Aussiehalley - Halley Down Under

Pssst!

.... over here now:

posted by Halley @ 1:11 AM 1 comments

awesome

It's a Hillary nutcracker. Even if these people are just trying to make a buck, I'm amused.

http://www.perpetualkid.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2358

posted by Halley @ 10:08 PM 2 comments

Overheard

Two girls, talking about Ani DiFranco:
"Ohmigod, I wish she was my mom."

I've had many wishes about this woman and not one of them included her being my mom.
I'm so old.

posted by Halley @ 11:47 AM 1 comments

Is this actually a post?

Nope, just a link, really.
But a really funny one.

Fun with root vegetables and dogs

posted by Halley @ 11:46 AM 0 comments

In place of original content, I give you links

The Women Behind the Men (from the NYT article)

Bates was invited, of course, to the famous March on Washington in 1963, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. Rosa Parks was invited, too, and Pauli Murray, the lawyer and feminist who had staged the first sit-in at a Washington restaurant during World War II.

When they got there, they were all assigned to walk with the wives of the male civil rights leaders, far away from the cameras. “Not a single woman was invited to make one of the major speeches or be part of the delegation of leaders who went to the White House. The omission was deliberate,” Murray said later.

oh and...

For those going to the Amy Bloom reading on Monday:
An interview
(maybe start in the middle of it)

posted by Halley @ 11:48 AM 2 comments

In other news of awesomeness...

Heather and I plan on dominating the literary dessert competition at Denise's MFA/MA party this Saturday. Why? Because our dessert is quite the awesome.

Spent yesterday afternoon at her apartment making parts. No, I can't tell you what it is or what those parts are. And we aren't finished yet. Brilliance comes in stages. Don't rush our collective creative genius.

But really, if you think, hmmm what would be the awesomest thing they could do?, then you'll come up with it. That tiara will be ours.

Photos will be posted after Saturday. Why not now? Because there are spies everywhere.

And yes, it's possible that we're over-selling it. And if we're the only ones amused by ourselves, that's okay, too. I mean, there will be a riot, of course, but other than that, it'll be okay.

(PS-Jenny, don't bother looking for hidden clues in here about what we're doing. There aren't any. Mwah-hah-hah!)

posted by Halley @ 11:01 AM 0 comments

But I want an oompa-loompa *now*, daddy!

The new Jeanette Winterson book, The Stone Gods, was just published yesterday. In the UK. Not here. No telling how long it'll be before it's here. But it's long enough that Amazon doesn't even have it in their system to tell me when. And they have things in there way before they're released.

So I went to amazon.co.uk and ordered it there. The first British hardcover edition. Being mailed to me right now. Woo!

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...

posted by Halley @ 10:51 AM 0 comments

I like the part where the Next Top Model calls the Australians a race

Oh honey, no... (link to Adrianne Curry on Perez)

It's like she thought out the very beginning of the idea (good, yes, "separate but equal" is bad) and then forgot to follow through with the rest of her argument wherein she would've found the parts that make her just ignorant and simple.

You know, things that have to do with the history of power structures, race relations, freedom of speech, the real problems of racism that remain insidious in the US, the fact that having a "Black History Month" is different than having a "White History Month," oh and the difference between nationality and race...

I believe the colloquial term is 'moron,' no? Or perhaps I missed the box on the form labeled "Aussie! Aussie Aussie!"

Somebody get me a TimTam.

posted by Halley @ 7:07 PM 0 comments

off in my own little world

The urban dictionary word of the day today is drafterglow.

I saw that and went, that must be the flush of happiness one gets after finishing writing a draft of a piece.

In fact, it has to do with the football draft.

I promise you, never for even half a second did football come to mind.

posted by Halley @ 1:27 PM 5 comments

the Clutter Bunny*

I love it when things are as easy as I feel they should be.

A few weeks ago, in a fit of decluttering, I accidentally threw out the filter to my little Dirt Devil hand vac. I must have cleaned out the filter and forgotten to put it back in, so when I came across it again, I had the following conversation with myself:

"How did I end up with a second filter? Hmmm, maybe I should keep it, in case something happens to the first one? NO. I keep too much crap for "just in case" and I don't need it. I'm going to throw it out."

No, it did not occur to me that this was the first filter. Nevermind the fact that how the hell would I have acquired a second, oddly-shaped, specific to a 4-yr-old model hand vac? (Doesn't it look like a head? I feel like I'm feeding my dust to this guy's face.) So out the "second" filter went. Of course I only realized what had happened three bags of trash down the chute later.

So just now I went online to dirtdevil.com, clicked on my model (which was handily printed on the bottom of the appliance), clicked on "buy parts and accessories," looked at a photo of the filter I needed to make sure it was the right one, and bibbity-bobbity-boo, I have another filter coming to me right now.

I would like to thank the fine folks at Dirt Devil for letting this whole process take two seconds. As it should.




*My mom decided that she didn't like the term "pack rat" since, ew, who wants to be a rat?, and so we became "clutter bunnies," a far nicer name.

posted by Halley @ 2:31 PM 1 comments

from Jenny's party last night

posted by Halley @ 1:14 PM 0 comments

Old Mother Hubbard

The contents of my fridge:

1) raspberry preserves
2) 1/4 carton of almond milk
3) 4 slices of Ezekiel bread
4) half tub of vanilla yogurt

These are not the makings of a fabulous meal.
Dinner tonight was the end of a green pepper and a bag of microwave popcorn.
Actually, it was fairly satisfying; I'm a cheap date.
Still, I think I may end up grocery shopping this weekend.
Or else, dinner tomorrow will be interesting...

posted by Halley @ 9:21 PM 2 comments

Miss South Carolina

with thanks to Andrew for the linkydoo

posted by Halley @ 7:55 PM 0 comments

an oldie but a goodie

Fun with Feminist Performance Theory

And why did I find this? Because I've spent this productive day reading old blog posts from when I was surrounded by people with crazy Aussie accents; unlike now, when I wish I were.

To share this stroll down memory lane, the archives are on the bottom right of the main blog page. Oz was 7/05 - 7/06.

Not so much an exercise in narcissism as an exercise in figuring out when, if, and how I'll be able to put all this into something...

And perhaps a bit of narcissism. But dude, I'm really funny sometimes.

posted by Halley @ 5:12 PM 0 comments

Jon Stewart on Michael Vick

Jon Stewart on Michael Vick, with Vick saying he'll be vindicated when he can tell his side of the story, how he'll be vindicated...

"Turns out, he did it. And now he's going to jail.
Michael Vick, who had dogs fight each other, pit bulls fight each other to the death, just for his own amusement?
Little does he know the prison he's going to." *

My anti-violence little soul has a loophole for people who abuse animals where the abusers get done to them what they did to the animals. And now this fucker is going to get exactly that.
How awesome is Jon Stewart?

(*quote is approximate, from the tv a minute ago...)

posted by Halley @ 11:03 PM 3 comments

Oh happy day (not soon enough)

Rove is resigning.

(Washington Post article: Rove's Dismal Legacy)

Okay, so who wants to take bets on how long it will be before whatever shit is going to hit the fan (i.e. the reason he's resigning now) to hit the fan?

posted by Halley @ 3:19 PM 0 comments

IKEee-AA! I just met a girl named IKEA...

Okay, we didn't just meet, but yesterday we had a reunion after a very long separation. And I got to drink lingonberry juice. And pronounce things; which anyone who's been there will tell you is half the fun of the place.

And have you seen their fabric dept? Bolts of really great graphic prints. Got a loverly roll that I'll make into drops for the bedroom. In theory. When I get to it.

I am overjoyed at the sheer number of things that can be acquired there for under $10. And even more by the number of things under $1.

IKEA, say it loud and there's music playing,
Say it soft and it's almost like ...you're whispering about a big chain store.
That I love.

posted by Halley @ 12:40 PM 1 comments

Of Katharines and Kings

Maybe it's because his name rhymes with "Melvis." Maybe it's because he's slimy. And creepy. Maybe it's because we still talk about him in the present tense.

But I get a great deal of joy from the fact that the recent Elvis film marathon on some cable channel was sponsored by Poise pads.

Not by Mustang. Not even by a fast-food burger place. But by a bladder-weakness pad.



In much classier news, I just saw The Lion in Winter (1968), with Katharine Hepburn (and Peter O'Toole, Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton).

It contains a fantastic speech from her Eleanor of Aquitaine:

Prince Richard: A knife! He's got a knife!!
Eleanor of Aquitaine: Of course he has a knife. He's always has a knife. We all have knives. It's 1183 and we're barbarians. How clear we make it.

See the video of the quick speech at this page: kumbaya.

I'm having a Katharine mini-filmfest of ones I haven't seen. Lion in Winter, Stage Door, Glass Menagerie. Bless Netflix.

posted by Halley @ 10:28 PM 2 comments

A summer update in photos

A sprung spring (no, I don't know why it flipped sideways)


The festivities of early summer.


Sending the bound thesis off to Melbourne.


DC Pride


enjoying Jenny's roof


California!


Playing dec-tuple(?) solitaire





The camera went kerfluey this spring. Still must fix.
I'll probably post the full set over at the photo site, one of these days.
Right side up.

posted by Halley @ 7:30 PM 2 comments

On the morning I ran out of underwear...

...and washed them in the sink with not enough time to air dry.

"Creative" drying solutions.

With thanks to my parents, the original "creative solutions" experts.
And no, my parents aren't teenage boys.

posted by Halley @ 7:19 PM 2 comments