Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — OMG, it’s Johnny Depp playing Michael Jackson playing Willy Wonka. Deep Roy (who 30 years ago played Mr Sin in Doctor Who — The Talons of Weng-Chiang) must have worked hard on this, playing all the Oompa Loompahs. All in all, enjoyable, and thankfully the spectre of the old ... [More]
Yesterday the Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay went past my mum’s house. So we decided to go and have a look. My mum got some chairs out and we sat waiting on the nature strip. After a few minutes, some police motorcycles and a support vehicle arrived to drop runners at the appropriate spots, clear ... [More]
The next time you hear the government making excuses as to why they can’t extend train and tram lines, and how they have to provide a “balance” between freeway and public transport expansion, keep this in mind: (Current and past ten years dollars spent on freeway expansion: $7.2 billion. Rail/tram network expansion: $225 milion. Full ... [More]
Paul Cornell, who wrote the excellent Father’s Day episode of Doctor Who, has a blog, and remarks that Rose’s father Pete was based on his own dad. The piece is really about me appreciating the sacrifices he made, and how I know he’d do what the Dad in ‘Father’s Day’ does. I think most Dads ... [More]
Every couple of weeks, often on a Friday, I have a hankering for a burger and chips. I know it’s not good for me, but sometimes, just sometimes, you need to indulge your tastebuds. So I go along to the local Hungry Jacks, incorrectly choose the queue which looks like it’s going to move the ... [More]
Six days to go until the Commonwealth Games… (Based on the Rexona advert. Pic from CPT.) I (with my PTUA hat on) got an invitation to the swimming, plus a breakfast function hosted by John Thwaites. We had a chat about it and decided that given it wasn’t a lobbying opportunity, it wasn’t appropriate for ... [More]
I have both a Coles and a Safeway nearby. With inspiration from Andrew’s post the other week, this is why I shop at Safeway: Safeway is a few minutes less of a walk, which isn’t a lot, but counts when you’re staggering home with two green bagsful of shopping. My local Coles has computer monitors ... [More]
It must be the 21st century. On Friday I got asked by a guy on the street for spare change. He said he was 85 cents short of the money for a Boost Juice.
Was in the barber shop the other day. While waiting, took a look at the reading offerings. A bit sparse that day, so I glanced through a recent issue of Australian Convenience Store News. It’s when you read stuff like this that you get an insight into the things that happen all around you that ... [More]
Tony and Rae got married yesterday at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville. After the ceremony, we all watched High Society. Congratulations Tony and Rae. (Funny story? Rob actually FORGOT the rings. Just before kick-off time, he had to race back home to get them.)
Due to various circumstances, I got to see some of the school photos taken on Tuesday. It’s an annual event of course, and one not to be missed I reckon. Maybe I’m more nostalgic than most about my childhood (especially this week it seems), but from time to time I do like looking at my ... [More]
Woo hoo! My good friends Tony & Rae are getting married tomorrow.
We lived in a number of places when I was growing up, but this block of flats at 62 Hotham Street, East St Kilda, was where we were the longest — seven years, for me from the age of about 4 to 11, covering most of primary school. The place doesn’t seem to have changed ... [More]
Update 9pm. I’m sorry. Looking at this entry, I realise it’s as dull as ditchwater. I strongly recommend you go read something else. I’ll have something better for you tomorrow.
We were minding our own business, as Marita and I walked across Flinders Street from the station on Friday night, to go shopping for a present for my nephew Leo’s first birthday. As we passed Young & Jackson’s on the corner, suddenly there was a man in a bright orange shirt pulling on my arm. ... [More]
There was a teenager on the train, last Thursday night, sitting somewhere behind me. He was asking someone — probably his mother, which stop they were going to… was it the end of the line… where did the train go to after that? These questions answered, he kept talking, to the strangers around him on ... [More]