Personal Space

-Dan Perjovschi

The Last Word in Watches

So... the new James Bond. Having been to see it on the weekend with Tess, I've got a couple or three observations.

Firstly, it's darker and more of a thinking man's Bond than most of its predecessors. Ok, so the thinking man's aspect might be taking it a bit far, but it did feel more like Sunday Times than News of the World. But not so far as the Guardian on Saturday (excessive use of big words and an inflated opinion of itself, and yet I still buy it. Especially if there is free DVD that I've not heard of and probably won't watch).

Secondly, ropes and testicles? Right... Was that in the original Ian Fleming novel?

Thirdly, it has some of the less subtle product placement I've seen movies. From the Sony Ericsson phones (I feel somewhat disappointed with my new SE K750i - it doesn't do half of the things Mr Bond's does), to Richard Branson in the metal detector followed by the Virgin planes landing, to the conversation on the train that went something like this:

Vesper: Nice Watch
Bond: Thanks
Vesper: Is that a Rolex?
Bond: No. It's an Omega.

It's almost as blatant as the Steve Martin/John Candy exchange in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, where Martin exchanges his Rolex and $17 for a cheap hotel room. Candy tries to follow suit....

Hotel Clerk: Do you have seventeen dollars and a nice watch?
Del: I've got two dollars... and a Casio.
Hotel Clerk: I'm afraid I'm going to have to say goodnight...

I could have modelled it

Last night Martin discovered that water was running down the side of the wall in the hall. On further inspection we noticed that the ceiling was very damp as well. We traced the water upstairs to discover that the source was the toilet beside my room. For a horrible moment we thought it was all coming from the pipe downstream of the u-bend but on closer inspection we realised that it was coming from just upstream of the cistern. On the bright side this means that I haven't effectively been urinating on the walls.

As an engineer who deals with flood modelling software it occurred to me that I could have built a computer model of the flood. But I had to call a management consultant to tell me how to fix it.

Nice Wheels

A jalopy from Solitaire, Namibia April 2002.

Monday, 10:37pm

(Happy Birthday, Jane)

So it's Monday night, and it could be worse. Today I've managed good catch ups with three good friends, Kirsty the kiwi in KL, Alberto the Italian in Milan and Meredy the Canuck in London, I've played touch rugby in the fog at the Oxford Rugby Club grounds, I've had managed to get in on my flatmate Suzie's fine dinner as well as drain her bottle of 2002 Costieres de Nimes - Cellier des Vestiges Romains (which this Palestine-when-it-comes-to-wine knows nothing more about other than it was good) and my copy of Joyeux Noel arrived today. There'll be a viewing of that on Wednesday night. I've been waiting for that since Greenbelt.

I feel better for the game of touch. Since cricket ran out a few months ago I've been feeling a bit lethargic, so getting a regular run around has been good, seeing as I hate running unless balls are involved. Some may be amused to hear that I even managed to be punched in the head tonight, by a fellow aotearoa-an, no less.

On the subject of Aotearoa, Public Address have added a community site, Public Address System to their website. It's a useful (and entertaining) addition to their board. At the very least it has allowed me to see the Good night Kiwi video from the days when TV stopped at night with it's disturbingly soothing music - 'TV has finished now, now go to bed'. Fellow Kiwis/Pukekos might enjoy it...

According to forecast fox, right now in Oxford we have freezing rain.