Marko the Rat

madiushrat tweeted this wonderful photo! Read here for why this photo is special.

Look at this wonderful photo manipulation roxxychan did for me as sort of an early Christmas present! Eee! It's already become my new background image at work.

An octopus about to dine on a turtle:

From Street Art

I found this one in a relatively secluded spot that had managed to escape the predations of the less art-loving members of the Brisbane community. This is the last image I've seen of the current batch so unless the artist makes a fresh batch I think that will be it for now.

As many of you already know, I am intending to be at FC 2010 next year. (If anyone is looking for a cute rat for a skit for FNL, let me know. And, yes, of course I'm bringing both Rattus and Ziggy with me!)

I am getting sick of getting a disposable prepaid mobile phone plan every year, meaning I have a different phone number I have to distribute every time I go to America. Does anyone know of a prepaid mobile phone plan (or any plan that I don't have to pay monthly fees on while I'm not using it for most of the year) that I can keep alive for over a year, thus saving me the trouble of getting a new number every year?

I found this adorable mouse:

From Street Art

Judging from the state of him, he must have been hiding under my nose the whole time. At least, because he's so small and out of the way, he hasn't been ripped up like most of the others have been.

Remy and Rattus cook up a treat in the kitchen. This photo shoot happened during my last visit to the US back in June/July when I had the good fortune to visit nicodemusrat, who has built his own unofficial Remy. When I first saw Remy at FC last year I almost hyperventilated from the excitement! I was better able to contain myself this time and this photo shoot was the result.

I saw this plush in a coffee shop over the tip jar and it made me think of harvardheinous:

( Click here for photo )

It's a chipmunk in a hoodie with a, er... Anzac pin jabbed in his head. :/

schnee's entry about cookies inspired me to post my own:

I managed to snap this turtle the other day:

From Street Art

Taking advantage of Final Cut Express, I have made a revised version of my Guns 'n' Ratties video, where I cavorted about with a modified Wii guitar for the amusement of MiDFur X attendees:



Hopefully this enhanced version gets across my intent more clearly. I think this performance is well worth remembering as this was easily the highlight of MiDFur X for me; that moment of magic that makes it all worthwhile.

Unfortunately, MiDFur this year doesn't include a talent show, so there's no opportunity for anyone else to showcase their talents and hopefully experience the same high I did. A talent show, regardless of whether I'm in it or not, has always been a high point of any con for me: It drives home the sense of community we have in this fandom. I have a lot of competing commitments on my time, so I think I'll give MiDFur a miss this year. I wish everyone who does go all the best.

Furry treasures from around the world. The mouse tea set I won at the Anthrocon 2009 auction and the three wise raccoons were a gift from zelox_quo to ristin.

Just one more photo for the street art gallery:

From Street Art

I did spot a turtle (in a hidden location so hopefully he'll survive) but it was on one of the rare occasions when I didn't have my iPhone with me. Later, when my foot feels better, maybe I'll stalk the CBD and beyond with a real camera and see what I can find.

higgs_raccoon has kindly pointed out that NASA's planned crash landing into the moon in a little over three hours will be accompanied by live video feeds.

While looking up images of Banksy rats holding cameras (it's a long story) I came across the following joke in Finnish, sans translation:


Now, my spoken Finnish is rusty and my written Finnish much worse, so I was quite proud of myself when I was able to translate it:

Recently I've been seeing this artwork get pasted up around the streets of Brisbane and I thought it was cute enough that I should be sharing it with you guys. I will add to this gallery depending on what else I find while I'm out and about.

As I hope you all know, I do memes, but I thought I should share my desktop image:

( Graphic goodness behind cut... )

If, like me, you've been concerned at the Australian government's draconian moves towards net censorship, you should add your name to this petition:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/AddYourNameSaveTheNet

They will be displaying the petition in a massive ad in The Australian on Friday so they want as many Australian names as possible on it.

It's not too late to stop this descent into a nanny-state. Net censorship will affect you; it will slow down the internet and at the very least FChan is on the list of "objectionable" domains that will be blocked. And it will not succeed in its supposed aim of protecting children (how many times have we heard that excuse for limiting the freedoms of adults?).

For more information go to GetUp's campaign website. You can watch a clever ad here.

After much encouragement and practical support from harvardheinous, I have put up an edited version of Harv's Anthrocon footage:



Although it's a wonderful celebration of Rattus (if Amara will forgive my usurpation of her tag line: "Where ego is a six letter word"), this video was my opportunity to practice using Final Cut Express so I won't be lost when I embark on my next "serious" video project. Those who prefer Vimeo may also rather view it there.

I really should have reminded my Australian readers (all two of them) about this when it was airing on ABC1, but better late than never, yes? You can watch a review about it on SMH's The Guide and Australians can watch it on ABC iView (just search for Skippy if the direct link doesn't work). I wish I could share it more widely, but iView is locked to those on an Australian proxy. If you can find an anonymous Australian proxy that works, it will be worth the trouble.

Check out this adorable new rat they found in a 'lost' volcano in PNG. (If the volcano is lost, how did they find the rat?) He is 82cm, cute as a button and completely unafraid of humans. (Thanks to Porsupah for pointing this out.)