This will hurt me...

Right now Henry, you've got him where you want him. Next, and easy now... easy... Prime your left leg and hop on over his back. Lock him in the sleeper hold and then I'll get him into the sack.

Blokes in boats. The Derwent Estuary, as seen from A.J. White Park, Battery Point. May 2012. I can never really decide if this Stevie Smith poem is one of the most depressing that I know, or one of the most amusing. I think that it seems to depend on my mood. Not Waving But Drowning , Stevie Smith Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he's dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They said. Oh, no no no, it was too cold always (Still the dead one lay moaning) I was much too far out all my life And not waving but drowning.

This bloke is so tough he eats raw cactuses for breakfast. He doesn't even have milk!

Achtung! Ampelmännchen sagt halt! The point just after Davey Street turns into Sandy Bay Road. June 2012. Just the one book finished this week, and a trip back in time with Mussolini And The Rise Of Fascism by the academic/ historian Donald Sassoon. Sassoon is the author of what is to my mind the definitive work (and weighty tome coming in well over 1,000 pages long) on continental European socialism, One Hundred Years of Socialism , so I was looking forward to his analysis of the development of fascism in Italy. You might already be familiar with the tale: in 1919 the former socialist newspaper editor-cum small time political player Benito Mussolini had assembled a ragtag group of followers in Milan and launched the movement that was to result three years later in a dictatorship. This itself would last 23 years, and draw Italy into an escalating number of foreign interventions, ending ultimately with a disastrous war that was to leave large parts of her in ruins. Oddly enough...

"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" ... "As soon as I finish this ham and cheese sandwich." In other news, still no sign of Veronica... [Too obscure?]

Hobart’s winter sky. The view over the Derwent Estuary, from Battery Point. June 2012. Theme Thursday and I am very very late. My apologies. I’m caught up you see. Caught up in something FULL CIRCLE. Another way that we might at this is via Latin, the revolutio – “a turnaround” – (our modern revolution ). Of course, revolutions can come FULL CIRCLE or they can top at the 180 degrees (or any other point of the loop). See, what In need is a revolution. As noted earlier in the week, Lenin – and he knew a thing about ‘em – used to say that the fundamental law of revolution is that for a revolution to take place, it is simply not enough for the exploited and oppressed masses to recognise the unfeasibility of living in the old way, and thus demand change. However, for a revolution to actually happen, it is essential that the exploiters recognise and understand that they will not be able to live and rule in the old ways. Revolutions are not just about politics. Some of us need r...

AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Relaxed and comfortable. Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, Brighton. May 2012. Wordless Wednesday.

There is a lot to be said for staring at walls. Henry and I usually spend a good hour, hour-and-a-half staring at walls each day. It really focuses one's attention.

Me and my shadow. Quayle Street, Sandy Bay. May 2012. Another Q and A, you say? Sunday Stealing, you ask? Why yes, this week, it's Part Two of the Get Out of Jail Free Meme! (And appears to have been written by someone with low literacy levels...) 21. Has there ever been anyone that now you regret meeting? There has been more than a few of these. Charlatans, timewasters and generally anyone with dishonest intent. There are a few of them about. 22. What's the last film you saw? Would you recommend it? It was Disney’s Peter Pan . If you have kids, I’d recommend it. It kept them transfixed throughout, so on that score it is a winner. I’m not sure why Peter needed that ‘moms, pops and apple pie’ accent though. It grated with me. 23. Would you rather have roommates or live alone? Why do people say ‘roomates’ when I assume that they mean ‘housemates’ or ‘flatmates’? Or do people in the US actually continue to share rooms into adulthood? No wonder people are always sh...

Here is one from a while ago now. For some reason the photo that I had uploaded had deteriorated in quality from its pre-uploaded form. It’s a shame, because I had a very nice photo of Ezra preparing to repulse the Tsarist hordes of Aleksandr II Nikolaevich (it’s all very well to emancipate the serfs, but he is not going to get his grubby, imperialist hands on our Casino!) Anyway, that photo is just not going to happen tonight, so you’ll just have to use your mind’s eye to envisage it yourselves. Think ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ with children operating heavy guns and you’re there. In the absence of that image, I delve deep into the well of unused photographs to find one from last year of a more youthful, gentler Ezra re-enacting one of our favourite discussion points: the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes. Here, Ezra takes the role of Lieutenant-General Pavel Ilich Bulgakov as he bunkers down in the long jump sandpit – standing in for the Augustów Primeval Forest in modern-d...

Some artists have been busy here. To the back and side of the Centrepoint Arcade, off Murray Street, Hobart CBD. May 2012. The Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (as well as a lot of pop up ads.) The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning.. A rant on why it is not a bad thing to place a ban those big buckets of fizzy drinks Lenin used to say that the fundamental law of revolution is that for a revolution to take place, it is not enough for the exploited and oppressed masses to realise the impossibility of living in the old way, and demand change. For a revolution to take place, it is essential that the exploiters should not be able to live and rule in the old way. Former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, explores the 1 per cent’s problem, whereas the widening financial divide cripples the U.S. economy, even ...

Don't do it! Please don't do it!

A race from the end of last summer. Long Beach, Sandy Bay. February 2012. I catch the bus to and from work each day, and am therefore exposed to many of the horrors of modern top ten charting pop hits, as the local bus company appear to have all radio dials soldered in to commercial FM stations. The endless s hit parade of Auto-Tune atrocities does make one want to weep, especially if you're keen a nice vocal track here and there. Thus, for today's Sunday Top Five Six, I revisit some of my favourites from Berry Gordy's Motown label. Now, I'm not claiming this as a definitive list by any stretch, but these songs offer sustenance to my ears after another abominable 'tune' that's been processed to within an inch of it's life on GarageBand or some such... Thus, I present to you My Top Five Six Motown Remedies In The Event That I Hear That Incredibly Bad Tik-Tok Song (Or One Of Seemingly Fourteen-Thousand Like It)! This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak F...