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Sensory Overload #5

2010-04-07T00:10:00.007+10:00

FILMS

City Island

The Rizzos, a family who doesn't share their habits, aspirations, and careers with one another, find their delicate web of lies disturbed by the arrival of a young ex-con brought home by the patriarch of the family, who is a corrections officer in real life, and a hopeful actor in private.

Funny, well-written comedy drama. There should be more of these quirky gems and less films featuring Jennifer Aniston.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo / The Girl Who Played With Fire / The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest

Swedish thriller trilogy based on Stieg Larsson's novels about a journalist and a young female hacker.

Excellent trilogy and certainly worth tracking down before the Holywood remake due for release in 2012 which will surely remove the more brutal but somewhat essential scenes from the original and most likely better Swedish version.

MUSIC

Fang Island

Glorious self-titled second album from ex-Daughters guitarist Nicholas Sadler. Fang Island makes music that they describe as “everyone high-fiving everyone.” Put your hands up.

Video for Daisy.

Liars - Sisterworld

Surreal and engaging fifth album from New York three-piece as they continue to explore new avenues of textures and layers adding nicely to their already expansive and creative back catalogue.

Video for Scissor

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Second and significantly more upbeat album from New Jersey rockers.

Video for Upon Viewing Bruegel's "Landscape With the Fall of Icarus"
(from first album The Airing of Grievances)

Sensory Overload #4

2010-03-02T08:11:00.009+11:00

FILMS

Invictus

Nelson Mandela, in his first term as the South African President, initiates a unique venture to unite the apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Considering the material, this is one of Eastwood's least personal and unengaging films of late. Good performance by Matt Damon but Morgan Freeman's Mandela was underwhelming and rather one dimensional. If you haven't seen Gran Torino, rent that instead.

Never Back Down

At his new high school, a rebellious teen is lured into an underground fight club, where he finds a mentor in a mixed martial arts veteran.

The Karate Kid meets Fight Club. Strangely watchable despite the abundance of clichés, montages and poor dialogue.

Carriers

Four friends fleeing a viral pandemic soon learn they are more dangerous than any virus.

Enjoyable slow paced action movie, getting back to basics with an enjoyable plot with character development over guns and explosions.

MUSIC

Field Music - Measure

Latest album from the Brewis brothers, following up on 2007's Tones of Town with complex and interesting arrangements.

Listen to Field Music here.

Video for Them That Do Nothing.

Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

Great debut from local lads from Bangor. Hopefully they'll hit the big time this year.

Listen to Two Door Cinema Club here.

Video for Undercover Martyn.

A Farewell to Def Jux

Definitive Jux was an independent record label based in New York co-founded by El-P who announced last month that he was stepping down as artistic director and not be releasing any more products in the immediate future.

If you're a fan of Cannibal Ox, Aesop Rock, El-P or RJD2, then you'll love this compilation, A Farewell to Def Jux 1999-2010.

Sensory Overload #3

2010-02-13T05:29:00.008+11:00

FILMS

Armored

A newbie guard for an armored truck company is coerced by his veteran coworkers to steal a truck containing $42 million. But a wrinkle in their supposedly foolproof plan divides the group, leading to a potentially deadly resolution.

Early contender for worst film of the year. Simple plot, simple acting, simply avoid.

The Blind Side

The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.

Watch the trailer here.

Nominated for 2 Oscars including Best Picture. Great film but my money is on Hurt Locker.

Sherlock Holmes

Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

Exceeded my expectations which weren't much to begin with but I couldn't resist the lure of Downey Jr goofing as the eponymous Holmes. About 30 minutes too long.

MUSIC

Midlake - The Courage of Others

Midlake take a change of direction from their fantastic previous album The Trials of Van Occupanther. By change of direction, I mean wrong turn. A snooze fest.

Listen to Midlake here.

Video for Young Bride here.

Spoon - Transference

Another great album following on from last album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

Listen to Spoon here.

Video for I Turn My Camera On here.

The Magnetic Fields - Realism

Will they ever do better than their classic triple album 69 Love Songs? This album says no.

Listen to The Magnetic Fields here.

Video for All My Little Words here.

Sensory Overload #2

2010-01-30T21:03:00.008+11:00

This certainly seems the way forward for getting everything in so without further ado...

FILMS

The Lovely Bones

Centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from heaven.

Possibly the worst Peter Jackson film released to date (and that includes King Kong). The incumbent use of CG and terrible editing detracts from the story and even the acting talent on display can't save this film from being a complete let down. Stick with the book.

Triangle

The story revolves around the passengers of a yachting trip in the Atlantic Ocean who, when struck by mysterious weather conditions, jump to another ship only to experience greater havoc on the open seas.

Here's something you don't see every day; a horror film with a semi-intelligent plot. More of a thriller to be honest but worth tracking down for rental. Greek myth and modern tragedy.

MUSIC

Heaps of new music this month continuing with:

Beach House - Teen Dream

3rd album from the Baltimore, Maryland pop group. Their best yet?

Listen to Beach House here.

Video for Heart of Chambers.

Four Tet - There Is Love In You

A return to form for Kieran Hebdon. Welcome back.

Listen to Four Tet here.

Video for Hands.

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

Debut album from a group in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Listen to Surfer Blood here.

Video for Neighbour Riffs.

GIGS

Saw Bonobo last weekend. It was a DJ set in the Black Box. Mr Scruff is playing tonight but will be missing it heading out for shits and giggles with friends. He's worth checking out for sure.

See ya next time.

Coming next week: new albums from Midlake, Spoon and The Magnetic Fields.

Sensory Overload #1

2010-01-19T04:46:00.010+11:00

My New Years resolution for this blog is to try and post more often. Usually I want to review a film, album or gig and then never get around to it. Writing a review usually takes a good portion of my time and since I'm habitually lazy, most often I do not get around to doing anything.

So, in order to get everything in, I won't be writing a full scale review of anything unless it really excites me and I'm motivated to do so. Therefore it's my intention to start a new column as such and update you in a batch fashion. So, let's get on with it.

FILMS

I've seen a few really good films this year, some of which I hope to see win an Oscar or get a nomination, others I'd ideally like my time back from wasting it.

A Prophet

A young Arab man is sent to a French prison where he becomes a mafia kingpin.

I would love to see this film win the Best Foreign Picture Oscar. Amazing performances and mesmerising from start to finish.

A Serious Man

A black comedy set in 1967 and centered on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife prepares to leave him because his inept brother won't move out of the house.

Latest from the Coen brothers. Beautifully shot with great performances but just didn't deliver for me.

The Road

A post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible.

Adapted from Cormac McCarthy's prize winning novel, Viggo turns in another fine turn as The Man. Slow moving and sometimes chilling, it's a shame that his son, The Boy, doesn't deliver but as entertaining as it is bleak.

MUSIC

2010 is off to a good start with the following albums worth a listen

Vampire Weekend - Contra

2nd album from Ezra Koenig and company, expanding on the sounds from their debut and taking a strange twist on their trademark sounds.

Listen to Vampire Weekend here.

Laura Veirs - July Flame

Several albums into her career and still making great music. Not as instantly accessable as Saltbreakers but I think this one will be a sleeper hit.

Listen to Laura Veirs here.

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

Great album and single of the month so far for One Life Stand.

Listen to Hot Chip here.

GIGS

I saw Modest Mouse and Frightened Rabbit in December besides attending the ATP Nightmare Before Xmas in Minehead. My first gig of the year will be Bonobo at the Black Box on 23rd followed by Yeasayer and Jesca Hoop in February.

Well, I hope that's the first of many more frequent updates. Any recommendations greatly appreciated!

Top 20 Films of 2009

2010-01-02T02:10:00.002+11:00

I watch more films than listen to new albums and it's made even trickier because unlike music that I can look at and know what year it was released, I can't recall all the films I've seen in the last 12 months so if I have missed any great movies it's because I've simply forgotten them so please let me know if you've seen a great cinematic masterpiece that I haven't listed or you think should be in the Top 20.

Naturally, these are in no particular order and if you haven't seen them, check out the trailer and go rent it!

Let The Right One In

Oscar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire

Mesrine

The story of notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine.

Moon

Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

A traveling theater company gives its audience much more than they were expecting.

Avatar

A paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.

The Hurt Locker

Iraq. Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.

Frozen River

Takes place in the days before Christmas near a little-known border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec. Here, the lure of fast money from smuggling presents a daily challenge to single moms who would otherwise be earning minimum wage.

The Hangover

A Las Vegas-set comedy centered around three groomsmen who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy during their drunken misadventures, then must retrace their steps in order to find him.

Inglourious Basterds

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis.

Gran Torino

Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.

District 9

An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly finds a kindred spirit in a government agent who is exposed to their biotechnology.

Coraline

An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

Star Trek

A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members.

Terminator Salvation

After Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust, a group of survivors led by John Connor struggles to keep the machines from finishing the job.

Zombieland

The horror comedy Zombieland focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies...

Dead Snow

A ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies.

Knowing

A teacher opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions -- some that have already occurred and others that are about to -- that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.

Watchmen

In an alternate 1985 where former superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it.

Carriers

Four friends fleeing a viral pandemic soon learn they are more dangerous than any virus.

Adventureland

A comedy set in the summer of 1987 and centered around a recent college grad (Eisenberg) who takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.

There's some great films lined up for 2010 and hopefully I'll get time to review more than I have this year. Have a great New Year and enjoy the popcorn!

Top 20 Albums of 2009

2009-11-26T07:58:00.002+11:00

In retrospect this year has been fairly interesting with a varied mix and no consistent theme although quite a few coming from NYC.

This is my top 20 albums in no particular order. If you think I've missed a great album, please let me know.

Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth

Bear in Heaven is a Brooklyn-based rock band formed by Jon Philpot. The sound of the band incorporates influences from psychedelic music, electronic music, krautrock.

Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

An elusive new project from composer Alan Palomo from Vega. Forged after a hazy winter gathering in Texas, this initial batch of tracks were the result of field recordings, record samples, a collection of bizarre synth sounds.

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers

Wild Beasts are a 4 piece band from Kendal, United Kingdom now based in Leeds. Their second album, Two Dancers, was released on 3 August 2009 to widespread critical acclaim.

The Gasoline Brothers - Tsk

The Gasoline Brothers are utterly lazy. They’ve kept silent for two years and now they expect us to be in awe about their new album Tsk!?

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

Yeah Yeah Yeahs is an alternative rock band formed in New York City, New York. Their music melds genres ranging from new wave to art punk and garage rock using heavy guitars, synthetic sounds, and screaming, erotic, bluesy vocals.

Isis - Wavering Radiant

Formed in Boston in 1997, Isis is a band that combines ambience, atmosphere, and aggression to form a unique style of metal music. Isis draws from post-rock, which leans away from the traditional elements of choruses, verses, repetitive vocals, or fast/repetitive riffs.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Dirty Projectors are an experimental pop group led by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dave Longstreth which formed in 2002 in Brooklyn, New York.

Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy

Built to Spill is an indie rock band based in Boise, Idaho, United States. The band is best known for its catchy guitar hooks and the unique voice of frontman Doug Martsch.

Atlas Sound - Logos

Atlas Sound is the name of a musical solo project of Bradford Cox, the lead singer of Atlanta five-piece Deerhunter.

The Mountain Goats - The Life Of The World To Come

The Mountain Goats is the musical project of singer-songwriter and guitarist John Darnielle. The New Yorker magazine referred to him as “America’s best non-hip-hop lyricist”. In its June 2006 issue, Paste magazine named Darnielle one of the “100 Best Living Songwriters”. Darnielle’s lyrics are literate and filled with imagery that reference classic literature, religion and mythologies, pop culture, art and history.

Tortoise - Beacons Of Ancestorship

Tortoise’s almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago’s fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. Tortoise was among the first American indie rock bands to incorporate styles closer to krautrock, dub, minimalism, electronica and various jazz styles, rather than the standard rock and roll and punk that had dominated indie rock for years.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a New York four-piece who play dreamy shoegaze with boy/girl vocals, blissful melodies and blistering drums.

St Vincent - Actor

Annie Clark (born 28 September, 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who performs under the moniker St. Vincent. She was a member of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band. Her second album for Beggars Banquet, entitled “Actor”, was released on 5 May, 2009. It was written entirely by Clark and produced by Clark and John Congleton of The Paper Chase.

Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor

Patrick Wolf is an English singer-songwriter from London. Wolf mixes electronics and samples with a wide range of instruments including viola, keyboards, ukulele, and percussion, all of which he plays himself to form a fusion of jazz, folk and electronic music.

Florence and the Machine - Lungs

Florence + The Machine formed in 2007 in London, England. The band is the recording name of singer/songwriter Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide backing music for her voice; Florence Welch is the band’s only constant member.

Florence doesn't like having an embedded link on Youtube for public use and the video links here so I may aswell come out and I say that the album is great but I'm not a fan of You've Got The Love. Phew, off my chest.

Fever Ray - Fever Ray

Fever Ray is the solo project of Karin Dreijer Andersson, who is one half of the Swedish electro act The Knife (the other half is her brother Olof Dreijer).

Dan Deacon - Bromst

Dan Deacon is a Baltimore, Maryland-based electronic music composer/performer. He attended the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in Purchase, New York, where he played in many bands, including tuba for Langhorne Slim and guitar in the improvisational grindcore band Rated R. He completed his graduate studies in electro-acoustic and computer music composition.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains

Cymbals Eat Guitars are an indie rock band from Staten Island, New York, United States. They consist of Joseph Ferocious (vocals, guitar), Matthew Whipple (bass, vocals), Brian Hamilton (keyboards, vocals) and Matthew Miller (drums). They have released one album, “Why There Are Mountains”, which has received glowing reviews since its January 2009 release.

Bibio - Ambivilance Avenue

Bibio is the recording name of British music producer Stephen Wilkinson. A resident of West Midlands, England, Stephen Wilkinson developed a passion for experimental music during his time at Middlesex University in London, where he studied “sonic arts”. He developed his own style of music, drawing from contemporary experimental electronica bands such as Boards of Canada, and incorporating field recordings and found sounds.

Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

Bat for Lashes is the work of British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist Natasha Khan.
Khan was born in Hertfordshire, England on 25 October 1979. Khan graduated in music and visual arts; while at university her experimental work was influenced by artists such as Steve Reich and Susan Hiller, and she produced multi-media work centred on sound installations, animations and performance.

Hilarious how my two 'mainstream' choices of Florence and the Machine and Bat for Lashes have restricted embedding the video which you will have to watch directly here.

Stay obscure folks!

I hope you enjoyed the Top 20 and checked out a few songs. See ya next year!

The Imaganarium of Doctor Parnassus

2009-10-22T04:35:00.003+11:00

Terry Gilliam films are never known for telling a straight story and his productions are no different. Often both are fraught with setbacks, doomed failure and last minute redemption. His 1999 production of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was a spectacular disaster. On the second day of shooting, a flood ravaged the set causing $15 million in damages and was compounded days later when his lead actor, Jean Rochefort, sustained a slipped disc which forced the film to shut down. However, a second film crew was documenting the entire proceedings and produced the rather interesting documentary Lost In La Mancha.

His latest opus, The Imaganarium of Doctor Parnassus was no different. Starring the late Heath Ledger, whose sudden death caused production to grind to a halt having only filmed a third of his parts, it seemed that once again Gilliam's film would be destined for the cutting room floor.

With developments in technology, Gilliam initially planned to use computer generated effects to change Ledger's appearance akin to those used in The Curious Case of Banjamin Button and finish the film. However, the actors Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law were eventually cast to portray alternative versions of Ledger and production resumed several months later.

The film itself concerns the travelling theatre troupe led by Doctor Parnassus who offers unsuspecting members of the public a chance to enter a magical mirror to unbeknown worlds of an almost hallucinatory nature. These worlds are classic Gilliam animations of a similar theme of those first espoused on Monty Python albeit using modern CGI to create an ethereal reality reflecting the subjects mindset. Those who enter the Imaginarium are manipulated by Dr Parnassus to offer them an experience of a lifetime.

The twist in Parnassus's ability, however, is that his powers were granted by the Devil for a ransom and now he is back to collect on the bargain, his daughter Valentia. The role of the devil is adeptly played by Tom Waits who plays his character as a reluctant anti-hero, seemingly willing Parnussus on whilst simultaneously mocking his ability to beat him at his own game. Indeed, the Devil can also change the landscape of the vision by those who enter the mirror giving him a somewhat unfair advantage.

It's true of Gilliam films that the plot is often muddled by the visuals employed to truncate or assist the narrative and certainly there are moments in The Imaginarium where it detracts from the storyline by an overambitious and needless set piece. Nevertheless, the visual effects are stunning at times and add to the grandeur of the moment.

It is also interesting to see how Gilliam has used the mirrors own powers to change Ledgers character as he enters successive times and how this allows other actors to take his place. It would certainly have been interesting to observe the original idea as subverting the plot to allow Farrell, Law and Depp would have seriously altered the concept of intent as initially conceived.

Ledger's own performance is satisfactory and it's a shame we do not get to see the change in his own character throughout the entirety of the film but which is adequately filled by the performance of his fellow stars.

Despite these setbacks and reworkings, the film succeeds in pulling the viewer into the story, despite how ridiculous it becomes at times. As the race reaches its climax for Parnassus to save what is dearest to him, the fragmented storyline pulls more or less neatly together and it is easily Gilliams best film in a decade although not without it's aforementioned detractions.

This will certainly please fans of his previous work and must have given the studios enough confidence to start production on the ill-fated Don Quixote project which is his next film. Let's hope this is a resurgence in Gilliams ability to match creativity with an ability to deliver a fully formed concept.

I wuld give this film 7.1 mirrors on the wall out of 10

Chicken With Grainy Mustard Sauce

2009-10-09T04:40:00.000+11:00

This was one of the best home cooked meals lately and thouroughly recommended.

Ingredients

2 boneless chicken breasts
6 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon without rind
250g spinach (frozen or fresh)
60g goats cheese
200ml chicken stock
200ml dry white wine
200ml creme fraiche
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard

Method

1. Flatten chicken breasts. Overlap and stretch 3 bacon rashers on a board. Lay breast on top and cover with spinach (serve spinach separately if frozen) and the cheese in the middle. Season with pepper. Roll up and secure. You can use cocktail sticks to keep in place if needed.
2. Heat olive oil in frying pan and coook chicken until bacon is golden on either side. Add stock and wine. Simmer for 20 minutes, turning chicken over half way.
3. Remove the chicken and stir in creme fraiche and mustard.
4. Serve with (roast) potatoes and sauce.

Roast Duck With Wine Sauce

2009-10-07T04:31:00.003+11:00

Lou's made a few delicious dishes lately so thought I'd update the food side to the blog and recommend some great food to try.

This one is good for Sunday evening with a glass of wine since the recipe calls for a 1/4 bottle anyway!

Ingredients

2 duck legs
Rosemary sprigs
2 Garlic cloves
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
1/4 bottle of red wine
1 tbsp redcurrent jelly

Method

1. Heat oven to 170c. Place duck legs on a bed of rosemary sprigs in a roasting tin. Sprinkle with slt and five-spice. Roast for 1 hour.
2. Bring the wine and jelly to a simmer and stir until dissolved.
3. Remove the duck from the oven and spoon off most of the fat (using it for the potatoes!) and then pour over the wine sauce and return to the oven for another 15 minutes to finish.

Easy and delicious!

Around Ireland

2009-08-30T18:53:00.003+10:00

This year Lou and I decided to tour our own backyard and take a trip south, primarily to see Kerry and Cork.
As much as anything else, I was really looking forward to some time off to relax and the scenery was going to be a great bonus.

Seemingly we haven't had much of a summer this year - surprise surprise - but I wasn't expecting Mediterranean weather; as long as it stayed relatively dry it would be fine by me.

Not a chance.

As we left the house the sun was shining but the further south we ventured, the worse it became and it was decidedly overcast when we reached our campsite at Mountshannon in County Clare by the edge of Lake Derg. No sooner had we pitched and settled down, the rain began and did not stop until the next afternoon. I don't mean the ordinary kind of rain, I am talking deluge.

Kayaking on lake Derg was supposed to be on the agenda but the waves were rough and the rain still consistent. Instead we took to the road towards the Cliffs of Moher. On at least 3 occasions we were met with a back log of cars waiting to cross 30 feet or so of flooded road up to a foot deep in places. Some roads were closed off entirely.

Unfortunately this was the weather forecast for the entire week ahead and although some of the scenery is truly spectacular, it was enjoyed for the most part from the comfort of the front seat.

In particular, the ring of Kerry is most beautiful and if you have the opportunity to make this trip, I heartily recommend it. On our way south, we dipped west into the Dingle peninsula which is replete with village after village of picturesque shop fronts and a hive of tourist bustle which is very charming indeed.

We stopped for the evening at Cahirciveen due to its proximity to the islands of Skellig and booked onto a trip, weather permitting. Can you see where this is going? Skellig islands are two small, steep and rocky islands lying about 16 km west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. They are famous for their thriving gannet and puffin populations, and for an early Christian monastery that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with one island containing a sixth-century Christian monastery perched on a ledge close to the top.

This was one of our main points of interest and the forecast looked good to go the next day. As we were eating breakfast in the hostel we stayed in that night, the operator informed us that there would be no crossings today and the rest of the week due to a hurricane forming in the Atlantic.

The forces of nature were certainly against us on this holiday and although we enjoyed ourselves to a degree, the weather brought a literal and metaphorical dampener on things. Next summer we shall certainly be looking for a holiday abroad.

Photos on Facebook

The Sound of Settling

2009-08-01T22:01:00.004+10:00

We moved into our new house on Tuesday which was quicker than we expected as the lease was from the 31st July but a welcome date change nonetheless.

It has been a tiring week of moving, lifting, shifting, arranging and sorting through boxes which has left little time for much else although I did get out to the cinema on Tuesday to watch Moon.
Moon is written and directed by Duncan Jones and this is his first feature length film. His full name is Zowie Duncan Haywood Bowie so you can guess who his famous father is.

That's all rather irrelvent though because Moon is an excellent old-school science-fiction drama where astronaut Sam Bell (Same Rockwell) is coming to the end of his 3 year contract where he is alone on the moon, solely responsible for keeping machines working on mining supplies of helium-3 to send back to earth. However, due to his isolation, he begins to hallucinate and a strange, gripping story unravels as he finds he is not alone.

It had a limited run in the QFT but I would recommend renting it when it comes out later in the year.

It is incredible that we have been back in Northern Ireland for 6 months now. The time has moved so quickly and there are a lot of friends we haven't seen enough of since our return which will have to rectified before the summer ends. Speaking of which, it seems we had the usual 2 weeks of good weather before the usual Summer Scattered Showers prevailed. It's times like this that makes you miss the seemingly endless summer down under.

The house is more or less as we would like it now although there's always little things you forget you need, once had but gave away and need to buy again so we are constantly making lists of things and visiting shops more often than I'd like (never).

The weekend is a welcome break to pause and take in the new surroundings, relax, stretch and take account of things. I hope you're having a good time whatever you're up to. See you soon.

Camping

2009-07-22T03:04:00.003+10:00

Since the start of summer there has been talk between a few friends of going camping on a weekend to get away from the city and relax in the rural idyll.

This culminated last weekend when we rose early(ish) on Saturday morning, packed the car and set off across the province to Fermanagh. Namely the Share Centre.

The last time I was here was when I was in the Cub Scouts. If memory serves, this would have been the late 80's and I don't recall much except for being on a sailing sailing vessel, possibly banana boating and camping on one of the islands on lake Erne and having quite an uncomfortable night.

Thanks to the power of modern conveniences, this was going to be far from uncomfortable. Forget cramped tents, waking in the middle of the night to find you've been lying on a rock and requiring a chiropractor, this is the 21st century.

After selling our camping gear in New Zealand and giving away most of our gear before we left, we were buying all our gear from scratch which affords the opportunity of updating your equipment.

Out with the old, in with the 4 man tent with separate living room, battery-powered inflatable bed, table, chairs and everything but the kitchen sink. This is living rough.

As suggested, the Share Centre is situated beside the lower lough Erne in quite picturesque surroundings and there are plenty of activities to undertake besides relaxing. The centre offers, canoeing, kayaking, sailing and banana boating although for some reason you have to be under 16 to banana boat which we were quite dismayed about and booked ourselves in for canoeing on Sunday morning.

Saturday afternoon was a relaxed affair; relaxing, chatting, drinking a few beers, playing poker and throwing a frisbee about. Everything that camping should be except for the near constant drizzle of rain.

Sunday morning was altogether different and in between showers, it was glorious and warm. Canoeing, especially using Canadian canoes, is not our favourite water sport. We prefer the more controlling and personal kayak but unfortunately there was no session organised for that morning and unlike NZ, you need to have a certificate to take out a kayak by yourself which is faintly ridiculous since a canoe is more precarious in my opinion.

We took some time rowing against the current to get to the island where I had camped all those years ago but our timing was impeccable as we were just approaching the shelter it provided when a shower struck.

After a few minutes, the rain was replaced with blue skies and sunshine and we made our way back to base.

We had a great weekend and intend to go back next month for a longer time and explore more of the surrounding area.

Playing Catch-Up

2009-07-20T01:58:00.003+10:00

This is the first update in over a month so apologies for not having anything new in quite some time. Everything has been quite hectic recently with birthdays, weddings and most stressful of all, moving house.

It's also been the beginning of summer since my last post and we have had some fantastic weather in between the usual fayre of thunderstorms and general washouts that consist in this Northern Irish season.

There has been some great afternoons and evenings spent outside with the shades on, music in the background, a good book and a glass of iced cider.
We've also had some hazy afternoons and evenings with friends, BBQs and the odd bottle or so of wine to grease the wheels of conversation.

A few weeks ago our friends Cheryl and Graeme were married at Castleward which is a glorious 18th century mansion with classical and gothic façade overlooking Strangford Lough. Fortunately it was one of the fabulous days and after the marriage, a fine afternoon was had sipping champagne in the sunken gardens, followed by dinner and dancing and a courtyard setting enjoying some great banter and watching the sun go down.

Lou and I have also been busy house hunting and found a great little place that we're moving into at the end of the month. It will be the first time in over a year that we'll be back to living in our own after house-sharing with my brother and sister-in-law in New Zealand, with friends and family in Australia and family back home so I'm looking forward to having that 'space'.

In all, the summer has got off to a good start and I'm looking forward to taking holidays at the end of August and hitting the road down and around Ireland. Our plan is to head through central Ireland to Cork and head back up the east coast. I've never been further south than Limerick on the west coast or Meath on the east coast so it's something I'm very much looking forward to. Any suggestions of places to visit would be more than welcome.

Hopefully this will mark the start of more updates as the summer progresses. I hope you're all having a lovely time whatever you're up to. See you soon.

Drag Me To Hell

2009-05-29T21:16:00.004+10:00

Drag Me to Hell is a return to the classic horror genre for fanboy favourite Sam Raimi who made his name with The Evil Dead trilogy, before slipping off the radar and then making a triumphant return with the Spiderman trilogy.

I had high hopes for this film having been seduced by the array of glowing reviews from respected film journalists. We were promised a return to the classic horror genre; a break from tiresome gore porn and suggestive psychological horror. Here’s a good old fashioned horror romp all about building tension, visceral thrills and genuine scares. Unfortunately the hype turned out to be just that.

The plot is quite simple. In an effort to secure a promotion, kind-hearted bank employee Christine (Alison Lohman) rejects a loan extension application from an old woman who is about to be evicted from her home. In an act of revenge the old woman puts a heinous gypsy curse on Christine, damning her to three days of taunting and torture by the vengeful demon Lamia before… that’s right you guessed it, being dragged to hell.

From here things seem promising. The action gets underway with an excellent original set piece as Christine struggles to fend off a brutal attack from the old woman in the back of her car. The scene is classic Raimi, unleashing the usual over the top action, featuring some inventive moves (think Bourne with his magazine), cranking up the thrills (and the yuck factor), with lashings of black comedy. The image of the old woman ‘gumming’ Christine’s face and neck after she looses her finely carved dentures is hilarious.

Unfortunately during the rest of the film Raimi often resorts to tired old horror movie clichés and ultimately fails to generate any tension or deliver genuine scares.

Every scene feels like its building up to a typically overused loud bang scare or shocking image that flashes on screen for a split second while the high pitched violin strings go into overdrive. There is enough action to hold your attention and Lohman makes an amiable protagonist, displaying enough character and feistiness to enlist the audiences’ support. In addition the climax, while not wholly unpredictable is quite satisfying and rounds off the film in a high note. Ultimately though Raimi fails to deliver the classic horror that was promised and the film works more like a black comedy /action thriller with supernatural themes.

I give Drag Me to Hell six vengeful gypsies out of 10.

Guest Review by L. McG

Star Trek

2009-05-14T03:06:00.003+10:00

It's been a long time since I've seen Star Trek. I was never a fan of the original series or films although I must admit to a passing interest in The Next Generation with Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard although that was now 15 years ago.

As far as JJ Abrams, I was an initial convert to Lost before a few episodes in season 3 where it looked obvious to anyone that they were making it up as they went along and all my interest in the show vaporised into thin air.

Several years later he produced the interesting but ultimately unsatisfying Cloverfield and therefore it was with passing interest that he was directing a new Star Wars movie, essentially his 2nd feature film after Mission Impossible 3.

As with any Abrams film there comes a reasonable amount of hype and none more so when you are rebooting an all but dead sci-fi franchise that still holds its weight in gold with a plethora of, lets face it, geeks.

Early signs were that the director was taking a much needed step back, re-examining the behemoth and putting together a film that would breathe new life into old characters by taking us back to their formative lives and producing a coming-of-age action adventure set in the realms of federation space.

The result is a film that will satisfy most of those not familiar or indeed not interested in the Star Trek universe and should satisfy a fair few of the hardcore fans I would imagine and importantly for the studio, make more than enough money and interest for at least another sequel.

The characters of the Enterprise are well-rounded and enough background story is given to each where it matters with the main focus centering on Kirk and Spock without cluttering up a fairly straightforward storyline and keeping the action flowing.

As usual in these kinds of films, there is a bad guy up to no good and someone must step up and fight back. Cue Nero, played adequately by Eric Bana, a Romulan (that's Humans with facial tattoos to you and me) who has time-travelled back in time to reek his revenge on a young Spock for what old Spock does to him in the future.

It is a film to sit back and enjoy the action of rather than consider time-travelling hypotheses that makes it a good sci-fi film and not something to over-analyse in terms of plot depth or asking too many questions regarding logistics.

I would give this movie 7.1 tractor beams out of 10.

Redbelt

2009-05-04T20:11:00.001+10:00

Redbelt is directed by David Mamet [Glengary Glen Ross] who also wrote one of my favourite comedies State & Main along with many other modern screenplays you should be familiar with [Hoffa, Ronin and Spartan to name a few].

The film centres around Jiu-Jitsu instructor Mike Terry, played excellently by Chiwetel Ejiofor [Dirty Pretty Things, Four Brothers] whose main devotion is to uphold the name and principles of Jiu-Jitsu and pass on his teachings even at the expense of making money from his lessons.

Although the theme of the film has its background in Jiu-Jitsu, the story is essentially a human drama with key plot points and twists set outside the world of martial arts that returns us to the ring for a gripping finalé although not what you might be expecting.

Terry is the victim of circumstance through his own high standards and the low doings of others and it is this dichotomy that is creates his rise and fall.

Mamet himself is a black belt in Jui-Jitsu which could explain his passion or interest in making this film but his main strength is penning the story and in his work behind the lens.

Mamet has woven a series of stories stemming from a single event that unfold before Terry who is beyond controlling them but whose hand is forced into confronting his steadfast principles - will he hold onto his ideals or sacrifice them for the greater good of others?

Wine Evening

2009-04-28T05:24:00.002+10:00

Last Thursday, some friends and I attended a wine tasting at Direct Wine Shipments. It's one of the best places in Northern Ireland to buy world-wide wine and has a fantastic selection, not to mention helpful staff and tasting notes on most of the bottles.

I don't go there as often as I should because it's a little out of my way (which is a poor excuse really) and end up buying second rate wine from a chain off-licence. That said, when I do go, I usually walk away with at least half a case and end up drinking more than I usually would because the wine rack is full and staring at me.

The purpose of this wine night was to highlight small Spanish growers produce, soak up some information about various regions and, of course, drink some wine.

Being a huge fan of deep reds, Rioja is one of my favourite wines and I was looking forward to seeing what other Spanish regions offered in terms of terroir.

We kicked off with a rosé which I'm not a fan of and I have only tasted one which pushed my buttons - a wine from the Hunter Valley when Lou and I were in Australia. I forget the name but would probably recognise it if I saw it again altough I'd still choose a red over it if my hand was forced.

The next couple of wines were white which were pleasant although didn't fully deliver - certainly not bad at all but not setting off alarms either.

However, the first red, La Mano Mencía Roble from the Bierzo region, ticked all the boxes and was the best wine of the evening in my humble opinion and also, funnily enough, the lowest price red wine of the lot at just over £6 discounted (around £7 RRP).

The rest of the wines, good in their own right, could not hold a candle to this one in terms of what it delivered vs cost.

This was what I was hopeful to find in coming to a night like this. Fun, a little education, and a bargain to boot. It's been added to the list and will be a feature of any crate for my next purchase.

In the hope of finding more little gems, I requested that they put together a mystery box of reds for me based upon other red wines that I love. I'll be picking this up on my birthday so something else to look forward to.

Wrapped Up In Books

2009-04-23T03:15:00.003+10:00

I borrowed this idea from a friend of a friends blog but focused purely on the book related questions. Feel free to answer any of the questions yourself and leave as a comment.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
R A Salvatore
Not exactly the most high-brow literature and aside from these books I have no interest in the fantasy genre but many years ago I found myself reading The Dark Elf Trilogy and was hooked on the story of Drizzt Do'Urden

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I don't see the point of owning both a paper and hard back copy of a book but I did buy another copy of Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas after I lent it to someone and never got it back

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not in the slightest. Words exist to convey meaning and I understood perfectly what the questions were

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
None that come to mind

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
I don't think I've ever read a book more than 3 times. I've read a ton of books at least twice and there are books I've read once that I intend reading again but who has time to re-read when there are so many books still to read?

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
My favourite childhood book was The Magic Faraway Tree so I'll say that

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
A bloody awful crime thriller I've forgotten the title of about a group of friends who design computer games and release one about solving murders but before it's released, murders take place identical to the ones that take place in the game

8 ) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Bill Bryson's Down Under. I always like reading a book when I'm on holiday about the country I'm in as you can relate to the content and it gives you ideas of places you might not think of going and places to avoid. With Bryson you also get to laugh along the way too - in this case, Australia

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Probably something unassuming like '1000 Books To Read Before You Die' or something similar so at least it would give them a good guide to reading more great books rather than just one

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Nobody

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Knut Hamsun's 'Hunger'

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?

The world could certainly do without another Jane Eyre adaptation - take your pick

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I don't remember 99% of my dreams 10 minutes after I wake up so can't answer this question

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
I've probably read a fair share of shit books during University but probably Dan Brown's 'Da Vinci Code' which I thought was fairly poor - probably better written than that book about computer murders previously mentioned but this should be contentious enough!

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
I'll admit to finding Les Miserables too difficult to get into even though I love the film. A literary guilty secret!

16) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I'm always reading something so no embarrassing gaps that I'm aware of

18) What is your favorite novel?
Wild Swans by Jung Chang

19) Poem?
An August Midnight by Thomas Hardy. It always stuck with me since studying poetry in school and I'm sure there's vastly superior works compared to this but I like it so here it is:

I

A shaded lamp and a waving blind,
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter--winged, horned, and spined -
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore;
While 'mid my page there idly stands
A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands . . .

II

Thus meet we five, in this still place,
At this point of time, at this point in space.
- My guests parade my new-penned ink,
Or bang at the lamp-glass, whirl, and sink.
"God's humblest, they!" I muse. Yet why?
They know Earth-secrets that know not I.

20) Short story?
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

21) Work of nonfiction?
Life & Death In Shanghai by Nien Cheng

22) Who is your favorite writer?
Possibly Knut Hamsun

23) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Possibly Stephen King

24) What is your desert island book?
If it exists it would be 'How to Survive on a Desert Island'

25) And… what are you reading right now?
Jung Chang & Jon Halliday's 'Mao'

Easter Weekend: Portaferry

2009-04-15T03:09:00.006+10:00

On Sunday afternoon we left early on a beautiful morning and made our way to the family caravan which lies in a caravan park around 2 miles outside of Portaferry on a quiet section of the coast.
We have had the caravan for many years now and it is almost a home away from home as it has 3 bedrooms and all mod cons so you can still be close to nature but with creature comforts close a hand.

It wasn't always this luxurious. When we first had a caravan at the site it was an old one bedroom affair which meant Keith and I slept in the living room. There was also no electric or hot water available so it was back to basics. Showers were taken when necessary at the facilities at the rear of the site and an old black and white TV ran off a car battery with reception quite poor so it was mostly ignored although I do remember one memorable evening watching Aliens on the little 14" screen with the volume turned down after the folks had went to bed.

I had a smiliar TV in my bedroom where there was no buttons but knobs to turn into various UHF channels and it was late night films watching strange French flicks that got me into foreign movies especially New Wave films by Goddard and Truffaut in my later years.

Keith and I spent many summers here which varied between exhilarating fun and adventures with other children of similar age and utter boredom as there wasn't really anything to do beyond climbing rocks and fishing for crabs. I was so bored once I read a Jeffrey Archer novel so that should give you some idea of what you faced if you had nothing to do.

The caravan itself overlooks the Irish Sea and on a clear day you can see the Isle of Man. On a very clear day you can see Scotland but there's always boats of various shapes and sizes making their way accross the horizon.

There's a series of stony beaches and inlets running north along the shore to a lovely beach backed with sand dunes which up until recently was quite picturesque but now has too much washed up seaweed and needs desperately to be cleared away.

As intended, after taking a walk to the end of the beach and back, we set up the BBQ and enjoyed a few beers while the food cooked. Cows mulled in distant fields and a little cessna plane flew overhead as a yacht sailed past beyond the craggy rocks further up from the coastline. An old coastguard tower lies abandoned on a nearby hill now overrun with sheep.

When night falls, another view takes precedence. As the site is quite remote, there are no street lights for miles around and a blanket if stars wraps itself around you. It is difficult to pick out constellations because there are so many obscuring the night sky.

It is a special place for me as so many childhood memories and summers are bound up in the area, not only in the campsite but in Portaferry itself with the view over Strangford Lough and the ferry which takes passengers from one side to another not to mention the sweet shops and little nooks and crannies which only children can find and enjoy.

Shepherds Pie

2009-04-07T05:25:00.004+10:00

I know from my photo that this might not look like anything special but it tastes bloody good and it's easy to make even if it takes a little over an hour from start to finish - plus the recipe requires red wine so it's a good excuse to crack open a bottle and drink the rest as an accompaniment!
Feel free to add in some carrots and celery or whatever floats your boat but I stuck with pretty basic but satisfying base of ingredients.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 onions
500g mince beef
100g smoked bacon
2 tsp plain flour
250ml vegetable stock
150ml red wine (I used Merlot)
700g potatoes
butter
4 tbsp red pesto
25g parmesan or other cheese (I used mature cheddar)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200c and chop the onions and bacon.
2. Cook the mince in pan until the juices start to flow and add the onions (and other vegetables if you have any) along with the chopped bacon and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Sprinkle over the flour and stir in until disappeared. Stir in the vegetable stock and wine.
4. Simmer for 30 minutes covered, stirring occasionally.
5. Cut the potatoes into chunks and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and return to the pan adding enough butter to cover the potatoes and season.
6. Stir in the pesto to the meat and spoon into a shallow ovenproof dish. Spoon over the potatoes, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 30 minutes until ready.

Let The Right One In

2009-04-06T21:10:00.001+10:00

Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In) is an interesting mix of drama and horror which could only have been made outside of Hollywood. Whilst the horror element is subdued, when it does occur it is harsh and violent with an obvious realism that is absent from most films in this genre that go for a hyper-reality form of gore and blood lust.

It is based on the 2004 novel of the same name set during the early 1980's of Stockholm. The film which was released last year to widespread critical acclaim in its native country now has a UK release this month.

The film focuses on Oskar, an only child in a divorced family who spends a lonely time living between his mother and father which is further compounded by his bullying at school.

One evening outside the apartment blocks, he meets an unusual girl called Eli and they form an curious chemistry. During the course of the film situations arise that questions how far their relationship can go, the strength of character that friendship provides and nature of the friendship itself.

Set against this human drama there are other social relationships within the community where Oskar lives which impact on everyone concerned.

Let The Right One In turns the idea of a horror film on its head and brings a more natural as opposed to supernatural element to play. It's only downside is that the pace can be a little slow at times but this is a relatively minor qualm in an overall highly artistic and involving movie about lonliness and emotions in an unusual friendship.

An English language remake is on the cards for a 2010 release. I imagine it will lose most subtle nuances and go straight for the action juglar. I suggest getting in now and enjoying the original.

I would give this film 7.6 cloves of garlic out of 10

Spicy Sausage Pasta

2009-04-05T20:07:00.007+10:00

This is a great meal for something during the week - easily made but satisfying to eat. I'm hoping to do more in this series of quick dinners over the next while so watch this space. This one only takes about 30 minutes to serve so definetly something to cook if you're in a hurry or don't want to spend too long in the kitchen!

As you can see, I used a red chilli to increase the heat. Feel free to improvise on this from added heat to type of sausage and let me know how you get on. This should serve around 4 people.

Ingredients

Olive oil
6 delicious sausages (I chose beef)
1 onion
1 garlic clove
Can of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
350g rigatoni pasta
1 tbsp red pesto

Method

1. Grill the sausages until nicely browned. You can fry them but I prefer grilling as it gets rid of excess fat.
2. Chop the sausages into bite-sized chunks.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan and add the chopped onion and garlic. After they begin to turn brown add the chopped tomatoes, sausage and oregano. Season to taste, cover and simmer for around 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
4. Whilst the food is simmering, cook the pasta in salted water until ready.
5. When the sauce is thickened, add the pesto and stir throughout. Drain the pasta and mix with everything together.

Serve immediately and enjoy. You can also add some grated cheese and garnish to finish.

W

2009-03-28T21:05:00.002+11:00

Oliver Stone is no stranger to political films with a Presidential focus with previous outputs on JFK, Nixon and now on Americas 43rd leader George W Bush.

The film itself, although released in 2008, only goes as far as the American led invasion of Iraq in 2003. For the most part, the film tells the story of Bush from the mid-60s as a college student to the end of his first term as President in a back and forth manner which suggests that earlier actions and events effect later decisions. However, this does not work well as a story driven method and I would have preferred a straight chronilogical narrative.

Stone weaves a blend of fact and interpreted fiction, which at times, due to the character of Bush, tends to lean towards a comedic aspect - his blunders and inability to prounounce words giving the film a subdued edge and makes you wonder why Stone didn't make this this an out and out satirical movie rather than make a hash at serious interpretation of Bush's life.

Ingaging at times, the film lacks any real spark to give much emphasis on any serious decisions reached and one does not care much for any of the characters concerned, at least from a personal point of view. Bush himself is played with suitable aplomb by Josh Brolin. However, some of the roles played, especially by Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright) and Condoleezza Rice (Thandie Newton), are at best unconvincing.

Ultamitely W is a sluggish genre-crossing behemoth that doesn't quite know where it belongs and falls through the cracks in what it tries to achieve.
Everyone will have their own opinion on this President, and in Stones case, it's not one I much care for.

I would give this film 5.2 pretzels out of 10

Emilíana Torrini, Waterfront, Belfast

2009-03-12T05:47:00.003+11:00

I suspect most people have never heard of Emiliana Torrini. Up until recently I had no idea who she was either although its fair to say that millions of people have heard her sing as she performed "Gollum's Song" during the ending credits of Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Interestingly she also co-wrote two songs for Kylie Minogue and has guested on numerous artists albums and toured with the likes of Moby, Sting and Dido. So you might well be wondering - why the hell is Phil listening to her?

Well, for a start, these pieces of music has little to do with her own style which, if pigeon-holed could be described as soulful indie folk pop or some such nonesense.

I came accross her latest album late last year, 'Me & Armini' which is her 7th album although only the last 4 have been released outside of her native Iceland.

Last night she performed in the Waterfront's Studio room to a enthusiastic, diverse and enthralled audience. Obvioulsy with such a back catologue, a lot of the set wasn't from her latest album but I found them instantly enjoyable and I shall soon be tracking what I can of her discography especially her previous outing, 'Fishermans Woman' of which several songs were performed.

Torrini herself can only be described as humourously quirky and although her chat between songs was limited, it was memorable and endearing.

The songs themselves are also strengthened in a live setting and there are lots of mid-song instrument changes and musician flourishes by her band members if you can take your eye off Torrini whose presence draws your attention with her passionate singing and stage charm.

Overall, an enthralling evening with one encore clearly leaving the crowd wanting more and hopefully she will return and give the people another magical performance.

Emiliana Torrini: Official Website

A Tale Of Two Fares

2009-03-12T05:15:00.000+11:00

Since coming back to Belfast and starting a new job, I'm back to using the local public network of the Metro buses. For a year in New Zealand I had the luxury of living a half hour walk away from work and my time in Sydney was divided between a train or a ferry, the latter being more enjoyable but ultimately more expensive and lengthy.

The cost of a bus ticket has increased dramatically since I've left, most likely due to petrol prices sky-rocketing and other factors relating the economy set against Translinks own internal infrastructure and business plans.

Nevertheless, costs go up and this piece is more about the incongruities between the pricing structures of paying in cash and using a Metro card for your journey.

In order to get a bus into town from where I'm living now - Dunmurry incidentally - it will cost you £1.80. Taking into account my 10 journeys back and forth during the working week, you're looking at a total of £18 a week. If you buy 10 journeys using a Metro card, this falls to an incredible £13.50 - a saving of £4.50 or 25%.

Two questions come to mind. Firstly, why rip customers off who are paying in cash for the same journey and secondly, in knowing this, why do people still use cash for their journey when there is a vastly less expensive (and let's face it) more convenient way of cashless travelling?

Tasmania

2009-01-24T19:20:00.002+11:00

In order to get to Tasmania from Melbourne, you must board the ferry of the Spirit of Tasmania. It sails twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. We chose the overnight cruise which departs at 8pm or thereabouts and gets into Devonport at around 6am.

The ship is like many other vessels of its kind with bar, restaurant and cinema. The Bass Straight is a large expanse of water and there is not much to tell in terms of visuals on this leg of the journey although it contains over 50 islands and a notorious history for sinking ships in the 19th century. Thankfully our 21st century boat was up to the conditions and we made it accross with only one minor swell rocking the boat and waking me up in the middle of the night.

Devonport isn't anything to write home about, suffice to say it's an industrial port for commerical and private enterprise. Tasmania's largest export is its trees and there have been many major conservation fights over the years to protect vital species from logging and as a result, there are large tracts of land now under protection.

As we had the whole day ahead of us and an unusually early start, we were able to head straight south via Launceston to Cygnet and Huonville in search of seasonal work, mainly fruit-picking. If you pick fruit in a certain postcode area for 3 months, you are granted a second year working visa.

We had seen and read several news stories in the preceeding days and weeks in regards to fruit-picking and that the orchards stated that they were always short of laborours and they would be understaffed as the Government were holding back granting visas to Pacific Islanders. So, easy pickings you might think?

The hard truth, however, is that despite contacting the Fruit Pickers headquarters, individual orchards and work agenencies besides working hostels in the region, there was nothing to be had. One particular orchard manager told me that they needed 20 workers but had a list of 60 on their books. I can only therefore testify that on this occasion, the news reports lied. In one particular hostel, there were at least 20-30 people kicking about waiting to be chosen. They had already been there for many days at least and with a tentative promise of work 'perhaps next week'. We were told it was a first come, first serve basis so with so many already ahead of us, who knows if we would ever get work.

Slighty peturbed by this but unwilling to let it spoil our time in Tasmania, we drove south to Recherche to spend a night on the coast on one of the islands many free camping sites.

It was a bumpy 20km past Ida Bay down an unsealed road but the peace and tranquility was worth the effort as there were few other travellers staying there - mostly retirees who come to fish. There are no facilites besides a drop toilet but you can stay for free up to 4 weeks at a time making it worthwhile if you're looking for a cheap getaway and getting in touch with nature.

After setting up for the evening, we spent the afternoon walking along the road following the beach our camping area.

It is a great feeling having an entire beach to yourself and knowing you are largely in the middle of nowhere and to be doing something that comparatively few people will do.

If that was a fantastic highlight to the day, the coming night was one of the worst of our trip as the area was blasted with torrential rain and howling winds with thunder and lightning thrown in for good measure. Tasmania sits right in the pathway of the notorious "Roaring Forties", the latitudes between 40°S and 50°S, so called because of the boisterous and prevailing westerly winds.

The next morning, the weather was now sporadic grey drizzle and looked like it wasn't going anywhere - a complete turnaround from the beautiful afternoon we had enjoyed the day before. A woman came over from a campervan across the glade from us and offered us coffee - an offer too good to refuse on such a day.

The couple were from Kangeroo Island about 100km south west of Adelaide and Australia's third largest island after Tasmania and Melville island. They were travelling with their grand-daughter who was from the islands south west area although I can't remember the town. They had been travelling from Kangeroo Island on the road for almost a month and had another 4 weeks ahead of them. They were very nice and said to look them up if we were in Kangeroo island.
"Just go into the general store and ask for Tony - they'll know who you mean.". I loved that kind of thing and I hope I'm still exploring the globe at their age.

After a hasty packing of our things, some still wet from the night before, we made our way back towards Hobart, Tasmanias capital city, for a night to recharge our batteries. Phoning around several places before finding a room - we got ourselves a cabin around 10km out. We spent the day sorting through all our things, doing some washing and repacking. I almost enjoy these 'time out' days as much as travelling but we're always eager to get back on the road.

Next on our agenda was Port Arthur, a former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula. It is a beautiful location with a dark history. When Tasmania was named Van Dieman's Land, it was a penal colony from 1833 until late 1877. Essentially secured by shark-infested waters on three sides and a 30m wide isthmus of Eaglehawk Neck that connected it to the mainland which was guarded by prison guards and dogs, it was practically unescapeable.

It is a huge historic site that took us 2 days to cover full of ruins and reconstructed buildings as devastating fires tore through the area in 1895 and 1897 gutting the old prison buildings.

In 1996 it was the scene of the worst mass murder event in Australian history when Martin Bryant went on a killing spree, murdering 35 people and wounding 37 more before being captured by Special Operatives Police.

It's strange being a happy tourist enjoying the beauty, tranquility and peacefulness in such a place of historic and recent death and misery. It's interesting that such places can easily absorb such events leaving no trace of malignant foreboding. I'm sure that if it wasn't such an historical penal colony preserved through the effort of those who wanted to keep it against the many Australians that wanted to rid the blight that reminded them of their own history, it would be a sleepy little fishing village and not one of Tasmanias major tourist detainations.

Our next destination was directly east although it required a longer journey to get there because it was accross a bay to freychinet peninsula. The main item of interest was the picturesque Wineglass Bay and the journey to Frechinet National Park was the easy part. The only way to get to it is a pretty tough walk up and down along a narrow, boulder stricken path on a 90 minute trek through a forest. The guide recommends a litre of water per person and at the information centre, it stated a temperature of 27c, so I wasn't taking any chances and brought along a spare bottle.

The walk itself is gruelling in places and because you have little to no clearings to view what is beyond, you have to focus on the goal ahead and convince yourself it's all worthwhile. I would certainly say it was.

It's a beautiful beach that I'm sure lay undiscovered until someone flew over it and informed the Tasmania tourist board. Due to it's remote location and the effort in getting there, it's also not swarming with tourists. The beach itself is white sand stretching in a wineglass formation - a semi-circle - around a beautiful secluded bay.

Unfortunately for us, as we were having a well-earned rest and anticipating a refreshing swim, a shark was spotted in the water. Foolishly enough, two swimmers entered the water and swam around 10 feet out which made the fin weave closer to the beach. That fin turned into two and then three as the veered closer still. As the swimmers beat a hasty retreat to the shoreline, the fins made their way along the bay and towards the other side of the beach. We decided to sit this one out and have lunch instead.

Later that evening we drove further up the coast to St Helens and enjoyed a relaxing evening in a spacious caravan park and had a little spot under a tree to ourselves. I saw two caravan-cum-cabins for sale for $16,000 and pondered who buys these and for what purpose. My own parents have a caravan and use it, weather permitting, frequently during the summer. However, their site is strictly for owners and you would get to know your many neighbours over the years and build up a relationship with them. The majority of the sites in most Australian parks are for tourists and I wonder why you would want to put up with them - here one day, gone the next; friendships made and lost in an evening. Too much trouble for your money if you ask me.

Our last night in Tasmania is in the little coastal town of Wynyard. We have a little cabin room that overlooks the sea and you can hear the waves lapping the beach outside. We took a swim in an inlet earlier in the afternoon and barbequed steaks for dinner.

Our journey on the ferry back to Melbourne was rocky to say the least. The boat swayed back and forth and bounced on the waves all night long. The waves shot up to the height of the ship and the outside doors were shut early into the voyage. With all the bumping and creaking, I didn't sleep too well and can barely remember having quite strange dreams none of which I can recall.

We pulled into the docks on time which says a lot for the capability of the captain and on our journey north we saw quite a lot of devastation with tree branches lying all over the side of the road.

There was many things we didn't get to do in Tasmania (fruit picking being a major one) but there's always another time. For now, it's back to Sydney.

Photos of Port Arthur and Wineglass Bay. Also some Random photos.

Moving On

2009-01-16T18:30:00.000+11:00

Lou and I have spent the last 3 months or so in Sydney since leaving New Zealand in September. It has been largely worthwhile in terms of our time in Australia since we were lucky enough to house share with a sister of a great friend from Christchurch and avoid the pain and misery on the wallets that a lot of other renters face when they move.

As previously stated in a previous posting, all of the flats that we looked at when we were searching for somewhere to live were shoebox studio apartments that were vastly overpriced and likely to cause long term depression.

For the most part of our time in Sydney the majority was spent fitting in with the rat race, aquiring jobs and working relatively longer hours in comparison with back home and Christchurch, mainly due to travelling times considering the size of the city and it's many suburbs but it was by no means a bad experience. It has nevertheless reinforced a shared outlook that we would both want to settle down somewhere of a relative size of Christchurch i.e. somewhere where, if we choose, we can walk to get where we want.

Whilst in Sydney, we held back on a lot of tourist activities as we were waiting for not only my parents but also Lou's sister who both flew out in December.

When they arrived, we spent the best part of the month ticking off a list of what we would have done ourselves if we were only staying for a short vacation including the Sydney Harbour bridge climb, a few days in the Blue Mountains soaking up the scenery, a day trip to both the Taronga Zoo and to the Hunter Valley wine region to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes and to the Maritime Museum where we had a guided tour aboard a destroyer and a submarine. Lou and Rosie also squeezed in a surfing lesson at the famous Bondi beach.

Our last few days in the city culminated with the long awaited NYE celebrations and the midnight fireworks. After careful consideration of which park to go to, we chose McKells Park at Darling Point and set up our camp at midday and set ourselves up for a 12 hour wait.

In eventuality, the time passed quicker than expected and the park didn't start to fill up until late afternoon although all the 'good' spots were taken including those right along the front where people must have arrived in the early hours of the morning and a few set up a gazebo for themselves.

There were 9pm fireworks for the kids which were a prelude of what to expect and they did not let us down. You probably have never seen such a firework display before your eyes and it lived up to what I thought it could be which was amazing. Every year at home they are shown on the news as Australia is one of the first countries to bring in the year with a serious bang.

These were all great experiences but we were also keen to see what else Australia had to offer and so our next port of call was Melbourne via Canberra.

Everything you will probably read about Canberra arguably states what a boring capital city it is and I'm afraid to say that it lives up to its reputation. One night on our way to Melbourne was more than enough. It's functionality in its well laid out streets and clean decor unfortunately do not come anywhere close to make up for the fact that there is precious little to do or see. We did have a nice evening dinner as the sun set by the lake which was a nice end to the day but we had no hesiatation about getting up early so we could leave as soon as possible.

The Princes Highway between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne is not for the traveller looking for sights and places of interest to stop along the way. It's function is to get you between cities in the quickest possible time through some of the countrysides continually undulating and unchanging landscapes.

There are some classic Aussie views along the way - small farms and vineyards with rotarary fan blades whirring in the warm wind of the afternoon heat while the cows seek shelter from the sun under the trees. We drove alongside a supposed lake although there was not a drop of water in sight so I can only assume it's dried up or is a seasonal lake dependant on heavy rain to fill it.

Melbourne itself looks similar to any city skyline on approach and when driving through the streets, it has a run-down feel about it. However, after a few days, I realised that many bars and cafes and shops purposely took this design of flaked paint in order to give it a weathered look which in some ways does add charm although a few of these buildings really do need a makeover.

In contrast to the more upmarket and trendy side of Sydney, Melbourne has a more laid back and retrospective air about it. A city that doesn't take itself too seriously and isn't bothered what other people think of it. So after a few days feeling uninspired about the lack of things to see, I realised that Melbourne is a city of doing, feeling and living in order for it's inner workings to be appreciated - not just it's outer glamour which is just a facade to cover its short-comings.

Much of the citys charm lies in the back street pubs and cafes which proliferate the inner city CBD area so you can't just dismiss an alleyway as it might hide your favourite little place for a coffee or cold beer. The joy is losing oneself and walking almost aimlessly around looking for these hidden gems and underground places to relax and reward yourself for finding it.

A much easier building to find is the old gaol. The icon itself is most famous for housing the outlaw Ned Kelly and it's also the place where he was hanged. However, there is a much richer history to the building and most cells have information boards and videos to look at which give you a flavour of how the prison worked, who it's most interesting prisoners were, their life and how they met their demise - mostly by hanging. There's also a strange young lady dressed in period clothes that wanders around sweeping the floor and singing forlornly which is rather eerie when you hear the singing approaching the cell and look out as the voice approaches to see her walk past - quite unexpected.

We also took part in an unusual guide of the newer part of the jail which only closed its doors in 1994. We were lined up against the walls, men on one side and women on the other, given instruction on how a more detailed search would have taken place and then led to the holding cells, 10 at a time, where the lights were turned out and we all sat in the dark feeling miserable. It was a horrible place and I suspect it was one of the reasons it was closed - although prisons shouldn't be holiday camps should they?

Next stop....Tasmania!

Top 10 Films 2008

2008-12-03T18:04:00.013+11:00

I didn't go to the cinema as much in 2008 which, in part, is because I no longer have my beloved QFT (Queen's Film Theatre in Belfast) to go to. Christchurch lacked a decent independant cinema release although the theatre itself was both beautiful and allowed patrons to watch a film with a beer or glass of wine which is great. I'm sure Sydney has several but I've been too busy with other day-to-day matters to have the time. So, it's a minor miracle that I've seen ten worthy contenders of high calibre and varying genres for best film in 2008.

I have not listed preference for these films but I do recommend them all so without further ado, I present my top 10 films of 2008.

The Dark Knight

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

Felon

Family man Wade Porter (Stephen Dorff) lives with girlfriend Laura and son Michael. They have recently raised a loan to expand his company and they are due to get married. However their future becomes a nightmare when Wade unintentionally kills a burglar that had broken into their house. He is sent to trial and accepts a deal proposed by the prosecutor, being sentenced to three years in prison. During the transportation, Wade is framed and sent to the maximum security wing under the command of the corrupt Lieutenant Jackson. His cell-mate John Smith (Val Kilmer) that was sentenced to life revenging the death of his family befriends Wade and gives helpful advices and hope to Wade to return to his family.

El Orfanato [The Orphanage]

Laura (Belén Rueda) and her husband (Fernando Cayo) purchase her beloved childhood orphanage with dreams of restoring and reopening the long abandoned facility as a home for disabled children. Once there, Laura discovers that the new environment awakens her son's imagination, but the ongoing fantasy games he plays with an invisible friend quickly turn into something more disturbing.
After her son disappears, Laura becomes obsessed with locating him- dead or alive. She looks to a group of parapsychologists for help in unraveling the mystery.

The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a film based on the memoir of the same name by Jean-Dominique Bauby. The film depicts Bauby's life after suffering a massive stroke at the age of 42, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome. The condition paralyzed him, with the exception of his left eyelid, so that he could only communicate by blinking.

Garage

Josie is a lonely bachelor who mans the local garage in a tiny rural Irish community. His world extends no further than the garage, the pub and his unimposing rooms. A figure of fun to most of the village and certainly not the brightest spark, Josie is a simple soul with an innocence that will be his undoing.
The beauty of this lovely, sad little film is the wealth of detail in every scene - nuances in Pat Shortt's physically eloquent performance as Josie; expressive subtleties in Mark O'Halloran's rich dialogue. And then there's Leonard Abrahamson's visual articulacy - by simply placing two characters in the frame a certain way he can wring a host of other meanings from a seemingly banal exchange.

Gone Baby Gone

Dorchester, one of the toughest neighborhoods in all of Boston, is no place for the weak or innocent. Its a territory defined by hard heads and even harder luck, its streets littered with broken families, hearts, dreams. When one of its own, a 4-year-old girl, goes missing, private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro don't want the case. But after pleas from the child's aunt, they open an investigation that will ultimately risk everything -- their relationship, their sanity, and even their lives -- to find a little girl-lost.

In Bruges

After a difficult job by hit men Ray and Ken, the pair have been ordered by their London boss Harry to go and cool their heels in the storybook city of Bruge for a couple of weeks. The two hit men fill their days living the lives of tourists. Ray, still haunted by the bloodshed in London, hates the place, while Ken, even as he keeps a fatherly eye on Ray's often profanely funny exploits, finds his mind and soul being expanded by the beauty and serenity of the city.
But soon they find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes, and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloë, who may have some dark secrets of her own. And when the call from Harry does finally come, Ken and Ray's vacation becomes a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions and surprisingly emotional consequences.

In the Valley of Elah

In Monroe, Tennessee, Hank Deerfield, an aging warrior, gets a call that his son, just back from 18 months' fighting in Iraq, is missing from his base. Hank drives to Fort Rudd, New Mexico, to search. Within a day, the charred and dismembered body of his son is found on the outskirts of town. Deerfield pushes himself into the investigation, marked by jurisdictional antagonism between the Army and local police. Working mostly with a new detective, Emily Sanders, Hank seems to close in on what happened. Major smuggling? A drug deal gone awry? Credit card slips, some photographs, and video clips from Iraq may hold the key. If Hank gets to the truth, what will it tell him?

Jar City

Jar City is a uniquely Icelandic work – as dark and brooding as the long winter nights and infused with a sardonic northern humour.
A murder investigation takes place on an island, where veryone knows about the crime, and a fair proportion of the locals could be considered suspects. Detective Erlendur also has to contend with the local criminal element flaunting their knowledge of his own unravelling family life – his daughter is a pregnant, heroin-addicted former prostitute.
Seemingly disparate story lines gradually weave together with a slow, deliberate precision with a terrific piece of direction.

Joy Division

The story of Manchester’s most influential musical sons gets a thorough, if slightly mythologising, documentary treatment from Grant Gee. The tale that unfolds is, we’re told, not just the story of a pop group but also the story of a city. A star emerges, hollow-eyed and mesmerising. Ian Curtis effectively upstages Manchester; in his damaged soul is a reflection of his blighted home town. Curtis’s alien fragility is emphasised by the blokishness of the interviews with his fellow band members, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, who say they didn’t realise the extent of Curtis’s depression, which led to his suicide by hanging in 1980.

Peace On Earth?

2008-12-02T06:30:00.001+11:00

I was watching a satirical news programme earlier in the week when they were takling about a particular story and the host mentioned that New Zealand was the second most peaceful nation on earth. He didn't know what the first was, neither did I and I was intrigued if it was actually something that can be gauged.

It turns out that there is. It's called the Global Peace Index and uses a ranking system based on indicators and drivers. Alhough the host was incorrect in assumption that New Zealand is the second most peaceful country (it's fourth), I was more interested in how world countries measure up.

Taking the top three spots were Iceland, Denmark and Norway respectively and I was not at all surprised at this although it did leave me pondering why Sweden wasn't in the top 5 too as Scandinavian countries have a reputation for peaceful existence.

Another pleasant surprise was Ireland's place at number 6. My mind was reminded of the recent killing of rugby captain Shane Geoghegan in Limerick and the criminal feuding that exists between families in 'Stab-city'. One suspects that if Limerick didn't exist, Ireland might just usurp Japan in the number 5 spot.

Naturally my interest soon flitted to other countries such as the United Kingdom for comparison and I was relatively shocked to see it was sitting on a rather poor 49th place. I believe the reason being is that, glancing at the rankings, there is distrust in other citizens and external conflicts currently being fought, amongst others, that have dragged it down.

As we all know, one of these current conflicts is Iraq and I had to scroll all the way to the bottom to find this country. You don't have to analise the figures too much to work out that they are all ranked as being quite the opposite of peaceful. High numbers of terrorist attacks, ongoing fighting and violent crimes. It's not exactly on anyones holiday destination wishlist.

Whilst probably not an exact science, it's certainly well-thought out and a good rule of thumb that is more interesting in terms of statistics.

How does your country rank?

Better Living Through Chemistry

2008-11-30T12:25:00.002+11:00

I read a list recently that listed the toys that kids wanted this Christmas and I was sorely disappointed. The top of the list was a robotic Elmo followed by a series of presents lacking in imagination for children with no imagination: Guitar Hero, Wii games and a stupid looking Wall-E toy in the top 5. I know it's not the 1950's but what happened to toys that bear no relation to Disney tie-ins or current computer fads?

If I cast my mind back to my childhood, the toys that lasted the longest were the ones that could be reinterpreted using your own skill into other things such as Lego to something as simple as a cardboard box and a few pens.
Todays Lego doesn't give the builder the same freedom. The model is on the front of the box, instructions are given how to build it and you can't modify it into something else because the pieces don't fit. Also, your friends and neighbours would report you to child services if you gave your child a cardboard box.

Another toy that, after a quick research, seems to no longer exist: the chemistry set. Amazon only sells one chemistry set and it looks pathetic - it seemingly includes nothing and "fully complies to latest EN71 Standard, Part 4 (1998) for chemistry sets". Boring....

I remember having a veritable lab full of powders, most of which I hadn't a clue how to pronounce (Phenolphthalein anyone?) never mind what the heck they did but that didn't stop me mixing them up and hoping I would create something extraordinary.

I suspect one of the reasons chemistry sets no longer exist has something to do with this "post 9/11 world we live in" and how we would be handing "them" a ticket to create bombs if they had access to a chemistry set. That, or you'd somehow be able to establish a meth lab and create your own addiction.

It's a real shame because not only were these kits extremely fun but they were educational too. There's been a general trend towards dumbing down and treating children with kids gloves and I hope this downward spiral can be arrested and turned around before creativity no longer exists.

Top 5 Albums of 2008

2008-11-22T00:04:00.007+11:00

I completely missed posting last years best albums because I was touring New Zealand but there were plenty of excellent albums: Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling; Bon Ivor - For Emma, Forever Ago; Caribou - Andorra; Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8; Feist - Reminder; Kathy Diamond - Miss Diamond To You; Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers; LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver; Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position; Saint Vincent - Marry Me. If you haven't heard these I heartily recommend tracking them down.

The reason there's only 5 albums this year is because with travelling around, I haven't had the chance to listen to or hold on to many albums but for various reasons, these are the ones that stick out.

In no particular order, and welcoming any suggestions for addition, I recommend the following:

Cut-Copy - In Ghost Colours

A possible Oz-influence, Cut Copy are from Melbourne and have a fantastic 80's new-wave sound. Put this on at a party and your guests will be happy.

Stand-out tracks:

Feel The Love
Lights & Music
Hearts on Fire

Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair

With multi-vocalists including Anthony Hegarty from Anthony & The Johnsons, this unlikely majestic disco-funk album by Andrew Butler is an instant hook, line and sinker for inspired beats and rhythms.

Stand-out tracks:

Hercules Theme
Blind
Iris

M83 - Saturdays=Youth

I've been an ardent fan of this band since their excellent second album 'Dead Cities, Red Seas, Lost Ghosts' in 2003. The latest album builds upon earlier sounds and demonstrates a more focused approach and unique sound.

Stand-out tracks:

Kim & Jessie
Skin Of The Night
Highway of Endless Dreams

Neon Neon - Stainless Style

Neon Neon is a project from Super Furry Animals singer Gruff Rhys and electronic auteur Boom Bip creating a soundtrack for De Lorean Motor Company founder John De Lorean. Gruff sums up the reason behind it: "We've been touring and recording together occasionally for around six years. Early in 2006 Boom Bip contacted me about coming to LA to make a bonkers disco record. I was on the next flight." And what a flight.

Stand-out tracks:

Dream Cars
I Told Her On Alderaan
Raquel

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

I can only describe Vampire Weekend as NY Indie-Punk but what a sound. Original and catchy, what else do you need??

Stand-out tracks:

Mansford Roof
A-Punk
Campus

Ireland vs Samoa

2008-11-06T17:52:00.002+11:00

Yesterday evening we went along to watch Ireland's second qualifying game in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup against game favourites Samoa. After last weeks narrow loss against Tonga, Ireland were buoyed by their strong performance and although going into this game as underdogs, were not prepared to be written off.

It was a nail-biting ten minutes from kick-off as a strong Samoan side were disallowed two tries as the video referee was used on both occasions leading to smiling faces on the Irish fans.

Smiles turned to wide grins as in a mere seven minutes of play we managed to score three tries to take us 14-0 against the waining opposition. Unfortunately this state of affairs did not last long and from, arguably, a bad call by the referee, Samoa charged forward and made the first of two tries and successful conversions that by half-time, the gap had shrunk to a two point lead with Ireland 14-12 heading into the changing room.

If the first half Irish performance was astounding, the second half can only be considered a beautiful dream to watch as the Samoan team crumbled under the Irish onslaught. Despite a battle of attrition, Ireland dominated the game and created a fantastic looping pass try - the second try out of three.

The last half hour saw some interesting action on, off and onto the pitch including a brilliant but ultimately disallowed knock-on to 80 yard sprint for Ireland, Samoa's captain helped off the pitch with a knee injury and a Samoan fan making his way onto the field in a failed attempt to upset an Irish conversion.

In the end it was a fantastic upset in the tournament with Ireland crushing Samoa 34-16 which led both Ireland and their fans to euphoria that was, I'm sure, carried late into the night.

We play Fiji in the quarter-finals on Monday which is, unfortunately for us, on the Gold Coast, so we will be supportive through the age-old means of shouting at the television in a pub.

The Melbourne Cup

2008-11-04T18:16:00.003+11:00

Today was Melbourne Cup day which will most likely mean nothing to anyone outside Australia. Essentially it's an event like the Grand National but where work takes a back seat for most, if not all, of the day and in the state of Victoria there's a public holiday.

TV coverage is all pervasive (what US election?) and for those of us in Sydney we essentially had the day off but had to be in work. In essence, it's like the last day before the Christmas break where you're really just putting in an appearance but not actually doing anything.

It's popularly known as “the race that stops the nation” and it's a fair description as gambling fever takes hold of the country and sweep-stakes are the mainstay of office banter.

I'm not usually one to gamble unless the odd poker game is played but I thought I'd go along with the flow and stepped off the busy streets mid-morning on my coffee break and down into a basement betting section adjoined to a bar which is known as the TAB.

As you might expect, it was fairly buzzing and as I was new to the whole concept, I walked around the perimeter scoring glances at what people were doing with their slips.

I found a free place at a table and selected a few betting slips and casually read the instructions on the back which were luckily pretty straight forward.

As you might have expected, the morning was spent analysing who to choose and how much to place on each horse - straight wins/splits and various other ways to win I still know nothing about. Best to pick a winner and back it right?

I choose 3 horses: Septimus, Nom Du Jue and Prize Lady. They were placed at the top, middle and end of the spectrum with a $10, $5 and $5 bet to win placed respectively whose odds would match the paltry amount placed ensuring a decent win if successful.

It turned out that despite a recession, punters were willing to spend $87.7 million on their betting, $11.87 million more than last year.

To be brutally honest, if I hadn't have tried to get involved in the swing of things, I would have been bored to tears with the constant talk of horse and jockey. I thought if I had a vested interest in the event it might create a little passion for when the blocks opened and the race for the $5.5 million 1st place began.

I was wrong.

Horse racing has always and will continue to be one in a list of sports I will never find an interest in. There are no hurdles for our four legged friends to jump over so there is nothing to challenge the horses or create an interest in events as far as I'm concerned. It's really just to see whose horse can gallop faster with the jockey hitting it with a stick. Oh, and it lasts about 3 minutes.

Hours, days and weeks of build-up and it's over in an instant. You don't even have a chance to get excited. "Where's my horse?" - oh, the race is over.

And did any of my horses win?

Nope.

A Brief History of Wine

2008-10-30T18:15:00.002+11:00

As my current job involves selling vineyard netting, research often brings up interesting information related to wine.

In researching one particular vineyard, it was revealed that the wine maker qualified at the Montpellier University of Oenology and during his compulsory one year military service, he was the Legions wine purchasing adviser. This sounds like a particularly cushy job and also da istinctly French occupation for an army officer.

This isn't an original French idea however as in the days of the Roman Empire, soldiers on active duty were given two pounds of bread per day, meat, olive oil, and wine.

A major item in the sustenance of the French soldier during the First World War, and extremely important to his morale, was the daily ration of wine. This wine, or 'pinard', was a simple red country wine but, of a kind to which the peasant soldiers were no doubt well accustomed to and enjoyed.

Interestingly, after the Second World War, the decline in standards was linked to the rationing of the fermented grape. An article from Time magazine in 1952 illustrates this:

The proposition—to a Frenchman—was absurdly simple: if the French army is not all it once was, it is due to the fact that the French soldier is not getting enough wine. "Wine," explained Gaullist Deputy Gabriel Seynat, a physician and winegrower himself, "contains phosphates, glycerine, iron, minerals and vitamins. It furnishes the organism with tissue and energy. It aids digestion, increases cerebral activity, appeases fatigue and creates the strength to work."

Moreover, continued the deputy, wine "induces a state of euphoria that gives one confidence."
Faced with such self-evident truth, France's National Assembly last week gave preliminary approval to a bill raising the French soldier's daily wine ration from 500 to 750 grams (approx.1½pts.) a day. There was not a single dissenting vote.

Today France uses a ration called the "Ration de Combat Individuelle Rechauffable" (Combat Ration Individual Reheatable), or RCIR. A single ration contains a whopping 3200 calories and is intended to provide the nutritional needs for one soldier for one day or 3 meals.

Each RCIR meal box contains two ready-cooked entrees, an appetizer, one package of instant soup, a cheese spread, salted and sweet crackers, a breakfast kit, sugar, an energy bar, a chocolate bar, chewing gum, caramels, hard candies, multipurpose paper towels, water purifying pills, and a reheating kit with matches, fuel tablets, and a disposable folding stove. A handy piece of survival kit I'm sure you'll agree.

Until a few years ago, each came also with a bottle of wine. Now the wine is rationed separately.

Perhaps it will only be a matter of time before it makes a reappearance?

Rugby League World Cup: Ireland vs Tonga

2008-10-28T18:54:00.001+11:00

The World Cup in 2007 had finally got me hook, line and sinker on the game of rugby which up until then, I wasn't interested in much beyond the 6 Nations. It was probably a good thing to occur before we left for New Zealand in Otcober of that year as it is both an obsession and a national past-time.

As a full-time Ireland rugby union supporter who had only recently begun to enjoy watching other unrelated countries battle it out on the field, I was introduced to the game of rugby league which seemed somewhat pedestrian and tame compared to union.

There were no line-outs and the rucks seemed to be token gestures. I attempted watching a few games of the NZ Cup but I found it boring and not worth my time, although in hindsight this may have been the problem.

Over the course of the year spent in the land of the never-ending rugby game, I had the opportunity to catch the occasional league match but it wasn't until relatively recently I've taken a more keen interest culminating in the, unfortunately rather dull, grand final between Manly and Melbourne.

However, what better chance to get into league than the World Cup itself and on my very own doorstep no less!

This year was Australia's chance to host and we had bought tickets for both Ireland games in the Blarney Army section and were only a few rows back from the front/middle section yesterday.
Fantastic support from the crowd which was acknowledged by the players and I think it gave them a lift at times. The Tongans were very frustrated during a lot of the game and had 3 of their players sin-binned and it could easily have been more. The lead changed 6-7 times from what I read and it was certainly nail-biting. When Tonga scored the clincher around the 76th minute, they purposely time wasted by moving all their players back leaving no one up at our end to take the conversion.

Then on the remainding plays they faked injury and slowed the ball up to an extremely unsportsman like way that obvioulsy drew derision from the Irish fans.

An exceedingly disappointing finish but an exhilarating game to watch and if we can put on a similar performance against Samoa it should be another cracker.

Photos to follow shortly...

Lou's Birthday Dinner

2008-10-28T18:36:00.004+11:00

As you might imagine, there are quite a few restaurants in Sydney offering varying styles of cuisine which can make choosing somewhere to eat quite difficult for a special occasion, namely Lou's birthday.

However, the search was narrowed somewhat by the desire to eat somewhere overlooking the harbour leaving a dozen or more places on the shortlist to be whittled down to a chosen locale.
The long process involving magazines, internet searches and old fashion requests from people to recommend somewhere ended in our choosing of the Waterfront Restaurant which is nestled by the Rocks and Circular Quay.

A week before our planned dinner we were in the area winding down on a Friday evening when we noticed that there was an Italian restaurant further down the esplanade which looked inviting.

After checking the menu, wine list and our approval of Italian cuisine over seafood, I cancelled the reservation at the Waterfront and made a new booking at the Italian Village.

The next day I recieved a phonecall enquiring as to why I had cancelled a booking and then remade it for the same date and time. It turns out that they are co-managed restaurants occupying what was once a goods warehouse in ye olde worlde. It certainly explained how they were able to cater for over 800 people.

The weather during the week had been a mixed bag of humid dry heat and heavy rain but by Saturday afternoon, it was a pleasant temperature hitting the mid-twenties.

We arrived an hour early so we could try one of the bars in the Rocks and after passing by a few bars which were spilling out onto the street, managed to get a seat outside a busy pub off a side street.

I may be out of touch not knowing enough about Sydney but, like many places, the city could certainly do with a few more bars as everywhere, especially this early on a Saturday evening, was already at bursting point.

One huge plus in regards to bars in Sydney is that they do have more international beers on tap as opposed to the predominant Kiwi beers which, lets face it, leave a lot to be desired.

On arrival at the welcome podium, after announcing my name and reservation time, I was told that there was not one to be found. I had my suspicions regarding my cancellation and rebooking but you would have assumed this was not only cleared up in a phonecall but followed up by pencilling in the said booking either during or immediately following the phonecall.
However, they were more than accomodating and immediately led us to a table at the centre front exactly where I would have chosen if given an open invitation to choose from an empty restaurant.

Unlike the adjacent restaurants in the terraced warehouse conversion where punters can walk within inches of the front tables if they so choose, the Italian Village had a sectioned area of lawn in front so there was a grand view of the harbour overlooking the Opera House.
As we perused the menu it was hard not to gaze up and over the water as the Opera House was lit up in pink to highlight breast cancer awareness and the fundraising walk that was taking place that night.

Pink lights or not, the building looks a hundred times better at night and taking a walk along the quay when the sun goes down is highly recommended.

For dinner, I ordered the proscuitto wrapped loin of veal with caramelised mediteranean vegetables, chilli honey sauce and roast olives. Lou had the roast Chicken 'Carbonara' with olives, prosciutto, baby inions and parmesan cream. Both were quite delicious but we had to wait quite some time for them to arrive but we had ordered the bread selection as a back-up/entree so between that and the bottle of Devil's Corner Pinot Grigio we were all good.

We were a little undecided as to our next move but with a constant parade of pink-clad customed walkers, the view and the conversation, we decided to settle in at the restaurant and ordered a bottle of Ninth Island riesling and tasting platter of the dessert menu which consisted of tiramisu, grappa and Vanilla zabaglione with fresh berries and pistachio biscotti, homemade gelato and a sorbet Selection, roast almond, nougat and milk chocolate cate with orange ice cream and a few others. It was a five-star platter and needless to say couldn't finish it but made a damn good effort.

A brilliant night all round.

Closely Observed Trains

2008-10-22T18:05:00.002+11:00

In a continuation of train-related observations, I endured my first journey this morning in the standing area as all the seats were taken.

Usually I don't have a problem finding a seat and there are several options available. Each side of the train is divided by two sides of seating, one suggesting 3 people could and should be sitting on them and the other with apparent room for two.

As with usual seating etiquette, people take up seating individually in both seating rows until you have to choose to sit right beside someone (the 2 seater) or have a gap between you and a random traveller (the 3 seater).

There is also a bizarre single seat available at either end of the carriage which almost no-one sits in unless there is no other option available as it requires squeezing past a 2 seater and playing leg hockey with the person opposite until a happy medium is reached.

This morning was a different matter entirely as from the second I woke up I was aware of a heavy rain outside pounding the ground. It was time to don the waterproof jacket.

As I caught a lift into the train station, the traffic was crawling along the roads with flooding already evident in huge pools of water jutting out several yards from the pavement which would give any passer by a second and considerably colder shower of the morning.

The platform at the station was instantly more crowded than I had seen before and I guessed the train might be the preferred option than walking on such a miserable day.

As the train pulled up and the doors opened, I made my usual vault for the upper section only to find it completely full and I made my way up the aisle from one end to the other looking like a spectator at a tennis rally unable to locate a single seat to squeeze into, not even the really stupid single seats.

Another passenger met me as she climbed the stairs and as I was looking to go down. We resigned ourselves to the huddled masses in the standing section.

I find this method of travelling incredibly awkward. Packed in like sardines there is nowhere to look if you are standing in the centre. Sure, you can glance around but you'll proabably catch someones eye and be forced to avert your look lest you look like a weirdo eye stalker. You can attempt the long distance stare between the heads of others to catch a glimpse of the outside world of graffittied walls and the blurred outline of stations or you can look at the ground and feel like a muppet.

I found myself doing all of the above and playing musical pole dancing, moving around it as people got on and off with the hustle and flow of early morning commuting.

Recently, RailCorp suggested replacing all 3 seaters with 2 seaters to leave more room for standing passengers. I suggest using the money for more carriages. I get the feeling that people who make decisions about these things (obviously) don't use public transport themselves. If they did, they'd probably never do so again, remove all seating and hand out mandatory blindfolds so everyone can stand and not creep anyone out with forlorn stares.

Breakin' The Law

2008-10-21T18:05:00.001+11:00

The train is by far and away the easiest way to get around Sydney (if you don't own a car). As with most stations in major cities, tickets can be bought either from a machine or booth and are snatched up by the turnstyle when you exit at your destination. Sydney also operates a coloured weekly ticket based on suburbs and their distance from the centre. These tickets also allow access to ferry and bus services.

After using single and return tickets for trips into town until I had a regular job and a daily return route, I decided to buy a green weekly ticket which would allow me access to two ways in and out of work.

The first is a much slower if more pleasant journey by ferry from Circular Quay which takes a little over an hour in itself and also involves walking 30 minutes to get there followed by a 20 minute wait for the next ferry. Even by taking the train from This was the preferred method for the first week until I discovered an easier way.

The second way is arguably easier and faster involving a journey from Central station to Strathfield and catching a lift on the community bus that drops me off outside the apartment which takes around an hour and 20 minutes so this is the best option which shaves over an hour from taking the ferry.

Nevertheless, the train is not without it's hiccups. When we were heading to Campbelltown on Friday evening, I used my greenpass to enter Circular Quay station but once the train passed Kingsgrove, it was out of the allocated zone which I had totally forgotten about. There is no turnstyle at the last stop and on the way there from last station, the train guards entered the carriage and asked Lou and I (since we were the only ones there) for our tickets. Lou, not having any use for a green card yet had bought a ticket and was OK. I casually handed over my pass awaiting a brief inspection and for it to be handed it back.

"Are you aware this card doesn't cover this zone?"
"Sorry?"
"You don't come this way often do you?"
"No I don't - I'm out visiting my cousin, why?"

At this point he leaned closer for dramatic effect.

"This card doesn't take you out here. Now ,you're aware that I could fine you $200 right now on the spot, but I'm sure you don't want that?"
"No, I don't"
"Well, I'll see you at the ticket machine when you get off and we'll get you that ticket OK?"
"OK"
I wasn't the only one to dodge the fare albeit I wasn't aware I was doing it on purpose either. There were a few people in front of me under the same circumstance although they were considerably inebriated and cocky about the whole affair.

Still, better fine than fined.

Sydney Aqauarium

2008-10-16T17:55:00.003+11:00

The Sydney Aqauarium is situated on the waterfront alongside many wharf restaurants and bars. It costs around $30 per adult and there is a $50 dollar ticket which allows access to a wildlife centre adjoining the aquarium.

Once inside, you are greeted by walls of tanks full of sea life both piscine and crustacean. As interesting as these initial displays were, we were drawn towards the centre display enclosure that had a crocodile in it. It lay motionless by the enclosure door so much so that I thought it was a fake. However, this whisper had just been uttered before it's jaws opened and closed and it back-glided into the water, it's eyes resting just above peering out like you would have seen on any documentary.

In the corridor between the main rooms, many more displays were exhibiting many strange and wonderful creatures from giant crabs, tortoises, tropical fish and the more sedentary starfish and suchlike.

One of the main attractions of the aquarium was the shark pool which had numerous kinds including flat-heads and ones that would make you wet your wetsuit if you met them in the sea - typically gliding through the water with their beedy eyes looking out into the dimly lit water possibly seeking an exit, probably resigned to the fact that they know there is no escape and so endlessly loop around waiting to be fed.

It's an interesting place and worth the money to see the life aquatic up close and personal (behind safety glass) that you would never (hope to) see in real life.

All photos are here

Cycling Around Homebush Bay

2008-10-11T15:54:00.003+11:00

There is a huge parklands nearby called Bicentennial Park which is a 100 hectare natural heritage site which includes wetlands and 40 hectares of beautiful open green fields.

There is over 35km of cycle tracks, BBQ areas and fantastic paths Blaxland Park along the Parramatta River and the mid 20's temperature was ideal for bringing along a picnic and ejoying a Saturday afternoon.

We cycled around 10km through Newington Armory, Blaxland and up to Wilson Park before looping back to Wentworth Common where we stopped for lunch but couldn't find anywhere shady so doubled back to the Armory where we found a quiet spot overlooking the river.

A great place to cycle and we'll be doing it again soon...

Other photos here.

The Shire

2008-10-10T15:47:00.000+11:00

This is the view from some friends of my cousin who threw a BBQ party last Sunday.

It's in an area around 30km outside Sydney called The Shire and it's in quite an idylic setting overlooking a small lake.

On the other side of the hill you can see all the way into the city although we didn't make the walk ourselves because the league final was on - which proved quite dull as Manly destroyed Melbourne 40-0.

Rear Window

2008-10-04T14:16:00.005+10:00

We've settled down in our shared house and have the weekend to ourselves and all I want to do is put my feet up and relax which is exactly what I'm doing.

The weather is particularly wet and miserable (like a Northern Ireland summer) but I'm not too bothered as I'm not going anywhere. Last night there was a lightning storm which looked fantastic but the apartments opposite were blocking the view so all I could see where gigantic flashes from above which lasted a couple of hours.

Above is the view from our bedroom window which looks onto the Sydney Olympic park stadium. I think they might be having the grand final rugby league there tomorrow but we wont be around to find out as we're heading to a place called The Shire where a friend of the family is having a BBQ party. [So you have to travel to Oz to find the shire - we were looking in the wrong country all this time!]

This is the view from the front of the apartment - it's exactly like living in a resort! It's very clean and I wouldn't hesitate to walk around in bare feet.

Today we picked up card passes which mean we can get access to the on-site gym, swimming pool, tennis courts, library etc and community bus so we can catch a lift to nearby places like the ferry and train station - very handy!

Tonight it's a bottle of wine and a movie so the un-winding can run the full gamut of the long weekend. See you next week.

City Life

2008-10-02T18:48:00.002+10:00

Just a quick update on our progress in Sydney.

I started a job last Friday in the CBD only a day after having an interview with an Agency so it's been pretty fast and I've been thrown into the ways of working in the city.

This entails getting up pretty early at 6am and leaving the house at 6.45am to catch the train. Luckily Rebecca drops me off at Meadowbank station where 5 stops later I hop off at Central Station. I only have a quick walk through Belmore Park where there is always something to catch your eye. Usually there is at least one busker and often a puppeteer looking for loose change from those leaving the train on their way to work. There is also a huge flock of pigeons that scatter when someone gets too near. There are also a few vagrants sitting on park benches watching the world go by. Yesterday there were two girls handing out booklets that I thought were monthly arts and entertainment guides but upon receipt turned out to be Jehovah's Witness publications. It was soon deposited in a nearby bin.

I start work ay 8am and luckily there is a decent coffee machine to feed my caffine habit and depending on the time of day and what mood I'm in I flit between a straight up flat white, Moccacino or Cappacino. It's good for waking me up in the morning.

My office is on the 4th floor which in Sydney terms is not very high and the window on both sides looks on to higher and more mundane looking high-rise office storeys.

I leave work at 4pm and walk 30 minutes down the very long Pitt Street to the harbour wharf which has spectacular views over the harbour and of the bridge and opera house. I catch the 4.50 ferry to Homebush Bay which takes around an hour. The ferry goes up the river and at this time of year, the sun sets over the water and lends a magical quality to dusk. As todays temperature was 33c I sat outside and read a book on my journey home, the wind whipping around and providing some relief to the humidity. Tomorrow is set to be 35c but with rain so it should prove interesting.

I get home around 6pm so it's pretty much a 12 hour day and so far I'm coping fine but only time will tell!

It's a bank holiday this weekend and we're meeting up with my cousin for a big BBQ on Sunday so hopefully I should have some more photos to show.

Rental Crisis

2008-09-25T17:58:00.002+10:00

A fact that some of you may not know is that there is a bigger population in Sydney (4.28 million) than in the entire of New Zealand (4.14 million). It's been an interesting transition from the biggest city in the south island to the biggest city in Australia. Obvioulsy the biggest factor in this is that it is a much busier place and a faster pace of life. This has it's positives and negatives and our biggest problem that we have overcome is finding somewhere to live.

In Belfast, it is a case of ringing a listing in a paper or contacting a real estate agent to arrange a viewing. In New Zealand, this was a more confusing issue. Although agents listed properties, contact had to be made between you and the current tennant to arrange a viewing which didn't always work out too well and, personally speaking, is a ridiculous way to conduct business. The easiest way to find property was through a website called TradeMe where you can contact the owner renting the property, arrange a viewing and agree to a deal on the spot.

In Sydney, things are even more frustrating. Agents do not show properties on request but advertise an open showing which usually falls on a Saturday morning or afternoon. In order to maximise viewings, Lou and I chose a suburb and visited all the estate agents in the vicinity to obtain listings of open viewings. We then picked up a throwaway map and highlighted the streets and finally listed the properties chronologically in order of viewing time.

Our first viewing was at 10am and we had 9 properties to see between then and 12.30pm which meant a lot of speed walking between places in 30c heat.

To cut a long story short, every single one of them was the size of a shoebox. What is more is that you are looking at the apartment with up to 15 other people. If you like the look of it, then you must fill in an application form (along with X others) and then wait to see if you are chosen. Understandably there is a surplus of people to housing available but this takes the cake in producing stress lines and stomach ulcers. The application form itself asks for more information than it takes to open up a bank account.

One of the sections requires current employment information and because we are currently both seeking work, having just arrived, I doubt we would be top of the pile on any property. To compound the issue, the Sydney Morning Herald today linked a rental crisis to a migration boost so it seems our problem is caused by others like us - whoops.

Just when it was looking futile and heart-rending, our awesome friend in Christchurch sorted for us to house-share with her sister in Homebush Bay until Christmas time which suited us perfectly as it didn't tie us down to 6 months here and would allow us to see more of the country in 2009.

New Digs

2008-09-23T09:51:00.005+10:00

Today we're moving into a new place that will see us through until mid-December. It's much closer to the city. To give you some idea, we've currently been commuting 60km each way into the centre of the city. In our new digs, this will be reduced to 20km.

Interestingly they used to be the apartments used by athletes in the 2000 Olympics which have since been sold off to the public.

It's in a really quiet part of Homebush close to the olympic stadium and is a self-contained village with shops, cafes and an almost mediaterranean feel to it.

Another bonus is that there is a free shuttle to the ferry of which we could easily use instead of the train to get into work which is pretty cool in itself.

As it was the old haunts for athletes, there are tennis courts, swimming pools and other features that make the place quite appealing.

Sydney

2008-09-17T10:06:00.000+10:00

Until we undertook the journey from Elderslie to the city, I wasn't aware of how far out we were. I knew the skyline of tall buildings wasn't visible from Elderslie but I had put that down to being on a plain and not seeing the forest for the trees as such.

Luckily there is a bus stop across the road that takes us to Campbelltown around half and hour away and the furthest the train goes in that direction. It is then another hour and a half journey through many suburbs and stops before hitting central station and getting the feeling of being in a large city.

We jumped off here and made our way through Hyde parka and Chinatown where we stopped for lunch. I enjoyed a rather large serving of calimari with my first Aussie pint - Boag's. It wasn't too bad at all and was certainly refreshing after our trek.

Today was a paltry 18c with some clouds causing overcast as we made our way long the heaving streets in a northerly direction for the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

As we neared our destination, I could make out the distinctive shape of both monuments and must confess, I found the harbour bridge quite stunning and the opera house rather underwhelming. It is quite retro and kitcsh and if it was an ornamental present, it would be in a box, taken out and dusted off when the giver came over for drinks.

The harbour bridge on the other hand is grand in scale and looks magnificent. It is also multi-purpose and takes passengers over the water on foot, car and train and thus also appeals to my manly functional side.

There is also a busy wharf and train station close by taking locals and tourists on ferries and jetboats of which we will use tomorrow.

With Sydney harbour taken in, we made our way to the Sydney Museum (not to be confused with the Australian Museum) before heading home. I say this because although Wikipedia would have you think they are one in the same, there are indeed two different types, the latter we did not know existed due to lack of insight.

The Sydney Museum is, for want of a better word, dull. It has 3 floors with not much going on in any of them. Lou and I were hoping that it would have had a history of the aboriginals, a detailed exhibit on the colonisation of a continent by white men but it's a very much short and sweet version of this country seemingly designed for the casual visitor.

Slightly dismayed by our last venture but excited by Sydney itself, we made the journey back to Elderslie.

The other photos of Sydney can be found here.

Camden

2008-09-16T09:12:00.000+10:00

Tuesday was spent with Lorraine and the two eldest boys in a trip into Camden town to set up bank accounts. It was once again a pleasant day with the temperature in the low 20's and the route took us over a river bridge and past an abandoned vineyard (travesty!).

These outskirt towns are small in size but have all the amenities you need. It is basically one long strip with rows of shops and businesses of all kinds lined on either side.

When we arrived home we spent some of the afternoon on the internet getting bus and train timetables and firing off a few emails. That evening we met another of Lorraine's daughters Alison and her husband Bernie. They also have a wee bairn who is looked after by Natalie and Lorrain during the day so it's a veritable creche at times.

They also have dogs who live outside, labrador types, called Honey and Angel who are very approachable and wag their tails instantly when you move towards them. The back garden also contains two pet birds (they look like parrots to me), a swimming pool and a trampoline which the boys are obsessive about.

Tomorrow we venture forth into the city itself for some exploring and site-seeing.

Bonjour Sydney

2008-09-15T09:00:00.001+10:00

Our flight to Sydney took around 3 hours from Christchurch and we arrived shortly after 6 O'clock on Monday evening. Even from a warm and sunny afternoon in New Zealand dusk in Australia, at a balmy 26c, felt quite altogether different reminding me of previous holidays to Portugal and Turkey stepping off the plane and greeted with an almost offensive blast of warm air.

We were greeted in the airport by my cousin Lorraine and her husband Bryan. I hadn't seen her in two decades so it was a unique moment in family history. Her mother (my Dad's sister) had another five sisters(!), another two of whom are also in Australia so flinging yourself off to far off destinations seems to be in the genes.

The evening was taken up getting introduced to the rest of the household comprising of my cousins daughter, Natalie, who is our age, her husband Stephen and their 3 offspring, Levi, Henry and George (in order of ascending age). George took great delight in stating quite matter of factly "You're in our house now!" which sounded like a scene in a horror movie where the victim finds themselves up shit creek without a paddle prior to said shit hitting the fan.

They are a fantastic family to live with - very kind and generous - and we owe them much gratitude for putting us up at the start of our new adventure.

Au Revoir New Zealand

2008-09-14T13:42:00.002+10:00

Today is our final day in New Zealand before jetting off to Sydney tomorrow afternoon. Last night we rounded up our friends and had a farewell social ending the night in one place we usually don't visit too often - an Irish bar. Tempting fate and further liver damage, I attempted a Guinness and I'm sorry to report, I just couldn't finish it. Nevertheless it was a fantastic night with some great memories and cherished banter.

Aoeteroa has been an enriching experies for both of us and I highly recommend it as a holiday experience. Now we look forward to a new adventure on the other side of the pond.

Land Of The Great White Cloud

2008-09-10T21:09:00.004+10:00

As Lou and I coundown our last week in New Zealand before heading for the sunnier shores of Australia, we took a day trip to one of our favourite destinations on the doorsteps of Christchurch.

The photo on the left is of our first stop along the Banks Peninsula, Corsair Bay.

It was a beautiful afternoon as we drove out of the Lytelton tunnel and into the bright sunshine. As you can see, a long cloud formation struck out across the bay which gave a magical quality to one of many panoramic views along the way.

We drove through Governor's Bay to Godley House in Diamond Harbour where we stopped for lunch and practically had the place to ourselves. It has a great view over the peninsula bay and overlooking Lytelton itself. It's quite an historic house dating back to 1880 and has many period features giving it a certain grand country house charm.

From there we double-backed to Corsair Bay where we took a walk along the beach and through the woodland alongside the bay.

It was a great afternoon and something that we will certainly miss especially as we never got around to kayaking there but a place with plenty of happy memories.

The other photos of the day can be found here.

The Dark Knight

2008-07-31T09:35:00.002+10:00

I haven't heard so much hype about a movie in quite some time. The viral marketing began well over a year before the film was released and used a website to send thousands of eager fans across the country which revealed more websites, clues, puzzles and generated much intrigue.

Shortly after the theatrical trailer was released, one of the main stars, Heath Ledger who plays the Joker died which gave the film international attention and increased scrutiny regarding his 'final role'*. Those who have watched The Dark Knight, critics included, have heaped praise on both the film and Ledgers acting, many of which have called for a posthumous Oscar nomination win.

With the movie currently standing at #1 film of all time on the Internet Movie Database and an approval rating of 94 percent with the critics, it's safe to assume that the film is indeed extremely good.

And it is.

There hasn't been a deliciously dark and complete comic-book adaptation of a Marvel or DC action hero and only Sin City based on a Frank Miller graphic novel can stand shoulder to shoulder in this respect and is also a very good film in its own right.

What we have is a more rounded and in-depth look at how Bruce Wayne/Batman works, a great developing plot keeping you on your toes, solid dialogue and fantastic acting with, like everyone else highlighting this, Ledger providing an unfortgetable Joker. Indeed, Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's posture, voice and kept a diary in which he recorded the Joker's thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance. That's method acting and it's paid off big time.

Aaron Eckhart has the face and the talent to play both Harvey Dent and Two-Face to a tee and supporting performances from Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman reprising their roles are also faultless.

In fact, as a whole, I have little in the way of bad things to say about The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan has made his second classic film with his second Batman movie (the other being the brilliant Memento). I'm not sure how it squeezed past the film board to get a PG-13 rating but I for one can't wait for the next installment.

I would give this film 9 lives of the Joker out of 10.

*It the 2009 release of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a Terry Gilliam film. Poor Terry, he has such terrible luck with his films.

Trans-Alpine Train Journey

2008-07-27T12:34:00.001+10:00

It was an early start for us on Saturday as we woke at the ungodly hour of 7am, had a quick shower and bite to eat before a knock at the door summoned us out into the cold, damp darkness as we jumped into a taxi with Keith and Jenny and set off for the station.

As we picked up our tickets for the journey, found our seats and waited for the train to set off, the sun came out and showcased a fresh layering of snow in the distant hills.

The TranzAlpine train journey sets off from Christchurch and winds it way slowly to Greymouth, from one coast of the south island to the other. The trip is over 200 kilometres long and takes around five hours.

From our carriage the Canterbury Plains unfolded before us and disappeared behind us as we approached the Southern Alps resplendant in snow capped peaks.

Over viaducts hundreds of feet above the Waimakariri River and through 16 tunnels we climbed into the Alps through gorges and river valleys stopping along the way for photo opportunities and to pick up and drop off the occasional passenger.

We eventually descended through the rain forest to the West Coast town of Greymouth where we had just enough time to have lunch with Keith and Jenny before saying our goodbyes and making the return trip which was slightly magical as the sun faded and the impressive mountains dominated the skyline giving a certain splendour to the already imposing features of fading light on snow.

All photos here.

A Night With Beau Tyler

2008-07-25T15:57:00.002+10:00

Last night we went to see Beau Tyler (aka Peter Feeney) on his recent tour in which he mocks the oft-advertised self-styled help gurus as he sets showcases his unique one hour 'Failure Focused Personal seminar'.

I'd never heard of Beau Tyler until recently when he appeared in a Tip Top Memphis Meltdown series of television commercials playing on a theme of a similar vein as motivator of personality championing 'man-sized' hokey-pokey ice-cream and not settling for anything less.

We arrived early, walking in on the man himself who was with his wife and child. He was extremely approachable and spoke briefly to us, told us to enjoy the show and disappeared into the backstage area.

Not long afterwards, his technical assistant (for want of a better word) took photographs of us appearing happy and sad which would later be used in the performance. Having already met the man and been guaranteed to have some part in the evenings show, I was eager to for the curtains to rise.

The initial enterance and energy of the first twenty minutes was solid and the audience, for the most part, played their part and went with the flow.

As with any performance with public interaction, a difficult participator can make or break the act and unfortunately, Beau chose someone that had little interest in playing along and brought the vibe down a notch. In deference to this, Beau didn't let any of this phase him and did the best he could with the man in question for the remainder of the segment.

As a concept and show, it was certainly unique and interesting. It highlighted the absurdity of profession, poked a lot of fun at it and made us all laugh along. However, with the success of the performance based on audience participation, it is here where the make or break of Beau's act must be judged and on this occasion it was a good show.

Beau Tyler Website

A View To A Sill

2008-07-01T15:37:00.003+10:00

So I thought I'd share some pictures of the view from my office as I think they'd be interesting for those not familar with the city or just interesting for the views themselves. Enjoy!

Top 100 Books Of All Time

2008-06-29T11:06:00.003+10:00

According to someone anyway! I'm stealing this from my friend Suzy, who got it from someone else. So, copy the list, bold what you've read and italic the ones you love. It's interesting that there are so many 'classic' books that I've always wanted to read but haven't so it's a great way to start buying the ones I don't have.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible (I've 'studied' this in school - I wonder how many people have actually 'read' it as apposed to selective reading of passages?)
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. 1984 - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (How the hell is this in here?)
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Robert Mugabe: The Victim

2008-06-27T22:55:00.005+10:00

That's right folks, Mr Mugabe is a victim. Many people talk about how his dictatorship and brutal regime has ripped Zimbabwe apart and caused countless suffering. While all the world takes a back seat and talks about issuing embargoes and other useless rhetoric and does next to nothing, it's also worth pointing out that Mugabe is also a victim. A fashion victim.

What the hell is up with his choice in clothes? It's like Will Smiths unused wardrobe from Fresh Prince. Knock knock? Who's there? It's 1992, and it wants its crap back.

I know he can get away with anything but someone needs to have a word in his ear if they could get anywhere close without being blinded by the neon colours.

More importantly, what is up with that Hitler 'tache? It wasn't even fashionable when Mr Third Reich sported it and I didn't see too many German soldiers emulate it - and the Germans know their moustaches.

Even when he does his best to move into the 21st century, he pulls out the most boring suit imaginable. Look, even his drones are wearing the same outfit and he has to point it out to the press and guess which henchman is taking the fall for this faux-pas? And doesn't he know it?

So please, next time you think about donating clothes, remember that Zimbabwe needs them. Mugabe needs them.

The Orphanage

2008-06-19T17:33:00.005+10:00

The Orphanage (El Orfanato) is the newest edition in a series of a great foreign horror films soon to be bastardised and remade into a second-rate Hollywood movie.

It is co-produced and presented by Guillermo del Toro who is responsible for the fantastic Pan's Labyrinth and I'm sure had some sage advice and creative input for first-time feature film debutante Juan Antonio Bayona.

It stars Belén Rueda (The Sea Inside) as a mother who sets up a new home with her husband and adopted son in an old orphanage that she grew up in that is now empty and where they seek to start an orphanage of their own.

As the couple throw themselves into renovating the old building, their son finds solace in making invisible friends for company which the parents see as odd behaviour but normal considering the circumstances as they live in an isolated area and they have been too busy with the house to spend quality time with their son.

Needless to say the basis for this kind of story has been covered before but there is significant depth to the characters and contextual plotlines that develop that raise it above previous efforts that sink into trite scare flicks with no substance.

You wont find a barrage of sudden switch-screen/noise effects thrown in to make you jump or over-the-top gore to 'scare' you. What you will find is a continual build-up of underlying creepiness and an original take on the genre that makes you hide behind the couch in expectations of what may or may not happen.

The direction is first-rate and the pace is excellent with the plot slowly unfolding allowing you to connect with the premise rather than be disassociated through one-dimensional characters and flimsy screen-writing.

Foreign cinema should not be looked on as a resource to make a quick buck in re-hashing and knocking-out mediocre remakes, but as an inspiration to make better movies but sadly I cannot see this changing for the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, if you are looking for a great horror movie of 2008, look no further.

I would give The Orphanage 7.2 children out of 10.

If you enjoy this film, look out for 3993 next year which is being produced by del Toro and written by the screen-writer for The Orphanage.

Waipara Valley Wine Tour

2008-06-16T17:46:00.006+10:00

It was a fantastic day on Sunday and it was unseasonally warm too - around 19/20C - not bad for winter temperatures! It was all thanks to a Nor' Wester which had been boosting temperatures for the previous few days and we decided not to waste such a fine afternoon.

During the week I had enquired after local wine regions in Canterbury when a colleague in work suggested we try Waipara Valley which is only an hours drive from Christchurch.

After a little research, it turned out there were at least 6 vineyards open on the 'trail' in winter and if we left in the late morning we would have enough time to visit all of them.

The first winery was specifically listed as a 'must visit' by my colleague who recommended their Reislings. As a fan of this style I was looking forward with anticipation.

Peagasus Bay vineyard holds a beautiful restaurant attached to the tasting room which has a plate glass wall looking onto their warehouse full of oak barrels. Outside, they have a natural amphitheatre which is what I would call a dell, that holds a festival (that we missed somehow) that draws over 3000 people.

However, what impressed me about the surroundings was diminished not only by their sub-par Reisling but mainly through the obnoxious and snobby tasting room staff member. He carried a superior air about him that was bordering on offensive and he was very short with us, offering no explanations to each wine more than what it was before shuffling off to talk another staff member. Our servings were also extremely stingy. However, the look on his face when he found out I had been pouring my slop wine into the stainless stell water jar in what I took to be the spitoon made up somewhat for our shoddy treatment.

Next up was Mud House vineyard and they had a delightful tasting area overlooking a busy outside dining area and the service was exceptional. Our host explained each of their wines and we recieved a considerable amount of wine per glass for the paltry $3 fee including two if their most expensive bottles which came to around eight in total. She was very friendly and helpful in every way and I would certainly recommend stopping here.

Our next stop was Torlesse Wines which was reasonably busy for only one man working behind the counter. He didn't spend any time with us as he was rushing around serving others and putting wine through the till. Another off-putting aspect was a swarm of fruit flies buzzing around. Apparently they had dumped their skins nearby and the warm temperatures had caused an explosion of the little mites with some of them finding their way into our glasses. The wine itself, of the two glasses we were served in 20 minutes didn't impress any of us so we left and headed to our next vineyard.

Mount Cass is a relatively small place and was operated on this day by a lovely lady and her black wolfhound type dog that Keith fell to playing with while we got on with sampling the small selection of wines available. We got engaged in a thoughtful and insightful conversation about grape-picking seasonal workers and the work ethic of different nationalities. I always find it interesting when I am offered personal insights about such matters and since I knew nothing about the work ethics of any particular nationality (except perhaps the Germans who have a hard-working reputation) I stuck to sampling the wines of which we bought a delightful Gewurztraminer which is one of those wines coming back into fashion (and deservedly so).

Next up was Waipara Springs, our last stop of the day (as Daniel Schuster's was closed). It is a cosy little place down a gravel road and we were served by someone who reminded me of Imelda Staunton (the British actress). They had a wide selection of top notch wines including a fantastic Merlot which both of us bought a bottle of - quite surprising too as Jenny isn't overly fond of reds.

It was a fantastic day to spend any day, moreso because of the fine weather which harked back to the hazy, lazy summer days and now we have a small selection of great wines to enjoy on a special occasion.

Wellington

2008-06-09T16:45:00.007+10:00

Last weekend we flew up to Wellington to watch Ireland take on the All Blacks at Westpac stadium. Our flight was at noon and on the cusp of a strong SW wind which gave the take-off and levelling a shaky experience and initial turbulence forced the cabin crew back to their seats minutes after the seatbelt lights were turned off. However, the middle of the flight was quite calm under the circumstances and half and hour later we were heading in for a landing which was almost as bad as the take-off. Wellington is known as the windy city because of the Cook Strait and this was no exception!

After meeting Esther at the airport, we took a short bus ride into town and our YHA hostel was only a few minutes from where we were dropped off on Courtenay Place. We were up on the 5th floor and had a fantastic view over the harbour and bay and the street below.

Our next destination was the stadium itself to pick up the tickets and our hour round-trip made us ready for lunch where we met up with Keith and Jenny. Our first choice was a Monteith's Pub but their menu didn't tick anybody's boxes and as we headed up the street for something else we bumped into our cousin Stephen. We all walked up to the Cambridge Hotel bar and were served a huge meal of burger and chips which I just couldn't finish. Sinking a poor pint of Guinness (an obligatory and fruitless chore) we made our way further into town to another Monteith's bar for drinks were it was still pleasant enough to sit outside and watch fans make their way to the stadium where we soon joined them.

As luck would have it, we had only sat down for two minutes before the heavens opened up and the worst weather we have seen in New Zealand descended upon us. You can read all about the game here, suffice to say that a few silly mistakes and a lack of drive in the last 20 minutes cost us the game and we lost 21-11.

Sitting out for an hour and half in storm weather, we were soaked through and the temperatures were at freezing as the rain pounded us from above. Needless to say we made our way quickly back into town to get into a warm pub and holed up for the night in Molly Malone's where a piano player entertained us with cover songs as we consoled ourselves more at being cold and miserable than losing the game.

As we were sitting at our table, we got chatting to a South African lady who seemed to have some connection to the game and gave us a few spare copies of the match programme and returned later to inform us that the Ireland squad would be having a few drinks at the place called Lagerfields only a few streets over. We decided to follow her advice and rather than have a final drink at Molly's, we made our way to Lagerfields which turned proved fruitless as there were no players there, only trendy people looking poncy. Since we were there we stayed for a nightcap before making our way back to the hostel where we happily slipped out of our wet clothes and went to bed.

Awake

2008-05-26T11:08:00.003+10:00

Awake stars Hayden Christensen as Clay Beresford, who played Anakin Skywalker in the last Star Wars trilogy and more recently in the mis-fired popcorn action movie Jumper. The good news is that his acting is getting better and he's starring in more diverse and interesting roles.

In his latest he plays a heart transplant patient that suffers from "anesthetic awareness". This is when the patient doesn't receive enough analgesic to prevent consciousness and is either awake or wakes up mid-surgery. What is interesting is that this happens to about 20-40,000 people every year in America and 40% feel the pain of the operation, 92% experience panic/anxiety and 70% experience lasting psychological symptoms.

Naturally, this being a film, there is more than just this horrible situation happening to the character in question and this takes place in and around the unfolding drama in a series of cut-scenes to other characters and flashbacks regarding the poor bedfellow.

Unfortunately not much can be said without spoiling the plot, suffice to say that it is a watchable drama/thriller worthy of renting and, more amazingly, shows that Jessica Alba can act, playing the role of Clay's love interest and it's hopefully a pivotal time for her to ditch big-budget action films for a more mature career. It also showcases a solid, if uninspiring Terrance Howard as Clay's surgeon which just about sums this film up.

A first-time writer/director role by Joby Harold indicates that whilst it might have been a better film if handed to someone else, it's a good start to a promising career.

I would give this film 6.3 countdowns from 10.

Official Site for Awake

Vantage Point

2008-05-20T15:11:00.003+10:00

Director Pete Travis was working behind the camera solely in television before he shot the Paul Greengrass script that became Omagh about the IRA bombing that killed 28 people in Northern Ireland in 1998. The film won many awards and trajected Travis straight to the big time with his next film being Vantage Point.

The film is shot in continual retelling through the perspectives of different players and witnesses involved in the attempted assassination of the US president who is giving a public speech at a summit in Spain. The effect is akin to watching a jigsaw being put together by different people who have their own unique piece and of whom none are aware of what the complete process will reveal.

Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox play the role of bodyguards to the President very effectively and prove their worth in an action role. Forest Whitaker is a tourist who captures the events on his hand-held camera and is drawn into the drama which unfolds around him. Other notable roles are William Hurt as the president and Sigourney Weaver who plays a relatively minor role as a TV producer.

Travis rides a fine line between repetitiveness and anticipation as each new sequence based on the main characters reveals more of the plot and storyline of the said characters with the end section of the movie blending together to a frenetic finale.

Despite the setup and structure being handled well and taking a unique version on what is essentially a whodunnit thriller for the most part, I wasn't enamoured with the overall message and ending of the film.

Nevertheless, as an action-thriller it is certainly worth checking out and I look forward to Travis' next project to see what he does next.

I would give Vantage Point 6.9 eye witnesses out of 10

28th Birthday

2008-05-05T13:38:00.004+10:00

It was going to be a different birthday this year being in New Zealand and not having old friends there for me but the friends we have made so far made it a night to remember.

We kicked things off at the Bodhi Tree, a Burmese restaurant on Columbo Street. I'd heard good things about it and was interested in trying out this style of food.

It is a small restaurant and it was full within a quarter hour after we arrived. They had a small but good selection of wine and they also do BYO which worked to our advantage as we brought along our choice of wines. The menu is broken down into seafood, vegetarian etc and there is a good selection on offer. They advised us to choose two dishes and share them along with rice but we preferred choosing our own dishes and there was barely enough room on the table for them. I ordered the dumplings and a squid dish and I was satisfied with both of them and jealous of Lou's beef which was deliciously tender. By the time we finished our courses, we still had plenty of wine left so we opted for some desserts and I had the mud cake which came with a singing waiter and a candle on top.

The weather on my birthday was not kind to us and our last section of walking to the restaurant was under our umbrellas as hailstones pounded the ground. As we left it was windy with heavy rain as we began our pub crawl with the Vic & Whale. It seems a decent, if uninspiring, sports bar and as a new option since moving here I went for a bourbon and coke as I didn't feel like a beer just yet and couldn't face any more wine.

Needless to say, we visited more pubs along the way including the Holy Grail where I reigned supreme on the pool table and set a new record on a machine that tested your ability to punch a boxing bag as hard as possible.

It was a great night although on the way home the rain increased in its verocity and angle and came at us horizontally and Lou and I arrived safely at the house soaked through from the waist down.

Full photos can be found here shortly.

Wine Tasting Night

2008-04-28T16:27:00.002+10:00

We went to another tasting at Pomeroy's on Tuesday but this time instead of beer, it was a showcase for Tohu wines. Tohu has vineyards in Marlborough and Gisborne and has a distinctly Maori element with their name possibly (and I could be wrong) based on Tohu Kakahi who was a leader in the 1870's and organised passive resistance against the occupation by the whites and the company ran by a Maori trust.

Getting back to the wine, Tohu produce around five varities including sauvingnon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir. Not only did we get to sample the wines but each glass was accompanied by hors d'oeuvres designed to compliment each other including salmon and pork belly which was on the whole quite delicious.

Two highlights for me were the Gisborne oaked chardonnay and the Marlborough Pinot Noir which is some of the best wine I've tasted in New Zealand.

Next month hosts a bourbon tasting night which should prove interesting...

Hells's Pizza

2008-04-12T13:47:00.004+10:00

This is a somewhat unusual thing to talk about but if there's one thing I've found better in New Zealand than in Ireland, it's their pizza - namely from Hell's. If there's a gourmet pizza delivery service [not a restaurant] that serves better pizza than this back home, I didn't find it.

There are many pizza's available in supermarkets, both fresh and frozen but there isn't the same selection and the quality is vastly inferior.

What separates Hell's is the gourmet aspect and the range of toppings you can put on your pizza. You can of course, like all pizzerias, choose your own toppings and I think I found my zen selection with the above: chicken, mushrooms, caramelised onions, spinach, green pepper, bacon and blue vein cheese.

It was utterly delicious and I'm not one to finish a pizza in one night - I usually restrain myswelf to leave a few slices for the next day - but this was eaten up in a short time.

Hell's is also amusingly quirky in it's Hell variation pizza names and, if you don't manage to eat everything at once, you can make a coffin out of your pizza box for the last few slices.

It's a shame this chain isn't available back home and I'd consider setting up a chain if I had the chance because I'm sure people would order in their droves.

Lyttelton Harbour Cruise

2008-04-06T15:02:00.004+10:00

We were back in Lyttelton this weekend for a harbour cruise upon the steam powered tug boat - Tug "Lyttelton".

The boat was built in Glasgow and sailed to New Zealand to her owners, The Lyttelton Harbour Board, on 10th September 1907. She performed numerous duties before being retired in 1970 when the Tug Lyttelton Preservation Society recomissioned the ship for ferrying passengers.

We were lucky to be sailing on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and as we climbed on board we made our way to the bottom deck where we could see the glow of the fire and hear the shovelling of coal in preparation for departure.

Lyttelton is a small town with a population of just over 3000 and its hills are swamped with houses jostling for a view over the harbour.

The tug set off at 2.30pm and took 90 minutes to cruise out of the port and circumnavigate the harbour inlet towards the sea at times hugging the Banks Peninsula to deliver fantastic panoramic views before making its way back to dock.

It's well worth the $15 and highly recommended for a sunny Sunday afternoon.

All photos can be seen here.

Charlie Wilson's War

2008-04-02T15:09:00.002+11:00

Charlie Wilson's War is based on the true story of Charles Wilson, a former United States naval officer and former Democratic United States Representative from the 2nd congressional district in Texas who supported the largest-ever CIA covert operation which supplied the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

The film is based on the book of the same name by George Crile and adapted for screen by Aaron Sorkin. Wilson himself is played by Tom Hanks and is backed up with silver screen heavyweights Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julia Roberts.

With such a name attached to writing duties and and an A-list cast leading the film, I was really looking forward to this film. However, what should have been a serious examination of the who, what, why and how, the movie bumbles along and seemed more quirky comedy at times than a drama.

More screen time seems to be devoted to Charlies antics and behaviour than in the cause he's fighting for and when the credits rolled, I immediately thought Rambo 3 would have been more entertaining.

I would give this film 5.1 hookers in the hot-tub out of 10

Earth Hour or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Candle

2008-03-31T13:42:00.004+11:00

On Saturday evening, Christchurch joined other cities around the globe in turning off its lights for 60 minutes in what was called 'Earth Hour'. The idea being that everyone should turn off any non-essential lights in their house for an hour to make a stand against global warming. Despite an online survey indicating that most people didn't bother, the cause seemed to have worked as power consumption fell 12.8% across the city. Of course, this being a one-off event, it's difficult to foresee any long term impact this idea will generate.

Personally, I'm all for switching off any non-essential lights and other equipment because of three reasons completely superfluous to combating global warming:

1. It cuts down on your electric cost. A 60W left on all year will cost you $45. Granted, no-one leaves their lights on ALL the time but you could guestimate that you could save this amount by making sure you use it and other electric equipment less. For example, many people re-charge equipment. Instead of leaving it on X hours and checking at a later time that it's charged, take the time to read the manual or self-time so you don't overcharge it.

2. Candles add atmosphere to the room. They come in all shapes and sizes and especially now it's coming into winter and the days are getting colder there's something to be said for the 'burning effect' - be it a log/coal/gas fire or a simple candle. The scent of a candle also evokes a warm feeling so these are two things which the average bulb doesn't do.

3. Light pollution. More than any other country I've been to, New Zealand has, probably because of the size of the cities and the space between them, fantastic opportunities for star-gazing. Even on a cloudless night in our back yard there is more on offer than what could be seen back in Belfast so turning off non-essentials can only improve on this.

Beer Tasting

2008-03-29T16:58:00.005+11:00

On Monday, Keith and I sampled our latest beer which is a European style Munich beer. This time around we chose to use the finest ingredients we could find in order to make the best possible beer.

The ingredients cost $70 (£28) and we ended up with 21 litres (37 pints) so that works out at $1.89 (76p) a pint. Not bad at all.

I'm happy to announce that the beer tasted pretty good and was a huge improvement over our last effort teaching us that you really do get back what you put in and from now on, we're only going to use the best ingredients.

On Tuesday evening we took a walk up the road to our favourite bar, Pomeroy's, for a beer tasting session. It cost us $25 and all the beers were exclusively New Zealand and nearly all from the south island.

It took place in the restaurant section of the bar which is separated by glass doors and exudes a nice relaxed family-country dining experience and I have decided to have my birthday meal there too as the menu looks inviting - right now I'd opt for the Trio of Pork on roast kumara with Christmas mince so watch this space and see if it still tickles my fancy in 4 weeks time!

We were all handed a sheet with the list of beers we would be sampling and a description of where it's from and the taste we should expect from it. There was a wide range on offer and we would be starting with light beers and working our way to the darker beers at the end which arguably have more flavour and alcoholic content.

There were two guys leading the evening and they were very informative about each beer but also about how beers differ, especially in New Zealand because of the water from the well it is taken from and the process it goes through.

We were given a special treat at the end as one of the guys gave us a taste of his own porter style beer with elements of peat and bourbon giving it a great smell and taste. They were all on sale afterwards but unfortunately the best which was saved until last was the last of his batch.

In general, I am not a fan of New Zealand beer and by that I mean the majority of what is on offer in the majority of bars. I find them bland and watery - think Miller and you're on the right track. However, there are a few exeptions and what makes a place like Pomeroy's special is that all the beers are non-big brands and brewed for a small market of beer lovers. I'm just glad it's within walking distance of the house!

Governor's Bay

2008-03-28T15:14:00.005+11:00

Governor's Bay is part of the Lyttelton Harbour region which stretches 15km around the small town of Lyttelton and it's appearance is formed due to a collapsed volcanic crater. The great thing is that it's only 12km from Christchurch but you feel in a completely different part of the country.

Lyttelton is connected to Christchurch through the 2km Lyttelton Tunnel which runs through the Port Hills and is New Zealand's longest and oldest.

A cliff road snakes around the hills to give fantastic views over the inlet and runs around several bays towards Diamond Harbour situated opposite Lyttelton [If anyone is interested, Lyttelton is where Peter Jackson shot the exterior to The Frightners].

It's a great place to go to escape the city life and take a picnic and enjoy the peace and tranquility!

Hanmer Spings & Lewis Pass

2008-03-23T13:58:00.003+11:00

Having spent the last few months in Christchurch earning a wage and paying the rent, by the time Easter came around Lou and I were itching to get back on the road and tick some more places off our list. Hanmer Springs seemed a good place to spend a night with good forest walks and, of course, its thermal springs.

A few days before we headed off we kept an eye on the weather and typically the day we were due to spend in Hanmer was the one day of the Easter weekend that was due to rain all day.

Needless to say as soon as we had our bags packed in the car and set off down the road the first signs of rain made an appearance on our front windscreen. Undeterred, we made our way north and it took us almost 2 hours driving but 135km later we drove past Hanmer Springs and had to take a u-turn to go back around. However, we saw a sign for Lewis Pass and it stuck in our minds.

Knowing it would be a busy weekend, we booked ourselves into Kakapo Hostel and splashed out on a room with en-suite. It's a clean little place on the edge of town and our room came with a microwave and fridge which was an added bonus as we were able to keep our milk cold for morning coffee and heat up our apple pastries for added scrumminess.

Our first task was a walk around town to find somewhere for lunch as it was 1.30pm and we were hungry and needed something substantial to fuel us for our walk in the rain. We decided on Jollie Jack's bar more as a last resort than anything else as none of the other pubs had any

charm or more importantly a decent menu to choose from. Lou had the BLT and I had the chicken and mushroom hot pot. Her baguette turned out to be heavily covered in garlic and I'm sure my ingredients used the contents of a soup can. Both meals were washed down with beer that tasted decidely dodgy. In short, not a great dining experience. My advice is to bring a packed lunch.

With food in our bellies, we set off up the main street which is very steep and leads to the enterance of Conical Hill which is supposed to give great views over Hanmer and the signpost informed us it would take 30 minutes to reach the top. I wasn't sure if we'd see much from the top due to the clouds but we set off along the path which gave excellent shelter from the rain which thankfully wasn't much more than a light drizzle. I'm a fast walker when it comes to flat ground and thankfully Christchurch is firmly on low ground due it being on the Canterbury plains but this was hard going until about half way up when our bodies adjusted and it wasn't so much of a chore anymore.

Along the way, there isn't much to see except for huge red mushrooms that stand alone and in groves and trees ripe with berries. Where the bend in the path turns for another uphill straight you can glimpse the town below where it slowly becomes smaller and you can see the valley below and mountains in the distance half covered in clouds.

Despite the light rain and grey day, the views are still worth the half hour it takes to enjoy them and the lookout provides 360 degrees over the forest park and as far as the eye can see and the clouds allow. Making it all the way to the top also provides the opportunity to make the infinetly easier decline to the bottom back into Hanmer.

The Hanmer Springs were discovered in 1859 and fed by rainwater that seeps down through the ground and accumulates in an underground reservoir 2km beneath the surface where it absorbs minerals and is warmed by the earth's natural heat and rises again via fissures.

It was one of the main attractions of our journey but we were put off by the hordes of tourists and the rain - even though one obviously gets wet in a thermal pool. It just seemed that neither of us would enjoy ourselves. However, we remembered Lewis Pass and knew that there was another thermal spring there. As the weather was to be much better we decided to travel there the next day and check it out.

We returned to our room where we relaxed and got ready for dinner before once again throwing ourselves to the wolves that is Hanmer eateries. We decided on Nos 47 along the main street and despite all the tables having a reserved sign, we were led to a table by the window and given a table number. Result.

As with most places to dine in Hanmer, Nos 47 doubles is a bistro bar and after deciding on our food, it was up to us to place our order at a hatch window and then buy our wine at the bar. We both settled on the fillet steak and after waiting nearly half an hour we were presented with two rib-eye steaks.

Neither of us could be bothered alerting the staff to their error as we were both rather hungry by this stage and it's not like we would be back. Both of our meals were underwhelming and we were both still slightly peckish afterwards so we decided to split the cheeseboard. While we were waiting for this, the table beside us recieved their order of rib-eye steaks which were, you've guessed it, fillet steaks. Clearly no-one in the restaurant understood a bloody thing about steaks. When the waiter returned with the other tables food, they complained that it wasn't what they ordered but they would eat it regardless so everyone could eat at once.

Our cheeseboard arrived with all but 3 cheeses, an assortment of blue and two mostly tasteless cheddar types and slices of cucumber, strawberries and baby tomatoes. Clearly the concept of CHEESEboard is lost in these neck of the woods along with what meat constitutes what.

The next day the weather was what we would have liked for the previous day and after packing the car, we set off for Lewis Pass and Maruia Springs. The views along the way afforded fantastic views of mountains and the Waiau River and through tree lined roads and cliffs that dropped hundreds of feet to the valley belows.

After an hour we arrived at the thermal spa resort and paid $15 for use of the springs and Japanese bath house where there was an onsen. The water in the main pools was quite black with little flecks indicating more minerals and the water itself was wonderfully warm and inviting.

A smaller pool was milky white and much cooler. Despite our enjoyment, the sandflies buzzing around our heads were a real annoyance and are something you have to get used to in New Zealand.

The Japanese Onsens are traditional which means both are segregated and clothing is optional. Before getting into the pool, you must first give yourself a good scrubdown using one of the side showers where a row of basins are provided with soap and a stool to sit on. Besides myself there was only one other guy in there and we ended up chatting the whole time about where we were from and nuisance development blighting the landscape. We decided after fifteen minutes it would be a good time to leave before we turned into prunes. The hilarious thing was afterwards talking to Lou and that she was only with another woman in there that turned out to be his wife.

The thermal pools were very refreshing despite your body smelling like sulpher afterwards but it's a very small price to pay for such a relaxing time.

In all, I feel we made the most of Hanmer Springs and if you're making your way towards the west coast through Lewis Pass, stop off at Maruia Springs instead of the thermal pools at Hamner or make the extra journey if you're on either a day trip or staying a night.

All the photos can be found here.

St Patricks Day

2008-03-18T14:49:00.004+11:00

According to an online NZ poll, Kiwi's obviously don't celebrate St Patrick's Day - but then I suppose it isn't a public holiday like it is back home. Still, I was surprised at the huge majority as it's a fun participation themed day and I would imagine a lot of New Zealanders have Irish roots.

I didn't hear about any parades which was a shame so the only celebrations were taking place in the pubs and clubs with lots of live bands and a hell of a lot of Guinness being drunk.

We kicked things off in Bailies, an Irish bar in the centre of town which was packed before beginning a pub crawl that took us to the Yellow Cross, Mickey Finns, O'Sullivans and The Bog before finishing up in The Stock Exchange.......at 6am.

Needless to say I didn't get much sleep and I was no more than a zombie all day going through the motions but we had a great night and hopefully I'll have some photos linked in due course.

I hope you had a great day whatever and wherever you were.

Once

2008-03-11T15:50:00.003+11:00

Once stars Glen Hasard of The Frames which suits him perfectly to play lead role in what is tantamount to a musical where he plays a busker who falls in love with a an immigrant who sells roses on the streets of Dublin.

It is a low key film that only cost $160,000 to make which suits the earthy urban atmosphere the films creates. Indeed there are no special effects and the direction is simply shot, focusing on the music that unfolds as the relationship develops.

Interestingly the lead role was earmarked for Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Batman Begins) who turned it down because he did not want to act opposite his love interest Marketa Irglova who had no previous acting experience nor sing Hansard's high octave vocals. He pulled out and this caused other financial backers to follow suit.

Nevertheless, Hansard ultimately proved to be a sure bet as his song won an Oscar for best original song and the movie won The Independent Spirit Award 2008 for best foreign film.

Unfortunately for me, the movie was too much musical and not enough drama with many times feeling like you are watching a fly on the wall 'making of' documentary for an album with a story thrown in for good measure, which is a shame because it's a good story worth exploring.

If you are a fan of The Frames or musicals then this film will appeal to you. For me, I needed more of a story than lyrics.

I would give this film 5.6 octaves out of 10.

In The Valley Of Elah

2008-03-10T15:37:00.002+11:00

In The Valley of Elah is Paul Haggis' follow-up as a director after his Oscar winning film Crash. He has kept busy in between writing, producing and directing The Black Donnelly's, a great drama about four Irish brothers and their involvement in organised crime in New York, which was unfortunately cancelled as it was highly watchable.

His latest movie features a strong cast led magnificently by Tommy Lee Jones as a retired army officer who turns detective after his son goes AWOL after returning back to the US from Iraq and his body is shortly found charred and dismembered causing Jones to attempt to uncover the reasons behind it.

He finds help in Charlize Theron who is an oppressed female detective in a chauvinistic department trying to do the best she can despite the misgivings of her colleagues and with added pressure of raising a child as a single mother.

The film focuses on the inability and unwillingness of the police and army police in trying to catch the person or people responsible and also how the death of their second and last son leaves a huge impact on Jones and his wife, played briefly but wonderfully by Susan Sarandon.

In The Valley of Elah weaves a simple story into a fascinating social drama with a conspiracy twist which keeps up the suspense until the credits roll. The acting from Jones can be considered one of his best performances and he isn't let down by the compelling supporting acting of Theron and the rest of the ensemble cast.

Despite the 2 hour runtime of the film, I didn't catch myself clock watching and was pulled into the gripping unfolding drama. There are some poignant scenes designed to provoke a reaction in the same way that Crash was criticised for and seems to be a trademark of Haggis but it is a small oversight in what is another high water mark in his career.

I would give this film 7.2 Tommy Lee Jones facial looks out of 10.

Shipping News

2008-03-08T11:35:00.004+11:00

So we have finally got the internet in the house and it's been a real pleasure to be able to check your mail and surf without being in a cafe and watching the minutes although I do miss being given a milk chew by the Japanese owner after spending $5 every Saturday afternoon.

We have gone for the BT of New Zealand that is Telecom and the connection was quick and easy and surprised me how fast businesses can move here compared to others. They even sent us a modem without us paying a single cent - so trusting of them!

The only downside with internet in this country is that no matter how much you pay, you always have a capped download limit and that really stinks. We're paying just shy of $100 (£40) a month for a 4725kb/s download rate and 129kb/s upload rate but we can't download more than 10GB a month without having to pay for it.

The other news is that Keith and Jenny's shipping crate arrived and my computer has arrived. The good news is that I can play games again as this laptop can't handle anything more than a few web browsers and Word being opened but that's what we bought it for. The bad news is that Pickfords totally screwed up the packing and not only have they repacked things but they have done so using their clothes and damaged some of their stuff.

So far they have only opened some of their boxes and have found a broken back panel to two bookcases and other items wrapped up in their clothes instead of proper wrapping. In lesser bad news regarding the boxes, no-one has a clue where my computer box full of things are so although I have my monitor and case, I can't plug it in and don't have essentials such as a mouse and keyboard to use it.

Besides all things computer related, the weekend has arrived with a NW wind and outside is mid-20's and gloriously sunny so I'm off to relax in the heat and see if I can't get my hands on some cold beer to pass the afternoon. Have a great time whatever you're up to and see you soon.

Superbad

2008-03-04T18:13:00.002+11:00

Judd Apatow seems to be producing every comedy of the last 12 months and this is his second film starring Seth Rogen who wrote the movie alongside Evan Goldberg in this teenage comedy starring Jonah Hill (Knocked Up), Michael Cera (Juno) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who will surely be in many films to come or have his career ruined by being the inimitable McLovin.

The film revolves around 24 hours in the life of 3 teenage boys in their last throes of high school before college and their desire to be involved in social circles that they want to be a part of but simply don't have the credibility to get invited to as they spend all their free time hanging out with each other.

The answer to their prayers comes when they are invited to a party on the pretext of them being able to buy booze and it is here that their problems and the hilarity begins.

Each character has his strengths but it is ultimately their weaknesses which provide the comedy and seemingly gets them into more trouble than they can cope with.

The film succeeds by circumnavigating the usual trappings of teen comedies on the power of the writing in terms of dialogue and the performances of the aforementioned actors. That's not to say it doesn't do silly, gross-out and the downright bizarre but luckily it's handled in such a way that it can be forgiven and almost embraced instead of mentally deleted after watching.

One hopes that this is not a diamond in the rough of recent output of these genre films and that it resets the bar that seemingly disappeared over the last few years. If you need a night in with guaranteed laughs, rent this and give your ribs a workout.

I would give this film 7.2 fake ID's out of 10

Keith's 29th Birthday

2008-03-02T08:56:00.002+11:00

Keith's 29th birthday is his first away from home and in New Zealand. Although he's lucky enough to have a role reversal over me here in that, being in the southern hemisphere, his birthday lands in the summer there was nothing but pouring rain yesterday and nothing but blue skies as I write this the morning after.

Nevertheless, it didn't dampen our spirits to head out and have a good time and we donned wet proofs and umbrella's and headed out to our first stop of the night at Pomeroy's. It's a gem of a bar I found a few weeks ago on my way to the city hall and is a 19th century brewery and now heritage site. Needless to say, it has a lot of charm and more importantly, it brews it's own beers which are delicious.

We left after a couple of pints and headed into Cathedral Square for dinner which we had booked in the newly located Lotus Heart, a vegetarian restaurant ran by students of a "spiritual teacher" called Sri Chinmoy. While the restaurant itself has, for me at least, several drawbacks such as that it feels like you're sitting in a gift-shop, they do not serve alcohol and your food comes on metal plates, the cuisine is actually very good and one supposes very good for you too as it's all organic.

I ordered the wholewheat cheese-filled quesadilla served with refried beans and house salsa for starters which I have to admit, didn't do much for me and as a two-course person would have opted for the dessert menu which looked a lot more apetising (banana-nut pie!). However, my main course of a pizza topped with small leaf spinach, oven roasted pumpkin, olives, feta cheese, red capsicums & sprinkled with toasted almonds was fantastic and I couldn't even finish it because it was so filling - a large could easily serve two.

Although we all claimed to be stuffed, on our way to The Twisted Hop, Don managed to squeeze in a cheeky cup-cake which would have looked tempting but for my eyes finally matching the size of my stomach!

It is here we finished the night off sitting on the balcony overlooking the plaza and listening to the performers in the bar across the way and slowly making our way through the beers.

Lichfield Lazing

2008-02-26T16:33:00.004+11:00

When a perfect scorching Sunday presents itself under the behest of searching out the hair of the dog there was only one area in town we thought of and Lichfield Street is it.

Our first stop was The Twisted Hop where Lou and I had a well needed lunch as we hadn't eaten anything all day apart from toast at 6am. We ordered the Ploughman's platter with some additional chips and washed it down with some on-site micro-brewed beer which really hit the spot.

Keith and Jenny met up with us and we headed down the lane where we did some quality lounging on street sofas. There's only one place you can do this back home and that's in the Holylands but I think I prefer this setting.

We then moved further down Lichfield Street so Jenny could grab some dinner and we found a great spot on the balcony of The Fish & Chip which looks over the bar area.

It's a cool place to be at you can find more pictures of the day here. Unfortunately staying up all night and then drinking on a sunny afternoon makes you extremely tired and after a decent 5 or 6 pints, it was time to make a move home and fall onto the sofa.

6 Nations at 6am

2008-02-25T16:15:00.001+11:00

Alas there has been nothing much to report on during the week and I apologise for only getting around to this now. Better late than never right?

Sunday afternoon was an absolute stunner of day and usually we would have hit the beach for some body boarding but we had spent the previous night sleeping only a few hours to get up at 6am to watch the Ireland vs Scotland rugby match and luckily we were not disappointed.

We had to win this match to have any chance of winning the tournament or at least the home nations cup/shield. Our last performance errors seemed like a distant memory and the addition of new players made a huge difference and a signal that we have a good chance of remaining a decent side after the old guard hang up their shoulder pads.

After beating Scotland 34-13 it was with vested interest that we watched the England vs France game and a rare backing of the Poms to give Ireland a better position in the table. Happily, they did not let us down and did what we could not.

In 2 weeks time we face-off against a strong Welsh side which should make for a cracking game.

Crusaders Vs Brumbies

2008-02-16T11:05:00.004+11:00

We went to our first Super 14 rugby match last night in support of the Crusaders. Luckily for us, the stadium is only a 20 minute walk away which is going to be very handy for future events held there.

Before the match started, riders on horseback galloped around the side of the pitch waving swords at the crowd to get them in the mood for the first (home) game of the season.

With the weather still in torrential rain mode and coming down heavily, we buried ourselves under our macs and plastic bin bags and hollered when the Crusaders took to the field.

It would be an interesting match as the pitch was a sheet of water and close to being waterlogged and it proved a vital role in countless handling errors and turnovers as the ball slipped out of wet hands and was sucked into the ground instead of bouncing which saved the Brumbies from scoring in the first half and sent their man eating puddles instead of scoring a try.

Once the game settled down after the first 10 minutes, the Crusaders took control of the match and it was clear that they were outmatching the opponents which was clearly illustrated by the end scoreline. Despite Dan Carter mis-kicking some arguably easy points, he racked up a considerable score advantage with 4 conversions and 2 penalty goals. With the bonus point being picked up, it now puts them at the top of the table so a great start to the season.

The next few matches will have to be followed on TV as they face-off against the Bulls in Pretoria, the Stormers in Cape Town and the Force in Perth before returning to play the Cheetahs on March 15 so we'll certainly be getting tickets for that match and hopefully the scoreline will mirror last nights game with better weather to boot.

It's Winter In Northern Ireland

2008-02-15T09:27:00.002+11:00

We might not be experiencing the best summer weather in Christchurch at the moment with torrential rain pouring down and turning the roads into horizontal waterfalls but it's much worse at home with 6 inches of snow. My Mum sent a few pictures to us and it's typical that it snows more in my living memory when you leave the country!

Gone Fishin'

2008-02-12T10:42:00.000+11:00

I was invited on Saturday morning by my cousin to go fishing with him on Lake Coleridge which is something he has talked for a while and it was a perfect warm, windless if slightly overcast day for it. We were taking his boat out and this in itself is a special event as it's been out of the water for the last 14 months and long overdue for an outing.

The lake is situated about an hour or so drive north west of Christchurch and is in a very isolated location surrounded by mountain ranges and desolate scenery giving it a feel of empty grandness which is both awe-inspiring and very plain as there is a distinct lack of colour making the glorious landscape somewhat mundane.

On our way there we encountered a staging point for the Coast to Coast race which takes place every year. Competitors start on the west coast and make their way to Sumner beach in Christchurch through 2 days and 4 gruelling stages. The first day includes a 55km cycle stage and a 33km mountain run and the second day concludes with a 67km kayak trip on the Waimakariri and a 70km cycle. The first competitors are expected to finish by early afternoon with stragglers coming in as late as midnight. It all sounds like too much hard work for two days and something that would be great to do if you had a week to do it!

By the time we arrived at the lake it was early afternoon and our attempts to get out fishing were hampered by the boats engine refusing to start which proved to be down to a dead battery. However, the saviour came in the form of Stephen's father-in-law whose 4x4 runs on two batteries and we used one of them to get us out on the lake.

We made our way around to an inlet and according to the computer, there were plenty of fish at a depth of 15 feet. We attached additional weights to the line and spent half an hour in vain to catch anything. Unfortunately, (I'm not sure how this happened other than bad luck and butter fingers), the anchor and rope found their way to the bottom of the lake and there was nothing to stop our boat from drifting towards the rocky outcrop and we had to return to the middle of the lake where it was too deep to fish.

Despite the setbacks and lack of fish(ing) it was an enjoyable afternoon and I hope to do it again sometime soon. In respect of the day and to quell our hunger, we stopped at the pub/restaurant in Cust and picked up some battered fish and chips - hopefully next time we'll have caught our own supper.

Waitangi Day

2008-02-07T11:28:00.001+11:00

Waitangi Day celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840. Or in other words, a public holiday in summer to go and enjoy yourself. After a few days of low 20's shrouded in cloud, today is a beautiful blue sky day albeit slightly windy.

Lou and I decide to pack a picnic and take a drive north up the coast. Unlike other parts of the country, there is no coastal road and instead we follow Route 1 as it mirrors the coastline a few kilometres inland.

We pass Woodend where Keith and Jen took us a while ago which they initially found taking (or in their case, not taking) a turn off towards Oxford and my cousins House in West Rangiora. By the way, I have placed a map link on the left hand side of the blog as a reference to some things I will mention and other things I will remark upon so you might be more clued in as to who, where, how and what I am talking about since it will prove useful to those reading this outside New Zelaand and to those thinking of coming over to visit and places they might like to visit on day trips from Christchurch.

There are two beaches notated on our map north of Christchurch, Leithfield and Amberley beach, located around 35km and 45km from Christchurch repsectively. We decide to stop at Leithfield on the way to Amberley mainly because we are hungry and the beach has an adjoining motor campsite. Taking a brief walk onto the beach, it is empty, windswept and ultamitely not very interesting. It is certainly no good for picnicing on and if I had to camp here it would be because our tyre had a flat late in the evening and the spare was missing.

We reverse and drive back down the unsealed road gravel road back towards the highway. Incidentally, the roads in New Zealand or at least the roads off the main roads are not up to the same standard as in the UK and Ireland. Most are covered in stones and require driving along them at 20-30kph (unless you drive a 4WD and don't care about blasting past other drivers scattering stones to the four winds under your wheels).

We take another right turn further down the road and make our way to Amberley. Unforunately this beach makes Leithfield look like a gem and there is no beach to speak off except rolling waves pounding the shoreline. Nevertheless we take out our lunch and watch the surf as it breaks and seagulls fly against the wind fighting to land on the rocky beach. Ironically this place has more visitors as car fulls of teenagers compete with loner drivers only there to soak up whatever atmosphere they can and read the paper and contemplate (possibly why they came there in the first place).

Undeterred by our somewhat futile journey we head back to Christchurch. Put positively, this informs us where not to go for a day drip and will save us a 100km roundtrip as now we know that Woodend is not only closer but infinetly better. It is a beautifully sandy beach and has several amenities such as a cafe and (comically awful) crazy golf course.

The remainder of the afternoon is spent relaxing under a hot summers day reading the paper and sipping on gin and tonics - a decidely better end to this part of the day. I begin a new book less than 2 weeks after finishing Whit by Ian Banks. I have never read more than since arriving here and I can only wonder how this voracity will be maintained once the internet finds its way into the house.

Getting Behind The Wheel

2008-02-05T11:26:00.000+11:00

Ever since we arrived in New Zealand I was aware of a skill I would have to learn sooner than later, something I had no inclination for at home, driving. Having always lived in Belfast city centre or extremely close to it, I had never needed a car to get to and from work and had never taken to getting into a car behind the wheel.

I remember my first 'lesson' many years ago where I'd asked my Mum to show me the basic manouvres in the cul-de-sac where we lived. No sooner had I turned the ignition and made the car jolt forward and stall, my lesson was over. She retreated back to the house in a panic and it would be many years later before I sat in the right front seat again.

I relied on friends to take me places where we were going, aware that this freeloading would someday have to come to an end. I would have to learn how to drive.

Our car in New Zealand, like a lot of the cars here, is an automatic. It does not suffer jolts forward when the ignition is turned and there are no gear shifts to master. Naturally I will not be able to drive a manual but Lou is very content with an automatic and I suspect future cars, regardless of my ability to learn manual, will nevertheless be automatic.

I'm not entirely sure of the process of theory tests in the UK and Ireland but in New Zealand it is a very straight forward process. Firstly, it is recommended that a road code booklet be purchased ($25) and studied. As I have been a passenger for many years and observed the rules of the road, most of the booklet is straight forward in terms of how to drive and behave on the road. The only things new to me was with regards to tire thickness legality, stopping distances and what to do if your car breaks down on a motorway (Flip up the bonnet and pop the boot).

The test itself is called a 'scratch test' as it is 35 multiple choice questions, 32 of which must be correct for you to pass. Each question has 4 possible answers with a foil square hiding 3 X's and a tick. 25 questions make up the first section of general road usage while the last sheet with 10 questions tests your extended knowledge of the road and vehicle with more technical questions such as the aforementioned minimal tyre thickness (which is incidentally 1.5mm).

The application costs $40 and the test is the same again with 30 minutes to complete. I didn't time myself but I estimate it took around 15 minutes at most. (In case you're wondering, I passed).

I was given a sheet of paper indicating my learner status until the licence arrives in the post in a weeks time. The best thing about applying for your theory test is, much the same for New Zealand's form of MOT, the Warrant of Fitness, you can just walk in and do it - no booking or hanging around.

My brother Keith took his theory test around a month or so ago in order that he could share the driving with his wife Jenny as they made their way around the country. She also had to take the test so she could legally supervise his driving as a front seat passenger and I'm sure she's loving it.

So, in a short time, I will be, to steal a literary title, On The Road.

Accident & Emergency

2008-02-04T11:25:00.000+11:00

On Friday afternoon, Lou and I bought a laptop so that we can get internet in the house and not take out of the way and costly trips to the internet cafe. Hopefully this will mean that I can now start and make daily updates to this blog and keep you all up to date with the goings on in Christchurch.

The main note of interest that has occured recently included our 5 year anniversary on 26 January. We celebrated with dinner at a place called Le Bon Bolli, a French bistro restaurant in town. We had an enjoyable meal more so from the conversation than the food. Lou's main course was delicious and mine was average, then my dessert was delicious and Lou's was abysmal. It was only on the following Monday in work I discovered that although I had phoned to reserve a table a week in advance, we were seated in the downstairs cafe bistro as opposed to the more elegant and expensive upstairs which I would have preferred had I been asked on the phone which I had not. So not only did the restaurant lose out on what would have been money in seating us upstairs, but from repeat dinings in future.

The rest of the evening was spent at Warner's Hotel bar where I tested their Guinness before having a pint of my new favourite beer - Mac's Great White. It looks and tastes exactly like Hoegarden minus the expense. On a related and cheerful note, our Munich style beer that we are brewing is of very much the same look and taste so I'm very excited about getting stuck into that and letting our reserved section mature for 3, 6 and 9 months respectively for an even better taste!

We have also been enjoying the mid-summer weather and on the days when Lou can meet me for lunch, we have taken a picnic on a bench by the river Avon overlooking punts, kayaks and ducks passing by and the latter clacking at our feet looking for scraps. It's great to have this on our doorstep and we investigated Hagley Park on Saturday to explore it and the Botanical Gardens.

Our journey took us through town winding our way through the city square and over a bridge to where a little carnival was taking place. It was mostly for children with rides and candy floss highlighted by a very strange and, admittedly, offensive inflated slide designed to look like one half of the Titanic sinking into the ocean. One wonders if other designs by the company include the Hindenburg and Twin Towers and a Ghost House with an Auscwitch gas chamber theme.

We cycled on past the golf course which strangely has no safety fence - only a sign warning you to keep your eyes peeled for flying golf balls although by the time someone has a chance to shout 4 it would already have hit you, especially dangerous for any children in the park. We took a rest on a park bench overlooking a huge man made pond before making our way to the other side and our route back home again.

Unfortunately our return journey was edged with danger and disaster and a trip to Accident & Emergency.

Part of Christchurch's charm lies in a tram system that loops in a circle to take visitors and interested parties through the streets taking in the scenery and awe of buildings a mere 200 years and less old. As such the road is covered in tram tracks making it a bear trap for bicycle wheels. Part Lou and her natural aura of accident-prone-ness and the rest unfortunate circumstances, her wheel lodged between a tram line and sent her catapulting over the handlebars and into a heap on the road.

I raced back to help her where she was already being assisted by several people who were just behind us. One woman led her to a low wall to sit down where I crouched beside her and examined her injuries while another person cleared the bike from the road. She had a huge nasty graze on her arm, a few superficial grazes on her knee and face and a particularly nasty gouge in her hand. One of the by-standers, whom we mistook to have some sort of medical background assessed that the cut was right through to the bone and suggested a trip to a chemist. Another had a first aid kit on her bike and she stuck a plaster on it. I noticed she also had antiseptic cream and other more usual wraps but did not want to harass her for them if she was not forthcoming as I was more concerned with the face that Lou was very pale and obviously concussed and naturally scared.

I had no intention of going to the chemist for such serious injuries as they would certainly have not provided the care required and helped Lou get to the Accident & Emergency which by that stage I was glad to note that her concussion had subsided although she was still in need of having her cuts and grazes cleaned out with the necessary lotions, salves and bandages. Although we had a first aid kit at home, I wanted the best treatment possible and was also wary of the concussion.

After registering with a nurse and obtaining some painkillers, we waited for around an hour where we were taking through and a nurse examined her. She told us that a doctor would not be needed, which we had surmised ourselves by this point, and provided us with an abundant bag of wraps and bandages to apply once the cuts were washed out.

We managed to cycle home again and my hours of watching ER paid off as I adeptly applied gauzes and suchlike on Lou's injuries which made her look more seriously injured than she was but I was glad to have bothered with the hospital rather than the chemist and be rewarded with free appendages.

I am feeling slightly nervous now as I seem to be the only person in the house not affected by jetboat or bike crash and that I might be next. With any luck, these things come in 3 and I wont be targeted next!

Happy New Year

2008-01-08T11:07:00.000+11:00

Well, here we are a week into the new year and we are enjoying ourselves immensely. We have been to a few beaches over the last week at Woodend (left) and Taylor's Mistake (bottom, left) and catching some great waves on our body boards. There has been a few Nor' Westers pushing the temperature up to the mid 30's which is ideal for the beach.

In case you don't know what a Nor'Wester is, it is a weather pattern local to the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. For this reason it is also often referred to as the Canterbury arch - a high white cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky over the Southern Alps, accompanied by a strong hot northwesterly wind - The Nor'wester. Interestingly, it has a deep psychological effect on many people subjected to its hot, dry nature and has been statistically linked to increases in suicide and domestic violence because it alters the seratonin/melatonin ratio of the body through the altered electric fields caused by the winds. Luckily in our case it is statistically linked to day-trips to the beach and thoughts of a BBQ.

In other news, my brother and his wife Jenny ended up on the evening news for all the wrong reasons. Only a month in New Zealand and on their second day heading north towards Blenheim, they stopped for a night or two in Hanmer Springs where they decided to take a trip on a jetboat that stalled and ran aground, injuring five people.

According to Keith and Jenny, they were only ten minutes out on the water when the boat started acting funnily and the driver decided to take it back to port to swop it for another when it hit exposed riverbed and crashed. The driver and four passengers were airlifted to Christchurch Hospital with minor back and neck injuries. Jenny escaped practically unscathed but Keith received whiplash and was taken for an x-ray at a clinic in Christchurch. He was given the all clear but next morning when he phoned regarding physio, they told him he had a crushed vertebrae and was taken in an ambulance to the hospital where he wasn't looked at for 24 hours as there were no consultants around although other doctors. That was yesterday and today he's told that there's nothing wrong with him (which we knew yesterday) but he has to wait around to be given the all clear before he can go. Jenny's blogged more fully on the situation here so I'll say nothing more although I now have less faith in the hospital system here.

I'll be adding some NYE photos and such over the next few days and as always, photos will be on Facebook as it's a lot easier to host them there although I have listed all the NZ photos so far below. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to write more often.

Happy Silly Season

2007-12-22T14:07:00.000+11:00

Another short and sweet posting from an internet cafe but alas, there is little I can do although I'm going to look into getting internet access at home in the new year so regular postings should resume in the near future although I have enjoyed sticking my head in a book than staring at a monitor for hours.

The last few weeks have been spent working as a barman at my cousins hotel in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby which is the Northern Ireland equivalent of somewhere in or near Lisburn. The work, shall we say, was interesting and suffice to say I'm glad it's all over as I prefer to be on the other side of the bar. Nevertheless, I got to meet some real characters and genuine friends too so in retrospect, it's worked out for the best.

I'm due to play golf tomorrow morning with some of the regulars although it's tee-off at 7am which is not something to look forward to although it's a good laugh and I'm on the look-out for my own clubs and take a more keen interest in, not the game, but the camaraderie - no-one takes it seriously in the least and we have punishments for errors - double spirit drinks for everyone if you can't sail the ball past the ladies tee-off on a hole, and the adornment of sausages on the golf cart for the person taking the most attempts at sinking the ball on the green.

Then it's Xmas-Eve and we have plans for a BBQ and perhaps a day-trip with some camping on Xmas Day itself - possibly in a little town south of Christchurch - all very tentative at the moment.

I'll have the camera with me over the holidays and will be posting them up most in due course.

Thanks to those coming back to the site lately when there has been slim pickings although you can see all the photos on Facebook - add me as friend if you want to see them! It's been an interesting and exciting year with life-changing moments and 2008 will ask a lot of soul searching questions on whether we'll stay in New Zealand, look further afield or return home. That's not to say we're not enjoying our time here - we certainly are but it will take immersing ourselves in full-time jobs and local life before we can make any decisions. I'll keep you posted as best I can.

Have a great silly season (as they say here) and a great New Year and best wishes for 2008!

New Zealand Movies

2007-11-29T16:11:00.000+11:00

These videos will be added as quickly as I have time for. As I'll be busy over the next few weeks or more working, living and settling in Christchurch they will be posted as and when I get a chance. Unfortunately they take a while to upload and there are 50+ of them so I should expect to whittle them down to 20 or so of the best ones and have them on here ASAP but don't hold your breath! Normal blogging will resume when we get an internet connection in the house.

Queenstown

Mount Cook

Fox Glacier, Punakaiki, Nelson, Abel Tasmin & Picton

2007-11-04T13:38:00.000+11:00

Writing this from a hostel in Picton. We have a ferry booked for tomorrow afternoon to take us to Wellington so we're taking some time out to relax and get some washing done!

In the last week we have moved on from Queenstown where we did white water rafting and a trip to Milton Sounds to Arrowtown where we went on a nice long river walk and frooze ourselves camping overnight, to Fox Glacier where we were soaked walking to look at the glacier and didn't get up in a helicopter, to Punakaiki where we had a great Halloween night and stayed in a native rainforest, to Nelson - which was underwhelming and a little dull, to Abel Tasmin where we got a boat taxi and hiked for a few hours along the forest along the shore.

The weather at Fox Glacier was fantastic on the day we arrived which gave us a chance to see Mt Cook and Lake Matheson. We hoped to get up in a helicopter the next day or the day after but unfortunately the weather turned lousy and it was misty and rain for the next 24-36 hours so we decided to skip town and head for Punakaiki. You'd think we would have tired of the rain but we checked into a lovely little hostel retreat set in native rainforest where we shared lodgings with other people including a couple from England and three girls from Dublin and we had a great night chatting about where we'd been and where we were going.

Punakaiki is famous for its Pancake Rocks and the weather was back to blue sky and sunshine the day we left and we took a walk along the coast to see the rocks and they were a lot more than I expected - well worth a trip there and staying in the Retreat.

From there we headed to Nelson which was a little underwhelming as it is quite a small town with not much going on although we drove a few kilometres along the coast and took a walk along the beach.

We headed further NW along the coast to Abel Tasmin where there is a huge forest park and we camped for two nights. On our second day we took a water taxi along the coastline and got dropped off in Bark Bay and hiked three hours back to Anchorage where we chilled out and played on the beach before getting picked up again and taken back to the campsite. As it was still early evening, we headed to Moteuka where we checked out a small independent cinema - it was very small and everyone sat on sofas. The tickets salesmen was also the confectionary stallsman and projector runner so you can imagine the quirk of it all. We saw a nice movie called Away From Her (6.9/10) about a couple where the wife develops Alzeimer's and forgets who he is. A kind of lost romance/drama - heartwarming and heartbreaking. Worth checking out.

And so, today we are in Picton - chilling out and relaxing before heading to Wellington on the inter-island ferry.

I thought I would be able to upload all our photos to the internet but I need to install Active X which I can't because I have no access, so you'll have to wait until I get back to Christchurch unfortunately where I will have the time and ability to put everything up for you. [I hopefully have managed shortly after typing this to have 5 or 10 photos on Facebook giving a little taste of what we have seen although there is much much more!]

The south island has been very interesting and we're exited about what the North has to offer.

See you soon for another update!

Arrowtown & Wanaka

2007-10-28T10:55:00.000+11:00

Arrowtown is a short trip from Queenstown but mucg quiter. In fact it's an idyllic little picture postcard village which reminds me of Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls. It was built in times of the goldrush in the 1850's or so although not much is left to show of it except an old Chinese settlement detailing how the lived and how they were treated by the locals (badly).

It was another sunny afternoon and Lou and I took a 4km walk along the river which looked perfect for kayaking. Then back into town for an ice-cream before heading back to our campsite which from today's perspective, was a bad move to sleep in the tent as the temperature was freezing or below last night and my toes went numb and neither of us slept well so today we're in a double room in Wanaka overlooking the lake and mountains in the comfort of a heated room.

Lou's birthday was excellent. We went white water rafting down Shotover River which was an amazing experience and I'd be keen to do it again - there's some photos up on the net so I'll try and link to them asap.

Afterwards, we had a lakeside view restaurant booked overlooking the harbour and the food was amazing besides sampling some local Gribbston Valley wine including a tasty Pinot Noir.

We're heading to Fox Glacier tomorrow where we'll be spending 3 days and hopefully getting on a helicopter to look at the glacier from above and with any luck I'll be able to get to a computer where I can finally upload some photos because the scenery in NZ that we've seen is breathtaking.

See you soon for another update.

Dunedin, Catlain Coast and Queenstown

2007-10-26T07:50:00.000+10:00

After Christchurch, Lou and I headed south and spent two days in Dunedin which is a nice place and Lou and I prefer it to Christchurch in some ways. It's a very student orientated town but there is still a fair amount to do in and around such as surfing - although the weather wasn't the best and our trip to St Kilda's beach was a quick jaunt before hopping back into the car!

We headed south for the Catlins Coast and spent two nights near Owaka where we were hit by 140kph winds - luckily we were staying in cabins so no tent disasters! It's a pretty place with lots of waterfalls and worth checking out.

We are in Queenstown at the moment on our third day and it's a very tourist fuelled hub but it is surrounded by mountains with snow capped peaks and there are lots of activities to do from it. Yesterday we went to Milford Sound and went on a two hour boat cruise after a fantastic journey through the mountain passes where avalances hit - it was a beautiful place.

Today is Lou's birthday and we're heading white water rafting - the weather is sunny and warm but we will be getting wet so I suppose it's swings and roundabouts. We have a restaurant booked for later and are staying in a nice apartment overlooking Queenstown.

We're having a great time and tomorrow we're heading for the village of Arrowstown where there is a ghost town nearby, Macetown before heading further north to Wanaka and then after that further north again to Mount Cook and Fox's Glacier.

Unfortunately still no photos as no internet machines have actual access to the tower and photos would take way to long and cost an arm and a leg to upload but I'm staying in my cousins hotwl soon at Fox Glacier so perhaps I will have a chance then.

See you soon for another update!

Christchurch & Akaroa

2007-10-18T12:25:00.000+10:00

We flew into Christchurch on 11 October and it was raining so we must have brought the weather with us. However, later that day and the next few days, after a grey start, the weather was glorious in the afternoon - around 21c and blue skies.

Lou and I have been staying at my cousins house in West Eryeton in Rangiora for the last 4 nights and him and his family have been tremendous help to us in putting us up and also providing vital information in where to go for cars, camping equipment and places to eat and visit in and around the city.

After securing a '93 Nissan Bluebird which we have nicknamed 'Black Beauty', we set off this morning to the picturesque coastal town of Akaroa. It is around 1 1/2 hours drive from Christchurch through winding mountainous terrain and the views of them and the valleys between are fantastic but nothing prepares you for the view overlooking the bay surrounding Akaroa with its clear cyan blue waters due to melting snow from the mountains.

Akaroa has a French style theme to it from its colonial past although this is really superficial and it's really just a quaint town in a bay although it's friendly and welcoming and we are staying one or two nights in a hostel.

Photographs will appear as and when I can get near a PC that isn't hidden behind a desk where I can't access my camera USB port so you'll have to be patient.

See you soon for the next update!

The Last Supper

2007-10-08T02:37:00.000+10:00

A group of us decided to eat out on a high yesterday and booked a table for eight at Deanes on Howard Street. We had talked about treating ourselves to something like this for years and it only took us leaving the country to finally coax everybody, including ourselves, to make the effort and let the wallet take a little pounding.

The restaurant was recently renovated and the only fault, which strangely seems to be the norm in a lot of classy restauarants, is that the only expense spared is on the toilet facilities and whose visitations to detract from the overall pleasant interior decorations of the building.

We were seated at the front of the restaurant near the serving counter which gave us a glimpse at the preparation or "plating up" of the dishes and Michael Deane was there himself checking each meal before it was sent to the table and it was like being a fly on the wall in an episode of Master Chef.

The menu is smaller than a lot of other restaurants but the choices available are certainly not lacking and decision time came to crunch time as we ordered our starters and main dishes. I opted for the carpaccio of Óisin with panfried sweetbreads, summer mushrooms and bay leaves served with a almond butter vinaigrette. It was quite delicious although just a tad too oily in places and set me up nicely for the main course.

The wine list was quite extensive and runs from the £17 Chilean Merlot that we ordered a couple of bottles of to a £700 bottle of 1983 Chateau Petrus (which we didn't order).

For my main course I had saddle of rabbit with tart fine of cépes and salsify, summer truffle and verjus reduction. It was another fine meal and those sitting around me were very happy with their dishes.

This kind of food is quite deceptive in that although it doesn't look like a £20 plate of food, it is more than enough to satisfy because of the composition and content.

I was quite happy to forgo a dessert as I was quite filled but the fantastic service tailed off somewhat towards the end of our meal and by the time a few of us recieved their puddings and the cheese cart came around to serve those who opted for the board selection, I was reading for the same and Lou and I split a selection of cheeses. This was accompanied by a 12 year old Cragganmore whisky for me and a glass of port for Lou.

In short, the food at Deane's is exceptionally good and it is quite obviously a step above the normal cost of dining out but for a rise above the norm in regards of the food itself and for a treat, I would certainly recommend it.

Rating

Menu *****

Value ****

Service *****

Decor ****

Disabled ***

Parking *

Grindhouse

2007-10-04T20:51:00.000+10:00

Grindhouse is a double feature consisting of two feature-length segments, each film produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Rodriguez directed Planet Terror and Tarantino directed Death Proof. The term "grindhouse" refers to movie theaters that specialised in B movies, often exploitation films, shown in a multiple-feature format. Both films, although shot using modern equipment, are made to look like they were shot on low-budgets with techniques such as scratches and cigarette burns employed to make the viewer feel they are watching something shot in the 1970's or early 80's.

First up is Rodriguez and before the main feature we are shown a trailer for the non-existant film of 'Machete' which is hilariously good and one might actually want to see such a film after the main feature of Planet Terror. There are several more of these trailers throughout the double feature and more information can be found here.

In a deal gone sour with a rebel unit and the military, an experimental bio-weapon is released, turning the entire town, in which a military base is situated, into zombie-like creatures which must be stopped by a rag-tag group of survivors at first oblivious to the carnage going on around them.

Planet Terror is a firmly tongue embedded in cheek, gore-infested ride of a film with a plot so ridiculous that you have to just sit back and enjoy the ride. There are as many laughs as there are gallons of blood used and more oohs and aahs than a skateboarding film of accidents.

Next up is Tarantino's Death Proof where a series of girls are lured into or killed by Stuntman Mike's seemingly 'death proof' stunt car.

In a complete change of pace and in fitting with previous Tarantino films, Death Proof is more conversation centred and one has to wait more than half an hour for any "action" to happen and when it does, it's over before you can blink.

Unfortunately this is probably his worst film to date and I would rather re-watch the unesscesary double flick of Kill Bill than have to sit through his latest which can only be described as boring as f**k.

My only problem with both films is that they feature modern devices such as mobile phones yet the backdrop and scenes are very much set in the age of the films they are emulating and you feel that the scratches and editing are unesscessary additions to the feel of the films.

Since both movies released under the guise of Grindhouse did not open to success in the box office in the US, the films have been released elsewhere separately. My advice is to ignore Death Proof and grab your big box of popcorn and go and see Planet Terror.

I would give Planet Terror 8.3 zombie holocausts out of 10 and Death Proof 2.1 hours of pointless dialogue out of 10.

Saturday Night Fever

2007-10-03T18:33:00.000+10:00

With my combination of a slight hangover and the Wales vs Fiji Rugby World Cup game on TV it was a great opportunity to lie on the couch all afternoon and recover from the night before as well as renewing my energy for the night ahead as it was the Big Leaving Party at the Apartment.

The match would be one of the best so far in the World Cup and the party was certainly one of the best ever as Lou and I were surrounded by friends intent on having a great time. A special shout-out goes to a few people who travelled a distance to get there. I was thrilled that Chris and Eva made it over from Cardiff and I will certainly miss our trips back and forth during the year and look forward with great anticipation when they make it over to New Zealand. I was also chuffed that Peter flew over from London and we had a second brilliant night in two months as he also shared a table with Lou and I at Chris and Eva's wedding in August. Both nights were unforgettable.

Thanks to everyone for coming along and the photos (including more of the above survivors who made it through until the wee hours) can be found on my Facebook page.

Mr P45

2007-10-02T20:46:00.000+10:00

One good thing about touring New Zealand will be the chance to lose some weight that I must have put on over the past week as I can't remember eating out with such frequency in my entire life.

It started with lunch in Molly's Yard last Monday with dinner at Legends on Wednesday, Beatrice Kennedy's on Thursday and my leaving lunch at Zen on Friday.

A last day in work is, as you will probably know, an unusual juxtaposition between work and non-work. That is to say being in work but not actually doing anything. Many of you may be grinning and asking yourself what the difference is between this and my usual time spent sitting at my desk working hard or, indeed, hardly working but jealousy will get you nowhere!

As is standard in our leaving scenarios, morning break is reserved for gift-giving and saying farewell to those who you wont be seeing through beer goggles later in the day and I was not let down by those who came to say goodbye nor by the generosity of the presents including the new official Ireland rugby shirt and a couple of books on New Zealand [besides a great set of gifts from Fiona including chocolate, wine and a crossword puzzle which I will dub "The Afternoon Fun Kit"]. The best present, however, was the leaving card which will provide many more warm and pleasant memories than anything else and which I will be taking with me as a memento of the near three years I spent with some fantastic people and indeed, great friends.

After a fantastic lunch of sushi, maki rolls and sushimi besides other delicious dishes, it was off to the Cloth Ear for cocktails and merriment. Post-lunch tiredness gave way to early evening alcoholic stimuli and a fair bit of crack/craic [in-joke]. I had no idea how drunk I was until I was offered a lift home from Sinead's husband Tony and Marguerite and I were blithering away in the back seat making little to no sense, at least to sober ears.

I had a fantastic last day in work and I will certainly miss a lot of people and I can only hope they decide to come and visit.

The End Of The Working Week

2007-09-24T18:18:00.001+10:00

Today signifies my last working week before heading to New Zealand and it feels pretty good. I'm looking forward to sleeping in and eating brunch and packing my suitcases and lounging around reading, watching TV/Films and playing computer games. That is the life my friends.

The weekend got off to a bad start as Ireland put on another terrible performance against the hosts France and now face an uphill struggle and will require every ounce of luck to scrape through - only to play the All Blacks. This means that Ireland need to win and deny the Argentina a bonus point and France need to win with the bonus against the Georgians in Marseille next weekend. A betting man wouldn't put any odds on either so it looks like we're back to hard reality and the majority of a team that is unlikely to see another World Cup.

We phoned for a taxi before the game finished as it was only rubbing salt into the wound and made our way to Jenny's house for a wine and wig party. The photographs can be found here.

On Saturday, Lou and I had a great evening at Sinéad and Tony's house in Downpatrick and talked into the night over several bottles of wine and we'll certainly miss nights like these when we leave.

Sunday was a day of recovery and was largely spent reading a new book by writer/director David Mamet entitled "Bambi vs Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business" which is an insightful look into the inner workings of Hollywood. It's an enjoyable book and is refreshing as much as it is honest and scathing. If you're into films, it's worth picking up.

I'll try to make a few more posts throughout the week and will finish my random warblings before this blog turns into a tour guide of New Zealand. Hope you had a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

The Looking Glass

2007-09-18T17:52:00.001+10:00

I missed these views from my bedroom window when I moved out and I will miss them when I leave for New Zealand. It's a fantastic panoramic view and you can pick out everything in the city skyline. However, for some reason I neglected to take a picture straight in front so you can only see to the right and left which leaves out the City Centre and the new addition of the Victoria Centre with its dome. I shall try to rectify this should I get a suitable weather permitting day in the near future.

This is the view to the right and you can clearly see the dockland area with the two most significant pieces of Belfast skyline - Samson and Goliath with Cavehill in the background.

This is the view to the left and you can see all of south Belfast including City Hospital.

Tries & Tribulations

2007-09-17T18:11:00.000+10:00

You'll have noticed a slight drop-off in postings curiously mirroring the beginning of the rugby world cup and my decision not to bore you with details of tries, conversions, sin binning and sendings off.

If you're following the competition you'll know that Ireland's performances have been lackluster - and that's being too kind. Near wins over second-rate teams and failing to secure a bonus point against Georgia on Saturday put them in a precarious position when we come to play France on Friday since the home nation showed us how one plays such a side (beating them 87-10 last night).

Our soon to be country of residence, New Zealand, has been showing the world just how elevated their side is with comfortable thrashing of smaller teams and it is difficult to see how they would fail to reach the final stages unless they have a complete turnaround which looks very unlikely.

In other news, the folks have returned from holiday and Sunday was a day for readjusting to life in the house with lunch at odd times (3pm) and retreating to my bedroom for rest and relaxation, pouring over the Sunday papers and playing the DS.

This is Lou's last week in work which must feel great for her and I look forward to my last week next Monday and begin the gradual wind-down before the great adventure begins. Already I have been noting that certain things are being done for the last time and I think it will only hit on the last day when I tidy my desk and remove my personality in physical form before I leave in both body and mind.

I should warn you that I may not make as many postings over the next few weeks but I will be making a journal on my travels around New Zealand which will make its way here accompanied by many pictures which I hope will prove interesting for everyone.

I trust you had a great weekend whatever you got up to. Let me know if you did anything exciting and I will catch you tomorrow for some pictures I took of Belfast from my bedroom window as there has been a fair change to the landscape of the city since I last spent time enjoying the view.

September Summer

2007-09-11T17:57:00.000+10:00