In trying to keep an up-to-date links list, I have made a couple of changes. Firstly, as Puppet Building.com has been down for the better part of a year, and as there are no current signs of it coming back online anytime soon (I understand Andrew of PuppetVision fame is actually making heavy changes to it, but is, like the rest of us, swamped with other projects), I have deprecated the link and have updated any Learn posts with a short note stating that the site is temporarily offline.

Secondly, I have done the same for the Blue Boy moppet pattern, which, due to the inconsiderate idiots over at AOL, has been removed, along with all their other Hometown sites. (I say inconsiderate idiots because from what I’ve read, AOL gave no prior notice to most of their Hometown users, nor have enabled any of their users to make backup copies of their sites… I think that’s a pretty good definition of inconsiderate, don’t you?) I am endeavouring to try to find another site with the original patterns.

Thirdly, I have deprecated my link to Arts Hub Australia. I will hopefully be able to post more about that in the future; I have my own reasons, but I am careful to state them as I have some ethical issues to resolve first. Suffice to say that at this time I am no longer supporting the link from my website to theirs.

… On a somewhat strange side note, I just want to say how much I love the Aussie TV channel, SBS. When I was a kid, my grandparents would watch a lot of SBS, never quite understanding why - they would invariably be watching some subtitled movie that I wouldn’t be interested in. Now, as an adult, I get it. SBS has been showing an excellent range of American indie films lately, stuff that we’d never see in cinemas here, let alone be popular; and much of it is ten times better than any ‘blockbuster’. I’ve discovered a whole range of movies from a variety of countries that I’d probably never watch in a million years otherwise and find fascinating stories and characters; and see some good actors as well. What I don’t get is why the ABC (Australian BC that is) shows so much BBC crap (ok yeah, their Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth always goes down well, but last month they showed three separate and quite terrible BBC shows that were a mix of odd-couple romance and a ‘reimagining’ - not retelling, actually making stuff up - of famous events from the 90s, that were, just plainly, awful) when there’s plenty of other things they could be showing. I know the ABC is fairly parochial, but for a Government-run channel it doesn’t represent the majority of Australian viewers; just seniors who love a good romance or murder mystery. Oh, and people who want actual journalism for the news. SBS on the other hand caters for everyone. Anyway, that’s my rant for the day  . It’s just nice to see something different on TV that’s all. Actual quality TV and films… not just commercial crap.

On this same note, I absolutely can’t stand Channel 10 (for you yanks it’s a commercial channel that is pivoted to the 18-30 age group) at the moment for promoting constantly the new US show Life on Mars. I bet about .01% of viewers will work out that this is just a US version of the British show of the same name - which has been running for about a year or so on the ABC. What pisses me off isn’t so much the retelling of a show; hey I love the US version of The Office. What pisses me off is that they seem to tout it as the next big show only because it comes direct from the US; and yet it is exactly the same as the kooky concept showing on the ABC, which doesn’t have big US names in it. More to the point, I’m betting that, as with most off-the-beaten-path shows these days, it will be taken off the air within three or four weeks; and the ABC will continue to do well with the Brit version. (Meanwhile, after a three week hiatus, Heroes is back on Channel Seven - yay!)