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We got back from our annual trip away two Saturdays ago. That’s right – back on the 23rd. Not exactly current news but I’ve been busy. Busy dividing my time between getting back into the Swing of Things and desperately trying to figure out a way of preserving the “holiday lifestyle” indefinitely.
We had a really great time. Joining our family unit Voltron-style with that of very good friends of ours – we eschewed modern conveniences and entertainments (meaning I didn’t play World of Warcraft) to spend a week in a holiday house at Myola.
A conversation I had half-a-dozen times in the week before we went away:
Somebody: So where are you going?
Me: Myola.
Somebody: Huh?
Me: Jervis Bay.
Somebody: Oh! Nice!
Myola’s great. There’s NOTHING there except a really nice beach and a couple of shops. The lack of stuff forcing you to slooow down and just relax a bit.
I did a fair bit of reading, I’m pleased to say. I managed to finish the book Olympos by Dan Simmons and start two others. The Terror – also by Dan – and Magician by Raymond E. Feist – something I’ve been meaning to read for years.
We went to the beach a few times, which the kids loved and explored the area a bit. The Naval and Air Museum was particularly cool. Also, thanks to the proximity of the Naval firing range, you can lie in bed in the mornings and listen to the distant rumbles of shells exploding. Rather soothing, actually.
The house we stayed in was really nice, but the layout was a problem. It was rather open-plan – particularly upstairs which meant Alanah was sleeping in a bed at the top of the main internal stairs and Sean was in a baby-containment device in our room which had a sloping ceiling that I kept banging my head on.
It was all worth it, though, and as mentioned earlier I’m trying really hard to figure out a way of living like that permanently. So far… nothing.
The landlords of the house we rented lived in the house behind so we talked to them a bit. When I told the owner of my problem she told me that her husband works as a software designer (ooh! similar to me!) and that he leaves the house at 6:15 every morning to get the train to Wollongong (crap!).
Oh well. At least I get to play World of Warcraft, even if I DO have to deal with “real world responsibilities” during the day.
OK, now THAT was an obscure musical reference…
I JUST completed payment of Bioshock through Valve’s Steam service. The files are preloaded and now all I do is wait for the release on the 21st! Well, that’s the 21st in the U.S. It’ll be the 22nd for me due to the turning of the Earth and all that. The cool thing is that, because I bought it from a U.S. service:
- I get it a couple of days earlier than the Australian release.
- I only pay 60 bucks Australian, thanks to the dollar.
Of course, I don’t get a disc and a manual, but really, manuals haven’t been great for years. I remember when you used to get a friggin’ TOME with your game. Something to read on the bus on the way home. Hey, sometimes there was a NOVELLA. Now you get a few pages of setup info and a keyboard map. All of which is available as a PDF anyway.
For those that don’t know, Bioshock promises to OWN YOUR EYEBALLS and your SOUL as well, perhaps. I’ve played the Xbox 360 demo and was absolutely gobsmacked. Dark, creepy, compelling. Hell, yeah. Bring on the 21st… or the 22nd.
I’ve watched a few movies lately that I just didn’t get into. Not a big problem, except they’re movies that most people seem to really like.
The first was the Korean monster movie, The Host. It wasn’t un-entertaining. The cast were pretty good and I found it interesting that the entire film was told from the point of view of one family whose youngest was abducted by the monster. With no authorities willing to help them get her back, they have to take matters into their own hands. The family dynamic was great but the film loses its pace too often and towards the end, the story just seemed to be wandering around aimlessly like a 2 year old lost in a mall.
Then came Audition – A Japanese thriller by renowned director Takashi Miike. It’s the story of a middle aged widower played by Ryo Ishibashi who, after being told by his son that he should remarry, allows himself to be convinced by a friend that the best way to find a new wife is to stage a fake movie audition. This one starts slowly and the premise of the movie is the kind of thing you might see in an Adam Sandler movie but by the third act has started turning into something you might see in an Eli Roth movie. Audition has been described as “a swan dive into razor wire”. Very interesting, but I just didn’t feel any love for it. I think I may need to watch this one again.
The last – Suicide Club – was kinda interesting I guess. Who can resist the morbid temptation of a movie that starts with 54 Japanese schoolgirls jumping in front of a train. Well, I guess I should have. This one starts in the land of horrific and creepy but quickly departs and, after a quick stop off in the realm of weird Rocky Horror death cult crap, ends up like those weird pseudo-philosophical bits in the Final Fantasy games. Meh.
This has thoroughly demoralised me so I figure that next I should watch something universally regarded as a classic. Fight Club maybe. I KNOW I love Fight Club. Or The Godfather. I think I saw that years ago, but I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll just watch a lot of The Sopranos.
Got a nasty stomach bug thingy last sunday night and got to feel like utter crap for a couple of days. Pretty much back to normal now. Luckily, neither Marion or Alanah got sick.
And I used to be the one with the strong stomach in the family…
