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The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Viewing blogs posted in February, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Popop in the movie theater
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 26/02/2009 20:30:43My favourite television series of all time - Arrested Development - is finally expected to make the transition to the big screen as the last actor has reportedly signed on.
Michael Cera had previously let it be known that he wasn't interested in reprising his role of George Michael Bluth - and he thought fans would be behind him:
I'm a huge fan of Michael Cera's work as George Michael - so I'm glad he's had a change of heart.
Production is expected to begin this year sometime. This combined with my favourite series of novels being made into a HBO drama - I'm a pretty happy fan!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Don't forget your booties, because it's cold out there!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 25/02/2009 23:06:52It's been pretty hot in Melbourne recently. Record-breaking temperatures are almost becoming commonplace and crazy 40 degree-plus days are getting annoying.
But whenever one of the super hot days happens on a weekday I will generally spend most of the work day inside shivering from the cold. I think something like the following is to blame (but without the Devil's mascot):
Sportscenter Commercial
That Iceburgh knows how to strut!
# Posted in the General section
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Left at Albuquerque?
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 24/02/2009 20:36:04The devastation of the recent Victorian Bushfires has touched most Australians, with nearly everyone knowing someone that's lost a house or something more devastating. Driving home from the station last night was pretty scary as there was a heap of smoke in the sky around my street. I wouldn't say I'm completely out in the sticks though we do have a lot of trees and bush near our property. Thankfully the Upwey blaze that was causing the smoke wasn't nearly as close as I had feared - but it's still a cause for concern.
As I was not sure how close the fires in Upwey were to us, I did a quick Google Maps search for directions from Upwey to Montrose.
View Larger Map
As you may have noticed, Google had helpfully given me directions from Upwey, Victoria to Montrose, Houston. Just a small mistake in the destination.
Anyway, the directions are fine until I get to the top of the Northern Territory. when I'm given the following:
I assume the kayak across the Pacific will give me the time to learn Japanese for the next few steps:
I get a brief tour of Japan before another short kayak across the Pacific and I start my road trip to Houston. The estimated travel time is only 55 days and 21 hours which might seem like a lot. But when you compare it to the 209 days and 3 hours that is estimated when you set the Google Maps travel method to "walking", it doesn't seem all that bad.
Its always fun to find an example of Google's sense of humor when using their products.
BTW - the distance between Upwey and Montrose, Victoria is only 30 minutes apart by car. Thankfully fire crews worked through the night and the Upwey fires are no longer a threat.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Web
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Friday, February 20, 2009
Postin' a blog here, boss!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 20/02/2009 21:02:51Early last year when Belinda and I were playing the Xbox 360 game Scene It, we were stumped by a difficult question:
I don't remember the multiple choice answers, but it was something like 5, 10, 25 or 50. Thinking 50 was a ridiculous amount I answered 25. When the correct answer (of 50) was shown - I wondered what kind of events would have transpired in this film to convince Mr. Cool Hand to eat 50 eggs. It's only taken me a year, but I've finally watched Cool Hand Luke. I should have done it much sooner!
Firstly - it was a really good movie. I've been meaning to watch some old, iconic movies for a few years now - like Deliverance, Citizen Kane and 2001: A Space Odyssey - this has certainly encouraged my desire.
Something I like about watching old classic movies is picking up the various scenes that were referenced by shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. There were a few of them here. I understood why somebody was "Wavin' to the pope here, boss" in an episode of Family Guy, Jasper's "That's a paddling" run on a Simpsons episode was explained and I found the source of the famous line "What we've got here is a failure to communicate". But one thing was ringing a bell when I wasn't expecting it.
In one scene there was some music in the background that seemed a little familiar - and I hummed along as if I already knew it. The music stopped suddenly so I assumed it was probably a coincidence, until it happened again. This time I put a finger on where I had heard it - the Channel 9 News theme music. Turns out the theme music News Series 2000 (hear it here) was based on the Cool Hand Luke composition - and is used by a lot of US news programs as well. Fancy that.
I wonder if any other scenes from Cool Hand Luke were copied by singer / actress. Yeah, probably not.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Thursday, February 19, 2009
Takeaway of the year?
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 19/02/2009 23:00:59Updated by Joel Dixon at 19/02/2009 23:11:19 - typo
It's pretty hard to argue against Alex Ovechkin being one of the best pure goal scorers in the league today.
Check out this incredible takeaway, followed by a pretty nifty goal:
Ovechkin Goal
That's his 42nd goal of the year BTW. And it's mid February. Incredible.
# Posted in the Hockey section
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Life Imitating Art
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 19/02/2009 21:08:54Bell and I have been watching the semi-recent Working Dog television series The Hollowmen, a comedy set behind the scenes of the "Central Policy Unit" that aims to get the Australian Prime Minister re-elected. Extremely funny, as most Working Dog productions are, but a scene I watched tonight had me thinking.
In the episode "Military Matters" the CPU is tasked with a recruiting drive aimed at getting more of Generation Y to sign up for military service. A bit of a satirical list of things the television ad should and shouldn't contain were presented:
The transcript doesn't do it justice - as most of the comedy was in Military Guy's delivery, but you get the picture. Anyway - it all seemed a little familiar to me. Check out the following television ad entitled "7 Days In The Navy":
7 Days In The Navy
Care to guess which aspects of military life they focused on?
I'm pretty sure the Hollowmen episode came after the television ad first aired. Either way - either The Hollowmen are probably pretty accurate regarding The Navy's decision making process - or The Navy doesn't understand that The Hollowmen is a comedy.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Funny
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Monday, February 16, 2009
Penguins fire Michel Therrien
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 16/02/2009 22:27:18The Pittsburgh Penguins have fired head coach Michel Therrien. Wow!
Admittedly it's not that much of a surprise, the Pens were two games away from drinking out of Lord Stanley's Cup last season - but now are five points removed from the final playoff spot. It's tough being an NHL coach. Even though the Penguins had a lot of adversity this season (a short summer, key injuries and offseason exits), Therrien is the easy scapegoat. Can't say I blame Penguin's GM Ray Shero though - this team needed something to wake them up. Unfortunately it's the coach that pays the price.
In his place, the Penguin's interim coach is Dan Bylsma, who was putting together a pretty impressive season as head coach of the "baby Pens". It all sounds a little familiar to me, Therrien was having a pretty impressive season coaching the baby Pens when he was brought in to replace a recently fired Ed Olczyk.
It's looking like the Pens aren't going to make the playoffs this season - but who knows. If the new coach sparks a similar reaction to the Senators, Gonchar and Whitney find their feet again and Crosby goes on a tear - Pittsburgh might get the double this year. I'm holding out hope
# Posted in the Hockey section and tagged as: Pittsburgh Penguins
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Thursday, February 12, 2009
There once was a man named Enus
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 12/02/2009 21:45:02Randall Munroe, author of the hugely popular geek webcomic xkcd, recently posted a link to a limerick site he created - http://limerickdb.com/ (check out the top 150 for the good ones)
Some of my favourites:
The format of the site reminds me of the Quote Database, a collection of amusing IRC quotes. Must mention a personal favourite from that site:
While looking into Randall Munroe's wiki page - I found a few other useful sites I didn't know about:
- Naked + Guitars + Showers (nsfw) - pretty much what the title says. See Rule 34.
- The Funniest, The Fairest and The Cutest - User submitted and voted upon pictures, trying to find the funniest, fairest and cutest respectively. Again - the top 20 pictures are pretty quality.
I've really gotten soft since we got kitties - the cutest one was by far my favourite. Probably why I love lolcats so much - cute kitties with funny captions. Bliss!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Funny, Web
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Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Malkin me giggle
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 11/02/2009 19:30:29A Penguin blog that I subscribe to reported on a recent interview with the NHL's leading scorer and Penguin's powerhouse Evgeni Malkin. As the interview was conducted in Russian, Malkin gives some pretty thorough answers on a range of questions regarding his season, the All Star game and the league's perception of Sidney Crosby.
What struck me most about the interview was Malkin's apparent honesty, and a few jokes he threw in. Some of my favourites:
Sure - he's got nothing on this YouTube video entitled "Funny Cats" but it's good to see him relaxed and jovial with the interviewer. Nothing conclusive I know, but it seems the initial rumors that Malkin's attitude was going to be a problem are looking pretty baseless now.
# Posted in the Hockey section and tagged as: Pittsburgh Penguins
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Saturday, February 07, 2009
Banana Berry Breeze
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 07/02/2009 12:10:33Over Christmas Boose Juice added a Christmas themed beverage that caught my eye due to it's special ingredient. Guava.
I've mentioned my love of guava before - so I immediately bought this new fruit concoction. It wasn't too bad but wasn't the best use of guava in a boost juice in my opinion.
So the next day I asked for a mix of my own design: banana, strawberry and guava (with ice and the yogurt stuff they use). Yum! I had the mix a few more times before my time off over Christmas - and figured that when the Christmas drink was gone the guava ingredient would be gone too.
Imagine my surprise (and delight) when I saw the following poster the other day:
Banana Berry Breeze - Banana, Strawberry and Guava
They stole my idea! I'm not upset though - as I'm sure no-one would have thought to combine strawberry, banana and guava without my input.
Enjoy. You're welcome.
# Posted in the General section
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