Whoa. Have you guys seen Sophie Ellis Bextor’s anti-fur ad? (Here‘s the big version.) I admire her principles, but one has to wonder if she wears leather. (I don’t think those boots in the “Murder on the Dancefloor” video are synthetic.) Because really, there’s not a heck of a lot of difference, is there? I mean, we eat the rest of the cow so it’s less of a waste, but you’re still wearing animal bits for fashion. I guess foxes are just cuddlier looking than cows.

Today’s Protest Scorecard: 13 arrested, 1 injured. Three of the people arrested were women who stripped naked in front of the U.S. Embassy. That’s kinda funny. The injured person was a female newspaper reporter who got trampled by some police horses. The Snook took a different route to work and hasn’t seen any hippies down his way yet. It’s still early though…

Update: The Herald‘s got a picture of the naked chicks! Apparently they covered themselves in fake blood and rolled around on an American flag. And hey, one of them was from Newtown! The Snook didn’t witness anything interesting, other than a load of cops and horse poo.

Some evil spamming bastards have been apparently scraping my site’s comments for e-mail addresses. Apologies to everyone involved. I guess I’m going to have to try to figure out a way to spam-proof the site. Until I come up with something, you may want to leave your e-mail addresses off when you comment. (Although at this point, it may be trying to shut the barn door after the horse is already out.)

Last week was the Melbourne Cup, which is Australia’s premier horse racing event. (It’s like their Kentucky Derby.) Everybody in the country bets on who’s going to win this one race. It’s huge. The other thing it’s known for is the hats. All the ladies wear huge flowered and feathery headgear, just like the Ascot scene from My Fair Lady. Even the gentlemen get in on the act. Here the Snook models his own modest chapeau, which he fashioned himself from a bit of newspaper. He didn’t attend the actual race, of course, but I’m told his creation made quite a stir at the local pub where he and his workmates watched it on the telly. 🙂

(Yes, I told him to smile but he never does. He thinks he looks crap in photos, when really – when he smiles – he’s so damn photogenic it makes me jealous. So the seriousness of expression here is deliberate.)

Alcohol causes breast cancer. Great. Friggin’ wonderful. Has anyone been keeping a list? I believe we’re finally at the point where everything fun will kill you. What am I supposed to do, go live in a cave off nothing but mung beans and spring water?

Holy crap. Check out this picture of a dust storm that ripped through the state yesterday. That’s when happens when you have a drought, kids.

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.