Breakfast radio is a different beast in some ways to the drivetime (Sunset) shift. I know that one of the main things I want first up is the weather and some good, energetic get up and about music.
So this is what I tried to bring to Friday Breakfast (7am - 8.30) on XXfm this morning, filling in for (imho) one of XXfm's star DJs (though I know he would hate being called that) Fintan.
As usual, I put the tracks together last night, trying to keep the energy up and made sure to throw in a token Stooges track (Fintan is a bit of a fan and has worked his way through the entire Stooges/Iggy Pop discography a number of times now over the years in this slot). The Stooges track was actually a mashup with Push it by Salt'n'Pepa, so hopefully it went over ok with the Friday brekky listeners.
I suspect my banter/rantings might have been a little more scattered than usual today as well (up til 1.30 watching Bad Boy Bubby) but there didn't seem to be any significant stuff ups, so I'll call it a job well done for now.
8.2.07
Comparing: the book and the movie (Perfume)
I saw Perfume: The story of a murderer last night - with a little trepidation I must add as I've been a fan of the book ever since I read it around five years ago.
In short, it tells the story of Grenouille, born in the aromatic (that's the nice word) world of the Paris fish markets in the 1700s with the greatest sense of smell in the world. His gift (and his complete lack of any body odour) set him apart from others and he spends a lot of time in the world of scents - first identifying and then working out how to reproduce them.
When he finds the most beautiful, most powerful scent of all - that of a beautiful adolescent virgin, he must possess it and this is where things start to go a little pear-shaped.
I won't give much more away about the story as it is a stunningly original story, which in many ways feels like a lost fairytale, but suffice to say in the course of learning and reproducing scents, he learns the perfumer's trade to master the capturing of them. (Scents, not adolescent virgins :)
This is the story (not surprisingly) that both the book and the film told.
Obviously a film and a book are completely different beasts. You experience them in different ways and locations (socially vs on your own, in "their" environment vs yours, at a set time for a proscribed length of time vs whenever you choose and for however long you wish to make the experience last.)
While reading the book you create the sights, sounds, smells and feelings in your head, bringing your prior knowledge and experiences to bear in the re-creation of the world that the author describes. You interact with the story by imagining it.
You also get the insight of the author into the story and the world of the characters - something that can be put across in thick, hard to film paragraphs (even pages) of explanatory text, inner monologues and God-view perspectives of the action. It is often these parts that give you the true heart and soul of the story - the ideas behind it.
On the other hand, a film (particularly this one) is a big, expensive project drawing on the talents and ideas of a horde of people. It takes away your imaginings and presents the vision of the film makers in it's place. This is generally a double edged sword - I must admit that my knowledge of day to day life in 17th century France is rather lessened by not having been there (now or back then) and while the novel does a lot to create a sensation of being there, there are always gaps in the sights and sounds. (The smells and feelings of course are another matter).
Add to this the director's own personal style (Tom Tykwer - Run Lola Run) and the need to tell a story which might take you 5-10+ hours to read into a form suited to the commercial needs of the movie business and there are always going to be changes made.
(This can often work out for the best - in my mind, the film version of Fight Club - directed by David (Seven) Fincher is actually a stronger version of the story than the original novel by Chuck Palahniuk - who incidentally is a freakin' genius).
So obviously, comparing a book with a film is problematic at best. They are different beasts experienced in different ways and designed with different intentions.
Comparison is in many ways as redundant as comparing the performances of actors in
different movies in determining the winner of a best actor award. (I've always subscribed to the theory that these should be used to determine a short list and the actors should then all act the same scene in the same role to decide the winner)
Yet at the heart of both the book and the film is the story and it is in the telling of the story (factoring in all the other differing elements) that we do make a decision about the two.
Ultimately, I was a little disappointed by the film, mainly because it glossed over two of the things that I found the most interesting about the character of Grenouille. The fact that Grenouille has no smell of his own is established right from the start in the book - it sets him up as the outsider in the orphanage and drives his obsession with firstly reproducing and then inventing smells, one of the first that he creates is something for himself (partially made from cat poo) to make himself smell like an average person.
The lack of his own smell is fleetingly mentioned in the film when Grenouille spends time in a remote cave but for something which seems so pivotal to his motivations (in my mind at least), this is the only reference to it. While the cave scenes are infinitely richer in the book, they would be entirely difficult to bring to film so I can understand them being truncated but it really felt like a lost opportunity to tell a great part of the story.
The second half of the film - which follows the book into the slightly more exciting territory of the virgin smell stuff - is more emphasised as this seems to slot more easily into film conventions, particularly that of the thriller.
The ending of the book is one of the great literary endings and I was concerned briefly that the filmmakers were going to cop-out for the sake of keeping the film marketable but to their credit they came through in the end - perhaps with a slightly milder version of events than the book suggests (or perhaps that my twisted mind had invented :)
Being such a massive production (apparently the most expensive film in German history), there is a sense of the commercial imperatives in this film. Given Tom Twyker's work previously, I was expecting something more stylised and edgier (though I do give him full credit for imaginatively visually telling a story that focusses on something that the audience can't ever see) but overall it seemed quite conventional.
It would be very interesting to know what someone who hasn't read the book thinks of this film - as I've mentioned, it's rare that you find a film that matches the depth and intricacy of the book and so you try to account for that when seeing it but it's inevitable that your knowledge of one will shade your experience of the other. (I saw the film of Fight Club before I read the book).
All in all, putting the book aside, this is a pretty good film, a great story, pretty pictures and some interesting ideas. It runs fairly long (147 mins) and has some slow patches but is worth a look. The friend I saw it with was concerned that it might taint her future readings of the book by replacing her imagery but she came out feeling that it was pretty close to the way she had seen it.
(Interesting trivia - the author, Patrick Susskind, resisted requests for the rights to make a film for more than a decade and chronicled his experiences with the people chasing the rights in a satirical film called Rossini. Directors considered for the project included Martin Scorsese, Milos Forman, Ridley Scott and Tim Burton.) (Now the Tim Burton version I would love to have seen)
3.5 cushions.
Here's the trailer
7.2.07
Watching: Cabin Fever
Cabin Fever is one of the great, underrated horror films of the 21st century. It moves the genre on from the navel-gazing 90s by finding a new, horrible kind of monster at the same time as paying respects to longstanding horror conventions.
Directed by Eli Roth, who has since gone on to do Hostel (and Hostel II) and who is now working on the latest Stephen King adaptation Cell, Cabin Fever begins with the classic horror premise of a group of fresh faced college students heading off to a cabin in the woods. After dealing with the somewhat odd locals at a store nearby, things go pearshaped pretty quickly when one of the group stumbles upon a hermit in the woods with a particularly nasty flesh-eating virus, who asks for help.
This is the "monster" that I like so much in this film. A simple, particularly gory and horrifying virus that quickly leads to bloody open sores/wounds and the coughing and spluttering of blood everywhere imaginable. Given the rise of AIDS, Ebola, SARS and bird flu in recent years and the general climate of fear and mistrust in the world, this is truly a 21st century villain.
The reaction of our heroes to this menace is equally interesting - from violent opposition to helping the infected to trying to help them as much as possible, at the risk of infection.
The main characters for the most part aren't that sympathetic - the character I liked the most was easily the biggest dick of all of them but seemed a lot more real than his broad brushstrokes companions.
When they arrive at the cabin, he wanders off with a rifle, prompting this exchange:
Ultimately, the characters don't matter too much - they're strong enough to carry your interest in the story, believable enough to understand why they do what they do (although there are still moments of "why would they do that?" - which is always easier to think from the comfort of the couch than if you were actually in that situation) and have strong enough dialogue to let you know that you are watching something more than a few notches above your standard young-pretty-people-in-the-woods horror flick.
Throw in wild dogs and scary redneck/hillbillies and you have a cracking tale with enough visceral shocks to make David Cronenberg happy.
Let's not forget also that this is a pretty funny film - there's a line early in the film (at the store) that has a great pay off right at the end.
(And let's not forget Pancakes!!!! :)
Here's the trailer - 4.5 cushions.
Directed by Eli Roth, who has since gone on to do Hostel (and Hostel II) and who is now working on the latest Stephen King adaptation Cell, Cabin Fever begins with the classic horror premise of a group of fresh faced college students heading off to a cabin in the woods. After dealing with the somewhat odd locals at a store nearby, things go pearshaped pretty quickly when one of the group stumbles upon a hermit in the woods with a particularly nasty flesh-eating virus, who asks for help.
This is the "monster" that I like so much in this film. A simple, particularly gory and horrifying virus that quickly leads to bloody open sores/wounds and the coughing and spluttering of blood everywhere imaginable. Given the rise of AIDS, Ebola, SARS and bird flu in recent years and the general climate of fear and mistrust in the world, this is truly a 21st century villain.
The reaction of our heroes to this menace is equally interesting - from violent opposition to helping the infected to trying to help them as much as possible, at the risk of infection.
The main characters for the most part aren't that sympathetic - the character I liked the most was easily the biggest dick of all of them but seemed a lot more real than his broad brushstrokes companions.
When they arrive at the cabin, he wanders off with a rifle, prompting this exchange:
Karen: Bert, what the hell is that?
Bert: Huh? Oh, I'm gonna go shoot some squirrels.
Paul: Why would you wanna kill squirrels?
Bert: 'cause they're gay.
Karen: Bert, don't be a fucking retard.
Bert: I'm kidding. I don't care if they're gay or straight, I'll kill 'em either way.
Ultimately, the characters don't matter too much - they're strong enough to carry your interest in the story, believable enough to understand why they do what they do (although there are still moments of "why would they do that?" - which is always easier to think from the comfort of the couch than if you were actually in that situation) and have strong enough dialogue to let you know that you are watching something more than a few notches above your standard young-pretty-people-in-the-woods horror flick.
Throw in wild dogs and scary redneck/hillbillies and you have a cracking tale with enough visceral shocks to make David Cronenberg happy.
Let's not forget also that this is a pretty funny film - there's a line early in the film (at the store) that has a great pay off right at the end.
(And let's not forget Pancakes!!!! :)
Here's the trailer - 4.5 cushions.
6.2.07
Learning: songs
So after trawling the web and iTunes and looking at my current skills realistically, I've settled on the follow songs to learn first up.
Neil Young - Heart of Gold
Tom Petty (as covered by Johnny Cash) - I won't back down
The Cruel Sea - Down Below
The Dandy Warhols - Godless
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
Chris Isaak - Blue Spanish Sky
(Where possible, I've put videoclips for these songs - uh - down below)(Ironically except for the actual song, Down Below.)(Oh, and the reason there is a woman practicing pole dancing to the Chris Isaak song is that it was a choice between this video and footage taken with a mobile phone video camera with bad sound. )
Anyway, the main reason I've chosen these particular songs is that they are all fairly straight forward to play - no overly complicated chords or wildly varying chord combinations, simple enough rhythms and several of them will also force me along in learning the F chord. (As well as the F#m).
For those who don't know much about guitar, the F (and F family) are barre chords - chords where you use your index finger to press down on all six strings in one fret, effectively shortening the neck of the guitar. This has the effect of moving the chord down a tone (I think). (Update - Ok, thanks Len, it's actually raising them a semitone or tone)
So if you are playing a standard E chord, you move each note towards you one fret and hold your finger down on the first fret. This is something that I've found far too difficult for the better part of 20 years - more a matter of not persisting than anything - but I've bitten the bullet now and slowly, step by step, seem to be making some progress.
Getting to the point where you fingers just automatically form the position is what I'm aiming for I'd say.
So I had a nice play last night, Godless in particular is great to jam along to (and if you turn the music up loud enough, you actually sound like you're rocking :)
There are also some simple riffs in Heart of Gold and I won't back down that I'm getting the hang of as well.
(I also chose these songs because they suit my voice and I'd like to be able to sing them - but combining singing and playing is a few steps away yet)
Neil Young - Heart of Gold
Tom Petty (via Johnny Cash) - I won't back down
The Cruel Sea - Down Below (Couldn't find a listenable version online)
Dandy Warhols - Godless
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
Chris Isaak - Big Blue Spanish Sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY8WHR5QPE4
Neil Young - Heart of Gold
Tom Petty (as covered by Johnny Cash) - I won't back down
The Cruel Sea - Down Below
The Dandy Warhols - Godless
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
Chris Isaak - Blue Spanish Sky
(Where possible, I've put videoclips for these songs - uh - down below)(Ironically except for the actual song, Down Below.)(Oh, and the reason there is a woman practicing pole dancing to the Chris Isaak song is that it was a choice between this video and footage taken with a mobile phone video camera with bad sound. )
Anyway, the main reason I've chosen these particular songs is that they are all fairly straight forward to play - no overly complicated chords or wildly varying chord combinations, simple enough rhythms and several of them will also force me along in learning the F chord. (As well as the F#m).
For those who don't know much about guitar, the F (and F family) are barre chords - chords where you use your index finger to press down on all six strings in one fret, effectively shortening the neck of the guitar. This has the effect of moving the chord down a tone (I think). (Update - Ok, thanks Len, it's actually raising them a semitone or tone)
So if you are playing a standard E chord, you move each note towards you one fret and hold your finger down on the first fret. This is something that I've found far too difficult for the better part of 20 years - more a matter of not persisting than anything - but I've bitten the bullet now and slowly, step by step, seem to be making some progress.
Getting to the point where you fingers just automatically form the position is what I'm aiming for I'd say.
So I had a nice play last night, Godless in particular is great to jam along to (and if you turn the music up loud enough, you actually sound like you're rocking :)
There are also some simple riffs in Heart of Gold and I won't back down that I'm getting the hang of as well.
(I also chose these songs because they suit my voice and I'd like to be able to sing them - but combining singing and playing is a few steps away yet)
Neil Young - Heart of Gold
Tom Petty (via Johnny Cash) - I won't back down
The Cruel Sea - Down Below (Couldn't find a listenable version online)
Dandy Warhols - Godless
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
Chris Isaak - Big Blue Spanish Sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY8WHR5QPE4
5.2.07
Preparing : My radio show
For those who came in late - I do a weekly two hour radio show on the local community radio station here in Canberra, 2xxfm. (I'd like to change the name to XXfm but that's another story).
I've been a fan of community radio since before I knew what it even was. I remember times sitting at home in Melbourne in the mid 80's twirling the radio dial and on occasion coming across a faint station playing all these songs that I'd never heard of. It was a couple of years before I realised that these must have been 3RRRfm and 3PBSfm - two of the coolest radio stations anywhere. (This is a measurable fact, by the way)
Community radio to me has always been about the music first and foremost - the talk and other content is great as well but it was (and still is) through community radio that I have been exposed to virtually all the great bands that I know and love today.
(For those reading this from somewhere else, community radio in Australia is non-corporate, independent, non-government, volunteer run radio)
Anyway, my show is in the drive-time slot (4-6pm) and is of a generalist rather than specialist nature. XX aims to play music that people don't generally hear elsewhere (ie overly commercial music) but beyond that, announcers have free reign. (We have to be mindful of the community sector code of practice as well as playing a certain proportion of Australian and Canberra music as well).
We have two cd players on the desk in the studio and generally speaking it's a matter of cueing up a track on one while the other is playing.
Unless, of course, you burn your songs onto one or two cds (I usually need about 1 and a bit) and you just leave them in the machines.
Selection of tunes is the key thing there - being the music junkie that I am, there are usually a few new cds floating around each week so I like to find something interesting on these, even a couple of tracks if they are particularly noticable.
From here, I like to mix it up a little - cool songs from good albums from the last 6 months or so, a few more from the last decade and generally always a few old school alterna-classics from the 70's and 80's.
Iconic English DJ John Peel had a philosophy with his show that he'd play some songs that he knew people would like and some songs that he thought they'd like.
You can see listings of the tracks I've selected on the (rather neglected) Monday Sunset blog.
(by the way, that isn't the official 2XXfm logo at the top of the page, it's just one I've been playing with. The existing logo hasn't changed in the better part of a decade to my knowledge and I think a revamp is in order)
4.2.07
Interviewing: housemates (day 2)
Well, we started well today with a no-show and then the next one was something like 40 mins late. (I think calling someone when you are running late is a pretty simple common courtesy.)
The first was a little older than our other candidates (but sadly I'm still older) and it's her first time out of home in a share place - she's lived with four brothers and in her own flat but didn't seem particularly prepared for share housing.
Part of her problem unfortunately was that she seemed highly conscious of this and so all these things just served to make her more nervous. It's hard to say how to work around this issue but given the quality of other applicants, it didn't help her.
The next (and last) person was a webdesigner from Melbourne, working for a government department with an amusing acronym. (DIC)(DIAC my arse. You were never DIAMA or DIMIAA, where does the sudden use of And come from? You didn't think your acronym through and you just have to wear it I'm afraid)
Very personable guy, seemed easy going and interesting and Eric and I had a great chat with him after Abi thought that he was all talked out and wandered off to the shops. (So consequently she missed the most interesting stuff about him)
This was (just quietly) also the guy who had seemed the most promising during the week and I was thinking that he would have a good shot.
Abi (not surprisingly) thought otherwise - she had particularly bonded with the first girl today - the same girl that was pretty well at the bottom of our shortlist. (well, perhaps before the multimedia girl and the noshow anyway).
After trying to work out the fairest way to assess and balance everyones preferences (scoring out of five outright seemed a little cheap), we eventually decided to rank our choices from one to five, total the numbers and the person with the lowest number wins. (Still perhaps a little odd but it seemed the fairest option).
And our choice:
AusAID girl.
(alright, we have a housemate)
The first was a little older than our other candidates (but sadly I'm still older) and it's her first time out of home in a share place - she's lived with four brothers and in her own flat but didn't seem particularly prepared for share housing.
Part of her problem unfortunately was that she seemed highly conscious of this and so all these things just served to make her more nervous. It's hard to say how to work around this issue but given the quality of other applicants, it didn't help her.
The next (and last) person was a webdesigner from Melbourne, working for a government department with an amusing acronym. (DIC)(DIAC my arse. You were never DIAMA or DIMIAA, where does the sudden use of And come from? You didn't think your acronym through and you just have to wear it I'm afraid)
Very personable guy, seemed easy going and interesting and Eric and I had a great chat with him after Abi thought that he was all talked out and wandered off to the shops. (So consequently she missed the most interesting stuff about him)
This was (just quietly) also the guy who had seemed the most promising during the week and I was thinking that he would have a good shot.
Abi (not surprisingly) thought otherwise - she had particularly bonded with the first girl today - the same girl that was pretty well at the bottom of our shortlist. (well, perhaps before the multimedia girl and the noshow anyway).
After trying to work out the fairest way to assess and balance everyones preferences (scoring out of five outright seemed a little cheap), we eventually decided to rank our choices from one to five, total the numbers and the person with the lowest number wins. (Still perhaps a little odd but it seemed the fairest option).
And our choice:
AusAID girl.
(alright, we have a housemate)
Interviewing: housemates (day 1)
Ok, the email scrutinising/culling process is past, now onto the meeting and the greeting.
We had 4 people pencilled in for today and another who just happened to call at the right time and find a slot - bypassing the first level of filtering. (More on this shortly)
Our first girl (no names, no pack drill - what the hell does that expression mean, by the by) who we shall call ABC girl for obvious reasons turned up pretty well bang on time.
Now those who know me a little will know that I'm something of a media junkie - if I can read it, listen to it, watch it or play it, I'm there. I'm particularly interested in the people and organisations that look at our world and tell us what is going on - most particularly when they try to do it with less of a corporate slant - so public media such as the ABC, community media and the "quality" papers (The Age, SMH etc) score higher points here.
So ABC girl is off to a good start as far as I'm concerned just by virtue of being there. She's part of their cadet programme, so is one of only 7 selected for the year, making her a little special.
Of course, it didn't take too long to figure out that she kind of knew it. (This was mostly my take - my housemate Abi thought she seemed quite down to earth)
Maybe I'll digress for a moment to bring some context to the house.
There's me - 35 year old multimedia guy from Melbourne, there's Eric, 30 year old evolution Ph.D from France and there's Abi, 26(?) year old student from Sydney. (I've asked her half a dozen times now what she is studying - I know that it's Asian studies and something - law? - but I keep forgetting - she's only been here a week, really).
Ok, so back to ABC girl - like everyone today, she's young, hip*, keen to get a house and cluey enough to have made it to interview. :)
(*Whatever the hell that means)
So we do the tour - first one for a while so there are the odd stumbles here and there but ultimately, it's a great house (and we're great housemates) so the place really sells itself. We move on to the kitchen table chat and while she seems interesting, there's a too-cool-for-school Sydney-ness that raises my long dormant Melbourne hackles.
I like the idea of a house where we're all a bit of a unit - not living in each other's pockets necessarily but able to hang out and do things together a bit.
So we get towards the end of her slot and the next girl arrives early.
Next girl (let's call her grad for now) settles in the loungeroom with outgoing housemate Tim in front of the telly to give us a little more time to wrap up with ABC girl.
I don't actually remember which city she has come from - the Sydney/Melbourne thing thus was no issue - as she was entirely charming.
Eminently personable, she's either putting on the charm or is the real deal, just a genuinely nice and interesting person. She speaks a fistful of languages and is going to work for a govt department (AusAID)(which coincidentally I seem to know at least half a dozen people in now) that scores high on the right-on meter.
Third up we have a local girl just about to start work in the press gallery at Parliament as a researcher for one of the aforementioned quality papers. Again, great, personable, interesting and stepping into a world that I find fascinating at a particularly interesting time (leading up to a federal election). Abi makes the point that she doesn't need a place as much as the other girls (she's currently staying with her parents a hop, step and jump away from Parliament House) which I hadn't considered but is quite true.
Lucky (?) last we have a 20 year old multimedia student who's also working for a media production company in town. Another Canberra native, she's nice but really quite young and makes a big show of the fact that she doesn't want to be in a house where she's expected to hang out / do things with the other housemates. (A little bit of a suburban Cheryl as well perhaps).
So we have a nuh-huh and 3 prospects with 3 more to come today. (Actually, the 12.30 hasn't shown up - no phone call either - so I guess it's two).
More to come.
Preferences so far:
Abi - 1.ABC girl, 2.AusAID, 3. Age
Eric - 1. AusAID, 2. ABC girl, 3. Age
Me - 1. AusAID, 2. Age, 3. ABC
More news as it comes to hand.
(Oh and the fourth scheduled girl called and cancelled - nice to see manners alive and well)
We had 4 people pencilled in for today and another who just happened to call at the right time and find a slot - bypassing the first level of filtering. (More on this shortly)
Our first girl (no names, no pack drill - what the hell does that expression mean, by the by) who we shall call ABC girl for obvious reasons turned up pretty well bang on time.
Now those who know me a little will know that I'm something of a media junkie - if I can read it, listen to it, watch it or play it, I'm there. I'm particularly interested in the people and organisations that look at our world and tell us what is going on - most particularly when they try to do it with less of a corporate slant - so public media such as the ABC, community media and the "quality" papers (The Age, SMH etc) score higher points here.
So ABC girl is off to a good start as far as I'm concerned just by virtue of being there. She's part of their cadet programme, so is one of only 7 selected for the year, making her a little special.
Of course, it didn't take too long to figure out that she kind of knew it. (This was mostly my take - my housemate Abi thought she seemed quite down to earth)
Maybe I'll digress for a moment to bring some context to the house.
There's me - 35 year old multimedia guy from Melbourne, there's Eric, 30 year old evolution Ph.D from France and there's Abi, 26(?) year old student from Sydney. (I've asked her half a dozen times now what she is studying - I know that it's Asian studies and something - law? - but I keep forgetting - she's only been here a week, really).
Ok, so back to ABC girl - like everyone today, she's young, hip*, keen to get a house and cluey enough to have made it to interview. :)
(*Whatever the hell that means)
So we do the tour - first one for a while so there are the odd stumbles here and there but ultimately, it's a great house (and we're great housemates) so the place really sells itself. We move on to the kitchen table chat and while she seems interesting, there's a too-cool-for-school Sydney-ness that raises my long dormant Melbourne hackles.
I like the idea of a house where we're all a bit of a unit - not living in each other's pockets necessarily but able to hang out and do things together a bit.
So we get towards the end of her slot and the next girl arrives early.
Next girl (let's call her grad for now) settles in the loungeroom with outgoing housemate Tim in front of the telly to give us a little more time to wrap up with ABC girl.
I don't actually remember which city she has come from - the Sydney/Melbourne thing thus was no issue - as she was entirely charming.
Eminently personable, she's either putting on the charm or is the real deal, just a genuinely nice and interesting person. She speaks a fistful of languages and is going to work for a govt department (AusAID)(which coincidentally I seem to know at least half a dozen people in now) that scores high on the right-on meter.
Third up we have a local girl just about to start work in the press gallery at Parliament as a researcher for one of the aforementioned quality papers. Again, great, personable, interesting and stepping into a world that I find fascinating at a particularly interesting time (leading up to a federal election). Abi makes the point that she doesn't need a place as much as the other girls (she's currently staying with her parents a hop, step and jump away from Parliament House) which I hadn't considered but is quite true.
Lucky (?) last we have a 20 year old multimedia student who's also working for a media production company in town. Another Canberra native, she's nice but really quite young and makes a big show of the fact that she doesn't want to be in a house where she's expected to hang out / do things with the other housemates. (A little bit of a suburban Cheryl as well perhaps).
So we have a nuh-huh and 3 prospects with 3 more to come today. (Actually, the 12.30 hasn't shown up - no phone call either - so I guess it's two).
More to come.
Preferences so far:
Abi - 1.ABC girl, 2.AusAID, 3. Age
Eric - 1. AusAID, 2. ABC girl, 3. Age
Me - 1. AusAID, 2. Age, 3. ABC
More news as it comes to hand.
(Oh and the fourth scheduled girl called and cancelled - nice to see manners alive and well)
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