Mark Thomson

Riding the train home tonight, we once again went flying past our station. At least this time he only dumped everyone at the next station - last time it was two stations away before he stopped. The excuse from the driver - I forgot to stop. Well that just makes it all better doesn't it. Half a train's worth of commuters dumped off at the wrong stop, with a 22 minute delay before they can get another train back to the station they wanted. The amount of swearing from passengers nearly floored me, especially since the worst of it seemed to come from the women. I don't know why they don't just automate the damned things, it can't be that difficult. Instead, you get a transport system where your not sure if its running on time, running at all, or whether its actually going to stop or not. Surprisingly, the rail stationmaster didn't seem to know what was going on either - he arranged for a special train to pick up the stranded, but it arrived, sat on the station for 2 minutes with its doors shut and its lights off, before streaking away leaving everyone puzzled on the platform.

As anyone who knows me can attest I have severe issues with needles or cutting, so that pretty much rules out any medical procedures. My wife complains endlessly about this because I won't get a vasectomy. So I went to a skin cancer check today because I gashed my shoulder last Christmas and it cut through some freckles on my shoulder. It healed up, but its formed a lump, so I figured I'd better check it out. The doc thinks it's okay, but wants to do a punch biopsy on it. Fecking marvellous! I am fully shatting my trousers over this! It's bad enough he wants to punch out 4mm of skin from my shoulder, but I've also somehow got to endure him stitching it up too! I've had teeth extractions before without anasthetic just to avoid having the needle put in, god knows how the feck I'm going to get through this one! Stupidly I haven't been able to decide yet whether dying would be worse than having this procedure??

I'd heard it was good, and the effects are certainly impressive, but I have to say I found this rather lackluster. It was a movie by numbers, the only thing it had going for it was the stunning effects of the riders, and that doesn't even start till quite a way into the film. The rest of the time its boring, with a paperthin plot, and even when some action occurs, its uninspiring. The fights are nothing special at all. Overall, a real disappointment and it seems like the film was made by people with a lack of enthusiasm. The film is similar to Constantine in subject matter, but I'd have to recommend that film over this one.

Plot Synopsis:

Johnny Blaze discovers his father has terminal cancer, and makes a deal with the Devil. He will exchange his soul for Mephistopheles granting his father good health again. His father makes a startling recovery, only to be killed at his next stunt riding show. Blaze realising what he's done, moves away leaving his girlfriend behind.

Later, he's grown up and has his own stunt riding show. He meets up with his old girlfriend, Roxy, who is now a journalist. He has a fatal accident, but walks away unscathed, to everyone's amazement.

Blackheart, the Devil's son arrives on Earth and summons a group of elementals. They are searching for a lost contract containing a thousand souls, so Blackheart can use the power to usurp his father. Mephistopheles calls in his deal with Blaze, turning him into the Ghost Rider, a spiritual bounty-hunter.

Blackheart kidnaps Roxy and uses her as bait so that Johnny will give him the contract list. The contract was being safeguarded by another rider, the Caretaker. Blackheart and Johnny, as the Ghost Rider, do battle but Blackheart grabs the contract and calls for the 1,000 souls to enter his body. Johnny then grabs Blackheart by the collar and uses his power to show Blackheart all of the pain and suffering the 1,000 souls caused the innocent. This kills Blackheart and he turns to dust.

Mephistopheles shows up after Blackheart is killed to release Johnny's soul but Johnny double crosses Mephistopheles - he will keep the power and use it to protect the innocent and punish Mephistopheles. Enraged, Mephistopheles declares war on Johnny. Johnny and Roxy part ways so that Johnny can fulfill his ghost rider duties and bring down the evil.

Damn its cold here! It's currently a high of seven, but it said three degrees C on the outside temperature gauge. It's so cold, when I pulled the lever in the car to clean the windshield this morning, the water jetted out and froze straight on the windshield. I ended up with a sheet of ice that i couldn't see through. I managed to use the heater to melt a tiny gap at the bottom that I could see through until I could drive the car into a patch of sun and melt the ice.

Rob's had to nip back to NZ for a few days to attend a funeral. Beagle's very close relative died, and Rob's gone to give her some support. It was a bit sad really - he'd been diagnosed with stomach cancer two weeks ago and given a year to live, he had just enough time to have a short holiday with his partner. When he came back he ruptured his bowel and died. Quite sad, but at least he isn't suffering any more now. Another friend's father also died on Friday - i'm not sure about the exact details yet, but he was being treated for prostate cancer so perhaps it had spread through his body. Our thoughts go out to her as well. It was really nice that Rob could go back to support Beag, and I wish I could have gone too.

Instead I'm here with the kids dealing with the everyday mundanities. Probably just as well, cos I've just had the flu - first time in over 7 months. It's been a real bugger of a germ, and everyone I know has had a dose at the moment. The sudden cold snap has probably bought it on - it's been damned freezing lately. I was quite surprised at the temperature change, since our inlaws have always raved about how warm and cozy it is in Queensland.

Didn't manage to get any scrub cutting done today (useless friggin cutter won't work - I'm going back for a 3rd one now). Instead I got some drawing done today, which was really good. I've been struggling to get in some time for art or painting, or anything lately. I'm hoping to get a story completed for October for the next edition of New Ground if I can. So I'm frantically trying to rip through another ORG story, and my contribution to Rally Mark. Crossed fingers!

Here's a panorama I made the other day of our 4 acre block that we just bought. It's beautiful but it's going to take a lot of work to beat into shape. Just gotta watch out for those snakes...

I've wanted to see this film for the longest time. I'd heard so many good things about it, and I'm pleased to report it's an awesome film. Very imaginative, beautifully shot and acted, lots of depth and layering to the film. I didn't even mind that it was in Spanish with English subtitles (the video shop girl said that people were putting it back when they found out it was subtitled - a real shame!).

The historical period was interesting, and I have to admit I wasn't familiar with the Franco period of Spain's history, but clearly it wasn't very pleasant - facism doesn't seem to lead to anything good. Surprisingly while the film has been marketed as a fantasy, it's not a fantasy in the vein of Labyrinth or Dark Crystal. I think that the fantasy elements was the young girl trying to impose some kind of control over the world around her - she imagines this fairytale going on around her as a metaphor for dealing with the horrors of her everyday life. There's also an element of rebellion from Ofelia against her horrific stepfather, and her quest helps to internally justify her rebellion against him. There is a lot of mirroring between characters, and between the real world and fantasy world too - Ofelia rebels against her stepfather, Mercedes against the captain, the Rebels against the fascists. There are little faun heads on doors and the knobs atop the stair bannister, the Captain's dinner party mirrors the Pale Man's banquet, obtaining the key from the gluttinous toad mirrors Mercedes obtaining the store key from the fascists, and so on. There are so many layers in this film, and it is obvious a great deal of effort has gone into its conception and mythology.

I would not show this to small children however, as some of the violence is quite graphic. In a way that isn't a bad thing, as it is never unjustifiable violence, and it is portrayed very matter-of-fact and not glorified - it makes it more horrific and less cartoon-like. Although there is violence in both worlds, the fantasy world is brighter and more appealing than the real world. So its understandable why Ofelia would wish to escape the real world and return to the Underworld.

Definitely give this a rent - it's a beautiful film and so much better than some of the US made crap that has come out lately. It's not a dumb film, and you'll exercise your brain cells, while your eyes appreciate the richness of the film.

Plot Synopsis:

Ofelia is being taken from the city by her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather in the country of Spain in 1944. Her stepfather, Captain Vidal, is in charge of an outpost run by the fascist government at the end of World War II. He is a brutal, uncaring man, given to bouts of extreme cruelty. He seems more concerned with his unborn child, than Ofelia or her mother. He is charged with capturing the Spanish rebels in the hills.

Ofelia is led by a fairy (in actuality a stick insect) into the woods where she comes across a ruin. She is later introduced to the faun who tells her she is actually a princess from the underworld, and she can return home if she completes three tasks to ascertain her soul is intact. He gives her a book which will tell her what to do.

Ofelia's mother is very sick and is bedridden with a difficult pregnancy. Mercedes the housekeeper is charged with caring for her, but secretly she is aiding the rebels in the hills. The doctor is also providing medicine to the rebels.

Ofelia accomplishes the first task, retrieving the key from the giant toad. But she makes an error in the second task, taking the food from the banquet table and waking the Pale Man. She narrowly escapes being eaten, but loses two of the faun's fairies. In the faun's anger, he refuses to allow her to return.

The stepfather finds out about the Doctor's betrayal and kills him. Ofelia's mother dies in childbirth. The Stepfather finds out about the housekeeper's betrayal, but she manages to escape to the rebels.

The faun returns for a last chance and she takes her baby brother to the center of the labyrinth as her stepfather follows (he's been drugged by some opium/ morphine that Ofelia put in his drink). When asked to sacrifice the baby so she can open the door to the underworld kingdom, she refuses and the faun leaves. The captain finds her, takes back the baby and shoots her in the stomach. Upon leaving the labyrinth he sees the rebels surrounding him as he hands over the baby to the housekeeper. He requests that they tell his son later... but she cuts him off saying the child will not even carry his name. Her brother shoots him and they head into the labyrinth to find Ofelia.

Ofelia is dying and the housekeeper holds her in her arms and hums a lullaby as Ofelia drifts away. She is "transported" to the throneroom where the king/ father says that choosing to spill her own blood over the blood of an innocent (babay brother) was the right solution to the last task. She is then welcomed by the faun and invited to sit next to her mother and father. The narrator ends saying that the princess reigned wisely for many years, and there are still signs of her passing in the moral realm if one knows where to look - a single white flower growing on the dead tree that contained the toad.

Awesome film! Great fun. Really really enjoyed it. Sure you can pick holes in some of the plot, and there are times where some slightly shonky dialog is uttered ("there's more than meets the eye ... to you"), but its just such a lot of fun, who cares! It was certainly the funnest film I've seen in a long time. I saw this on the imax screen in the city, and it's freaking awesome! Definitely have to see it on the big screen, and the surround sound channels are all blazing away. There's more comedy in it than I expected, and we found ourselves laughing more than I have in some comedies I've watched lately. But the CG robots are fantastic - who cares if Optimus has flames on? - once again Industrial Light and Magic's effects are superb!

The story is pretty good, okay it deviates from the canon, but nothing too bad. It's very busy and there is a lot going on, so you will have to stay focused to keep track. I agree with some other reviews that a couple of characters are a bit redundant. Jon Voight's character in particular seems to be there just to spout exposition, and he doesn't seem very into what he's doing - he just phones in his performance. Jon Turturro was another character that seemed a little out-of-place - his secret government agent becomes crazier and more unstable the more you see him, descending into parody by the end. I know that's the kind of character he usually plays, but he seemed a bit loony to work for the government (or maybe that's the point?).

Just don't take it too seriously, and you should have a good time. It's giant freaking robots fighting - what's not too like! I might even see it again.

Plot Synopsis:

Somewhere across the universe living machines on the planet Cybertron are warring over the AllSpark, a device that can give machinery life. The AllSpark cube is lost in space, and ends up on Earth where it is pursued by Megatron.

At a US army base in Qatar, a mysterious helicopter enters their air space, and is forced to land at the base. The helicopter changes into a giant robot that destroys the base. It attempts to gain access to the military computers, searching for specifications and information. The soldiers attempt to oppose it, and it deploys another robot that burrows under the sand. Some of the soldiers manage to escape.

Sam Witwicky gives a presentation to his class on his great grandfather who was an explorer in the Arctic who eventually went mad. His presentation turns into a sales pitch so he can sell his grandfather's artifacts to make some money to buy a car. His father takes him to buy a car, and he ends up buying a crappy old yellow Camaro after all the other cars on the lot self-destruct.

The Pentagon is alerted to the attack in Qatar, but aren't sure if there were any survivors. Analysts are given samples of the data signals that were transmitted when the server was hacked. They try to figure out what could have caused it. The army believes it precedes an attack by foreign military powers.

The Camaro starts behaving strangely - helping Sam impress Mikaela, and helping to seduce her by selecting romantic songs on the radio. It eventually takes off during the night and Sam follows it. He sees his car transform into a robot, and send a signal into the sky. Sam calls the police, and is attacked by junkyard dogs. The camaro saves him, but Sam is arrested by police who arrive believing he's broken into the junkyard.

Aboard Air Force one, a small infiltration robot disguised as a radio, transforms and begins hacking into the computers on the plane. At the Pentagon, the team intercepts its break in, and as it starts to upload a virus, they disconnect the main servers. One of the analysts takes the data to her hacker friend, who discovers the words Project Iceman and Witwicky in the stream. They are then arrested by government security agents. The robot gets off the plane, and is met by Barricade, disguised as a police cruiser. They go looking for Witwicky.

The fleeing soldiers in Qatar are attacked by Scorponok in the desert. They manage to call in an air strike, and succeed in damaging the robot. They evacuate Qatar back to the US with some data on the base attack, and a section of Scorponok's tail.

Sams car eventually returns. Sam flees from the camaro, terrified of it. He runs into Barricade who has been searching for him. Barricade demands the Sam hand over his grandfather's glasses, which are the key to finding the AllSpark. Bumblebee intervenes and fights Barricade. Sam runs into Mikaela, and they are both pursued by Frenzy. They disable Frenzy and escape with Bumblebee, but Frenzy converts into a copy of Mikaela's cellphone and they inadvertently take him with them. Mikaela accidentally insults Bumblebee's appearance, and he scans a newer model Camaro and upgrades himself.

Bumblebee takes the pair to Griffith Observatory where they await four more Transformers that fly in overhead and crash to the ground. The protoforms scan in new appearances, and rendezvous with Bumblebee. Optimus Prime (semi truck), Ironhide (humvee), Jazz (pontiac solstice), and Ratchet (rescue vehicle). They introduce themselves, and Optimus explains what is going on. Sam's grandfather had stumbled across Megatron frozen in the ice and had accidentally activated his navigation system, burning the AllSpark's location into the lense of his glasses. The Autobots need those glasses to find the AllSpark before the Decepticons can, otherwise they will make all the machinery on Earth come to life and take over.

The Autobots return to Sam's house to search for the glasses. Lots of comedy ensues as the Autobots attempt to clumsily hide in Sam's backyard. Government agents arrive and take Sam and his family into custody. The Autobot's rescue Sam and Mikaela, only to be attacked again by a secret government division, Sector Seven. They capture Sam, Mikaela, and Bumblebee. During the fight, the glasses are dropped, and they are retrieved by Optimus Prime.

The group are taken to Sector Seven, based at Hoover Dam. They discover that the government has Megatron and the AllSpark stored away there for research. Frenzy escapes and releases Megatron, then summons the Decepticon forces.

An epic battle starts at the Hoover Dam and moves into a nearby city, resulting in the deaths of Bonecrusher (beheaded by Optimus Prime), Devastator (destroyed by Bumblebee and the military), Blackout, Jazz (torn in two by Megatron). Bumblebee is incapacitated when his legs are blown off by Starscream's attack.

Sam (Shia LaBeouf) takes the Allspark to the top of a building, where Megatron tries to take the AllSpark from him so he can it to transform Earth into a technological world and rebuild his Decepticon army. Sam signals the military to take the AllSpark from him but the helicopter is attacked and destroyed by Starscream. Megatron then tries to attack Sam, sending him off the building, where Optimus just manages to catch him as he falls. The three fall to the ground, and Optimus asks Sam to push the AllSpark into his spark, which would kill him but also destroy the AllSpark.

Optimus and Megatron engage in an all out battle to finish each other off. Sam forces the cube into Megatron, and the surge of energy wipes out the AllSpark and kills Megatron. All of the Decepticons are thrown by the military into the worlds deepest oceanic trench.

Bumblebee stays with Sam and Mikaela. Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Ratchet stay with their human allies. Optimus sends a message to the stars, hoping to reach other surving Autobots.

After the credits, Starscream is seen escaping Earth's atmosphere. Barricade and Scorponok are also presumed to have survived.

My god what was I thinking? We've just bought 4 acres of land. I don't think we realised the amount of work that was going to be involved. It's a massive undertaking. We've been out spraying poison to kill all the long grass so we can mulch and plant. Then we had to get in and slash a lot of the overgrowth down the embankment at the bottom of the property. It's a massive job, not helped by trying to avoid snakes slithering through the undergrowth. Gotta get in with the chainsaw next week and chop up some fallen trees that we've uncovered. At least we've got plenty of time to sort out the land, because it's going to be a while before we're ready to build.