The Australian Index

Extract: “On reaching the camp, Gibson and Jimmy had shot some parrots and other birds, which must have flown down the barrels of their guns, otherwise they never could have hit them, and we had an excellent supper of parrot soup.”

Parrot soup is rarely pronounced “excellent”, except sometimes in situations of extreme explorer-hunger. In fact, documented evidence of parrot-for-dinner in any form is uncommon. Like parrot pie, parrot soup seems to have an existence more mythical than real, and what “recipes” do appear for it are usually in joke form.

Extract: If you look into culinary history, there's no tradition of wine-drinking in Indian culture so the cuisine did not develop to be married to wine. It's a similar case with other Asian cuisine, and yet common knowledge holds that spicy white wines such as gewürztraminer are a successful match with Vietnamese or Thai dishes. I happen to find a floral sauvignon blanc is perfect with the delicate herbal flavours of Vietnamese food, and I've also had success with a fruity frontignac alongside the rasp of chilli. 

So why do we rarely hear of a wine recommended to complement Indian food?

Extract: PART DUEX.... A few weeks back in a viddy, I jokingly suggested I'd happily and dramatically destroy my laptop - named the Blunt-Top, if someone would send me one of those new dandy whiz bang MacBooks... Little did I realiase not only would someone take me seriously but actually offer a MacBook in return for the Blunt-top's firey destruction.

Extract: This was taken at Lennox Head, east coast of Australia. I am in a small aircraft about 500 ft above. There were three of these sharks, along the coast line several hundred metres apart and I saw them 2 days in a row. This is the reason I don't surf!

Extract: Click on the image and watch this lady walk down the card aisle with a copy of the Herald Sun, remove the TV guide and place it in her bag before returning the rest of the newspaper to the stand and walking out of the shop. This happened in our shop on Wednesday last week. We're expecting her back today. This time we will be ready thanks to the footage from our security system.

Extract: Yesterday, Melbourne man Jack Thomas has made unwanted legal history. He is the first subject of a control order since the advent of the 2005 Australian anti-terror laws. On Sunday, federal police successfully convinced a Canberra magistrate that Thomas should be the first Australian subjected to the Howard Government's control order regime.

Extract: Look who we've got here! Finally unleashed are my shots of INXS that were taken all the way back in April.

Apparently one of them was on the cover of Inpress in Melbourne last week. I haven't managed to see a copy for myself yet. 

I'm told Drum Media in Sydney will feature my INXS photo on the cover this week. I'm rather nervous about it. And i'm still pinching myself that i got to do a photoshoot with INXS, and that the photos are ending up on two different magazine covers.

Extract: A few weeks back in a viddy, I jokingly suggested I'd happily and dramatically destroy my laptop - named the Blunt-Top, if someone would send me one of those new dandy whiz bang MacBooks... Little did I realiase not only would someone take me seriously but actually offer a MacBook in return for the Blunt-top's firey destruction.

Extract: Australian comedian Chas Licciardello, one of the stars on the ABC comedy program The Chaser's War on Everything has plead not guilty to the charge of offensive public behaviour in court today. Last month Chas filmed a skit in which he sold "Bulldog supporter kits" containing fake weapons outside a Bulldog's match;

Extract: Ian Frazer, the discoverer, is doing a bit of a whirlwind tour today for the cameras - vaccinating some girls and young women in both Brisbane and Sydney on the first day that Gardasil is approved for use in Australia.

As yet there’s no government subsidy for the vaccine (which protects against the virus that causes the main form of cervical cancer), so the full course of three shots costs over A$400. There’s nonetheless no shortage of takers, and a growing number of men interested in the vaccination as well so they can be confident of not infecting their partners.

Extract: Let's face it, it's terrible. I mean, it's BEYOND awful. The jokes are lame, the interviews are boring, and the interviewees seem to be picked at random - who the hell cares what Pat Rafter is doing at the moment? Or Ella Hooper, for that matter? (Except to say WHAT HAS SHE DONE TO HER HAIR? My GOD, it looks like it was cut and dyed by an escaped mental patient.)

Extract: The International Astronomical Union has finished its deliberation, and Pluto has been demoted to "Dwarf Planet". So Now there are 8 Planets, an as yet to be determined number of Dwarf planets (Pluto, UB313, possibly Ceres and 2005 FY9), and an as yet unnamed group of small icy things.

Extract: So the chairman of Viacom, which own Paramount Pictures has decided to cut their production arrangement with Cruise/Wagner Productions. Explained Sumner Redstone to the Wall Street Journal, "As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal. His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

Extract: Remember, if you can, the fine series of Red Dwarf. In one episode Lister and Rimmer have a drunken conversation about the fried egg, chilli chutney sandwich that Lister has created (they are fucking awesome!).

Rimmer's point about the sandwich was that it was all wrong. Every ingredient was obviously wrong but together they made something amazing. This is a fine description of Snakes on a Plane.

Extract: Alright, I confess. It's me! This Screen Goddess promotional calendar is a way of demystifing women working in IT, implying that it can be a 'sexy' career choice. The calendar is a collection of playful movie spoofs and is a product of Thoughtware.

Extract: Yesterday Apple Australia kindly flew me up to Sydney for a look around its corporate headquarters and for a very interesting two-hour press presentation from Mr iPod and Mr Hardware. (Mr Software is at WWDC, so I didn’t hear from him.)

Extract: Last night my friend Glenny G and I went to the Grand Hyatt to interview a member of the Strokes for our radio show.

Extract: It had to happen sooner or later. After the controversy surrounding cheating with the use of electronic aids at the World Open, now we have a real case of steroid use by a chess player. And he's only 13-years old!

Extract: The 2006 Australian census is tomorrow night, and once again participants have a chance to answer the religion question as: JEDI. Apparently 70,000 did last time (including me).

As the Australian Bureau of Statistics says: If your belief system is “Jedi” then answer as such on the census form.

Extract: Someone asked about the use of seaweed in ice-cream. Yes, it is used. The seaweed is Irish Moss, more of an algae than a seaweed but what would Irish fishermen be expected to know about these things? The component extracted from the algae and added to ice cream is called carrageenan.