This will hurt me...

You've been TRAPPED!!! Have you ever seen that television programme Trapped ? It's a popular item in our household. At the very least, it's a remarkable opportunity to test you abilities at mastering the art of the many and varied accents of the United Kingdom...

Snow joke. Mount Wellington, as seen from Geilston Bay. July 2011. Ezra's birthday party is due to begin in one hour's time. I hope that by the time this post goes up: i) the cake is done and dusted, ii) the party bags are brimming with goodies, iii) the children are dressed, fed and watered, and, iv) the sun is out. But first, a poem... More Hope More Dust , Kojo Laing Three Ghanaians have taped goats’ backs, they block the dung. I By the dust-blown koobi stands a chief on one leg, AM taped goats grunt and move their dust onto the flat fish, OBSESSED and to the raised one leg the horn sends a low sympathy WITH of music, for three Ghanaians plus three equals three Ghanaians still, THE who stand behind the bus and admire the exhaust-pipe TOUCH freshly sweet with sugar-cane that was exhaustedly brought OF as the goat escapes with a powerful blast, its SKINS own anti-hoarding exercise done through the hide of the rump. AT The chief dancing with the other leg expects koobi in the e

Preparations are already underway for a tilt at the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race this year. There are but two hurdles in front of us: 1: We don't have a boat. 2: We'd rather go from Hobart-to-Sydney (and back again). I'm sure that we'll win if our demands are met.

Birds on a pontoon, Tranmere in the background. Long Beach, Sandy Bay. June 2011. Two very different books this week. First, Love and Death on Long Island by Gilbert Adair centres on the development of an obsession that in many respects greatly resembles Death in Venice (which I only read for the first time earlier this year ). There’s no doubt that the allusions to Thomas Mann’s classic text are quite deliberate. Like Death in Venice , the story concerns an aging, widowed and renowned ‘high art’ British novelist/academic with classical tastes who is somewhat out of step with the modern world. By a chance of fate, he encounters the figure of a C-Grade teen Hollywood heartthrob. Instantly enraptured by the ‘innocent’ beauty of the lad, and quickly becomes obsessed with the young actor. The concepts that have driven our narrator's life - logic and reason - are ultimately set against a concept that he has up to this point only ever really known in a philosophical sense: passion. Th

You can forget your expensive electronic gizmos and gadgets. All you need to have a good time is a bit of space and two empty milk containers...

Coming events at Flamingos Bar... Liverpool Street, Hobart. July 2011. If you haven't guessed from the events board above, Flamingos is a happening Tasmanian venue dedicated to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and their friends and families. I am not sure where they stand with regards to the intersex people - their website was silent on the matter - but one assumes that they would also be made welcome. Their families and friends? Well, that is an entirely different matter.... I like to consider myself extraordinarily broad minded (some of my best friends are furries) and I am very much a supporter of those of us who are natural left footers. Gay marriage? Gays have as much right to be as miserable as anybody else! Indeed, the best and only advice that I have to anyone who doesn’t like the idea of gay marriage is not to marry one. That said, I’m not sure that the Homo High Annual High School Theme Party™ is entirely the best idea, given some of the Palaeolithi

Sometimes all in life you really want to do is sit atop a giant chick on a spring and watch the heavy machinery go about its business.

Trust me, it looks nicer when the vines have leaves. Duke Street, Sandy Bay. July 2011. In the interests of getting some words down for a post today, I have borrowed these NINE Questionable Questions from this bloke here . Thanks, this bloke! History has taught me that the trick to getting the most fruitful responses is to zip through them like a rabbit escaping the clutches of a vengeful gardener with Cheers to all of us thieves! 1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be? Et tu, Jennifer? 2.If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be? To stay asleep a little bit longer. 3. What is the one thing most hated by you? Just one? Hmmmmmmmmmm. Inequity. 4. What would you do with a billion dollars? Relax. 5. Could you fall in love with your best friend? Too late! 6. What do you expect of your loved one? Understanding. 7. How would you see yourself in ten years time? Satisfied. 8. What’s your fear? Being found out. 9. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? C

You know that it must be a particularly special day when we've gone and purchased bananas for His Royal Highness...

Part six of six. Latterly ... Hamming it up. Eaglehawk Neck. January 2011. A little fresh. Opossum Bay Beach, February 2011. A late summer icy pole. Seven Mile Beach, March 2011. This is it. The Cenotaph, Hobart, April 2011. Hoorah! Geilston Bay, June 2011. Happy birthday Ezra, you're a lovely lad!

Part five of six. The moody years... Should be sleeping. Home, Autumn 2010. Yes. Home, Winter 2010. Baby it's cold outside. Home, Winter 2010. Whatever ya reckon. Home, Spring 2010. Refugee. Home, Spring 2010.

Part four of six. The mellow years... Christmas! Home, December 2009. Take me to the place I love, take me all the way... Montague Bay, January 2010. Traveling in style. Don River Railway, Forth. January 2010. Hitching a lift. Fossil Bluff, Wynyard. January 2010. The artist at work. Home, Autumn 2010.

Part three of six. The theme here seems to be one of dribble ... Front yard hunk. Winter 2009. Taking some rays. The living room, Winter 2009. On the move. Geilston Bay Community Centre. Winter 2009. The curls arrive... Home, Spring 2009. Three of us. Home, Spring 2009. Yo Henry, Ezra! Home, Spring 2009.

Part two of six. A beautiful baby blossoms ... Ice cream baby! Sullivan's Cove, Summer 2009. It's all in the eyes. Geilston Bay, Autumn 2009. JAWS! Geilston Bay, Autumn 2009. Good Friday in the gardens. Royal Hobart Botanical Gardens, April 2009. Deep in thought. Home, Winter 2009.

Excuse the interruption for this special message... HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY EZRA ! ! ! ! Thus, we shall celebrate in the usual This is Your Life -style with a trip through the three magnificent years that Ezra has spent on planet Earth... 47 seconds after birth. RHH Birth Centre, July 2008. Day four. Home, Geilston Bay. July 2008. After dinner nap. August 2008 Brothers! Home, Geilston Bay, Spring, 2008 You handsome devil! Home, Geilston Bay. Summer 2009. This is part one of a six part series...

You would never guess it, but the man who has earned the moniker "Cranky Hanky" occasionally gets grumpy. I for one blame his mother...

Almost invisible fish. Melbourne Aquarium, April 2011. Oops. I forgot. I did however attend a lovely birthday party this morning.

Check out that form: straight back; firm neck; legs together; body equidistant to arms... Yessiree, that some mighty fine slidin' technique on display here...

Some kind of plant. Duke Street, Sandy Bay. July 2011. Sunday already which means time for another Sunday Top Five. Hmmmmmm, Alright, today I can offer you the Top Five Record Albums That I Believe That I Have Listened To In Their Entirety From Start To Finish The Most Times! Perhaps betraying the different ways that we listen to music in the past decade, all bar one appeared pre-MP3 era (and even then I was still a CD holdout in 2001)... Achtung Baby , U2 Automatic for the People , R.E.M. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot , Wilco Fuzzy , Grant Lee Buffalo The Queen is Dead , The Smiths Now, I need to know from you what particular album has had the highest rotation in your life?