Binnsy's Hovel

Well, first day back at uni after a month or two off. Looks like I’ll be having some fun this semester. In the first two hours of the morning we were treated to two scenes from Hitchcock and told that we’d be editing together some stock footage in any way we wished. Later in the year we’ll shoot our own stuff and stick that together however we see fit.

The other subject I had today was Convergence and New Media, which promises to be a thrillride of fun and excitement – not really. It’s pretty much about how communications and media technologies have changed and evolved and how nowadays they all fit together – for example a blog such as this consists of traditional journal entries interspersed with images, links to other sites, embedded YouTube video and dynamic Java applications, all housed in a well-designed and coded layout framework.

Tomorrow I have a Postproduction Sound lecture, and Thursday sees me back in the Ancient History world yet again. So yes. So far so good. In other news I turn 20 on Saturday randomly. Eek. Where did childhood go?

And as far as what I was yapping about the other day with Harry Potter, I was right on two counts with The Deathly Hallows: a, Snape was good in the end, and b, none of the three main characters snuffed it. So I was happy on that front. I’ve been reading Eddings again lately, and I hope to snaffle the next Pratchett before too long.

In absentia of the next season of The West Wing in my DVD player (I am presently left hanging at the end of season four: Zoey Bartlet is missing and John Goodman has just been sworn in as temporary President), I’ve just swallowed the first season of NCIS as a nice little denouement to my mid-year break. It’s a good series, with detailed plots and polyepisodic story arcs that aren’t too trying on the viewer (like one series in particular in its later seasons). Who can resist a bit of ‘DiNozzo!’ to finish off the holiday?

And my other little project has been finishing off all my Xbox games before I investigate the acquisition of my next-gen console of choice: the Nintendo Wii. Currently about halfway through From Russia With Love, if you’re wondering.

And Big Brother’s over for another year. Thank god.

Until next time…

I apologise for the three-week absence. I’ve been flat out trying to save some money before uni goes back next week, and I also took a week off to head down to Melbourne to catch up with the family down there. So yeah. Back now at the Hovel, and I’ll try to post more often – promise!

Through a series of connected, interrelated and intricately woven circumstances I found myself standing in line at around 8am on Saturday waiting for the release of the latest and final instalment of the Harry Potter book series. In a nutshell, my girlfriend had pre-ordered the thing from Borders and was itching to go pick it up and read it with her Superman-like speedy eyes (Much to her chagrin I strolled into Borders at about 10am and bought the adult version at the same price with no lines to wait in at all).

It was incredibly difficult not to be caught up in all the tension and excitement. I finally got around to reading The Order of the Phoenix and The Half-Blood Prince earlier this year, and so was pretty keen to find out how it all ended, and I thought I’d be content to wait until Supergirl finished the thing in a few hours, but no – for some reason I had to have my own copy of this literary phenomenon.

News sites said Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows obliterated just about every book sales record in history, including many that were set by The Order of the Phoenix. It was hilarious to watch people surge to the front of the line, then very slowly and cautiously walk out the door, noses in their books, devouring the first few pages of the final chapter in the Potter saga. I finished the thing on Monday, and was absolutely and completely satisfied with how it all ended up. I was right on two counts (which I’ll divulge soon – as not to spoil it for the latecomers) so I was happy. Rowling proved that she would not sacrifice language, pizzazz, writing flair or plot complexity for the sake of a quick finish. This was well thought-out, brilliantly written and beautifully concluded.

So there you have it – Harry Potter done and dusted. I wonder what J.K. Rowling will write next… after she gets tired of languishing in her millions…

Until next time…

So I was stuffing around with Google Earth the other day, as one does when one is on holidays and has nothing better to do. I was placemarking the various places I’ve lived in my nearly twenty years and was exploring the towns I’ve come to know. Whilst exploring the town of Windsor, not far from the Richmond RAAF Base (New South Wales, Australia, for those of you not from round here), I was shocked to discover that, according to Google, the bridge over the Hawkesbury River at Windsor does not work.

See below:

It merely drops into the river from both sides! Imagine the shock that would assail poor, unsuspecting motorists as they attempt to drive to Windsor Town Centre or the new Coles complex to do their shopping, only to end up drowning at the bottom of the river! Something must be done.

That is why I’ve sent emails to all of my local parliamentarians imploring them to do something about this grave injustice. We can’t let this (see below) continue.

Until next time…

Well, I suppose now we can finally get some sleep after the ‘tanker that captured the heart of a nation’ was finally dragged from its sandy deathtrap at some ungodly hour of lastnight (ref: ungodly, ’sinful’, ‘wicked’ or ‘outrageous’). People camped out to watch the silly thing spin on its axis (confirmed by one ship-addict on Seven News lastnight when he was heard to remark ‘I think they just spun it round on its axis’) and then finally get pulled out to sea, leaving a nice big black pool of oil where once it sat.

Now, authorities say the Pasha Bulker will be ceremoniously sunk by a fleet of Australian Navy vessels, and turned into a tourist attraction for the previously boring and unheard-of Nobbys Beach, near Newcastle.

In other news, Coles has been sold to Wesfarmers for some ungodly amount (ref: ungodly, ’sinful’, ‘wicked’ or ‘outrageous’). Various executives of the respective companies were overheard saying things like, ‘Well, it’s hardly like popping down the shops for take-away,’ ‘God I hope this pays off,’ and ‘Now I can retire.’

In huge news for those silly enough to buy the Telegraph, Big Brother hostess Gretel Killeen is under attack from front, flanks and rear after turning on the latest evictee after he suggested that the portrayal of life in the house might not be as accurate as first thought. Jamie McDonald, self-confessed nerd star of the latest Big Brother travesty (ref: television series) was heard to say that the person who edited the footage deserved an award. Cue Ms. Killeen saying that with 38 cameras in the house accuracy of coverage was paramount. Cue ‘oooh’ from braindead audience. Cue mock ‘ouch’ from nerd on couch. Sigh. So this is what television and newsworthy media has sunk to.

And I was shocked to discover yesterday that my beloved Melbourne Demons lost its coach after Round 13. Neale Daniher, aka the ‘Rev’, retired last week after a decade of service to the Melbourne Football Club. Daniher’s Wikipedia page says that his playing career is a case of ‘what might have been’, and I suppose the same could be said for his coaching career. We had a few good seasons under the Rev’s watchful eye, but they can hardly be said to be spectacular. Maybe under stand-in coach Mark Riley we’ll see some improvement. Who knows.

That said, I did like Neale Daniher and his love of the club and the boys. Good luck in whatever happens next for you.

Last week the CIA released details of several activities that took place up to 1973 which it was believed contradicted the charter of the Agency. These included a CIA-initiated Mafia plot to kill Fidel Castro and the surveillance of several journalists believed to be publishing classified CIA information.

What was intriguing about the documents was that despite being released under the Freedom Of Information Act, many of the pages have information removed. The Agency calls this ’sanitising’. One can only assume that the missing information relates to directives still in play today, or contains details potentially sensitive to the Agency in its current form.

But still, one would assume that the FOIA implies the full disclosure of even sensitive information. Not to worry. I’m sure when the Bush administration is toppled we’ll all have access to whatever we like. Pfft. Yeah.

Until next time…

How excitement!

Until next time..

The picture below pretty much sums up how incredibly bored I’ve been this morning…

So yeah. Fun. Took me about ten attempts, if you’re wondering.

With the lack of motivation to post anything more enlightening, I thought it’d be interesting to explore some of the keywords that have led people to the Hovel, courtesy of Google Analytics.

augustus schenck

Schenck is the composer of my favourite painting, Anguish, which hangs in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne – so it only seems right that this lead people here. I’m assuming that they were directed to this post.

what did john bede polding to help australian democracy

This one was a bit funky, but I went to Bede Polding College so I guess it makes sense. As for what Polding did do, he was the first Catholic bishop and archbishop, and he commissioned and oversaw the building of many of the first church buildings in Australia, including St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. He encountered strong resistance from Irish Catholics, but worked to further monasticism in the colony. He made many long trips on horseback to outlying settlements to preach to the inhabitants.

“climate change fad”

I’d hardly call this new wave of environmentalism a ‘fad’. With people like Al Gore, Tim Flannery and Bill Bryson becoming more and more active in social circles, rustling up more and more support, I think we will start to see significant environmental change within the decade. People are starting to heed the warnings, and we’re beginning to realise that although we’ve buggered up a lot of our planet, we need to work to look after what we have left. The search would have led these Hovel-dwellers to this post.

w.h. paling & co. ld piano

I’m glad someone somewhere in the world is interested in these wonderful instruments. My old piano is a W.H. Paling. It’d been sitting under my distant cousin’s property outside Tamworth for over fifty years on its back. When we dusted it off and set it upright, it was a mere semitone out of tune. Now it’s up with my mother in her new house in Tamworth, significantly more out of tune now, I’ll add!

hot cup a joe falafel and a blanket

As you do. A very odd combination indeed. I imagine this has something to do with a quote I took from a blog called Froggy Ruminations for a post I wrote on the Fallujah media crisis.

aldi+fundamentalists

This one cracked me up. I’m trying to imagine a bunch of Al-Qaeda strategists sitting in front of a whiteboard going through various jihad targets and coming up with Aldi Supermarkets. ‘Low-price infidels! You cannot sell dishwashing liquid for under US$5! This is a tragedy that must be punished in the name of Allah!’ Chortle, chortle. This query probably yielded the various Aldi Raid posts I did back in 2005. What was pretty amusing about the search was that the phrases Google selected where the keywords appeared were ‘but in today’s changing world Fundamentalism is fast becoming the enemy’ and ‘3:00pm today, Aldi’s of Beaconsfield was subject to a severe raid’. Never mind that the ‘raid’ in question was a light-hearted jab at discount capitalism by myself and a friend. Again, chortle.

tram driver webgame

I don’t know what this is about but I want one. How much fun would that be. Zipping around Melbourne, yelling at customers for not paying the fares and then being beaten to death for suggesting something so demented as actually paying for efficient public transport. Ah, good times.

david neitz accuracy

You shouldn’t have to search for this. Everyone knows when it comes to goal-kicking Needa gets it right all the time.

is hip hop increasing correct grammar

No. Idiot.

+replicating a 1920’s store facade

I have no idea where this came from or what they ended up with here at the Hovel. I daresay try a bit of research into 1920’s decor and architecture. Google’s always a good place to start. Might help.

“my mother tried to kill herself”

This scared me a bit. But then I realised that it led to my story Dream Slayer, that I wrote for one of my subjects in first semester last year. Apart from The Tale of Mr Kingsley and a couple of others, I’ve been noticing that most of my fiction and creative writing, scripts, etc, are pretty dark and morbid and a little creepy. I don’t know, hopefully it’ll pass. I’m working on something a little lighter now, so we’ll see how that goes.

And there we have it! Another keyword analysis over and done with. There were over 100 keywords but these were by far the most interesting. So yes. Back to being bored.

Until next time…