Binnsy's Hovel

Go go Cadel! Number one!

Until next time…

Now, I’m all for people having their own tastes, opinions, etc. That’s totally cool. Love what you want, like what you want. What I don’t understand is how people could not at least have partially enjoyed one or all of the following (or at least refuse to respect others’ right to enjoy):

• Any episode of the TV series M*A*S*H;
• The Indiana Jones film series;
• Any episode of the Star Wars saga;
• Jurassic Park or The Lost World (piss that JP3 crap off);
• Either of the National Treasure films.

I mean, really.

Until next time…

Binnsy wonders if perhaps, during this marvellous Sydney event called World Youth Day, they might be selling some of these:

Full credit goes here.

Despite all my ramblings about Christians lately, sometimes I have to admit we can have a sense of humour:

World Youth Day is fast-approaching, and the Pope himself is now in Sydney. It’s a big deal, commercially, religiously, infrastructurally. It’s an organisational nightmare. It’s a pain in the ass to everyone but the participants therein. But it’s a gathering of people of faith, and in today’s environment that’s something to ponder for a moment.

We live in a time of great turmoil, of violence, of greed, of tyranny, of shifting power and stewing terror. For many, it is a time of fear. And yet, for all the world’s terror and fear and conflict, some still find the time, the willpower, the strength and the goodwill to come together and celebrate a sharing of faith.

I am a faithful person. I am not religious. For me, mankind has screwed religion beyond repair. But on some level I share a level of kinship with the pilgrims that have flocked to the city by the Harbour. I too have faith.

Perhaps it’s the wrong faith, though. And I just wish they didn’t all have to come here.

Until next time…

Really makes me wish I could get the ABC and SBS. Just those two channels and I’d be happy. Stuff commercial television. Those two networks are where it’s at.

For a start, at the moment on SBS you’ve got Le Tour de France, the most gruelling, engrossing and picturesque bicycle race on the planet, along with Hot Docs and the best news coverage on any free-to-air Australian network.

And then over on the ABC, you now have Wednesday nights – the only night to watch TV – with Spicks and Specks, The Gruen Transfer and The Hollowmen. And Doctor Who on Sunday nights.

If anyone has a decent TV antenna to plug in to my TV that could save me from this television-less purgatory, please please please please comment. I would be forever grateful.

Until next time…

Whoa hey there. That’s my bad cos it’s a long time no see kind of situation. Been flat out with Onion and Video Ezy and what what. Haven’t really had time to sit or blog or anything much really. My Wii’s going senile from lack of use. Anyway.

This is kind of appropriate at the moment:

And I met these guys this week too:

Awesome.

So yeah, though it’s busy I’m learning lots and I think I may have some work in the future with them too. But it’s all good.

And in other news, this is my 500th post! Can you believe it? 500 times since October 2004 I’ve sat down and poured out my life and heart to you lot. Be thankful. No really.

Seriously, though, to those of you who’ve been reading for a while, thanks for making this worthwhile. Otherwise it’s just me typing into the ether.

And Cadel’s second! WOOOO! Moving on.

Until next time…

In a spectacular and utterly wondrous move by Cityrail, train services all over the CBD will come to what may just be a literal grinding, sparking, splintering and shuddering halt next Thursday, the day after Pope Rodent-Killer arrives in town and thousands of non-commercial, non-religious anti-pilgrims flock to see a bit of the man in white.

Oh what joy warms my cockles, not only that Sydney will be thrown into even more chaos by the madness that is World Youth Day, but also that I’ll be interstate, watching the drama unfold on news coverage from Melbourne.

I wonder if perhaps the SES, NSW Police, ASIO, the FBI, the Stasi and whoever else has been granted superpowers will find this kind of behaviour ‘annoying’ or an ‘inconvenience’ and punish the offenders accordingly.

Only time will tell.

Until next time…

Samedi et Dimanche: Le weekend du Binnsy en point trois…

Until next time…

Well, everyone else is talking about the bloody thing, so I suppose I’d better weigh in.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more annoyed about anything that’s happened in Sydney than I am about bloody World Youth Day. This supposedly non-secular, non-commercial event will do absolutely nothing except annoy Sydney-siders for five days, virtually halt the Sydney roads network and public transport system and clog up just about every facet of infrastructure the city is run on.

Add to this the fact that police have been granted the power to arrest or fine anyone for causing ‘inconvenience’ or ‘annoyance’ to WYD participants. As Jules Morrow writes in the Herald today, these are two incredibly vague notions – and just who decides what fits into either category? My major beef with these new rules is that t-shirts that bear messages even hinting at anti-religion or just a simple religious joke can accrue a $5,500 fine. I have a t-shirt that says ‘Jesus is coming. Look busy.’ that even hardcore Christians have found amusing. But if I wear that into Town Hall between the 15th and 20th of July, I could be hit with a fine which I can’t possibly afford to pay.

What the hell happened to freedom of expression? Free speech?

People are not allowed to protest at all, and no areas have even been allocated for opposition of the event.

Basically in my opinion World Youth Day 2008 is a hypocritical, confusing, bureaucratic, government-funded, hyper-zealous, hyper-religious, super-commercial crock of shit.

Don’t get me wrong. As a Christian myself I’m all for getting the youth involved in churchy activities, but not at the expense of people who just want to live their lives, get to work and uni on time, express their opinions in a safe, quiet and law-abiding way.

And as for the papal visit, already it’s causing delays as his car is delivered down the freeway to await its occupant. So Ratzinger’s coming to town. Personally? w00t. I’m sorry but Benedict just doesn’t have the appeal to me that John Paul had. And JP2 could pull a crowd, could he what. Cos he was cool. And I could almost write Benedict’s speech now – and even if I didn’t predict it accurately, it would be an almost perfect paraphrase. ‘We seek peace in this time and always, and it is in you the children that we find our hope. God bless you all.’ Or some like.

Anyway – rant over. I have to go work now.

Until next time…

Picked up my TaxPack today, so I thought this was particularly apt…

Until next time…

Feeling very bohemian, I sit on my laptop, sapping up some poor sod’s bandwidth, sipping a cappucino and taking in my surroundings at Gloria Jean’s in the grand Sydney suburb of Somewhere. Looking around I see this guy, who I swear to god is here every time I am. He has his laptop set up, much like me, with this little laptop camera on top of it.

Personally, I believe this guy is the undercover head of some top-secret organisation. The organisation has no headquarters per se, instead choosing to operate from the cosy confines of this coffee-house. The man, let’s call him Jake. Jake Mildew. Mildew, ex-Admiral Mildew, left the Royal Australian Navy after ten years of loyal service in 2002. He left willingly and without dishonour, but has always thought of the bureaucracy of such an Australian military institution as archaic and convoluted. How can anything ever be done? How is progress ever made in such a maze of paperwork and red tape?

So in November 2003, Mildew set up The Frost Group, a consultancy firm which specialises in cutting through the red tape he despises so much. One of the facets of the Navy he hated was its predilection with buildings and ships and traditions, so he set up shop in the corner of a nondescript chain coffee store in Sydney’s north-west.

And so he sits everyday, with his laptop set up and plugged in, web-conferencing with generals, prime ministers, presidents and premiers, emailing at least 100 of the Forbes 500 everyday, staying on top of current events and maintaining a list of over 120 clients in the media, commercial, industrial, political and military world.

Mildew’s net worth is estimated to be over $5 billion, what with his private cruise liner, Boeing 747-400 and fleet of limousines and 4WD’s, as well as his five properties on three continents. But you wouldn’t know it. He just sits in jeans, a maroon shirt and leather jacket, wheeling and dealing in the ways of the world. Manipulating history, most like.

At least, that’s what I think his story is. I could be wrong.

Until next time…