The MeFi kids are talking about Johnny Cash's version of NIN's "Hurt". Among the various remarks, we may observe this remarkably ignorant comment:

I really don't care for his new "I'm so cool I can cover alternative bands" attitude...

Apparently just because you're 70 years old and have nothing left to prove in a recording career stretching back to 1955, and you're in such poor physical condition now that your latest album could be your last, isn't enough to entitle you to record songs by whoever you damn well like. I'm sure the least of the man in black's problems right now is wondering how cool he looks...

posted by James Russell | 10:56 PM

Tex posts again from amidst the fires.

Yesterday/today's godawful Canberra firestorm has taken 4 lives, caused hundreds of nasty injuries, destroyed 400+ properties and wrecked a good part of Canberra's power/sewage network.
Thoughts go to my fellow Canberrans who were affected by this hideous event. The fire front which ripped into Canberra was thirty-three kilometres in length. Needless to say, the ACT and NSW firefighting crews have done a staggering job in the face of incredible odds. A hearty "bless you" to every one of them, and to all those who helped out at the evacuation centres.

I don't know exactly how far 33 kilometres is. However, I know this much... when I'm in a cab coming home from the city, at the point where Flinders St shades into Anzac Parade, there's a big street sign announcing that it's 13km to La Perouse. I can imagine that distance, so just try and picture 2½ times that... insert fainting sound here.

The Mt Stromlo Observatory has been completely destroyed. And according to the Herald's weather page, it's not getting better in a hurry, currently scheduled to be 30 degrees tomorrow in Sydney, 36 on Tuesday and 30 again on Wednesday. This is a complete fucking disaster we've got here...

posted by James Russell | 10:24 PM

Wasn't going to blog today, but this story had to be pointed out.

Mel Gibson has claimed mysterious enemies are plotting against him and harassing his family because he is making a film about Jesus Christ.
The Australian actor and director has just started shooting The Passion in Italy, a Biblical film shot entirely in Latin and Aramaic - the long dead language of the First Testament.
"When you take up a subject like this, it brings out a lot of enemies," he was quoted saying in Britain's Daily Express newspaper.

Mel, you needn't flatter yourself that these people hate you personally. You're right, people do get hangups when their Lord and Saviour gets put up on the screen, but they don't get these hangups just because YOU're doing it. Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ attracted protests left right and centre and is still banned in some countries. Other countries, including the UK, used to ban all screen depictions of the anointed one. I saw a documentary once about Jesus films which had a clip from a mid-1930s French film called Golgotha where you heard the man's voice but never saw him because he wasn't allowed to be shown on screen there even then. Shit, just about any treatment of him in any form, let alone film, is liable to piss someone off. It's not just YOU, Gibbo. Thanks to Adam for the link (I've finally added him properly to the blogroll)...

posted by James Russell | 10:07 PM