A scrapbook moment

1. Canberra, again

While the bushfires around Canberra may be temporarily abating, there are still fires near Yass and Queanbeyan. Yass is out my parents’ way and my father went out at 5 am this morning with his volunteer bushfire brigade. It’s unlikely the fires will come anywhere near my parents, and Dad has gone out with a crew largely staffed by a highly experienced, long-established local farming family. Still, it’s hard not to be concerned, and has given me a renewed sense of what is going on for those living in fire-affected areas.

It still doesn’t compare to actually losing a house, or loved one, of course.


2. A “Yahoo Serious” moment

As Lisa Simpson once said on seeing Mr Serious’ name: “I know those words, they just don’t make any sense in that order.” This neatly summarises my reaction to W.H. Auden. Love his poetry, but his use of everyday words often adds up to a surreal, unfathomable whole. These, admittedly melodramatic, lines caught my attention yesterday:

Nights come bringing the snow, and the dead howl
Under the headlands in their windy dwelling
Because the Adversary put too easy questions
On lonely roads.

So remember, stop, revive, survive. Or something.

3. The death of my productivity

Online comic-strips offer swift, easy chuckle-worthy desktop entertainment. I now follow a few too many and may need to rationalise when my job gets busy again.

Highlights include:

Red Meat: The Secret Files of Max Cannon. Seriously weird, seriously disturbed, seriously good. A bizarre look a suburbia as if drawn by an alcoholic monopoly-board illustrator of the 1950s. Updated fortnightly (or less), but huge archives to keep you entertained in the meantime. Watch out for Milkman Dan.

Dilbert. Essential reading for anyone trapped in an office.

Sluggy Freelance: a kinda quirky, ladsy serial that’s been running quite some years now, and like Buffy is becoming a little burdened by its own history. (Yes, the cute talking bunny is heavily-armed psychopath who has become the living incarnation of Easter and Groundhog day, and is conducting a private war with Santa Claus. No, seriously.) Often very silly, and often takes off films as comedy plot lines: the best is probably the horror-genre rip-off “The Evil”. (There has of course been a sequel, “The Evil II”).

Just had someone direct me to Bite Me yesterday. It also comes recommended by Neil Gaiman and Scott McCloud, so it must be good. Download speeds not always great, and it takes a little while to get going. Laughed out loud when I hit “revolutionary tubers”. Oh yeah, it’s a comedy about vampires in the French Revolution. Don’t let that put you off. You watched the stupid historical episodes of Buffy and Angel, didn’t you?

For strips commenting on the Blog phenomenon, check out the dialogues between Grumpy Girl and her Questioning Ant. (You may need to scroll down the current page to see it ...)

Final recommendation? Dykes To Watch Out For: mostly a Doonsbury style talk-fest, but does contain the very, very occasional MA-15 visual that may offend against your friendly, local work-related internet use policy. Lotsa in-jokes for anyone who’s ever crossed swords with an academic, or done any kind of gender-theory course. No, seriously – it is funny. Recommended to me by The New Academic, who I think has a grant that covers this sort of stuff, so it’s all OK.

4. DateWatch: the missing website

After the cocktail hour of madness (see last Friday’s entry) I expected to find a plethora of semi-comic dating sites. I’ve finally found something close: a full-throttle advice column from two New Yorkers who will help with any problem - the em & lo down: advice from near experts. If you ever thought relationships were weird, you have not covered the half of it. Check out their take on the phenomenon of “casual intimacy” , for more outlandish topics see their archives.

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