The Optimism of the Lifelong Bulldogs Supporter

On the day after the 2016 Grand Final miracle, after leaving the celebration at the Whitten Oval I had a few drinks (very limited choice as the pub had almost entirely run out) at the Victoria Hotel in Footscray with a friend who had crossed the Nullabor to see the game. He had spoken to …

How to make a lawful protest in the State of Disaster

As I have indicated in my blog on various occasions, whilst I am far too conservative to participate in demonstrations, I do very strongly believe in the right to protest as part of what makes for a healthy democracy. That people (bogans are people too) have been arrested in their own homes for simply advocating …

Council Elections are on

About 15 years ago, an acquaintance of a friend ran for the Maribyrnong Council on a mostly sensible platform around cutting waste and rate payments. I say mostly, because he had a fixation about permanently reopening the public toilet on what was then platform 4 of Footscray Station. The one time I met this prospective …

In Which I Am Haunted By A Poltergeist

Let me start by saying that despite self-identifying as a Catholic every 5 years on the census, I am not a superstitious person. However, since Sunday morning, something strange has happened five times in my home. My shaving handle (Gillette Fusion Power) is battery operated, and it has somehow turned itself on five times in …

I, Robot – Turning a State of Disaster into a Police State?

I, Robot is the sort of movie you watch once in the cinemas and then mostly forget about. I cannot remember too much about it except it had Will Smith in it and that actress who was one of the barmaids in Coyote Ugly (yes, I have high brow taste in film). With the restrictions …

Fiona Patton’s Yar Yar Binks Moment

I fear the introduction of Yar Yar Binks into the Star Wars Franchise is the moment that Star Wars jumped the shark (and they did have a lot of shark like creatures on Coruscant in Episode One). Through the good fortune of meeting two fugitive Jedi, Yar Yar Binks is turned from an outcast exile …

What Happens When The Mask Comes Off?

One of my more juvenile pleasures is to watch the current season of The Masked Singer, a show which best demonstrates the rapid decline of Channel Ten in recent years. D-list celebrities perform in masks to provoke the supposedly funny reactions of mostly appalling B-list judges (except for Dannii Minogue – she has always been …