What’s The Deal With “Craig” Then?

I’m intrigued by the messages from “Craig” that have been doing the rounds amongst the Melbourne peeps I’m following on Twitter. Apparently these have been “found” taped up to lampposts and mailboxes in Windsor, which is a suburb of Melbourne and also happens to be the place where I get off the train most mornings on my way to work. You can see the full set here: http://users.tpg.com.au/morepats/Craig/ And also here and here and here…

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Facebook Causes Cancer? Right. I’m Only Twittering From Now On

I swear that the Daily Mail only write these stories as fodder for Ben Goldacre, but surely they’ve reached a new self-parodying low with their Facebook causes cancer story. Inspired by reading the excellent Bad Science book, and the fact that Ben posted the link, I read the original magazine article on which the story is based. Go on, have a look: it’s worth it if only to see the amusing use of tenuous stock…

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“The Feelgood Film of the Year”

I’m about a month or so behind everyone else on this one, and so as usual I have nothing new or original to say, but anyway Sal and I finally got round to seeing Slumdog Millionaire earlier this week. We had been planning to see it at the moonlight cinema, outside in Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, but after I stupidly left it too late to get tickets, we decided instead to go to the old…

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Small World

I almost forgot to mention: on Saturday afternoon, after we’d retreated back into the cool air-conditioning of the Fitzroy Bowls Club I went to the bar for a jug of Bullmers. “You wouldn’t be used to this, would you?” said the barman. When I replied that no, I wasn’t and that it was really quite hot out there, he asked me where in the UK I was from. “Well, I lived in London for 8…

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The Worst Day

The local papers cracked open the hyperbole last week, giving last Saturday the advance billing of “the worst day in Victoria’s history”. We’d had five consecutive 40+ degree days the week before last, and now the sun was back for revenge, for one day only. In the event, it proved to be something of an understatement: the mercury topped out at a record 46.4 degrees in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon, half of the state ended…

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Back To The Start

I continue to enjoy seeing British bands in tiny venues in Melbourne. I suppose eventually after I’ve been here for long enough I will run out of bands I’ve heard of from over there that haven’t yet made it over here, but for now it’s great to be able to go to somewhere like the Hi-Fi, the tiny underground venue on Swanston Street, and watch a band who I’d be lucky to see in somewhere…

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“I thought it was always cold in Melbourne…”

So said Ben Ottewell, midway through Gomez’s set at the Espy last night. I’d spent most of my day in an air conditioned office, and couldn’t believe how hot it actually was when I stepped out of it at half past five and almost got knocked over by the wall of heat that hit me: thirty eight blistering degrees, apparently, and it didn’t cool down quickly. After having dinner down by the beach in St…

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Well, That Just About Wraps it Up for God

It’s a shame I’m not around in the UK to see the fruits of the atheist bus campaign trundling around the capital telling everyone that “there’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Still, even from this distance it’s nice to see something positive in the news for once. Of course it was inevitable that someone would start complaining about it eventually, and it’s no surprise to see that it’s the notoriously…

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