h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My trip to Sydney last week started out as a trip to a concert at the Opera House. Well, not exactly a concert. 'Punk cabaret' is a better description. The headline act, and the brains behind the whole show, was Amanda Palmer. For those who don't know her, here's a start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Palmer

(Yes, I know, it's bad of me to link to an article on that site - I shall chastise myself later - but a link directly to amandapalmer.net might startle some people. Even the Wiki article has naughty words in it.)

The show was on Australia Day, the national festival of patriotism and flag-waving and similar crap I have little time for. It was a hot, steamy day of the sort Sydney tends to provide in January; we simply had to stop in a lot of bars on the way to the Opera House. In one of them I got whacked across the back of the knees by a drunk person wielding an inflatable kangaroo. What sort of loon would take an inflatable roo to the pub with them?

I wish I could convey the mood of the Opera House... I can't, not on this site, not with the filther in place and Dorcas the Phantom Yikeser hiding behind the curtains. So this entry's a bit of a dud really and I haven't even finished writing it yet. Let's just take it as read that I had a great time and the gig was fantastically worthwhile. Incidentally, it ran for three hours and fifteen minutes, without an interval.

During the show, Amanda announced a free 'ninja gig' (no advertising, no tickets, no fuss) to be held on the 29th at a venue to be announced later on Twitter. So I had D get onto Twitter the next day. The ninja gig turned out to be handily close to his house, so of course we went. It was a crowd of about 400 in a cavernous space, and a strangely exuberant gig just sort of happened. The show ended with Amanda herding us all into one cramped space because she wanted to try to set a record for the largest number of people in a moshpit dancing to a ukelele. It was completely mental, a lot of fun, and we all got to feel Amanda up to some extent when she went crowdsurfing.

After all that, my last day in Sydney was taken up with an all-day meeting with various hard-headed negotiators, purely for w*rk purposes. A bizarre end to a strange holiday...

That sounds brilliant...

Inflatable kangaroo in a pub? Whoever heard of such a thing?

Touchy, feely... and inflatable kangaroos? ... Well I never

taking one in is no problem, it's just the blowing up (especially when women are passing with drinks in hand)

there are no laws against blowing up kangaroos in a pub in denmark

just thought you should know in case we stage the next hootoo meet here

You know, we could use a bit more of that weather here in so. California. Of course here, when it happens, coriolis vectors make the vortex storm unravel if it hits the coast.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=49066

Even the inflatable lollipop raises eyebrows, especially in the British Museum

Yes, lil, but that may have had something to do with that you were doing with it at the time...

I blame VV... 2legs wasn't there

You blame VV? Well, no further questions, M'lud, guilty as charged, case closed!

Noodles!

i beg to differ. 2legs' absence has never been an excuse before

But strange things happen when people are legless...

Blaming VV is a perfectly valid excuse -

As evidence, I provide the following:

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2295734390103513533fMJHYN

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2890960550103513533TNBLRp

http://picasaweb.google.com/moonhogg2000/ToniSVisit?authkey=Gv1sRgCI_PoYyPgcStQA#5380388187744988018

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKZSZ3wb2To

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u22f_mDubo

The final one also doesn't help Auntie Giggles' case...

What a remarkable collection of evidence.

(And yes, VV, it *is* funny. )