Superdimensional Scrutiny Sunday

I finally caved, bought overpriced movie tickets, and saw a film in 3D. Resident Evil: Afterlife to be precise.

Now, the last time I saw a film in 3D I was 8 years old and at a theme park. (Yea, yea, there’s a lot in 3D these days but I’ve been happily living under a rock with HD and whatnot). So we get given our specially engineered glasses, and they look suspiciously like a fancier version of the paper/cellophane glasses that used to exist only these ones are plastic. The previews had already started (I time things well) so we found our seats and settled in. Well, most of the previews were in normal definition. Until one is blurry as hell (Hint #1 you should put your glasses on), a pair of 3D glasses appears on screen (Hint #2) and a pleasant male voice tells you how fantastic and optimized these glasses are (Hint #3). I don’t actually recall them specifically telling me to put the glasses on but I didn’t need all three hints to realise IT WAS TIME…. Time for more previews but in 3D now!

Yep, you wish you had 3D glasses to see this picture properly.

So, some of it was impressive. Like when ninja stars come out of the screen. And it did make it seem more ‘realistic’… I suppose. I think you’re supposed to feel closer to the action, and while I did get that feeling, I’m not ready to jump on the 3D bandwagon yet. (Obviously, it took me this long to even go see a 3D movie.) That said, it was pretty damn cool given it was an action film. And sure bullets and weapons aren’t going to be flying out the screen all the time, though with the rate the bad guys miss you’d think this would happen more often, but a little more wouldn’t hurt. It did give things an interesting sense of depth though, which I was impressed with.

Look out! Ninja stars coming at your face!

Overall, 3D seems cool. But nothing mind blowing. With all the hype you’d think it would be. Maybe they just want us to walk around looking dorky in our 3D glasses. Well, you guys will look dorky, I’ll probably be recruited to model the things. Awwyea!

Scrutiny Sundays are a creation of Reputation@Stake over at The Stupid Bet, share your link if you’re participating so I/he/we can all link up and hold hands like… or just share the link so I can check it out and/or mention you.

(Image Source)

Not exactly a Halloween Queen

Everyone seems to be all Halloween themed. OoooOoooOooo. Ok, maybe I’m slightly bitter because it’s not a largely celebrated thing in Australia. Granted, it’s another excuse to dress up and go drinking, but really isn’t the cultural thing it appears to be over in the US. I may also be slightly bitter because I was invited to a Halloween party by an actual American co-worker and I AM WORKING SO I CAN’T GO. (Hey, I get invited to all the parties alright? It wasn’t a pity/mass invite I swear.)

That said, I do wonder what I would dress up as. I rarely dress up for occasions/birthdays/theme days so it’s always a challenge for me. The one year I did dress up for a friend’s ‘Halloween’ party the theme was Peter Pan. And of course there were Peters and Tinkerbells and Captain Hooks and lost boys but –I- went as Peter Pan’s Shadow.

Imagine something like this, but better because it is me.

Awesome, right? Which I’m going to pretend means that I’m actually a great dress-er-up-erer  who saves the cool for rare occasions for added effect and not just lazy. (Don’t believe I resorted to primary school language. Er.. Costume designer/wearer? Dress up legend? We’ll go with legend.)

We –may- be able to dress up for work that day but I’m seriously not sure what I’d wear. Probably a bed sheet and go for the ‘so lame it’s cool’ angle. Yea, go for but not achieve. Sigh. Will have to come up with something eventually but until then I’ll cling to the shadow costume’s coolness. Oh! Once for a dress up party I wore… my normal clothes and a Mickey Mouse mask that I grabbed on the way out the door. I grabbed it so I wouldn’t get totally stared down for not wearing a costume but I –may- have looked like a serial killer/bank robber. That does explain a few things… What’s the coolest/lamest costume you’ve ever worn?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An artist rendering of the ‘costume’

Maybe I should just use it as an excuse to paint my face. Or rather, paint other peoples faces and have that as an excuse.

How I imagine it’d go down:

Me: “But it’s Halloween, trust me I’ve been doing this for a while”

Person: “I see that, very gruesome makeup effects on yourself there.”

Me: “Oh that, this is just me wearing makeup. Still getting used to applying it properly. Getting better though yea? Might paint my Halloween face after this though!”

*awkward silence*

Hey, it could work? Better not pick my facepaint targets too randomly. That could get messy.

Image source

Strap in for Scrutiny Sunday

Yet another(!) mention of another blog, but this time it will be followed with my own work for once, which is a rather frightening event. Feel free to stop reading….now.

Ok, if you’re still here, buckle in (to your computer chair? That doesn’t even make sense? Why would anyone put a seat belt on their computer chair? I suppose if you were playing simulation fighter pilot games, are prone to being startled and spilling your coffee all over your lap or regularly take the text speak ‘ROFL’ literally you would indeed consider a seat belt. That’d be a bit awkward to explain though, especially if you engineered your office chair to incorporate a seat belt. All you’d need would be neon yellow racing goggles and no one would ever bother you with office small talk again. You’d just get shot glances that you wouldn’t see since the snazzy frames on your goggles block out any and all peripheral vision. Man, sometimes I think I’d enjoy a desk job. Or well, less the job part and more the fact the environment is ideal for any number of random ideas/plans/occurrences. Like a chair seat belt!)

Over at a blog I stumbled on and continued to read since he’s actually kinda funny (but don’t tell him that), Reputation@Stake has blogging to fulfill his side of a bet (explained here, go check it out instead of me having to summarise, seriously). Now a recent post of his suggested different ‘Themes’ for different days. Seeing how I’ve been lacking in posts recently (more excuses go here), I thought I’d make an attempt at a post for ‘Scrutiny Sundays’. Now, I actually haven’t eaten pickled kangaroo so that means I’ll have to actually think of something original to scrutinize. Damn.

Well, I actually have tasted kangaroo. And… honestly it just tasted a lot like salty beef. Sorry if that ruins it for anyone but… I’m no food critic. I’m not going to be able to tell you the textures on your palate or anything. It tastes like red meat. Probably because it is. So pickled kangaroo would probably be… not overly enticing. Give me a steak any day. But, that said, the tourists love it. You can offer them a tiny entree that includes kangaroo meat at an exorbitant price and there isn’t much hesitation. Oh, come to Australia and eat one of our national emblems. Sure you’ve -seen- them, but have you TASTED THEM. Yep, definitely shouldn’t put me in charge of that ad campaign.

To distract you from the absence of content, here is a totally believable, non-MSPaintshopped picture of a kangaroo skewer.

Tasty!

How long are reviews supposed to be? I really can’t write too much on kangaroo meat. It’s just not that interesting (There’s the hint that tells me I shouldn’t have written about it AT ALL). Honestly, I came up with nothing. Nothing at all to scrutinize. I scrutinize things every day, review websites to friends. And I couldn’t think of a single funny, compelling thing/food/object/person to review on the one time I’m actually going to reach out to other bloggers. Always knew I was a smart one. So hilarious! They’ll be reading this and showing it to their friends and it’ll go viral once people get back in their seats (the ones without seat belts!) from laughing so hard. Fantastic! They’ll say. Kangaroo meat! They’ll forget I totally stole this idea off someone. That or he gets famous and rich too. (totally believable right?)

Well, I’m going to leave it at that. (Don’t think I didn’t hear that collective sigh of relief).

Musicofshadows: 0

Scrutiny Sundays: 1

Caught myself about to spout some sort of wrap up line. ‘Until next time!’ ‘Peace out’ ‘Have fun and remember to feed the zebras!’ Yea. Like I need to convince anyone further how lame I am. Cool people don’t sign out like that. Do cool people sign out? Must research this.

Wish I was as cool as this skewer. I mean kangaroo.

And because I have no clue about copyright rules:

(Original image) (Original image)

Scrutiny Sundays are a creation of Reputation@Stake over at The Stupid Bet, share your link if you’re participating so I/he/we can all skewer some ‘roos togeth- or just so I can share it as well.

One way to stand out as a musician.

As per usual, going to kick off with something that someone else came up with and not anything of my own (I swear I’ll get around to some original writing again soon…) However this is very share worthy. There’s a Youtube video maker called MysteryGuitarMan, and while he’s a great guitarist, his video editing skills and interesting ideas are what makes his clips stand out. It’s this kind of thing that makes me want to learn more video editing techniques (and be creative enough to apply them). I’ll shut up now and let the videos explain themselves.

This one is done entirely with kids toys and a bit of editing.

And though there’s a few like this out there, have some fun with…

Anyhow! Check out his Youtube page for more interesting videos. Original content on the way eventually, all the usual lame excuses apply (the best one being ‘I’ll update when I feel like since no one reads this anyway’ and the worst one being ‘I have work to do’)

What’s your lamest excuse for not blogging? What’s your best? Leave a comment!

Edit: I do realise no one reads this therefore asking for comments is like expecting that by painting racing stripes on a snail’s shell it will move faster (if it does, it’s likely just your imagination trying to justify the fact you took the time to paint a snail.) But hey. Maybe there’s that one snail that became so energized and motivated by you painting it, it suddenly started racing around at breakneck speed (do snails even have necks?). More likely, if it does move marginally faster it’s because the snail inhaled the paint fumes and is on it’s own little snail-trip. But I digress.

If she was a dust particle…

Plenty of sites out there have images or quotes that just make you stop for a second and think.  Guess this is my first ‘plug’ for another blog, and they don’t even know who I am. An interesting sense of… achievement/disbelief/amusement/turtle. Anyhow, onto the small yet thought provoking text (the suspense must be killing you.)

Only at 3a.m.

Sometimes I think it would be so cozy to have the ability to instantly transform myself into a little bug, that way i could fall asleep tucked into a matchbox with a cotton ball as a pillow. But then I suppose if i was that small, I’d see the matchbox and cotton ball as boring because they were my size, and I would wish I was even smaller, like a dot, who could live inside a dust particle, with a snippet of hair as my backyard. but then this spiral would just continue until i inevitably wished I was an atom, or half of one, and hitting that wall would just be so disappointing, i’d have to turn around and go back to being human-size again, and forget wishing i had a wizard who could make such transformations possible.

You may have a few moments to process that quote…

…ok. And about the ‘feeling a sense of turtle’, it actually means that you feel like you crawl along and then something opens your eyes and you just- Yea. I’m bullshitting. Random word vomit to attempt to add to this post. Which I really didn’t need to do, as that quote speaks for itself. Probably should have put it by itself without all my ramblings, or with structured/interesting ramblings. But I didn’t. Take that. All you…people that aren’t reading. TAKE THAT.

Return of the Je-… er, posts

Woo Star Wars reference!

With a few new posts under my belt and a renewed interest in blogging, for now, (still can’t pin down the exact reason why), I think it’s time I allowed access again. You know, blog to the millions of people not listening as opposed to blog to no one. There is a difference, I swear!

Or is there… who knows. Yep, took the blog off the internets, much to the dismay of fans and readers alike (is my sarcasm too obvious here?). Shit happened. But, s’all good. I’m back. But not in black. Much too hot for that today.

(Oh look I drew a love heart in Paint!)

P.S. That heart is not aimed at just anyone. Do not, gentle reader, assume it is my love for you. That I express in other ways. Like spouting random shit for you to read. See? Much better than a drawing.

Three-Minute Fiction (belated)#5

Only just heard about Three-Minute Fiction today and though this round is closed, I decided to try my hand at it anyway.

The stimulus for this round is:

Begins with “Some people swore that the house was haunted”

Ends with “Nothing was ever the same again after that.”

Here’s my effort.

Only Plastic

Some people swore the house was haunted. Sure it is, if Lego comes out with ghost figurines. Until then it is just a house made from a variety of white, yellow and red bricks on a green flat board. The artist, though an eight year old, was proud that he got to display his creation at the museum alongside the older Lego exhibits. There is an explanation for why the other figurines and creations lose random bricks here and there, even from in the middle of a solid structure. The figurine visible through the plastic window of the house did look a little creepy, perhaps due the thickly printed moustache and thin spectacles drawn on, or the curiously shaped plastic hair, but he is definitely inanimate. The perfectly detailed tuxedo painted on his torso appears flawed opposed to his brightly painted kin, but getting a closer look proves difficult due to his size and placement. It’s not even something most people would notice.

The exhibit, truth be told, had none of these odd problems before the kid added the figurine to his creation. The young builder didn’t think to mention he couldn’t remember owning such a figurine before searching his Lego collection for a suitable figurine and only finding this one. Nothing was ever the same after that.

This one time, at….(cliched title camp)

It’s been a while, but I’ve noticed a lot of my posts are linking and sharing info about various music listening sites. Found a new one today, in a similar vein to some I’ve mentioned previously.

This site is called bandcamp, and it uses a tag system to sort artists by genre. Once you click on an artist, it takes you to a page with their songs, all available for listening (none of this preview crap). Of course it is pay-to-download (they are indie artists after all, or at least a lot are) but the prices aren’t too bad if you do find a band or artist you fall in love with.

Mellow/Indie/Classical/Pop:
The Juliets
This is a 7 piece band from Detroit who seem to have a fairly strong online presence already. They are signed and appear to be touring at the moment. Hard to describe their sound, I used the tags from their bandcamp page to classify them. They have a rather chill/relaxed sound overall, and after a bit of research seems they are an impressive collection of talent. Have a listen for yourself and see what you think.

Rock/Pop/Punk:
One-Eyed Doll
This Austin based trio have a sound I’m particularly fond of- that sort of soft rock/grunge feel with diversity. Female fronted, they have a lot of energy and lyrical and musical variety. Songs like ‘Beautiful Freak’ and ‘See Jane Run’ are upbeat rock while ‘Murder Ballad’ is more soulful and mellow. Check em out!

Hip-hop/R&B/Pop/Soul:
The Yes Yes Yalls
This duo has a boyband-hiphop sorta sound, and it’s not really my cup of tea. That said, they do have a song called ‘PWNED’ which is growing on me a lot. Haven’t listened to their lyrics heavily or too many of their songs but the sheer fact they have a song called that, they make the short list.

All of this was from only an hour or so’s exploration of the site, so I’m sure there are better songs/artists that suit all tastes. I know I’ll keep browsing around, the autoplay feature is handy to as you can just open an artists page and it’ll play through the album, or you can load songs individually.

Happy listening.