Lars and the Real Girl

Went to movies today and saw Lars and the Real Girl. The film is about a single man (named Lars) who has trouble connecting with people, and in a delusional state orders a sex doll, and introduces the doll into his life believing she is a real person, much to the concern of his brother and sister-inlaw.

Over time the small community in which Lars live all meet 'Bianca', and in support of Lars and his ill state of mind, all go along with the delusion that she is a real person... much so in that Bianca is elected by the people onto the local school board, is given a job (as a model) at a local fashion store, and volunteers reading stories to sick children at the local hospital (with the assistance of a tape recorder and talking book).

Over the course of the film we learn of Lars deep emotional scars that prevent him from forming attachments to actual people. As Lars progresses and opens up to human touch and emotion, Bianca slowly dies, eventually allowing Lars to move onto new love.

This movie was funny, yet in some parts was sad, thinking that there may actually be people living under such delusions in real life.

Defiantly worth seeing - and is playing at the Nova in Carlton.

Destination Library

In my spare time I am currently working on a project, doing some web graphic/css design stuff for a Victorian Library working group, trying to encourage more people to consider joining the library industry.

One of the initiatives which this working group is launching is a wiki with information on the types of jobs available within the information management industry, profiles of people working in the field, and links to information on education providers to help you join the industry, since you will become so overwhelmingly impressed with libraries from reading all this stuff!

The wiki is being called "Destination Library", and the main theme the working group seems to be going for, which I am trying to carry through with in my designs is a 'new age, not old lady's in "cardigans, peals and sensible shoes" - Though the later I'm not too sure of, as if you go to any library conference or training, I estimate over 90% of attendees are wearing flat black shoes.

The image/title at the top of this post if one of my initial ideas, with a theme based around it taking shape. Once I have more developed I will post some samples and get your feedback on what works, and what sucks.

In the meantime... If you are now so interested in joining the information management industry you can access the Destination Library wiki, as it stands in its naked, undressed state at http://destinationlibrary.pbwiki.com

Health Kick

Over the past month I have gone on a bit of a health kick, and have taken up walking each day... My original route was across the Caroline Springs Blvd, then down to the lake, do two laps of the lake, then walk home again... this came in at around 6 -7 kms per walk, and was just pleasant not to leave me feeling too sore or exhausted.

Last week I decided to take the plunge and add running to the mix... I damn near nearly had a heart attack! I have continued to include the run in my regime, so I walk to the lake, run one lap of the lake (which is only 1.2 km) then walk home (no more second lap of the lake - just yet). In total my walk/run is now only 4.5km instead of 6.xkm. Even though its shorter now though, I find with the run included my heart rate seems to be going up substantially, and I feel more physically exhausted after... that's got to be a good thing right?

To continue my health kick, they are building a gym opposite my work, so I have already put in my expression of interest for membership there when it opens... so if I get into that I might actually start putting some meat on my bones!

In work news, the new Brimbank Libraries website is really starting to reach a mature stage... we will be asking for community and staff feedback on it very soon so we can start tweaking and putting the final touches on it. All feedback and announcements will be done through our project blog at http://development.brimbanklibraries.com/

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Came across this poster on the net... Not sure if it is a legit official poster... but looks like a good 'teaser poster'. If this is an official poster, hopefully it won't be too long until we get a teaser trailer.

Beware... it's coming soon....

April Fools Day

Just to clear one thing up for those of you that received an SMS from me yesterday just to let you know I was having a bad day, and had quit my job.... It was the 1st of April - and if you believed me "April Fools!".

On that note, thought I would also mention that Google have outdone themselves this year. Each year Google seem to have some really out there April Fools, and this year they went all out.

For their blogger site (blogger.com) they have announced a new blogging service that will order your blog posts not by date, but by what is most interesting. The new service also promised to highlight anything you say that it considers interesting, plus if you don't know what to blog about, there will be a "I'm feeling lucky" button, that will actually write an interesting blog post for you.

Google Calendar announced a new wake up call reminder service that will sms you a wake up call, and if you do not respond to that will use more drastic measure to awaken you.

On the general Google search site, they announced 2 things. First was gDay, which is a new revolutionary search and analysis algorithm that will display web pages and sites 'as they will look tomorrow'. This includes news sites and blogs, so you can see blog posts and news articles before they are even written.

The second major Google April fools, was the announcement that Google and Virgin have partnered to create Virgle... a new initiative that will shortly be setting up the first colony on Mars, which was looking for people to register for their place on the red planet.

With all these great services announced this year, I can't wait to see what Google will do next year!