“The dinosaurs are not around today because they did not have a space program.” The Top 10 Reasons for a Space Program. As this Slashdot post points out, most of these have to do with planetary safety and economic reasons. Whatever happened to “Because it’s there”?

How sensitive are your senses? Take this test. I scored 10 out of 20. I screwed up most of the first visual section and I missed the last three straight. I suck.

Not only are we getting the American version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy shortly… but they’re casting an all-Aussie version right now! I told my friend Kevin – who owns the salon where I get my hair cut – that he must apply.

I just saw this fluff piece on “buttock augmentation” and was merrily skimming through it when I hit the bit where they describe exactly how the procedure is performed. Lordy! No pictures, but I’m never going to be able to get the mental images out of my head. And the scars are down your…!

Don’t forget, Aussies! Tonight at 6:00 the ABC begins showing every single episode of Dr. Who. Our VCR is set. Is yours?

The Snook and I just got back from finally seeing that pirate movie. As we’d been eagerly awaiting its arrival in Australia for, oh, four months, it was probably inevitable that we’d be let down a little bit. Eh, I dunno. It was enjoyable and two hours of watching Johnny Depp are never misspent, but somehow it just didn’t buckle my swash the way I expected it to. A lot of people said they felt it ran too long, which might be part of it, but what I noticed the most was a lack of surprise. I wanted something to happen, anything that I hadn’t already seen coming miles away. It felt like I’d already seen every good bit in the trailer. I’m also annoyed because I spent the whole film waiting for Johnny to say the line from the trailer about “bloodthirsty pirates that cannot be killed”, and he never did! I hate it when they do that. Orlando was good but he’s always so deathly serious. He never plays characters with any sense of humor. I end up giggling at his romantic lines when I should be swooning. And lastly, sorry boys, but Keira Knightley failed to impress. She’s got great hair, but her upper lip is bigger than her lower one! Am I the only one that thought that was weird?

Ouch.

Friday Five:

1. Is the name you have now the same name that’s on your birth certificate? If not, what’s changed?
Yup. Most folks nowadays call me Kris rather than Kristine though. A few who knew me in grade school still call me Kristy.

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?
I like my name, except for the fact that everybody either A) spells it wrong when writing it down or B) pronounces it wrong when reading it out loud. (“Yeah, there’s an E at the end there. Hence Kristeeeen. Not Kristen.”) But I wouldn’t change my name over that. I’d just prefer everybody in the world learn how to spell/pronounce it properly.

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)
I always thought that my parents had just liked the name, but a few years ago while talking with my mother she mentioned that “Kristine” had been her best friend in school. I never knew that. I don’t know anything more about her, but that’s who I’m named for.

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?
I like names that pack in a lot of options, like my name. I lobbied pretty strongly for my cousin Megan to be named “Katherine”, because I reckoned it would be nice to choose from Katherine, Kate, Katie, Kathy, etc. I also like traditional names that aren’t going to be embarrassing when the person is eighty years old. Can you imagine going to the nursing home to visit “Dakota” or “Jaden”? I don’t think so.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn’t it?
I did the Kabalarians a long time ago and at the time I thought it was pretty accurate. The triggur.org site says I am weak of spirit and hate happy people. I am also apparently a lousy drunk. Yeah, I’d go with that.

RIP Johnny Cash and John Ritter. The Snook and I were watching the news last night when we got the jaw-dropping news about Cash. Snookums has called a special meeting of his “Guinness Club” at the pub tonight to drink some beer and mourn the man in black. I didn’t hear about Ritter til I read it on Max’s site this morning. So sad. Remember when he played “Ted” on Buffy?

Sidenote: Did anyone else do a double-take on the quote from Bono in that Johnny Cash article? “I considered myself a friend, he considered me a fan – he indulged me.” Either Bono or the BBC messed up the quote, or Bono rather hilariously misunderstood his relationship with Cash.

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