While many of us are thinking about near-trivial day-to-day things like what DVD to hire, or how to make our frequent flyer points go farther, in other less peaceful parts of the world, they’re worrying about just getting through the day alive. Tony Issa [warning: graphic photos], normally a Melbourne native, is in Lebanon right ... [More]
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang — A kinda violent-yet-funny Lock Stock/Snatch type comedy-mystery-drama. Very well done, with some nice touches on the narration. Plenty of laughs, very enjoyable. Broken Flowers — Another of Bill Murray’s refined, old bloke, laid-back movie roles. Very good. Corpse Bride — Reminded me of one of those 80s/90s afternoon kids’ programmes, ... [More]
I’ve been planning some activity for my many frequent flyer points, many tens of thousands of which were earnt over several years of paying for childcare on a credit card several years ago. It adds up, I can tell you. Firstly I’ll be jaunting down to Hobart for a few days in October with Marita. ... [More]
It’s been a funny weekend for dreams. On Saturday night I had an interesting one involving a bunch of my friends from high school, but set in the current time, riding bikes around late at night. But by far the best of the weekend was on Friday night/Saturday morning: I was waiting at a kind ... [More]
Josh (aka the madman) was in the pub again on Friday night. Alas, I didn’t have time to join him for a quick drink. I like the reflection of the station, opposite, in this picture. Mighty handy, this phone camera.
“The only thing wrong with public transport is the public.” I’m not sure who said it, but sometimes it rings true. On my train home last night at about 9:30pm, a crazy woman started screaming at nobody in particular. Just a cry of “You f—ing murderers! Nazis!” every couple of minutes. As you do. The ... [More]
Been too damn busy to think of very much intelligent to blog about. I did post a long meandering review of my new mobile phone over at geekrant though. Oh, and I can tell you about this fabulous email I got the other week: Subject: Your Food Pyramid/Trapezoid presented at food and nutrition seminar Hello ... [More]
Tony’s posted some terrific pictures of buildings with old signs recently. Here’s one I really like, in Collins Street, near where I work. Look above the rather tackily-named House Of Cashmere, and you’ll see Newspaper House, and a terrific mosaic. The saying is from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and was popular in the days when ... [More]
Before there was this blog on danielbowen.com, it was on toxiccustard.com. And before it was a blog at all, it was an email list. And actually the email list still exists, sending out the weekly extract of this blog, as well as the Guide to Australia (when I get around to updating it) and News ... [More]
Watched some of that Planet Earth doco last night. Really wanted to see the water-wading monkeys featured in the promo. So much so that at one point I shouted at the TV in my best Jerry Macguire voice* “Show me the monkey!” But I had to do some other stuff away from the TV, so ... [More]
A grizzled old man in the supermarket queue tonight was bitching about petrol prices. “It’s criminal!” he was saying. I didn’t feel like trying to explain the concept of Peak Oil to him. Nor did I think telling him it was only going to get worse would placate him. A more informed response to the ... [More]
“Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them.” — Aaron Sorkin (creator of the West Wing) I don’t know if the people who leave comments here necessarily disagree with me, but they do seem to be pretty smart. Over the past week I’ve learnt of ... [More]
The Rugby State of Origin game was last night. You can tell the tourists are in town, from the number of cars with interstate numberplates rolling unwittingly down Swanston Street Walk, and the confused questions on the tram about using the ticket machines, and getting to St Kilda Beach. Oh yeah, I just got a ... [More]
Stephen J Dubner writes on the Freakonomics blog: He [Warren Buffett] was explaining why he wanted to give so much money [US$31 billion] to a foundation that mainly tries to alleviate poverty. Ă¢ââÂŹĂ âA market system has not worked in terms of poor people,Ă¢ââÂŹĂ Buffett said. Coming from Buffett, this statement isnĂ¢ââââ¢t much of a shock. ... [More]
A new era has dawned in the City of Glen Eira. New recycle bins, with bright yellow lids, have been distributed (originally with crime-scene-style “Do not use until July” tape on them), and yesterday the new recycle truck did its first fortnightly run down our street. There are three bits of good news associated with ... [More]
Today is Independence From MainStream Media day. I appreciate the sentiments, but I’m not joining in. I do read my fair share of blogs and other non-MSM, but fundamentally I want to know what’s going on in politics and world events, and that’s something I can’t get reliably from anywhere but the MSM. (Besides, I ... [More]