It's in the trees...

"When's the best time to plant a tree?" asked a person on a TV show I was watching. "Twenty years ago."

In fact, he'd left off the end of the ancient Chinese proverb, viz. "The second-best time is today."

I actually prefer the misquote. The conclusion should be obvious. And it's more thought-provokingly punishing without the final line.

A few days later, I heard someone on a podcast declare, "A society grows great when old men plant trees under whose shade they know they shall never sit."

Which is an ancient Greek proverb. Digging in the same soil. Perhaps - translation aside - a couple of words longer than necessary.

Again, I prefer the truncated Chinese saying from the telly.

Also watching: K-drama "The Whirlwind" [Netflix].

Playing: "The Goonies" boardgame. One player oversees things as GM = Goondocks Master :-)

Listening: Compilation CD "Indie Sounds From Newie And The Hunter", "Doctor Who - The Lost Stories 8.1 - Deathworld".

Relistening: "Doctor Who - The Lost Stories 1.1 - The Nightmare Fair".

Recent viewing (geddit?)

Went to an art gallery called The Lock-Up that's situated in a former police station from the 1800s. They use the old, rough-walled cells as tiny wings, often with creepy lighting. A real mixture of works.

* "Borderless Fog" (2024) [Netflix]: Indonesian police procedural atmospheric but only OK.

* "Cold Weather" (2010) [Kanopy]: Wonderfully quirky indie mystery. Some excellent framing.

* "King's Game" (2004) [rental]: Gripping Danish political thriller. Curveballs. Rounded characters.

* "Planet Of The Vampires" (1965) [YT]: Low-budget miracle. Artistic and influential ("Alien").

* "The Beekeeper" (2024) [Prime]: Formidable, faaar-fetched revenger. Dad loved Statham :-(

* "The Island At The Top Of The World" (1974) [Disney+]: Lost-civilisation yarn. Exciting bits. Problematic bits.

<<< Pick of the bunch is "Cold Weather". >>>

Went hunting street art

Voila!

Recent viewing

* "Decision To Leave" (2022) [Kanopy]: To borrow a phrase... A heart-breaking work of staggering genius.

* "Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes" (2024) [Disney+]: Superb, ape-tastic opening downhill to familiar ending.

* "Mission - Cross" (2024) [Netflix]: Enjoyable action comedy. (Husband with secret past.)

* "Saint Sinner" (2002) [DVD]: Dull, gross, never-believable SciFi Channel production.

* "Wishmaster" (1997) [Prime]: B-grade shitshow endurable thanks to copious effects.

<<< Pick of the bunch is "Decision To Leave". >>>

You've lost that naggin' feelin'

Felt I'd left something out of the previous post - and I had. That being my quick trip to the War Memorial. There's an impressive chamber with soil from the hometown of every NSW man and woman who served in WW1. I could only snap one corner of it, though, due to the presence of a pair of tour groups.

In unrelated news, was at my #1 uni today and noticed the union building now has a dedicated Gaming & Anime Room. Friends and I founded the inaugural anime club decades ago. We'd buy new releases (limited choice!) on VHS, show 'em on a wall screen, then give the tapes away as a lucky door prize.

Syd-diddly-idney

Glanced behind me at the traino and saw this picture-worthy peeled tree. It rained steadily all the way down. No trackwork, thankfully.

Vego lunch. Corn and pickled seaweed ships. Avocado and cucumber mini rolls. Hard to justify anything naughtier prior to a heart check!

Can't believe my #2 uni gave away my parking space to someone else. Saw piles of Survival Guides. I helped write one of those in the '90s.

Had chai lattes with AZ. Surprisingly cheap considering the location/niceness of the cafe. Spotted a strange construction like a wasp nest.

Ate Korean with CM and AM, trying tteokbokki and their style of seafood pancake for the first time. Also Kloud-brand beer. Impeccable service.

Played boardgame "Stupid Deaths" with da boyz (won 2/3). Listened to Queen's "A Kind Of Magic" on vinyl and assembled a huge new telly.

Was woken by bongo drums (C. and A. had warned me about their neighbour). Soon scoped out the two-storey LEGO store in the Pitt St Mall.

Subbers is still the best value fast-food joint. While I think of it, the tempting-est thing I saw at the LEGO store was the Orient Express kit.

Visited a gachapon arcade. Sadly, they were $5 a pop - and tokens could only be purchased via card from a machine I didn't trust. Sorry, froggies.

Was keen to view the Maedeup exhibition at the Korean Cultural Centre (a fave when I toiled in the CBD). Except it was Liberation Day holiday!

I can't look at the word maedeup without initially seeing "made up". Just as I can't look at this Neal Stephenson novel without seeing "read me".

For anyone wondering, the specialist was happy with my various test results from last month, plus a treadmill stress test done on the day.

Watching: "Batman - Caped Crusader" [Prime], "The Influencer" [Netflix], "Love Is Blind - Sweden" [also N.].

Playing: "Crackpots" [Atari Flashback 9 Gold], "Castle Ravenloft" boardgame (finally solo-ed all 13 scenarios. Took me years!).

On which layer of The Abyss is Carmen Sandiego?

Watched most of the women's Olympic marathon on TV with Mum. In 2000, I watched the same event live on the roadside with my sister and her then-boyfriend (now hubby). IIRC, we were at a loop point, where we saw the runners twice.

Speaking of Sydney, I've another medical appointment there on Wednesday, so I'll try to do a photo-centric blog entry. Should only be one night, not two. Hoping to eat Korean food this time.

Have you finalised your Fantasy Premier League squad? Mine's doneski. Once again, I couldn't squeeze Haaland in under the salary cap. Will that be as big of a mistake as it was last season?

Clashing with the Olympics

After years of writing my teams' fixtures on paper, to be crossed off, one by one, and the paper eventually chucked in the recycling bin, I finally purchased a small whiteboard for the task. Let's go, Swans and...er, Jeons!

A sense of permanence

Had to drive my mother to her solicitors. She actually worked for the firm in the 1960s and very early '70s. It remains in the same town, in the same building. Despite the decades since, they knew everyone she mentioned, and vice versa. You don't often experience that. Or maybe YOU do, but I don't.

No freelance jobs this week

Have begun a free course about Welsh history.

"University Challenge" returns next week - hurrah!

Rec room

JK alerted me to this clever T-shirt slogan what's doing the rounds. Would wear.

LPO mentioned this short, slick scifi fillum from 2016 in a chat group. It's a cracker!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lahBRBliANY

I'm addicted to "Alphabear: Hardcover Edition" on Steam. You make words and collect bears. Sometimes you need to beat the clock. The bears have varying abilities (which increase as you progress), and you select a team to help with each stage.

Devoured this six-part podcast. As good as or better than his three-parter on argument. The sort of intellectual stimulation that inspires not only deeper reflection but self-improvement. Plenty of guests who are either experts or at least appropriate/interesting.

Feels funny to recommend series about ignorance and argument (brilliant as they are). Reminds me of that Charlie Brooker sketch "A History Of Corners - With Victoria Coren".

While I was taking the washing off the line, I heard repeated sounds of breaking wood. Closer inspection revealed yellow-tailed black cockatoos stripping the branch bark from trees behind our back fence. According to Wikipedia, they'd have been hunting beetles or larvae. Watched them for a while.

(Below pic from the Wiki entry. Creative Commons. Credit: David Cook Wildlife Photography.)

Recent viewing

* "Elemental" (2023) [Disney+]: Fabulous animation. Cute couple. Largely tedious framework.

* "It's Basic" (2023) [Kanopy]: UBI makes sense. A.I. will make necessary.

* "Moonfall" (2022) [Netflix]: OTT, money-losing, lunar-disaster conspiracy extravaganza. BUT: Full of convenient moments, cornball convos, preposterousness!

* "Prisoners Of The Lost Universe" (1983) [YouTube]: No-budget fantasy junk's unflagging energy mesmerises.

* "The Faculty" (1998) [Stan]: Rad premise, effects. Shows hand too early. AND: Cast as surprising as ending is pissweak.

* "The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare" (2024) [Prime]: Secret mission dazzles...in drawn-out way.

<<< Pick of the bunch is probably "It's Basic". >>>

Latest walking audiobook

Blurb:

From brutal schooldays to '80s anarchy, through The Young Ones and beyond, Berserker! is the one-of-a-kind, fascinating memoir from an icon of British comedy, Adrian Edmondson.

Berserker [noun]: A Norse warrior frenzied in battle and held to be invulnerable; often off his tits on henbane and large quantities of alcohol; one who is out of control with anger or excitement.

Ade Edmondson smashed onto the comedy circuit in the 1980s, stormed The Comedy Store and, alongside Rik Mayall, brought anarchy to stage and screen. How did a child brought up in a strict Methodist household – and who spent his formative years incarcerated in repressive boarding schools – end up joining the revolution? Well, he is part Norse. Could it be his ‘berserker’ heritage?

With wisdom, nostalgia and uniquely observed humour, Ade traces his journey through life and comedy: starting out on the alternative scene, getting arrested in Soho, creating his outrageously violent characters and learning more about his curious (possibly Scandinavian) heritage. With star-studded anecdotes and set to a soundtrack of pop hits which transport the reader through time, it’s a memoir like no other.

Parmesan princess

While weeding a little rockery, I was struck by a thought: "This would make a good alien planet for 'Star Wars' toys." Shook my head. Fifty years old going on five. But I suppose, as a scifi tragic, you don't lose those instincts. The thought set me to musing about other things we used as backdrops in our play. The ultimate, of course, were the weirdly grooved, holed, noduled pieces of styrofoam that packed tellies, microwaves, etc. safely inside their boxes. As well as doubling as ice caves or cloud cities, those could also be handy for school history projects. I recall a few of us repurposing them into ancient Greek/Roman architecture as part of dioramas that also featured those educational kits of plastic (not specifically military) figures they once sold at hobby shops. Temple scenes and whathaveyou.