DOGS LIFE 'PAWTRY PRIZE'

I've just finished judging a poetry prize for Dogs Life magazine which is published widely in Australia and New Zealand. I instigated the prize. It was run for younger readers of Dogs Life. The two children who won came up with the following imaginative ideas... One said that dogs 'can't help but set us aglow' and the other asked how St. Bernard's can be so 'blobbery' and 'slobbery'! Beaut stuff.

LJ, July 28 2008.

TEN ALBUMS I'VE GOT ON HIGH ROTATION

Subsonar - Cool Accident
Richard Dorfmeister presents a Different Drummer selection
Dub Syndicate overdubbed by Rob Smith (courtesy of Smith & Mighty)
Santogold - Santogold
NIN - The Slip
NIN - Ghosts I-IV
Coldplay - Viva la Vida
Underworld - Oblivion with Bells
Moby - Last Night
Carbon/Silicon - The Last Post

INDY 4

Like thousands of teenagers in the '80s, I was a massive fan of Indiana Jones. I greatly enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Crystal Skull; seeing Indy survive an a-bomb test in Nevada by hiding in a fridge was worth the admission price alone! Spielberg is a master.

LJ, June 18 2008.

GLEEBOOKS BASH

I was at the launch of Martin Harrison's new poetry collection Wild Bees at Gleebooks (Sydney's finest bookstore) this afternoon. Martin was one of the judges of the Newcastle Poetry Prize for 2007 - he got a poem of mine in the Prize's anthology. Writers Robert Gray, Peter Boyle, Robert Adamson, Judith Beveridge, Delia Falconer, James Bradley and Mark Tredinnick all turned up for the bash. I chatted with Mark, Judith, Peter and Robert briefly.

On returning home, my fingertips ached for a pen, so I could put together some fresh poems to send off to various literary journals. Ah, the power of a room full of gifted writers.

LJ, July 13 2008.

iPHONE, THEREFORE I'M NOT

Thank all gods. The new iPhone 3G has finally hit the stores. Hundreds of Apple devotees queued up for seven hours the other day at Australia's first Apple store in Sydney's CBD to purchase one. The new 3G has a 'net portal, a GPS navigator, a planner, a game console, a camera, a mailbox, a music player and a phone! I have a mobile, an iPod Nano, a CD player, a Holden... I can see the value in technology, but the iPhone just seems like flash gadgetry for the sake of flash gadgetry. Will it improve the human soul?

LJ, June 13 2008.