The Australian Index

Extract: Beer can chicken is something that I first heard about from Steve Raichlen’s BBQ Bible books but I see it now in Aussie publications, most notably Kim Terakes’ recent book, ‘The Great Aussie Barbie Cookbook’ but I have not heard of anyone making it and my mentioning it to other people has resulted in blank stares as though I was some crazed, meat eating fundamentalist (maybe….just maybe I am!). The principle is that by putting a canister of liquid inside the bird, the steam created keeps the meat moist throughout the cooking process whilst still allowing the skin to crisp on the outside whilst also allowing the liquid from the can to also flavour the meat.

Extract: In the first edition of Quadrant under the stewardship of new editor Keith Windschuttle, John Stone puts forward the case that John Howard is Australia’s greatest Prime Minister. His arguments are as follows, beginning with Howard’s failings.

Extract: a Sesame Street clip from 1971, in which a large-nosed man in a business suit tries to teach a younger, more casually dressed man about visualizing geometric shapes. the younger man has no trouble with the shapes, but does get carried away easily...

Extract: I have been looking at the negative effects of anti-depressant drugs, such as Prozac, and the cynical role big pharmaceutical firms play in making consumption of these drugs so widespread. Eventually I will post on this material but probably won’t come up with much more substantive content than this excellent article in The New York Review of Books.

A subsequent article in the NYRB piece examines the adverse effects of anti-depressants on sexual performance.

Extract: Before you get reading, I guess I had better introduce myself.  You might not have noticed me at orientation, I was the non descript lady standing around in the back ground.  You know, the one NOT wearing skinny jeans/D&G sunglasses/ and ballet flats with a countryroad or LV tote (although I think the LV was fake?).. 

I was the one you probably thought was a secretary or a tutor or something. You didn’t pay very much attention to me anyway, cause you were to busy checking out the cute guy with the Hawaiian boardies, cool Sunglasses and the skate board.. .(which was weird)… but don’t worry I was checking him out too, until I realised he was young enough to be my SON!!!!  

Yep, I am a mature aged student,  one of those older ones, and and yes I am really feelin it this time round back at Uni.

Extract: The young man's name is Robert Ogilvie, and he's a 26-year-old miner on the admirable salary of $4000 per month (these are the things you pick up in court).

Last night, he and a group of friends set up shop in Section 15 of the Gabba stands, to enjoy a few beers while Australia tried to salvage the tri-series in the second final against India. Around 6:20pm, Ogilvie had the stunningly brilliant idea of togging down, scaling the fence, pelting past some security officers and police, and running, bollocks-out, onto the pitch. The crowd roared, but the police began to give chase.

Extract: I've just learned (via TobyToby's Facebook status update) that Gary Gygax, the father of fantasy roleplaying, has died aged 69.

Gygax co-created the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, which despite its flaws and faults, provided me with countless happy memories from the age of 15 onwards. While I don't play D&D any more, having moved on to other games and more flexible systems, I mourn his death all the same.

Extract: There is an intersection of two roads near the university. Not the one that leads into the university, but down the road a bit, closer to the art school. I ride my bicycle across it twice a day, to and fro.

An ex-lover moved back to Canberra a couple of years ago. We had loved each other dearly once, but we were very young. The first time I saw him, almost twenty years ago, he was walking past me and my friends at the university. He had a gracefulness about him, a tall, lithe frame, a quiet, young dignity. I orchestrated a meeting with him, I liked him a lot, and I worked hard to woo him out of his determination to not fall into another serious relationship, having just come out of an intense school-sweetheart engagement. I can be charming and persuasive when I want to be. He fell, and so did I.

Extract: Neither this post or what it discusses could get much more obvious – Goldfrapp’s intention to clearly signpost their musical development via the quasi-visual accompaniment of the cd sleeve and its contents.

A sketch of things

Extract: Anything Scarlett Johansson can do, Marieke can do better*...at least, that's what Hardy thought when she saw that the dewy Hollywood goddess was auctioning off an evening with herself on Ebay. Sure, the successful bidder of a night with Scarlett receives two tickets to a Hollywood premiere, a limo ride, hair and make-up and a 'meet and greet' with the lady herself. But the winner of the 'win a night with Marieke Hardy pre 8:30pm' (form an orderly queue) auction walks away NOT ONLY with an evening delighting in the company of a slightly foul-mouthed radio host, BUT ALSO

Extract: Many years ago, when I shared a house with a married couple, my mate's wife, Christine, showed me how to make several different things, a few of which have stuck with me over the years; braised red cabbage and red cabbage salad, the oddly named kartoffelpuffer - similar to a hash brown - and a lovely salad of chicken, walnuts, celery and apple, bound together with mayonnaise.

Extract: So this weekend was HUGE in Syders. For those that live under a rock, it was the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebration and it went OFF. The vibe was amazing, the floats spectacular and there were gorgeous gay boys from all over the world, wearing not very much and pashing on every street corner. Ohhh heaven!

Extract: In conflicting reports today, Mark Holden has parted company with Australian Idol.

TEN today announced his decision to leave the judging panel of Australian Idol "after discussions this week highlighted his desire to focus on acting, radio and documentary production. Network Ten agreed to release Mark from his judging duties only after an agreement to remain with the network was reached."

Extract: So the recently label-free Trent Reznor aka Nine Inch Nails aka NIN did a total Radiohead and released a new record ON THE INTERNET, COMPLETELY BYPASSING THE MAN! Ghosts I-IV, a series of 36 numerically-titled instrumental tracks, is available in a variety of formats both digital and physical, at a number of price plans to boot, ranging from zip, nada, nothin’ ($0) to holy shit, it’s Blu Ray ($300)!

Extract: Painted for the Archibald Prize, a prestigious annual portrait competition held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, the work depicts a brooding Ledger, shadowed on either side by two ghosts of himself, half-smirking, mischevious, and whispering through cupped hands into his ears.

The sombre image of a tattooed, tousle-haired Ledger, staring a some undefined point in the distance, took on a new significance when the Australian actor died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs last month. He was reportedly suffering from depression and insomnia.

Extract: I stepped into the Twilight Zone that is chemical attraction, in a taxicab no less. I awoke a few mornings ago. It was more like stumbling out of bed, cursing the crap weather and stepping into a tepid shower to get myself going. I had an appointment, and realized that the bus wasn't to arrive until half nine. I stood on the street, weighing my options. If I took a train, I'd add another hour to my journey and miss my appointment. A taxi it was. Lucky for me I live on a main street. The continual strain of exhaust pipes and tyres is my daily regimen; I sleep to the sound of cars (occasionally large trucks), and awaken to the same sound, and it's probably added a few stress points but that's neither here or there, because what grabbed me was the heady aroma of phermones in the taxicab.

Extract: Commercial Road in the early eighties was a barren windswept stretch with only the Prahran Market holding it together. Shops were empty and it was desolate. Then something happened. A gay bookshop called The Beat, which was in nearby Greville Street closed and reopened in Commercial Road. Then The Exchange Hotel was renovated and reopened as a gay hotel.

Extract: The Bourne Identity was easily one of the best action films of the last decade or so. Doug Liman, director of the indie flick Go, burst into the action movie scene with a film that not only kicked arse, but was a step ahead of its competitors as a consequence of its pretty solid grounding in reality. Alas, since then, his films have become more comic booky - and I mean this in the degrading sense of any person who makes high/low art distinctions. Mr. & Mrs. Smith was entertaining but lacked substance, and it's the same story with Jumper.

Extract: The rather splendid Laneway Festival rolled around again this weekend past. I was fresh off the plane from Thailand and flung forth into the throngs of indie kids partying in the heart of the city.

Extract: It looks likely that the first major policy disaster of the new Rudd government will be its compulsory, ISP-side, opt-out, porn (or pr0n) filter. How this will work is that every Australian ISP will need to install hardware which monitors the internet use of all of their users and prevents everyone from accessing any child-inappropriate material. The only way not to be subjected to this filtering is to put yourself on a government I-want-to-view-porn list. This system is about to go into limited testing in Tasmania.