[OT] Yarra River from Federation Square

This is off-topic (hence the subject line) but here are a couple of photos that I took of the Yarra River from Federation Square tonight. They are a bit under-exposed, but when I tried to brighten them up with Picasa they lost a bit of sharpness so I thought I'd leave them as they are.

They were taken with my new toy, a Canon Ixus 55 which Matty kindly brought back for me from the US after I bought it online.

This is really just a test to try out Picasa's "BlogThis" feature :)

UPDATE: It seems that Blogger shrinks the pictures significantly, so now I'm hosting them myself. Click on the pictures to see them full-size.

The Office (US Version)

Did anyone catch the US version of The Office last night? Thoughts?

For those of you who didn't see it, the first episode was basically a ripoff of the first episode of the UK series. Every character from the UK series has an character who matches them on the US series.

Personally, watching the first episode felt like watching a bunch of friends getting the script to the UK series and acting it out themselves. I thought the acting was terrible (especially the guy playing the David Brent-like character). All of the subtleties that Ricky Gervais put into the role (the little glimpses, the laugh, etc) were completely lost in translation, the guy was just acting like an idiot but there was no uniqueness to the chacter. The magic of Gareth was completely gone, the US guy is just a geeky brownnose without the quirks that Mackenzie Crook put into the role (at least it hasn't shone through yet). Tim and Dawn translated over okay, generally because they are normal characters and how hard is it to play normal characters?

I thought the 2nd episode was better, if only for the fact that it was a new(ish) storyline, and couldn't compare it directly to the UK counterpart. The bit where they all had to wear minority races on their foreheads and then all talk to each other as if they were talking to that minority race was very amusing. The Keith equivalent did an okay job...

Personally, I don't think it's the kind of the show that translates well to an American audience. Ahh well, at least they didn't have a laugh track...

The Last Motel is up on Amazon!

Brett McBean (a good friend of mine) wrote a great horror book a few years back called The Last Motel. Recently it has made it on to the Amazon website for sale. And they have finally got the artwork up now as well!

Check it out here. Well done, Brett. I hope that McBean will soon be mentioned in the same sentence as King and Laymon by horror critics.

I'll also be ordering my copy very soon...

Brett's Birthdays on Friday 13th

Many know that Brett's birthday is on 13th December. Those of us who know Brett well know he is also a bit obsessed with his horror movies, and Friday The 13th is one of his favourites.

The question is now posed -- how many of Brett's birthdays to date (and which ones) have fallen on a Friday 13th? I was (very) bored the other day so I figured it out.

I'd like Brett to answer this post, without cheating :-)

The rest of you can just reply with a standard insult: "get a life", "who cares", "go home to your Granny"...

An Open Letter To Super Parma

Here's a letter I wrote to the friendly folk at the Super Parma website.


Hey Super Parma Dudes,

My name is Jeremy Young and I am a long time lurker first time writer. I am just writing to describe some parma experiences that some friends and I have had.

Last night a few workmates and I were in Richmond attending a gig at the Corner Hotel. Before heading down to Richmond, we knew we had to grab a bite to eat, so we decided to do some research on the definitive parma encyclopedia of www.superparma.com.

We checked out the "Parma Specials" section of your website, and noted that the Richmond Club Hotel had a Monday night special of a $10.00 Pot 'n' Parma. Clicking on the link, we subsequently discovered that you had rated the Richmond Club Hotel parma an impressive 16/20, so all was looking good -- we would going to get a good bargain parma, a free pot, some great music. The night was looking up!

Imagine our disappointment when we arrived at the said hotel and discovered that the special of the night was a steak sandwich and pot for $10.00! We didn't have a laptop handy, so we couldn't check out www.supersteaksandwich.com. We decided quickly that even though we weren't going to get the bargain we were hoping for, we would try the parma anyway -- after all, the standard price was only $13 which was pretty cheap anyway. Unfortunately the hotel was pretty packed and they said there would be a 50 minute wait for meals -- 50 minutes we didn't have. So we decided to take a raincheck and return at some other time (hopefully on a Tuesday night when the real special was on). I guess the fact that it was packed out is a pretty good sign. Anyway, please update your website and move the special for this hotel to Tuesday night -- we don't want to see other disappointed folk turning up on Monday night expecting a bargain basement parma.

Luckily, we had a contingency plan from the start, and we noted that another pub in Richmond had a Monday night pot 'n' parma special -- The Vaucluse. We did recall that you guys had only given this a 12.5/20, but we weren't in any position to find another place at this time, so we decided to settle for merely a "good" parma.

When we received our parmas, we noticed that the chicken "breast" was a perfect heart shape -- it was obvious that this was manufactured processed chicken. Of course, you can deep fry anything and it will taste good, but that's missing the point of what a chicken parma stands for -- a chicken parma should be made from a REAL chicken breast.

Which takes me to my next point. I notice that you have only allocated 3 points to "quality of meat" in your ratings. On the other hand, I notice you have allocated 5 points to the size of the parma, and 4 points to the quality of the SAUCE. Now this may be a very controversial comment, but don't you think that the quality of the meat is more important than the sauce and the size of the parma? I mean sauce is very integral to the whole parma experience, but it's not called a PARMA chicken, it's a CHICKEN parma. The chicken forms the root of the whole parma experience, and because of this, I think the chicken should be allocated more points than the sauce. And what's the point of having a HUGE parma if the quality of the chicken is poor? Anyway, just personal opinion. But I'd be interested to know your rationale in coming up with the weighting of the points when rating parmas.

Also, a few notes about the chicken parma at the Burvale in Forest Hill. It truly is a horrendous parma -- you have to try it. It is an insult to everything a parma stands for. I guess my unflattering comments aren't going to make you rush out to Forest Hill to try it, but as the experts in the domain of chicken parmas, it should be your duty to inform people of the parmas to avoid just as much as it is to inform people of the superb culinary experiences. Finally, another note about the special at the Burvale, the price has moved up to $6, and it's only a Friday LUNCHTIME special, not a Friday DINNER special. So please update your website to indicate this. Not that anyone should really be eating the Burvie parma at all (or anything from the Burvie mind you). That place needs to be avoided like the plague.

All in all, great website, and keep up the great work!

Cheers,
Jeremy.

Whoa Mamma

J-Man says I need to spruce up my blog a bit and put more pictures of women on it (he comments on it and he's not even a member or contributor, how's that for chutzpah). So here's Michelle Phillips from the Mammas and the Pappas who I mentioned in my last posting. That's her on the right in case you didn't notice. She definitely has the Marcia Brady / sexy hippie chick 60's thing happening. She gets the 'Brush tick of approval as well.

Back to work :-(

Why is it so hard to go back to work after a weekend?

Sooooooo booooooooooooored.

Bairnsdale Road Trip: 2004

Well it was a very enjoyable weekend.

Pete ended up making an appearance on Saturday at about 11am, and stayed until early Sunday morning. You tell those microscopic virii who is boss Pete! Nah seriously, it was great that you could come along.

In summary, here's what we got up to over the weekend:

• Stayed in a motel in Bairnsdale run by Harold Bishop from Neighbours. Well no, it wasn't Harold Bishop. It didn't even look like him. But he had similar personality traits to Mr Bishop, and taught us well in the ways of luggage stowage within a motel room.
  
• Went to a pub for dinner on Friday night where we enjoyed steaks and chicken parmigarmas, almost getting into fisticuffs with the people who's table we had inadvertantly "stolen" (okay...slight exaggeration/poetic license used here).
• Enjoyed various gourmet breakfast treats including vegemite on toast, pancakes with maple syrup and icecream, omelettes, eggs & bacon & sausages, raisin toast, muffins and coffees/hot chocolates of various kinds.
• Several of us purchased $10 CDs from Bairnsdale including REM "Automatic for the people", Bob Dylan "Blonde on blonde" and Joni Mitchell "Blue".
  
• Learnt the true meaning of the words acronym, irony and tetchy.
  
• Visited an Aboriginal cave (can't remember the exact name...but Duffman should know) about 40 minutes from Bairnsdale - it was truly a beautiful place that will hopefully inspire Brett in his future writing endeavours.
• Brushed up on our TV sitcom theme song knowledge and studied a lot of interesting pictorial and written literature. I'm pretty sure that the theme song to O.C. will be pretty familiar to most of us by next year's road trip.
• Played mini golf in Bairnsdale. Well done to the champion Duffman (aka Wally Raffles) who beat Brettles by the skin of his teeth. Condolences to Andy and Jerome who let the side down. Jerome also gave his best "Angry Dad" impersonation during the game.
• Watched Belle & Sebastian host Rage on Saturday night.
• Stopped by at the Yarragon market on the way home, where Andy bought a garden plaque for his mother (awww...how sweet).
• Several members of the posse made fools of themself during the roadtrip. But what's new? Some notable incidents include the designated driver almost getting his car bogged when stopping outside Gumbaya Park on the way to Bairnsdale, and a certain young man (who I won't mention by name) walkering (ahem...I mean walking) into a McDonalds sign on Sunday morning.
  
• Consumed a lot of Coopers Sparking Ale and a little bit of Wild Turkey Bourbon.
• Consumed a lot of food which is going to seriously affect how we look in speedos this summer. Ewwwwww there's an image I don't want.
• Talked a lot crap (what's new?)

Now we look forward to Duffman's powerpoint presentation (and presentation of it at the soon to be annual slide night).

I'll end with a quote from one of my favourite pieces of 20th century literature:

Now, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some.
A man is born, he's a man of means.
Then along come two, they got nothing but their jeans.

But they got, Diff'rent Strokes.
It takes, Diff'rent Strokes.
It takes, Diff'rent Strokes to move the world.

Everybody's got a special kind of story
Everybody finds a way to shine,
It don't matter that you got not alot
So what,
They'll have theirs, and you'll have yours, and I'll have mine.
And together we'll be fine....

Because it takes, Diff'rent Strokes to move the world.
Yes it does.
It takes, Diff'rent Strokes to move the world.

Hmmm....I think there's something in that for all of us.
Whatchya talkin' about Willis?

Here's to Pete getting better

Well it's a long shot, but I hope this post somehow influences you in getting better Pete!

The road trip won't be the same without you :-(

Classic Simpsons Quote

Marge: Have you noticed something about Bart?
Homer: New glasses?
Marge: No. It seems like something could be troubling him.
Homer: Probably misses his old glasses.

Chocolate Chip Biscuits Fled Crime Scene

*** NEWSFLASH ***

At 4:58pm Eastern Standard Time, 2 chocolate chip biscuits held up a bank in Melbourne's west today. Luckily, nobody was injured.

Not all is lost - a witness allegedly saw the number plate of the car they drove away in.

The Cookie Police are currently investigating.

Lenny & Carl

Did anyone see the Simpsons last week? Featured Ms K's/Skinner's (abandoned) wedding.
A couple of relevant moments -- Barry Duffman appearing at Ms. K's Hen's night (as a "male dancer," no less), and doing a pelvic thrust (Oh Yeah!) while seated.
Another scene reminded me of two people (let's call them J and A) -- Lenny was hassling Carl because he always has to ask before receiving a back rub. Hmmm... As Mike Moore once said, "Wow! International Story Coordinator!"

Ahhh eBay... how can I possibly stay mad at you?

Wanna know what I'm selling on Ebay at the moment?

No?

Well I'm gonna tell you anyway...

Check out what I'm selling right now.

Brett McBean's website

Since my good mate Brett decided to reply to one of my posts on here (being the first contributor to this blog besides yours truly), I thought I'd put in a plug for his website:

http://www.brettmcbean.com

Brett's an aspiring young horror writer who has already has an excellent novel published - "The Last Motel". Check out his website for more details.