stephen-turner.net

Almost buy accident, I have suddenly got this blog where it should be, working as it should be.

My blog is now officially moved from Blogger to Wordpress, as I have wanted for several weeks. There will be some adjustments required still I’m sure, but it’s almost all good now.

Seem what both Blogger and Wordpress neglect to tell you is that to import correctly, you need to have your blog on the blogspot server, not on your own server. If they’d only explained that somewhere obvious (and not buried in a help thread), this would have been so much easier.

Some adjustments left no doubt, and some things might be missing (if only I had the audience to notice all of them yet!) but it should be all good.

Of course, there’s really only one post I need to make sure is spotless and redirecting from the old blogger site, and that will be forthcoming

It’s a question I’ve pondered often. While watching a new episode of Torchwood tonight (you can guess where I got that because it doesn’t air here anywhere), I thought of it again, as I have when watching any entertaining sci-fi or fantasy type stuff.

I mean, with the possible exception of movies (and then, never ever Australian movies), Australian’s just aren’t interested in sci-fi. Is it because we just don’t like it? Are we boring? Unable to think about the future? Unable to see ourselves in the future? Just too literal?

Of course, I only mean “we” in a very collective sense, because there’s of course tonnes of Australians who are big sci-fi fans, but it doesn’t seem to translate into any mainstream appeal.

Especially Australian-made sci-fi, which is virtually non-existant. Part of that might be budget related, but there seems little market for it here. And especially in TV as well — I can think of a couple of kid’s dramas like Ocean Girl and Girl From Tomorrow that were sci-fi, but no adult sci-fi drama of any description occurs to me as ever having existed (I’d love to be proved wrong, please tell me if you can).

So what can be done about this? Budgets? Imagination? Proving there’s an audience? Just forget it and move overseas and contribute to American and British SF TV? I mean, if Torchwood can make Cardiff exciting and sci-fi focused, then I think we can do it with Sydney or Melbourne.

Really, I have several decent sci-fi plot lines in me that would be Australian set, but if they go anywhere, I’d say it will be in books first, before it ever got near TV or movies. Partially logistics, partially likelihood of success.

It all comes back to the first statement — it seems as if Australia just doesn’t like sci-fi, or just not enough of the country anyway.

Quiet enough day today, with that sinking feeling coming over me that the holiday is nearly over. I know it’s not really that bad (especially with just a week left of the current job), but it can’t help but feeling a bit blah anyway.

Backend-wise, the blog is becoming seriously annoying right now. I thought republishing Blogger on my new server would be easy, but it’s a pain, at least in terms of the rss feed and archive. The whole old system is driving me nuts, but then again, Wordpress issues are driving me nuts as well … specifically its inability to import from Blogger correctly, or at least from my Blogger correctly. There’s a helpful import and everything, but it doesn’t seem to work for me.

Oh well, unless I can get a break there, I might just switch to Wordpress and leave the old site as an archive. But I’ll be posting a new version of that Underbelly feature (pictures and all!) if nothing else.

Otherwise, been playing with Will and Alex, messing with some MAME stuff on Ubuntu (finally got it working on the spare machine!) and thinking about my next couple of computer and/or woodworking projects … for when I finally hae some more cash.

And there’s those other mysterious possibilities of course …

Back home from the holiday, catching up on a multitude of news feeds …

I see that Joss Whedon’s new series “Dollhouse” is being cast already. Apart from Eliza Dushku, they’ve cast Tahmoh Penikett (Helo from Battlestar Galactica), Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj in roles. Only know Penikett, but Joss does well with unknowns. Dollhouse is definitely top of the list for new shows to watch later this year.

And the insane Chris Lilley could be the next Sasha Baron Cohen, with his series Summer Heights High getting the prime “cult TV Friday” slot on HBO in the US. It’s late night, but it’s the slot people talk about. So I wouldn’t be surprised if his next show is something like Mr G goes to Broadway and moves to New York. Hey, it’s worked for plenty of other comedians …

Had to head back to Sydney today … always sad to go, but there’s a few more days of break left to relax, and there’s a happy realisation that Nelson Bay isn’t that far away anyway.

We’re already aiming to coming back here late next month, with the appealing realisation that Anzac Day is on a Friday, making a helpful long weekend. And there’s other thoughts to get up there again more often, not the least of which is making sure we have more money first … want to get into that River’s Store

And there’s some other things that … might be there … would not want to say anything about it now, but I just want to look at it more. Certain realisations that things could change, very interestingly, and for the better.

Mostly unrelated to that, Will’s been in such a giddy mood this week, starting off not eating anything, then after hanging out with his cousins, he’s been eating a lot better. He’s obsessed with his Pixar cupcakes (anything that encourages him to eat is good), and is eating a dozen biscuits a session sometimes … while still not eating his proper meals much at all outside of breakfast. Not sure what to do, since the last thing we want to do is discourage his eating, but I guess we’ll hae to work on the fine details.

But Will has been so funny and giddy while we were away — demanding I make him “fly” (basically just lifting him oer the lounge, tumbling around, chasing me around the house, and also being very clingy, seeming to have just reached that age where’s he’s regularly concerned we’re going to leave him behind, so he makes a big noise everytime one of us leaves the room. That ranges from “Daddy, are you up there!” when I leave the room and go upstairs, to screaming hysterically when one of us goes for a walk. I’m a bit worried what will happen when I go back to work …

Anyway, it’s all joyously normal stuff, and I look forward to more of nearly all of it

More fun in the sun today, with the weather coming good in the morning again, so we headed to Dutchies again. It was basically empty, and while it’s kind of constantly surprising even though we’re here completely out of holiday time, it’s still odd to see. After a while it became more clear why not even locals were out — it was very hot, but also quite windy, and the water was quite cold. Still fun though — I went for a walk down the sand and played with the kids on the beach again.

After another quiet afternoon (in which I finally watch “A Bugs Life” for the first time), I headed out for some exercise late in the afternoon. Walked to Shoal Bay on the walk/bike track, then wandered through the already closed for the day shops. Always gravitate towards the real estate windows now, but there’s never much detail there. Permanent rentals do intrigue me though.

Walked back along Shoal Bay beach, and — the highlight of the day. Half way up, I noticed no more than 10-15 metres offshore, a whole bunch of dolphins were frolicking together. At least half a dozen were there, maybe more, and they did everything you could imagine except jump in the air. They bounced around, swam closer to shore, bobbed up their fins and their heads. Generally put on a good show, even though only about five people saw them the whole time. Really wish I’d had an adequate camera, but my camera phone is crap and old and full up with images that I really can’t get off there anyway. Time for an upgrade I think, for this and so many other reasons.

Of course, sights like this is just another reason why I love the whole Nelson Bay district.

This is why I like holidays now … getting away from work, from commuting, from not being with the family. Truthfully, the reverse can be a little tiring of course, but being able to spend all your time with your kids and not actually having to worry about anything else just distills the good bits of being a Dad out and lets you enjoy them, without having to do much else.

Will’s being such a chatty little guy now, which is so good to see. Eighteen months ago I was wondering when he’d start talking, now I can have real conversations with him. He’s saying more and being more expressive every day. Of course, this has its downsides, because he’s a real full-on toddler now, getting very whingey about little things often, and still very moody when it comes to eating.

It’s not really completely voluntary, since he’s had problems in this area since he was a baby, but it is an obvious choice as well, even though he can’t really help it. But it can get frustrating as well, for him and for us. For a few days he didn’t seem to want to eat anything, even his usual favourites, but after a couple of days with his cousins, he improved a little. It leaves us in a position where we’re happy for him to eat everything, even stuff that is usually “bad” in large amounts. We can’t have him eat nothing, so if he just eats biscuits, say, it’s better than nothing.

Alex is a really funny kid, with the goofiest grin and an already evident sense of humour. He can be naughty, but it seems innocent, and he can be trying, but it all seems normal. And he’s 90% completely walking now, which is just so funny and so wonderful to see. I love it when he knows how clever he is for his walking skills

But really, aside from a few things, they’re such good kids, who play well together, are learning what they should, and can even be really helpful.

What a day … the strangest fog first thing in the morning. Tom and his family had to go home early, so everyone ended up at the crack of dawn after Millie got up at 5am! The fog was really heavy, and it didn’t look like we’d do anything much, but by lunch time it had cleared really nicely, so we went to the beach in the afternoon this time.

Trying to write something as well, but not really getting that far. I have a new idea that I’m thinking about and putting down a few notes on, but it really needs some work. And I do worry about the committment level here, that I just jump from one project to the next, constantly planning a project until it doesn’t seem tenable, then moving on to something else that does seem doable (and later changing my mind).

Same thing goes for business — it’s so abundantly clear to me now that your own business is the only real route to both serious success, as well as happiness and fulfillment. Sure, it’s obviously risky (but less so if you start smart, with low capital and working on the side until it’s succeeding), but it seems like the only really serious way to spend your time. Not working for someone else forever, but doing your own thing.

But what to do? I wonder sometimes if I’m focused enough there … I suppose it’s true to say that I don’t even know the absolutely best way to decide what idea is best to pursue. And because the committment required here is even bigger than just writing something, it makes the decision even harder.

And there’s the “get out of Sydney” aspect. We’re really thinking about making a move out at some time … maybe sooner, maybe later, but it’s not hard to see it as the way to go. And spending a few days where we are now … well, the Port Stephens area seems like a real possibility, but you have to work on a business that serves all areas, not just the area you’re in.

If anyone I know reads this, of course I’m happy to be starting a new job in a couple of weeks, and it excites the hell out of me for all sorts of reasons, but it’s hard to see it as a really long term thing (years and years …) I’m talking about really long term stuff here, not just the next year or two.

An overcast day today, but with a house full of kids we went to the beach anyway. The little one, Dutchies — a perfect kids beach really. And while the water was so-so, it was a great morning anyway.

Seeing the four of them, with a collective age of 10 (that’s 4,3,2 and 1) probably did remind me of youthful holiday fun, except of course that all my cousins and brother are roughly my age so I don’t remember playing with little kids except when I was a kid myself.

But it was all so much fun … and really simple stuff. Building sandcastles and knocking them down and running in an out of the water and lots of yelling and laughter … that’s the good stuff.

They basically ran themselves ragged in the long run, then Will and Alex slept for half the afternoon, then did it all again for half the night. We all went out to dinner at Aussie Bobs, the big local fish and chip shop, for a real Aussie Easter dinner. I’m sure there was some holiday surcharge there because it cost way more than I thought it should, but it was good, and it was fun.

This is what most holidays will be like now, and it is good

Headed up to Nelson Bay early this afternoon, to spend nearly a week up at the family house. For the Easter weekend Sallie’s brother Tom and his family will stay with us, which will be a good chance for Will and Alex to spend time with their cousins Millie and Emma — something they don’t do enough of because Tom lives up on the family farm. We got into town at about 4pm, while Tom and his family got in about a half hour later. By the end of today it was clear that just two days was enough — Will and Millie were staying in the same room, and they were giggling and laughing so hard that it seemed as if they would never get to sleep!

Quiet night today, so I watched what was on TV — quite a good choice. I checked out Galaxy Quest again, and most of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy after that. They both damn entertaining movies, and underrated gems in my opinion.

Galaxy Quest is both a send-up of sci-fi fan culture, and a loving ode to it at the same time. It’s this perfect combination that makes it work, with people who love the fan culture getting into a great story about pretenders made good and fans saving the day, while at the same time people who think it’s rubbish can still enjoy a story that’s a clear send-up of the Star Trek fan world and a funny action comedy.

Great cast, starting with the obvious ones such as Tim Allen (easily his best role outside of maybe Toy Story), Sigourney Weaver (both sending up sci-fi babes and doing a counterpoint to her tough girl sci-fi Aliens role), and Alan Rickman (who must be sending up the classical Brit slumming it in US TV — and sending up Patrick Stewart just a bit?) Since I saw it at the movies, what impresses me also is the cast I didn’t really know at the time that I know now. Most familiar is Sam Rockwell, who plays the hapless one-episode extra turned hero that tags along on the trip, Enrico Colatino (Veronica Mars), as the sing-song voiced alien emissary, and most of all Tony Shalhoub (Monk) as the laconical cast member who ends up falling for an alien girl. These guys were virtual unknowns at the time, but they’ve all moved on to various degrees of major success since. Small after the fact touches like this are what make Galaxy Quest so good.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy came on after Galaxy Quest, and while most probably rate it less highly than the earlier movie, I love it to bits. A movie over a decade in the making, and somewhat overshadowed by the death of creator Douglas Adams several years earlier, I still think it does well as a screen adventure, conveying the true spirit of the books while putting together a tight movie-orientated story that works well by itself.

The cast is great — Martin Freeman was an obvious choice as Arthur Dent, Mos Def seemingly odd but really perfect as Ford Prefect, Sam Rockwell just the right kind of mental as Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Zooey Deschanel (who I love already), all kinds of zany gorgeous as Trillian. Topped off with a great supporting cast (such as John Malkovich and Bill Nighy and cameos from original TV series actors like Simon Jones), and voice work from Stephen Fry as the voice of the book and Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin the android that is magnificent.

And it’s just so … joyous. The whole movie has a sense of celebration for the stories, and a sense of reverance for Douglas Adams (watch for the final image). Personal highlights include the magnificently verbatim use of exerpts from the book when the book speaks, and the way they fit so well into the movie.

Don’t think it did terribly, but I guess it wasn’t a “massive” movie either. Don’t care really, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to others. I think something like this, with a massive pre-existing fan base, was always going to have a mixed result with that audience, let alone the wider audience.

But that doesn’t matter to me … I know what I like when I see it