Saturday, April 28, 2012
Nice hat!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Cruelty to colourblind teacher-librarians!
Part of Term 2's pupil-free day was learning to play Speedminton. I could barely see the orange colour of the so-called "Fun Speeder" (shuttlecock), and it was even worse when it was on the grass!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Fat free forever - again (sigh!)
Tee hee. Nine kilograms in fifteen weeks. Not the kind of numbers they get in "The Biggest Loser", so woulda been voted off by now, but slow, steady progress.
This is my third - no, fourth - serious go at the diet plan known as "Fat Free Forever" (book by Diane Barker, now Wilson). I have a success letter in the second edition of her book. I sometimes joke that I should write my own version of this book, called "Fat Free for Five Years", since that's about how long it takes to fall off the wagon - and you always end up putting on even more weight that has to come off.
Of course, it also gets worse with age as your metabolism keeps slowing down. First time on this diet plan (early 1990s) I went from 90 kg to 78 kg from one Christmas till the Easter, and it was so easy. Next two times, in about 2005 and 2007, I went from over 101 kg down to about 82 kg. This time I've had to start from a record-high of 105 kg. I really can't afford for there to be a "next time". This time has to be the one that holds. No more "yo-yo" dieting.
The key to Diane's diet is to treat your body like a car. You never wait till your car runs out of fuel, you keep it topped up. So... huge, sensible breakfast, sensible morning tea, medium-sized sensible lunch, sensible afternoon tea, small sensible dinner. No starchy carbohydrates (bread, cereal, pasta, potato, rice) after 3pm in the afternoon. Walking every day. Celebrate with a Junk Food Day meal once a week and, in fact, your body loses weight after that junk food because you've shocked it and your faster metabolism works extra hard to get rid of what you just put in!
If you think about it, it's exactly how we ate as skinny kids in the 1960s. If we were really, really good we got takeaway fish & chips on a Friday night, or a rare dessert on a Sunday after the baked dinner, or a bag of sweets when grandma visited. There were only about six Kentucky Fried Chicken stores (now KFC to hide the "Fried" bit) and one McDonald's to cause us to nag for junk food. Sigh. Life used to be soooo easy.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
What's cookin'?
Any idea what's bubbling away on my cooktop? I'm dyeing two customised puppets!
And this becomes...
... this!
Yes, they are a pair of customized puppets, now dried in the washing machine spin-drier. The completed bat has wings cut from brown felt and the new eyes are flat beads in a pink plastic, Supaglued over the original black giraffe eyes. 50 cents for a packet containing lots (of future replacement eyes?) I love bargain shops!
The panther's eyes are some teardrop-shaped yellow plastic "jewels", originally bought for a different project. The only reason for turning a tiger into a panther was to give the bat a dunking buddy, and use up the leftover dye.
These two new additions (above) look rather sedate after the cooking pot episode!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
SLA NSW Awards Celebration, 2012
Ian McLean, Stacey Taylor, guest speaker Maurice Saxby, Paul Macdonald and Alinda Sheerman at the School Libraries Association, NSW Awards at The Children's Bookshop, Beecroft, tonight. Paul is the proprietor of the shop... and so much more! He was receiving the inaugural Maurice Saxby Award.
The John H Lee Memorial Award is for a teacher-librarian who demonstrates "excellence in leadership in innovative and collaborative teaching practice through the integration of learning technologies". Presented to yours truly. Many thanks to Linda Gibson-Langford who nominated me! This is a joint award presented by SLA NSW and Charles Sturt University. Ashley Freeman presented me with the award.
Uncle Al Cameron, Ian McLean, Aunty Pat Cameron and my special guest, Janette Mercer, who was my inspirational primary school teacher-librarian at Arncliffe Public School in the 1960s.
Maurice Saxby is sharing a poem, chosen at random, from a well-loved book he received at age five. Captivating! (Even the bear was mesmerised.) Maurice described that magic moment where a child is immersed in reading and suddenly gets a cold chill at the back of the neck. CS Lewis called this unique sensation "Surprise by joy."
Teacher-librarian Jenny Scheffers (Caddies Creek Public School), Ian McLean and the School Libraries & Information Literacy Unit's Colleen Foley at The Children's Bookshop. Book rappers extraordinaire!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Packed to the Rafters!
And a leafy Concord street packed with filming gear!
Who ya gonna call? Dave Rafter!
Carbo's orange Charger returns to the studio.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Ten's News at Five
Angela Bishop's showbiz report on last night's "Number 96" 40th anniversary celebration went to air today. Spotto Ian McLean, Vivienne Garrett (Rose Goldofus-Meyers) and Martin Harris (Mark Eastwood).
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Celebrating the night Australian TV lost its virginity
Forty years ago today, Australian TV lost its innocence.
Tonight, at the Star Bar in Sydney's CBD, we were there to celebrate!
With Vivienne Garrett (aka as Rose Goldolfus-Meyers)
With TV historian and friend Andrew Mercado, who is holding a framed photo
of Ron "Herb" Shand, Mate-of-the-Month in the Kings Cross Whisper.
Friday, February 10, 2012
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.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
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.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
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.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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
Star Blecch
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
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!
Saturday, January 07, 2012
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.
Friday, January 06, 2012
96 in Ozploitation (volume 4)
Been looking for "Number 96: The Movie" on DVD but unable to find the double disc collector's edition? Umbrella Entertainment has now re-released Disc 1 (ie. not the docos) as part of "Ozploitation Volume 4". Included in the six-disc set are "Alvin Purple", "Alvin Rides Again", "Stork", "BMX Bandits", "Dark Age" and the short film, "Three Old Friends". $39, great value, from JB Hi-Fi. (Note that the box notes incorrectly state that Abigail stars in "Number 96: The Movie"; she does, however, feature in the "Alvin" movies.)
Umbrella's series of Ozploitation movies are derived from the feature documentary, "Not Quite Hollywood" (below left), in order to satisfy demand for the original movies after the documentary's theatrical release.
"Ozploitation Volume 1" (above right) includes "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie", "Turkey Shoot", "Harlequin", "The Naked Bunyip", "Road Games", "Night of Fear" and "Inn of the Damned".
"Ozploitation Volume 2" (above left) includes "Long Weekend", "Razorback", "Fantasm", "Fantasm Comes Again", "The Chain Reaction", "Stone", "The True Story of Eskimo Nell" and the short, "The Sparks Obituary". "Ozploitation Volume 3" (above right) includes "Barry McKenzie Holds His Own", "Les Patterson Saves the World", "Mad Dog Morgan", "Felicity", "Patrick", "Australia After Dark" and "The ABC of Love and Sex".
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Moving out meerkats
The Christmas tree comes down for Epiphany tomorrow, so the meerkats have packed away their Santa hats and moved outside.
This Christmas season's two ornaments were:
Christmas ornaments for 2011: a Hallmark "Where the wild things are" depiction of Max and the great sea monster (a cameo character disappointingly omitted from the recent motion picture) - an eBay "Buy it now" purchase, because I can't bear to lose an eBay auction; and a bird-handled souvenir miniature umbrella from "Mary Poppins: the Musical", which played in Sydney earlier this year.
Previous entries include:
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Spud Trek
The best Star Trek Christmas gifts are the ones you buy for yourself: Mrs Potato Head as Uhura; Mr Potato Head as Mr Spock, Captain Kirk AND Kor the Klingon.
Today is a good day to get mashed?
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