My mate Paul Haines, a much-loved member of the Aussie specfic community, is going through a tough time. After being diagnosed with bowel cancer, having sections of his bowel removed and enduring six months worth of chemotherapy, he has recently discovered he has spots on his liver. Paul has met this news by reloading his guns and is going to fight it with two other forms of chemotherapy for cancers like his, combined with a monoclonal antibody called Avastin. Avastin, however, is not part of Medicare or the private health system's funding at this stage. It costs $20,000 to do it. Money that he doesn't have.

So we're going to try and help him raise it. Over the coming days, there'll be more news about the plan of action. In the meantime, if you'd like to make a donation via Paypal, click the Donate button below.

Please repost wherever you feel it's appropriate, or link back...

As mentioned several posts ago (why yes, I AM too lazy to find and link it) I have a very minor part in an upcoming ABC TV show, Double The Fist. I'm in the final episode.

The show hits the airwaves on 14 August (then hits them again just for the fun of it, it's that kind of show).

Sample the madness here!

D-War (aka Dragon Wars): decent effects, weak acting, lousy script.

My Neighbour Totoro: beautiful, innocent delight; a deserved classic.

I've been itching to see My Neighbour Totoro for years, but have been waiting for a cheap copy of the DVD to appear. Though several Studio Ghibli movies have become recently widely available in stores, My Neighbour Totoro hasn't been one of them. So I finally gave in and bought a copy online at full price. Doubtless next week it'll appear in DVD bargain bins all over town... (Not that I'll regret buying it. It's a lovely movie and I expect to watch it several times over.)

And tonight, off to see Hancock. A flawed movie by most accounts, but worth a go on the big screen, I reckon. Next week: The Dark Knight.

Joss Whedon's latest bit of fun and frivolity: a musical, in three short episodes, about a wannabe supervillain. Features Neil Patrick Harris as Dr Horrible and Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer. First episode is now up!

Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Also, the related fan site.

Further important info from Mr Whedon (taken from the website):

"ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT!

"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically:

ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.

All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.)"

So, watch it now! But it'll eventually be available on DVD, apparently.

Predictable story, great visuals, good fun.

P.S. Stay through the credits for the nice background imagery that shows little scenes of "what happened after" and for the sweet little vignette at the end.

Much as I applaud the apology meme recently started by Jeff Vandermeer, I don't know if I'll take part. Any apologies I should have made, I have; any remaining ones are to myself and they can stay private. But I'll ponder that a bit more. If I owe anyone an apology, now's your chance to say so!

Meantime, here's the Unique Things I've Done meme, seen on electricant's LJ.

Rules:
Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done.
Indulge in remorse if someone calls you out on a listed item.

1. Owned six handguns at one time.
2. Snorted salt.
3. Played a wizard in a TV series.

I saw Speed Racer tonight. I've never seen anything quite like it before. The visuals are astonishing - garish, beautiful, hallucinatory, dreamlike, sometimes incomprehensible. It's a full-on frenetic kaleidoscope of neon candy.

The racing sequences are mostly engaging, but plot, characterisation and dialogue are pretty abysmal. John Goodman gets one or two decent moments, and the rest of the cast throw themselves gallantly into their roles, but they've got bugger-all to work with. And I'd have cheerfully strangled the little brother, who I guess was intended as comic relief.

For the first half-hour or so, K and I were poised to walk out on the film - it really seemed that bad. The frantic colours and lame story were almost unbearable. Then the racing got into high gear (sorry, couldn't resist that) and the film picked up a bit.

And then, at last, we caught onto how this movie should be approached. As a big joke; a giant cartoon; a splendid, bizarre and meaningless parade of images that flash across your eyes but never penetrate to your brain. True eye candy, the filmic equivalent of a giant bag of Skittles; bright, colourful, sweet and with absolutely no depth of flavour at all.

If it was 20 minutes long, Speed Racer would be a triumph; I'd watch it again. But at 135 minutes, it's way too long. If you do go to see it, go with zero expectations (and possibly a few drinks inside you) and you'll probably have a good time.

I've been meme-tagged! (by ashr501) Gosh, it's been so long since I've had a good tagging (he laughed, suggestively and yet bitterly).

Ahem. So, this meme.

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring winter. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

1. Business Time - Flight Of The Conchords
2. Green Hornet - Al Hirt
3. When It's Gone, It's Gone - Bruce Cockburn
4. Pony - The Waifs
5. Anchor - The Audreys
6. Wiyathul - Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
7. The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash

Actually, everything on those albums too. Other albums I've enjoyed recently: "Volume One" - She & Him, and various Putumayo world music collections like "Music from the Coffee Lands", Music from the Chocolate Lands" and "Paris".

Now I tag: catsparx, andrewmacrae, thebellman, paulhaines, ladnews, i_ate_my_crusts, electricant, and anyone else who wants to play.

So it’s happened at last. The end of the world.

I dreamed about it last night. It was a doozy of a dream, full-colour surround-sound 3-D lucidity. Maybe I’ve watched too many apocalyptic movies. Read too many end-of-the-world stories. Ditto for comics, games and so on. They fed my dream and my dream was too strong. I think maybe I dreamed the apocalypse so hard it came true. If so… sorry, everyone.

The Zombie Apocalypse. Wow. It’s really here. They’re shuffling around outside, blank-faced, drooling, moaning vaguely like wind through a ruined building. I can see one of my neighbours with half the flesh missing off his arm, wandering slowly about his courtyard, pawing clumsily at the walls. I wonder who bit him.

All the clichés are true. No one’s answering their phone. It's all so quiet; there's no traffic noise, no planes overhead. I can hear what sounds like a TV still on in a nearby apartment, but it's just white noise; I tried my TV and there's nothing but static. I can smell smoke on the breeze – maybe a house on fire somewhere near with no one to put it out. The old order swept away in one fell night. No more job, no more bills, no more governments. One of the two certainties – taxes – has gone. Just death remains.

Enough of this. I think I just heard a scream - can't be sure, it was so distant. Time to go and see if anyone’s left. Hey, looks like all my years of medieval re-enactment will come in handy today. I’m armed and armoured and ready to face the zombie horde.

The end of the world.

This is going to be awesome.

BLITEOTW

Via devinjay: iamneurotic.com, in which people anonymously share their personal neuroses. Fascinating. Yet another example of the internet as both private and public confessional (and thereby, also a reassurance to us all; we're not as weird as we thought). Got an odd little habit you thought was yours alone? Guess again. Examples:

"I can’t change in a room with band/movie posters, or any kind of picture/object with eyes. I either have to cover them up or turn them around."

"I recite the same set of words over and over in my head while trying to urinate. The words are 'Approximately 9 days ago.'"

"All of the keys on my ring have to have the flat side facing the same direction."

As for me, whenever I lock a door, I have to try the handle to ensure it's locked. (Have to - it takes an effort of will to not do it.) Otherwise, within a few steps of walking away, I find myself wondering if I really locked it properly. A pretty common neurosis, I suspect, and kind of founded in practicality, but still. Probably an indication of excessive cautiousness.

Last night I saw the dance production of Edward Scissorhands at the Opera House, with electricant. It was a delight. They captured the style of the movie very well - the pastel cartoon-like town and its caricature inhabitants, and the charming gloom of the inventor's house. It was interesting to see how much of the story could be told without words, though I do wonder how clear the story would be to someone who hadn't seen the movie. The dancing was good, and the visual tricks of Edward's topiary and hair-cutting were neat. I loved the scene where Edward and Peg dance among his topiary figures, who come to life and dance with them.

There was a lovely moment at the end when Edward makes snow fall over the town, and fake snow starts falling over the audience too. Gasps of delight all round.

This video is a beauty.

It's a scene from "Downfall", the German film about Hitler's last days, with Hitler in his bunker ranting to his generals about how useless they are and how everything's their fault. But some wit has subtitled it so that it's in fact Morris Iemma (the NSW Premier) ranting about his ministers and the unions. If you've been following NSW politics at all, this is a hoot.

From random_alex, this meme:



1. Chris's Ink - Arch Angel, 2. the cheesemonger did not say cheese, 3. The Hurlstone Tower Lilburn Northumberland, 4. Just hanging around, 5. TVR Sagaris, 6. Mad dogs and Englishmen - Isle of Wight style, 7. carrousel de paris, 8. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 9. Lápis..., 10. On a clear day, 11. Lucky Bunny, 12. Ben Barnes

How to play:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into this mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name (mine scored zero hits, so I followed Flickr's prompts for alternative searches).

Check out these very cool T-shirts. Retro SF!

You have to love a T-shirt site that has designs in groupings such as Retro Rocketeers, Space Pirates and Demented Futuristic Housewives. "Ask me about my Death Ray"!

If you like superheroes - hey, we all like superheroes, right? - and if you like laughing - and I'm sure you do, 'cos otherwise you'd be weird, right, and surely there are no weird people on the internet - then you'll like this webcomic: Super Stupor.

The first one's a beauty, but my favourite is this one. It's a triple treat; it parodies those Hostess Twinky ads I remember from comic book days, mocks fat kids, yet is strangely poignant.

The Pie. Mmm... pie.

Today, I made a pie.

It was a spiced apricot and plum pie (recipe here, but I changed it a bit by adding a pastry base) with spiced yogurt cream (yogurt, sour cream, honey, cinnamon and ginger). And if I say so myself, it was damned tasty.

wendy_waring made a soup of roasted pumpkin, sweet potato, apple and chestnuts; i_ate_my_crusts and electricant supplied the main course of roo steaks with anchovy butter, eschallots and roasted beetroot. Coffee, chocolate and liqueur followed. A splendid feast!

Ahh... good food, good company; does life get any better than that?

So, I ran in the Mother's Day Classic this morning, in the 4 km run at the Domain.

In my training runs I've been doing 4 km in around 22m 30s or so, so I figured (allowing for the crowd of over a thousand I'd be running with, and that therefore it might be a minute or two before I even crossed the start line after the gun went off, and also the fact that the track is fairly narrow and there'd be a lot of congestion, all of which turned out to be true) that I could aim for a time under 25 minutes.

And the result? Did all that training pay off?

Yes it did!

I did it in around 24 minutes 30 seconds. I'm well pleased! (Official times will be released in a few days, I think - we wore timer chips.) And I didn't walk, except for a few steps at a couple of points where the path was too crowded for me to run.

It was a good day for it - not hot, not too cold, no rain despite threatening dark clouds.

The rest of the Choice team did well too. I'm especially pleased for my pal Katie who ran the 8 km and came in ahead of all the other Choice runners. She was very happy with her time too. She was there to cheer me on at the finish of my race; it's so encouraging to enter the final leg and have a big crowd cheering you on, and to have your own friends there cheering for you. Helps you find the last reserves and sprint to the finish.

The running bug has well and truly caught me now. I never thought I'd be saying that! Katie and I have agreed to enter the City to Surf this year. Pretty unlikely that I'll manage to run the whole 14 km, but I'll give it my best shot. And I'm going to keep training so I can enter the Mothers Day 8 km run next year.

The running is certainly paying off for my fitness, too. My pants are feeling looser lately - so much so that I bought a pair of jeans last week and actually went down a size from my usual 38 waist to a 36.

And now, a wee rest and a quiet afternoon, methinks.

[ETA: my official time was 24:29 (from when the gun went off to when I crossed the finish line). However my net time, from actually crossing the start line to when I finished, was 22:44, which is pleasing.]

Run today around 6.45pm:

Distance: 4.04 km
Time: 22 mins 18 secs
Speed: 10.9 km/h
Steps: 4382

Hmm. 51 seconds slower than last time, and today felt like a good run too. I'm now a bit suspicious of that previous timing. Anyway, like I said, tonight's run felt fine and I didn't feel any urge to slow to a walk, so it's all good.

Probably just one more run, tomorrow or Friday (maybe a brisk walk in Saturday as well), then the big event on Sunday! Then, dear reader, I'll stop boring you with these updates. I intend to keep on with the running though.

Run today around 11 am:

Distance: 4.04 km
Time: 21 mins 27 secs
Speed: 11.3 km/h
Steps: 4864

This run was hard work! It's fairly warm today (compared to most of my previous runs), and there was a headwind for part of the distance. It took a fair bit of will to not slow down to a walk (although I had to for a few seconds when crossing roads). It felt like I was going at not much above walking speed towards the end. And yet, my overall speed improved and I took 53 seconds off my last time. In your face, adverse weather conditions!