Pass it on!

When the last NASA space shuttle lands this month, everyone wear Ape suits. Quick, pass it on.

Sunday brunch!

DAY 11

At Mash Cafe, Glenbrook. Poached eggs Barcelona, with roasted capsicum, chorizo sausage, hash brown and sour dough toast. And a dash of paprika.

Sydney Tower

DAY 10

Sydney Tower over Centrepoint, now a Westfield shopping centre.

Max sets sail

DAY 9

My latest eBay purchase just arrived on the front step. Max sets sail ("Where the wild things are") in a delightful Hallmark Christmas ornament, just in time for Midwinter Christmas - and Book Week. Sadly, this wild thing - a favourite from my own childhood - was missing from the recent live action film. I really expected him to at least make a cameo appearance.

Seen in Penriff

DAY 8

Ah, good ol' Penrith: an old church on the horizon, completely overshadowed by a cyclist with no helmet, riding on the wrong side of the road, and the newly renamed hairdressers, now specialising in... head-lice control.

Tough lips

DAY 7

Cycad: Proof that the dinosaurs had very tough lips.

Variegated leaf geranium

DAY 6

Somehow, this geranium has avoided being devoured by snails this year.

All the better to see you with

DAY 5

Jimi the gargoyle, who guards my garden. The glass eyes were my own customization, thanks to a little outdoor quick-set putty.

Seagulls are aliens

DAY 4

Spotted these fascinating seagulls at Shellharbour, south of Sydney. One was attracted by a falling, tiny, crumb of sausage roll - and soon there were hundreds. Once the fuss was over, they were gone again.

Chess master/busker

DAY 3

Spotted today at the QVB in the CBD. The chequerboard hat really makes it, I reckon!

Brrrrr!

DAY 2

First frost in Penrith today! It was still zero degrees at 7.30am. Brrrrr.

What I loved about my original "365 Photos project" was the anticipation of finding a daily pic. It kept the senses tuned all day, flitting in and out my head, seeing potential subjects everywhere. Some days I'd forget until almost midnight - I ended up with about ten shots of the dog looking startled, wondering if it was past our bedtime. The project unexpectedly made me blog more often.

It recorded some very significant events, including my last photo taken of my Dad before he passed away, but before he started to look too frail. It's a year of my life more fully documented than any other in my life. It also led to a fun afternoon chatting to TV personality, Andrew G, who was doing a "365 self portraits" challenge of his own and had a gallery exhibition.

You can't really imagine what 30 days of doing anything will lead to. It'll be great to see what happens sharing experiences with a group (on Maang). A great project for a class, too.

30 day challenge

"Try something new for 30 days", Matt Cutts

My NSW Department of Education and Communities colleagues on Maang have decided to embrace the advice of Matt Cutts in his TED talk, "Try something new for 30 days" (above).

First up is the Photo Challenge (click for the cumulative slideshow). For the next 30 days, we take a photo a day and post it under the dedicated thread for the day. Day threads will be numbered according to which day we are up to. Subject matter? "What's happening in your life/work today?" (I'm already experienced in this type of challenge, have done the 365 Photos project in 2009-2010.

Here's my pic:


DAY 1

These homemade stuffed cats date back to my teachers college days (1979), based on my cartoon characters, Fish'ook and Bluey, who featured in a comic strip in the college newspaper, "Dugil". They turned up in a vacation cleanup this week; hadn't seen them in years! (Ah, Hobbytex, remember those roll-on paint-in-a-tube things you bought on party plan like Tupperware?)

A book on the porch is worth three in the hand

Ah! The postman just delivered my Amazon-bought hardcover copy of "Starfleet Academy: The Gemini Agent". It was a delight to hold a new "Star Trek" book in my hands which has cover art that I don't recall ever seeing online first. (It was a mere neutral rectangle when I pre-ordered it.) Nice cover! Green background. Chekov, Kirk and a dark-haired woman with pointed ears. Uhura on the back cover.

"The Delta Anomaly" (#1) I originally found locally at Galaxy Bookshop, but only as a paperback, then I couldn't find "The Edge" (#2) anywhere - even now - so a few months ago I weakened and rebought #1 through Amazon, as a hardcover, plus #2, and pre-ordered hardcovers of #3 and 4. These "young adult" novels are set in the altered timeline seen in the JJ Abrams-directed 2009 movie, "Star Trek".

Doin' the happy dance.

Customs

Playmates' 9" "Star Trek" figures: Mirror Universe Marlena Moreau (TOS), with a Lokai (made from a painted "Lost in Space" Major Don West figure in Bele's customised costume) and "Deep Space Nine"'s Ezri Dax (made from a Marlena figure - hair removed, new hair sculpted in putty) and wearing a "First Contact" Geordi LaForge uniform (inner collar dyed teal).


Ezri Dax

Penrith powder

Here's what Jack found on his walk around the block this evening:



Welcome to Penriff.

A bird in the crown is worth two in the hand

This seagull was attracting lots of attention today as it stomped around inside the crown of the Queen Victoria statue outside the QVB in the CBD.

It was a dark and foggy night...

Walking back home from seeing the animated movie, "Cars 2", last night, Penrith was becoming blanketed in an eerie fog.

By the way, the best things about "Cars 2" were the hilarious "Toy Story" vacation short that ran before the movie (Barbie and Ken are such dorks), and the closing credits. Not a good sign for "Cars 2".

Vale Max

I had my "Magic Circle Club" photograph professionally
framed, along with Max Bartlett's autograph!

Dammit. I just tried to send Max Bartlett ("Magic Circle Club") an email update and it bounced back. I've just Googled him and uncovered the headline of a "Herald-Sun" obituary, so it seems Max passed away in July 2010, not too long after Tedd Dunn (Fredd Bear).

As a fan, one tries not to be too much of a pest, but the time goes so fast. And then... they're gone. Seems like only yesterday that Max and I met, and my memories of several phone calls are strong (eg. "I rang you because I thought it might give you more of a thrill than sending a text message"). I'm hoping to do something with the interview I conducted (April 2009). Several irons are still in the fire...

Vale Max!




Ian & Max meet in April 2009


Me - when I first discovered
"Magic Circle Club!"

Winter Magic Festival 2011

Steam Train at Katoomba Railway Station


A dragon leads a group from Katoomba Public School (pic courtesy of Maxine)


Bad bunny in the street parade


A busker with his two puppets


Wolf in Grandma's clothes


Shop window white spiders


And my souvenir of the day:


Argon the dragon, bought from Rod and Eryn
of www.weefolkgardenart.com

Star Trot x 2

I'd seen "The Paul Hogan Show" version of "Star Trot", but this TV parody of "Star Trek" with the same name from the much earlier "Mavis Bramston Show" - another iconic Australian satirical sketch comedy series - and featuring Johnny Lockwood, later of "Number 96" fame. Very cool Youtube find!



Note that the captain calls one female officer "Number One", so it also drew from "The Menagerie" ("The Cage" being unknown in Australia in the 60s). The "Mavis Bramston Show" ran 1964-68, so it was sending up "Star Trek" as a then-current show.

Here's the "Paul Hogan Show" (late 70s/early 80s) version. It once received a write-up in "Starlog" magazine, long before Hogan became a household name in the USA. The skit uses the same Spock-in-the-elevator joke, not just the title of the old MBS skit: