Tramps Like Us by Kristen Buckley — Kristen emailed and asked if I’d like to read and review this book, as its Australian launch is coming soon. I’m glad I said yes, it’s smegging hilarious. Kristen’s better known for being a screenwriter for movies that… well, frankly, I wouldn’t go out of my way to ... [More]
I’ve lived in my house almost two years. And during that time.. I’ve done bugger all to it. Not that I was planning to do much, but here’s the current list. In my defence, I seem to rarely have any spare time to attack some of these things. Short term: Find out what kind of ... [More]
Sorry, too busy today to say much. Age: Public transport call to Canberra. Full report: Moving Australians Sustainably. Age: New rail tunnel proposal gains momentum Herald-Sun: Rail system daily ordeal for 300,000
I have a cautionary tale for you. A few weeks ago I was merrily strolling through Bentleigh, and decided to see what they had in the discount supermarket place. To my delight they had some very cheap Cadbury breakfast bars. Ah, the goodness of muesli combined with the deliciousness of chocolate. Okay, so slightly past ... [More]
When I fire up the dishwasher, and get the washing machine running, and the central heating’s warming the house, and I can hear them all going… sometimes it’s a terribly good feeling to know all my machines are working hard for me. Perhaps people last century thought they’d have robots running around doing their bidding, ... [More]
I had a walk around Fed Square and Birrarung Marr on Friday. I was actually looking to get a pic of the Spamalot information booth, which had a big inflatable Monty Python foot on top of it. The kids could have had great fun animating it. Alas my plan went askew when I couldn’t find ... [More]
I’ve gone cold turkey on junk mail. The sticker went on last weekend, and there’s been nothing since. Of all the junk mail I used to get (the record being a phenominal 28 pieces in a single day, but more typical being 100 per month), I would only read a fraction of it: usually I’d ... [More]
And you thought I was a geek for knowing 75 digits of pi. Peter Thamm of Melbourne’s Viewbank Secondary College has memorised ten thousand digits. (There’s video available of some of it.) I suppose these days, people have spare number-remembering capacity in their brains, since virtually everyone has a phone (home or mobile) that stores ... [More]
Since I apparently know a bit more about it than the average person, and I keep getting asked about it, here’s what I know about Myki, which for out-of-towners, is the very silly name for the forthcoming public transport smartcard ticketing system, which $494 million of tax-payers money is being spent on, whether we like ... [More]
I’m really enjoying the SBS series Great Australian Albums on Saturday nights. It’s kind of an Aussie version of the British Classic Albums series — both take the artists back to the studios to play us snippets from the master tapes, while explaining how the albums came about: the context for the band, the writing, ... [More]
The APEC forum is coming up in Sydney in September, and they’re only shutting down half the city to accomodate them. But we all know what APEC really means… a big photo opp getting the leaders together in clothing that’s “traditional” in the host country — typically those colourful shirts. So, what’ll it be for ... [More]
(Is there anything more dull than people talking about house prices?) Age (last Saturday, I think — can’t find it online) reported on the latest annual rise in median house prices around Melbourne — up 11.7% overall. Of the suburbs rising, many are those close to the city and/or with good access to transport and ... [More]
Regarding the Haneef case… The SIM card. By my count, I have four first-cousins, and I don’t even know how many second-cousins. They all live overseas or interstate, so I don’t see them very often, but if they arrived on the doorstep, I’d welcome them, and if they were in need of a mobile phone ... [More]
I wonder if Jeremy might like to get into journalism? (Pics from Sunday. Thanks M and R.)
My sister looks a little more ethnic than me, and sometimes gets asked “Where are you from?” to which she replies “Melbourne”. This often doesn’t satisfy the interrogator, who will often be reluctant to say it, but really wants to know what the ethnic mix is. Maybe you blue-eyed blonds reading don’t realise this, but ... [More]
On Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago I was digging through the old video tapes and found the Bargearse compilation. (For non-gen-Xers and those outside Australia, Bargearse was a version of the 70s cop show “Bluey”, starring Leo “Lucky” Grills, dubbed-over in the early 90s by the D-Generation Late Show). I thought I’d give the ... [More]