Hung out with Mickey most of yesterday. We had roast duck laksa up at Carlingford court, then went a-hunting cheap goodish dvd's. Mick found Ghostbusters 1 & 2 collectors edition (hehe, glow in the dark cover) for $20. We ate gourmet pizza, drank red wine and watched Ghostbusters 1 last night. Maan, I haven't seen that movie in about 10 years. It really hasn't lost that much either. Not like Tron. Whoah, Tron has aged.

Finally bought some new fish for my tank yesterday too. I'm not picky, I basically went into the pet store and asked for lots of something cheap and unkillable. I came away with 12 tiger and spotted barbs. The guy in the store said, and I quote "these things will live in sewage". Good. That's my sort of fish. Don't get me wrong, my tank isn't all green and lumpy or anything, it's just that I normally don't change the water very often, and I have a fairly high fatality rate. I have a filter and plants and stuff. I just don't want something that isn't willing to negotiate as far as what 'livable environment' means.

Oh yeh, still loving the Venture Bros.

Last ninja: 'Be able to kill your students'

"The teachings of Grand Master Masaaki Hatsumi echo through my head as he entreats me to attack a blackbelted disciple with a practice sword. "Always be able to kill your students," he says.

Chilling words from a shockingly fit 76-year-old man who bills himself as the world's last ninja and stocks his training chamber with weapons such as throwing stars and nunchucks. Especially to a neophyte whose closest brush with martial arts was watching Bruce Lee matinees as a kid.

As I cautiously raise the sword with a taut two-handed samurai grip, my sparring partner gingerly points to Hatsumi. I avert my eyes for a split second - and WHAM! The next thing I know, I'm staring at the rafters.

Keeping your focus is just one of the lessons thumped out on the mats of the Bujinkan Dojo, a cramped school outside Tokyo that is a pilgrimage site for 100,000 worldwide followers. They revere Hatsumi as the last living master of ninjutsu - the mysterious Japanese art of war practiced by black-masked assassins of yesteryear."

read more at Mercury News

I spent the day getting over a cold. I watched the Bourne Identity, the Bourne Supremacy and did some painting.

Today is Anzac day, a day set aside to commemorate the battle of Gallipoli, and for many, war in general. It's a particularly bittersweet day for Australians as the battle of Gallipoli both forged an initial Australian identity in the eyes of the world at large, but on the flipside resulted in 8000 Australian deaths in a horrible, poorly implemented battle plan.

..So we get the day off work. There are marches through the streets in most Australian towns.

New music: The Guillemots : TripleJ have been pushing the song: Trains to Brazil. Check it out.
I've found an acoustic version on YouTube.com, see below. This is a bit too mellow for me, I prefer the electric version.

Paradise Lost - a brief history of Nauru

found on Economist.com

Writing systems may look very different, but they all use the same basic building blocks of familiar natural shapes


"...if there is intelligent alien life in the universe, then so long as these creatures live, like us, among "macroscopic opaque objects strewn about", they will evolve writing symbols like our own. Alphabets on a planet orbiting another sun will, if materials, light and shade are similar to our own world, have features in common with those used on Earth: if ET writes home, we may think there is something familiar about his handwriting."

Froschmausekrieg = "war between the frogs and the mice"

The eXistenZ bone gun



"I see technology as being an extension of the human body, ... It's inevitable that it should come home to roost." ~ David Cronenberg