This is a quote from one of my most favourite movies - one that whenever I get a chance to watch, I'll quite happily sit down with a hot cup of coffee and just laze the day away.
Do you know what movie its from? No cheating, mind...
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"Do I believe in witchcraft? What kind of witchcraft? The legendary witch that rides on the imaginary broom? The hex that tortures the thoughts of the victim? The pin stuck in the image that wastes away the mind and the body?"
"Also imaginary."
"But where does imagination end and reality begin? What is this twilight, this half world of the mind that you profess to know so much about? How can we differentiate between the powers of darkness and the powers of the mind?"
March 22, 2007
Unbelievable!
Do you remember my old Boss's leaving speech in October 2006?
I certainly do.
It was where he went on to tell all my friends and colleagues that I was a gamer and a geek. If he had said it with a bit of tease in his voice, I wouldn't have minded so much, but he didn't - he said it from the point of "This man has no life, no purpose. He is a waste of space."
I've had lots of people from my old workplace tell me they couldn't believe his leaving speech, couldn't believe that I just shrugged it off. Well, I had dealt with far, far worse at his hands. Being told to "curb my internet usage especially on game sites" during my lunch hour when it was company policy to allow you to look up personal websites was particularly chafing but I dealt with it.
Amazingly, in my new workplace, my new boss is completely different. He also plays an MMO although he's derogatory towards WoW - but in a friendly way. There is that look of amazement that I play World of Warcraft which is compared in every way to his MMO - EVE Online - and how I'm playing a game with no hooks or penalties (as far as he is concerned).
However, I don't mind it so much. Now I'm in a workplace with people who love gaming, I can look up internet sites about games all day long if I wanted to (although I would have to do my work too!) and, best of all, people don't look down their noses at me. In fact, having my boss play an MMO means at least we can talk on a level playing field. I did try and keep secret the fact that I had to get up early on the weekends to play with the Europeans but he astounded me one Tuesday by telling me he was up until after midnight playing EVE..!
Bliss.
I've also been asked to try out a different MMO called Silkroads Online - a trading/WoW-like game. I've installed it but yet to try it out...
I certainly do.
It was where he went on to tell all my friends and colleagues that I was a gamer and a geek. If he had said it with a bit of tease in his voice, I wouldn't have minded so much, but he didn't - he said it from the point of "This man has no life, no purpose. He is a waste of space."
I've had lots of people from my old workplace tell me they couldn't believe his leaving speech, couldn't believe that I just shrugged it off. Well, I had dealt with far, far worse at his hands. Being told to "curb my internet usage especially on game sites" during my lunch hour when it was company policy to allow you to look up personal websites was particularly chafing but I dealt with it.
Amazingly, in my new workplace, my new boss is completely different. He also plays an MMO although he's derogatory towards WoW - but in a friendly way. There is that look of amazement that I play World of Warcraft which is compared in every way to his MMO - EVE Online - and how I'm playing a game with no hooks or penalties (as far as he is concerned).
However, I don't mind it so much. Now I'm in a workplace with people who love gaming, I can look up internet sites about games all day long if I wanted to (although I would have to do my work too!) and, best of all, people don't look down their noses at me. In fact, having my boss play an MMO means at least we can talk on a level playing field. I did try and keep secret the fact that I had to get up early on the weekends to play with the Europeans but he astounded me one Tuesday by telling me he was up until after midnight playing EVE..!
Bliss.
I've also been asked to try out a different MMO called Silkroads Online - a trading/WoW-like game. I've installed it but yet to try it out...
March 18, 2007
I really should...
...make a post.
Considering how it's been around a month since I last put fingers to keyboard, I would love to say a lot of things have changed in the past month but really they haven't.
I'm still in Oz, still working away in a contract, still gathering up the energy and bravery to start learning to drive. Still taking things easy and saving up to pay off the debts we have in the UK still. And still getting up at 5am to go to the raids in the UK.
I did write something up awhile back but Blogger has this horrible re-formatting ability that takes single space lines and turns them into double space, so everything that reads out well suddenly looks like it's been written by Uni students trying to bulk out their essay or thesis. I don't need to bulk out my blog, I could happily witter on for hours in this style of prose - called conversational prose or some such, as if I'm actually talking to my audience.
Other than that, I have continued my voracious reading of books via Joondalup Library. A great resource centre that unfortunately has made a mistake of unmitigated proportions. They've re-shelved their books into categories and then alphabetical order. So now, rather than browsing General for any books that might be a good read, I head to Sci-Fi & Fantasy straight away.
Which is good because I don't have to spend so much time looking for the authors that I know I like but equally bad because I have to scour categories for potential new authors. Even worse, if I like an author that writes in different categories - like Sci-Fi and Horror, I have to search two sections instead of just heading over to the one area.
On the up side, they have a marvellous collection of DVDs - recently I managed to acquire the miniseries of the re-imagined 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica. Back in September last year, I watched the first episode of Season 1 of the show but couldn't work out what was going on. Why did Baltar, the traitor of the Colonial Humans, have a first name - Gaius? How the hell had the Cylons designed and created Human-like models? Why in heaven's name was Starbuck now a woman?
The miniseries (which actually is just 3 episodes) serves as an introduction to this new universe and it actually works quite well, except for the bit about Starbuck being a woman. I'm not quite sure why they thought that should be changed. Is it more acceptable now to have a woman drinking, getting into brawls, swearing?
Or perhaps the real issue is, which demographic is this new show being aimed at. After all, the original show was aimed at a family audience with kids emulating their new tv stars (we always had to flip a coin for who got to be Starbuck) and now I suppose the target audience are young 20 somethings who can't quite remember the original show but quite like the sassy attitude of this new show.
Another show I'm watching - and voraciously devouring - is Alias. We're on Season 2, about halfway through now, with Season 3 waiting in the wings. It's a pretty good show, mixing James Bond-style spy stuff with a lot of Sci-Fi. What Elsha and I both love about this show are the cliffhangers. Pretty much every episode ends on a "Omigod, what's going to happen next?" that always has us coming back for more. Actually, it gets pretty horrible because you just want to keep on watching to find out what's going to happen next. Apparently, Seasons 4 and 5 are much weaker due to writing issues, etc.
Anyone have any other shows they like to watch?
Considering how it's been around a month since I last put fingers to keyboard, I would love to say a lot of things have changed in the past month but really they haven't.
I'm still in Oz, still working away in a contract, still gathering up the energy and bravery to start learning to drive. Still taking things easy and saving up to pay off the debts we have in the UK still. And still getting up at 5am to go to the
I did write something up awhile back but Blogger has this horrible re-formatting ability that takes single space lines and turns them into double space, so everything that reads out well suddenly looks like it's been written by Uni students trying to bulk out their essay or thesis. I don't need to bulk out my blog, I could happily witter on for hours in this style of prose - called conversational prose or some such, as if I'm actually talking to my audience.
Other than that, I have continued my voracious reading of books via Joondalup Library. A great resource centre that unfortunately has made a mistake of unmitigated proportions. They've re-shelved their books into categories and then alphabetical order. So now, rather than browsing General for any books that might be a good read, I head to Sci-Fi & Fantasy straight away.
Which is good because I don't have to spend so much time looking for the authors that I know I like but equally bad because I have to scour categories for potential new authors. Even worse, if I like an author that writes in different categories - like Sci-Fi and Horror, I have to search two sections instead of just heading over to the one area.
On the up side, they have a marvellous collection of DVDs - recently I managed to acquire the miniseries of the re-imagined 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica. Back in September last year, I watched the first episode of Season 1 of the show but couldn't work out what was going on. Why did Baltar, the traitor of the Colonial Humans, have a first name - Gaius? How the hell had the Cylons designed and created Human-like models? Why in heaven's name was Starbuck now a woman?
The miniseries (which actually is just 3 episodes) serves as an introduction to this new universe and it actually works quite well, except for the bit about Starbuck being a woman. I'm not quite sure why they thought that should be changed. Is it more acceptable now to have a woman drinking, getting into brawls, swearing?
Or perhaps the real issue is, which demographic is this new show being aimed at. After all, the original show was aimed at a family audience with kids emulating their new tv stars (we always had to flip a coin for who got to be Starbuck) and now I suppose the target audience are young 20 somethings who can't quite remember the original show but quite like the sassy attitude of this new show.
Another show I'm watching - and voraciously devouring - is Alias. We're on Season 2, about halfway through now, with Season 3 waiting in the wings. It's a pretty good show, mixing James Bond-style spy stuff with a lot of Sci-Fi. What Elsha and I both love about this show are the cliffhangers. Pretty much every episode ends on a "Omigod, what's going to happen next?" that always has us coming back for more. Actually, it gets pretty horrible because you just want to keep on watching to find out what's going to happen next. Apparently, Seasons 4 and 5 are much weaker due to writing issues, etc.
Anyone have any other shows they like to watch?
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