The French fight the American-Anglo homogenisation of the world. Good on them!

According to Mixmag, minimal is the new big thing in dance music. God save us all. Dance music minus the fun! What could be better than that? Thankfully, Australia is not drowning in a vat of K like London so I doubt the trend will catch on here. And thank fuck for that.

I liked this news story from Yahoo! Although reading it will ruin the experience of phoning your relatives. You won't be able to resist thinking your Grandpa is in the nude as you chat to him about football. Urgh! He may be scratching his wrinkly scrotum for all you know. Damn. I don't like that story actually, it's one statistic I could have done without learning about...

Oh my giddy aunt. Gabriel and Dresden have remixed the theme from Boreback Mountain. It is APPALLING. No link to a clip I'm afraid but if you go here and listen to the Essential Selection it's played at 11:54 or so. One of the worst pieces of dance music I've heard in some time. The theme tune to this movie though is quite a considerate piece of music, you only need to hear it to realise that the movie has the potential to shoot straight to the top of your 'Top 10 Most Boring Movies Of All Time' list. I, for one, certainly won't be watching it.

One of the most stupid things I have read in a long long time. Surely, we name a flu after its place of origin? And the fuckwit author has neglected to mention that there was once a Spanish Flu and a Sydney Flu (to name but two) - these are places within our 'civilisation' as he puts it. Stop talking bollocks you ridiculous man.

Saw this shocking program on ABC last night about ICE (Crystal Meth). A truly horrifying drug, apparently there are now more ICE addicts in Aus then heroin ones. It's so sad to see people who feel so worthless that they destroy themselves with drugs - one of the people featured was even taking it whilst pregnant. Shocking.

One thing that did annoy me about the documentary was the statement that Crystal Meth is now the 'drug of choice' in clubbing circles. No it's not. As far as I can see it still has a stigma attached to it and there is no way on Earth it is approaching the popularity of Ecstasy or Coke in the clubbing world. Once again, people having fun and dancing to electronic music are easy scapegoats.

Those of you who know me and the wife are fully versed in the adventures of our cat Fernando and his tempestuous relationship with a cat called Layla that we 'fostered' a few months back. Needless to say they didn't get on particuarly well with Fernando treating her like a toy full of cat nip ready to be torn apart at the slightest opportunity. Poor Layla is now in another home and hopefully enjoying a peaceful life.

So, we got a call the other day asking if we could take in another cat as the pound is desperately short of foster 'parents'* and being the bleeding heart liberals that we are we couldn't refuse.

We're going to pick up the cat on Saturday under the proviso that if Fernando terrorises it we'll have to give it back to the shelter after a couple of weeks.

Stay tuned to see how they get on!

*There is a cat/dog pound here in Melbourne that recruits people to look after it's animals until permanent homes are found for them.

People in nightclubs deserve to be blown up because they are 'slags'. OK, I understand that Palestinians blow themselves up in Tel Aviv because they are being brutally oppressed by the Israelis. I get that. But what I can't understand is why people in the UK feel the need to want to blow up their fellow citizens/residents. These people aren't destitute, they aren't being oppressed, they live in a free society with freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression. But I guess this is what they don't like about it - they don't want people to think for themselves, they just wish everyone to be subjagated to the word of the Qu'ran and their own warped, twisted views. No matter how many times I read that 'Islam is a religion of Peace' I keep on seeing these stories that make me doubt this statement.

How fucking expensive are 7-11 stores??? $4 for a pack of bog standard biscuits and $2.60 for a king size Mars Bar. There are about 4 billion of these spread over the Melbourne CBD. No Need surely? My suggestion would be to get rid of half of them and so costs could be cut. This would still leave approximately 41 stores on each of the CBD roads and would hopefully mean that we could all buy confectionary at a normal rate.

Good column from Times' writer (and Tory MP) Michael Gove about the South Park scandal. Although I'm not sure that Scientologists are 'evil', more like just really really *really* stupid.

So we (me and her) went along to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games last night (Monday) to catch some athletics action. Now, I haven't watched much athletics recently but when exactly did England get to be so shit? Whereas we once had Linford, Sally and Colin we now have a team of nobody nohopers. Fuck, we only managed to get one bloke in the men's 100 metres for christsakes! Where did it all go wrong? I was looking forward to creaming the Aussies at the Athletics but it looks as if I'll have to hear 'Advance Australia Fair' even bloody more. Boo.

Anyway, the night was good with the highlight being the Australian getting beaten in the home straight in the 5,000m. Only joking! I was supporting him really but it was clear that the Kenyan guy who won was as relaxed as a Koala bear on a tropical holiday during the race and just sped away when it came to the second half of the last lap.

The Women's hammer was amusing - an Australia won and she was the stereotypical hammer thrower. I have always believed that Hammer (and shot put) throwers are the size they are due to the demands of their sport. But this belief was shattered last night when I saw the Welsh hammer thrower who was a 'normal' size (i.e. under twenty stone) and seemed to be not half bad at throwing. So, it shows that the rest of them really are just addicted to pies and ice cream for no reason other than gluttoney.

The general atmosphere in the ground was great and I was pleased to hear that Australian crowds have still not thought of a follow up hit to the only chant they've ever known - Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi. I guess you cannot improve perfection though eh?

Congratulations to Connex and organisers for getting 80,000 people home with a minimum of fuss. Rather a contrast to that in the UK where people are generally left to fend for themselves. I mean 250,000 people descended on Brighton to see Fatboy Slim and guess how many extra trains were put on? None. Yes, None. The rail unions probably decided to hold a last minute strike just to fuck off everyone even more. Cunts.

In other Commonwealth Games news, I see that the most laughable statement ever uttered: 'Australians are good sports' has been proven to be a load of bollocks once again. Check out this article from The Age which although reports that some English bloke won a swimming medal can't help but suggest the whole way through that he only won it due to Thorpe's absence. Priceless.

Ah bless. It's the Department of Immigration's 'Harmony Day' today. I wonder if these people will be celebrating Australia's tolerance and diversity?

Ew! Old man smears his cock with garlic.

No need for that.

Hurrah! The excellent Scott Mills BBC Radio 1 show is now available in podcast form.

mmm...The amount of things to do on the internet seems to be ever increasing. I mean first you have to check the news from various sources. Then it's off to the blogosphere with ever increasing amounts of commentary to read. Then it's time to make sure your Plaxo contacts are up to date and syncronised. Then onto checking your personal email in the hope of finding one that's actually from someone you know as opposed to the erectile disfunction clinic. Once that's done it's time to download the latest Podcasts and listen to them. And by the time you've done all that you've forgotten to check the sports results out or check your mate's blog and post on various internet forums. In between all of this you have to keep updating your own blog in the desperate hope that eventually more people than just your two best friends will start to read it.

I mean, how the hell does anyone have time for work anymore? Are we moving to an economy where people who use the internet the most will simply get paid for doing that? I mean, you can already make money from writing a blog - if you get enough traffic and they click through your Google ads then cher-ching! You're in the money. And for what? People can in effect now earn dual incomes by going to one workplace. Spending half the time on the web and half the time doing what you are meant to be doing to earn your salary. Does this mean that those people who have the most opinions will be the richest? If so bring it on. I can't wait to be a millionare!

Shocking story from Afganistan. But remember folks, Islam is a religion of peace.

Ha! I feel vindicated. All these years of being a miserable, cynical bastard have been worth it! Ha, I'll come and visit your graves oh happy people ;)

There is a great article and comment piece about Iraq today in the Guardian. This is proving to be the biggest scandal of our lifetime but those responsible in the US have retained power and to date no one has resigned or been sacked over a war that was fought on lies, distortion and manipulation. With Iraq hurtling towards civil war how the US proposes to get out of this mess is anyone's guess. Sorry if I don't appear to have confidence in that master tactician Donald Rumsfeld....

In The Times, Andrew Sullivan writes a compelling piece about how the Bush Administration is running out of breath (and hopefully running out of votes come the Autumn Mid Term Elections).

On a lighter note, go on FULHAM! Nice to see that the Chelsea fans took their defeat with the good grace we have been acustomed to expect from them. Still 12 points clear mind you. But pffft to that. Everyone knows that the Carling Cup is the only competition that matters...