Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Ponoko Coasters

I don't know if any of you have heard of Ponoko, but they have a service called Photomake, where you can upload a line drawing, and they'll cut it out of wood or plastic for you.

Well, my set of coasters arrived, and fuck yeah are they awesome! If anyone can tell what each logo is, I'll donate 2,000 grains of rice via Free Rice











Here's the original JPEG, if anyone wants to replicate my efforts.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Flash Fiction: Bubbles

I noticed the man as I walked home one day. He was partly balding, his unkempt grey hair straggled down to his shoulders in lanky twines. He was protected from the elements in the park by a beatup black duster, that looked like it hadn't seen clean water since the Carter administration. He sat on a park bench, his face like a wallet beaten repeatedly with a baseball bat. His scowl was fierce and all encompassing as he leaned forward, legs splayed.

In his right hand was a cheap cigarette, held between first and middle fingers yellowed and cracked with abuse. In the same hand, clenched fiercely to his palm, was a small, pink, plastic wand, the tip shaped like a star.

Repetitively, he would reach the wand into the small jar of bubbles in his left hand, swirl it around, and slosh some of the liquid on his finger. He'd withdraw the wand, a patina of film spread across it. Then, his right hand to his mouth, and a drag of his cigarette. One heartbeat. Two. Three. And out into the wand.

Bubbles would fill his little corner of the park, and when each popped, a small flare of smoke would escape. Once every tiny sphere and exploded into vapours, he'd reach his right hand over to the left and start again. And never stop scowling.



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Sunday, October 12, 2008

HONK!

There was a marching band festival today, which I unfortunately only caught about the latter half of. Still, very cool, and here are a few photos.















Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Quite possibly the worst thing ever...

Well, apart from cancer...

Nightmare Revisited. A cover album of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. Good lord, I liked the movie too, but if this isn't the biggest emo-bait, hot topic friendly album of all time, I don't know what is. All American Rejects on Jack's Lament? Plain White Ts do Poor Jack? Even the Polyphonic Spree sample sounds horrible...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

100 posts

Well, here I am, 100 posts into this thing. Perhaps not the worlds most prolific blogger, but still I write, because if I don't...well, that would be giving in.

So perhaps now is a time to reflect on my time in this paradoxical nation, which befuddles me as often as it surprises.

For one, American spelling still drives my up the wall the S/Z and OU/O thing still get me most of the time. It's infuriating, but in one case I love it. American English can distinguish between analyses and analyses (or analyzes and analyses). As in "John analyses the data" or "John has run multiple analyses." Most of the time it pisses me off.

They don't use the term 'mains power' for plugging into the wall.

Their power switches have down as off.

The date system of month/day/year is utterly stupid.

And it's aluminium, by God.

As a people, they seem so fervently independent, to the point of saying "Fuck the Government" without actually understanding why. In certain situations where, I believe, governmental programs or support would be advantageous, people will scream 'socialism' in terror. And they vote Republican, because they believe it's the party of small government, which is utterly isn't.

One of the oddest things I've encountered is my rapid adaptation to the US accent. Well, being used to hearing it anyway. Not so much the godawful Boston screeching, but just the accent on the whole. It so rapidly reset to neutral that I didn't even notice it. And when I heard a kiwi accent again recently, it really threw me. I couldn't quite place it for a second. It's...odd.

And finally, American chocolate is 90% shitehouse. Sorry, but it's true.

To take it away, have some YouTube videos that will make your life a better place