Sunday, February 19, 2006
SKIRMISH
The drenai guys got together for a game of skirmish against some of my friends today. We'd been talking about having a run together for ages but it never really eventuated before. So we headed out to windsor to test our wares against unknown opposition and see whether we were the real deal or it was all foolhardy bravado. This would be my 3rd time playing skirmish. The first time I played it was back in 2000 with the One.Tel boys and it was at the same place.
To get into the correct frame of mind I dreamt the nite before that I was playing skirmish akin to Chow Yun Fat in a John Woo movie. Everything was done in slow mo. I was tumbling from barrier to barrier, sliding and diving hitting opponents right between the eyes. Shooting and eliminating my enemies with grace and a coolness that defied logic. Hahahaha, fat chance. But it was a nice dream.
The day started off on a disastrous note. On the first run, at the first barrier I was ambushed along with Scotty and got eliminated without firing a single shot. Chow Yun Fat I aint. Things didn't progress as well in the next game either. My dodgy knee struggled with the tricky terrain and my gun was giving me some serious grief. It kept jamming and wasn't firing properly. The course before lunch proved slightly better. I started off as the general (wearing a fluoro vest) and had to avoid being shot by the opposition. Some serious protecting from Slaps got me through.
Lunch was a barbie and plenty of fluids. It was damn hot in the overalls and mask. Damn hot.
After lunch, dramas hit. I dunno if it was a dodgy sausage or not. I got my dodgy gun replaced and things looked up until I proceeded to ascend the hills when I felt a rumble in my stomach. It progressively got worse and I started to keel over. I hung in and managed to survive albeit it staying put but when I got back to the sheds, my stomach really really rumbled. I tried to let it pass but I couldn't and had to run back to the base to errrrr get rid of the lunch contents. 10 minutes later I was back in the fold feeling much better.
It turned out to be a great day. The girls really did well. The last time we had females, there were only a few and they all quit after a few games. This lot toughed it to the end.
Oh and I won't be expecting a call from John Woo anytime soon......
Skirmish 2006[original size]
The drenai guys got together for a game of skirmish against some of my friends today. We'd been talking about having a run together for ages but it never really eventuated before. So we headed out to windsor to test our wares against unknown opposition and see whether we were the real deal or it was all foolhardy bravado. This would be my 3rd time playing skirmish. The first time I played it was back in 2000 with the One.Tel boys and it was at the same place.
To get into the correct frame of mind I dreamt the nite before that I was playing skirmish akin to Chow Yun Fat in a John Woo movie. Everything was done in slow mo. I was tumbling from barrier to barrier, sliding and diving hitting opponents right between the eyes. Shooting and eliminating my enemies with grace and a coolness that defied logic. Hahahaha, fat chance. But it was a nice dream.
The day started off on a disastrous note. On the first run, at the first barrier I was ambushed along with Scotty and got eliminated without firing a single shot. Chow Yun Fat I aint. Things didn't progress as well in the next game either. My dodgy knee struggled with the tricky terrain and my gun was giving me some serious grief. It kept jamming and wasn't firing properly. The course before lunch proved slightly better. I started off as the general (wearing a fluoro vest) and had to avoid being shot by the opposition. Some serious protecting from Slaps got me through.
Lunch was a barbie and plenty of fluids. It was damn hot in the overalls and mask. Damn hot.
After lunch, dramas hit. I dunno if it was a dodgy sausage or not. I got my dodgy gun replaced and things looked up until I proceeded to ascend the hills when I felt a rumble in my stomach. It progressively got worse and I started to keel over. I hung in and managed to survive albeit it staying put but when I got back to the sheds, my stomach really really rumbled. I tried to let it pass but I couldn't and had to run back to the base to errrrr get rid of the lunch contents. 10 minutes later I was back in the fold feeling much better.
It turned out to be a great day. The girls really did well. The last time we had females, there were only a few and they all quit after a few games. This lot toughed it to the end.
Oh and I won't be expecting a call from John Woo anytime soon......
Skirmish 2006[original size]
Sunday, February 12, 2006
UNION IS BORING
Every year as the footy season steadily approaches I get excited. I long for any sort of footy. So I cast a keen eye over the super 14. The Wendell Sailor saga excites me. But as it is very year, it's a major let down. I watched the Force debut against the Brumbies and it was one of the most dreary games I've ever seen. There is just no continuity in union , NONE! Every time something remotely exciting happens, it always gets scuffed by a whistle happy ref. And this was the case in the NSW vs QLD as well. Apart from enjoying the crowd give it to Dell and the closeness of the score it was a boring as bat sh_t match. There must have been 10 penalties in the first 15 mins ALONE and that doesn't include the scrum stoppages. The scrum collapsed, and collapsed and collapsed....... It is sooooo frustrating. Anyone who tells you union is a better spectacle then league are kidding themselves. I'ld switch over to Raiders vs Souths anytime.
WORLD OF HURT
For the last coupla weeks I've been gyming it in the morning and playing cricket in the arvo. It's fun but killing me. And I mean full on weight sessions with heavy weights , not pilates or that sorta stuff. And then having a bowl with the boys in the nets in the arvo. Fast bowlers get all my respect. It's a back breaking job.
Last week my back killed for 3 days. After our second session we had a few more bowlers so the bowling was spread out and I'm only partially sore today.
TENNIS
I've had my Prince tennis racquet for 15 yrs and it's still holding up pretty well. I'm keen on playing tennis more frequently so I've been scoping some new racquets.
I'm amazed at how light the new generation racquets are. Everything's progressed so far from when I last played competitively.
ROSES
My god. Have u seen the prices of roses. They can send the guys broke! Ridiculous.
I hope all u guys out there make your targets sit up and notice you on the 14th........ May cupid point his arrow your way.
Every year as the footy season steadily approaches I get excited. I long for any sort of footy. So I cast a keen eye over the super 14. The Wendell Sailor saga excites me. But as it is very year, it's a major let down. I watched the Force debut against the Brumbies and it was one of the most dreary games I've ever seen. There is just no continuity in union , NONE! Every time something remotely exciting happens, it always gets scuffed by a whistle happy ref. And this was the case in the NSW vs QLD as well. Apart from enjoying the crowd give it to Dell and the closeness of the score it was a boring as bat sh_t match. There must have been 10 penalties in the first 15 mins ALONE and that doesn't include the scrum stoppages. The scrum collapsed, and collapsed and collapsed....... It is sooooo frustrating. Anyone who tells you union is a better spectacle then league are kidding themselves. I'ld switch over to Raiders vs Souths anytime.
WORLD OF HURT
For the last coupla weeks I've been gyming it in the morning and playing cricket in the arvo. It's fun but killing me. And I mean full on weight sessions with heavy weights , not pilates or that sorta stuff. And then having a bowl with the boys in the nets in the arvo. Fast bowlers get all my respect. It's a back breaking job.
Last week my back killed for 3 days. After our second session we had a few more bowlers so the bowling was spread out and I'm only partially sore today.
TENNIS
I've had my Prince tennis racquet for 15 yrs and it's still holding up pretty well. I'm keen on playing tennis more frequently so I've been scoping some new racquets.
I'm amazed at how light the new generation racquets are. Everything's progressed so far from when I last played competitively.
ROSES
My god. Have u seen the prices of roses. They can send the guys broke! Ridiculous.
I hope all u guys out there make your targets sit up and notice you on the 14th........ May cupid point his arrow your way.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
ILM n BEST MOVIES OF 2005
I have this recurring dream where I am the founder of ILM(Industrial light and magic) and that I created the special effects for movies such as Jurassic Park and Terminator. I've had a fascination with SFX for yonks. Reckon it would be awesome working for one of those big effects studios. One of the first things I look for in a DVD is the "making of" featurettes so I can see how they did the effects.
I'm a sucker for a movie with big effects, the bigger the better. I love "starship troopers". I still reckon that movie has some of the best effects I have ever seen - no matter how much it gets panned. But I would have to say T2 has the best SFX I have ever seen. I love that sorta real world destruction based effects rather than pure CGI. Like when you compare the freeway chase scene in matrix reloaded against T3, the crane chase. The crane chase does it for me every time.
Apart from Superman , there aren't many movies I'm eagerly anticipating for 2006 as of yet. Here are my top picks of 2005.
1) King Kong
Brilliant. Tear jerking, wonderful love story. Loved it. Special effects speak for themselves ; except for one dodgy sequence during the stampede which reminded me a bit of the Spiderman sequence where he started jumping over buildings once he discovered his powers. I bought the production diaries and enjoyed this as well.
Naomi Watts is a babe, nuff said. Amazingly the movie was considered a flop. 200M + 100M for marketing. Worldwide gross around 550M ; they said it needed 600M to break even(half goes to the cinemas). But with merchandising and DVD sales, I'm pretty sure this will add a coupla million to the studio coffers. Perhaps it was the length of the movie that caused the downer, who knows. But I loved it.
2) Sin City
I wanted to watch 'Kung Fu Hustle' but my friend coerced me to watch this. Didn't want to watch it initially but boy am I glad I did. It was brilliant. Dark, gloomy and brilliant story telling. A bit violent, not a date movie but a masterpiece in my eyes.
3) Batman Begins
My fave of the lot. Excellent direction. Excellent choice of Batman. As long as Schumacher stays away, perhaps we have a 2nd breath of life for the franchise
4) Revenge of the Sith
Yay, George Delivered. Answered so many questions.
5) War of the Worlds.
Ending sucked big time but very impressed with the effects. I'm not normally a Cruise fan but this is prob my fave movie of his. Wasn't too familiar with the original story but in terms of a enjoyable pop corn flick it was pretty good.
I have this recurring dream where I am the founder of ILM(Industrial light and magic) and that I created the special effects for movies such as Jurassic Park and Terminator. I've had a fascination with SFX for yonks. Reckon it would be awesome working for one of those big effects studios. One of the first things I look for in a DVD is the "making of" featurettes so I can see how they did the effects.
I'm a sucker for a movie with big effects, the bigger the better. I love "starship troopers". I still reckon that movie has some of the best effects I have ever seen - no matter how much it gets panned. But I would have to say T2 has the best SFX I have ever seen. I love that sorta real world destruction based effects rather than pure CGI. Like when you compare the freeway chase scene in matrix reloaded against T3, the crane chase. The crane chase does it for me every time.
Apart from Superman , there aren't many movies I'm eagerly anticipating for 2006 as of yet. Here are my top picks of 2005.
1) King Kong
Brilliant. Tear jerking, wonderful love story. Loved it. Special effects speak for themselves ; except for one dodgy sequence during the stampede which reminded me a bit of the Spiderman sequence where he started jumping over buildings once he discovered his powers. I bought the production diaries and enjoyed this as well.
Naomi Watts is a babe, nuff said. Amazingly the movie was considered a flop. 200M + 100M for marketing. Worldwide gross around 550M ; they said it needed 600M to break even(half goes to the cinemas). But with merchandising and DVD sales, I'm pretty sure this will add a coupla million to the studio coffers. Perhaps it was the length of the movie that caused the downer, who knows. But I loved it.
2) Sin City
I wanted to watch 'Kung Fu Hustle' but my friend coerced me to watch this. Didn't want to watch it initially but boy am I glad I did. It was brilliant. Dark, gloomy and brilliant story telling. A bit violent, not a date movie but a masterpiece in my eyes.
3) Batman Begins
My fave of the lot. Excellent direction. Excellent choice of Batman. As long as Schumacher stays away, perhaps we have a 2nd breath of life for the franchise
4) Revenge of the Sith
Yay, George Delivered. Answered so many questions.
5) War of the Worlds.
Ending sucked big time but very impressed with the effects. I'm not normally a Cruise fan but this is prob my fave movie of his. Wasn't too familiar with the original story but in terms of a enjoyable pop corn flick it was pretty good.
