Monthly Archives: March 2008

Just watched Four Corners’ “Debtland” episode, a thoroughly disturbing report on the debt crisis facing Australian households.  I’ve not done any research, so I don’t especially want to regurgitate theirs, but it strikes me that in the face of what is considered an enormous economic boom we are facing terrible economic times on a personal … Continue reading »

I was talking with CHARLES on the weekend.  Up to that point I was focussed on short stories and such, happy with all that I had to read.  Suddenly I’m intimately aware that there are piles of novels too.  He was trying to decide whether to read the new Neal Stephenson, the new Paul McAuley, … Continue reading »

There’s a cleanness to the sound of the new REM album. Buck’s playing is crisp and urgent. There’s energy and direction. You can hear it most obviously in “Supernatural Superserious”, which is this album’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”. The album also has the benefit of being short. About 35 minutes, I think. Sometimes, most times … Continue reading »

Listening to Elbow. Not mine.  The group. Has anyone else noticed how much these very serious Coldplay / Snow Patrol / whomever types all seem to sing just a little bit like Sting?  I have the flu.  It is doing its job most effectively.  Head is stuffed up, feel nauseated, and less than generous of … Continue reading »

So Orangey, who had been mauled by Tony the Tangerine Barracuda, died yesterday.  We’re a sentimental family, so now that Orangey is sleeping with the fishes, we set out to get a replacement.  We came home with an unnamed black molly, an unnamed speckled fantail, and a second water snail called Pliny the Younger.  You … Continue reading »