Best and Worst TV 2008...

In light of doing this post same time last year, I thought it pertinent to do another list of TVs best and worst moments from this year. So, in no particular order.... THE WORST: 1: Australian Idol. Seriously, watching these poor kids get through to the 'final' and win and then have their single bomb at no.52 in the charts is terrifyingly brutal. If their record doesn't sell, suddenly these poor kids then owe Sony/BMG a staggering amount of cash to make up their 'investment'. As I have said previously, if one of these kids can sing Wuthering Heights pitch perfect, then they have my respect, until then it's just glorified karaoke. As for the hosts, well, sometimes you wonder if their batteries need replacing such is their fascinating and sparkling repartee. 2: Big Brother: Went from the best last year, to one of the worst this year. The change in hosts to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O just accelerated the demise. As hard as they try not to make it a 20-something beach party, it always turns out that way, because the housemates are all intellectually devoid 20-somethings. Strange that. 3: America's/Australia's Next Top Model: The combined mass of egos of Tyra and the other judges is so great that they're starting to form their own gravitational field. Get off my TV. Now. 4: Make me a Supermodel: How shallow are people? Hmmmm, just ask Jennifer Hawkins who just scored straight A's in Shallow Puddle Diving 101. Is it just me, or does she never open her eyes properly? Why is she on my TV? Can she even tie her own shoe laces? 5: A Current Affair/Today Tonight: A repeat entry. If the terms "alcohol fueled violence...", "rip off merchant....", "How to feed 9 children on a budget...", "Undercover cameras recorded this conversation...." interest you, then you need to seriously take a long hard look in the mirror. And the best... 1: All Saints: As much as I hate to admit it, I do enjoy this show. It's really gone from strength to strength over the last couple of years and has become a real sleeper for channel 7. The sad death of Mark Priestly made it even more compelling to watch. 2: Enough Rope: How Andrew Denton gets big name Hollywood celebs to spill their guts over the course of an hour is quite telling. It's good because it's not like Rove where they have 5 minutes of quick fire questions before the next commercial break, it really explores conversation and was terribly engaging. 3: Top Gear Australia: It has had its detractors from day one, including myself, but looking back I don't think SBS did a bad job of it. The main host needs a bit of a personality transplant but the other two are perfect. The show was never going to be as good as the British version, not on 10% of the budget, but nonetheless, kudos for SBS for giving it a go. What people don't realise is that it took the British version a good three years before it hit its stride, the first 'reborn' series in 2002, if you watch it, is painfully scripted and sparse. 4: AFL Carlton Vs Port Adelaide: On the rare occasion that Carlton was given free to air viewing, we came back from 40 points down in the final quarter to win by 25. That's television, that's entertainment. 5: Documentary night on ABC: I think it's Tuesday or Thursday nights 8:30pm, ABC serves up some real corkers,mostly BBC derived documentaries. I might as well don the plaid slippers and dressing gown to watch these, but in amongst the sea of dross typically served up on the commercial stations, it's sometimes nice to sit back and learn something new.

I am like..... so hardcore

I always thought there was something missing during my morning and afternoon bicycle commutes, something that wasn't quite all there. Alas, I have found it, all hail the BICYCLE COMPUTER! Yay! Of course, me being me, it was on special at Aldi for $10, so I got Miss R one as well. So now I am able to tell how fast I am going, how far I went, and how many calories I burn. So, for it's first run to work this morning I managed to average 32kph for 21.5 minutes with a maximum speed of 51kph (downhill of course) with 270 calories burned. Awesome! My normal route is mapped out here: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/220177 although this morning I chose to ride down Brunswick St instead just for a change of scenery...and to see how hideously bad car traffic is going down that way.....which it is, although no better than what Hoddle St is. I have noticed that if you're in car, there is no easy way to cross Alexandra Parade. It's a traffic dam, although I did do it the other day in the car on Saturday when traffic was backed right up to the North Fitzroy Bowls club along Brunswick St. Take Rae st all the way down, turn left, then right at Brunswick St. Easy. Is it just me or is Saturday traffic worse than peak hour traffic during the week?

When worlds collide!

I haven't thought about this for a while, but for some reason during some obscenly productive internet browsing I came upon this: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050822_asteroid_apophis.html If you can't be bothered clicking the link, it basically describes the impending 32,000km close encounter Earth will have with a 350m wide asteroid called Apophis in 2029. 32,000km sounds an awful lot, but it's closer than the moon which is almost 380,000km away, so yes, a close shave. So, if this chunk of rock happened to hit our dear old planet earth, what would happen? Thanks to the University of Arizona, they've worked out a simple computer program to help out here: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/ The likely scenario is that Apophis would strike the earth in water, probably deep ocean somewhere about 2km in depth. So, if you were 1000km away, what would you feel? Well, not much apparently. You'd hear it, almost as loud as heavy traffic, you may feel a slight tremor about 3 minutes later, but otherwise nothing. If you were 100km away, you will suffer third degree burns over most of your body and your ears would be damaged by the noise. Even if Apophis landed on solid ground, the effects within a 100km radius would be survivable. So, I guess should all this eventuate you would be pretty darn unlucky to be at the epicentre of such a collision, but I'm sure there are some parts of the world that would benefit from such an event.