A heaven on earth

This is a bookstore somewhere in Argentina that used to be an opera house. Pretty cool.

Everyman's Guide to Globalisation

Courtesy of Overheard in New York:

Drunk black girl: I get mad cheap shit in Chinatown. You can get shit for like ten cents. China knows what's up.

Drunk black guy: Shit. But they are communist and shit.

Drunk black girl: Yeah, but the U.S. is a bunch of idiots. They're like, "We are gonna make shit fuckin' expensive," and China is like, "FUUUCK YOUUU. We are gonna sell shit for like one dollar, and all you stupid white bitches gonna buy it up. Fuuuck youuu."

[Sorry for contravening the convention of don't cut and paste, but this was easier]

A bit weird!?

The train service in Melbourne has a slightly discomforting new ad campaign: Don't Hold Other Back.

It's all about how the trains are going to become more efficient because of government support. However, it is also about how you-the public transport user-can help the trains run better.
Some of the older ads are quite good: Kitsch/crappy posters with model trains and aliens attacking or probing or beaming them up.

Just watch the TV ad on the website-I'm sure you'll agree it is weird!

So much to say!

Firstly, I was walking along Bourke Street yesterday when I say a Japanese man playing "acountry brues". Nuf said!


Secondly, I am completely obsessed with Gordon Ramsay's The F Word. He has bought himself Turkeys to cook for Christmas. So what? He has named them after celebrity TV chefs: Nigella (who turns out to be a male turkey), Delia (also a man), Ainsley, Jamie and Gary (aka Rhodes, and the Turkey gets an infected foot). Moreover, how would you like to eat squirrel? Times food critic, Giles Coren, finds out how to cook a grey squirrel-which are running rampant in Britain-and it turns out people love it.

Thirdly, RIP Steve Irwin. Crickey, he went out in good circumstances: stung through the heart by a stingray!

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

Well, I was doing a little random surfing relating to Aldous Huxley, and supposedly he is pictured on the front of the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album. I can't find him, but I did find this cool site where you can click on the images to find out who the person is. There are some random people on the cover.

Actually, I just found Huxley... looks strange, however: he is the one above Marlon Brando with a red shirt.

This is a bit of a coincidence, which is slightly freaky, as a certain other blogger told me she was doing a puzzle of the cover. Twilight Zone man.........

Tight Arse Italian Exams

Now, this is what I call an exam:

Calenzano, (20km far from Firenze, Italy),This is crazy. In Italy once you reach
graduation as an architect you're not a "real" architect, you have to attend
this crazy examination called "Esame di Stato" (State Exam). "Esame di Stato"
happens twice a year and the graduate architects who attend it have 8 hours
(usually from 9:30am to 5:30pm) to design what is asked to them: a public
library, for example, or a school, or a residential settlement for 428 people,
or the upgrading of a public square, and so on. The crazy thing is that people
have to esign and draw by hand.

Biting Social Comment in a Blog... No!!?!

Two posts in two days... incredible but true.

Check out this biting social comment from BibliOdyssey. Who would have thought that a blog could contain biting social commentary?

Bamboo Bridge

Now, this bamboo bridge is truly amazing. The Flickr info says it is an art installation somewhere in Los Angeles. Cool.

Good Morning from the Clouds

After my shower this morning I heard the tell-tale sounds [insert sound of hot-air balloon fire going]. The balloon got about 10 metres away from my window; close enough for the people in the basket to say good morning, and for me to respond. Then I took this picture.

This is not the first time I have had a close brush with a perilously close hot-air balloon. I took this photo in 2004 when the VanGogh Balloon came to Canberra.

Don't look into his eyes!

Found this wonderful picture in The Illustrated Australian News, a exceedingly beautiful periodical from 1876-1890s published from Melbourne. It was released monthly, essentially, and featured copious hand-engraved drawings. There are many more excellent ones, and, are a invaluable resource for Australian history.

Long Time No Blog!

I think this is a very cool picture. It's from a building in Denmark - those Danish architects sure have style!

The image is from Flickr, taken by magnus*

I also thought this image a nice one.

Beautiful Scene

This is a beautiful photo of a cafe in Rome. I think the tree (wisteria?) makes this a wonderful shot.

Funky 'Trees'

I found these 'trees' on my Flickr tagged photos feed.

Prime Minister in a Goon Bag!

Well, what one finds on library websites. I found this today on the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library site:That's right ladies and gentlemen, it is the official Bust of Bob Hawke that doubles as a goon (cask wine) holder. Who'd have thunk it!!

P.S. Sperm in a goon bag!! click!

I just discovered this mural-mosaic on a building in Collins Street, Melbourne. It seems to be a great example of an art deco design, but there is a bloody tree, and a tram line obscuring the view.

Triumph of the Illiterate

I was in Borders today for some Boxing Day shopping (despite Borders having very poor offers) when I came across, perhaps, the newest wonder of the modern world - a novel by an illiterate person (at least illiterate in my hyberbole).

Let me be among the chorus to say a big WTF!!! Nicole Richie, friend to Paris Hilton, can write, can string together more than one sentence of three one syllable words!!!??? When did hell freeze over. The Truth About Diamonds, the blurb informs me, is about some girl who gets adopted by a rock and/or roll star and his wife, and a fantasy life ensues. The blurb also refers to Richies' "talented voice".

Perhaps the greatest implication for everyday life is that the publishing industry is taking anyone, and that I could string a story together and expect it to be published.

So, it only cost $20: go out and buy it and see what it is like, and then come and tell me.

And happy Boxing Day!

Vitrual History

Recently I have been looking over various sites of libraries and archives with digital exhibitions.
One of the cooler things I have found is the Mitchell Library's website. William Bligh's logbook is on this site, and the technology is great fun; just turn the pages!

The Vatican Secret Archives is also in on the internet game, having digitised some great documents. This is the sheet of paper which excommunicated Martin Luther:

The British Library also has a nice online section of documents called "Turning the pages".

Enjoy Libraries! And a Merry Christmas to all!

Threshold

I have started watching this new show recently, Threshold. It is actually quite enjoyable, especially because Brent Spiner (aka, Star Trek's Data) is in it as a kind of disgruntled biologist.

What is also better is the memorable quote from one of the episodes. One of the characters states that if the Alien sound reaches the internet it could reach 33% of users, to which another character asks: "What model distribution are you using?" She replies pithily "I am using the Paris Hilton sex tape as my distribution model"

The Pope's Hunky Assistant

So, this is freaky. Supposedly Pope Benedict's personal assistant, Monsignor Georg Ganswein, is considered a bit of a hunk in Italy. So yeah, watch out ladies! This is him:The Guardian had an article (titled: Thou Shalt Not Drool) on him which states:

The Italian press compares him to George Clooney and Hugh Grant; his critics describe him as the 'Black Forest Adonis'.

"As he jumped on to the Popemobile for the first time," one German magazine remarked, "we women held our breath."

Gänswein's critics even accuse him of turning the Pope into a fashion victim. This summer, Ratzinger and his secretary went on holiday to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, as well as to the Italian Alps at Valle D'Aosta. While both men were hiking in the hills, the Pope appeared in public wearing a Nike hat, designer Serengeti sunglasses and a Cartier watch. "This is Gänswein's style. It's his handwriting," one religious affairs writer said. "This is something I don't understand."

Supposedly, even the Italian President's wife, Franca, has the hots for him!

(I just got this awful picture in my head of an old crusty nun coming on to him.... ewwww!)

A Face staring at me!

So I look up at my booksheld yesterday and... OMG there is a face staring at me! Can you see it. Freaked me out, though it is disappearing a bit.