Latest Posts (13 found)
fLaMEd fury 2 days ago

Anitya Live At The Civic

What’s going on, Internet? This past Saturday my wife and I got to see Tom Scott perform his new album Anitya in full at the Auckland Civic Theatre. Anitya is the first project Tom has released under his full name. Everything else before this — Home Brew , Average Rap Band , @Peace , Avantdale Bowling Club — sat under a group or alias. This album is a deeply personal one. The first half is about breaking up with his ex-wife, the second about falling in love with his new partner, with a track in between dedicated to his son. I pre-ordered the album during October’s Bandcamp Friday and listened to it the following week when it dropped, then again a few days later. Because of how personal the project is, I probably won’t return to it often. That said, seeing and hearing Tom perform it live (technically my third listen) gave me a new appreciation for it. It’s far removed from his previous releases, and that’s okay. The show itself was incredible — entertaining, emotional, and raw. It opened with a clever setup: a fictional pub in Avondale where local personality Dai Henwood played the karaoke host. Tom and a few mates, beers in hand, sat around a bar leaner waiting for the night’s entertainment. Over the next hour we were treated to local talent performing covers, including Tom’s partner Sarvi and one of my own favourites, Great South . Once the karaoke wrapped up, we had a short break while the stage was reset. When we came back, the theatre was packed. The next hour and a bit was the full Anitya album performed live, split into two halves with some Home Brew sing - alongs in between. I’ll always cherish the moment of belting out the chorus “Drinking in the Morning” with the crowd during this performance. Tom had a full band behind him — no backing tracks. This is what live shows should be when the venue allows. Some of the karaoke performers even returned to play parts during the main set. It was a fantastic show. When the album ended, Tom joked that everyone on stage could leave (they did). Then he launched into the Fuck the System Freestyle , a reworking of his verse from “Listen to Us” on the Home Brew album. This updated version called out the current government and even took a shot at Luxon, describing him as a “peeled cucumber-looking motherfucker.” The crowd went wild cheering, clapping, fully on board. A powerful way to close the night. I’m so glad we got to experience this once-in-a-lifetime performance. As for the album, it won’t be in regular rotation, but I’ll definitely set aside some time in the future to sit down with a drink and spin it on vinyl . Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 1 weeks ago

Armageddon Expo 2025

What’s going on, Internet? I love a long weekend. Yesterday was Labour Day here in Aotearoa. If you read my last post, you’ll know I spent the first two days playing golf . Sunday was more of a family day; swimming lessons with the kids in the morning and an afternoon trip to the zoo to check in on the penguins and meerkats. On Monday (Labour Day), my son and I headed to the Armageddon Expo at the Auckland Showgrounds. We lucked out with passes from family friends who’d been at the expo on Saturday and Sunday but were flying out that morning. Armageddon Expo is New Zealand’s pop culture convention; a mix of comics, gaming, anime, film, and cosplay. Think Comic-Con, just on a smaller scale. Saturday and Sunday pulled big crowds thanks to Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis being there, but Monday was quieter, which suited us perfectly. The kid found it fun but a bit overwhelming at times with so many people around. We wandered the main expo hall where all the merch stalls were; Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering cards, stickers, art prints, 3D-printed dragons, and some sweet skateboard decks. We came across a couple of second-hand comic sellers, where I picked up a few X-Men issues to fill some gaps in my collection. We spent a bit of time at the main stage watching cosplayers perform K-pop songs and dances, which he enjoyed; it was fun seeing him clapping and cheering. But I think the real highlight for the little guy was the food trucks: hotdogs, burgers, fries, and ice cream. I’m not going to lie; I was pretty stoked about luch too. We also tried a Sonic racing kart game that looked like Sega’s take on Mario Kart. He loved spotting people in costumes, saying hi to Batman, waving at Mickey Mouse, and keeping his distance from a remote-controlled Star Wars droid that got a little too close. He was too shy to for a photo with any of them; maybe next year. The only thing we didn’t get to see that I was hoping to was the Doctor Who panel with Billie Piper; that would have been fun to watch. After checking out every stall in the expo hall, we called it a day and phoned home for a ride. The little guy was exhausted. So was Dad. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 1 weeks ago

Golfing Weekend

What’s going on, Internet? A mate from back home came up for the weekend, staying Friday and Saturday nights. We were meant to be going to a gig on Friday, but it got postponed until May and I feel will most probably be cancelled. (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, if you were wondering.) The plan was to play golf on Saturday, but we ended up squeezing in a round Friday afternoon as well as we had no gig to get ready for. Nine holes at Chamberlain Golf Course on Friday, then 18 holes at Waiheke Golf Club the next day. Turns out 18 is too much. I definitely prefer nine. Playing on a bigger course really showed how much I need to work on my driving. Some of those holes were 400 metres long. Friday night we grabbed dinner and beers at Saint Leonard’s Brewery. Enjoyed, as I’d been meaning to get down there since moving up here. After Saturday’s golfing effort we walked across the road to The Heke expecting to do the same, but there was a $30 cover charge for an event. We skipped it and wandered up the road to Alibi Brewers Lounge instead and enjoyed some damn good food and beer. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 2 weeks ago

Disable AI In Firefox

What’s going on, Internet? To the outrage of the Firefox community across the web, Mozilla has started rolling out AI across our beloved browser and has enabled the features by default. I’ve found the new Firefox “AI” features, like the pop-ups that appear when highlighting text, to be more distracting than useful. The sidebar chat isn’t something I need either; if I want that experience, I’ll just open ChatGPT in a containerised tab. If you’d like to turn these features off, open in the Firefox address bar, search for , set it to false, and that should disable everything. If you’d rather try some features while disabling others, keep set to true and toggle each feature individually. I’m giving Smart Tab Groups a try for now, as I’m curious to see how the “AI” handles organising my dozens of open tabs. I’ll let you know how that goes. Below is a list of the “AI” features you can disable in , along with a short explanation of what I understand each one does. Enjoy. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 2 weeks ago

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)

What’s going on, Internet? I’ve been catching up on a few shows lately, and the latest one I finished was Cyperpunk: Edgerunners (2022) which first aired back in 2022. Cyberpunk Edgerunners is a Netflix anime created by Studio Trigger in collaboration with CD Projekt Red (the developers of the game), set in the same world as the Cyberpunk 2077 game. I really enjoyed this one. Familiar locations from the game, an intense storyline, and that over-the-top animation I associate with anime (not that I’m super familiar with it). It dives into relationships, survival, and the mental toll of living with cybernetic enhancements. The animation was quite grousome at times. So far this year I’ve enjoyed Arcane , which had a seriously good soundtrack, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. I’d love to see something similar set in the Warcraft universe. Got any other anime recommendations based on stuff I might already be into? Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 3 weeks ago

The Long Play Podcast

What’s going on, Internet? I just finished listening to The Long Play, a four-part podcast series from The Spinoff. Each episode is aptly named Side A, B, C, and D - just like a vinyl. Researched, written, and presented by Charlotte Ryan with support from Duncan Greive, it covers the rise, fall, and revival of vinyl over the last century in Aotearoa. You can listen through your favourite podcast app or find the feed on The Spinoff’s podcasts page . If you’re in New Zealand, they’ve taken it a step further - in collaboration with Holiday Records, they’ve actually pressed the podcast onto vinyl and distributed it to more than 40 record stores across the country. I haven’t had a chance to get out to any of the local record stores for a hunt for a copy yet, been busy house hunting , but I’m keen to see if I can still track one down. What a brilliant idea. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 3 weeks ago

Open Homes

What’s going on, Internet? We’ve sold the house in Wellington and are now looking to buy in Auckland’s same downturned market. In between kids’ activities we managed to check out a dozen open homes across the central suburbs. Damn visiting open homes all day is exhausting. It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to buy in the area we’re staying in , which is a shame, but we should end up not too far away. Some of the suburbs have great centres; it’s just another round of getting familiar with a new area. My biggest concern? How far I might end up from my gym. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 4 weeks ago

Peacemaker (2022) Season 1

What’s going on, Internet? I just finished watching the first season of Peacemaker (2022) over the last couple days after seeing it on Cory’s new upcoming shows page. What an unhinged show. I haven’t watched a TV series set in the DC universe since giving up on The Arrow and The Flash years ago, so this one felt like a fresh change of pace. Nothing to do with CW I guess. I got curious about the Vigilante character, Adrian Chase, the name sounded familiar from The Arrow, but turns out it’s a different character entirely. There’s plenty of discussion on Reddit if you want to go down that rabbit hole. I’ve always liked John Cena, and he absolutely nails this role. The supporting cast was great too, especially Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, who pops up across a few of the other DC projects. Oh, James Gunn is behind this show, no wonder I loved it. I really enjoyed his recent Superman movie too. I’m not usually a DC fan, but I’m definitely a DC fan when James Gunn is involved. The best part? I get to dive straight into season two. Peace. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 1 months ago

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live

What’s going on, Internet? On Saturday my son and I headed to Eden Park to check out the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live show . This was a special outing with him as a congratulations for persevering through stopping sucking his thumb. He worked really hard, and my wife and I are super proud of him. The event page described the show as having a “Glow n Fire” theme. No idea what that meant or how it translated to what we saw. There wasn’t much glow, and only a little fire. Looking at the site afterwards, it seems the full experience happens at night, with trucks lit up in neon and motocross bikes joining in. That might explain the huge amounts of downtime during the day show. At times there were several monster trucks just parked at the edge of the track, not doing much. About 40 minutes in there was a 30-minute stretch with nothing happening, and you could see kids all around the stadium getting restless. Oh well, the kid enjoyed it. When the monster trucks were racing, jumping, and crushing cars, it was great fun. Just not a lot of it. And wow, it was loud. I’m so glad I brought the kids’ earmuffs and my earplugs. We left early once he’d had enough, a lot was going on. He was pretty stoked to realise he could still hear the trucks roaring from outside the stadium on our walk home. Would I go again? Nah. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 1 months ago

New Music Friday #7

What’s going on, Internet? What’s going on, Internet? The most recent Bandcamp Friday just happened — I’m writing this on Tuesday, lol. I’ve been reading a lot of NZ Muscician lately, which led me to pick up a few new releases from local artists: And a sneaky pre-order for ANITYA by Tom Scott of Home Brew fame. He’s finally releasing a project under his own name, a personal project that’s been a long time coming, check out the interview on Sniffers . Really looking forward to the show in November. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website. Not So Sweet by Pearly* Siren by ives. AFTERTHOUGHT by So Below

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fLaMEd fury 1 months ago

She Likes Listening To Punk Rock

What’s going on, Internet? September’s been a month of noise, nostalgia, and ferry rides. It kicked off with Minuit at Double Whammy , their reunion tour finale and easily one of the best (or only?) nights out I’ve had in ages. Great company, great tunes, and a dance floor that felt straight out of 2005, just with a crowd twenty years older, lol. The next morning I went full fangirl and stacked my Bandcamp cart with Minuit’s entire back catalogue, along with some Fur Patrol for balance. Then it was time for the London Hardhouse Reunion 2025 . My friends came up for the weekend and we had an amazing time, all bass and hoovers, with a bunch of my favourite DJs that I would see across a single year, all playing the same gig, the same night. The kind of night that leaves your ears ringing (yes I wore my ear plugs) and the tunes stuck in your head for days. We rounded the month off a little slower with a family weekend on Waiheke , swapping the inside of clubs for beaches, markets, and fish and chips. Between the gigs and the music, I somehow found time to catch up on TV. One new show that crossed my radar was The Runarounds ; a perfect binge watch. Fun, short, and chaotic in all the right ways. I wonder if I should share more on the shows I watch and find enjoyable? I also went digging into lost media for Aotearoa’s lost emo banger , a little dive into what happens when labels dropped the ball into the transition to digital and how local libraries can quietly save the music. Plenty of good tunes, good people, and good times this month 🎶 Read four books this month, all enjoyable and worth reading: New records added to the collection : We’ve wrapped up raiding for the season, and expansion. We spent the last couple weeks dipping into the first couple mythic bosses in Mana Forge Omega and we easily got two of them down. The Legion Remix is going live this week. I will play enough to get the mounts and armours sets I need and then give it a break. Rumours on the street are that we’ll be seeing the next expansion, Midnight as early as February. With Warcraft out of the way, I’m looking forward to getting back into Cyberpunk and finishing up some more story lines. After last months ball dropping I’m back with more exciting links from across the web. There’ll definitely be something of interest in here for you. Check back next month, and if you want more in the meantime, dive into the archive . On the site side of things, September was a good month for tidying and tinkering. I started by revamping the Bookmarks page, it’s now fully tagged and easier to browse, and I split the Blogroll off from the Links page so each has its own proper home. There’s been a bit of chatter in my small web circles recently, and I have post drafted I want to share soon. I built out a new Blog Stats page using Robb’s PostGraph to visualise my posting frequency. Then, to round things off, I gave my RSS and Atom feeds a glow-up. They’re now styled with an XSL transformation and integrated into the fLaMEd fury design system. The Feeds page itself got an update to clearly show all the feeds avaialbe. All this work inspired by Robb’s setup, which I pretty much jacked. Thanks Robb. Weird Web October is happening for the second year. I won’t be taking part (I know if I commited, I’d quickly fail). If you are more inclined and creative than I am and decided to take part, come hang out in the Weird Web October thread over on the forums . This post was brought to you by Verona by Elemeno P Sweeet, catch you, laterz 👋 Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website. A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern Toxic by Sarah Ditum Glass Barbie by Michael Botur Christina Perri - A Lighter Shade Of Blue Zara Larsson - Honor The Light Mimi Webb - Amelia Anne-Marie - Unhealthy Minuit - 88 Why I love to read your blog - Sylvia’s Noodling Nook Sylvia shares all the reasons why they like reading your website 🫶 blog comments - Jayeless.net Jessica Smith goes deep into blog comments Breaking Free from Social Media Silos Luke discovers the indie web and discusses the struggle of being out of touch when it seems like most of society exists on facebook rather than the web. Bringing Back the Blogroll Luke wonders about the Blogroll and ends up slapping it on the homepage sidebar after some inspiration You can now attach 10,000 character blogs to your Threads posts Sounds like a wonderful idea. Inb4 people invest their lives work into this platform and lose everything, lol Do blogs need to be so lonely? - The History of the Web We used to do this back in the day, I want to reflect on this deeper in it’s own post soon Curate your own newspaper with RSS Molly White wants us to escape newsletter inbox chaos and algorithmic surveillance by building your own enshittification-proof newspaper from the writers you already read Why you should get (back) into RSS curation. Another take on rediscovering RSS as a way to take control of what you read online, curating a personal, intentional feed instead of relying on algorithm-driven platforms Just Put It On Your Blog Shellsharks reminds us to stop overthinking where content belongs and just publish it on our own blogs, embracing the spirit of the independent web. The internet’s hidden creative renaissance (and how to find it) Shame it’s on Substack, but it explores the growing revival of the handmade web, where personal websites push back against the corporate internet. The Internet Feels Broken | Stephanie Vee Stephanie reflects on how today’s internet feels broken under the weight of corporate platforms, and argues for reclaiming the web through personal websites and blogging. Personal blogs are the best, I love yours and I’ll try and tell you why - Nothing Original Here Peter shares a post appreciating personal blogs for their honesty and connection, and why they matter more than social media. bstn - RSS manifesto An RSS manifesto arguing for a return to open web standards and personal curation instead of algorithm-driven feeds The HTML Hobbyist A personal website by HTML hobbyist, Nathan, sharing simple HTML, CSS, and RSS tutorials based on courses they taught at Berkley Computer Training between 1997-2003 Sanding off friction from indie web connection – Tracy Durnell’s Mind Garden Tracy Durnell looks at how indie web tools can be made easier to use, lowering the barriers for people to connect through their own websites. Why I gave the world wide web away for free | Tim Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee explains why he released the Web into the public domain. and why we must reclaim it from exploitative platforms and re-centre individual control. Understanding, not slop, is what’s interesting about LLMs - blakewatson.com Blake Watson takes a look at LLMs and where the real value isn’t in the flood of AI generated content, but in understanding how they work to simplify human-computer interaction

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fLaMEd fury 1 months ago

Waiheke Weekend

What’s going on, Internet? We picked up the kids early on Friday and headed to the ferry terminal to catch the 4pm boat to Waiheke. After the ride over we bussed out to Onetangi. I hopped off a stop early to grab fish and chips and walked the rest of the way to the bach, while my wife stayed on with the kids. After dinner everyone was tired, so we called it an early night. Saturday kicked off with breakfast and an 8am beach mission. We dug holes in the sand, collected shells, had running races, and buried the kids before rinsing off in the outdoor shower. Then it was off to the Ostend markets: hotdogs, hot chocolate, and stalls full of local goods. I picked up The Mice: Book 1 by Roger Mason , straight from Roger himself. I always love supporting local artists when I meet them. Back at the bach I napped with Miss 2 while the others went back to the beach. Later we had drinks and snacks under the pōhutukawas with music playing. In the evening we bussed to Heke for an early dinner, the kids ran wild in the sandpit, then made it back in time to catch the rugby and wrap up the night with a movie. Sunday was daylight saving, so it was an early start. Another beach trip, lunch with the kids at the corner pub, then gelato in Oneroa before bussing back to the ferry and heading home to Auckland. Not having the car and relying on the bus made it feel more like a proper holiday. It forced us to be intentional about where we went and when, and it actually added to the fun. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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fLaMEd fury 1 months ago

London Hardhouse Reunion 2025

What’s going on, Internet? Back in the day I went to a lot of hard dance gigs in Wellington. For a few years it was nearly every weekend, and then one day I just stopped. The London Hard House Reunion has been running for twelve years, and now that I’m up in Auckland, I finally made it to one. At my “farewell” drinks a couple of months ago I mentioned I was going to head along by myself. Being the mates they are, within the hour they’d booked airfares, a rental car, and an apartment. The weekend rolled around, the boys flew up, and we had a blast. We’ve all agreed to make it an annual thing from now on. I caught up with people I hadn’t seen in 15–20 years. Some of them had stayed in the scene since the mid-2000s, while I dipped out. Pretty amazing to reconnect. It was just a great weekend with good mates and a night back on the dance floor. Hey, thanks for reading this post in your feed reader! Want to chat? Reply by email or add me on XMPP , or send a webmention . Check out the posts archive on the website.

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