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Here's one for the real geeks: The Guild (web series)
May 1st, 2011 by michael chalk

You know Felicia Day, right? She’s one of the fledgling slayers in Season 7 ( – Buffy! – ) And she’s the laundromat girl in Joss Whedon’s Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog; as well as being a major player in the future dreamworld (?) of the Dollhouse apocalypse/epitaph episodes. Well it turns out she’s also created her own webTV drama known as “The Guild“, all about a set of hard-core gamers who live in their rooms, surgically attached to their gaming equipment. It’s funny. The show went from being a web series to being on DVD. Go Felicia. Anything is possible these days.

Her character is a room-bound nothing-but gamer, just like Marigold in Questionable Content. Interaction between members of this World of Warcraft team is only online. Until something goes horribly wrong (in episode 1).

Read the rest of this entry »

Life is packed full.. of good fortune and adventures
Apr 29th, 2010 by michael chalk

good luck to you !It’s always good to remember how incredibly lucky i am, living in a developed country, having a roof over my head, access to public transport, and some kind of employment, as well as amazing social support networks. Many people around the world don’t get this lucky.

There’s been so much going on in my life lately:

  • moved house back to Northcote which is very delightful, Lou and Anto have been putting heaps of energy into making a new dream house with a beautiful garden.. i’m struggling to deal with all my excess baggage newly out of storage (move on, baggage, move on);
  • went to Womadelaide music festival, an extremely exciting and wonderful trip involving South Australian salt beaches, Mama Kin, Ojos de Brujo, Nortec Collective from Mexico, and much more;
  • went to see Alice in Wonderland and loved it – except for the 3D;
  • riding my amazing new bike every day and getting so much enjoyment from it – so super fast i have to be really careful;
  • joined in Tim and Sam’s working bee sessions up at Elphinstone Manor, put up curtains in their bedroom, worked on a new carport with Tim, planted some trees and helped dig a long ditch for the plumbing pipes;
  • read Russell Banks “Dreaming up America”, a history of the USA through his experience of film;
  • went to see Lauren Simmonds’ exhibition down in Footscray, an intriguing paper-based installation;
  • saw Monsters of the Deep in 3D at the Comedy Festival – very funny;
  • joined the first chorus band of singers in recording with Emma Tonkin at Fairfield tafe studios;
  • catching up with Buffy season 8 in comic book form, and it is getting super scary,
  • plus all sorts of other things involving meditation and yoga.

But telling stories here on the blog.. haven’t had the follow-through lately. Too busy enjoying life, too nervous about writing in public, too stressed about moving house and finding new workplaces.

So there’s the overview.

Maybe i’ll come back with some detail, one day soon.

Creative Commons License photo credit: cloud_nine

life as a trekker .. on the stimulation train
May 14th, 2009 by michael chalk

Kirk VS Klingon

Last week Tim and i hit the city for an early movie ..

11am in the central place, the new beginning/ prequel version of star trek, with Sylar Guy as Spock.

bunch of new music 2listen2
Nov 26th, 2008 by michael chalk

Spent a Saturday last week indulging whims.

Started off watching films at the HRAAF festival (Human Rights) ..about disappearing islands in the Pacific (eg the Carteret Islands off Bougainville). One of Georgie’s films was featured.. her NGO Pacific Black Box got young people to make films about the local effects of climate change. (Mentioned this on my work blog.)

The session was called: “Reel Change”

Really good films that could have an impact. There was a woman from Tuvalu and a man from the MakePovertyHistory campaign. They held a forum and spoke after the film.

Anyway i felt i needed to make a change, and stimulate the economy ..
ok i just went therapy shopping. And came back with the latest in

Must Read Now.

Not only that but when i arrive home, i remember that there are many new CD’s in my bag from recent CD launches. eg

gray taylor was magnificent at the Qua / Mountains in Sky album launch, supported by the Stars of the Night Pikelet. i would have bought the Qua CD too but they’d run out.

i go now .. i Prepare 2Listen.

ooo.

dvd winter
Sep 12th, 2008 by michael chalk

Many people know that i’ve spent the entire winter holed up in bed watching dvd of television programs. Yes it’s true, i watched

  • the complete first season of Brothers and Sisters. Aaaagh.
  • the mighty boosh, season three
  • Torchwood, the Welsh spinoff from Doctor Who
  • a few episodes of the totally trashy American Gothic
  • Flight of the Conchords, again
  • re-runs of Firefly, Buffy ..

Brothers and Sisters had me hooked from the start. Such compelling-ly mad characters. It was fun in B&S watching Calista Flackheat and Rachel Griffiths’ lips compete for whose could be the most wobbly due to puffy injections.

Mighty Boosh is of course beyond compare.

.. and now i’ve found something new, something i hadn’t seen before .. Life on Mars. Ooh it’s good. Unfortunately the first time round, the Movie Reel gave me disks 1 and 4 in the same case .. so i’ve had to wait for the next instalment.

American Gothic was strange, because it was promising .. but so disappointingly Lame. There’s one sheriff in town who rules the place with his mysterious psychic powers – and regular murdering – but somehow he doesn’t use his powers against the main heroes. The heroes are irritatingly pathetic. Not recommended.

Big Breakfast, Buffy and Exquisite Lamb Kofta. Joy!
Aug 16th, 2008 by michael chalk

So in the great tradition of “cheese sandwichblogging .. here i am in a cafe in the city. I’ve just had the biggest and best big breakfast in the whole wide world, and i’m luxuriating in the free wireless net connection of blue point cafe, opposite the watch-house in Russell Street.

Yes, i’ve got the day off work, Tim doesn’t start his sergeant role for another couple of hours, and this is my first access to internet for non-work reasons in months.

Off we go to wander through the city and search the computer shops for gadgets. End up in a liquidator shop on Swanston St called “Arthur Daley’s Lock-up”.

Gloves for three dollars Yah!

Later that day

Tim’s gone to rehearsal, so i head across to Minotaur, to get the latest copies of Buffy Season 8, in comic book form. I can’t wait. Apparently Buffy meets Fray, the vampire slayer from the 24th century.

Last i heard, Buffy and Giles aren’t talking to each other; the tricky “Twilight” crowd are dividing Buffy from Willow, and Dawn is still a giant.

Joy and beauty in food

How lucky am i! Jude and Jody invite me over for a sumptuous lamb kofta experience, followed by dripping-down-your-front apple and strawberry strudel. Yum.

So we watch the US Dance show, and we agree that Katee and Joshua are the best. This piece, choreographed by Mia Michaels, made me gasp.

Then Jude pulls out the Will Ferrel classic, “Anchorman”. Talk about cheese!

Time to go home and devour Margaret Cho, the best comedian in the world.

Life is wonderful.

Margaret Cho – Assassin! (part one)

image and photo credits: licensed under creative commons at flickr:
Thanks very much: cowtools

music on the hill
May 19th, 2007 by michael chalk

Thank you Sasha and Paul for your great DJ story!! and Sam for sharing your funky videos.

the musical highlight for me would have to be the night of farewell for housemate Louise and gray. It was their party really, and they did some amazing setup, including candles down the alleyway, and a genuine earth-mapped pinyata, with roaming dinosaurs hanging off the hills hoist.

Lu made her room into a band room, with drum kit, amplifiers and all sorts of electronic connections to complement the Farfisa organ. She was so thrilled when people brought their instruments to play (but not so thrilled when Ben played so hard that he bled on her guitar).

Now there’s blood on my guitar you @**& .. and it’s all your fault ..

My favourite moment was in the back yard, under the summer tent, Renato on piano accordion, Kiri on the fiddle and Tarquin playing clarinet. Sublimey!

Rhiannon said at one point, “We were expecting the usual michael quiet evening, and we arrive to a Genuine Northcote Party.” People kept played until five am; but by then i was asleep, having watched the very final episode of Buffy downstairs with Sam and Booshi.

(They watched the whole seven series in around ten weeks! Now that’s an achievement.)

Now, post departure, the house on the hill at James street is still its usual mess of cables flying from room to room. Louise has moved out and headed over to San Francisco; she and gray started their adventure by seducing their way into the qantas lounge, ha ha ..

much love to youse all, michael

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