The Hump

Dinner last night at The Hump












... and here's the view...




Outstanding.

Breakin the Law, Part 3

Well, the girlfriend, or whoever she is, moved out last week, and we have not seen her since. Took her pillow and toothbrush and a bag of clothes and left: I bumped into her on the way to the elevator. I'm not sure if there was another "incident" or if she just saw the light, but it seems she has gone. Naturally, if there are any other developments, I'll keep you posted.

Billy vs. Steve

I went to an independent film house last night in West LA to the premiere of a film called The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters.

It's an incredible story about personal triumph, evil empires, intense egos, rivalry and revenge. It's a story that becomes more interesting the further it gets, and the payoff is great. It's a story about videogames, and the people that play them.

Check it out.

How to annoy my girlfriend:

Me: Why are you looking so tired? You hardly did anything today.

Her: Are you kidding? I swam 30 laps!

Me: Yeah, but swimmings not a REAL sport.

Eeeeeeasy money.

Breakin the Law; Part 2

So a few people have been asking me to follow up with the night I had to bring in the boys in blue. If you've no idea what I'm taking about have a read of this. There's not a lot to report, other than the fact that we have discovered that the guy is something of a celebrity, by the name of Nik Harcourt. The photo on IMDB looks like a mug shot, but he looks like that all the time.

Now, I live in a nice place, but frankly I'm surprised I live across the hall from the "most influential DJ in America". Anyway, if anything interesting happens, I'll be sure to update you all.

Terrorism

Terrorists don't play the rules of war. Basically, in war, whoever depletes the other guys resources first, wins. Terrorism does not strive to attempt that, they attempt to FUD the enemy. They can't win on the open battlefield, so the compete in the battlefield of the mind.

September the 11th is coming up, and we all know what anniversary that is. We've got a trip to a developer we are working with (who is not in NYC) and I booked the flights, unthinkingly, to depart on that day. After much hand-wringing, discussion of fears and talk of how family members might react, some proclaiming that they weren't afraid per se, but they could not really explain in words why they did not want to fly on that day. So we had to change the day. Fear wins. Terrorists win.

Maybe my disgust of this comes from being Australian. There are thousands of things that can sting, kill, main and eat you in Australia. You look at a beautiful beach, and you weigh the odds of a shark attack while you are out there. You look at the overgrown garden, and weigh the chances of a Redback bite. You go for a walk at night while camping, and you run the risk of drop bears. I look at the chances of my flight being attacked by terrorists in the same light, and decide if I'm going to let fear dictate my actions.

Fear, and terrorism, do not dictate my actions.

P.S. If there is ONE day in the year that security is going to be AIRTIGHT, it's 9/11.

MIAA* - Part Two

* My Incomprehensible Aussie Accent

I just got asked if I was French.

Did the Earth move for you too?

Well, I just felt my first LA earthquake. At 4.5 it was a decent one, and the ground wobbled for about 4 seconds. Kinda scary. Hopefully those mountains I drive through will still be there when I go to work in the morning.

Do Sequels Stink?

I've been perusing the worst to the best list of movies made from Comic Books.

As much of a fan as I am of these movies, there have truly been some stinkers, as you will see from the first films. Rather than debating them, I was keen to look at the general perception that sequels are usually a quick cash-in on the dwindling success of the first film. According to this list, arranged from review scores (not necessarily anything to do with box office sales, mind you) there are several franchises where the sequel has rated better than the original.

Addams Family Values > Addams Family
Batman Returns > Batman (and Batman Begins beats them both)
X-Men 2 > X-Men (but however, > X-Men 3)
Spider-man 2 > Spider-man

With a bunch of sequels coming up (The Dark Knight, Hulk) it will be interesting to see how they fair. BTW, where was Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer in that list?