ted the toff

Well I can't see too many happy sides to the outcome of the state election. It is particularly gruelling to me because I so dislike Ted Baillieu's face. I imagine that is not his fault, though it might be the cause of an evil personality, and he could probably grow a beard and cover it up. His planning philosophies are ghastly, unsurprisingly.

inspired

troy tate love is

I'm not saying this song speaks to me presently or anything, just that I've always loved it.

barry and charlie the soap opera

Charlie bit Barry's ear this morning and it was, in Mia's words, 'pissing out blood', so we had to take him to the emergency vet at Essendon Airport. He will need anaesthetic and a couple of stitches, estimated cost $500- $650.

When we got back from the vet's Charlie, who had been banished of course to the backyard, forced her way into the house and ran around panting, she also checked the shed and the back of the backyard.

It's my fault. I keep ascribing logical behaviour to her ('jealousy', 'regret'). I am sure she would tell this story quite differently.

(Later: all is serene, though the wound looks nasty but well-stitched. The problem is of course really that Barry gets all the attention and Charlie isn't as cute as she used to be. It'll be OK in the long run I'm sure).

success

Every time I see this

I think of this

just a minute

I have been enjoying Just a Minute since I was about 10. The ABC used to play new episodes, they don't anymore but now I can listen to it on Radio 4. I recommend you try. It's a hoot, though I am disturbed by Nicholas Parsons. Can this really be a man of 87? Should I be disturbed or just pleased for him and those around him? Sue Perkins, a person I have only ever experienced via her contribution to BBC radio quiz shows, gives a particularly funny summary of her career in this week's episode too.

When I go OS next year part of my dream during my r&r leave would be to attend a taping of Just a Minute in the UK and one of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me in Chicago. You sort of think these things would never happen but then you remember that you got to see Todd Rundgren in Bristol the last time you went to the UK and he was just starting his first tour in umpteen years... all kinds of things are possible (Buttons).

(Notice on the right I have a link to Dean from Wellington's Just a Minute site - it's also a hoot)

home pride

In Jacana, some people kind of let their gardens go,

and some totally overcompensate

laurie's theory of comedy

I spent a few hours with Laurie yesterday some of which took place at Airport West playing a 10 pin bowling game which he is quite good at. On the way home we sang songs about poo and bums. (Eg 'three fat bums in a bum in poo in a nappy in a watering can'. )

Laurie: 'It's funny because babies do poo in a nappy'.

i love to argue with a librarian

Particularly when I am right.

I am on the phone to a librarian at one of my own university's branch libraries. She asks me to give her my home number to call me back.

'Is that a Melbourne number?'

'Yes.'

'Because it's quite unusual that it starts with an 8.'

'Some Melbourne numbers start with 8. All the University's numbers start with 8.'

'No, that would be a "9"'

'The University of Melbourne's number is 8344 4000.'

'(Silence) alright I'll try and ring you back. '

lust for power

Charlie watching Barry and Kenzie playfight from the cheap seats last weekend.

I see potential for a new tv show combining elements of anthropomorphised documentary (Meerkat Manor etc) and sitcom (I'm thinking particularly of The Office). Because when I see how Charlie has changed with the arrival of Barry, it strikes me (again) that hierarchies are everything in dog world. Charlie as Millie's underling was a challenging, edgy and sometimes reckless personality. Now, with Barry taking that role, Charlie is some kind of elder statesperson, leading a life of routine and quiet duty. She has become a kind of public servant. I am reminded of an insane diatribe I once had delivered to me (though not about me) by a fellow Australia Post worker in about 1987, about those amongst us who went up in the chain and became bosses, betraying us in the process. You used to be cool Charlie.

(No, you still are. It's different though. It's Martin Scorcese cool, not John Safran cool.)

monsters

Barry is already matching Kenzie in size and aggression. Charlie: 'I really need a drink'

my latest book

barry update

Barry is of course a great addition to the family and while no-one can replace Millie he takes human-dog relationships round here to a new paradigm. Even Charlie is kind of into him now I think, in a sort of Charliesque way (she growls at him 4 or 5 times a day in quite a sinister, ugly way but since she could quite easily snap his head off with her jaws and hasn't, you assume she's taken on a pedagogical role more than anything). He bites a lot but that's OK, as long as he grows out of it, which Mia keeps saying he will.