make_it_stop
Mood:  suave

Australian Parliament Lifts Ban On Saying 'Mate'

CANBERRA (AFP) - Officials in Australia's parliament have been forced on Friday to rescind a decision to bar the building's security guards from addressing visitors as "mate" after the move sparked a nationwide uproar.

The row erupted after the Parliamentary Services Department issued a notice to security guards during a routine meeting Thursday reminding them of the need to be courteous to people they encounter at Parliament House in Canberra.

"(Security) officers are requested to treat any visitor to Parliament House with respect and courtesy and not address them as 'mate' or use similar colloquialisms," the notice read.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Would this directive have applied to Murray Whelan?

2. So does that mean "foreign running-dog lackey" is no longer an acceptable colloquial greeting? How about "dingo-face"?

3. Exactly how many seconds should the forehead remain kowtowed to the ground?

4. Don't people have better things to worry about?

MIS
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: dolphin noises
You know what this blog needs?

Some pictures.


This guy is Nathan Fillion, aka Captain Malcom Reynolds of "Firefly". Some say he resembles David Wenham.

"Firefly" was a short-lived series on FOX (very short-lived...it was cancelled in the middle of its first season). Now, normally I avoid the science fiction/space opera genre. My eyes glaze over when polyester-shirted characters start babbling about phasmotronic multiplexers and ionic disturbances in Sector 7XX-Gamma-N. However, "Firefly" is different. It's a space western, set in a distant future when Earth-That-Was is no longer habitable, and humanity has been forced to migrate to distant, terraformed planets. The culture is a mishmash of Chinese and Old West frontier, supported by strong characters, bluegrass music, and hilariously sarcastic dialogue. I can't recommend it highly enough.

The reason this is being posted today: gratuitous eye candy Serenity, the "Firefly" movie, is coming out next month. If you're a Buffy or Angel fan, go check it out.


And finally, this is my new personal motto:

MIS
Mood:  special
Now Playing: Tony Rice's bluegrass mosh pit

Why won't Tom Cruise stop talking?

make_it_stop
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: footsie
I grew up being a hoarder and at my parents' place my bedroom is still chock-a-block with stuff I must toss out. -- David Wenham, In Style magazine


So, after 23 years in the same house, my mom got remarried recently (to my dad) (very long story) and is moving to warmer climes. That means hauling tons of junk out of the crawl space in my old bedroom, and deciding what to do with it. Old T-shirts. Bad art. A milk crate full of vinyl LPs. The wooden leg I wore as Long John Silver in our school play. (arr!) It's appalling, the rate at which stuff accumulates.

The records got put out for sale at my mom's yard sale, in the hellish 97-degree oven of our driveway, where they could bake to a fine warp under the June sun. I figured there wouldn't be many takers, so I priced them at 5 for $1. Come to find out, there are a LOT of people who collect "vinyl" now. Apparently, it's all the rage among teenagers. At 9 am sharp, the bargain hunters descended like locusts and began elbowing each other out of the way, fighting to get at the crate.

Having not gone through the records first, I discovered afterwards that I had been sitting on a veritable treasure hoard: The Traveling Wilburies Volume 1 (worth $40 on eBay). Dr. Demento's Greatest Hits ($20). A rare Frank Zappa album that would have fetched $100 on the open market. My mom's neighbor's dog-sitter snapped them up for 60 cents, with a wild glint in her eye.

Oh well. I look at it this way: the records weren't worth anything to me. They were just sitting there in the crawl space, neglected and quietly gathering dust. How often do you get a chance to make someone insanely happy for 60 cents?

make_it_stop
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: Madison's Head v. Marbury's Rock
*administers CPR to ailing blog*

So, this past weekend I rented "Don't Look Now", because it's been mentioned in several David interviews as one of his favorites. I'd never seen it before. It was quite good. It's a suspense/horror film, set in Venice, which here looks bleak, crumbly, and depressing. The city is literally sinking into the water (presumably in sympathy with Donald Sutherland's downward spiral), and there's a lot of repeated motifs - swirling water, breaking glass, the color red - and beautiful transitions. Without giving the ending away, it makes you realize that life can be seen as a series of fragmented vignettes that don't really make sense until the moment of your death. Only then do all the shards come together meaningfully, and then it's too late. (As Kierkegaard put it, "Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood backwards").

In keeping with this theme of backwardness, I also happened to rent "Memento", starring Guy Pearce. Pearce, Pearce, Pearce....I couldn't figure out where I'd heard that name recently. It drove me nuts throughout the entire movie. Finally, this morning, I remembered that he'll be appearing in "The Proposition" with David. Duh!! I've since tattooed that fact onto my forearm, so I won't forget when I wake up in some seedy motel room tomorrow. Curse this lousy short-term memory. My train of thought keeps stopping right in the middle of a sent

MIS: Routine grove maintenance
Mood:  smelly
Now Playing: The Lakers vs. The Nuggets
Ack, I feel guilty...it's been nearly six months since I last ventured into the Sacred Grove. I'm debating whether to keep this feature going or not. *swats passing tumbleweed*

What the heck kind of a mood is "smelly"?

pFaz
Mood:  smelly
Now Playing: There's Always Tomorrow
Helloooooo out there!........Hmmmm, is this thing on??? Just poppping by to visit and thought I'd blog...I need to watch some DAvid to help me get over the illness that is going on around me...

PFazzzz
Mood:  special
Now Playing: Somethings Got to Give, the Stress of Xmas....
Whats this??? No post since the Hobbit report?/ Shame on you....:)

LOVE the EE and all the new Faramir stuff!!!

'The Hobbit', as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old
Mood:  lazy
Today, we bring you...

make_it_stop's Fifth Grade Book Report On 'The Hobbit'

I was going through some old school papers recently, and found a book report on "The Hobbit", written when I was 10. For the assignment, we were required to choose a fantasy book and describe the plot and one of the characters. Before we begin, it should be noted that I ran out of paper halfway through writing the report.


The Cover

A Ralph Bakshi drawing, clipped from TV Guide (by a happy coincidence, the movie aired the day before the book report was due), hastily colored, and pounded down onto a sheet of lined notebook paper with the sort of white paste that kids used to dare one another to eat. Bilbo, looking remarkably like a guinea pig, is posing with Sting held aloft. Above, in girly blue bubble-lettering: "THE HOBBIT By J.R.R. Tolkien".

And now, the report:

Preface

The title of my book is "The Hobbit". "The Hobbit" was written by J.R.R. Tolkien, but there was no illustrator. This particular edition was published in 1965 by Houghton Mifflin. "The Hobbit" was copyright 1937, 1938, and 1966 by J.R.R. Tolkien. This copy has two hundred and seventy pages.

Editor's Note: Gripping prose. I think there was a minimum word limit that I was stretching to meet here.

Why This Book Is A Fantasy

This book is classified as fantasy because it is not possible to have hobbits and dwarves and elves and trolls, since these exist only in fairy tales. There also is no such place as Middle Earth because scientists know that inside the earth, it is made of rock. Middle Earth is not on Earth, since we would know about such a big place as Middle Earth. Because the universe is the only place left where Middle Earth could be, and it is unlikely that there is another place that has a mild climate, oxygen, and gravity, there could be no place for Middle Earth to be, therefore this book is a made-up tale and is classified as fantasy.

Why I Chose This Book

The reasons I chose this book is because:

1. My brother recommended it very highly, and he told me some of the things that happened, and it sounded so interesting I wanted to read it.

2. My mother made me read it, because my brother liked it.

3. It was the first book that came to my mind when "fantasy" was mentioned.

4. It was a thick book, and I'd much rather read a thick book than a thin one that lasts about an hour.


Character Description

The character that I'm about to describe is Bilbo, who is a hobbit. He is three feet high, has brown hair & sharp eyes and ears. He is rather fat, and wears bright colors but seldom wears shoes. He likes to laugh, eat, drink, give and receive (sic) presents, and they like parties, peace, quiet, and good tilled earth. His hobbit-hole is situated in The Shire, a place between the River Brandywine and the Far Downs.

Plot Summary

"The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien is about a quest to find Smaug, the dragon, kill him, and divvy up his stolen gold.

Gandalf, the wizard, and all the dwarves gather for a tea party in Bilbo's hobbit-hole. They want Bilbo to be their burgalar (sic). They also want him to make their number fourteen instead of thirteen.

All of he dwarves and the wizard and the hobbit make merry and drink and eat until they can hold no more. Then they retire for the night, filling up all of poor Bilbo's guest beds.

In the morning, they are off on their journey. They ride on horses laden with food and water. They travel until night, when they spot a reddish glow in the woods. Bilbo is sent to find out what it is, as part of his job as burgalar.

When Bilbo gets there, he finds trolls by the names of Bert, William, and Tom. He is captured, and one goes out, suspecting more, and captures all the dwarves. Gandalf comes to the rescue, by disguising his voice like one of the trolls and saying things that started them arguing and fighting. While they are fighting, Gandalf quickly unties the dwarves, and they escape.

They travel for a few more days and nights, and then one evening, it starts to rain, and they seek shelter in a cave. This is where they find some goblin plunder, and Thorin finds some swords. He takes Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver, Gandalf takes Glamdring, Foe-hammer, and Bilbo takes a tiny dagger. While they are asleep, goblins come and capture them. The dwarves try to run away, and Thorin takes Bilbo on his back. But Bilbo is dropped, and when he wakes up, he is surrounded by darkness. He gropes around in the dark for a while, and finds a ring. This ring, though Bilbo doesn't know it, makes the wearer invisible.

This is my last sheet of paper, so briefly I'll mention his riddle game with Gollum, a huge frog-like monster who talks in a hissing manner, and also talks like this: "Let it give us a chance, my preciousssssssssss".

If you want to find out what happens then read the book by all means because a book report on this story would take up more paper than I'd care for.

Teacher's comment: Very fine beginning but does not conclude well.

make_it_stop~
Yep, PFaz, you're the other regular reader besides me!

I'm intrigued by this new movie, "The Proposition", and specifically by reports that David is playing an uber-nasty, land-owning villain. He's done nasty before, for example Pure and the Boys, yet such is his acting talent that he always makes you empathize with the baddy. He could play Attila the Hun, and yet I'd still want to give him a hug and make him tea.

And now...if you'll indulge me for a moment, I badly need to get something off my chest:

THE BOSTON RED SOX WON THE WORLD SERIES LAST NIGHT!!!

I never, ever thought I'd be able to write that sentence in my lifetime. 86 long years of horrible pain and suffering ended last night, when the baseball team I've loved since I was eight years old swept the Cardinals in 4 games. No longer will cruel sportscasters be able to make New Englanders cry by uttering the words "Bill Buckner", "1918", "perennial losers", or "The Curse of the Bambino". After decades of utter misery, the Red Sox are champions at last. All, all is forgiven.


Pigs are flying.

Satan skated to work today.

Miracles do happen.