To Jimmy Fallon

I saw the movie you did with Drew Barrymore about being a baseball fan. On a plane. Believe me I wouldn't have seen so much of if except that I was on a plane. OMG. Total shit. Also you did a movie about taxis with Queen Latifah. I didn't see that but I'm guessing it wasn't great. Why not come back to SNL? Sure you won't be as rich as you are now. But you will at least be doing something worthwhile. Okay Tina Fey bailed but at least she had a plan other than "take Adam Sandler's part in crap movies".

Ps, to my regular readers, bitorrent "30 Rock" and watch some eps. Tina Fey's new show. It's really good.

"marrdest" mouse

So as you might know already Johnny Marr joined Modest Mouse. I imagine the conversation went like this:

Johnny: Hey I'm Johnny Marr. Can I join your band?
Modest Mouse: Wow. We, er... Actually we have a couple of guitarists already. And you know, the Tarago, it's kinda full right now with the...
Johnny: Did I mention I'm Johnny Marr. Da da da duh duh da dah etc. [Hums guitar part from This Charming Man]
Modest Mouse: Right. Yeah. Okay.. right. When do you want to start?

Ps, if I was going to make some joke about Britney Spears right now it would be something about the carpet matching the drapes, but of course I wouldn't do that as it would be in terribly poor taste.

to daniel johns

Your new song is pretty good. Sounds a bit like Evermore but that's a good thing. Your new look is good. I like it. Are they you're real eyes? But you should possibly rethink the waistcoat-with-no-shirt look. Seriously. Waistcoat in general = born again rocker. Waistcoat with no shirt? Er... Chippendales. Or (worse??), Bono.

Ps, Happy Chinese New Year.

Chinchy tomorrow night

J-Nu part 1

Okay so that was pretty lazy. I apologise. So I should tell you about our trip to sydney to see Joanna Newsom three times. Where to begin...

Thursday night, the four of us have dinner in Surry Hills at a place named after this, was okay, tapas and sangria. We catch a cab to Hyde Park which is about a block to the east of the city. We stop half a block away and walk north wondering where this tent was supposed to be. So we see the tent then quickly go inside because it's right on 7:30pm. Luckily no-one listened to me when I said we didn't need to arrive on time, since she started about 2 minutes later. There was just enough time for a waitress to bring us some beers. We are in a booth which quite close to the front and on the right because we were last in all the chairs are taken. But actually the booths were the best, you get a comfy soft seat and you can lean your elbows on the table and yeah, they will bring you beers. From our spot we are close to side on to the harp. We get a great view of her pedal work and her hands from side on. The tent is quite small, so everyone is close. We were about four meters from the stage probably so we can see clearly the details of her plaidy brown dress her high heels and odd green stockings. The stage is tiny so people in the chairs in the front could have leaned forward and touched the harp. The decor is Moulin Rouge with old fashioned wood panel with inlaid mirrors and wooden windows with coloured glass. In the roof is a tiny trapeze. She begins with a little shy voice "how about this tent" then started Bridges and Balloons, The Book of Right On, Then Ca' The Yowes. It is wonderful. The harp sounded really nice. Her performance voice is a little more mellow and smooth and a little less squeaky. The sound is almost perfect. The tent has some airconditioner noise but you wouldn't want to sit inside a tent sweating with 300 or so people. Ca' the Yowes is Scottish folk tune made from a Robert Burns poem and very sweet and folky. You can watch it here. So where can you go after something as beautiful as that? "The meadowlark and the chim-choo-ree and the sparrow...". Ys. As she began to perform her latest cd the performance moved a notch along some axis not normally accessible to mortals.

...to be continued...

what he said

except shorter. and also this

what sacha baron cohen looks and sounds like in real life

this is his speech at the golden globes: skip over the reece witherspoon

a winged demon said I must post this

click to read. words and art by greenapplecat.

okay

well I was quite caught up in the hype there for a bit. I've calmed down a little since I learned that a. even in the US it's not out until June and b. my guess is Australia will be a long long time after that. But... I predict an iPod only version of that will hit before too long. mmm... touch your music... Go watch the keynote if you like your world-changing gadget announcements.

Ps I have the new shuffle! It's just great for doing chores in your underpants. You can clip it right on your waist band. Washing dishes has never been so much fun. I used to use the old shuffle but it was always dangling round my kneck and threatening to flop into the sink so I'd try to keep it around my back and well that makes it hard to reach the buttons as you can imagine. My new shuffle rating: five steve jobses out of five.

am i dreaming?

oh lordy. sweet jesus.

(minutes later)

can't breathe... go here look at the preciousss.

wii bowling

Don't watch the whole thing (unless you really have nothing better to do) but check out the spare that the pro bowler gets... :) here. (It's a Japanese TV show).

Wii web browser works with Youtube!

Did you ever wish you could sit on your couch and browse YouTube?. Now you can with the Nintendo Wii and the Opera web browser (released today). Check it out:

Wii Weather Channel Hits Australia The World

I updated my system tonight and the weather channel appeared. It includes a Google Earth style globe! I had no idea it was going to be so cool. It looks like this: Actually I started uploading my own video for this post then I noticed someone already put one on YouTube and I cancelled. Damn if I was quicker I could have made the front page of digg... :P.

Wii have a wii

If you asked me a few weeks ago I probably would have guess an xbox 360 would have been first to arrive at my house but my friend John got one on launch day and long story short we picked one up plus Zelda on the Saturday. I think they are just about impossible to get now so I'm glad I didn't wait. Some notes:

• When you first start to "get" the controller it's kind of mind-blowing. Believe the hype, this is an entire new level of gaming.
• A group of people (four is best) playing wii-sports for the first time is quite possibly the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
• Zelda - it's good (well, it is Zelda), definitely better than Windwaker so far, but the graphics will make your Gears of War owning mates laugh at you. This is partly because the game started as a gamecube game that was delayed for release on the wii.
• Tennis - totally cool, you have to try this.
• Baseball - at first I didn't care for it much, mostly because I sucked at it, but it's grown on me, the feeling when you crack one out of the ground is brilliant
• Bowling - it's a crowd favourite. make sure you have a lot of room in your lounge.
• Golf - totally cool, instantly better than any other golf game ever made. You take a few practice swings then step up and, whack. There is a chance this could improve your real golf game.
• Boxing - so far it seems the least cool but it's insanely hilarious a party.
• Miis - you create little cartoon versions of yourself and your friends and these characters are in the sports games. It sounds lame but actually it is super cool.
• Training - you can do little mini-games to improve your skills, three for each sport. Pretty neat.
• Fitness - you do a set course of tests and get a score to show you how good you are. Also pretty neat.
• Wii play - this is a bunch of mini-games you get almost for free when you buy a extra controller. There are a few gems on there that make it definitely worth owning. Try the cow race.
• Overall impressions - the hardware is so small and lovely you just want to pinch it on the cheeks. All the little touches are pure joy, eg the fact that you can put your Miis on your controller and take them to your friends house, the little speaker in the controller that makes tennis racket sounds, the rumble pack feedback when you mouse over buttons. Operating the menus with the pointer is literally fun. Imagine your computer with no mouse. That is every other console except the wii. Only with the wii you can twist your mouse pointer. Why? Because it's fun. The disk slot is the best I have ever seen. The top opens up and you can use your Gamecube controllers and memory cards. Of course it plays all your gamecube games.
• Internet - The wifi worked for me as soon as I entered my wep codes. It spent about 10 minutes upgrading it's operating system as soon as I got online. I was able to browse some retro games, eg Sonic 1 and Mario 64. I downloaded Gunstar Heroes to try it out. I found the wii-mote sideways doesn't work too well but the good news is you can use a gamecube controller or buy one of the retro controllers for only $29. The news and weather channels don't seem to be going yet for Australia. Also I think you can send messages from your wii to someone elses wii. Not sure why you'd want to but it can be done.
• Upcoming prospects - Well I suppose Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy and Metroid are going to be out eventually. Hopefully some surprise hits that utilise the controller but time will tell.
• Injuries? - Well it's easy to see how it could happen. I have observed a few accidental shoulder whacks and near misses of knuckles agains the edge of our glass coffee table. So be careful OK! Here are some freaks who weren't.

Kevin Rose leaks ipod phone details

I like this because I'm a fan of Kevin Rose, he's the guy who bailed out of attack of the show before it completely turned to shit and then founded digg.com. and b. iPod phone! yeah baby!! Via TechCrunch via CrunchGear.

Flow

This is fun little game. It's relaxing and beautiful. I only played for about a minute but I can't want to get deeper. Via Slashdot. Oh they mention giant squid and manta rays so maybe it gets more intense.

King Arthur

This movie happened to be starting on Movie One last night just as we arrived home. Yadda yadda, here's my review:

• Premise: This is the true story of the dudes who's tales were told and exaggerated to become the Tales of King Arthur. Arthur and his knights are under Roman command. They generally don't get on with the natives who refuse Rome's command. The Saxons are coming and the Roman Empire is not as mighty and good as it once was.
• Keira's accent: Why did Keira not have some kind of Woad accent? I don't care what it sounded like just please not her posh tea and scones english voice from Bend It Like Beckham.
• The Saxons: At least you know where you stand. You and your family will be put to death and your village will be burned. But you probably won't be raped. They have standards.
• The cracking ice scene. Seems a bit unlikely. Plus the cracking seemed to go on way too long.
• Keira shooting arrows in blue paint and a leather boob-tube: Thumbs up.
• Clive Owen's range of vocal and facial expression: Thumbs down. Seriously, he is the English David Duchovney.
• Romans: Boo
• Woads: Yay
• Merlin: Yay
• Saxons: Yargh
• Unrealistic lighting of outdoor scenes: Huh? The Saxons had a green spotlight in their camp apparently.
• Lame dialog in romantic scenes: Boo
• That aussie guy from that show with a beard: Yay
• The knights: Cool as shit
• The story: It kept me well interested even though it was on late and I was pretty tired. Thumbs up.
• Enya rating: not enough Enya! The one time you actually want a bit of Enya...
• Magic rating: Actually there is no magic or fairies or anything like that, which is a bit different for a King Arthur movie.

damn now I have to by an xbox 360

It's called Gears of War. Here's some gameplay.

blimey

I thought you might want to see this. It's a dude with an oxygen tank doing a version of a coldplay song. i know that sounds like crap but seriously take a look. via stereogum.

Dear Nora and Kate 'Katy' Davidson

Okay Kate has a blog about her tour/etc. It's here and it's pretty good. On it I found some photos from the gig I was at (not the first one obviously). The blue shirt guy is the bass player. Did I mention I didn't like him much? It may be because he reminded me of me. Except less skilled on bass and with better hair... ;) He played with Dear Nora also. And the drummer was the drummer from The Go-Betweens. For real! Also I found some pics of Bree Van Ryk (scroll down) playing charades I think. Can you guess...?