Australian blogospheric icon Samuel Gordon-Stewart today announced that he has quit blogging.

I am writing this to inform you that I have decided to close this blog, mainly because I no longer have time to adequately maintain it. I have been considering this for some time and I have finally come to the conclusion that it is the right decision.

Samuel’s blog has always been an intriguing read and I will truly miss its presence in my RSS reader. I wish Samuel all the best in all that he does and thank him for sharing what have often been very personal and difficult experiences with us all.

Read all about how Samuel burst (rather unwillingly) onto the blog scene here. And watch an interview he did with GrodsCorp about his aborted tilt at Parliament in 2007.

ps/- Groupthink!

I’ve been away on a work thing since Tuesday with no internet access. I’ve got to admit that getting away from the tubes now and again is cleansing for the soul. Then again, being on the beach was pretty bloody cleansing as well.

But isn’t it bizarre that you walk away from your laptop and website for only a few days and heaps of shit happens that is really blogable? Bridgit and John have done a great job covering the best of the week’s events but here are two things I noticed when I returned home this afternoon.

1) Lachlan Connor, Independent reviewed by Helen Razer
I spent the mid 90s listening to Helen Razer on Triple J breakfast and think she’s just grouse. Now she thinks Lachlan Connor is at least slightly better than total shit. Here she is writing in Crikey:

As we know, J-Ho and Kevin-in-The-Back-Seat-Of-My-Cadillac have thrilled cineastes the world over with their sterling YouTube contributions. And if this wasn’t enough to convince you that top-down media had been displaced rather in the fashion of a buttery upside-down cake, just have a look at what the electorate is doing.

[...]

The offering by Lachlan Connor, Victorian independent candidate for Senate, is rather like John Howard’s scalp. Which is to say, rather dry in patches. This is certainly the Wayne’s World isomer for Election ‘07.

Awesome! I’ll get a warm fuzzy for the rest of my life whenever I think of those quotes, although as GrodsReaders have been debating, nobody seems quite sure about what Razer means by “isomer”. Now that I know that Helen Razer is watching I might have to have a crack at writing some actual — gasp — scripts, rather than making it up as we go along.

2) Samuel Gordon-Stewart, no longer independent
In disappointing news, Canberra’s own Samuel Gordon-Stewart has withdrawn from his tilt at the seat of Fraser.

the mail reason for my withdrawal from candidature is a lack of support. Despite the handful of people who have put their hand up to sign my nomination form this week, I am still well short of the required fifty signatures. At the beginning of the week, when I made this decision, I was short of twenty signatures, and had about a week to get just over 30 more.

It wasn’t impossible, but at that stage, with a couple other minor issues getting in the way (issues that I could have overcome but were just incredibly inconvenient and poorly timed), and the fact that I have non-refundable bookings for a week-long holiday in Sydney next week that I booked nearly two months ago, I decided that the best option for me, and for Fraser, was for me to withdraw from the race.

Another thing which really hit home on Sunday whilst I was standing outside Government House waiting for the Prime Minister to arrive and meet the Governor-General, was that as much as I was telling myself that I was there as a candidate to witness an historic event, I couldn’t shake the fact that I was there as a journalist (and before any of the usual suspects get started, no, not just for this website). I enjoy journalism, I enjoy being a caller on talkback radio, and oddly, I like the little bit of anonymity that affords me. These things just don’t mix with politics.

Should we start printing up some Samuel10 t-shirts?

While in Canberra last weekend GrodsCorp interviewed prominent blogger and independent candidate for Fraser, Samuel Gordon-Stewart.

The Editor asks the questions while Billybob and Hairball create a wind wall for the mic

In a wide-ranging conversation we discussed climate change, federalism, private versus public services, campaigning, preference deals and more. Click here to view the video if it doesn’t appear below.

1) Samuel Gordon-Stewart, Independent
Independent candidate for Fraser, Samuel Gordon-Stewart, has launched his campaign with a press release and the unveiling of his campaign website. Some of Samuel’s policy positions include:

* The nationalisation of education and health, with plans to move government funding from the private sector to the public sector, and provide bulk billed health and dental services in as many areas as possible. Samuel is also committed to ensuring the ACT education system, particularly the college system, is used as the basis for the national education system.
* Bold new initiatives to stave off drought and replenish the farming sector, and therefore make the economy better, and improve the standard of living for regional areas.
* The acceptance that Climate Change is a mostly natural phenomenon, and that we need to plan around the natural climate cycle.
* Economically sustainable targets for the reduction of pollution, and the introduction of renewable energy to improve the air quality, and therefore our standard of living.
* A majority government owned national fibre-to-the-node high speed broadband network, and the urgent provision of broadband services to all areas of the nation that do not currently have them.
* Oppose the Tralee development in favour of a Googong development to prevent excess aircraft noise over Canberra.
* A speeding up of the rollout of digital radio, and government assistance to ensure that no broadcasters are adversely affected by the change.

2) Stalker turns stalked
Iain; Hall, the internet’s most illiterate blogger, has threatened another blogger with police action over alleged “cyberstalking”. Of course, anyone who’s been following the actions of Iain (Nice;person) Hall since his early days in the blogosphere will laugh heartily at the irony of this development.

3) Ahhh, memories
Do you know how sounds can summon powerful memories? Well I found this video on the YouTubes the other day. It’s the opening titles from the UK Sky TV’s Sky Sports News. I was freelancing as a director at that channel between 2000 and 2002, and I had to listen to those opening titles a dozen times a shift. Took me back is all I’m saying.

GrodsCorp reported last week that uber-blogger Samuel Gordon-Stewart was considering a tilt at Parliament and was running a poll on his site to help him make his final decision. Thanks in part to the effort of GrodsCorp readers, Samuel has decided to run as an independent in the seat of Fraser. He announced his candidature live on Canberra radio station 2CC — listen to the interview.

Here at GrodsCorp we wholeheartedly support Samuel’s effort and will help him wherever possible by keeping the people of Fraser and Australia informed about his campaign. If you want a little bit of background on the man that is Samuel Gordon-Stewart you can read a GrodsCorp profile here.

Remember: Vote 1 Samuel Gordon-Stewart.

Got glasses today and, holy shit, what a difference they make. You don’t realise just how screwed up your perception of the world is until you know what it could be like instead. In order to illustrate this point I will blatantly rip-off an idea by Samuel Gordon-Stewart.

Here is Napoleon now:

And here is Napoleon yesterday:

I’d post a piccie of myself with the specs on but the GrodsMailServer wouldn’t be able to cope with all the invites for one-night stands and marriage proposals.