Raise a glass tonight for Nicholas Courtney, who played UNIT’s Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge Stewart in Doctor Who, appearing with the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh Doctors, and also in a 2008 episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. He… Read More ›
in memoriam
Signal Boost: Jon Swift Memorial Round-Up 2010
The year-end Blogger Round Up lives on – honour Al Weisel’s memory by reading, bookmarking and/or contributing to the collection of self-nominated favourite posts from 2010.
Vale Jacob F. Baldwin 1951-2010
One of Australia’s pioneering disability activists has died in the early hours of this morning after an extended illness.
Vale Les Paul
Les Paul, dead at 94 from complications of pneumonia. As Tim Dunlop notes, only a few months ago he was still regularly gigging in a club at Times Square, so he was doing what he loved almost right until the end.
Vale Michael Jackson
Wow, I look away from Twitbin for an hour and it explodes: Michael Jackson taken to hospital after being found not breathing, then announced as in a coma and then pronounced dead.
Sunday Hoyden: Vale Bea Arthur
I only just caught her fabulous turn as Vera Charles a couple of days ago in the movie Mame! and thought to myself “what a great hoyden”, and today I heard the news that she has died, aged 86.
Remembering Anzac Day: stark lessons squandered and myths reinforced
I have little to add to these quoted comments below from Paul Norton’s Anzac Day post at LP, which focuses on the militaristic myth side of Anzac Day. As usual, there are some illiterates objecting to the use of the word “myth” as if the word means “untrue in its entirety”. The usage of “myth” when discussing recent history always, of course, nearly always refers to the meanings 2b and 2c below:
Friday Hoydens: the Redgrave women
There’s a lot of attention given to this particular death, partly because of the fame of her family, and partly because her death seems bizarre to those who don’t know much about head injuries. There’s plenty to read about both those aspects in the various MSM reports.
Vale Olive Riley, the world oldest blogger
The SMH farewells Olive Riley of Woy Woy, who at 108 was the world’s oldest blogger. Riley was born in Broken Hill before Federation, saw the entire twentieth century, and has lasted a good few years into the twenty-first. She… Read More ›
Lest We Forget: three images for ANZAC day
All over Australia and New Zealand, communities will gather around war memorials to remember those who have died in military service. We will listen to a speech, we will watch the laying of wreaths, we will recite the Ode to the Fallen, and we will listen to the Last Post. Later in the day we will watch those who survived, and those in service today, march to honour the dead. We will be reminded that such sacrifices should never be for unworthy causes.
Hoyden About Town 