The Waterloo Gala

A couple of weekends back we attended a school fund raiser that I didn’t get a chance to really write about yet.  But as I look back on it, I see more and more that this was just too blog worthy not to catch up on.

 

It was billed as the “Waterloo Gala” (pronounced GAL-ah and *not* GAY-lah.)  Everyone thought gay-la was incredibly funny when I said it.  They advertised for it about month in advance and needless to say all the kids were super excited about it.

 

The actual event had all the things I expected.  There were fun games, lots and lots of lollies (candy), bake sales, plant sales and art booths.  They had 4 or 5 different kinds of raffles.  The most hilarious being the “Pony Plop” where a pony is penned in a small field of grass that has been laid out with a numeric grid… and can you guess? They sell the numbers on the grid and where ever the pony does his business the holder of that number gets a prize.  If that image was not funny enough, then image a small crowd gasping in anticipation when the pony lifted his tail and then the groan of disappointment when it turns out to be “only a pee.”  We unfortunately didn’t win.

 

What was really blog-worthy though was the stuff I did not expect.  Like the “Bottle Lottery” which was rather like a cake walk only you won booze.  This is right on the school grounds remember.  You should have seen the hoots and hollers when the adults won booze.  The Bottle Lottery sold out in less than an hour.

 

Next on the booze tour was the full on beer tent.  Yes, you read that right.  In the middle of the school yard was the adult beer tent with 4 different bottled beers and a wide selection of RTD’s (Ready To Drink beverages).  RTD’s are like cans of bourbon and coke, rum and coke, vodka and juice, etc.  All of them pre-made, 12 oz size, and *significantly* stronger than beer.  The beer tent managed to keep selling throughout the event (from about 6 PM to 9 PM).  Thankfully we only live 2 short walking blocks from the school.

 

Last we have my favourite… the water balloon catapult.  At first glance you may ask how this could possibly compare with the schoolyard beer tent, but imagine this… The catapult has about 90’ range.  The target is a non-descript box located about 90’ away from the catapult.  The target is not marked and in the middle of the event—neatly bisecting the attraction side from the beer tent side.  Now picture about half a dozen partially drunk parents wandering in to the field of fire whilst their kids take aim.  Peg the drunken parent at 30 yards with the water balloon catapult might be the single biggest untapped fund raiser event in the world.

 

All told the event raised $30,000.  How much did your school raise last event?

 

Gabe had a great time.  I'm fairly sure he ate his body weight in candy.  He also swung a sledge hammer on an old beater car a few times.  He ran around like crazy.  Amy and I enjoyed the beer tent and successfully avoided the catapult hazard.  Our friend Lisa ran the Plant Sale which turned out to be not nearly as popular as the Bottle Lottery.  We got a great deal on plants near the end of the event.  Who needs a beerfest? Show me the way to the next school Gala!

Watchmen

I won't write a long review--I'm sure you can find plenty from better critics.  But here's my quick thoughts.

It is a good movie.  You have to work (a little) to keep up with it and ponder the themes.  I'll give you a bit of a head start just so you can think about it a little before you go see it.  The movie is set in 1985 in a version of history where the USA won the Vietnam War and Nixon was catapulted to popularity--elected to 3 terms.  But the world is now more corrupt, more on edge.  The Cold War is escalating, the Soviet Block is not crumbling.  If you're over 30, then much of this may sound bizarre and intriguing.  But if you're 20 ish then you might ask what all the fuss is about.  The story definitely has a target age of relevance

The notion that this is a superhero movie is actually not much of a factor to the story.  The Watchmen are just easier to pick out from other characters, but they contain all the same flaws (or worse) of the world they live in.

I liked this movie because it was interesting to consider all these 'what if" possibilities.  The story asks some really hard questions and I found myself left wondering what my answers really would be.  Any movie that keeps me thinking is good in my book.

BUT... this is not a happy movie.  It is NOT a kid movie in any fashion.  This is a nudge or two beyond simple violence and sex which it has plenty of.  It may be particularly hard for women to watch.  I don't mean that in a sexist "women can't hack it" way, but the movie's themes are quite sexist.  The story's treatment of women is harsh.  In my opinion this is over done, but there is no denying that the movie makes its point. 

In the end (no spoilers), the movie leaves only questions.  In true comic book style the story ends, but is not quite resolved.  This movie will probably occupy your thoughts for a while.  It might spark some heated spousal discussion.  It is designed to provoke by forcing to light ugly situations and how one might deal with them.  The only answers are gray. 

 

 

A good picture this morning

I got this shot this morning on the walk in to work.  It came out super well.  Of course I don't have to be much of a photographer to get pictures of sights like this.  I was just in the right place at the right time.

I have more shots of this ship in my Harbor Ships photo album.

Cheers!

 

A good picture this morning

I got this shot this morning on the walk in to work.  It came out super well.  Of course I don't have to be much of a photographer to get pictures of sights like this.  I was just in the right place at the right time.

I have more shots of this ship in my Harbor Ships photo album.

Cheers!

 

Le Masquerade: The Boat

That panel with the name of the boat opens to reveal a small speed boat/launch/life boat.

We had a sexy visitor to Wellington Harbour this week. A sleek luxury yaught of the first order, Le Masquerade. This looks like a $20 million boat, at least. I stopped by on my walk past to snap some shots. She is privately owned by some UK industrialist. The paper says it takes $5 million dollars a year to keep the boat maintained.

Moods of the Bay

I've said before that the bay has a different look every day.  While many "themes" repeat each day is just a bit different.  Then you have days like this which stand out as unique.

 

 

 

 

But then there days like today which are simply perfect, but my meager camera skills can not capture it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other moods I'd like to show you I can't... These are the days when the wind and rain scrub the grass from the ground and everyone can only struggle head down in to the gales.

But today the weather is fine.  The sunny harbour picture is from today.  I walked in at high tide and the waves had stopped.  The water was still and sparkling.  I think I saw some penguins on the ride in, but they are hard to spot at a distance.  If they were not penguins then we had a lot of shags out swimming this morning.  A great day!

On Kindle, Twitters, and Publishing

Some of you may recall that Oprah did a show back in October featuring the Kindle device from Amazon.  I must admit that I missed it.  For those of you that don't watch Oprah or know what the Kindle is (pictured), the Kindle is an electronic widget that downloads books on to a high contrast large display screen.  It's wireless (uses the Sprint network as a matter of fact) and can store hundreds of titles--each purchased off Amazon's website for a fee from a few dollars to $20 USD.

Why is this blog-worthy?  Well it is a demonstration of a new publishing era.  If you fancy yourself an amateur author (all you NaNoWriMo's) then all you need to do nowadays is convert your masterpiece to a PDF file and post it for sale.  Amazon will even take your book (for a piece of the profit).  Other sites exist to post your books like...

http://www.smashwords.com

http://www.fictionwise.com

...and I'm sure many others.  This is pretty new business and probably a good time to be looking at it.

Publishing in this way has a slim fraction of the overhead costs of a paper printing.  Authors can get a much larger portion of the purchase price.  Digital media will never completely replace the book, but it is a nice way to dabble and take some risks with new authors.

There are other devices as well.  The Kindle2 is probably the coolest, but it only works in North America--due to that wireless dependence on Sprint.  But other versions of readers sync to your computer and therefore can store all the same content for travel--you just won't be able to download from the airport.  Unless, that is, you travel with a laptop.  Clunky, but cheaper.  The Kindle2 comes in at $359 USD.  That's a chunk for most folks--even in America.  But readers will likely come down.  Certainly if readership picks up (and thus purchase revenue increases) you'll see more subsidized devices--where Amazon give the device away cheaper to facilitate more eBook sales.

Stephen Fry is a UK comedian and actor.  While you might remember him from the blockbuster film "V is for Vendetta" (also starring Natalie Portman), he is more recently famous for being the biggest user of Twitter on the planet.  Stephen has over 250,000 followers on the trendy new application.  Twitter lets you type out a short 160 character message that will be broadcast to everyone that choses to follow you.  These messages are usually delivered to your mobile phone via SMS (thus the 160 character limit).  Why is Stephen important to this story?  Well Stephen has recently purchased a Kindle while on holiday in America.  He's broadcasting his positive experiences with the device to all 250,000 of his followers.  While this is only a small fraction of Oprah's viewership, it is a more mobile device oriented crowd.  There is a powerful surge of marketing behind the Kindle now.  Digital publishing is going to increase in the next few years.  Will it hold out as a lasting media? Who knows?  But certainly the short-term outlook is all positive growth.