Friday 21 March 2014

Friday 21/3/14 - New Smartphone (Jury's Still Out), Happy Birthday Miss Andress & This Week's Watches.

Friday 6:46pm AEST

Last weekend
Okay, so I wound up getting a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini smartphone last Friday. Charged it up fully once it got down to 15% battery life. And it lasted me just under two days. Aww, hell! Maybe I'm spoilt. I got used to my old Nokia E63 which would go four or five days between recharging.
Not that Madame gives a rat's about my phone. 


My daughter wrapped her up in my wife's robe and then laid her head gently on one of my t-shirts. This cat lives like royalty, the friggin' thing!

Monday
Also, I'm on a slightly more expensive monthly plan with this phone and I got a text message from my provider telling me that I'd used up 142Mb of my monthly 200Mb allowance. And I can't for the life of me think of what I actually did with the phone. I've lowered the screen brightness right down to an acceptably readable level, I've disabled the GPS and Bluetooth scanning, I've silenced all of the annoying noises the phone makes every time you tap the screen. Not sure how much difference it's made yet. I've fully charged the phone this morning and I'll see how much I get out of the battery this time. Oh, and I've yet to actually make or receive a call on this thing yet. 
I can already see that I may end up reverting back to my old Nokia until it falls apart and forces me to upgrade to one of these. Sure, I could always just get a bare-bones phone, but I hate the method of texting on a standard numeric keypad where you have to hit a number repeatedly to get the letter that you want. I much prefer a qwerty keypad.
On the bright side, at least my wristwatch didn't disappoint;


Have barely touched typewriters lately, so I felt a typecast was in order.



Wednesday evening
Had a shortish black after dinner, with a slice of halva. Placed on an old Nat Geo map of biblical regions with a copy of a Geoffrey Household thriller...for atmosphere.


And then I switched over to the Omega Planet Ocean on black NATO strap. And Happy Birthday to you, Miss Andress!

Postcard artwork details- see below


Who would've thought that a wide shot of Andress as Honey Rider emerging from the sea in "Dr No" back in 1962 would have become such a classic and iconic moment. It's over in the blink of any eye, but it has left a lasting impression.


Today
Went into the city, caught up with some old colleagues, checked out a few libraries, and then headed home.
Took it easy for the rest of the day.
This weekend will involve more painting, and some more assignments to commence. At least one subject is done with. That's something.


Thanks for reading, all, and have a great weekend!


CREDITS- That great "Dr No" postcard artwork was done by Mike Mahle. 
Here's his website. Extraordinary use of colours and composition. 
Brilliant stuff!

8 comments:

  1. It is nice that Mike brought Miss Andress' bikini more towards 21st century :)

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  3. Argh... typos... Here we go again, with the name fixed:

    Ursula Andress definitely set the canon by which any other Bond girl would be measured, and that's no small feat at all! Unlike many other female characters we saw in other movies at the time, she was not only a very beautiful woman, she also had a lot of character. She was no damsel in distress; she really knew her way using that big tactical knife; and she got Bond to actually SING a couple of lines of a rather cheesy song! ("Underneath the mango trees, ma' honey and me...") That can't be said of any other Bond girl.

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  4. I love the state library. Especially the old reading room. Enjoy! And that Artwork is great!

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  5. I've never seen this art by Mahle before. Definitely an iconic moment in cinema history

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  6. Madame indeed appears to be royalty - great breeding and all that.

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  7. She sure was fit in that film, an excellent choice for that character, and they did her scenes perfectly.
    What is that spoonlike implement next to that beautiful blue glass? Is it for a particular drink?
    Also, last week a local station played a newly-recorded radio play with a sleuth called Hillary Caine, usually set in the 30's, this one post-war in Jamaica where she meets Ian Fleming and it's stuffed with Bond references, such as the suspect who claims to have a tryst with Honeychile Rider, and finding the bird book by James Bond Fleming says something about looking for a copy, etc. I think you can hear it for about $2US. Finding the right episode might be tricky.

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    1. That's just a silver spoon, NA. I was aiming for a Middle Eastern vibe with that photo. I should've polished the spoon, however. It looked a little tarnished.

      I may have to hunt around for that radio play. Thanks for the tip-off!

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