Annual TVNZ Fishing trip

I can't seem to catch proper sized fish every time we go fishing. There must be something I'm not doing correctly. Everyone around me do catch them...just not me. Anyway, some photos of the trip.

The fishermen (fisherpersons - PC)




Our Catch (strictly speaking, their catch)



Cleaning Up

The Simpsons, Bob The Builder: Dead at Moomba!

found at the Moomba Festival today: the hanging of pop culture...

the death of journalism?

this topic's probably been beaten to death already but here's my two cents

the inter-web has caused the decline in the level of professionlism in journalism. the dropping levels of literary skill and accuracy, not to mention the seeming lack of fact checking before publication now makes me question everything that seems outrageous, and instead of being relieved upon finding that the piece of news is in fact true, i'm nonplussed...take for example the following link to summarize it: it basically reports on how a tv station segment on krispy kreme's new donut inadvertently (or lazily) used a pic which was captioned (so good you'll suck d1ck)... http://uweekly.com/cowtown/?p=246

now, without actually trying to confirm the validity of such articles, I wont' usually send it out... i mean, what's it all come to when you can't even trust a seemingly respectable news source

no, this one particular article has not set me off, rather it's the daily instances of journalistic inaccuracy (and the fact that i've got a headache) that led to this point in time... is there no more pride in journalism? or not least, no more pride in actually knowing you did a good job???

true, some would say that there are no more "new stories" just "new views", but surely the fact that the things that these journalists report mold and shape the readers collective thoughts carries enough of an onus, a sense of responsibility to get the BLOODY things right!!!

phew... well that's it for me, if you want to get a hold of me, i'll be off in a corner somewhere with a red pen and today's newspaper circling all the mispelt words...

Tighten my what??!?!?

Light Reading on Career Progression

The first 10 years is key to climbing the career ladder, writes CANDY DAVIS. The experience you get in the first years of your career will help you throughout your working life. It's important to make the most of it and gain as much personal and employment experience as possible. Generally, with a large organisation, you get a smaller slice of responsibility. Whereas, in a smaller business, your experience is spread more extensively and you get a greater range of responsibility... cont'd

Bermuda, huh?

New toys or tools?

Got my new gadgets last week and this week.

This is the first blog entry using the Compaq NX7010 laptop I got from work.

I'm keeping it brief though. It is for work after all. But since I'm using my own broadband connection and not the company AirCard then I suppose it's ok.

I also got a Nokia 6235. Quite a small phone. I was hoping for a Treo to help me with scheduling and organisation - which is what PDA/phones are for but I guess I'm not high up the ladder enough to get one of them even though I work as hard - I'm just whining hehehe. The phone is quite small. It's a child's phone. I have to use my pinkie to dial out.

Anyway, it's nearly midnight...time to go back to do a bit more work before I go to bed.

Words

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. The winners are:

1. *Coffee* (n.) the person upon whom one coughs.
2. *Flabbergasted* (adj.) appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. *Abdicate* (v.) to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. *Esplanade* (v.) to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. *Willy-nilly* (adj.) impotent.
6. *Negligent* (adj.) describes a condition in which you absent-mindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. *Lymph* (v.) to walk with a lisp.
8. *Gargoyle* (n.) olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. *Flatulence* (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. *Balderdash* (n.) a rapidly receding hairline.
11. *Testicle* (n.) a humorous question on an exam.
12. *Rectitude* (n.) the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. *Pokemon* (n) a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. *Oyster* (n.) a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. *Frisbeetarianism* (n.) (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. *Circumvent* (n.) an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

The Washington Post's Style Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:

1. *Bozone* (n.) The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
2. *Cashtration* (n.) The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
3. *Giraffiti* (n) Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
4. *Sarchasm* (n) The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
5. *Inoculatte* (v) To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
6. *Hipatitis* (n) Terminal coolness.
7. *Osteopornosis* (n) A degenerate disease.
8. *Karmageddon* (n) It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
9. *Decaflon* (n.) The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
10. *Glibido* (v) All talk and no action.
11. *Dopelar effect* (n) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
12. *Arachnoleptic fit* (n.) The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
13. *Beelzebug* (n.) Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
14. *Caterpallor* (n.) The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

Advertising space

Spotted at the Auckland International Airport this morning.

DVD Review: D.O.A: Dead Or Alive

she said: this is a fun indulgence into the genre of video game fantasy.

he said: Jaime Pressley (from My Name Is Earl) and Kevin Nash (WWE) did a funny job at being the daughter and father wrestlers.

she said: they kinda look like a couple though.

he said: the rest of the cast members seem to have given their best interpretation of arcade favourites, from Natassia Malthe's (Elektra's Typhoid) Ayane to Devon Aoki's (Too Fast, Too Furious) americanised Kasumi. i can't complain about the acting, except maybe for Smallville alum Sarah Carter's (she's pretty content at being happy most of the time).

she said: what's with the flying shuriken invites?

he said: Eric Roberts plays the antagonist, and delivers a convincing enough performance.

she said: i hate him.

he said: in how he portrayed Donovan?

she said: no, i just hate him.

he said: oh... anyhoo, the male species definitely took a back seat to the femme fatale team-up that's prevalent throughout the film, and this probably isn't such a bad idea for marketing this franchise to the general public. guys would go back to high from DOA: Volleyball, whilst the gals would admire the Power Puff Girl treatment of the lead characters.

she said: the women kick a$$!! go flower power! and i loved the black finger nails on Aussie Holly Valance's Christie.

he said: since i usually use Bayman in the few occasion that i had played the game, i'm disappointed that the character was just a thug in the film. but for other characters in the game, it was a pretty good tranformation to the big screen.

she said: good enough dvd session, but it's not something that i'd watch again.

he said: there's some funny bits as well in the deleted scenes from the special features section (which also includes a The Making Of). but i can see why they had to delete them!

we say: 3 stars.

Transformers Prequel Book

if you're curious what the new Transformers would look like, catch a glimpse of the following pages from the graphic novel prequel.

this certainly isn't our 80's bots, but change is healthy as some would say (the Allspark, eh?). we can deliver our full judgment and review after seeing the film in July.

at least the autobots insignia is still the same! i just wish the producers included a lamborghini a la the twins, Sunstreaker ("they can't beat the best!") and Sideswipe ("i don't break rules, i just bend them... a lot!").

Exams

False advertising

Here's something funny...

I was watching TV just now and came this ad that appeared, at first, tough and sporty. I mean rugby players playing foosball...everything looked like steel. Even the foosball goal net was made of some metal mesh. Basically, it looked tough!

Then the tagline came....something like "Rugged Shark. Very tough. 1 Year warranty". I just cracked up laughing...If it was so tough, wouldn't you give your product more than a year warranty? Cats last for years and I have a pair of cheaper Chaos boots and they are still around.

Double standard

More than a year ago, I was pulled over on Lincoln Road just before the bridge where you turn right for the motorway on ramp. Here's a recap...I was at the traffic light just before on the bus lane. When the light turned green, I went straight then changed lane to the right so I can get into the motorway traffic lane. I was pulled over for doing this. It was early morning around 7ish. There were two cop cars and at least 2 cops waiting just before the bridge gathering revenue.

Some might say I'm too hard on the cops and that they are just doing their jobs. Well here's what I saw today...

I was on the same road this morning. Around where Pak N Save is, I spotted a police car 3 cars in front of me on the left lane. The right lane queue was long with the tail ending around just after the Caltex station. So I do what I normally do which is ride on the left lane and changing lanes at the end near the traffic light or just after. In front of the cop car was a motorcycle and in front of that was a reddish car. I proceeded to change lane just before the traffic light and around this time, the motorcyle in front of the police car decided to change lane to the right but at the same time the reddish car in front of the motorcycle decided to change lane to the right in the last minute cutting the motorcycle off. The section where he changed lane is a solid white line just before the West Bound motorway on ramp which means he cannot change lane there and should have gone straight. This caused a slight traffic halt and a lot of horn beeping. I thought to myself...you're in trouble now! The cops are behind you. You will definitely get tickets. To my surprise, the cop car did not stop but instead it let the two vehicles battle it out into the right lane and itself swerved to the left to get into the west bound on ramp!

WTF?! I got a ticket doing something a lot more legal than this and these two didn't get pulled over?

Oh..... I realise now...The cop could be off-duty and he's reached his ticketing quota for his shift. He must have been working hard all night then to ignore such a traffic incident like this. Or perhaps he hasn't had his morning donut yet...oh wait...those are bad american cops.

Trademe Auctions

I was looking at auctions this morning and there was an item there with no Buy Now and quite a low starting bid.

There was already a Q & A item below and it asks:
Q What is the reserve?

I'd like to comment about this...it bothers me how people will ask "What is the reserve?" Surely it does not matter what the reserve is because if you want this item then you are only prepared to pay a certain amount!? If after making a bid, it hasn't reached the reserve then simply ignore the auction, right?

If the reserve is higher that what you bid (i.e. reserve not met), asking for what the reserve is will not make it lower.

"Buy now": Another common question is "Will you put $#### buy now?" While this is not as annoying, a person selling with no buy now is most likely trying to maximise the auction outcome. The buy now option is there during the setup of the auction and if the seller really wanted a buy now he/she would have added it.

Finally this is the most annoying of all...people who sell items at the same price (or higher) as retail stores. e.g. I've been watching the Marvel Ultimate Alliance auctions and there is this guy (username holland1 or something) who listed it as $90 buy now and his reserve is around the same. Maybe a few $$ cheaper than retail but with postage and packaging the item becomes more expensive than retail shops! I mean this item is available down the road at The Warehouse for $89 and if you are not happy with it you can return and change for another game. I mean I can understand if the item is not sold anywhere else. I've been watching his auction for several weeks now and at the end he offers me the item only to be declined. In these type of auctions people usually ask questions "Do you know this is sold for $## at **********" (eg of the more polite ones). the seller usually ignores these type of questions or they say "go buy it there then". Well ok we will heheheh..

Writing from beyond the grave

There was this news story today on the herald about a guy murdered 6 months ago but check who wrote the story...here's a screen shot in case the herald come to their senses.

Orion Pax

"One day, an Autobot shall rise from our ranks..and use the power of the matrix to light our darkest hour. Until that day..'til all are one."

DVD Review: Most Haunted, Season 1 boxset

oh boy. don't even bother with this one. 0.5 star for this British tv programme. if you have nothing better to do on a Saturday night, even if, do NOT pick this one up.

hosted by Yvette Fielding, apparently the series lasted up to series 8 or 9 (how gullible can some people be?), but going through the 3 discs of this set was such a chore. forced labour.

there were no evidence of paranormal activity captured in film or any other instruments, except for these so-called orbs that they claim are manifestations of "spirits". the film crew would be running away from a scene when they think that they saw something, and all accounts of ghostly encounters are presented merely from a witness point of view by either the camera man or the producer! to make matters worse, their resident medium, Derek Acorah, is an alleged prominent psychic in the UK whom the show states has no knowledge of any of the sites that they investigate across, uhm, the UK. duh.

avoid this like the plague.

DVD's worth getting in a Weekly Bundle

Reporting...


Wonder Woman: Series 1, Disc 1

All The Rivers Run

The Dish

The Legend Of Bagger Vance

Final Fantasy VII: The Advent Children


...all 3.5 stars!

Real ghosts, reflections, or photoshopped - you decide

Transformer The Movie Trailer

http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/5029_paramount/en/web/
http://www.transformersmovie.com/main.html

The movie trailer looks real cool. Great to watch in the cinemas and something for the DVD collectors, too, I'd say.

We had a bit of discussion here:

• Will Soundwave be a giant iPod? or a CD player that ejects our CDs or perhaps an MD player?
• Will the car transformers have hydraulics and spinners?
• Will Xzibit be there and host a special edition of Pimp my Transformer? "Check this yo'...we're gonna pimp your ride and install 7" LCD screens on your headrest!"

I'm sure you'll have more questions as to what the new millenium Transformers will be like.

Film Review: Night At The Museum

3.5 stars! the movie might've been slightly dragging at first, but the rest of the film made up for it in adventurous fashion. you'd find the usual strong points from Ben Stiller, and the supporting cast members were equally delightful in adding to the mix of the nightly exhibits, with the exception of the lead character's son, whose lacklustre performance proved a bit distracting at times.

this one is for the Hoyts Cinema in Broadmeadows if anyone from Management is reading...

...you have to be disciplined in getting all patrons, children or otherwise, to observe decorum in a theatre. there were no ushers who could've prevented around a dozen kids with heavy boots parading up and down the aisles whilst the film was running. you have just lost this customer for the foreseeable future.

Motorsport in Auckland?

forerunner for the blow off article of the year:

Reid believed the race car, which has a top speed of 300km/h, was doing more than 160km/h at the peak of its crossings. He was driving on one of the clipon lanes which was closed at Christmas to be resurfaced and which would reopen to the public on Monday. He said the lane had not been properly swept and at the top of the bridge the surface was quite slippery. "It was mega slippery at the top but we always knew that would be the situation and it was just great to show the public a little bit of what we were about." He said even with the slippery surface, he never worried he would lose it. "It was fully under control." He said the event, to promote the sixth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Taupo in a fortnight, gave him a real buzz, particularly with police support. "I absolutely thrived on it. It was a very unique experience which you don't come across every day. "It was mega, it really was." - NZPA

i honestly don't know what the article seems to be promoting here. maybe one: that motorsports in auckland is no more, thanks to the wisdom of the local council. perhaps two: that speeding is probably all right over the harbour bridge, as cops were also involved in this little man's stunts. save the boasting in a real race track, boy, and just maybe you'd make a difference to motorsport fans. the bridge? fah! try 180km/h at 2:15am.

Miis in Wii

As I've mentioned in a previous entry, the Wii menu is made up of channels. like so...

In the Mii Channel, I've created several Miis (including the Kuyas)...see them below in formation.

They are not entirely accurate of course ... some need a bit more tweaking...couldn't quite get it.

This is Lor. (NB: I've also included the Ates)

This is Jiggasaurus.

This one's Ernie.

This one is Godzilla.


Myself...see the controls? That's how you change features... you can change anything from height and weight to the mouth. Even the size and colour of facial features and their tilt angles.

This particular one is very accurate I think because everyone who's seen it knew straight away who it is. :) (Notice the goatie?)


Here's Dia...


There are others in the previous post and the last one is Rennanimal. This form wouldn't let me add it. But you should be able to find him in the formation pix above.

Last Wiikend

Last wiikend we had a little play with the Wii. Rem, B0log3r, Thea, and Shakoo came over to have a bit of fun.

Highlights of the night are...

• I got beaten twice in a row in boxing , by huge combos too.
• Shakoo coudn't seem to win againts Thea...
• We all got beaten in Bowling by Thea's strikes (see below)

Try to guess who the faces are... I've created several adn I'll post photos of them soon.

Since we couldn't win againts Thea, we decided to surf the net.

New Year's Resolution

1. Eat healthier.
2. Blog 5 times in 2007 (this one doesn't count)
3. Get better sleep.
4. Work harder.
5. Buy more comics.
6. Do more artwork.
7. Help mum with her house DYI.
8. Send more stuff to Philippines.
9. Read more fantasy literary.
10. Stay on the path.

i have just downloaded IE7 and i, for one, am really disappointed that it has destroyed the pleasure and convenience of using the image toolbar! boo, IE7. oh god of internet browsers, please let there be some great benefits in using this browser's upgraded version!

2007!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! counted down last night by enjoying a concert by the George Kamikawa Band (remember that Japanese guy playing rock n roll over a red milk tray along Queen St, Auckland? he's the one on the right.), and then embedding ourselves by Federation Square to marvel at the fireworks from the Yarra River with the Eureka Tower show in the backdrop. It's going to be a wild Year of the Fire Dog! WOOF!!!