Category: meta

Putting the twit into Twitter

You know gang, if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing stupidly. And so, whenever I have two and a half minutes to spare (insert your favourite “too much time on hands” joke here), I like to take this photo of me serving wussy milky drinks *on a boat* and make a new Twitter avatar.

I’m actually quite glad these don’t show up full size on Twitter itself. Ah har.

Chief Brody

A Bruckheimer production

Hemingway- the old man and the idiot

#redandblack for Canterbury

One bad Photoshop deserves another

Aero helmet for the Tour De France

Boyhood hero

All Whites at the Football world cup 2010

Best left

April 13, 2011

Mad, man

You, too, can Mad Men yourself

October 30, 2010
Brisbane and the Gold Coast

Queenslanders are nice, goddammit. Walking around Brisbane during the day with my son in his stroller, I couldn’t so much as approach a set of stairs without someone immediately stopping what they were doing and helping me out. People in cafes and shops were breezy and interested, in a way that only people with the twin luxuries of living in a lovely city and a lovely climate can be.

The most extreme politeness I saw, however, was the young man who was violently sick on the pavement in broad daylight then, instead of running away as quickly as he could, asked sheepishly at the nearest cafe for a bucket of water so he could clean it up. He did a great job.

Brisbane is hot, easy to get around and has beautiful buildings, old and new. It offered plenty to do for a two year old and his dad, including the museum, Southbank beach & fountains and hiring a bike with a child seat for a spin around the river paths. We enjoyed it a lot.

I’m often told our family beach stomping ground is turning into the Gold Coast. This is bullshit. The Gold Coast proper boasts miles and miles of shopping malls, theme parks, cafes, restaurants, sports clubs and golf courses, every one of which packed with men in shorts, jandals and impressive moustaches talking real estate, before climbing onto their Harley and roaring off very fast. The rule seems to be that if your vehicle doesn’t produce at least 120 dB, then in all likelihood, you’re a homo. Mate.

We stayed in the amusingly-named Labrador, and had a great time. You couldn’t walk anywhere without hitting three or four awesome kids’ playgrounds. Seaworld was a real highlight, as were the cafes conducting a price war on the ‘cheapest bacon and eggs’ front. No-one loses in a war like that.

We took a car to Byron Bay, a fantastic little place that gave the impression of being a laid back sleepy beach hideaway, but was actually packed to the gunnels with impressive shops and cafes. It was populated mainly with Canadian backpackers lazing on the beach swapping notes on where to score pot.

The day we went to Byron Bay, the storm the size of Australia was due to hit – but didn’t show up, leaving us to enjoy our day. Turns out that if you live in the lucky country, storms like this don’t bother turning your life into a cold, rainy, depressing mess for weeks on end like they do back home – they just pass harmlessly out to sea. They are lucky over there.

October 1, 2010
It’s good to be back, hello hello, etc

I left richardirvine.com in a bit of a undead limbo for a while there, thought I was going to do This Kind Of Thing at Chartered Trips, my tumblelog for a while.

Turns out tumblelogs are great, but they are no blog. I will continue to post shiny pictures over at CT, and blog sporadically here.

As you were.

April 4, 2010
Dog with overly made up, impersonal, ever-smiling fleas

Thereafter, TV One revisited, like a dog returning to its vomit, the Michael Jackson circus every night, for significant periods, for the next 11 nights.

Ian Bayly, I love your work.

July 19, 2009
On the road again

Here’s me on my way out of Telecom Wholesale – a wicked, wicked place to work.

No, my photoshopping skills are no better at work than at play 🙂

May 26, 2009
Quote

From an interview with Derek Powazek (who designed the WordPress theme for this site):

In many ways, I’m a member of the generation of writers that the web has created. Without the web, I’m not sure I would have ever written what I’ve written, or told the stories I’ve told.

This is true.

January 14, 2009
The new weapon

Canon G9. Seems weird taking a photo of a camera on your phone to upload to Flickr to put n your blog. Our grandparents fought in a WAR so we could do this, team.

Anyway.

Keep your eyes on my Flickr for improved quality soon.

December 18, 2008
Film personality test
Via this guy, via Kottke:

I will propose a new personality test where you reblog your favorite movie from each of these directors:
1. Joel Coen: No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, The Hudsucker Proxy, Miller’s Crossing, Raising Arizona, etc
2. Wes Anderson: The Darjeeling Limited, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, etc
3. Hal Ashby: Being There, Shampoo, Harold and Maude, etc
4. Kevin Smith: Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Dogma, Chasing Amy, Mallrats, Clerks, etc
5. Quentin Tarantino: Grindhouse, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, etc
6. Stanley Kubrick: 2001, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, Dr. Strangelove, Lolita, etc.
7. P.T. Anderson: Boogie Nights, Hard Eight, There Will Be Blood, Punch-Drunk Love, Magnolia.
8. Errol Morris: The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War, Mr. Death, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, Gates of Heaven, etc.
For me, it’s Raising Arizona, Royal Tennenbaums, ?, Clerks, Pulp Fiction, The Shining, Boogie Nights and ?.

Is there a pattern? Not really – Raising Arizona and Boogie Nights are in my top five movies eva, and I LOVED Clerks first time around and it’s v. hard to choose a favorite Kubrick. Ashby and Morris are obviously gaping holes in my filmic landscape, etc. Better watch that Harold and Maude torrent ASAP.
December 2, 2008
Clickity clack, proper typing’s back

Apple’s Extended II Keyboards and their ‘proper’ clicking keystrokes are back, thanks to Griffin’s iMate ABD – USB converter. Coveted by the likes of Daring Fireball‘s John Gruber, they feel very different to mushy, modern keyboards. Think more electric typewriter.

Good examples go on Ebay for big money, but I got one of the coveted model M3501s off Trademe for NZD$1, and a slightly cleaner one from Macnut, a ‘highly recommended A+++ would trade again’ trader if ever there was one, for NZD$12. It looks fantastic next to my iMac, it feels good to have this logo back.

It feels ‘right’, and the din suggests an air of effortless productivity. I’m missing the volume up and down keys and extra USB slot of my old keyboard, but it’s fully worth it. Next project – making a cardboard template for those keyboard shortcut guides.

Link: Low End Mac on the Extended II.

November 15, 2008

Category: meta

In many ways, I’m a member of the generation of writers that the web has created. Without the web, I’m not sure I would have ever written what I’ve written, or told the stories I’ve told.