Giant Chess

So I was in Rundle Mall, in Adelaide on Thursday and there was people all up the mall busking for charity, which of course I donated $2 to, because it was pretty cool to watch.

There was a a game of giant chess going on; it was pretty cool except that the pawn were only a tiny bit shorter than the bishops and so pretty easy to confuse. At first I thought that there was a freakishly high number of bishops.

I think white was winning!

Currently Listening: One Step Closer – Short Stack

Julia jinxed the AFL Grand Final

Julia Gillard “joked” to the St Kilda and Collingwood teams before the Grand final today asking for no draw, as the  Australian people couldn’t handle the stress.

Just a little joke on the drawn out election, right?

9.14 (68)    –     10.8 (68) result disagrees.

Collingwood                 St Kilda

She jinxed it! And now we have to wait a whole week to find out who won!, For more info see here.

Also I’m not a Collingwood supporter (few people are) but I want them to win, because they are a better team than St Kilda.

Book Review: Graffiti Moon

by Cath Crowley

So one of the reasons I started this blog was I wanted to blather on about stuff, the other was I wanted to share my opinion on some books.
Rating: 9/10

Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers. It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about. His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere. Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls. But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

Lucy, Jazz and Daisy are friends, Jazz decides to go on an all-night adventure to celebrate the end of Year 12. Lucy is talking to them about Shadow, the graffiti artist she wants to meet.

Daisy’s boyfriend Dylan has been saying that he knows Shadow and Poet, so Daisy gets him to help.
Ed and Leo, Dylan’s friends agree to help him because they know he’s in trouble. Jazz likes this because she is interested in Leo. Lucy doesn’t like this because her first and only date ever was with Ed; Ed doesn’t like it because the date ended with him getting punched in the face.

I really liked this novel it was interesting to see the way they all interacted and the poems interspersed were good and added to the way Leo and Jazz interacted and it was interesting. The point of view switches from Lucy to Ed and often repeats the same thing from the other person’s view.

It is well written and the imagery and dialogue is good, the story is wonderful and sweet. I took a mark off because of Lucy’s adamance that she is in love with Shadow, based purely on the artwork, when it is clear that Shadow could be an old man, a woman or someone else entirely, but it is easy enough to forget that as you read.
Currently listening: The Great Escape – Boys Like Girls

Hotmail address

C'mon you know what address you got did it have you age in it somewhere? or a nickname no one ever calls you anymore?

Mine had both. I wanted to use my favourite number when the nickname alone wasn't available but I couldn't so age it was. I guess at least I tried to avoid the age thing.

And another thing when you ever type a fake email in (it's ok we're all friends here) do you go for fake_123@hotmail.com? I do, I never got told to use it but nearly everyone I know uses it. I wonder if someone really has that address?

Currently listening: Ignorance - Paramore

Music snobbery

There are two kinds of music snobbery:

1. Pop (or Top 40):
Pop music snobs don't listen to anything that isn't in the current Top 40, they don't "like" anything else, and after a month if the song is no longer in the Top 40 they probably don't even remember it let alone like anymore; and
2. Alternative:
Alternative music snobs can include punk, metal, etc fans, not just alternative music fans. Alternative  music snobs wouldn't touch Top 40 (or ex-Top 40) songs with a ten-foot pole let alone listen to if you paid them.

Neither option is a good one, listen to your parents music (or go for best of CD's for that decade), use iTunes, and iTunes genius, listen to music that you would give a thought for otherwise (preview it). If you like it get the full song (officially I don't condone illegal music piracy), be a equal opportunity music hater, regardless of whether it's ever been in the Top 40 or not.

Currently listening: Remembering Sunday - All Time Low

Tomorrow

So yesterday I went to the movies with a friend, we went and saw Tomorrow When The War Began. It’s based on the first of seven books in the Tomorrow series by John Marsden.

The premise is this, 7 friends go camping on the Australia Day weekend, coincidently the weekend of the local show. They figure it can’t hurt to miss one show.

On the trip are:

• Ellie, the movie’s narrator, a farmer’s kid.
• Corrie, Ellie’s best friend, also a farmer’s kid, she came up with the idea for the trip.
• Homer, Ellie’s “next-door neighbour”, always in trouble and also a farmer’s kid.
• Kevin, Corrie’s boyfriend and another farmer’s kid.
• Fiona, a “townie”, pretty much a princess, but a good friend to Ellie and Corrie.
• Robin, pastor’s daughter, also a “townie”, it is her presence that convinces Ellie’s dad to let them go.
• Lee, Ellie’s crush, his parents own a Thai restaurant in town, he is also a “townie”.

While they are away an unspecified nation invades and takes Wirrawee under it’s control. They army is clearly meant to be of Asian origin, as their goal is to force Australia to share land and it’s natural resources.

I liked the movie, it followed the book very closely, close enough that I could enjoy it, and unlike a lot of Australian films it was good quality, well shot and the accents weren’t put on. Also for an action film it had enough action and didn’t detract from the story either.

I did wonder how Ellie’s parents managed to run a farm owning a tractor without a cab, though, and how a 17 year old was let to drive a motorbike through town without a helmet. I mean a town big enough to have a police station is too big to turn that kind of blind eye. I also couldn’t understand why the Land rover couldn’t be called a ute, I mean, even townie’s call ute’s ute’s.

I really liked the scene in Ellie’s kitchen before they fully realise what is going on where all 7 teenagers pull out their mobiles to check for signal, I was miffed that they all knew something was wrong when there wasn’t any though, I wish I was guaranteed signal.

Currently listening: Statues – Hit the Lights

Douche face: A concept

Douche (noun, pronounciation. doosh): Short for douchebag, a person who acts inconsiderately of others, has the opinion that he/she is well liked.

Douche face is a phenomenon that I have encountered, wherein a person has a look about them, that makes them look like a douche, they have douche face.

The thing that gets me is how often it is right.

Try it out yourself, think of a person you know who is a douche, in particular an idiot who thinks that they are cool or popular, etc but that they are the only one who thinks so.

Go to their facebook page (in a new window/tab please), now think of another, you should know at least two (if you don't congrats!!) and go to their facebook page as well.

Compare their profile pics (so long as they aren't car pics, it is an unfortunate fact that douchebagism affects more guys than girls) what is similar? probably their expressions, you will now recognise douches at a glance.

Of course this is just my opinion, but test it out reality TV show contestants, the douchiest ones look similar.