tech scifi spaceship, it would be easy! I wouldn’t need to worry about trifling matters such as calculations. And I could not have been more wrong.
Serenity leaves Earth in a general moon-like direction
Welcome to needless rant corner! Your host for today; yours truly.
In one of the most irritating trends of recent years, it seems increasingly okay in games and movies to drop all admittance of serialisation and with brash and unapologetic disregard simply use the original title of the first installment; “Star Trek”, “Tomb Raider”, “Devil May Cry”, “Aliens vs Predator”, “Sim City”; as though we’d forgotten there was one already. Games are particularly guilty of this.
To a categorising brain like mine this is just… no. You are duplicating the primary key as far as I’m concerned. A film or game has a full title which should be unique, certainly within a series. I don’t care if it’s a large number of sequels, or if the original is really old (from over twenty years ago, maybe). The only thing worse than a ridiculously big suffixed number for a sequel is to simply drop a differentiator altogether and act as though it never happened. If they’re worried about a number making it sound un-original- well, there’s your clue: make something original.
What I think actually bothers me though is that it feels like an insidious attempt at replacing the past. It is eerily reminiscent of the role of protagonist Winston Smith, in the novel Nineteen Eighty Four:
“As soon as all the corrections which happened to be necessary in any particular number of The Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted, the original copy destroyed, and the corrected copy placed on the files in its stead. This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs — to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date.”
Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell
It was teeming rain when Carolyn drove us to the transit station on our last day in Noosa. Both Lucy and I were excited and slightly anxious at the change ahead. The continuation of our adventures up the coast was an intriguing unknown. And since our arrival we’d been staying in motels, friend’s houses and with relatives; the Southern Cross Backpackers in Agnes Water would be our first ‘dormitory’ accomodation. We arrived at 18:10 to a waiting minibus, that took us swiftly to the hostel. The greyhound journey had been a fairly tiring 9 hours, so we were looking forward to the usual crash-out on a comfy bed and I must admit I hadn’t really thought about the fact it would be a dorm of six. The three dutch lads that greeted us asked us where we were from, but the conversation pretty much ended at that.
The atmosphere immediately following our arrival was uncertain, though not unpleasant. We both agreed that what we needed, were some people to strike off a good conversation with. As there was a barbeque about to light up, the opportunity arose to do just that. All we needed was to buy a drink and we got a hot dog. We sat down with it and got talking to Irish couple Owen and Tia. They had been making their way down the coast from Cairns; working in many hostels although in this one they were taking a break and just paying to sit back and relax. They were also just one of many people we would meet that were headed for Sydney for New Years.
The following day we had a leisurely start, as we’d booked the Scooteroo Tour which starts in the mid afternoon and is pretty much the main reason that many backpackers make a stop of Agnes Water. At the hostel office, we had been warned the previous four or five days had been solid rain and the forecast was grim, but the new day brought with it some stunning sunshine and at 14:30 we were picked up (speaking Rural Aussie Time; at two thirty we were waiting for the bus, at two fifty-five it actually turned up). The tour basically involves riding 125cc chopper motorbikes through quiet rural roads in search of kangaroos. In addition they cheese it up with a complementary flame-decal helmet, matching leather jacket and free temporary tatoo. I passed on the tatoo, but the rest was safety equipment which meant I was supposed to wear it. So I fed it to a passing platypus then resumed looking awesome.
Every day my inbox is swamped with comments from hundreds of dedicated fans of my website. I’d like to take a moment to just read out some fan mail in my inbox this morning.
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Thanks Snaby! And cheers for keeping in touch. Continue reading
Last week I went camping in Norfolk with my wonderful lady companion and though it wasn’t a long holiday, we’d set aside a day to basically do whatever we wanted (the day after we arrived, to be precise). So when the morning came, on seeing a bright shining sun, I felt the urge to build something. So I figured, let’s head for a beach. You see, despite being a ‘respectable’ adult, I have not lost the need to construct temples to Ra out of sand. I’m actually volatile in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, so sunbathing is never something I took a liking to, but I don’t know if you can go to a beach when it’s raining. It might be against the law; I don’t know, I’ll look it up. Continue reading
Being the year 2010 has understandably made a lot of people very reflective. While I myself, normally more reflective than a centennial summary made of chrome plated mirrors, have been experiencing a pretty passive new year for a change.
One thing I am still disappointed by is that we never did come up with a good name for the Noughties. I still don’t think I can reconcile with that term to the point where I can use it in conversation. But the decade ahead is even worse. Teenies? Oh. Please. No.
But at least we’re in the future now. Aren’t we?
If there’s one thing the last few years have taught me, other than empirical wisdom and a casual disposition toward oblivion, it’s that me and website development do not mix. Like European dictators and the Russian front, I keep thinking I’m well up to it only to end up falling on my face shortly afterward and wondering where it all went wrong.
I still to date, haven’t really made a website. At least, not one that was at any kind of level of functionality or usage I’m even partially happy with. Open Mind: rubbish. Chrome Gadget: unpublished. Crystal Horizons: devoid of anything interesting. I’ve attributed this infant mortality rate to a number of things, from finance to time to my own fallible self. I seem to assume that because I can use Photoshop, type with two hands, or point to my nose without gouging my own eyes out that I’ve got the skills necessary to be a webpage designer. And on some accounts I would be right. However, it is still harder than it looks. I am beginning to see why you might pay someone to do this; quite simply to avoid having to do it yourself.
My latest attempt is trying to get Novodantis.com online (notice its current, glorious form! Yes that’s right, I’ve had it a month and already I’m starting it again). Right now I’ve just begun redoing the pages I did over the past two days, using Frames this time (uurgggh, disgusting!). And now I’ve remembered I hate frames, but dammit I don’t care. I am determined for this one to actually get somewhere, rather than being another sit-on-the-drive website that I never finished because I was never happy with it.
As the warrior horde said to the narrator, GET ON WITH IT!
