Sikamikanico Blogs

I used to just feel a bit sorry for Michelle Bridges. When she sprouts nonsense like "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" - a triumph of the inane - all I could think was "lady, you need better recipes. Acitvated almonds and sprouts are not a meal ". But it's okay. Her view on the world is different from mine. I believe enjoyment of good food is one of the very best things about being alive, she believes having a good body is more important than availing oneself of such pleasures. That's fine. But then, in this piece on Daily Life , she decides to apply her wisdom to parenting as well. Helicopter parenting produces fat kids, she has decided. And I got to thinking about what, precisely, is wrong with Michelle Bridges' view of the world. Now, I don't fall into the school of thought that people without children are not entitled to an opinion on raising them. But I rankle at the idea of Michelle Bridges doling out shame and guilt on how others raise th

Newcastle was once known as the town BHP built. At it's peak, "the big Australian"'s Newcastle steelmaking facility employed tens of thousands of Novocastrians. Everyone worked there or knew someone who did. I never knew BHP at it's peak, and when it closed in 1999, my 20 year old right-on self thought "good" - and it's true the appalling fug of pollution which had hung over the city lifted. I thought little more about it until I visited the fabulous  BHP exhibition  at the new Newcastle museum, and whilst looking at the displays illustrating life at Big Harry's Place, as it was colloquially known, I became nostalgic for a life I'd never known. After the plant closed, most of the buildings were torn down, but a few remain; and yesterday I decided to ride Zorah out to the site and see what remained. Approach to the former administration building. The aura of faded grandeur is not what I was expecting. It's hard to get across just how vast

We hear so much of the new golden age of television. We've been having appalling weather here on the east coast of NSW - 45 degree temperatures followed by days on end of flooding rain - and the best way to spend time is indoors, enjoying some television and trying to block out the impending global warming apocalypse threatening to destroy us all. Ask someone to recommend you a good show to watch, a season of something to plough through in a marathon coach potato weekend, and the recommendations come thick and fast - Downton Abbey , Breaking Bad , The Walking Dead , Girls . Into something a little more classic? Well, there's The Sopranos , The West Wing , Six Feet Under ... At this point I chime in with "so you're telling me there's a tonne of TV out there that's tightly plotted, well paced, expertly cast, filmed cinematically, that really makes you think? Because that's not what I'm looking for at all". Nosiree Bob. When it comes to TV, give me tr