don't you hate it when...(redux)

man i have been struggling with this blog site since friday, on the occasion of my very second post. but the post would never appear in my blog. it would preview, edit, delete - it would do everything other than appear. drove me crazy. i gave it time to update. but the whole weekend passed. nothing. niks. read the faq's, read the knowledge base, read everything i could and tried everything suggested and then some. on monday i deleted the entire blog and reposted everything all over again. but still nothing. just that first darn post, tauntingly alone. stuff this. stuff blogging. stuff software. stuff blogger.com!

but, like picking at a hard crackly scab, i just couldn't keep away from this unresolved problem. i couldn't admit defeat. in fact i flatly refused! and then this morning - bing! - i saw this note about server problems dated saturday 18th:

We’re experiencing some problems with one of our databases. Some posts may not be saved, and other, saved posts, may not be visible in the app. Working on fixing this now…

Update, 12:44PM: This has been sorted out. We’re continuing to investigate the root cause and why our monitoring didn’t catch it sooner, but Blogger is back to functioning normally. Posts made from now on will be saved.

"experiencing some problems" - you don't say!

but then it did say it had been fixed, right? okay, i'll give it one more try. just one more. so I got down to it, deleted the blog and began rebuilding the entire blog from scratch with a whole new url and everything. and, well, it just worked!

back in the saddle again. sigh.

who knows what happen next...

mre
x

how's the serenity...

my christmas present to myself 2005 - a brand spanking new ultra white boat - the good ship "serenity" - complete with evinrude etec 90 two-stroke engine. i will get nowhere near the time i'd like to spend in her as she will stay in a boathouse down by the tyolumnqa river and i'll be miles away in joburg most of the time. but when we're together its bliss and peace - kinda like having a couch at the beach.

maiden voyage on the vaal river to test out the engine before the trip down to the coast. so smooth, so quiet...i think i'm going to love her!

serenity in her natural habitat on the tyolumnqa river. soon, i'm going to build a little house down there...

mre
x

watch different...

as an unabashed movie junkie i relish the ultra rare pleasure of watching a dvd/movie that neither i nor anyone i know has heard of before and being left wonderstruck and awed. here are four i would like to share with you, all very different but each one definitely at the high water mark of entertainment. so, from the ridiculous to the sublime:


hands on a hardbody
how rare it is to see something advertised as funny that actually is! something that cracks you up so much it hurts...and hurts... and hurts. well this one sure did. it was a dvd i bought on total impulse from amazon.com - the customer reviews were such unadulterated raves i just had to - and boy am i glad i did! video quality is awful but content is king here no question - 23 texans trying to win a nissan hardbody truck come together for some sleep deprivation and philosophising in one superb rotflyao comedy. hysterical!


point of order
good documentaries are another rare item, the genre polluted by the shallow crap you generally can't get away from on tv. so this was another unexpected gem that had me alternately rolling on the floor in hysterics and then inhaling in disbelief - 36 days of a u.s. senate hearing (that signalled the welcome demise of senator joe mccarthy) condensed into 97 riveting minutes. having seen another superb documentary by this director on dvd i just can't wait until his others are available. who would have thought a senate hearing could have been so compelling!



guizi lai le (devils on the doorstep)
i don't know quite how to describe this film, other than to simply say, wow! with its star as director it is clearly the work of a major artist and this a movie you really need to experience. even though i am a huge fan of non-hollywood fare, and especially far-eastern cinema, this still took me totally by surprise. hats off to hve (now swallowed up) for bumping it into life on dvd. stunning!


hana-bi (fireworks)
last one for now, also with the director as star but this time from japan, a movie that introduced me to someone who would one of my all time favourite filmmakers - bito takeshi kitano. what an incredible and unexpectedly deep experience this film was. one of the traits i most admire in filmmakers is the courage to keep still, to keep silent, and stimulate the thoughts and emotions of the viewer. awesome!

so if you'd like to stray from the straight and narrow of the hollywood burger machine those are four good forks to take. and if you're already wandering through the deep dark otherwoods, well, jump right in!

mre
x