mike carey

Chain fish and chip shops have never taken off here, they are universally just local independent shops. (There are chain coffee shops here but cafes are mainly local operations too.)

As you suggest, it falls somewhere between the US and UK views of their national tennis tournaments. If they were all on at the same time it would fall a long way behind the most significant sporting events, the AFL and national rugby league grand finals, the 'state of origin' rugby league games, the Boxing Day cricket test, but they are all at different times so they don't actually compete. At this time of year, I prefer to watch cricket, but I have been switching back and forward between that and the tennis on TV. (We have a relatively new domestic short-form cricket league that is on television every night and it has taken some of the audience the tennis previously had for the last two weeks of January.) The tennis is on from midday to about 1am each day, and it is summer holidays so total viewership is high, although not constant. (And at 4pm I am watching Dimitrov in the quarters. It's 36 degrees outside in Canberra, so screw that!)

Oh, it's only three dozen eggs!!

You forget, I have already seen you in such a setting. The picture of decorum.

I like Novak and Roger, and have a possibly irrational distaste for Rafa. I missed most of Novak's game because the cricket was on at the same time.

@youngboldone, devilled eggs, made by @Epigonos are one of the features of the buffet at the pool party. The social functions are not sexually charged, although there is the opportunity to pursue such interests at them. The shyest person can fit in easily, there is no pressure. (That was me last year.)

Understood, I didn't expect it, but was suggesting that planning and details should not retreat into emails between those who say they will attend. I wasn't saying I expected that to happen.

Like hotels and airlines, car hire company rates are impenetrable. Decide the band of what you are prepared to pay, if you find a rate at the bottom of your range, buy it, if it's at the top of your range consider buying or waiting for a better deal. Once you have bought, only look at the rates to assess whether you made the right decision for future reference, DON'T worry about the decision itself. You won't outsmart their algorithms, accept the decision you made. I've tracked airfares for a trip I was planning to take and seen the fares track above and below what I eventually paid. I curse that I missed the best rate but never regret not taking it. Life is too short.

I'm only a one-time attendee, but I would second Epi's comments. The weekend is fun, and in no way confronting.

Indeed, now to see how Chung goes.

Agree, @TruthBTold, for me it was a pleasant blast of summer before winter set in (Jun-Aug = winter, to be clear). There was no unpleasantness much less acrimony. The nastier forum participants on line are the ones unlikely to attend. No one starts out on line as a respected commenter, that comes with time. I remember posting a comment that I was worried about posting a review before establishing my credibility, and someone I had hardly spoken to posted that I had already done that. I was gobsmacked.

Keep the discussion in the public domain (as Nate and ArVaGuy did) rather than going private. People will decide in the last week or even at the last minute to attend even if they hadn't thought they could (or hadn't indicated they were interested). (There's an implication but not a statement in this post.)

It was in the Spa section but the admins have since moved it here to the Lounge.

Thankfully Saturday there was much cooler, mid 20s. That's often the pattern of things, one or two brutal days then back to being relatively temperate. Canberra is having a longer stretch of hot weather, two days so far of high 30s with a couple more to come, then several 'only' mid 30s. As always, stay in the shade when you can and drink heaps of water. Last year in Palm Springs I found myself crossing to the shady side of the street without even thinking about doing so. They showed the start of one of the stages of the Tour Downunder on the TV news, and the start line was about a metre in front of the shadow of the arch thing over the road. All the cyclists were lined up in the shade rather than at the actual start line.

'S ok, it's been moved.

I find it interesting that with his likely return everyone is touting positives about Killian, but when he was on his way out a couple of years ago, everyone was rolling out their disaster stories about him. I have chatted with him elsewhere, I like him, and I would hire him. Probably.

Rod is a sweetie!

There is an 'adult' section on Daddy's Reviews.

And so it comes to pass.

One of the changes in the revamp of the review site a few months ago, is that escorts' intimate details would not be displayed there unless they agreed. They are asked to opt in to the disclosure of that information.

I'm conflicted by the whole thing. There is clearly a degree of supressed homophobia, seeing an opposite sex relationship as being somehow better, but in Utah that is hardly surprising. Leaving aside the reason why they entered into a heterosexual marriage, in a way dismissing other desires is, in a sense, no different to supressing other opposite sex desires when a man is married to a woman. On the face of it, acknowledging that they are gay* is better than denying it and living a lie with their wives, but I can't dismiss ulterior motives. Whether the men in this video wished to do this or not, their story provides fodder for homophobes to say that it is possible to avoid a 'gay lifestyle' and seek to demean or criminalise those who chose to live according to their orientation. They enable LGBTI kids to be pressured into ignoring their very nature. Is that what they wanted to do by appearing in this program? *I know, I know. Identifying as gay, bi or straight is a personal decision that others should not be allowed to gainsay. Despite his admitted attraction, he claims not to be gay, and while he can claim that, I'm entitled to roll my eyes.

Counter argument, they are better for the anticipation!

I read all the forums and will comment on posts in any of them without reference to whether it is the appropriate forum, but I am generally careful to start a thread in the right place. But I know others only play in a few, or even one forum, so I don't begrudge them starting a thread that is off topic for that forum. If it's particularly inappropriate, the admins will move it.

I think we need to be careful not to conflate the need for general diversity with wanting diversity in niche media products. In the mainstream media that purport to present a picture of whichever society they are in (be that the US, Australia or the UK), they have an obligation to reflect that society in all its diversity, not just present a sanitised (and often whitened) version of it. A niche media producer that wants to cater for a specific audience should not be expected to show imagery that is not what that audience wants. That should apply whether the audience wants black, white, male or any other specific type of models. (Should Ebony be required to show Indian models? [i don't know whether it still exists, just an example.]) To be clear, I'm talking about an audience that wants, for example, porn involving Caucasian men, not a Caucasian audience, they are different groups. So, Bel Ami can have whoever it wants in its scenes, but Neighbours should reflect the diversity of Australian society. Not that I watch it. (An aside, I'm watching the Open, and there was just an ad from one of our major banks featuring a wheelchair tennis player.)

The RM ad in question has been around since 6 Nov 14, so it's likely him. When he was last around he spoke of having been a bottom but wanting to limit himself to topping, so if this is him returning that all adds up.