I always assumed we lived in a “nice” area. It’s quiet (if you excuse planes taking off and landing). It’s friendly – everyone knows everyone. It has a brothel so there are always people around, including security staff walking the girls to their cars. So I was very surprised to discover one morning that some bastard had tried to smash the front windscreen of our car. It obviously take a hell of a lot to smash a windscreen these days. [...]
After quite a few years of running my “Just Say No!” campaign, trying to stop Dr Mark from entering floats in the Mardi Gras Parade, there has finally been success. Sadly, it wasn’t my poster campaign outside his house on days when he was holding meetings. Nor was it my promotional fridge magnets or key rings. After all these years of trying, it was Mardi Gras themselves that finally achieved what I have been dreaming of for so long. This [...]
I suppose in some ways I’m a failed gay man. I don’t like to shop and I’m not nuts for Kylie. It seems odd then, that after an entire lifetime of completely avoiding seeing her live, I’ve seen her twice this month. (Unlike Greig who has been to each of her concerts but was sadly out of town for this one.) I suspect I may initially have been put off seeing Kylie live by a televised concert I saw a [...]
It’s holiday time! There are three Australian states I still haven’t visited. Well, two states and a territory; Northern Territory, West Australia and Tasmania. Strictly speaking, I have been to Tasmania but that was for a weekend when ACON flew me to Launceston to teach the locals how to do the beat*. While I did have a small opportunity to check out what Launceston has to offer, it was hardly an exhaustive tour. So we have decided to remedy this [...]
Some time ago, (shortly after “the unpleasantness”), Greig and I saw an edition of The Collectors on ABC Television that featured a new museum in Hobart – coincidentally, the city where the programme was made. That museum was MONA – the Museum of Old and New Art. When it opened early last year after a $75 million upgrade, the museum attracted a fair amount of publicity and probably an equal amount of controversy. You see, the private owner of the [...]
Given the variety of quality New Years Eve events in Sydney this year, Greig and I stayed at home and watched TV. Honestly! What the hell has happened to the party scene in Sydney? Sure there are a few day parties being held on New Years Day, but absolutely stuff-all on New Years Eve. As an indication of how bad it is, most people I know headed to Lismore to enjoy the Tropical Fruits Party. Some even went as far [...]
Actually, it was only supposed to be “Moonrise”. The sunset was a bonus. This week I jumped in the car with Pete and Jon and headed to South Head with the intention of seeing what we could capture of the rise of the full moon over the ocean. Of course, on these expeditions you always get there while there is still some light so you don’t end up walking over the edge of a cliff. As we were driving east, [...]
On Friday night Pete and I headed down to Congwong Beach in South Sydney to try our hand at photographing star trails. Pete’s been experimenting a bit at home but this was actually my first attempt. It actually got off to a rather shaky start. Pretty much as soon as we arrived, a huge cloud rolled in and hid the stars. It wasn’t one of those fast moving clouds either. It was sloooooow. We made the best of the situation [...]
The first time I ever picked up a camera was when I was about age ten. It was my father’s old Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta III. This is a classic old camera that was in production between 1954 and 1958. (No, I’m not that old. It was already a very old camera when I got may hands on it!) It was what they considered a “pocket camera”. That assumed that you had pretty large pockets though. The lens was normally [...]
We’re here! We’re queer! We’re not allowed to get married! The same-sex marriage debate seems to be reaching fever pitch at the moment. Our noble Prime Minister (who apparently doesn’t support any sort of marriage) has announced that her government will not support any changes to the law to allow marriage between same-sex couples. So, on a rather sunny Saturday morning, I joined around 10,000 people who took to the streets to voice their displeasure at the current state of [...]