No Award’s Handy List of Scary Last-Minute Hallowe’en Costumes

Ah, Hallowe’en.  It’s the one time of year No Award doesn’t complain about American cultural imperialism.*  Yes, it’s deeply frustrating that you spend all day carving a pumpkin, and 24 hours later it’s covered in fruit flies.  But come on, this is a festival that involves costumes and confectionary.  We’re not complete monsters**.

So if you’ve only just remembered that costume party you were invited to back in August, or if you’ve received a polite letter from a neighbour, letting you know in advance that their children will be trick or treating and asking if you’d like to participate, No Award is here to provide some extremely scary costume suggestions.

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I’m just crazy ’bout the way we move, doin’ the linkspam rock.

A whole lot of feelings about changing names upon marriage: Name Calling: Coverture in a Feminist Age.

Young and free? Why I declined to sing the national anthem at the 2015 AFL Grand Final and by Stan Grant How can I feel Australian when this country has told me I don’t belong?

Tansy Rayner-Roberts saves No Award the trouble of talking about Robin Klein’s Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left, except maybe we will anyway because it is brilliant.

Australian cinema’s lost wave: the renaissance nobody’s noticed. “Nobody”

Australian Dollarydoos

Canberra’s bushfire-prone regions mapped ahead of ‘Godzilla El Nino’ season MAPS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE maybe I need a NA tag for that

Mango shortage in Western Australia’s far north forces fundraiser cancellation

But the fundraiser was cancelled due to a lack of available mangoes.

WA Department of Agriculture and Food industry officer Peter Johnson said it was a “strange” year for mango production.

“We’ve pretty much had two crops this year – there was an early one back in September, early October, and then there’s going to be a bit of late fruit coming in mid-November – and not a lot in between,” he said.

He said the cause was climatic.

“We had a little bit of an above average dry season temperature wise,” Mr Johnson said.

SPOILERS IT IS CLIMATE CHANGE.

An interview with a(n American) former prison librarian.

The Fashion Archives: An online publication looking at fashion and fashion history in Queensland.  Rich with delicious primary sources.

(Bonus trivia – important facts about “Eagle Rock”, this week’s linkspam title lyric source:

Since the mid-1980s, when the song is played in a public bar, it is common for Australian students (largely male) to unstrap their belts and hobble around with their pants around their ankles. Ross Wilson of Daddy Cool, although perplexed about the origin of the practice has observed,’… I suppose it’s got the silliness that was part of the charm of Daddy Cool.’

The policy of the University of Queensland’s Student Union states no individual can be removed from the University pub, the Red Room, for dropping their pants whilst Eagle Rock is being played.

(Source: Wikipedia.  Liz cannot verify any of this, as she did not know any mining engineering students at uni, and the Red Room only came into existence in her final year because she is a million years old.)

museum shops of the world: sovereign hill

J asked
J asked “is this all Henry?” because I accidentally convinced him all the steam engine parts were the inside of Henry from Thomas the Tank Engine. Sodor truly is a dystopia.

Stephanie went on a family excursion with four year old nibling J to Sovereign Hill on Monday. It was hilarious! She took a day off work, caught the V/Line, wandered through a mine, oohed and ahhed over steam engines and made fun of old books. She also has very, very strong feelings about their gift shop.

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Doctor Who 9.05 and 9.06 – “The Girl Who Died” and “The Woman Who Lived”

How great is Maisie Williams, eh?  People are saying it’s a shame she’s too busy with Game of Thrones to be the next companion, but I say, wait until she’s 40, then she can be the sixteenth Doctor.

I probably didn’t need to review this as a two-parter — synchronicity of titles aside, these episodes didn’t have to be consecutive — but hey, I didn’t know that until it was too late.

(Beyond the cut are discussions of alleged spoilers published in the UK tabloid press — emphasis on “alleged”.)

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Australian YA and kidlit more deserving of screen adaptations than Tomorrow, When The War Began

Tomorrow, When the War Began is getting adapted AGAIN. Despite being a) a terrible series and b) adapted for movie in 2010. There is a lot of superior Australian YA and kidlit more deserving of screen adaptations. Liz and Steph bring their pro-am knowledge to give you an overview.

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terrible xenophobic refugee and immigration business

There is a change.org petition for Peter Dutton, Minister For Singlehandedly Deciding Whether Or Not Refugees Who Have Been Raped Can Access Abortion And Counselling Services, to provide menstrual cups to refugees.

Liz has some opinions. (Later, Steph will have some opinions)

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