How often do you actually look at the things that you see everyday? I catch the train to work most days, and I must have seen the strip of No Smoking/etc signs a thousand times. For some reason this morning I actually read them, and the middle one in the image below caught my eye

It’s a little hard to read, as I was using my camera phone and the train was moving around  a bit, but it’s a quote from Heinrich Heine that says "The Tyrant dies smiling, for he knows that after his death tyranny will merely change hands, and slavery will never end."

On closer inspection, it was a sticker placed over the top of the original, but someone had gone to the trouble to produce the stickers in the right size and style to match the Sydney train system.

This person could have simply spray painted a wall, or written on the back of the seat, but the effort they put into a little ironic protest that most of the population will probably not notice really struck a chord with me. It’ll also make me pay more attention to the signs I see but don’t process everyday.

We saw 28 Weeks Later at Dendy in Newtown last night.

Surprisingly, this is a pretty good sequal. The gore level has been upped considerably, but it’s helped along by some great actors (Robert Carlyle is great, as always, and Rose Byrne is pretty good too). There’s an unexpected twist early on that sets up the basic conundrum for the film (does "for better or worse, in sickness and in health" cover zombie virus outbreaks?), and an homage to the lawnmower scene in Braindead multiplied by 100.

This was a pretty scary film, almost as good as the first one. Certainly good enough to forgive it the odd predictable plot twist.

Mike Libby creates the most delightfully scary little pieces of art out of dead insects and the innards of old watches


They are like little steampunk robots, some so fine and delicate that I’m astonished they hold together. Look at the dragonfly above!
If only my wife wasn’t completely freaked by insects, I’d definitely buy one of these. But the problem would be which one to get. Looking through his collection, I’m not sure how I’d narrow it down.

© 2007, Malcolm Groves

© 2007, Malcolm Groves

I travel overseas a lot for work, and sometimes I get very short notice about the trips. There are a few places I visit regularly that require a visa, and while I usually try to get 12 month, multi-entry visas, eventually they run out. I had two situations in the last 6 months where I had to go somewhere at short notice, and my multi-entry visa had expired. The two experiences were dramatically different however (country names omitted to cover my arse).

Experience 1

Found out I needed to visit Country A, checked my passport, bugger!, visa about to expire. Check website for Country A’s Australian consulate, WooHoo! they do express processing of visas for an extra fee.

I gathered passport photos (I keep a packet of them in my draw), downloaded and filled out the form, got the cash (they don’t take credit card), checked the times they accept visa applications (yes, been caught by this before), hassled corporate travel to get a flight itinerary quickly, grabbed my reading folder for something to do while waiting, and trotted off to the consulate.

I have to admit at this point I was feeling pretty good. I’ve done this visa thing so many times I thought I had it down to a fine art. I pulled together all the stuff I needed in less than 15 minutes. I should have known I was heading for a fall.

My number is called, I go up to the counter with all the pieces, the attendant checks the form and various bits I have, all good. Then tells me I can pick the visa up in a few days. Very politely, I point out that I’ve ticked the Express option and am happy to pay the extra fee, just I need to fly out in about 36 hours.

This is where it all went pear shaped.

She explained to me that the express visa is done purely at the discretion of the Consulate General, and why wasn’t I organised enough to apply earlier? I explained that I’d literally only just found out I needed to travel about 30 minutes earlier. With much clucking of tongue, she retreated out the back of the office ostensibly to consult with her colleagues.
After about 10 minutes, she came back and very graciously said that she could process the visa in the time I need, but I needed to write a letter of apology to the Consulate General. Specifically, I should apologise for not being organised enough to apply earlier, and also I should apologise for causing such disruption to the office staff who needed to process my urgent request.

Bear in mind, this was all necesarry just to get something that they advertise as being available on their website for an extra fee. It obviosuly happens often enough that they specifically have this as a published option.

My first thought was to tell them to stick their apology note, that if they wanted me to bow and scrape just so I can purchase something they openly offer, they were deluded. But then I’d have to cancel my trip, reschedule whatever meetings and activities the local team had lined up for me, etc, etc. So, swallowing my pride, I smiled sweetly and asked if a hand-written note would be acceptable? I then proceeded to write the most flowery, arse-kissing note I could muster. I actually wished she’d let me take a copy, I was kind of proud of it.

Upon receiving it, with a satisfied smile she put my application in the clearly marked Express Processing box on her desk and told me I could pick it up tomorrow. I had visions of my letter going up with many others on the wall of their lunch-room, so after a particularly bad day they could cheer themselves up with some memories of how they’d stuck it to this or that customer. Oh well, whatever it takes I guess.

Experience 2

A few months later, similar situation, different country. As before, I quickly pulled together all the bits and bobs needed for Country B, jumped in a cab and on the trip over, I mentally practised my pitch for why I needed an Express Visa. I even rehearsed responses to potential objections on the attendant’s part. I was prepared for battle.

Eventually my number was called, same deal, all the forms get checked, then I decided this is the perfect time to launch into my pitch. I started to explain why I need an Express Visa, how terribly sorry I was to cause such upset, etc, etc, but then she interrupted me, and with a smile she says "It’s OK honey, you don’t need a reason, you just need $50 extra".

I was almost disappointed. Almost.

I’ve been traveling to Japan for years, but last week was the first time I’ve ever managed to be there during the annual flowering of the cherry blossoms. They don’t flower for long, so it was purely good luck that I was there.

Catching the train back to Shinjuku from one of our meetings, we traveled along the side of a waterway that was flanked with flowering cherry blossom trees. It was little more than a storm water drain, but it was utterly beautiful.

Unfortunately, due to a very full, long day of meetings, my only opportunity to get out and take some photographs was going to be early on Tuesday morning before my bus to the airport. As luck would have it, Tuesday morning was wet and cloudy, in fact, the sun had barely shown itself by the time I had to get on the bus, so I’ll have to make my do with the memories of what I saw (and other folks on Flickr) until next year

One of the reasons I used to love going to the Motor Show each year when I was young, were the engines that were often on display that had been cutaway to show your their innards moving about. A chance to glimpse into what appeared an incredibly complex system, and then the subsequent explanation from my dad that showed that often they were built on very simple principles.

Matt Keveney’s site grabbed my interested for the same reason. His animated gifs showing the basic operations of various types of engines, and the frame by frame descriptions of what is going on, kept me interested for a long time. I think my favourite is the two cylinder Stirling engine, which I’d never heard of before. Such an elegant, closed system design, I wonder if it is effective in reality? Also, I’d always wondered how a Wankel Rotary worked (as championed by Mazda). Now I know. Thanks Matt!

Update: Ooh, here are some more. Prettier, but I find Matt’s easier to understand.

If you are into William Gibson or Bruce Sterling, you might find Surfing The Deathline, a comic graphic novel by Matt Godden, interesting. The first issue is available for free download, and the first two issues are also available in print. These two authors (amongst others) did so much to define this genre, that it must be challenging to avoid pastiche, but I quite enjoyed the first issue. I just wish he’d sell subsequent issues in PDF rather than having to wait for the postie.

So, Jesper tagged me with this "five things you don’t know about me" business. The tricky thing is, I suspect most of the replies are "five things you don’t know about me and probably don’t want to know". I had seen this meme circulating and had rather hoped I’d manage to dodge it, but it seems not. Thanks Jesper. So, here goes:

1. In the spirit of Jesper’s post, I thought I’d start with this one. While I was a Computer Science student, I to had dreadlocks. I have photos to prove it, and those photos will probably never see the light of day. However, those of you who’ve seen me now will understand the moral of this story. Be good to your hair, or it will leave you.

2. I travel a lot for work, and on almost every trip I take a guitar with me. The one I travel with is a black Steinberger six string…ugly as sin but compact, has a full size fretboard and a beautiful action. I played in various bands during university, but nowadays I mostly play to relax. I have 4 or 5 others at home, much to the chagrin of my wife. After all, how many guitars does one person need? Well, all guitarists can tell you the answer to that question: One more, just one more!

3. Again back to my student days. During university I had many part-time jobs. The one that I stuck to longest was as a taxi driver. I mostly drove on Friday and Saturday nights, so I saw some VERY interesting things. Buy me a drink and I’ll tell you some stories guaranteed to make you laugh, gasp, cringe and feel sick, often all at the same time. Some of them will even be true.

4. I’m a classic car nut. I’ve owned and restored a couple of classics over the years, but currently I’m lusting after one of the following, probably in this order:

– AC Greyhound photo photo
– MkII Jaguar photo
– Karmann Ghia photo

One day, one day….

5. I know you all think I’m a bit of a tough guy (what do you mean "No"?), but a sad movie will have me in tears in moments. My wife is used to it now and just rolls her eyes and pretends she doesn’t know me. My most embarrassing incident was on a flight from Shanghai to Tokyo, watching an awesome samurai movie called "When the Last Sword is Drawn". At the end of the movie I was crying so much that three different cabin attendants asked me if everything was alright. I’ve since bought the film, and even though I’ve watched it probably half a dozen times, I still cry like a baby. I like to think it means I’m well adusted and in touch with my feelings. Most other people just think I’m a sook.

Now it’s my turn to inflict this pain on someone else. Hmmm, do I even know 5 bloggers who haven’t already been tagged with this? Here goes: Guy Smith Ferrier, Brian Long, Chee Wee, Tim Jarvis, Richard Vowles