Friday 31 October 2008

Adding people on MSN and Facebook

Clearly by being a blog author and having an email account and a facebook account and a myspace account and all of those other accounts public networking requires in this day and age, it's inevitable that people will at some stage ask questions of you and perhaps request to add you to their networking sites.

This is fine by me, but please, if you're going to add me, how about an email first (apparently my email address is on my profile here somewhere) to tell me about yourself and say you want to add me. If you've read the blog you'll know I live in Dubai and this place is full of weirdos, both wonderful and downright freaky.

Forgive me if I don't add people straight away and if I block or delete them if they act cagey or weird about where they got my email address from and demand to know all about me without even exchanging names first. Ever heard of internet fraud or identity theft??

Sorry, I'm just not up for that. I AM up for making friends from all around the world and this blog had enabled me to do that. Please keep comments clean and don't send me emails attacking my behaviour if yours has been slightly odd or questionable to begin with.

Friday 10 October 2008

Kath & Kim - American Style




While in New York last month I was dismayed to see a bus with a promotional sign for Kath & Kim.

At the time I was in a desperate-for-sleep haze and didn't really register that it wasn't the Kath & Kim I was used to, but a blatant American rip off version. See, in Australia it's a hit show with AUSTRALIAN actors and while most of the jokes are only really understood by Aussies I'm sure there are many viewers from different countries who can appreciate the humour. The series stars Jane Turner and Gina Riley and I would go so far as to say that I bet most Aussie expats in Dubai own something with Kath and Kim on it - be it a tea towel, coasters, funny apron, oven gloves or some of the series on dvd.







The US version features Selma Blair and Molly Shannon and while I'm sure they could work well together in a comedy with their oddball antics, the very thought of them playing our beloved Kath and Kim horrifies me. Critics have slammed it and I'm still not entirely sure why it was even made - it pretty much follows the same story line as our series and I'm pretty confident the humour just won't translate in the American accent.



Aussies have a very dry sense of humour, not the sit-com-laugh-on-demand-with-cue-cards type and we hate it when people try to steal our ideas and fob them off as their own. Read the reviews for yourselves:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/reviewers-slam-kath-amp-kim/2008/10/09/1223145494250.html

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=5&ContentID=94442

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/entertainment/critics-pan-us-kath-and-kim/2008/09/28/1222540223058.html



I'm doubtful it'll ever take off and I'm a bit miffed they even tried. Jane and Gina manage to pull of their eccentric wardrobes looking a bit cooky and bogan-ish (which Aussies recognise) but Selma and Molly just look like mutton dressed up as lamb.

I hope it bombs.