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writer, singer, webwrangler, blogger, comedy tragic | about.me/vivsmythe

  • The pain of it all

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    I hatesssss it when humongous core dump files start appearing in clients’ domain root directories.

    That is why I don’t currently have time to blog.

    So, if you’ve always thought about submitting a guest post but have held back, please (please!) go for it!

  • I never thought I’d say this

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    but in some ways we Aussies are fortunate in our public opiners, despite the regularly boggling bloviations of Bolt, Blair, Devine, Albrechtsen et al: at least

  • That Ms. Cover

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    As no doubt the editors hoped, this cover for Ms. Magazine’s Special Inaugural Issue has generated a lot of controversy. Many feminists feel that Obama’s feminist credentials are not nearly as strong as they could be, while the cover has generated an escalation in panic-mongering and shrill we-told-you-so’s from the religious right plus a great deal more snark about Obamessianic visions and rainbow unicorns from the neocon right.

  • Life on the Riverbank: “Edwardian Gay”

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    John Sutherland, Eremitus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College, London, discusses his latest book Magic Moments on ABC Radio National:

    a kind of Biographia Literaria as he takes a look back to the magic of 25 experiences of books, films, plays, songs, paintings, sounds and smells which took him by surprise, sank into his memory and changed his life

  • Friday Saturday Hoyden: Caroline Chisholm

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    This fairly blunt profile of Caroline Chisholm presents her as an impressive but uncomfortable woman due to her uncompromising standards, and came as a bit of an eye-opener to me in terms of sanitised school history: the fact that the young immigrant underclass women that she was training had been lured to the Australian colonies where they were left to fend for themselves and would have no options other than prostitution or crime to earn a living was very heavily glossed over

  • Belated Whoydensday Quickhit: “The Next Doctor” on Australian screens

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    This Sunday! Finally those who haven’t yet caught up with the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas Special (overseas while on hols etc) can discuss it with the rest of us (spoilers ahoy in this earlier post).

  • Fire Sale Books

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    Literally, a fire sale, selling sooty books. All these books were $1 or $2 from Elizabeth’s Books warehouse in Fremantle, which was the perfect opportunity to pick up a few classics that I’ve always meant to read as well as a few strays that caught my eye. Great for dipping into while on hols, especially for the 3-day train ride back home.

  • Fitzwilliam Darcy became a fan of Fine Eyes.

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    I unaccountably missed seeing this on Crooked Timber earlier this month, and which is based on McSweeney’s Hamlet (Facebook News Feed Edition)

  • Sampler: from Ethics and Philosophy

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    Carrying on from Lauredhel’s idea of showcasing some memorable posts for visitors arriving via the Weblog Awards, I’ve chosen the Ethics and Philosophy category as my first showcase post because in so many ways it sums up a lot of what inspires me to write. I find it distressing that so much of our public discourse relies on laziness in terms of examining the ethics of proposed courses of action, and that so little attention is paid to the underlying logic and consistency (or lack thereof) contained in the philosophies that inform ideologies. Also, that so many people use the faceless nature of the Web to behave unethically.

  • Happy New Year! (ETA – Open Photo Thread)

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    Best wishes for the New Year.