Archive for May, 2005

Now that’s splendid!

I have 3 requests from my Pictures on request post. I have yet to publish them. Sorry. I’m just stuck in my little world of inner-north Melbourne at the moment.

So I’ll just put up some pictures of where I live in the meantime.

Here’s my local dry cleaner. He’s splendid!

The cake man! He always parks outside our house to deliver to the local cafés. One day I’m going to break into that van and eat until I shit cake (and icing) out the other end.

Yes boss, no boss, three bags full boss.

Any working person who voted Liberal in the last election, I have this to say to you…

I mean, who in their right mind would’ve voted for a political party who went to the last election promising to take away YOUR right to long service leave? Brainless pricks, that’s who. Who would vote for a political party that takes away YOUR right to contest unfair dismissal from employment? Brainless pricks, that’s who. The Liberal Party was always going to do this and still, brainless pricks voted for them. Everyone who voted Liberal effectively voted for less holidays, less protection against unscrupulous employers and less pay.

For the first time in the 14 years I’ve been able to vote, I really do doubt the sanity of the majority of the Australian public. Like every other Australian I accept the results of all elections, and thus accept the will of the majority. But, when the public votes themselves less pay and conditions of employment, I just wonder how aware the average person is of our history as a nation that gives everyone a fair go. That ‘fair go’ came as a result of many years of struggle as well.

The decision to bring in these laws when there is a very high rate of employment is puzzling. Like I’ve said before, I’m no economist, but wouldn’t a government make changes like this when there’s high unemployment? Isn’t dramatically increasing the productivity of employess a tool that’s used in response to ‘bad times’?

Maybe John Howard and his mob should take note of the final line of Australia’s national anthem, because there is nothing fair about what Australian workers will experience over the next few years.

Dumb down.

How dumb are we getting?

I saw two schoolboys (about 16-17 years old) punch on in Bourke St. today, up near the Spencer St. redevelopment. They were arguing about which Big Brother contestants were good/bad. Eeek!

update - This proves the human race is getting dumber. Heh! But it IS funny.

D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

It’s 955pmAEST and the annual divorce weekend has officially begun. Everything is going well so far. I have been given strict orders not to gloat and have been confined to the room which contains the PC that I am currently typing this on, for the next 2 hours. That’s fine by me as there is beer and food stored in this room. That is all I need to survive.

For those clueless as to what I am talking about, tonight the AFL team I follow defeated the AFL side that my wife follows. Traditionally there is much gesticulation, consternation and argumentation in the house either side of this wonderful event. For the first time since 2001 Richmond have beaten Brisbane and I am as happy as Tim Blair in the Conservative Book Store (use a search engine to find out about that stuff, I’m not linking to it). And that’s happy!

I’ve got 2 pillows out of the bedroom and the spare doona from under the couch and I’m looking forward to watching the FA Cup…and then spending the rest of the night on the couch.

If anyone’s close by, bring some chips over.

Too much peroxide rots the brain.

I’m buggered if I know who worked harder today. The Richmond Tigers or me pacing the hallway, living room and backyard with the headphones buried in my wax laden ear’oles, urging Richmond not to lose to the magpies. I think I cursed at the ABC coverage of the Richmond v Collingwood game every 10 seconds and no doubt pissed off my neighbours who were having lunch with their parents nextdoor. Nevermind, I think they’re used to it now. The cursing stopped in the last 20 minutes of the game when Richmond took the handbrake off and whacked through 8 goals to 1. It was at that stage also that the cat came out from hiding under the kitchen table. He hates winter weekends when I yell at the tele or the radio. Poor puss!

On to a theory I have about the current AFL football season. There’s more research to be done on this, but I would like to propose that the more peroxide used collectively by a football team, the more shithouse they are at playing football. In fact the more a side worries about their appearance, the crappier they seem to get on the field. Hmm.

China.

Lightningfield’s visions of China are fantastic.

Pictures on request.

Posting entries to this blog has been hard lately. Increasingly I am getting the willies with blogging. Everyone who blogs knows that ‘ahh fuck it‘ feeling. Politics is something I’m passionate about, but it irks me right now. The bruises from seeing that pint-sized walking machine being re-elected still haven’t healed. I wish he’d put his green and gold tracksuit on and take a brisk stroll through Tikrit with his bodyguards.

So this blogapathy brings me to offer my services to fellow bloggers in a unique way. I will take one photo of something distinctly Melbourne for any blogger who is originally from Melbourne or visits here regularly. Even if you’re not from here, just ask for a picture of something and I’ll endeavour to find it.

I got this idea from posting a comment on Momo’s blog. I offered her 5 photos of Melbourne. Momo requested a picture of :

• Something bogan (not hard in this fine city)
• Something beachside (a little harder)
• Something footy
• Mojo’s Weird Pizza in Port Melbourne
• The cooks cooking at the Thaila Thai restaurant

If you’re reading this Momo, I’ve got 3 of the 5 photos. Just trying to starve myself in order to get the last two.

What copy control?

Last Friday I purchased The Go-Betweens latest release Oceans Apart for my wife. Our household budget has in place a very austere spending regime and little luxuries like music are on the back burner for the next 18 months. She’s a huge Go-Betweens fan, having every album, so I couldn’t let our savings plan interfere with the almighty The Go-Betweens collection. Plus, I got huge friggin brownie points when she found the CD in her top drawer. I hid it there for maximum surprise value.

There were two problems though. The first problem is that it’s not a CD. It’s one of those copy protected ones that EMI are pumping out. I should have looked closely at the packaging on the disc before my purchase. The second problem was that I found out that it was copy protected AFTER I had ripped the tracks to MP3 so we can listen to it on our MP3 player. I use it while I’m pottering around in the garden and out on the bike and my wife listens to it at the gym.

How can this be? I thought I wasn’t supposed to be able to copy the disc. I used Realplayer v10 to rip the tracks. Yeah, shitty programme I know, but it rips quicker than any other ripping software on my PC.

Over and out.

Another week of work has come to an end. Thank fug for that.

The best thing about my job is that I’m not confined to an office all day. I get to wander the Melbourne CBD and have a good gander at the city chugging along in its daily routine.

The image above is of Little William St. looking towards the Supreme Court and it’s dome. I love the laneways around Melbourne. They always smell of something, and not necessarily good smells. Cooking food, cigarette smoke, piss, rubbish, beer, whatever. There’s character galore in those there laneways.

668 - The number of the house nextdoor to the beast.

Shit!

666 was the wrong number for all these years. Shhh. Don’t tell all those worn out old Iron Maiden fans with the tough tattoos.