Monday, October 25, 2004
Beers, Van Helsing and Earthquake Avoidance
My last few days in Australia were tops by all accounts. Buffet dinners, burgers at the Hard Rock Cafe (which is exactly what restaurants would be like in heaven, except more expensive), fish and chips on the beach at Burleigh and a few quiet beers in front of the telly while watching Van Helsing.
Let me say a few words about Van Helsing. In my humble opinion, it was poor. Not 'beggar child on the streets of Calcutta with torn clothing and holey shoes' poor. More like 'an overhyped movie with a couple of big-name actors that you expect a lot from, but in fact find that the coolest part of the movie is the closing credits' type of poor. In the films defense, the closing credits were pretty well done. The are a number of reasons why I didn't like the film, and Hugh Jackman and David Wenham's ridiculous accents are only minor ones. The story itself was devoid of merit, Frankenstein's monster redefined 'whiny, irritating bitch' and Van Helsing's magical crossbow with unlimited ammunition that came from nowhere infuriated me.
My last night in the country also involved a few slightly rowdier beers at Barsoma in the Valley. It was Troy, Franger and a bunch of other people's birthdays, and a small group had made it out to celebrate. (There was a house party component, but Kat and I didn't end up making it.)
Oh, somewhere in there I actually did some work too....
The night was generally pretty nice and cruisy, with a sprinkling of jeering laughter when Jezza managed to turn on his charm and both repulse and annoy our waitress, who turned out to be the manager's wife. It was worth it for the verbal dressing-down he recieved. After a number of Stellas and a deftly stolen Corona, Kat and I headed back to Lady E's place and crashed.
The next morning was an early one, and accompanied by tired groans. Despite the lethargy, we made it out to Brisbane International in time to stand in line behind a school group of Japanese students. Who were travelling in their school uniforms. On a Sunday. There are just some things about the Japanese I never will, and probably don't want to figure out.
The flight itself was relatively uneventful, but in order to annoy me, JAL felt the need to subject me to Van Helsing for a second time. When I am king, they shall be first against the wall. Radiohead style.
Anyway, I made it back to my flat, exhausted and crashed.
I woke in the morning, prepared for work and as I walked out the door my phone rang. It was my mother calling to see if I was OK. I asked why.
Turns out that Niigata prefecture (a good few hundred clicks from where I am) was the lucky recipient of one of the strongest earthquakes in recent Japanese history. With over twenty dead and 2000 injured (according to this morning's Japan Times) I am not inclined to argue.
Evidently, I survived - and (slightly dissapointingly) so did my workplace. Much to my surprise, I had actually done a fair amount of work while I was in Australia, and found myself with about 25 pages worth of notes to type up and compile into a report. It should be ready sometime tomorrow. Maybe.
Let me say a few words about Van Helsing. In my humble opinion, it was poor. Not 'beggar child on the streets of Calcutta with torn clothing and holey shoes' poor. More like 'an overhyped movie with a couple of big-name actors that you expect a lot from, but in fact find that the coolest part of the movie is the closing credits' type of poor. In the films defense, the closing credits were pretty well done. The are a number of reasons why I didn't like the film, and Hugh Jackman and David Wenham's ridiculous accents are only minor ones. The story itself was devoid of merit, Frankenstein's monster redefined 'whiny, irritating bitch' and Van Helsing's magical crossbow with unlimited ammunition that came from nowhere infuriated me.
My last night in the country also involved a few slightly rowdier beers at Barsoma in the Valley. It was Troy, Franger and a bunch of other people's birthdays, and a small group had made it out to celebrate. (There was a house party component, but Kat and I didn't end up making it.)
Oh, somewhere in there I actually did some work too....
The night was generally pretty nice and cruisy, with a sprinkling of jeering laughter when Jezza managed to turn on his charm and both repulse and annoy our waitress, who turned out to be the manager's wife. It was worth it for the verbal dressing-down he recieved. After a number of Stellas and a deftly stolen Corona, Kat and I headed back to Lady E's place and crashed.
The next morning was an early one, and accompanied by tired groans. Despite the lethargy, we made it out to Brisbane International in time to stand in line behind a school group of Japanese students. Who were travelling in their school uniforms. On a Sunday. There are just some things about the Japanese I never will, and probably don't want to figure out.
The flight itself was relatively uneventful, but in order to annoy me, JAL felt the need to subject me to Van Helsing for a second time. When I am king, they shall be first against the wall. Radiohead style.
Anyway, I made it back to my flat, exhausted and crashed.
I woke in the morning, prepared for work and as I walked out the door my phone rang. It was my mother calling to see if I was OK. I asked why.
Turns out that Niigata prefecture (a good few hundred clicks from where I am) was the lucky recipient of one of the strongest earthquakes in recent Japanese history. With over twenty dead and 2000 injured (according to this morning's Japan Times) I am not inclined to argue.
Evidently, I survived - and (slightly dissapointingly) so did my workplace. Much to my surprise, I had actually done a fair amount of work while I was in Australia, and found myself with about 25 pages worth of notes to type up and compile into a report. It should be ready sometime tomorrow. Maybe.
# posted by Nils @ 9:22 PM 
