Thomas Williams.blog

Daily Relief for Stressed Men

2010-05-13T13:00:00.002+10:00

I think I may have inadvertently discovered a way for men all around the world to have a bit of "me-time" during the hustle and bustle of home life.

Running water.

Running water shuts out the sounds of the outside world. While previous experiments with loud music or TV were ineffective against sonic emanations from wives, mother-in-laws and children, running water has recently been found to successfully shield the harrowed and peace-seeking man.

First, "number 1", followed by a toilet flush (two instances of running water). Then, hand washing, also under running water.

During my testing I have been totally oblivious to two requests for cat-litter changing, 3 notifications expressing displeasure at something I did, numerous altercations between cat, dog, and one or more children, and at least one discussion where I was not required, regarding the purchase of new linen and/or manchester.

You're welcome. Men, enjoy your 3 minutes extra "me-time" today.

Tags: family, funny, my wife is probably going to kill me

Appreciating Talent

2010-04-29T13:32:00.004+10:00

I love basketball. I think I was around 16 or 17 when I started playing as a big, extremely uncoordinated boofhead running the court, pulling down the occasional rebound and not scoring a single point (and definitely not dribbling) in my first season in F grade.

But I fell in love with the sport anyway. I kept practicing and playing against anyone I could find, and being 6'4" (193 cms) probably helped when playing against the local homies, school friends and my younger brothers.

I did eventually find an upper limit to how far I could go with basketball, and now I'm content to watch NBA on TV and shoot around in the backyard with the kids.

Which brings me to the whole point of today's story: professional basketballers, the ones on TV, are good. Crazy good. Check this article over at Basketball-Reference which is a great reminder of the fact:

...I always laugh when some fans are watching a game and say "I could do that!"... Well, no, you couldn't. The average fan seems to have a shaky grasp at times on the vast, gaping, astronomical chasm that exists between their own abilities (or even the abilities of the best basketball player they've ever known/played with) and those of the worst NBA player who ever played...

I know I came away from the article with a good appreciation of the enormous talent that professional basketball players (and other high-level athletes) have, which as a fan of the game is sometimes easy to forget.

Tags: sport, personal, basketball

Movie Review: The Road

2010-02-07T22:38:00.002+11:00

The Road, originally
uploaded by marklarson

The Road (Wikipedia, IMDB) is probably not for everyone. The movie follows the Man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son who are heading south in a world where there's literally nothing, set 10 or maybe 15 years after an un-named global devastation. There's no crops or animals and shops and buildings are beyond looted; the people that the Man and his son meet are interested only in pure survival, and the future looks bleak.

I liked this movie (which very closely follows the book of the same name by Cormack McCarthy) because it's about people and relationships...and it's a sci-fi :-)

The Road is not a thriller or horror. There's only really 5 or 6 characters including flashbacks of the Man's wife (Charlize Theron) and the people that the Man and his son meet on the road. The Man tries to train and teach his son about "being the good guys" and maintain hope. I wonder what I'd do in a similar situation? Would I be as strong?

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie and recommend it for the performances by the two leads, moments of tension and its bleak scenery. My rating for The Road is 9/12.

Tags: movie, review, The Road

A Letter To My Wife On Movie Nights

2010-02-01T12:33:00.002+11:00

To my wife: When it comes to entertainment, there's movies both you and I enjoy, there's movies that just I like, and there's some that only you can watch (and I find horrible and repellent). Though this sounds easy, recently I got a little mixed up.

You see, I'd been thinking that you felt the same way I did about snuggling in to watch the X-Men trilogy and than rave about just how great the latest post-apocalyptic sci-fi film at the cinemas was going to be. I thought they were "both you and I enjoy" moments, not realising that I was putting my preferences onto you.

I'm sorry I took your tastes for granted. Wifey, I'm glad you chose P.S. I Love You the other night. It was clearly a chick-flick that probably should have come with its own box of tissues, but regardless, I still enjoyed watching it with you.

I'll remember from now on that we have different preferences, and that our joint preferences are not decided by me.

Oh, and I'm open to watch any of your movies as long as they don't feature Matthew MacCanaughterary or Maria Carey and don't have any variation of the word "sleep" in the title.

Hugs

Avatar in 3D

2010-01-08T13:42:00.001+11:00

See Avatar in 3D. I'm sure the movie looks amazing without 3D, but to really experience the lush, strange and beautiful world where Avatar is set, you'll need 3D.

After seeing it in full 3D glory last night (and itching to go again - anyone interested?) I'm starting to wonder why all movies aren't made this way.

There's nothing amazing about the story (love this quote on Rotten Tomatoes: "A wonder to behold, a story to forget"), but the 3D effect manages to fully immerse you in a film that has the most realistic computer-generated imagery and attention to detail of the setting that I've ever seen.

Unlike previous gimmicky 3D movies - Nightmare on Elm Street 3D, I'm looking at you - the effect is often subtle and used to build up depth and layers in scenes, not just to poke something "out" of the screen at the viewer. The glasses were comfortable and weren't the red/blue cardboard things that I was expecting (note: Avatar 3D can't be watched without the glasses).

I'm a sci-fi fan and probably enjoyed the movie more than my wife, but as an experience and spectacle, it's really, really worth seeing in 3D.

Tags: movie, avatar, review

Our Vanuatu Family Trip

2009-12-17T13:45:00.002+11:00

On Wednesday we returned from 9 glorious days in Vanuatu, a holiday Olivia and I had been promising each other for 10 years since we last visited on our honeymoon.

This time, with the kids and a couple of days' visit from my parents, we had an even better time than in 1999. We stayed at the same resort - Le Lagon - as we did all those years ago, and even had views of the Erakor lagoon from our room:

While in Vanuatu we did a couple of snorkeling activities, went horse-riding near Hideaway Island, enjoyed a sunset cruise thanks to Mum and Dad, relaxed by the pool, and generally had a blast in a fascinating country (click on a photo for more information):

The Melanesian Feast at Taewe Beach was a highlight for everyone:

Visiting Mele Cascades early in the day was stunning:

Olivia and I still love Vanuatu and can't wait until we get to go again. The kids had a fantastic experience and it was fun to travel together. Did I mention I can't wait to go back?

Tags: Vanuatu, holiday, family

Heath's Cold Sores, and TJ Can Read Minds...

2009-11-24T13:09:00.002+11:00

We had a good ole'-fashioned home weekend this weekend because we thought Heath had school sores (highly infectious), but it turned out he had cold sores (yeeech...apparently his immune system will build up):

Of course after a weekend in, the house looked like a bomb had hit it. TJ demonstrated previously-unknown mind reading powers* late Sunday when I asked him to clean up the lounge room where the kids had been stacking cushions and jumping on them.

I was about to give him specific instructions regarding the better cushions which should be returned to the family room:

Me: TJ, can you pack up the lounge and take those two yellow cush...

TJ (quickly): Yes.

Me (slightly annoyed, ready to remind him not to interrupt my monologue, and about to chide him that he couldn't possibly know what he was saying "Yes" to): Yes what?

TJ (without skipping a beat): Yes, I will take the yellow cushions and those other cushions to the family room.

Me (defeated): That's what I was about to say. Right then.

* I think TJ got lucky with his guess. He thinks he read my mind :-)

Tags: family, sick, funny

Can Video Games Be Taken Seriously?

2009-11-23T14:12:00.003+11:00

I enjoy playing video games. They're not for everyone (I'm in a minority among friends even of my own age) but I see them as part of a diet of valid entertainment along with TV, movies, books, board games and the occasional YouTube video.

I've heard a whole range of different opinions on video games - from "that's kid's stuff" to being overly violent, bad, addictive, boring, too complicated or just fake.

Maybe one day video games can be taken "seriously" as a medium - the story, cinematics and emotions that a game creates can be analysed like films are today, with less of the the current (often petty-sounding) headlines concerning faster graphics cards, Playstation vs XBox, or out-of-proportion heroines...who cares about that stuff?

I read a couple of great articles today (thanks to Simon Parkin at Chewing Pixels) which ask if video games can really be taken seriously, far more eloquently than I can:

Steve Gaynor at Fullbright compares video games to a "middle child" and believes that because video games require interactivity there's an entry barrier that TV and movies don't have:

"The most popular entertainment is the work that requires the least foreknowledge, the shortest attention span, that supplies the most instant gratification...Video games are the only popular entertainment that you can actually fail at."

Matthew at Magic Wasteland talks about the maturity of video games as a medium, in summary comparing video games to an adolescent:

"So before we can confidently come forth with our own particular offerings towards the sum of human cultural output, the light of civilization, it seems we must continue to gyrate through this adolescent process of self-discovery, as awkward and humiliating as it can be."

There's a reason video games are not movies, but still, I look forward to a future of watching David and Margaret discuss the quirkiness of Braid or perhaps just being able to talk to normal people about the baddest video game bad guy or a cult classic game or the latest game episode of Fable 2...

Tags: games, personal, media

Unexplained Neck Soreness Considered Painful

2009-11-02T13:33:00.003+11:00

My neck was feeling a little painful over the weekend, and I couldn't work out why. Stress at work? Too much time playing the addictive Civilization Revolution with Wifey on the XBox? Maybe a bad night's bad sleep?

I figured out my unexplained neck soreness today. It was headbanging to Muse's Knights of Cydonia on Friday night...hey, I was dancing around with the kids, who thought the headbanging was hilarious.

I'm certainly not the young, grungey Gen X-er I once was.

See also: eHow's guide to how to headbang (along with accompanying warnings)

Tags: personal, music, health

Earthquake!

2009-10-01T12:46:00.002+10:00

Last Tuesday we were eating dinner when we experienced a small earthquake.

It happened very quickly. We heard a loud noise and felt a shudder - like something big had hit the back of our house - then a rumbling sound. The whole experience took 2-3 seconds.

We stopped eating and looked at each other, wondering if there was more to come, if it was worse elsewhere, and who else had felt the earth move. TJ and Maya wanted to know all about earthquakes, which lead to an interesting discussion about tectonics, disasters, and emergency plans.

Luckily there was a way to find out more at the Geoscience Australia site. Here's the details of the quake (it turned out to be two quakes, close together, that had originated near us in Pearcedale):

Tags: earthquake, victoria, science, family

Facebook Friend Lists and Privacy

2009-09-14T19:54:00.000+10:00

Like many people worldwide, I use Facebook.

Facebook has got to a stage for me where my "friends" list is different than my actual real-life friends. I'm a generous person and prefer to "friend" people on Facebook who are even casual acquaintances...plus, I'm too lazy to "unfriend" anyone.

A helpful tool for the separation of online only vs. real life vs. people I hardly know (or whatever) friends is "friend lists". I've made up a couple of "friend lists" and using the tips at "10 Solid Tips to Safeguard Your Facebook Privacy" on MakeUseOf, I can better define privacy options.

Check out the tips at MakeUseOf, and may your Facebooking be happy and safe!

Tags: social, friends, facebook

Grandad

2009-09-05T21:29:00.001+10:00

My Grandad, William Thomas Goodley ("Bill"), 23/Feb/1925 - 5/Sep/2009. I miss you already Grandad.

Video Chat

2009-08-09T09:59:00.001+10:00

An old pic - here's me (top left), Mum and Dad (top right), brother Simon and his son Sam (bottom left), and my brother Nate (bottom right) enjoying a video chat from Perth to Newcastle to Melbourne.

We're using a free web-based service from TokBox which worked quite well.

Tags: video chat, picture, family

You Know What I Hate?

2009-07-28T18:02:00.001+10:00

I saw a funny movie a while back where the main character would encounter situations he didn't like, and would then react entirely without inhibition. He ran a lane-drifting driver off the road; he spanked a woman who spanked her children; he chopped off a man's ponytail, explaining that it "doesn't make you look hip, cool or young".

Even in my wildest dreams I wouldn't consider doing any of these things...however...you know what I hate?

Reality TV. All reality TV shows need to be cancelled, and the "stars" made to do community service as penance.

Noisy people in cinemas annoy me. Similarly, people who bring 7-year-olds to M-rated films and then are noisy trying to shoosh the kids. They need to all be shoved in to the one screening - a whole babble of noisy shooshers.

People who finish other's sentences need to go without talking for a day.

And I absolutely hate the letters to the editor section in newspapers. I'd open a newsagent where those pages were ripped from every paper.

Ah, that feels better. Back to normal programming now :-)

Tags: life, personal, funny

BioShock Essay at Critical Distance

2009-07-14T13:54:00.001+10:00

Recently I bought the game BioShock and although I'm only 10 or so hours into it, I have to say it's one of the best video games I've ever played. The 50's-era environment is wonderfully portrayed using sight and sound, and the underwater city of Rapture is at once both scary and intriguing. From a geek perspective, the graphics are great and the gameplay flows without being too hard for a casual gamer like myself.

But the key to BioShock - what sets it apart - is the great story.

All this to say that Michael Clarkson over at Critical Distance has written an excellent compilation of thoughts on BioShock's story and morality, which is well worth the read if you've ever played (or are interested in playing) the game.

Tags: games, xbox, story, bioshock

My Office, June 2009

2009-07-05T20:19:00.001+10:00

I may have mentioned my office before with it's great views and location close to a beach. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here it is (taken with my phone):

Tags: office, beach

I Have James Bond's Phone From "Casino Royale"

2009-06-20T17:39:00.001+10:00

Yep, you see it on screen for about 4 seconds, and I have the same model. It goes with my Aston Martin :-)

Tags: film, phone, James Bond

Shoelaces?

2009-06-15T15:05:00.000+10:00

Shoelaces!?!@?!

I can buy a fingerprint detector for my computer, but I've still got to fasten my foot covering with rope.

And even though I've learnt a possibly useful skill - tying a knot - there's no application for my hard-won talent in normal day-to-day life.

Knot tying is not cool. The only knot I know, the one I use to tie my foot rigging, is called a "granny knot". Not cool. If you can count to two, you can also tie a "double knot". Also not cool.

I say: Shoelaces are crap. Banish shoelaces and analog clocks, and make kids the world over happier.

Tags: life, funny

The Life and Times of Two-Year-Old Heath

2009-06-08T13:12:00.001+10:00

Heath is actually close to 3, but anyway, here it is: Play, eat, hyper, sleep :-)

Tags: family

Our XBox 360 Has Its Own Blog

2009-05-17T21:56:00.002+10:00

We (the whole family) have an XBox 360, which is cool; and even cooler is that our XBox has its own blog at 360 Voice.

Here's a couple of excerpts from typical entries ("thomaswilliams4" is me):

thomaswilliams4 was a no show... but you can't game every day. I actually enjoyed the rest... although I am ready for more. Bring it please.
thomaswilliams4 must have heard my calling... I was practically startled when his greasy finger pounded my power button. I mean come on... be a little gentle... I am fragile.
I told thomaswilliams4 'Don't make me hurt you!' and the threat worked because he decided to show up yesterday.
thomaswilliams4 must have a life, because he didn't game yesterday...

360 Voice pulls information from the XBox gamertag public profiles for a schwack-load of users, and also tracks a whole lot of statistics and provides forums for help with games.

Most of all the blog makes me laugh, in its own sarcastic way.

Tags: gaming, xbox, blog, funny

The Perfect Home Office

2009-05-12T21:15:00.003+10:00

Huge monitor, laser printer, guard cat/proof-reader: the perfect home office.

Tags: fun, home, office

Movie Review: Wolverine

2009-05-04T19:48:00.002+10:00

No spoilers: I'm not going to give anything away plot-wise in this post...but you may not like what you read if you haven't seen the movie. Your call.

If, like me, you've been expectantly waiting to be blown away by the blockbuster movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine (here's the very snick-snicky movie site, and the IMDB link), I can report: the movie will blow you away.

Wolverine is a movie with big action sequences and is ultimately enjoyable to watch, but it has a number of problems. Foremost, I found the plot convoluted; the movie contains too many "strike a pose" moments (thanks Garry for putting words to that condition!); and some of the actors are unconvincing.

It has it's good points: Liev Schreiber is a great Sabretooth, and Danny Huston is a menacing Colonel Stryker. Some of the key moments in Wolverine's story, like his long life, the Weapon X facility and losing his memory, are done well.

But - aside from the plot - there's too many pointless cameos and the special effects at times look cheap. Both Hugh Jackman's love interest Kayla and fellow mutant Gambit are flat. The final confrontation was confusing. Hugh Jackman is good, but the disconnect for me is that it's almost like Wolverine is the mature, team-player Wolverine from after X-Men 3, rather than the rougher, more dangerous version from 10-15 years before (when this movie is set).

Like all Hollywood adaptations, there has to be compromises. I'm not a comic fan so I can't say how the Hollywood adaptation of Wolverine differs from the original story, but even for me some things just felt wrong. Dark Knight, Iron Man, Watchmen and the original X-Men 1 & 2 all rate far above this one for me.

My final score: 6 out of 12.

Links: Rotten Tomatoes review and low score, Roger Ebert's tongue-in-cheek review, Geek Theo Moore hits the nail on the head with his review on the acting, the Huffington Post discusses themes and lack of

Tags: movie, review, wolverine

I Have a Little Wind

2009-04-27T12:38:00.002+10:00

...but not that sort, honestly.

Under my desk at work, there's a little wind that blows. Not that sort! I can't figure out where the little wind comes from, but it's making my legs cold.

Speaking of wind, yesterday (April 26th) had a little wind too (data from the Bureau of Meteorology):

That's the highest 3:00PM wind for the month, and the lowest 3:00PM temperature for the month.

Perhaps that sort of little wind would help to keep me warm?

Tags: weather, wind, Frankston

One Movie Each

2009-04-14T13:40:00.002+10:00

There's five people in our family, which means we can borrow one movie each from the local video shop (who conveniently have a deal for five weekly movies for $7.95). I took the kids yesterday to choose, while Olivia read a book at home.

The kids made their choices, and I grabbed a movie for myself, but I was stuck finding one for Olivia. What had she seen? What chick flicks do we already own? What would she want to see? Decisions, decisions.

I ended up getting...well, here's how the conversation went after I returned home:

Me: I got the movies.
Olivia: Yeah, I noticed you didn't get anything for me.
Me: I didn't know what you wanted! But I thought you'd like to watch "Rambo" with me.
Olivia: I think I'll go to bed early.

I'm still no wiser for my next trip to the video shop to get one movie each. Maybe Olivia would like Rocky?

Tags: marriage, funny, movie

I'm A Guitar Hero

2009-04-03T19:42:00.001+11:00

I've been playing Guitar Hero: World Tour (Metacritic review (85), Wikipedia link) since Wifey gave it to me for Christmas. It's a fun rhythm-based family game for our new XBox 360, with no shooting or killing, and it's pretty easy to learn whether or not you know how to play guitar. Here's me, rockin' the Williams live concert arena:

GH:WT has beautiful graphics - the music is synchronised with the character animations, making it look like the singer is singing the lyrics, the guitarist is playing the exact guitar part, and so on - and a well-made wireless controller that's basically guitar size. A drum kit and microphone can also be purchased for the complete band experience. My advice is to wait for specials on the game though; at $160 plus (Australian) for just the guitar and game, it's not particularly cheap.

The real strength of the game is the great line-up of songs. Suprisingly, the songs I enjoy playing are "pop" from bands I'd mostly never heard of: for example, Tokio Hotel's Monsoon, 311's Beautiful Disaster, and Lazy Eye by Silver Sun Pickup (which sounds a lot like an old Breeders tune). There are over 80 songs in the game (here's the full track list at Fake Plastic Rock) including some Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, REM, and even Michael Jackson, so everyone's musical taste should be catered for.

Guitar Hero: World Tour is a must-have game if you've got an XBox 360 and like music. And an added bonus is hearing the kids say, after a hard song, "Dad, you rock!"

Links: Offical site, Fake Plastic Rock blog

Tags: music, game, xbox, guitar hero