Loling: Jane Fonda molesting Stephen Colbert.

Nothing to be said here, just enjoy the clip and watch Colbert squirm.

Buying: Buffy Season 8 Comics (Issue 1,2 &3)

Just as a quick follow up to yesterday's post - yes I have been known to possess slightly geeky qualities - I found the first 3 issues of the Buffy Season 8 comic on sale at Impact Comics in Canberra yesterday afternoon. (Located upstairs at 45 East Row in Civic - in the bus interchange)

Read them, re-read them, loved them.

Apparently they are third printings, which the comic store guy was slightly apologetic before - I'm guessing he deals with his share of hardcore comic nerds - but he seemed happy that I really don't care and just want to read them.

I won't give away what happens in the comics, suffice to say that if you are a Buffy fan, you'll be pretty happy with it all. Same quirky humour, same well told stories, great artwork, it's gold.

Reading: about Buffy Season 8

I was a little excited yesterday (I'm a sad, sad man :) to read that Buffy the Vampire Slayer will live on in comic book form overseen by series creator (and genius) Joss Whedon.



Apparently the story picks up right after the end of Season 7, the final season of the tv series, where Buffy and the Scooby gang have avoided the latest apocalypse and vanquished The First Evil by magically distributing Slayer powers to girls all over the world.

Old faves return, apparently including Faith if the cover of Issue 6 is anything to go by. (There's a subtle hint hidden in the artwork)



The comics can be purchased online through www.tfaw.com,

Thinking: about Zombies (as you do)

It seems as though it's just been wall-to-wall zombies in my head in the last 24 hours.

Firstly I came across this song called re: Your Brains by a guy called Jonathon Coulton which is pretty funny. I must say that I'm tempted to have a crack at making another video for it using The Movies game as the World of Warcraft machinima thing doesn't quite do it for me in a song about guys in an office.



I've also read about a film being released soon which echoes Snakes on a Plane but replaces the snakes with zombies. (Which I actually think works pretty well - it takes one of the zombie movie fundamentals (hiding) and cuts that option back to virtually nothing). It was initially called Plane Dead but the title has now been changed to Flight of the Living Dead. (Classy). (Update - apparently the idea pre-dates Snakes on a Plane)

Here's the trailer.



One of the things that I've been thinking about with the zombie genre (for those who don't know, I have long harboured the desire to make the ultimate Aussie zombie pic) is the current reliance on the use of a virus as the zombifying agent. It makes a lot of sense in many ways - particularly in growing the zombie population through bites. (The scariest thing about zombies - given that they are generally slow moving and fairly brainless - is their sheer weight of numbers).

Plane Dead/Flight of the living dead continues with this idea but I'm really wondering if there is another way. Viruses in the form of HIV, Ebola, SARS and Avian Flu are prominent fear factors these days so it makes sense but is this all starting to repeat on itself.

I dreamt about zombies last night as well - being the plucky hero type I was never in any real danger (I like my adventure dreams) and I think I was actually trying out a few ideas as well. Nothing great unfortunately but it's nice to know that the unconscious is still ticking away on the problem.

Waking up this morning, I turned on the radio (Newsradio of course) to hear about the likely imminent retirement of Tony Blair. Fairly unzombie-like news you would think right - but then the leader of the opposition over there, David Cameron, described Blair's party as "the government of the living dead."

Now there's a movie idea.

I particularly liked the way the BBC news story wrapped up the issue -

Mind you, perhaps he should study the "Living Dead" horror films more closely.

No matter how many of the zombies you kill, and no matter how gory their end, they just keep on coming.

And take your eye off them for a moment and they eat you alive.

A lesson for all of us perhaps.

Thinking: about how I do radio

Again I dip into the wisdom of the English music magazines (I plan to do a head-to-head comparison of my two favourites - The Word and Uncut - sometime soon). I wish there was an Oz equivalent but alas, I'm yet to find it. Rolling Stone has its moments but there is something just not quite there about it for me. (Although I do note that they say that leaked tracks from the new Guns and Roses album Chinese Democracy "suck")



Annnnyyywaaaays, I came across this competition where a Word reader can guest programme an hour on a digital radio station over there called The Arrow. I've sometimes thought it would be cool to get 2XXfm listeners to guest programme - the Pussycat had a bit of a go for her birthday which worked pretty well. We could potentially even get people to come in and do a bit of announcing if they were so inclined, telling stories about their selections.

I see that Rage has just closed entries to a similar scheme called Invade Rage, celebrating their 20th birthday.

I'll give this a little more thought once the 2XXfm website is up and running.

One of the things I found particularly interesting in the Word competition was that they spoke to one of the station DJs who offered some tips on putting a good selection together and other things to consider.

• Putting a selection together is known as "building a clock"


• People might tune in at any time so don't put everything in blocks


• Forward sell the music that is coming up - listeners might be more likely to wait through an average song if they know one they like is next


• "Hammocking" is placing unfamiliar music between more familiar tracks


• Unfamiliar music should be less that 50% of the show


• Open with something that gives you a lift and brings out your enthusiasm


• Intrigue, inform and entertain with your chat - experiences tied up with songs can be good stories

Now I'm bearing in mind that this is a more commercially oriented type of station but a lot of these points ring true. The most common feedback I get (not that there is a lot of it but it's always nice when there is) is about songs that I have played that are old favourites that people haven't heard for years.

One of the things that gets me excited about radio is hearing the stuff that I've never heard before. Listening to community radio (or public radio as it was known back then) in Melbourne with iconic stations like RRR and PBS brought me out of my musically malnourished adolescence and I've never looked back.

I think though that the point about people liking a healthy dose of the familiar is probably quite right - you only have to look at the way mainstream radio endlessly cycles through the same limited playlist to see that. The question is though, do people grow to love songs because they are good songs or because they are trained to?

To simply claim it's all the latter is probably a little arrogant and doesn't give people credit for knowing their own minds but then again, you see repetition over and over in commercial media and they spend millions analysing the psychology of the audience so it's bound to be a bit of both.

I think in part it's about the difference between whether people enjoy (or want to be) thinking about what they are listening to (which you have to do when it's something new) or just want to be relaxed and comfortable.

I tried this new approach, using a number of more familiar tunes (in a 2XX/less-mainstream sense) on last Mondays show (4 - 6pm 2XXfm 98.3) and I have to say, it did feel a little more balanced, while maintaining the esoteric nature I like.

I also got some fantastic feedback which doesn't always come up and maybe I'll share it so you don't think it's just me that thinks I'm fantastic :)

I listened to part of your sunset show last night: loved the bits I heard, especially the Dolly Parton/Motorhead/Flaming Lips/ Breakfast Club tunes. Brilliant, funny, unexpected and great music.

You can check out the playlists for the programme on the (slightly neglected) Monday Sunset blog here.

Looking at: funky doodles

This is an ad I found in one of my English music mags for Samaritans, an organisation something like Lifeline in Australia. Samaritans focuses on offering people a non-judgmental ear to talk to when they are distressed, in despair or suicidal. (Click image for full sized version)



Mostly I was taken by the artwork here - I've been known to idly doodle away during a meeting or three and I've always thought that doodling (particularly blue pen on "work" paper) deserves more of a place in the art scene than it currently has.

It would be great to see an online gallery that people can submit idle scribblings to. (I'd Google doodles but I'm afraid of what might appear - being on a work computer and all :)