Pat’s Point of View

I was recently reading a post regarding typewriter art, the grand-daddy of ASCII art. If you thought it was arduous in a word processor, imagine the patience you’d need to do that on a typewriter? That’s monk level dedication, either that or you’d die from liquid paper fumes.

This reminded me of my previous post on chalk art and some other unconventional media for art. Perhaps my most favourite is ‘fantasy art’: the hallmark or cheesy fantasy/action movies, heavy metal album covers and Sandman panel vans.

Continue reading ‘I don’t know if it’s art, but I like it’

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I can’t believe it. Jenn now has her own blog!

www.gurtle.com/thetoe/

You’re so cooool honey :)

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In a sudden (but not unexpected) turn of events, we have decided to abandon the search for a really small car as reported in previous posts. After looking at more vehicles and baby buggies (just planning ahead) we decided these smallest of cars won’t hold what we want over the next few years.

Indecisive? No! To borrow a naval term we’re simply bracketing our target :)

So we’re back looking for something bigger, but not too big. A mid-sized hatch. So we’re slap bang in the middle of the biggest and most competitive segment of the automotive market! We need to narrow it down a bit before I short-list it, but we’re talking Astra, Corolla, Pulsar territory. Used, since buying new was just a pipe dream.

Unlike my friend Martyn, I don’t think we’ll be looking at a Mini Cooper or MX5….bastard! :)

Stay tuned, looks like this is going to be a saga.

See what people are blogging about: small car, automotive

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I don’t know why, but there always seems to be a bunch of clothes outside the fire escape exit for the building I work in. It’s quicker than taking the lift, so I walk down the stairs, and outside the door, in the alleyway, there are some clothes…with plenty of undies (for you Brits I mean pants!).

Does someone keep losing their stuff? Has some local thief got the worst luck at picking the bag to snatch? Is it some vagrant’s wardrobe? It’s perplexing.

And I bet you’re wondering if I considered, even for a split second, if they would fit me. Despite the abundant selection I think I would have been disappointed. It’s a pity too, since for a while now there’s been a fetching pair of those Pat Rafter type grundies.

Anyway…

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As an avid car nut, and having a taste for the unusual, I have long had a fascination for unique automotive specimens. Something intrigues me about the way guys funk up cars that would normally be driven by people not part of the modified car scene. An analogy for this is that it’s a mums car, like a station wagon. Hence the phrase Pimp my mum’s ride, which combines the mum-ness and the name of a popular MTV series dedicated to sooping up old cars (Pimp my Ride). Continue reading ‘Pimp my mum’s ride’

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I have had a bit of a re-think regarding our first family car, a family truckster may not be on the cards now (and the fact that petrol prices are heading towards $2 per litre has played no small part in this decision).

I’m now thinking of small practical, economical runabout that will handle some small kid-like creatures, to be replaced/supplemented by something larger in a few years. Must be 4 or 5 door, manual (but maybe CVT makes sense) and fairly cheap, we might even buy a new one!

My short list includes:

• Toyota Yaris YR 5dr
  
• Ford Fiesta LX 5dr
• Hyundai Getz 5dr 1.4
• Holden Barina 5dr
• Mazda 2 Neo
• Honda Jazz GLi
• Suzuki Swift (Suzuki’s website is quite good by the way)

Notice there are no Frenchies in that list (Citroen, Peugeot, Renault) because they’re just too damn expensive in Australia.

ps: “Dad’s car” is still a few years down the track :)

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Last night I caught the 4 Corners report Junk History on ABC2 (what an excellent service that is too, by the way. Although it shows pretty much the same programs to regular ABC but time-shifted, it beats the rubbish excuses for digital channels on offer from the commercial stations) regarding the backlash against the book 1421: The year that China discovered the world by Gavin Menzies. I read this book a while ago and I must admit to buying into it, thinking it was quite convincing. Luckily, reputable historians aren’t so gullible, as it seems that the theory put forth by this book—that Chinese expeditions discovered and in some cases helped populate much of the unknown world in the 15th century—is complete rubbish, a fabrication of speculation and poor research. The significance of this theory may be lost on some of you, so here’s the gist: if it’s true, these expeditions sailed to almost every country on earth hundreds of years before European pioneers.

Scientists and scholars alike have now spoken up and rejected Menzies’ theories, after the book became a worldwide best-seller. Perhaps they are simply envious or maybe they’re protecting some great historical conspiracy (or should that be another great conspiracy since this book was published by the same people who brought us The Davinci Code) but I must admit I was slightly dubious when Menzies referred to evidence of a medieval Chinese stone navigational ‘pyramid’ in Penrith, near where I grew up. I ain’t seen no pyramids in Penrith, let me tell you.

I think the trick this author has used is to take various unexplained (and unrelated) facts and tied them together into what is a perfectly plausible story (to the layman, anyway). For example, the resemblance of certain north and south American ‘native’ peoples to the Chinese people. They look similar, nobody has ‘proved’ otherwise, so they must be related somehow! Never mind the archaeological evidence that points to the fact that people from Asia travelled to the Americas (on land, mind you) and became the native peoples, and just so happen to more closely resemble modern Chinese, in some areas.

Of course it could all just be a huge publicity stunt, since the author just keeps coming out with more and more outlandish theories (such as Chinese sailors visiting Melbourne in 800BC). If it is, it seems to be pretty successful :)

ps: isn’t it interesting how the book was titled 1421: The year China discovered America in the US, instead of 1421: The year China discovered the world. Of course, America is the world, according to Americans.

See what people are blogging about: 1421

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