forgive me dear diary...

I seem to have done so much lately that I haven't told you about. Well, basically it's because I have had to spend a lot of time at the Baillieu library researching Hitler and I haven't been very near the computer very often, and when I am, I feel I have to be fast. Also as mentioned previously dear diary this computer is very slow and it's frustrating waiting for it to respond to the simplest demand.

Last Friday was the Beat christmas party, we were gone by the time Airbourne came on which is in one sense a shame because I wanted to see them, in another sense don't care as a la Jet and The Vines and whoever (I know I'm not saying anything radical here but that's OK) the hype has already exceeded anything they could be. I did see The Inches, who were quite good and massively loud - my ears are still ringing two days later, and yesterday morning when I was listening to LRB's greatest hits (there's a lot you don't know about me these days dear diary) I could also hear a distorted echo of it, which was pretty nasty.

On Friday I watched Suddenly 30, not only the whole film but also the director's commentary. The DC was really good because he was so self-deprecating, or at least, he was constantly telling us this was a mistake, that was a mistake, I should have done this, we should have done that. At the end he says, I hope I didn't spoil your enjoyment by going on about the mistakes, there were a lot more that I restrained myself from commenting on! Pretty funny. Also I watched a few early episodes of Seinfeld and yesterday I watched Passion, starring Richard Roxburgh and which everyone said was bad when it came out but I thought it was really pretty OK. Above average for a biopic (a genre I have never been that crazy about).

Have you noticed a product on TV called Nice 'n' easy roots touch up. That to me is globalisation gone mad. All those words/phrases that have severe ramifications for Australians, presented as benign on an American (I assume) product. Luckily Australians are so polite, though why you'd touch up your easy root after the fact is anyone's guess but they do things differently in the northern hemisphere I suppose.

I can't help feeling Kerry Packer isn't long for this world.

i really like this tom bass statue in elizabeth street

And it seems I am not alone in this opinion. I saw a little film about Melbourne made in the 1960s recently and it included this statue as a feature I would suggest it's a bit of an icon though I suppose these days a fairly unsung one as it is not really 'Australian' in theme or content. I have Tom Bass's book about himself somewhere but can't presently put my finger on it.

southern cross

Spencer St Station was officially named Southern Cross yesterday. I heard some women at Flinders St dicussing it. Sort of along the lines of, 'we'll never get used to calling it that'. One of them said, 'Like it took me years to get used to calling Museum station Melbourne Central'. The other two obviously had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

grainger museum

I notiice that in the latest Mess + Noise Minimum Chips cite the Grainger Museum as an aspect of Melbourne that grabs them (I also note that Ellen is in the pictures but not the interview, but that's another matter). However they claim to have never been in it. I have been in it but not for a long time. I have been reading about it however. Apparently Grainger hoped that the skeletons of both himself and his wife would hang in the museum. Chalk another one up to bureaucracy that that great idea never came to fruition.

I have finished the first chapter of my graphic novel and have published it, as of today. Anyone want one? Two bucks.

libraries and so on

As you, the multitude, know I am usually very quick to update here. I haven't lost interest but I have to say my life has lost its usual sprightliness. Every day I go to the library (either the Baillieu or the SLV) and read newspapers on microfilm. I do this for money. Sometimes I photocopy some material. It is not only boring it also puts one in a bit of a trance.

I assume Neighbours is finishing up for the year this week, and I must say it's been a corker of a year. Having Joe come back was a real buzz and I hope he returns next year, which apparently is a distinct possibility. Meanwhile I am enjoying Kim and I hope he gets up to various shenanigans in the new year as well. I feel like Steph has been pregnant for about 5 years and can't get too excited about her baby stuff. The Dylan and Stingray in jail business is making me uneasy.

I notice Neighbours has been using a lot of flashbacks lately, and dream sequences. Odd, really. Every time I see this kind of thing I am reminded of the time Clive hit his head and imagined a Christmas fantasy. In my no doubt distorted memory of this, various cast members were angels on a tree. Or were they faces on Freddy Krueger's pizza?

I have been reading a truly awful book about Nick Cave's records. I stopped counting the mistakes after about page 45 when I had amassed about 20 just based on my own limited knowledge. Not only is the book full of mistakes, it's full of missed opportunities, in terms of tying things in together. The thing I like best about Cave is he doesn't seem to rate himself very highly. Now I'll go back to the books I was reading earlier.

Today I had a quick squizz at some early editions of Juke (from May 1975, when it started). It was pretty good then, though the first issue had a big interview with Shirl and the third had a big interview with Red, so I'm almost afraid to read issue five, which presumably will be a big interview with Bongo. Daddy Cool are in it quite a lot too - a page-long interview with Gunther Gorman. Apparently his real name is Ian.

rupert's first ashtray boy show

Actually, this was post-show, but as you can see he is still suffering the after-effects.

kitty pain

Bela hurt his leg sometime this morning. He was busting for something because he woke me up at 5:45 this morning to go out, next thing I knew Mia was saying he'd broken his leg. For his part he crawled around a bit and hid behind the tv. At 8:30 I put him one of the dog travelling cages and hauled him up to the vet's. Turns out he hasn't broken his leg (it certainly looked like it the way he was dragging himself around) just had a fight and had a piece taken out of it. Antibiotics, stitches etc. Little macho prick. Here he is trying to pretend everything's fine and he's worth a couple of hundred bucks anyday so what's the big deal.