jeremy.id.au

Last week I finally bought a scanner, which is about the first time I’ve had a scanner at home for years. I ended up getting a fairly low-end Epson Perfection 3490 scanner, since for the moment if I want to do a few more decent scans I can do it on one of the $2,000 Epson Expression 1680 scanners at TAFE (if I ever get there). Though already I can see that it’s hard to get a scan that looks anything like the original.

Nonetheless, back in 1998 when I was a young teenager some friends wanted to do some go-karting down at Port Melbourne. So one of them convinced his dad to drive us, though on the way back we went via Victoria Dock. By that stage the harbour was closed as the “Bolte Bridge” (as it was later named) was beginning to block the way for ships. By that stage the docks had been abandoned and we could drive right out onto the wharf. There was something I liked about the baron atmosphere so not long later I went back with my own father along with the old Pentax SLR camera. So I took these photos in the Winter of 1998, knowing that the place was about to undergo a major change. Despite my dislike of freeways (a number of them are of the bridge construction), they do look rather impressive. I made a number of subsequent trips back to the place, amazed at the lack of graffiti despite being only minutes from the central city. While the horse stables (used for those horse and carriage rides that you see around the CBD) made it almost feel as though the place was stuck in a time warp.

Later in the year Kennett had one of his massive open days where he’d open up all his projects, so I was able to get some inside shots of the Docklands Stadium as it was under construction. Later I also took some pictures of some other parts of Melbourne for a web site that I had created. Though some of the shots had been scanned overtime, the scans have long been missing. So here they are, also to be compared with the same location but earlier this year:

• Melbourne 1998
• Victoria Harbour (April 2005)

It’s been almost four weeks since Lily broke her leg. Having missed a bit of TAFE, it’s been an uneventful week, so I thought I’d make a little video clip. Filming was done entirely with our sophisticated (or not so, as it is really a stills camera) Canon PowerShot A85 and edited with iMovie. The soundtrack was essentially picked at random though it seemed to go well, so I stuck with it. While Lily has recovered quite well, she still isn’t using her leg, as you can see in the clip. She isn’t normally allowed outside except on a leash nor is she allowed to run around, though for the purposes of filming, this rule was twisted a little. However, in about two and a half weeks she will be allowed out and to play once again. It has been named “The Dog with the Golden Leg” due to the shear cost of the operation. First though, here she is when she had just come home with the bandage on (the bandage is no longer needed and was removed a few weeks ago, as she had pins installed to hold her leg together):

Finally here is the film clip, all 30 seconds of it, available in a choice of three different formats:
Quicktime small (740kB)
Quicktime medium (1MB)
MPEG-4 (1MB)

A few days ago when I was in the city, I picked up a copy of Spellbinder which finally came out on DVD. The television show which was first broadcasted in 1995, I must admit, is a kids series. Though I was 11 years old at the time and it soon became one of my favourite TV shows of all time. For great periods of my early teenage years, I would race home from school to watch it, which meant I had to be home by 4 o’clock. Also the same thing later on when the sequel, Spellbinder II: Land of the Dragon Lord went to air.

Though what is the series (the original that is) actually about? Well when Paul goes away on a school camp, a prank goes wrong and he accidentally becomes stuck in a parallel world. It is a world where people live simple lives and society takes on a hierarchical structure, much like you’d expect in medieval times. Though at the top of society there is a powerful group called the Spellbinders. The Spellbinders managed to use their limited knowledge of science to rule society, through which the population believed was magic. Paul was a smart kid with quite a good knowledge of science so he was able to pick this deception. While he is there, he became friends this girl named Riana who is pretty much the same age as him. Through Riana he learns that the people are actually quite happy the way they live.

Certainly there is a contrast between this world that Paul stumbled into and our modern technological world. This is no doubt the thing that I liked best about this series. Throughout the series, scenes switch between Riana’s world and our modern world (known as Paul’s world) where his family and friends are searching for him. Most of all, however, it’s the way they depict chaotic modern city life that I like best. Especially the way it’s based in an Australian city that I’m somewhat familiar with, though not to mention that even the scenes of Australian bush have a sense of familiarity where I can instantly recognise our world. This is especially true for the second half of the series, though unfortunately it’s only the first half that has been released so far.

To a large extent there is probably a lot of sentimental value with re-watching it again now. Though how is it from an adult perspective? Certainly, there is a tiny bit of quirkiness that is typical of children’s programs. Overall, however, it has quite a good sci-fi and adventure story line and it can almost become addictive. Definitely a good choice if you happened to have a younger audience to entertain (which I certainly don’t). After all these years I certainly still enjoy watching it. Evidently, I’m not the oldest fan either.

Paul (Zbych Trofimiuk) and Riana (Gosia Piotrowska) at the market place

Ashka (Heather Mitchell), the evil spellbinder

Our world

Another fun night of getting home by public transport. Got to Spencer Street somewhat short of missing a train. With trains only every half hour that’s quite a long wait. So walked up to the 109 tram stop to find that I had just missed a tram as well. Went back to the station and raided the brochure rack, they had every timetable but for the lines that I use, though there were some brochures that I was interested in taking a look at such as some misconceived propaganda on ticket inspectors. I also took some timetables for other lines which I now realise that I’ll never use but what the heck they were there and easy to grab so will probably just decorate my spare change drawer or something. Sat around at the station admiring the new wavy that they are building, while twiddling my thumbs.

Finally the train arrived, fairly full with drunkards, probably a result of Oaks Day or something. Though I’d rather them on the train than on the road, I could have done without the noise. It did, however, turn out to be a form of free entertainment. With trains so well patronised and only every half hour, it denies all credibility to those in bureaucracy who say they’ll provide more train services when people use them.

Arrived at Box Hill and the escalator was stationary and it wasn’t evident until I was near the top that there was a barrier saying not to use the escalator. Not to mention that it was padlocked to the sides leaving everyone to climb over it. The fools, if you’re going to close an upward-escalator you put the barrier at the bottom or at both ends!

So it’s fair to say that I am p!%#ed off at Connex, they obviously know how to turn away passengers. Though not as much as I am pissed off with Bracks and the rest of his lazy government. They promised to do everything for public transport before they were elected in 1999 and haven’t done a thing.