Troy
It was good.
I went with Mum because she has just recently done some Classics (actually she’s doing it at the moment, but not actual myth stuff), and so she understood when I got miffed or excited, which James would not really have.
They made a few changes, of course… I was a bit surprised at them completely leaving out the gods, to be honest. However, I guess it was already a fairly long movie, so things had to be sacrificed. A few people died who shouldn’t have, and didn’t need to (I thought, anyway). Eric Bana was fantastic, as expected, and Orlando Bloom was perfect for the role – if only because he just looked simply too beautiful to be a warrior; I thought he fit Paris just right. And Brad Pitt was pretty good too. It was also much fun, and not a little smug-ifying, to say “that must be Ajax” or Nestor or someone else… and be right. I think that says good things both about me and the film. Glad they got Aeneas in there too, much as I dislike Virgil.
It looked good: it was really well shot, I thought, although the bro got annoyed with some of Achilles’ long lingering looks. Personally I thought they fit. They must have used the Massive program from Peter Jackson – it reminded me very strongly of LOTR, in places, particularly the thousand ships.
Mum tells me that millihelens is a standard of measurement. If you’ve got 10 millihelens of beauty, you can launch 10 ships…
Adelaide and back again
Went to Adelaide on Friday night, for my sister’s 18th the next day. It’s always nice to go home, although in no real sense is it my home; I haven’t lived there for almost exactly 20 years (scary; I just realised that), and I certainly haven’t lived in there current house. However, the fam is there, and more importantly the bed I’ve had since I came out of a cot is there, and very nice to sleep in it was too.
The party was fun: good way to see all the rellies (except the aunt who is in WA) at one time. It was, however, a bit freaky then to go out that night to a bar… with my sister (and her friends). I’m not sure whether I feel old or just bemused at the thought that my little squister is old enough to go out to pubs legally. I think it’s jsut weird. It got even weirder when the bro joined us… all three kids out drinking alcohol together?? Bizarre.
No Doctor Who
I’m a bit sad… I had been sad at the thought of missing him last night while flying home, but it turns out that was unnecessary, so now I’m jut sad that he’s not on the next two weeks, while Aunty has highlights of the French Open instead.
pft.
I can’t believe Agassi is out! Inconceivable. And the Poo, too… although that one isn’t so hard to believe.
Dead runt
Well, I found the runty rainbow this afternoon – dead, and looking a bit odd- against the filter intake. He had no colour, mouth gaping open, and looking a bit mouldy! I had actually assumed that he had died and been et by his compatriots, but it looks like they weren’t interested in eating him.
I think the goby must be dead too. Hasn’t been sighted in a while.
The tank survived the days without me; James tells me he fed them a bit and spent a few hours on Sunday just looking at them and listening to music (niiice). The chain plant thing has, instead of going around the rock, decided that going around the filter might be a fun thing to do… I might have to make it think again.
Alex is away…
Alex is away and I miss her, so I played some more with my new camera. The fish are really hard to take good pictures off – I’m used to very static things www.thirdglance.com . But here are a couple more
I found the bumblebee
Hurrah. He was there at the back this morning… although I had done some pruning a few minutes before and not found him. Seems there are some good hidey holes. He doesn’t look entirely happy, though… breathing a bit fast and colour not looking fantastic at the tail end.
James thought I had been exaggerating about the colour of the rainbows. Ha.
No bumblebee
I think the goby may be dead. Or he could be a good hider; it’s always possible.
Some of the rainbows have developed astonishing colours; the males especially have developed some lovely reds on their fins. There is one weedy runt; it will be interesting to see how he goes.
One of the plants, a semi-aquatic one, is not doing well at all… rotting etc. So too are some bits of hydrophilia. The sword-thing, though, seems to be colonising the entire tank. Almost, anyway.
Rainbows
I moved all 9 rainbows, in two lots, and the snail tonight. It makes the tank look quite a bit busier, not surprisingly. Hopefully they will get some more colour now that they’re in an even nicer tank and there’s some light on them too. Actually some of them have such a pronounced black stripe that I have mistaken them for SAEs.
And I haven’t seen the bumblebee at all tonight…
I fed them peas tonight. They loved it. A Colombian eating half an entire pea by itself was quite a feat.
Van Helsing
So, so cool. Much better than I had expected. I’m very pleased with myself to discover that I was right in thinking that the same man who played Beni in The Mummy played Igor. David Wenham as Carl, a 19th-century Q-cum-good Igor, was great… and the Aussie playing Draacoola was fantastic. Very Mummy, which I expected; so close to camp, but just escaping it, with some incredibly witty bits in it. And James loved it too! Even wanting to see it again!
Too, I love seeing the ads for upcoming movies. Chronicles of Riddick looks great, I reckon, although I’m a little sceptical of Vin Diesel I must admit. We didn’t see ads for them then, but both Troy (which I’m seeing on Sunday with Mum, can’t wait) and The Day after Tomorrow look awesome.
I love movies.
I Love Auntie
The ABC, that is; not that I don’t love my aunts, of course. The main reason I started bugging J to get a TV (which took all of 10 seconds or so) was when I saw they were having Doctor Who on: the entirety of 40 years’ worth of excellent scifi TV on the ABC, four nights a week. Yippee! I watched the first number of episodes… after a little while, though, I stopped being conscientious (??) about it because they were just a bit too painful. However, I recently started watching again, because it is John Pertwee! Yeh! What a star. One of the few actors who could get away with wearing a full black-tie suit with cloak around a laboratory and while catching villains, and look incredibly dignified. Of course I remember him as Wurzel Gummage, which terrified me as a kid, but still… what a man. And Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart… what a shame he was in his prime in black and white TV.
As well as the good Doctor, of course, the ABC has a pretty good kids’ line up in general; that’s what I’ve mostly been watching. It all started with Astro Boy… except I am a little disappointed with it, because they’re new, not old, and I think they are much tackier than they were originally. At least I hope so.
Randomly Yours, Alex 