Ani MollerZero content, 100% of the time

Well, sort of. This was done in Photoshop, not directly on the camera (not that you can do multiple exposures with digital, anyway!).

How To Do This For Noobs:

1. Set camera on tripod.
2. Lock all settings – shutter speed, aperture, focus, white balance.
3. Turn on timer, or if you’re lucky use your remote (I am definitely going to get one – makes taking delicate shots so much easier).
4. Do your little turn on the catwalk, multiple times, and try not to overlap your subject.
5. Open in Photoshop. This step is very hard.
6. Make each photo a layer.
7. Lasso the stuff you want to keep, i.e. you, select inverse and delete.
8. Erase edges if the layers don’t look the same.
9. Save, masturbate.

Thanks to Maracuja for making this a community project, original inspiration Limmy.

Nintendo released the latest version of the GameBoy in Europe last week, which has supposedly become the fastest selling console in the United Kingdom selling 87,000 units in the first two days.

When I first heard about the Nintendo DS and Sony’s PSP, I wasn’t really too keen on either. They both seem quite bulky and laden with features for a portable gaming machine, especially the PSP. Neither of them can really compare sizewise to the GBA:SP, and that’s always something to think about when buying a “portable” console. However, I happened to walk into an electronics store where they had a DS on display playing WarioWare Touched. I played for only about a minute and decided right then and there that I had to get one. It was just too awesome.

From Nintendo’s website:

Nintendo DS revolutionizes the way games are played. With dual screens and touch-screen technology, wireless communication and built-in PictoChat software you have the power to draw, write and send messages wirelessly.

Nintendo DS revolutionizes the way games are played. With dual screens and touch-screen technology, wireless communication and built-in PictoChat software you have the power to draw, write and send messages wirelessly.

The most obvious update to the GameBoy is the addition of a touch screen, which is the bottom of the two screens. Most of the games are played with a stylus, and it is kind of like playing games on a Palm Pilot, which sounds shit but is actually really fun. It’s like having a mouse on the end of your finger.

The DS is roughly about twice the size as the SP. It’s still fairly light though, but you certainly couldn’t carry it in your pocket. The DS is definitely a “portable” console for a backpack. Because of the size and weight, it does get a little heavy, especially after using the stylus for a while because you can only hold the console in one hand. You are also quite likely to get carpal tunnel from holding a teenie weenie stick of plastic for a few hours, which I may or may not have already done. But then again, you would also get the same thing from masturbating for a good hour or two and what’s more fun? Definitely the DS!

The second major update is the addition of wireless connectivity. A nice little app called Pictochat is built in, where you can join chat rooms with people within range, and draw, scribble, or type to each other. With wireless, you can also play 2-player games – much better than hooking up annoying cables. Cables are so 20th century. Some games also don’t require a game catridge per console, so all you do is download some game data via WiFi and connect that shit up.

There isn’t a huge range of games available at the moment due to it just being released, but there are quite a lot in development. Games worth buying that come with my personal recommendation are:

• Zoo Keeper: A cute little puzzle type game that is very similar to Bejeweled. Very addictive, fun 2-player, even though I am so all about total pwnage that no one will play with me anymore because I’m just too damn good.
• WarioWare Touched: This is really the flagship release for the DS. It makes great use of the stylus, with loads of crazy minigames. Your goals are to cut, drag, drop, chop, and blow your way into beating the game. Sadly, no 2-player for this one.
• Project Rub: This game is somewhat similar to WarioWare Touched, as in it has crazy minigames and makes great use of the stylus. However, Project Rub is less frantic and the games often involve more thinking. It also has a storyline, awesome graphics, and retardedly silly music. I love this game!

Initially I thought the DS was going to suck, but damn, I was wrong! Aside from the size factor, this console is great. Nintendo really got it right with this one. I just wonder how long before I develop a claw hand.

I’ve had this photo on my phone since January. Sadly, I’m not in New Zealand now!

My mum gave me a cookbook for my birthday, and I had some friends over on Friday night and decided to go all out and cook a Pad Thai with chicken, even though I generally don’t cook (that’s what the boy is for) and have never cooked a Thai dish in my life. Well, surprisingly enough, or not so surprising, it turned out a bit shit. The recipe was a bit bung (I love it when they miss ingredients) and I totally screwed up the rice noodles, but it still had some good flavour. So I tried again tonight, modified it, and created a superiorly delicious meal.

Ingredients

1 cup Thai jasmine rice, washed thoroughly
1 tsp cooking oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
1 large red chilli, finely chopped and deseeded
1 carrot, julienned
4 spring onions, sliced diagonally
2 eggs
2 tbps rice vinegar
3 tbps fish sauce
1 tbps fresh lime juice (about half a medium lime)
dash of soy sauce
2 tbps sugar
big handful of cilantro (coriander), chopped

Method

1. After washing the rice, put a thumb knuckle’s worth of water on top. Put on the stove on high and let boil until little holes appear in the rice and the water has mostly gone. Cover, turn town really low and cook for 15 minutes. Do not open the lid!
2. Cook the beaten eggs in a wok on a high heat to make a thinnish omelette. When cooked, take off the heat, cut into short strips and set aside.
3. Add cooking oil to the wok, and quickly saute the garlic.
4. Add the chicken and cook until browned.
5. Add the chilli, carrots, and spring onions, and stir fry for about a minute longer.
6. Add fish sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, egg strips, and cilantro. Stir thoroughly.
7. Give the rice a quick stir, and pat into a cup and tap the cup of rice onto a plate. Add cooked food, a bit of juice, and top with a sprig of cilantro.
8. ENJOY!

These are the only flowers out in Manchester at the moment. I’m going to come back with a real camera.

Acrylic tartan all the way. Rawr.

People think it’s weird when I tell them I’m from New Zealand and have never seen it snow. It’s like people think New Zealand is freezing and it snows year round and we live in igloos or something, even though New Zealand is approximately the same distance from the Equator as Rome.

I had three chances to see snow when I was living in New Zealand:

1. Once when I was five and it magically snowed in my backyard. I don’t remember.
2. Once when my parents and sister drove up to the Rimutaka Ranges summit to go for a walk in the snow. I didn’t go. I think I had too much homework. My sister brought me back a snowball in a plastic bag, which stayed in the freezer for two months.
3. The time I went skiing on Mt Ruapehu. The sky was blue the entire time I was there, it didn’t snow once, the temperature didn’t drop below about 2ºC, and the snow was icey and hard, not like real snow at all.

It’s been snowing a little bit on and off since I got back to Manchester, but never enough to make the ground white and never big snowy flakes. I was in Edinburgh last week for work and it snowed a lot. Big soft flakes. But sadly, I was on the train and only managed to fleetingly see snow on the beach as the train drove down the coastline. It was absolutely beautiful. However, this morning I was lucky enough to see real, proper snow, right here in Manchester. As I walked to work with my umbrella getting heavier and heavier, I listened to The Price of Milk soundtrack by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and a little tear came out of my eye. What a pussy.

Ring ring, four years ago called. It wants its hat back.