Annoying...

The other day I had a phone call from an 88 year old lady wanting to know what Hollywood-type biographies we've got in stock. She asked me to make a list and she'd send a relative down today to pick up the list. That area isn't on the database yet so I had to write out the list by hand - 6 foolscap pages long! No-one's come in to ask about it.

movie quiz

Name your all-time top five favorite movies.
JFK, Dances With Wolves, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, Dr Strangelove (amongst others!)
What’s your favorite movie line?
From The Life of Brian, it goes something like this:
Crowd: "We're all individuals."
Individual: "I'm not."
Who’s your favorite movie character?
currently - Captain Jack Sparrow
What movie do you love that most people hate?
Waterworld, The Postman, 3000 Miles to Graceland.
What movie do you hate that most people love?
anything with Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler in it
What was the last movie you saw?
The Guardian
What’s your least favorite movie ever?
The Bodyguard
What’s one movie have you seen that you would never ever watch again?
What Women Want
What was the last DVD you saw?
Dead Man's Chest
What was the first DVD you remember buying?
Dances With Wolves
What movie do you relate to more than any other?
none really
What actor/actress would you like to look like?
Cate Blanchett
What classic movie have you never seen?
Casablanca
What song would you choose be the theme song to the movie of your life story?
Pictures of you - The Cure
What’s your favorite movie genre?
no one favourite
Who’s your favorite actor/actress?
Kevin Costner, Johnny Depp
What actor/actress do you refuse to see their movies?
Charlton Heston
What genre would you choose not to watch?
horror, teen flicks
What’s your favorite theater concession combo?
huh?
Front row, Back row, Side Seats, Aisle or center?
centre, half a dozen rows from the back
from here which I stumbled across while aimlessly wandering.

Okay, so I got some pics up by using picasa. Still no profile pic tho'. I should be shelving books instead of messing about with this, haha.

Evan's eye

Evan's eye 

Taya's tooth

 

Hmmmm

I can't upload any pics, my profile pic has turned into the dreaded red cross..... I wonder what's up.

We all went out last night to celebrate Pete's milestone - nothing fancy, just a nice little pizza/pasta place near their house. The meals were huge! Then we all waddled back to Pete and Denise's for cake and coffee. The candles on the cake burned with different coloured flames - but the pic didn't work out so I won't bother uploading it. Taya has her first wobbly tooth and never tired of showing everyone. Evan has his first black eye - playing cricket at school and he got in the way of someone's bat.
Pleasant evening.

* Blogger won't let me upload any photos - bugger.

Torture

Interesting discussion on the use of torture on TV, particularly on "24".
video

Happy Birthday Pete!

Today is my brother's 50th birthday.

Today is Tuesday Feb 27th, regardless of what Blogger says.

(He's not as gormless as this pic makes him look!) If there's one thing Pete does better than me, it's read. He's a huge sci-fi/fantasy and crime fiction reader. Manic sports fan as well, particularly Richmond Tigers (AFL) and Liverpool FC.

2 pics

I was messing about taking pics of the moon through the trees last night. More on flickr. The other photo shows what's left of our tomato plants after a couple of weeks of 30C plus temperatures. :(

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Soldier :: bring them all home


2. Lipton :: tea


3. Reason:: no rhyme or


4. Terms :: of endearment


5. Positive :: energy


6. Example :: bad


7. Legacy :: remember


8. Solo :: guitar


9. Instrument :: guitar


10. Later :: gator

from here

Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol My new favourite band. Check them out.

Every morning the cockatoos have a meeting on the street light and power poles outside the shop. It was very overcast an hour ago when I took these pics - sky is blue now, but the cockies are gone.

cockies

"Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac." - George Orwell

Saw this over at EBC and thought it deserved to be repeated.

I don't know if it was stinking hot in Cairns last night, but the rain was torrential. A real tropical downpour. It was a game of slideball, rather than football. Saints were leading all night until the last five minutes. :( In their defence, the conditions were terrible and there were very few senior players in the team - mostly the second-stringers and rookies. There were a lot of promising signs, but it was really difficult to judge properly because of the rain - not at all conducive to showing off skills.
So, that's it for the pre-season comp. I'll have to wait for the real season to start now.

a link for Janet

Harry and the Potters

time waster

big red button

I gave up, but not before I'd blown up the world.

Football's back!

First game of the pre-season comp was played last night. Saints play tonight. They're playing up in Cairns for some reason. It'll be stinking hot up there.

Go Saints!

It rained all night. Not only are the nearby fires out but it's also lessened the debilitating humidity we've had for the last couple of weeks.

Way too close for comfort

4.20pm - Grass Fire in Sassafras
Grass fire in Sassafras
23/02/2007

CFA and DSE advise residents in The Basin, Ferny Creek and Sassafras of a fire in Ferndale Pde, The Basin. Further information reveals that the fire has not crossed Mountain Hwy, only small spot fires have crossed the highway and these are being easily controlled. The residents in the area of Ferny Creek, The Basin and Sassafras may still be threatened by this fire.

Current Road Closures at the following intersections:

Mountain Highway and Mt Dandenong Tourist Road
Mountain Highway and Forest Road
Mountain Highway and Ferndale Road
Ferndale Road and Old Coach Road

Our house is in The Basin, off Forest Road, not that far at all from the Mountain Hwy intersection.
The guy next door went home, he also lives in The Basin, to have a look and told me that it's burning up the hill towards Sassafras, away from us.
According to the CFA website, it's controlled. That's good, but if it gets windy flying embers can be a real threat.

I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty. This book just came into the shop. Anything with a title like that deserves a chance, dontcha think?

Friday fill in

1. I love going to .... anywhere new
2. Do you think it hurts when a .... you hit yourself in the head with your tennis racquet?
3. Nail polish ... is one of my favorite decorations.
4. My collection of ... books and CDs is important to me.
5. How many ... deaths does it take till .... the idiots work it out????
6. Up, up and away in my beautiful ... balloon.
7. I am SO looking forward to ... having a drink at the Tav this weekend!


from Percy

The other day I was endlessly clicking on "next blog" and found a new blog to play on. It just has music which can be downloaded for free, for preview purposes only, of course. I've never heard of most of the bands listed but there are a few I'm "previewing" now - stuff that I almost bought but never did. Eels, Muse, My Bloody Valentine, etc.
Check it out.

I played tennis last night, for the first time in about two years. Achy breaky me!

Dead Famous

I finished reading Dead Famous by Ben Elton. This one is about a Big Brother TV show, except his is called "House Arrest". One of the contestants is murdered but, despite all the cameras and microphones, no-one saw who did it. It's not until over 2/3rds of the way through that he reveals which one was the victim. In the interests of ratings the show continues. The investigating officer is an older, very straight-laced man who just doesn't understand the younger generation. Elton always has a couple of themes running through his books which he expounds on while just seeming to tell the story. In this book he gets stuck into the vacuousness of the Big Brother generation.
"But they were all irritating. Or at least they were to (Inspector) Coleridge. Every single one of them, with their toned tummies and their bare buttocks, their biceps and their triceps, their tattoos and their nipple rings, their mutual interest in star signs, their endless hugging and touching, and above all their complete lack of genuine intellectual curiosity about one single thing on this planet that was not directly connected with themselves."
He also has a go at the producers of reality shows like this and goes to great lengths to show how the footage shown on TV is heavily editing and manipulated to present a completely false picture. Ratings are the be all and end all and anything, even murder, can be justified if it gets people watching and sponsorship dollars rolling in.
Well worth a read - strong language warning though.

That would be 'assassin', you ass.

According to experts, my personality type is : Assasin for hire Other people like me display these traits. They voted for bush They work in fast food resturants They suffer from road rage They have long tongues Take the Ink Blot Personality Quiz at JokesUnlimited.com

from Shirl

You are most like: You are Blue
You are cool and soothing, with a hidden spontanious side. You are deeper than most people percieve, and you care a lot for those whom you surround yourself with.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

from Shirl

I've just been reading the latest posts on Baghdad Burning. Some poor Iraqi woman was raped by three police officers. The government has come out and called her a liar and rewarded (rewarded!) the men.
read here please It's beyond outrageous.

The Secret

What a load of codswallop. If you want it just think about it and you'll get it. The Law of Attraction. Yet another example of the "something for nothing" attitude that's so prevalent these days.

WeeMee

WeeMee here
(seen at snape's )

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Threshold :: Sara Douglass novel


2. Jason :: and the Argonauts


3. Suspicion :: something's amiss


4. Tender :: a good steak


5. Tempted :: always


6. Crimson :: roses


7. Repulsive :: yuck!


8. Bulldog :: British


9. Garage :: band


10. Racket :: tennis

from here

I was over at Mum and Dad's last night. The hill in the foreground is where the fire was the other day - on the other side of the hill. The folks said that, the night before, they could see the flames clearly. It rained last night so it's all safe now, thankfully.

When the sun starts to set it casts a particular light across the trees around the place. More on flickr...

Graeme's bike

Triumph

It's been off the road for a while but now it's back! There's nothing quite like the feeling of being on a bike, leaving the four-wheels behind in your wake.

Friday fill in (on Saturday)

1. In the evening .... when the day is done, I'm looking for a woman, but the girl don't come.
2. I don't know what it is I like about you but.... I like it a lot.
3. So a house elf shows up in my bedroom .... that'd be Dobby
4. Well, it's been ten years and maybe more since I first .... set eyes on you. The best years of my life gone by, here I am alone and blue. Some people cry and some people die by the wicked ways of love. But I'll just keep on rollin' along with the grace of the Lord above.
5. So I'm packing my bags for .... the misty mountains, where the spirits go now.
6. Many times I've gazed along ... the open road
7. Leaves are falling all around, It's time I was.... on my way

from here

"Milners Road Fire
Updated 17/02/2007 9.00am

Lightning overnight started a fire burning at Yarra Junction in the Milners Road area which is currently 50 hectares in size. There is currently no threat to private assets. As the fire is burning within the Upper Yarra Catchment Area it may cause some threat to Melbourne’s Water Supply."

Yarra Junction is only a few kilometres away from Mum and Dad's and sister Paula's homes in Seville East.
Not that far from sister Clare in Warburton either.

Slightly anxious feeling in the gut today. The weather forecast for the next couple of days is not going to be helpful at all.

I am so clever!

Since I got this new computer I haven't been getting book cover images when I've uploaded new entries on to the website - just the dreaded red cross. My webmaster couldn't work out why either. But I just fixed it. All by myself.

*pats self on back*

last night's sunset from the back verandah

The priorities of commercial media here never cease to amaze me.
The lead story on all channels yesterday was about a public spat between the sister and friend of an Australian girl currently serving 20 years in a Bali jail for drug smuggling.
Briefly mentioned later: North Korea has agreed to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme. Nowhere near as newsworthy as two silly women having an argument.

*despair*

Legend!!!

12 days to go.......

Harvey ready to go again
10 February 2007
Paul Gough
Sportal for afl.com.au
The AFL's oldest player, St Kilda veteran Robert Harvey, freely admits he thought 2006 would be his last year.

But now as he prepares for an amazing 20th season in the AFL, the champion midfielder sounds like an excited rookie as he describes the huge impact new coach Ross Lyon has made at Moorabbin.

Harvey has seen plenty of coaches during his record 340 games with the Saints and former Fitzroy player Lyon will be his seventh, following on from Darrell Baldock, Ken Sheldon, Stan Alves, Tim Watson, Malcolm Blight and Grant Thomas.

But Harvey, who admits he would have retired had the Saints won any of the past three premierships, is nothing but optimistic about the Saints' chances of finally winning their second premiership under Lyon's tutelage.
read on..

Another Broken pic

IMG_0373, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Further down the road.

Lucky miss!

IMG_0370, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Wild and windy night last night. This tree came down and luckily didn't land across Laura's car!

Unconscious Mutterings

1. The best thing :: since sliced bread


2. Hold :: on, I'm coming


3. Rapture :: Blondie


4. Cover :: doona


5. Restrictive :: limiting


6. Baker :: bread


7. Author :: writer


8. Pill :: panadol


9. Months :: 12 in a year


10. Valentine’s Day :: rampant commercialism

from here

singalong with George and Tony

absolutely hilarious

Saw this here.
Hilarious!

Broken...

Janet is part of a group doing a photo scavenger hunt. I haven't joined the group but here's my contribution anyway...

the remains of LWG's bike

Friday fill in (on Saturday)

1. The last thing I took a picture of was .... my oil burner
2. alcohol... is like oxygen; you get too much you get too high, not enough and you're gonna die. [song lyric]
3. One of my favorite scents is .... opium
4. Monty Python ... makes me laugh A LOT.
5. When I daydream it's usually about .... taking a holiday
6. Lions and tigers and ... elephants oh my! [movie quote]
7. This weekend, I want to .... do something different.


courtesy of percy

Outside the shop next door there's a leaking water tap under the pavement. Water is happily flowing down the street. I've rung the water company - South Eastern Water - three times over the last week. Because it's a shopping area they can only do maintenance after hours. They tell me it's "on the list". I think they've forgotten we're in a drought and don't seem at all worried about all this water being wasted. Disgraceful.

Mr Brooks

trailer

Looks kinda good.

AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!

I've spent the day with a couple of accountant types. They've been trying to teach me how to use MYOB so that I can do the shop accounts (which are rather neglected at present).
I'm an historian, a reader.
I don't do numbers!

My head is aching.
The overwhelming feeling is one of panic.

My top 5 Led Zeppelin songs...

Percy, aka Janet has asked me this. It's a tough one.
Kashmir - no doubt about this one.
Heartbreaker
Ten Years Gone
When The Levee Breaks
Gallows Pole/Dazed and Confused/Nobody's Fault But Mine/In my Time of Dying/Achilles Last Stand/Immigrant Song/How Many More Times/No Quarter/Ramble On/Since I've Been Lovin' You/Battle of Evermore - it's a medley, dontcha know! Haha, I couldn't decide.

It'd be easier to do my top 5 albums:
Physical Graffiti
Led Zep 3
4
2
1 (or maybe Houses of the Holy)
in that order.

Hmmm. Now I want to go and listen to them all.

more candlelight

tealight candle in the oil burner

Another meme swiped from Percy

Two-Fer Meme (courtesy of DebR and Kristen)

Two names you go by:
1.. Julie
2.. Jules

Two parts of your heritage:
1.. English
2.. English

Two things that scare you:
1.. GWB - more particularly, the masters pulling his strings
2.. extremists of any persuasion

Two everyday essentials:
1.. Cigarettes
2.. Coffee

Two things you are wearing right now:
1.. Saints polo shirt
2.. track pants

Two of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment):
1.. Led Zeppelin
2.. Neil Young

Two things you want in a relationship (other than love):
1.. Trust
2.. Fun

Two truths:
1.. Books are good for your soul
2.. Music is good for your soul

Two favorite hobbies:
1.. Making horrible noise on the guitar
2.. Photography

Two things you need to do this week:
1.. Organise accommodation for Byron Bay
2.. Laundry

Two stores you shop at:
1.. MJ Arcadia Books - tho' I get mine for free
2.. JB HiFi

Two favorite sports
1.. AFL (Aussie Rules football)
2.. Tennis

Two shows you like to watch:
1.. Desperate Housewives
2.. News - ABC, not commercial channels

Two things you'd buy if money were no object:
1.. MJ Arcadia Books
2.. A trip around the world

Two wishes for 2007:
1. For the bookshop to do well.
2. For Clare and Georgia to have a safe trip to Africa.

Another step towards White Australia...

Media Release
New arrangements for Department of Immigration
30 January 2007

The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs officially changed its name today to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship following the ceremony swearing in the new Minister and Parliamentary Secretary.

The new Minister for Immigration and Citizenship is the Hon. Kevin Andrews MP and he will be supported by Parliamentary Secretary the Hon. Teresa Gambaro MP.

The department’s contact details are unchanged, including the general enquiries number and the website.

Telephone: 131 881
See: www.immi.gov.au

The department’s new acronym is DIAC.

This is another attempt to deny Australia's success as a multicultural nation. It's so insidious, disgusting, disgraceful and I can't tell you how much I hate this government. In ten years they've changed this country from a relaxed, even apathetic, nation into one filled with fear, racial tension/hatred, inequality, exploitation and ignorance. Oh yeah, and they've got us embroiled in unnecessary and illegal war.

It's worth noting that this department is the only government department to include 'a' for 'and' in its acronym. None of the others include it. I wonder why Kevin Andrews doesn't want to be known as the Minister for DIC? He is, after all, the dichead.

Kate Elliott

I'm having trouble getting through The Gathering Storm. The first 2 or 3 books in this series were really good but it's kind of got bogged down a bit lately. There are many different plot threads that intertwine throughout the story but none of them seem to be going anywhere at the moment. So, once again, I've put it aside and started on something else.

Meanwhile, I finished Under the Duvet by Marian Keyes. Not so much an autobiography as a collection of snippets from her life. She's obviously a person with huge self-esteem issues but still manages to produce some very funny work. The chapter on alcoholism wasn't funny, however. She didn't really explain how she beat the bottle, but beat it she did. This is a book that doesn't need to be read cover to cover but can be dipped into randomly. Except for the aforementioned chapter, there's nothing too deep. Light reading for when there's a few minutes to fill.

Swiped this from percy

Your past life diagnosis:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know how you feel about it, but you were female in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern South Japan around the year 1050. Your profession was that of a builder of roads, bridges and docks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your brief psychological profile in your past life:
Person with huge energy, good in planning and supervising. If you were just garbage-man, you were chief garbage-man.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:
You are bound to learn to understand other people and to meet all difficulties of life with a joyful heart. You should help others by bringing them a spirit of joy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you remember now?

past life diagnosis

Update on the Africa trip...

Botswana for 10 days, Johannesburg for 3 days, a village somewhere in Uganda for 10 days and then off to Switzerland for the youth conference (a Steiner thing, naturally).
I had to laugh at Georgia during her little stint as bookshop assistant. She worked kinda slow - but the price stickers are beautifully placed, I must say, - and then set out, quite firmly, what her hourly rate would be.
Only twice what I get. Sure, Georgia, sure.

And now, to work. Yes books, I'm coming........

Later....
I've given up on this work caper. It's 40 degrees C and I'm not coping with it very well in my non-airconditioned paradise. So I'm just going to sit here and read blogs till it's time to go.

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Plaster :: cast


2. Cabbage :: coleslaw


3. Jazz :: yuck


4. Darts :: sunday afternoon at the Tav


5. Poke :: pig in a


6. Bribe :: corruption


7. Whale :: stop the killing of


8. Receipt :: for payment


9. Answer :: back


10. Dentist :: I need to go but I DON'T WANT TO!

from here

candles

Over here Janet had a thing about finding photos of candlelight. This is the best I could come up with.

Friday fill in (on Saturday)

1. July 21st is ....3 days after my father's birthday. (He'll be 78 this year)
2. ... is my favorite hand lotion. Hmmm, I don't use any.
3. Mt. Fuji ....is a tourist attraction - to the point where it has film named after it (?)
4. Professor Snape is ....evil but may turn out to be a good guy -we'll find out later this year.
5. I would love to ....oh, so many things. Have money, take good photos, get a cat, see the world....
6. When I need a little pick me up, I reach for ....coffee, cigarettes, alcohol.
7. When I daydream, I often dream about ....travelling.

courtesy of here

Off to Africa...

My sister, Clare, and her daughter, Georgia, are off to Africa later this year. Georgia's going to a youth conference of some sort and then they're staying on to do some volunteer work. Naturally, they need to raise lots of money. As part of her quest for funds, Georgia's going to do some work for me in the shop today - shelving and stuff. Provided she can organise transport down here, it'll probably be an ongoing job until they leave.

One for Shirl

I failed miserably

Only got 16 right in the allotted time.

Oh no! The season hasn't even started yet!

St Kilda forward Nick Riewoldt this morning had scans on his hamstring and it was confirmed that he has a lower end of a Grade 1 strain and will undergo a rehab program.

Here's looking at you kid

Tomatoes!!!!

Finally Ken has got some to grow.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Finished this yesterday.
Fantastic book.
If you haven't read it I strongly suggest that you do.
It's set in Nazi Germany, 1939-43, and follows the story of the Book Thief - a young girl named Liesel, from the age of 10 to 14. At first I thought the narrator, Death, was a bit flippant with the subject matter but, without me even realising it, the tone of the book subtly changes about half way through. Zusak's use of language is beautiful. I kept rereading passages, not because I didn't understand, but just to savour the language. The theme throughout is about words and the power they have. Zusak writes about words as if they are alive. People don't speak in this book - words tumble, they fall and land at your feet, they float, they refuse to come out.
I will read this book again, but not just yet as it is a powerfully sad story in the end.
I can't stop thinking about it.
My sister, who put me onto the book, thinks it may be the story of Zusak's mother. I don't know if it is but I might try to see if I can find out.
A must read.