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

  • A source of minor joy

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    is just discovering that the Ermine Street Guard exists. It’s so peculiarly British to take one’s weird hobby involving dressing up in strange outfits so seriously that one’s group ends up as a respected resource for academics pursuing a proper understanding of Roman military engineering and craftsmanship.

    Even if they probably wouldn’t let me play with the onager

    Onager

  • I’m shocked-diddly-ocked I tell you!

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    If a dad freaks out after his six-year-old innocently says the word ‘pen*s’ when reading a sign some teenagers have pranked, experience tells me that said six-year-old might just think it was enormous fun to say that word over and over and over again just to make daddy’s eyes bug out. Working out whether when his face changes colour like that it matches the crimson or the magenta crayon more exactly might be considered enormous fun as well.

    But apparently, Bryan Flynn thinks such a reaction from his six-year-old indicates a “traumatized” child, and requires channelling Ned Flanders:

    This has shaken the bedrock of our family. I made an emergency call to our church’s pastor about this bombshell in my daughter’s life and he is unsure how it will affect her future.

  • He didn’t like it, no sirree

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    Peter MacCallum titles his review “A cruelty that extends to all within earshot” and opens with

    First I need to be honest and say that I found Peter Goldsworthy and Richard Mills’s Batavia the vilest thing I have experienced in the theatre.
    It’s an appallingly studied invectival tirade masquerading as a brutal-but-fair assessment. One is forced to wonder whether Messrs Goldsworthy and Mills ever tied MacCallum down and popped a ferret in his trousers, such is his spite.

    The libretto of Batavia tells a tale of violence and brutal despair that is possibly unmatched even in the world of opera, but is that any excuse to cynically coopt the language of violence in order to produce hyperbole such as this?

  • Weekend flashback – boots of revenge and high adventure

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    To set the tone just right for the first non-meta post at the new digs, I offer you possibly the best cheese of the early 80s:

    General: We have won again. That is good! But what is best in life?
    Warrior: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcon on your wrist, wind in your hair!
    General: Wrong! Conan, what is best in life?
    Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!
    General: That is good.
    Is that some portentous cheese or what?

  • A work in progress

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    I finally decided that Blogspot and I had to go our separate ways. It’s nearly my first blog-anniversary, so a shiny new space seemed appropriate.

    All the old stuff will still be archived at the original tigtogblog

  • Scary!

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    New LP commenter tanja has a terrific blog – art and politics meet photoshop at Poligoths. If our muppets in Canberra confuse and infuriate you, head over for a point and a laugh. And my perennial favourite Chris Clarke at… Read More ›

  • Look at this tree

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    Seems rather attractive doesn’t it? Harmless? Innocent even? Don’t you believe it. A close relative of this tree has been working fiendishly for several years now to lever up one of the large concrete slabs that makes up my driveway…. Read More ›

  • Amanda vs Hef

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    Amanda at Pandagon takes on the myth of Hugh Hefner as a sexual revolutionary. After noting a description of the lives of Hef’s “girlfriends” where they are subject to strict curfews and other oppressive “house rules”, she goes on to… Read More ›

  • Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

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    From The Age: A new survey shows that one in five Victorians believe women are just as likely as men to violently assault their partner. The dramatic shift in public opinion stems from the rise in fathers’ groups who say… Read More ›

  • Weekend flashback: boots on the bridge

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    I’m amazed at how difficult it is to find an image online of Uhura’s boots. Apparently all the screen-capture nerds were much more interested in the Mirror-Uhura, but they only show her from the waist up, so I had to… Read More ›