Fringe Party '07

I got a lift into town with the Hicks family. Apparently their son's got himself into some sort of trouble.




The party was just getting started.




There were buskers and musicians everywhere.




Some idiot muso must have thought it was hard rubbish day.





I'm starving!




But the line up at the Yiros place is huge, and I have to meet Alice. She will be pissed off at me if I show up late, smelling of garlic sauce.




The agreed meeting place. Suddenly, night falls! Where is Alice?




Disaster averted. Alice and George arrive. Obligatory photo time.




Ah, Hungry Jacks. I am starving, but tonight is about culture, and Hungry Jacks is not culture. Your bacon deluxe cannot tempt me!




No time for food now - bring on the salsa girls!




They twirl, and I am strangely intrigued...




They pose for photos, and I am strangely intrigued...




Meet Porkchopper, the Fringe mascot for 2007.




A man who twirls fire. The crowd is not amused. Where did those salsa girls go?




People gather to watch the electronic musicians. Somehow I've managed to lose my friends.




Argh! It's Julian! I can sense he intends to hit me over the head with that rolled up Fringe program.




Alice, George, and Julian.




The crowds have not gone away. Y'all know you can click on these photos to get a bigger version, right?




Fireworks over the Nova Cinema




In Adelaide, we force small children to play in bands. We maintain that it's character building.




I think my camera has taken party drugs.




Time to go home. Sprint to catch the last bus!




All that running has made me thirsty. I'll stop and have a drink at these stagnant pools of water that I'm sure no drunken yobbo has befouled.




If I lived here, I'd be home by now. Alas, I do not live here.

Australia Day

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And then I found out Augie March had taken the top sport in the Triple J Hottest 100:




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I've got a brand new camera baby (and the interior colour may or may not be red)

So those of you who already know this probably know this already, but I bought a camera this weekend. It's a Canon 400D and it's my purchase of the week. It takes awesome photos but it has to be treated like a lady. If you fiddle with its knobs too much it loses focus.

Speaking of out of focus, check these out!

You can get a bigger version of the photos by clicking on them. Our George is a photogenic bastard, isn't he?

Before I sign off, I'd like to share something that happened to me last night. I was at a party, and there was a pretty girl sitting on my lap. Everyone in the immediate surrounds had had a bit to drink and there was much merriment. All was right with the world. Then, suddenly, unbidden, came a flash of memory that chilled the very marrow of my bones.

It was a recollection of one of Sandman's soliloquys, delivered on Good News Week almost a decade ago. In it, he recounted a similar experience where, 'at the end of year TAFE party, Gail, a mature age student, sat on my lap.' He goes on to recount an agonising forty minutes of numbness, tingling, and severe bladder pain until:

When she stood up and said 'let's go, swarthy,' I couldn't move. My legs were completely numb. All I could do was drop off the chair and wet myself. I suspect Gail was after someone who was better under pressure than me.

It's funny the tricks that our minds can play, isn't it? Why did my brain call that obscure piece of memory to mind? Luckily, the lovely lady on my lap was not a mature age TAFE student named Gail, and when eventually she stood up, I managed to retain control over my bladder.

For the rest of the night my calves were sore, though.