Failed Paradise » internet

Firefox in Fijian: Field Test 1

Wilson — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:24:53 +0000

Strange Pants brought to my attention the Firefox Fijian language addon made available by AvonSys, and it’s proving to be an interesting development in the field of native language interactive media. As it stands, most fijian language websites are usually about the study of the actual language itself. Television already has a few shows in fijian, but compared to the internet, tv has been around for abit longer.

Since software releases of any kind must be vigorously tested before, during and after its release to the wild, I’m going to be doing my part in giving the Fijian language addon a lap or two around the barracks ground. Because my fijian isn’t in any shape to give a run through with anything thats fijian and written, I’ve arranged to have some of my other friends and family who are in a better vernacular shape then me to have a go at the language pack.

First up, my trusty but sly workmate, Marika. Technically, Marika doesn’t know that he is been used as a lab rat to test run the new firefox language pack, but I promise to show him the post and give him his 2 minutes of fame when this trial run is published. Here’s an apology in advance to you mate >< Bullet points of interest to follow:

Before we could even start the review process, Marika had to update his Firefox. “What? Why?” He shrugs. “Everytime thing pop up to update, I just quise it and close it.” A short break while we wait for the updated version to download and install, with much impaitent foot tapping and furvative glances at the progress bar.

Set. With Firefox now up to date, we eagerly download the language pack, run the installation process – and immediately run into a wall of complex instructions. Ok, to be honest, as a person who likes to think of himself as sorta web savy, it wasn’t that complex. Just…well note for any interested parties: Save time and reading concentration energy. Use Locale Switcher to switch between English and Fijian.

/Cheer! Behold Firefox in all its majastic, somewhat jarring mix of english and fijian, menu localised glory! First disappointment – websites weren’t rendered in Fijian. Awwww. Of course, Marika was expecting his whole operating system to be in Fijian, so in comparison my disappointment wasn’t that bad.

Oookaaayyy, lets see now. The first item on the menu bar…Nomu File. Sounds about right. Though to be honest, Fiji needs to come up with more fijian versions of english words, since nomu ‘file’ just won’t cut it. Of course, that’s another topic for another Professor Local Language Convention meeting. For now, the mix of fijian and english in written form was strangely…jarring. We ended up playing a minigame of figuring out which menu was what in its new (disguised) Fijian form, by reading it out aloud and relating it to what we knew as the english version. For example, “Na veisau”, translated literally, means “Change”. What’s there to change? Or maybe…to edit! Yep, we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves =_=

My favourite fijian switcheroo is “Na MakaniVola”, which lends itself quite well in terms of literal translation: the mark in the book, or Bookmark.
After stumbling around the menu items, there was a pause then, “Ok…set.” I raised my eyebrows in confusion. “Huh?” “I…gonna switch back to english.” Shock! Horror! “Boy…I’m not used to working in fijian, let alone reading fijian. I dunno boy, thing will uhh take some getting used to.” Hmm. Fair enough point. “Set. But – like how do you like this?” “Woo boy thing set boy. Heavy that they got a Firefox in fijian. Like, from here, us gang can start making more computer stuff with fijian in it.” He slowly and deliberately switched the language from Fijian back to English. “Its good. I will use come back later and try using it again. Thing will take some time to get used to, because first time to have a fijian program, and to use it for work. It’ll take some time. But set.”

Sounds good enough for me.

Next up, the more challenging field test Part 2. My sorta computer literate uncle.

Taadaa! Welcome to Failed Paradise 2.0

Wilson — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:21:50 +0000

A New paint job. With less wheels.

If you’re reading this after you’ve been redirected from the ol’ .blogspot.com addy, then welcome! We’ve transfered over from blogspot to a brand spanking new domain (only $20FJ a year! Bonus!), a new wordpress blog hosting machine, all with the fresh smell of brand new paint Over the next few days there’ll be a few hiccups, curious new themes and all round strangeness happenings here. Stay with us. We’re getting the hang of things as we settle down in our new home, and will soon be churning out the same silly, strange, funny posts that you’ve all come to associate with the monster that is Failed Paradise. So update your bookmarks, re-subscribe your RSS Feeders, and enjoy the new layer of paint. Just don’t watch it dry.

The blog wordspread

Wilson — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:34:00 +0000

From Wordle via Meg’s blog (thanks Meg!) comes a picture/word overview of the most used words in this blog. As usual, the major, most over used word comes as a surprise; One. There’s a few points to draw from the above experiment:

1) I really need to start using the word Fiji alot more in my sentences. The “she sells sea shells by the sea shore” quantity type. Fiji.

2) I just noticed that the word ‘sex’ and ‘go’ were placed next to each other. Bonus!

3) One? How? And I don’t even like that song by U2 =_= I mean granted, U2 is a premier rock band that outlasted the 80s but still…trying to figure out why ‘One’ is the most used word in the blog is mighty confusing. And of course I think I may have just helped the word count for ‘One’ go up a little with this paragraph. Good one. Damnit! /facepalm

So for those of you who have a blog, go ahead and try the Wordle experiment. It’s certainly worth a look to see what’s your current word trend is. And the word arrangement is quite pretty

…Fiji.

Us Gang: What Lunch In Suva is all about

Wilson — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:20:00 +0000

Welcome to a new monthly (or longer – Fiji time and all) section of the blog where we’ll be having a chit chat with our local bloggers, and getting to know them a tad bit more then what you read on their profile page. With Fiji as their common denominator, these bloggers are part and parcel of our local blogsphere, helping to shape what we are to the world online.

[Fancy words end]

Probably the only food review website for local restaurants in Fiji, Lunch in Suva is all about the thumbs up/down. Godsent for people who are cautious about good food in Suva, these brave souls check to see whether eatery XXX deserves your hard earned dollars. With Suva as their playground, they’ve covered all corners of the restaurant spectrum, from the standard fish & chips fare to more cultured coffee offerings.

We’ve recently had the chance to have a little talanoa session with the gang behind Lunch In Suva, and find that rosters are unavailable, reviewing is a thankless job, and Tom Cruise is so not gay. Like…totally not.

How did it all start?

Kania Tiko (KT): I was drunk and said things I now regret, made promises I no longer want to keep, life commitments that make me want to end my life. Sorry what was this question about again?

Picky Eater (PE): We had just discovered Dan’s Fish & Chips. Someone said “How come we never heard of this place before? There should be a blog where you can find out about places to eat in Suva.” Everyone nodded sagely, agreed this was a good idea, and did nothing about it for 2 whole years. [This may explain why I awarded Dan's a 'thumbs-up' it no longer deserves]

Who’s on the duty roster?

KT: WTF is a duty roster? Should we have one?

PE: KT & PE are the only published reviewers on the team. At various times, other people have said “Great idea! I eat lunch almost every day … perhaps I could write reviews for Lunch in Suva too.” The mere utterance of this statement invariably opens up a wormhole in the time-space continuum which thereafter swallows all their motivation until we strike them off the list of contributors. Both KT and PE have facial hair; everyone else who has tried to write for Lunch in Suva (and failed) did not … There is no roster.

How do you choose your restaurants?

KT: With loving diligent care. Basically I let Picky Eater do all the work.

PE: We say things like “I heard that place is okay,” or “We’ve haven’t written up that place yet” … and I take these gems of truth and distill them in a draft post that remains eternally unpublished. Every so often (around once a year) KT will say “What’s next on the list?” … and then we refer to the list. It’s divided into several categories: places we love and should have written about last year before they closed, places we hate but don’t have the guts to go back to, places other people have recommended, and finally, places that require joint expeditions and wisdom from Mrs KT and Mrs PE.

Whats your review process like? A checklist? Mental notes for later? Audio recorder Private Investigator style?

KT: Process? we don’t need no stinking process! I sneer at process.I fart in the general direction of process. Process is for poofters, and Lunch in Suva is just like Tom Cruise: definitely not gay!

PE: We generally try to avoid scaring the proprietors … for instance, we try to avoid the appearance of being health inspectors. Notes are taken (usually mental so as to avoid aforesaid appearance of health inspectors), the menu is canvassed (and photographed if possible). If doing a joint review, there is a short deliberation to avoid ordering the same dish. Photographs are taken. Food is consumed. Pulse is checked; antibiotics administered liberally. Notes are compared; the writing assignment is made. The assigned writer then retreats to strive against inertia, writer’s block and general laziness until the post is done.

Up until now, are there any restaurants out there that are aware of your website, and have contacted you either to agree or disagree with your review?

KT: If they aren’t offering bribes to sex up the review, I ignore them and leave them for Picky Eater. Since no one has offered a bribe yet that means I pretty much ignore all feedback.

PE: None claiming to represent any restaurant … but I am suspicious of a couple of glowingly positive ‘Anonymous’ comments on the review of The Joli Fryer

What’s the general feedback via email and comments been like over time?

KT: Totally fuck all. As mentioned above, not a single damn bribe has been offered.

PE: Mostly positive … after all, it is food we’re talking about. I generally blacklist restaurant proprietors who email asking for us to review their eateries (you know who you are). General comments are as they should be: focused on the food and service of the restaurants we review. KT occasionally tries to start flame wars.

Any death threats from thumbs down restaurants?

KT: See answer above, if you’re not offering cashmonay, I ain’t reading it. If you do a death threat with alternative offer of a bribe, then you will have my full attention.

PE: Death threats are hollow. If you killed us, we would take our Blogger auths to our graves and your negative rating would be immortalised. Re-read KT’s comments above … they’re a bit subtle, but you should find clues as to more effective ways of correcting a negative perception. Either that, or just fix your damn food and service!

Have you ever disagreed amongst yourselves over a review of a restaurant? If so, how’d you settle?

KT: Usually with pistols at dawn, but sometimes I just leave a dissenting view in the comments.

As a food connoisseur, do you consider it your job, nay, your duty, to review restaurants and their foods, or is it more of a hobby?

KT: The premise of this question is moronic, we are neither connoisseurs, nor is it a duty or a job. Hobbies are for poofters, and Lunch in Suva is just like Tom Cruise: definitely not gay! You fullahs at FP though definitely give off the air of boys who like it up the arse. What were we talking about again? (Ed: Thats it – this interview is cancelled )

PE: We eat food. We either like it, or we don’t. The reviewing is neither job nor duty, and certainly not consistent enough to earn the status of ‘hobby’. We occasionally goad each other to do foolish things (like eat lamb curry from Singh’s) in the name of citizen journalism. We’re opinionated … our opinions are correct; we feel other people should be informed of them (when we have the motivation)

Whats the favourite type of food for the Lunch in Suva crew?

KT: There are only two types of food – good food and bad food. We prefer good food.

Worst experience in a restaurant?

KT: Any time I get sick – for instance Central Cuisine and that fucked up butter chicken in FNPF plaza. With bad service you forget about it in less than a week, you get sick and the memory stays with you for years.

PE: I still have a chip on my shoulder about being the only customer at the counter in the Joli Fryer one lunch time and being forced to go elsewhere after 20 minutes of failing to attract any one’s attention. But KT is right, I will return to places that have bad service if I think their food is worthwhile, or if I think the experience will be character-building, or if there is the remote possibility that this form of self-flagellation will result in an entertaining blog post. As for the butter chicken at the Boulevard … that was completely our fault. Any one who orders curry with a dairy component from a food warmer deserves what they get. See the requirement for character-building exercises above.

Quick no thinking question (though the fact that this interview is done via email kind of defeats the whole purpose of not thinking): If you were to eat only 2 types of dishes for 10 years, what would they be?

KT: Miss March and Miss July. (Ed – a guy after my own heart)

PE: I think I’d have to go with the ancient Egyptian chunky beer that kept the slaves quiet & energised for daily pyramid building, and fish in lolo with ota as the second.

Where do you plan to go on from here? Is a sister site “Lunch in Nadi” on the planned horizon?

KT: There would be, if I didn’t think Nadi was a shit hole that can only improved by the use of tactical nuclear weapons. As for future plans, I want to be the most powerful man in the Suva restaurant scene, with restaurateurs plying me with money, women, and drugs just so I don’t destroy them.

PE: There is a redesign in the pipe with better reader participation (agree or disagree with our reviews, give each eatery your own ranking, etc) and a move to a proper domain name. To the cybersquatter parked on http://lunch.in : you have messed with my destiny and karma is coming to get you.

Several people have suggested an expansion to Nadi, so we’ve reserved http://lunchinnadi.blogspot.com just in case. If you eat regularly in Nadi, have a vast reserve of motivation, and agree with everything KT has said so far … place $3,000 (with non-consecutive serial numbers) in an unmarked envelope and get in touch to talk about joining the team.

In the long term, there’s some talk of opening a restaurant in Suva, completely and utterly dedicated to the humble long loaf. Would you buy lunch from a place called “The Land of the Long White Loaf”? If that falls through, we’ll form a political party, get elected and suck happily at the teat of public funds

Thanks for agreeing to this interview. As a last, curious question, what do you all have for breakfast?

KT: This morning it was whole meal long loaf with sliced banana. I did weet-bix in draught beer a couple of years ago though and if FP wants to sponsor the draught beer and the weet-bix I’ll happily do a live guest blog for you on the experience.

PE: Caffeine … then more caffeine … then beef sausages, fried eggs, toast … followed by more caffeine.

Tribe Un-wanted

Wilson — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:08:00 +0000

I was browsing through the papers during the week when I came across this full page advert.

Nothin much in the way of ‘noteworthy’ you might say. Large picture of movie’s heroes (or in this case, heroine) – check. “Grand Opening Today in Village 6″ title at the top – check. Top movie critics giving the movie their undivided love – chec – wait. What’s this?

Ok lets back up abit here. LA Times as a revered movie critic. That I can understand. Yahoo.com? They’ve certainly got the web space, as well as the reviews to show for it. But what is this ‘tribe.com.fj’? Judging by its .fj address, I warranted a local website, possibly trying to cash in on the movie’s hype by dropping in its own seat blowing thumbs up one liner.

The commendation for the movie from the website made me grimace. “A 3D Animation”? To call a 3d film a ’3d animation’ is to miss out on the opportunity to use the word “MOVIE”. Also, the seat blowing action reference is, well, to put it in a more polite term, lame. I was determined to get behind this movie review, or find out who reviewed the movie with such a great grip on catchy word usage.

Investigatory skills in tow, I headed over to www.tribe.com.fj, expecting, well, not really knowing what to expect.

“Welcome to the TRIBE”. I certainly felt like I was in tribe land, with totems and flashy graphics aplenty. Ignoring everything else, I headed straight for the movie section, where clicking on the “Monsters vs Aliens” link gave me this:

Visions of long, flowery essays glorifying the spaztastic eye candy and chair blowing action that was Monsters vs Aliens quickly faded from my head when all I was greeted with was a copy paste movie synopsis straight from the movie’s IMDB page:

“When a meteorite from outer space hits a young girl and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years.”

Needless to say, I was most disappointed. I wanted my action quote! I wanted my ‘blow you out of your freaken goddamn chair’ line! I wanted a local movie reviewer who resorts to downsizing animated movies to a mere ’3D animation’ because quite frankly, thats what all 3d animated movies are! I wanted something that at least required a tad bit more effort then Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V! I want an actual movie review from an actual person, and not some lie drawn up on the Fiji Times page!

Granted, the tribe one liner was a mere ploy to get people to the tribes website. I mean, sure, I can understand, it’s as they say, strictly business. But please, if you’re going to lead the flock astray to your website, make it worth their (and not forgetting my) while and have some content thats at least original.

A new month, a new banner, a new name!

Wilson — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:45:00 +0000

Image source: www.thehappyguy.com

Tis the season to be jolly, full of folly and all things lovo-fied. With one more month left in the year before we hit the reboot button, and with me still in the mood for updating the site, I’ve changed the banner once again. And with the banner change, there’s also a slightly v2.0 alteration to the name of the blog.

Behold I present you with: Paradise Fiji Blog: Abort, Retry Fail?

The slight name change was to be more descriptive to first time visitors, so that coupled with the introductory paragraph at the top, would give them a quick idea of what we’re all about.

~~A few of you return readers may recognise the cartoon characters drawn on the banner. It was done for the blog around the same time last year by the ever talented Mr Awesome Cake.~~ Mr Awesome Cake was gracious enough to grace us with another original party like its the end of the year drawing. Since good times and clinking cartons are around the corner (or already present for some of you lucky people), this would be a perfect time to get into the festive swing of things.

6 Signs Fiji is nearing ‘Civilization’ Quality

Wilson — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:49:00 +0000

source: dashh.typepad.com

Having come in contact with several tourists over the past few weeks and hearing their impressions of Fiji, it dawned upon me how far we’ve progressed from its days of head hunting, neighbour eating, and selective afro growing. A simple stroll through town will reveal important looking businessmen sealing important deals on their important cell phones, while children hum along to the latest hip hop/pop/reggae tunes with the help of their iPods. Giggling teenage girls compare their latest trendy buys from fashion stores around the corner, and in the midst of this all, various street modded cars zoom around, blaring ‘Gasolina’ through their daddy bought speakers.

source: www.maskworld.com

Sure we see these things everyday, but to the first time tourist, first impressions last. Out of curiosity, I decided to take a look around and tried to see things from their point of view. When a tourist first sets foot on our land, he/she would run through a mental checklist that may include whether or not the locals have electricity, (running off assumption here folks, feel free to think otherwise) running water or anything that represents said ‘civilization’.

Of course, as all locals know, Fiji passed that test a long time ago, and then some. While I’d like to think that we’ve come a long way, lets take a look at exactly how much has progressed since good ol’ Bligh set sea-weary eyes upon our infamous shores.

1) We got McDonalds

source: www.flickr.com

Nothing says global commercialization like Mcdonalds. When you can open up a small version of 1st world ideals in the remotest parts of the world, Fiji doesn’t seem that far off from everyone else. Considering the fact that the first branch was opened in Nadi, the gateway to Fiji (thanks in no small part to their airport), the golden arches are a welcome sight to all incoming tourists familiar with fast food and the slightly creepy mascot. When the second branch opened in Suva, we knew they were here to stay.

2) We got Internet

source: www.flickr.com

The world became that much smaller when the internet was brought to Fiji. From that fateful day when Telecom introduced the concept of shared communication, we were never the same. Imagine – now we could keep in touch with the rest of the cool people from around the world via MSN! Now we could read the latest news of what was going on continents away and not have to wait for the 6pm local news! Email made itself at home with both business houses and private homes alike, spam and all. Porn was no longer restricted to the tattered, well thumbed magazines that were a few years old, but was readily available in all its full, DVD quality glory! Of course, the hourly disconnects were a pain, as were the high phone bills due to the numerous reconnection attempts the computer modem made to the overloaded telecom server, but it was a small price to pay for downloaded seasons of The Simpsons and Takashi’s Castle.

3) We got MTV

source: image.vinylpulse.com

Albit on a pay channel, but still! To prove that Fiji is up-to-date with all that is ‘hip’ and ‘cool’ (makes alien ears sign with fingers), we brought MTV to our shores, and the corruption of the future generation began anew. To be honest, it was (correct me if I’m wrong) the Coca-cola Power Jammer that started it all, but the influence of MTV cannot be denied. Even today, we can see the influence of such a life style, with krump and local hip hop in full bloom. Where will this all go from here? Who knows?

4) We get Movies before Australia and New Zealand (sometimes)

source: myfijiguide.com

For serious? Well…to the best of my knowledge, yes. We, the little country in the middle of the pacific, constantly pushed around by the upper powers of the 1st world country watch dogs (or so the left wing conspiracists would like to believe), by some strange powers that be, have Hollywood movies that open first at our beloved Damodar Village cinemas first, before they even see the light of the projector in Australia and New Zealand. I may have to check now to see if that still happens, but when I was growing up, it was common knowledge to people who had just arrived from Australia or New Zealand that movies that had already run their screening course in Fiji were just beginning to open there. This, I believe, is something worth investigating

5) We got more than one television channel

source: www.sarnil.com

The ultimate pointer when deciding whether Fiji is still in the dark ages or has settled amongst the stars. One locally produced television channel in a country is mandatory, when the infrastructure has been set up by the local government and set in motion. We were there once. Fiji One Television dominated the … television landscape for so long, it seemed almost blasphamous to even think of having an additional station take up space on our local tv screens. Who out there was brave enough to take on the titan that was Fiji TV? Not only did they bring us ER, Seasame Street, and X-Files, but for a time (all too brief in my opinion) they provided BBC free to air during off peak hours. That was awesome. However, after showing Hercules reruns again and again, another channel didn’t look so bad, and with the government breaking open the tv market, it was only a matter of time before Mai TV stepped in to provide an alternative. And we were happy.

6) We got ~~four~~ two lane roads (corrected because I’m a noob)

source: www.istockphoto.com

This particular point is something close to my dear heart. In the dark ages of single lane roads between Suva and Nausori, traffic jams were such a common occurance that I began to believe that all of civilization ran on roads such as ours. Seeing multi-lane roads in the US through movies was an eye opener to what we were missing out here. Then, lo and behold, the government (then ) stepped in and began the arduous task of building a highway that had – what? 2 lanes? No. Way. But it happened! Now queues are a thing of the past (in the old queue places, but with poor planning, bottling up of traffic happens else where now =_=)! Now we can speed through certain parts of the Kings Road on our superior 2 lane road, confident in the knowledge that this is how it’s done overseas. This is how Uncle Jone in California drives to work. On a road with more then one lane. Beautiful.

Bear in mind though that this post doesn’t reflect the real thing when it comes to Fiji and its development pace. We’ve still got a long way to go if we want to look anything like Australia/New Zealand in terms of the advancement of society. Look at this as merely an observation more tongue in cheek then mirror reality, and make your own hypothesis from there.

Agree? Disagree? There’s the comment button

PS: I’ve posted a poll on the right, asking you people what you think was the most important development that brought us in sight of being nominated as a country that isn’t missing out much on some of the creature comforts easily afforded by our neighbours.

The Local Blogsphere Bi-weekly Report

Wilson — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:02:00 +0000

Media freedom has once again come in the spotlight, with the recent deportation of Fiji Times publisher Evan Hannah. Interestingly enough, just from asking around, opinion seems to be divided on such an issue, with some saying good riddance, that’ll teach overseas people to keep their mouth shut when they’re in Fiji, and other people saying that it’ll only be a matter of time before we’re all living in a country reminiscent of V for Vendetta.

Only time will tell how such an event would have an impact on Fiji.

When the Journey is as important as fun as the Destination: Meg goes on a road trip! Well…replace road trip with miles of crystal clear water, a superb boat and crew, keep the friends, (whats a road trip without friends?) throw in a bit of philosophical musing, and you’ve the making of a great journey, let alone an opportunity to take more great photos

Is kava good for you?: Babasiga finds out through a website that Kava could actually be good for you, especially in a fast paced world. Bring on the mix I say.

Christmas in Suva: cieart (with a small c, but thank you for reminding me mr correct spelling program) tells of her visit to her homeland during christmas last year. Boring family reunions, shopping centre meet ups and white dog faeces ensure that her visit was one for the blog

A consumer view of residential internet service in Fiji: This is why I love Thrashor’s blog. He tells it like it is. For lack of a…tamer description, the Internet service industry in Fiji is fuck. All. And no, don’t take my vulgar word for it, read this post on the dismaying condition and why an open market for ISP service is sadly something that may not happen for quite awhile.

Swish…and away it goes: Jonathan of Oceanic doesn’t like littering. And he’s had enough. He’s declared war on all litters, and this blog is his weapon. Caught someone on camera littering? Send the incriminating evidence to this blog and join the fight to rid Fiji of its own litterbugs! Grenades not included.

Bring out the coolade: Lawrence is back after a brief hiatus, and boy does drama follow him around like…drama. While a girlfriend is keeping him busy, that hasn’t stopped him from picking up a new sport, looking at life with new found humour (or not), and try to stop the emo movement before it takes root here in Fiji. Good luck with that one Lawrence.

Gold at the Rainbow’s End: Freelancer45 is having fun in New Zealand. with a recent trip to the local fun park appropriately named Rainbows End. Initial hesitance aside, he manages to have quite alot of fun, at the same time oogling at all the ‘beauty’ that New Zealand has to offer. Don’t forget your homeland mate!

A hell of alot of restaurant reviews: Either the slave drivers at Lunch in Suva are wearing out their whips, driving the bloggers to post more reviews, or they were just really hungry, but they have released 3 reviews in one day and have no intention of slowing down. Soup Works, Dorothys Kitchen and Roma’s Hook and Chook all get placed under the review hammer in one day, with the Cakaudrove Fish Chips shop reviewed the next day. All this talk of food has got me hungry now…

Aroma Mesmerism: May has become mesmerised by both the new found word as well as some pictures she stumbled across online that depict a cute little girl being mesmerized by some mesmerizing roses. Ok…you can stop with the word abuse now. I’m sorry. That word was so…memeri – (snip. Ed)

Destination Calabria: Bellerophontes gives a heads up on whats going on with life so far, by giving the new Facebook chat feature, The Great Debaters and the tv show Dirty, Sexy Money the thumbs up. Also a quick peek at new and upcoming anime shows are in order.

Flight with Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04): Navinesh gets his hands tech dirty after installing Ubuntu on his system. After a few tweaks and read ups, he finally gets control of the OS, though not entirely without hiccups. A great read for all tech heads out there.

A rise in Infammatory and Sensationalist Headlines: I have to agree with Jonathan on this post as well. While the Fiji Times does have its moments in journalistic quality, now and then their reporting tends to lean towards more…dramatic angles. Oh well, the more drama, the more attention, the more sales I guess.

Food and Suva: Suffice to say Rizwan does not like Joji’s Restaurant and their food, and goes into great detail as to why you should, at all costs, avoid such a place. Quite the visual description.

I hate SMS text marquee on Fiji One!: Sarnil has had enough of that annoying scrolling pointless distracting antline of text Fiji One regularly places at the bottom of some sports coverages, and has come up with the perfect, albit haphazard solution to named problem. Hit the jump to see the hilarious answer.

The Local Blogsphere Bi-weekly Report

Wilson — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:29:00 +0000

Well, Fiji just can’t seem to get it right. We lost last week in the Hong Kong Sevens, rendering my post about Earth Hour vs Hong Kong Sevens basically useless, and this week, we seemed to have improved, giving New Zealand a scare when we were leading the game in the second half, but due to the most lamest of lame tackling I’ve seen, a scare was all we gave them.

There’s talk of the national rugby team coming back to Fiji and receiving a hiding from anyone who cares to give it. And the line seems to be growing.

Earth Hour: Meg celebrates Earth Hour in style! Treasure Island does its part to protect the earth, and the hour is filled with candle lights, lamps, and an enthusiastic, live and unplugged band to keep guests happy. Oh, and more great night photography.

Uplifting Women of Fiji: Wendy of Babasiga showcases a few worthy non-profit projects being run in Fiji, one of them being Uplift Fiji, where they supply second-hand bras to the women in the rural areas of Fiji. Donations of all kinds follow, and its heart-warming to see all these goods being donated and handed to those who need it greatly. A worthy read.

Yellow Feather Duster to the Rescue!: cieart gets creative! Collage craft pieces aplenty in this post, and its quite the collection.

Quien No Ilora por amor: Besides making my head sore with the spanish title, Freelance45 manages to get both philosophical as well as catch up with a good friend over some really expensive korean food, and ending up doing an impromptu review of korean food. “Word to the wise: If it looks like grass….it probably tastes like grass too“

Let’s have a Protest March – Virtually – Flowing on from So Kon Po: This is interesting. The anonymous folks at Intelligentsiya have come up with an ingenious way of protesting the current regime by organising a virtual protest march. Yes, I know I promised this blog neutrality when it comes to politics, but this is an interesting concept. I’m mighty curious to see what the outcome of this initiative will be.

Central Cuisine: After eating there for awhile, I noticed something about the food though I couldn’t quite put a finger on it. After reading Lunch In Suva’s review of the restaurant, I realized then what was it. Follow the link to see their consensus on the ‘macdonalds’ of chinese food here in Suva.

The Wonders of Steelwool: Bellerophontes finds out just how effective good ol’ steelwool is, and does a little impromptu spring cleaning on his pots and pans collection. Oh, and he gets his hands on the Ballu K & Agnes B. Sex Tape. Interesting…

Digital Talanoa: Customer Services II: This is fun. Jonathan, the mighty crusader for all services good and efficient compares Customer Service between Amazon.com and a local retailer who near puts him to the wire with their amazingly great (not) and patient (read: can’t wait to get rid of customer) service. 50 brownie points if you can figure out what promotion he’s talking about, and an extra 50 if you pinpoint exactly who was the infamous retailer.

Online Communities: Rizwan takes a closer look at what exactly makes online communities work. Facebook, Hi5, even designer-nightmare-Myspace gets the microscope treatment. How much is too much information in such a network as this?

Una Boliviana en Fiji – Monday, March 24, 2008: Thanks Meg for pointing out this blog! Danica is a Peace Corps volunteer who works as a Youth Health Education Officer up in Savusavu. Her blog is full of wonderful stories about rural life, flying roaches, Halloween-fiji-style, and at times, just plain fun and mayhem. A great read. PS: Any help with the name of the blog translated?

The Local Blogsphere Bi-Weekly Report

Wilson — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:00:00 +0000

So Fiji’s in the middle of the infamous 3 long weekends, one after the other, the kind of holiday weekends that make bosses weep, employees cheer and teenagers rub their hands with evil, well planned glee.

While most people took that opportunity to either enjoy some much needed sunshine, partake in the greater pleasures of alcohol, or spend time with their families and episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, so far the past two long weekends has resulted in me slaving at my square screen at work.

Fingers crossed this final longest of long weekends will be work free. If not, houses will burn.

Awesome Experimental Comic Post: Awesome Cake dares to be different, and takes a more visual approach to his next post. Also guest starring a ninja. I likes ninjas.

The Cost of Living in Fiji: It really is going up. Babasiga examines the cost of certain foods and services around the general Nadi area, for example, a movie costs between $2 to $4. Nice.

You Can Say That Again: cieart (with a small c mind you) wonders just whats up with the whole ‘you can say that again’ line. Come to think of it, it is in that Paint tv ad…

Human Rights Report Critiques Blog Censorship: Thrashor ponders the US report on the Human Rights, which also spotlights the recent local blogging drama with the Government vs Annoymous Blogging.

Back to Reality Back to Life: Back from his recent trip to Rotuma, Freelancer’s brimming with new found life and vigor! And is also sporting a nice tan. And does Rotuma look as lovely as ever.

Kata kata na nDraki (its too darn hot): Meg Campbell-Back of Megcampbellback.typepad.com experiences a really hot day up in the West. Aside from getting to practise some fijian phrases (“kerea mada e dua na tavai wai LEVU” I would like a LARGE bottle of water), she also had a flat battery in the boat, which didn’t quite help with the whole heatwave moment. Oh and if there was ever was an award for ‘blog with best professional pictures’, her blog would take it. Without a doubt.

Exaggerated Annoyances: What annoys the crap out of you? Red Ants? A program switching your screen resolution? Firefox not saving when you want to save? Yep. It annoys May as well.

Digital Talanoa: The Talanoa of Serving Customers: When it comes down service, Jonathan has a bone to pick with it. Why? Because in a previous post, he’s experienced the best restaurant service ever in Suva, and he wants to make sure everyone hears his experience

Note: In reference to the apparently changed title, it’s weekly, bi-weekly, you know…around that period.