Bonus Video

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Crowdfund New Zealand

So I clearly like to give money for people to create things. But not a lot of NZ based projects are there. Then yesterday I found out about an Australian project related to Cthulhu on a site I didn't know about. An Australian based site. Then the obvious question occurred to me: are there New Zealand based crowd funding sites? Here the top ones (via Googling) I found.

Pozible: This is the Australian one I mentioned. There is a section there for Kiwi projects. Looks to be a fairly active site with lots on money flying around. [It says a lot about the economy that while I might be willing to fund US$100, I'm more hesitant over AU$100, because I know that will be more expensive.]

PledgeMe: Looks to be the most active of the NZ ones. Quite a few projects to do with film and music.

Gesture: Projects... but not much sign of money being given out.

Boosted: The Arts foundation has set up a site for crowdfunding, and that site is Boosted. I know this, because that's all the site has on it.

Angel Investment: This looks like real investment projects rather than crowdfunding. When projects say "minimum investment $1,000,000" you aren't talking to the crowd...

Since I only found out about these because I looked, I'm thinking this scene hasn't really gotten big in NZ yet, and some of these may yet shake out and fall over. But in the mean time... if you excuse me, looks like I have more projects to look at to maybe give money to...


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Overthinking a Phrase III

One phrase I hear a from time to time is "I spent the better part of an hour doing (something)."

Of course, the intention is that "I spent the majority of the hour doing (something)". But is 'the better part' really equal to 'the majority'?

Indeed, let me turn this around and ask "Was the best part of that hour spent doing (something)?" The reply will depend on what the person was going. Washing dishes? Possibly not. Eating chocolate? Possibly yes. So here the best part of the hour might be the activity you were doing, depending on the activity, but 'better part' does not indicate the quality of the activity.

But then consider how long those activities took. Washing dishes could take at least half an hour, depending on the number of dishes and how energetic you were. Eating chocolate would only take half an hour if it was a lot of chocolate. The point being that the majority of the hour was not spent doing (something) in both cases, so 'better part' does not necessarily mean the majority of the time either.

So the better part is not always the best part nor is it the most time consuming part.

And another flip to the point is "So the worst part of the hour was not doing (something)?" Even better if you aren't being general like I am.

"I just spent the better part of an hour driving here."
"So the worst part was actually arriving and seeing me?"
"Um..."

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DW: Cast of Doctor Who

I'm not sure if Orbit really is part of the title, but it certainly crops up in the listings for The Cast of Doctor Who. [Not sure why Amazon says this hasn't been released, I already got it from Book Depository...]

This is a graphic novel of the series. Moreover, of the leads of the series. Moreover, of the actors behind the leads of the series. Yes, this is a biography of the actors in comic form. I will say that the style is really spot on, possibly copied from actual photographs? Certainly photorealistic.

The biographies themselves... read more like cut and pastes from Wikipaedia. There's only a couple of pages, with recitations of major works they were in, and well known moments recounted. Nothing here to really spark new amazement and wonder.

But the kicker for this... read the blurb for this carefully. This graphic novel is just the biographies of William Hartnell, Tom Baker, Paul McGann and Matt Smith (with Matt not getting much more than a recap of his appearances to date). Also in the graphic novel form is an added Peter Cushing. But that's it. I'm not sure why Paul Salamof didn't include the other actors (we get a few panels of them), but for the nominal 'Cast of Doctor Who', this isn't much. Yes, it's cheap, but even so, I want more. (Perhaps he's planning more volumes??)

Unless you are a severe completist, easily pass this over.

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Yes, I Twit Now

If you've been to my site, you've probably seen the Twitter box off to the right (because it shows up really garishly. I'll probably change the appearance at some point). Yes, despite my earlier post about social media, I went ahead and signed up for Twitter. [But not Facebook. Never Facebook. And not just because employers want it.]

So, what exciting tweets will be coming from me? Perhaps a dog I saw? My latest trip to the supermarket? Perhaps how long it took me to walk up a flight of stairs? Or maybe I'll just retweet something someone else said which won't make any sense to anyone who isn't also reading that person's feed and will have already seen it in that case...

No, none of that. Although I do want twitter signage so I can follow other people's activities, my activities (that I will be twittering) will be limited to the sort of things you already see: Ie, here's some project I'm giving money to, or some campaign I'm backing. Hardly a thrill ride a minute, but it gives you a chance to go where I went and also spend some money. And it gives me a chance to promote them without coming up with an entire post, or have just a one liner post on my blog.

And, hey, already got two followers! One an auto follow for me following them, the other an adult star... um, what?

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Lock? What lock?

I was watching Lockpicking for the New Millennium... and you know what? Locks are a waste of time.

Now, fine, he's a master locksmith, and has tons of practice, but he blows throw locks in about ten seconds on average. Even more so, he makes it look simple, and it is fairly straight forward, that even I think I could open locks in seconds too!

Which makes me tempted to try to get some lockpicks. Which is totally doable. There are plenty of places overseas that will sell them and ship them to me. And, they aren't illegal to have in New Zealand.

They are illegal to carry around with intent to break in somewhere. So don't do that.

But, yeah, locks won't stop anyone competent. Hell, door chains and those hotel door lock things aren't a problem either. There was only one or two things that the guy said can't be lock picked! But not anything we deal with on a day to day basis...

Know all this... and sleep well!

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I've Been Watching...

Random disc from my (large) pile of DW DVDs... Paradise Towers! I'm not sure I've watched it since it first screened...

And yet, I remembered the story without issue. [Did I see it on the VHS release??] Possibly because of reading the books, the summaries, reviews of it, discussion, a certain comic series... This time, with the production notes, I found out all about the High Rise connection. Possibly also because I knew it fairly well, I thought it flowed well, not at all padded... and yet, when I think back, there's a lot of wandering around, getting captured by the Caretakers, meeting the Rezzies, encountering the Kangs over and over... how is it not padding? It's only until the last episode that actual plot occurs. We've spent three episodes on character building... which is the point, really. We get character building, a building sense of menace, a building of... the building, and then episode four its off and running. It's a good thing! (And Cheetah is woefully underused, although I like it.)

Extra-wise, the main people in this are relevant to the story, but neither of the two actual leads. Extending even to the '1980s girls' feature - what? Is no other story coming out with Nyssa, Tegan or Ace on it that we needed it to be on this disc when Mel's not in it?? The commentary gets a bit drony, and Stephen Wyatt sounds like a Rezzie at many points (in his voice).

I don't think this story rates high, generally, but it's still enjoyable.

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