January 31, 2005

Doin’ the iPod shuffle

I’ve been casting a covetous eye on my girlfriend’s iPod mini, so when we dropped into our local AppleCentre this weekend (so she could get the mini’s malfunctioning battery repaired, ironically) I couldn’t resist snapping up a new iPod shuffle.

Now—mwha ha haa—the tables have turned. She thinks the shuffle is exactly what she was looking for in the first place.

Let’s face it, at AUD$149 this one’s a no-brainer. The thing is unbelievably small and light, it recharges from your USB port, you can set up playlists in iTunes for any occasion —about 120 songs worth—and despite the catchline you can play your songs in random order and in order. Like so many others, I’m hooked on random playback; you sometimes segue from one song to another in beautiful ways. Did I mention how small and light it is? Man, this is the best thing Apple’s made since the Newton (hey, I loved my Newton!)

The best thing about that visit to the AppleCentre was however, I actually found myself waiting for my girlfriend to finish looking around. Wow … and she was a PC user up until a few weeks ago.

January 30, 2005

Things I don’t get

I don’t get men who were their floppy polo neck shirt collars up. I don’t get gangsta rap. I don’t get people who name Dirty Dancing as their favourite film. Or George W. Bush supporters. Or people who think the world was made in 7 days and is only 6,000 years old. I don’t get very overweight girls who wear really tight midriff tops; guys who drive around in bright yellow ‘modified’ cars playing loud doof-doof-doof music; shops that use price stickers that don’t come off; property developers; those trucks and bikes with advertising signs attached to them that drive around the city; skywriters; fundamentalist Christians; people who only read magazines and not books; people who borrow books and don’t return them; people who talk really loudly in restaurants; parents who think that ignoring their kid when it has a public tantrum is good parenting; fluffy toys on car dashboards; Oprah Winfrey; Starbucks coffee drinkers; people who don’t drink any form of alcohol just because they got pissed on Southern Comfort and threw up once when they were 15; Australian Idol; water features; greed; waiters who think being rude to you will somehow put them above you even though they would get much more respect by doing their job well; pokie machines; nightclub bouncers; people who buy a house next to a pub that’s been there for twenty years and then complain so much about the noise that the pub has to close; the bullshit sincerity of late night infomercials; and the fashion for pastel T shirts with bad graphics that look as though they all came out of the same factory. I don’t get forcing your beliefs on others. Or people who talk in cinemas.

What do you not get?

January 25, 2005

Barbie and Ken go on a Trek (TM)

A friend took this photo in a toy store in Tokyo recently. Actually, when you think about it, Barbie and Ken would be perfect on the Enterprise. Shame she’s a ‘red shirt’ though, they never last long …

January 20, 2005

New stuff on the ’Hollow

You may have already noticed, but Headless Hollow is beginning to finally develop into the blog I always wanted it to be. Finally, the Photos section is up and running, and I’ll be posting new pictures there everytime I feel like procrastinating my work (which is quite a lot). Also, look to your left and you’ll see a link to a new Freebie page chock-full of professionally designed reference sheets for your favourite boardgames. Granted, you may not play boardgames as a rule, but those of you who do are excited right now I bet!

January 14, 2005

The Telltales new CD released

After a year of hard work, my band The Telltales has just released its new CD, Haymaking. Let me assure you the term ‘difficult second album’ is not just a rock and roll cliché. But the beast is finally loose, and we’re all very proud of the results. And as the humble drummer, I can personally say I’m proud, after 20-plus years of playing music, to be in a band that has released a second album.

We have a website at thetelltales.com where you can find out all about the band, download some songs, and most importantly, link to where you can buy the CD online. Or even better, just walk into your local music store (if you live in Australia that is) and order a copy. Every sale guaranteed to advance the cause of independent Australian music!

January 11, 2005

Film review: The Incredibles

I saw The Incredibles over a week ago now, so I’m unforgivably late for my review!

Look, this one’s easy. It’s a Pixar film. They can do no wrong. And let me tell you why, it’s not a magic formula. They don’t do things the way the rest of Hollywood does. They work long and hard on an film until it’s perfect. They come up with one strong, original concept and build a story around it; a story they develop to perfection before everything else. They give that story layers of meaning so you can enjoy it whatever age you are. The animation is inspired and informed by the great animators of the past. They give each film time (four years in this case) so the team can work, polish, perfect and work some more until it’s the best it can be.

All processes that on the surface seem obvious, but are ignored everyday by disorganised, uninspired people in seach of the fast buck. An attitude by no means exclusive to the film industry …

Contrast this with the boring, uninspired cash-in that Shrek 2 was (I’m not even going to bother reviewing it here) and you can see what I mean.

Put the ingredients together with a dash (excuse the pun) of pure genius and you have The Incredibles. It’s fast-paced, touching, funny, exciting, stylish, clever and beautifully made. Everything you’ve come to expect from a Pixar film.

Four and a half flabby bellies out of five.