Australia's first astronaut is 50!

"Happy 50th Birthday" to Mr Squiggle.


Mr Squiggle, the man from the moon.

He hasn't aged a day! (Sigh. Unlike moi.) He can draw with his nose. He rides a rocket to the moon every week. He's a marionette friend to talking steam shovels, snails and blackboards. I watched him on TV as a kid, even worked with him (briefly) when we were 21 and 20 respectively, and now we are both past the big 5-0.

I did the kite-making in a 1980 episode of "Mr Squiggle and Friends", entitled "Space Age Kites", directed by Virginia Lumsden. I appeared on the little TV which Gus the Snail wore for a shell, and I had to teach Miss Jane (real-life daughter of actor Willie Fennell) to make sled kites out of beautiful, shimmery, polymer film. (I was taught how to do them by my wonderful teachers college craft lecturer, Klin Sullivan, who is a long-time puppetry colleague of the Hetherington family; Klin recommended me for the gig.)

My episode was made in the January of 1980 but didn't air until the August. It was quite a fluke as to how I became involved. I had stayed in touch with Liz, a prac supervising teacher in my second year at college, and her school kept inviting me back for their end-of-term celebrations. Knowing I was finishing up at Christmas 1979, I was invited to do some volunteer work at the Marrickville kids' drop-in vacation centre - located at Tempe, in the old heritage-listed nunnery by the river. (The students were bussed over every day in a mini-bus, and they were great kids, who were so appreciative of my efforts as a then-fledgling craft teacher.) We did several all-day excursions over four weeks of the school vacation, including Taronga Park Zoo, Channel Seven TV studios and the Festival of Sydney in Hyde Park.

It was at the Festival's hands-on craft exhibit where I bumped into Klin, and she said that if I'd come back on the weekend she'd upskill me to make space-age sled kites for the "Squiggle" show. All I had to provide my own eyelet punch, and fame could be mine! When it came time to tape the episode, the ABC and Miss Jane were able to come to us at Tempe, where we had a ready made child audience - they loved me! - and then we drove to Centennial Park in the afternoon to fly the kites we made for the cameras.

Not a bad opportunity for a 21 year old graduate teacher with no experience.

You know, despite the glorious rainbow vibrancy of Mr Squiggle himself, and the amazing purple and silver sled kites, I've never seen the episode in colour! The week my episode was due to air on TV, there was a lengthy bread strike - I was working in my Dad's independent depot bread shop in Ramsgate. I had to take my portable b/w TV in, and the episode ran for the entertainment of the queue of customers who were lined up to buy their meagre rations of daily bread. Mum and Dad couldn't see the episode at all, since they were back at the Bexley store, serving their own queue of customers. There were no commercial home video machines yet, of course. I had even asked my old college to tape the episode for their archives (and me) - on U-matic video - but something went wrong with their aerial socket that day, and it taped in b/w! (Somewhere around here I have a fairly clear b/w crosstape, but it's probably on Beta. Sigh. Unless I once made a VHS copy.)

Also: a man named Terry Dowling sang a silly song about an alien in the episode - and it was a shock, years later, to meet him in Galaxy Bookshop and realise that Terry Dowling the folk singer was THE Terry Dowling, SF writer - and the husband of Kerry, a fellow ASTREX Star Trek Fan Club member! Small universe!

Indiana Jones and the Recliner Seats of Narcolepsy

I think it's from years of 'Net surfing, but I commonly fall asleep in movies - microsleeps which can turn into extended snorefests, if I'm not careful, depending on the film - so it was with more than a little self-doubt in my ability to stay alert in a cushy, expensive Gold Class cinema experience, that I went with friends to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" tonight.

I survived! I know there were at least two times when I suddenly realised I'd missed a bit of the narrative after an overly long blink, but the film is worth seeing a second time, so that's not really a problem. It's come under some heavy criticisms in the press, too, but I did enjoy the movie very much. It was more involving than many sequences in "... The Last Crusade" (tank chases - ugh!) and it was heaps better than "... The Temple of Goo, er, Doom". (Put me off mangulated monkey brains for several months.)

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was probably as entertaining as the film which started it all: "Raiders of the Lost Ark". That was one of those films from my early days of Star Trek fandom and impromptu movie parties - coinciding with me helping my Dad out in his bread shop So Very Early on Saturday mornings before heading off to ASTREX meetings, followed by dinner and a movie - bit "Raiders" goes down in history as the late night feature film that is impossible to sleep through, no matter how early one got up to bake fruit buns... just as long as one sat next to a friend named Ruth who thumps both fist onto one's forearm whenever danger stalks our hero. (And, of course, in "Raiders" that happened Very Often.) But I digress. Back to "... the Crystal Skull".

Even though I saw this new film Ruthlessly, there were sufficient action and crystal skull goodness - and a well-timed serving of baked lemon and lime cheesecake served to me in the dark by a Gold Class waiter - to keep me alert. I was very pleased to see the Marion/Indy story arc come full circle - I think I recall reading once that they had tried, but failed, to get Karen Allen into the second film.

They've certainly set the scene for someone younger than Harrison Ford to take over the film franchise one day, should they need more films to inspire more theme park rides some day. (I'm sure several scenes from this one were only included so they could inspire an Indy theme park ride.) The amusing opening sequences in Area 51 were worth the price of admission alone, but then the Indy films have always specialised in having great opening sequences!

This film experience was, um, "gold class" (at least for me), even if the film wasn't as perfect as many diehard Ingy fans were hoping for these past nineteen years. Sure, there were probably lots of CGI scenes filmed on totally blue chromakey "sets", but I only really notice that stuff when people point it out, or I see lots of blue background in "making of" scenes. They were only noticeable a few times - well, to me anyway.

A great film - check it out for yourself before all the spoilers are out in the headlines!

A capital idea

There's something rather ironic about me calling this blog "Have Phaser, Will Travel" and the only time it goes dormant is when I'm travelling.

One reason is that I don't have a laptop (yet) and, when on vacation, the last thing I really want to do is race off to an Internet cafe, and do hilarious and/or witty blog entries on-the-spot, live from the scene. While the concept is exciting, I guess, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to announce to the world, "Hey, I'm on vacation, so's the housemate, the abode is unattended - and I even have the watchdog on holiday with me, not guarding the house, while I blog to you daily from this poky cafe!"


We are taking the
blankie, aren't we?"

A complete break from the Internet is not a bad idea, either. If I had a laptop, I just know I'd never get anything else - but a little blogging - done. I almost cherish time away from emails and web surfing so I can get some Star Trek novels read!

We departed on Saturday morning and were at our Downer (ACT), dog-friendly bed 'n' breakfast by the afternoon, having spent a brief time in beautiful Berrima on the way. We bought some pumpkin bread there, that will taste scrummy, and some sweets from the good ol' Lolly Swagman to keep us munching along the way.

On Friday night, before we left, I'd paid a few bills via the Internet. Then I realised during the car trip south - to my horror - that I'd forgotten to organise payment for some vintage Star Trek metal miniatures I'd won from a US seller on eBay earlier in the week. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet and public libraries, I effortlessly booked 30 mins Internet time at Dickson Public Library yesterday afternoon, just before closing. I even managed to check my emails online, change my PayPal password and send $$$$$ to my toy seller. Whew!

And no, despite the date and time on this entry, I didn't write it (or the next five entries) in the library, although i was tempted. I did it the old fashioned way - handwritten notes on a scrap of paper. Yay post-vacation "Post Options" hyperlinks!

Sunday's magic number: 91.0. Yeah, the French food and red wine did it, I think.

Good news weekend

Happy Australia Day for yesterday. Hope you spent it suitably.




Sunday's magic number: 90.6 I'm feeling fairly good about this! A loss of almost 2kg! I've been fairly consistent in my resistance of naughty stuff during the last week, and even my Junk Food Day choices were relatively healthy. Mind you, there was also a delicious lamb kebab, and a loaf of pumpkin sourdough bread, I brought home from Katoomba on Wednesday. Last night was a bit of a feast of fine food and drink - including lots of garlic bread/pizza and numerous glasses of Merlot - at Baia San Marco in Cockle Bay to see the Australia Day fireworks in style.

The art of blissing out

I'm sure it started in 1981, when I started helping out on a Saturday morning "fruit bun day" in his hot bread shop.

My younger brother did his apprenticeship in bread manufacture with my Dad in his shop, but Saturday mornings was my brother's day off. Although I'd always served customers in the shop on Tuesday and Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings for extra "pocket money" - and worked full time in our depot shop throughout 1980 - I agreed to start going in extra early on Saturdays to help with the making of fruit loaves and fruit buns. In the 70s and 80s, it was actually illegal for New South Wales bakeries to make fresh bread on weekends, so hot, sweet loaves were our draw card to exhaust the supplies of bread (made late Friday afternoon) for the Saturday morning shoppers. Different times!

Anyway, it was also in the 1980s that I found I could so easily drop off to sleep in movies.

Admittedly, if the group I was going to the movies with on a Saturday night insisted on going to a late session, then I was guaranteed to drift off early into the film due to my early starts on the Saturday morning. Except for something like "Raiders of the Lost Ark", when a friend, Ruth, hammered on my arm in all the scary bits. (She did it quite Ruthlessly. Tee hee.)

"Superman 3" (although I was jetlagged for this); and the tank chase scene of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" are also memorable films in which I struggled to stay awake, not matter how much wanted to enjoy the film.

Other times, and right through until recently, I find myself simply "blissing out" - with no bakery hours to blame! A sure sign I'm reaching the age where needing grandpa naps is compulsory.

With the repetitive movements are lulling me into a trance, I have strong memories of sleeping through almost all of "Me, Myself and Irene" and "The Cat in the Hat", despite the usually-hilarious Jim Carrey and Mike Myers, respectively. I also "blissed out" watching the humpback whales of "Fantasia 2000" (on a huge IMAX screen); the jellyfish scene "Finding Nemo"; the first time I tried to watch "Shrek" (although my appreciation increased after seeing the wonderfully clever "Shrek 2"); and - ho hum - much of "The Golden Compass".

Today, I was off with a friend, Leonie, to see "The Water Horse". A magical new film that explores the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, it's a fun story, beautifully and affectionately told. I'm happy to report that I didn't "bliss out", fall asleep, or even snore (which I've been known to do while wide awake). The special effects are so sophisticated; they've finally perfected SPFX movie eyeballs that look just like eyeballs. Magnificent!

If you're looking for a feel-good movie, this is it! Especially with a banana flavoured choc top ice-cream!