Friday 28 September 2007

story to read

My Blog buddy Jeff wrote something new and posted it on his blog. A great little story in the form of letters home to mother. Check it out here, I was very drawn in to the story - it might have been predictable but it is so easy to read and the people are believable which in my book is worth more.

He makes me want to write again and really get out something new. Maybe I will post something old to get the juices flowing again.

Sunday 23 September 2007

Rooms

Ever wanted to know what a Writers room really looks like... well go here and see.

I will grab a shot of my room and post it later just to show you what mine looks like compared to famous proffessional writers... hehehe Connie what's yours like?

Halo 3

I am not really that excited about Halo 3, maybe because I do not have a 360 - or it may be because I have not finished Halo 2 - yet. BUT I am excited to see the full capabilities of the 360 and if Halo 3 doesn't do it nothing will... well OK Bioshock is fantastic and really showcases the story telling side of the 360, but graphics, engines, 3D etc etc should all be brilliant with Halo 3 or else... (got that Microsoft). So on Tuesday I have booked in with Dazza to spend the day (or at least a large amount of it) playing Halo 3.

I will post here my findings as to my thoughts on the latest and greatest from Microsoft...

Stupid Sayings

First up I am guilty of these... so very guilty yet it is only when you hear it from someone else that you realise just how stupid they sound. I am ofcourse talking about stupid sayings.

Take this for example; I just heard a lady, well lets call her elderly... of the grey hair brigade... a doddering old doll... a geriatric... Alrightly then, an old fart come up to the counter at work telling us how she had just come in from a local market and that it was "as cold as" out there. Wait a minute as cold as... what? A freezer? The fifth floor of the Sydney Myer building? As cold as the weather is outside the office right now? I do not understand this saying, if it was followed up with a reference point it would make more sense but with nothing it means nothing to me. For example "At the market it was as cold as the freezer section in (local supermarket)". I understand how cold that is, I have a reference. I may not believe it as it is sunny today with little cloud and the weather site on line tells me it is 20 degree C at the moment which to me if far from the freezer section. But I have a point at which to understand her precept ion of the temperature at the market.

I am sure there are more sayings then this one that would annoy me or you, so get the debate happening either on your blog (and link in here) or in the comments section. Attached stories are worth more points (what these points are... I dunno just points in general I guess).

Tuesday 18 September 2007

Sex Pistols


I do not know how i feel about this news sex pistols reforming??
Punk legends the Sex Pistols announced that they will stage a one-off gig in November to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their controversial album Never Mind the Bollocks.
Can they still be the Sex Pistols and be as old as they are - mind you they have more Punk in there old bones then any of the newer semi-punk bands we have today...
Would be good to see though - now where is my passport? Or cheaper where is my copy of this album... crank it up loud!!!

Sunday 16 September 2007

Future dreams and wishful thinking

OK Neil Gaiman was asked if he had a rider when he signed books, did a speech or say opened a movie version of one of his books... here it is. In response he linked to a wonderfully witty and very much tongue in cheek rider from Iggy Pop... found here. I loved this so much I had to share it with you all. Iggy you have a biggie indeed!

Great reading!

So what would I want if ever I cold have a rider and that could be anything in the world...

Well I know what Frank wants - and I might meme Constance to let us know what that is... it is one of best riders I have ever heard of - but for me...

I want a spa... big enough for 10
The usual food and drink - what ever I am into at the time
A bed with a feather doona that spins (the bed not the doona)
A big screen TV with the latest video game console and games
Access to the Internet - fast access not dial-up
If I am playing music then I want a bin full of sticks to use during the show
If for theatre or movie then a bin full of stick to use after the show on my
DRUM KIT - whatever the best is at the time!
And a little ride on train!

not mush really!

OK then Meme time, Constance, Anjel, Jeff, John Scalzi there you go you are a Super star what will your rider be??

Saturday 15 September 2007

House

I have a big question to over come in the next few days... well Anjel and myself do...

Do we buy a house?

The place we are looking at is a little old and run down BUT very livable, that saying we do not need to renovate to move in which is a plus. It is in town - close to everything - and in our price range...

Hmmm

Well we have a lot to think on in the next few days and budgets to work out!

Wish us luck and all that goes with it...

Rant!!

OK so normally I am not like my good blog friend Jeff a Ranter... well mostly I am not - but today I will be!!!

I was in the City earlier in the week - we spent two days there while my better half was doing a course for her work - all good there I spent one day walking around the shops at the biggest Shopping Centre in Australia !!! Whoa - only problem was it is so hard to find your way around I ended up going past the same shops half a dozen times and probable missed out on heaps that I never saw... stupid shopping Centres!

Anyway the next day I planned on seeing a friend of mine approx 30 minute drive from Anjels course... So I dropped her off and headed off to Dave's...

IT TOOK ME 1 HOUR 30 to get there... A WHOLE hour extra then it should have - and why???

Because some nutjob told a bus driver he had a bomb in his luggage!! A nutjob that looked from the top a lot like Dan Rutter... but the less said the better about that... I hope that wasn't you Dan I would be very disappointed!

So OK I had to go a detour and the police where very good at setting us up to go a different way and avoid the potential explosion! Go Police yay! (seriously they where very quick to set up alternative routes and direct the traffic etc)

So in order to go the alternative route we had to merge lanes - all good and well. The cars in front of me did the proper and polite think of one car move one car in one car move one car in... except the RUDE IGNORANT SO FAR UP HERSELF SHE IS THE RIGHT WAY AROUND woman who pushed in behind me to take the spot the truck was making for me. AND if that wasn't RUDE enough another driver (female as well NOT that I think that is the reason why) pushing in FROM THE OTHER LANE - THE LANE THAT DID NOT HAVE TO MERGE AT ALL. Thank fully the nice truck behind them still let me in to the spot he was making for me. A Big thank you!

When we are all in a difficult situations such as these circumstance the BEST in people should come out - like letting people merge easily, waiting your turn, and understanding that we are all in a rush or late but there is NOTHING that you can do about it. So sit back relax and be patient.

This makes me welcome the fact that our rush hour here revolves around school times and in over in 30 mins... flexible work hours fixes that for me...

Sunday 9 September 2007

Ending and Begining

Hmmm!!!
I am a little sad at the moment - the show I was in "Old Time Music Hall" has finished so the rush of a live audience every Friday and Saturday has vanished from my life... It was a fun show to do and although it is not all my 'Cup of Tea' I did enjoy doing it - I did not thing that I would...
Oh well off to other adventures I guess - I am producing the next production at the Theatre "The Witches" adapted by David Wood from Roald Dahl's book of the same name - a very nice little play with some lovely parts and a good deal of Puppetry work... So I am busy designing some kind of puppets and how we will adapt the set and them to work with what we have etc. We start to build the set this week as we have got the stage model off the set designer. It is a big job but fun all the same, and at least something I can get to do while I am not working...
I only work 3 days a week at the moment with a few extra days here and there, at least my sig other is working 5 days and we are not on the bread line - but a few more days would put my mind at ease!
So that is really all for the moment - no rants I'll that to you Jeff!!
Oh we are off to the City tomorrow Anjel has a meeting up there so as I am not working I am going along as the token other half! hehehe Caio!

Monday 3 September 2007

Meme

I have been TAG to go this meme by Anjel...

1. Total number of books I own....
Crickey you want me to count all of them... umm let me see novels close to 300, text books close to 80... so we'll say conservatively 360 total books...
2.Last Book I bought...
On the infamous Connie, Anjel and myself book run I got William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's "The Difference Engine" (Steam Punk - should be good) and I also got Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love"
3. Last book I read...
Robert Heinlein's "Farnhams Freehold", my first Heinlein's and I thought it was really good... that is why I bought "Time Enough for Love"...
4.Book you intend to read next...
Well I am part way through "The Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham so I intend to finish that then read "Metal Swarm" by Kevin J Anderson the next in the series of the 'Saga of the Seven Suns'
5. Five books that mean a lot to me...
"The Colour of Magic" Terry Pratchett - it was the introduction into the world of comic fantasy.. brilliant, my copy is falling to pieces I have read it so many times... (by the way I am horrified by the changing of the spelling of colour in some of the US releases... that is why I search for a copy that had the right spelling from amazon... hey we put up with US spelling on our versions of US books... you should do the same - grumble!)
DragonLance Series - OK so these are not the best books ever written but they got me into fantasy and that has lead me to great things like...
My Illustrated copy of "The Hobbit " - JRR Tolkien... the link isn't the version I have although I wish I did!!! The Hobbit was given to me by my Dad and I have always love to flick through the pictures and relive the story again - I don't like to read it as I do not what to wreak it...
"Magician" Raymond E Feist - and all the Riftwar sequels after that - brilliant read great story and I loved all the characters - not so hot on the later books I think he should have moved away from the world and done other things but it is a cash cow sooo... First probably 9 are the best!
"Nightmares and Dreamscapes" Stephen King - in fact any of Stephen's short stories - I love them all, I love to sit down and read a whole story in am hour - when I have just that amount of time to spare... and he is one of the best at writing stories that you can relate to... he brought me into the world of Horror fiction...
Well that is five but I must say there are a whole lot more that I could talk about... I will have to post some other thought on books at a later date...

Hey Jeff - your turn now...

Sunday 2 September 2007

Books

OK I have read a few books in the last couple of months and I have not really mentioned them here. So I shall fix that problem - oh and I don't propose to do an in depth review of them just give you my general thoughts on the readability of the books and my over all feelings etc on the stories themselves.

Raw Shark Text - by Steven Hall.
Conceptual fish... feeding on our memories and other thoughts and ideas... A great concept and a really brilliant read - well for the first 3/4 or so. I got dragged into the world very easily and I really enjoyed the concept behind this novel and the ideas that it brought up. The ending turned into a cliche and a Jaws tribute. Maybe that was intentional and it just goes to prove that in the end we all turn out to be a cliche of modern culture... or is all art just a derivative of other forms of art...
Aside from the ending which, didn't spoil the read just seemed to be a little rushed and maybe not as well thought out as the rest of the book, it was an engaging and thought provoking read. I really wish someone else would read it so that I could talk about it with them... maybe I can convince someone soon.
7/10

Old Man's War - John Scalzi
First try at John's published work, well aside from a chapter or two found on the net. I held this book up to some really high standards. Having been a fairly long time reader of his blogs I heard a lot about his work, mainly from fans and blog fiends, so I kind of expected something really good. And I got what I wanted - this book I could not put down! Not only was it so readable but the world he created and the characters where believable and interesting, it reminded me of many Sci-Fi worlds but was not the same as one of them. A great blend of Sci-Fi and general fiction (speculative fiction is the term for this fiction I don't understand why we need to place people into genres but there you go Scalzi writes speculative fiction!) Anyway aside from my rejection of genres and terms this book is a must for all fans of Sci-Fi (and Spec-Fi) I really recommend this read both as an introduction to John and to this particular take on Sci-Fi.
9/10

Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill
OK yes this is Stephen King's Son, so what! I bought it not because of that, well OK maybe a little because of that, but also due to the great reviews it had. Horror novels can be so hit and miss with me, some of the greatest horror authors (at least those spoken about the most) don't really do it for me. But Joe did, it was just a great read and I really attached myself to the characters and the situations that they went through in order to survive the ordeal or a ghost in a suit. Maybe I just connected with the main character - a rock legend just like myself ! (lol) Other people I have spoken to about this book have told me it scared the bejezzus out of them - not so with me, I mean I liked the book and the way the characters where slowly driven to more and more desperate acts, and yes I was a little shocked by the events, but not scared like I have been by books (or even movies and games).
So what did I think? I thought this was so good that I would buy it as a present for all my friends and make them read it - although some of them might get a little too scared if the others I have spoken to are anything to go by! Brilliant and a great read!
9/10

Neromancer - William Gibson
Some people might be wondering how I could if I enjoy Sci-Fi so much have not read William Gibson until now... well I live in Australia remember that - and we do not get that many good books at good prices like our North American and European Cousins. So I have had to be frugal in my book buying - but with a friend who recently went to the US of A I got her to grab me some books and William Gibson was one of them. OK now that I have gotten over the blurb about book availability in Australia (and I didn't even mention the price differences like that it costs me as much to get a 2nd hand book as it does a brand new one in the US!! and new books cost more then twice as much as in the US).
Ummm now I should mention the book... The first thing that hit me was the writing style, it was short shape images, almost like I was watching a movie that had pieces missing, it didn't take away from the story line infact I think it sped everything up and got the point quicker. Also I loved the way the technology was just taken for granted - a lot of Sci-Fi writers over explain the new wonderful technology but Gibson just tell us what it is - no explanation as to how it works because the characters are all ready intimate with the technology - it would be like a person now explaining how a light switch worked before turning it on. We already know so why would characters in a book do it to each other with things that they already know.
This story was really good - I loved the way that all these new technologies, which I take for granted as I have played Cyberpunk and Shadowrun, where introduced and if I read this before I knew about all the other things it would have shaken my world up! The characters where very well writing and very engaging and the story had enough twists and turns that I keep interested into the very end. I have the sequel Mona Lisa Overdrive and I intend to read that in a little while I might even re-read this one before I go on just to get back into the world again. Great read a must for all.
9.5/10

Well I guess that is enough for the time being! I have read a few more books then this in the last few months but I just wanted to mention ones that really hit it off with me and ones that are topical to me at the moment. More to come later!