Debritz.net

Foster's isn't the beer of choice of anybody I know in Australia, but you've got to hand it to the job they've done marketing it overseas (with a little help from Bazza Mackenzie in in the 1970s and some clever advertising in the 1980s and beyond). It's even on sale here in Belarus, in a clear bottle with a groovy label that has a small graphic of a kangaroo and the words "Australia's famous beer". Of course, it's brewed, under licence, in Russia.

In case you a reminder that life is short, and can be shorter than we think, here it is: Dave Freeman, the co-author of the book 100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss has died at just 47. He wrote about exotic places and exciting experiences, but he died after a fall at home. He had completed about half of his list.

I know people who were registered at birth as "Anooshka" and "Sacha", and I'm sorry to say their parents got it all wrong. In Russia and Belarus, I've been told, nobody is christened with these names; they are diminutives respectively of Anna (or Ann) and Alexander.

Can't spell "supersede"? It's because you are too smart.

A Facebook application advises me that my "compare people" ratings have changed. I am now:
#28 most famous (lost 6 places)
#37 most likely to succeed (lost 11 places)
#38 person with the best body (lost 8 places)
#47 best friend (lost 11 places)
#47 most attractive (lost 10 places)

A friend passed this on:

The writer Eubulus in about 400BC, features the Greek God of frolic, Dionysus, telling a men's drinking party to stick to three glasses:
"One to health, the second to love and pleasure, the third to sleep. When this bowl is drunk, wise guests go home. The fourth bowl is ours no longer but belongs to hubris, the fifth to uproar, the sixth to prancing about, the seventh to black eyes, the eighth brings the police, the ninth belongs to vomiting, and the tenth to insanity and the hurling of furniture."

The Showbritz blog is now back here. This blog will continue as an outlet for my musings on other matters.

What next? Homophobia-free zones in Sydney "where gays can congregate unthreatened". On the surface it sounds like a good idea, but on analysis it's absurd. Should we also have racism-free zones or murder-free zones? Tolerance is something that should occur everywhere.

From a BBC story about German comedy duo Otto Kuehnle and Henning Wehn, who are performing in Edinburgh:

And when the pair spend a minute chatting away in German in front of a bemused Edinburgh audience, they say they are just copying British behaviour abroad by talking in their own language.
"But we do it without shouting," Wehn says. "You should try that."

and (especially for my bagpipe-playing friend in Shanghai):

"The Scots and the Germans have a lot in common," Kuehnle explains.
"Yes, we all hate the English," replies Wehn, quick as a flash.

Big Brother may have finally tanked in Australia, but not so in the United Kingsom. The programming chief of Channel 4 in Britain says the "reality" show has become the station's equivalent of soap operas such as EastEnders and Coronation Street. It's not longer a huge ratings performer, but it has settled into a comfortable position on the TV schedule. So, what went "right" in the UK and "wrong" in Australia? As much as I'd like to blame failed host Kyle Sandilands, the reasons are most likely deeper, and touch on the difference between lifestyles and viewing habits in the two countries.

A newspaper consists of just the same number of
words, whether there be any news in it or not.

- Henry Fielding
(Courtesy of a colleague)

I've just had one of my teeth fixed for the third time in 10 months. My Australian dentist failed twice, so I've visited the local professional here in Svetlogorsk. I certainly can't complain about the price - A$40 for a 50-minute appointment.

Who said the BBC had gone downmarket? I blame the audience. As I write, the most emailed story on news.bbc.co.uk is titled "Clouds that look like breasts". It's actually quite a dry, informative yarn about weather phenomena, but I bet that's not what the folks who found the story on Google were looknig for.

Quite a few English language TV series and movies are screened here in Belarus, but I can't understand a word of them. Rather than using subtitles, they are dubbed. I've become quite a fan of the Russian-dubbed Nip/Tuck, but I'm sure I'm missing some of the subtelties of the script. At least the local TV chiefs have put some effort into the translation of that show, using actors with distinctive voices for each character. An American made-for-TV film I began to watch the other night featured the voice of just one man, who narrated the action and didn't even attempt to change his voice to represent the different characters.

I've been watching the Olympics, in small doses, but I refuse to believe it's the most important thing in the world today and every day. Thus, I think the decision by news.com.au and its related sites to run "Beijing Now" permanently at the top, and force users to scroll to get to the "real" news (about plane crashes, suicide bombings and other trivial matters of life and death), is misguided.

I'm freelancing in Europe. With British and Australian passports (complete with US working visa) in my shirt pocket, and writing, subbing and broadcasting skills up my sleeve, I'm ready when you are if there's a journalism job to be done. My CV is here and you can contact me here.

The Australian's Rowan Callick writes here about being stalked by Chinese officials while going about his job as a journalist in Beijing.

The Fly, an opera based on the David Cronenberg film, directed by Cronenberg and conducted by Placido Domingo, opens in LA next month. Purists may be outraged, but if it puts bums on seats then it's good for the artform. Film adaptations today, Puccini, Mozart and Verdi tomorrow, then Wagner. Maybe.

Pastor Michael Guglielmucci suckered a lot of people, and had a hit single, when he told people he had terminal cancer. It was, so the latest reports go, a pack of lies, and he's now getting professional help. Guglielmucci's family and friends are, of course, praying for him. I think a more pratical approach is called for when it comes to those who fell victim to his cock and bull story. I'm sure that, statistically, there are no more frauds in church groups than in the wider community, but they do a hell of a lot of damage to often-vulnerable people.

When I arrived in Shanghai, I could not access BBC news online and CNN often went blank when stories about China came on. Now it seems iTunes is the latest victim of Chinese censorship. I understand that the music-purchasing service has not been available in China for a few days. There's a clue as to why on one of the expat forums:

There was an album for sale in Itunes that dealt with a certain disputed area near the Himalayas. I do not think a certain government was too pleased....thus Itunes has been blocked..at least for some.