Clean Green Neen

No, this is not a reference to the "Vegetales" animation on Moses and the Exodus from Egypt.
This Moe is a chimp, who has such impeccible table manners and personal hygiene that he was best man at his owner's wedding, and also shared the marital bed!
This is definately a link to read. Make sure you find out about the wrath the two other chimps unleashed on Moe's ex-owners, when they crashed the party and didn't get a slice of cake at Moe's birthday bash! They went to town on some very unusual party food.
This is definately one of those, "Only in America" stories.
Really Long Link

Plus, check out the news report on the aforementioned attack.
Really Long Link

Email Picture
Los Angeles Times
Moe awaits his owners at another wildlife refuge where he once had been staying.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Schapelle uses retail therapy to beat Depression

July 2nd 2008 12:28

Nice work if you can get it!

Really Long Link

La Belle Schapelle always had the nicest eyebrows of all the Aussies charged with drug smuggling in Balinese gaols. Now she has the straightest hair and most pampered tootsies.
Seriously... two hour shopping trips and spa treatments? Seven psychiatrists on her case?
If only Australians with mental illness had such treatment programs.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

And sometimes, Life imitates Art...

June 30th 2008 14:23

However, this ain't no Mike Myers movie, and this is not the sort of dubious journalism found in the "Weekly World News".
Really Long Link
Life was so much simpler when your greatest issue to deal with was those fortnightly KFC cravings, rather than the reality of a world in decay. These last weeks have been particularly shocking in Australia, with 18month old twins, weighing the same as newborns, dying of starvation; kids killed by their psychotic father; and now this in Cowra. Humans are getting worse and worse.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Arthouse Imitates Life, Part II

June 30th 2008 01:03

It's very disconcerting to watch your community on the big screen. Or publically exposed for all the wrong reasons. Being "in the Shire, but not of the Shire", I was cringing around the time of the Cronulla riots. Here was a place not far me where racist rednecks boozed up and attacked any non-Aryan beachgoers and police with fists, glass and hatred (and as a heavily pregnant woman with non-descript ethnicity; frequently asked if I'm "FOB" or "Leb", I boycotted the beach that summer, for fear I'd be set upon). The world literally watched as the wonderful Sky News beamed our summer of shame across the world. It was public humiliation to be associated with the sort of people who tatoo their postcode on their torsoes, driving their utes between the bridges (but never over them, for fear their worlds may implode) festooned in the Australian flag, and who associate politically with the likes of John Howard and Danna Vale (the woman who brought us such eloquence as "We're (Anglo Australians) aborting ourselves out of existence").
Ironically, the riots happened the same day as the Woronora Christmas Carols by the River. Whilst we didn't attack anyone at our gathering, there was still quite a bit of public alcohol consumption. Never gives a community a good look. It was this very setting that the Edgerton Brothers chose as a major part of the drama in their film, "The Square". Whilst the community slowly got pissed, the protagonist caught wind that the scam he had attempted to abort had gone full term; delivering him a burnt corpse and a uteload of guilt when Santa and his firefighting mates failed to get the sled there on time. The character's life then spiralled more and more out of control, as his dishonesty in one part of his life became entangled in every other part. Like a bug caught in a web, the more he struggled, the more twisted and tangled he became.
It is a story repeated over and over again around here, though usually with far less tragic outcomes. The great exception though is the tale of Jeffrey Gilham, the man accused of killing his parents and brother before torching their Woronora home. It was eerie that this trial came up again as "The Square" website launched the movie trailer. This part of the plot is too close to home

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (3)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Arthouse Imitates Life:

June 30th 2008 00:16

It was a scenario that felt a little Hamletesque, not only because I crossed paths with Brendan Cowell as he hoovered up popcorn. But when your suburb, in all its physical glory, gets plastered on the big screen, showing its seedy underbelly, you start empathising with Gertrude.
However in this absurdist setting, watching our town displayed in a story a little too close to home, I was a little uncomfortable. Not only because I saw my huge balcony displayed on the screen (no wonder starlets get eating disorders...).
The film is brilliant. If you saw "Spider", you will know the sort of stunts Nash is capable of. This movie was full of such moments. I can't say I was disappointed that the fake shark did not actually appear on screen. When I saw them trying to perfect it, with one guy on the riverbank with a CB, and another in full SCUBA gear, in the river, with a large fin strapped to his back, aiming to be submerged enough to trick the audience into thinking it was a real shark; I laughed. Loudly. Clearly, it was too hard to make it look real, so they implied the presence of a shark instead

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Cricketing Community dons metaphorical Pink Armbands for Jane (LINK)

June 24th 2008 20:02

In a tribute to the far-reaching reverence in which our Aussie cricketers and their families are held (though for a few notables, this reverence is displayed more often by those beyond those families than within it), taxi drivers in the West Indies are stopping Aussies in the streets to pass on their condolences.

Ironically, the Herald also ran this story today

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Tributes to Jane McGrath (LINK)

June 23rd 2008 11:08

The SMH has covered this sad news in depth, including a pictorial of Jane and her family, with audio of interviews she did over the eleven years she battled breast and secondary cancers. It is amazing to hear Glenn and Jane count the blessings of such a horrific journey. They have been a model example of a marriage in the spotlight, with obvious mutual adoration for each other (sparkling eyes and all). Their kids are left with an amazing example of deep love and commitment, that held onto hope and bears all things.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Facebook good for something... (LINK)

June 23rd 2008 01:52

After getting burnt by Facebook recently over a case of "too much information" where I called an old friend to account over her lifestyle choices, and hence the relationship has ended due to my being "sanctimonious", I am pleased to hear the tangled web weaved by its creator is uniting lost pets and their owners.
Back in our "salad days", my friends would play "Don't tell Neen", but technology has made this game redundant, and now wilting lettuce festers in its own slime where judgement remains green. I, on the other hand, have gone onto heartier fare, still maintaining the intemperence and hot-headedness I have always had. Really Long Link
Age has added to these traits the inability to tolerate stupidity in those who should learn from their mistakes, but instead feel their only sorrow in getting busted. Shane Warne is the poster boy for this, with Bridget Jones as his fictional consort

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Jane McGrath passes away

June 22nd 2008 14:34

After an epic struggle with cancer, the gorgeous-hearted Jane McGrath, who has done much for improving the care for Breast Cancer sufferers in Australia, has died.
Please pray for Glenn, their two children, and their family as they grieve, and especially pray they are given the space to do so.
Your text goes here
[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Jeannine Baird - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend