Crap. As expected, Apple just e-mailed me to say my G5 iMac will arrive “7-10 business days” later than expected. Does anybody know if they’re shipping in the US or UK yet?

So, Amy’s a citizen of Australia now! Actually she’s a dual American-Australian, which is what I hope to be in about eighteen months. The ceremony was held in Mosman and I went along to celebrate with her. She basically just had to pledge allegiance and then she got a certificate and a native plant. Pretty sweet! There was a sour edge to the evening for me, though, in the form of a famous visitor in the midst: Tony Abbott! (He’s the Leader of the House and the Federal Minister for Health and Aging. He’s also a raging conservative asshole.) Didn’t he just get out of the hospital for kidney stones yesterday? And here he was, four days before a national election, spending the evening in front of a group of people who weren’t even eligible to vote for him! His speech afterwards was polished but uninspiring, I have to say. (When he started talking about Australia’s “freedom” I half-expected him to congratulate the new citizens on becoming part of the Coalition of the Willing.) You’ll be proud to note that after a short internal battle, I managed to resist the urge to question him about the Pauline Hanson slush fund and kick him in the nuts. Man, I’ll never have another chance like that again…

And I just realized that I spelled his name wrong on the photo, but I don’t really care.

Congratulations to Amy for becoming an official Australian citizen tonight. I’m counting on her for lots of helpful tips about this whole dual-citizenship thingy.

Real Embarrassing Photos: The Man Who Stole Jimi Hendrix’s Hair
I was going through some old pictures the other day when I came across this absolute gem. Yes, folks, that is the Snook. In college he had big hair, a dodgy goatee, and – what’s more amazing to me – he actually wore blue jeans! Who is this person? It blows my mind. I’m putting this out there for anybody wondering if I know what I’m getting into with this whole marriage-thing. Oh yes, you betcher ass I do. I figure a guy who can laugh at his former self – and give permission for the world to laugh along with him – is a real keeper. Click here for some better views of the ‘fro in all its glory.

And yeah, I turned up some doozies of me. Stay tuned…

AskMetaFilter tackles the questions enquiring minds want to know: Why, evolution-wise, do the testes hang outside a human body? Come on, you wondered that too…

Come-come-commala.
It’s been over ten years… but I’ve finally come to the clearing at the end of the path. I have finished Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. In fact, I read over six hundred pages today; I couldn’t put it down. You remember how I thought the sixth book kinda sucked? Well, this one didn’t. It tied up loose ends and hurtled from action sequence to action sequence with a speed that left me shaking my head. (“Snookums, he spent all of that last book setting up cliffhangers that were resolved in the first forty pages!”) When the ka-tet was finally broken about halfway through the book, I sobbed like a baby for half an hour. I’m still tearing up just thinking about it. (“F**king ka!”) I found King’s inclusion of himself as a character much less irritating this time around, mostly because he wasn’t in it much. I liked finding out what happened to Randall Flag, Ted Brautigan, and Patrick Danville. And as for the ending, which probably pissed a lot of people off? I think what happens to Roland makes a weird sort of sense. It’s not exactly satisfying but it’s not the cop-out I feared. I’m left with hope. As for the rest of the ka-tet… I think that was a bit of a cop-out, but I’m still a sucker for a happy(-ish) ending.

Man, I hope the Harry Potter series ends as well.

Woohoo! The weird little opera guy Daniel finally got booted on Australian Idol tonight. He seemed nice enough but I got really sick of overly theatrical style. (You’re next, Hayley!) I’m totally in the Ricki-Lee camp. She rocks! She’s Australia’s own Beyonce. Chanel and Marty are sentimental favorites, but I don’t think either of them has the star power to win it.

I had a couple more comment spams today so I finally implemented my “moderation on old posts” plan. Basically, any post older than two weeks is still open but new comments don’t appear until I approve them. Let me know if you notice any weirdness. (You shouldn’t.)

Wow, Ebert’s new site has finally launched! Now I can finally read all 500+ entries in his Little Movie Glossary. I was amused to note that he uses a Powerbook (naturally). I was not amused to note his wedding ring. 🙁

Later: Yowch. The site update has broken every single review link from the IMDb. Bad move, web developers.