Pathetically Funny

 

Power

Christmas Day. 30+ degree heat. Niceish breeze. And yet another one of
Beattie's Blundering Blackouts means I can't open the fridge to get myself
a beer.

When will Queenslander's wake up to the arrogance and incompetence? Maybe
when they've melted?

Has anyone seen my stapler?

Doesn't it suck when you're ordering Christmas presents for people from Amazon and you realise that in order to justify the postage you're about to be gouged, youve got to go and order a few things for yourself as well. One of the things I got was this.

The Special Edition with Flair!. Sometimes, it's just not fair.

The Internet Is For Porn

Apparently, there's a Broadway musical called "Avenue Q". It has a song in it.

This song has been spliced together with World of Warcraft characters pretty much lip-synching.

No idea why, but boy is this funny.

A new game to play

Maybe up the coast?

heh

Love this strip.

ASoIaF FAQ

ASoIaF FAQ - some interesting possible answers for the series.

Now these guys are having a bad day

Oops, Oops and Oops

Crows

Finished the book. Pissed off it's only half a book. Want part 2 now. Is it just me, or is Cersei Lannister completely f*cked in the head or what?

[Listening to: Jeff Buckley - Eternal Life EP - Eternal Life [Road Version] (4:50)]

Sacrilege

Is it just me or do all Ramones songs sound exactly the same?

In case you were wondering...

Game Console Controller Family Tree
How did the current home-console controllers come to be? How have they evolved? You may have noticed some similarities between the current generation controllers, or between them and the previous generations of controllers. So, how do they all tie together?

And you scoffed at Scientology.

You thought that there was no way Scientology gave you superpowers?

Check out this video evidence. It's chilling.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill To Men

I used to think that most Christmas Lights were, while pretty, pretty boring.

After seeing this one, though, I know they are.

I just hope that these lights have the soundtrack blaring out of the house when the lights start up...

heh

Got to love Penny Arcade.

Guess the Dictator or Television Sit-Com Character

This is rather cool: Guess the Dictator or Television Sit-Com Character
This is pretty good, even on 'unpopular sit-coms'

Where did the lumberjack come from?

Watch this advert (Spike Jonze = genius/madman) and then ask yourself - "Why doesn't Myer ever have such interesting adverts?"

[Listening to: Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me (Disc 01) - Waiter (4:15)]

Lexus IS Has Secret Cheat Code

This makes sense when you think about it. Cars have computers and computers have always had hidden Easter eggs and cheat codes, so it was inevitable that someone would find a cheat code hidden inside a car. Case in point: here’s way to disable the traction/skid control systems called VDIM on the Lexus IS:
Click Here for Article

The comments on this article are hilarious.

Just one more turn....

I finally cracked and purchased Civ IV on the weekend. Getting it for $40
off from EB didn't hurt. Of course the 3:30am finish this morning didn't
exactly help either....

Curse you Sid Meier (or at least the people hiding behind your name on this
game)...

The Box O' Truth

The Box O' Truth #5 - The Locks O' Truth - Ever seen them shoot a lock off a door in a movie? Now see if it's actually effective in real life.

The Box O' Truth #4 - Miscellaneous Rounds Meet the Box O' Truth

Moral of this lesson: Don't get in any gun fights with buffalo hunters. There ain't no such thing as cover

Kyle is a d*ck

25-10Y2AYSNR00.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object) - No - not the South Park one...

Paging Nerd Central

Star Wars: Collecting | More Than Meets the Eye: Star Wars Transformers

I want a new Lexus.

I was watching TV the other night, when an ad came on for some new Lexus.

And, well, it convinced me that I should buy it, because I can't think of another car on the market that has bull-morphing technology.

That's right, if you ever find yourself in a car being charged by two bulls from opposite directions, you'll rue the day you didn't get the car with the technology to morph the bulls directly into the body of the car.

I wish there was a link I could provide that would show the bull-morphing to those of you who still doubt it, but you'll just have to catch the ad and be amazed for yourself.

(Sarcasm aside, what the fuck? What the fuck does it mean to show bulls charging a car and then frigging morphing into it and then have some wanker of a shirtless driver drop in through the ceiling of the car and morph into it as well? What crack-smoking advertising agent possibly thought this would sell cars?)

Laws of Drivers

A driver's ability to drive is inversely proportionate to the number of
stupid stickers festooned on the back of their car. Doubly so if they have
one of those bloody J*tpilot or P*rnst*r sticks on their shitty car.

Howstuffworks

"How the Death Star Works" This is just cool

Ducking out for a fag at 39,000ft

from this news.com.au article
A WOMAN passenger tried to open the emergency door of a plane at 39,000ft so she could step outside for a cigarette.
Fellow passengers on the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Brisbane were alarmed to see French tourist Sadrine Helene Sellies, 34, get up from her seat, holding a cigarette and a lighter, and grab the emergency door handle, Brisbane Magistrates Court was told yesterday.

Commonwealth prosecutor Anthony Gett said passengers were convinced she was trying to open the door.

Sellies, an aged care nurse who was flying to Brisbane with her husband for a three-week holiday in Australia when the incident happened about 8.15am on Friday, pleaded guilty to a charge of endangering an aircraft.

Mr Gett told the court the offence carried a maximum penalty of seven years' jail.

But magistrate Gordon Dean released Sellies on a $1000, 12-month good behaviour bond after her bizarre behaviour was explained by defence counsel Helen Shilton.

Sellies was apparently sleepwalking when she tried to open the door as the plane flew over north Queensland, Ms Shilton said.

She said Sellies was on her first trip outside France and was terrified of flying.

Before leaving for the trip, she had obtained prescriptions for sedatives and sleeping pills.

During the Hong Kong-Brisbane leg of the flight, she did not take any sedatives.

But she drank several glasses of whisky and took several sleeping pills, not realising their effect "would be compounded by alcohol".

The court heard that at 6am, more than two hours before she tried to open the door, Sellies ordered a glass of whisky but the request was refused by a cabin attendant who believed she was drunk.

"She has absolutely no recollection of this event," Ms Shilton said. "She has a history of sleepwalking.

"It may well be that in the state she was in, she was looking for somewhere to have a cigarette, possibly not realising she was still in an aircraft."

Mr Gett said the prosecution conceded that it would have been impossible to open the door while the plane was in flight.

Ms Shilton said Sellies was extremely remorseful.

She said the incident would have been regarded less seriously a few years ago, before the world became gripped by fears of terrorism.

"Had it not been for the events of September 11, perhaps the courts may not have seen this as such a terrifying offence," she said.

Strange

Fractal Hand Zoom

We're going to Germany!!!

 

Young Wisdom

 

Art in progress

This is pretty cool.

November 20

The ship arrives in Australia. Being in Australia of course means we get shafted with a release date after most of the rest of the world. This naturally means that the album is already available, if you know where to look. 

Why 4WD's Should Be Banned

Because the wankers who own them don't know how to drive - let alone park. It's not that bloody hard. See those two white lines - you park between them. Not on top of them. Dickhead. 

Fluffy Destroyer

Heh 

He's at it again

Heh 

One Please

mmmmmmm... 

The things you see when driving through Brisbane...

Someone had an interesting night. 

Prison Vs Work

IN PRISON... you spend the majority of your time in an 8X10 cell
AT WORK... you spend the majority of your time in a 6X8 desk cubicle

IN PRISON...you get three meals a day
AT WORK...you only get a break for one meal and you pay for it

IN PRISON...you get time off for good behaviour
AT WORK...you get more work for good behaviour

IN PRISON...the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you
AT WORK...you must carry around a security card and open all the doors For yourself

IN PRISON...you can watch TV and play games
AT WORK...you get fired for watching TV and playing games

IN PRISON...you get your own toilet
AT WORK...you have to share with some idiot who pees on the seat

IN PRISON...they allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK...you can't even speak to your family on the phone.

IN PRISON...the taxpayers pay all expenses with no work required.
AT WORK...you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON...you must deal with sadistic wardens.
AT WORK...they are called managers.

Have a Great Day at WORK - I'm going to PRISON

Rolling Bomber Special

There's a lot of things in Japanese culture that puzzle, annoy or even frighten me.

And then there's Rolling Bomber Special, which makes me realise that I'm not alone. Not even among the Japanese.

Bloody Fann-tastic

Sometimes working at the places I do there are some fringe benefits. One of those was Tuesday night when I got to see the opening performance of Terrace old-boy (the school plugs him at every turn, so why shouldn't I) Bernard Fanning (or as the Powerhouse calls him - Richard Fanning).

Now this was the opening date on his "Tea & Sympathy" tour - and for a guy with only one solo album to his credit, it was a pretty good show. Now it's kind of hard to be the lead singer of one of the biggest Australian bands going around and release a solo album that doesn't sound a heck of a lot like what's come before, but Fanning does a pretty good effort from what I've heard.

Reading an article on the weekend, Fanning said that when he started recording the album, it kicked off as a country one. That is relatively evident by the sound of many of the tracks. They heavily feature more acoustic guitar than you would expect from the usual 'finger effort.

Showing his Brisbane roots, his backing band was renamed "The Gap Jazz Choir" for the evening (some kind of in-joke for one of his friends I believe). They did a pretty good job of supporting Fanning on his journey around the music. The bands banter and by-play felt natural and it seemed like they were having a pretty good time. At some stages they actually seemed more interested in ripping on each other than actually performing.

I know that with a couple of artists I've seen who were formerly parts of a band, the temptation is there to sing some of the better-known 'classics' from their former catalogue to please the crowd. While I'm by no means a Powerfinger expert, I'm pretty sure Fanning didn't resort to this at all during the night - at least - none of the more familiar mainstays I recognise. The closest they came was a bit of teasing noodling by one of the guitarists in between songs.

All in all - it was a show I quite enjoyed. Made all the better by being paid to see it. There is one thing I still don't get. If you've paid $60+ to see a show, why on earth do you then proceed to spend the entire time pointing a camera at the stage and trying to take photos of it (especially those wankers with camera phones - they're even more useless over distance). If you're going to a concert, why not do something radical and ACTUALLY WATCH THE BLOODY THING.

Morons.

Musing on Music.

I recently acquired Civilisation IV, and have been playing it in that addictive way that turn-based empire-buildling games grab me. It's a great improvement on the disappointing Civ 3, in that diplomacy actually works now, and I'm grooving on some of the streamlining stuff they've done (e.g. 'health' - kicks arse).

With it came a 'soundtrack CD'. I don't know how limited release it is, but the EB guy chucked it in for free with the game, so what the hey.

The music's mostly leader themes, which by and large are not really supposed to distract from the interactions with the various leaders, but to add atmosphere. They're meant to stay in the background, I guess, and it shows.

But there is one track on there that owns me. Holy fucking hell. I get goosebumps listening to it, and thanks to the wonders of CDex I listen to it a lot.

The track is called 'Baba Yet', apparently - and if you wind up not getting the soundtrack but getting the game, it's the music played over the main menu (i.e. after the intro cinematic but before the dive into next-turn madness). For those of you with no intention of getting near the game, it's got a very african feel to it - choral music, with orchestral backing. And somehow, not knowing what the words mean, it's just so uplifting. Like you've fought hard to survive the night, vanquished what was threatening you and then watching the sunrise. It's like the opening of a chapter that it's an achievement just to begin. Like I said, this song owns me so hard it sold me off and bought me back.

Quick Google Update: Doing a quick search, I've discovered that the proper name of the track is, in fact, 'Baba Yetu', and can be downloaded from here. For free. So please, do it. It's apparently the Lord's Prayer in Swahili ("Lord's Prayer" = "Our Father", "Pater Noster", etc). Which is kind of cool. So see if you get owned, too.

Bloody Rain

Bloody Rain, originally uploaded by JamesA.

Dresden

Riding a Zombie Tryanosaurus Rex into battle against a horde of necromancers bent on transforming one of their members into a demi-god through a ceremony which will wipe out half of Chicago, with only a half-crazed-with-fear polka-playing medical examiner as your assistant and an ensnared fallen angel offering you the power to defeat all your enemies if only you listen to her from time to time....

I know which wizarding Harry books I seem to be having more fun with at the moment...

Get In!!!

Nice goal.

Greenpeace damages reef

GREENPEACE is to be fined after its flagship Rainbow Warrior II damaged a coral reef in the central Philippines during a climate change awareness campaign.
The ship and its crew were assessed a 640,000-peso ($15,000) fine after the 55m motor-assisted schooner ran aground at the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park yesterday, park manager Angelique Songco said.

The ship's bow sliced through a reef formation measuring 160sq m, she said.
Full article here

Why don't they shoot the horses?

Have I ever mentions how much I hate this bullshit obsession people seem to have with the bloody Melbourne Cup. What a major waste of time, energy and money. Peter Beattie wouldnt' have to end universal hospital cover if we just used the money that is going to be pissed up against the wall today instead. Then again, he's probably just use it to build another football stadium...

You know what would make the race more interesting? On the final straight, if the horse had to make it past a nest o Turkish machine gunners to reach the finish line. Just think about it - not only would it make the whole joke more interesting - what with the major upswing of violence, but it would make it suitably nostalgic. Pseudo-Charge of the Light Brigade....

el baile de yoda

el baile de yoda - Google Video. So stupid it's funny. 

More Cool Costumes

How much time would these take? Pity they didn't do the obvious with a chain-sword. But then I guess they wouldn't be allowed to walk around a 'Con with one of those...

Putting Things In Perspective

Enter your yearly earnings and see where you are according to The Global Rich List. I have no idea how accurate this is....but kind of interesting.

You will need to convert your AU$ to another currency, do so here

The new men's loo at the Sofitel in Queenstown NZ

Awards

Pictures from the Winter trophy night.

WoT11

Have finished the Prologue and I think more has happen in those 86 pages than in Volumes 5 to 9 of the books themselves. All the pieces are rushing into place.

I think Nick'd like this book (if he was still reading WoT that is), plenty of Matt action. And I don't think I've come across a single female character "sniffing and folding their arms under their breasts..." quote yet. That's not to say the characters don't do one of the other, just not both at the same time. Wonders will never cease...

It never fails to astound me that some people have nothing better to do

 

Way to many here.