BBC Update

After looking up an atlas and realising there is more than one city in Australia the BBC has removed the offending (offensive?) sentence. Melburnians lay down you arms, order is restored.

Today is one of those rare days I thank the lord that I do not possess sufficient skill to be a member of the Australian cricket team. To be fielding in 42 degree heat in the middle of a baking MCG is not my idea of the best way to spend an afternoon.

For Those Living In Colder Climes

It’s 10.00pm. Its 35 degrees centigrade (95F) outside. Today it got to 40, tomorrow will be 42 (107F) and Sunday 38. Think we have it tough? Throughout Victoria there are volunteer fire fighters who haven’t been home in a week working 19 hour days in this heat trying to save whole towns.

This is one tough country.

New Canucks Site

Canucks.com has been given a complete makeover and it looks great! I was just commenting the other day that the Canucks had one of the worst sites in the NHL – cumbersome, difficult to navigate, pages too long to download and nothing to see on the front page (yep, they had a splash page – but all these things were all the rage way back in 2001 when they launched the site).

Now it’s quick to load, there’s no splash screen, the information is easy to find and it looks pretty cool.

I wonder if it’s in preparation for the Stanley Cup?

Go To The Cabaret

Thanks to the generosity of my little sister (hi Helen) we went to see Cabaret last night at Her Majesty’s.

It’s the Sam Mendes production and is spectacular from the energy of the introduction to the chilling finale. Go see it.

A few things.

Lisa McCune is tragically miscast and proves a distraction every time she’s on stage. She has talent to spare but she’s not right for Sally Bowles.
Toby Allan is perfect as the Emcee. You sit waiting for him to come back on stage.
What’s up with the audience? Some laughed at the most dramatic moment of the entire show. Ignorance or discomfort? Who can tell.
The show oozes sex (note to self – come up with better description). Don’t miss the ‘performance’ that goes for the fifteen minutes before the show starts.
Say hi to Anton – he’s the bald guy in the orchestra – I went to uni with him.
Don’t get seats in the front row. You’ll see why.

Little Things

The BBC has insulted all Melbournians and I for one will not stand for it. Nigel often points out that they have a London-centric view of England and now they seem to think that all Australians live in Sydney.

Fancy claiming Shane Warne is a New South Welshman. For the honor of all Victorians I hope they’ve changed it before you get to see the page.

Walt Tarantino

While checking out Mary Poppins (imdb | buy @ Amazon | netflix) on DVD for Phee’s birthday I noticed they were advertising Reservoir Dogs (imdb | buy @ amazon | netflix) on the same page.

Now this is an odd combination if I ever saw one.

Mr Blonde : “Who the **** is that laughing?”
Mary : “Why, it’s Uncle Arthur.”
Mr Blonde : “Well if he don’t shut the **** up he’s gettin more than a ****in spoon full of sugar.”

If You Love A Book Set It Free

Rob told me about BookCrossing ages ago but he didn’t know the name of the site. I stumbled across it today so I can finally start.

Basically you put a label in your book and then ‘set your book free’ once you’ve read it. You can then track its journey via the web site. If I’m quick I can be the first person to release one in Newport.