http://lumaki.com Lucas Martin-King's personal website and blog... Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:40:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As you may well have heard recently, eBay plans to allow only "secure" methods of payment (actually only PayPal) for auctions in Australia as of June 17. This smacks of flagrant arrogance by eBay, and is also a threat our to consumer rights. PayPal is owned by eBay, and this decision ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2008/05/arrogance-of-ebay/ We're lucky enough to do all sorts of interesting things when studying Architecture. For design studio at the moment, we're doing "Culture", a series of tasks organised by Peter Corrigan. So, in roughly 500 words, a (far too pithy) critique/analysis of The Quiet American: Set during final years of the French ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2008/04/the-quiet-american-a-pithy-critiqueanalysis/ If you get Australia's current population: And divide it by: You get the idea that perhaps almost 10% (actually ~9.37%) of Australia is using facebook! Obviously this isn't super-accurate as there could be people who choose to associate with other countries instead (by joining a different country network) or not joining a regional ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2008/04/10-of-australia-uses-facebook/ This is a emotionally gruelling but ultimately well made film, about the worst things that could possibly go wrong, following a single act of "evil." It mildly bemuses me that this film is rated "R" in America -- sure it contains drug use, perky breasts and a fair amount of graphic ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2008/03/before-the-devil-knows-youre-dead/ Well. I know, I know, English teachers say never to begin with "well", but I will. "Well" has a nice feeling to it, like you're about to begin a tale of sorts. Before I start my story/semi-rant, I'd like to point out that I do speak in generalisations. Not all of ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2008/03/looking-back-at-china/ Well I'm finally back again. I now have a job. Granted, it doesn't pay very well, the hours are long, there aren't really any breaks to speak of... but at least I have a job (and free coffee and quite nice food!). If you ever happen across Stuzzi (on High ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2008/02/year-of-rats/ So. You're traveling and decided to do it on the cheap, and head to a Youth Hostel. It's actually okay: hot showers, clean beds and (sometimes) warmed/cooled rooms. All for 15 yuan (insert alternate currency here) a night for a dorm room. But then... you get... a SNORER! Not a light ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/11/sleeping-with-others-and-lack-thereof/ Well, it's been a while since you've seen anything from lumaki.com. :-/ This is due to the Homingnetwork.com (really only one guy running the show, apparently) becoming unfortunately bankrupt (after a few years of no apparent problems). Their hosting provider revoked their services, and thus all of Homingnetwork's customers lost their ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/11/alive-again/ Well, after having a bit of spare time, and a decent computer in front of me, I got around to releasing a new version of this old friend. :-) For the uninitiated, C-Dogs is an arcade/action shoot-em-up, supporting solo, cooperative and death-match play. Originally for coded for real-mode DOS by Ronny ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/07/c-dogs-sdl-40-released/ Well this is the last week of teaching in Sheyang High School, so I thought I’d try and give a good overview of my experiences of the past four months in this place. Sheyang itself Sheyang is a small town (well technically Hede in Sheyang County) of around 100,000 people, an hour ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/06/zaijian-sheyang/ You must visit this mountain before you die. Seriously. [fa:p:a=abroad,id=521733406,s=m,l=p] As you can probably see, it was fairly cloudy and foggy. The result was an mysterious, ethereal and overall stunning atmosphere. Alas, it also made taking photos quite difficult with my fairly basic camera! [fa:p:a=abroad,id=521762067,j=l,s=s,l=p] The ascent wasn't too difficult -- about two and ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/05/huang-shan/ Well I'm most definitely chuffed: C-Dogs SDL has finally made its way into the Gentoo Portage tree! Which is cool after waiting 8 months... hehe... So if you're using Gentoo, and wish to test it out, simply: $ echo "games-arcade/cdogs-sdl *-" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords $ emerge games-arcade/cdogs-sdl $ cdogs For more details, check out the Gentoo Online ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/05/cdogs-in-portage/ Nanjing Nanjing ( lit. 'south capital' ) is certainly one of the more beautiful cities in China -- trees line virtually every main road, and the city itself is bordered by mountains, the Yangtze river and the old city walls. There is a certain charm to the place which is not ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/05/nanjing-and-zhenjiang/ Today Joe and I were informed that we have two days off due to the classes we teach having an important exam (and thus needing time to prepare, etc)... We made this short film: Windows Movie Maker (it's decent enough to do what we want, but can anyone recommend a better ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/04/the-wang-movie/ The following is a recount of my experiences in Beijing: Beijing... North capital...! One really huge city, with incredible traffic chaos -- nobody really follows the traffic lights or signs (however a policeman in the center of a huge intersection wields a degree of authority).... It's every car, bike and pedestrian ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/03/adventures-in-beijing/ I shall recount my first few days in my next post, but for the moment here is today and yesterday: Saturday -- Chinese New Years Eve Got up at 4am. People still in the streets of Beijing. Went to airport. Plane delayed by fog. Asked for how long: they replied "20 minutes". ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/02/xing-nian-kuai-le/ I arrived in Beijing at about 7am this morning. It was cold, but definitely bearable. The airport wasn't bad (we arrived in the 2nd extension as the 3rd is not completed yet), and there was surprisingly little red tape (compared to Australia). The city is huge! The traffic is pretty much ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/02/ni-hao/ Just arrived in Changi Airport, Singapore. It's quite humid -- even inside. Thank goodness I don't have to go outside! :-P The airport is huge! Think multiple terminals and multiple levels. There are trains between them. And inside each terminal are horizontal "escalators" which transport lazy (or tired) people like me... ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/02/now-in-changi/ This one is just a quick status update! China Well, I'm heading off on the 13th! The flight is to Beijing via Singapore. I've decided I shall try and visit Tibet at some point during my travels, which should be very rewarding. The general travel plan is to follow the east coast, around ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/02/a-somewhat-ity-bity-posty/ I consider myself extremely lucky getting my first university preference (Archi @ RMIT) :) Now for year off, then 5 of blood, sweat and tears... :-o http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/01/i-got-into-architecture/ Really, Oscar Wilde was right. To paraphrase: Fashion is so hideous, it needs to be changed every 6 months. Womens fashion in particular, deserves special attention. Latest aesthetic trangressions: "Butterfly" Sunglasses (you have a face behind those things!?!) Maternity-type tops/dresses (they make you look fatter than you already are) Coles and ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/01/fashion-sucks/ Yes. Mum found this at the chemist. Pretty neat, huh? In other news, I watched Mars Attacks (hilariously quirky), Dirty Dancing (very good), Open Season (a let down), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (excellently tense) and Wild Wild West (a lot of fun). Ack Ack Ack Ack! Akak! http://lumaki.com/archive/2007/01/ack-ack-ack/ Well well. It has been a fun week and a half. Most definitely, indeed! Firstly, today (the slightly surreal day that it was -- lots of smoke from bushfires, visibility was only a kilometer!), I went ice skating again. It's been about a year and a half since I last struggled ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/12/fun-fun-fun/ I bought a domain: lumaki.com :) I also attended an interview for Architecture at RMIT. It wasn't bad. However, I felt that 10 minutes wasn't enough time to convey all I wanted to. Oh well! I'm off to China on the 13th of February, and back on the 25th of August. It's ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/12/lumakicom/ Let's just say: This is not your average Bond Film. Certainly, there was an amazing chase about 5 minutes into the film, with the baddie performing some amazing Parkour, with Bond barely managing to keep up. However, where the film significantly diverges from the past couple of offerings (License to Kill, Golden-Eye, ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/11/casino-royale/ After a short interruption of service, due to defacement. *frown* I found it a little ironic that the cracker was dissing the french using french. Kamal (?) looked quite malevolant. Anyhow. We're back! :) http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/11/and-were-back/ (Click on the image to see the full version) http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/11/a-new-iraq-strategy/ An interesting question was asked of me on Thursday (by Paul Lee): “Would you undertake 18 months National Service in order to gain the right to vote?” In the context of the question (Paul’s hypothetical ideal state), the service in question would not necessarily be military, and participants would be given an ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/11/service-to-the-nation/ WTF is going on? Wordpress keeps reverting back to about two weeks ago. I suspect it's a database problem. But it's certainly a pain, since I've now lost at least two posts, and some comments as well! Not happy. =/ (Hopefully things will revert back to their old state... but who knows?) UPDATE: I found ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/10/wtf/ Today, my math’s methods tutor (Mr Haji) read to me Ithaca by Constantine P. Cavafy. He had included the poem in his speech at the Sacred Heart Year 12 valedictory dinner. Reproduced for your convienience: When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/10/ithaca/ ... for I only have 6 weeks until Year 12 (proper) is over. This is both exciting and alarming, as I feel that I have got to do lots before I feel completely prepared for the exams (the first one, English, is in 3 and a half weeks). After that, I've ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/10/the-end-is-nigh/ This morning, Dad and I drove to a secluded carpark in Darebin. I receieved my first driving lesson from him, in our Volvo 240 automatic ("Red Gert", we call her). The other car is a Toyota Landcruiser GL [4WD] ("The Truck", coined by my late grandfather) and I wasn't confident ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/10/one-fine-sunday/ Tonight, upon the inclination and of my dad, we (dad, Zach and me) watched Three Dollars, a relatively unknown Australian film, based on the novel of the same title by Elliot Perlman. Do not expect a Hollywood film, because Three Dollars certainly isn't. It accounts the life of a typical middle-class ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/09/three-dollars/ This afternoon, I got sick of being cooped up inside. My brother was going for a ride, so I decided to join him. He actually had the better bike, while I had the old road rattler. However, Zach seemed to have wrecked the gear system on his (stupid boy), and ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/09/fitness-woe-is-me/ Today, I did something I should have done two years ago. I went and got my learners permit. I went to the VicRoads center in Eltham. There were heaps of trees around the place. To compound my embarrassment, there were kids there taking the test. One kid looked about 10 years ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/09/introducing-lsd/ Yep. That oh-so-familliar word: procrastination. Here is what I need to "read" by the end of the holidays: The Coming of the French Revolution -- Georges Lefebvre The Crowd in the French Revolution -- George Rude Rousseau and the French Revolution -- Joan McDonald The French Revolution: From it's Origins ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/09/bedtime-reading/ On Wednesday afternoon, I saw the Al Gore environmental lecture/documentry/movie, An Inconvenient Truth. It was very well done, and presented a compelling argument. Ironically, being Wesgarth Cinema, most of the audience was pretty much convinced anyway (Northcote is a funky suburb). What the movie did for me, was not so much ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/09/an-inconvenient-truth/ In a fortiutous moment, I managed to procure some decent hosting! As such, Coffee Plunger has been moved to wordpress and the rest of the other content will soon follow. Yay! http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/09/migration-in-progress/ I haven't done a "personal" post in a while, because there hasn't been much to report. However, some interesting things have happened recently (or will happen). In chronological order: A new release of C-Dogs SDL. This caused a pleasing spike in traffic from ~20 visits a day, to ~300 visits. I ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/08/la-de-dum-a-status-update/ Cheers to Mitchell Brien for this hilarity. http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/08/the-story-of-noob/ UPDATE: This will image be unavailable until I arrive back in Australia :-( http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/07/israel-lebanon-and-the-hezbollah-issue/ Anyone short of fanatical tends to agree that fundamentalism, often with the resulting extremism, is dangerous in any form. Fundamentalism is a threat to any society, because its divisive nature breeds intolerance and even fuels (often violent) hostility towards non-conformists. Clearly such things are not healthy (especially in the non-homogeneous societies ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/07/fundamentalism-women-part-i/ http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/07/cartoon-time/ http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/07/and-now-for-a-political-cartoon/ In capitalist societies, goods and services have a cost (not necessarily the same as value) determined in theory by their supply as well as demand. Professionals essentially deliver a service (application of their often specialised knowledge in a particular field), to their consumer (eg: client, employer, etc). The knowledge monopoly derives ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/07/the-monopoly-of-knowledge/ (Only a few more months to go, apparantly) http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/07/need-i-say-more/ Ho Hum. Repeated for effect. I just had an interview this morning, with GAP Australia. If you haven't kept up with previous posts, basically it relates to next year and a GAP placement, etc. "What fun!" I hear the more masochistic cry. "Hell no!" to that I reply. Actually, it wasn't ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/06/ho-hum/ Finally got off my behind, and uploaded 2 videos of various "exploits" to youtube. Here they are: Potato Cannon Uber Plane Enjoy! http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/06/teh-videos-yay/ ...Into hermitism, since my midyear exam is approaching. Well, and the GAT too, and a Maths Methods SAC. So apart from that and Psychology, nothing much is happening school wise. The real problem, I've discovered, is that prolonged study discipline and me are almost mutually exclusive. =/ And to make matters just ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/05/taking-the-plunge/ I shall dedicate this post to addressing this fantastically insightful comment: "...Besides, i believe you are a person that takes inherent interest in random things....Perhaps the notion that you will be examined on something...or even the daily grind of school is what takes the lustre out of learning...." -- VegetoacsThis is ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/05/kudos-to-vegetoacs/ Please help this guy, by visiting the site below. You'll be helping a fellow man achieve his dreams! (hehehe) www.helpwinthisbet.com Update: HE WON! Yay! =) http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/04/help-this-fellow-man/ The Pissarro exhibition at the NGV turned out to be just great (as I expected). His engravings were pretty good, and it's interesting that there are often multiple versions of a particular engraving, with increasing levels of detail. Some of the country scenes were a little monotonous. However, when viewed ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/04/art-ideas-things/ MMMmmm. Went to a party with friends on thursday night. Had lots of fun, and I cooked Pasta! Hahha! It was a lovely day on friday, and I walked home from the party in Brunswick. Half an hour later I was home! Which was pretty sweet, and it was a great ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/04/mmmmm-stuff-and-easter/ As human beings, we are social creatures. (Sounds cliche, i know.) One could say we have human "needs", such as those of friendship, love, compainionship and indeed intimacy. The question is, what is the "right" way to do things? Although it sounds like a black and white moralistic distinction, I ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/04/relationships/ Yes, it sounds completely nuts. Planning. I hate the word. But in this case, it's something to look forward to. Yay! Travel. I hope to travel with my best friend Thi, to his home country (Vietnam). Then comes the more difficult part. I need to make up my mind whether I ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/02/plans-for-2007/ Year 12! It's started! For one thing, the teachers are certainly much more concerned. I remember someone telling me that at MHS, year 10's and 11's get forgotten. Tis true. Luckily (for me), I think i've managed to switch into year 12 mode. In short, i've transformed into a Nerd (oh gosh). ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/02/and-theyre-off/ Phwoar. What a cool couple of days. Let's start with friday: I had my last methods tutorial class. Then i went to Frankston, and met up with some friends there. Then later on I went to a party with some more friends from my old school, in Chelsea. I think I ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/busy-few-days/ This weekend has been terrible weather wise. It was 38C+ on Saturday, and 42C+ today. That made work quite the pain in the behind, since nobody wants to actually do anything when it's above 35. But the good thing was that there was less people about. Yay. (Sorry to all ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/gah-hot-weather/ Lets start with an interesting quote: To me style is just the outside of content, and content the inside of style, like the outside and the inside of the human body. Both go together, they can't be separated. -- Jean-Luc Godard Style is important, but so is content. Too many people seem to ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/new-design-coming-soon/ Came home today. Discovered that something was causing a short. Half a frustrating hour later, the fridge was identified as the culprit. My house has the most brain-dead electrical setup. Most power sockets are on 1 circuit. There is a mix of what I'll call "volatile" devices such as toaster, jug, ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/rip-old-fridge/ Last night on TV, I watched the Victorian State Government's advertising for public schools with a sense of irony. Has things come to such that schooling is yet another "service" that must compete on the market? Believe it or not, but the idea was raised. It seems to be this ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/capitalism-good/ Dancing is great. I'm particularly partial to Latin & Ballroom. It's very satisfying being able to be in symphony with another, almost becoming one, floating around the floor. I suppose it's one means of physical expression. The Tango is a great example -- being haughty as well as passionate and ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/on-dancing/ Well, it's a week closer to the beginning of the end. This whole "year 12" thing has finally dawned up on me, and I'm a little scared. Studying is not really my thing, but I suppose I have to take it one day at a time. Anyways, the "Summer School" ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/summer-school-week-one-over/ Before christmas, I set up a flickr account. It has some interesting things, and some less so. Stuff like my trip to Southern China & Hong Kong when I was very small. Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lmartinking UPDATE: There is now a gallery integrated into this website. http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/shameless-plug/ Hello nonexistant readers. Let's start with a statement of intention: This blog will have no intentions whatsoever. The author is lazy. But he also wishes to explore this "blogging" phenomena. Maybe it'll stop me repeating myself repeatedly. I'm not expecting many to actually read this stuff. Anyways, back to idling. Oh. I like ... http://lumaki.com/archive/2006/01/yay-first-post/