Monday, October 30, 2006

Help Save the Engangered Whatever They Ares

Mutterings continued.

From The Australian: "Platypus colony 'fixed' in minutes

A PLATYPUS colony in southern NSW is holding up construction of a new section of the Hume Highway but the delay could be fixed in 10 minutes, a government senator said today.

Liberal senator Bill Heffernan told a parliamentary committee today the delay could be quickly fixed if commonwealth roads staff took an interest in the construction at Coolac, a village about 100 kilometres west of Canberra.

"I'm surprised that you blokes don't know and I have to say that I think it's something you could fix in 10 minutes,'' Senator Heffernan told AusLink executives at a parliamentary inquiry into transport.

AusLink is the government body charged with overseeing the AusLink program which provides funding to nationally significant roads and railways.

"There's a colony of whatever they are that live in the edge of the bank of the creek there. "

This country is in such good hands.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Well, duh!

Mutterings continued.

You Belong in London
You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere. And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Cosi - an unbiased* review

Damn! but we've got some talent in this State. When auditions were called for Cosi, we had more callers than we could comfortably look at, and director Grant Malcolm had the enviable/unenviable task of whittling down over 30 auditioners to a cast of 11. So, what we've ended up with is the best of the best. And it shows.

For a play like Cosi to succeed, it depends upon teamwork, timing and the cast's ability to
switch seamlessly between near farce and heartbreaking drama. If the reaction of last night's audience is anything to go by, this production is more than successful. All the black-outs, and even some of the scenes, were applauded by nearly 150 very appreciative patrons.

Some of the cast I've worked with before with GRADS and I knew just how good Eliot, Seton and Scott were going to be. The rest I hope to work with again.

Coming soon: auditions for Henry V!

* a wholly inaccurate use of the word "unbiased"


Thursday, October 26, 2006

Noooooooo!!!!

Mutterings continued.

Just when I get all excited about the future, in the mail pops a letter from National Seniors inviting me to join. But I'm far too young!

Also in the mail was the Xmas cattledog from Oxfam - they will def. be getting some of my money (and yah boo sucks to National Seniors).

Cosi opens tomorrow night. I shall be on the door, ushering the multitude to their seats and telling them to turn their mobile phones off. "No, madam, you can't take your drink/dinner/cigarette in with you." "I don't care what your watch says, we say it's 8pm and we're closing the doors." This happened last production - chap insisted all of our watches (ie the bar staff, director, SM, FOH manager, etc etc) were wrong when he arrived 10 minutes after curtain up.

Looking forward to meeting Sonia and catching up with Eliot Mc.

Further to yesterday's post about primate smarts, most orang keepers believe that Pongos have the mental capacity of a four year old human. Given their ability to take things apart using cunning, patience and dexterity, I'd say it was higher. Hsing, one of our males, watched a metal bed being put together in the night den across the corridor from his. By morning, he had completely dismantled his. Using his fingers. On bolts that were machine tightened.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

I Dun It!

Mutterings continued.

Finally worked out which flights will get me to and from Heathrow for 112,000 points! It means flying into London at 6.45am but at least it's Qantas all the way and there's only a 3 hours stop in Singapore. Flying back, however, is with British Airways (rats!) and I arrive at half past midnight. The last couple of times I've flown to the UK, I've landed early in the morning and it's not too bad.

So, I've booked it, paid the taxes and charges ($536!!) and now I just have to work up the leave and save spending money. Must stop buying shiny things. Put the credit card down and back away now.

Speaking of shiny things, another arrived today - the Anniversary tinbox set of Withnail and I. It's lovely.

"Primate smarts..."

This was the editorial of the latest International Zoo News:

"International Zoo News Vol. 53, No. 6 (2006), p. 325
EDITORIAL

A recent survey of primate intelligence [R.O. Deaner, C.P. van Schaik and V. Johnson, Evolutionary Psychology 4 (2006), 149-1961 has resulted in some unexpected findings. The study, led by Robert Deaner at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, analysed the results of dozens of problem solving puzzles given by scientists to various species. Previous research had attempted to compare different primates' abilities at specific tasks, including tests of ability to navigate mazes, to untangle a jumble of differently coloured threads to find food, and to spot the odd one out in a series of images, but no one had ever combined these data into an overall measure of intelligence. This is what Dr Deaner's team have now done, producing a league table of the cognitive ability of a number of genera or species (Table 1). The fact that orang-utans beat chimpanzees into first place will probably cause little surprise to keepers and curators with experience of the extraordinary powers of observation, concentration and persistence which have made these apes the Houdinis of the zoo world. But what becomes of the widely-held theory that group living triggers increased brain-power, if the solitary orang turns out to have a higher IQ than the gregarious chimp?

Table 1. League table of primate intelligence
1. Orang-utan
2. Chimpanzee
3. Spider monkey
4. Gorilla
5. Surili (Leaf monkey)
6. Macaque
7. Mandrill
8. Guenon
9. Mangabey
10. Capuchin
11. Woolly monkey
12. Gibbon
13. Baboon
14. Slow loris
15 Night monkey
16. Ruffed lemur
17. Brown lemur
18. Fork-marked lemur
19. Ring-tailed lemur
20. Bushbaby
21. Squirrel monkey
22. Mouse lemur
23. Marmoset
24. Talapoin

The appearance of the spider monkey in third place, ahead even of the gorilla, is astonishing. But the surprises continue all the way down. Most of us, probably, have always taken for granted a rough, generalized hierarchy of primate intelligence, with apes at the top, followed by Old World monkeys, New World monkeys and prosimians. The picture here is much more complicated. There are indeed five Old World monkeys in the top ten, but also two New World ones. Another Old World species, the talapoin, is at the bottom of the list. And who would have expected the slow loris to outsmart not merely the lemurs, but several monkeys as well? The findings will no doubt arouse much interest - and presumably some opposition - in the scientific community. But it would also be useful to hear the more subjective reactions of zoo people with long day-to-day experience of the animals in question."

One of our primate keepers found it more that astonishing that spider monkeys are smarter than gorillas; obviously they've never met ours. I suggested that perhaps the spider monkeys paid some bonobos to do the tests for them. I notice that bonobos aren't included in the study; either that, or they've been lumped in with chimpanzees, which they're not. It would be interesting to read the complete study. Even more interesting to see where bonobos would come in the league table - probably just below, if not equal to, orangs.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Shiny Things

Mutterings continued.

There were three parcels waiting for me at the PO agency. One contained Terry Pratchett's The Science of Diskworld II - The Globe; the second had clothes in it; and the third 3 DVDs - X Men III, Cotton, Keayes and Morris Live at the Basement and the Moody Blues. Basement has a live version of The Real Thing, which I heard performed unplugged on the Coodabeens one Sunday night and have wanted ever since.

I've been looking at awards flights with Qantas next year and it looks as though I may not have enough to get to and from London after all. According the website, I only need 112,000 points for an economy flight, however I can't work out where the hell I need to depart from for it to only cost that much. Doing the sums, I need nearly 140,000 from Perth (I have 122,000); and 128,000 from Sydney. *sigh* Looks like I'll be paying for one way, which is almost as expensive as a return. *double sigh*

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Good day, bad day.

Mutterings continued.

Had yesterday off, which was nice. I met Director Pat in Nedlands for a coffee and a trip to the bank. Underground power is being installed in the streets surrounding the bank and I had a bit of trouble finding somewhere to park; in the end I opted for Broadway. I met Pat in the bank carpark and asked her how she got in when the streets were blocked off. "Oh, I ignored them!" she replied.

I then had a very fruitful visit to Office Works and came home with a nice silver and black satchel ($9.95), matching pencil case, Xmas paper and other bits and pieces.

Met old school chum, Genette, for lunch at the Cafe Bookshop where we both had the Caesar Salad - hers with smoked salmon, mine with chicken.

And then mooched around at home, waiting for parcels that never came.

Bad day? Yesterday was the second anniversary since Mum's death. Hard to believe she's been gone 2 years.

L and R for dins tonight (hopefully Bunnings won't go ker-blooey and call Rob away). I'm finally making the spring rolls I've been promising them. Fiddly but hopefully worth it.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Headache weather

Mutterings continued.

It's been humid and not at all pleasant today - and that means headache weather.

The morning was spent running a desktop disaster recovery scenario as part of our business continuity plan. As a member of the Risk Management Committee I got to participate by scribing for our particular crisis team sub-group. And then the head of our team had to report back to the rest of the group - this involved having to read my writing. Poor man nearly went cross-eyed trying to decipher my chicken scratchings.

Walking back to the Ops Building, I spotted a couple of squirrels (Hi Callistra! Hi Lev!) bouncing along; one was behind the Admin building and the other was at the back of the World of Birds aviaries. I suspect squirrels, like sifakas, have evolved so that they can't actually walk any more, only bounce. Unlike squirrels, however, sifakas can also bounce sideways.

My tax refund cheque arrived today. Woo hoo! I can now pay off my credit card. Again. And I will keep it under control. Suuuure I will.

Had a good experience with Directory Assistance yesterday. Colleague was having trouble sending an international fax and was using the international phone code 0011. I knew this wasn't right but wasn't sure if 0015 was still being used. Thus started the search for information. It's not in the White Pages, it's nowhere on the Telstra website. It must be a state secret. So, I rang International Directory Assistance, which I gather is run by Optus. The nice lady not only told me it was 0019, but also gave me the country and city codes. Very helpful, she was.

I have tomorrow off. I worked up some hours doing three jobs and will clear some of them tomorrow. I was going to go shopping but I'm meeting Director Pat at the bank to do some Secret GRADS Business (also known as changing the signatories to the bank accounts) and then lunch at the Cafe Bookshop.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Monday, Monday

Mutterings continued.

Seems I got my dates wrong and the PA I was filling in for came back today - I was sure she was retuning tomorrow. Still, at least we could have a decent handover.

The goodie waiting for me at the Post Office turned out to be the Crumpler camera bag I'd ordered. It's very nice and has some highly amusing tags. The fabric is called Chicken Tex - the fabric of the future. The bag features a mesh pocket, "A handy see through mesh pocket for extra gadgets and small pets".

Interesting interview with Bill Oddie.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

A warmish Sunday

Mutterings continued.

Warm to the point of having to put the air-con on in the car whilst tootling about.

Superb dins last night - roast turkey and lots of vegies. Poor Rob had to go into work as something important had gone kar-blooey. Leece and I watched X Files (the one with Arthur Dales' brother, Arthur Dales. They also had a sister called Arthur. And a goldfish.) - The Unnatural (a play on the Robert Redford baseball movie, The Natural) about an alien from Roswell who fell in love with baseball. From memory, it was supposed to star Darren McGavin, however he had fallen ill.

And we watched ep. 2 of Randall and Hopkirk, which introduced Tom Baker as Wyvern. More gorgeous music and Hugh Laurie.

Today involved a visit to the Stock Rd markets for fruit and veg (they have Queensland bananas for $10.99/k. Expensive but nice to see Q''land 'nanas again) and then to Britannia for lunch.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Busy Saturday

Mutterings continued.

Well, that's the housework done. Ok, some of the housework done. I still have the washing to do but I'll do that tomorrow morning.

Shiny thing purchase - a can opener, $2.26. Oooh, last of the big spenders, me. Also bought Rob's B/D present. And boring groceries.

There was another card from the PO agency in the letterbox yesterday. Forgot to go and get it this morning. Ah well. It can wait until Monday. I'm guessing it's the Firefly DVD tinbox set.

There's a great show on the Lifestyle Channel called Grand Designs. I want this loch house in Scotland.

Planning my trip to the UK next year has begun. I'm looking at award flights (I have enough FF points to get me there and back) and there are some interesting combinations; the oddest being Perth - Adelaide - Sydney - London. Unfortunately, it leaves as 6.20am from Perth! The flights via Singapore and Frankfurt mean the least time in airports, funnily enough. This one sounds ok:
10 September 15:30
Perth
10 September 20:50
Singapore
QF71 A330-300 0

10 September 23:00
Singapore
11 September 05:40
Frankfurt
QF5 747-400 0
11 September 07:25
Frankfurt
11 September 08:15
London-Heathrow
BA901 767

Pity the last leg is with BA.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Friday. Hurrah!

Mutterings continued.

Oooohhh!! Tempting! The 20th anniversary tinbox set of Withnail and I. Oooh....but I've got the DVD already...but I want the tin box and extras...aaaghhhh!!!

"Something new and important is coming to Perth!
UPstageWA is a new company that wants to improve the standard of theatre in WA.  They're not doing this by producing plays, rather they're organising Panel Discussions and Masterclasses.

The aim is to provide opportunities for community theatre participants of all levels to learn from industry professionals and respected community theatre practitioners including fantastic networking opportunities for people in community theatre.

The first of these Panel Discussions will be on _Acting_. It will be held next Tuesday, Oct 17th, at 7.30pm. The venue will be City West Lotteries House. Cost is $10 per person ($5 for students).

*Panel members for the discussion:

Ms Marcelle Schmitz* ( Professional actor /director/teacher/lecturer.
Winner of Equity awards for Direction and Acting)

*Mr Benj D'Addario* ( Professional Actor, WAAPA graduate and founder of Red Ryder Productions)

*Mr. Stephen Lee* ( Professional Actor/Director. Winner of Best Actor ITA Finley Awards)

*Mr Stuart Halusz* ( Professional Actor/ Teacher /Trained with the RSC and recent Adjudicator for DramaFest)

*Mr Craig Williams* ( Professional Actor/Lecturer)

This outstanding panel will be telling us their thoughts and impressions on community theatre acting and acting in general. We learn by watching others perform, by performing ourselves and by hearing what people outside the square think of our work.

This is an amazing opportunity for all of us to listen to these people and find out what we can all do to work towards "_raising the bar_". When professional actors are constantly taking classes and learning more and more from others, it would seem to be logical that community theatre practitioners would be doing the same thing.

There will be ample time for questions and discussion after the panel and there will also be time set aside for networking, another excellent opportunity to arise from this idea.

One week after the panel, one of the members of the panel will be taking a master class based on the panel discussion. Further details about this will be announced on the night of the discussion.

I urge everyone in community theatre to come along and hear what these people have to say. We may not like all of it but we will learn and we will be challenged and we will hopefully be inspired to continue what it is we do.

For more info, you can email upstagewa@yahoo.com.au."

More about Torchwood.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

The weekend is in sight.

Mutterings continued.

Another wintry day - some showers, some wind, very little blue sky.

Long, but amusing - the scammer bit.

Looks like the op Leece's dad had yesterday has been successful. Whew! And hurray! When my dad had his heart attack in '92, he was in a ward with 3 others. One of the chaps came in looking just awful, went for a triple bypass and came back looking a million dollars. All the other guys in ward wanted a bypass too.

Shiny thing alert - picked up a parcel from the PO this morning. It was an ep of The Stranger that I'd forgotten I'd ordered. And I've received an email for Ezydvd letting me know the Firefly Inna Tin I'd ordered has been shipped. Forgotten about that, too.

The Stranger:Breach of the Peace has some very funny outtakes, most of them featuring (sad fan girl alert) David Troughton. "Oh fuck, running!" "Wait! They haven't put their fags out!" "I have now. It's dragon breath."

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

A wild and woolly Wednesday

Mutterings continued.

Quite a bit of rain this morning and lots of wind all day. This morning, the bedroom curtain blew the lamp off my bedside table and broke the bulb housing. The bulb is still in one piece, thank the small gods.

WA moves closer to "centre of the universe".

Introduced L and R to this oldie but goodie on Saturday: Lions and tigers in Kenya. One million years BC is also funny.

TV1 on Foxtel is screening all the Star Treks, including TOS. Last night's ep was the Trouble with Tribbles, a favourite of mine. I managed to miss Trials and Tibbleations; must watch it some time. Why have I never noticed how bad Walter Koenig's wig is??

A book I'd ordered months and months ago, and had completely forgotten about, turned up today - the Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels. I'm an atheist but have an interest in religious history. I'm also a Friend of New Norcia and have attended a number of the services in the chapel with the monks. I don't participate but enjoy the peace of chanting.

And finally, Cosi goes up in a couple of weeks, running from 27 Oct to 13 Nov. Anybody out there intested in doing front of house and ushering? Let me know if you can help. Thanks!







Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A pleasant Tuesday

Your Brain is 60% Female, 40% Male
Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve
What Gender Is Your Brain?


Temp was mild - 24.7c, though it's come somewhat humid. Lots of rain and wind forecast for tomorrow. Huzzah!

Walked to the food court in Mends St for lunch with two of the Ed staff and Kim. I had noodles. I like noodles.

And after work I went to the tax agent, finally, to get my taxes done. I've got a refund of $600 coming. Woo hoo!

Michael Shultz, Channel Ten weather man, was at the Zoo this arvo, reporting from the Galap Tortoise exhibit. He got to pat one! He also made one jump (not literally) by startling it. I'm not sure what he did and I'm not sure just how easily started Galaps are.

Good news from Foxtel: "Australia’s television universe changes on December 1 with the launch of the SCI FI channel on FOXTEL.

A 24-hour channel dedicated to the genre, the SCI FI channel will offer a mix of modern and classic programming covering paranormal, supernatural and fantasy themes.

SCI FI will broadcast popular series including hit new series such as Medium and The 4400, plus all of the Star Trek franchise television series (original, Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise), Stargate, Stargate SG -1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Gallactica, Babylon 5, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Farscape, The Thunderbirds and The X-Files."





You Are a Centaur
In general, you are a very cautious and reserved person. However, you are also warm hearted, and you enjoy helping others in practical ways. You are a great teacher, and you are really good at helping people get their lives in order. You are very intuitive, and you go with your gut. You make good decisions easily.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Many Mes

Mutterings continued.



HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are:
6,276
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Humph. Still, that's not as many as I thought there would be. I know of two other Pamela Smiths in this state alone - one of them is a raptor rescuer.


Sunday, October 08, 2006

Major Owies

Mutterings continued.

Last night I used my new vegie julienner to slice up carrots for dinner. You know what's coming next, don't you? Yup, julienned my thumb. Grabbed a clean tea towel to staunch the blood, ran to the bathroom for a quick run under water and then kept sticking bandaids on it until the blood didn't come through any more.

I didn't faint, which I have been known to do, but felt rather light headed and queasy at one point. I showed L and R the tea towels with the blood on and they looked rather askance and said, "Thought you were going to show us towels and towels full of it!". It did look rather pathetic and at the time I thought there was a lot more.

I'm too much of a wuss to take the bandaids off to look at the damage so will make an appointment for the doc to do it while I look away and try to be brave and not pass out. It doesn't hurt, just tingles a bit, and last night was very warm. I just don't want to look at my poor cross-hatched digit.

Told you I was a wuss.

Hurray for YouTube - the first look at Torchwood.

Dinner last night, devastating wound to cook notwithstanding, went well. The beef swags I'd bought from the butcher's were really, really nice and full of large chunks of tender meat (no snout or tendons here!) and a tasty gravy. Went well with the mashed spud and non-blood drowned carrots. And dessert consisted of three large muffins each - which none of us could finish, meaning leftovers!

Started the night's viewing with Fruits Basket, which introduced another other zodiac characters - the boar. Cute she was, too. And then a mind swap episode of Atlantis, followed by Eureka (in which Matt Frewer's accent became increasingly more grating. Leece thought he was South African until we saw all the Australian bits and pieces in his house - flag, at least it wasn't the NZ one, faux Aboriginal art, Wombat crossing signs, a veritable explosion in a tacky Barrack Street souvenir shop) and then a very bad/good Mystie, Attack of the the Eye Creatures. The movie title really did have two "the" in it.

It's Ig Nobel Prize time again. And the winners are....

Thank the Small Gods for Stop the Toad - 6000 cane toads gassed at WA border. Eek!

It looks as though the strong winds we had overnight have blown most of the smoke away. There's still a bit of a haze about the city but it's not as bad as yesterday.


Saturday, October 07, 2006

Another Shiny Saturday

Mutterings continued.

Rain was forecast for this morning but I don't think we got any. It's shiny and bright outside and I've done the washing (3 loads), the vacuuming and general tidying up. I have a meeting in a couple of hours and L and R for dinner tonight. I piked out of making something and have bought 3 beef swags from the Garden City butcher's. They are seriously good and I'll be doing mashed spud and sauteed carrots in tarragon.

The search for the perfect mascara goes on. All my make up is cruelty-free as I make sure it's not tested on animals. Miranesse, Innoxa and Chi Chi don't test on animals (Chi Chi's labelling states that it's only tested on family and friends) and make good stuff except when it comes to mascara. I have long eyelashes that are sparse, so I need mascara that thickens them up without making them gluggy and stuck together; unfortunately, I'm rather vain when it comes to my eyes and I'm forever looking for the perfect mascara. L'Oreal's Lash Architect, which I first bought at a duty free shop in Rome for 8 Euro, comes pretty close. Today I bought Max Factor's Masterpiece and it's not too shabby.

I'm also on the lookout for the perfect handbag. I've got one of Leece's bright yellow messenger bags with a zebra on it that I take to work but am always looking for something smaller.

Some of the booty on offer at Fandomedia came from Crumpler, makers of bags and all-round fun people. Leece won a really nice laptop bag and L and R bought camera bags from the shop. And now I've ordered a bag online. The receipt says this, "Thank you for giving your hard-earned cash to Crumpler Australia. This is a copy of your order which we will now examine closely and if it complies with our exacting standards, very soon you will have a Crumpler bag to keep you warm at night...." and "Your order number is important. Make a note of it. Treasure it. You'll need to quote your order number if you have a query with your order. If you want to talk about your order, you can just reply to this email. We know who you are." Heheh.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Friday at last!

Mutterings continued.

Despite having Monday off, it's been a bloody long week. I've worked about 4 hours time in lieu so far this week, which is nice. Well, it will be when I get to take the time off.

I don't normally like to plug multinational bloodsuckers, but this ad cracks me up.

Busy weekend coming up - have a GRADS committee meeting in the arvo and L and R for dins tomorrow night. I was going to make the fresh spring rolls but I don't think I'll have time so it looks like a stir fry is in the offing. Or something really nice from the butcher....hmmmm...that's a thought.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Bloody Scientists!

Mutterings continued.

From The Australian - "Grazing dieters do it the hard way

FOOD grazers beware. Numerous small meals during the day may crank up your food intake, not decrease it.

The warning comes courtesy of new US and British research revealing that the first bites of food trigger key hunger centres in the brain.

"The drive to eat is massively stimulated by the start of eating," said brain scientist Gareth Leng of the University of Edinburgh, co-leader of the research team, which reports its findings in the journal Cell Metabolism." Bloody nora! Just when I found an excuse to nibble and nosh all day.


Hurray for scientists! "Scientists teleport information

BEAMING people in Star Trek fashion is still in the realms of science fiction, but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter - bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.

Until now scientists have teleported similar objects such as light or single atoms over short distances from one spot to another in a split second.

But Professor Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter.


I had yet another 'seniors' moment just now. I bought myself a nice bit of rump steak for dins (for the last couple of days, I haven't had time for lunch and so have been nibbling Cruskits when I can. I like Cruskits, they are very more-ish.) and put it in my George Forman (TM) griller. And forgot to put the lid down. So, the steak was cooking away nicely on one side, while the other side...wasn't.


Hurray for Sci Fi Channel - "Hurray for Sci Fi Channel - "SCI FI Renews Eureka

SCI FI Channel has ordered a 13-episode second season of its hit original series Eureka, which aired its first-season finale on Oct. 3, the network announced. Eureka will begin production on its second season in Vancouver, B.C., this spring and will return to the air in summer 2007.

Eureka stars Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Joe Morton, Jordan Hinson, Ed Quinn, Debrah Farentino and Matt Frewer in a comic drama about a secret small town that happens to be home to the nation's foremost scientific geniuses.

It was SCI FI's highest-rated, most-watched series of 2006, bringing in more than 5 million new viewers to the Channel through last week's episode. "



Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Noodles.

Mutterings continued.

Just back from dinner with TUS-L-R. S and M and I went to Han's in Leederville - very tasty and cheap it was. Nice to catch up with them both.

Very busy couple of days; today I didn't get a lunch break. Started work at 8am, went straight through to 5pm, so I'm a leetle weary. The day started with a walk around the Zoo, which is always nice. It's school holidays, so most of the chatter on the two-way over the last couple of days has involved lost children. I reckon we could hire out those baby leashes to stop kids running off. We'd make a fortune.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Monday Hol.

Mutterings continued.

It's 9.45am, I've only just got up and the sky is a very pale blue.

Visited L and R last night at the Emerald. It was the tail-end of Fandomedia and there was much activity and giving away of booty. I have a dragon inna box sitting on my kitchen table; it belongs to Rob, who won it in a raffle, and who doesn't have any space on his bike to take it home. So I shall look after it for the next couple of days until I can take it to its dad on Wednesday.

When I arrived, L and R and sundry others were engaged in Railroad Tycoon so I was forced to go look at the book stall where I was forced to buy books by Neil Gaiman and Jasper Ffford. And have a chat with . I wasn't forced to chat with him; it was nice to catch up. He's had a hair cut.

And then Gigi and I had coffee in the restaurant and waited for L and R to finish their game before we all had dinner. I had the poached chicken breast with vegetables and a cabernet jus, followed by a gelati quartet. Mmmm.

The night's viewing consisted of Eureka, Stargate:Atlantis, Mystie's The Rebel Set (featuring the beatniks from the faux beat movie we saw a couple of weeks ago. Obviously they wandered off their set and onto this one) and finished with...something else. Brain fade... I wanted to see Dr Who The Ghost Army again but it was getting late and L and R weren't convinced that they could just stop at one episode.

Today is housework day. I have a pile o' washing and tidying up. Have been neglectful.

Thanks to Angriest and battblush and martinlivings for this meme:

1) What TV show(s) do you find yourself watching the most?
Anything with Tony Robinson, Dr Who, Mythbusters.

2) What if any TV shows do you own on DVD?

Babylon 5 (all of then including the movies and Crusade); Cadfael; The Professionals; Space:1999; Black Books (all 3 series); 3 volumes of Ardman's Creature Comforts; a couple of X Files; both series of Raffles, The Goodies and Randall and Hopkirk; first series if McGyver, several Poirots.

3) Can you name your favorite TV show theme song?

I love the new Dr Who theme, but that's not exactly a song. Probably the theme from Randall and Hopkirk -

4) Have you ever been on TV and if so for what?

Not that I can remember. I had my photo in the paper when I was at kindie.

15) What is your favorite YouTube video (feel free to post a link)?

Several of the Mystie shorts, too many to list. They're scattered about my blog.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

The Middle of a Long Weekend

Mutterings continued.

Sunny Sunday follows a Soggy Saturday. Muggy Monday coming up.

Yesterday was spent shopping in the morning (no shiny thing purchases - just groceries and clothes) and hennaing my hair in the afternoon. Putting henna on one's hair is a messy business and my bathroom looked like an explosion in a chocolate factory. I left it on for 6 hours, which meant I couldn't leave the flat or answer the door.

Watched the Army of Ghosts ep of Dr Who last night. Damn! it was good. The final scene in particular was very cool. Lots of funny moments - the Eastenders and Stargate references in particular.

This morning I went to Gosnells Markets for more Xmas Pressie fixings and fruit and vegies. And I bought some low fat, rather tasty, hamburgers from the butcher. Very nice grilled.

And tonight I'm heading into the City to meet L and R for dinner and DVDs.