snarky platypus

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The 9pm Edict #12

17 July 2010 in Politics, The 9pm Edict by Stilgherrian | 8 comments

Australia’s federal election campaign kicks off in a flurry of clichés. And the instant-continuous news media battle to be relevant.

Given that we’ve got a federal election campaign on our hands, I figured I’d resurrect The 9pm Edict podcast. And here it is.

You can listen below. But if you want all of the episodes, now and in the future, subscribe to the podcast feed, or even subscribe automatically in iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:38 — 7.9MB)

If you’d like to comment on this episode, please add your comment below, or Skype to stilgherrian or phone Sydney +61 2 8011 3733.

[Credits: The 9pm Edict theme by mansardian, Edict fanfare by neonaeon, all from The Freesound Project. Photograph of Stilgherrian taken 29 March 2009 by misswired, used by permission. Responsibility for election commentary is taken by Stilgherrian, Enmore, New South Wales.]

Town Hall Hotel Furry Alert!

01 November 2009 in Enmore, Human Nature by Stilgherrian | 17 comments

Photograph of young man with long grey fake-fur tail

Look, I know it was Halloween yesterday, but it’s no excuse.

The Snarky Platypus and I were intending to enjoy a quiet drink at one of our local hostelries when we were confronted with the sight of a young man sporting a long — nay, very long — fake fur tail. In public.

In daylight!

This, Young Man, is the Town Hall Hotel! A reputable establishment. We do not need your bizarre sexual proclivities to be displayed so prominently. We do not need your bizarre sexual proclivities to be displayed at all.

Look, I’m pretty broad-minded, and generally I’m OK if you stay within the order Mammalia. But fake fur? Really?

Just where do you draw the line?

Very Important Photograph

07 August 2009 in Human Nature, Personal by Stilgherrian | 4 comments

This photograph is going strange things to me. And I think I like it. I found it at It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It! #antlers

Farewell Party: the video evidence

25 June 2009 in Project TOTO by Stilgherrian | 3 comments

As promised (threatened?), here’s the video evidence from Saturday’s Project TOTO farewell party. I feel… honoured. And only slightly insulted.

Thanks heaps to ’Pong for the video work (although I did the cutaways which allowed him to edit it). Apologies to Mark Pesce, whose to-camera piece wasn’t recorded properly — although we can see him lurking in the background in his lovely red jumper, and raising his eyebrows quizzically.

Also, I am too fat.

It’s D-1. I depart from Sydney airport in just 29.5 hours. I still have a million things to do. I am incredibly stressed. I hope to write more later today. My Twitter stream will reveal more, however.

The Shocking True Truth…

19 June 2009 in Project TOTO by Stilgherrian | 2 comments

It’s D-7 for Project TOTO, and I’m stressed beyond all belief. It’s now less than a week until I leave for Africa, and my Farewell Party is tomorrow. Meanwhile, the astoundingly clever First Dog on the Moon at Crikey has contributed a morale-building cartoon.

Click through for the full-sized image.

Yes, I still have thousands of things to do. But it’s Friday night and I’m exhausted, so I’ll tell you all about it in the morning. Probably.

Meanwhile, I’d live to know what you’re thinking about Project TOTO, so have a look at the previous posts and say stuff and ask questions and things.

And if you’re wondering who the people quoted are, try @mpesce, @snarkyplatypus, @kcarruthers and @apostrophepong. And also click through to ActionAid Australia for The Good Cause.

Stilgherrian Live Eurovision Special 2009

17 May 2009 in Stilgherrian Live by Stilgherrian | 2 comments

Photograph of a mirror ball

Just in case you missed the announcement because it was buried in another post, the Stilgherrian Live Eurovision Special is tonight.

I’ll be joining my special guests Nick Hodge, Snarky Platypus and maybe even the reclusive Mark Pesce from 7.15pm Sydney time.

If you’re on Australia’s east coast, set your TV to SBS and we’ll provide the added commentary. If we can figure out some way of synchronising the video for everyone else, we’ll let you know.

Also, yes, I know that Eurovision is really already over. However the SBS telecast is delayed so Australians can enjoy the drama in prime time — so please don’t spoil it by telling us the winner.

The “normal” Stilgherrian Live will return at 9.30pm next Thursday night.

Episode 47 is online, marketers and twitterers

17 May 2009 in Stilgherrian Live by Stilgherrian | No comments

Episode 47 of Stilgherrian Live, the Cheap Edition, is now online for your viewing pleasure.

Actually it has been since shortly after the program finished on Thursday night, and you could have just gone to the channel page to watch it. I’ll sort out a better notification system when I get back from Africa.

Except you don’t know I’m going to Africa, because it’s SEKRIT.

There was another strong field this week for “Cnut of the Week”, too.

I thought Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would score more votes for the federal budget, but no. After winning last week, he only came in 4th (20%). ABC TV came in 3rd (24%) for choosing not broadcast the controversial mock anti-discrimination advertisement on The Gruen Transfer.

We had a draw for first place: Scott Swabey’s nomination of “all marketing peeps for their continued insistence on trying to find a way to control/monetise the social media movement” and Wolf’s nomination of “everyone on Twitter that [sic] kept reposting the #fixreplies even after twitter did… you all look like a bunch of whining idiots now” (28%).

Visually, “everyone on twitter” was represented by a social network diagram and, in our usual tasteful way, “all marketing peeps” by a tapeworm.

I particularly like the tapeworm, don’t you?

Meanwhile, congratulations to Wolf, who won a t-shirt from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing — and a big raspberry to Gedulous who would’ve won if he were watching the program when his name was drawn from the Cocktail Shaker of Integrity but he wasn’t so we had a redraw and Wolf won instead so there nyer.

The Stilgherrian Live Eurovision Special is tonight from 7.15pm Sydney time, with special guests Nick Hodge, Snarky Platypus and probably Mark Pesce.

The regular old Stilgherrian Live will return at 9.30pm next Thursday night.

No, we are not the same, Snarky Platypus!

27 April 2009 in Personal, Photography by Stilgherrian | 2 comments

Photographs of fictional Ja'mie King and Stilgherrian

On the right is perhaps one of the best photos of me ever, taken by @funkycoda on Saturday and posted by Miss Wired. Snarky Platypus reckons I look like Ja’mie King, that’s “her” on the left. Ahem.

Now I’m not that sure that I like this comparison. However Courtney Gibson says, “Ja’mie is a beautiful and sweet-natured Australian girl in the first flush of womanhood — at least u can feel flattered.”

Should I be flattered? Really?

[Update 28 April 2009: Edited to correctly credit the photo.]

Episode 44, the slow edition

24 April 2009 in Stilgherrian Live by Stilgherrian | No comments

Yes, Stilgherrian Live episode 44 is now online for your viewing pleasure.

For some reason, I think it’s actually one of the best programs I’ve done. But maybe that’s just my reaction to the opening monologue. You be the judge.

You were the judge, of course, in choosing our “Cnut of the Week”. Senator Penny Wong, Australia’s Minister for Climate Change, and Tom Koutsantonis, South Australia’s disgraced ex-Minister for Road Safety — who I consistently called Tony Koutsantonis for some reason — drew for third place (17%). And in equal first place were neocon robot Karl Rove for his comments about torture and person-on-television Oprah Winfrey for something about Twitter I forget (33%). Which is weird, because I’m sure that as I closed the poll Oprah was in the lead. I blame the bees.

Bees can be blamed for most of the world’s ills.

I also spoke about Ashton Kutcher while showing a picture of Zac Efron, which actually proves my point that they’re all interchangeable muppets anyway.

As the Snarky Platypus says, “They all feel the same in the dark”.

There was a song at the end. And a duck. A duck and a dog, in fact.

Vermin to be slaughtered

07 December 2008 in Business, Personal by Stilgherrian | 7 comments

As I slowly recover from the mysterious viral fever, an interesting juxtaposition of advertising and news story (pictured) caught my eye today.

Staff are leaving Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s office in “droves” — that’s one of those newspaper-only words, like “wed” as a verb instead of “married”, isn’t it! But are they really “vermin to be slaughtered”?

Over the last couple of years I’ve become increasingly concerned about the unhealthiness of modern Australian work practices. There’s so much focus on short-term “productivity” and false urgency, on quantity over quality, and so little respect for people as actual humans. Now the world financial crisis looms — yes, chickens, it really is as bad as the Great Depression. The danger is that employers will turn up the pressure to be “productive”, meaning “working harder”, instead of working smarter.

How business managers respond to the challenge will reveal much of their character as human beings.

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