Category: Life

It’s been remiss of me not to post an update following our anniversary ball last week. Yes, it’s been ten years already, and it was a privilege to be able to celebrate it with our friends just a few blocks down from when we were married in Fremantle back in 1994.
Special thanks to the band – Huxley’s – and the DJs – kronic krew – who kept the dance floor filled for the night. Also to Peta Zeller and Caleb, who kept taking photos when David and Ainslie forgot. And to my mum – Nola – who represented the entire eastern seaboard. We hope everyone had a great time, and I’ll be posting some photos once I get the time to figure out some of the technology.

I found it again! ‘The Profit‘ is a great example of a parody which stands well on its own feet, but adds an extra dimension once you’ve read the source material. I was quite sad to see a copy of this go offline a while back, but I’ve found another copy of ‘The Profit’ – by Kehlog Albran. You might need to read ‘The Prophet‘ on which it is based, in order to get the whole joke, but read on regardless. It’s fantastic. Don’t read while drinking milk.

A wizened priest inquired,
Is man eternal, as a mountain?
He replied:
No individual lasts forever, yet man has lasted until now.
An individual may live six score, yet mankind has lived for a thousand score or more.
Therefore I must answer:
Think not of man as a mountain, which is ageless, and never changing.
But think of man as a mountain of changes and variations.
Think of man as a temporary mountain.

Looks like the guys at Mozilla have been battling through the same problems I have sometimes – trying to market and invent names which people will find interesting, and which aren’t like anything else.
I reckon the Firebird/ Firefox browser they’ve developed is brilliant, and is on the verge of replacing Microsoft’s effort on my desktop real soon now.

Here’s another example of a brilliant exploration of a valuable area of scientific thought driven by a reference to The Simpsons. Ainslie recently gave a lecture to students highlighting the occurrences of high math in Futurama.
Is it just me, or are today’s scientists getting more and more willing to use comic references as a hook into their academic research? Or has it always been this weird? For example, there’s a whole set of math problems based ‘On the problem of sorting burnt pancakes.
I’m not complaining, mind you – I’m all for making this sort of highfalutin thinking more accessible. But is this a new phenomenon, or has it been around for a lot longer? What’s the weirdest scientific premise you’ve come across?

Oh, for Pete’s sake.
The Australian entertainment media went into conniptions hyping Nicole Kidman for the 2004 Oscars, but finally had to take solace in Naomi Watt’s nomination, and a few scant nods for ex-pat tech folk. Bummer, the journalists thought. Many started feeling a little worried that there were no really big Australian names at the ceremony so they could justify an expensive Hollywood junket to their editors. ( Naomi Watts has only a moderate glamour-rating, which will undoubtedly have to be lifted several levels in coming weeks, to keep the party-machine running. Watch Nicole deposed from Australian entertainment royalty for the next year or so, folks.)
Now, the local hacks have found another hook – they’ve latched onto an admission by the father of Keisha Castle-Hughes – formerly a ‘Kiwi nominee’ – that she’s actually, technically, a Western Australian.
(No doubt it was hard for her to uproot herself from all her social connections in Donnybrook at the age of four. In that time, she undoubtedly developed a ‘love for the land’ and ‘strongly identifies with her Australian heritage’.)
I predict a slew of interviews and background pieces throughout the Aussie media, now that this story is out. I’d wager that Ray Martin will lead the charge with a special on ‘Australia’s Best Hope For The Best Actress Oscars’. Naomi might get a mention. Maybe their non-Australian films might cop a mention.
Boy – it’s bad enough that we (as a country) invest so much of our arts identitiy in the allure of the Hollywood Oscar Machine, but to start clawing back tenuous links like this is really, really sad. Keisha, as talented as she is, would not have rated a mention were Nicole to have made the list, and especially if she hadn’t been outed as an Aussie by her publicity-seeking daddy.
No ‘Australian’ films like Star Wars or The Matrix in the list, either – no wonder the entertainment journalists are bored/desparate. At least we don’t have to worry about being tempted to claim Russell Crowe back.

While we’ve been distracted by Mars, NASA’s decided that the Hubble Space Telescope is no longer a top priority, and for a variety of (probably sensible) reasons, it’s not going to be getting the upgrades it needs. Be that as it may, unless someone does something with it, we’re looking at the next Skylab in 2015, and there’s no reassurances that someone’s not going to get squashed by it once it crashes back to earth. Given that we see it pass overhead our house some nights, I’m thinking we should probably be breaking it into bite-sized chunks.
Mmmm. Space Junk Food.

It’s an axiom I often share with those who care to listen. Borrowed from Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes), it’s simply saying that if you do too good a job, people start expecting that from you all the time.
So, continuing the theme of ‘art within tight boundaries’, here’s a great example – not only of the danger of setting a goal too high, but also of extending the envelope so far that people start to doubt if it’s the genuine article. This guy has been perfecting ‘etch-a-sketch art ‘for many years, and has (allegedly) been getting accolades about the quality of his work. I’d like to think that some of these works were examples of real, intensive, knob-twiddling effort, but take a look – they’re just too darn good. Perfect, almost.
Hoax or Hero? I have my opinion.

Today was the traditional ‘Back to School’ last minute rush – a few dozen books to cover, some school uniforms to try on, bags to pack. This is Charli’s first ‘proper school’ year (Pre Primary) – and the first year all the Cook kids are in uniform. We enter a new phamily phase tomorrow.
I remember back to the days we raided Nanna’s Women’s Weeklies for the school book stickers and argued over who was going to get the Sesame Street ones. These days, we’ve used the internet and some label sheets, so there’s no disappointment. The last few days we’ve asked the kids to assemble their lists of favourite characters so we can put them on their book covers for the coming year.
I’ve reprinted them below as a kind of cultural barometer of ‘What’s Hot With 4-8 year Olds This Year’. You may find it useful.
Caleb (8 Years)
* Ash from Pokemon (3rd year at number one!) – Pokemon Ruby
* ‘Blue Eyes White Dragon’ and Yu-gi-oh from Yu-gi-oh
* Hercules, Hades and Pegasus from Hercules (Disney)
* Sora, Donald and Goofy (and assorted bad guys) from ‘Kingdom Hearts 2’ (again this year)
* Ray from Ghostbusters
* ‘The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything’ and Kalil from Veggie Tales
Notably absent: Beyblades and Digimon – which aren’t cool any more, apparently.
Allanah (7 years)
* Carmen from Spy Kids 3D (again this year)
* Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (formerly of Full House, now a bunch of other stuff)
* The Saddle Club (again this year)
* Alicia Morton as Annie (of the 1999 movie version)
* Wendy and Peter from Peter Pan (the latest movie, not the cartoon)
* Tweety from Looney Tunes
* Jimmy Neutron
* Shrek and Donkey
* Veggie Tales
* Danny and Sandy from Grease
* Anne of Green Gables
* Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear
* Tess and Anna from Freaky Friday
* Hilary Duff from Lizzie McGuire
* Cast of ‘Cheaper By the Dozen’
* Hello Kitty
* 101 Dalmatians
* Alice In Wonderland
* Jessie from Toy Story
* Spirit (as a foal) from ‘Spirit – Stallion of the Cimarron’
Notably missing this year – Barbie, Powerpuff Girls, Nikki Webster, and Harry Potter
Charli (4.5 years)
* Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear
* Blizzard the Bunny
* Marlin and Dory from Finding Nemo
* Baby Pea from Veggie Tales

Following on a theme introduced in a previous post, I thought I’d have a go at working within the formula for designing South Park characters. Here’s as close as you’ll get to a portrait of yours truly.

It seems one of the big trends of recent times on weblogs around the world is the ‘X Things’ phenomenon, where you’re asked to come up with a certain number of ideas around a theme. Some of the ones I’ve noticed – and will probably have a stab at when I get time – are 26 Things (a photo scavenger hunt), 100 Things, and the Friday Five.
I’ve always been intrigued by the notion of creativity in tight spaces – where the real talent shines brightest as the format is very tightly controlled. A great example is the highly restrictive three-frame cartoon format, which was mastered by the great Charles Schultz (Peanuts) and Eric Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes). There’s the 30 second TV and radio commercial. The 3 and a half minute pop song. Scrimshaw. The Ship-In-The-Bottle. The 32 by 32 pixel buddy icon format. The postage stamp. (and in some cases, valiant filmmakers struggle against the egregious limitations of the 180 minute long feature film – see the previous posts on a certain movie which may or may not contain traces of Ring.)
Throughout the web, there are some cramped goals being set for artistic expression – like 16color.com, which asks animators to fit their vision into a tiny window with 16 colors in their pallette, and people can try their hands at the 3 frame format over at stripcreator.com or the Red Meat Construction Set.
While some artists feel their visions cannot be fully realised until technology, or finances, or their public are up to a certain standard, there are some artists which just get on with it, with what they have available, and set the world on fire.
It only took 3 years for Jesus to change the world.