| (no subject) |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|08:48 pm] |
There's been a bit of excitement among my gaming friends around the new game Torchlight. I've downloaded the playable demo and this game is fun. It's very similar in concept and mechanics to the original Diablo and in fact was made by many of the original Diablo/Diablo 2 team, including the guy who did the music :D
( Game trailer and more... ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 28th, 2009|01:10 pm] |
You have to think carefully when going shopping on a pushbike. I'd looked over my shopping list and decided that what was on it would fit into my bag, but only if I went past the library and dropped off my books first. Dropping off books turned into "just" having a little look around inside the library, which turned into "just" seeing if there was anything interesting withdrawn on the sale trolley, which resulted in three books from an exciting military SF series coming along with me. Then I couldn't fit my shopping into the bag on top of them. Lucky I had a calico bag folded up small and it didn't rain hard enough on the way home to make my new stories soggy. |
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| New icon for the occasion |
[Oct. 26th, 2009|09:27 pm] |
After reading Pride & Prejudice I was in the mood to watch it on TV, so we had a look in the video shop to see if we could find it. I never can find anything I want to watch at a video shop, I like really good TV shows but they prefer to stock really crappy movies instead. We did find Pride & Prejudice there; it was the 2005 movie, not the 1995 BBC serial I was after, but we thought it might scratch the right itch anyway.
IT SUCKED. I was prepared to be open-minded and enjoy it even without the same delightfully slimy Mr Collins I'd been looking forward to, but it just sucked all over. "Isn't this supposed to be a story about the middle classes?" we asked each other. Everything was rough and muddy, nothing was at all elegant. (If you're going to do period drama you have to teach the actors at least some deportment -- Keira Knightley slouching through the opening scene with her neck sticking out was a real shocker, and it got worse from there.) It could actually have been pretty funny to watch: a re-interpretation of the story where we side with Mr Darcy and Caroline Bingley as they look down their noses at all these vulgar and unattractive people -- only we couldn't bring ourselves to sit through more than half an hour.
Thank goodness for the internet. I was able to get hold of the 1995 six-parter and we watched some tonight. Boys like Jane Austen too: mine enjoys Mr Bennet's scenes very much and is interested in the storyline, so I have someone to watch them with. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 3rd, 2009|04:19 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and I discover that last time I read it was so long ago I can't remember the plot at all. I have memories of Kitty and Lydia going OMG OFFICERS and of Mrs Bennett babbling on and I know who Lizzy marries in the end, but other than that all I can remember is gratuitous Colin Firth in wet clothes, which I don't think was actually in the book. |
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| *kicks computer* |
[Sep. 25th, 2009|12:08 pm] |
I'm just trying to write and stupid computer keeps underlining words which is really distracting, and I keep on telling it, I tell it over and over I'm not American, I've told it so enough times that when a friend tried to use my computer to register a new hotmail.com email address it refused point blank to give him anything but a hotmail.co.uk one no matter what we did to it, but it's STILL having conniptions about "fibre".
*pants with rage*
( Read more... ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 20th, 2009|12:50 pm] |
I don't like gardening much any more. Everything always dies.
Working from a sort of confused theory that ANYTHING I do to plants will kill them, I tried to give some oregano seedlings the best possible chance of survival by not watering them or touching them or even looking at them too closely. Success of this plan was about as good as you'd expect, but on the other hand the results were no worse than with trying very hard to keep them alive, and much less effort. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 6th, 2009|04:19 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | dreams | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  thoughtful | ] |
The recurring dream theme of the moment: superheroes. Sometimes I dream about real superheroes like Wonder Woman and Green Arrow; sometimes my dreams make up their own superheroes. Last night there was a crimefighting duo whose superpowers were to turn into, respectively, a manta ray and a plesiosaur. If only my dream had had them going on an adventure together, rather than just matter-of-factly existing... I want to know what sort of crisis requires the assistance of Plesiosaur Boy! |
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| Oh horrors |
[Aug. 27th, 2009|03:24 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | computer | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  shocked | ] |
Last night there was a thunderstorm so I shut down the computer and turned all the gear off at the wall. Today when I switched it back on at the socket there was a loud pop and a flash from the area of the power supply. Half the power points in the house stopped working. That put me into a bit of a panic, I can tell you! But after resetting the circuit breakers everything seems fine: computer goes, music and TV equipment still working, no expensive circuit boards fried in the washing machine. Whew.
Backup time for saved games and my drawing scans folder, though. |
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| Bragging, gaming, guitars |
[Aug. 14th, 2009|01:08 pm] |
Woo! I've returned to the first Guitar Hero game trying to make progress in my career and tonight (after half a dozen failed attempts) I finally managed to make it through Bark at the Moon on Medium difficulty! Yay me!
(Doing the game's hardest song on Medium may seem really easy to you, in which case I am still proud because it's at the limits of my current capability, or it may seem impossibly difficult, in which case I didn't intend to imply that I'm better than you but I'm still proud.)
Also today Les Paul died, the guitar guy. He was ninety-four. I shall play my genuine imitation Les Paul copy in his honour. |
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| Michael Jackson has died?! |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|11:02 am] |
The headlines say Michael Jackson has died after suffering a heart attack... though the body of the article actually said that nobody really knows anything about what's going on. Live press conference going on right now outside the hospital, though there's no point even attempting to listen in on dial-up. I'm having to be the news hub for people who are at work or haven't got internet access!
I can't help but think that dying is probably a good career move for the guy. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|06:23 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | food | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | :9 | ] |
Dinner: haricot bean and chickpea loaf, brussels sprouts and parsnip chips, followed by apple crumble. Mmmmm, good for a cold night like this and very tasty... and the bean loaf makes good lunches the next day.
I like the season of parsnips and swedes. Lots of hot soups coming. Swedes are so yummy in soup, so yummy roasted, so yummy mashed. Parsnips are mainly yummy roasted, but I found out while boyfriend was making the chips that they also taste interesting raw if sliced thinly enough. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 28th, 2009|02:57 pm] |
Argh. I shake too much. There was a lovely slivery moon last night and there's only one photo in the lot that's not horribly blurred - leaning the camera against the house only keeps that side of it still. I may ask for a wee tripod for my birthday.
However, taking the camera for a walk today was most productive. Maybe I don't shake fast enough to affect daytime shutter speeds. Here's one of the best:
 |
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| Sewing update |
[May. 7th, 2009|02:02 pm] |
All my pattern pieces are cut out ready to sew. Cutting satin on the bias is like doing origami only it won't crease like paper and it tries to get away in every direction. I have to coax it very gently with much use of set squares and pins. Putting the skirt together is going to be a bit of a job so it's a good thing I'll be doing it under experienced supervision.
The satin I bought for the skirt was $2 per metre (thank you Geoff, and proprietors of other emporiums everywhere) and very nice except for being a sort of brownish colour which is very difficult to co-ordinate with anything; I got 5m to be on the safe side, since the skirt is going to be full and cut on the bias, but only needed 3. No idea what it's going to look like when it's finished since my dressmaker is spectacularly more talented at designing and sewing than at making concept sketches. The blouse, also bias-cut, is white and will look somthing like the right-hand one here or like this one, with the fluttery sleeves. And to avoid being too dull I'll have an orangey-red sash, which is the only bright colour I found that looks good with the brown.
Men have it easy. They can wear the same suit and be in fashion for at least the last century. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 25th, 2009|08:11 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | ABBA - Ring Ring | ] |
Proof-reading a three-part epic fantasy novel can't be an easy job, especially with lots of character names and frequent words in made-up languages. I could pick the point at which the proof-reader said sod this, I'm going to the pub - it was a big clue when the main character's name was mis-spelt. In the last chapter or two there was barely a page without a mistake; it's a great story but it's getting difficult to decipher. Who said what, which lines were transposed, where did they say they were riding to next?
This being an older book (The Chronicles of Morgaine, C J Cherryh, 1976-79), the many errors are all typesetting ones. I find that a lot easier to put up with than recent books I've come across that appear to have been put through a spell-checker instead of proof-read, or ones where the best efforts of the publishing house have been unable to cover up the author's basic illiteracy. |
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| WTF moment of the day |
[Apr. 19th, 2009|07:04 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | funny | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  curious | ] |
On my way home I saw a man riding down the road on a motorbike with an axe in his teeth. Is that the most awesome thing ever or really really terrifying?
I can think of half a dozen better ways of transporting an axe on a motorbike, but none quite so menacing. |
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| More than just grass |
[Apr. 17th, 2009|03:11 pm] |
A list of things that grow in my lawn - those that I could identify.
Yarrow
Red clover
White clover
Buttercups
Daisies
Kikuyu
Dandelions
Hawkbit, hawksbeard and/or catsear*
Plantain
Cleavers
Paspalum
Ryegrass
Browntop or Yorkshire fog**
Fescue
Sweet vernal
Onehunga weed
Blue speedwell
Mint
Oxalis
Dock
Thistle of some sort
*It's hard to tell the difference between all the yellow not-dandelion flowers, though I know I don't have oxtongue - it's pricklier.
**They look the same to me even when flowering.
And I had to look it up, but that purple flower I was wondering about is selfheal.
There is also silverbeet growing in my lawn, from where I uprooted some plants that had bolted and then left them lying on the ground for a while before bashing them up smaller for the compost bin, but they won't survive mowing. I should move a few seedlings so they can grow - but my crop rotation is a bit of a mess and the only spot I have for them grew silverbeet and then beetroot and then silverbeet again and really needs a break. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 14th, 2009|08:29 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | garden | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | pensive | ] |
I mourn the loss of biodiversity in my lawn. The front lawn used to be mainly red and white clover and a few daisies, but the kikuyu grass has moved in and taken over right up to the house and has smothered everything else. Organic gardening advice seems to be, often, just to learn to live with it and avoid worrying yourself into an early grave. Kikuyu does make a lawn that won't brown off in summer and it doesn't mind being walked or driven on, but it's not pleasant to sit or play on because it makes me itch. And gardening near kikuyu is difficult. Unless I can commit myself to cutting it back regularly without fail, any flower bushes, small shrubs or young trees I put in are just going to vanish.
There's kikuyu all up the driveway side of the house, and it's coming around the corner of the garage and trying to get into the compost bin. I've been outside ripping it up and my forearms are all red and itchy. It's extending tentacles into the back lawn and I'm trying to slow its progress because that part of the section is mainly yarrow. I love my sort ferny yarrow lawn and I don't want it to disappear. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 11th, 2009|09:43 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  happy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Buddy Holly - Mailman, bring me no more blues | ] |
We had hot atheist buns this year. I put them straight into the oven without remembering to decorate them. Most years I do one tray with crosses, because crosses are easy to mass-produce (you can pipe a whole tray in four moves), and get creative on the other tray with spirals and squiggles and other symbols. There's always a noughts and crosses bun or two. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 3rd, 2009|07:36 pm] |
Humph. The 1920s was the era of short skirts. Some of them almost showed the knee. I had intended to wear a skirt to this event before finding out it was themed, but I'd planned on something down to my ankles with thick tights under it. I feel very undressed and vulnerable in skirts, and as well as that it's sure to be friggin' freezing. Some flimsy little barely calf-length thing with nylons under it will be most unsuitable for the weather.
I've found some pictures of '30s dresses which come down to the ankle, and even one stylish woman in silk evening trousers. I'd be so much happier if I could get away with wearing trousers. |
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