Tuesday 13 September 2011
i wish
the maritime authority would order all gravy boats back to dry dock for the foreseeable future, never to sail (on to dinner tables) again.
Monday 12 September 2011
you're kidding
some spaz on ebay just sold an original coca-cola super russell yo-yo for a measly $35. coo.
i've been holding on to one of these for 30 years (since the yo-yo craze of 1981). it was supposed to be my pension fund.
as loyal penfold would say, "crumbs, dangermouse".
i've been holding on to one of these for 30 years (since the yo-yo craze of 1981). it was supposed to be my pension fund.
as loyal penfold would say, "crumbs, dangermouse".
Sunday 11 September 2011
if a person
were to feed a dog a diet of hamburgers, cola, and fried bits of reconstituted chicken chunks (mostly necks and beaks), either one of two things would likely happen. the animal would soon die. or the rspca would bring an action for cruelty.
why, then, do presumably sentient people choose to eat mcdonalds or kfc? barmy.
why, then, do presumably sentient people choose to eat mcdonalds or kfc? barmy.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Saturday 30 April 2011
another downbeat breakfast encounter
with modern agriculture's latest weapon: the juiceless grapefruit.
Thursday 28 April 2011
admire mark allen's enthusiasm
but oneasia tour stinks. like watching the north caulfield thirds in the footer. what's the point?
hormone-enhanced chicken strikes again
just saw 10 y.o. indian with moustache and a teacosy on his head.
brooklyn dodgers in financial troub
is this the moment baseball fans have been waiting 50 years for? repatriation to new york.
the middleton marriage
could see upsurge of new sport of social climbing. with poss. incorporation in london olympics. pick up those fallen h's.
Wednesday 20 April 2011
#sausagefest
termagants & trulls peeved at omission from first xi for miles franklin lit. prize. looks like adam's rib has gone septic.
Tuesday 19 April 2011
bless 'em
wot enjoy "jane eyre" for what it is—a romance; not for what it isn't—a dreary political manifesto.
media street
loud harrumphing over bowlderized ita buttrose biopic. meh. who wants to see a kneeling ita tootling on kerry's trumpet?
in news
greens leader bob brown's tasmanian cottage for sale. think the less said about brown's cottaging activities the better.
essendon fc
western suburbs bogans who mistakenly think they've bluffed their way into the middle class.
the lesson of "happy days"
when nerds try to assume attitude of cool, results are abysmal. watch & learn milhouse maher, tim gossage jr.
spare a thought for the far east
our dimbulb p.m. flies off to rasp the ears of asian leaders with her sylvania waters manner of utterance.
uncrowned king of frankston,
dermott, is pleased to consider himself melbourne's own triple h. but he's only one-and-a-half h. two h tops.
question for science
does cycling make women chunky (as widely reputed), or are the women in q. chunky in the first place? hmm.
as i said to the demographer
you can't throw me out of the middle class. i subscribe to the "new yorker".
nevermind the ladder
footer teams should be divided into vertebrates (sydney, geelong) and invertebrates (freo, port, richmond &c.).
our dopey prime minister
forced to dodge some dirty cottagers before giving monologue at sydney institute.
nato attack on libya
all well & good, but shouldn't they deal with the enemy in oldham and luton first?
in adelaide
they're raving about the commodore 64 computer which was introduced to them last week, to general astonishment and wonder.
Sunday 13 February 2011
saving grace
for every daft and depressing thing the beeb does—employing the gross and grosser chris moyles and graham norton, overpaying its 'talent', fawning to the euroweenies in brussels—it also does the odd marvelous thing, like restoring kenneth clark's "civilization" series in high definition. well done, you fellows.
avuncular advice
Saturday 12 February 2011
one and a half cheers
the pre-publicity for sebastian faulks' new book and bbc2 series "faulks on fiction" has been in the manner of german troops massing on the russian border in 1941 prior to operation barbarossa: steady and clamorous.
faulks kicked off hostilities with three portraits in the "telegraph" on jeeves, fagin, and becky sharp. good choices, what?
the jeeves piece was perfect; concise and exact, the tone just right. score: a hit.
the attempt to essay becky sharp was awkwardly done. faulks insisted on calling her a hero, in the masculine sense, which isn't quite the thing. sharp is tricky, though. too tricky for her creator, thackeray, at any rate. faulks' mistake is to see sharp as an admirable character, like tom jones. she isn't. she's selfish, immoral and opportunistic. though she's certainly the best thing in the novel by a long way. score: a technical draw.
unfortunately things come unstuck with fagin, whom faulks also wants to excuse from moral censure. it won't do. fagin is the worst of villains. a corrupter of youth who deploys an ingratiatingly mannered politeness to ensnare oliver into a life of depravity. there's a good reason dante's design of hell accords a worse fate for frauds, conspirators and corruptors than thieves or murderers. score: a miss.
let's hope the series makes it way to oz. (we had to wait almost 2 years for the "extras" christmas special, and we're still waiting for "fantabulosa").
faulks kicked off hostilities with three portraits in the "telegraph" on jeeves, fagin, and becky sharp. good choices, what?
the jeeves piece was perfect; concise and exact, the tone just right. score: a hit.
the attempt to essay becky sharp was awkwardly done. faulks insisted on calling her a hero, in the masculine sense, which isn't quite the thing. sharp is tricky, though. too tricky for her creator, thackeray, at any rate. faulks' mistake is to see sharp as an admirable character, like tom jones. she isn't. she's selfish, immoral and opportunistic. though she's certainly the best thing in the novel by a long way. score: a technical draw.
unfortunately things come unstuck with fagin, whom faulks also wants to excuse from moral censure. it won't do. fagin is the worst of villains. a corrupter of youth who deploys an ingratiatingly mannered politeness to ensnare oliver into a life of depravity. there's a good reason dante's design of hell accords a worse fate for frauds, conspirators and corruptors than thieves or murderers. score: a miss.
let's hope the series makes it way to oz. (we had to wait almost 2 years for the "extras" christmas special, and we're still waiting for "fantabulosa").
to do-ishness
the great ocean road half marathon plus 1·9km (23km) in may. pricey though. still, the great thing about this event is the scenery (weather permitting; the dying weeks of autumn can be a bit iffy) and the enjoyment of inconveniencing the locals for whom the road is closed to traffic for half the day. it's like the london congestion tax only the innocent aren't made to suffer. but, good weather or bad, it beats sloughing through bradford or barnsley.
Thursday 10 February 2011
selected for the first eleven
a new biography of palmerston has just been lowered onto the shelves. a good thing that. palmerston is one of my favourite english prime ministers; along with salisbury, pitt the younger, and dizzy. in any cricketing list of the best english prime ministers palmerston is among the first fellows picked; being serious, straightforward, a capable administrator and, most importantly, zealous in the national interest, never permitting the crown to be bullied by third world upstarts. his only drawbacks being that he never declared war on france or scotland (england's eternal enemies).
a list of the best ministers inevitably suggests, ipso facto, the worst. they are: brown (scotch and spendthrift), gladstone (a preaching windbag who badly let the side down in the sudan), chamberlain (weakness abroad is seldom applauded by the english) and, of course, heath (for dragging england into the european union). that last one is a real doozy.
a list of the best ministers inevitably suggests, ipso facto, the worst. they are: brown (scotch and spendthrift), gladstone (a preaching windbag who badly let the side down in the sudan), chamberlain (weakness abroad is seldom applauded by the english) and, of course, heath (for dragging england into the european union). that last one is a real doozy.
Sunday 6 February 2011
australia day afterglow
the highlight of the glutinous australia day celebrations was an address from barry humphries—in the person of dr sir colin leslie patterson, cultural attaché to the court of st. james.
here patterson recounts an incident while flying over the country:
"the pom next to me asked me if i could hear a distant thumping. 'what's that rhythmic pounding?' he enquired. i was as mystified as he was. 'could it be a kangaroo is down there?' said the stupid bastard. 'no, mate,' i said. 'it's 22 million australians patting themselves on the back!'"
wonderful stuff.
here patterson recounts an incident while flying over the country:
"the pom next to me asked me if i could hear a distant thumping. 'what's that rhythmic pounding?' he enquired. i was as mystified as he was. 'could it be a kangaroo is down there?' said the stupid bastard. 'no, mate,' i said. 'it's 22 million australians patting themselves on the back!'"
wonderful stuff.
Saturday 9 October 2010
book of the year
gleesome
sometimes one's whole day, can be irradiated, made glad, by something as simple as a headline. such was the case when i opened my copy of the "literary review" and found examined the book "the death of french culture". happy thought! hopefully this title connotes a reported fact and not just journalistic prophecy.
any mention of france automatically puts me in mind of england's most bespoke and conspicuous francophile, julian barnes: someone who wears his country's incurable un-frenchness with a permanently pained expression. now barnes is a splendid fellow. a superb essayist and a tolerable novelist. but his francophilia is, put politely, a rum thing. almost indecent.
an excessive fondness for french culture is always discreditable. especially in an englishman.
any mention of france automatically puts me in mind of england's most bespoke and conspicuous francophile, julian barnes: someone who wears his country's incurable un-frenchness with a permanently pained expression. now barnes is a splendid fellow. a superb essayist and a tolerable novelist. but his francophilia is, put politely, a rum thing. almost indecent.
an excessive fondness for french culture is always discreditable. especially in an englishman.
Wednesday 8 April 2009
Monday 6 April 2009
sylvia plath waited for her black rook
i'm waiting for the kookaburra of invention to laugh outside my window.
Saturday 4 April 2009
the "times" asks à propos g20 meeting
wot about rotherham? well, it's obvious. rotherham's finished. let them eat twizzlers.
Friday 3 April 2009
a fellow in the "observer"
says it's time to bury cool britainia. a simple burial won't do it. exorcism required.
Sunday 1 March 2009
Thursday 12 February 2009
Thursday 1 January 2009
the pink revolution
malibu stacey impersonator, paris hilton, has buzzed into town with the intention of lifting australia’s spirits by trying on dresses in our high street boutiques. lucky us. the media is doing its bit too, obsequiously following her every move. it’s nice to see deference isn’t dead.
looking back, it seems 20th century philosophy was mostly concerned with the problem of meaning in a disenchanted (i.e. godless) world. to sartre and his gauloises-stained chums the answer was ‘commitment’; usually commitment to an obnoxious political ideology of some kind. any kind. it didn’t matter which. so long as it promised to smash liberal democracy.* above all, it was freedom they despised.
this is where paris hilton’s “pink revolution” comes in. her response to the crisis of life’s meaninglessness is to pull out her bloomingdale’s card and cry “charge it!”. hence melbourne and sydney are just two more stops on her mission to spread the redemptive message of “self-realization through shopping”. she's a postmodern aimee semple mcpherson. sal-vay-shun!
the new year’s looking up already.
*remnants of it still survive today. witness those forlorn little gatherings in berlin and london cheering on hamas against israel, or else bemoaning the introduction of democracy in iraq.
looking back, it seems 20th century philosophy was mostly concerned with the problem of meaning in a disenchanted (i.e. godless) world. to sartre and his gauloises-stained chums the answer was ‘commitment’; usually commitment to an obnoxious political ideology of some kind. any kind. it didn’t matter which. so long as it promised to smash liberal democracy.* above all, it was freedom they despised.
this is where paris hilton’s “pink revolution” comes in. her response to the crisis of life’s meaninglessness is to pull out her bloomingdale’s card and cry “charge it!”. hence melbourne and sydney are just two more stops on her mission to spread the redemptive message of “self-realization through shopping”. she's a postmodern aimee semple mcpherson. sal-vay-shun!
the new year’s looking up already.
*remnants of it still survive today. witness those forlorn little gatherings in berlin and london cheering on hamas against israel, or else bemoaning the introduction of democracy in iraq.
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