I'm looking to buy a new laptop and was wondering if anyone had an opinion as to whether I should buy a Mac or a PC ...

Post a comment or send me an email if you have a view ...

Jimmy has posted about the final scene at the train station from Can't Hardly Wait, and I have to agree is a fantastic scene.  Watch it here:

The Sunday Telegraph reports on the trials and tribulations of vegetarians:

VEGETARIANS feel like social outcasts and are discriminated against by meat-eaters, a poll has shown.

They complain of being excluded from social gatherings because of their eating habits and struggling to get adequate meals when dining out.

The strong role of meat in the Australian diet, and the influential meat and livestock industry, are being blamed for this anti-vegetarian phenomenon.

A survey by the online restaurant booking service menulog.com.au found more than a third of people with special dietary needs felt isolated from society.

Most of the 642 participants were vegetarian or vegan, but others were people with food allergies and religious requirements such as kosher or halal.

Some admitted their friends refused to dine with them or did not invite them to meals because of their restricted eating habits.

Unaccommodating restaurant staff and the popularity of meat-based eating plans, such as the CSIRO and Atkins diets, have exacerbated the issue, vegetarians say.

The Australian Vegetarian Society has made formal complaints about Meat and Livestock Australia's advertising campaigns, which feature actor Sam Neill proclaiming the benefits of eating meat.

The advertisements commonly attribute increased brain size and physical vitality to meat consumption.

Read the rest here.  I don't want to sound harsh - and I am all for providing vegetarian options - but I have no sympathy for vegetarians at all.  They have made a choice and they need to deal with it.  Also, why don't vegetarians have a sense of humour?

As today is my grandmother's 90th birthday, I thought I'd embed a video Suzi and Kat put together that celebrates 90 wonderful years ...

Ok.  I'll admit it.  I watch Big Brother (well, at least the evictions) and follow the going-ons in the house on the Big Brother website and Behind Big Brother.  I've even gone to a couple of live evictions.  I've been following the show since year one, day one.  And I enjoy it.  I find the relationships, the characters, the politics, the games Big Brother plays and even Gretel Killen entertaining - and occasionally even insightful.  Most of my so-called "intellectual" friends and colleagues consider that there must be something wrong with me (even though most are also able to follow a conversation about the show quite easily).  However, I refuse to apologise for it.  Big Brother isn't meant to change the world, but it is good TV.

And last night's episode of Big Brother was great TV - we got to select two new housemates, a relationship in the house were revealed, the reason for the mysterious White Room was disclosed, and Mr X was introduced to Australia and the unsuspecting housemates.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about or think that this all sounds silly, then you are missing out.  This season has been set up as possibly the best Big Brother ever.  The housemates are older and more diverse (although still ridiculously good looking), the house has adopted a positive environmental stance, and most importantly, the first two episodes have shown that this season's Big Brother has a wonderfully wicked sense of humour.  The housemates - and us - have absolutely no idea what Big Brother will throw at them next.  Now, that is good TV.

As many of you reading this post will just dismiss it as a rant from a tragically deranged fan, may I suggest that if you are a reality TV sceptic you should read an excellent piece in one of your so-called "intellectual" magazines, The Atlantic Monthly by Michael Hirschorn, "The Case for Reality TV: What the snobs don't understand".  Read it here.

So if you want to know what all the fuss is about, then you should watch this season of Big Brother.  And enjoy it for what it is - good TV.  Don't be embarrassed and don't apologise for it.  After all, you don't have to tell people that you watch it ...

In my opinion, the best sketch/song from the UQLS Law Revue last year was the Queen Medley.  Thanks to James Tinnniswood it is now online:

I know I just posted about my trying trip over to Canada (see the previous post see here), one good thing that came of it was that I was able to see a few movies I had missed at the cinemas recently.  As it now late and my seriously fucked up body clock wants me to sleep, here are quick impressions of the four movies I saw:

- For Your Consideration - having loved A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, and Waiting for Guffman, which were made by the same creative team, I was a little disappointed in this effort.  It is a mockumentary style look at the Oscar nomination process that seemed a little too broad, too obvious, and just not funny enough.

- The History Boys - based on the Award-winning play, this filmed play (it is hard to think of it as a movie) was a constantly entertaining and thought-provoking look at learning and teaching.  Not quite a Dead's Poet Society, but close.

- Stranger Than Fiction - I'd been wanting to see this ever since Erin's review in February, and while I wouldn't call it "one of the best films I have seen in years (possibly ever)", it is certainly one of the cleverest ideas for a film in years (possibly ever).  And while I liked all the performances, especially Will Ferrell's, and enjoyed the movie throughout, I was somehow a bit frustrated by the ending.  Although the ending was much better than what I was expecting - which would have resulted in making the film pure Hollywood shit - it still left me unsatisfied.

- Dreamgirls.  Now, some of you may remember my bold claim in December that "The Best Picture Oscar will be won by Dreamgirls", only for it to fail to even be nominated.  Having now seen Dreamgirls, I can faithfully say that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scienes got it wrong.  Even if it didn't deserve to win, Dreamgirls more than deserved to be nominated.  It was an emotionally affecting, superbly conceived and performed modern musical.  In fact, I think it is the best musical of the last ten years (beating even two my favourite modern musicals, Evita and Everyone Says I Love You).

Ok. That's it.  On my return trip next weekend I hope to see Happy Feet and The Devil Wears Prada.