Moving

In case anyone actually reads this little blog, I'm moving it. It'll now be living on Wordpress @ adam1975.wordpress.com - hope you swing by and read useless crap about me. :-)

Dream Theater

On Monday night, I was lucky enough to see my all-time favourite band finally play live. Dream Theater have never toured Australia before, and I had always told myself that when they did, I'd be there rain, hail or shine.

I bought my ticket the day they went on sale in late November, and quietly start to count the days. As I had purchased a Gold ticket, I was able to get into the front section of the venue, and plonked myself about ten feet from the stage and didn't move.

These guys are incredible musicians, and live they are just as talented as they are in the studio. And talk about value for money. The ticket cost over $125, but they were the only band on and they played for almost three hours, with a fifteen minute intermission.

They played songs from almost all their CDs (Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, one of their finest albums, was curiously omitted) and pumped each song out with equal energy, passion and enjoyment.

Apparently their show in Perth two nights previous was cut short by technical issues, so I was a little cautious each time singer James la Brie fiddle with his earpieces, but it went smoothly.

In all, I'm a very happy little boy now. I've seen the one band live that I've been holding out for so long to see. Below are some photos I took with my phone. Not the best quality, but considering Dream Theater brought their entire world tour production, sound and lighting show, I'm happy with them.

Intelligent Pedestrians and Government Advertising

So there's this television advertisement on at the moment, for the Transport Accident Authority or whatever it's called at the moment. It's trying to educate people that driving faster than the posted speed limit decreases your ability to stop your vehicle in time if there's an emergency up ahead. Which is fair enough too. The faster you're travelling, the longer your braking distance will be.

The advertisement is all Matrix-like with lots of super slow motion of a young woman crossing the road and being struck by a car doing 65km/h (40mph). She flies up, lands hard on the road and so on. Then the dude doing the whole God-like walk around the car tells us that if the car was only travelling at 60km/h (37mph) - the posted limit on this death-trap of a road - she'd still be hit, but would only be slightly injured.

Now, that's all very well, but it ignores a number of things. The environment the accident is in is well lit (middle of the day in fact), no major obstacles to block the driver's vision of the road and surroundings ahead and his car is reasonably late-model, indicating its braking abilities shouldn't be (too badly) impaired. If the driver was watching and was alert, he would've noticed the woman absent-mindedly stepping out onto the road in front of him. Or at least, would've seen her approaching the road, and would be prepared. You know, ease off the accelerator and maybe move a little over away from the side of the road, get his hand ready on the horn if necessary.

No, he barrels on through her; she hurtles through the air, lots of little slow-mo drops of blood and stuff (but no exposed flesh or bones; have these people never seen a real accident??) and she's motionless on the ground.

If his car was well chosen when buying it, he'd possibly have ABS and would be able to swerve around her (assuming his reactions were OK, and he was looking ahead as per the previous paragraph). At would certainly assist him in pulling his car up quickly. I avoided an accident about seven or eight years ago because the car I was in had ABS. I was able to keep control of the vehicle and move around the car reversing out of a blind driveway. If I was in my normal car at the time, they'd be winching my car out of the ditch on the other side of the road.

Anyway, if he had a properly equipped car (ABS should be fucking mandatory - are you listening, new Australian Government?), was watching the environment ahead of him and knew how to prepare for an accident with a pedestrian, he could've avoided the accident all together. The woman crossing the road would be unhurt but scared shitless and we'd all live happily ever after.

Then again, if the idiot woman crossing the road stopped and looked before she crossed the road, she'd see the car coming down the road and would wait till he was clear before she crossed. None of this would've happened, she'd be none the wiser, driver would be closer to his destination and the force would be in balance once more.

I'm not saying speeding is ok. It's not. I'm guilty of it, and it's something I'm working on. But to not lay any blame whatsoever on the moron crossing the road without due care is plainly dumb. Stupid. Fucked up. You call it what you like. Some of us know how to drive, and how to keep others in mind while we're out there. I keep watch (as best I can) on the cars around me, cars on the side of the road, pulling out of side streets, cyclists and pedestrians anywhere around me, particularly ahead of me. You never know what they're likely to do or what they might have to do to avoid their own little bingle.

It's high time the authorities put their advertising money into educating people about the correct way to cross a damn road. Not on how to curtail drivers for not being able to predict some clown's lack of brain function.

Here endeth the rant.

dun dun.... DUNN!

Dribbbbbles

So it's Monday afternoon. Yet another week down, and only two and a half till I finish the year and take an enforced three week holiday. Seems work is closing down and no one will be working over that time.

This is new to me, as my previous two jobs allowed me to work through (other than the public holidays). That way I could take holidays further into the new year. This was, I'm going to be short about three and a half days. And I want to take two days off in late February. So it'll be October before I have another three weeks of annual leave up my sleeve. By which time, it'll almost be time to start preparing to take more time off (no doubt) over Christmas! Vicious bloody circle... Oh well, not much I can do about it. I asked about the possibility of coming back a week early, but it seems no one else will be around to let me in.

In other work news, I'm going to Milan next year for the International Furniture Design Fair in April. I can't wait - I've never been overseas. Hell I don't even have a passport yet! But that's in the works. It's already down to five months till we leave - so much to do...

I bought my ticket to Dream Theater's Adelaide concert on Friday - I'll be all dorky and post a photo of the ticket when I receive it. :-)

I had something else that I wanted to type about, but it escapes me right now. No doubt it'll return to me at about 4am tomorrow! Grrr.

---EDIT---

I remember! Time for a little grumble (surprise surprise).

I have a slight issue with Myspace. I pretty much only use it to keep track of what my favourite bands are doing, seeing as every man and his dog is on there. When Dream Theater announced their Australian tour, I was able to control myself just long enough to post a comment on their page, saying how rabidly excited I was. The next day I logged in to find no less than twelve bands had seen my comment and requested to be my friend. Uhhh no thanks. I admit to taking  lot of joy in hitting Deny to each one of them, including the dodgy looking mullet-armed German dude who looked like he was stuck in an endless early-90s Skid Row fantasy. You're no Sebastian Bach, champ.

Seriously, I don't care about your two-bit busted-arse band. If I liked your music, you'd already be a friend. I'm well and truly over Myspace members' fascination with needing to have four hundred and sixty seven thousand friends. Leave me out of it.

Our Little Idiot...

...Enjoying her favourite pastime. Until I decide to annoy her. ;-)

Oh My God...

Oh my god oh my god oh my god.

Dream Theater, the one band I have longed to see live more than any other, but who have never toured here, have announced that in January next year, they're coming. Monday 28th January, An Evening With Dream Theater will hit the Adelaide Showgrounds. Considering I've been waiting sixteen years (since I first heard their music), this will be one of the biggest concerts I'll ever see. Sure, that's my opinion, but I know I'm right. :P

Holy poo.

Bring it on!

A Night with Cog

Kel & I went off to see Cog play last night at HQ. They were supported by Dead Letter Circus, a Brisbane band, who were pretty good but were hampered from sounding better by a pretty shitty mix. The vocals were hard to hear which was a shame as I was looking forward to seeing what they were like. They were also pretty limited in stage movement due to Cog's drum kit being already set up. Nonetheless there was a lot of energy in their set.

Last time Cog came to Adelaide, they played the same venue, just over a year ago. For some unknown reason, we were bypassed on their short "Boomerang" tour earlier this year which pissed me off. But it was well worth the wait. Flynn, Luke & Lucius put on another awesome show. The sound these guys can churn out is impressive in its power and cohesion. And the lighting show put on really built the atmosphere - one thing HQ should be commended for.

If only the same could be said for a) HQ's drinks prices (seriously, $4 for a 300ml bottle of water?) and b) the arrogance of the security staff. One tough guy pushed his way through the crowd at the back bar, glaring at anyone who dared not to see him coming and still be in his way when he barged through. Toolbags like that bug the hell out of me. We're all paying customers who are here to see the bands, not some big knobhead in a dodgy green shirt who thinks he's better than Jesus at parting things.

But all this couldn't dampen my enjoyment of the show (though the drunk dude behind me shouting every five seconds had a good crack at it). I'm unashamedly a big man-fan of Cog, and couldn't fault the gig, other than Luke's bass rig dying for a few minutes. But credit to the other two - rather than leave the crowd to get restless while they sorted it out, Flynn & Lucius put on an impromptu jam which, for all we know, was possibly how they wrote the melodies on the upcoming album. Well done guys, you should add that tune to the album - I liked it a lot!

One downside to the night was the news that we have to wait till March or April for the new CD. I have this slight issue with bands who release singles so far in advance of the long player coming out. It's more of a quirk of my nature really, because at the end of the day, who the fuck cares what I think?! I guess I'd prefer they built the momentum of the pending release closer to release date. I worry that they're building the hype with the new single, What If, nearly six months before the album lands - the hype might've well and truly worn off by the time Sharing Space drops. But we'll see. Who knows, we might get another single off it before launch day. Fingers crossed. Then again, on the up side they'll probably kick off another tour when the CD goes live, which I'll never say no to. ;)

So in summing up my lame-arse review of the show, Cog rock my socks. They are still my current hero-band, and this gig will tide me over till the next time they grace our shores.

Some of my dodgy-arse camera phone photos:

Swayback

For those who might grace these pages every now and then, you might have read me blabbing on about a local band called Swayback. I've known the bass player for about six or seven years now, have done some photography and built their website for them.

Well, they're getting ready to release their second album, and have a new single out, complete with rockin' film clip:



Rock on!

Diablo

Ok, I've found my Christmas present. I don't care if I never get another Christmas present for as long as I live. Just as long as I get one of these:



A Smart car with a Suzuki Hayabusa motor in it - what more could a boy want?

Just Another Manic...

Yes it's Monday. So what's going on to cause this blog entry to be posted at a time other than the now normal 4:00am? Ab-so-loot-ly nothing. Just felt like typing random dribble really. :)

Work's getting more interesting - we've finally managed to wade through the vast majority of the backlog we faced. So now we can get on with designing new products. Which makes Adam a happy boy.

Photography is in a bit of a rut at the moment. I had a paid job last week but I just don't have the motivation to get off my butt and shoot something. Probably not helped by the total lack of inspiration I've got going on right now. But hey, it's not like I've never faced this sort of thing before and it went away. Just gotta give it some time to finish its hissy-fit and let me move on.

I've been trying to think of something I can do as a hobby, alongside my photography. So far, all I've thought of are getting back into building plastic model kits (something I used to do a number of years ago) and perhaps seeing if I can fin a cheap acoustic guitar and go back to chicken-scratching along to my favourite music, and dreaming of that-time-that=-will-never-come when I'm a rock star. Other than that I'm a not really sure what else would keep my mind involved for very long. I'll figure something out.

Have been getting into Facebook a lot lately. I've been able to find a bunch of people I went to school with, which is always cool. I always like reminiscing about school days - they were a lot of fun to me.

Other than that, all is well. :)

Cog's new video

My current "hero" band, Cog have a new song out. Here's the film clip.



Sounds like they're taking some inspiration from their early stuff, which is awesome. We're going to see them on November 11th @ HQ, and I cannot wait. New album is out early next year.

It's Just Another Rainy Night...

Ah, you gotta love an early 90s Queensryche reference...

So here I am, about a week after my last night-of-shitty-sleep, tapping away on the keys (woo a Fear Factory reference - I'm on fire!) because I woke up at about 1:30am. The cat's been pissing me off this morning. I tried to lie down and snooze for a while, but she kept moving things and making the little noises that prod me out of anything that approaches a nap.

Hope that coffee machine is stocked up...

I've been workng through my CDs, getting them ripped and onto the MacBook. Not too many more to go now and I'll be set. One beautiful thing about this little sucker is that Sony BMG's copyright protecion bullshit software on The Butterfly Effect's Imago album doesn't work. So I have sweet MP3s of the whole album on all my machines now. Take that, big business!

I discovered Facebook the other day too. I've so far found a bunch of people I went to school with, one I went to uni with and I found a mate who moved to the UK six months ago who I thought I'd lost contact with. So it's pretty cool for that I guess. Other than that, it feels a little inflated. But I'll give it some time to settle down and see what I think.

Speaking of inflated, I had a dabble in Second Life a few weeks ago. Kinda cool that you can fly around the worlds, but really, what's the point? Other than a dodgy 3D engine, it's just a dressed-up chat program that chews up my bandwidth.

Can you tell I'm a little tired?

Yawwn

So here I sit, once again unable to get a good night's sleep. This really bugs me, because I'm constantly in need of sleep (at least that's what my sore eyes tell me!). I was able to pass out for about three hours, but about 2am I was awake, but unlike most times, there was nothing on my mind.

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night with a revelation, or having suddenly remembered the name of that 1980s artist you have been trying to recall for days? Howard Jones is the one I can never remember, with his seminal (cough) track, Like To Get To Know You Well. But anyway, this time there's nothing bugging me. Nothing that justifies this lack of sleep. And that shits me.

So I guess the coffee machine at work is going to get a workout later today.

I've now got my little MacBook set up with the software that I wanted. This will allow me to do a lot more mobile photography and to shoot heaps of shots, particularly in RAW mode, which is something I want to do a lot more of. Especially now that I've got a 2Gb CF card in my camera. Course, when I eventually upgrade my DSLR (That damn Nikon D300 is calling my name... curse you Nikon!), I'll be capturing images at over double the resolution, so I'll instantly lose capacity! It's a vicious bloody circle, all this new fandangled technology, I tell ya.

FYI, if I start posting with a lot of spelling mistakes, I apologise. This keyboard is taking some getting used to...

The Photo Booth application was something I wasn't expecting to use much, but I figured I can use it to pop up a current image of myself at the start of each blog. NERRRD!!

Uh yeah, anyway, that's about all I can be bothered typing up right now. Till next time.

New Toy

Just a quick update to let you know that Im typng this blog on my new toy - I bought a MacBook.

And now that I've got the wireless ADSL set up, Im cooking with gas. :)

Work's going well - flat out busy wth new projects, as well as cleaning up existing ones. But it's far more enjoyable than my previous job. Especially after Richard Pratt (the man who owns Visy Board) admitted to price fixing with Amcor, their biggest competitor. Bet that's a happy place to be at the moment!

Photography's going well, although I'm getting a little tired of people asking me to work with them, or do a job for them, only for them to disappear as things get formal. Seriously, please stop messing me about.

Till next time. :)

Welcome to the 21st century

Listening to: Something For Kate - Pinstripe
--

Well, I'm finally dragging my ass into the 21st century. We've got broadband. :) And I'm SMRT enough to hook it up and not fry the electrical circuits in the house and the PC. Score!

Seriously though, it's so nice to be able to load pages at a normal rate. I've been on dial-up since about 2000 or so, and have also used high speed internet access at uni and various jobs. While I loved the fast speeds, I would simply go home and slip back into dial-up mode, patiently waiting for the modem to dial in and the pages to load eventually.

Recently we've been having issues with our phone line.Telstra twiddled their thumbs and ragged their knuckles kicking and screaming into the modern world of customer serivce, and took three weeks to fix a crossed phone line with our neighbour, but eventually after having basically no home internet for a month, we were back online. Just before the phone line filled its nappy, I'd been looking for a new ISP and had decided to upgrade to ADSL. I picked out the plan I wanted, the modem was chosen and the ISP booked in (almost). Finally, after Telstra got their shit together, we were able to join up.

Yesterday I got the message that it was ready to roll, so I shot into town on my lunch break and grabbed the modem and an ehternet card for my aging PC. After work I got home and immediately started playing. All my concerns about connecting it up and stuff like that quickly went out the window - this shit's easy to do!

So finally we have high speed broadband access. We're pretty much up to date on the techo side of things. Except for the aformentioned aging PC. I'm going to be getting a laptop in the next month or so, as the router I got supports wireless networking. But the PC will need to put out to pasture soonish. It's still going ok, but its teeth are getting rather lengthy.

Next stop, Google Earth 4.2, complete with hidden flight simulator mode. :)

Ramblings

Listening to: Fear Factory - Replica
--

I am a duplication
Innocently
I was conceived
So violently

I had a dream the other night, that I met Dream Theater. The fact that one second they were wearing the classic mid-90s white basketball shoes with black jeans and black T-shirt, and then the next, they were all in casual clothers with their hair cut shorter doesn't seem to stick in my mind as much as the fact that I was sitting next to guitarist John Petrucci, talking about when they would be touring.

For those who don't know, DT have never hit the shores of Australia, despite having been in the industry for twenty years now.

I love my dreams sometimes, they're so random. Then again, the one I had when I was about five, where I was being chased round my grandmother's house by a Tyrannosaurus Rex, wasn't so lovely. I've only ever had that dream once, but I've never forgotten it. I can still see myself clear as day, running around the house, with this god-awful thing behind me.

Have you ever had a dream where you knew what was happening, but couldn't see it? See, I knew there was a T-Rex after me, but I don't actually remember seeing the bastard. I know it was behind me - I just don't remember looking at it. Needless to say when I was that young, it spooked me which probably why I can remember it so vivdly.

I wonder if that's got anything to do with my morbid fear or being approached from behind without knowing. In my previous job, I sat with my back to the corridor. To overcome this fear, I placed a small convex mirror on the edge of my computer screen, so I had a view of any movement behind me. I didn't necessarily want to know who was there, just if there was someone there. It was there for a good twelve months before someone (never did find out who) complained to my manager saying it was "unprofessional", and I was asked to remove it. I moved it to a less obvious location on the partition, where I could still see it, but it was difficult for others to see.

Anyway, enough about my bizarre tendencies. If you're not aware, Nikon have announced the D300 and the D3. While I would love the latter, the former is more within my target price range. I've been planning on upgrading my venerable D100 for a while, and was eyeing off the D200. But with the D300 being released, I have a new prize to keep my eye on.

One thing I noticed while reading up about the D3 is that, because it's a full-frame sensor, if you stick a DX lens on it (which were designed specifically to get around the multiplifaction factor associated with non-full frame sensors), the D3 will actually reduce the size of the image you take, from 12 megapixels to around 6 or something.

Not something those semi-pro shooters who have a bag full of DX lenses want to hear I bet - hope you held onto your FX lenses!

A Taste Of Culture

Listening to: Machine Head - Battery
--

Friday night was a true cultural experience for us. The General Manager of the company I work for is Maori, and wanted to put on a show for all employees and their family, with a Maori twist. Instead of your traditional barbecue, or in my previous employer's case, a spit roast, he decided to put on a traditional Maori Hangi.

To start the night though, we were treated to a Maori welcoming ceremony which was amazing to see. When Kel and I were planning our now-delayed trip to NZ, we were able to learn a bit about the Moari culture and heritage. So to be able to see it right in front of us was incredible. The passion and pride the people involved showed made me think about the fact that, as Australians, we really don't have that much history. Sure, we've got two hundred or so years behind us, and a broad mix of cultures and heritages, but the Maori people have probably thousands of years of customs and history. To be witness to a small part of this history was an honour.

Then came the food... Cooked in a hole in the ground for about five hours, made for some mouth-watering meat. Perfectly cooked chicken, delicious lamb and beautiful smoked pumpkin and potato made for a fantastic dinner.

And to top the night off, a group of Cook Islanders performed traditional dances and drumming for us. Couldn't ask for a better experience, really.

A huge thanks to Clark and his crew for putting together a night that I know I won't forget any time soon. Beats my old employer's work dinners!

Life

Listening to: Dream Theater- The Ministry Of Lost Souls

--
Hello mirror

So glad to see you again

It's been a while

Well, here I am, four weeks into my new job. I'm slowly hacking my way through the quagmire that is the current documentation backlog, and am slowly making notes on how to improve the whole system. File storage, file references (the CAD software we use relies heavily on linked files and properties within those files - time-consuming to set up, but very powerful once it's sorted) naming conventions, supplier contacts, that kinda thing.

It's a lot to take in, but I'm getting there. I'm yet to spend some time on the factory floor, getting used to the different stages or production, but it's on the agenda and I'll keep pushing for it to happen. I'm also planning to ask to spend time with the guys installing our products, so I can see what they need to deal with.

It's nice to be able to sit here and work away, without the constant drumming noises of the huge die-cutting machines at my old work. I got used to it pretty quickly, but it's a change being able to hear the keystrokes on the keyboard! Every now and then I'll hear someone drop a length of aluminium rod, or hear the chop saws cutting up the steel tube, but other than that, it's a peaceful environment.

I'm also working on a little design project that's proving deceptively challenging. At first glance I thought it wouldn't be too tough. Man, did I underestimate this sucker! But I'm working through each issue as they come up, and I'm almost there.

And to top this first month off, in about two and a half hours, I'll be flying to Sydney for the Saturday inDesign show. Sweeeet.

In other news, my second photographic exhibition is coming to a close. No luck in selling, but for it was never about sales. I was proud to see my work hanging in a public space. Sure it would've been nice to flog it off, but I've achieved my goal.

Till next time.

New Horizons

Last night was the opening night of Refuge:refresh and was another fantastic night, with three prints selling (two of them Kel's"!). Crowd numbers were a little less than last time, but still a lot of people shuffled through and shard a beer or wine with us.

Over the last month or so, I've been feeling a little... uneasy about my photography and where I'm at with it. I've been getting the sense that I'm in a but of a rut. I've been shooting a lot, but haven't been the satisfaction out of it that I used to. It's like I'm just going through the motions.

A while back, I bought a Holga 120N to try new things and shake it up a bit. But I've only used it once, and it's been in the cupboard since. I made a pinhole camera and haven't had the first film processed yet. I have a box of exposed 35mm film that contains film that are probably about five years old. I have a habit of starting something, but never going on with it. Digital is easier to follow through with, but now it's less satisfying.

Recently, I started to read up about processing my own film. I've never done it before, and thought it a bit daunting, using all the chemicals and stuff. But I found a step-by-step tutorial on how to do it on Flickr, and the light has turned on above my head.

Something's gotta change before I crack the shits and walk away from it entirely. I love photography, and don't want to give up on it. Until recently, I've gotten so much out of it, that I just can't give it up. I'm planning on learning how to process my own film, so I can scan it (somehow - haven't thought that far) and work on it, without having to wait for the lab to do it all for me. A film scanner is a possibility, but I need at least $2000-$3000 for an entry level scanner.

I'm going back to basics, and I'm starting again. I have the creative ability to make this work, and I have the ability to learn the technical side to make this work. Stuff the techno-shit, stuff the rules, stuff the conventions. Anything goes.

The exhibition opening last night reinforced the fact that I'm really not all that comfortable with selling my work. I like the fact that people want to buy it, but there's something that just feels wrong to me. So I'm not sure if I'll be in any more exhibitions - at least not hte next one or two. We'll see.

By the way, Take A Photograph is currently in hibernation, but I have plans for it to be evolved over the next few weeks or so. Stay tuned. :)