Mark Thomson

Took our friend's to Dracula's on the Gold Coast as a special treat the other night. They thought we were going to Outback Spectacular, but were pleasantly surprised when we arrived there. Outback next time! The venue was a lot of fun, and the performers went out of their way to entertain, and be really helpful and pleasant. The atmosphere was great, and we really enjoyed the show. The food, nothing special to write about. Desert was pretty good, but the mains were just the generic Sunday-night roast and mash, with mixed vegies that you get a granny's. But I didn't really go for the food, and everything else exceeded expectations. Highly recommended if your looking for a night out with something that's a bit different.

Highlights included, wife screaming on ghost train, friend's pregnancy referred to "legs in air" during show, matrix ping pong, retro porn star with horrendous pole dancing, rock show, and bizarre Spitting Image-esque puppet show.

If your interested check their site.

Now this looks more like it. If they'd made the first one R rated instead of that PG-13 abomination it would have been much better. This one looks awesome! They've actually given us blood this time, and kick-ass combat scenes. Finally an actual movie for adults! Now as long as the studios don't screw it up, it should be great.
Check out the trailer at www.avp-r.com

Had a go photographing the Lunar Eclipse last night. It was a bit tricky, because it was overcast and the clouds were forever drifting in front of the moon - particularly challenging when you have to hold the shutter open to get enough light to photograph the event in the first place. Luckily I got some good shots, and it was a chance to experiment with some of the settings I haven't used before. I set a low speed film, with low shutter speed, and a high aperture stop - I've since found out I probably should have set it higher, but you live and you learn. I'm still pretty happy with the results. I think I'll try taking the camera to River Fire this weekend. Oh and I really want a bigger telephoto lense now!

And here's the first one in case you missed that before.

The Halo movie had better get made, because if the stuff Weta keeps showing off is any indication, it would be freaking awesome! Check out this amazing Warthog they've put together, along with the authentic looking Marine guy. This looks just like the game, only better! I can't understand why Microsoft wouldn't just pony up the cash to get this film made. If it was done right, and done well (not like Doom!), it would be a license to print cash. Check out the original link here.

I've never used the video plugin before, so here's a short video of our current office space, so I can test it out. Note the supremely cool Death Jr on my desk, behind the disgusting amount of paperwork to process. I took this with my new w850i - pretty good phone, but a bit disappointed with the minimal amount of memory it came with. My 2Gb memory stick arrives this week, and it should make it a bit more useful.

I'm having some issues with my job: they don't pay me on time, I'm eight months behind on my superannuation because they haven't sorted it out, and promises in general have so far failed to materialise. I don't blame them, most of the problems are caused by clients not paying on time, although I think they need someone to manage the administration. And as someone who's had their own business I can understand where they're coming from. I like the job, I like the people, so I don't particularly want to abandon them. But Rob's getting upset with things, and I can understand where she's coming from too. So I spoke with the boss about it, and he agrees it's slack, but surprisingly he's happy for me to go if I want too. I kinda figured they might give a damn and want to help by resolving the issues? So now I'm unsure, do I stay or do I go? I can still see potential in things, and I know if we could resolve the issues, I'd be happy in this job, but there's always the nagging, what if? What if it doesn't resolve or improve? What if they pull the pin?

Went to see Die Hard 4.0 last night. I was surprised it wasn't a complete abomination, as some of the reviews had suggested as much. I'm still disappointed though that they shot for a PG-13 (bizarrely it was rated M here though). It's a Die Hard movie, so you expect buckets of blood, and swearing, and violence. Bloodless violence seems a bit pointless, and John McClane is supposed to swear like a sailor, so the character didn't seem the same - more sorta generic cop. Otherwise, the film was fine. The story wasn't as bad as everyone made out, although I think it lost a lot of tension by having the characters roaming about over such a large area - it wasn't as intimate as having McClane in a building with terrorists, or the airport even. There's a lot of travelling from A to B to C, something happens, move to E. Still the action sequences are pretty amazing, although they skirt the line of believability a few times. Overall, I could recommend it. It's entertaining enough, but I'll be waiting and hoping that the DVD comes out with an R-rated adult cut containing the swearing and blood that it so rightly deserves to be included in this series.

Plot Synopsis:

A diverse group of hackers are employed by a group to run "testing" on the national infrastructure. After there work is completed they are eliminated by their employers. John McClane is asked to pick up a hacker who is wanted for questioning by the FBI. He arrives to find Mathew Farrell, but comes under fire from the hit squad sent to eliminate Farrell. They escape after a short fight.

The next day, America comes under attack by the employers of the hacker team. The cause city wide traffic problems, disrupt the infrastructure and cause terror across the country. McClane makes contact with the FBI, but by this point, they're too busy to deal with Farrell. They ask him to transport him to the FBI building for interrogation. McClane comes under attack again by the terrorists who have been monitoring communications looking for Farrell. The terrorists chase them into a city tunnel, then they cause traffic chaos by diverting traffic into the tunnel and directly in McClane's path. John destroys the hit squads helicopter with his police car.

They go on the run, then McClane and Farrell start to screw up the terrorists plans, confronting them at a power station. They figure out the terrorists plans, and after a visit to Warlock's command center (another hacker), they capture a video link image of the mastermind behind the plot; Thomas Gabriel, who was an ex-hacker who worked for the US Government. He told the officials that the system was vulnerable to interference, but they wouldn't listen and destroyed his reputation. He plans to rob the US Data Repository of all financial data, so he can hold the city to ransom.

Gabriel kidnaps McClane's daughter Lucy, after John kills his girlfriend at the power station. McClane confronts the terrorists and interferes at the data store, but Gabriel escapes with the data and Lucy. John pursues them in the terrorists truck, but they divert an F-35 and use it to attack the truck. McClane manages to destroy the plane, and catches up with Gabriel. During a confrontation McClane is shot but kills Gabriel, and Farrell heroically helps save the day too.

Beeb is driving me mad at the moment. He's being bullied so badly at school, that he's off until they fix up the bully problem. Which means I've drawn the short straw, and I'm taking him to work with me. Ordinarily that would be fine, but since all the bullying started up, he's being quite difficult to deal with. I can't get him to do his schoolwork, and today I've been nagging, whining, cajoling, bribing, harassing, and trying to reason with him to do his writing. In 5 hours I've manage to coax 4 lines of text out of him. His reading has been phenomenal, there was even a good effort with his maths, but trying to get him to write is driving me over the edge. I can fully appreciate why his teacher is becoming frustrated with his difficult and stubborn behavior at the moment. I realise he's unhappy going to school, but making everyone else around him unhappy is worse. My wife might have to quit her job to stay home and teach him if he doesn't settle down, and that probably won't be a lot of fun, because she'll be a screaming basketcase by the time I get home from work. Fun times! ... not...

Wow what an awesome movie! Visually its very impressive. It's certainly very stylized, and I like that it adhered to the look of the graphic novel. The CG effects are seamless, and it's quite impressive that it was shot on green screen, since a lot of the environments look so realistic. The story is well written, and well acted. It is quite graphically violent though, so I wouldn't recommend small children watching it. I highly recommend this film, and I'll be adding it to my purchase list.

Plot Synopsis:

The story follows King Leonidas of the Spartans in Ancient Greece. The Spartans are approached by the Persian Empire who ask them to join them, or risk being destroyed in a bloody battle. Leonidas refuses and despite the wishes of the Oracle takes 300 men to battle against the Persians. The Oracles have been bribed by a corrupt Spartan politician who is in league with an emissary from the Persians.

Leonidas uses his men, and some additional forces from other parts of Greece to create a wall at the end of the access way through the cliffs. The Persian troops superior numbers matter not when they are fighting in a combined space. The Spartans start a war of attrition against the Persians, and they are winning until a deformed Spartan, who has been refused by Leonidas sides with the Persians, and shows them another path into Greece.

Leonida's wife tries to get additional troops sent to support him, but cannot as the senate is controlled by the corrupt politician. She sleeps with him to assure that he will send troops, but he betrays her at the senate meeting. She kills him with a sword. The other council members find the Persian gold pieces on the politicians body, and realise he has betrayed them.

Leonida's additional troops decide to flee once they realise the Persian's will flank them and they cannot win. Leonida's is left with his original 300 troops, and moves out to meet the Persian god. He sends one of his soldiers back to Sparta to tell them what has happened. He meets the god, and appears to surrender. At the last moment, he launches a defiant attack, attempting to kill the Persian god with a spear. He fails, inflicting a wound to the god's face. He and his men die defiant to the last.

Back at Sparta, the soldier tells the tale of Leonida's bravery and sacrifice, and amasses a massive army that heads out, and beats the Persians.

We went out from Redlands on the ferry to McLeay Island on the weekend. The inlaws are looking to purchase a holiday property on the island, so we drove around looking at blocks of land and houses. Problem is Ros is very specific about what she wants, and when your looking for a site with a view of the water, unless your down at the water's edge, your out of luck. It's not a very elevated island, and its not that big. I think she has a couple that have caught her eye, although its more a case of a glimpse of water through the trees. Still its not a very big island, so you could probably walk down to the water. I don't think I'm keen on getting in, judging by the section in the guidebook about the sharks in the area, they could be a bit of a problem.

aka."The Longest Post Title I've Ever Written". Dentistry is a license to print money - I'm in the wrong profession. I got given a treatment plan today from my dentist. Okay so I went without treatment for 11 years so my kids could get the things they needed, but nothing prepared me for $2,500 worth of required dental work - and the wife's bill isn't much better. Rob's bill was over $400 today for a few fillings and a clean, and mine was $370 for a filling, a clean, and removal of my retainer which has been trapped on my lower teeth since high school (but that's another story). One things for certain, I came out dribbling, with strange feeling teeth, and a stranger feeling wallet. And this is only the first of 5 more visits - next visit I get the right upper wisdom tooth wrenched out followed by more fillings. Joy! At least dental technology has improved now to the point that they can put an injection in my mouth, and I can't feel the needle. That was a huge relief! But I can't understand why Medicare doesn't cover dental work at all - it's still part of my body. If i break a bone, that's covered, but get a tooth fixed that's not?? Go figure! I wonder if I can petition Coca Cola for some money, given my life-long addiction to Coke, and more recently the delightful Vanilla Coke, for the damage its done to my choppers? Works for the smokers...

Finally Muppet Show Season 2 is shipping in the US. Not too much longer to wait, it's supposed to be out here 14th November. I can't wait! It's almost a year late now - let's hope its uncut this time. I'll probably place a preorder. Here's the link if your in Oz and want it.

Micky and I absolutely loved Shaun of the Dead, so we were both quite excited when we heard that Hot Fuzz was coming out. And we weren't disappointed. It was great fun! Lots of comedians in the cast, lots of witty British humor, some fun poked at American action films, a really good story. What's not too like! I highly recommend this film. I'm going to go out and buy the two-pack of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead! Can't wait for their next film.

Plot Synopsis:

Police Officer Nicholas Angel is so good he's making the rest of the metropolitan police look incompetent (his arrest record is 400% higher than everyone else's). His department promotes him to Sergeant and ship him off to the countryside to get rid of him. He argues with his bosses, but even his workmates refuse to support his argument to stay. He turns to his recently ex-girlfriend for support, but she doesn't care either.

He arrives in Sandford, and goes looking for trouble after about 10 minutes. He ingratiates himself to the town publican when he throws all his patrons - underage teens - out of the bar. He's then almost killed by a drunken patron, and drags a collection of disorderly teenagers to the police station.

The next morning he discovers the drunk he arrested the previous night is his new partner Danny Butterman. His new workmates are a bunch of cake-eating unproductive slackers. Nick gets saddled with Danny as his new partner - Danny's obsessed with cop action movies, and drives Nick up the wall with his questions.

Nick is taken to a meeting of the village neighbourhood watch, who proceed to rant about the living statue man. Nick then goes to lecture the children at the school, and gets stupid questions from Danny. The newspaper photographer annoys him, and spells his name wrong in the paper. Everyone starts calling him Sgt. Angle. He gets a call out to apprehend a wild swan. He apprehends a shoplifter but the supermarket man, Mr Skinner, doesn't want to prosecute.

Nick is forced to attend a horrible rendition of Romeo and Juliet with Danny. The sinister Mr Skinner keeps popping up and attaching himself to Nick. The strange and bizarre townsfolk continue to baffle Nick. A mysterious figure with an axe is seen in the alley, and later brutally kills the Romeo and Juliet players.

Nick is called out to a country road, where the Romeo actors car is found crashed, covered in blood, and the two actors decapitated heads are lying in the road. Skinner once again surfaces, with cryptic and sinister comments. Nick wants to investigate, but instead, is assigned to sorting out a conflict over some clipped hedges. Angel discovers the farmer is stocking a small arsenal in his barn.

Nick explains his obsession with policing to Danny at the pub later. They return a drunk from the pub home, and the drunk is later killed by the hooded man with the axe. Danny builds on his friendship with Nick.

Nick is still being given assignments that are way beneath his skill level. But he's starting to notice strange goings'on in the village. Nick participates in the raffle at the fair, but notices Simon Skinner is missing from the raffle, when the newspaper photographer is brutally killed. Nick confesses his suspicions that there is a murderer at large to his boss, who finally leaps into action. Again Nick is assigned to standing around watching the police cordon, while the others bumble around.

Nick stops in at the florists to buy a peace lilly for Danny's birthday and discovers the florist is moving away because she has had an offer on her property so the new bypass can be built through there. She is brutally murdered while Nick is outside. He chases the killer, but the hooded figure escapes. Nick isn't taken seriously by anyone at the station again, and its dismissed as just another accident.

Nick accuses the sinister Mr Skinner of committing the murders after discovering they were all linked - the motorway bypass is coming near the village, and the lawyer discovered its location because he was sleeping with the girl from the council offices; the newspaper man let the florist know her land had more value than the fridge magnate was offering; and the fridge magnate was in cahoots with the lawyer; mr skinner would want them out of the way because they were planning to build a big shopping centre that would put him out of business. Nick tries to prove that Skinner did it because of a scratch on his leg that he got when fleeing the scene of the florist's murder - only the scratch isn't there!

Later that night, Nick returns home and the murderer is waiting to kill him. He knocks him unconscious (it's the intellectually challenged trolley boy from the market), and takes him walkie talkie. He hears Skinner telling him that he's gone to the castle. At the castle, Nick witnesses the Neighbourhood Watch group holding some kind of ceremony, and discussing killing Nick. He confronts them, and it's revealed that the police chief is the leader of the group - they kill and dispose of anyone that would threaten there chances of winning the Village of the Year competition. It looks like everyone is in on it, and Nick is alone - he flees, falling into a chamber beneath the church graveyard, that is full of the bodies and possessions of town undesirables that the villagers have murdered. He runs into Danny who stabs him.

Outside of town, Danny stops his car, and releases Nick from the boot. He wasn't really stabbed, it was just a trick so he could rescue Nick. He gives his car to Nick, and Nick drives off intending to return to the city. He stops for gas, and realises that he cares about Danny, and decides to take matters into his own hands.

He returns to the village, disabling their outlying watchers. He equips himself with the arsenal from the evidence lockup, and rides into town. The hoodies help him during his shootout with the villagers, and Danny eventually joins him. The fight against the heavily armed villagers, eventually pursuing the police chief and Mr Skinner across town in police cars. The swan blocks the road, and the cars crash into the miniature village. Nick fights Skinner, who ends up painfully impaled on the miniature church steeple. The police chief threatens to kill Danny, but Nick talks him out of it. He flees in Nick's police car, and is attacked by the swan in the back seat, crashing the car.

The London metro police return wanting Nicholas to come back - he declines deciding to stay with Danny in the village. He becomes the chief of the village, and starts cleaning up the whole town. As they are filling out all the paperwork, the Neighbourhood Watch liason bursts in, and tries to shoot Nick - Danny dives in taking the bullet for Nick. Nick pursues the liason into the evidence room where the liason becomes pinned under the sea mine, and accidentally activates it. The station house is destroyed. The police team survive, and Nick goes to place flowers on a grave - which is revealed to be Danny's mum's - Danny survived after all. The end sees them back on patrol again in the village.

McFarlane's Toy's are showing off more peeks at the new Halo 3 range of collectibles. These look really awesome, especially the Warthog. My little fella's gonna go nuts when I show him these. Click here for the original article.

Big announcement at Comic-Con that Robert Kirkman, creator of the excellent Invincible, is collaborating with Todd McFarlane of Spawn.

At last year's con, Kirkman challenged McFarlane to do more comics, since he's been out of circulation for some time. He accepted the challenge, and they've announced their new title, Haunt. Look for the new title to hit shelves early 2008.

I hope this doesn't detract from Invincible. Wonder who the artist will be? Is it McFarlane or someone else - perhaps the awesome Ryan Ottley?

Oh god my shoulder is itching so much! Its torture, itching almost constantly. I know its healing but I just want to claw at it frantically. I can't wait to get the stitches out. The doctor must be frigging kidding if he thinks I'm going to let him near my nuts. Imagine the itching down there, not just from the healing but also the shaving... I'd be dragging my sack across the concrete outside for relief!

Wow my little man is seven today. I can't believe it! It seems like only yesterday we bought him home, with tiny little fingers and toes. Time just flies by. Now it's almost hard to remember those times. We tell him the story on his birthday, how he decided he wanted out while we were playing Diablo II, the 125kph rush to the hospital from the coast. The long protracted all night labour, before he finally slithered out at high-speed on his bungy cord at 8:45am Saturday morning. All grey and mishapen, i briefly fretted about telling his mother that he was a boy (she'd wanted a girl up till then), and being kind of excited that I'd gotten a Klingon (his forehead was all ridged and lumpy after being squeezed outta there). Sometimes he's frustrating, but he's the best thing I've done with my life, and I love him a lot. He's my best little buddy, and I'm very lucky to have him. I hope we're both around to share a lot more birthdays.

FYI he got a Disgusting Science kit, a Lego Starfighter, a glider, and a shirt, bag, and hat (the clothing he was less excited about). Oh yes, and hermit crabs - they're doing well and Rob's finally stopped fretting over them. She woke me up at 1am the other night because she was worried they were cold!

Well I survived the dreaded biopsy on Saturday. I just have to wait for the results to come back now - hopefully it'll all be okay. Dr Wong did a good job, and was very patient. I think I probably left some finger dents in the surgical bed, but overall it wasn't too bad in the end. He caked on the anaesthetic an hour before the event, then slipped in the local while I was sprawled out. I didn't enjoy that very much, and could still feel the needle, but thankfully that was all. Having the punch driven into my shoulder didn't feel like anything, and I could hear him doing the sutures, but couldn't feel it so it was all good. Rob had two moles removed from her face. They burnt them off, so you could smell the burning flesh when I came into the room. It wasn't very nice! But she's been a real hard ass about it, and she hasn't complained much. I've got to go back Thursday for a look at the stitches. Hopefully it's all good news.

Well it's happened again - another birthday has rolled around. Its kind of sad when you get older that it's no longer a thing of excitement, but more quiet relief that I've survived another year and I'm still on the planet. I guess it's never a particularly happy time because I don't have my biological donors to share it with, and like Xmas it just rubs salt in old wounds. And I really miss my good friends from NZ - although I can't wait for Beagle to arrive in a couple of weeks. Rob and the kids were really great though, and it's the little things that get you through - Beeb ran out when I came home and threw his arms around me, "I love you Daddy". Makes all the difference!

We went out for dinner - not because it was Rob and my birthday's, but because my brother-in-law is visiting at the moment. He was supposed to be flying out on Friday after 6 weeks here while the hospital removed all the pins and brackets after they rebuilt his arm at Xmas. Unfortunately, he fell on the driveway on Wednesday and busted his arm along the screw holes in the bone, so now he's stuck for another 3 weeks. It was nice of Rosie to take us out, but I have to say Sams is a pretty shitty restaurant. Rob was pissed because she tried to order a drink, but they didn't make it, then they wouldn't take plastic, so she had to go get cash. Then she asked for orange juice, and got cruddy old packet cordial. Dinner was comical, you have to go up to order - there's minimal to no service at all, which is surprising considering it's not that cheap to eat there. Then they give you vouchers to get a drink, or desert. I tried to get a beer, but was only allowed the horrible old tap beer - it was nasty! So in short - don't eat there. We won't be going back. Should have gone to Leonardo's instead - much better!


We don't usually do presents, but I wanted to get Rob something, so I got her a cool little fry pan and some animal shaped cookie cutters that she'd been admiring. She gave me a box of Dwarf Rangers - she'll have no excuses for complaining about me painting now!

So that's it - 33 - now I have to work towards making 34.