Spacehamster’s Blog

Even if I had not met the man himself, I would still love reading Neil Gaiman’s work. I loved Sandman - if I had read that when I was 16, I’m fairly certain things at that point in my life would’ve taken a turn for the better. Of course, not everyone loves Neil Gaiman’s work. And why should they? I just wish they wouldn’t express their dislike so disrespectfully -

I hope this reaches neil himself. Never have i ever known of anyone as full of himself as well as ****, than you. Now another milestone in your over-hyped career, Writing Batman. Not only are you under the impression you can write, but write batman? **** You. You Tried before and it sucked. It was just gaiman… With Batman in it. **** You.

I’ve met Neil during a reading and autograph signing session in Tasmania. And even though he must’ve been very tired after a long trip, he still struck me as being an incredibly nice (and talented) man. So it upsets me when people (if you can call them people) send such foul-mouthed letters. I’m pretty certain Neil doesn’t mind it if someone doesn’t like his work - although I suspect it might bother him even more if the person didn’t even read any books at all. Like this idiot probably does.

I doubt this decision will be met with universal support - particularly amongst ultra-conservative political elites (as opposed to the ultra-left-wing political elites). Those objectors will be marginally reassured to note that mandatory detention isn’t being completely scrapped, but the onus of proof is being put on the Immigration Department to prove a Security threat.

Andrew Bartlett expresses it far more eloquently than I ever could -

Chris Evans actually makes a point of emphasising that Labor remains committed to mandatory detention, which might seem strange seeing he is emphasising the importance of letting people out as quickly as possible. Partly this is political – the need for Labor to protect itself against claims that it’s gone ‘soft’ on ‘border security’. If the new system is as he states, it will not be fully mandatory, in the sense that there is will be a presumption towards people being released unless it can be demonstrated there is clear risk to the community in doing so. But it is true that people without a valid visa will still be subjected to being detained initially. The key difference will be the removal of the core problem, namely that that detention continued indefinitely, and a new presumption towards people being free unless there is a good reason to do otherwise rather than the previous approach of people being locked up as a matter of first resort.

The Gruen Transfer is one of those shows that I missed on its initial run. And now that it’s in its final week, I wish I hadn’t. Essentially the show is an ABC version of the ‘World’s Greatest Commercials’ specials that they used to run on Nine. Except they have a panel of people from the Advertising industry analysing the many different aspects of Advertising on commercial television.

If you’re a serious-minded student of media, then this program definitely won’t be very satisfying. Thanks to having Wil Anderson as host, there’s plenty of one-liners (whether you think they’re funny depends on what you think of Wil). He gives a far more restrained performance here than he did when he was hosting the Glass House, however.

OTOH, the show does raise some issues that don’t get any airplay on the Tabloid-style current affairs shows. Like focusing on telecommunications advertising, or the beauty industry. One of my favourite segments is ‘The Pitch’, where advertisers try and spruik unpopular causes - like Whale Hunting, or invading New Zealand. It’s a fantastic opportunity for talented Advertising Agencies to show their cheeky and/or sardonic side.

So I’d definitely recommend it. It doesn’t have any truly serious in-depth analysis, but it is an entertaining half-hour.

I was quite shocked and surprised that Chris Carter and co. would even consider making another X-Files movie, after the indifferent response to the previous one. I’m of the opinion that unless you have a film director that understands the original premise, adapting TV series to the screen is a very bad idea. This review from Latauro does not bode well.

After the events of 9/11, it seemed like the popularity of The X-Files waned considerably after that point. I suspect it was due to the fact that reality was so much more horrifying than fantasy. How can Alien Colonization compete with the traumatic impact of real-world terrorism?

And so we arrive at the X-Files film. A great many people are looking forward to it - I’m not one of them, even before Latauro’s negative review. Firstly, I think the X-Files was a great series, but it’s no longer relevant in a post-9/11 world. Secondly, the new film doesn’t follow-up on the cliffhanger ending to the series, with our heroes on the run from the law. I can’t understand the reasoning behind such a decision, but I think it’s one that the filmmakers will come to regret.

I think the X-Files was a great TV series, one that I’m more than happy to watch again. But it’s themes of alien conspiracies are laughably naive compared to the real-world threats we know face. A 24 big-budget motion picture? Yes. An X-Files movie? No.

I upgraded my PC at the very beginning of 2006. I’d done my research, had verified that it was a stable build, and was confident it would do me for the next 4 years.
My current build:

• Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Premium
• Videocard: Leadtek 8800GT 512MB
• Soundcard: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi
• HDD: Seagate 200GB 7200rpm IDE
• Pioneer DVD-RW and a Pioneer DVD-ROM
• Power Supply: Silverstone 600W

I think you’ll agree that these are all pretty reliable quality parts.

Well…I was right…mostly.

A few months ago, while playing high-spec 3D computer games (eg. C&C3, Company of Heroes, Mass Effect…) the PC would either crash to desktop, or display the Blue-Screen-of-Death (or BSOD). I re-installed Windows XP, but the problem still persisted.

At first, I thought it might be a problem with the videocard overheating. The 8800GT models are renowned for heating problems. Under idle load an 8800GT’s average temperature is 50-55C, while under load it can go higher than 85C. That being the case, I’m investigating wheter an Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Passive Cooling fan might solve any overheating problems.

A more serious possibility might be a problem with the latest NVIDIA drivers. On the one hand, it’s great to know I’m not the only one with the same problem. On the other hand, it’s a bloody outrage that Nvidia allowed the release of drivers that were so buggy with such a popular brand of card. Just google “8800GT BSOD” or “175.19 BSOD” to see the problems some owners have.

I’m not sure what the solution is. The best hope is that Nvidia release a new set of drivers that fix this annoying problem.

I distinctly recall Telstra dismissing the iPhone last year - “stick to knitting” were their exact words.

We’re not really sure what Telstra has to gain by dissing the iPhone, given the fact that it happens to be the only carrier in Australia to support EDGE, making them a natural fit for carrying the device, but diss it they did, with operations chief Greg Winn letting Apple know just how out-of-place he thinks the company is in the phone world: “There’s an old saying - stick to your knitting - and Apple is not a mobile phone manufacturer, that’s not their knitting.” We wonder if anyone tried that line the last time Apple pulled something like this, with that little “iPod” thing of theirs a few years back.

So Telstra didn’t think the iPhone was very profitable. And made it abundantly clear they had no interest in such a useless device.

And what do we find almost 18 months later?

Telstra’s decision to offer the iPhone points to an imminent release of a highly-anticipated 3G model.

While there has been no official confirmation from Apple of a 3G iPhone, Telstra’s licensing of the handset strongly suggests the company intends to release a multi-frequency (850/2100MHz) HSDPA-capable iPhone to work with both Optus and Vodafone’s 3G networks, as well as Telstra’s Next G network.

What a bunch of hypocrites. Greg Winn is a member of the triumvirate that is in charge of Telstra. Even though I’m not a huge fan of iPhone, I’m an even less of a fan of Telstra or its business practices (which I’ve seen firsthand - it ain’t pretty).

You see, this isn’t just an example of a multinational company making a bad business call. It’s an example of a company with a national monopoly arrogantly dismissing and insulting an even bigger multinational company which could’ve been a powerful business ally. For once, Telstra came up against a company that it couldn’t destroy with its bullying tactics. And I hope Apple made them pay for it through the nose.