46 posts tagged “sydney”
We don't have a car, so whenever we want to go somewhere where it's hard to get to with public transport, we rent a car. I then register for an E-Toll pass on the RTA site to handle any toll roads, which is a lot easier then trying to avoid them. So, again, a couple of weeks ago, we rented a car, got an e-tag, and then get the invoice. You pay extra for the photo matching, no sweat. Now this week we got another invoice from Connector Motorways, for using the Lane Cove Tunnel. I immediately thought I already had paid for it through my RTA E-Toll pass invoice. But it turns out that the particular transit through the tunnel wasn't on that invoice. It's Connector Motorways (which favours RoamExpress over RTA) that should have let RTA know that I passed there again for that instance (they did for two other occasions during that same weekend). Instead they charge me an extra 10$ administration fee... I feel this is a sham. And, I guess as most would do, I just payed up because that 10$ isn't worth spending more time on a phonecall or an email. But I sure do write this 10$ blogpost complaining about it!
We went to the world premiere of the new Star Trek movie at the Sydney Opera House yesterday (though there were screenings around the world the day before already - feel cheated out of my premiere). And it was brilliant, as a Star Trek movie.
There's a 2 week media blackout (no more), so you won't see that much just yet, but hey, I paid (a lot) for my tickets, and I didn't sign anything.
The story itself is a bit thin, but it was just a lot of fun to see young versions of the original characters again, Bones was great, Scotty (Simon Pegg - Spaced) was brilliant. I was also looking forward to Spock, as I thought he was brilliantly casted, but I found his "Spockness" timing a bit off, while the real Spock (yes, there is time travel involved) was spot on of course. Kirk was actually better than what I expected after watching the trailer. And Aussie Bana (unrecognisable) was badass, as were the ILM special effects.
JJ Abrams did a great job on reviving the Star Trek franchise, not an easy task. It remains to be seen what the legion of Trekkies think, but up till now all reviews seem to be positive (on Twitter for example). Getting a standing ovation at the end must have come as a big relief to him. I'm already looking forward to more adventures of the new crew.
The Opera House of course isn't a cinema, so they brought in the people who actually mixed the movie sounds, to do the sound in the main concert hall, and it was fabulous (Dolby, no THX). As was the projection (using a Barco projector, which, I like to point out, is a Belgian company!) JJ Abrams was present, as were most of the main characters (except Nimoy and Pegg unfortunately), who all got introduced at the beginning. At that point it was nice to sit on the second row. Once the movie started though, sitting 6 meters from the screen isn't practical. Paying a lot for tickets, I was hoping to get decent seats. It seems the sponsored seating (for contest winners or PR) were a lot better at the back, while I feel they should have been given these front rows. But I will definitely go watch it again (probably in a Gold Class cinema, that's one with plush seats and food).
For a Star Trek movie, I'd give it a 9 out of 10, seriously. Go watch it next month!
You don't agree? More reviews of peeps on the red carpet:
PS: "A new beginning..." yes, I know my scifi... 'nuff said
We're moving house in a couple of weeks. All in all signed, sealed, delivered in 4 days. Sure, it's not the cheapest place you can get. But it's a lovely place, water view, really close to the ferry, closer to my work, all internal mod-cons (except airco though). And the rental agency was really helpful and forthcoming, though we did tighten the screws on them real hard, as we weren't really desperate for another place (just a bit sick and tired of the noise around here at the current place, after 2.5 years). All in all pretty happy with how things worked out. You see all these doomsday scenarios around Sydney on TV, about 30 people showing up at a viewing, bidding up rent,... We just made an appointment for a viewing, liked what we saw, and negotiated over email. We didn't like the deal we were getting, said bugger that, and got a better deal: more money longer in our own pocket. Signed today, moving in two weeks.
We did see another place, cheaper but smaller and older, at the same day. But that was kinda crap (we thought). But again, available, and certainly livable.
Business Week has Mercer Consulting's annual roundup of the global cities with the best quality of life. Sydney comes in at 10, one down from last year. Melbourne's at 17, a tie with Luxembourg. Aukland is fifth, right after Vancouver at 4.
Brussels comes in at 14, which is, euh, quite unimaginable. Brussels isn't a pleasant city to visit, let alone live in.
It doesn't give any info on how they compiled the list.
Sydney Morning Herald already picked up Meraki earlier in the year. But now they also pick up Free Sydney Wireless, and interviewed yours truly…
“Frustrated by the NSW Government’s stalled free wi-fi project, a group of Facebookers have decided to start their own.”
“Free Sydney Wireless’ next recruiting drive will be in March at Barcamp, an informal web developers’ get-together. “We will try to set up a wireless net at Barcamp using Merakis, in the hope that it spurs more people to install their own Meraki.”
Read all at SMH.com.au
Vote for your favorite Australian geek, now!
There's only a couple of days left.
This is one of those little gems in the center of Sydney, where people just pass by without noticing while shopping in Pitt street: The State Theater. I haven't been inside yet myself, but the entrance itself is already pretty amazing. Kind of reminds me of the Tuchinsky theater in Amsterdam (but not the outside). Hope the rest of the interior is as amazing.
The Sydney Apple store looks right on track for an opening in March, as outlined by this SMH article last year.
Dress up for summer as Google Street View is coming to town! A Google branded car (although a pretty small label) has been spotted and snapped. Google Street View raises privacy concerns, but since all is happening out on the streets, in public, anyway, when would it be a privacy issue? It is a cool feature, for house hunters as well as tourists, and I bet some pretty interesting mash-ups will surface over time. Hopefully they don't stuff it up like with the Australia Day fly over though. And when will they fix the CBD satellite images anyway?
Let's hope it's going to be a hot summer...
There's a new, social weather site, cumul.us. How does that work? YOU predict the weather. "Cool" idea. Sign up and change the city to Sydney, because it's pretty lonely out there, and I might be wrong about the weather.
