FlickR Fan

I think I have a FlickR fan.



It started with this photo about 3 weeks ago. Despite appearances, the guy is not manually stimulating this crocodile's genitals, he's lifting it up to show off the white underbelly. Kinda obvious. That's what I thought too until I got this...

"thats pretty cool you raised him from a little one? I personaly love reptiels. have a ball python and 3 turtles , colo photo dude."

It's from an American dude called diamondjoe. Despite the obvious grammatical errors it's a bit weird. I can almost understand that someone looking at my photo's might think it's me standing in a crocodile enclosure holding up a crocodile but still weird.

Weirder still was a friend request

"diamondjoe would like to be your friend"

Ok, I can dig that too. What harm could come of it?

The next day I got this photo.



It's a scratchy photo of Joe's wife Diane. Not sure why he sent it but he felt that I needed to see it. Since then Joe has continued to comment on my photos. Like this one

"Must be you your wife and friends nice photo friend as they say Down Under G-Day Mate."

Apart from being presumptuous this also means that diamondjoe doesn't think I could pull single chicks and that I must be married. I'm a bit sad to discover this.

The latest one is this

"hey friend I have been busy for awile anyways nice photo, looks some people having a great time,good-day mate."

You were gone? I didn't notice. On top of proving he has the local lingo down pat Joe is also extremely observant.

Now it brings me to this quandary. Do I continue complaining about this in a passive aggressive manner via a blog or do I email him and say wtf is going on here? I find that the comments part of FlickR isn't too conducive to a conversation.

Why am I even asking, I know I'll continue blogging about it...

Comedy Gig @ Roxbury - Review

Last night was decent. It was kinda weird. I had 2 comics say, oh you’re Ray Cashman, I’ve heard about you, looking forward to seeing your stuff. I don't know if it was a wind up or not. It’s funny hearing that because despite my obvious ego drive, it’s very humbling and initially I want to deflect it the hell away from me but then I’m like, hey a compliment’s a compliment so I should take it on board...meh...too much thought.

Gary Eck headlined and was very interactive. David Bloustein was MC. I've gigged with him a couple of times before. When I say that I use the term loosely as an open mic gig doesn't really count, does it? I don't know why but I always thought he was a bit too cool for school. Last night, he was friendly, affable and encouraging which is all you could ask for I guess...

All in all my set was pretty well received. I muffed the wording of my testosterone joke but I trialed a joke about hands in crowds which I'll retain for my next gig. That means it's time for Pinnacles and Nadirs

Pinnacle: Public Transport section is very tight. The hand joke worked and the extended chick intro was good
Nadir: Bucket fanny she's not so good. Perhaps the audience doesn't like poetry, or my poetry at least
Points of note: Carry successful jokes into the next gig which is a 10 min spot.

Out of the other comedians, Dain, James and Ben were my favourites. Ben had some crazy thoughts on group sex which I'll save for another day if anything just to maintain my PG rating.

TV Week - As worthwhile as a handful of Diarrhoea

As you could guess I hate it. What's the point? It's the appendix of weekly magazines.

Our receptionist at work buys TV Week religously every...week. I don't understand why. I asked does she buy the Sunday paper and she replied yes. That means that she'd have the TV guide as it comes with the Sunday paper making the purchase of TV Week redundant, wouldn't it?

Not so accoriding to our receptionist. Apparently TV week tells her what happens in Home and Away before she watches it. This apparently makes watching Home and Away more fun. I'm yet to figure out the logic behind this.

It brings me to this point though. TV Week should have gone out of publication years ago. The only thing it's handy for is voting on the Logies which is completely worthless. Anything that can reward Kate Ritchie for the mere act of being on TV for 20 years is complete rubbish. The fact that we have TV guides makes selling TV Week about as worthwhile as trying to sell bottled water to people with cold water taps. Oh that happens...

Anyway, to end here's a handful of dirt cos I couldn't find an image of a handful of Diarrhoea

Ray Pics

T-Bagging, originally uploaded by Raypower.

I just added this thing to my right hand margin called FlickR Badge. Keeping the Ray theme going I've called it Ray Pics. Don't say it too quickly or then it sounds something a lot more sinister. What it will do is give you the chance to look at pictures of your favourite guy in badge form.

Photos like the one above:

It's called T-Bagging and thankfully doesn't involve me at all.

Flowers

I like Gerbera's. If ever you were to buy me some flowers I'd like a nice spread of colours but I am impartial to those deep mauve type gerbera's that seem to be popular these days. Kinda like this one I found on FlickR...



I don't actually know who Bill is but his Gerbera sure is nice.

Protest of the Day - Chicks on George St

This protest took place on George St in the City in July this year. It was about the unethical treatment of KFC chickens. In a clever play on words these "chicks" striped down to their frilly yellow laced panties and got in a cage.
Out of the 3 girls, two of them managed to cover their boobs but one slipped a little bit of nipple and for that, and her frilly yellow underpants she wins protest0r of the day.

The Letter

We got a notice that our landlord was going to increase the rent for the second time this year. That kinda sucked. That said, the proposed increase would still be about $50 per week less than the median lease price for 2 br units in the area and we don't live in a hovel, so, I guess we're still getting a good deal. With these things though it's more the principle of it. Being a reasonable human being, I wrote them the following letter.

NB: Names and monetary amounts have been removed to protect the innocent.

Hi [insert real estate agent],

Further to our discussion last week I’m writing to negotiate the latest proposed rent increase. Since March 2008 our rent has gone from $XXX per fortnight to our current rent of $XXX. The latest proposal takes it to $XXX per fortnight which is a 21% increase in 8 months. This far outstrips any CPI increase or the sum total of the interest rate hikes over the past 2 years. We understand the climate of the market currently, however with interest rates expected to come down for the second time in the past month (http://business.smh.com.au/business/rba-points-to-lower-rates-20080908-4bpm.html) we feel that two rent increases in 2008 is a bit excessive especially as we requested a lease at the last increase but were denied.

We believe that we’ve been good tenants with no payment delinquency and we have only requested work on the unit when absolutely necessary (broken oven, faulty light fixtures, fly screens for the windows in summer, leaky pipes). The value of having dependable tenants is something that is sometimes overlooked and we hope this comes into consideration. Also from a personal perspective, we’re attempting to budget for our wedding in August next year and fear that a continuation of rate increases will affect our budgeting. We feel that it would be fair to both parties if the rent went to $XXX per fortnight (which is a 13% increase this year) given the shifting nature of the market, we would also like to discuss the possibility of a lease to assist with budgeting.

We look forward to a fair and reasonable response.

Regards and thanks for your time.
[insert tennant name here]

Anyways, given the nature of my awesome letter writing skillz they agreed. Instead of giving them more money each forthnight, I negotiated to give them half the proposed more money each fortnight. Feel free to use my letter if you ever find yourself in the same situation.

Personal Fan

No I'm not big enough to have my own fans yet, I'm talking about Megatron in a fan.



In this photo he is standing on a glass table with some kind of Frangipani in the background. I admit that this is not the type of place the leader of the Decepticons would usually hang out.

Seeing as it's gotten rather steamy recently and the Air-Con in the office is busted I've been using it to fan myself. Underneath his elongated head is the fan component. I found that when I put my tongue on the centre of the fan bit and turn it on it sprays saliva in a cooling mist over my face. Seeing as I had onion for lunch (It wasn't just an onion it was an onion in a roll. People who eat raw onions are kinda weird) I might stop my fan licking.

Comedy Gig

It's prep time again I guess.

I have a gig on Wednesday at The Roxbury Hotel in Glebe. It's a pretty nice room and a good chance to perform in front of 60-70 punters who want to be there for Comedy.

Last time I was there was about 4 months ago and I did my Portly Joke, Names, Lassie, HK, Public Transport and one of my News jokes as well as He's Asian.

That was a pretty solid set so I might try my new intro, sub in the transport jokes, and expand the News Stories. I have a new story I'm keen to try out, may just get up there and talk it through, see how that goes. Will probably add in a couple of jokes about TV and we're set like a jelly. Poem wise, I'll try Bucket Fanny once again.

Blog Stuff - Week in review.

So now I've been doing this for about a week I guess I've got enough content to get a feel for what it is I'm trying to achieve.

* I so far have two Protest posts, I guess that could become a theme.
* I have two comedy posts, that too could become a theme.
* I have an introduction post but it seems silly to keep introducing oneself after one has already done so. One? Am I a royal?
* I have 2 general observation posts. I can't really plan those out can I?

I guess I could keep going along these lines...

I guess this also means I can start telling people I have a blog so this isn't just a stream of consciousness, online version of Castaway where I play a clean shaven office bound Tom Hanks and this Blog is that lovable scamp Wilson. I'll get to it.

Protest of the Week - Melbourne against Global Warming

This weeks protest is brought to you from Melbourne.

October last year saw a global warming protest, or maybe it was to do with capitalism hence the $ signs. Regardless Federation Square in Melbourne bore witness to this short procession of colour and outrage. There's nothing like a good protest on a cloudless sunny blue day to get the blood boiling.



Marissa, my lovely fiance, wins protest0r of the day with a spirited and angry display which far outstrips the happiness of the protestors in the first photo. Too many smiles not enough action you slack vigilante punks.



On the way back we found a naked doll. It was protesting against leaving naked dolls at Tram stops but someone had pinched its sign.

We chose to leave it there. I hope it lives in a brighter future.

Comedy Gig - Review

Tuesday's gig has well and truly come and gone. As mentioned earlier it was at the Edge on William St in the city, just opposite the car dealerships and hookers. Peter Meisel was MC and he's an always affable host with a slightly bitter streak. I was on second and followed Richie, a young comic from the UK who has some good lines and an interesting way of saying paedophile and urinal. Those crazy english dudes.

My set was solid and seemed to be appreciated by most people. The comments I got ranged from, good set to well polished to you have a good rapport with the audience. I should have really put more work into my act but I was happy with the 6 minutes I had. Because I'm a tosser I might as well do a pinnacle and a nadir section.

Pinnacle: The successful reading of Bucket Fanny and my new female introduction.
Nadir: Muffing my City Rail joke but still getting a laugh at the end.
Points of note: Prepare next time you nob.

After me was a first timer who had one too many drinks and unfortunately rambled. Justin D Lodge closed out the first section with a great take on the Olympics especially the Butterfly.

After the intermission Tony, a comic from Bankstown was on with a surreal fish finger segment, Bonnie from WA was next then a comic called Anthony Wood who was very sharp. Finally my mate Michael made his return from a 4 month hiatus from stand up and he brought the house down. It was solid and was well received. Hopefully he keeps it up.

The night closed with some improv madness and Mark who runs the room must be happy with the way it's going.

Good times had by all, except perhaps bad times for the hooker who got into the combi van at 10:11pm.

Google question of the Day - Ceramic Mugs

I was in Malaysia last month and bought 5 mugs for the guys back in the office. Above is a photo of my one. It's got a funny handle and a cartoon of a man rocket powering a rocket, I guess, with his anus. Anyways upon conversion from MYR to AUS I discovered that they cost the princely sum of $3 each. That begs the question - How much does it cost to manufacture a ceramic mug? I asked Google and found out the following points

• Some sites will charge you $14.95 USD for a customised mug.
• There's a self cooling mug out there for $15.95. I just leave mine on the coffee table and it cools itself perfectly so why would I pay for the privelege?
• To learn how to craft in Ceramic would cost $5 USD per person in Dallas. To learn to fire the mug would cost $10 USD again in Dallas and to glaze said ceramics would cost $3-5 USD per jar of glaze. I don't actually know how much raw ceramics cost.

Here's the rest of my search results - Search Results

Based on this info I reckon I got a bargain.

Sports Blogging - US Open Women's tennis

The US Open women's final between Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams is on and foxsports.com.au is offering a real time sports blog. I haven't really followed women's tennis since Jelena Dokic and her mole parted ways in 2001 or there abouts but the live commentary has piqued my interest.

Gems such as "Jankovic gave her box a quick glance and a solid fist punp" at 1205 and "She went down under a barrage of Williams grunt and spit" make me think that I should watch women's tennis more often.

More commentary can be found here - Commentary

NB: The box and fist shown above are not Jankovic's

Comedy Gig

I have a comedy gig coming up on Tuesday at the Edge on William St. I've started preparing my set but yet to finalise the set list. I probably will run with a couple of new jokes from Monday at the Sly Fox such as my fish net stocking bit and the Shower scene bit. Should be incredibly hot.

Legacy Badge

Today is legacy day which helps support the families of troops and stuff like that, or so my badge seller would have me believe. Which I did. That's my badge.

I had to take the photo of my legacy badge above as Google Images didn't have any at all. I like to think that my photo was the first legacy badge photo ever. Prove me wrong world; Prove me wrong.

Anyways it's the first piece of charitable merchandise I've bought all year and it's a seemingly good cause. It also allows me to point at my right nipple whenever people ask me if I want a legacy badge and they don't get offended. In fact, it's viewed as a legitimate response to that question.

All for $2! Score!

Protest of the Day - Pro China Rally on Pitt St

Everyone loves a good protest. They're even better when they happen to walk right past your pub. This is one of my favourites. It was just before the Olympics and the Chinese were trying to convince the world they were good guys. They thought that the cnr of Park & Pitt St in Sydney's CBD would be a good place to start.

The chick who's in line with the O of the Macca's sign in the second photo gets my Protest0r of the Day award.

What's this all about then?

To be honest I'm not too sure. I have a couple of ideas about what I want to do with this thing and I'll probably share them with you sooner rather than later I guess. Give us a bit of time and let's watch the magic unfold together.