Column 8
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday August 3, 2002
It's called product placement. Phil Haberland, of Mt Claremont, Western Australia, noted in a scene in the film About A Boy that Hugh Grant takes a single mother, played by Victoria Smurfit, on a seductive picnic in London. ``From my observation, they're drinking either a Rosemount Estate sauvignon blanc or a semillon a good plug for a good drop!" Perhaps it's the influence of Australia's Toni Collette, who also stars.
Every conference now has to have a catchy slogan. Dr Mark Penfold, ex-Sydney, returned last week to Australia for a conference related to his specialty herpes and related viruses. Last year's conference was in Portland, Oregon, with the slogan on t-shirts: I don't have herpes, but I'm working on it! This year's conference was in Cairns. The theme? Herpes Down Under.
Looking for a restaurant in Busselton, in Western Australia, Ken Baker, of Manly Vale, was directed to a steakhouse The Lump o' Rump. ``An American friend commented: `Sounds just like one of my ex-wives'."
We're not in the travel business, but this sounds very appealing. The Classical Archaeology Department at Sydney University (9351 6707) each year goes to a dig in Paphos, Cyprus, site of an ancient Greek theatre, 2300 years old. They take along interested members of the public for three-week stints of digging, research, and guided tours but are a few people short this year for the October-November season. The cost is $5000 (helping the costs of the dig) covering travel, accommodation, tours, and a lifetime of fascinating topics for dinner-table conversation.
Paul Roberts, of Lake Cathie, who avoided Abattoir Swamp in Far North Queensland (Column 8, Tuesday), on the same trip visited The Iron Bar, in Port Douglas, with authentic rusty corrugated iron walls and burlap ceilings, complete with a sign: Cane Toad Races. Adults only. Tickets $4 Family $15. Dress rules apply after 6pm.
Expanding vocabulary. Reilly Hodgess, 10, of Annandale, recently stayed with his grandparents while his mother, Karen, was overseas. They took him to dinner with a group of their very upright friends, all over 60. He was bored until they started discussing dogs, and he contributed to the conversation with a story about their boxer, Pippy.
Says Karen: ``He finished the story with `... you should have seen her, Nanna, she was panting like a whore'. Grandparents and friends nearly choke. Grandad says sternly: `Do you know what that means?' Reilly replies, innocently, `It's a pig isn't it?"'
``Is it just me," asks David Heath, of Ryde, ``or is there some significance in our major retailers having manchester sales during the Commonwealth Games?" Meanwhile, sports fan Brian Rummery, of Lennox Head, looks to the day when the ING sponsors our swimming teams ``then we can have swimmING meetINGs instead of the dreadful swim meets."
column8@smh.com.au(no attachments, please).Phone 9282 2207 Fax 9282 2772.(Include name, suburb, daytime phone)
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald
