Tuesday 3 August 2010

MIFF Reviews from someone else

I'm not the only one blogging about films seen at MIFF. Andrew, whom I've chatted to at the film festival this year and previous years is also writing up his thoughts on his blog - Ask me About my Vow of Silence.

Monday 2 August 2010

MIFF Review - Tehroun

IMDB,
Score: 2/5
Language:  Iranian with English subs
Genre: Drama, crime

MIFF Review - Garbo: The Spy

IMDB, Wikipedia
Score: 4/5
Language:  English, Spanish, Catalan, German (English subs)
Genre: Documentry

Wednesday 28 July 2010

MIFF Review - The Clinic

IMDB
Score: 2.5/5
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Thriller

Tuesday 27 July 2010

MIFF Review - The Silent House

IMDB,
Score: 3/5
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Genre: Horror

MIFF Review - Green Days

IMDB
Score: 3/5
Language: Persian (eng subs)
Genre: Documentary

MIFF Review - The Red Chapel

IMDB, Wikipedia
Score: 4/5
Language: Danish, Korean, English. (english subs)
Genre: Documentary/comedy

MIFF Review - Exodus: Burnt by the Sun 2

IMDB, Wikipedia
Score: 3/5

Language: Russian with English Subs
Genre: Drama/war

MIFF Review - Rubber

IMDB, Wikipedia
Score: 2/5
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/horror

Monday 26 July 2010

MIFF Review - Survival of the Dead

IMDB, Wikipedia
Score:  3.5/5
Language: English
Genre: Zombie Horror

MIFF Review - Russian Lessons

IMDB, Wikipedia
Score: 3/5
Language: Russian/Georgian with english Subs

Genre: Documentary

Sunday 25 July 2010

MIFF Review - The Kids are all Right

IMDB, Wikipedia  
Score:  3.5/5
Language:  English
Genre: Comedy Romance

MIFF Review - First Squad

IMDB, Wikipedia
Score: 2.5/5
Language:  Russian with eng subs

Genre: Anime, War, Sci Fi/Fantasy/Horror

MIFF Review - Splice

IMDB, Wikipedia  
Score: 3.5/5
Language: English
Genre: Sci Fi/Horror

Saturday 24 July 2010

MIFF Review - Air Doll

IMDB, Wikipedia
Score:  3.5/5 ( P Webb gave it 4/5)
Language: Japanese with English subs

Genre: Magic realism? Urban Fantasy? Romance story?

    MIFF Review - CITIES ON SPEED PROGRAM 1

    IMDB, Wikipedia

    Score:  1.5/5, 3/5

    Language: Chinese, English/Hindi (both english subs)
    Genre: Documentry

    Friday 23 July 2010

    MIFF Review - MAI MAI MIRACLE

    IMDB, Wikipedia  
    Score:  3/5
    Language: Japanese (english subs)
    Genre: Childrens

    Friday 28 May 2010

    MIFF 2010 - It's a Matter of Taste



    MIFF aka Melbourne International Film Festival has just launched their 2010 web site. Also the festival passes (for MIFF members) and mini passes have gone on sale. I've ordered my 2010 festival pass.

    They've also released the MIFF First Bite program preview

     I'm counting down the days to July 22nd

    Wednesday 12 May 2010

    The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

    The Stars appeared to be Right last night. I'd just finished running another session of Call of Cthulhu for the Tuesday Knights group and was getting a lift home from Dave. On the radio was playing an Iron Maiden song. The song was very familiar, but I'd not heard it (or any other Iron Maiden for that matter) in a very long time.

    Thursday 6 May 2010

    Software for my t101mt

    First thing I intend to do (and am currently doing) is uninstall all the 'extras' the a store bought PC comes with. And go through all the things that load at startup and see what I can trim back.
    Then load up
    • Office 2010 (especially Onenote)
    • Some parts of Asus tools (eg Penwrite which has palm rejection)
    • Show/Hide Asus PenWrite
    • TabletTools - set of finger-friendly control tools
    • Flicks2 -  extend built-in Windows 7's flicks to take multiple flicks
    • Firefox as well as some touchscreen friendly addons - Blumpit, Grab and Drag, User Agent Switcher
      • As well as my standard addons - Addblocker plus, better gmail, better greader, MinimizeTo Tray revivied, flashblock (check if necessary now), DownThemAll
    • try out some of the touch screen interface tools such as Asus Touchgate, Blue Dolphin and others I find
    • ereader software ReadThemAll for Windows and others to try out.
    • I may try out Chrome with the chromeTouch extension and see how it compares to firefox.
    • test out MMCE for Comic books
    I've been considering wiping the HDD and loading things from scratch. Just discovered a tool called RT Se7en Lite, which allows you to make a lite/customise a version of Windows 7. I'm going to have a play with it and see if I can come up with my own build for the the netbook.  

      Wednesday 5 May 2010

      My new netbook

      I've taken the plunge and purchased a Asus T101MT netbook. It's what is known as a tablet netbook. It's just turned up at the office. The site I bought it from still had a status of "Distributor Processing Order" so I was surprised when it arrived. Only took a couple of days after I paid for it.

      Tuesday 4 May 2010

      Starblazer Adventures Session Eight

      Some thoughts of Professor Alonso Scapelli on what has been happening - The Diary of Professor Scapelli (written by his player)

      And Max 'Atomic' Jackson being 'interviewed' as to how it all began (written by his player)

       We'd taken off from Mars and started heading towards the Glitter Belt. So as not to attract any undue attention I had to pilot the ship as if we were some run of the mill small cargo freighter. It felt like we were going in reverse we were flying so slow!

      Sunday 2 May 2010

      Call of Cthulhu - Session Four

      For the time being I'm no longer going to use the word summary in the title for my RPG session writeups, as they aren't summaries.
      (Previous sessions - one, two, three)

      Continuing Thursday 28th April 1921

      Starblazer Adventures - Session Seven Continued

      Had meant to finish this last week, but better late than never.

      We found out that Heinrich had disappeared about a month ago after putting Abigail up for sale on the black Market, then withdrawing it. Al recalled some previous conversations he had had with Heinrich, where he had talked about "Abigail" as something that affected the various senses and caused hallucinogenic visions.

      Saturday 1 May 2010

      Fringe season 2 Ep 20

      Astrid and Walter babysit Olvia's niece Ella. Walter tells Ella a story involving the characters of the show which is set in a 40's noir with modern touches (mobile phones and PCs). It also has singing!

      I thoroughly enjoyed this episode with it's mix of Chandler and Hammett with touches of Princess Bride and Willy Wonka.

      Tuesday 27 April 2010

      Call of Cthulhu - Session three Summary

      Due to some distractions - Fallout 2, this is later than I intended.

      (summary of previous sessions - session one, session two)

      Continuing Wednesday 27th April 1921

      Monday 19 April 2010

      Starblazer Adventures - Session Seven Summary

      In this game we are playing Starblazer Adventures which uses the FATE rules system. I've not written up the previous sessions, but may do a overview of what has happened so far later on. Not 100% if this is session seven or not, but seems about right.


      Sunday 18 April 2010

      Call of Cthulhu - Session two Summary

      Note: Call of Cthulhu - Dramatis personæ has been updated.

      (summary of previous sessions - session one)

      Continuing Wednesday 27th April 1921

      Review - Delicatessen

      IMDB, Wikipedia
      Score: 3.5/5
      Language: French (with English Subs)

      Genre: Urban Fantasy, black comedy

      Monday 12 April 2010

      Review - Kick Ass

      IMDB, Wikipedia
      Score: 3.5/5
      Language: English
      Genre: Action/Super Hero

      Saturday 10 April 2010

      Review - The Girl Who Played with Fire

      IMDB, Wikipedia
      Score: 3/5
      Language: Swedish with English subs
      Genre: Crime Thriller
      (Orig Titile: Flickan som lekte med elden)

      Friday 9 April 2010

      Review - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

      IMDB, Wikipedia
      Score: 4/5
      Language: Swedish, with English Subs
      (Orig Title Män som hatar kvinnor)
      Genre: Crime Thriller


      Review - His Girl Friday

      IMDB, Wikipedia
      Score: 3/5
      Language: English



      Tuesday 6 April 2010

      Tuesday Knights Composition & Playing Members of the Opposite Sex

      This post is in response to Jamas' question in regards to the number of players there are in the Tuesday nights.

      Monday 5 April 2010

      Review - Clash of the Titans

      IMDB, Wikipedia, Score: 2.5/5



      Sunday 4 April 2010

      Call of Cthulhu - Session One Summary

      Monday, 25th April 1921 

      Around 9am Adam is awoken by his land lady knocking at his door. There is a call for him. The caller advises Adam that his sister is missing. The caller proceeds to tell Adam that he is Professor Edward Bremer from the Iowa State University in Ames. Professor Bremer and his wife are friends of Jenny and her husband. Jenny's husband has been away overseas on field work. The Bremers noticed Jenny was missing on the Saturday and contacted the Police. The Police after a brief investigation believe Jenny had eloped to either New York or California. Adam states that Jenny was always level headed and wouldn't do such a thing. The Professor agrees from having known her, hence why he's called to tell Adam of the situation. Adam gets the professor's details and heads back upstairs to his apartment.

      Doctor Who mini review (no spoilers)

      Just finished watching the first episode of the new series (series 5 or series 31 depending on how you count it) with the new Doctor, played by Matt Smith. Quite enjoyed it. Then again that tends to be the way with all the eps of Doctor Who and the various spin off shows. Only thing I didn't like was what they have done to the theme music. Could be because I've recently been listening to Delia Darbyshire's work. Maybe the theme will grow on me. Also thought the new companion was quite good.

      Call of Cthulhu - Session One Preperation

      Note: This blog entry started off as going to be a summary of the first session. The more I wrote, the more it became about a continuation of the preparation for said session. As such I will blog about the actual first session in a different entry.

      Call of Cthulhu - Dramatis personæ

      Edit 14/04/2010: Added new char and updated other profiles

      The following is an run down of the characters the Tuesday Knights players created & started playing last Tuesday (30th March). A regular player and a very infrequent player were not there that evening. Their characters will appear later.

      Saturday 3 April 2010

      Running Call of Cthulhu - Some Background

      I'd been ruminating for a while on running a game for the Tuesday Knights group, to give Phill a chance to play & allow him to be able to focus a bit more on the Thursday night game he's currently running (Mundus Senecit: The World Grows Old). Phill tended to be the main GM for the Tuesday night game as well, with Scott recently (the last year) running some Conspiracy X scenarios on occasion.

      In the Beginning...

      This is the first post to set down what I am trying to achieve with this blog. That being -

      • Document my thoughts & session summaries of any RPGs I run
      • Perhaps do the same if I'm motivated enough(and have the time) to do the same for the sessions I play in. Not sure if I'll do it from my character's perspective or more of a third person. Possibly a combination.
      • If I'm still using this blog & have managed to pick myself up a netbook tablet, write up reviews of the movies I see at Melbourne International Film Festival.
      • Post about any other stuff I so feel inclined to write about.

      I can add jump breaks to these posts. I wonder what the standard/recommended amount of text to have before doing so. Something to do a quick search on.