Almost ADSL
Four months after it was ordered, my home ADSL service was about to be installed last week. Alas, at the last minute, I was advised that there was a problem at the local exchange and that my installation would need to be rescheduled. Next morning, my phone line was dead.... Four days later - still waiting for a fix. Go Telstra!! I'm ashamed to be a shareholder.
Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Wednesday, May 30, 2001
3000 Miles to Graceland
While the rest of Australia utilised cheapo-Tuesday to see Baz Luhrmann's latest flick Moulin Rouge, I ventured into a near empty cinema to experience a cinematic masterpiece - Kevin Costner playing the bad guy in the bloodbath movie 3000 Miles to Graceland. With an absolute stellar cast including Kurt Russell, Courtney Cox-Arquette, and brief appearences by hubby David Arquette and good 'ol Christian Slater, this movie was definitely a little different to what mainstream Hollywood usually dishes out. Kevin Costner plays the alleged illegitimate son of Elvis Presly, and together with a band of fellow impersonators, pulls off an impressive heist of a Vegas casino netting themselves a cool million or three. What follows is a trail of love, betrayal and carnage around America. Amusing, entertaining, and with a body count that I haven't seen since the early days of Stalone and Arnie. This movie could quite possibly reach cult status.
Rating: 8 out of 10.
While the rest of Australia utilised cheapo-Tuesday to see Baz Luhrmann's latest flick Moulin Rouge, I ventured into a near empty cinema to experience a cinematic masterpiece - Kevin Costner playing the bad guy in the bloodbath movie 3000 Miles to Graceland. With an absolute stellar cast including Kurt Russell, Courtney Cox-Arquette, and brief appearences by hubby David Arquette and good 'ol Christian Slater, this movie was definitely a little different to what mainstream Hollywood usually dishes out. Kevin Costner plays the alleged illegitimate son of Elvis Presly, and together with a band of fellow impersonators, pulls off an impressive heist of a Vegas casino netting themselves a cool million or three. What follows is a trail of love, betrayal and carnage around America. Amusing, entertaining, and with a body count that I haven't seen since the early days of Stalone and Arnie. This movie could quite possibly reach cult status.
Rating: 8 out of 10.
Tuesday, May 29, 2001
Q1 global SMS messages top 50 billion
I must admit - I'm a bit of an SMS junkie myself, probably averaging around 10 messages a day, but I was quite taken aback to discover that as a planet we are now sending around 200 billion SMS messages to each other every year. That's over 500 million messages a day, 22 million messages an hour, 380000 messages a minute, and over 6000 messages a second. I guess I shouldn't complain too much when a message doesn't arrive instantly. [via ZDNet]
I must admit - I'm a bit of an SMS junkie myself, probably averaging around 10 messages a day, but I was quite taken aback to discover that as a planet we are now sending around 200 billion SMS messages to each other every year. That's over 500 million messages a day, 22 million messages an hour, 380000 messages a minute, and over 6000 messages a second. I guess I shouldn't complain too much when a message doesn't arrive instantly. [via ZDNet]
Monday, May 28, 2001
Govindas
Went to Govindas restaurant and movie room in Darlinghurst for the very first time last night. Amazing - I lived in Sydney for seven years, all my friends raved about the place, and yet, I had to move interstate before I ended up there myself. Food was average - Vegetarian buffet, but the movie room is kind of cool. Lying down on couches and pillows, people hundle together and watch a movie. The feature last night was 'Himalaya' - great story, very scenic, go see it yourself.
Went to Govindas restaurant and movie room in Darlinghurst for the very first time last night. Amazing - I lived in Sydney for seven years, all my friends raved about the place, and yet, I had to move interstate before I ended up there myself. Food was average - Vegetarian buffet, but the movie room is kind of cool. Lying down on couches and pillows, people hundle together and watch a movie. The feature last night was 'Himalaya' - great story, very scenic, go see it yourself.
Thursday, May 24, 2001
Melbourne Business School
Went to an information session at Melbourne Business School last night. Looks pretty good. The full-time program can be completed in 16 months, and there's the opportunity to exchange to a b-school in the US during the third term (equivalent of the first semester of 2nd year in the States). At only AUD$42,000, this could be a fantastic opportunity ... and it's in my own backyard!
Went to an information session at Melbourne Business School last night. Looks pretty good. The full-time program can be completed in 16 months, and there's the opportunity to exchange to a b-school in the US during the third term (equivalent of the first semester of 2nd year in the States). At only AUD$42,000, this could be a fantastic opportunity ... and it's in my own backyard!
Friday, February 23, 2001
Hannibal
Ten years later, the sequel to the incredible film Silence of the Lambs has been released. Hannibal was originally given an MA15+ rating in Australia, but after public outcry about the amount of gore and grotesqueness (* is that a word? *), the rating was upgraded to R, restricting it to audieces 18 years and older. My advice - ignore all the media attention, and go and see the movie for yourself. This is big-budget horror at its best. Anthony Hopkins is brilliant as always, and Julianne Moore acts as an adequate substitute for Jodie Foster in the role of Clarice (although she doesn't really get the accent right).
Rating: 8 out of 10
Ten years later, the sequel to the incredible film Silence of the Lambs has been released. Hannibal was originally given an MA15+ rating in Australia, but after public outcry about the amount of gore and grotesqueness (* is that a word? *), the rating was upgraded to R, restricting it to audieces 18 years and older. My advice - ignore all the media attention, and go and see the movie for yourself. This is big-budget horror at its best. Anthony Hopkins is brilliant as always, and Julianne Moore acts as an adequate substitute for Jodie Foster in the role of Clarice (although she doesn't really get the accent right).
Rating: 8 out of 10
Thursday, February 15, 2001
Where is Adrian?
Hmm... haven't blogged for 12 days. What is happening to me? Are my blogging days over? Was this just a passing phase? What city am I in right now? Am I expected to blog everyday? Some people do. Would it be common courtesy for me to blog at least once a week? What if I'm not in the mood, or too busy? Can I blame my lack of blogging on the Anna Kournikova virus?
Rest assured, I'm alive and well. Had a ridiculous week last week travelling back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne twice, and finally handing in the keys to the Sydney apartment. A little more relaxed this week, gradually settling in to the life that is Melbourne. For all you die-hard aviation fans out there, don't miss the Australian Air Show at Avalon this week. Anthony's put a great preview together on his weblog.
Hmm... haven't blogged for 12 days. What is happening to me? Are my blogging days over? Was this just a passing phase? What city am I in right now? Am I expected to blog everyday? Some people do. Would it be common courtesy for me to blog at least once a week? What if I'm not in the mood, or too busy? Can I blame my lack of blogging on the Anna Kournikova virus?
Rest assured, I'm alive and well. Had a ridiculous week last week travelling back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne twice, and finally handing in the keys to the Sydney apartment. A little more relaxed this week, gradually settling in to the life that is Melbourne. For all you die-hard aviation fans out there, don't miss the Australian Air Show at Avalon this week. Anthony's put a great preview together on his weblog.
Sunday, February 04, 2001
Requiem for a Dream
Writer/Director Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream is a fairly disturbing movie about the destructive effects of heroin and loneliness. The movie deals with the separate collapses of the lives of a mother and son in Brooklyn, NY. This is not a movie for the light-hearted. The drug use is excessive, and designed to make you think twice before heading down that path. The editing is most interesting, with repeated uses of the same footage for shoot-up sequences, and split-screen effects for conversations between people who are right next to each other anyway.
Rating: 7 out of 10.
Side note: Be sure to check out Darren Aronofsky's earlier film, Pi. Oh, and the web site for Requiem for a Dream is very clever too.
Writer/Director Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream is a fairly disturbing movie about the destructive effects of heroin and loneliness. The movie deals with the separate collapses of the lives of a mother and son in Brooklyn, NY. This is not a movie for the light-hearted. The drug use is excessive, and designed to make you think twice before heading down that path. The editing is most interesting, with repeated uses of the same footage for shoot-up sequences, and split-screen effects for conversations between people who are right next to each other anyway.
Rating: 7 out of 10.
Side note: Be sure to check out Darren Aronofsky's earlier film, Pi. Oh, and the web site for Requiem for a Dream is very clever too.
Back in Sydney...
Back in Sydney for a few days, catching up with friends, cleaning the old apartment before the lease terminates on Wednesday, and attending a training course. Busy week coming up - four flights in eight days. It's a strange feeling having two 'homes'. At some stage later in life I'd always planned to have a home/unit in the city, and a house in the country to act as a weekender and a place to telecommute from. Unfortunately, while I may be temporarily renting two properties in different cities, I only have one household worth of furniture, so there's been a lot of sleeping on couches and floors recently.
Reading Richard Branson's autobiography at the moment (Losing My Virginity). Very interesting and quite inspiring. Full review will be posted when I've finished it.
Back in Sydney for a few days, catching up with friends, cleaning the old apartment before the lease terminates on Wednesday, and attending a training course. Busy week coming up - four flights in eight days. It's a strange feeling having two 'homes'. At some stage later in life I'd always planned to have a home/unit in the city, and a house in the country to act as a weekender and a place to telecommute from. Unfortunately, while I may be temporarily renting two properties in different cities, I only have one household worth of furniture, so there's been a lot of sleeping on couches and floors recently.
Reading Richard Branson's autobiography at the moment (Losing My Virginity). Very interesting and quite inspiring. Full review will be posted when I've finished it.
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