I’ve been away for a few days having… a break! Which is why things have been quiet here this week. More soon.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2007.
To go with the previously-released Paul Keating ringtone, Red Symons has now created a John Howard ringtone.
How embarrassing. The image we posted yesterday wasn’t actually the photo which won ’Pong the prize. This one is.
’Pong has also updated his blog entry to include links to the other winners — though he’s too modest to mention that he also scored an honourable mention in the “Most collectible” category, which was won by that Billy Law bloke I’ve written about before and before that.
British ministers and civil servants have decided to stop using the phrase “War on Terror.” Apparently it gives terrorists a “shared identity”, according to Hilary Benn, Britain’s Development Secretary, and strengthens disaffected groups by making them feel part of something “bigger.” How long will it take GWB and JWH to follow suit?
It’s a shame to waste this one down in the comments. Apparently Cho Seung Hui didn’t do it. It was all a cover-up by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, who hired mercenaries to do the killing and did a set-up to blame the Korean lad. Uhuh.
What a night! ’Pong wins a prize with implications far beyond its monetary value, we experience a fantastic seafood restaurant we’d previously ignored, and… well… I’ll tell you about The Rowdy Boys Incident in another post.
I’d previously written off Lure Fish Cafe & Oyster Bar on Taylor Square as an over-priced fish’n'chip shop. Actually, they do fantastic things with seafood — I had the best swordfish steak ever, their marinade was magical — and their upstairs room is perfect for private functions. And they’re licensed.
’Pong and I are standing on the balcony at Sydney nightclub Arq, looking down at the continuing awards ceremony. Nearby someone asks whether the women currently on stage are “the lesbian singers” he’s seen before.
“What’s a lesbian singer?” I ponder aloud in a stage whisper. “Is that like a horse whisperer?”
’Pong glares, unimpressed. His energy levels are low, he’s not in the mood. My friend Nate, not exactly what you’d call the shy retiring type, has encouraged my heckling of the drag queens hosting the event, and ’Pong and Nate’s boyfriend Chris have both been uncomfortable.
Then another loud stage whisper emerges from a leather-clad bear standing on the other side. “No,” he says, “That would be a fish whisperer.”
The bear’s boyfriend’s eyes catch ’Pong and Chris, “Oh no, here we go again,” they seem to say. Strangers bond, wishing they could disown their partners.
Later, ’Pong takes me aside to explain that he’s exhausted, that he’s having trouble focussing on what he needs to do tonight. He’s trying to make a good impression on important people, and my rowdy mood isn’t appreciated.
And just as he finishes that speech, Nate bounces up my side, eyes wide with child-like excitement, proudly brandishing a bunch of green tickets. “Look! More free drink vouchers!”
Democrat Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja is conducting a survey on the proposed Access Card.
Why does the US see the rise of fundamentalism in Pakistan as “dangerous”, while the rise of fundamentalism in America is a good thing? Pot. Kettle. Black.
The Dutch have launched an escort service especially for virgins. Sociology student Zoe Vialet, who set it up, says most of them work in IT. “They are very sweet… but very scared… You better practice before having a girlfriend. Woman expect men older than 30 having had some experience.”
“Want to buy a sofa, going cheap?” Mike, the bloke sitting on the veranda, laughs — amused that the discarded furniture was torched. He’s annoyed they started the fire too close to the fence, though, scorching the paw paw plant that’s just starting to come into fruit.
Somehow the conversation turns to the weather-beaten old homeless guy who was camped out nearby most of this week, but who’s now been moved on. “Keith? Nah, he’s not into money,” Mike tells me. “He’s a millionaire though.” Come again?
What is “Web 2.0 design”? Is there such a thing? Before he explains how to do Web 2.0 design, Ben Hunt points out: “In sociological terms, movements impact people on many levels: economic, cultural, political, etc. Is skate-punk about entertainment and sport, music and the music industry, fashion, or the breakdown of society?”
Last Wednesday 11 April, a Telstra chap called to discuss my telephone account. I happened to be at a client’s office so couldn’t talk, but told him Friday would be good to call because I’d be at my desk all day. That was last Friday. He hasn’t called. Which is a shame. Because I was wanting to tell him that Telstra’s crappy service and support was why I’d already moved my mobile phone to Vodafone and I’ll be moving my landlines away from Telstra as soon as I’d figured out how to do that and retain my phone numbers.
Watch out. That weird foreign student in trenchcoat and shades. Does he ever talk to anyone? That’s suspicious. What’s he writing? A play about murder and rape? Arrest him. Now! Quick! Check everyone else! Get their psychology profiled! Watch them. Watch them closely!
Cho Seung-hui took a beautiful photo of his bullets and posed with his guns before he blew away 32 fellow humans — roughly a quarter of the number killed in Iraq by suicide bombs yesterday — and was presumably one seriously sick individual. But in that obese, self-centred tangle of hypocrisy that is America the reaction is, as usual, wrong…
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