What is W doing in Australia?

It’s news to me…..He’s got a pad in Melbourne. I wonder where else he has a pad?

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Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is dreaming of spending Christmas in Australia so that he can watch England win the Ashes.

“We are going to beat you. I”m convinced. This is the best chance we”ve had in 40-50 years,” News.com.au quoted Radcliffe as telling the Herald Sun.

“There”s a slim chance I might come out this Christmas for the Ashes. I really would like to, but I don”t know if that”s going to happen,” he added.

The 21-year-old actor and his parents own a home in Melbourne where they have holidayed several times in the decade since Radcliffe became an instant movie star by playing junior wizard Harry Potter.

“I haven”t been able to go to it for ages. But anyone else I know who goes out to Melbourne, it”s just like, ”Yeah, use the flat, clean it”,” Radcliffe said.

If he doesn”t make it to Melbourne, his busy post-Potter schedule will be to blame.
“I”m doing 7 1/2 hours of singing a week and nine hours of dance in preparation, so I don”t know if I”ll get out there (to Australia),” the actor said.

“But I would love to, again, because I do miss it, I miss Australia very much. I do, actually. I have such a good time over there, always, whenever I go, particularly in Melbourne. I”ll be back, definitely,” he added
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I got to hang out with my friend and mentor in Foreign Currency Trading, Rob Booker. who by the way is an excellent trainer in Forex trading.

I even got to interview a booth babe, under the guise of getting real information from her !

Here’s a video snipet of me in Vegas.

Vegas was a lot of fun…..

OK, Love is probably a little too strong, but after being stung by a wasp last month, and then again this month, I thought it was time to call the professionals.

It’s a European wasp, and it’s not nice at all.

They are very aggressive and I was allergic to the sting.

OUCH !

So the exterminator did his thing, and hopefully I won’t see them anymore, and particularly, feel them anymore.   I was out of it for 3 days.  I got stung on my neck, and my scalp ended up with the venom.  It’s the thinnest skin there is, so it was particularly painful.  OUCH.   All I can say is that anger arose from me towards these bastards, and killing them really isn’t good enough, but I figured there is no reason for revenge, just pay someone to remove the nest, or better yet, destroy it.

Read up on them if you want ! click here

Well, he was working in Australia, and he’s one of my favorite comics, Michael Kosta was in town at the comic’s lounge in Melbourne.

He was of course, hilarious. And we got to chat after the show, he was amazed to see me again, since we first met in Chicago. I must say, he’s a handsome man.
(that’s a part of his act.)

Anyway, great to see another American here, and great to laugh out loud again. To see his site, click here

Here’s an interview click here

OK, I have said it. I truly hate itunes… But I have this ipod touch thing I bought a while ago, and I am not a fan of itunes at all. Matter of fact itunes has screwed up my operating system, and I have had to redo the whole installation and now I can’t load up itunes anymore, or it will do it again ( I have done it twice now, and third time is not lucky.) So at this point I want to give up on Apple. But if I just buy an apple computer to use the Ipod Touch I bought, then it kind of defeats the purpose of not just getting a PC-based hand held device, which would work so much cleaner with the windows 7 operating system I have installed.

Many of my friends have reported they gave up on PC based systems after VISTA came out and didn’t work at all. So apple was the logical choice. I guess every decade Apple will dominate, then the next decade, then PC’s will dominate, I am in the Apple cycle with a PC based system.

Anyway, enough of my babbling, the reason I am upset is because APPLE just came out with a cooler iphone that the last iphone, and it’s looking very attractive. Latest Apple Iphone 4.

I also want to get a pair of these pajama jeans But they don’t seem to have them for men. I guess real men just hang around in their jeans because they are “real men.”

Maybe if they invented the jeans with a phone built-in, that would work for me?

Nothing much to report from Down Under these days.

- W

OK, I gotta admit this was cool. It’s just turned autumn, and winter is somewhat nearby, but today was a good 80′f and it was time to see the yearly sandcastles near the beach, which are amazing.

Sancastles near Melbourne

Have fun !

Happy Australia day ! click the pictures for more info on each…..

It’s also the Australian Open Tennis time of year…

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click on each picture to find out more about each.
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I didn’t get to go to the tennis, but it’s on TV all the time, so I watched a little here and there. Hewitt wasn’t going to be Federer, but then again, it was a good effort.

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It’s summer holidays here, and lots of things are still not “back to normal” so on Feb 1st when the kids go back to school, things will return.

- W

Well, it’s time again to get out the cobwebs of the old years, and move on !
NYE Melbourne
was not quite as cool as Sydney’s NYE
Sydney NYE

Well, Australia has not had a good history with Racial issues, and I think it’s because they are just plain ignorant about it. See below for a link about Racism in Australia.

I am sure it was not intended Racism, but that’s what it looks like for an outsider.

The Show started in 1971 and was mainly a kids show that had variety acts, and various funny characters on the show. With puppets and jokes, it was a very funny combination. Think of Bozo’s circus without Bozo. The show stopped being aired in 1999, and everyone missed it, and was amazed that there might be a REUNION show, just 1 show, once, to again glimpse into all the funny characters of the show, and a chance to relive some funny memories. It used to be on from 9am to Noon on Saturday’s, and then the show got famous and also became a grown up’s show, just like the Simpsons. And it eventually was on 9pm to Midnight.

So when I heard that there was going to be a REUNION SHOW last night, I couldn’t miss it. It was going to be 3 hours of awesome memories of the characters I remember, all fat and balding and old and gray!

Well, I saw the anticipated ” HEY HEY IT’s SATURDAY ” reunion show LIVE, because it was a great live show when I was a kid here growing up. On one of the segments of the shows, about 20 years ago, in 1989, had a group of performers dressed up as the Jackson Five, and of course, Michael Jackson….. however, they were not black people. Because it was a REUNION show, they brought back the most memorable acts, and the JACKSON JIVE was one of them….

In the segment of wannabe talents, or the amatuer performers spotlight….. Harry Connick JR. was a guest Judge on the show, the reuninted Jackson Jive, as they were called, were not black, they were just Australians using black face. Australians do not know the connotation that black face is making fun of black people. It’s just not known, it’s not a crime here, so no one thought much of it until Harry showed distaste for it.

Well, you should see the clip of that segment, and Harry Connick’s reaction….

http://pedestrian.tv/news/view/3330/racism-scandal-at-hey-hey-its-saturday-.htm

And unfortunately, Harry has cancelled all of his tour dates in Australia for this year, and now the Aussies are upset that Harry has now “DISSED” Australia. They have even retaliated and found footage of HARRY in black face himself ! So now the Aussies are calling Harry a hypocrite, and making a fuss over him making a fuss over a kid’s variety show……

well, what do you think?

I think Harry’s screwed no matter what he does now. There is no way out of this one, let’s see if his press manager can handle this better than the Letterman scandal…….we heard about that here in Australia….

Also, it has come to light that the Jackson Jive performers are not all WHITE. So I think it was just some initially innocent, but poorly chosen fun.

- W

a link about Racism in Australia…
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/09/jackson.australia/index.html

a reaction from the show’s host Darryl Sommers who explains it well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5erTCH2aPiQ

The Aussies talking about the American Over-reaction on the media.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YuM_IBl5Tc&NR=1

Kamal even had a say on TV !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLuK6atUyZM

Well, it’s like living in any other city.  It’s kind of like a mix of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and LA.  Except the people talk a little differently, there is colored plastic money, and they drive on the other side of the road.  But it’s mainly the same in most other cases.  Those were the major differences.  The people are very nice, and they don’t really like or dislike “Americans” but they know that Americans are not too smart according to what they hear.  Australians get a good laugh when they get an Aussie TV reporter going to the USA to cover an event, and then might happen to interview the locals, and get hilarious answers and questions about Australia.  This are several great examples below..

Clearly the local government in Santa Cruz, CA is smoking something from nature.

The below querries were posted on an Australian Tourism Website and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have a great sense of humour (not to mention a low tolerance threshold for ignorance!)

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Q:   Does it ever get windy in  Australia ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? ( UK )

A:  We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.
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Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? ( USA )
A:  Depends how much you’ve been drinking.
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Q:  I want to walk from Perth to Sydney – can I follow the railroad tracks? ( Sweden )
A:  Sure, it’s only three thousand miles, take lots of water.
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Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia?  Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville, and Hervey Bay? ( UK )
A:  What did your last slave die of?
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Q:  Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia ? ( USA )
A:  A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not .. oh, forget it.  Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross.  Come naked.
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Q:  Which direction is North in Australia? ( USA )
A:  Face south and then turn 180 degrees.  Contact us when you get here and we’ll send the rest of the directions.
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Q:  Can I bring cutlery into Australia ? ( UK )
A:  Why?  Just use your fingers like we do…
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Q:  Can you send me the Vienna Boys’ Choir schedule? ( USA)
A:  Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is oh, forget it.  Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races.  Come naked.
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Can I wear high heels in Australia ? ( UK )
A:  You are a British politician, right?
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Q:  Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? ( Germany)
A:  No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers.  Milk is illegal.
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Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can Dispense rattlesnake serum. ( USA)
A:  Rattlesnakes live in A-me-ri-ca which is where YOU come from.  All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make  good pets.
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I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It’s a kind of bear and lives in trees. ( USA )
A:  It’s called a Drop Bear.  They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them.  You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.
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I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth.  Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia ? ( USA )
A:  Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.
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Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (  Italy )
A:  Yes, gay night clubs.
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Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? ( France )
A:  Only at Christmas.
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Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )
A:  Yes, but you’ll have to learn it first.

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