Friday, November 30th, 2007
A brief review of the first 25 pages of Ian McEwan’s Booker nominated “Atonement”:
Like Margaret Drabble, except boring.
I think I might make this a regular feature. Five word book reviews welcome in comments!
Entries from November 2007
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
Leadership questing
I’m finding it exciting waiting to find out whether it’s going to be Gilderoy Lockhart or Kreacher:
And as for that cunt Tony Abbott:
"We were a very very good government and I am quite confident that in the not to distant future this will be seen as a golden age," he said."
Delusional.
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Launch of The Ernies Book tonight in Canberra
My sister in law and her co-author Meredith Burgmann are launching their book “1000 terrible things Australian men have said about women” at Paperchain in Manuka tonight – just in time for Christmas! Paperchain’s in Franklin Street, and it kicks off around 6. I’ll be the one in the “Maxine 13″ t-shirt.
In 1993 a small group of women gathered to celebrate the retirement of the original Ernie, a notoriously sexist trade union official who claimed that the only reason women wanted to become shearers was for the sex. The event grew to become the Annual Ernie Awards, the world’s premier event shaming men for outrageous sexism.
Fifteen years of Australian male chauvinist piggery is faithfully chronicled here with name, rank and serial number – from John Laws to John Howard, from David Oldfield to David Hookes, from Pat Cash to Paddy McGuinness and Australia’s former favourite son-in-law, Tom Cruise. Chefs, archbishops, judges, footballers, shock jocks and politicians are all in our sights.
I never turned away from Cathy. No matter how fat she was… -Nick Bideau, Cathy Freeman’s ex-coach and ex-partner
I bet she’s now sorry she burnt her bra all those years ago (on Germaine Greer at 63) -Ray Hadley, broadcaster
What do you think you’re looking at, sugar tits? -Mel Gibson, actor
With a nod to the good guys such as Don Bradman and Russell Crowe (really!), The Ernies Book is unashamedly wicked. If it weren’t so funny, you’d have to cry.
Sunday, November 25th, 2007
A different feeling …
kind of relaxed, you know? And comfortable.
Yay us.
Friday, November 23rd, 2007
A meme to calm the nerves
omg I’m pacing like a caged beast. Bless Bernice for tagging me with this meme, the rules of which are:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names, and links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
So here’s some fascinating facts about me:
1. I used to be shy to sing before I had a baby to sing to all the time. Now it makes me happy to sing.
2. I will tear up at the polling booth tomorrow. I do every time. It’s a bit embarrassing.
3. I’m actually an enormous sook.
4. I hope John Howard wins Bennelong so I can watch him suffer and my outlaws can have Maxine as their MP in 12 months time when he slinks away and starts doing active seniors classes with the YMCA. My friend Steevy came around today and he suggested that there was a German word that sounded kind of like this.
5. The sum total of my involvement in student politics at uni was the year that my friend Katie and I formed “Anarchists Against the Election”. She painted a big banner and we sat next to it outside the polling booth attempting to discourage people from voting because there was no point.
I’m not going to tag anyone because I’m like that, but leave a link in comments if you’re inspired to share.
Thursday, November 8th, 2007
When Good Babies Go Bad
Jethro has been crawling for the last couple of weeks, which is a pretty impressive feat when you consider the obstacle of his hip brace. I think he looks like a demented amputee spider:
And as of yesterday, his brace is gorn, although he’ll still be monitored to make sure his hip sockets deepen properly. If they don’t he’d have to have surgery to do it in a couple of years. Sage is excited that we have a “plain baby” now. Me too.
If you have kids (and perhaps if you haven’t) you’ll know that as soon as they start moving their sleeping goes to the dogs because every time their sleep cycle lightens they urgently want to do more sitting/crawling/pulling up, etc. That would explain why I found Jethro in his cot this morning having (a) taken the light globe out of my beside lamp (b) opened a water bottle and (c) poured the water all over himself and a container of nappies under the cot. He was very pleased.
Friday, November 2nd, 2007
Jesus Christ on a bike
Peter Garrett has said something gauche and flip to an radio journalist Steve Price. Price says “Hobyahs!, No I Am Not Joking,This Is Deadly Serious Stuff and I Am A Serious Journalist Not Some Desperate Hack Looking To Raise My Profile By Savaging An Inexperienced Media Performer*”. Peter Garrett’s flipancy is defended another media “identity”, Richard Wilkins. Ahem. This is the first item on the ABC news.
When it all gets a bit much around here, I quietly think about being Tony Abbott, scheduled to debate Nicola Roxon in another city in a couple of hours, listening to both Howard and Costello address some dumb launch before being able to speak himself and getting to the airport to make the freaking debate. That thought – to see the day Tony Abbott’s charmless bullying and incompetence saw him become a public has-been – warms me up sometimes when I’m in need of encouragement.
* Author’s own heh. Should’ve gone for Ed Keupper, he never would have fucked up like that. And I can’t imagine Nick Cave running for Parliament. Seat in the House of Lords, maybe.
Pardon me while I go get a bex.
