R.I.P. Philip José Farmer | Books | A.V. Club

91 is a good age to go so I'm not sad.  Looking forward to seeing you on the riverbanks Mr Farmer ...
http://www.avclub.com/articles/rip-philip-jose-farmer,24338/

J'Accuse

Hola amigos ... long time since I rapped at ya ...

Oscar night is still the only awards show worth watching even though it's often somewhat cringeworthy and I rarely completely agree with the winners - the timezone difference is also more and more difficult to negotiate in this age of aggregated news and and 24 hour on message notification - my email war with the Sydney Morning Herald web editor about 7 years ago still hasn't paid any dividends and the provincial online news source still considers it a scoop to blare the winners out on the front page as they happen.  So, as happens every year the last Monday of February (is that when it's scheduled) is my "No News" day and I have to say that whilst productivity could have been better it's somewhat of a relief to get away from being up to the minute in terms of information.  But it's hard - news screens at cafes and in lift wells still can't resist keeping us informed whether we want the information or not - not knowing the fact that there was a bomb in Cairo that killed 30 is a small price to pay for not knowing that Sean Penn pipped the resurgent Mickey Rourke before it happened eight hours later.

A princely spread of popcorn, sawsage rolls and choc tops with a bit too much beer was a good way of spending the evening and the healthy turnout in attendees and, more importantly, entries into the spectacularly elegant Oscar sweep competition made a very entertaining evening.  A victory by yours truly also didn't go astray - despite negating any opportunity for accusations of fixing by emailing all nominations the day before and results afterwards my integrity was still impugned by calls of bias and accusations of foul play through electronic measures but I know where I stand and the cool one hundred and fifty dullahs combined with a clear conscience smoothed my damaged ego.  Huzzah.  I have to say I was rather pleased all in all with the winners, which is a change, Slumdog was a deserved winner - the movie was great, the music was inspired genius and I was sure that was Sudeep from work up on stage celebrating the victory.  Still don't know how he got there in time.

Police Banning Blogs?

Will mentioning the name, Brendan Sokaluk, cause Evil Melon to be banned?  Not only is this guy a potential arsonist but he also seems to be accused of holding child pornography.  That's two monsterisms in one, he must be the devil incarnate ... I wonder if I rearranged the letters in his name if I'd get a derivative of 666 ... In any event, I could certainly do with the traffic that the attention of a banning can bring to a website - I may have been a bit lapse in keeping up with a running commentary on my life and the bits and pieces of the world which amuse me but I don't recall free speech being banned in this country yet.  I know net censorship is on the cards but those laws haven't been passed yet or have they?  However, I absolutely must agree with keeping private details off limits - vigilantism is not a sign of an enlightened society - this is not the UK, last I remember it was the courts and not the media who decide whether someone is guilty and the punishment is meted out by the justice system and not thugs who've nothing better to do.  

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/02/17/1234632773480.html

I Will Fear No Evil

Despite having rain put off one of my cycling events for the weekend - the SCC time trial which I was probably not up to having been cancelled by overzealous administrators - it would take more than a hangover to cancel a bit of blatant exhibitionism. My second round of cycling themed body art took a very similar look to my last - almost exactly the same as my last in fact, but this time with a bunch of other people. Riding from Kensington to Maroubra with a bunch of half naked cyclists covered in rainbow coloured paint is not everybody's cup of tea for a Sunday afternoon but it beats sitting around the house watching a DVD box set of an American cop show. I did that on Saturday. Lots of painted boobies - some pert, some pendulous and a rather enjoyable ride home. Nobody seems to bat an eyelid at the art work so I'd say it was successfully done.

The world's best???

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/the-worlds-best-airline-complaint-letter-20090130-7tgo.html

Come on ... it's really not that funny.  How can this old story still be at the top of the favourite lists?  it used to be that you had to trawl through the obscure stories in the obscure international press ... now the viral network tells us what's funny, whether we like it or not.  Oddly enough ...  I'm sick of it.  Truth be told, I didn't need to click on the link.

I was waiting for this

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/green-ideas-must-take-blame-for-deaths-20090211-84mk.html?page=-1

Ms Devine has been waiting, anticipating, maybe even hoping for something like this to happen.  Not only is the green movement responsible for shocking economic policy but now for mass murder.  The Victorian fires are shocking are devastating but they're hardly unexpected.  The Australian bush survives by fire - it always has and it always will.  In a few years time when we revisit the sites of "hell on earth" we'll find a paradise of greenery and regenerated bushland.  The urban areas that were destroyed by fires over the past week should have been better managed in terms of fire prevention - that is a given.  But the blame does not lie with the philosophy behind keeping areas pristine and "untouched" by human hands - it lies with the people who moved into the bush and were then baffled when it did what it evolved to do.  Burn.  It is tragic and sad that so many people have died but nature is amoral - if someone swims in shark infested waters and is killed we don't blame the sharks (although frequently we do) we blame the person for being where they shouldn't.  It's like the frog and the scorpion - the scorpion can't help it's nature.  If you're going to build towns surrounded by the bush you can't be surprised when this happens.  That said, the towns are there - we're not going to move them now, so they may as well be fire-proofed (as much as that's possible) - we've already made an impact on our environment and we can't say we've done some damage, let's leave it and let it return to it's natural state - the natural state is dangerous and it does have to be managed.  I'd be very surprised if there isn't a fundamental rethink on the way we manage the urban bush.  But there's enough urbanised bushland already - let's not create any more.

F**k! F**k! F**k!

What are the chances of my chain snapping so soon after my return?  That really sucks.

Japan Pledges To Halt Production Of Weirdo Porn That Makes People Puke | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

No!!!!!
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/japan_pledges_to_halt_production?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

Stuff has been happening

Stuff's been happening - perhaps not enough to get out of the fug - been to the opera, been camping (or a semblance of), returned to cycling, bit too much drinking, shown some maturity at times and immaturity at others.  Even more's been going on in the world - introduction of unit pricing at the supermarket (that should have gotten me excited), new president of the USA, potential to get a payout for being a taxpayer ...  There's plenty more where that came from.