Some Pics

Salamander Bay, NSW, August 2006

Vega$

Mondrian's Church

Small Child hit by Lightning

More photos below the fold...

Note: Does not have 'Resort' in title; okay for work function

Lawnmower-powered Bicycle

Accident Ahead

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Dog Bites Man

The business lobby is against Labor's proposed IR changes.

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Cool Stolen Graphic

By Paul Sabre, stolen from an op-ed by Ronald D. Moore in the New York Times

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Misc 060918

Pope Nazinger's problem is that whether or not the words were from an ancient text, he still decided to use them in his little speech. (Even if he didn't write it, I'm pretty sure he would have veto power over its contents.)

I'm sick of reading debates about "Australian Values". There is only one Australian value: Australians value being able to do, say and think whatever the hell we like. Thus by definition, nothing is "unAustralian", although I could still probably try to make a case that the word "unAustralian" is, in fact, unAustralian.

And the problem with this "Values debate" is that the media is talking about it and they're not talking about whatever it is the government didn't want talked about. That is, this is just an orchestrated distraction. I'm not sure what from, though - Jack Thomas? Something callous Ruddock said or did? Something stupid Vanstone said or did - because the distraction has worked and the media isn't covering whatever it is that they're not covering.

Queensland beat New Zealand 5 - 0 on Friday night. We were originally going to go to the game, but we both ended up too sick to go. (Boycat's Mum was off sick for 4 days.) That's the first sporting event I've ever watched where I was spewing I wasn't at the game.

Queensland won on Friday night, yet there was not one word about it in the newpaper the next day. I know that the "Home Delivery" edition of the paper is printed first, so that it can get into the trucks and out to the newsagents so it can slam into our garage at 3.30am, but seriously, what time do they put the paper to bed? The game finished at 9.53pm.

Sydney F.C.'s Steve Corrica learns the Gorden Tallis Rule. You just can't call the ref a "fucking cheat".

What do you reckon about old Star Treks with new special effects?

Apparently they're trying to blame Peter Brock's death on an inexperienced navigator. If that's the case, don't you think Brock would have said something when his navigator told him to drive through the tree?

Misc 060903

Here's something else I lost in "Drafts".


Qld Roar 3 - Newcastle Jets 2
Weird Game. We still seem to be giving the ball away far too much; need to tighten up our passes. I thought Seo looked better this week, but Miron thinks he didn't have a good game, and people - like whoever votes for those 3-2-1 awards they list in the paper each week - thought he had a good game the first week, so what do I know?

New Zealand look good with Buari and Richter up front.

Melbourne look impressive. A little less writhing around on the ground would be nice, though.

[END]

The musical education of Boycat's Mum

I was playing Start! by the Jam the other day, the first time she'd heard it (to my knowledge - I've never had it on CD - or MP3 - until last weekend). And she says "Taxman."

(I can't find my copy of Revolver... I'm sad.)

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The weirdest spam I ever got

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I'm not usually one to get excited about things that get emailed around...

...that is, I figure that if Boycat's Mum was sent the following thing by email, everyone else has already seen it (my work keeps stuff like this out, so the fact that I haven't seen it means nothing). But just in case you haven't, these are really good, because the songs are cool as well as the videos:

Ok Go, "Here it Goes Again" ['Treadmill Dance']

This one wasn't sent around, but it is a more-immediately-catchy song:

Ok Go, "A Million Ways".

But both songs have been in my head since I first heard them.

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So that's what's been going on for the past 20 years

Ha, ha, ha; apparently I have asthma.

Not 100% sure because I've got to go back next week for the full work-up, but close enough. Darn, I guess I really will have to give up smoking now.

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Drug Sniffing Dogs - wrong two-thirds of the time

Boycat's mum told me about a drug dog operation at Brunswick Street station last week.

I didn't like those things because I don't like the police being able to arbitrarily pull people up and search them. I mean, I agree to be searched going onto an aeroplane or going into Lang Park, because those are the rules I agreed to abide by when purchasing my ticket. But just walking along?

Anyway, it seems that the 'reasonable suspicion' that causes the cops to search you is a reaction from a drug dog. However, it's instructive to read the Police PR release in its entirety:

Drug operation, Brunswick Street Railway Station: Police have arrested 26 people following a policing operation at the Brunswick Street Railway Station on Friday night and early Saturday morning. The operation involved a passive drug detection dog team as well as police from the Railway Squad, Public Safety Response Team, and the City Tactical Crime Squad. During the operation 80 people were detained and searched after the drug detection dog indicated that they had been in contact with dangerous drugs. Police arrested 26 people for 28 drug related offences as well as two other people for public nuisance and stealing. Those arrested will face court at a later date.

Get that? 80 people searched, 26 had something on them - that's a 32.5% success rate.

I saw a documentary about drug sniffing dogs once - they said that a single false positive meant the dog was fired from the drug squad. Obviously not in Queensland.

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Atlantic Hurricane Watch

Florida Panhandle on Alert

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Weekend Update 060827

Queensland Roar 3 - Perth Glory 0
Phew! It was looking grim for a while there. Like last season, but worse. And Queensland gives up possession again.

All that time spent looking for strikers and none of them looked that hot in the first half; Milicic was fiddling around with it and never getting a clean shot in, Reinaldo looks more like a mid-fielder. And Queensland gives up possession again.

Seo didn't have a good night, we didn't control the ball in the mid-field at all; Wedau was invisible - so much for the "push button tempo controller" or whatever it was that Miron the Mouth called him in an interview I saw on Total Football the other day when I was away: Murdocca should be in the run-on side instead of him. And Queensland gives up possession again.

Although that might mean Massimo wouldn't be so fresh and able to slice through them at the end of the game like he did. Because until the fresh legs came on it looked like being another really bad night for the Roar. No one should really fail to beat Perth, given what's going on with them. Then we scored three goals in six minutes and all was forgiven.

Except by me: as you might have guessed, I thought we gave up possession far too easily, far too often.

Still, the Roar might end up at the top of the table after today's games, if no one else wins 3-0 or better. We were on top after the first round last year. Eventual position: 6th.


Taringa Rovers Falls at the Final Hurdle
There was an article in Saturday's paper about Taringa Rovers. Well, it was about the final weekend of the Premier League and how there were five teams going for four spots and all the permutations of what would happen if particular teams won or lost, but the headline was Last-ditch bid for Rovers, so I'm going to say it was about my old team, Taringa.

"Taringa, on 39 points, must beat third-placed Palm Beach today to cement its finals spot while Pine Rivers can also jump into finals contention witha win over Brisbane City. "

Pine Rivers did (2-0), Taringa didn't (0-3), so they ended up fifth, one place better than last year, according to the Wiki.

The Premier League Reserves team won 2-0, but also ended up in 5th place.


Manchester United Top of the Table (after three games)
...though Chelsea haven't played their third, yet.

Still, they've got a goal difference of +8 (10 for, 2 against) and only one of those three games was played at home, so things are looking good.

I know it's early in the season; but, it's never bad to go out to a commanding lead early.

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Darwin Police look freaky

Judging by the footage I saw on tv this morning, they dress like soliders and act like Nazis.

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Farmers' Almanack

2006.

Fire season started six weeks early this year.

This would be tied into the fact that we got our usual September heat starting around mid-August.

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Update to Misc Week ending 060813

I'm not sure how Taringa Rovers went against the Strikers, but they drew 1-1 with Rochedale Rovers yesterday. Unfortunately, they've slipped into 4th place. (My cousin's team, the Premier League reserves lost 8-0.)

Souths-Logan were the TV game, but I didn't see it. We lost 60-10, so that's probably a good thing.

Queensland Roar beat NZ 2-1 in the 7th place-play-off in the pre-season cup. Back to our usual position on the table.

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Misc Week ending 060813

Damn 'drafts' folder. I lose stuff in there. Here's something I wrote last weekend...

Queensland Roar lost to Melbourne in their pre-season match 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

Bojinka! Imagine if this had happened 11 years ago... Oh, it did?

Taringa Rovers plays the Brisbane Strikers tomorrow.

People analysing those search terms that AOL released have found some interesting patterns.

The Souths-Logan Magpies play Toowoomba today, but the score isn't up on the QRL's website yet. It looks like we're going to be the TV game next week - there's only ever one game played at 2pm on a Saturday. Yep, a troll through the ABC program guide confirms it.

White guys on the Down Low?

The results are on QRL.com.au now: Souths-Logan got thumped by Toowoomba 48-22. Mind you, Toowoomba are the Broncos' reserve team, so I didn't expect any different.

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Those darn inventive Kiwis

Porn plus pot for thirty-five bucks.

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I used to produce songs this bad

Jennie Pearl: "Maybe in Another Year"

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Misc 060803

I've been slack and have not yet mailed that DVD.

Here's a story that's been happening for a while, but which might be of interest to any reader who used to live near Narangba. The link is to Google news, so I have no idea what will be on it when you look at it, but there should be something toxic still there.

The Catholic Education dude wrote a letter to the editor denying they'd ever thought about the value of the Rosalie land when working out whether to close the school. (This was on July 18, but I hadn't read it when I did the Rosalie thing below.)

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Rosalie Update

Thursday, July 13, Courier Mail page 4. "Final bell tolls for embattled school"
This is the story about the decision to close. Catholic Education Council Chair Sister Mary McDonald says "it would be unfair to [the students] and the staff to continue to run the College with such a low number of children."

Old Boys' president Joe Nowak describes the decision as a 'disgrace' and the Our Rosa Committee people get a few paragraphs.

Friday, July 14, Courier Mail page 4. "School vows to fight"
"Angry parents of Marist College Rosalie boys have accused the Catholic Church of closing the school to sell the land — prime Brisbane real estate worth tens of millions of dollars."

"[The Catholic Education Council] cited a steady decline in student enrolments during the past five years for the closure.

"But incensed parents say the Catholic Church is compromising their children's education for money."

"The school site at Rosalie, in Brisbane's west, is estimated to be worth $35 million."

**both the above stories had several colour photos.**

Saturday, July 15, Courier Mail page 10. "Parents say they are losing options"
"The days of affordable Catholic secondary education near home were over for many families, parents of Marist Brothers Rosalie students said yesterday."

Small article about how parents would have to send their kids to — shock, horror — State School or pay double the fees to send 'em to a posher Catholic school, and for some of them "schools like Terrace are out of our reach".

Monday, July 17, Courier Mail page 9. "Tears run as Rosa closes"
Poor old Harry Mitchell, 11, won't get to go to Rosalie "in the footsteps" of his two older brothers.

"[Executive director of Brisbane Catholic Education, David] Hutton, a former old boy of the school himself, has denied parents' accusations the school is being sold for the land worth tens of millions of dollars."

Monday, July 17, Courier Mail letters to the editor. "Closure just doesn't add up"
There are four letters in the block on the right-hand page under the cartoon. All are negative, but it wouldn't be hard to find four negative letters on any issue if that's the angle they wanted to play. One of the letters points out that "land in the Pine Rivers area is being made available for a primary to Year 12 Catholic school at North Lakes. One wonders where the money for this will come from."

La Valla
There were also a couple of nights' worth of stories on the local news. The first night both of these had a bit about some old boy ex-international football player whose ashes are scattered at La Valla and they mentioned it would be sold as well (hence the tearful widow.) But the newspaper didn't mention it anywhere.

I took a drive out there a couple of months ago — yes, along part of the walk-a-thon route — and it's a little more developed now out in that part of Fig Tree Pocket. Most notably, the side of the road directly across from the fields has massive houses on it. It's not hard to see that development expanding very quickly. And remember, the fields go on forever: I'm not sure where the property line is but if you've ever been forced to run the cross-country (and I think we all have) you'll know it's a big big piece of land.

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This month's Air Show Disaster

Air show jet crashes in Hillsboro neighborhood

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Weekend Football Update

The Queensland Roar lost 2-1 to Sydney in a pre-season cup match at Carrara. We didn't see the winning goal because we were walking back to our car to avoid the rush that would come 5 minutes later. Still, as Boycat's Mum said, at least we didn't stay to watch Queensland lose the match and then get trapped in the carpark for half an hour. You don't really see the perpetual drizzle in the photo above, but we don't complain about rain here in South-East Queensland.

Taringa Rovers beat Brisbane City 3-0 to go back up to fourth in the Brisbane Premier League.

The Souths-Logan Magpies lost a close one to Easts, 20-16, putting them in seventh place in the Qld Cup but they're two-and-a-half wins (5 points) out of the five. This is about the best they've ever done, though.

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Bye Bye Rosa

Rosalie is closing at the end of 2008.

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World Cup Wrap

The Guardian has printed an article where about 10 people gave their opinions on some topics (best this, worst that, Jericho this, crucify that, etc.)

Here - after a bit of mathematical manipulation - are their findings:

(They're British/English, so that explains some of the results in the 'worst' categories.)

Best Player: Cannavaro by a landslide.

Worst Player: 1. Frank Lampard, 2. Ronaldinho - obviously most of them took this to mean 'biggest let down', although Zeljko Kalac got a nomination.

Biggest Joy: 1. Cambiasso's Goal, 2. Ghana.

Best Match: 1. Portugal - Holland, 2. Australia - Croatia, 3. Argentina - Mexico, 4. Italy - Germany

Worst Match: 1. Switzerland - Ukraine, 2. Anything with England playing

Team of the Cup (4-4-2):
Starting Eleven:

Buffon (GC)
Zambrotta
Lahm
Cannavaro (Capt.)
Marquez
Pirlo
Rodriguez
Riquelme
Zidane
Klose
Torres

Substitutes:
Lehmann (GC)
Edwards
Grosso
Ferdinand
Miguel
Kaka
Ribery
C Ronaldo
Ronaldo
Henry
Crespo
Ricardo (GC)

I had to make some choices here about who to use as a substitute. There were so many votes for the run on full-backs that I had to use players who had only received one vote for the subs. So Rio Ferdinand gets the gig by virtue of playing for Man U. If I didn't have to stick to people nominated by the writers, I'd pick Lucas Neill.

It was the same with the strikers: Klose, Torres and Henry got most of the votes, leaving a few single votes.

Ricardo only got one vote, too, but you have three keepers in your squad of 23. I'm not sure of the proportions of the other players you'd have in a squad, though.

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The Last Rights of Syd Barrett*

Syd's Dead.

*title of a Slaughterhouse Joe song, circa 1988.

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Tips for Time Lords' assistants.

Sophie Aldred has written a piece for the Guardian

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Rosalie

The fight to save Rosalie has hit the papers.

Actually, there was a small story a week or so ago - I think they've found someone to do P.R. - that I didn't mention because I didn't think it would be online, but this one is fairly big and on a right-hand page.

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Bring on the Asian Cup!

We didn't really ever look like we would win, but for a time there it looked like we wouldn't lose.

Still, the Asian Cup finals are on next year, and we've already beaten the Asian Champion Japan, so we've got a pretty got shot at that.

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Misc 060625

• Boycat's Mum has a theory about something that causes cancer. Let's just say it involves the phrase "eating away at you".
  
• The Schonell Theatre has closed. It lost its subsidy from the University Union. The Union claims it couldn't afford to fund the Schonell since the voluntary student union legislation cut the amount of funding they received.
• Story on Al Jazeera - "Football on the up Down Under", about how soccer is gaining in profile because of the world cup. It describes the fact that here, football is "largely drawn up along state lines" - NRL in Qld and NSW, "while in the rest of the land" it's the "bizarre code" of AFL. Good to have an outsider's perspective.
• Can Australia only play really well when they're behind? Apart from the last few minutes against Japan, they haven't been ahead.
  
• The Souths-Logan Magpies won over Ipswich 44 - 34 in the Queensland Cup rugby league.
• Who ate all the Bratwurst lists Neill and Viduka as subs in their 'team of the first round', with Guus as coach.
  

[END]

They think it's all over... It is now!

What a scrappy game, and we were so outplayed in the second half, I don't know what went on at half-time because we finished the first half like we would score four.

But we're through. And as a poster to the New York Times' blog points out, Bruce Arena, coach of the just-eliminated U.S. team called us 'easybeats'.

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Misc 060615

The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1. I meant to say something about it at the time, because if there's two things I like, they're journalists getting pummelled reporting from the storms' paths, and American cities being destroyed. Anyway, the first storm of the season, Alberto, hit Florida yesterday, and if the winds were 8km/h greater, it would have been the first hurricane of the season.

In other news, Woodduck wants to get the Triplets back together. Looks like I'm going to have to re-learn how to play the guitar.

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I'm not the only one who thinks the camera is too far away from the game

The BBC agrees with me.

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Ahhh, doesn't matter.

All's well that ends well.

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What a bunch of bullshit

All my years playing and watching football, I didn't know you could charge the 'keeper out of the way.

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Oh, the things I've seen

You aren't the only one with those things, you know

Buck and Dirt

Construction next door

The one with the waggly tail

Dinner

After Dinner

Artificial fur, keep away from fire

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Here we go, here we go, here we go...

World Cup thoughts.

Cranberry sauce. (I'm very tired.)

I've watched all the games so far, apart from this morning's 5am game, most of them the next day. Some of them on x2 speed, because Boycat's Mum isn't that big a football fan. I've explained to her that there's only about a week and a half of three games a day and then it will settle down a little.

Other thoughts:

• I don't like the main camera angle... well, it's more the framing I don't like. The angle is the standard camera-on-halfway angle, but the framing shows too much of the field - sideline to sideline - and it makes me feel a little disconnected from the action, it needs to be zoomed about 10%.
• The second half of the England game was terrible. I'm so glad I stayed up until 1am for that.
• Go Trinidad and Tobago! We'll forgive you for playing for the wrong team, Dwight.
  
• The fourth German goal is the goal of the tournament so far, but I agree: the ball does move around a bit too much. No keeper should be able to hit the videoscreens like the England keeper did.

But what can I say? Nine hours to go until something I've waited my whole life to see. (I was alive, but too young in 1974.)

Photo by Skywalker1403, stolen from flickr.

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Al-Zarqawi

The Americans have announced* that they've killed Al-Zarqawi. Are they sure they didn't get Fedele Crisci by mistake?

*A. It was the Iraqis, but there isn't much difference. B. Keep in mind the veracity of the source.

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King Pest update

An anonymous commenter informs me and anyone who reads my comments (i.e., still just me, I think) that the King Pest free gig on Saturday (referred to below) has moved to the Kauri Hotel, Glebe.

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Misc 06.06.06

• FREE GIG: For those of you in Syd-en-ee, there is a free King Pest gig this Saturday (10.06.06) at the St Petersburg Nightclub, 21 May St, St Peters. King Pest contains Carl from Slaughterhouse Joe and Gary from the Sanity Assassins. The Password is "nyet". (BYO Stollies)
  
• Peeboo gets a camera credit in the new Dirt Petty DVD.
• The Souths-Logan Magpies haven't been winning to often recently, leaving them in about 6th place.
• In the Brisbane Premier League football, my old team, Taringa Rovers, is in 3rd place after a draw at Taringa on Saturday.

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Boycat's Self

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What was wrong with Tracy Grimshaw's lips?

I only saw a few clips from the Miners thing on the news this morning, but I won't be watching the program itself — I taped it for Boycat's Mum ('BM') — because Tracy Grimshaw's horrible puffy mis-shapen lips just freaked me out. BM says it's probably "plumping" lipstick, which is apparently all the rage these days.

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Scrubs

Season Five ended in the U.S. last week.

This is a story about the season finale. It's full of spoilers, and you'll have to click through an advertisement to see it. This is how it begins:

Being a "Scrubs" fan is a little like being a Neil Diamond fan. It's the kind of thing that originally seemed so cheesy you didn't want to admit it, but somehow over the years gained its own warped credibility.

Discuss.

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Insert Go-Betweens lyric here

So, what does Grant McLennan's death mean to me? Not a lot, to be honest; after all I never met the man, I can't claim to be a friend or in anyway connected to him. (Actually, I lie, I'm two degrees of musical separation from him: I was in a band with Ross MacLennan who was in the Far Out Corporation.) And as I said to someone at work the other day, I haven't heard anything the Go-Betweens put out since they got back together.

But someone dying at 48 is sad, even if you think their best years were 15 years ago. Boycat's Mum's Dad died at 48.

But what do the Go-Betweens mean to me? As a former wannabe rock star from Brisbane, a heck of a lot. There really were very few bands from Brisbane back when I was in a band. Not like today where Powderfinger are the biggest band in the country and Regurgitator get an entire digital tv channel to themselves for a couple of weeks; when I was learning to play the guitar, there was pretty much only The Go-Betweens and The Saints. (Note that the music writer from the Courier Mail, Noel Mengel's blog is called "Know Your Product", named after The Saints' second best known song.) If they could make it - and even minor-league-popular-in-England success like the Gobies was making it - so might we be able to. (If, y'know, we were actually any good, which we weren't.)

And the songs. I haven't heard People Say or Don't Let Him Come Back in years (my sister had an original Able Label single before it got stolen) but they still go through my head occasionally. Since last weekend, Cattle and Cane and Streets of Your Town haven't left my head.

I feel that the worth of a band is measured by how good a "Greatest Hits" record they've got in them. And if they didn't have 'hits' then a "Best of". Gee, I wish there was a Godfathers best of. I think - although I don't have it - yet - that the Go-Betweens would have a very good best of. And that is the true mark of a band.

>>>Why the hell isn't Right Here on Bellavista Terrace? (Double-Ls, I get it.)

[END]

I went to school with the Mad Bomber!

My mother has passed on the word from my brother that, yes, I did go to the same school as Brisbane's mad bomber John Amundsen. He was in my brother's class. Another success for Marist Brothers' Rosalie! They don't just turn out bitter public servants. That'll give them something to talk about at the Old Boys' Dinner in a fortnight.

I was talking to a friend this evening - before I got the above news - and he said that Amundsen went to uni with his sister. He was a nutjob then, he's a nutjob now. Allegedly.

I'll wait to see if we find out the contents of the email threat he sent, but if he wasn't threatening to blow stuff up unless the government changed some policy or another, he's not a terrorist. He's just a mad bomber. Allegedly.

[END]

And in the sky a rain of falling cinders

More GW stories:

The Australian Senate remembers GW. See page 19 (of 139) of this .pdf file of Hansard.

89.3 KCUR-FM in Kansas City will have a two-hour tribute show on Saturday (U.S. time). There's a link to listen live from the KCUR homepage.

Obituary/Tribute in the U.K Herald.

Story from the SMH about the tributes received.

And a story about the TV coverage of the rescue of the miners that includes complaints similar to my first words on the GW subject:

"The coverage given to Carleton was far greater than that afforded another heart-attack victim from the weekend - Australian musician Grant McLennan, formerly of the band the Go-Betweens ... I, for one, have been touched much more by McLennan's music than Carleton's reporting."

[END]

Whatever I have is yours, but it's not much

Today's only mention in the paper was in a downloads column with links to things Go-Betweens fans have probably already got:

A site with links to snippets of songs, plus the video for Here Comes A City.

A site with the video for Bye Bye Pride

And from Google News:

Funeral for Go-Betweens frontman. I assume this will be in the paper tomorrow. [It was, but in a cut-down version in a newsbriefs column.]

NME story about Forster's reaction to tributes on go-betweens.net (Although the article actually links to gobetweens.net, which is a different site altogether.)

Found in a post on go-betweens.net:

Photos from an instore performance 12 May, 2005. (In fact, for those with no time to search, here's a link to the page for the flikr tag for 'gobetweens'.)

"I can't believe it. He was very sweet and generous to me when I asked to paint him." - Anne Wallace.

And where are those paintings now?

Finally: "The Go-Betweens' success was a source of great pride for Brisbane-ites." - from a post on the Go-Betweens messageboard by Robyn E. How true. Remember, this band started when the joke "What's the difference between Brisbane and yoghurt? There's culture in yoghurt" was still around. To quote Hüsker Dü: it's not funny anymore.

(Photo at the top by borolad259; stolen from flikr.)

[END]

I love Lee Remick, she's a darling

(Updated Tuesday PM)

I was going to predict, in my comments on another blog, that Richard Carleton's death was going to completely overshadow that of G.W. McLennan (but I figured that wasn't the place for cynicism.) But, unfortunately, on TV at least I was right - not a mention.

But not in the newspaper. Grant is honoured with page three with a colour photo (a different one than the one on the website; one of him and Forster). Richard Carleton gets page 5, in black and white (although if they had a picture of him lying on the ground dying, I'm sure Carleton would have been bumped up...)

And there is a comment/tribute piece "Brisbane arts scene loses its heart of gold"; but I can't find that online.

Also, the headline to the page three story in the paper is slightly different to the online version - "World-beating band founder dead at 48". The story is the same one that will probably have been printed in all News Ltd newspapers.

Google News has at least a couple of pages of articles, so I won't provide links to any apart from this and this.


UPDATE ~ TUESDAY: Here's the link to the "Heart of Gold" tribute.

Today there was a story about the funeral on page 5, two letters in the centre of the 'letters to the editor' section with a bold headline (neither of which were the ones on this page - use 'find' to find "McLennan" on the page*) and the original "Vale Grant McLennan" post and a couple of comments from Noel Mengel's blog.

Google News has loads of stories, probably most of them are the same UPI story- but what is interesting is the sort of publications it appears in, the LA Times, the Washington Post. Probably only on the web edition, with its unlimited space and not the print edition, but who cares. There's also a big story in Rolling Stone, with an interesting tid-bit about how the producer of 24 was a fan and wrote their names into the show.

Hey, were either of McLennan or Forster in Cow, or was that just Dave from Custard? Which one of them was in the Far Corporation with Ross MacLennan (of Dirt Petty and the Hideous Debacle)?

*Ironically, considering the letter about using Streets of Your Town for the newspaper's TV commercials, that commercial was just on as I typed this.

[END]

By the time they said "I do" their expenses totalled $19,000 (US$)

There's an interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor about the cost of weddings in the US these days. I know I say "interesting article" a lot, but this time, Boycat's Mum read the whole thing when I showed it to her; and that was two and a half A4 pages of 10 point text, so I figure it might actually be interesting to someone other than me.

I think our wedding cost $3000 (in 1993). We paid for it ourselves although Boycat's Mum's Dad slipped us $1500 after it was over. We did the flowers in the church ourselves (that was when I learned you don't cut 6 inches off the end of long-stemmed roses to make them fit), my sister made the wedding dress, our reception was at our favourite indian restaurant — we'd been paying it off for the previous six months — and the entertainment was a couple of mix tapes I put together plus a belly-dancer.

Some of my friends had posher weddings, like the one in the botanical gardens, and some had traditional Italian weddings, but I'm pretty sure no one spent anything like $19,000 U.S dollars.

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Plagiarism Update

From the New York Times:

Fresh passages in the novel by a Harvard sophomore, whose book was pulled from stores last week after she acknowledged plagiarizing portions of it, appear to be copied from a second author.

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He's still Dirt and he don't care!

So, I got my invite in the mail this week: Saturday June 3rd is the World Premiere of the new DVD Beneath the Dirt, Dirt Petty 1985-2005.

It's also Dirt's 40th birthday, and of course the DVD will be on sale for $15 (although I'm hoping I can get a discount...). This year's ultimate A-list red-carpet event will be held at the Taylor Range Country Club at Ashgrove.

Dirt interviewed me about a year ago for the film.

This is Dirt's second video, but unfortunately, my brother-in-law taped over the master of the A $2300 Memory video years ago — the first time we loaned it to him — so I haven't seen it for a while.

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Do not get into fights with other drivers

From one of the booklets that came with my bike.

[END]

She should have said it was a homage... (updated)

Harvard Novelist Says Copying Was Unintentional

Actually, I'm serious. While the 'mirroring' in the quoted portion goes on for just a little too long, it would only need to be slightly re-written (maybe find something that doesn't include the words 'ha', 'uh' or 'yeah') to make a claim that it was a homage to Megan McCafferty reasonably plausible.

But there's nothing wrong with the "(a), (b)" stuff - after I read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test I used Tom Wolfe's triple-colons ( ::: ) loads. So a little bit of trying someone else's techniques on for effect is fine, I reckon.

Followed by: a bit of discussion in the comments of this post.

LATER: Here's a link to the article that broke the story, from the Harvard Crimson

Here's a big list of similarities, also from the Crimson.

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Gonna form my own Moped Gang!

Scooter riders of the world, unite!

I'm glad to see that non-fatal accidents are down, too. That's reassuring. Now, if we can just get frickin' car drivers to see us.

Meanwhile Krustophenia sits on the shelf...

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What I was looking at this month...

Here's some pictures of stuff, since I got my phone/camera repaired.

This includes stuff shot on lots of days, except none from April 20, strangely enough.

Although some things look familiar.

Doesn't my pergola look nice and clean? It'll stay like this for about a month...

More pictures below the fold...


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Miscellany 060423

The Souths Logan Magpies extended the winning streak to four games, putting us in fourth place - equal on points with a group holding second to fifth.

I really like this: This Is My Last Entry: Why I shut down my blog by Sarah Hepola. A lot of what she says seems familiar.

Also, the New York Times has an article with some stuff on the whole 'Google doing evil in China' issue that I hadn't known or hadn't thought about; interesting background on how Chinese censorship works. Unfortunately, this article will disappear behind the Times' own Great Paywall fairly soon.

[END]

April 20 wrap

Everyone's photos from 'Pril Twennie are now on Flikr at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63999942@N00/

And how was it? I got to see bits of Darwin, and more Kamberry and Syd-en-ee. Everyone got to see what a godforsaken wasteland I work in... It was good pointless fun.

[END]

Happy 20th of April!

Woke up, got out of bed... didn't realise the camera was set to macro mode for 12 hours...

More 20th of April action over at Paul and Suzanne's and Syme's blogs.

6.00am - What bloody time do you call this?


7.00am - Coffee!

8.00am - I'd better put the rego sticker on my NEW BIKE!


9.00am - At the Logan River


10.00am - Outside for a cigarette


11.00am - On a phone hook-up


12.00pm - Phone hook-up is finally over, back out for a cigarette


1.00pm - Four hours later and it hasn’t been nicked!


2.00pm - The shadow is moving


3.00pm - Welcome to the smokers' ghetto


4.00pm - The shadow is still moving


5.00pm - Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig


6.00pm - Leave me alone, I'm off the clock

[END]

The camera is by the alarm clock...

I'm all ready to take a photo an hour tomorrow for the inaugural 'April 20 Day', which this year is being held on the twentieth of April.

[END]

For the record

The Souths Logan Magpies have won their last three games.

Giving them a total of three wins...

[END]

It's been over 20 years now...

...and I still can't remember which '80s act was Yazz and which was Yazoo.

And speaking of old, I got my hair cut this week. There's just more grey every time.

[END]

C'est moi

Here's me doing my Ambassador Kosh impression.

[END]

Quiz

Who is this? Where can he be found?

This picture is circa 2001? (Stolen from here)

I guess I could try this mobile number that's been programmed into my phone for at least the last seven years, lazy bugger that I am... Last I saw him he did some free design work for us because we were going to be getting a regular newsletter printed through him, and then our business went bankrupt.

Hope he didn't think I stopped calling to avoid paying him or anything, because, as I mentioned, I'm a just lazy bugger.

He's here: http://www.gasolinegroup.net

This has got to be fake, doesn't it?

Bizarre baby born in Dolakha

A link to information about a hoax referred to in the comments is here.

[END]

Blog or have a life? Blog or have a life?

Hmmm...

[END]

Frickin' 36 year-old Smiths fans...

There's an article in The Guardian about the Smiths. From the intro:

The songs that saved my life

Twenty years ago, Mark Taylor was a 16-year-old with few friends and an obsession with the Smiths. To mark a new album from the band's former lead singer Morrissey, he recalls how a scrappy fanzine made in his bedroom led to an unexpected friendship...

For the record, I liked The Smiths for Johnny Marr. He played a Rickenbacker for god's sake. Who had time for Morrissey?

But what I find most interesting is the age of all the people who contribute at the bottom...

[END]

Making the Freeway, Chapter II

Here, again (mostly) below the fold, is chapter two of the piece of writing I was mentioning before.

II: George

Curious George — Capt. Logan explores, climbs mountains — George, the map freak, before the accident — a riverboat ride — "...the finest tract of land..." — a parent's dream comes true — non-danger signs — The accident.

George was a psycho nutjob with a serious drug habit and an acquired brain injury. He lived with his mother in Loganholme. He spoke his mind — constantly — but his mind was crazy...

George was not always like this, of course. Before the injury was acquired, he was an active, inquisitive boy with an interest in cricket and cars and the world around him and, basically, in doing what boys do. And he also had a developing interest in Logan City — where he lived — and Captain Logan.


Captain Patrick Logan was the commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Colony from 1826 until the time of his unsolved, but undeniably unpleasant, death in 1830. He was an avid explorer who discovered the river than now bears his name — although in the custom of the time, he named it the 'Darling' after the Governor of New South Wales (which is where the river would be for another two decades) — and thus gave his name to the area.

Logan liked watercourses and climbing things, once trekking along Oxley Creek with Cunningham, another explorer now with his name on things around South-East Queensland. On one of his inland excursions, Logan became the first white man to climb Mt. Barney. By the accounts, it was a difficult — possibly even dumb — climb. Other experienced climbers in the party gave up and waited the five hours it took for Logan to return.


George was immediately interested in Logan from the first time he heard about him, at age 12, before the accident. By that time, George already referred to himself as a 'map freak'. So did his friends and family. He liked to know where he was; he liked to relate it to the pocket street map he always carried.

George especially liked travelling on trains while tracking his course on his map. Roads and buses went past the front of people's houses; trains often went past their backs. It wasn't that George wanted to see people's sordid secrets; he just liked the new perspective on things this back-to-front view gave to his world. Trains also went through empty ground and farmland that roads didn't reach. Another chance for a new vista.


It was on a riverboat ride he had received for his twelfth birthday that George first saw the view from the river.

The riverboat was sailing in commemoration of the boats of times past which used to ply their trade up and down the Logan River. George's parents, who, having been pestered for maps as Christmas and birthday presents for years, were well aware of George's passion for seeing things from new viewpoints, had saved for the trip ever since they read in the Albert and Logan that such an opportunity was upcoming.

George was inspired. The river gave him the chance to see things he hadn't seen before; notice details obscured by the speeds of the vehicles — even the trains — in which he'd previously been travelling. He saw how the features of the land, like the Tanah Merah hill he'd trudged to the top of many times, affected the course of the river. And he listened intently to the knowledgeable lady from the local library who provided commentary on the journey.


George had been brought up in an era when road transport ruled. It never occurred to him that the river; that flash of water seen between the railings of the concrete cattle-run of the freeway bridge at 100km/h—that river; could once have been at the heart of everything. But on the riverboat ride, George heard about local history and about how the river had once been at the centre of it all; transporting timber, sugarcane and, of course, passengers and everything else it took to sustain a nineteenth century frontier community in the midst of what its European discoverer, Logan, had once called "...the finest tract of land I have seen in this or any other country..."

And, on that day on the river, George finally heard about Logan himself: the commandant, the explorer, the mountain-climber. It was when he heard about Logan's (probably incorrect) claim to have seen the river from Mt. French that George realised height provided the opportunity to see his world from yet another angle.


Not long after, George's social studies class at school began looking at the history of the Logan. This had two effects: first, it reinforced George's interest in the subject, almost to the point of obsession; second, he aced that exam at school.

So, his parents were happy. They had always encouraged George, providing gifts or matching funding for his map and street directory purchases. They were pleased when his interest in knowing where he was developed into an interest in knowing where other things were and then into knowing how those things and places came to be there in the first place. And when it helped George's grades at school, his parents were ecstatic.

To George's parents, the fact that the interest continued after its utility for grades at school ended was no problem: this was how people found out what they wanted to do for a living. That the interest escalated into requests for funding for 'topographical' maps — aerial photos with little lines drawn over them indicating the height of the land — was harmless enough. It seemed to George's parents that knowing the history of an area and knowing its landforms were related disciplines.

And teenage boys can always use a little discipline.


George's parents didn't see any danger when their son made it his mission to walk to the tops of all of the high points in the local area. He was 13 by then and he had been going to the top of the rock at Tanah Merah since he'd been given a (secondhand) bike at age ten, but mostly just to ride back down really fast. His parents listened with some pride, but mostly boredom, as he described the view from Eden's Landing, North Hill in Cornubia or the Kingston reservoir.

On George's part, he hoped his parents didn't know the reservoir too well, or they'd know he'd had to break-in to see what he had described. Maybe 'break-in' was too strong: there was a two foot gap in the wire security fence where it joined the fence of the house next door. And to see some of the other sights he'd had to trespass in some pretty posh places, too.

To George's parents, it was a natural extension when he wanted to travel further afield to see what he could see— Daisy Hill, Springwood, Wineglass Park at Hillcrest...


By the age of 16, George had an intimate firsthand knowledge of the place of his birth. He knew where everything was and every way to get there. He knew the history and the people. But he also knew that Captain Logan had done things he had not, besides order all the floggings. Such as to follow Oxley Creek overland, or to climb Mt. Barney.

So, it was on Mt. Barney a year later that George's accident occurred. He had taken along photocopies of books containing information about Logan's climb. He had already once insisted on a more dangerous route based on what he considered to be Logan's "true path" that he had discerned from his reading.

He was walking along a narrow ledge, apparently reading a map, when he stumbled and fell.

This was the accident in which George acquired his brain injury. Along with his overwhelming interest in Captain Patrick Logan, the injury caused two more effects: a need to know exactly where he was at all times, and a pathological obsession with safety.

© 2006

[END]

Voting

Well, apparently candidate for Mayor of Logan City, Councillor Lutton has admitted to sending a threatening text message to Councillor Darren 'Supertool' Power: "ur dead meat arsehole" during the election campaing, which ends today.

He's got my vote.

But then again, Lutton did put "landscaping" as his second dot point... and I just think we have to accept it that plants have to be left to die when we're likely to run out of water in two years.

While not running, Darren has apparently endorsed two people. I must find out who they are and put them last. One of them will be that Jessica Rowe-looking woman, because she's listed that she tried to stop the Daisy Hill Rd development...

[END]