Tom Charman

Not that we won’t accept others, but a meeting was held and a short list drawn up. If everyone could nominate their favourites (and add new ones if you insist, oe provide variations on these themes) that’d be awesome. Yes, I’m aware that there’s probably only five people likely to respond. We’re having a poll anyhow. In no particular order (and with a brand new entry which I just thought of):

1. Opinion Pirates
   opinionpirates.com
2. Mild Themes
   mildthemes.com
3. Rightly Wrong
   rightlywrong.com
4. Certain Doom
   certaindoom.net
5. Since You’ll All Die Anyway
   sinceyoullalldieanyway.com
6. Idle Discourse
   idle-discourse.com
7. Born Mad
   bornmad.com
8. Entirely Possible
   entirelypossible.com

Last August, the ABC’s Media Watch highlighted a Today Tonight report on young muslims for editing together a series of interviews dishonestly. Though it was obvious that the vibe of the story had been twisted in that way that Today Tonight does so well, one interview’s cut in particular really irritated me. A bloke named Ahmed was quoted by Today Tonight as saying:

I mean you have all this talk about integration. Why hasn’t the Muslim community assimilated or why doesn’t it integrate into the Australian community as quick as other communities. Well, at the end of the day OK, we will never integrate.

When in fact, he went on to say:

… we will never integrate in the way other communities integrate purely because of the fact that you have to draw the line with what your idea of integration is and what our idea of integration and accepting, you know, accepting the practices of other people.

That’s my emphasis up there by the way. I don’t completely understand the integration issue. I don’t see why anyone cares whether muslims around the country are having a barbecue and watching the cricket. Does an Australian immigrant have further responsibilities past making sure he or she can communicate sensibly with other Australians? Anyhow, the reason I’m highlighting this is because according to Media Watch this week our TV watchdog — the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) — doesn’t think Today Tonight was naughty. This from page four of their report:

The latter part of the quote which was not broadcast did not alter the statement “we will not integrate”.

Really. Hmmm. Interesting. Try chopping a statement like “A bumblebee does not fly in the way that birds do” in half and see how much sense it makes. If the part I highlighted in bold wasn’t there, I could see the ACMA’s position. But it’s there, and it qualifies “We will not integrate” very strongly.

On a basic level, I’m a bit concerned that we can have an organisation like the ACMA and that they can look at Today Tonight on any night and think “Hmm, yes, fair enough.” There needs to be a clause preventing a program from being full of shit put into the Code of Practice. Just think, it could have protected us from Skithouse too.

Here’s a picture of my desk at work. On the left is our printer that rarely works. To my right is a VoiP phone that remembers it’s mine even when it strays. Irritatingly, to access messages you don’t press the ‘message’ button, oh no, you press ‘6’ and then ‘1’ and then enter your PIN. Duh! My desk also contains sugar and stirring sticks for when people bring me unsugared coffee, in and out trays, and a usually empty biscuit jar. The picture is crummy because it was taken with my new phone’s camera, which is crummy. I don’t mind; I don’t take many pictures.

Things are busy round the grapefruit offices these days. We’re all racking our brains to come up with a new name for the site. The incorrect plural is really getting to me. But it seems almost every word in the english language has been taken, so we’ve either got to make one up or combine a few existing ones. Words implying that the website is inaccurate, wildly irrelevant and generally silly would be favoured. If anyone has any ideas go ahead and post them. Whoever comes up with the best gets to have come up with the best.

I’m giving up on ER, I reckon. This season’s premiere was piss-poor. House is way better. At least some of the doctors on that seem skilled. ER lacks a super-doctor, and has since Green died, really. Carter almost had the stripes but his smug air and irritating grin got in the way. I can’t pin exactly when I lost all respect for him but the part where he screwed up his relationship with the hot hot hot Hospital counsellor might have been it. Or when he screwed up his relationship with Abby. I like Abby but she’s not quite enough to get me to watch.

It’s been a quiet time around the Grapefruit office while everyone’s away on summer break. Or at least, that sounds like a good excuse for the lack of things around here. I have been watching films and television, and playing games — I’ve just been a bit lax writing about them. I’ve only got three episodes of Battlestar: Galactica season one to watch and it’s still awesome. I won’t start reviewing it until I get to season two, though. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was great, too — I’ll probably review it too, at some point. Yes, I’m a little behind.

We got the yellow pages the other day. L-Z is now sleek and black with yellow highlights, an inverted A-K. I reckon A-K must be getting jealous. L-Z looks awesome. Speaking of awesome redesigns, the DS got a whole lot more sexy yesterday (or rather, it will) after the announcement of the DS Lite. A hot Australia Day was made even more annoying when I had to wipe the drool off Andy’s keyboard as he gibbered in the corner.

Finally, X3 seems to be getting a subtitle: ‘The Last Stand’. I don’t like subtitles. I don’t know where to put them on reviews. When X2 came out I saw ‘X-Men United’ bandied around the place but it’s not on the actual film. IMDb calls it a “promotional title”. After the film’s release they’re lost in the mists of time. Besides, what’s the point of doing subtitles when “The Secret of the Ooze” has already been taken? Nothing’s going to top that. X3 is apparently “the conclusion of this trilogy” according to some 20th Century Fox executive. I like how studio bosses are getting artistically involved in movies these days.