the sweet science

it's a wonder of modern confectionery. or chemistry. i'm talking about sour gummi worms, or "squirms" as they're called here. how can something that is almost wholly comprised of sugar still taste sour? it's a miracle. a suspension of the normal laws of nature. and is more amazing in its own way than the feeding of the 5,000.

a star is gone

unless it's "singin' in the rain", it takes an extraordinary talent to make a musical watchable. cyd charisse is one of these. what would "the band wagon" be without her? or "silk stockings"? hollywood just lost a true star. a pity.

hail to the chef

gordon ramsay recently touched down in oz. naturally there were teenage girls on hand to meet him, swoon, scream and forward their phone numbers. he has cursed his way into their hearts.

it's the fizzy drink what done it

news dominated yesterday by the revelation that australians are per capita the world's fattest. huzzah! take that tonga!

a star is born

this year's olympics at peking promises jumbo servings of pollution, ruling party bombast, pre-fabricated hyperbole, the usual glut of non-sports (eventing, for crissakes!), and the revelation of track running's next superstar: allyson felix. felix's running gait is arguably the most aesthetically beautiful movement in contemporary sport. it's astonishing that someone so lightly built can dominate a power event like the 200 metres. she's going to light up that bloated, five-ringed circus.

a productive evening

finally tracked down the uncredited schumann lieder "der nussbaum" used, famously, over the top of the crowd scenes at wolverhampton in "hulmerist" (though can't decide between the elly ameling, karita mattila, and elisabeth schwarzkopf versions). also learned how nerd rod runtledge acquired atomic powers to become radioactive man's aide-de-camp, fallout boy.

the good sydney

the press has been paying a rather stingy tribute to sydney pollack this week, only getting up off their seats to cheer "tootsie". that's fun but i prefer pollack's wonderful performance in woody allen's "husbands and wives" and his role as an interviewee on alain klarer's "american cinema: 100 years of film-making". usually when people mention sydney they mean the bad sydney (that place just north of here). sydney pollack is the good sydney.

he's english, of course

after reading about some imbecile who claims to have eaten nothing but mars bars for the last 17 years—12 a day apparently—i only hope that when he's finally carried into st. bart's he's refused all medical help (article here).