Twelve things I do to keep balanced while working from home

When I was 13, my father became self-employed after being made redundant at his work. By choice, my mother did the same when I was in my early 20s. They both loved the lifestyle and I imagine it was inevitable I would do the same in my career, beginning at a time when I was […]

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The British approach to coronavirus: by Grabthar’s hammer, what a savings

Still from AFP video I’d far rather have the action taken by our government than the UK’s when it comes to flattening the curve on coronavirus, and the British response reminds me of this 2018 post.    Just because the chief scientific adviser there has a knighthood and talks posh isn’t a reason to trust […]

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Roger Nichols performs the original Hart to Hart theme

In 2013, I wrote a small note on my Tumblog about Roger Nichols’ theme to the TV series Hart to Hart. The music was played as the opening and closing themes in the pilot, and as an incidental theme to many episodes later, but few remember it. I’ve even seen websites proclaim that the Mark […]

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One News is hard to miss on TV, but hidden on the internet

I wanted to see what TV1 news (I can never remember its official name with all its rebrands over the years—is it One Network News, TVNZ1 News, One News, or something else?) had on GM’s decision to shut Holden, but I missed both the six o’clock and the Plus One screenings. I headed online with […]

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History of the 2010s: a look back at the decade that was

When I first wrote a satirical look back at the decade, which ran on this blog in December 2009 (on the old Blogger service, as I was helping a friend fight a six-month battle with Google to restore his blog), it was pretty easy to make up little fictions based on reality. This one, covering […]

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Seasonal Canadian humour

My thanks to Sydney-based photographer Robert Catto for linking me to this one, especially near the festive season.        It is funnier than the one I took in Sweden many years ago, which in pun-land could be racist:        The sad thing is, at some point, the majority will not get […]

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The 1970s: when TV shows were New

As a child of the 1970s, I was exposed to this English word: new. Now, before you say that that isn’t anything special, for some reason, in the ’70s, there was an obsession with newness. It wasn’t like the news (by this I mean the plural of new) of Amsterdam or Zealand, but an adjective […]

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Facebook: no change, business as usual

I would have loved to have seen this go to trial, but Facebook and the plaintiffs—a group of advertising agencies alleging they had been swindled by the social network—settled.    Excerpted from The Hollywood Reporter, ‘The suit accused Facebook of acknowledging miscalculations in metrics upon press reports, but still not taking responsibility for the breadth […]

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Where the internet tends to be wrong on The Love Boat

There are a few TV shows I get anorak about. Alarm für Cobra 11 is probably the one most people have seen me post about. I probably have some claim over The Persuaders, The Professionals, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Pointman. But there was one that was a staple for us as a family, […]

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Spoiler alert: The Avengers’ endgame

I’m hearing the young people talk about this lately. But we already know how The Avengers ends.    Then they come back with some new cast members years later. John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Tara King (Linda Thorson) on board a rocket. You may also like Not quite a remake, but similar Is your favourite […]

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