The World Trade Organization is meeting in Sydney this Friday and – as you might expect – protests are looming. City cops have just made matters worse by refusing to grant a permit for a peaceful march tomorrow. It’s going to turn into chaos, I just know it. I wonder if I can convince the Snook to stay home.

(Incidentally, check out the list of “essential protesting gear” at the end of that article: helmet, sealed goggles, gas mask, and clothing that seals at the neck and cuffs. I don’t get the last one. What’s that for?)

Vindicated! Someone else has noticed that the Jedi Archives room from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones looks exactly like the Long Library at Trinity College, Dublin. The Snook and I saw the library a year ago and we immediately noticed the resemblance when we saw the movie. It really does look just like that, with busts of famous collegians down the sides. (You’re supposed to be able to see side-by-side comparison photos here, but I can’t seem to connect to the site right now.)

AU4P. Now what the hell does that mean? It’s chalked up and down all the footpaths in Newtown. Seriously, I saw one every twenty feet from the North Indian Home Diner to the high school (like six blocks). One version is followed by a question mark. I just have no clue. It’s like I’ve wandered into a Thomas Pynchon novel. Any guesses?

The Prime Minister of Australia has a weblog. A sample:

Oh my God! Best. Weekend. EVER. The APEC summit was soooooo much fun… [T]he best, coolest, most totally wicked part of the summit? George Bush was there!!! And Tony Blair wasn’t!!! We hung out heaps, sometimes it was even just the two of us! Well, like there were security guys and stuff, but apart from that, it was just us! Janette wouldn’t let me bring my Playstation, but I snuck my Gameboy up there and we played that heaps, mainly during the boring politics stuff. I asked George if he wanted to come jogging with me, but he didn’t. Probably ’cause it was so hot. I thought Mexico would be cold, ’cause it’s near Chile, but it’s not. It’s kinda like the Northern Territory, but with less Aboriginals and more cactuses… Anyway, it was totally gnarly and I reckon Tony Blair’s heaps jealous that he wasn’t there.

Priceless.

Holy crap. Some scammers just made off with a million bucks by attaching a recording device to an ATM and using it to duplicate cards. The scary part? The ATM they used is in our neighborhood. I’m pretty sure I’ve never used that one, but I’m going to be a lot more careful in the future…

Oh Pacey… How the mighty have fallen.

Roger Ebert praises the films of Buster Keaton. I saw some of his films in college and really enjoyed them. If anybody wants to buy me an early Christmas present, feel free. 🙂

It was a weekend of extremes. Saturday night the Snook and I rocked out at the Reel Big Fish concert. Sunday afternoon we attended his grandma’s 80th birthday party. (We gave her a set of the photo marble magnets I made, which she loved.) Now I’m just tired.

I picked up my copy of Kushiel’s Dart at Borders today. (It was in the sci-fi/fantasy section, if any of you are having difficulty finding it.) To be honest, it doesn’t look like something I’d pick up otherwise. But that’s the whole point of this little exercise, isn’t it? I’m loving that we’re reading such a wide variety of stuff. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. It looks pretty long though, so if you’re going to play along you should try to pick it up soon. (We can always postpone the discussion a bit if people are having trouble getting through it in time. So no worries.)

Oh, and check out this message from the forum. We’ve been linked on a Jacqueline Carey fansite! Hopefully this means we’ll have some new people to join in the discussion.

Take Rolling Stone‘s Simpsons Quiz! The Snook and I only missed a couple.