Is anyone else here who lived through the 80s (or earlier relevant epochs) experiencing a sense of history repeating itself, with the invasion of Ukraine and all that entails, and the consciousness that there’s nuclear weapons in the hands of madmen? When I was a teenager, there was a painful awareness of this. Here’s a …
Open Letter To The “Different”
The right-wing Australian federal government and their fundamentalist PM are currently trying to pass legislation which would make it legal for religious people to spout hate speech against LGBTIQ and to discriminate against them, including specifically the expelling of transsexual children from private schools. This has led to impassioned discussion on The Guardian. Amongst the …
Modern Fairytales: Rock’n’Roll & Space Aliens
Some time ago, there was a tedious online carry-on because the bass player of a certain longtime band had apparently announced on social media that he’d had a falling out and was quitting. This was followed by a lot of sound and fury from a subsection of the fan base, and complete silence from the …
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Exploring the Back Catalogue: HOTD & Powderkegs
ONCE UPON A POWDERKEG It’s so much more pleasant to write about music you love than about music that leaves you lukewarm or that you have issues with, but when you’re going through anyone’s back catalogue, unless you have extremely wide tastes and don’t get analytical with lyrics, you’re likely to find a mix of both. This is just like the Smorgasbord Analogy I wrote about on Exploring “Join the Dots”. No one person can or should be expected to eat and enjoy every dish that’s on offer at a buffet.
Cosmic Vending Machine
My lovely friend Elizabeth put a question on her blog for her readers to answer. …instead of trying to outsmart the universe, I’m simply resting at its feet in devoted curiosity. Later I read a fluff piece in Elle on manifesting. Gag me but the takeaway was essentially, we have to believe we’ve worthy in …
When You Don’t Smile
Something I put on Guardian responses when Grace Tame not smiling at the PM got her public castigation by the usual suspects. I’ve added photos and captions for context. I just wanted to point out something regarding Grace Tame getting attacked by various people for not smiling at the PM, because I’ve not seen it …
More Uses For The Cure’s “Disintegration”
From the curefans forum: http://curefans.com/index.php?topic=9257.msg771324;topicseen#msg771324 Good literature, art and music stays relevant for a long time after it was born, and can speak to new contexts as they arise. You get this with Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, which, though over 150 years old now, still has so much of fundamental and timeless relevance to say …
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Fuzzy Little Jetfighters
We have eebs. What on earth? Well, Brett and I are slightly potty and enjoy language games, and early on in our homestead beekeeping careers, we decided that our hives had eebs in them, and that eebs go sssssb! Did you know that you can find umblebeebs in Tasmania, and that spoonerising is also fun, …
Fight Back With Real Tomato Sauce
It started with the re-organisation of the local supermarket, which we used to frequent weekly prior to our tree change, and are now going to fortnightly at most, for items we don’t yet grow ourselves and can’t obtain directly from other local smallholders, the local butcher, or the bulk supplier who stocks local stoneground wholemeal …
A Country For The Big Boys
A reprint of a rant I sent to Grass Roots Feedback, which a reader told me I should air more widely. Thanks, Val! 🙂 Here goes. We GR people already know how it is – but sometimes, when you hear of yet another incidence of new and idiotic regulations, doesn’t something just snap in you? …