The Beef King suggested this might make a good addition to my blog-sort-of-thing, and I'm sure he is in this, as in so many things, absolutely right.

Results of the highly technical, totally official and above-all secret ballot on the subject of Favourite Radiohead Album:

Tied for first: OK Computer & Kid A
Third: The Bends
Fourth: Amnesiac
Tied for fifth: Hail to the Thief & In Rainbows
Seventh: Pablo Honey

I should point out at this juncture that I didn't actually vote in this ballot, being as I was in the other room while the cards-n-whiskey was going on. Would my vote have mattered? Well, personally I think I might actually put Hail first (which would bump it above Rainbows, which I haven't listened to enough yet to really get a feel for, sadly for it). I really like the feel of Hail to the Thief: the jagged edges, the hysteria, the rhythms. Next? Probably Kid A. I find Amnesiac (punningly) slips out of my memory, and while OK Computer has some awesome tracks, it also has some that wrinkle my nose, and I can be a harsh mistress like that. As for The Bends and the poor unloved Pablo Honey... well, I can understand how people who liked Radiohead's early sound may have been distressed at the later sound, because they're different, and I just prefer the later stuff.

So after I weigh in, the rank is: 1. Kid A / 2. OK Computer / 3. The Bends = Amnesiac / 5. Hail to the Thief / 6. In Rainbows / 7. Pablo Honey

(Of course, whether my vote would be taken into consideration by the Old Boys is another question entirely, but this is my blog. Bwahaha.)

Someone is having their Christmas party at the Immigration Museum - which means right under our perforce-due-to-stupid-heat-open windows. They have a cover band. The cover band is so bad I am considering going to see Hitman just to escape the building.

My Friday night. I gotta win something for this.

This "traditional scottish shortbread" has purple tartan on the packaging. And not even the Warrior tartan. It's purple on lilac with violet.

"Traditional".

Mind you, if the purpose of tartan is similar to that of bagpipes, it's a winner. I'm terrified.

Grey pavers of death.

They're oblong shaped, probably following the Golden Ratio, and a tasteful shade of corporate charcoal. The council are paving (or rather, causing to be paved, as cement dust is a bitch to get out of thousand-dollar suits) the sidewalks of the entire city in them, ripping up perfectly inoffensive cement and admittedly ugly asphalt. They do look lovely, all neat and modern while retaining a gentler appeal. Or something.

The problem is that when you get them wet, the fuckers become lethal. "Law-suit inspiringly slippery" barely begins to cover it. It's sort of bearable in the Bourke Street mall, and the other perfectly flat areas of urbanity. However, much of Melbourne's CBD is either up hill or down dale. And in grip-free high heels (such as, oh, most of the female office-dwellers wear) going up hills is suddenly impossible, as the moment you put your weight on the ball of your foot, you slide backwards down the hill. In my stomper boots and a light drizzle, I once slither-skated an entire downhill block. Which, on the one hand, was hilariously awesome. On the other hand, it was mildly terrifying.

I think the only possible recourse is to actually get skates. Or maybe a pair of those rollerblade ski things. I've been seeing them everywhere, and the mayhem potential is immense!

Anfy's tenets of warfare:

1. Know yourself.
2. Know your enemy.
3. Kick his arse.