As the few readers of this blog would know, I am a shareholder in Broo, a craft brewing company which is listed on the ASX. As a recap, I acquired most of my shares in early 2011 when, as an inspired marketing stunt, the founder of Broo offered a number of shares per slab for …
Author Archives: Ernest Zanatta
Channel 7 Versus The World
I doubt many people are familiar with the movie Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. Dorky guy who likes video games meets a suitable girl (vaguely goth, likes comic books and video games), but to win her, he must defeat each of her formidable seven ex boyfriends. It is like a series of challenges in a …
Reflections on being a Footscray / Western Bulldogs Supporter
About 8 months ago I rather reluctantly joined Facebook, mostly because it was a relatively painfree way to make contact with an intricate web of second cousins in Reggio Calabria during my imminent visit. Since then, the number of fake profiles and would be scammers I have encountered have given me renewed cause to lament …
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The Man Who Broke Capitalism
I initially started my share portfolio in mid 1996 with 110 shares in Mayne Nickless. I had just bought my first home, read a book about share market investing for the first time, and saw an ad in the Australian Financial Review about endowment warrants. I made an enquiry with a stockbroking firm trying to …
Australia Post To Close Many Local Post Offices
For the past 30 years, for initial reasons more than half forgotten, I have rented a post office box at Highpoint West. The post office address is Highpoint City, not the original Highpoint West, nor the current simple Highpoint, reflecting the name of the shopping centre post 1986 expansion, which the post office has never …
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Mervyn Napier Waller – An Artist Who Needs No Gallery
Now that I am retired (well, not officially til July, but I am not planning to ever go back to the office), I do not think that I will ever have cause to visit Canberra again. Much as Blue Poles is now a part of Australian cultural history due to the initial controversy followed by …
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When Steampunk Collides With Jeeves and Oscar Wilde – A Brief Review of Forrest Leo’s ‘The Gentleman’
I usually think that certain novels or songs could only be created in the era that such genres thrived in. Jazz music is from the Jazz Age (ie the roaring 20s), and Disco is very 1970s. Regency novels are very, well, Regency. And can you imagine Dickens in any time and place but the Industrial …
Lonely Planet Leaves Footscray
Furniture dealer Franco Cozzo died recently, at age 87. He is famous for the ads he used to run back in the 1980s on Channel Ten on Sunday mornings, when Ten would run such awful shows as Grecian Scene and Variety Italian Style. In a combination of Italian and deliberately broken English, Franco Cozzo would …
Broo’s Revolving Door Boardroom Continues
I have frequently written about craft brewer Broo in my blog over the past couple of years as I find the boardroom intrigues fascinating, a bit like a slow moving tram wreck. Yesterday I checked the company updates on Commsec and noted that the latest chairman has resigned after approximately 3 months as chair and …
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Beer Gardens of Melbourne – An Updated List
In late 2021 I was in the midst of a very long and pleasant staycation. I visited a few pubs and wrote an entry in my blog which listed several of the better beer gardens of Melbourne. Happily, I have been on a permanent staycation since mid 2023, and this means that I have visited quite …
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Lost For Words! 