Who do you want to be caught under the mistletoe with this holiday season?
Submitted by An Ebony Epicurean.
I'd rather not be 'caught' per se. I'd much rather the occasion was a little more clandestine, and considered. After all, we're talking about a physical union here. A happening where bodily fluids are exchanged and temperatures are often raised. Not to mention expectations.
I'm not your average Christmas celebrator. In fact, I'm not a Christmas anything. I think it's merely another commercially constructed opportunity which favours only retailers preying on consumers. Christmas to me is an excuse for a couple of weeks off at the end of the year at the employers expense, during which I do my level best to get as far away from friends and family as is humanly possible without surrendering entirely to the elements, or doing without the electronic niceties like computer and internet. This year, we're going camping in a very well appointed national park, within easy jaunting distance to a plethora of excellent wineries, not to mention centres of civilisation where neither myself nor Missus NDC are known to anyone. We'll be noshing up a storm, fireplacing it in the evening with many a good red and surveying our temporary domain from lofty lookouts during the day. The scenery will be dramatic and the sex so very, very satisfying. And not a family member or screaming, genetically related loin-fruit in sight.
Selfish? Scrooge-ish? Un-Christmas-like? You bet your consumer-driven, ho-ho-ho, deck-the-halls arse! BAH! and a jumbo sized HUMBUG to you all!
I've categorised this entry under 'Blogworld', which is to say it's about blogs and bloggers, per se, just not the ones we usually equate with the Oz Blogosphere.
The bloggers involved happen to be political commentators and journalists, posing as bloggers because their employers allow them to write their columns under the guise of something they call, a blog. Who are they? Well, proponents of the so-called 'left' and the 'right' Phillip Adams and Gerard Henderson respectively.
I'm attracted to this pair because there's an evident antipathy between the two, exposed quite openly in Adams column....sorry, blog....in todays Oz. I like Adams' style in that he takes the absolute mickey out of Henderson with his tongue shoved very solidly into his cheek. It is true what he writes, that once it was clear that John Howard was lost in the political cataclysm of November 24, Henderson was one of the first of the so-called 'righties' to jump on the "let's pretend solidarity" wagon and jettison Howard liberalism like the pox-ridden plague it always was. Henderson is still distancing himself from the stench of that rotting cadaver in his own blog.....oh, sorry Gerard.....column today.
Howard achieved much during his period in office and is entitled to be considered one of Australia's most successful prime ministers - along with Bob Hawke and Menzies. Assuming, that is, that success is best judged by the ability to implement change and/or to know when to quit.Howard's principal faults turned on his failure to arrange for a smooth leadership succession to his deputy, Peter Costello, and his apparent unwillingness to reform the Liberal Party when he had the untrammelled authority to do so.
Well, which is it, Gerard? Was he successful and a truly great PM, or was he an abject dunderhead because he failed to implement real change or known just when to quit and actually do it? I know what my thoughts are, but Gerard doesn't seem to have made up his mind yet, despite having cuddled Kevin on election night. I guess abandoning a lifetime of ideological cyclopian dogma comes as hard to a die-hard conservative as giving away the demon drink does to an alcoholic.
I had to laugh at Adams' writing though. Let's be fair, you former Howard-Huggers. There's a lot more fun in you remaining on your side of the ideological divide, than feigning solidarity with we Howard-Haters now that the witch is dead. After all, isn't that ideological antithesis what blogging is founded upon? C'mon, have a little thought for your fellow bloggers, even if you don't have any respect for your former political demagogues.
If you had a time machine, which year would you travel to and why?
Submitted by Michelle.
What? Only one era to choose from? Hells bells, if I could traverse time, I go see it all, both forward and back. I'd love to see Rome, circa 100AD. The Trajan period, long after the in-breds from the Julio-Claudian and Augustan eras and a relatively quiet period of expansion for the empire. I'd also travel to Britannia to observe Roman Britain. Solidly Roman in the south, but tenuously held in the northern midlands. What a buzz it would be to be a part of those times, albeit, no toilet paper, no synthetic cloth, no running water, lights out with sundown, no electricity, no internet.
On the upside, no mobile phones, no annoying emails, no bills, bills, bills and if you lived right, no taxes either. Well, okay, some taxes, but hey.....if you live in the boonies, what roman tax collector is going to come looking?
My new toy, courtesy of my ever-loving wife. 10x optical zoom!! Now, if I can just come to terms with all these buttons!
List five reasons (at least) why you are awesome.
Submitted by goobers18.
I iron my own clothes;
I clean the toilet bowl and always put the seat back down;
I'm not afraid to kill and remove cockroaches;
I'm a great fuck (so I'm told and she ought to know);
I love animals of all kinds;
I grow and flower a mean orchid;
I'm a provider, breadwinner, money-maker and proud of it
That'll do for now. There's clearly heaps more that I ought to be renown for, but being your average modest Aussie, I'd rather leave those elements for others to detail.
If you could perform alongside any artist (actor, dancer, musician, etc.), who would it be, and what would you perform?
Submitted by Kristin.
Hmmmm..........Kylie Minogue.....cunnilingus?
What's your alma mater?
Submitted by Lies.
Your mother's cousin? A rich peoples private ward at the Mater Hospital? Is it the animal hospital at the Alma Park Zoo?
Do you tend to like music in particular genres, or are your tastes all over the place? What are your most and least favorite musical genres?
Most favourite? Has to be 1970's British rock
Least favourite, in fact, most hated? Doof-doof noise. I refuse to classify it as music.
Video: Show us an impressive athletic feat.
Can't find one, but here's a blog post which details the feat. Copious quantities of alcohol mandatory.
Music-wise, what was the first 45, single or download you bought?
Submitted by Paddy Melt Wagon.
Let's talk 45, shall we? I'm old enough to have bought a few. I even had a mono record player when I was 18. My very first 45 was The Beatles, George Harrison doing 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' on one side and McCartney's 'Blackbird' on the other. At the same time I also bought 'The Ballard of John & Yoko' / 'Old Brown Shoe'. The memory stays with me because Mum wasn't too happy about me having music by that long-haired, drug-smoking hippy, John Lennon. How times change, eh?
