Hot, cross bunny

Romerolagus diazi, the Volcano Bunny is found only in the central part of the Mexican transvolcanic belt.

Bonus bunny facts at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology's Animal Diversity Web.

Via boingboing.

Beastly bunny stalks UK hamlet

Pre-Easter, a huge rabbit is menacing an English village.

"The first time I saw it I said, 'What the hell is that?'"

Southern Cross

Woo! Off to Melbourne tomorrow, cashed up and ready to shop.

I'm thinking Douglas and Hope, I'm thinking Savers, I'm thinking Fitzroy, St Kilda, the city, Elsternwick. Maybe baby, Carlton ? And if I go to St Kilda (oh, the cakes!)… why wouldn't I stop in at Albert Park? And Balaclava.

Which reminds me. I loved loved loved that fake Fendi denim jacket I bought from the angry Russian lady at the end of Chapel St. It was fabulous in the bestest eastern bloc hooker kind of way. Why'd I ever throw it away? What a fashion fool I was.

Must get to Christine's. And Camberwell market.

If I could fit in some shiatsu, that'd be good…

And I have to see the National Gallery. And the ACCA too.

Most wonderfully of all, will see the lovely D, who is letting me crash with her at Hawthorn.

Then there's the gorgeous C, and the much missed K to be met for a bowl of pho at K's restaurant.

And the magical marvellous Dr A with her boyfriend M for tapas and drinks.

M was in the circus. Is that not awesome?

Photos later.

Xe Om

Oh. Cept for a bit here.

Return

Well, that's been quite the hiatus.

Still adrift in the internet doldrums.

Bound to wash up ashore soon. Surely?

Fifty-five words

``The helicopter flew down to investigate. 'It was a woman' Ridenhour remembered, 'spread-eagled as if on display. She had an 11th Brigade patch between her legs – as if it were some type of display, some badge of honor. We just looked; it was obviously there so people would know the 11th Brigade had been there.'"

From Seymour Hersh's book about the My Lai massacre.

Calley - ringleader or scapegoat, depending on who you read - is a jeweller now, apparently.

Yummy

I am mad for del.icio.us at the moment.

My bit here.

Baked fresh

In the magical ovens of the typo generator.

It's not true

Things have not been the same since I learned that Harry Butler in the Wild was a set up.

R: ''Did you think he's just wandering about -- in broad daylight -- and he just finds this rare nocturnal spider, under the first rock he picks up?''

C: ''Yes.''

Code red

My head is going to explode.

I have a zit big enough to cause shifts in atmospheric pressure.

People who blog hurricanes and other freak weather patterns are likely to be on my doorstop any minute now.

Ahead of the erruption, may I suggest the first chairlift out?

Urban dingoes and night cries

Tonight was supposed to be about laziness and teev.
Instead it was about doing my tax. And laundry.

Don't be too overwhelmed with envy, will you now.

Tomorrow though, going to see urban dingoes at la boite.

Looking forward to finally seeing the huge Tracey Moffat billboard too.

Looking down the barrel of love's gun

From You Yes You

The real thing

When I lived at Elwood, I would catch the bus home from St Kilda.

The bus stop was outside a Thai takeaway. In a casement window, in the wall next to the takeaway's door, there was a tiny gallery.

Sometimes, there would just be scribbled bits of paper in it, or voodoo dolls, or Polaroids.

Or, for a couple of weeks, a stuffed cat, resplendent in opera mask and plumed head-dress.

Teev

Looks like I'll have to start a blog to entertain myself. There's no good day time telly anymore. I wish Dukes of Hazard was still on.

And Get Smart.
And Bewitched.
And Sabrina.

Fish fest

I ate fish!1

Previously, I have been equal measures afraid of and disgusted by seafood.2

The only thing I liked less than fish generally was mexican walking fish, specifically.3

For example.

friend: i have made this delicious pasta for us to eat together!
me: what is that can you are opening? is it SPAM?
friend: no, it is tuna.
me: aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggh. fish!
friend: but it's tuna!
me: and what is tuna?
friend: a fish?
me: yes. a fish.

And then I would insist on a separate portion of whatever it was, unpoluted by fish.

Also, I hated fish, in general, not just to eat.

friend: that's a picture of fish on that mug you're drinking out of there!
me: aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggh.fish!
friend: ha!

friend: look at the precious golden carp in the picturesque water feature right next to where we are sitting, eating! it's fins are rotting and it's eyes are all googley.
me: aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggh.fish!
friend: ha!

friend: yes we have no fish in the tank at the moment. they've all EATEN EACH OTHER.
me: aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggh.cannibal fish!
friend: ha!

friend: i'll have to flush this dead fish... 4 or will I just use it to TORTURE her!?
me: aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggh.fish!
friend: ha!

But in the last year, I've been rethinking my fish phobia. Cutting a whole food group out of my life, based on just one bad experience when I was, three5, began to seem unreasonable.

Up until a month ago, the only other times I ate seafood had been:
1. Under duress. An 'orrible ex boyfriend tried to make me eat a sardine. I vomited.
2. While very, very, very drunk. A strange, but nice, elderly Polish man fed me oysters at a friends wedding.
3. In the name of science. Do prawns crackers really taste like prawns?6

But then, when I was in Brisbane, I had dinner with M and tried some of her fish. It wasn't too disgusting.

me: so that's fish?
M: yeah, sorry, i forgot.
me: no, no, it's alright, i hate it, but it doesn't disgust me if someone else is eating it.7
M: i can hardly taste it at all with all the sauce.
me: i've actually been thinking about trying to eat seafood.
M: you should try this – you wouldn't taste it with all the sauce.
me: ok. cut me off a really tiny piece.
M: here.
me: smaller.
M: here.
me: no, smaller.
M: that's tiny.
me: not tiny enough.
M: here.
me: hey! it tastes OK.
M: it tastes like sauce.

So I sought other seafood input.

R, A and A2 said: of course it tastes like fish. all fish tastes like fish. that's why it's fish.
D: you should eat fish, it's really good for you.
C: if you get the stuff with lots of added flavours, you won't taste it at all.
M: tuna sandwiches are good.

Then, on Tuesday night I ate some tuna. Zesty lime with cracked black pepper.

It was OK. It didn't even taste like fish.

It did smell a little like cat food, but I tried hard not to dwell on that.

Later, however...

me: hey I can't believe that fish totally wasn't disgusting!
A: yep.
me: next time one of those fish dies, i'm slapping it on the barbeque!
A: really?
me: no. i still really really hate their googley eyes. why can't science genetically engineer fish without googley eyes?
A: or NO eyes!
me: oh sweet jesus noooooooooooooooooooooooo. blind eyeless fish. that's worse than the axolotyl.
A: ha!

1. Actual tuna. Not a euphemism.
2. I didn't hate everything about the sea. Loathed: salt water, the beach, sunburn, boats, all most seafood and sea life, salt water, brine, the smell of fish, waves, surfers, sunshine, seaweed. Quite liked: pirates, mermaids, coral, sunken treasure, phosphoresce, desert islands, giant turtles (for riding not for eating), and snorkelling.
3. The axolotyl is an abomination.
4. For a while I used the other toilet. I could see the fish returning, all dead and rotting, swimming back up and biting me.
5. When I was very small my parents and grandparents and I went to a seafood restaurant, on our way back from a family drive to the Gold Coast. There was fish stew. My mother put some on her finger and got me to taste it. It was disgusting and I was very upset. All the adults laughed. My mother totally denies that this ever happened. But she got all shifty when I started mentioning details like fairy lights and the outdoor setting. She knows what she did.
6. They do.
7. Not strictly true.

Generation game

I could’ve save myself so much time and effort if I’d had access to the artists statement generator when I was at uni.

Work of Meta-Art in the Age of Generative Reproduction
The flux creates, the empire permeates. In the synaptic artifice, art objects are resurrections of the iterations of the flux -- a flux that uses the empire as a parallax to enmesh ideas, patterns, and emotions. With the devolution of the electronic environment, the flux is superseding a point where it will be free from the empire to consume immersions into the machinations of the delphic artifice. Work of Meta-Art in the Age of Generative Reproduction contains 10 minimal shockwave engines (also referred to as "AI modules") that enable the user to make nice audio/visual compositions.

Measuring chains, constructing realitiesputting into place forms
a matrix of illusion and disillusion
a strange attracting force
so that a seduced reality will be able to spontaneously feed on it

The work investigates the nuances of surveillance cameras through the use of stopframe motion and close-ups which emphasise the Generative nature of digital media. Random explores abstract and lustrous scenery as motifs to describe the idea of cyber-intuitive artifice. Using magical loops, vectors, and allegorical images as patterns, Random creates meditative environments which suggest the expansion of art...

<-- Obligatory ascii sig. Repeat until desired cyborg effect is achieved. -->

/u[0]{)]|]]-] -------------/u/u!@#$%^~!@#$%^&*()) __++_)(*&^%$--------/u/u!@#$%^~!@#$
%^&*())__++_)(*&^%$--------/u/u!@#$ %^~!@#$%^&*())__+, etc., etc.

<-- End obligatory ascii sig. -->

I, spy

OK, so today at work I needed to come up with a code name for myself.

I could tell you why, but obviously I’d have to kill you then.

Boom boom.

In the end, I went old skool and signed on as 004.

Another day another dollar

Today I’m experiencing really intense identification with Tina the Brittle Tech Writer.

To dull the pain, I've:
-sucked down a BigLaté from the health food shop downstairs
-bashed out a letter to Nike CEO Phillip Knight calling for better conditions for workers
-firmed my resolve to get some headphones so I can listen to music and not co-irkers

And wasted time at:
the age
tomato nation
mister pants
hissyfit
gwentown

More worthily:
community aid abroad
nike campaign
more nike stuff
nike wages