Con Costumed Candid Mundanity

Photo by Del Far

Today I stumbled across the Flickr group 'Con Costumed Candid Mundanity'.



It features a wealth of photographic evidence that, while costumes can look awesome while inside a convention, they can be a little troublesome while ordering lunch or catching the bus home.

I love the internet.

Besides the obvious mirth on show, I choose to look upon many of these photos as artifacts of inspiration from a brighter world. Who wouldn't want to think they may run into Spidey and Cap on the way to the shops, grotesque muscles or no?

And trips to the deli would be a lot sunnier if everyone carried a gigantic paper mache samurai sword.

Let us live. And dream.

Hardcore LAN party equipment spotted.

Blogged from the hip

Driving Stories

This post by Stefan and Leen. Both writing, both awesome.

Leen's pictures from the passenger seat

As previously mentioned - to the exclusion of all else - we recently went on a road trip.

Unexpectedly, we did quite a bit of driving. Over the ten days we were out of town we were driving for about 40 hours - nine of those on the last day.

It was heavenly. Never before has our ensemble been blessed with a vehicle capable of such a journey. Our previous vehicles have seen us do some exciting 'sitting by the side of the road' and 'waiting for the rain to pass before trying to turn the key again', but we were eager for something different.

So, with a shiny new GPS suctioned to the windscreen, Bullet Bill up front and Gloomy Bear in the back, off we drove into the sunrise. Here's some of the funnest stuff we did with our seatbelts on.

We learned that it's spooky to drive down a deserted road lined with dead crows, until you realise they are only shredded tires. Then it's just weird.

When one wishes to see a wombat or kangaroo while driving, it is important to clarify that it should not have been killed by a previous motorist. Otherwise you get sad. Oh we saw a wallaby - that was cool cause when we stopped to looked at him he just stood still as a statue and we had a stare off - he got bored and left eventually, we also saw a couple of hares. And kookaburras (awesome).

We managed to make it seven days without getting beeped at. When we did finally get parped in Ballarat, it was from a nice man gently encouraging Stefan to stop heading the wrong way down a one way street. No-one was around to parp when Stefan later confused a road for a two lane highway and lazily drove down the wrong side of the street while singing along to Snoop and Timberlake's 'Signs'. 

We drove along a winding road that took us to the top of Mount Franklin (or Lalgambook as it was known by the Jajowurrong people). We have seen the volcano where your water comes from, and it is magnificent. (The water doesn't actually come from the top of the mountain but from a pump across the road.)

In Melbourne trams share the roads with cars. Due to this peculiarity they have invented the hook turn, wherein motorists turn right from the left of the road. It makes sense once explained to you by a local (thanks Verne), but not if you roll in to the middle of the city from interstate and wonder why everyone is honking and your neck veins are going all percussive.

Luke encapsulated the concept well: "If you want to turn right, go as left as possible, wait for the lights to change, and then step on it! Of course!"

We got lost exactly one time, which we wear as a badge of honour.

We drove all over the place. In Broken Hill, you're looking at a three hour drive to get anywhere else. In Victoria everything is 20 minutes away, and we indulged. We drove through all sorts of places and would find ourselves visiting one place at a time until we were accidently hundreds of kilometres away. Blackwood is beautiful, cold, and blessed with an amazing deli/bakery and a great looking cricket ground. Kyneton was described to us as "a bastard of a place" by Leen's dad - he wasn't wrong but we had to check it out anyway cause Kyneton Springs has that great Gauva flavoured mineral water. Mount Macedon is full of rich people. Trentham has a great place to eat called the Red Beard Cafe (that served milk straight from a cow) and a really pretty cemetary. Daylesford - and the whole State for that matter - smells great. (And daisies grow everywhere!!! - who planted them? No-one my friends, they just grow!)

After our first five hours on the road we turned off to see Dunolly (where Leen spent years 2 to 3 of her life) and suddenly the landscape changed. The air was moist and trees were everywhere. Glorious. 

Victoria boasts excellent signage, which exuded much more of a 'we give a toss' than New South Wales. NSW sucks boi! Highways were free of rubbish and 'Adopt a Highway' signs thanked those responsible. All places of interest were clearly marked. Other signs encouraged us to call a number and dob in any litterers we saw. We witnessed none, but really wanted to call that number. A majority of signage found alongside NSW country roads bears a yellow M and is printed on brown, crumpled paper.

Leen's cousins Glen and Patsy took us for an awesome Sunday drive and pointed out cool stuff like:

• A gully that was mined out for gold by hand in the 1850s
• The numerous places where her dad used to live, including in a tent near Blackwood where it would have been fuh-reezing
• and a house where an old lady his grandma used to visit lived. His grandmother was worried as no-one had seen this lady's husband in a while so she checked in on her and there was her husband... propped up in his armchair - dead! He had been for a while and she was to distraught to move him. Spooky. Victoria is perfect for spooky stories like that. 

Happy Halloween mother-truckers!

Self Referential Navel Gazing Blogcentric Oblivion.

Pictured above: Me last week. Photo courtesy of bracchetto.

Well, the holiday was magnificent. More will be said about it in time, methinks.

I really dug the dynamic of posting photos from the road, made possible by my ridiculous phone.

I've added the 'gone fishin'' tag to all the holiday posts for easy discovery. As always, tags are available for the facilitation of browsing and time wastage at the bottom right of the blog.

I've also created the 'from the hip' tag so I can continue to upload any damn thing that takes my interest for more than three seconds. I will endevour to use it in addition to the usual postings, rather than as a crutch.

You know, after today.

Teaches of peaches

Blogged from the hip

Ack!

Well, no good holiday goes unpunished.

Today marks the cacophonous return of my regular existence, with a big ol' pile of work along for the ride.

But I did stumble across something of interest today.

If you use the internet in Australia, you need to read this right now.

Poorly lit pig sends love

Blog shall resume along with my usual life tomorrow

Headed home

Blogged from the road

Good sangreia, good friends

Blogged from the road

Alright then

Blogged from the road

City livin'

This photo is remarkable to myself, and everyone else who rarely visits
a metropolis of any size. Everyone else can feel free to move along.

Blogged from the road

Important words

Blogged from the road

Public art II

Blogged from the road

Chocolate

Blogged from the road

Comics discovery obliterates hours

Blogged from the road

In it for the food

Blogged from the road

Bliss

Drive through a forest with your significant other. Play this:



I tried it out, it's bliss.

Public art

Blogged from the road

Optimus says...

And now, another message from Optimus Prime...

DON'T VOTE PALIN.

SHE WILL KILL ALL YOUR BEARS.

Boy from desert out of element

Blogged from the road

Castlemaine has cool things

Blogged from the road

Worlds Collide!

At this moment I'm no doubt reclining in a gold plated swimming pool, staring out onto a deck made of highly-polished glass while Jawas serve me sweet drinks that fizzle and spit. Soon I will walk through the rainforest, befriending bears that, later in the holiday, will defend me from would-be pickpockets without me even knowing. They won't mention their prescene, although I'll hear an approving growl as I round a corner and head into a restaurant made of sunshine, but they'll be happy.

So I wrote this before I went away, but I think I've got a solid handle on what I'm likely up to at this moment.

Presented above is a man I left behind, the sentinel that guards my desk at work; Doctor Octopus: Slayer of Stormtroopers and keeper of the Bob-omb!

Despite the poor quality photography and the fact he clearly isn't canon, he does elicit at least one question?

Most awesome thing ever?

or

Most awesome thing ever?

Who has two thumbs and has seen things?

Blogged from the road

I like to waste money

In the days before my holiday I gathered up my substantial collection of Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures, and unceremoniously threw the unused models and cards in a big box.

Yeah, I thought you'd be interested.

/pregenerated, healf-hearted holiday blog filler