Parking was $10, up from $8 last year. I guess I can blame the congestion tax for that. The city was reasonably busy with mucho pedestrian traffic and the occasional drunken scream. We arrived early so we dropped into the bar for an overpriced pot of Carton and waited for the doors to open. We mused about how brilliant life will be when smoking is banned indoors and wondered if the tiny little balconies at the pub counted as "outdoors". We look forward to when they ban dick-heads indoors too.
Ross's show was identical in every way to last year. Every joke was different, the set was different, but essentially it was the same show. Ross talks, starts telling part of a story, moves onto another tangent, and so forth. At random points he moves back to a previous tangent to close it off (usually).
There is an interval and it continues until the end of the show. Ross returns for questions from the audience which are universally lame but usually serve as a reminder for him to close off any tangents he missed in the show. See ya Ross.
Don't get me wrong, it was hilarious and all new content as far as I could remember, but it felt like I was watching last years show. Ross also seemed a little less energetic this year, particularly during question time, but that's the fault of the crowd.
It's a strange thing to complain about I suppose. I mean, I go see Faith No More in 1995 and two years later in 1997 half their set is the same, they all stand in the same places and perform pretty much the same show and I don't complain do I?
Anyway, we'll probably go again next year, or maybe get in early and get Dylan Moran tickets. Or maybe Bill Bailey will tour.
On the way up we were tailgated by a black sports car that flashed it's lights at us until overtaking us dangerously on a curve. He then followed the next car in front of us dangerously close for about half a kilometre, then overtook that car and the car further up. The sports car cut back into our lane at the last second before a car came around the bend.
I had my digital camera out taking video of our amusing singing niece and wish I'd lifted my camera up to watch the idiotic actions of the sports car driver, but what I'd have done with the video I have no idea. The quality wouldn't have been enough for the police and YouTube has far more horrific traffic videos.
It's one of the most deliberately dangerous things I've seen someone do on the roads for while, but it's not unusual for me to see that sort of thing nearly every time I'm on the road.
The road toll over Easter doesn't surprise me. Neither does the yearly toll. I'm horrified by it, but not surprised.
What I am often surprised by is that the toll is so similar each year.
In Australia the toll had been dropping fairly steadily since the 70s but for the past seven years has barely changed.
The Herald Sun has a running toll in their letters section which indicates the road toll this time last year and the toll this year. The numbers are almost always within about 10.
Doesn't anyone find that a little odd?
CD shopping yesterday I noticed their album is only $17.95. Typically a new album would be released at around $26.95 and drop quickly to around $21 if very popular.
To release at $17.95 on the first day must have had a positive effect on sales.
A more expensive (low $20s) version of the album was available with a DVD Making of. I presume the sales of both were merged when compiling the album charts.
Personally I thought Straight Lines (the first single) was a Coldplay reject, but darn it, it worms it's way into your head doesn't it? Just like Coldplay... I'm hardly surprised to hear it was co-written with the guy from The Presets, the kings of catchy.
It's worth noting that Silverchair are at a small independent record company "Eleven" but are distributed through Virgin/EMI.
In another nice trend for music, I noticed that the recent Cold Chisel tribute album is a two CD. The first CD has the tribute songs and the other has the original Cold Chisel versions. Brilliant.
TVs still cost four times more than they should.
The songs are long and full of ideas, just as the studio report indicated. Choruses are rare, riffs are not. Production leans toward recent Slipknot with more than a few instances of harmonised clean vocals mixed with double-kick infused speed metal.
I've little experience with Machine Head so I can't say how it compares, but it's one of the better metal albums I've heard for a while.
It's going to grow on me.
"How do I explain to my 12 year old daughter the reasons for this vaccine?"
How do parents explain Rubella vaccines to the 11 year old girls getting their booster shots? "So you can have healthy children". Why must explaining the HPV vaccine be any more complicated?
Rubella to most is no worse than a cold. However, if contracted while in the first trimester of pregnancy it can cause congenital rubella syndrome in the child which can lead to a long list of horrible medical problems for the baby.
So the vaccine is of no use to anyone except those who are likely to have unprotected sex, presumably multiple times, in order to conceive a child.
Explain that to an 11 year old.
Perhaps we should also explain the reason they've had a Polio vaccine is for the rare chance they might unwittingly eat an infected persons poo, and the rare chance they're the 1% or so of the population for whom polio causes paralysis.
The fact is you don't have to.
I presume that eventually all children (male and female) will receive the HPV vaccine as part of their normal vaccination schedule at which time it will become a non issue. No scary sex conversations for useless parents.
May that time come as quickly as possible.