Ever wondered whyFight Club,The Fast and the Furious andForgetting Sarah Marshall are so popular? Science may have the answer.

Getting an 'F" might no longer bear the sorry connotations of failure. A new study has just been published revealing that DVD titles starting with the letter "F …

Just finished a massive "Weekly Review", a time of going through all my notes, papers, flagged emails, desktop icons and processing them to see what they are and what I need to do about them. It's also a time for going through my reminder lists, getting them up-to-date and making …

I read Surprised by Joy the other night. Some reactions:

• We learn nothing at school. Lewis went to university knowing Greek, Latin, French, German and Italian. It sounds like he didn't learn many of the sciences, but I would happily swap my knowledge of chemistry to be able to read …

One day, perhaps a day far off, I would like to move to New Zealand and start my own town. I would call it Blough and I would be the Mayor of Blough.

Blough would be a special place because all eight correct pronunciations of its name would be correct …

I played another game of squash with Martin yesterday. Last week, I got the better of the encounter. This week, he wiped the floor with me.

Am very much looking forward to a rematch.

"Should" is the worst word in the English language. "Gubernatorial" is kind of bad, but reminds me of peanut butter and jam sandwiches. "Envisage" and "utilize" are both terrible, but at least I know what they're getting at. "Should" is plain ambiguous.

Consider, if you will, a thirsty self:

Self …

If you are ever in Hobart on a Monday evening, it's worth dropping into Onba (just opposite the Republic) for their Open Mic Night.

Onba opened up some time after I left Hobart. It's a smallish place that does tapas, cocktails, wine, beer, live music, up-market cafe meals, free(ish …

I'm going to spend the Labor Day long weekend away, with no laptop and my mobile switched off.

Looking forward to it so much.

I've just made some custard from scratch. The flavour is a lot better than my previous attempt, which had way too much vanilla and sugar. Sadly, I overcooked this batch, which means there's lots of little lumps. I could strain them out, but I don't have a strainer.

Next time …

Mikey threw down the gauntlet to his fellow David Allen devotees. Are we staying organized? What's the first habit to go? I replied to his post, but thought my reply was chunky enough to re-post here.

The time has come for me to confess although GTD has strongly influenced the …

Finished playing Portal last night. Gosh it was fun. I wish the newspaper included a daily Portal puzzle instead of those silly sudoku things. Doubt they could match the script though — those words have power.

Listening to Never Mind the Bollocks... for the second time ever. More music like this …

xkcd parodiesHouse of Leaves , proving that Randall Munroe sometimes just doesn't get it.

While I was in Hobart, I went to see Frank Brennan speak at a regular event called "Spirituality in the Pub". He was given the topic "Spirituality and Conscience", which he interpreted as "talk about the stuff in your book and interesting things that you've done", which was alright with …

Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
Woah. If you can, get the edition with the foreword by Dave Eggers.

Lud in the Mist, Hope Mirrlees
This charming little book lives in the same corner of Faerie as Tolkien's and Dunsany's works. The Other Realm touches on ours during moments of artistic …

This age groans under a surcharge of new books, that, though the many good ones lately published do much to balance the great swarms of ill, or at least needless ones; yet all men complain of the unnecessary charge and trouble many new books put them to: the truth of …

I'm officially giving up on Remember The Milk. I don't like it. It doesn't feel solid, the keyboard shortcuts are confusing, the animation bugs me and I can't really figure out how to get my 'system' in there.

It's really the feeling that gets to me. It somehow feels flaky …

iiNet have apparently hooked me up. What a pity I'm in Huonville.

I can imagine a librarian; call him Norris. Norris is sitting on a verandah, drinking an iced tea that's just started to sweat in the weekend sun. He's reading a book that re-interprets the reign of King Richard III in the light of a vampiric illness, but his eyes just …

I got this in the mail from iiNet.

Your payment has been processed.

If you are paying by direct debit, please allow up to 4 working days for this transaction to be approved by your bank.

Payment Date: Saturday 23 August 2008
Received from: Mr Jonathan Lange
Amount: \$109.00 …

I applied to iiNet for my Naked DSL line on July the 7th. I still don't have Internet access at home. I won't have it, they say, until next week or the week after.

I'll be in Hobart for two weeks from Wednesday afternoon, so I will have waited two …