Steve Irwin was the finest kind of drongo – a genuine ocker mug lair, with a tremendous enthusiasm and generosity. I’d only just started to admire Steve Irwin (after finding his ockerism embarrassing) recently since I learned how much of his TV wealth he has plowed back into conservation and animal welfare projects generally.
I’m appalled at his sudden death while wondering whether this time he took just a few
This movie didn’t do very well. Partly because this movie poster promised a lot more Conan/Arnie than was there (so the word of mouth was ‘what a ripoff’) and partly because they didn’t give Brigitte Nielsen exactly the costume the fans were expecting, which was more along the lines of this eminently practical warrior garb – the chainmail bikini:
There was a long thread (200+ comments) over at Pandagon last week about the pressures on both men and women regarding marriage expectations, which was quite fascinating. Amanda was reading a book about proposal angst and was worried that people might think she was reading “bridal p*rn” because of the picture of a woman in a wedding dress on the cover, and that they would then conclude that she was one of those who’d bought into the hype of needing to be married, the fear of being “left on the shelf”.
The post concentrated particularly on the romantic and dramatic expectations regarding the proposal itself:
My darling got me tickets to The Boy From Oz!
For any particular reason, dear reader?
Only for my (addendum) birthday, for which I have decided to photoshop a fantasy cake: (This text added to entice all the feed-readers who obviously were not fascinated enough by musical theatre references to drop on by yesterday. Sniff.).
Ian Frazer, the discoverer, is doing a bit of a whirlwind tour today for the cameras – vaccinating some girls and young women in both Brisbane and Sydney on the first day that Gardasil is approved for use in Australia.
As yet there’s no government subsidy for the vaccine (which protects against the virus that causes the main form of cervical cancer), so the full course of three shots costs over A$400. There’s nonetheless no shortage of takers, and a growing number of men interested in the vaccination as well so they can be confident of not infecting their partners.
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
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.
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?
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 ›
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 ›
Hoyden About Town 