GrodsCorp’s favourite chef and podcast sound engineer, Craig, walked into my classroom this afternoon to fix a computer problem. I was reading a book to the kids and we all ignored him for a few minutes. When I reached the end of the chapter I closed the book and said in a loud, sing-song voice, “Hi, Craig!” All the kids parroted, “Hi, Craig!” after me, causing widdle Cwaigy to blush a little bit. I then joked that it was lucky I was reading aloud as Craig can’t read so he just looks at the pictures and guesses. Without missing a beat one of the kids (bless ‘em) announced confidently, “He might not be able to read but he sure can cook!”

Craig’s online anonymity has been pwned. Priceless.

Prediction confirmed! What do you reckon John Howard’s reaction was to reading that news over his Wheaties?

George Lazenby was the best James Bond. Discuss.

Real men wear kilts

Tonight, I’ve been catching up with my reading at the online American magazine, Slate. I was particularly captivated by their slideshow on the anti-busing rallies in Boston in 1976 (long after the Civil Rights Movement began). It was an ugly episode, it goes without saying. The nightmarish photo below earned the photographer, Stanley J. Forman, the 1977 Pulitzer Prize. As you look at it, you can see why the photo, called The Soiling of Old Glory, won the prize - it captured a white youth transforming the American flag into a weapon directed at a black lawyer.

You would think that, in this day and age, the issue of segregration and desegregation was no longer an issue. Wrong. As the slideshow points out:

In 2006, when Deval Patrick became the first black governor of Massachusetts, the Boston Globe expressed hope that his inauguration would “finally wash away the shameful stain of that day in 1976.” Last June, however, a Supreme Court ruling forbade school districts from assigning students based on their race, and Patrick’s administration has been forced to find ways to avoid dismantling desegregation programs throughout Massachusetts. The issue, and the photograph, continue to haunt Boston, and the nation.

Here’s hoping that if Barack Obama wins not only the Presidential nomination but the Presidency itself, America might finally realise that being dark-skinned is not an abomination or evil or whatever silly story it is that white supremacists and other racist ratbags peddle.

As for the other photos in the slideshow, the one that made me look at it for ages was the picture of the woman and child freefalling out a window when their apartment block caught fire. There is a cruel beauty in that particular photo, and I wonder what you think.

There was only one Charlton Heston flick worth watching, a dark visionary tale about a future-Earth where society has gone horribly wrong…

“Those maniacs! They did it! They finally did it!”

I love reading popular science books about physics, chaos theory, string theory and all that sort of stuff. I’m not very smart in these areas but I know just enough to be dangerous and love the Dummies Guide To-style explanations that these books provide.

Since it’s school holidays and I have both the time and energy to read for pleasure I’m currently working my way through Atom by Lawrence M. Krauss. Something that I’ve noticed in Atom and previously in other similar books is the authors’ love of a good exclamation mark! I mean, they sometimes cram two or three into a single paragraph! If somebody had the time and the inclination they could do a study into the ratio of exclamation marks to full stops in popular science books versus non-popular science books. Wouldn’t that be a riveting research project?

Here are a couple of choice exclamation mark samples from Atom.

At a certain point, if it collapses by a factor of 50 in size, then the density will have increased by a factor of 125,000!

The number of collisions of the atoms in this volume of air during the 4-billion-year history of life on Earth is about 10^45, about 10 billion times smaller still!

Current estimates in supersymmetric models are in the range from 10^34 to 10^35 years, well beyond the current limits!

I’ve decided that the exclamation mark in popular science books is like the laugh track in American sitcoms. The laugh track tells you when to laugh because it’s usually not obvious that the “joke” is meant to be funny, and the exclamation mark tells you when to be amazed because the scales are so small or large that it’s sometimes not obvious that the subject of the sentence is amazing.

Episode 3: Craig cooks a Saturday night boys-and-beer favourite — lamb curry.

Rate this episode at YouTube.

It’s the cartoon characters Nickelodeon rejects that make GrodsCharacters the best.

The Editor, John Surname, Ant Rogenous, Chuck A. Spear, Keri and Craig discuss:

* Let’s Cook! With Craig
* Mardi Gras
* John Howard
* Gay marriage
* Kevin Rudd’s razor gang
* Carers’ allowance
* Joe Hockey’s arse
* Young Liberals
* Left wing bias in education
* Christopher Pyne
* Nick Minchin
* Andrew Laming
* Brendan Nelson
* Hire A Hubby
* Masculinity
* SNAGs

** Because there’s still a blockage in the (inter)tubes use only the “Play in popup” link or the “Download” link. **

 

 GrodsThink 7 (11/3/08) [30:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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GrodsCorp’s Let’s Cook! With Craig videos have been going nuts on YouTube, having been featured on the front page and receiving thousands of views. There is an undeniable thirst out there for more Craig action but unfortunately I’m so busy at work at the moment that I just can’t spare the time required to produce Let’s Cook! episodes. Therefore I’m pleased to announce that the production of Let’s Cook! With Craig has been outsourced to a filmmaking couple called Fred and Sharon. Here’s their showreel.

Make sure you check out some of their other stuff. Especially this one.

GrodsReader Chel has emailed us a photo of her work colleague showing how much of a Let’s Cook! With Craig fan she is by holding up a signature Craig ingredient and a Craig catchphrase.

“There’s a couple of bucks right there in my pocket”

Apparently Craig is a bit of a hit in Chel’s office due to his mad cooking skillz and his too-hot looks. But it’s not just Chel’s workmates — we reported last week that Craig had become a bit of a gay icon and the compliments have just kept on flowing.

Nice eyes.
– chickles4022

Good God…! you call that cooking..? I wanna eat the chef instead..! yum yum yum..!
– bayut71

In this episode The Editor, John Surname, Prophet, Jeremy Sear and Craig discuss the following:

* Kardboard Kevin
* MX
* Bike riding
* Tennis grunting
* Immature international cricketers
* World Cup 2018
* Melbourne F1 Grand Prix
* The Oscars
* Much, much more

** For some reason Episode 4 seems to play when you click “play now” instead of Episode 5. I’m looking into this error — probably something to do with the cache. For now, click on “play in popup” to make sure you hear the latest episode **

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 GrodsCast 5 [31:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As Dave from Albury points out, everyone seems to be doing these. So here’s mine:

Cricket writer Gideon Haigh

Wicked Witch of the West

I noticed that the hits for Let’s Cook! With Craig Ep.2 were going a bit crazy but I had no idea why. Thankfully Mikey’s paying attention because it flew directly under the GrodsRadar.

Is that the second time it’s happened? Love the backing music. Does it imply Craig both delivers pizzas and cleans pools professionally?

To answer Mikey’s questions: It is the second time it’s happened; Craig cooks (microwave) pizzas, not delivers them; and Craig can barely clean himself let alone a large structure.

Let’s Cook! With Craig is, if nothing else, really good at eliciting an amazing range of responses. Episode one really drew the nutters out from underneath their rocks and episode two has divided the opinions of those who view it. These three comments were posted today.

Craig is a spunk!!! Yum, he can cook in my Kitchen anyday.
– TARDISDOWNUNDER

User TARDISDOWNUNDER’s profile reads: “I’m gay and have a parter. I’m living in Wagga in NSW, Australia. I’m a dag and a nerd, love socialising, I’m very open love to be around my friend’s family and partner.”

I mean, you can’t deny that Craig is a very sexy man.

Mmmm, tasty.

And then user BigRedIsGod countered with these comments.

hes a fuckin fag
– BigRedIsGod

the glue that holds you and your dad together

mash potato make the real thing you tight arse
– BigRedIsGod

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Craig.