I've caught the flu or something off Dad, who must have caught it from Ethan. My throat feels like it's been scrubbed with steel wool and my head feels like it's trapped under a buckwheat husk pillow. I'm starting to sound like Kiefer Sutherland's "injured Jack Bauer" voice (aka "I've swallowed a bag of asbestos"). There's no one else around to hear it though, as I've got the place to myself this weekend.

I've updated the Previous Garbage page with a new and more compact format. At snails' pace I'm putting together the look of the new version, which isn't very different from this version except for the menu and the way the content is stored behind the scenes. I'm making it easier to update so that I'll be inclined to add new content more frequently than I have in recent months.

As an addition, the work I'm doing on the Twilight Zone is now part of the pinball restoration journal (which will get a new title graphic tomorrow) and when I get time I'll split it into monthly display pages so that the journal doesn't have to be viewed as a single mammoth stream-of-pinballness.

I've been awake too long to be making any sense, 'night!

A few days ago I purchased an album as downloadable MP3 files, the first time I've purchased an album that way. It's good to see artists supporting the idea and for me it's of greater convenience than having to pay more for a CD (plus shipping to Australia) only to have to wait for it to arrive and then rip to MP3 anyway.

The album is Memory Hole by Kevin Moore and is an interesting blend of quotations and news soundbites from far-right and far-left activists on such subjects as religion, race and war, infused in flowing soundscapes with hints of such varied bands as OSI and The Who. It's an odd but rewarding listen, funny and serious at the same time. If Michael Moore created a music album, it'd probably sound like Memory Hole.

Gordon and Mary invited me around to their place tonight for dinner as a belated 21st celebration. My birthday this year seems to have spanned several months... it's surreal. They're great people and great company and I don't know what they did with the steak, but it tasted fantastic. Think Cypher's steak in The Matrix - that good! :D~

I've watched a lot of good movies lately including the following: Lost in Translation, Bruce Almighty, Le Fate Ignoranti, Finding Nemo, Tomb Raider 2, Zoolander, Whale Rider, Ring (Ringu - original Japanese version that The Ring was based on), Kangaroo Jack, Species and Species 2. Several of them I thought would be lame, but they were all very enjoyable. Species and Species 2... well. Lost in Translation was particularly impressive, as was, surprisingly, Finding Nemo and Whale Rider. I also found time late at night to check out a few old and not so old classics like Encino Man, Meet Joe Black, Thir13en Ghosts, Equilibrium, Enter the Dragon, Total Recall, Wonderful Days, The Game, Vanilla Sky and Tuck Everlasting. This would explain why I'm so tired.

On the list of movies to see are Secret Window and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the latter of which is directed and co-written by Michel Gondry, one of my favourite music video directors. As an example of how much stupidity, misinformation and uninformed opinion the people on ABC TV's Critical Mass can spout, this week Bill Henson, Jonathan Biggins, Kate Durham and Stephen Crittenden all pronounced Michel Gondry's name as Michelle Gondry and believed him to be female. What are they using as their information source, Australian "pop-lifestyle" magazines? They had some interesting things to say about Caravaggio's work, too.

Moving right along, bed is on the agenda. 'night!

The Twilight Zone arrived and everything went pretty smoothly. There was a problem where it was constantly firing a solenoid at startup and would refuse to start a game because of a problem with the Clock's opto sensors but I've bypassed that for now, since I need a few parts (which are on their way here) to fix the Clock. Everything else is working welll though and I've already hit the 2 billion point mark ;)

The bridge diverter wire needed to be replaced and dad helped make a new one \o/ I've also cleaned out the under-playfield troughs that were black with grit and are now back to their transparent cleanliness.

Also, my Cold Heat soldering iron arrived. It's a soldering iron that works purely on AA batteries and is cordless, using some special material to heat the tip to 800 F within a second and cool down again very quickly. I've tried it and it seems to work well on some things, but not so well on others. Still, it's usually easier than dragging ou the other soldering iron and then tripping over the cord numerous times while using it.

In other news, I also recently received my upgrade to Adobe Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS and InDesign CS - which is awesome! Their new features were worth the upgrade price and they're going to really expand what I can do creatively. Already with Illustrator I'm finding many new ways to create things. Instead of my first thought being "is this possible", it's now "how do I want this to look".

I'm still working on a few personal artworks when I get the time and I'm waiting for Photoshop to render something at the moment on a very large image. It's 4:20 and I should be in bed but once the creative juices start flowing, you can't ignore them and go to bed to sleep. *40 minutes later* OK, I really should go to bed, plus, it's getting cold out here!

More updates soon, plus a new look for the site (finally).