Lime flavoured aftermath

And so... I made a wish for lime flavour this morning. The aftermath of last night's flash flooding in Penrith continues.

Please add 20 minutes swimming time...

10.00pm: Route home blocked by a thigh-high lake at Penrith Railway Station. Please add 20 minutes swimming time to the length of your usual journey.



10.20pm: Alternate route blocked by massive, fallen pine tree. Please add 20 more minutes climbing time to your journey.



Footpath totally obscured by greenery for two house-lengths.



Still passing the fallen pine tree. Never realised that particular one was so tall. The air smells like Christmas.

Tin Tin and Jack in Penrith

Doing the rounds of Facebook last week was this parody cover mock-up of a "Tin Tin" comic:



While the scene is almost-instantly recognised as The 'Riff for all manner of iconic reasons, there still seemed to be something missing. It occurred to me today: the image needed a few inappropriate palm trees!









As you can see, the Red Rooster takeaway food store, depicted in the joke cover, is a more generic Red Rooster, but most of the elements were visible today. Minus the colourful human riff raff.

Star Blecch from MAD TV

Cool! Continuing MAD's tradition of satirising all the Trek films, only animated! This is the MAD parody of JJ Abrams' 2009 version of "Star Trek". Thanks Youtube, and Robert Bruns for the heads-up.


Star Blecch

Chameleon roses!

But this plant didn't always look like this!

Sunny side up!

Egghead is in da house!

Eggs-actly! Eggs-ellent! My favourite "Batman" villain has always been Egghead. He was original to the 1960s television series, played by the irrepressible Vincent Price.

When I started reading the "Batman" comics, though, I was disappointed to realise that neither Egghead nor King Tut (Victor Buono) - both "arch villains" (alongside the Riddler, the Joker, Catwoman and the Penguin) in the TV series - had never appeared in the comics. There was a teasing mention of both, once, in "When is a Door: The Secret Origin of the Riddler...?", in a "Secret Origins Special" (#1, DC Comics, 1989), but nothing else:


Secret Origins Special #1

Recently, while trawling eBay for interesting stuff I didn't yet own, I happened upon a reference to comic appearances by Egghead and King Tut. I think I'd heard about the Tut trilogy of issues before (in "Batman Confidential" #16-18), but it was essentially a reinterpretation of the character. It had recently been collected in graphic novel omnibus form, "King Tut's Tomb" (2010). But...


Egghead features in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #16

... how come I'd managed to overlook a story called "Egg Hunt!, or, The Evil of Egg-Head!" in "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" #16 (2010), in which Batman and Wonder Woman team up to face off against the punning Egghead (above) and the bizarre, Humpty Dumpty-like, Y'ggphu Soggoth, Last Spawn of the Elder Gods.

I shall now Eggs-it, stage right, to read my new mail order purchase from Mile High Comics. It just arrived this morning!

Get set for "The Set"

Found this book in Dymocks' city store yesterday, recognised it as 70s Aussie culture gold, started reading the introduction - and immediately thought Andrew Mercado needs to see this! And suddenly realised I was reading Andrew's own introduction! Well done to Roger Ward, Hazel Phillips and Andrew! This is an exciting publication!

This only-recently published novel (2011) was the basis of the highly controversial Australian movie, "The Set" (released 1970). The movie turned out to be a a bit of a career-killer for 60s TV chat show hostess Hazel Phillips, who shocked her "ladies" (ie. avid fans of "Girl Talk") by appearing nude. It was also Australia's first "queer film", portraying homosexuality on the silver screen at a time when homosexuality was outlawed Down Under.

The book's author, actor Roger Ward, is well known for his roles in feature films such as "Mad Max" and "Turkey Shoot", but he also did a memorable stint in the TV soap opera, "Number 96", as Weppo the Shakespeare-spouting garbo.

Incidentally, Hazel Phillips was an early contender to play Vera Collins in "Number 96". Ms Phillips did eventually do some episodes, portraying bisexual Marie Crowther, a friend of Vera's estranged husband, Harry. Marie moves into Flat 7 briefly, on the pretext of giving them some Alcoholics Anonymous moral support. Marie was more interested, though, in peeping on Vera while she showerered.