Monthly Archive: August 2007

Fantastic fresh literature!

slife1

I just reviewed this book by Erina Reddan. It is absolutely spellbinding. I can’t remember last time I enjoyed a new novel so much … It was one of those books where I knew I would not be able to put it down after two pages. Reddan’s prose is deceptively simple. While the sentences and word-choice might be simple, the story and the characters most certainly are not. The richly textured plot leaves you hungering for more.
Reddan, an award-winning Australian journalist, is married to a Mexican, and apparently Lilia de Las Flores in the novel is based on her husband’s grandmother. Family legend has it that she married and then murdered five men.
The action of the novel may be set in a sleepy and mystical Mexican town, but the two main characters are staunchly Western. This makes it easy for a Western reader to identify with their reaction to the seemingly magical story that enfolds around them.
I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. I don’t think it is released in the U.S. at the moment, although I could be wrong. It is available from Dymocks in Australia though – the link will take you straight to it. I originally reviewed the book in the Indaily (online version of Adelaide’s Independent Weekly) … feel free to read my original review!

Citizenship test – oh dear!

slife2

Well, well, well, some sample questions are out from the new citizenship test that will be introduced in Australia! Personally, I am glad I became a citizen nearly 2 years ago, because frankly this would have required some studying! Actually, I’m lucky, I went to Law School here in Australia, so I actually know the answers to a lot of these things.
But I’d sure like to know how many natively born Australians can answer the following questions:

1. In what year did Federation take place?
2. Which day of the year is Australia Day?
3. Who was the first Prime Minister of Australia?
4. What is the first line of Australia’s national anthem?
5. What is the floral emblem of Australia?
6. What is the population of Australia?
7. In what city is the Parliament House of the Commonwealth Parliament located?
8. Who is the Queen’s representative in Australia?
9. How are Members of Parliament chosen?
10. Who do Members of Parliament represent?
11. After a federal election, who forms the new government?
12. What are the colours on the Australian flag?
13. Who is the head of the Australian Government?
14. What are the three levels of government in Australia?
15. In what year did the European settlement of Australia start?
16. Serving on a jury if required is a responsibility of Australian citizenship: true or false?
17. In Australia, everyone is free to practise the religion of their choice, or practise no religion: true of false?
18. To be elected to the Commonwealth Parliament you must be an Australian citizen: true or false?
19. As an Australian citizen, I have the right to register my baby born overseas as an Australian citizen: true or false?
20. Australian citizens aged 18 years or over are required to enrol on the electoral register: true or false?

… ….. without looking up the answers of course. So, since we are forcing immigrants to answer these questions before allowing them to become citizens, maybe we should make ALL Australians take the test. If you fail, you get sent to Tasmania??

Inmates performing Thriller!

This is amazing!! An entire population of prision inmates in the Phillippines practicing a reenactment of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video — Thanks to John Brownlee who posted this originally … What struck me was his comment in his post:

Why the hell aren’t our own prisons trying something like this to boost morale?

I happen to agree with him — however, recently, we had a much milder version of this event happen here in Adelaide. You can read the whole story here, but basically the prison put on a show where the prisoners were the entertainment, and the prison manager was part of it.

She dressed as a fairy godmother and danced with inmates, including at least one murderer

and has now been banned from the State’s correctional services!!
What a totally different attitude eh?? I say give the inmates some fun … note the name of the state’s services: Correctional! It’s not ‘Lock em up and throw away the key’ … although I think that’s what our Premier and many others would rather have it be.

Australian culture, Australian Politics, crime, humor

21

Guildless is obviously evil

slife1

So, my mage is currently guildless – by choice, I might add. She’s 70, but all I do with her really is farm stuff and money for my other characters. I don’t feel like being in a guild with her and having obligations, etc.
This makes some people really uncomfortable for some reason. The other day I was in Orgrimmar at 4 am server time, and I was opening a portal to Shattrath, so I offered the remaining spots for 2 gold a person in Trade Channel.
As usual, some idiot starts talking about how outrageous my prices are. I just ignore talk like that – because frankly, I can charge whatever I like — it’s not like I NEED to open a portal.
But then, it got more personal: How come you’re not in a guild?? (in trade channel) … the general consensus seemed to be that I was a wicked evil person just because I wasn’t in a guild.
Yes, I know you never know who’s on the other side, and I should assume this was just kids talking – but really, I’m so over it. I finally told him, “Yes, I’m not in a guild because I’m a mean horrible person with no friends”, which caused this guy to put me on ignore.
I had to chuckle when 3 minutes later he wanted to buy a potion, and I could have made it for him …
/end rant

Gaming

guild, mage, World of Warcraft

21

Boys will be boys will be PM??

Ah – election years, they really bring out the best in people, don’t they? Well, it’s election year here in Oz, and it’s starting to get ugly …

I’m sure I’m not the only person blogging about Kevin Rudd’s trip to a famous New York strip club today. Now, in case you aren’t in Australia, I’ll tell you that Kevin Rudd could be our next Prime Minister. He’s the leader of the Labour Party, and if you believe opinion polls, extremely likely to win the federal election later this year.

Well, yesterday, it was all over the papers that he was in New York as an official Australian delegate to the United Nations in 2004 … when he went out with the boys, got a little sozzled, and headed to Scores – a ‘gentleman’s club’ – where he apparently couldn’t keep his hands off the girls and had to get a talking to for inappropriate behavior.

Most commentary I’ve seen about this is all about how there’s nothing wrong with a little innocent sozzling and man-handling of strippers. It’s pure red-blooded Australian male … why, some politicians have raised their hands up to say that they too have indeed been to strip clubs.

Well, that’s not the issue is it?? The point is that this is a man who continually projects himself as a conservative Christian family man — and this clearly contradicts that. And don’t give me any crap about how he was drunk … drink tends to bring out the truth in people.

Now, Rudd’s line here is that he can’t remember quite what happened because he had had too much to drink. HELLO??? This is a defense???

Frankly, I don’t trust this man – he’s clearly projecting an image completely out of character with who he really is. And getting so drunk that he can’t remember getting told off for manhandling strippers while on an $18,000 (AUD) tax-payer funded official trip???? This is who Australia wants to have as their Prime Minister???

Sheesh!

And there ends my political rant. I’m off to farm motes in Azeroth.

Australian Politics, Kevin Rudd, strip clubs

20

I Don’t WANT to know what you’re really like!

slife3

Like Clive Thompson, I am feeling a bit nervous about the new built-in voice chat coming to World of Warcraft. Sure, I have used programs like Ventrilo in the past. Voice chat is amazingly useful in a raid situation. Most people don’t type at 80+ wpm, and tactics can be better explained and discussed in a complex situation if you can just speak. But let’s face it … when you’re pairing up with someone to complete a quest, or even in a five-man dungeon, it’s just not necessary. Everyone should know their class’s responsibilities without needing in-depth explanations or instructions. And frankly, I don’t need to hear that the person I’m playing with sounds stoned, or tired, or young enough to be my son. It doesn’t add much to the experience of killing a few orcs. It can even detract from it. And face it, some people can be down right nasty. Who doesn’t remember the infamous Onyxia raid leader immortalized in this clip? Yes, that sort of behavior will probably be reportable with in-game voice chat, but that probably won’t prevent it from happening in the first place.
Of course, technically, I can’t be FORCED to use the voice chat … typing is still going to be available. But I can’t help but think that you’ll be sort of bullied into it anyway.
I want to be able to listen to my music or listen to other things going on around me when playing WoW … I’m crossing my fingers, but I’m awaiting the patch with trepidation.

(Thanks to Linn for pointing Thompson’s article out to me in the first place.)

Ventrilo, voice chat, World of Warcraft

16

Australia could – finally – be joining te 21st century — ALMOST

I just read some incredibly exciting news! Apparently, TiVo is FINALLY coming to Australia!! For a few years now, we have been semi-blessed with the Foxtel IQ. The IQ is at best a very poor second cousin to the TiVo. It cannot search in any way shape or form. It doesn’t have a thumbs up and thumbs down feature. And it doesn’t allow bookmarks in programs. So you have to search through the TV listings to find your program, then hit record. And only sometimes does it have a ‘series-link’ which is meant to be like a season pass.
The biggest problem with the IQ is that you can’t use it for free-to-air television. All the major networks don’t provide Foxtel with digital programming information, so the programs that you probably really wanted to use it for in the first place aren’t accessible. You have to actually type in the TIME that you want something recorded, and hope that the networks stick with it.
I have missed the TiVo very much since living in Australia. As a matter of fact, it is probably one of the only things I still miss about living in the US (there are a few others but they can probably wait till another day).
But I’m nervous. Will Foxtel provide Channel 7 (who is bringing in the TiVo) with THEIR programming information??? I can imagine that they will be extremely reluctant to since it would probably spell the end of the very inferior IQ.
So, we may end up having to use both machines for a while. Or just stop watching Foxtel for anything other than sport. Australian cable TV ain’t that hot anyway.

Australian culture, Foxtel, Tivo

14

How stupid can you get??