[Movie] Mission: Impossible III

Lots of big explosions, cool stunts, some funny lines and great gadgets. These all added up to a very entertaining ride for a committed Impossibleite like myself.

This was only the second movie I've seen at the cinema this year, and after 4 ads vs 1 movie trailer, I was wondering why I forked out over $15 to be force-fed crap. Luckily they threw in a few more trailers, including X3 (yeah, baby!), and my ad-rage was narrowly averted...

Veronica Mars picked up for 3rd season

More detail here but basically it means there'll be at least 13 more episodes. Yay! Since I've still only seen the first 4 eps of season 2, that means there's plenty more VM goodness for me to enjoy.

Sadly, Arrested Development's 3rd season will be its last, although all accounts have it going out still on a high.

Hahahahaha!!!

Oh my God! I can't stop laughing! I just got home to 21, that's right 21, "hello... hello..." calls on my answering machine! Major, all time record, and freaking hilarious! And I didn't call screen a single one. 15 of them were while I was at work anyway, and not one even mentioned my name or left a meaningful message. That has totally made my day!

The buck stops ... over there

The second of 3 rants, written on the same night in an attempt to get some sleep. Imagine what I'd be like if I actually watched/read/listened to any news!

There are continuing displays of a shameful lack of personal accountability in a number of our most senior public officials, the AWB scandal just being the latest of these. This affair alone shows that our "leaders" are either:

(a) utterly incompetent, remaining intentionally unaware of matters within their scope of responsibility, or
(b) unapologetically dishonest, uttering lies with arrogance and impunity.

Certainly scapegoats will be found, individuals who may be partly to blame or may just be victims of attempting to manoeuvre the webs of deceit which continue to grow outwards from the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.

Poor leadership

A rant I vented into my notebook a fortnight ago, typed up verbatim here. Don't expect anything well researched, or balanced, it's purely an unleashing of bile on Howard and cronies.

Personal freedoms continue to be eroded, the media sustains a feeding frenzy of stereotypes and irrational fears, and individuals poorly suited to managing a small team of people on a low priority project continue to run rampant, turning the forces at their disposal into nothing more than tools of self-aggrandisement.

The dictatorial mindset so clear in our current government is reinforced by targeted removal of avenues for dissent. Attempts to marginalise employee co-operatives (e.g. unions), "anti-terror" laws stifling free speech, reduced availability of education to the financially disadvantaged (strengthening support for the status quo, limiting diversity in positions of power which are almost universally education based).

X-tremely distracted

Watching seasons 2-4 of The X-Files in 3 weeks will mess with your perception of time, thus the long gap between postings. I've been reminded just what an awesome show X-Files remains, even 13 years after it first aired. I also discovered just how often Scully says "Oh my God!" (every time anything freaky happens, which is almost every episode) and "Mulder, where are you going?" (every time Mulder ditches her, which is almost every episode). While not particularly reusable as catchphrases, they certainly add to my enjoyment, as a pay off for watching every show. Plus it makes me glad I don't work with anyone nearly as flaky as Mulder :) Quality guest appearances by actors like Brad Dourif, Giovanni Ribisi and Jack Black, Terry O'Quinn (Lost), Tony Shalhoub (Monk), and Peter Boyle (all within the first 50 episodes) plus two different characters played by the cranky old guy Relic from The Beachcombers! Roll on the final 5 seasons, and I'll see you all in a month or so!

Baldies of the world unite!

As if the below result would surprise anyone that knows me...

---

Always in control, you are a great leader, delegator, and diplomat. These qualities attract people to you, and this sometimes annoys you.

Aloof, introspective, and philosophical; you enjoy quiet time in solitude.

[TV] Deep Space Nine

This morning I finished watching the seventh (and final) season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, my favourite of all the Trek installments. I enjoyed it even more than when I originally watched all the episodes either on TV or on VHS tapes my sister bought, when it looked like WIN would never get through the whole lot. The fact that DS9 was always darker in tone (about half of it had a quadrant-wide war going on) and had so many diverse, fully fleshed-out characters made it seem more real a future than the other "boldly going" flavours. It was about imperfect people working together to better themselves and their world, rather than an already perfect civilisation encountering others who weren't quite so civilised. Each season better than the previous one, I'm glad this is the one Star Trek series I own on DVD.

I'm cured!

Well, not quite. There's apparently no cure for what ails me and my stomach, but there is the next best thing - a magic purple pill! After only two days of taking it I've felt markedly better, not needing my dose of Mylanta every few hours to take the edge off the pain. Apparently, I can even drink caffeine and alcohol while using it, without slowing my recovery. In a couple of months all the damage done by years of my "itis" remaining untreated will be healed, and I'll only need a maintenance dose of medication (for the rest of my life) after that. Yippee!

More comedy gold

I've enjoyed Spicks and Specks ever since it first appeared on ABC TV last year, but this year has added Alan Brough's blog, a very entertaining set of (usually weekly) musings on music-related topics. Last week Alan covered the unfair assumption that rock music culture is based around drugs, and this week he gives a glimpse into his own music playing history. The final paragraph goes:

We never did a gig but did record one EP. The engineer and producer of this bit of musical history was one of our teachers Brother Kevin. He gave us a bit of advice that I’ll never forget: ‘Stop now, you are just awful’.
We were and we did.
Well said Brother Kev.

Definitely worth reading.

Happy birthday Liv!

And just think, you'll never be as old as me. It's like some illogical fountain of youth :)

Laughter is the best walking partner

Well, probably not, but for sad, lonely individuals like myself, who have only a cool-free MP3 player for company (sob!), no better accompaniment could exist for having an hour-long walk seem like no more than a few minutes. My first 2 years of Uni, I listened to Martin Molloy religiously each afternoon, getting my comedy fix by switching between the music that I wanted to hear (on my analog audio tape) and the comedy talkfest. The switching was important because commercial radio has never been the home for music I want to hear, and if you haven't heard me rant about ads recently it means you haven't spoken to me.

Now podcasts have brought me the ultimate product: many of my favourite comedians, who host radio shows which don't broadcast to Canberra (well, they might, but they'd be on commercial radio and hence unlistenable-to), now have their "best bits" neatly cut together into packages of pure hilarity, downloadable for free and ready for my aforementioned walks. I've been listening to Hamish and Andy and Merrick and Rosso for a while, but now there are also shows from Mick Molloy, Tony Martin and Shaun Micallef to add to my schedule, enough to keep me going for my whole week of walking!

What an age we live in :)

Gluten here to stay?

I got a letter from my specialist giving me the all clear as far as coeliac goes, meaning the past few days I've reintroduced weet-bix as my breakfast cereal. And, so far, no real ill effects. I may even have a sandwich (gasp!) later in the week.

In theory, I should now be able to eat almost normally, except maybe for milk products. I have to wait until I have more info about the treatment for the problem I do have before I can risk any Coke or beer to celebrate, but things are definitely looking up on the diet front! While I won't actually feel any better until I get some actual medication, at least I can eat things which aren't tuna and rice without having to worry that they'll make me feel worse. Hurrah!

The sweet smell of victory

After not watching any live basketball for a couple of years, it was awesome to be there when Australia's women basketballers beat the USA, for the first time in in 7 years. Thanks to Liv for arranging everything!

In other news, I've finally succumbed to vanilla Blogger comments, so I'll be notified when anyone writes something, rather than padding my own blog stats checking to see if anyone likes me :)

An excellent day

The bad news that my doctor is away for the next 2 weeks, meaning I have to wait at least that long to find out whether I can start eating normally again, could easily have spoilt my day (and probably would have a few months ago). But my newfound, exercising, positive mindset instead had me calling Liv to arrange lunch and heading in to Civic to shop at the altar of comicdom that is Impact Comics. So I not only got to complain to K - which I love to do, as I see his interest rapidly wane :) - but also to have a longer chat with Liv, which was long overdue. That would have been more than enough on its own to make for a good day, but I had success with shopping too, getting 2 new books to read, 2 new graphic novels and a few cheap DVDs, all of which can form part of my keep-busy strategy for my holidays. Now that's what a holi-day should be like!

Fun and games

My day so far has been quite amusing, in unexpected ways.

Firstly, I just got back from my first walk since Monday. What I discovered at the supermarket mid-point of my walk was that, just as I was about to pay for my groceries, I hadn't brought my wallet. Luckily I'd just eaten lunch, or hunger might have made that less than amusing, but I take it as simply another way of ensuring I do more walking :)

Secondly, when I checked my letterbox on returning home I found (along with the usual ton of junk mail) an old-fashioned, snail mail, chain letter scam. I didn't think they still existed! I certainly hadn't received one since primary school. This one assures me that the sending of 200 letters, along with posting a $10 note (which I thought was illegal, but is apparently just "risky" according to Australia Post) will net me over $77,000!!! Interesting to see the effect of inflation, as the original e-version specifies $1 :)

Well, duh...

You Are Coke

A true original and classic, you represent the best of everything you can offer. Stay away from:Dr Pepper

What Kind of Soda Are You?

That's a relief

B finally sucked me in with all her online quizzes. As anyone who's known me for a decade realises, I used to pride myself on my scariness, which is now all but dead. But, as the pic below shows, I still have a little bit left...

You Are a Little Scary

You've got a nice edge to you. Use it.

How Scary Are You?

Ouch!

My cartoon stomach! 

It may be a little hard to read, but the main thing the initial exam showed is that I have erosive gastritis, which is as fun as it sounds. On its own, that would be able to explain all my symptoms. It's entirely treatable, which is the best news, so now I just have to hope that the biopsies don't show any evidence of coeliac-icity, or anything else, and I should be able to get away with some tablets, little or no Coke/alcohol and possibly eating as normal.

More waiting

I would have posted this sooner, but I was so tired I went to bed at 7 and have just woken up, knowing that I'll struggle to get to sleep again after a 4 hour nap.

After over a month of waiting, I've finally had my gastroscopy, which was even easier than I'd expected. 12 hours with no food and water wasn't quite as tough as I'd feared, although not made easier by only 6 hours sleep in 3 days beforehand. The procedure itself was non-existent for me, since one moment I was talking to the doctor and the next I was waking up in recovery. I really need to get me some of that sedative! I even got a couple of little photos and a little hand-drawn diagram of the visible issues with my stomach (reassuring in some respects that there's something wrong, although any treatment needs to wait till pathology results).

I was only very slightly groggy by the time I got home, watched a little TV and was able to eat my normal dinner. My stomach is still a bit sensitive, and so I won't be rushing back to Coke drinking in the next few days. My only issue is having to wait another 2 weeks to get full results, which will tell me whether I can start having gluten again (or not) as well as, hopefully, what else I can do to finally make a full recovery.

So the bulk of my holidays will remain a tuna and rice zone, with no clear path forward still, but at least still moving in the right direction.