36th Chamber

SBS's Shaw Bros. film festival thing has been a real treat. In fact, I think I have a new favourite Kung Fu film: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1977)... I think my old favourite was Enter the Dragon.

NB. Make sure you don't mistake this film with Enter the 36th Chamber (which is reportedly rubbish) or Return to the 36th Chamber (which Sheppo says is brilliant).

Next week is Come Drink with Me. But tonight is Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. SBS are seriously turning it on Kung Fu style!

Old Jamie, New Top Gear, Yellow Jersey, Blackheath

With the 'Term of Death' just around the corner we took a little retreat this week to Blackheath (in the Blue Mountains, past Katoomba).

The place we stayed in was both cheap and brilliant. Blackheath is a bit touristy, but it's quiet. Apart from cool things like a gas heater, electric blankets, etc., it also had Austar. Now, let's be clear, ordinarily I wouldn't really care about Austar. However, daily doses of old Naked Chef episodes were just fantastic.

What else did we get up to? We took a short bush walk (about all that Kate could handle these days!).

We read a bit... well, Kate read quite a bit. For the first time in ages she was able to polish off an entire (rather fat) novel in just a few of days! Hoorah for holidays :)


German beer. A few delicately made choclates...


And quite a lot of Le Tour (for me, anyway). I've definitely seen much more of this years Tour than I have of any previous years. If nothing else it has got me really pumped to come back to Tassie and do more riding. (It's hard to get excited about riding around in Sydney. The prospect of riding up and down Mt. Wellington, on- and off-road, is much more enticing).

Kung Fu for You

Over the course of this year, here at the But, I've earned myself various reputations. I'm always the guy taking a plate of kebabs, instead of snags, to the communal barbies. I'm one of the 'bmx-bandits'. I never make Friday arvo tea...

...and I'm the kung fu movie guy. Thankfully, SBS are helping me out. They're putting on no-less-than five (!) Shaw Bros. masterpieces in the lead up to the Olympics. Here's the press release. These, surely, will be the tonic to get me through this term ;)

So here's your chance to get a dose of kung fu in the wee small hours (or to brush up on the finer points of your VCR manual).

Happy viewing :)

PS. Starts this Sunday night (Monday morning) at 12:20am.

Edit: Make that Monday night (Tuesday morning) at 12:20am. The original post on the SBS website was mistaken!

Back on Tasmanian Shores

Two weeks back in Tassie was about the right amount for us, I think. We definitely started to unwind and enjoy things. There was enough time to catch up with a few people, reacquaint ourselves with some our favourite places and experiences. But we avoided getting too reattached; I think much longer and we'd have wanted to stay!

The big highlights were the people. So if we spent time with you, then you were a highlight :)

But there were other cool things too. Take Ben's Buck's thing at Lake St Claire for example. I went straight from the plane (and Newtown, and bustling Sydney Airport) to this...


Narcissus hut. A dozen blokes. Cheese. Chocolate. Mates. A pot-belly fire. It was magnificent. It snowed on us for a little while and looked like settling, but then it ran out of puff.

For some prettier pictures, Mike Jolly is your man. (By the way, the wedding was great, too.)

Babycinos and piccolo lattés from almost all of my favourite cafes, that's another thing we enjoyed. The experience of coming in from the freezing cold, removing jackets and scarves, and then getting down to a cup o' joe: that's what cafes in Hobart are all about, I reckon.


Some days I think the mercury didn't even make double-figures. I guess it makes warm showers that much nicer (but getting out of them that much worse!). My rule with the cold: it's ok if it's freezing, so long as it snows. And snow it did.
The Mountain. Ah, the mountain. It snowed. We went up. The gates were closed. We came back down (for coffee). We went back. It was blowing a gale. But there was snow. Happy times with snow :)

A Belated Congrats

Back in May my mates Ben Walter and Leigh Rigozzi released their little book, Below Tree Level. I finally got my grubby little hands on a copy while we were in Tassie.


There's something really cool about reading books by friends (or seeing their art publicly or listening to their music). Maybe it's that special level of enjoyment that comes from gleaning new insights into their character; maybe its the opposite: delighting in what you already know of them as you see their personality coming through in their work. I guess its both (and more!). I like it.

And another thing I like: the book itself. I don't really feel like reviewing it. I guess you could say it's a very Tassie flavoured, modern day, surrealish, illustrated short story.

I suggest you buy it ;) - through inscrutablepress.com.

Congrats Ben and Leigh!