Aussie Pim Verbeek gets in some important practice before the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals.

Australians all, let us re-juice...

Something sinister has been happening to the dolphins that grace the waters off the Japanese township of Taiji. The quest for the horrible truth is the subject of this gripping documentary which was one of the popular favourites at last week's Sydney Film Festival.

Senator Christine Milne, the deputy leader and climate change spokesperson for the Australian Greens, gave a really inspiring speech as the televised National Press Club address on the ABC today. I'm not sure whether any of the video will turn up on Youtube or elsewhere. If you get the chance, set the recorder for ABC1 from 3.25am to 4.25am tonight (that's Thursday morning June 18) to catch the repeat.

Senator Milne's prepared text is as follows. Source and accompanying press release at her website, part of the greensmps.org.au empire:

A more detailed review of this brilliant documentary to come. In the meantime here is the trailer, followed by my Twitter review:

#sff "The Cove" Something sinister is happening to dolphins at Taiji. See this powerful, heartbreaking doco. Be angry. Be very angry. 9/10

It is forty-one years to the weekend since I was a petrified nine year-old, terrified that the asteroid Icarus was about to plummet into the planet Earth. Today, the day when I choof off to the Sydney Film Festival for "Wake In Fright", is the day when Twitter has been calculated to melt down.

It was back in 1976. Graeme Bond, Rory O'Donoghue and their executive producer Maurice Murphy, riding high from the success of the Aunty Jack Show, made a comedy series for the ABC that featured sketches that intentionally pushed the limits of mid-1970s taste. They called it "The Off Show".

Violence in suburban Australia towards Asian immigrants and students, notably from India, is disturbing. Sadly, it's not a new issue, not confined to Sydney and Melbourne, and by no means targeted at Indians. It's a bigger problem, and one that is being misreported in the Indian media and underreported by their Australian counterparts.

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SWINE FLU FEARS FOR CRICKETING GREAT

As you can see, my blog is back on the air, having completed eleven incremental upgrades to bring my Drupal installation up to date. I'm doing this while my fabulous hosting provider is doing a server reallocation. Some features on my blog (including a lot of the cricket stuff that can usually be seen at the bottom of the page) is disabled until I sort out a few performance issues.

As long-standing readers of this blog (if indeed, any such beast exists) will know, I'm a strong supporter of The Greens as an alternative political force in this country. They consistently set the agenda in sensible environmental policies, but when they stray into areas where they lack expertise, the results can be embarrassing to watch.

Case in point, this press release from Senator Scott Ludlam (AG-WA):

Greens expose Play School alcohol and pokies link