not today

i haven't blogged in a couple of weeks as my time has been taken up with other things.

after the inorganic collection a few weeks back, i had a lot of empty space, and cds and dvds stacked in boxes. i needed bookshelves. and fortunatly, the warehouse has kitset bookshelves at a reasonable price. and being a kiwi male, putting them together would be no problem. (and i was right about that)

unfortunately, the only day i really get to do them is sunday. and sunday is not a good day for me to anything. so i've been doing it piecemeal. two weeks ago, i went to buy them, but by the time i got them home, i was too tired to put them together.

last week, i spent five hours putting them together and then was too tired to fill them up.

yesterday i did fill them up, it took longer than i expected and it turns out that i need a few more.

last night, i came out of dialysis half a kilo under my target weight. today, its raining, everytime i stand up i get a headrush and a bit of dizziness. taking a shower wore me out. i think i've done enough for this week, so i'll be watching a terrible film (superhero movie) reading a book or two and getting an early night. at this rate its going to take another month or so before everything's squared away.

still, the stuff i've done so far looks good

not dead yet

i was half-listening to the radio yesterday, when the news came on and i heard rge name of chris knox. unfortunately i didn't hear the rest of the news, so i had to wait.

it turns out that he wasn't dead. chris knox had a stroke on thursday night and is now in hospital.

still, the fact that he is still alive hasn't stopped the eulogising. highlights of his career were mentioned in the herald, and on stuff.

i've met him, you know. when i was doing the lights for francis sect, he occasionally played solo as support, and i ended up doing the lights for him as well.

at the they might be giants gig in 1990, he said hello. and when they started a singalong section, he was joining in as cheerfully as anyone else.

get well soon

epigram

a post-dialysis day has all of the fun of a hangover with none of the tedious business of getting drunk

wrds mttr

Television New Zealand has been forced to scrap a new advertising campaign featuring promos with text language after a backlash from members of the public.

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said the new promos, which screen exclusively on TV2, were introduced around a fortnight ago and there had been a "clear message" from the public that they were not popular.

"We have learned in that period that vowels are extremely important to New Zealanders."

The ads featured abbreviations for upcoming shows, using 'TON' for 'tonight' and 'TMW' for tomorrow in the style of language usually used in cellphone text messges.

TVNZ were aware of the Facebook site created to fight the vowel-free promos and had received "dozens of letters and emails" on the matter, Ms Richards said.

More than 6000 people have signed up to the 'I hate TV2's new abbreviations' Facebook group.

"While TV channels don't stand still and we'll try new ideas and look for points of differences, there is no point in having a point of difference that people don't like," she said.

"It was an idea that was obviously not appreciated."

Ms Richards said the promo campaign had been created "in-house" and had involved "no extraordinary cost".

The new-look promos would be phased out in the coming days, she said.

"Progressively, over the next few days and weeks it will return to the way it was and you will see vowels once again."

A blog by Moata Tamaira on Stuff.co.nz about the ads received more than 100 comments, most of them negative.

"It took me ages to figure out what 'TON' and 'TMW' meant," said one poster.

"I think it's ridiculous. 'TON' annoys me the most - it's like they forgot the rest of the word. Bring back the old format," said another.

to be honest, i hadn't even noted the changes, and now they're gone.

i just can't get to grips with this new text lenguage though; even when i send i text i tend to write the words out in full

i'd be useless on twitter

inorganic weekend

yes its that time of year again when the detritus of a consumerist society is sprawled over the grass verges of the neighbourhood. the end result is that today, mt eden looks like a rubbish tip

about two weeks ago i got a note through my letter box from the auckland city council warning me that this was coming up on the weeked of the 6 and 7th of june, but not to put any rubbish out before then, or i would be prosecuted.

so over the last two days i have eschewed my usual packrat tendencies and not only got rid of a lot of my rubbish, but sold an old steroeo and playstation to cash converters, a bunch of books to the book exchane and found about fifty dollars in notes and coins.

oh, and taniwha? the bed you left with me when you moved to england? sorry dude, out on the road.

there has also been the ususl inorganic dance. no sooner do you put stuff out for collection, that others come around and pick through it. fair enough, you know, one person's trash is another person's treasure, but i ntried to be considerate to the collectors and put my smaller stuff out in boxes and bags. the collectors open these to rummage through them and do they replace the things they don't want? no, of course not.

fortunately, i was able to get a lot shifted yeaterday but there was still plenty to take out today. this is not an activity designed for a post-dialysis day.

my home now looks substantially larger, and i am officially stuffed

can't cook anything too complex for dinner, thank god for sardines on toast

across the universe redux

ok, i said i needed to see this film again and i did (thank you sky), after all its a rare film that earworms me for days on end.)
i was more alert this time and it turns out, i really really like it

its a story about the 1960s, more or less and concerns six people; jude, lucy, maxwell, prudence, sadie and jojo ( i can hear you groaning from here). there is a plot of sorts, but its more an impression of the times, rather than a history.

the essential problem with these kinds of films is that they are trying to write a story around a group of already exisiting songs, but this fil does it much better than, say mama mia. in that film, the moviemakers pretty much stuck to abba's arrangements, in across the universe, musical director elliott rosenthal has often rearranged the songs, sped some up (falling) slowed some down ( i want to hold your hand) which has given a new perspective on the songs. take it won't be long, sung here by the female lead and very well done too.

joe cocker's version of come together is so good you wonder why he hadn't done it before.

other highlights are i want you (she's so heavy) and happiness is a warm gun

as i said before, it's visually stunning, and the choreography isn't bad either. my one quibble is that tv carpio, who has a great voice, as well as being heartbreakingly gorgeous, doesn't get enough screen time (and only one solo)

i will definatly be picking up the dvd once it hits the cheapie bins (that will be in a couple of months, i reckon)

i also need to get a new copy of the white album as i seem to have misplaced mine

dead list

david carradine
i vaguely remember kung fu, his series from the seventies, and yeah, i sat through kill bill. both parts. twice
i just found it annoying that these were the only two productions mentioned in his obituary. what about boxcar bertha? or the long riders, or even (the original) death race 2000.

for my money, his best role was as woody guthrie in bound for glory

as for the rumors surrounding his death, i don't really care.

so very cold

first frost of the year reached mt eden last night

5 degrees when i got up this morning

was tempted to leave the heater on while i was at dialysis last night, but didn't. when i got home at 10.45pm, the place was freezing

dead list

danny la rue (distant memories of 1970s british variety shows)

annoying headline

from the nz herald

No NZers among 216 passengers on missing jet

well that's alright then, so long as it was only foreigners...

i know that this is a new thing; monty python satrised the british tendency to do this kind of thing in the seventies (and not the nine o'clock news did it again in the eighties)

it is irritating the way that papers need to have a local slant to try ands make it relevant for local readers

i remeber one headline that came out on september 12 2001 (kiwi slightly hurt in new york attack)

the irony is that print media is one of the most blatant signs of globalisation in the modern world. the herald is owned by an irishman (who is still in ireland), the sub editors are based in australia.