This will hurt me...

Cat. Theatre Royal car park, Campbell Street, Hobart. September 2013. Sunday Book Club? That's right, SUNDAY Book Club! Great Granny Webster , Caroline Blackwood: What an odd little book. Essentially a psychological analysis of how one person (in this case the obdurate matriarch of a clan) can inflict emotional damage across generations. The titular Great Granny is stuck in the "correctness" of her own Victorian youth. Her daughter is driven mad and talks to the fairies. Her granddaughter parties all night, smokes all day, and parties obsessively. She also constantly attempts suicide. Deceptively concise, this one is a sleeper. Recommended. B . Strangers on the 16:02 , Priya Basil: A short novel, this reads more like synopsis for a new novel than a complete work. Painted in broad strokes, it does a reasonable job in constructing three very different characters, reaching a climax between the three, then it ends. Frustrating. C- . I, Claudius , Robert Graves: R...

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.] ...

Art #1. Bathurst Street Car Park, Hobart. February 2013. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) 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... This one explores the history of neurasthenia or “invalidism”, a curious mid-nineteenth-century chapter in the story of the emancipation of women . This one is a bitter-sweet collection of photographs of Afghanistan in the 1960s . Our local museum is now offering a collection of 100 objects that help us understand and explain Tasmania . The point of universities? "James' Giant Peach Transport Across the Atlantic" , a in the Journal of Physics Special Topics . "In the US since 1998, for every time a woman used a handgun to kill in self-defence, 101 women were murdered with a handgun." Women, Handguns, and Self-Defence: A Deadly ...

Shadows. Mayfair Plaza Car Park, Sandy Bay. October 2012. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) 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... Detecting the sea change in men’s feelings for their children. A scary story about the brave new online world, young people and the casual ease with which pictures can get them into trouble ... Tales from 1973 Chile... How did milk help found Western civilization? Mali: no rhythm or reason as militants declare war on music.

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

Self portrait. Mayfair Plaza Car Park, Sandy Bay. September 2012. Theme Thursday ? TEMPTATION? Don't TEMPT me!

Here is a portrait of young Henry hard at work washing windows. We'll label this Candid head shot, classic focal length 100 mm with fast lens/ shallow depth of field . Or I could just call it Our 'enry washing the car . Either way works for me.

Blurry goose. Geilston Bay boat ramp, Geilston Bay. July 2012. Tuesdays mean another pilfered Q and A from Sunday Stealing! This week, the very appropriate The Too Tired to Think Meme, Part 1 ... 1. You have 10 dollars and need to buy snacks at a gas station. What do you get? Some apples, maybe some water. I’ll pocket the change. 2. If you were reincarnated as a sea creature, what would you want to be? A Great White Shark. 3. Who’s your favourite redhead? ‘Favourite redhead’. Now there is an oxymoron if I have ever heard one! 4. What do you order when you’re at IHOP? [Googles IHOP]. If I had been to the ‘IHOP’ (assuming that first I had heard of the ‘IHOP’), I think that I would order the ‘SIMPLE & FIT Fresh Fruit & Yogurt Bowl’ . 5. Last book you read? Swindled: The Dark History Of The Food Cheats by Bee Wilson. It’s a popular history of food adulteration. Fascinating stuff. 6. Describe your mood. Restrained. 7. Describe the last time you were injured...

Yum! Mayfair Plaza Car Park, Sandy Bay. December 2011. Three books this week, all quite good. First up is the brand new one from Toni Morrison, Home . Set in the 1950s, Home follows the return of a black Korean War veteran who has recently left the newly desegregated army. The country he returns to is no Leave It To Beaver idyll though, it’s one inhabited by damaged people, racial tension and power imbalances (inequities of race, gender and class). At 81, I suspect that Morrison’s best days (skill-wise) are behind her. This reads like a – admittedly quite good – imitation of her best novels. It compresses many recurrent themes of memory, love and loss, uprooting and homecoming. The text flows in jazzy rhythms, but the narrative moves a little too quickly to my mind. This is not a bad read by any stretch, but I have to admit that is not one of her stronger works. If you’re looking for something quick that will give you a taste of her work, this is not a bad starting point. I’...

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...

All disabled people must climb up unaided... Mayfair Plaza Car Park, Sandy Bay. February 2012. Sunday oh Sunday. I need a top five, and I need it fast! Okay, how about this Prospective Major Transit Points On An Itinerary For A Trip If I Had The Cash Tomorrow ? St. Petersburg , the city of three revolutions! A.K.A. Petrograd and Leningrad . Helsinki , it's Finland , dude! Tallinn , home of one of the best preserved old town centres in the world. Riga , former playground of Peter the Great. Kaliningrad , the artist formally known as Königsberg .

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 ...

Where she leads nobody knows. Mayfair Plaza Car Park, Sandy Bay. January 2012. Sunday means Sunday Top Five, which means cobbling together some kind of list. Hmmmm. I've got it! The Top Five Bowlers I've Seen Play Cricket To Be In My Side I Was Picking A Squad To Play A Test Against A Team Of Robots Programmed To Play Cricket Really Very Well! [In Batting Order.] Richard Hadlee Imran Khan Shane Warne Malcolm Marshall Curtley Ambrose Just missing the cut were Joel Garner, Glen McGrath, Wasim Akram, Michael Holding and Dennis Lillee. Backup spinners included Anil Kumble, Saqlain Mushtaq, Daniel Vettori and the bolter in Funky Miller. I can't bring myself to include Harbijhan Singh and Muttiah Muralitharan has been deemed ineligible. This line up gives the batting some depth, and whenever you have Imran as your workhorse, you know you've got a good attack.

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'm not sure how to pronounce that. Mayfair Plaza car park, Sandy Bay. October 2011. The Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and ladies with zebras). 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 ... Why women's education in Tanzania is critical for slowing population growth ... Christopher Hitchens on why Muammar Qaddafi should not have been killed ... Feeling manipulated? Anxious about your looks? Tune out the hype and learn to love your body Read about New York's attempt to reinvent an inner-city school . You may have noted that the world's population is expected to hit seven billion in the next few weeks. After growing very slowly for most of human history, the number of people on Earth has more than doubled in the last 50 years. Where do you fit in? Henry and Ezra will be fine now I know that Joking and pretending ...

You heard. In the car park of a bottle shop, Sandy Bay Road, Sandy Bay. September 2011. There's a poem today that you have to read in a thick Scots brogue... The 6 O'Clock News , Tom Leonard 'Unrelated Incidents' - No.3 this is thi six a clock news thi man said n thi reason a talk wia BBC accent iz coz yi widny wahnt mi ti talk aboot thi trooth wia voice lik wanna yoo scruff. if a toktaboot thi trooth lik wanna yoo scruff yi widny thingk it wuz troo. jist wanna yoo scruff tokn. thirza right way ti spell ana right way to tok it. this is me tokn yir right way a spellin. this is ma trooth. yooz doant no thi trooth yirsellz cawz yi canny talk right. this is the six a clock nyooz. belt up.

It seems rather PUBLIC to me. St John’s Avenue, New Town. February 2011. While I understand the necessity of communicating a particular message to specific parties, I am certain that it is unnecessary to shout. Moreover, good manners will get you everywhere sir!

The north east corner of the Argyle Street Carpark. Argyle Street, Hobart. February 2011. MORE car parks. Ever more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more CAR PARKS. Supplementary car parks. Additional car parks. Further car parks. Elegant car parks. Poignant car parks. Joyful car parks. Crotchety car parks. Futile car parks. Exhausted car parks. Embarrassed car parks. Sad, bitter, twisted, contracted, molested, untested, rejected, elected, suspected car parks. More and more car parks. Every day.

Hobart is well endowed with car parks. Argyle Street Car Park, Argyle Street. January 2011. Hobart is indeed well endowed with car parks. We have more car parks than you can poke a stick at. We have so many car parks, that people never stop complaining that we don’t have enough car parks. The problem with car parks, you see, is that you build car parks and more people get a car to park. The more people with a car to park, the more car parks we need. Then , the more car parks there are, more people get a car that they need to park. Therefore, you build more car parks. So you build more car parks, and even more people will get a car that they need to park. There’s a kind of witchcraft at work, and not even the first law of thermodynamics can stop it. Cars require car parks. ↓ Car parks require cars. ↓ Cars require car parks. ↓ Car parks require cars. ↓ Cars require car parks. ↓ Car parks require cars. ↓ Cars require car parks. ↓ Car parks require cars. ↓ Cars require car parks. ↓ Car pa...

Stairs to the stars. Fire escape from the Theatre Royal, Hobart. November 2010. This one is a (slightly different) look at the Theatre Royal, right at the heart of Hobart. It is a versatile location, staging all kinds of events including ballet, opera, drama and musicals. When the theatre opened in 1837, it was located among the pubs, brothels, gambling dens, factories and tiny workers’ cottages of Wapping. As such, it is the oldest continually operating theatre in Australia. This nearly wasn’t the case though! No less a figure than Sir Laurence Olivier himself spoke passionately to Tasmanians, urging them to resist the urge to demolish it an start again in the 1940s, telling us to "never let it go"! Obviously, someone was listening. Countless lesbians [ahem] thespians have trod the boards of the Royal. Indeed, reading through a simple list is like gazing up at the sky in the dead of night! Laurence Olivier! Noël Coward! Vivien Leigh! Lillian Gish! Peter Ustinov! Hell, we’...