Have been watching quite a few thrillers on DVD lately.  Latest one was The Shining.  

Kubrick is certainly a great director; the brooding, ominous atmosphere is just fantastic.  And Jack Nicholson is certainly memorable in it.  But I reckon he goes way over the top.  He's just mugging, huffing and puffing like crazy right through the film.  It's almost comical.

Still, not that unusal for Jack Nicholson.  He really cranks it up in The Departed, also.

Personally, I think he's really overrated.  He's an incredibly charismatic actor who knows how to dazzle people with his trademark facial expressions, vocal tricks and mannerisms and just keeps shamelessly using them.

Still, they've earned him a fortune and endless adulation.  Hardly surprising, I suppose ... 

After going through such a tumultuous divorce from Heather Mills, you'd think that romance would be the last thing on Sir Paul McCartney's mind.

But nup, he's gone right back into it and has been very busy serenading another woman.

Resilient old bugger isn't he?

If you wanna get a handle on just how irrelevant and pompous this silly new Labor Government is, then this campaign against plastic bags is a perfect illustration.

It won't do a thing to "help the environement" -- whatever the hell that over-used phrase means anyway.  I mean, help it how?  To do what?

One thing it is sure to do is rile the bejesus out of the citizens on Struggle Street, many of whom changed their allegiance from Howard to Rudd because of the latter's crafty pledge to carry on the former's economic policies.  They are not gonna take kindly to being forced to fork out for a very useful product that they've been receiving for free for many years. 

So, it's useful in that sense I suppose, since it might just help hasten Labor's demise. 

Some high profile vegans are arcing up about a proposed slaughter of kangaroos in the ACT.  But ironically the whole purpose of the cull is to be more environmentally firendly.  

As this story states:

The Canberra cull is being carried out to protect rare grasslands and the threatened perunga grasshopper, golden sun moth and ginninderra peppercress.

Moonbat Bob Brown thinks it would be better if the roos were relocated rather than killed.  I'm surprised he didn't recommend paying them compensation also.

You just can't please these people, can you?

Singer Natalie Cole reckons that giving an award to Amy Winehouse sends out a "bad message" . 

I must be getting old, because I actually agree with her.  It's almost as if the industry is rewarding her for her sad, crazy behavior.  

There is definitely a widespread belief among entertainers that drugs are a good thing; an aid to creativity.

I know from my own experience as a comic and actor just how entrenched this belief is.  It's as if having a substance abuse problem is a prerequisite for success!

No wonder so many celebs go off the rails, cark it or top themselves.

Have been absolutely slack as at this blog lately.  Apologies to any readers who might check regularly. 

However, I have been blogging consistently over at my other home. 

When I heard about The Bill actor Jeff Stewart's suicide attempt earlier this month, I thought that it was mainly caused by his attachment to his role. But it seems there was at least one other major factor: gambling debts.

Hardly surprising. Financial problems are often involved in these kinds of events.

I know Marion Jones got what she deserved.  However, it's hard not to feel sorry for her since it's odds on that there are many, many other well known athletes who also used drugs but were never sprung. 

While she cools her heels in jail then tries to pick up her life afterwards, these cheaters will continue to be lauded worldwide.  That's really gotta hurt.

Political street theatre is almost invariably silly.  But sometimes, moonbats really stretch themselves and do something that's ridiculous beyond words.  Take these Sydney animal rights activists, for instance:

Animal Liberation activists against the drinking of cow’s milk have staged a truly bizarre protest in the middle of Sydney’s crowded Pitt Street Mall.

The protesters have spent hours suckling from the udder of a life-size cow statue.

Hope they got a grant for it, 'cause there's no way they converted anyone to their cause.

Is the glass half empty, or half full?  Are those camels walking in the desert, or are they merely shadows? 

All depends on how you look at things.   

Santa's been taking a real bollocking of late.  Wowsers in Sydney have outlawed his trademark "Ho, ho, ho!". Now whippersnappers are getting stuck into him over his excess weight. 

Poor bloke.  How's he gonna stay jolly with all this criticism?

Lindsay Lohan's life and career have been falling apart for ages.     

You'd think she'd be dead, or in a coma by now.  But she's still got enough energy left to shag just about anything with a pulse -- Heath Ledger, for instance. 

Amazing. 

Here's a sign of the times ...

A celeb called Tila Tequila has purported to be bisexual in a reality TV show, yet there's talk she may actually be straight.  So she may well be pretending to be, er, semi-gay for career reasons.

My, how things have changed! 

Greenies are forever quacking on about how we should "live in harmony with nature".  But anyone who knows anything about nature knows that nature doesn't even live in harmony with itself.

Actually, it's always in a state of brutal chaos.  Take, for example, this gruesome event, in which a ginormous swarm of mauve jellyfish killed thousands of salmon.   

As well as being  a snarky, cynical blogger, I'm also a newbie online and offline marketer.  (I've now got my own little business.  In a good week, I make about a 100 bucks from this.  Woo-hoo!)

Though I'm no marketing genius, I can claim a little expertise in the area.  Seems to me that if you want to increase your income the key is not to chase the money.  Do what you enjoy, and then learn to make that pay.  Sure, it takes a while, but it's a much more enjoyable and satisfying approach. 

With this in mind I would say that if you are trying to make a few bob have a look at Marketing Tips.  It's definitely one of the best products of its kind, and will help people develop a business vision and realise their goals. 

For ages, Sweden had a reputation as one of the world's most sexually liberal countries.  Maybe it used to be.  But it seems it's not like that at all, now.   

The Swedes have practically wiped out prostitution using an intriguing ploy.  They've outlawed the buying of sex, but not the selling of it. 

Interesting. 

Worried that their uncontactable daughter might "do something silly", the parents of Amy Winehouse almost instantly called for an ambulance to go to her place.

Turned out Amy was fine. 

What a frivolous use of state resources.  Imagine if the parents of every troubled celebrity behaved this way.  There'd be no ambulances left for anyone else!

Lisa Robertson, who became famous for shagging Ralph Fieness in an airline toilet, was hired to star in a "reality" show called I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here for no reason other than that dubious achievement.  Then she was fired for exactly the same reason.

Revealing, isn't it?

I do find Cate Blanchett a tad annoying.  It's that smirky, squinty thing she does when she poses for photographs -- which she seems to do pretty well every hour that she's awake.  Really pisses me off for some reason ...

Still, you gotta hand it to her for being so damn prolific.  As well as her main job of posing for glamour snaps she regularly delivers Oscar winning film performances, runs a well-known Oz theatre company (albeit a tad controversially) with her hubby, and still finds time to have bubs! 

And all that while remaining foxy as all get out. 

Chick's a superwoman, I reckon. 

It's no secret that online dating sites make squillions of dollars.  Obviously, hundreds of thousands of singletons paying a moderate monthly fee will quickly add up to a truly ginormous sum. 

But what's interesting is that one of the most profitable dating sites of all -- PlentyOfFish -- is actually completely free to use. 

How does it make its money, then?  Adsense.

Amazing, eh!

Just a thought on the direction this blog is taking: 

It started off as a rant blog on a wide range of subjects.  But lately it's become focused on the grotesque behaviour of idiot entertainers.

I think I should continue in this vein. I quite like the thought of being a celebrity fixated internet muckraker.

Just had an interesting lesson in how search engines work ...

Recently I wrote about femme fatale Mechele Linehan, mistakenly spelling her surname Lineham.  Most others who wrote about her didn't make this error.  Being one of the few who did, however, my post ended up on page one of several major search engines for searches for "Mechele Lineham", and so I have received a constant stream of visitors as a result. 

Maybe I should make these errors more often ... 

Hmm.  Wonder what happens if I call her Michelle Linehan? 

Monks are certainly not famous for their sexisness, nor for their ability to nude up.  But a Monk called Sophie is determined to reverse this sad state of affairs. 

Yep, she's the latest celeb to go starkers for PETA. 

She's posed with a whole mess o' chilli peppers.  You've gotta ask, was that PC?  I suspect that plant liberationists might condemn her for objectifying and sexualising the harmless vegetables.

If this does become a problem for her and Monk wants to do another spread then I'm sure there are other red hot chilli peppers who'd be more than happy to oblige.