Random wandering, this place is near Buona Vista station. Looks like it would be fun to play here...

Currently listening to...

Just got an album by Koop (as recomended by Andreea). I love this song. Kind of bluesy with a hint of Portishead. Rest of the album hasn't grabbed me yet, but only played it a couple of times. Kind of Piano bar fun....

Gooey Fun...

Am currently totally loving 'World of Goo'. A really simple, extremely intelligent game. The kind of thing, like Lemmings and Sim City, which is a work of genius....


You control a group of blobs of goo. You can drag them around and join them to each other to build structures, which your other goo balls will swarm over. The aim is to build a way for your goo balls to get to the exit (a pipe). The cool part is the physics of the whole thing. The links between the balls are kind of elastic and bend/stretch as more weight is applied (different kinds have different properties). So you could find yourself building a tower, only to see the whole thing collapse sideways because the balance is off... Its hard to express just how cleverly this is used in the game. It is totally intuitive and immersive. It is also made even better by the kind of crazy design of the whole game.

Get it here
Get a demo here

cool reasons to cook for halloween

From EMSL

Spies like us...

Went to see the new Cohen brothers movie 'Burn after reading'.

Ok, so upfront, I really like the Cohen brothers... so this probably won't be in any way objective...

Great film, a totally over the top spy movie... in a Sarah Palin/hockey mom kind of way (in the sense that it is totally ridiculous)

The story isn't really that important. Like Fargo, most of the fun is in the ridiculousness of the characters, who are all way too extreme to be serious. I'm impressed that Brad Pitt and George Clooney were up for playing such embarassing characters (especially Brad). All of the characters are excellent sterotypes of something... My personal favourites are the two CIA guys who appear occasionally and act as a strangely plausible deus ex machina and smoothing things over at the end...

Things of beauty...

Really want one...
from here

Compulsive Dissatisfaction

Just been to see the new Woody Allen movie 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'
Hate to admit it, but this is the first time in ages that I've sat through a movie which has pushed so many of my buttons and that I've really wanted to go straight back into and watch again.

The movie follows two women, one who is (as Penelope Cruz points out) impulsive, passionate and suffers from 'compulsive dissatisfaction'. The other who is sensible, 'grounded' and follows the established New York path to happiness....

Enter Javier Bardem, a pasionate, charming painter who flagrantly ignores their anoying americanisms and seduces both women... Also enter Penelope Cruz, who is just damn, damn crazy.... Enough synopsis, just watch the film.

The film dances between hysterical pokes at American/New York bankers/expats and disturbingly honest emotional experiences and hangups...

in my head...

heard/noticed this in Starbucks this morning, has been depressing the hell out of me ever since....