RIP, David Lynch

While your filmography wasn't long, every entry was memorable. I'm still traumatised from seeing "The Elephant Man" at a young age. "Twin Peaks" was event television before the term existed. "Eraserhead" and "Blue Velvet" were a hoot to watch - and rewatch - with mates on VHS. "Wild At Heart" blew me away at the cinema. "Mulholland Drive" was brilliant sexy madness. And I prefer your spin on "Dune" to the technically stunning newies. I'd like to imagine that, through some cosmic quirk, you're now happily painting portraits for a race of giants in another dimension.

Five, six, pick up sticks

The backyard is strewn with fallen branches. I can't gather them up for snapping/sawing into binnable pieces until the rain stops. Crazy-wild storm here last night. Maybe not as bad as they got in parts of Sydney, but bad enough. When you live in a building bordered on two sides by big trees and realise how often they will drop a sizeable branch, you understand why campers are cautioned against pitching a tent beneath them. A teenage chum was nicknamed Treebeard. I haven't the foggiest why. We went to different schools, so there must have been an incident I missed. His other sobriquets were Quiche Eater and Frog. Those I can explain, only it would take too long. I need to return to staring out the window at fallen branches.

Blog entries I haven't found the chance to write

* Completing every Danish lesson on Duolingo, not wishing to remain permanently in revision mode and having to decide where to take my learning next.

* Returning from a trip to the loo in the wee hours <chortle> to spy a spider on my pillow. Realising it's time for a fumigation. Just for funsies, listing the many types of arachnid encountered regularly around our house and yard.

* Following the formula of the "Scarred For Life" podcast by revealing my Top 3 childhood scares. Or did I do this already? In short: kid-at-window scene from 1979 "Salem's Lot" miniseries, framed print of abstract face by Picasso that I thought looked terrifying in low light, recurring nightmare about being engulfed by the leech-filled pond up the road (which turned out to be one colossal leech).

Given that we have visitors arriving any minute who'll be staying with us for a few days, I doubt I'll be blogging in detail about anything else soon, either.

Reco: British uni-student comedy-drama "Fresh Meat". Am up to Season 3.

Knowest thou of...

...The Future Library?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Library_project

Somebody should do a genre-specific version.

Bronzed Aussies

There was a decade or so where Australia was OBSESSED with Ironman* athletes. Kenny, Hendy, Leech... They advertised various products, especially breakfast cereal. Their private lives made it into the gossip pages. (To be fair, they also did positive things in the community.) We had the Ironman drama flick "The Coolangatta Gold". And we had parodies in "Mad" magazine and on sketch-comedy institution "The Late Show". Who could forget "The Bermagui Bronze"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH0EGzrNDVY

*Longer form of the triathlon.

Hot take

Listened to this award-winning 2018 take on "The War Of The Worlds" during my morning walk, then while watching cricket/NFL with the commentary muted, then while preparing and eating lunch. Armitage and Briggs-Owen give superb performances. The build-up draws you in completely. The thoughtful bits are truly thoughtful. The horrific bits are truly horrific. So much is crammed into 2.5 hours. Basically, it breathes new life into the tale...before injecting new death into...

The 10 days of Christmas

Yay! My favourite team on this year's Xmas edition of "University Challenge" (for distinguished alumni) went all the way. Are they the first entirely female team to win the whole she-bang? There's no reason why they should be, except for women being underrepresented on the program across the decades. But that's a separate conversation about boys and their contests, unequal levels of public scrutiny and so on.

Looking back at my scoresheets for the 10 episodes, I managed 21, 20, 20, 18, 33 (which I think is a PB), 20, 15, 22, 12 and 17. Average of 19. Obviously there's no pressure playing at home, where I won't be ridiculed for dumb guesses, nor penalised by host Amol when I buzz in early and get it wrong. That said, I only award a point if I answer correctly out loud before any contestant does. Just so we're clear :-)