Flew back into Auckland tonight, and looking forward to the quietest NYE ever… maybe watch an episode of something and then to bed. It’s been a busy few days, with that my third flight in 48 hours.

Happy 2006!

I am at Auckland international airport — heading back to Sydney for short xmas break — it’s 4:50AM and I’ve just eaten a cold, hard $2.50 croissant. On the way here in the taxi, we had to turn around because I realized I’d left both my ticket and passport on my desk. Wifi here is broken like so many places… lucky I got this hideously expensive 3G card :)

See you in 2002 - Dan McCarthy, 2002 - ink on paper

(There’s more at his web site)

I visited Auckland’s Stardome planetarium tonight, something I’ve been meaning to do for a few weeks now, and although it wasn’t as enthralling as I always imagine such things should be, it was kind of nice… Why do I get such a kick out of that feeling of utter insignificance you get from realizing just how mindbogglingly small our world is compared to the rest of the cosmos, and for what an astoundingly short period of time our species has walked upon this tiny speck?

Anyhow, all that thinking about the big picture reminds me that the intelligent design bozos have just lost a major court case in the US, and I have to smile… munce, even.

Ha-ha!

I would apologize for gloating, but this is not the time for rational people to be polite about the religious nutjobs’ new front in their ongoing war against common sense. The leader of the free world himself tacitly endorses teaching ID as part of a science curriculum, so we really do have something to worry about.

You know what an interesting scientific question isn’t? It sure isn’t: "How can such a complicated and amazing universe exist without a creator?"— That’s a tedious, metaphysical question. An interesting scientific question is: "How does this complicated and amazing universe work?" because it opens up a million avenues of actual research, every single one of which will expand our understanding of the cosmos, and perhaps even one day answer that first question without us even expecting it.

After much umming and ahhing I finally decided to get a wireless broadband card (ie a wireless PC card that connects to 3G and CDMA phone networks). Although Telecom’s deal is way more expensive than its nearest competitor Whoosh (who basically offers about ten times the bandwidth for the same price), it does at least offer very broad coverage, so I figure than it’s probably better to go with an expensive option that works than a cheap one that doesn’t. Still, it would be nice if they took into account that simply visiting a telco’s homepage these days can eat up close to a megabyte of that precious, metered bandwidth, so maybe offering nothing higher than a 400MB/month $99 plan is a little mean.

The good thing about this plan is that I bought the modem privately and so didn’t have to sign up for a contract to get it connected, so if I decide it’s not the way to go I can just cancel my account and sell it on to someone else.

BTW I thought Telecom’s pricing was mean, but Telstra (Australia) is even worse— $99 buys just 200MB!

This was quite an eerily beautiful scene at the time… the constantly changing weather here means that if you stand and look at the sky long enough you will probably see something interesting. (taken a week ago)

I saw King Kong tonight and lo, it was good. Not great [a little too long and for some reason the sound sucked ass] but still it was a welcome treat, full of gratuitous primate-on-dinosaur action and dripping with pathos. Yum!

One thing that I couldn’t help noticing was how bad some of the animation and matting was — and I don’t think it was a "style choice." I feel like maybe CGI has peaked in recent years, with diminishing returns for every new innovation/extra million bucks spent meaning that we won’t see any more quantum leaps in verisimilitude for a while. Or maybe it’s just evidence of a more pragmatic approach, so that important elements (like Kong’s face, which looks brilliant, especially when he’s eating) are where the resources are spent, and long shots of guys being chased by dinosurs are outsourced for less money, because they’re just not that important in the scheme of things.

*** BELATED NARNIAN SPOILER WARNING ***

Further to the previous post, which is long enough as it is, I have a real problem with the notion of sacrifice as portrayed by Aslan the noble [vegetarian?] lion, who gives himself over to be murdered by the White Witch and her rabble of hideous snot-covered trolls. Sure he goes willingly to his death, but he does it knowing full well that he will return; in effect he is simply exchanging a rather unpleasant and painful experience for a higher state of being. He knows he will be resurrected, stronger and purer than ever. So where’s the sacrifice?

Show me someone who would give their life up for a friend or a cause even when they see nothing but oblivion waiting for them and I might be impressed. I think the Christian story would be a much more powerful one if Jesus had accepted total destruction (or perhaps eternal exile) so that we mere mortals might live on… rather than just experiencing the worst of our hospitality and then returning to sit at his father’s right hand and rule over heaven until the end of days. It makes the whole "so loved the world that he gave his only son" thing seem totally melodramatic; it would be more correct to say "so liked the world that he lent his only son."

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe — This movie reminded me that the quality of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was the exception rather than the rule with regard to the fantasy genre. Truly, Narnia sucks ass. Partly it is the ham-fisted directing and terrible adaptation, but I think it is also CS Lewis’ original story which is the problem, and the repulsive racist bollocks that permeates throughout is just painful to watch. And almost every solemn line uttered by Aslan et al should have had the phrase "for some reason" appended to it — "You will sit on the throne and rule this land (for some reason)" — "It is written that the deep magic must be appeased (for some reason)" — "I am with you to the death (for some reason)". Also, young Peter handled his sword as though it had a dog turd stuck on the end of it — "beware my poo-stick!" — and the CGI animals with all their superfluous swaying and wobbling about already look dated! Bleeeeeeeechhh! I’d love to see the look on Philip Pullman’s face if he ever tries to sit through this drivel, and can only hope that the movies based on his brilliant Dark Materials trilogy are handled better.

Harry Potter and the Wossname of Fire — I would have said some pretty negative things about this one too, if not for the icky LW&W, which puts things in perspective. Sure it was badly edited and the actors appeared to have little idea about their motivations, but at least the HP characters have some spine, and aren’t portrayed with this hideous nostalgic "innocence of children" stuff. And sure, Harry has a destiny that puts him above regular wizards (and muggles, obviously), but that doesn’t mean everyone wants to bow before him and pledge eternal allegiance (for some reason).

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang — I really liked this movie, but saw it a couple of weeks ago so now it is not so fresh in my mind. Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer were both perfect in their roles, and the whole flawed narrator thing worked very well for me, especially with the swearing ;)

Pride and Prejudice — Made me weepy when they finally get together at the end; I’m becoming a sucker for the period romance.

Little Fish — Speaking of weepy, this one totally clobbered me with its broken but believable characters. Noni Hazelhurst is effing brilliant, and so is almost everyone else in this gritty/sad/hopeful movie about broken people trying to get their lives together. The bit with the kids singing (which features in the preview) is a beautiful moment which almost had me blubbing as well.

Lost (Season 2 Episodes 4 - 9) — Great to catch up with this one (in one sitting!), and I quite appreciated the fast retelling of the story of the other survivors. Michelle Rodriguez’s messed up character makes Kate’s "issues" look trivial. Excellent!

Scrubs (Season 1, Episodes 1-13) — I’m working really hard to not watch all this in one go, since I’m really enjoying it. I kind of missed it when it first came out, and the few episodes I did catch annoyed me with the cartoony sound effects and double takes. This time around I don’t notice them so much (although on the commentary track the director Bill Lawrence says that in retrospect these gimmicks make him hate himself, which makes me warm to the show all the more).

Gilmore Girls (Season 1) — Again, a show I didn’t much like when I first encountered it a few years ago, but now I find I have developed an unquenchable thirst for it, going back to watch it from the beginning. Now when I hear the words: "Previously on Gilmore Girls…" I feel strangely content…

View from the top of extinct volcano Mt St John, looking across the crater in the direction of Mt Eden. (I think the sky came out white because I was shooting into the sun.)

Although less impressive in size, I like this one best so far because it is covered in trees and is like a little secret valley hidden from the surrounding suburbs. Facing the other way, the view is rather different: