What if...

...you started digging a hole in Penrith Library and went all the way through the planet's core to the oposite side of the globe. Where would you end up?

A while ago, when we visited the Greenwich Prime Meridian Line, I asked Graeme where you would end up if you dug a hole all the way through Earth, starting at Penrith. We agreed somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, probably in the middle of nowhere. This was pretty much right, but to prove the point, Graeme sent me this link to the site of a guy who has used google maps to answer this exact question...



OK, so it doesn't look that impressive at this level, but trust me, its cool. I KNOW I dug the hole from Penrith Library because I zoomed right in on it. As you can see from the picture below, I took this screenshot at the second level of zoom, rather than right in so you can see other things around the library.



It wasn't too hard really - I worked out roughly where Sydney would be, went west, hit the river and followed it til I found the Lakes and from there you can examine all of Penrith. Go play with it if you have some time. I'm off to find the opposite side of the world to where I'm sitting right now.

Read More......

Amazing Grace (2006, i think)

We went to a film preview tonight. And I don't mean a "the movie's not officially released until tomorrow but we got permission to show it today" type preview.

When we went to see MI3 last week, a guy approached us and asked if we'd like to see a free movie that hadn't been released yet. After confirming a few things with us (in the right age bracket, seen one or more of a list of similarish films, interested from the blurb, etc) he gave us a bit of paper with a number to call and confirm we would come. I rang the number, the guy asked for our genders and ages and gave me a confirmation number. We were told to be there by 6.30 and I'm glad we arrived at about 6.20 because we were close-ish to the front of the queue and got to pick decent seats in the PACKED cinema.

The film was called Amazing Grace and was great. There were no proper titles or credits and they warned us it might be a bit rough around the edges, but it really didn't affect our enjoyment at all. It is the story of William Wilberforce, the English MP who led the charge in the abolishment of the slave trade. It centres around parliament and all the stuff they have to go through to get the bill passed by a bunch of old jerks, I mean Lords, who have financial interests in the slave trade.

I just went and read some stuff from other people who've seen previews and they complained that it didn't show enough about the actual slaves and what they experienced, but I totally disagree. True, they showed very little of actual 'slaves', but they manage to powerfully convey the horrible conditions and circumstances the slaves were put through. And I liked that, even though the final outcome is somewhat obvious, you don't feel as though they're just heading for the prewritten conclusion and trying to give you a history lesson.

The acting was great - some very famous names in the cast list (including Dumbledore and Horatio Hornblower, I mean, Michael Gambon and Ioan Gruffudd) - and the settings and cinematography beautiful. So when it finally comes out, I recommend seeing it. Oh, and the title obviously comes from the song by John Newton, who features as a character almost as much as his song does.

Read More......

Grrrrrrrr

Job hunting sucks. I didn't get that job. Apparently the class I taught was great and the observers had very positive feedback about it, but I didn't get the job because I didn't promote myself well enough in the interview. The most frustrating thing is it showed me how great working at a good, high achieving, Christian school could be. So now I don't know what to do...

Read More......

Blue Man Group

We went and saw the Blue Man Group show last night and it was awesome. You know who the Blue Man Group is, right? They're a group of guys who wear dark clothes and paint their hands and heads blue. They've appeared in ads and stuff all over the world.

Their show is a one and a half hour spectacular. There's music, lights, audience interaction and participation, general craziness. It's performance art in a way, especially when they pour paint on their drums and make a mess while carrying a cool beat. The first four rows of the audience have to wear plastic ponchos to protect their clothes. Its so great yet so hard to describe. If you get the chance to see them, take it. We got our tickets half price, but it totally would have been worth the full £40. And thats a LOT of money to us Australians.

Read More......

Job Hunting

So I am looking for a job at the moment. The school year here runs September to July and a lot of schools are already hiring for September. This afternoon I got a call to go for an interview on Monday at a school that, from what I've seen so far, I would love to work at. That's good, right? Great, even. Problem is, an interview isn't just turning up and talking to a bunch of people. I assume I will have to do that, but I also have to teach a lesson. To a group of students I have never met, in an environment I am unfamiliar with, in a country in which I have never even entered a classroom before, in front of people who have the power to decide whether or not I get the job. I could definitely handle all of the first three if I didn't have to worry about that last thing. See, I HATE teaching in front of other teachers. My best lessons at my first student teacher position were when my useless supervising teacher was out of the room. During my second block, my supervising teacher went home sick one day and I was 'supervised' by a Maths teacher who just sat and marked work while I taught. That lesson rocked.

The fact is, I am not your run-of-the-mill teacher. I don't do things the way many other teachers do, which most students react positively to, but some other teachers don't (cf my first supervising teacher). Also, in my area, design/technology, there are many specialisations, and I am always afraid that I will say or do something wrong, or just different to how the other teacher would do it and they'll judge me for it. I know quite a lot about the different specialisations. I have a much broader knowledge than many other young teachers I have met. But you can't know everything, especially when you've only been doing this for like, a year...

So I have 3 days to prepare a one-hour lesson. I got an email with the details and all of its content is stuff I have done before with students in some form or another. I guess I just plan it how I would if it were my class and if they don't like it then too bad. I like to think I can have this attitude, and I will try my best to do so, but it will be hard. Because I do care what other people think. And if I get the job, I have to see these kids again, so I don't want to make a fool of myself.

Read More......

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

So, over the last week, we have managed to see both MI1 and MI2 on tv. This, of course, was the perfect excuse to go and see the third movie, especially for Graeme. I must say, even though Tom Cruise totally creeps me out, it was a good movie. Probably the best of the three.
The first one was all about the double cross and the points throughout the movie when you just go "huh? what just happened?". Also, as of last weekend when we watched it, it is VERY dated. The second movie, in typical John Woo style, is all about the big explosions and action. This third installment is a nice balance of the two. I refuse to credit this to Tom Cruise - I personally give all credit to JJ Abrams who took over when the project was failing and turned it into something.
I was going to give a brief breakdown of the plot, but can't be bothered - afterall, thats what imdb is for. I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman was great as the emotionless, scary bad guy and liked the new mission team. If only it wasn't Tom Cruise...

Read More......

My new toy

It was our 3rd wedding anniversary last week and Graeme bought me a button/badge maker. Its a very nice little machine that makes one and a quarter inch button badges quickly and easily. Of course, the first thing I made had to be HP related, so here are the first bunch I made. I obviously have heaps of the things and am only going to keep a couple for myself. Still not sure what I'm going to do with the rest.

Inside were about fifty badges, all of different colours, but all bearing the same letters: S.P.E.W.
'"Spew"?' said Harry, picking up a badge and looking at it. 'What's this about?'
'Not spew,' said Hermione impatiently. 'It's S - P - E - W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare.'

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, p 198

Read More......

Ella Enchanted (2004)

We have pay tv, including the Movies pack. We had pay tv back home too, but we didn't have the movies because they weren't worth the extra money. By the time G got the super-sports package, movies hardly cost anything more, so we got them. And we got sky+ which means you can record things to watch later - soon our harddrive will be full of movies I want to see...

Ella Enchanted is one of those modern classic fairytales. It is set in a fairly classical magical world of fairies, ogres, castles and giants, but then they have put modern twists (I loved the wooden stairs that moved like an escalator). It was predictable in the way that fairytales and young romantic comedies are, but I quite enjoyed it.

Read More......