Website outrage

AS amused as we were by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's cavalier attitude to the strict embargo on one of its own releases (Strewth, Monday), we were even more taken with the effort by the Governor-General's office with the Australia Day honours list this week.

AS amused as we were by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's cavalier attitude to the strict embargo on one of its own releases (Strewth, Monday), we were even more taken with the effort by the Governor-General's office with the Australia Day honours list this week.

A Strewth agent who was expecting the G-G's annual press pack that gives the heads up on who will be scoring a gong was disappointed when nothing turned up. Undeterred, he contacted Quentin Bryce's awards people, who directed our agent to a link on the G-G's website. And, hey, presto, the list appeared. However, after perusing the list, complete with all the names, telephone numbers and sundry other personal details, and a strict notice not to publish before some time between the witching hour and the sparrow's fart on Australia Day, the penny dropped: there was no password or security of any kind. Anyone popping the words "Australia Day honours list 2010" into Google would have been directed there, which could have rather blown the surprise. Happily, our agent is a man of good heart and alerted the G-G's people. Their unofficial reaction on trying Google was, "Oh--", followed by another monosyllabic word. We're happy to report that the oversight was taken care of with a speed one wouldn't automatically associate with the public service.

To Turnbull time

RESISTANCE to change can be an understandable reaction in this modern world of ours, even more so if you belong to a political party generally described as conservative. For example, go to the website of Liberal MP Christopher Pyne and go to the page introducing Coalition website educationforaustralia.com.au (not far below "Labor's debt bombshell" and "Handbrake on hoon driving"). Click on the link provided and it will take you straight to the homepage of one Malcolm Turnbull, and an invitation to "sign up and receive my e-newsletter". Sigh. It's just like the old days. And not a budgie smuggler in sight.

Hawke had enough

ONE of the downsides to being famous is that it can be a real bugger trying to slip out of the theatre before the end of the show without anyone noticing. This is even more the case when the performers themselves try to point you out, only to realise you've baled. Such were the travails of Bob Hawke and Blanche d'Alpuget when they went to Sydney's Seymour Centre the other night to see modernist play Six Characters in Search of an Author. While we gather it was a terrific night out, it does require some stamina, clocking in at two hours and 40 minutes. Bob and Blanche were ensconced in their seats during the first half, which was about 90 minutes long, give or take. After the interval, the play became more and more self-referential, with the performers making gags about all the Sydney Festival funding being spent on the German Hamlet. This in turn led to a discussion about a production of Hamlet starring Jude Law, which in turn led to a discussion about a Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke, which in turn led to the question, "Where's Bob Hawke?" Alas, there was nothing but two empty seats.

Rock on dude

WHAT isn't to like about South Australian state politician Tom Koutsantonis? He used to be a safety minister who just happened to also be a lead-footed perpetrator of 60 traffic violations. Of course, not everyone was thrilled by this sort of basic comedy and Koutsantonis ended up falling on the sword he'd been handed. But, nearly a year on, is someone still trying to send him a message? Enter his name in YouTube and you get a string of video clips from a Los Angeles rock band called Tool.

Chaser joke lives on

IT'S always a touchy thing seeing local cultural product reinterpreted overseas. The US remake of Kath & Kim, for example, still makes us want to go lie down somewhere cool and dark for a while. And so it was when we stumbled upon this item in satirical American newspaper The Onion: "Make-A-Reasonable-Request Foundation Provides Sick Child With Decent Seats To Minnesota Timberwolves Game". While the Onion team had a fair crack at the gag, we somehow feel they missed the nuances that made the Chaser's original version so memorable.

On PM number four

COULD there be no end to the George Reid renaissance? A father of federation and our fourth prime minister, Reid was also a competitive poet and the owner of moustache marginally smaller than a platypus. When the Australian Electoral Commission attempted to rename the western Sydney electorate that bears his name, they were defeated, thanks in no small part to the efforts of his granddaughter, poet Anne Fairbairn. Now Fairbairn has been invited to London to help mark the centenary of one of Reid's other roles: Australia's first high commissioner to London.

GUD / JOK

IT'S a little overdue, but we liked this from a Strewth reader: "In the TV tennis coverage, a small box in the corner of the screen gives the progressive score. Players are identified by the first three letters of their surnames. So, when Richard Gasquet played Marcos Baghdatis in Sydney, what we saw on the screen was: GAS / BAG."