Returning: to the Interwebz

After close to a week of no internet (many thanks to the fucktard chunts at Telstra who assured us it would be back within 48 hours - I'm a little blase about it all to be honest but the PC is gropable), I'm down at the folks and back into the blogosphere.

Coming soon - a special insight into my family (take note that the PC thinks I shouldn't be doing this - but I think it's funny and the world has a right to know)

Playing: Skyrates

Skyrates is a web-browser based game that plays out in real-time and is designed to be something that you pop in and out of during the day - somewhat like email checking - rather than immersing yourself in.

It works somewhat how I imagine World of Warcraft works (never played it to be honest, just not that interested in fantasy characters) - with quests, earning money, trade, fights and undertaking missions. It's more single player although there is in game chat and I think (but I'm not sure) that you can fight other players.

You can find out more about the ins and outs of the game in the Flight Manual and there was also a very interesting game design post mortem on the GameCareerGuide.com website.

That's my avatar up the top there - I'd normally go with a cat but for some reason the boar just seemed more appealing this time around. (Maybe because I was born in the year of the Pig)



Here you have my plane - it's early days yet so it's a little primitive but I've been able to whizz around the sky and fight off a fair few thieves so far. The idea of levelling up as a motivator in games like these is kind of interesting - it keeps you engaged, as you are rewarded for your time/work and it also gives you little praise/success hits as you go. Is it just propaganda designed to keep us happily plugging away as little worker elves or is this just a consequence of the system we find ourselves in?

(Personally I'm happy for people to be rewarded for achievement, hard work and good ideas but I would like to see some other models used occasionally in games for success)

The style of the game is quaintly cartoony, a quick trip through the tutorial is enough to get you going and it seems as though the people chatting on the radio are relatively friendly and helpful (though I haven't said hi yet)

The gameplay itself is pretty enjoyable and you can plot out a series of trips (which occur in real time - roughly an hour per flight) and subsequent trades and refuels which can then just run in the background on your web browser.

Hope to see you there :)

Enjoying: arty stuff

Aaron pointed me towards this very cool, ultra stylised video that shows how much visual information (both in advertising and other signage) we are exposed to on a daily basis. He found it on an interesting blog about alternative advertising practices. (They got it from a New York artists collective site - theWooster Collective, which has a wealth of awesomeness on there.)

I really hope there's some kind of CC (Creative Commons) thing going on with it as I'd love to use it for something else (or at least work out how it's done - lots of frame by frame hard work at a guess). I have one problem with it though - there's a point at which the guy enters his PIN at an ATM and now I can't for the life of me remember what mine is. (Hoping that muscle memory comes to the rescue next time I need to take money out :)

LOLing: Charlie Brooker

Charlie Brooker is a fast-talking, acid witted observer of modern English pop culture, going right back to a hilarious serious of mock tv guide pages he published on a website called tvgohome.com around the turn of the century.

It's certainly crude but hilariously so and with a healthy dollop of insight as well.

You can check out the entire tvgohome archive (be prepared to wile away the odd hour or two there) here

This is just a sample (minus the world-class swearing common to many of them) from the site.



He's since moved on to do a fair bit of very funny and highly edgy work on TV - very little of which has made it here although you can find a fair slab online, including the notorious Brasseye episode about paedophiles called paedogeddon.

His latest effort is called Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe.

If you've ever made snide remarks about the tools appearing on tv - on ads in particular, you might be able to relate.



My choice gag from this was

Ad - Who says you can't lose weight and enjoy yourselves?
Charlie - Bobby Sands? (Bobby Sands was an I.R.A member who died on a famous hungerstrike in a British prison in the 80s)

Reading: JPod by Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland has been revered in parts of the MSM (mainstream media) as a chronicler of the zeitgeist for the last 10 or 15 years, starting back in 1991 with his novel Generation X: Tales for an accelerated culture.

While I always had a certain curiosity about what the man had to say, there was something that slightly riled my born-and-bred Gen X 90s flannelette shirt wearing slacker sensibilities about having my culture dissected and demographised. So I left him and his subsequent works on the shelf.

I noticed his new book JPod the other day though and there was something about the backcover blurb that grabbed my attention - maybe because of my growing interest in game design or maybe I was just in the mood for a bit of zeitgeisty po-mo pop culture.

In brief, it's the story of a bunch of young folk working as game designers in Vancouver - all smart, oh so cool and all with far more interesting lives than you or I. One guy is trying to live the perfectly statistically normal life after growing up on a lesbian hippy commune, another's mum has a major hydroponic grow-op in the basement and on it goes.

Coupland cleverly mixes in some interesting text/graphical snapshots of modern life into the pages (e.g whole page text blocks of the ingredients in a pack of corn chips) as well as getting the characters to mix up the styles a little by having them write eBay postings of how they would sell themselves and saucy letters of seduction to Ronald McDonald.

He even brings himself into the story, which doesn't turn out as wanky as you'd think. It's an entertaining look at modern life that doesn't take itself too seriously and I think I may even go back and dip into the man's earlier works.

Here's an extract, taken from the rather funky book website at http://www.jpod.info/

(Evidently, this book is also in the process of being made into a tv series)

Never Mess with the Subway Diet

"Oh God. I feel like a refugee from a Douglas Coupland novel."

"That asshole."

"Who does he think he is?"

"Come on, guys, focus. We've got a major problem on our hands." The six of us were silent, but for our footsteps. The main corridor's muted plasma TVs blipped out the news and sports, while co-workers in long-sleeved blue and black T-shirts oompah-loompahed in and out of laminate-access doors, elevated walkways, staircases and elevators, their missions inscrutable and squirrelly. It was a rare sunny day. Freakishly articulated sunbeams highlighted specks of mica in the hallway's designer granite. They looked like randomized particle events.

Mark said, "I can't even think about what just happened in there."

John Doe said, "I'd like to do whatever it is people statistically do when confronted by a jolt of large and bad news."

I suggested he ingest five milligrams of Valium and three shots of hard liquor or four glasses of domestic wine.

"Really?"

"Don't ask me, John. Google it."

"And so I shall."

Cowboy had a Jones for cough syrup, while Bree fished through one of her many pink vinyl Japanese handbags for lip gloss—phase one of her well-established pattern of pursuing sexual conquest to silence her inner pain.

The only quiet member of our group of six was Kaitlin, new to our work area as of the day before. She was walking with us mostly because she didn't yet know how to get from the meeting room to our cubicles. We're not sure if Kaitlin is boring or if she's resistant to bonding, but then again none of us have really cranked up our charm.

We passed Warren from the motion capture studio. "Yo! jPodsters! A turtle! All right" He flashed a thumbs-up.

"Thank you, Warren. We can all feel the love in the room." Clearly, via the gift of text messaging, Warren and pretty much everyone in the company now knew of our plight, which is this: during today's marketing meeting we learned we now have to retroactively insert a charismatic cuddly turtle character into our skateboard game, which is already nearly one-third of the way through its production cycle. Yes, you read that correctly, a turtle character—in a skateboard game.

The three-hour meeting had taken place in a two-hundred-seat room nicknamed the air-conditioned rectum. I tried to make the event go faster by pretending to have superpower vision: I could see the carbon dioxide pumping in and out of everyone's nose and mouth—it was purple. It made me think of that urban legend about the chemical they put in swimming pools that reveals when somebody pees. Then I wondered if Leonardo da Vinci had ever inhaled any of the oxygen molecules I was breathing, or if he ever had to sit through a marketing meeting. What would that have been like? "Leo, thanks for your input, but our studies indicate that when they see Lisa smile, they want a sexy, flirty smile, not that grim little slit she has now. Also, I don't know what that closet case Michelangelo is thinking with that naked David guy, but Jesus, clamp a diaper onto him pronto. Next item on the agenda: Perspective—Passing Fad or Opportunity to Win? But first, Katie here is going to tell us about this Friday's Jeans Day, to be followed by a ten-minute muffin break."

But the word "turtle" pulled me out of my reverie, uttered by Fearless Leader—our new head of marketing, Steve. I put up my hand and quite reasonably asked, "Sorry, Steve, did you say a turtle?"

Christine, a senior development director, said, "No need to be sarcastic, Ethan. Steve here took Toblerone chocolate and turned it around inside of two years."

"No," Steve protested. "I appreciate an open dialogue. All I'm really saying is that, at home, my son, Carter, plays SimQuest4 and can't get enough of its turtle character, and if my Carter likes turtle characters, then a turtle character is a winner, and thus, this skateboard game needs a turtle."

John Doe BlackBerried me: I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS

And so the order was issued to make our new turtle character "accessible" and "fun" and the buzzword is so horrible I have to spell it out in ASCII: "{101, 100, 103, 121}"

Watching: Prometeus - the media revolution

This is an interesting video about the possible future of media and experience that I found on Jenny Weight from RMIT's blog. It looks at where communication has come from, where the Internet is taking it and then goes on to hypothesise about how virtual worlds might be able to represent more and more of reality and what this means for our understanding of it.



It also reminds me a little of this movie, though doesn't get quite so detailed in it's examination of the possible evolution of the media in general and how information and knowledge might be managed.

Causing: concern

Well I just learnt a lesson about not taking micro-naps at the radio station console - nothing bad happened but because there's a window that goes out to the hallway, a couple of passing people from the Men's group down the hall were concerned that I'd collapsed or something and quickly roused up the station manager to check on me.

Which is a bummer because it's rather warm and cozy in here and I could really just go for a nap about now. (Still, it's nice that people care about strangers)

Reading: Rant by Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most interesting writers around, cramming his books with all manner of ephemera and ideas, making subversive observations about society and weighing up the mainstream by focussing on subcultures. Best known for writing Fight Club, there's also a movie version of another of his novels, Choke, coming up at the Sundance Film Festival soon.

It's hard to tell too much of the story of Rant without giving the whole thing away but let's say that it's an oral history of a man who likes to be bitten by poisonous spiders and rabid animals, who sets up a tooth museum and who joins a bizarre team sport called party crashing which involves people decorating their cars and crashing into each other in night time traffic.

There's time travel, full sensory input media, a weird city system that revolves around a day/night curfew to ensure better use of public facilities (you're either a daytimer or a nighttimer)and Rant's girlfriend, a deformed hooker who clients pay not to have sex with.

It gets a little confusing at the end - I have to admit that as much as I love the man's work, he does seem to have a problem coming to satisfying conclusions. Perhaps this is how he likes it - why should everything be wrapped up with a tidy bow and explained and resolved? Still, when you've enjoyed the first 95% of the story, it sometimes feels a little rushed or something.

Anyways, this book is still well worth a look - I might even go back for another try to see if I can make more sense of the ending second time around. (Don't get me wrong, generally I got it but there's this whole layers on layers thing)

Liking: the new GTA IV trailer

I'm a little curious about how much of this is in-game footage and how much is from animated cutscenes but it looks schmicky anyway. Only 3 more months (give or take) to go. (Guess I'll have to buy something to play it on soonish then :)

You can watch the high quality version at the Rockstar site here. (It takes a little while to load but is worth it)

Enjoying: The Onion AV Club's Coen Brothers primer

I watched The Hudsucker Proxy again the other night - which to my mind is one of the best films ever. (Not that a lot of people agree with me but oh well.) It's one of the lesser-known films by Joel and Ethan Coen (a.k.a The Coen Brothers), who also made Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona and the soon to be released No Country for Old Men.

These guys sit comfortably in my top 3 film-makers of all time with their offbeat humour, brilliant storytelling and ability to take any genre and make it their own. They have an awe inspiring eye for visuals, write golden dialogue and bring out superb performances from the already talented actors they bring in.

The AV Club section of The Onion website put together an extensive primer on their body of work the other day which sums them up far better than I ever could, so if you have any love for film at all, do yourself a honkin big favour and check it out.

I wasn't such a fan of their last two outings - Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers - but everything else they have made is pure gold.

My personal top five:

1. The Hudsucker Proxy (not the trailer but a great sequence)



2. The Big Lebowski



3. Miller's Crossing



4. Fargo



5. Raising Arizona




(Picture CC Rita Molnar)

Freecycling: the futon

I've had a queen-sized futon since the early 90s and it's moved with me across ten houses in that time (Richmond - Abbotsford - Armadale - Richmond - Richmond - Richmond - Braddon - Ainslie - Campbell - Braddon - Turner). There's a bit of history in that bed but now that the PC and I have upgraded it's time to move on. (The futon mattress itself was replaced about a year ago)

Rather than sell it, I stuck it up on Freecycle - a nifty online community/service/whatever that brings together people looking for things and those looking to give them away.

This is their blurb:

The worldwide (!) Freecycle(TM) Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator (them's good people). Membership is free.

You can check out the website regularly or have updates forwarded to you directly when they are posted - either individually or in digest format.

They generally look something like this:



Anyways, long story short, after two days, it's gone. Someone who needed a bed now has one and I've been able to de-clutter a little.

Well worth checking out.

Updating: exploring tattoos

Just an interesting follow up from yesterday's thoughts about tattoos - there's an article in The Age today about the way big business and advertising are jumping on board.

Once seen as a silent cry of rebellion, tattoos now posess a status so firmly mainstream that advertisers are using them to market everything from tires and shoes to wine and energy drinks. That has its downside, though. The more acceptable tattoos become, the more they lose their edginess - and their value as advertising.

"There is always an element of rebellion or rite of passage with these things," said David Crockett, assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Carolina.

"What makes them interesting is how the marketplace appropriates that rebelliousness and serves that back to you in the form of an energy drink."

It goes on to talk about how Dunlop offered a set of free tires to anyone who got their logo tattooed - and so far 98 people have done just that.

Shane also commented on the post yesterday in his characteristically modest and dryly funny fashion bringing up a range of interesting observations. I haven't seen the guy in Melbourne with the Paul Stanley star tattoo (presumably on his eye) - as a closet Kiss fan I feel as though I've missed out.

Exploring: tattoos

I had an email from a mate the other day wondering about my thoughts on tattoos.

Here's what he had to say.

I reckon you ought to write something about tattoos. As in ‘what the fuck?’ This morning a young woman (early 30s) I know said something about how much she likes tats. I thought my reaction (unspoken) was more interesting than the fact she likes tats. My first thought was ‘I thought you were more sophisticated than that’.

Evidence, I’m sure, of my age, sense of aesthetics, and lack of appreciation of what’s going on with street and other fashion … I really wonder why tats have taken off with such a vengeance right around the world.

How much of it is media driven? Why do some people get on the tattoo train with a sneaky little butterfly on the ankle and others hijack the whole engine with the total body canvas thing? I’m sure somebody has written about all this, but I have to admit it puzzles me.

I wore an earring for about 15 years but then one day I thought it looked less cool and more silly so I took it out. It would be hard to do that with big tats!

Personally speaking, I'm not one in general for adornment - no jewellry, no hair dying, makeup and obviously enough, no tattoos. I don't know why I feel this way in particular - I certainly don't have any problem with the choices anyone else makes in this area for themselves (ok, maybe some aesthetic issues crop up - big hoop earrings for one) - maybe I'm just a body minimalist.

That said, I have considered a tattoo at some points in my life - maybe because all my friends were doing it - but I've never seen a design that I thought summed me up and that I would want to keep for the rest of my life. Conceptually, I imagine it would be some sort of sun design (again, not sure why) in the spirit of the image at the top, probably on my left shoulder.

My take on tatts - and not having one I realise that there are a myriad of reasons for them that I haven't grasped - is that they still have a hint of outsider mystique attached to them. A feeling that whatever else you have to do in your life, however much you have to buckle down and do what you're told, you at least carry a small symbol of rebellion against the norm that helps assert some independence.

(Incidentally, I think not getting one while most of the people I knew did was perhaps some kind of assertion of my own independence/individuality - or maybe I just have commitment issues :)

I don't think that the media have had much to do with this at all - I remember a big emergence of tatts around the grunge period of the early 90's, coming out of punk and that whole "alternative" movement that was eventually co-opted and watered down into something more marketable by the mainstream media but even now when you see tattoos represented in film or tv, they are generally used as shorthand to suggest that the tattooed is more of an outsider.

Different strokes for different folks really - I guess the main issue for me would be the permanance of the thing - I know you can get them removed and all but still... Perhaps some of the tattooed folk out there might like to talk about what they mean to them?

I did come across some interesting pictures while I was searching for the sun image at the top - some which involve creating suntan tattoos





And then there are also pure white tattoos -



(Images linked to from eglobe1.com, likecool.com and dance.net)

Writing: gags for radio

I feel like I'm getting these a little punchier now - possibly overly reliant on puns and some groanworthy punchlines but considering that I write these during the course of the show, based only on the news stories I can access on the restricted internet of the studio computer, they could be worse.

Police had to use capsicum spray on three AFL players from the Kangaroos football team last night after an incident at a Lionel Ritchie concert. Unconfirmed witness reports suggest that the players had been "dancing on the ceiling, all night long".

They are believed to have been taken away in Commodores.

Kevin Rudd was this morning sworn in as Australia's 26th Prime Minister. It hasn't yet been confirmed whether Tony Abbott was the one doing the swearing.

Australia has ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Kevin Rudd signed the document this morning in his first act as Prime Minister.

Newly green Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson said that the PM hadn't gone far enough and a Liberal government would also ratify the Da Vinci Code and the Bourne Ultimatum.

A British teacher working in Sudan has been sentenced to 15 days jail for naming a teddy-bear Muhammed. New Attorney General Robert McLelland is believed to be looking into similar laws for parents who name their children Madison, Taylor or Britney.

Exploring: my bookcase (part 5)

How to be a man - John Birmingham

Another Birmo book, this time another collection of various anecdotes and useful tips about masculinity - everything from how to behave in a brothel to how to spot a conman, why noone should wear Greek fisherman's caps (unless they are both Greek and a fisherman) and even George Orwell's guide to making the perfect cup of tea.



Dude - Where's my country? - Michael Moore

More pointed, hilarious and insightful commentary from Michael Moore about Bush, the war for oil and all the things that are wrong with the conservative agenda.



World War Z - an oral history of the zombie war - Max Brooks

Max (son of Mel) Brooks follows up The Zombie Survival guide with a brilliant broad vision of a global zombie epidemic and how humanity fights back.


Premiere Pro 1.5 - Studio techniques - Rosenberg

How-to guide for my video editing package of choice (well, given the absence of a Mac for Final Cut Pro and a more specced up PC to run Avid)




The Latham Diaries - Mark Latham

Mark Latham is seen as a bit of a political punchline these days but I remember the possibilities he offered back in early 2004 and still have a bit of respect for his passion and some of his ideas. His diaries offer a highly informative view of the insides of modern politics.



Camping in Victoria - Boiling Billy publications

I did the cubs/scouts/jamboree/dork thing in my youth and carry to this day an enjoyment of camping. This is all the main sites in Victoria and may come in useful over the break if I get adequately organised.



TV Guide - December 16-22, 1989.

As a bit of a media junkie, this seemed like a good souvenir to pick up on my last visit to the U.S back in the late 80s. I'm pretty sure it features the first appearance on TV of The Simpsons.



Lynch on Lynch - edited by Chris Rodley

A collection of interviews covering the entire career of one of my top 3 filmmaking heroes, David Lynch. (the other 2 are the Coen Brothers and probably Tim Burton).
It doesn't make the movies make any more sense but they just don't have to, being the screen dreams that I see them as.



Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

One of the few instances where I think the film is better than the book - it's still awesome but the film just seems a tiny bit tighter. Currently reading Palahniuk's newy - Rant. (so far, so superb)



Don Watson - Death Sentence

Paul Keating's former speechwriter writes a smarty and witty (although sometimes verging on Grumpy-old-menish) attack on the decay of public language and the rise of weasel words.



The Zombie Survival guide - Max Brooks

Very cool book of logical, practical ideas to surviving a zombie outbreak - played with a very straight bat. Top tips - avoid hospitals (this is where these things generally start) and hole up on the second floor of a building after destroying the staircase.

Exploring: My bookcase (part 4)

The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco is the sequel (of sorts) to that cult classic of share house literature, He Died With a Felafel in his Hand by John Birmingham. Where Felafel (great book, horrible-point-missing film) was a collection of true stories from a range of people, Fiasco seeks to weave these stories together (plus some new ones) into a more coherent single flowing narrative.

This works pretty well - there are plenty of LOL moments in the book and the return of many fave characters from Felafel.

This is the publicity blurb

When JB and his flatmates took in the new guy they had their doubts. The Celine Dion albums, the fluffy hordes of stuffed animals and the plastic-covered floral-pattern love seat should have set their threat detectors singing. But nobody was paying attention.

Within days their house had become a swirling maelstrom of death metal junkies and Drug War narcs, stolen goods and hired goons, Tasmanian Babes, karate dykes, evil yuppies, dopey greens and the Sandmen of the Terror Data.

Now the flatmates have one week to sober up, find two thousand dollars and catch the runaway new guy before Pauline Hanson, the federal government, cops, crims, their landlord and some very angry lesbians tear their house down and stomp them to jelly.

Can a bunch of hapless losers hope to defeat such an unholy alliance?

The Felafel/Fiasco duo was largely what prompted me to buy Weapons of Choice - World War 2.1, also by John Birmingham. While I do like a bit of sci-fi and am definitely interested in what-if style speculative fiction, I wouldn't generally head towards war focussed books in general.

This one (the first part of a trilogy) tells an interesting tale though of a modern multinational military fleet in 2021 (20 years into the War on Terror) who are accidentally (of course) sent back right into the middle of an American naval fleet smack dab in the middle of World War 2. The introduction of modern/futuristic and far superior technology as well as knowledge of the outcome of the war, in addition to culture clashes between the old and new generations offer some very interesting ideas.

At points it gets a little Tom (Hunt for Red October) Clancy technothriller-ish for me and there is a War and Peace style cast of 1000s but Birmingham does put together a cracking read which gets better through the series.



I mentioned The White Earth previously while talking about Andrew McGahan's Last Drinks in the previous bookcase post so I'll just say that it's a good story well told - a little more farmer family melodrama than is to my general tastes though.



Lullaby by Chuck (Fight Club) Palahniuk is easily one of my favourite books - he manages to cram in so many out-there ideas about life and little odd spots of trivia while at the same time telling a great "what-would-you-do-in-this-situation?" story.

In essence, a journalist discovers a culling song - an ancient poem that painlessly kills anyone that you say it to - in an obscure book of children's rhymes from around the world. Issues of media saturation - the endless unceasingly noisy world in which we live mix with the world of magic in a gripping story told with Palahniuk's dark and slicing wit.



This is a classic modern Australian tale that picks up from where Praise left off. Gordon, the central figure (you wouldn't exactly say hero) of Praise takes off to the top end of the country to work on an isolated weather station for a year while sorting himself out. Not a lot happens but that's the sort of guy he is and yet the writing really captures a mood and keeps you truly engaged.



Michael Moore has fallen out of favour a little in recent years for his opinionated (yet well researched and generally very accurate) dissection of modern Western (ok, mostly American) political issues. Personally I think he's tops and hilarious to boot.

Sure he can overplay things and doesn't aim for balance but given the lies and rhetoric of the rich and powerful that he tends to go after, I don't blame him in the least for playing by their rules.

This book, released midway through George Dubya Bush's first term lays out in painstaking (and yet hilarious) fashion all the painful truths about Dubya that it took a lot of other people 3 or 4 more years to work out. He also looks at a range of other social issues that really are too stupid to still be existing in this century.

Remember when everything was looking up? When the government was running at a surplus, pollution was disappearing, peace was breaking out in the Middle East and Northern Ireland, and the Bridge to the Twenty-First Century was strung with high-speed Internet cable and paved with 401K gold? Well, so much for the future. Whether he's calling for United Nations action to overthrow the Bush Family Junta, calling on African-Americans to place whites only signs over the entrances of unfriendly businesses, or praying that Jesse Helms will get kissed by a man, Michael Moore is out to cure the world of a plague of stupid white men.

John Ralston Saul is kind of the flip side to Michael Moore. He has also identified a number of things with the way the world is being run that desparately need to be changed but he applies a devastating intellect to the problem.

This book addresses the rule of the technocrat in modern politics and the over-emphasis on so-called rational approaches to society that always just seem to end up benefitting a privileged few.

This is what Wikipedia says about him (which is much better than my initial description :)

As an essayist Saul is particularly known for his commentaries on the nature of individualism, citizenship and the public good; the failures of manager-, or more precisely technocrat-, led societies; the confusion between leadership and managerialism; military strategy, in particular irregular warfare; the role of freedom of speech and culture; and his critique of contemporary economic arguments.

The guy is pretty well my intellectual/philosophical hero - I only wish I was smart enough to grasp everything that he has to say sometimes. :)



I've tried to plug away at script writing for years now - a few things have been made, some have turned out reasonably well and others less so - but I can't say that this book really had anything much to do with it either way.

I buy a lot of books like this with great intentions when I'm wanting to get stuck into projects but don't really know how to start. There is (from memory) a fair bit of useful structural stuff for telling stories the way movie producers want them to be told (before they hand over their cash). He's come in for a degree of criticism for this because of the importance producers have come to attach to his structures when assessing the scripts that come before them. (In fairness, he himself says that his structures should be seen as much more flexible than this)

Interestingly, he doesn't actually seem to have written anything himself beyond a handful of tv episodes and has consulted (according to Wikipedia) on a total of 3 movies in the early 90s.



I've always had a fascination with the media and the way they shape our ideas (and therefore our society) and the work of Canada's Media Foundation and their culture jamming magazine Adbusters.

Kalle Lasn helped found this non-profit anti-consumerist organisation in 1989 and has a number of interesting things to say in this book in particular about how we as citizens (rather than "consumers") can work to change the balance. At times though it gets a little preachy but there is still plenty of interesting information and ideas to make the book worthwhile.

Definitely check out Adbusters though. They run cool events like Buy Nothing Day and TV Turn-off week.

Also on the shelf there you can see a Camomile and Spearmint teabag - my preferred herbal tea of an evening (though this isn't such a regular thing). There's also a bent paperclip - might have been for rebooting the computer but most likely it's there because I can be a bit of a compulsive fiddler. Not sure why the coin is there and the A on the right hand side broke off the zipper of a fleecy jacket I have. I could have thrown it away but I guess somewhere I thought it might come in handy for something.

Buying: a bedframe

Just when you'd think that election day 07 couldn't get any more exciting, the PC and I took the opportunity to get out and look for a bed frame to go with the mattress we got a couple of weeks back. (Oh yeah, it's getting domestic at stately Couch Media manor :)

Now I'll admit that I'm probably not a great person to go shopping with - I generally find the whole process exhausting - not as much physically as mentally. It's just hyped-up overstimulation as far as the eye can see. Endless rooms with things (that we don't even necessarily need) displayed in such a way as to attract the most attention. It all feels a little too materialistic and controlling. (Don't get me started on the layout of Ikea stores.)

Add to this the fact that the PC and I have relatively differing tastes in furniture and you have the foundations of a fun expedition. In fairness I've made strides in coming around to the idea that it's time to have a slightly more grown-up bedroom with matching furniture that no longer looks like that of a just-out-of-home student (which is something of a step) but where I think that dark wood looks pretty cool, the PC leans more towards much lighter colours as well as metals.

The thing about shopping is that you can look at so many things that it becomes hard to remember what was good and why. But bless the phone cam here, it was a big help.

These are the frames that made the shortlist.



First shop out and we seemed to be doing well - I liked this one (The Tokyo) although I was less sure about the pine and the headboard seemed a little wobbly. Is it possible to make your decision in the first shop when you're buying something big and exxy like this?
Not so much - just too much risk that you'll miss something better. I liked the lowness and the asian feel. (Having had a futon for the last 16 years)



The Xenia - similar to the Tokyo but plainer. Again the headboard felt a little weak and the name seemed a little stupid. It was also right next to the Tokyo so it was hard to give it points.



No idea what this one was called - nice and simple, not too light but there was something about the shop that felt a little NQR so I wasn't so enthused.



This one was in a cheapy backalley pine furniture warehouse, and while I like the idea of being able to put things on the bedhead, this one seemed like it would be easy to whack your head or neck on.



The ultimate winner - light and dark wood (Tasmanian oak if memory serves), a slightly asian feel, slightly unusual tapered legs and importantly, set up in it's own little corner to make it look more like a proper bedroom. Obviously this is a hard thing to do with limited space but it made it so much easier to imagine at home. The bedside tables are nice as well but at $450 each, a little overpriced.

The one downside is that because of summer (or something), most factories are winding down production and shipping and we may have to wait until late Jan.



Of course, we kept looking after finding the winner - just to be sure - as you do. Not entirely sure what the PC liked in this one - though it's hard to look at it seriously with those big polka-dots on it.



This one was a contender for a while - big and solid and kind of warm looking - but heavy as a bastard and looking like it would completely dominate any bedroom. (Of course, I guess it's called a bedroom for a reason).



We both actually guiltily admitted to liking this baby - the pic doesn't entirely do it justice, that's a fire-engine red leather number we're talking about here. It's just so cheesy it was hard to go past - but given that it already looks like some kind of 80s throwback and there is virtually no space underneath for storage, it just couldn't be.

An interesting experience but not one I'll need to do again for a while.

WOWing: Lingro, online instant translation tool

I haven't been this impressed by an online tool for a very long time - Lingro allows you to view any webpage or word/pdf/text document in your browser and instantly get a translation or definition of any word on the screen.

From there you can also create your own wordlists and then play a flashcard game to test your knowledge of the translations/definitions. You can also click on a speaker icon in your translation/definition to hear the word being pronounced.

It's slick looking site that just works really well - it takes a few moments to load up but after that you're off and running. You can also add a button to your browser called "lingro this page!" that will allow you to view whichever page you are looking at in the lingro viewer.

Truly awesome. (Click on images for full sized view)

Writing: gags for radio

I'm starting to figure out a few things about the gags I'm writing - I think they need to be a little punchier, get to the point earlier and maybe be a little more off tangent.

Of these ones, I liked the first and last best.

Former Prime Minister John Howard, former treasurer Peter Costello, former foreign minister Alexander Downer, former health minister Tony Abbott, former immigration minister Kevin Andrews and former I.R minister Joe Hockey...actually there is no story here but doesn't the word former sound great in front of all those names.

Former health minister Tony Abbott and former environment minister have announced that they will contest the Liberal Party leadership in a vote due to be held later this week. Mr Abbott said he has demonstrated "reasonably good people skills" and could "give a knock and take a knock" - indicating that he's probably not very good at "knock knock" jokes

Former immigration minister Kevin Andrews has defended his bizarre actions in tearing down opposition candidate posters at a polling booth on Saturday on "environmental grounds"

"Well for God's sake" he is reported to have said - "first you think we hate the environment and then when we try to recycle something you jump all over us"

Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd is setting wheels in motion to sign the Kyoto Protocol and to reverse the workchoices legislation, however there are concerns that he is starting to confuse the two following his announcement today that Australia will commit to burning 10% less working families by 2010

All suggestions and ideas are welcome :)

Playing: lefty songs of celebration

Surprisingly enough, I'm feeling rather chipper today - former Prime Minister J-Ho has finally been booted from office, former Treasurer Costello has piked it and all seems well with the world.

I realise that it's a little churlish to carry on too much like a porkchop about the change of government but hopefully people will indulge me with the selection of tunes for today's Monday sunset show. Normal service will resume next week :)

So I've chosen a selection of lefty themed songs for Prime Minister Ruddy (to remember where he comes from) and a few on-your-bike former Prime Minister Johnny et al songs to make up for 11 years of dodginess and national soul-besmirching.

The Red Flag - Billy Bragg - The Internationale 3:13

This is one of the anthems of the socialist/lefty movement and seems somehow the most appropriate. This version uses the originally intended tune, the jaunty Jacobite anthem called The White Cockade, instead of the usual, slightly dull tune that is generally used, that being "O Christmas Tree/Tannenbaum"

These are a few of the lyrics:

The people's flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our martyr'd dead
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts' blood dyed its ev'ry fold.

Then raise the scarlet standard high,
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here.

It well recalls the triumphs past;
It gives the hope of peace at last:
The banner bright, the symbol plain,
Of human right and human gain.

It suits today the meek and base,
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place,
To cringe before the rich man's frown
And haul the sacred emblem down.

Which side are you on - Billy Bragg - Back to basics 2:35

Another Billy Bragg song, mostly because I still have strong memories of going to a friends 21st birthday in a pub in South Melbourne in 92 on the night Jeff Kennett was elected premier of Victoria, getting completely stonkered and singing Billy Bragg songs in a bloke circle rather loudly in commiseration.

This song seems particularly apt as the opening verse talks all about the government passing anti-union laws and this was (imho) what finally brought former Prime Minister Howard and Co. down.

Sulk - Billy Bragg - Accident waiting to happen 3:47

One more Bill tune to finish up - I was pretty happy to hear that former foreign minister Alexander Downer cracked the sads on election night and refused to talk to the media. The next morning he came out and pronounced that he'd known all year they were going to lose this election. Lexie, this one goes out to you. Please, do us all a favour and run for the Liberal leadership.

'Tis of thee - Ani Di Franco - Up Up Up Up Up Up - 4:43

This is a little more broadly lefty and is a beautiful song telling of the people who get left behind when governments focus exclusive on the dollar over society.

Mao Tse Tung Said - Alabama 3 - Exile on Coldharbour Lane 5:17

There was a pretty cool YouTube video that popped up during the election that told the story of Prime Minister Ruddy in the style of a chinese propaganda film. (Because, you know, he's fluent in Chinese)



This song has a little bit about Mao and is just cool in general - it also talks about change.

Fortress Europe - Asian Dub Foundation - Enemy of the Enemy 3:53

Without doubt, one of the most disgusting elements of the (former Prime Minister) Howard era was his racist attitude to refugees and Muslims. This song, while about Europe in this instance, captures this vibe.

Little Animals - Beasts of Bourbon - Little Animals 5:14

I just generally like this song and it touches on environmental themes (although it gets somewhat cynical or something at the end), which are another area that the Howard government rather screwed the pooch on.

New Kid - The Bellrays - Australiapithicus 2:23

This track is lively and (Prime Minister) Rudd is the new kid but beyond that, it's probably a bit of a stretch. The album does have Australia in it though and did anyone else here the open rock riff that played on Saturday night when he took the stage for the victory speech? What was that all about?. (and what was it?)

Most likely you'll go your way and I'll go mine - Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde 3:24

Apparently (former PM) Johnny has said that his favourite musician is Bob Dylan - but only for the music, not for the lyrics (which tend to lean to the left.) I've never been entirely sure whether he's just said this because he thinks it will wind the lefties up or not but whatever the case, this seems like something of an appropriate selection for a goodbye/piss-off song.

A big star The City Lights Escape from tomorrow today 2:56

This song is a slightly older one in that it references former Health Minister Tony Abbott (a.k.a the mad monk) as Industrial relations minister. It's a top song though and highlights the out-of-touchness and harshness of the former government even back then.

Hallelujah - Custard - Goodbye Cruel World 4:59

Just a beautiful song in general and fairly obvious I'd imagine.

I'm sorry! Little Johnny (a.k.a Pauline Pantsdown) Rock against Howard 3:33

Rock against Howard was a (slightly patchy) album that came out around the 2004 election and this one finally allows us to here (former PM) Howard using the much avoided "sorry" word. Some very clever cutting up of Howard audio clips into a good novelty dance track, featuring former PM Howard announcing that he's the "genius of love"

December Skies - Cowboy Junkies - Early 21st Century Blues - 5:19

Beautiful modern anti-war song

Bougainville Sky - Fred Smith - Bagarap Empires 3:19

Another beautiful song about our neighbours to the near north and a fight against a big mining company.

Time to go - The Fuelers - Hot Dang 3:54

Apparently it is. (Actually, I would have said this in 98 but apparently a small number of key electorates disagreed - even though Labor actually won the majority vote)

Mullay - Muyngarnbi - Songs from Walking with the Spirits 4:00

Former Prime Minister Howard's attitude towards the Aboriginal community in this country was woeful at best, with the recent intervention little more than a tactical political strategy to shift the focus of criticism to the states and at the same time strategically grab a bunch of land. This track is interesting in that it merges Aboriginal vocals and "western" instrumentals

Out of time - The Rolling Stones - Aftermath - 3:44

Out of touch and out of time - kind of says it all really.


God's gonna cut you down - Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways 2:39

Former PM Howard could only cosy up to the money obsessed new evangelical Christians while acting like a jerk for so long before he got what what was coming.

What a wonderful world - Nick Cave and Shane McGowan - B-side and rarities II 3:03

Right now, to me it is a wonderful world.

Singapore Tom Waits Beautiful Maladies: The Island Years 2:46

I've just finished reading a book of interviews with and articles about Tom Waits - there's not necessarily a big connection to (former PM) Howard here although you could argue that his attitudes towards Asia leave something to be desired.

Home is where the hatred is - Esther Phillips - The Best of Blaxploitation 3:26

One of the worst aspects of the (former PM) Howard government's political strategy was the way it used the Karl Rove / George W Bush approach of social division, smear and general negativity to foster fear and selfishness. This song looks at that in broad terms in a powerful way.

Now sure, I'll admit I may be venting a bit about the man and his cohorts but after today, I'll try to move on and look at the world with positivity. For all the people out there who believe that he deserves respect, I'll give him that for his action on gun control after the Port Arthur massacre and for going into East Timor, but his much vaunted handling of the economy could have been done by a five year old with the amount of money flowing into the place from China.

Let the Rudd revolution begin.

(Please don't fuck this up Kevin)

Waking: from a horrible 11 year nightmare

Well done Australia.

Say goodbye Johnny, you lying, sleazy, devious, fanatical, mean little rodent.

Pondering: the "thoughts" of Barnaby Joyce

What kind of thoughts are we talking about here exactly Senator?



(Yes I know this is a little childish, but he said it on Lateline the other night and I couldn't let it slip by)

Asking: for your Movember support

I mentioned earlier in the month that I'm growing a moustache to raise money for Men's Health during Movember and I'd like to take the opportunity to ask for your donations/sponsorship/cash now.



As you can see, it's coming along - I look slightly more dodgy every day and I've apparently been providing no small degree of amusement to those who know me. (Which I'm fine with).

Anyways, it is a worthy cause - it focuses largely on research into mental health and prostate cancer as well as generally just encouraging men to be more involved in their well-being.

If you're in the neighbourhood, I'm happy to take money off you directly or you can just click on this button to do it online.



cheers and thanks

LOLing: webstuff

Len pointed me towards a LOLcats and PostSecret mashup kind of site, obviously known as lolsecretz. If you were wondering, LOLcats are the cat pictures with cute, semi-literate (because we all know cats can't spell very well in spite of their general sense of superiority) and PostSecret is a sort of public confessional.

This was a fave image from the site



Something else that I found online today was a comment about the whole Jackie Kelly Muslim pamphlet thing (which I'm loving, I might add - as soon as I heard her on the radio this morning trying to claim it was a Chaser style prank, I knew it would be a good day).

It was an observation really, that if you take the term Liberals and Nationals, you get an anagram of "Lies and no brains at all"

2 more sleeps.