Hola!

Aah, Sunday night, the most depressing part of the weekend. Eurovision is on the teev spewing forth some of the worst music every created. 'Created' doesn't quite seem to be the right word to use. 'Creative' is not the term I'd use for something which is birthed by committee to be as radio friendly as possible.
I have to say that I am mildly delighted by the winners though. The Finnish band, Lordi :

Look at them! Looooooooooook at them! Marvel in their latex convered angst! Cower before their rubbery grimaces.

This weekend has been very studious and healthy. I spent a couple of hours at work yesterday, which wasn't as bad as it sounds, I bought some new fish for my aquarium at work, I took in my aquarium testing stuff from home and balanced the water. I hope everything is not dead by the time I get in there 2moro.

I've been playing around a bit with Songbird, a music player/etc based on the Firefox browser. It's nowhere near complete yet, but worth having a look at. It looks like this:



Check out mojizu also, it's a cartoon character design community thing.




I got up early this morning and made damper, which, for a first attempt, was surprisingly good. I added saltanas to mine, one recipe I saw added corn. Kinda hard to fail at making a damper.

I've spent most of today studying asp.net 2.0. Interesting stuff.. I'm actually enjoying it.

To make sure we all start the week on a good note, please see below 70's tv commercial.





Laters peeps.

A future with no bananas??

Go bananas while you still can. The world's most popular fruit and the fourth most important food crop of any sort is in deep trouble. Its genetic base, the wild bananas and traditional varieties cultivated in India, has collapsed.

Virtually all bananas traded internationally are of a single variety, the Cavendish, the genetic roots of which lie in India. Three years ago, New Scientist revealed that the world Cavendish crop was threatened by pandemics of diseases such as that caused by the black sigatoka fungus. The main hope for survival of the Cavendish lies in developing new hybrids resistant to the fungus, but this is a difficult and time-consuming task because the seedless modern fruit does not reproduce sexually and has to be bred from cuttings.

Now the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that wild banana species are rapidly going extinct as Indian forests are destroyed, while many traditional farmers' varieties are also disappearing. It could take a global effort to save the bananas' gene pool.

In fact many of the genes that could save the Cavendish may already have been lost, says NeBambi Lutaladio, a plant scientist at the FAO's headquarters in Rome, Italy. One variety that contains genes that resist black sigatoka survives as a single plant in the botanical gardens of Calcutta, he says.

from New Scientist

Hi there!
Yesterday I sold the painting that appeared in my previous post. This is the first time I've sold one, I'm on cloud nine. I came home today and started work on another one... hehe, i'm really enjoying painting, and I *think* I'm getting the hang of it. It's too dark to be sculpting tiki heads in my backyard (another hobby of mine), so at least until the end of winter, I'd better enjoy it.

Here's what I've done of my next work, a special sneak preview. Keep in mind that this is only after an hour or so's work, and there's plenty left to go.

first the initial sketch (trying to figure out what the hell i'm doing...)



...Then with a coat of paint... trying to get some colours that look ok together.


At the moment I'm trying to find shapes that are familiar but at the same time unfamiliar, and arrange them in a way that's pleasant to the eye. That's my whole artistic philosophy at the moment. One whole sentence worth.

I haven't had a cigarette in 2 days. It hurts, but in a good way.

We had a great bbq last Saturday night. Did i mentions that before? I don't think so.
Well we did.


Here's Alex cooking up a storm. I'm glad I have a camera phone or I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have any memories of this night at all...

I also got 3 new threadless t-shirts in the recent sale. Here are the designs:






...Any ways, must dasherooni, I much too important and busy to talk to the likes of you.

...Later.

Aaargh! Monday morning, drinking my coffee, waiting for the shower. A horrible time of the week. Our kettle died last night... a major disaster in a house that drinks as much tea and coffee as we do. Had to boil my water in a saucepan. Mildly surprised I didn't drip it onto my bare feet. That usually happens. Results in more of a wake up call than the coffee, but not quite as pleasant.

How was your weekend? Good? Good!
Yesterday I finished painting the above, my latest creation (moohaha!). Please don't ask "So, what is it?"

I really don't know either...

...Happy Monday!