This will hurt me...

Polite. East Derwent Highway, Lindisfarne. August 2013. The Gardener from Ochakov , Andrey Kurkov: I had been anxiously awaiting the latest from my favourite Ukrainian author, and it didn't disappoint. A time-travel adventure (a theme this week) with a light touch, I'm not sure whether Kurkov is satirising or indulging in a bit of post-Soviet nostalgia. As we often see in Kurkov's books, there is a clash of the mundane - tracksuits, minibuses, homemade vodka - and the surreal - knife-wielding gangsters from 1950s Soviet Union. I really enjoyed it. B+ . The Time Machine , H.G. Wells: The classic of the genre, it's a surprise to see just how much the story is interwoven with Darwinian and Marxist theory. The 19th Century was one hell of a trip! I reckon that it stands up. Well worth your time. B+ . Me Talk Pretty One Day , David Sedaris: A collection of essays by Jerri Blank's brother (that's who David Sedaris will always remain in my heart). Some of the ...

Art? Runnymeade Street, Battery Point. August 2013. Sunday Top Five ? There are Five Things That I Want On A Sunday Morning : A lie in. A sleep in. To be left alone. Peace and quiet. No noise.

ACHTUNG! Melville Street Car Park, North Hobart. July 2013. An odd little Disney-themed Q and A from Sunday Stealing today, the the fairy tale meme Snow White: Do you consider yourself pretty? Name the part of your body you think is the most beautiful! Pretty? Probably not. How about "ruggedly handsome"? I have lovely legs though... Cinderella: What is your shoe size? It's usually 13 or 14, depending on the brand. Sleeping Beauty: How many hours do you sleep each night? Around seven. Little Red Riding Hood: What is your favourite food? I love berries, particularly raspberries. The Frog Prince: What do you find disgusting? The stale smell of cigarettes turns my stomach. Jack and the Beanstalk: What plants are in your room? Alas, no plants. Puss in Boots: Do you have a pet? Do you want one? No pets no plants. I have children, thus no need for pets! Rumpelstiltskin: What is the meaning of your url? U niform R esource L ocator. [Ahem.] ...

10 Murray Street, Hobart. April 2013. Wordless Wednesday.

In the footsteps of Charles Darwin. Waverley Wildflower Walk, Bellerive. December 2012. Let's call this Sunday Top Five Five Things That Just Might Surprise You On This, The Ninety-Third Anniversary Of Poland's Wedding to the Sea ! The probability that, in a set of randomly chosen people, of finding a pair who the same birthday will reach 100% certainty when the number of people reaches 367. Moreover, 99% probability is reached with just 57 people, and 50% probability with 23 people . Researchers from the University of Queensland found that for every hour you watch TV you may shorten your life by as much 22 minutes . Furthermore, it suggested that watching TV could increase your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Bill Clinton only sent two e-ails as President of the USA . Nikita Khrushchev "we will bury you" speech that escalated the Cold War was probably a mistranslation. It received as threat to bury the U.S. with a nuclear attack. However, the ...

Signs. Tasman Highway, just off the Tasman Bridge. November 2012. Sunday Stealing and we're still trying to figure out who I am with the series Who Are you? Part 3 & 4 – Is it over yet? 34. What do you consider the most important event of your life so far? Being born seems important. 35. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Not murdering anybody. 36. What is your greatest regret? Not murdering anybody. Not backing myself earlier. 37. What is the most evil thing you have ever done? I've not done anything even remotely 'evil'. 38. When was the time you were the most frightened? When I found out that I was to be somebody's father. 39. What is your best memory? Anything involving sunshine and bare breasts is good. 40. Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic? I'm a rather confusing mix of the two, but with pessimistic leanings. 41. What is your greatest fear? Mutant armour-piercing snakes with short fuses and no time ...

Listen up! Mayfair Plaza car park, Sandy Bay. September 2012. Wordless Wednesday.

Getting dark. Corner of Sandy Bay Road and Hampdon Road, Battery Point. July 2012. Theme Thursday and this week is one for RECOLLECTIONS. You know, memories. Nostalgia. Remembering. Recall. A time when everyone was nicer. Everyone was more moral, ethical. More polite, more genuine, more reliable. People were hardworking. Kids were considerate. Men were made of sterner stuff and women had more respect for themselves. Communities stuck together. Things had value and people valued things other than things. People had values and values meant something. A dollar was a dollar, a pound was a pound and we all knew where we stood. You remember. Streets were clean. Men doffed their caps, women demurred with grace. Children feared the consequences of things and our leaders had a firm grip on the whip hand. Times were good. Things were hard but people were harder. People were more resilient. Tougher. Leaner. Meaner. Life was a challenge but we were better at rising to challenges. Disse...

Signs on a pole. Napoleon Street, Battery Point. June 2012. I do very much like this poem. Bill Clinton's favourite poet, allegedly... Momma Welfare Roll , Maya Angelou Her arms semaphore fat triangles, Pudgy HANDS bunched on layered hips Where bones idle under years of fatback And lima beans. Her jowls shiver in accusation Of crimes cliched by Repetition. Her children, strangers To childhood's TOYS, play Best the games of darkened doorways, Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of Other people's property. Too fat to whore, Too mad to work, Searches her dreams for the Lucky sign and walks bare-handed Into a den of bereaucrats for her portion. 'They don't give me welfare. I take it.'

Good advice? The Lindisfarne/ Geilston Bay border, East Derwent Highway. June 2012. Theme Thursday and I'm set for an all day series of meetings. All that I can say is, ' We made of BEDS, now we have to lie in them!"

I’m not aware of any such services in the building! Mayfair Plaza car park, Sandy Bay. December 2011. Three books finished this week, a Russian, Hungarian and American walked into a bar authors all represented. First up is A Russian Affair by Anton Chekhov, a collection of five short stories all about love. Writing in the nineteenth century, Chekhov has a reputation for mastery of the short story form, so I was really looking forward to reading it. As a collection, A Russian Affair gives us a fair insight into Chekhov’s style, which has aged remarkably well and combines both an ease to with real emotional depth. Obviously, it represents a small sample of what Chekhov has to offer, but if you’re after a taste of his work, you could do far worse than this exploration of the emotional complexities of love. Recommended, especially if you are keen on quality short fiction. Second up is Detective Story by Hungarian Nobel Laureate (and author of one of my favourite books , Fatel...

I could go some of these Indian Root Pills right now! Argyle Street, Hobart. December 2011. Before I get into the Q and A today, I just had to look up the tale of this old ad [above]. It turns out that Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills were one of the great success stories of the good old patent medicine industry. The (possibly shady) ‘Dr.’ Morse asserted that the pills contained a secret blend of herbal ingredients that would help "cleanse the blood." Indeed, ‘dirty blood’ appeared to be the cause of all diseases to ‘Dr.’ Morse. I will confess to being slightly disappointed to not being able to access the miracle drug these days. They sound just the ticket! Alas, onwards to another Tuesday Q and A courtesy of Sunday Stealing. It’s a challenge this week – The TV Show Meme – especially difficult because I’ve watched a sum total of about eight television shows in the past six years… But first, a note from the Q and A designer! Before reading the questions, nominate ...

Is it really? Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart. February 2012. Sunday Top Five time and this week I am thinking about Roxy Music. What a surprise! Let's just cut straight to My Top Five Roxy Music Tracks! Angel Eyes Virginia Plain Love is the Drug Over You More Than This

There is always one joker... Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. February 2012. The Porcupine is a novel by Englishman Julian Barnes that was originally published in Bulgarian [ Бодливо свинче]. This should give us a very strong clue as to the identity of which post-communist country the story takes place. The novel concerns the trial of the former communist leader of Bulgaria, and its effects on both the central protagonists of that trial, as well as the broader community. The real strength of the book is the complexity of its characters. There is no clear ‘black and white’ here and the tones in which the former dictator and the new democratic government’s representatives are painted are very much grey. Barnes has done an excellent job of overcoming the certainties of Cold War triumphalism and creating human characters (especially given that the book was released in 1992, with events still very fresh in the mind). The point of the book seems to be more than exploring c...

So impressive they named a street after him!

Tuesday Q and A and I am back to stealing questions from Sunday Stealing . This week I am stealing The Never Ending Meme, Part One . 1. Song that always makes you sad? R.E.M.’s Try Not To Breathe . 2. Last thing you bought? A wheelbarrow. Unassembled. 3. Last person you argued with? Ezra. He’s a particularly argumentative chap. 4. Do you put butter before putting the peanut butter on? I’d shoot myself in the head before putting peanut butter on. 5. One of your stuffed animals’ names as a kid? I honestly can’t remember. This saddens me. 6. Did you ever at one time own a Barenaked Ladies CD? Barenaked Ladies? They had a song in Shrek , didn’t they? If they did, that’s about all the Barenaked Ladies facts I have. If they didn’t, I know even less about the Barenaked Ladies than I thought. If you’re talking about bare-naked ladies, I might get interested… 7. Favourite day of the week? Monday. 8. Favourite sundae topping? Fresh raspberries. 9. Did you take piano lessons? No I did not take ...

I think that we should just ban golf altogether. Geilston Bay High School, Geilston Bay. November 2011. Another couple of books finished this week, as I slowly make my way to the magic to the magical 100 for the year (I am currently sitting at 98*). First up is Bodily Secrets by William Treevor. A slender collection of short stories by a fine writer, the collection revolves around the theme of relationships (and yes, ‘love’). At once tender and taut, it is a great little book that covers the whole gamut of emotions. Recommended. Second up is Nobel Prizewinner Imre Kertész's Liquidation a very Central European dose of introspection that mixes quite radical departures in style (there is a a text-within-a-text-within-a-text) and some pretty heavy intellectual chicanery in the way that it constructs its existential dilemma in the face of the existence of Auschwitz. There is a fair whack of self-reflexivity here, as once again Kertész mulls the weighty shadow of the camp that he spen...

No way out? Mayfair Plaza car park, Sandy Bay. November 2011. Sunday Top Five day already? Okay, okay. Ummm. A quick flick over to analytics and I've come up with The Top Five Countries That Stop By And Pay A Visit To This Here Blog That I Have Chosen To Title This Will Hurt Me... ! A surprise to me is the prevalence of the denizens of the Dominion of Canada . When not hunting moose or harassing polar bears, it seems that the Canuks are clicking on Hank and Ez! Less surprising with a strong fourth place are the gut volk of die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ! Alles klar everybody! Just pipping the canny Krauts are the proud citizens of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . It what must be said is a pretty poor showing from the poms. Lift your game chaps! In something of a shock, those of us here in the Commonwealth of Australia have been beaten out to second place. What is more, it wasn't even close. At less than half the hits of the runaway winner, t...

I shall try not too. Elizabeth Street Pier, Sullivan's Cove. November 2011. It's Tuesday right? That means another Q and A stolen from Sunday Stealing. This week, The Madness Meme, Part 2 [the madness continues]. 23. Do you ever walk around the house naked? All the time. It’s my house! 24. If you were an animal what would you be? Why? Erm... I’m pretty sure that I am an animal. Humans can get mighty uppity sometimes about their position in the food chain. If the question was intended to be “If you were a different kind of animal what would you be? Why?”, I guess that I’d say Great White Shark. Why? I dunno. Cruising around. Easting stuff. Sounds cool. 25. Hair colour you like on someone you’re dating? These things are always going on about ‘dating’. I don’t even know what that means! Is it a euphemism for ‘rooting’? Anyway, I like brown hair on girls. 26. If suffering an injury, would you rather be left blind or deaf? I really rather not suffer the injury, but if you have a h...

Occupy Geilston Bay? Geilston Bay path to nowhere. September 2011. The Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (pay attention folks). The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last few week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning ... Some answers to a question that has troubled me for some time: Has the use-by date gone past its prime? This history of HIV sounds like the best epidemiological detective story of all time. On why we shouldn't cry for Argentina ... Troll or idiot? I honestly cannot decide. Another existential question that needs answering: Why does the Australian Labor Party still exist? Dang! Another dream has been snatched away from me ! How is this for a depressing fact: ten times as many girls are trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported in the peak years of the slave trade. The NY Times has more on the face of modern slavery . Ever wonder...