Shell regarded

This glass container - is it too large to be called a jar? - sits atop a cupboard in my mother's kitchen. The contents were not bought, they were collected by hand. Mum gathered the seashells over a number of years when we lived near the beach. One of my sisters and her partner added some more, picked up on another stretch of coastline. The red soil Mum transported home from a trip to central Australia. It's a special object, isn't it?

Last five movies watched

Pick of the bunch: "David Copperfield" is art, while the others are varying levels of craft. (He said snobbily.)

[Viewed on: Prime, Prime, Netflix, Netflix, Prime.]

Optiburg

What's your optimum hamburger breakdown?

While I boast no official cooking or food-reviewing credentials, I was a founder member of Burger Club, along with CM and DL. Every week, we'd visit a different Sydney venue and critique the burgs.

Been having the tasty devils regularly at home over recent months, trying various combinations, and I reckon I've finally settled on my perfect mixture of ingredients. They are:

* Soft white roll - not toasted, your choice of "butter" (I use avocado)

* Your preferred patty (meat, fake meat or vegie)

* Slice of tasty cheese

* Slice of beetroot

* Plenty of tomato sauce (or ketchup or, ideally, relish)

* Fried onions.

Anything else and you mess with the core flavours and risk rendering the burg unwieldy. Keep bacon and egg their own separate thing. Save lettuce and cucumber for salads/salad sangers. Coleslaw and mustard are for hotdogs. Chilli peppers, pineapple, hash browns, other condiments, etc. - much as I like 'em all - don't belong.

The amazing anime-ification of Hamburglar and Ronald McD below was done by a DeviantArt artist from Sweden going by the moniker Exath. I stumbled on it by accident. I hope they won't mind me featuring it here and giving their work a plug.

Punting pennies

I like to bet on sports. Usually $2 or $5 wagers. $10 at the most. Small-fry stuff that won't make any significant difference to my life either way. The appeal for me is the intellectual challenge: Can I review the available information and predict the victor? And are the odds worth the risk?

I'm not a bad judge. I opened a TAB account with $50 when I moved back to Newie in 2017 and haven't yet needed to deposit additional funds. Sometimes I bet several times over a few days. Then I lose interest and don't bet again for weeks. Am thinking this is probably a healthy thing. 

Since yesterday, I've won money on 3/3 punts: the Penrith Panthers in the NRL, UFC fighter Raquel Pennington, and Penn State in college football. I swear I didn't twig to the "pen" connection until all of the bets were placed. I'm not now and hopefully never will be superstitious [touches wood].

When I was in Year 10, we had to do two weeks' work experience. Mine were spent changing tapes, restocking printer paper, etc. in the computer departments of two big companies (a wire maker and a coal plant). It was at the latter I got my first taste of - no, not gambling - workplace relations.

A bloke there had scored a modest prize in the lottery. Apparently it was customary with such windfalls to shout the rest of the department drinks. But he'd made no offer and his colleagues were pretty sour. The lady mentoring me confided, "He's too mean to even buy us an ice-cream."

Whoever you are reading this ramble, it's not feasible for me to purchase ya an ice-cream across the internet to celebrate my funny trifecta. So I humbly offer this pic of the lovely Penelope Cruz draped over an MV Agusta as Valentina Valencia in "Zoolander 2". We should be so lucky. 

Last seven movies watched

"Into Darkness" was a rewatch. Began on the extras and realised I'd seen them previously, too.

Pick of the bunch: Too tough to choose. Here, watch the trailer for "The Card Counter" instead -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RvVT1cDiNc

[Viewed on: promo DVD I got yonks ago, ABC iview, Foxtel, Netflix, Prime, Kanopy, Blu-ray.]

The sound of software

Do you listen to ABC Classic FM? 2/3 of the radios in this house tune in to nothing else. If you aren't a regular listener, it might surprise ya to learn that, from 3-4pm on Fridays, there's a program called "Game Show" devoted to videogame soundtracks.

You can read details of and play past episodes here - https://www.abc.net.au/classic/programs/game-show/

I find it useful to hear these compositions out of context, where my opinion of the titles from which they come doesn't matter, they aren't competing with effects/dialogue, and I haven't muted 'em in favour of podcasts to make in-game grinding bearable.

Branch, BMW, BMXs, no bird blitz

On my walk around the neighbourhood, I saw a branch that'd fallen from a gum tree during the wild overnight winds. It was about 10 feet long. It was outside an aged-care facility. Just looked on Pexels for free images of gums. There wasn't anything appropriate, but I liked this one by a photographer named Rachel Claire. Nice work, RC.

I saw a parked black BMW 330i that looked new. (Later at home, curious, I checked the Beemer website - they go for 90 grand!) A well-dressed dude sat behind the wheel, fiddling with his phone. He obviously had his dream sports car. As I passed by, I noticed two baby seats installed in the back. Slightly less sporty. Practical, though.

I saw a group of five young cyclists approaching. Four on BMXs, one on a mountain bike. Four - not the same four - wearing helmets. I stepped aside to give them the footpath. The fifth cyclist, struggling to keep up with the others, said, "Thank you." Of course the least gung-ho kid was also the polite kid. Some things never change.

I saw plenty of magpies. Always do. They haven't started swooping yet. In Raymond Terrace, where I spent my earliest years, I remember a takeaway shop that used boxes like KFC, only with black stripes instead of red, and a magpie instead of the Colonel. Google has no record of that, so here's the logo of RT's rugby league team.

Last five movies watched

Pick of the bunch: "The Garden Of Words" is an exquisitely beautiful animated short about an accidental love that, like the rain, cannot last.

[Viewed on: Netflix, Foxtel, Blu-ray (Madman's Winter Stocktake Sale), Netflix, Prime.]

P-Force!

Broke my self-imposed rule of only ever buying one Pop! from a set. If you don't know, Ken, Joe and Jun here are from the '70s anime "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman". In the English-speaking world, we knew it as "Battle Of The Planets", in which those three were rechristened Mark, Jason and Princess. I was a megafan of the cartoon. In fact, my (Catholic) confirmation name Mark had diddly-squat to do with the saint and everything to do with the "B/O/T/P" character. I hope Funko also releases figures for Jinpei/Keyop and Ryu/Tiny. I'll find the spare cash and shelf space somehow! :-)

Ages

One of the many things I learnt from Prof. Alice Roberts' book "Ancestors" is that between the Stone Age and Bronze Age, historians speak of a Copper Age. Which makes sense, since we humans wouldn't have suddenly gone from chipping rocks to creating metal alloys. But I'd never heard the term before, so now it feels like my framework for understanding that span of history has been restructured. Like when the War Doctor was retroactively inserted betwixt the Eighth and Ninth Docs. Except less problematic.

Here are three other Ages I unreservedly recommend: