I'm astounded that Puppetry of the Penis made it all the way to the USA! I somehow thought that it was just two local boys travelling around here with their show. Seems like there is an Aussie invasion happening in the US.

Aussie Girl, would you be so kind as to link to the interview with the doctor that you read, if it is online?

Between Guy Sebastion, Puppetry of the Penis, John Howard, Julian McMahon and Steve Irwin it is no bloody wonder we are a world wide joke!

Aaaaaahhhh raen that would be sooooooo funny if only it weren't so true

Ilandrah - I'd trade you all of them if you'll take Michael Jackson. Please?

Now I don’t think that’s true at all, raen. Though I haven’t been to Australia, I have met lots of Australians in my travels, and they always have long legs. I don’t think I ever met a short Australian. I don’t know what that’s about. Maybe the ones that backpack are all tall? I don’t know. But to me, Australia is the country of tall attractive people – no joke!

And Happy New Years Day to you all!

yogi, I am 5 feet tall and my legs are short! (Maybe it's because I'm not into backpacking?)

I shouldn't diss Australia I'll get into trouble with the Aussie posse that post here. Plus I'm still on a mission to convince Glark that we're not all that bad.

Raen, the article I read was in Who magazine dated December 15 2003 (the issue before the last one) on pages 64 - 65 and titled, "Reality Check-Up". For those in the US, I believe Who is the sister mag of People magazine there (but I'm not sure). The only website address I can find is www.who.com which as far as I can tell is an American address, as there is no "au" after the com.

Anyway, if you can't find it, and you are in Australia, let me know and I'll just send it to you.

And raen, you forgot Russell Crowe. The antics he gets up to, there's another one for the world wide joke thing. (Though technically, he's really a Kiwi, so we don't have to claim him as one of our own!)

I've always loved Australians (like Yogi, met many on my own world-wide adventures). It seems to me like a hip country---sexy accents, outdoorsy, surfy. I don't know of any bad reputation or as a joke. Germany & France are generally the subjects of stupid American jokes, followed closely by England & Poland. However, I will say that we still assume the country is full of kangaroos & that everyone has koala bears for pets. So not so much a bad joke as a silly stereotypes.

(PS: We'll take all of your bad celebrities if you take Micheal Jackson. I'll even let Steve Irwin live with me.)

Can't we throw in Paris Hilton, skagirl?

I'm glad to hear that my limited information was creating a false picture, raen. Being short myself, I was always afraid if I visited, I would never be able to keep up!

In my opinion, Australia has very little to be ashamed of, proportionally. You have given us Baz Luhrman and all his manic genuis productions, Muriel's Wedding, Priscilla Queen of the Dessert - many hours of offbeat, funny, bizarre films. If I have to occasionally suffer through Paul Hogan & Kylie Minogue as a trade off, so be it.

But I may be skewed in the taste department, because I thought that first Yahoo Serious movie was genius. The fact that I never saw him again after that may have had something to do with it.

Thanks for the info, AussieGirl. I'm in Sydney, I'll try and track it down, but if I can't find it, I'll let you kno. Thank you for the offer.

Look at all the sweet things people have said about Australia. Thanks! There are many redeeming features about the place, I guess it balances out.

iMissEthan, word about Baz, he is certainly a very cool export.

yogi bear Shouldn't you be boo boo if you are of limited staure? ;)

skagirl and raen No, we don't want Michael Jackson, not even if you take Steve Irwin. Coincidentally, Steve Irwin is now under investigation for yesterday taking his newborn son into a crocodile enclosure, holding the baby in one arm and feeding the croc with the other, child endangerment ala Michael Jackson and the baby dangling.

And yogi bear we don't want Paris Hilton back here - we just had her here for Christmas and we've had enough already!

iMissEthan I'm amazed that you even know who Yahoo Serious is! Most people here wouldn't even remember him - I think his movie was a hit waaaaayyy back in about 1988 or something.

I guess we'll all have to keep our own embarrassments, Aussie Girl. I saw the crocodile segment on the news yesterday, and it was truly chilling. Don’t even want to try to figure that one out. There are some heads you just don’t want to get into. I agree, the scene did have a Michael Jacksonesque sort of aura around it, even though there were no masks.

I had forgotten that Paris Hilton spends a lot of time in Australia. Isn’t one of her many boyfriends there? I guess she’ll have to come back to NYC to grace the Page 6 once again. At least she is amusing and thankfully has not progenerated yet.



It’s definitely Yogi Bear for me – because I always have a pic-i-nic basket ready to share filled with karmic goodness and cookies!

Paris Hilton and her sister always remind me of greyhounds - the dogs, I mean. Hee.

Yeah, it's all over our news and entertainment programs here, and the late show comedians are having a ball with it. I'm sure Irwin thought he knew what he was doing, and Terri supported him fully, saying the baby loved it, but one slip....and he's got the scars to prove even he slips! I was amazed that he even did it, especially given the MJ-baby on the balcony coverage.

For once the Department of Community Services actually did something to protect a child. (Nothing like a bit of positive publicity for them I guess.) I believe Mr Irwin should have been put on some sort of behaviour bond, at least there will be a file on him now. The baby is about the age of my new niece and it totally freaked the bejeezus out of my sister when she saw it. Her hormones went beserk.

I'm not amazed he did it, that guy is thick as two short planks in my opinion.

yogi bear can I have some of your karmic goodness please? And what kind of cookies are in that pic-i-nic basket?

Yeah raen, most people I know here were just starting to actually like Steve Irwin a bit (crikey), after being sus about him for years, when he goes and does this. I reckon the last croc that got him probably gave him a good death roll and a brain injury resulted. Actually, that would explain a few things....

Yeah, AussieGirl.

You saw the Channel 9 ASS promo?

Well, personally I can't wait until Jan 11th or 12th, when we get the official announcement of the ASS cast. Then we can start planning what kind of Survivor goodies can go in Yogi's basket! Not that I mean to intimate in any way that Yogi couldn't plan her own pic-i-nic basket goodies. Far from it.
It's just that I might want to suggest some special items in honor of specific cast members. (Please note that I am merely speculating on any of these cast member suggestions.) For example, what sort of foodstuffs would best do Coby honor? Besides beefcake, that is, of course. ForJenna, 'bratworst' comes to mind, as she is both of those things. Excuse the spelling, but 'bratwurst' wouldn't be nearly as much fun.
And to comment on Australians for a little bit: The only ones I ever met were the cute, tanned athletic types who were bumming about Europe and North America as a lark. I ran across a whole gaggle of them teaching skiing when I lived in Jackson Hole, and they were delightful. Excellent ambassadors, and nothing to be ashamed of.
ETA: Did I mention that I finally saw Pirates of the Caribbean over the weekend? Johnny Depp was absolutely delightful in that movie, but I still fail to graasp the notion of 'hot' being used in the same sentence as 'Johnny Depp.' But that is merely me. Also, thinking back I don't recall any instances of shirtless Orlando, which strikes me as such a wasted opportunity as to almost be a sin.

Hildy You don't have to grasp Johnny Depp's hotness. I'm grasping for both of us!

The wonderful thing about karmic goodness, Aussie Girl is that it's always yours for the asking! Sending some your way... And I carry a wide selection of cookies. What's your favorite? I'm partial to chocolate chip cookies and brownies. (I count them as cookies. Because I can!)

Since we're speculating - Colby strikes me as a steak kind of a guy, so the beefcake isn't far off. You know how I feel about Rob C. I told him myself at TARcon that he is forever destined to suffer from karmic cookielessness due to his desire to steal Butch and My Man Matthew's cookies while they were out catching his dinner. Butch and My Man Matthew both love fried chicken, so there is always fried chicken for them in my pic-i-nic basket for them. Alicia gets chicken too. But hers is raw.

Jenna can fricken starve. I still hate that woman. No cookies for you![/yogi bear nazi]

Johnny Depp not hot??? Hildy! Just thinking about Captain Jack Sparrow warms me all over. You might say he shivers me timbers big time. Autumn, you'll have to grasp him away from me...

Yogi Bear, choc chip will do just fine...yum! I'll be expecting a nice package in my email box shortly. And I will send you lots of good karma!

Raen, no I didn't see the Channel 9 ASS promo, I heard about it in one of these threads, so that's good - it means that they will definitely be showing ASS here. I don't care who's in it or not, just so long as they show it. Well... I do care actually....as long as Peachy's in it, I'm happy!

Speaking of karma, has anyone heard of the Brit (who's in Australia right now) who is starting his own cult up? Called the Karma Army or something. Practicising random acts of kindness etc. Apparently he's having trouble getting people to join up, which is a shame.

Namaste!!!

I just can't stop snickering at ASS.

I saw the promo for ass hee hee. I guess that's no different from 7's spankin' new hot summer or whatever it is with the bikini'd bum.

Heh. They'll definitely be showing ass here, this is never going to get old for me.

Hildy? I'll join in the Depp swooning with Autumn and yogi and leave you to Orlando, as pretty as he is I'm looking forward to seeing him in 5 or 10 years time. The boy needs some more facial hair and a few more wrinkles-- or something.

You know, I think I should confess that I'm also not deeply enamored of Orlando. He's cute and all, but in the Ring Trilogy movies, I was all about dirty, scruffy Viggo. (And after all is said and done, my heart will always belong to Colin Firth.)
It's just that Johnny Depp? looks a little ratlike to me. I'm not saying that to in any way condemn your collective taste, just to explain my own lack thereof. To further confuse the picture, I find the equally ratlike Will Kemp hotness personified. Why this is, I do not know. Insanity must have something to do with it.
And hee, Yogi, You go on the Jenna hatred! I'm right there with you.

Oh I'd trade Depp for Viggo as Aragorn in less than a heartbeat. Not Viggo as himself, mind, he just doesn't do it for me clean shaven. As Aragorn? I'm all over that. (Or I wish I could be!)

I think that's why I always start falling for the Survivors as the show goes on. I like men wirey, with stubble, long hair and a desperate look in their eyes. It nearly breaks my heart each time they come back on reunion show all clean shaven and over fed.

Absolutely, raen - the survivors are much more attractive hungry and scruffy. Oddly enough, IRL I am not very interested in a scuffy, unshaven, stinky, dirty man (not that I am interested in anyone besides Mr. Yogi, but since we're talkin' and all.) Yet there is something about them on the screen. Is it odd to be attracted to very different fantasy men from the type one would be interested in IRL? Where is Jung when you need him? I don't want Freud - he would blame the whole thing on my father - I say leave my poor Dad out of it!

Rat-like Hildy? I hope you haven't ruined Pirates of the Carribean for me forever. Ewww. Rats are my worst. And yet, I can just see where you get that... Must cleanse my mind of all Johnny Depp rat associations.

Oh, and Alicia gets chicken fingers - not raw chicken. That works better for her. I loved the finger waving. I hope she's back for ASS. Alicia brings some good television.

It's fun to have a contact into all things pop culture in Australia, Aussie Girl! A karma army? I'd join. It sounds like a great idea. And Namaste (and chocolate chips cookies) right back atcha!

For Christmas, I got Mary Tyler Moore season 1 on DVD. I love that show. My favorite line:
Mr Grant: You're spunky
Mary: Well, yes sly smile, looks proud of herself
Mr Grant: I hate spunk!
This was always one of my most favorite shows.

I'll leave it to the Brits to snark at that. (Or hasn't it been called spunk since the 80's?)

IRL I prefer men unshaven and long haired but not dirty and smelly. mr raen is a lawyer and is often clean shaven and suit wearing. It works for him though, because I know on the inside he's long haired and scruffy. ;)

raen, I believe you have hit upon a very important point. I, too, prefer Aragorn to Viggo himself, and generally like the Survivor beefcake after it's gotten a little scruffy and wiry. I never liked Colby half so well as when he had that beard and had lost some of his puppy fat. It's seldom that I think a guy cleans up nicer on Survivor.

ETA: In the sisterly spirit of sharing, I present this lovely bit of eye candy
that you all may have forgotten. This is my idea of rat-like but hot. eye candy

I like Viggo clean and scruffy, but I have to sway toward the Aragorn look, both cleaned-up and caked with mud.

Re: Colin Firth, that reminds me that I have to go off on a tangential rant. Was I the only one disappointed that there just wasn't enough nudity in Love Actually? Or maybe there was enough nudity, but IT WAS THE WRONG GUYS! Where was my pantsless Liam Neeson?!?!?! (Yes, Rob Roy is one of my favorite movies - why do you ask?)

Hi everyone! I recently found out that I can access the forums from work, just not the main pages. (I don't know if that's a good or bad thing)



Me too! Mmm..dirty, scruffy Viggo. Although, after all is said and done, my heart will always belong to Ewan McGregor. sigh

suctionprints, speaking of frustrating: From what I hear, Colin not only wears a bad wig in his latest movie (Girl with a pearl earring), but he has about six lines. Arrgh! Why, why why didn't Jane Austen write a sequel to Pride and Prejudice! I need me some more Mr. Darcy!
ETA: Milan, good for us, not so good for your work ethic....

Well, one of us could pick up the mantle - a la the woman who wrote "Scarlett", the sequel to "Gone with the Wind". I would volunteer, except that I'd be crafting excuses for Mr. Darcy to take off his shirt every five pages or so, which wouldn't exactly be in keeping with period mores.

Suctionprints, could you also make Mr. Darcy smile on occasion? I've never seen a movie where the lead actor doesn't smile at all until the last shot. And a lovely smile it is, though I must say I do not get my friend Hildy's fascination for Mr. Firth. That's ok though, one less person to battle me for Jude :)

I haven't seen LOTR, but saw Viggo on the cover of Vanity Fair and he was indeed very easy on the eyes.

And ITA on Jonny being ratlike. It's the beady eyes and the greasy skin...

This is like some kind of freaky raen's taste in men convention. Of all the clean shaven men I've ever layed eyes on, Firth as Mr Darcy is the sexiest. Dear God when he's just been swimming and is coming towards Elizabeth (who has just come to take a sticky beak around Pemberley with Mrs Gardiner) that is a fine, fine moment in television.

What does sticky beak mean?

This thread is becoming at least PG-13, or is it just my reaction to the descriptions of hot men dancing across my computer screen?

I think additional nudity in Love Actually would have been quite welcome, considering it had such a wonderfully attractive cast of pleasant to view male leads. I can't get that song out of my head either. I put it on one of my playlists.



Suctionprints, you are perfect for the job. I nominate you! Plus, as "a pink collared Dietrich," (see Barney Miller thread) I think you would add just the right blend of dry humor that I enjoy so much.

Hi Milan! You are named after one of my most favorite cities in the world. I dated a man named Graziano there for some time pre-Mr. Yogi. I have very fond memories of Milano! Mmmmm.

My retinal pleaser did not work Hildy. I'm sad.

I'm very disappointed about Girl with the Pearl Earring. What were they thinking? They should have had Suctionprints write the screenplay. She obviously know how to go about such things so that no ... ugh, talent... is wasted.

I fixed it, Yogi, so have a look!
And raen, it's not freaky taste, it's good taste! I just hope we aren't scaring would-be male posters away. But just in case, Hmmm. Well, the female lead in Pirates of the Caribbean was extremely beautiful, was she not?

I could stare at her all day, in fact.

To redress the balance

Well Hildy, that was such a lovely bit of eye candy, I do believe I have actually gained weight from watching that video.... ugh, yeah, once. I do not get your rat-like description at all. The rats up in your neck of the woods must be handsome indeed. Nothing like the urban rats that prowl the streets of NYC.

We have come round in another circle, because Keira Knightly was the bride in Love Actually, so I guess we could just say that she should have been nude too, since we're being all about equal opportunities and such.

Isn't he great? That's Will Kemp, a British dancer who was in some controversial version of Swan Lake as well as a couple other things. I look at that video about once a week or so, and it always makes me happy.
As for the rat-like, well, perhaps that's a little imprecise. I'm really referring to the scruffy, unkempt face and beard. Certainly the rest of the package isn't furtive or beady-eyed or scrawny, um, tailed. So perhaps rat is the wrong word.
And raen, go you! I felt the testerone level on the thread just zoom skyward!

As long as we're talking about shirtless, swimming men, the new rendition of Aquaman on the Justice League cartoon looks pretty foxy, too.

King of the Briny Deep!

With this post I have officially hit a new low. I need an intervention right about now.

Oh my heck! They've taken the old orange suited AquaMan of my youth and replaced him with a.... god! Luckily, my son loves to watch the Justice League, and as I am always looking for family activities, I think this is something we can now enjoy together.

I finally understand the Betty Rubble jokes.



We need a thread doctor, because if you're down that low, then you've sure got some company.

Intervention? Faugh! If talking about shirtless swimming men is wrong, I don't want to be right!

But I suppose we could diversify the topics. I'm freezing right now, so if anybody has any warm weather vacations planned for the winter, now would be a good time to discuss. I've never been anywhere tropical. I'm thinking that needs to change, but instead I'll probably end up on Florida. Although now that I think of it, Spring Training! Yay!

I am going to Spring Training in Arizona this year. And is it too much to expect the baseball players to be walking around shirtless? Or at least in very form fitting t-shirts?

And to include a beautiful woman comment, Nicole Kidman looked very attractive in all her black western wear in Cold Moutain.

It's been muggy as hell for the last week here and still no rain. And it's supposed to reach 37 degrees celsius here tomorrow, so be glad of the cold weather Hildy. My Mum's staying at her little farm house in the country and it's been over 40 there for the last few days, and the aircon just packed it in.

Apart from wetting a sarong and lying naked underneath it, there's just no way to sleep at night in that kind of heat. (Oh dear I'm back to naked again, hee.)

Hey Raen, you forgot these -

American: Septic Tank

McDonald's: Maccas

Brisbane: Brissie

Garbage Collector: Garbo

Compensation: Compo

I could go on and on.....by the way, did you write that? I thought you were an Aussie (that's pronounced Ozzie, for all you Septic Tanks).

Seeing as we're going overboard with the shirtless men (and do I wish we really were), I found some great pics of Peachy on another thread. One is a bit, risque, shall we say, so if you want to see them, email me and I'll forward them. They made me smile! Though I suppose I should really put this on the Peachy thread...

Nope.



Or, ahem, girls.



Nope.

Yikes, Aussie Girl, I can't say that it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that a nation would refer to me as a septic tank. And here I was feeling like it would be such a nice place to visit...

Spring Training in Arizona sounds like a great vacation, BKB. Right up your alley. It's a much nicer way to start the new season the freezing your All-Star-Survivor off in the stands on opening day. Why is it always so cold on opening day?

I completely sympathize with the lack of air conditioning thing, raen. I think it's really hard to do without it once you are used to it. It's hard to believe that I ever lived without constant climate control, but I guess I did every summer when I went to camp for eight weeks. I do remember a lot of nudity however. We used to walk lounge around the horse style (the stairs over a fence into a field) in just our panties waiting for a breeze to come by.

And now we're back to semi-nudity again!

Oh, I am all ticked off. I come in to find a couple of random things on my desk (print offs which are definitely from my printer as I keep it stocked with scrap paper) & when I boot my computer it doesn't work when it gets to the desktop. So I have to reboot, and then check my documents from the taskbar, and someone (stupidhead coworker) was opening all these random proposals & reports around 7 last night. The hell? I am not sure what exactly she was looking for, but I am fucking calling her on it. It's not like she gets in before 10:30 ever, but what couldn't have waited until today? Or she could have called me? I'm sorry, but there are VERY few things on my computer that have anything to do with her work. VERY few. And the best part is that she is so damn stupid (Why doesn't my printer print correctly? Because I am supposed to know when I am not using her computer & the help book is on her desk.) she's going to be freaked when I ask about it. Ha. God I am not in the mood for this today. Not at all.

Back to the regularly scheduled programming of half- and fully-naked people...

That would make me see vermillion, skagirl. Maybe even crimson. I cannot even fathom the notion of a coworker using somebody else's computer unless his or hers were on the fritz. It's just Not Done. Ut oh. Is there a danger of you going all skahulk on Stupid coworker>? Quick, check: Are the arms on your shirt getting tight? Are the buttons popping off? Is your skin turning green? Did you look in the mirror and see a disturbing resemblence to Bill Bixby?

I still do not really understand the concept of constant use of air conditioning, but then again I live pretty far north, and we don't need it much. Finally broke down and got a small unit a couple summers ago when I started working from a home office. My sister, on the other hand, lives in the muggy Mid-Atlantic and shamelessly relies on central air. This is why I never want to move farther south. That and the whole Goober Coke phenomenon.

V. Jealous of BKB's trip to Spring Training. Speaking of baseball, what is Pete Rose thinking? Does he really believe that a confession at this late date is going to save his sorry ass? Am I just naive?

Re: Septic Tanks. Ouch! but also, hee!

I am so glad to the this place lively, that instead of lurking in the corner, I am going to join the party. According to a Brit I used to work with, Septic Tank is traditional cockney rhyming slang, Yank - Tank.

My husband and I recently bought an old house, which we have been repainting. I decided we need a weekend away from the house, so we just registered to go to a Murder Mystery weekend, where we have to try to solve a murder, in competition with other guests. I don't know what it will be like, but it seems like fun. Anyone ever done anything like it?