Saturday, 9 July 2022

Trap Door


You're in for a treat, gentle reader.

In a burst of shameless nostalgia, I present Episode 1 of Trapdoor.

Trapdoor was a cult favourite that was around in the late 80s.

It was screened in Australia by the ABC, and was essential viewing for my kids.

The show was created by Terry Brain and Charlie Mills, both British animators.

The full series is available on YouTube here.

Enjoy...... 

Friday, 8 July 2022

Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon


This Billy Joel Song is one of my favourites.

Here are the lyrics -

We met as soul mates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho
To lay down our lives
We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight
We had no home front
We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ
With all of our might
We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together
Remember Charlie
Remember Baker
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight
We held the day
In the palm
Of our hand
They ruled the night
And the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island
We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Joel described the song in this way -

Time has a way of healing wounds or making them easier to look at to see if they've scabbed up. The guys came home from Vietnam and that's it? It doesn't end until these guys are absorbed into the mainstream and we deal with our feelings about it.

(Parris Island is a marine recruit training depot).

Broadcasting Vs Narrowcasting

Andrew Olle (Pic courtesy Australia media hall of fame) The other day, gentle reader, I listened to the Andrew Olle Memorial lecture, given...