Wind!

Mutterings continued.

And I don't mean me! The wind has been howling around the flat all day.

I was very disappointed on Friday evening when I checked the mailbox to find no ROTK DVD. I was surprised, therefore, when I checked it yesterday morning to remove the junk mail to find an envelope with said movie. Even more surprised to find no junk mail.

Food and DVD night last night - I made Beef, Beer and Borlotti Bean casserole (recipe from the diabetes cookbook and therefore 'good' for me), with mashed spuds and carrots in tarragon. Rob made mocha pannatoni. Mmmmm.....chocolate and coffee.... To my way of thinking, all the goodness in the casserole was probably cancelled out by the chocolate in the pannatoni, however it was served with oranges dipped in dark chocolate and as oranges are fruit and therefore good for you, I figure I'm ahead.

And we watched the Muppets with Steve Martin (very funny), Firefly (funny but grim) and MST3K's Earth vs the Spider (or in Crow's version, Earth Vs Soup). I've always like Steve Martin - I suspect he takes himself a little too seriously at times but he is a funny guy. Foxtel has been screening some of the older Saturday Night Live eps with Belushi, Chevy Chase, Akroyd, Martin et al and I got to see one of my favourite Steve Martin pieces, the song about King Tut, who gave his life for tourism.

"Now when he was a young man he never thought he'd see (King Tut)
People stand in line to see the boy king (King Tut)
How'd you get so funky (funky Tut)
Then you'd do the monkey
(Born in Arizona moved to Babylonia King Tut)
Now if I'd known the line would form to see him (King Tut)
I'd take up all my money and buy me a museum (King Tut)
Buried with a donkey (funky Tut)
He's my favorite honky
(Born in Arizona moved to Babylonia King Tut)
Dancing by the Nile
Ladies loved the style (waltzing Tut)
Rocking for a mile (walking Tut)
He ate a crocodile
He gave his life for tourism
Golden idol
He's an Egyptian!
They're selling you
Now when I die now don't think I'm a nut
Don't want no fancy funeral just one like old King Tut (King Tut)
He coulda won a grammy (King Tut)
Buried in his jammies
(Born in Arizona moved to Babylonia
Born in Arizona got a condo made of stone-a (sic) King Tut)"

While waiting in a pharmacy for a couple of prescriptions to be filled I came across an aftershave that I was too scared to sniff. "Recto-verso Man" it was called. "Commercial Suicide" more like. I'm sure Recto-Verso Man probably means something....meaningful - I just can't imagine what.

Just did a spell check of the foregoing and it didn't question Belushi. Hmmm...

Lunchtime blogging - Friday.

Mutterings continued.

My head is bunged up and my nose is dripping like a tap. You would have thought the two were mutually exclusive.

Another cold night and a sunny day. My friend Nick is arriving from the UK on Monday and I think he's bringing the rotten weather with him. Ain't it always the way?

I've been watching Dinar, our new Orang, in his tower. He has a large sheet in which he wraps himself, giving him a decidedly ghostly appearance. He peers through the railings in the 'bucket' at the top of the tower and I understand this is very disconcerting for the keepers who live on site as he can see into their backyard. He has HUGE hands and feet. One of the vets was saying that his palm is the length of her whole hand. Just amazing.

Cold

Mutterings continued.

It's getting later earlier. It was about 2.something degrees this morning.


I found this washing bag in a shop and had to have it. I didn't need the bag, it was just that the label made me laugh out loud. Everybody needs a bit of 'cleamess' in their lives.

Leece has created some artwork based on the activities of my mogs. However, as she says, hers are a tad friendlier than the critters on which they are based.

Lunchtime blogging - Thursday

Mutterings continued.

I've just come back from a meeting at the other end of the Zoo. This involves a ten minute walk from my office on the opposite corner of the Park, under the new orang towers, passed the capuchins, passed the World of Birds and the old chuditch enclosures (for holding old chuditches, obviously). On a day like today it's very pleasant indeed.

Walking back I saw a couple of pelicans wheeling overhead as they headed towards the main lake. Fabulous to watch.

From the New Scientist: "MARC ABRAHAMS, organiser of the IgNobel prizes, writes to draw our attention to an important but under-reported result in the recent elections in India. Lal Bihari, founder of the Association of Dead People, and thus winner of the IgNobel peace prize in 2003, won 3400 votes, coming in second from last. " That's the trouble with dead people, too damn apathetic to vote.

Also from the New Scientist: "HERE'S one US company where "freedom fries" surely never appeared on the staff restaurant menu, even when Francophobia was at its height. One of its products is a laptop bag which bears a label in English and French. The English version reads simply and sensibly "Wash with warm water; use mild soap; dry flat; do not use bleach; do not dry in the dryer; do not iron". The French version, only, continues (in translation): "We are sorry that our president is an idiot. We didn't vote for him." "

On the road again.

Mutterings continued.

I've taken today off as "carer's leave" to take Mum to Radiotherapy Oncology at Charlie Gairdner's. Out to Armadale to pick up the folks, in to Charlie's, out to Armadale and home again. Mum was wiped out by the time she got back home.

Today's appointment was the initial consultation - she has to go back again next Wed for another consult and the treatment. The doctor thinks that one decent dose of radiotherapy should help to shrink the tumour some and reduce the pain.

So many young people in the waiting room....

I was hoping to come home to Return of the King on the doorstep but it wasn't to be. Still, it's only 1437 so perhaps it will arrive some time this afternoon. And it was only posted on Monday....

Error messages

Mutterings continued.

All day today I've been getting 404 error messages when I try to access my blog. I've email Blogger about the problem - this is the second or third time it's happened.

David's all clean again. Though apparently he has dodgy ankles.

BBC Prisoner Web site. Cool.

Not a bad day, for a Monday.

Mutterings continued.

Sunny outside, a little cool inside.

Came home to find a parcel on the doorstep which contained 3 Cadfael DVDs - Morbid Taste for Bones, Raven in the Foregate and The Rose Rent. This means that Derek J has slipped ahead of Sir Ian Mc in the DVD stakes. I also received an email from Ezydvd to say that they has shipped Return of the King, which I guess should arrive tomorrow or Wednesday. Whee!

White Island crater volcano cam.

We've been having a bit of a chat (read, huge great grizzle) over on the iinet.general ng about the curse of static electricity, to which I'm a martyr (for 'martyr' read, big whinging whiner). These dry cooler days seem to bring out the static in every bloody thing! I stopped shopping at Woolies in Bentley a few years ago as everything I touched gave me a boot - the shelves, the cans, the trolley. I have an antizapper on my keyring at work which I just place against the metal cupboards before I open them.

Sunday

Mutterings continued.

Last night we had home made pea and ham soup and home made bread and store bought cakes for dinner. Plus Andy Williams and the Muppets ("BUNNY: Hey, hurry up, will ya? I gotta get back to the hutch!
DR. BOB: The what?
NURSE PIGGY: Hutch. That's where rabbits live.
DR. BOB: I know that. I even know where it is. It's behind a famous cathedral.
ALL: Oh?
DR. BOB: You must have heard of it. The hutch back of Notre Dame?
NURSE PIGGY: That rings a bell!
NURSE JANICE: Oh, Dr. Bob, that was really a long way to go for that last joke! You should have packed a lunch!
DR. BOB: I did. I ate it behind the cathedral.
ALL: Oh?
DR. BOB: Yes. I had the lunch back of Notre Dame!"); another good episode of Firefly and Merlin and his Mystical something or other, as presented by MST3K, ("Merlin was a thieving crack head who fenced VCRs to feed his habit." -Crow).

I called into Replay Records, a great second hand vinyl and cd store in Kenwick, on the way home from the folks today and while having a mooch through the 60's LPs found "Uptight Party Time" by Ross D Wylie and the Uptight Party Team (lord knows who they are). I have no idea what it's like but it's nice to have (I'm going through a bit of a retro phase, you may have noticed. I think it's because the past was nicer than the present currently is.)

More rain.

Mutterings continued.

Not as heavy but just as welcome.

I bought a mattress this morning - I've never bought a mattress before, though I have bought a bed base. Now Nick, who will be visiting from Huddersfield in a couple of weeks, won't have to sleep on futon slats. He will, however, be sleeping surrounded by props from past GRADS productions, and the implements for making same. Should be fun trying the Poss-handle the mattress into the spare room - round the couch in the lounge room, through the door, passed the bookcases, vaccuum cleaner, air cooler, etc etc.

I had a very bizarre dream last night - it woke me up and was so good I made sure I remembered it this morning. It involved a US army platoon that was based in some hick town (see Gomer Pyle USMC) that was transported to a large indoor industrial fun park. Lots of shiny chrome and glass, large vents and tubes overhead, food and dancing. The men spend a couple of days being entertained, fed, etc. One of them is dancing with a woman staff member, looks down at his watch and sees that the hands are flying around. The woman explains that time works differently there. The soldier asks for her help to escape and she gets him back to his own time where 10 weeks have gone by. There was a voice over (yes, my dreams have voice overs) at the end which said that some of the platoon were found in odd places in odd times and most of them were never found. The first part of the dream was in black and white, the second in colour. I dream in colour; I also have a sense of smell as I once dreamt about Derek Jacobi wearing aftershave.

Time for the housework, alas.

Rain

Mutterings continued.

Lots of it today, and some thunder. It was dark when I left for work.

There was an interesting item on anime on Mondo Thingo last night - they made the correct distinction between anime (Japanese animation), Western animation and manga.

There are a series of 60's ads on the Uptight DVD that show how far we've come in advertising (unfortunately), including the "sexy" Bata Kingston shoes man (who spoils it by wearing white socks).

"Taboo Tunes - songs that have sparked controversies down through the ages — can make for interesting listening. It is the periodic campaigns to suppress or censor such music, however, that are absolutely worth keeping an eye on. And that’s why tabootunes.com exists."

Last of the big spenders

Mutterings continued.

15% off everything day at Target and I buy underwear, tissues and an Empire magazine.

Interesting interview with Eddie Izzard - in which he appears to be having an off day.

One of my favourite Shakespeares was on Ovation last night - it was Olivier's Richard III. I couldn't watch it as I find him a (sacrilige) shocking ham. I'm sure he had his moments, I've just never seen any in the Shakespeares he did. Perhaps his Hunchback of Plantaganet has been parodied too many times for me to take it seriously.

If only more films were made this way:
"Indiana Jones rides again

In summer 1982, three Mississippi boys decided to film a shot-for-shot remake of their favourite movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. After years of toil - which saw one of them being set alight, another having his head blown up, and the whole lot of them blagging the use of two US submarines - their backyard odyssey is being hailed as a crackpot masterpiece, not least by Steven Spielberg himself."

Not quite lunchtime blogging

Mutterings continued.

I written this at lunch however something borked and the blog refused to update.

I don't feel much like blogging when I get home these days so I'll do some now before I lose track of myself.

Goodbye to El Meadoes. David 'Hamlet' 'Petruccio' 'Iago' Meadows is heading to Sydney tomorrow. I hope his career gets the boost it deserves.

I read on the RocknRoll Scars forum that both Axiom LPs are due for release on CD in the coming months. I hope this is the case as Axiom have been neglected for far too long. Most Australians, if they've heard of the group at all, only know them for "Little Ray of Sunshine", but their output was much better than that.

Scary stuff - Diskworld beer from BursarVixen.

The Uptight DVD arrived. I had a quick squizz - fabulous hair, very bad lip synching, lots of great memories. Normie Rowe post-Vietnam with an Army haircut and moustache to match. I'd forgotten how creepy Izzy Dye was. And how good Doug Parkinson is.

Les Triplettes de Belleville

Mutterings continued.

Looks like a fun film - great music too.

I have/will have four DVDs heading my way - two Cadfaels, an Uptight and a Return of the King (when it's released next week).

Seven months old, but cool. Astronomy picture of the day, October 1, 2003.

New Toy

Mutterings continued.

The stove here in the flat is very old and half the jets don't work. I've tried unblocking them but to no avail. The numbers of the dial have been washed away over time so I don't know what temperature I'm cooking things at - not that the thermostat works anyway. Yesterday I bought a toaster oven thingie that is big enough to cook (small) roasts in. I tried it out on the pies I made for dinner and it worked a treat.

We saw a shocker of a film last night - thank the small gods for the MST3K treatment. It was the Castle of Dr Fu Manchu, not one of Christopher Lee's better efforts and one he probably leaves off the CV. Actually, Mr Lee's performance IS a good one, it's the rest of the film that's dire, with lines like:

Dr. Petrie: It's hot in here.
Inspector Ahmet: Then take your clothes off.
Dr. Petrie: A gentleman never takes his clothes off in public!

and

Lin Tang: Even Nayland-Smith cannot touch you now, father.
Fu Manchu: I wish that he would try.

We also watched a great ep of Firefly, "Out of Gas". Very well done indeed.

Ovation screened the BBC Tempest during the week. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet but it appears promising - Michael Horden as Prospero, David "Ford Prefect" Dixon as Ariel, Warren "Dalziel" Clark as Caliban and Andrew Sachs as Stephano and Trinculo.

And still on things televisual, I received an email from DVDsoon yesterday to say that the third of the Cadfaels I ordered has been shipped, which means I now have two in transit.

Latest.

Mutterings continued.

The news on Mum's health isn't good. The pain she's been experiencing in her shoulder and arm is due to the tumour in her lung. She's on morphine tablets (which are slow releasing over 2 hours) and morphine syrup (which is used for breakthrough pain) and her doctor has sent a letter of referral to SCGH for radiation therapy to help with pain relief.

She wasn't too bad when I saw her on Wednesday evening after her appointment with the specialist and she'd received the news. When I spoke to her yesterday she had been feeling nauseous all day - a side effect of the syrup. I've just got off the phone and she said hasn't needed the syrup since yesterday afternoon, she's just taken the tablets and feels ok. The nausea has backed off a bit too.

So that's where we are up to at the moment.

New Blogger Templates

Mutterings continued.

I'm tempted to try one of the new templates however the last time I changed the look I lost everything and had to start again.

I've got Bedazzled on the telly in the background - the original very good one, not the remake with Elizabeth Hurley (save us!). I love the music. "This year's discovery - Drimble Wedge and the Vegetations!!" "You fill me with inertia."

Wet! Windy!!

Mutterings continued.

and the city is completely obscured. And stupid Milo insisted on going out onto the balcony to chew my plants. In the rain.

Last night we watched the Debbie Harry ep of the Muppets, a very funny ep of Firefly and MST3K's Deathstalker 3. Unbelievable that they actually made 3 of these things. As a line of dialogue, "Potatoes are what we eat!" is up there with "This is where the fish lives." from Touch of Satan.

Last year I got a dose of viral labyrinthitis, a nasty bug that makes you feel like something awful is happening to your brain (eg a stroke). Well, it did me. I was lying in bed and the world was going round and round (and I hadn't even had a drink). The world was kaleidoscoping every time I opened my eyes. Then the nausea started and the copious throwing up and the inability to stand up. It eventually passed a couple of days later - the doctor diagnosed what it was, gave me some pills, and the happy news that it will probably come back. Last night I thought it had. I was lying in bed and the world started going around, etc. Fortunately it passed very quickly and apart from feeling a little wobbly, I'm none the worse for wear. I'm just wondering if it's a portent and I'm in for another bout.

Kiss Concert.

Mutterings continued.

No, I didn't go, I'm not a fan - I did get a letter from the promoters advising that there was going to be a lot of noise at the WACA last night. Wasn't that nice of them? All I heard was some rumbling in the distance, which I thought was thunder but apparently was a sound check (thanks for clearing that up, Steveg).

Am I the only person not to be frightened by the movie Psycho? Perhaps knowing the plot and the "scary bits" for a long time before actually seeing the film inured me to it, but I have to say I found it pretty uninteresting.

America remakes The Office, but no one's laughing. As Mr Gervais says, "This isn't our baby," he told the Los Angeles Times. "We sold the rights. It's like selling a house and then you keep turning up, saying 'Why are you changing the fireplace?' I've done my bit."

Leece and Rob are coming over for dinner. I've made savoury fish cakes (god it's a messy job! I end up with salmon and potato and egg and flour and breadcrumbs all over my fingers, the taps and everything else I touch) and Greek roasted vegies.

The Evil Google Ad on my blog is trying to sell me vintage fountain pens. The Fountain Pen Hospital. They have some very beautiful ink bottles; the Campo Marzio Roma and Visconti ink bottles in particular are fabulous. I have my Dad's 14k gold nibbed Shaeffer that he received on his 21st birthday, almost 60 years ago.

Dark!

Mutterings continued.

It was dark and rainy and lightningy when I left for work this morning and I had to put the headlights on. It's dark now and it's only 4.30pm - could this be winter finally on its way??

A less than serious look at who's who in Troy. I don't think this is on my 'must see' list.

I took possession of the GRADS' Peter Mann trophy today - I showed it to anyone unlucky enough to walk past my office and it's now sitting on the kitchen table. I shall put it somewhere safer later. Somewhere the cats can't knock it over.

Old Fart

Mutterings continued.

Being a baby boomer has its up and down sides - you were there when really good music was being made (and will endlessly grizzle that 'they' stopped making decent music in the early 70's) but you begin to forget what happened yesterday, let alone when really good music was being made. There has been some discussion on the rock and roll scars forum about a book titled The Real Thing by Toby Creswell which documents the Oz music scene from 1957 to the '90s. "This sounds good, I should get a copy." I thought. I have a copy! I bought it a couple of years ago. BTW, Toby Creswell wrote for Nation Review, started Juice and was editor of Rolling Stone.

I rang Reload Records in Melbourne today to order a copy of the Uptight DVD. They didn't have any in stock (boo!), will be getting them in next Friday (yay!) and I should be getting it by the following Tuesday (yay again!). And I know for sure that I DO NOT have a copy of this.

Quick lunchtime blogging

Mutterings continued.

Thanks to Steveg for introducing me to Googlism. My real name brought up some interesting items; Poss, on the other hand, brought up some bizarre results:

poss is a possum with epilepsy (No I'm not!)
poss is a new chemical feedstock technology and it can be used to upgrade the properties of prior patented compositions while enabling the patentability of the ('of the...' Of the what???)
poss is a west coast pop/cabaret performer (whoda thunk it?)
poss is amongst the key attractive features (aw, shucks)

During dinner last night, Steveg suggested that I put a link to my webpage on the blog - silly me never even thought about it. So I have now done so. I have a guestbook which has been signed by David Troughton, his son and William Houston, who played Hal to DT's Henry IV for the RSC. They're private messages so you won't be able to read them, however reading DT's for the first time made me go "Eeek!"

Dinner last night was very tasty and a little too healthy. *sigh* Steveg and I offered to help Maureen eat her muffin (low fat, oatbran, apple, that sort of thing) but she wouldn't let us. Damned selfish I say.

Wednesday

Mutterings continued.

Spent most of today worrying about Mum's biopsy. She said it was painless, they just stuck some needles in her back and the staff were lovely. Her specialist should be getting the results tomorrow.

Off to Steveg and Maureen's tonight for dinner. Must remember to take Maureen her Baudin's cockatoo adoption certificate - Fundraising couldn't find a photo of an adult bird for the certificate so I found them one of a newly hatched chick.

Derek Jacobi's Hamlet is on Ovation tonight in a series of Shakespeare plays introduced by John Bell. I've got the vid - it will be interesting to hear what Bell has to say about the play. His comment on Sir D? "Melodious in the Geilgud fashion and a bit of a sook." and "too old". But with beautiful hair, so there.

"Mystery shopper buys store's entire stock of Mars bars

A shopper paid £2,131.20 for the entire stock of Mars bars at a branch of Woolworths in London." Blimey! I mean....blimey!!

Good thoughts needed

Mutterings continued.

Tomorrow Mum is having a biopsy to see how bad the things on her lungs are so any good thoughts sent our way would be appreciated.

Finland

Mutterings continued.

Who'd have thought the Fins were so ....... eccentric. David Troughton's dad, Patrick, used to call acting on stage "Shouting about in the evenings." This takes it to a whole new level. Gjallarhorn they ain't.

And speaking of Mr T, another of his telly performances was added to the video library last night. He appeared as a rather sleazy petrol depot owner in Foyle's War. It was pretty good, unfortunately I can't get past Michael "Foyle" Kitchen's performance as King Charles in House of Cards. Everything I see him in reminds me of that.

One man's view of the last 50 years of pop.

The Royal Observatory in Greenwich (a fascinating place) is looking for funds for restoration. Lots of funds.

Apparently, today is Shakespeare's birthday. I didn't miss it after all. Not that he'd notice.

Sunday arvo

Mutterings continued.

Thanks to Steveg for pointing me in the direction of Neil Gaiman's blog. In his May 1 entry he mentions the Fountain Pen Hospital - I used to get their catalogues and Steveg and I (and quite a few other people I know) would drool over the lovely items within. As Neil states, some are bloody expensive, beautiful and not terribly efficient as pens.

Exciting news for an aging teeny bopper - someone on the Rock and Roll scars forum has a friend who has a DVD (phew) of some performances from Uptight. Just as Countdown shaped the musical tastes of the 30-somethings, Uptight, four hours of live/mimed Australian and OS music on a Saturday morning, shaped mine. Uptight became Happening 70 and Happening 71 and was hosted by Ross D Wylie and featured, on a regular basis, Russell Morris, the Master Apprentices, the Valentines, Zoot and a host of others lost to time. Much to my parents disgust I would sit in front of the telly for four solid hours every Saturday morning and then ring one of my girl friends to relive the experience.

I've obviously been a sad fan girl for a looooooooooooooong time.

Another sunny day

Mutterings continued.

in Godzone. Damn but we need the rain! The 2mm we had in March just wasn't enough.

From the kitten band that brought you Gay Bar - Fell in Love with a Girl.

"Pierce Brosnan has told fellow Irishman Colin Farrell to Try Another Day if he wants to be the next James Bond

Bond producers are said to be looking for a new leading man and Farrell, X-Men superhero Hugh Jackman, Lord of the Rings Star Orlando Bloom and Ewan McGregor have all been tipped for the part." Orlando Bloom? Good grief! I saw a trailer for Troy and he seemed to give the same performance he's given in everything else. (Still the prettiest, however.)