Oh Count

Since I'm on a roll - a music-themed, potty-mouthed roll - this is so very wrong, but I can't stop laughing.

h/t Anne Nahm

~BEEP~

After listening to this all morning (with headphones, because no-one needs to hear Cat sitting along with it) this version cracks me up - who decided it would make good prime time TV? Maybe the person who does the beeps was bored and needed a challenge.
(No language warning needed, it's nicely beeped and dropped out for your convenience)





Listening to music with kids around can be a challenge. You were always really good at remembering which words shouldn't be repeated in front of teacher, grandparents et al, but Cam is a bit more of a challenge. A few weeks ago his teacher caught him teaching other kids in the class how to spell f-u-c-k. When she first told me (in a spelled-out stage whisper - pointless when we've already established he knows how to spell it) I couldn't believe it - he'd never shown any aptitude for spelling before. Figured it best not to say that though, so I just shook my head like I had no idea where he could have possibly heard it. 


Then they get a little older, and you get to do the Live Music Sing-a-long Challenge. 
1. You're sitting next to your teenage daughter watching Ben Folds live at the Sydney Opera House. Do you sing along loudly all the way through this song?

(Answer: Fuuuuuuuuuck yeah!)

2. You're standing beside your teenage daughter watching Ani DiFranco at the Enmore Theatre. Firstly, Feminist Parenting WIN! Secondly, do you sing along loudly all the way through this song?

(Answer: Absobloodylutely, Sister!)

3. You drag your small-statured young adult daughter into the mosh at a Regurgitator gig (Are you CRAZY?!) Aside from the question of the large, drunk men making lewd comments and jumping around in her vicinity, do you sing along loudly with THIS song??

(Answer: I'm afraid so. Sigh.)

I'm just relieved they didn't play THIS.

17 Days of Nausea

So it's been 17 days since the federal election, and in a few minutes a couple of white guys will decide if we get to keep our newly minted female PM. I really enjoyed election day, but the waiting since? Not so much. Thank goodness for @jeremysear, @scottsues, @annabelcrabb and @mariekehardy on Twitter - their sarky good humour has helped me keep my own (mostly).

When you were 4yo, you announced to Daddy and I that you would be a Greens voter. We were a little taken aback, being Australian Dems voters (this was before they sold out and imploded of course), but figured that since kids were generally more left-wing than their parents, it made sense. I don't know how you voted this election, but I was so proud to see you go in and cast your first vote - you've now legitimately earned your right to whinge, complain and throw things at the TV for the next three years.

I'm guessing you've learned by now that one doesn't just vote for the candidate one agrees with, and then sit back and enjoy sensible, caring governance for three years or more. Politicians only do the right thing if their heads are held in a vice. To accomplish this, I recommend membership of GetUp!, but you of course can make your own decision about the best way for your views to be heard.

Here's your sister's position: "We like Julia Gillarrrrd (she pronounces it in pirate-speak - goodness knows why) because she's a nice lady. Nobody likes Tony Abbott, because he's a bad, bad man." She appears to be taking after her big sister in becoming a wise young woman.

Should we end up with a misogynist, science-ignoring, homophobic government, I predict tears and vomiting. And I don't think Cat will be impressed either.

Love you, Mum xx

PS. Deciding independent MP's Windsor and Oakeshott made more sense than I've heard from politicians in years, and I got to keep my lunch. And dance.

I love this #2 (hey - it did happen again)

I'm still dancing from this - it's ok, no-one can see : ) Simon Pegg was talking it up all over Twitter last week, but I didn't get time to watch it 'till now, but hopefully not everyone in the world has already seen it.

As well as being massively catchy, it's also fun to sing along with. But not in front of you sister, brother, grandparents, great-grandparents, or employer. There, my responsibility is absolved.



(Also, this embed doesn't fit properly at all. Does anyone know how I should fix that? I've got it at the default width=640, height=385 which is patently wrong, but how do I know what to change them to?)

Update: Hey check it out! Embed issue all fixed with assistance from the lovely Mr Casey Moon-Watton. What a legend. And, if you're in the market, so very datable. Initial enquiries to me, thank you.

Bwahahaha!

There are too many Snapes on this plane.

Fruit

Here's the video we were talking about.




Also, you may not remember seeing this the first time (you were very little), but we sang along. I love singing along with you, it's one of the funnest things ever  : )



ALSO, how bizarre is this?!

A little Ziggy Marley in your day

Aren't Brendan Fraser and Maggie Gyllenhaal just adorable?

I Love This #1 (Because how could that not happen again?)

I totally love this! Of course you've seen the original version, because you live on this planet. (If not, click here, and don't tell anyone) But this is soooo much cooler. I loved their other stuff, but this is more awesome.



I'm going to go listen to it again now : )

I'm sure it'll grow out

Mikester took the kidlets to get their hair cut last weekend.

Firstly, they straightened Cat's hair. Straightened it. She's four for goodness sake! And how would they know how the cut will look in it's natural state if they cut it straight? Anyway, Cat thought it was very grown-up. And she did look older.

Mikester thought it looked a bit:

But I couldn't stop thinking:

And Cam. Well perhaps if I'm feeling generous, the hairdresser was feeling a bit:

(In case you're wondering - I saw them in concert in 1985, it was transcendent)

But honestly it just reminds me of:

Just thought you should know before you see them.

How it always starts

Cat: Mum, can I have My Sister's Favourite Drink?
Mum: Which drink is that?
Cat: You know, it's a bit chocolatey!
Mum: (raises eyebrow) Okaaaay.

Ruh-Roh. This is how it starts. Next thing you know it'll just be her, a dessert spoon, and a big green tin.

Examining faith, and questioning beats.

The one thing I am prepared to say uneqivocally about religious beliefs, is that they should be examined.

I am inordinately proud of the way you refused to attend school scripture classes after your teacher showed himself to be a fool, both on the subject of homosexuality and of epidurals in childbirth (eye-roll). I was really proud of the way you were prepared to question matters of faith on your own terms, but I hope it's something you continue to examine with a relatively open mind - not falling into the alternate trap of rejecting all faith as a matter of dogma.

I'm prepared to be wary of any faith that demonises 'the other'. Both for it's nasty consequences (see also Conservative Politics, WWII, Slavery, Oppression of Women, Arab-Israeli Conflict) and also because I just can't see Jesus ascribing to that notion. He put rules aside to care for people enough times to give a pretty clear vision of how the law vs love thing was supposed to play out - and if you're going to have a faith that disagrees fundamentally with it's deity, then it's not really a faith, is it? Just an excuse to push your own exclusivist views around.

Anyway, Effortless Segway to Christopher Hitchens' who is not backwards in standing up for his beliefs. Below is his interesting examination of the ten commandments. But if it was me? I'd reconsider the dorky beat track in the last section. Bad 90's top40 spoken word hit flashback.

Love you, Mum xx


h/t Andrew Sullivan

Makes you wonder

h/t Neatorama

I love this. I love how he includes the sound of the tools slowing down at the end, and throws in what sounds like the workmen whistling as well. I'd love to do a kookaburra sound that convincing, and the whole range of other birds reminded me of lying in bed in the morning at Gran's place listening to the birds in the trees outside.

Makes you wonder though, how does this work in the wild? How do lyrebirds find mates? Do randy currawongs and cockatoos come rushing over to lyrebirds looking for the spunkrat they heard from a distance? Do other lyrebirds hang out anywhere there's a loud noise, just on the off chance?

Stuck in Greenland

"Do you want me to send you back to where you were, unemployed . . . in Greenland?"
The Princess Bride



I've been flopping around the various templates, some garish, some ill-fitting, and here I am again with the green. You will let me know if you find out how I can easily have a nice light-yellow blog won't you?  It's making me seasick.

A World of Books

I just ordered a lovely batch of books for Easter.

Some easy readers for the kidlets - I found one about the Power Rangers for Cam, and stories of famous ballets for Cat, a war book for the Mikester, and the beginning of Buffy season 8 for me.

Reading: You're doing it right!


I ordered the A S Byatt you asked for (of course) and then I found out that someone in Israel ordered the original Alice in Wonderland, and someone in New Zealand will soon be going to Rome. Or maybe they're just hoping to.