Skewiff

What I'm Working On
Has to be said, I'm a busy guy lately. I'm trying to do a whole bunch of stuff and get some projects in order so I'm going to be even more vacant from these pages, which is bad.
I'm also getting less time for music and film-projects so this blog is going to get a little quieter in the coming months. Seeing that it's the MLB off-season, I probably should be able to devote more energy to my own thing rather than stressing about the Yankee Win-Loss record. You know how it is, if you've read any of this blog.

I'm working on a screenplay called 'Crashing by Design' with Kendal, who I worked with on 'Key Psycho' and 'Touch'. So far we've been a pretty good writing team, so we'll see how we develop this project. It's coming along nicely as we've come to finish our 30page treatment. I now have to adapt the format of this thing into a fully-fledge screenplay which ought to take me a week or so, but we're also hoping to get some cash out of some funding bodies. Ain't that the way?

Politics
Some people wrote to remind me that Democracy isn't a benefit that is available to all on this planet. Yes, that is true. However it is also true that rarely has the history of Democracy on this planet seen such an uninspiring contest as the one we are seeing between John Howard and Kevin Rudd. The high point of the coming election may well be when Maxine McKew ousts John Howard from his seat, which would be very nice. Apparently there are quite a number of Chinese people in that electorate now. I wonder if they know about John Howard's "too many Asians" comment back from 1987.

Sport

The Test Cricket season has started and the Australians got off to a flying start stomping all over a divided Sri Lankan team, for the first couple of days only to encounter some resistance. Finally given his moment, Stuart McGill delivered.

"A milestone like 200 [wickets] is the pinnacle of my career so far, and I'm starting to become a member of a smaller and smaller club," MacGill said. "Things like that are nice for your kids and family. There's not going to be anybody else in my kid's class with a dad with 200 Test wickets. I hope. Because otherwise I'm going to have to find something else that's cool. I'm pleased I've given them something to be proud of."

Not since Clarrie Grimmett 82 years ago has a spinner taken 200 wickets in fewer matches. Indeed, only two other bowlers of any persuasion have bettered MacGill's effort of 41 Tests to reach the 200-mark - Dennis Lillee and Waqar Younis - and none had to contend with the kind of staccato career the veteran leg spinner has endured since making his debut against a South African team that featured the likes of Hansie Cronje, Pat Symcox and Gary Kirsten. Australia have contested 110 Tests since then, and for 69 of those MacGill has been confined to the sidelines.

For a bowler who has scraped and clawed for every opportunity at Test level, it seemed somehow fitting that MacGill would be forced to toil for his 200th yesterday. A determined opponent, a placid pitch, a slippery ball, and a dicky knee were all conspiring against the 36-year-old, and though economical in his earlier spells, MacGill was somewhere short of penetrative.

Goodness! He's 36 now? I'm deeply shocked.
Last year, I was glued to the set. This year, I'm mercifully drawn away by work.

Our City Is An Urban Dung-Heap

Sydney just isn't what it used to be. If you thought I was the only one, here's an article. Amazingly, I found this sentence:

The City of Sydney lacked a permanent town planner for years, to little outcry.

The rest is history, as they say.