So, a confession. I love Neighbours. (The show, not the 90+ year old couple that live next door to me.) I know it’s not cool, especially not for kids now in their 30s. But there’s something about it that’s addictive, like a can of sour cream & onion Pringles. Maybe it’s because our mum wouldn’t let us watch it 20+ years ago when it started – in a case of bad timing (as it used to be a pretty wholesome show), she came into the room when the characters were at a disco and some kids were doing drugs while taking a break from dancing to Locomotion. And that was the end of that. But I’m allowed to watch it now and it’s come a loooong way from the innocent hijinx of Ramsay Street of old. No more do people just ‘move to Queensland’ to exit the show – now there are teenage mums getting run over by cars; streetfuls of divorces; high flying jobs in New York; family reunions in Italy; and recently someone did actually go to Queensland, but only for a holiday in Port Douglas. The artistic quality of the camera work is, like, waaaay cinematic now, with strange angles aplenty, random shots of buildings and scenery, split screens and even a magic phone feature: a little pop up to show you the creepy text message the teacher just received or the jilted lover’s call being ignored. Heavy stuff. Add to that the teachers having affairs with students; old people faking injuries to scam insurance claims; a gay teenage mechanic; high schoolers cheating on final exams; a pirate radio station (as in underground, not arrr arrr me hearties). And then there are high schoolers organising raves & selling drugs. Hang on a minute, that rings a bell. The haircuts and fashion might be better, but methinks they’re recycling ideas from the early days…like that old crank Paul Robinson, who has been on the show since 1985. Crikey.
Author: Cate
Finding those everyday sparks - the ones that make life funnier, scarier, happier, nicer, weirder...
Fair Juliet
Hardcore. 8 year old Juliet – an Australian treasure, from the trampoline moshpit to you…
Spam I Am
You actually make it seem so easy along with your presentation but I to find this matter to be actually something which I feel I would never understand. It sort of feels too complex and very huge for me. I’m taking a look ahead on your subsequent post, I’ll attempt to get the cling of it!
I know it’s spam, but I sort of feel for the writer. Well, the writer-like machine that crafted the message. Like a pathetic Biggest Loser contestant needing a pat on the head and a big bowl of pasta, this spammer cries out for recognition and encouragement. Of course, I’m also reading between the lines and taking it as a compliment on my fabulous new blog. So thank you, Spamman or Spamgirl, I appreciate your thoughtful feedback. And if you make sure to check back every day and tell everyone you know about my blog (well, not your spammy friends, but any actual humans that you know), I am sure you will get the cling of it.
What’s in a name?
I am doing some recruitment in my new job, which I’m enjoying because I haven’t hired people in a long time. It’s always an interesting process – especially when you put the ad on an online job board yourself, rather than using a recruiter. You craft the ad, then with all the hope of a lovestruck teen you click on ‘publish’ and 30 minutes later, your new job is up in lights, being looked over by prospective suitors. And within about 1.25 minutes, the applications start arriving – especially if the job is in IT or administration. The quality of those applications and general tips for candidates is another rant altogether. (In which I would suggest little things, like: get the job title right, get the company name right, get your own name right. Stuff like that.)
Anyways, this recent batch of recruitment has got me thinking about names and what is in them. I have decided that the answer is: a lot. Although I do accept that I’m a bit odd in this regard. When I hear the name (or prospective name) of a new baby, I always run three very quick scenarios – not to cover the whole spectrum of options, you understand, but to get an idea of how the name fits. So, if you tell me that your baby’s name is Pixie McGee, I will automatically do this (usually in my head, sometimes out loud): “Good morning, Pixie McGee’s office”; “Pixie McGee reporting for National Nine News”; and “Hello, I’m your doctor, Pixie McGee”. I don’t judge (out loud), I don’t try to persuade a name change, I just play it back to see how it sounds in a few different scenarios. Although if you tell me that you’ve chosen a name that spells something backwards (as Nevaeh), then I may say that is a little bit yzarc.
But back to recruitment. I am not sure who the prankster is that suggests names for incoming students or employees to adopt so they can ‘fit in’ when they arrive. When I was younger, there were a lot of old-school English type names chosen: Daisy, Eugene, Harold, Violet. Now, it seems as though anything goes – I have recently come across real-life students named: Magic, Sexy, Chicken, Thunder, George Washington and Tennis. Now, I don’t mean to be superficial, but I don’t think those names are going to help you blend in to your new community. Sure, you’re out of the primary school days of sticks & stones breaking your bones…but really? I don’t know that we’ll see Sexy as a company CEO. Or Chicken as a leading investment banker. Or Magic, the school principal. Sure, Thunder and Tennis might have more obvious career paths mapped out for them in fields relevant to their names, but if they wanted to become, say, barristers or office managers, I’m not sure how that would pan out.
Then I think, maybe it doesn’t matter to most people – a rose by any other name and all that. And maybe we should have more names that are fun and bring a smile to people’s faces.
So I’m going to sign off all my recruitment correspondence as Mermaid O’Krypton. Just because I can.
Something fishy
For too long, most of us have been stuck with goldfish – or perhaps the slightly more upmarket Siamese fighting fish – as friends. Sure, they’re pretty and they swim around, probably wondering why on earth there is a strange castle or cactus or volcano in their tank. And in fairness, Siamese fighting fish are pretty bad ass, almost certain to kill their fishy neighbours if you don’t keep a wall between them. But now I’ve seen this amazing Desktop Jellyfish Tank, by Jellyfish Art (thanks Fab.com) and there is no going back to goldfish. You get 3 ‘Moon Jellyfish’, six months of food, an LED tank light that changes colour (giving the tank a disco vibe) and a heap of other complicated sounding stuff. They note that Moon Jellyfish don’t sting, although I’m not sure that you should be getting them out to play very often. The downside – I don’t know how long they live, you probably can’t pick a favourite as they all look the same and you can’t make eye contact with them. But they are very cool – like little ghosts of the sea, trick or treating around the tank.
everydaysparks 