Bushfires

The last 24 hours have seen the State's worst bushfires in recent memory. Last night before going to bed the number of dead was 25; we woke to 50. Now it looks like there are at least 76 dead.

We have become news junkies. The first times we needed the constant fix of facts was the Tiananmen Square protests in '89 and then again in the first Gulf War - an incessant, desperate need for more information as though there was something useful we could if only we knew some missing piece. Or perhaps we were just waiting for someone to say that things have peaked and won't get any worse.

Tonight we watched a couple of news programs, commercial and non. Both had live interviews with both the Premier (Brumby) and the Prime Minister (Rudd). Everyone, whether politico or journo looked haggard and struggling with emotion of the day.

"Why don't the newscasters cry when they read about people who die?
At least they could be decent enough to put just a tear in their eyes "

...sang Jack Johnson, but tonight both Peter Hitchener and Ian Henderson were struggling to keep it together.

Some hours later, we've just heard that one of their peers (and competitors) looks like he and his wife were killed in the fires. It doesn't make it any worse, but it does put a familiar face to those who've perished. The places close to Melbourne that have burned I know - King Lake and St Andrews in particular - and will miss as they were. But even putting a face to it, I still can't fathom that so many have died.

Google Ice Cream Duck

Tonight as I was going through my flickr stats - most viewed, comments etc and tracking back to find out how people found the photo. There were the usual links from Google, Yahoo and their respective images searches, but one of the Google searches was for "ice cream duck". Rather wonderfully, repeating the search produced the following result...

But how many responses are there to a search of "ice cream duck"... Quite a few as it turns out. Far more than you might have guessed....



Wow... So that's the most popular ice cream duck out of 4.7 million.....

Half an Orange Head

Today was full and wonderful and fulfilling moments. Jane R sent me a joke today that is the best I've heard in ages. A quick Googling suggests it may not be that new (at least a couple of years), but that's not the point. It goes:

"A man walks into a bar. Half his head is a giant orange. He walks up to the bartender and says, 'I'll have a pot of light and a double scotch and water thanks.'

'Sure,' says the barman, and starts pouring his drinks. 'But - and I hope you don't mind me saying - I couldn't help noticing half your head is a giant orange. What's up with that?'

'Well,' the man says, 'that's quite a story.'

He pulls up a bar stool, downs his scotch, and begins. 'A few weeks ago I got a call from my auntie. She wanted to know if I could come over and help her clean out the attic. I was just watching the cricket, so I figured I might as well. I show up, and she tells me she wants everything out of there: anything I want, she says, I can keep.

'So, I've been fossicking around in there for about half an hour when I find this lamp. It looks pretty sweet - perhaps an antique - so I figure I can clean it up and flog it off on ebay. I pull out my hankie and give the thing a bit of a rub and - what do you know! - a genie appears!

'"You have freed me from the lamp", he tells me, "and consequently, you have three wishes"

'Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather. Anyway, I pull myself together and come up with my first wish. "I want a wallet," I tell the bloke, "with a million dollars in it, and whenever I spend some of it it just fills up again."

'Just like that, kapow, this wallet appears, and in it there's a million dollars.'
The man pulls out the wallet and puts it on the bar. It's massive.

'Boy, was that a mistake,' he says. 'This thing weighs a ton. Ever since I got it I've had terrible sciatica, and most of my money goes on chiropractors.

Anyway, enough about that. For my second wish I said, "I want every single woman I meet to fall in love with me". Again, what was I thinking? Look around this place.'

The barman does. Every woman in the bar is sitting and staring at the man with the orange head. It's not a very nice bar, and they're not very nice women.

'Y'see? Everywhere I go this happens. Walking past primary schools has become a legal impossibility. Anyway, as you've probably guessed, around now the genie says to me "And what would you like for your third wish?"'

'And I say to him, my third wish? For my third wish I'd like half my head to be a giant orange.' "

(Photo by textileseahorse)

G-Spot Tornado

I'm lost for words. A marching squad/team/group/collection marching to Zappa's "G-Spot Tornado". The synclavier version was madcap enough, but the Ensemble Moderne version is the bee's knees, or possibly even the ant's elbows. Which is pretty impressive, considering it wasn't intended to ever be played by humans....

The doctor is in

The doctor may not be in, and there's no particular reason to link to this now, but I came across it and it made me smile. I've seen a few interviews with Thompson, but this one captures a tone and speech rhythms that I heard when I read "The Joke's Over" by Ralph Steadman.

I ate a bit hanging off my duck

There have been some wonderful moments, and wonderful quotes in the last few days:

• Friday I met A Mayor. This particular Mayor had previously sought higher office, and F made the observation that his acceptance of his current role was like an aspiring captain of the school cricket team accepting the captaincy of the rounders team. Hoorah for big school! He has a turn of phrase and disposition that made me think that Hunter Thompson must have once had a school master. "A pocket of toxic incompetence" was my favourite...
  

• Saturday we drove through Fairfield at night to get Will to sleep. Wonderment upon wonderment, a train went through the crossing and The Dog's* eyes lit up! The navigation light on his tail was also on, but his tail didn't wag (although I have seen this happen many years ago). I've been told by someone on the Council that sometimes he works and sometimes he doesn't and it seems to be pretty random. I consider a wagging to be some sort of blessing.
  

• And finally, tonight, eating some duck red curry Will said, - "I ate a bit hanging off my duck". I think we can all sympathise. Unless you're a duck.
  

*(aka FIDO - the "Fairfield Industrial Dog Object")

Introduction of the Lubitel and another Holga shot...

This one was taken on Betka Beach last week, using Auntie Holga. Agfa Portrait 160.


This was also taken at Mallacoota, but is the product of the first real outing of the Lubitel 166. It appears to be an old one (bought off eBay) rather than a Lomography one. This is using the same film as above (the Afga Portrait 160), but the colour cast is slightly different. Soft light seems to bring out the oranges more. A really soft and warm film, which I suppose is what portrait film is supposed to be.


I just can't help myself - I'll be using both cameras a lot more in the coming months. I'll also get some more Fuji Provia 100 which produced some fantastic, saturated results in strong beach light.