This will hurt me...

Yes, Henry is trapped in some kind of futuristic dystopian nightmare... ...Only to discover that actually, it was quite nice there.

Ez, Hen and Jen. Clifton Beach, September 2011. Flat. Down. Listless. Melancholy. Blue. Dejected. Despondent. Disconsolate. Doleful. Downcast. Glum. Grim. Lachrymose. Low. Moody. Mournful. Pensive. Wistful. Dover Beach , Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits - on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of Fai...

Ezra is a little slow off the mark.

Puddle on Quayle Street. Sandy Bay. September 2011. I reckon that I have read George Orwell’s Animal Farm at least a half-dozen times. Indeed, I have studied and taught the bugger at University! Thus, writing this review should be relatively straightforward. An allegorical short novel first published in 1945 (although written in 1943–44), the book alludes to the Russian Revolution, the Western invasion of Soviet Russia in 1918, the Russian Civil War and the strengthening of Stalin before World War II. The novel explores the corruption of revolutionary ideals by its leaders but also how indifference, ignorance and myopia of the people undermine any possibility of a Utopia. Orwell's achievement is immense with this book, the best introduction to the political history of the Soviet Union 1917-1943 [all achieved with pigs, horses, sheep and other assorted animals]. A top read, and always one that leaves me regretting that he never had the chance to do a sequel that explored the post-...

What has he spotted?

The Monopoly Man's brother-in-law? Criterion Street, Hobart. September 2011. There is one thing – over and above the ‘art’ – that I want to know about this: what on Earth happened to the wall on the right there? I’m going to have to head up to Criterion Street one of these days and seek out an answer.

THE ARISTOCRATS!!!

I like Spring best when the skies are blue. York Street, Sandy Bay. September 2011. I have A-Negative blood type, which puts me in the company of 3.52 percent of the World's population. Apparently, I should be careful when travelling to parts of the world where supplies of RhD negative blood are rare, particularly East Asia, or at the very least carry a suitcase full of my own blood about with me. Moreover, type A-negative donations are in high demand for red cells, but I've never been stopped in the street and asked for it and have not figured out a way to turn those desirable red cells into hard currency.

We've set up a sweatshop at home whereby the boys have to complete twenty paintings every morning, otherwise they're on half rations.

Duck, duck... goose? Back of Chinese Restaurant, Princes Street, Sandy Bay. September 2011. I wonder what exactly these ducks had done in order to earn their fate? Sassy talk? Collaboration? Attempted regicide? What are your thoughts?

HEY!!! Who stole my motorbike?

Hello cocky. East Derwent Highway, the Lindisfarne/ Geilston Bay Border. September 2011. The rural and remote health workforce innovation and reform strategy , that’s what I’ve got on today. I was in two minds as to whether to wear the suit or an akubra (with semi-permanent squint and a gratuitous piece of grass wedged between gritted teeth . As there will be doctors involved, best to go with the suit. I couldn’t pull off an akubra anyway... Then I remembered that most of Tasmania is considered 'remote' and relaxed a little.

Arise, ye workers from your slumber, Arise, ye prisoners of want. For reason in revolt now thunders, and at last ends the age of cant! Away with all your superstitions, Servile masses, arise, arise! We'll change henceforth the old tradition, And spurn the dust to win the prize! So comrades, come rally, And the last fight let us face. The Internationale, Unites the human race. So comrades, come rally, And the last fight let us face. The Internationale, Unites the human race. We link arms and sing this three times every night before bed.

High art. Geilston Bay, August 2011. the Russian Civil War Henry (given name) the Randolph Bourne Institute Artaxerxes I Smithton , Tasmania What is today's Sunday Top Five ?