Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Mazurkish delight

I said goodnight too early.

I just came across a video tribute to my favourite Hollywood henchman, Mike Mazurki.
Apart from the name, he had many fine attributes I've written about in a former bloglife.

And then there's this, the sweaty fruit of further investigation:

Nighty night again

Infamous last words

A former colleague, even more full of it than I dared imagine and now facing serious drug charges as a result, in his own (LinkedIn) words:

What will probably be my legacy to gay publishing, changing our two weekly publications from newsprint to a high quality full gloss format, positioning them at the top of the market, resulting in increased revenue, and yields making the publications Market leaders in the cities they served, in doing this setting the benchmark in not only gay press but all free to street press.

Don't take credit for other people's work, sweetheart.

Now that's karma.

(P.S. Why do people randomly capitalise words like market?)

(P.P.S. Did you notice that paragraph of self-promotion was one big, grammatically inept sentence? A classic example of the new bureaucracy: frauds fooling each other into larger paycheques through syllabic overdose.)

I'll humble for ya

Notice Wendi looking vaguely ashamed (or worried about her manicure):

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Carrot fight

Things got ugly this afternoon.
I admit I've been neglecting the horses a little, what with the arrival of Suzi and all, so they were more than eager to rush over for a feed. Anyway, today's carrot delivery turned nasty.

Rocky does a Tyson:


Suzi, meanwhile, was blissfully unaware of it all:


Twirling... twirling towards freedom


Always wanted to post one of these...

Humour in advertising

In Just Cars magazine:

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

One other thing ...

This is a little old, and frankly the song is barely a song at all, but Beyonce's show at the Billboard Awards a few weeks back is still unbelievable.

Worth it for the opening minute or so alone; a fantastic marriage of brilliant video and her manifold delights:



(Goes without saying, this has somehow bored it's way into my head over the past few weeks. Quite a feat given it doesn't have a melody to speak of.)

Nighty night

I felt like a song with a limousine in it:



Also, the outfits.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Grave new world

We went to Kurri Kurri today for a spot of antiquing.
It was fruitful enough but what I really thought worth sharing was the unfolding future of the Hunter Valley evident on the trip there.

About half-way between Maitland and Kurri are several new housing developments with aspirational (and flood-defying) names like Darcy's Peak and Saddlers Ridge.
Inexorably, they're turning this:


Into this:


It's a beige-and-salmon suburban nightmare.
Even the street names seem destined to feature in some tragically ironic tabloid headline:


 Gave me the willies.

Uneasy rider

This is a rare shot of the Gladiators en route.

They're not exactly eager to be photographed, so this is the closest I'll get to an official portrait:


Notice their club logo is a skull in a centurion's helmet. Centurions were ancient Greek officers.
Gladiators were Roman slave-warriors ...

I don't want to bring it up, do you?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Amazing Technicolor armchair

A stylist's riot with only two $5 nana blankets:


Sometimes I exhaust myself...

Cultural hijack

I just saw the  new ad for the ANZ Bank starring Simon Baker, aka The Mentalist.
He's an Australian, selling an Australian company, to an Australian audience  ...

AND HE'S SPEAKING IN A FRICKIN' AMERICAN ACCENT.

We're so world-class.

Ethel outright disgrace

For some evil reason, nearly all the Ethel Smith videos on YouTube have been killed.

This is now the best I can find, 22 bloody seconds:



Where does it end?

Organ donation

Remember Ethel Smith?

Well! Here's organist Korla Pandit with a slightly less perky but no less astonishing (and way-pre-Pulp Fiction) number to kickstart the day:



Those spookily serene eyes, that cavalier finger-work; he's quite the snake charmer.

Shame he reminds me of a queen I know in magazines ...

Get up, get down, whatever

Forget it's Monday:

Sunday, July 3, 2011

A lotta look for the money

Last week, Mick, Peter and I went to Father Reilly's Op Shop for a trawl of the goods. For a small store, it commands a surprising amount of time.

Peter walked away with an armful of dirt-cheap, classic records and I bought sundry ironic-nana items, including a beautiful '40s tablecloth, a lace curtain and a crochet rug for a grand total of $20; it really is the last of the good op shops.

Anyway, here's Teddy (resplendent in his bowler hat from one of Mick's earliest auction sojourns) and Blue Elmo, each sporting a woollen scarf that instantly transports any ensemble to a certain level of I-don't-give-a-damn – a mezzanine of 'meh' – allowing one to infiltrate even the most ferociously casual social event:


Bowler hat from Vickers & Hoad Auctioneers; hand-knitted scarves ($1 each) from Father Reilly's Op Shop, Maitland; teddy bear and Blue Elmo, stylist's own.

Parents

Mick and I inherited a dog this week.
Her name's Suzi*:


She's a labrador mix, of what exactly we have no idea. She belonged to a couple of brothers who lived around the corner and had to move house.
Anyway, the vet reckons she's about 8 or 9 years old and sadly we found out she has a heart murmur, but hopefully we'll have her for a while.

She's very sweet. Although she struggles to understand the concept of "sit", "lie down" has her on her back in a second.
She's clearly fond of a belly rub:


* I presume it's spelled that way, as in Quatro. I seriously doubt she was named after marathon swimmer Susie Maroney.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

A new toy for Wiz

Rocky, not so much.

Tooths XXX Ale

It's about the legs ...




It's also about confused cultural symbols, not least of which is the fact it no longer exists!
Stick that up your dancefloor, or Tardis, for that matter.

As you can see, it's all come to a grinding pedantic halt.
Dearie doo da.

Are you listening to really cool music right now?

Friday, July 1, 2011

Horses get bored

But cows always seem perfectly happy.
I'm no expert but I stand by it.

Anyway, some moody interludes with Wiz and Rocky:







I think they secretly like each other. (That would explain the biting.)

Developing news

Hey there!
Still here!

It's been a week of excitement.

First our friend Peter came to visit. He's a lovely, erudite gentleman and a publican, so of course we got pissed at the Metropolitan.
This is a bloke only known as Snow, Mick and Peter presumably discussing the bombing of Poland:


The next morning, we tried out the Metro's bistro; a beautiful room, cheap food:


What else ...

Oh yes, who is this?


Stay tuned.