You Tube:Danny Boy

I loved the muppets.Clearly the three best singers the Muppets have ever had to offer, together at last. Enjoy.

That was the thing that was....

After finding the Old Skyline Drive-in clip on You tube it started me thinking about how much fun the drive-in was and how it simply died after 30 years of public service. The advent of home video recorders was the killer, which was then super seceded a decade or so later with DVD and now - Blue ray. This started me thinking about technology - sometimes it paves the way for a whole new product or process making instant changes in habits or lifestyles that makes other product or processes vertically obsolete over night.
Historically - the Penny farthing, the Gas light, the humble horse and cart - superseded by the bicycle, the electric bulb & the automobile [respectively]. All had a very useful purpose for many years and even today. However I don't think I would want to read by gas light now or clean up after the horse [the cat is bad enough] let alone mounting a giant wheel for a ride. Good technology also makes items so much easier to use like the computer. My mother told me that one of her first office jobs in the 1960's the computer took up half the floor of the building [like the ones from James Bond or Space films of the same era] and could only 10 calculations per hour or so.

Jump to now and the humble PC does more things that the ones NASA was using to place Neil Armstrong on the moon. And now with the email who needs the humble postage service for a letter? Goodbye to the humble typewriter or even fax machine too. Let alone the endless possibilities that the Internet can offer - information from shopping to online billing & banking services, gaming, history, networking sites like Facebook and [of course] porn, all delivered via the humble phone line. And now you can be wireless anywhere [within service range] with devices such as the iphone - delivering a range of technologies and mediums from phone, internet, music & gaming - the lot - in that tiny shiny sexy little casing. Selling a lifestyle with the added bonus of making our lives that much easier.Now I don't want to sound like an Luddite about to smash Spinning Jennies into the Grand Junction Canal [how many dated references there missus] but sometimes all this technology is just too much. The humble telly is now a wafer thin flat screen device that sucks the equivalent energy a third world country would use in a year. Yes it looks fab but what about that nasty carbon footprint it leaves every time you turn it on. Does the matching surround sound system really need to be the same as a multiplex cinema for a bachelors flat? Let alone does a car really need a camera to help you reverse park? What about making it more fuel efficient? Or better still a car that runs on Hydrogen or H2O? And for that matter -If they can make Viagra for men to get hard ons why not still a cure for AIDS? Or the humble cold?

Now don't get me wrong - I'm advocating to go back the horse and cart or [for that matter] for women to start wearing bustles & frock coats for men. Neither do I want Betacord back, listen to tape cassettes or work with card punch machines. Technology should be used for good not evil - but that's not Technology's fault - its for those of us consuming these follies...maybe we need to be more choosy about what impact they have on the environment as well as their convenience. To shun those who does not take our precious environment into account. Or each other for that matter.

Now I do sound like a modern day Luddite. Best go back to the days of sending telegrams to the Prussian Consulate in Siam before I listen to my old 78's on my gramophone and foxtrot the night away to forget these stresses of modern day living.

Fuck that - I'll email them instead and listen to music in the ipod like everyone else does nowdays as its way too easy to use. My Foxtrot is just fine by the way- its my crumping that needs practice.

You Tube: Skyline Drive-in

Ahh the lost drive ins of my youth - although I was not around when this was made. I especially like the direction of how to use the speaker (which never worked ) and the glamourous food stand ( which was never that nice) - still miss it though

OZ day - Blogs to check out

[Ah Pauline - I have always wondered why only rednecks drape the flag like a cape. Probably because the rest of us can afford clothes].

Australia Day - the 26th of January is the official OZ birthday. We plan to head off to an picnic to celebrate [by celebrate I mean to go out in public, stuff our faces and drink too much to make boules & frisbee more interesting] & I thought how could I share our national holiday with the globe...and as I can not bake green & gold cupcakes to all and sundry [I just don't have the oven space nor a good relationship with my local post office however I digress] so instead I wanted to share some Aussies blogs which I enjoy immensely.

Firstly beginning with A - Crazy Cousin Anne [from tough at the top fame] has gone from Melbourne to Darwin to Berlin & back to Melbourne again [in manner of not so much Auntie Mame around the world more like the big trip of a daughter of a certain Moonee Ponds housewife] Wonderfully titled Bless me father for I have sinned [That catholic guilt just never goes away does it] dearest Anne has decided to start to reminisce about her very funny childhood...http://annneedmonds.blogspot.com/

Oh & this was her travel blog Anne in Berlin http://anniegoesoverseas.blogspot.com/
[Eich ein Berliner Anne? Nein Frau Anne].

Yarraville Paul - Another gay Melbournian's rant of pop culture, hot men, technology & politics - a good read - always! http://yarravillepaul.blogspot.com/

Punk & Blanket combines art & culture [and the love of Karl Lagerfeld] into one convenient size that fits all http://punkandblanket.blogspot.com/

But it's not all about things that go POP - the geeky greenie sometimes beats the pop bitch in me - Peter Parker [no not Spidey] from Melbourne on transport gives his views on how to fix our transport chaos. Possibly the planet too http://melbourneontransit.blogspot.com/.

Formerly of Big Queen Rod - this Sydney sider has now transformed his blog to the heavenly Popsickle yet another OZ pop culture icon http://bigqueen.org/popsickle/

And for the love of TV - the only blog to consult is TV tonight - for all doings, comings & goings of OZ TV http://www.tvtonight.com.au/

Now that where I should end it...but that's not it...

There is one more I need to share...it's not really Australian [in fact its American - how appropriate on our National Holiday to involve yanks!] and quite rude too [oh yes this blog is so not for work dear reader]...however its my most favourite blog of the moment - lurid digs - it combines very witty Interior design commentary [in manner of Dorothy Parker meets Martha Stewart at the Blue Oyster bar] & when gays get it wrong [especially when they are trying to be sexy in there own homes] urgh! http://www.luriddigs.com/ - its a fucking kak!

Happy OZ day!

You Tube:Natalie Bassingthwaighte - Alive

I'm loving Nat at the moment - the 'So you think you can dance[OZ]' host's latest- and I love the golden/sepia Nat in this clip of many looks

Film Review: AUSTRALIA

Well after reading all the reviews on this film you would think that Baz delivered a lemon to the big screen. In fact, probably why it took me so long to go see it.

Well let me tell you that's just not the case. In fact it’s quite the opposite.

AUSTRALIA is film which evokes the golden age of film epics. It is so well suited the big screen as the viewer can appreciate the rich landscapes, the eccentric characters and the overall tale it tells. Set between the backdrop of Pre war Darwin [the last Australian capital city which was even up to recently was a backwater outpost] and the extreme Australian outback, it is essentially a love story between the two leads Lady Ashley [Nicole Kidman] & the drover [Hugh Jackman].
Now don’t get me wrong, the first twenty minutes of hearing Nic’s English accent is unsettling, as with how Baz does the whole quick play of how she comes to Australia [this verges on the camp – yes even for moi] thankfully this is only one part of the tale.

This film makes many references to great films of the past, the most obvious is the ‘Wizard of OZ’ of course. However there are some scenes he has deliberately lit like the Hollywood sound stages of the 1940’s which so suits the era of which the film is set. Theses scenes created by Baz are wonderful. The Victorian homestead of Faraway downs is so typically rural Australia. The Cocktail Party scene at Government house could easily been an ex-pat party in Hong Kong or Singapore of the era. The bombing of Darwin and aftermath of it are both shocking and devastating [no it is not a knock off of Pearl Harbor]. But the landscape of the bush, the hard earth and the extreme temperature, are the real scene stealer of this film's cinematography.
Speaking of which, the quality of each performer are equally as high. So many accomplished Australian actors [which the exception of Geoffrey Rush & Kate Blanchet!] are in this film. Jack Thompson plays a drunk Englishman in a supporting role which is very funny. Nicole is very good [minus the first 20 minutes of the accent] and Hugh, well he is very believable as the Drover [and yes he gets his shirt off a few times] and I didn’t even mind the ‘crikey’ slang he speaks. The young actor Brandon Walters is brilliant as the aboriginal boy caught between his traditional roots and the world of ‘white Australia’ of the 1940’s. In fact the entire cast does a marvelous job.

Go see it as it's meant for the big screen – Baz did a fabulous job with this.

4 Billabongs out of 5.

Holiday Ste(wart) Crazy

Well its been a busy holiday season...one that Martha herself would be most proud...just not in that orange outfit [uh isn't bad enough to send people to jail LET alone choose the colour orange - ironically it is a majestic colour...the Royal house of Holland is known as the House of orange...but I digress.] We have been entertaining quite a bit - like everyone else [of course] over the holiday period...Christmas day lunch, then supper, Boxing Day lunch, then off to a Birthday drinks, a quick trip to the country, a house guest, a NYE party then another luncheon & a movie before heading back to work. All in ten days no less. Martha & Tina Brown would be proud.

Unlike previous years where we have gone from one party to another then another party - this year we were VERY sensible and had one day on one day off...to rest the body & mind...let alone a break from all the rich food and booze [we kept the makers of Rennie in Christmas booty over the break]. Of course now I would love some turkey in my sandwich but alas all gone...There is [thankfully] a Christmas pudding still here so not all bad news.
So on top of the entertaining...I managed to make Pea & Ham soup (from left over Christmas Ham) and jam and liqueur from a friends bumper crop of Cherry Plums (both pictured above, and yes still waiting on Ms Stewart to call for the recipe)...waiting on the apricots for more jam and lemons for preserving...so in between the hostess [with definitely the most'est] gig I'm doing my best impersonation of a 50's housewife - which I don't mind however I don't think I would have the same pinny as her below....but I do like her mixer.
Got me thinking that Housewife's role hasn't really disappeared rather really just merged with ourselves [Yes I know some more than others- moi for example] - and unlike the Fabulous 50's housewife of yesteryear we have just taken some of the traditional tasks and chosen the ones we like and discarded the ones we do not like/use or made redundant. Or employ others to action [like house cleaner, child carer etc]. This, of course, isn't a bad thing.

But give me the option I'd much rather kissing Andy goodbye every morning before I start polishing the silver, dusting my knick knacks, getting a pot roast on for dinner and planning the next luncheon rather than working until retirement [another 35 -40 years in the future - urgh!] - and for those saying I would get bored...well chance will be a fine thing...

Best plan the next holiday and get the next tram to work so I can pay for it.

You Tube:Cha Cha Heels

RIP Eartha Kitt aged 81. I loved her - and especially loved this number when it used to play at Freakazoid.

A Fiery Mexican, a Drunk Belgian & Nude Australian run into this pub see...

My life turned into a working men's club comedians bad joke last night. Circa '76.

It all started with Margarita's and Mexican for dinner...after receiving heartburn similar to the Volcano El Chichon erupting [I forgot about my lack of tolerance to Tequila's & chilli's combined with the lava flows of cheese] I left Andy at home to meet with a B & D at the Belgian Beer Garden.

Now usually the Belgian Beer Garden is a very smart sunday afternoon affair where groomed Melbournians enjoy jazz and European Beer in a setting of a beautiful Bluestone Historical building and it's charming gardens. Lovely.

Not on A Saturday Night though. Apparently not as fussy with it's clientele admissions.
Granted I was a bit sober [too many Antacids to keep the Alamo of a digestion occuring in my stomach] and I walked into, what I can only describe as, the Belgian Beer Garden putsch of 2008.

B & I met a charming fellow at the bar called 'Jacko' and his insightful view of the crowd 'all these fuckers are stuck up here' unlike his local pub [unnamed but I have a sneaking suspicion it appeared in the TV show 'Underbelly'], gave B his address just in case 'you leave your hubby sexy' [what a charmer - who could resist!] and proceeded to order 14 Bourbon & cokes for himself [or as N likes to call them 'suburban & cokes'].

Well our new mate disappears into the chaos and we managed to settle in for evening. I'm trying to calm my indigestion with a glass of Sauvigon Blanc finding that Mexican and French do not mix well [will pop a note through to the Epicure in The Age with that pearl of wisdom]. However about an hour later Jacko appears from one of the hedges, completely starkers [the suburban & cokes kicking in] and does a nudie run through the venue and out to St Kilda Road, with his finale being a helicopter and then British Bull dog [see Puppetry of Penis] for the maddening crowd.

The thing is that Jacko kept his [sort of] big gun for last [no excuses for the pun] and the only thing to top it was - well nothing really. Leaving is an excellent encore in that situation as opposed to getting arrested which is the alternative. I am actually surprised that the crowd didn't really care about it and continued drinking. B & I thought I was very funny. Bless Jacko for making our night.

D was found later on quite drunk kissing one of his work mates however for those who don't live in Australia that isn't a new thing for Heterosexual Australian men when they are drunk. Usually before a nudie run and well prior to fisty cuffs.

I managed to get home by 1am and was completely sober.
Pants on I would like to say too.

Decking your halls...

Well yes its that time again at Casa de finnoccio...er..I mean Casa de la Riversdale - Christmas...every year we go to town getting ready for Christmas...usually decorations are brought out in December however Andy was bored and set up in November [yes we are heathens in this household bishop].Really its the same look as last year[click on Christmas link below for other years past]...however Red is colour du jour...and I especially like the Red Star - homage to Lenin & the Soviets... which [of course] are a whole world away from the yuletide seasonings. Well Moscow is near the North Pole and Lenin always looked like a thin Santa [Well she was wearing red at least].

And the theme is carried to all objet d'art around the abode - as well as Du rogue. Full Stop.

It's also a good excuse to get out the Murano glassware too - So I'm happy there.

And just to be mental I have bought red napkins & already have place settings to match [of course I have]. Now just another 3 Christmas drinks/do's/parties prior to the big day to get thru/to and myself and the liver will need drying out...2009 is then looking like a dry zone [ again who Am I kidding].

You Tube:Fat Cat VS Small Box

I love animals. I especially like it when fat animals forget that they are fat...and unco...

Cyanide and Happiness

MOvember - Finale

Well its near the end of November and my upper lip is starting to scratch.

This month I have been called a Porn star, one of the Village people, and a member of the Australia Cricket team circa '76 - however overall the most comments I have had is that I apparently look like I'm on my way to a bank job or being sent down to Pentridge Prison.

Nice.

I have managed to raise so far $431.03 [AUD] - A BIG BIG thank you for all those who contributed so far - if you haven't please feel free to as well...

https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink®o=1534941&country=au

Remember all donations over $2 are tax deductible and you are supporting Beyond Blue & Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia - 2 organisations which are helping to improve men's health in OZ.

I will be returning the Classic Eccentric back to regular transmission soon.

MOvember - update

Update for Movember current Pic of my mo so far...
Apparently I’m trying for a chopper meets the village people – your basic butch camp mo circa ’76…you know what I mean

A BIG BIG Thanks to those who has already donated – if you haven’t I would really appreciate it – the link is below

https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1534941&country=au

Remember all donations over $2 are tax deductable and you are supporting Beyond Blue & Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia – and I look a pillock for the month!

MOvember

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'm growing a Mo for charity - men's health to be precise.

Did you know:
Depression affects 1 in 6 men in OZ - the sad thing is that most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.

And last year in OZ 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of prostate cancer - equivalent to the number of women who will die from breast cancer annually.

So I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about tackling men's health issues and being proactive in the fight against men's depression and prostate cancer

[before the mo....]

I will be uploading the progression the mo during the month...Unsure whether or not to go handlebar, pirate, biker or just plain white trash....I'm always open to suggestions.

If you want to donate to my Mo you can :
Click this link https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1534941&country=au and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account.

Remember, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue –the national depression initiative. The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression.

Carn the mo!

You tube:Liza with a

Matt is a genius - and I want his number so he can come to parties and do this...especially like the muppet style ending.

Cyanide and Happiness,

You Tube: More Lookey Likey

It's frightening that Tina didn't even need to write anything new lines for her Sarah Palin sketches...Could this really be the USA's next VP?

Spring & society

Well there has been a bit of this lately...

It started with marvellous Spanish lunch at Movida (Hosier Lane) with Dermo & B, all good fun...then an Italian lunch at Cicciolina in St Kilda with an old friend from the UK, followed by some dinner parties, a 30th birthday party and a very boozy Moroccan Sunday lunch.

That was just the first 3 weeks of September. It must be Spring.

The wonderful citizens of Melbourne have survived the dreaded mid year seasons [winter and the football] and have their party shoes on to celebrate the return of one of my favourite seasons - Spring.

Not only the season has changed. Thankfully so has the fashions. The winter coats and [football] scarfs have been folded away for lighter clothing and more tailored wear. The skinny cigarette jean is [unfortunately] still rearing it's sickly head however the fashions this summer are looking rather becoming with lots of stripes and [shock horror for this Melbournian] lots of colour. However I'm sure black is still very much welcomed at the luncheon table.

So the fashion and the food hold me no concern. Since going to the gym I can justify the food and puddings rather easily. It the amount of the wine and hard liquor that I seem to constantly be plying into my body during Spring's return that is.

So given this when I heard that my old boss (now an ex pat in Singapore) was in town I was going to catch a quick drink at Riverland on Friday night. And I did...then another then another then dinner then the Prince of Wales and finally ( to my horror ] the Xchange hotel dancing on a podium and realising that maybe as my sister and her family were arriving the next day I best get myself home. And woke up Andrew when I got it [oops].

Bless Spring!

You Tube:Tina Fey or Sarah Palin?

I love Tina Fey - especially when she is doing vice presidential elect Sarah Palin -enjoy!