I’ve always wondered why I blog on here. I have nothing to promote (other than Melbourne), no website to link to, and I certainty haven’t made a single cent (or 5cents). Well, walking down the street a few months ago, I saw my words printed up on the street and if that isn’t reason enough then I don’t know what is.

I’ve been wanting to do another followup on the accident that claimed Damian Cooper’s life a year and a half ago but haven’t until today. Tragically a life was lost but out of it Damian’s father Mark Cooper is now an advocate of reducing speed limits in busy shopping areas such as Lygon Street. He has been successful and the city is now in the process of reducing the limit to 40km/h in Lygon Street. As for the piece of scum who hit him, he is going to court in October on charges of culpable driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving while disqualified.

Only a couple of hours ago, just meters up the road, another fatal car crash occurred where two 18 year olds have lost their lives. It’s hard not to jump to conclusions when a P plater crashes into a parked car at such a speed that 2 people are killed and 5 people taken to hospital. A police spokesmen said “This is another example of what you could say (is) hoon behaviour, hoon driving and young people thinking they can outdo themselves and the results are tragic.” The road toll is up 13% from last year. I’m not sure if lower speed limits would have helped either situation but it’s a step in the right direction. It seems no matter what provisions are made, hoon drivers are just not getting the picture.

In any case, it makes me happy to think my words are going to a good cause although in tragic circumstances. I can only hope that the make shift shrine for Damian is helping to get the message out. Slow down.

Links:

Melbourne Metblogs: Update on Brunetti & Damian Cooper

Melbourne Metblogs: Another Day, Another Fatality

The Age: Speed blamed in Fatal Carlton Crash

Melbourne Leader: Lygon St 40km/h speed plea

Facebook: RIP Damo 

Running until the 31st of May is The Next Wave Festival. The festival celebrates the “next wave” of young artists displaying their works throughout public spaces in the CBD. By works it could mean art or some kind of dance or anything in between. There is 2020?, a display of industrial waste destined for landfill. Open Embrace invites the viewer to experience the tango from the perspective of the dancer. One more to my taste is Pennies & Pints, a large-scale poster that brings to life the many maps, near misses, and apocalyptic moments of Fitzroy’s history.

Links:

Next Wave Festival

Roving police patrols at night targeting violent hotspots was a great idea but Premier John Brumby’s 2AM lockout is just ridiculous. Last week, Brumby announced a trial starting on June 3, that imposes a 2AM lockout in areas in and around Melbourne. Some areas affected include Fitzroy (i.e. Brunswick St.), the CBD, St. Kilda, and Prahran. Once you step out of a venue and its after 2AM, you will not be allowed back in. This is supposed to curb increasing violence in Melbourne. Licencees who breach this lockout will be face fines up to $6800. The only exception to the ban unsurprisingly is the government revenue maker, Crown Casino.

• Most of the late night violence has been occurring outside venues on the streets. By locking out patrons, this will just be putting more people onto the streets. More people means more fights.
• Want to go out for a smoke? Sorry, can’t come back in. Phone call? Nope. Designated driver? No way. Sorry, I lost my girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/sister etc. Sorry, can’t come in.
• First Floor, Bubble, and The Exford are three places that thrive in the late night. Take First Floor (Brunswick St., Fitzroy) as an example. It is open until the early hours of the morning but it only starts to get packed when most of the bars close on Brunswick Street. The 2AM lockout is thus removing late night licences.
• The city of Yarra consists of a large area including Collingwood, Fitzroy, and Richmond. Public drinking IS allowed. Yes, you heard that right. What do you think people will be doing on the street when they cannot get into a venue? Get ready for parks and street corners to be the new hot venue of choice.

You really have to wonder how our Victorian government comes to conclusions without any notice and without consulting with venues, patrons or generally reading any history on the issue. Only a couple of years ago, England repealed it’s 11PM closing law in order to STOP violence. It’s not just the lockout, only yesterday , the Brumby government announced that it was making certain roads in an around Melbourne, clearways during peak hour WITHOUT even consulting councils. I know the Beijing Olympics are coming up but I was pretty sure we are not living in a dictatorship government. I highly suspect that after the three month trial of this lockout, the government will come out with some skewed figures showing success and proposing that the lockout be extended permanently.

Have your say! Join the protest May 30th at Parliament House (5PM-7PM and 11PM-Midnight). Please don’t show up drunk or being an idiot.

Links:

2AM Lockout Website (an “impartial” site created by those great guys from Melbournepubs.coms )

Melbourne Locked Out (The official protest site)

Facebook Group

Facebook Event

Herald Sun: Protestors fight for their right to Party

I’ve always enjoyed a little bit of decadence in my lifestyle, and being a member of Sensual Ball satisfies that little bit of egotism in me. Granted, I don’t partake in any of the sexual cruises or swinging parties that dot their itinerary. But it’s always interesting to find out what the other side of the fence has in stall for the ‘unfortunate’ ones.

Several weeks ago I received an email from Sensual Ball alerting me to the casting of Australia’s version of Temptation Island. I had a good laugh upon looking at the application forms (both singles and couples). I thought they’re really thorough and professional. Well, when you’re messing around with the lives and relationships of people who’re committed to each other, you leave no stone unturned.

Here’re some of the questions:

1) Can you imagine being unfaithful to your partner under any circumstances?

2) Why are members of the opposite sex attracted to you?

3) Why are you a great partner?

Just for chuckles I submitted my application form (for singles). Every reality show needs the obligatory Asian who gets voted out within the first two weeks.

Check it out guys and send in your applications. Who knows you might just end up on TV with me :O

NOTE: Sensual Ball website is not safe for work.

EDIT: Argh I just found out that the deadline for applications falls on the 27th. What a pity.

Bah bah bah…bah bah baaah…bah bah baaah…baah (Sounds of clapping). Yes, I realise it looks like a conversation with a sheep. Replace the bahs with sounds of a trumpet, a sax, and drums in the background and you have the Melbourne Jazz Festival. Starting today and ending Sunday is the annual jazz festival that features in venues around the city. If you have never been to Bennett’s Lane, now is a great chance to see this unique jazz venue. Hint: Great for a date (unless she hates jazz).

Links:

Melbourne Jazz Festival (whose logo looks very much like Ebay’s)

Melbourne Festival Jazz Ad (The bah bah baah from before)

Australia rules when it comes to swimming, cricket and occasionally rugby. But a couple of weeks ago, a new sport was dominated in St. Leonard’s near Geelong. 72 SCUBA divers set into the ocean with a goal of beating the record for the largest amount of people ironing underwater at the same time.

According to ExtremeIroning.com, the sport that is ‘extreme ironing’ is an outdoor activity that combines the danger and excitement of an ‘extreme’ sport with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt. It involves taking an iron and board (if possible) to remote locations and ironing a few items of laundry. This can involve ironing on a mountainside, preferably on a difficult climb, or taking an iron skiing, snowboarding or canoeing.

I hate ironing in normal situations, so I can’t even imagine ironing underwater.

Links:

St Leonards’ divers set underwater ironing record

[via Gadling]

Extreme Ironing

Picture by Deb Lord-Webster

I love TV shows such as CSI and ER but they could write anything about Las Vegas or Chicago and I wouldn’t know any better. Then there’s Canal Road, which was shot in and around Melbourne. It was almost a year ago since I saw them filming on my street and the promos are making it look like a pretty cool series. Critics have chalked it up to be a combination of Underbelly (which I thought was great) and The Secret Life of Us.

The show premieres 8:30 tonight but is also available to watch for free on NINE’s website. Strangely enough, NINE’s site says: You can also copy and share each episode or even distribute the files via file-sharing applications, such as Bit Torrent. Please note this series is only available to viewers in Australia and New Zealand.

Ah right, like everyone did with Underbelly. Except because of the DRM, you can’t watch this from overseas.

Links:

NINE: Canal Road

Melbourne Metblogs: Canal Road

Not only did bleugh correctly guess the object,  but also gave an exact location and time. Great job! This photo by Adam Dimech was taken in December as bleugh pointed out, by the blue hanging Christmas lights on the top left. It’s amazing that something as simple as a bench can look like a piece of art .

Links:

Flickr: Radiant

Where Art Thou Week 12

The comedy fest is in full swing, yet once again everyone is left with the task of figuring out what to see. As usual, The Age is useless and only ever gives good reviews or no review at all. Here’s my shortlist.

Patton Oswalt-Spence from King of Queens seems to have a vast resume of comedy. Fat weird looking dudes are usually pretty funny. A clip from his standup shows.

Daniel Kitson-Always funny and always odd looking. He seems to get more angry and cynical every year.

Mark Watson’s Earth Summit- A presentation of “An Inconvenient Truth” in a comedic style.

Ross Noble , Jason Byrne, Arj Barker, Stephen K Amos

What the?

Busting Out- The opposite show to Puppetry of the Penis. This show looks strangely interesting.

I Want to be a Mokbel- A comedy act on Melbourne’s underworld and Tony Mokbel. Ok sure, why not.

Faulty Towers-The Dining Experience - Fawlty Towers was probably the best Britcom ever. I’m not too sure about this one but $69 for a three course meal and a show is not too bad.

Happy Yoga with Guru Dudu - Comedic yoga where the audience participates.

Missing in Action this year

Shappi Khorsandi-I’m not really into female comedians but this one had me laughing. Looks like her show is postponed.

Dylan Moran, Danny Bhoy, Adam Hills

Then there’s the hundreds of other shows on this year. Anyone have any recommendations?

Links:

Last Laughs: The Comedy Elite

2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Picture by jsarcadia

Theconundrumm got it right. This is the grave of Walter Lindrum located in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Just a couple minutes away is the memorial for Elvis Presley which gets a lot of visits on the anniversary of his death every year.

Walter or Wally Lindrum was one of the greatest billiards players in the world and holds 57 world records to his name. People who have not heard of him may recognise the name as a hotel that is part of the south facing skyline of Melbourne. The Hotel Lindrum, opened a few years ago, used to house the Lindrum’s Billiard Centre. Today, it is a boutique hotel but there is much memorabilia as well as one of the original restored billiards table.

One of the coolest things about Lindrum’s grave is that there are always gold coins placed on the sides. A true sign of respect for one of the greatest billiards players in the world.

Links:

Wikipedia: Walter Lindrum

Hotel Lindrum

Picture by Thomask