2009 : You Mean That Was It? Part One

I was going to cram a full year of posts from The Orstrahyun that I thought you might be interested in revisiting, but the list got too long, too fast, and I kept stopping to re-read stories I'd forgotten I'd written, about incidents that have already washed down most peoples' memory drain. And then the sun came up....

So here, in no particular order, are January/February 2009 :

Black Saturday, 3.26am

Holocaust Of Fire, Cyclones Of Flames, Burn Hundreds To Death

Mother Nature : Terrorist Or Mass Murderer?

Sam The Koala : "C'mere Mate, You All Right Buddy?"

One Beer-Battered Sea Kitten And Chips, Please

Even Teenage Girls In Australia Can Punch Out A Shark

Tragedy Porn : Did It Do It For You?

John Howard Happy That Al Qaeda's Prayers Have Been Answered

Raging Against The Firey Accused Of Killer Arson Challenges Online Freedom Of Speech

Thousands Of Working Families Live Without Electricity, Gas

Australian Ally Slaughters Hundreds Of Women And Children

Adelaide Always Delivers

Essay : This Is Australia, We Burn

Peter Costello : Non-Christians Threaten Australia's Future

Moderated Mainstream Media Blog Bleeds 'Assassinate Bob Brown' Comments

"Fuck Off, We're Full"....Of Racist Bogans

True Blue Australian Stuff Australia-Hating Lefties Love To Hate

Tony Abbott : May I Compare John Howard To The Lord, Or Is That Going Too Far?

Just Another 'Possum Goes Wild In A Leagues Club' Video

The Anti-American Hatefest 2009-2017 Begins

The Rise Of The Mid-Life Crisis Hoon

Australia's Bermuda Triangle.....Or Is It Australia's Area 51?

You Can Dump A UteLoad Of Horse Shit At The Gates Of NSW Parliament And
Only Cope An $1100 Fine

Photography : A Native Garden In Springwood, New South Wales.

The rest of the year in highlights to come.

I hope you've enjoyed reading The Orstrahyun this year as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

I think I might have to get into video stories a bit more next year, or at least some audio as opposed to just words and the occasional photo.

I've been editing a movie I shot with Dave Gleeson (as brilliant an actor as he is a lead singer) a few years ago, about an anti-war protestor who takes the prime minister hostage for 48 hours. I decided to wait until Australian troops were out of Iraq before I finished the movie, it gets a bit hardcore, and I never liked the way it ended before, with the Iraq War still unresolved, at least as far as Australia's involvement.

But the editing of that movie, and trying to fix an infuriating number of sound problems, has been the sort of fun but frustrating challenge that I think I need to wrap my brain about a bit more next year, lest it grow (more) dull.

I'll try and get some clips from the untitled-for-now movie up on this blog in a few weeks.

Have a great New Year's Eve.

And to the thousands who visit here regularly, I'm glad you like what you read enough to keep coming back. And thanks, as always, for not making me spend hours a day moderating comments, or reminding me too often of the stories I've promised but haven't yet finished.



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