Monday, January 31, 2005

And the Stars Said...

I'm taking some time out today to pamper myself, but in an effort not to disappoint, I'm leaving you all with some rather entertaining quotes from these well known celebrities.


"Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake whole relationships."
~Sharon Stone


"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch."
~Jack Nicholson


"I read somewhere that 77 per cent of all the mentally ill live in poverty. Actually, I'm more intrigued by the 23 per cent who are apparently doing quite well for themselves."
~Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead)


"Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is."
~Barbara Bush (Former US First Lady)


"Ah, yes, divorce..., from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet."
~Robin Williams


"Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house."
~Rod Stewart


"On the one hand, we'll never experience childbirth. On the other hand, we can open all our own jars."
~Bruce Willis (On the difference between men and women)


"And God said: 'Let there be Satan, so people don't blame
everything on me. And let there be lawyers, so people don't blame everything on Satan."
~George Burns


"There are only two reasons to sit in the back row of an airplane: Either you have diarrhea, or you're anxious to meet people who do."
~Henry Kissinger (former US Secretary of State)


"Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps."
~Tiger Woods


"Things you'll never hear a woman say: 'My, what an attractive scrotum!'"
~Patricia Arquette


"Capital punishment turns the state into a murderer. But imprisonment turns the state into a gay dungeon-master."
~Rev. Jesse Jackson


"Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of it as the only time of the month that I can be myself."
~Roseanne Barr


"According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other women. They say that women are too judgmental, whereas, of course, men are just grateful."
~Sean Connery


"Having sex at 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope."
~George Burns


"In the last couple of weeks I have seen the ads for the Wonder Bra. Is that really a problem in this country? Men not paying enough attention to women's breasts?"
~Hugh Grant


"There's a new medical crisis. Doctors are reporting that many men are having allergic reactions to latex condoms. They say they cause severe swelling. So what's the problem?"
~Dustin Hoffman


"When the sun comes up, I have morals again".
~Elizabeth Taylor


"There's very little advice in men's magazines, because men think, 'I know what I'm doing. Just show me somebody naked.'"
~Jerry Seinfield


"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."
~Robin Williams


I hope you enjoyed those funnies.

- NewcastleBoy

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Balmy Weather

It's a really hot day outside today. I've been sipping lots of Diet Coke down in my computer study area, in the lower-depths of the house, in an attempt to re-hydrate myself. Sometimes I wished this house had air conditioning.

I found a couple of excellent websites dedicated to nostalgic retro computer games from the 1980s in The Sydney Morning Herald's computer magazine supplement ICON (29 January). I remember many a passionate day playing Pacman, Defender of the Crown, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem 3D, Bruce Lee, 1942, Raid Over Moscow, Mission Impossible, Ghost 'n' Goblins etc on my trusty Commodore 64. I'm pleased to let the enthusiasts know that you can now play many of these games on your PC by downloading from the following sites:



Liberated Games

Abandoned Games

Emulation Ring

Home of the Underdogs



For the rest of the day I'm going to clean up my personal photo collection and arrange them into folders resembling some logical sequence.


- NewcastleBoy

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Glamour Model Stuart

Below is a rather comical website I found relating to people's depressing experiences with buggy computer software. After having a rather negative experience at trying to open an MS Word File just the other day, I can empathise with those people expressing such gripes.


Computer Gripes


"Blake's 7 Series II" arrived on Friday and I'm half-way through watching the second series. Overall, I'm not enjoying this series as much as the first. The show's production minders seem to have gone more for glamour and design than sensible plotting. I think it was a mistake allowing outside script writers to contibute to this series, afterall, Terry Nation did such a marvellous job with Series 1. Maybe my opinion might change before the remaining seven episodes are over?

In the evening I visited gran; she's in an emaciated state always tired and constantly experiencing breathing difficulties. Yesterday, the consulting doctor in charge of the I.C unit gave her days to live but that assessment changed today, she could survive a couple of months at best. I was greatly disturbed by her weakened state and hope she passes away peacefully at a time of her own choosing.

Overall, it's been a very quiet day watching the B7 DVD and keeping my brother's playful white & black staffordshire bull terrier cross company. His name is Stuart - I include a picture of him below playing with his brown puppy friend Raja. As you can see from the photograph he's horribly spoiled and always seeking out as much attention as he can find:




Glamour Model Stuart! Posted by Hello

- NewcastleBoy

Thursday, January 27, 2005

The Deadly Assassin

Today, I successfully enrolled in the Diploma of Library & Information Services at Newcastle TAFE (polytech equivalent) Campus - I'll be working with new students I haven't worked with before - I'm always up for an almighty good challenge! I go to TAFE 22 hours a week this semester, and with the prospect of imminent part-time work at night and good planning, the hours shouldn't be too onerous **fingers crossed**

My grandmother went in for heart valve replacement surgery on Monday. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan in that her pig heart valve replacement from seven years ago had developed a bad dose of calcification and they were unable to proceed any further with the operation. Poor gran has spent the last four days in the I.C Unit at John Hunter Hospital and her condition seems to be deteroriating - she can't breathe without the aid of a mask and she's being fed intravenously. If her condition remarkably improves she'll be coming to live with us until she dies. It's sad to think she won't be able to return to her two storey house where she was once happy and independent. God help me when I get too decrepit I'll take the hint and make other arrangements than hospitalisation or a nursing home.

Three film CD additions to my film music collection were delivered by the courier today - "The Film Music of Ron Goodwin"; "The Film Music of Sir Arthur Bliss"; and "The Film Music of Richard Rodney Bennett". So far I've listened to the Ron Goodwin CD - he's best remembered for his music for "The Battle of Britain", "633 Squadron" and "Miss Marples Theme". Damn good sounding British film music, I urge you all to try giving his material a listen sometime. When I get some spare time I'll listen to the others.

I'm now hoping that the "Blake's 7 Series 2" DVD I ordered last week from Amazon UK will turn up either tomorrow or Monday - this was perhaps my favourite BBC produced SCI-FI series of the 70s / early 80s; space opera "popcorn" fun of a very camp nature :) I wonder if the much talked about new series of "Blake's 7" will ever see the light of day?

Tonight's Doctor Who episode "The Deadly Assassin" saw The Master escaping in a TARDIS disguised as an old grandfather clock. It had been 15 years since I last saw this story so it was good to brush up on the events of The Master's plan to regenerate a 13th time. I know he stole and regenerated into the body of Tremas at the end of "The Keeper of Traken" but everything before this was hazy until tonight :)

Tomorrow I plan on having a leisurely day - a nice lunch at Euro Pattiserie and a hair appointment at New Lambton later in the afternoon, and if I get time I might browse the newsagency to see if they have "Good Reading" magazine on the shelves. I'd better go now, it's getting late!

- NewcastleBoy

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Welcome Everybody!

Thank you for finding the time to read my blog page - tonight, this Australia Day (Jan 26, 2005 - for you non-aussies), officially starts my blogging activities. I promise to write with great mirth, wit, humour, and hopefully you'll learn a great deal about my life - my triumphs, my catastrophes, and many other wonderful delights along the way :)

My name is Peter and I am 33. I live in Australia's 6th largest city, Newcastle (pop. 500,000+) which is located in the state of New South Wales.

I am a professional library student at Newcastle TAFE currently undertaking second year - I hope to eventually find work in a library environment in the not-too-distant future **fingers crossed**

My interests are very diverse and largely centre around the arts & entertainment. They include a passion for:

DVD Collecting & Watching
  • Sci-Fi (Day The Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds)
  • Classic films (Mildred Pierce, Laura, Vertigo, The Third Man etc)
  • TV Series (Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Blake's 7, Doctor Who, I Claudius)
Music Listening
  • Film Music (Bernard Herrmann, Eric Wolfang Korngold, Max Steiner, Richard Addinsell, Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Georges Delerue, Michel Legrand, Richard Rodney Bennett etc.)
  • Classical (Burgmuller, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Vivaldi, Boccherini, Sibelius, Khatchurian, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov etc.)
  • Jazz (Antonio Carlos Jobin, Dave Grusin, Michel Legrand, Fats Waller, Hoagy Carmichael, Jerome Kern etc)
  • Easylistening (Paul Mauriat Orchestra, Franck Pourcel, Raymond Lefevre, Francis Lai, Michel Legrand, Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, Andre Kostelanetz, Geoff Love, Ron Goodwin, Frank Chacksfield, Stanley Black, Erich Kunzel Cincinnati Pops etc)
Books
  • Australian Authors (Alex Miller, Christopher Koch, Louis Nowra, A.B Facey, Ruth Park, Henry Handle Richardson, David Malouf etc)
  • Classics (Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Bronte Sisters, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad etc)
  • Science Fiction & fantasy (Clifford D. Simak, Arthur C. Clark, Issac Asimov, Brian Aldiss, Dan Simmons, Philip Jose Farmer, Raymond E. Feist, Phyliss Eisenstein etc.)
  • Gay (Edmund White, Andrew Holleran, David Leavitt, Armistead Maupin, Scott Heim etc)
  • Poetry (Slessor, Owen, Frost, Keats, Wordsworth, Pound, Chaucer etc)
Theatre
  • Assorted works - (Shakespeare, Middeton, Jonson, Strindberg, Ibsen, Chekov, Stoppard, Mamet, Hare, Johanna Murray-Smith, David Williamson (early stuff), Bernstein, Rogers & Hartz / Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Stephen Sondheim)
Favourite Foods
  • Italian - Veal Scallopine, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Lasagne, Creamed Chicken Pollo in Bianco Sauce, Gourmet Pizza, Chicken Tomato Rocket & cheese Foccacia
  • Chinese - Sweet & sour pork, satay beef, vegetable chow mein, chicken with ginger & shallots accompanied with boiled rice
  • Mexican - Gordidas, tacos, nachos etc.
  • Turkish - vegetable / chicken piddah

Hopefully I've whet your appetite for more NewcastleBoy blog reading. Feel free to send an email and to contribute to my frequently appearing daily blogs.


- NewcastleBoy