Is this guy a spotty nosed precocious little oik?

Those of you who follow JB's various online incarnations will know that he loves nothing more then getting stuck into the members of the so-called Generation-Y, hence some of the recent carry-on over at the Blunt Instrument and the many frequent barbed comments by readers, bloggers and the man himself on the topic.

So I just can't help but wonder whether he will be following Gideon Haigh into the wilderness after the announcement of the new editor at The Monthly, a 23 year old reputed 'genius'. As JB has in the past been known to write the occasional column in The Monthly and can be fairly regularly found making a few 'learned' remarks - I was wondering whether he will still be writing there in a few months.

Of course I am probably betraying my own generational angst and leanings when I wonder whether he will be able to take direction from a 'numpty nump' whose only experience of a 'left-wing' leader in Australia was Paul Keating and then only beacuse he could see the television from his cot? However I am sure he is a nice guy as well.

Of course it all just a storm in a teacup as The Monthly is effectively the Australian media's version of a vanity publication. But it has made good reading in the past and my Dad did actually enjoy the gift subscription I gave him last year for Father's Day...

A soldier's best friend?

I would usually send this as an email to Barnes or JB for them to incorporate into one of their tech rants - but I just think it is so cool that I have to let you all know about it myself...

Heavy Metal

It is interesting that while JB is rambling on about the death of newspapers on his blog recently there is rebirth of interest in the original newspaper technology - letterpress printing.

On the weekend I went to the open day at the Melbourne Museum of Printing which was packed full of people after some good promotions in the media and online by the Museum and its supporters at The Narrows.

It was great to see so much interest in letterpress and there was a lot of interest in the fundraising sales of prints, t-shirts and other paraphenalia.

The MMOP also runs education workshops, provides studio access, tours and demonstrations and a Friends of the Museum Membership program.

36 Moreland Street

FOOTSCRAY VIC 3011

AUSTRALIA

Opening Hours Sundays and Thursdays2.00pm - 6.00pm

Tel: 03 9689 7555

Email: info@mmop.org.au

Website: http://www.mmop.org.au/

PS check out their website for much better photographs then mine.

Strong Stomache?

I bet that it isn't strong enough to cope with this ...

Although I am sure that Squire Bedak will approve and Abe will be looking for the sausage recipes!

Booktown - the sequel

On Sunday headed out past Havock's place to visit Clunes for the Back to Booktown event.

Sweet Thang drove all the way and it was good to get some serious kilometres under her bonnet - a long distance trip to the country is great for a learner driver - and she is actually starting to enjoy driving and I am starting to enjoy having my own private chaffeur as well.

The Booktown event was packed again - lots of people, heaps of stalls selling books as well as food, live music etc. While the food wasn't as good this year as last time - we enjoyed the trip, the browsing for books and the atmosphere of the old gold town.

There were booksellers from all over the place - I even saw one from Tassie - and they included specialist booksellers in military history, art, history, rare books, children's books etc. Sweet Thang actually bought more than I did which was a total surprise - she likes old hardbacks with weird titles and found a couple of classics as well as fossicking through the antique shops. I got an old art book from a place that was selling 'books by the pound' and a remaindered cookbook from the Goldfields Library stand.

However we ran into a few friends and caught up with them in the middle of the main street over a coffee, just before the last minute specials were all announced.

Zombie Attack Plan 2

I have been raving in an earlier post about this song - at my instigation Ryan has gone and posted it at Youtube here.

Go and check out the frenzied zombie dancing...

PS If anyone can let me know how you post youtube videos properly here on blogspot it would be much appreciated!

Tassie pictures...

Catching Up

I had lunch with Barnes today and realised that I have been most remiss in my online world, so here is a brief catch up on everything since we visited Tasmania a couple of weeks ago.

The lesson was the next phase in my learning curve in the whole house buying thing. The bottom line was that we worked out our budget, went along to the auction of our 'dream' house and totally got our arses kicked by someone else with bigger pockets then ours...



Basically the whole experience sucked - we had been in to see the place about three times, it was great - good location, 'sustainable' design, recently renovated and covered by building insurance, heaps of space etc. All of our homework counted for nought though, it was sold to someone who walked in off the street, liked what they saw and sat through most of the bidding (which was mainly between us and another couple we have seen at quite a few inspections of this and other properties) then they walked in at the last minute when we were already over our limit and just bid all over both of us...

So we then had to rethink and recover over a large slice of chocolate cake and a few coffees, red wines and beers. Apparently the auction thing isn't so big elsewhere but here in Melbourne it is ruthless and frustrating. However now we know our limits and have everything sorted for the next place that works for us. So on weekends we are back on the house circuit, but with the Federal Budget and the June deadline looming for Uncle Kevins handouts - the whole thing is very daunting.

The other big thing has been the new show at work which opened last week to pretty good feedback from everyone concerned. It is great to see something which I thought of as an idea, actually come through to reality and I always enjoy when people actually start walking into the space.

We celebrated by going with some friends to see Arj Barker at the Melbourne Town Hall as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival. We all went to the Dainty Sichuan for a heart stopping dinner and Tsing Tao beers beforehand and all had a great time. I haven't ever been to a comedy festival gig since I moved here and it was an absolute hoot. Barker was hilarious and the crowd all were there to have grand old time.

This weekend we are looking at houses on Saturday (Preston, Coburg, Thornbury) and then on Sunday heading off for a road trip to the Clunes Book Town event. So will be dragging back some book bargains for the home library no doubt!