"It's not expensive," Tywin declared, "It's deer." I've been rewatching the first series of Game Of Thrones. There's an extended scene in episode 7, "You Win Or You Die" that properly introduces the character of Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). I don't know the books and I see online that there is much to be made about the fact that Tywin is skinning a stag and that it is the sigil for House Baratheon, so there's plenty o' symbolism for those who want it, but I thought it was excellent for other reasons. Doubtless my vegetarian and vegan friends will find the whole thing a turn off, doubtless anyone who has ever skinned a game animal would say Charles Dance was making a right hash of things, but showing Tywin doing something so ordinary with a connection to death was solid television story-telling.   We often see hunting in fantasy/medieval drama, but rarely do we see the mundane and bloody result. To see Tywin just going at h...

It's Friday, my 7.30am to 7.30 pm work day. I get home, eat dinner and fall asleep on the sofa. I wake up hours later and 27 DRESSES is on the telly. I've never seen 27 DRESSES. And it turns out that Katherine Heigel's character has somehow ruined the wedding of Malin Akerman's character. Judy Greer is there also and although this usually means her character was to blame somehow, it seems no, this time it's Katherine Heigel. This accords to my own movie tastes because Katherine Heigel is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a movie. I never believe in any of her characters for even a nano-second. I am sure I am projecting here, but all Heigel characters seem to be a thin veneer over the real Heigel who is beaming out this message, "Get a load of me in that last scene? Cool, huh? I grabbed it and nailed it, baby. " I am willing to concede that her inner monologue probably isn't quite so influenced by Sinatra's Rat Pack as I...

I was sussing out the website of a certain national rubbish removal company–it looks like we'll have to move out of our current domicile very soon–and I noted they were making some impressive claims about the scope of their business in little old Perth.  As you can see from their ad below they have Perth covered . They're confident, maybe even a little cocky. The attitude is very much step aside, we got this . If you're not from our minitropolis you may need some help in understanding just how covered from Mount Lawley to Inglewood  really means. I have provided a helpful map below to give you some idea of the awesome distances involved.  The ad then lists the sort of jobs they do and the far flung places to which they travel. If you look at my second map the area in the top half that resembles a lap-banded haggis, represents their zone of operations. No doubt they have plans to extend their business as far as Willetton, Hamersley and Fre...

Unlike Barack Obama who is happy for the Obama for America folk to run his Pinterest, mine is sadly and authentically my own. I usually spend the wee small hours pinning images in a bid to force sleep to steal over me. The picture above is of a raven who was kicking me out of his favourite spot at the Lakeside Joondalup car park.  Click the link and suss out the Phone Slush Pinterest Board that contains other such gems.

Dear Words With Friends, It is my belief you have something against “I”.  Three times I attempted to play this letter in the course of two different games. Each time your Words With Friends “computer” (and I use the term with contempt and derision) decided to rule against the words I had chosen. The examples are below. IGORED  - the past tense of the verb to “Igor” - as in Igor, the munted assistant from Universal Studios' 1930s FRANKENSTEIN movie franchise. To Igor is to assist someone and endure his or her withering scorn and derision, to become their scapegoat. Thus Anne Hathaway’s character igors for Meryl Streep’s character in 2006 movie THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. ZIGIROS -  A well-regarded Icelandic party band that have never won a Eurovision Song Contest ITA  - in Australia, Ita Buttrose is the name of one of our secular saints*. She was the founding editor of Cleo, the editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly and she more or less invented...

Folks, I need to harness your considerable expertise with the Internets. A bunch of skeezy spammers have found a way to put their links to their rubbishy "adwords" business into posts on this here blog (see post below - but obviously don't click on their links). I have tried a number of things to deal with this, but so far to no avail. I have changed my Google Password thrice, gone to to two-step verification, I have reported both the URLs in the post itself. I don't particularly want to delete this blog, because I would feel that way the terrorists win. I want to enjoy the taste of Freedom Fries, not the bitter tang of Spam. What can I do to kick out these unwanted contributors to this blog and return to the regular schedule of lightweight posts about popular culture and zany Western Australian licence plates?