Sydders

John Howard on Pamela Anderson

2006-02-28T18:53:00.000+11:00

"I don't mind M&Ms, it's really the whole outfit, I think most Australians would find it confronting." John Howard

People Are Strange

2005-07-11T21:15:00.000+10:00

I like looking at my stats to see how people stumble across my site. I thought that this Google search was pretty funny:

www.google.com.au/search?q=schapelle corby boobs pics&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=60&sa=N

According to the stats the person who did this search lives in East Burwood, Melbourne.

...very odd.

Dangar Island

2005-07-11T18:56:00.000+10:00

I've been pretty neglectful of the old blog I must say. So I'm back and will try and keep the darn thing updated.

Thought I'd let you know about a place we went to the other week. We wanted to stay somewhere that we could get to by train so we decided that Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River was the go. It's exactly one hour from Sydney Central on the train and we found a reasonably priced place to stay in.

But the real find was Dangar Island which is a 10 minute ferry ride from Brooklyn. It's a small place with no cars except for the fire truck and the council ute which the locals are allowed to share. You get off the ferry terminal and there are heaps of wheel barrows stacked up at the wharf - obviously people keep them there ready for the shopping when they get off the ferry.

The island has a great cafe which doubles as general store and post office - we were surprised because it really is pretty good. You get off the ferry and there it is, right on the water.

Next time we go up there we are going to save our pennies and stay on the island (most of the places there are pretty pricey). But we reckon it's worth it - the best thing is that you can get on a ferry, then catch the train and you are back in Sydney in an hour and a half. Total cost about $11 for the trip.

Anyway - on another note - thought I'd share some positive news about the London attacks. As a result of the bombing bicycle sales are taking off. Nothing like a bomb going off in the underground to get people on a bike. Get the full story here.

Sorry

2005-06-26T16:31:00.000+10:00

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while. It's been a busy couple of weeks. First off I was in Tasmania for a while, then we had friends staying and this weekend we went up to the Hawkesbury.

It's been kind of nice to see that a couple of strangers have made my way to the site after searching for weird stuff on Google. Here are some examples from my stats:

www.google.com/search?q=wenhao zhao&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-20,GGLG:en&start=50&sa=N

www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=darren hynch&btnG=Google Search

The person who searched for Darren Hinch is from the US - I'm kinda curious WHY?

So if you come back please let me know. Or just send an email...

And if anyone else is reading this after doing some weird Googling stuff please say hello!

And thanks BC for the condolences regarding Cockroaches (he sent me an email). I was astounded to hear that some of them are indigenous! The cockroach myth expands - next they'll be selling hand crafts.

Anyway - promise to post some pics soon.

Cheers....

Xena the Warrior or just Zenophobia?

2005-06-02T18:59:00.000+10:00

I can't resist writing about Schapelle. The whole media beat up is now out of control and now the Sydney Morning Herald has reminded me of the story about Japanese tourist that was jailed in Melbourne on very similar grounds to Schapelle. Drugs were found in Chika Honda's bag when she arrived in Australia and she was sentenced to over 10 years despite protesting her innocence.

Like Schapelle she suffered from imperfect translation services and cultural misunderstandings. The Japanese media apparently were very upset about this.

Just goes to show that the Indonesians aren't the only ones that can be accused of miscarriage of justice...

Includes all Bills and Rice

2005-05-27T07:42:00.000+10:00

World Tower Apartment
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

I like reading the notices for student accommodation that you see stuck on poles around Sydney - particularly around the central station end of Pitt St.

I thought the classic was one which advertised a 2BR flat with sauna, pool, access to gym - and all in a city location for $100 per week. The catch? You were sharing with 5 other people.

My student life was luxury compared to this.

But last night I saw one of much better value. A World Tower apartment. Weekly rent includes all bills and rice!

Interested? Email me and I'll send you the number.

Orange Grove Organic Markets

2005-05-22T18:59:00.000+10:00

bikemap
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

Thought I should get back to the original intention of this blog. Which was to write about discovering things in Sydney.

Now... even though the Schapelle Corby post did grow my readership by 25% overnight (hi Russel Allan - thanks for the comment, and yes, you are worth more than one dollar!), I will resist the urge to actually write about something so interesting that it touches a pop culture nerve and crashes the Blogger servers (sorry... I'm fantasizing).

Yesterday I ended up going for a bit of an explore on my bike. Since coming to Sydney I've been trying to find a decent place to buy organic food and after 6 months have had no luck. So far it's been really expensive and crap.

Instead I have been shopping at the Fox Studios Farmers Market and there is some good quality stuff there but I haven't bought from the organic stall because I don't like shopping at places where the prices aren't clearly displayed. And also - when I've been able to decipher the handwriting on the blackboard behind the stall I've thought it's too expensive.

Instead I've been going to one of the conventional stalls which has some pretty good stuff. The problem with Fox Studios is it feels like your shopping inside some Gold Coast property developers wet dream. It's just SO clean!

Anyway, someone I met told me that there is one organic stall at the Glebe Markets (which is better know for it's trash, treasure, crafts etc). So I rode out there yesterday using my new Central Sydney Bicycle Map (which I picked up at the Surry Hills Festival a couple of weeks back). At the markets I found the vege stall but it wasn't clear whether the food was organic or conventional and it didn't look that great. So I went across the street to the healthfood shop that's been there for at least 10 years but in recent times has been taken over by that vitamin mutinational GNC (I thought of hotlinking to their site but anyone that uses the term "health and wellness" doesn't deserve the time).

They claim to be running the shop as it always has been but I have to say that I have never seen such tired looking vegetables since the morning after my two inebriated female flatmates bought some guys home who later decided that it would be sensible to piss in the fridge. This happened back in 1990. And if you're wondering - we washed the vegetables and made a soup. We were poor students.

So I decided to go check out the market at Orange Grove Public School which is on the corner of Perry St and Balmain Rd in Leichhardt/Rozelle. One of my readers had recommended this place sometime back. After consulting my bike map I managed to find my way there. It was a lot of fun riding over the ANZAC bridge 'cause you get a great view of planes taking off over Newtown on the left hand side and the harbour on the right hand side. And I LOVE planes and water - so perfect for me.

And I can really recommend that bike route from the city out to Rozelle (it keeps going to Olympic Park I think). RTA also have maps if you are interested. Actually I was thinking how different it is to cycle around Sydney (compared to Melbourne) having to follow these bizarre routes but I guess it's the same with driving in the two cities. Melbourne is full of straight lines, Sydney just doesn't have the landscape for that kind of simplicity.

Anyway. This market was really fantastic. It has three really great organic stalls, one of which was quite huge. And really cheap. In fact, dare I say, I think they were cheaper than organics at Vic Market in Melbourne.

I also discovered this amazing Guatemalan Coffee Stall. One thing I've learnt about Sydney is that if there is a queue then it must be something worth queing for. And there was a queue for this place. While waiting we were urged by a fairly steretypical middle aged Rozelle dwelling anglo saxon do gooder (female) to donate to a fund which educates Guatemalan kids. She was kind of hanging about in the back ground while the two real-life Guatemalans that she'd (no doubt) imported directly from South America did the coffee making.

After waiting for 10 minutes I found out why this place is so popular. The guy at the counter made me sniff two types of coffee before making a selection. He then asked Do you eat chilli? When I nodded, he said OK. Now we are going to give you a new experience, and proceeded to mix dried chilli seeds in with the coffee. My neighbours in the queue assured me that I was about to have a positive experience. And they were right. Chilli expresso just has a bit of a kick. I might even try it at home.

Schapelle Corby - The Next Intruder on Big Brother

2005-05-19T19:55:00.000+10:00

Funny. Never thought I end up agreeing with Darren Hynch, but he has recently copped a bit of flack for suggesting that Schapelle Corby might be less than innocent.

Not that I necessarily feel that she is guilty but I do feel that the whole thing is rather bizarre. We accuse the Indonesians of not giving her a fair trial but the Australian attempts to convince them otherwise have been all based on hearsay. First we send over a prisoner who'd heard some gossip in the cells, then we get our government to write a half hearted letter to say that it might have been a baggage handler.

If you were looking at this whole sorry episode from somewhere far removed - like Uzbekistan - who would you believe: Indonesian justice or trial by Australian media?

I think that Darren's correct when he says that the only reason 92% of Channel 9 viewers think she's innocent is because "...she is young, white, pretty and has big boobs."

Channel 7 viewers wouldn't know anything because they watch Today Tonight.

And most Channel 10 viewers are probably wondering which number they need to SMS for her eviction.

Meanwhile ABC and SBS viewers are reminding themselves that perhaps Tahiti will make a good holiday destination this winter.

And does anyone know what happened (or even care) to Wenhao Zhao?

The Great Sydney Urban Myth

2005-05-14T11:00:00.000+10:00

I've decided to tackle one of those great Sydney urban myths.

I've been lamenting the fact that Sydney doesn't have the bar scene that Melbourne has and I just reckon it is because people in Sydney would rather be at an RSL.

But every single Sydney person that I've ever met has said Oh it's just that our licensing laws are so much more expensive... that's why you don't get those small groovy bars here that you find in Melbourne.

I didn't believe them so I did some research and this is what I found:

It costs $526.80 to apply for a general liquor licence in Victoria and then $158.10 to renew each year. You need to add $979.90 per year to get some decent trading hours between Monday and Saturday plus an extra $979.90 to trade late on Sundays.

So from my reading of the rules you could open a small bar in Melbourne and trade fairly late Monday to Saturday for $1,506.70 in the first year and then $1,138 each year after.

Now lets try this in NSW.

I've read the pdfs on the government website and I can't see why you couldn't run a bar in Sydney with a Hotel license which costs $2,500 per year with an application fee of $500 (which is refunded if you are successful). Depending on the licensing court this will let you trade up to 24 hours per day.

OK. So this is twice as much as Victoria but I've calculated the following

Sydney Bar $2,500 per year
Melbourne Bar $1,138 per year
Difference of $1,362

If you were to trade 6 nights a week this would be 312 nights a year.

All you would need to do is sell an extra stubby of Boags Premium each night at $6 each to make $1,872. Take out the cost of the beer and you have your extra dollars.

Now the problem might be that if you get classed as a night club in the City of Sydney you will have to fork out $60,000!

From everything I've read I can't see that a small bar would be classed as a Nightclub but maybe I'm missing something here. But I guess that explains why Sydney nightclubs are huge - they have to be.

If I can be bothered one day I might telephone the liquor licensing court to confirm the facts, because it is odd that little bars don't seem to exist here.

As a side note I discovered one interesting point about Victorian licensing laws: You'll have a lot of trouble getting a glass of beer after the Dawn Service unless you find a bar that's paid the additional $526.80 per year to open from 7am on ANZAC day and Good Friday.

This doesn't seem to be a problem in NSW.

Story time

2005-05-12T18:09:00.000+10:00

I'd like to thank the other two thirds of my readership who say that they found my post
Do you feel sorry for Michael Jackson? to be quite interesting. And a message to one-third of my demographic who question my stats:

No. I'm not counting myself in my stats...

But I do appreciate feedback.

So anyway. Promise to get back to the serious art of blogging soon. By the way did you hear about the guys in Sydney that stole a bus? They weren't quite as in to it as the kid in Melbourne that stole the tram. They didn't actually pick up passengers. I think it was a drunken incident rather than planned...Sydney siders have no class.

Feedback from my extensive readership

2005-05-10T07:40:00.000+10:00

I thought I'd share some of my reader feedback:

Begin forwarded message:

From: Natasha
Date: 10 May 2005 7:30:37 AM
To: rodp
Subject: Sydders: Do you feel sorry for Michael Jackson

Natasha has sent you a link to a weblog:

Simon says (!) that in England Casey Kasem was actually on TV and that CK is actually the voice of Shaggy in Scooby Doo!

In Melbourne it was on Sunday nights and I used to listen to it on the headphones so my mum wouldn't know!

15,000 songs? It's not enough if you're a DJ, believe you me!

-------------------

Sometimes it's nice to know that people read my blog

Cockroach

2005-05-09T20:32:00.000+10:00

Cockroach
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

You might not realise this but I do extensive research on the demographic of my readership.

I've discovered that 33% of my readership found my last blog entry BORING!

So just to satisfy her I'm going to write about something she finds interesting.. (and now she's telling me how many dots to put at the end of my sentences).

COCKROACHES...

Living in Sydders you just have to get use them - or that's what Sydney siders say. A bit like they all say you can't have good bars in Sydney like you do in Melbourne because the liquor licences are too expensive. I reckon that this is a bullshit excuse... If I had a dollar for every one that's told me that Sydney liquor licences are too expensive I could open my own bar!

But I've probably lost some of my audience by now - so back to cockroaches. I bought some cockroach bait tonight and was interested to read:

Step 1
Cockroaches are attracted to eat the ... bait

Step 2
After eating the bait the cockroaches return to where they hide and die.

Step 3
As cockroaches ... partake in cannibalisation of cockroaches killed by the poison, they will also go on to die.

Now it seems to me that it's no wonder cockroaches have such a bad name for themselves. They scuttle about and hangout inside the toaster but if that wasn't bad enough they also EAT EACH OTHER.

I think cockroaches need to get some media training. A good press officer to coach them on how to be more acceptable to human kind. Then they could send out press releases to tell us how great they are.

And then we'd stop trying to kill them. Who knows - we might even vote for them....

Do you feel sorry for Michael Jackson?

2005-05-08T17:54:00.000+10:00

jackson
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

It seems that iTunes Australia is imminent. It was Russell Crowe that spilled the beans when he said on radio that his latest grunt (sorry - song) will be available soon on the Australian iTunes. Which got me to thinking about the whole thing of buying songs off the internet for 99 cents. Why the hell would any one want to do that?

When I was a kid we just taped stuff off Casey Kasem's American Top 40. I think it was on Sunday mornings on 7LA where I grew up near Launceston, Tasmania. I guess this shows my age - but then I've done research on my demographic and I know that the average age of my blog reader is in the early 30s so I'm not that far ahead of you.

So anyway - there were heaps of songs that I use to listen to which either had Casey's voice breaking in at the end or the first sentence from some advertisement for a car yard. I think this added charm to the whole experience. But the best thing was that they were free and if we'd liked them enough not to tape over them the following Sunday we might actually buy a copy of the whole album.

Anyway, I know this has been said before but the iPod kills the whole experience that we use to enjoy. From carefully taking the album out of it's cover and blowing off the dust to sitting on the floor studying the lyric sheet while you listen to the song. CDs removed some of this pleasure but at least you still got a little booklet to read even if you couldn't get the damn thing back in the case without bending it in half.

I just had a look at the iPod site and the latest colour model can store 15,000 songs. Now. Tell me this. Who on this planet has 15,000 songs that they care enough about to want to have them with them where ever they go?

I'd have trouble finding 30...

But maybe that's why I haven't got an iPod. Maybe I'm missing something here.

And they've also cottoned on to one of my complaints so now you can store the Album Artwork on the thing. But nuh. I say. That just doesn't cut it. Anyone who's owned a copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller will know that the experience of unfolding the cover to it's full 90cm landscaped length to find a picture of your favorite pedophile lounging in a white suit stroking a real tiger was one of those defining childhood moments. It just wouldn't work on a 5cm LCD iPod.

Maybe that's why Michael doesn't sell as many records as he use to...

Greek Trams

2005-04-27T20:44:00.000+10:00

SIRIO-NA02
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

Keeping to the theme of trams I thought you might appreciate this tram from Athens which was apparently designed by some italian that designs Ferraris. Not that I care about cars.

On another note ANZAC day passed by and I wondered why the Turks are so happy to let us go over to hang out on a cliff face commerating our attempted invasion of their country. Maybe they don't care because we LOST the battle. They probably find it quite amusing.

Anyway, the day after ANZAC day (which funnily enough was Tuesday) I was walking past the ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park and saw them taking down the Australian flag (and other flags that I didn't recognise). Funny thing was that they were putting them in milk crates! You'd think those diggers would have grown out of that sort of thievery...

Sorry about the length of time between posts - and this one is also a bit brief and ill conceived. But I've been a bit busy pondering cockroaches - every one I meet seems to think there is nothing that can be done about them. You know - it's OK to have cockroaches

But I bet Princess Mary didn't have cockroaches in her hotel when she came here. What did they use to get rid of them? Apparently boric acid is an environmentally friendly way of killing the f**kers. Maybe Fred stayed up late at night - tipping it down the cracks around the bed.

Those crazy Danes...

Tram boy arrested at gunpoint: witness

2005-04-18T21:24:00.000+10:00

From The Age 18 April 2005
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

I like trams.

In fact I like most forms of 'public transport' including trams, trains and planes. But I don't like buses all that much.

Any way I thought it was pretty cool that this young Melbourne Tram Spotter stole a tram for 45 minutes and managed to drive it further than most professional tram drivers would in the same time period .... and he picked up and dropped passengers along the way... None of whom noticed that anything was remiss.

According to The Melbourne Age it seems that:

...the 15-year-old used the test run on Friday night to work out how to use the complicated braking system.

Well it seems like he did a pretty good job if this map is anything to go by. If you actually tried to catch a tram along this route you wouldn't be able to - you'd need to catch at least two trams and it would probably take an hour and a half.

The kid is a true legend.

It would be un-Australian to say otherwise.

PS - thanks to today's The Age for the picture and quotes.

Kill Your Video

2005-04-11T21:12:00.000+10:00

Kill Your Video
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

I was in Melbourne again over the weekend and saw this poster in Little Lonsdale St.

I thought it was kinda cool but then when I checked out the website killyourvideo.com I was sorely disappointed.

It's just another example of a big company trying to gain cred by using street culture and 'youth protest' to advertise a product. Nike are probably the worst culprits but now Pioneer are jumping in the bandwagon.

What is funny though is the competion that they are running for people to upload quicktime movies showing videos being destroyed. I checked out this example because it scored 9/10. After I watched it I was rather bemused as to why it got such a huge score because, sad to say, it is pretty crap. So I voted 1/10.

However, I noticed that my vote brought the score down to 5/10! Now if my maths is correct that means only TWO people voted for that film. I tried this out with one of the other films with similar (but slightly less dramatic results). I suspec all the vids are made up by some cocaine snorting marketing types in St Kilda Rd.

Would anyone like to start a smashyourdvd website? The URL is available - I checked.

Graffiti

2005-04-07T23:28:00.000+10:00

Who is this guy. This graffiti is all over Sydney. He even turned it into a 'crop circle' that made it into the papers.

I went to take a library book back and I stumbled across this model of Sydney (below). It's huge and so detailed. It's a pity my camera phone takes such cruddy photos.

If you want to check it out it's in the Town Hall on the floor under the library.

Finally a decent shot of the bicycle helmet wearing trumpet player. This was at lunch time today.

I see this guy playing the trumpet so often now that I actually look out for him!

I took this photo while we waited in the queue outside Spice I Am in Surry Hills.

This place has the most amazing Thai food I ever had. We were starving by the time we got in there, so we got stuck into some spring rolls and a'crispy fish' salad. FANTASTIC.

1000 Paper Cranes

2005-04-07T07:44:00.000+10:00

1000 Paper Cranes
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

We've been seeing these paper cranes stuck to the backs of street signs etc around Surry Hills.

Each one is numbered out of a 1,000 like a limited edition print. We thought that was a pretty cool idea.

But yesterday we saw this crane with text added - it seems like the artist is referencing the Sadoko story about the Japanese girl that makes a 1,000 origami cranes.

The text says:

1,000 paper cranes
to make a wish come true...
1,000 paper cranes
to cure a sickness...

A new sign of peace for the big city.

Light House on Old South Head Rd

2005-04-02T09:23:00.000+10:00

Light House on Old South Head Rd
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

We went for a drive on Tuesday night to the end of Old South Head Rd. There is this amazing lighthouse up there. I don't think I've ever been close to an actual WORKING lighthouse before.

St Jeromes

2005-04-02T08:40:00.000+10:00

St Jeromes
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

By the way - if you are ever in Melbourne check this bar out. I'm not going to tell you where it is because the joy about Melbourne bars is finding them. All I will say is that it's in a laneway near David Jones.

Starting out

2005-04-02T08:10:00.000+10:00

We're still getting the hang of Sydney after moving up from Melbourne in January. The one thing we miss are the Melbourne bars.

Last night we went to Cafe Lounge in Surry Hills - was a bit like a Melbourne bar in that it was small and low key. We liked it enough to go back I think. Our other local is the Hollywood Hotel which is an old deco Sydney pub. Also nearby is Uchi Lounge which is a really fantastic Japanese bar. The restaurant upstairs is also great.

The one thing that Sydney does have over Melbourne is low-cost food places. After Cafe Lounge we went to Don Don in Oxford St. I've been going there for a long time 'cause I use to visit Sydney a lot for work. This is a cute Japanese food place with ultra hip waitresses. I think as it's got more popular the quality has slipped a bit but it's still cheap and a great place to go.

I'm becoming more fascinated with the trumpet playing bicycle courier busker that plays in Martin Place in the mornings and then in random locations during peak hour after work. I want to get a decent photo of him sometime. Yesterday I saw him in Martin Place and then after work outside Woolworths in George St. This is my photo attempt but unfortunately you can't see anything 'cause it was too dark for my camera phone!

Crnr Pitt and Park
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

Uhm. Somewhere in this photo is the trumpet playing busker. He does a great rendition of "Mad World" by Tears for Fears.