SBAR Route

Paul Johnson has added the route for our ride to Bikely

Comrade Jake

Another MFA shoot. Today I got to play a Cosmonaut alongside the legendary Paul Capsis

Cycling in Newtown

Newtown Square

Matilda and her pink bike

The favourite part of my bike route is riding through Newtown. There are always lots of interesting people around and best of all there are lots of other cyclists. The cars seem to accept the fact that they are going to meet a few riders and so they tend to behave themselves. I'd like to see some of Newtown's streets blocked off to motor vehicles. King St would be a fantastic place if it didn't have a highway running through the middle of it.

The hub of all Veloness in Newtown is Cheeky Transport in Georgina St.

Is that the truth? Or did you read it in the Daily Telegraph?

Scraping along the bottom of the commercial media swill trough as usual, the Daily Telegraph published an article today titled "Chain gang chokes city." Being criticised by the right wing zealots of the Telegraph is an endorsement of our protest. It means we have had a real impact. I have zero sympathy for the motorists who were stuck in their metal boxes last night. To be commuting by car when thousands of species are threatened with extinction is selfishness of breathtaking proportions. The fact that the rest of the herd is just as blinkered and lazy as you is no comfort at all.

I particularly enjoyed the rampant hypocrisy of Ms Hilda James who is quoted as saying "They are nothing but selfish pests who do not care about anyone else but themselves." !!! This from a woman who is polluting the planet and funding oil wars just so she can get to a bloody pantomine! Abdul Hoque claimed he was going to lose hundreds of dollars because he'd been delayed in the traffic, what a goose...

The Telegraph ignores the fact that most of the people in cars or on the streets were very supportive of the ride. We held them up for a few minutes at most, the other cars on the road held them up a lot longer. In any case we have every right to ride on our streets, it would have created a much bigger traffic jam if we'd all been in cars.

Andrew Carswell (how appropriate) sucked up to Moz and pretended he was a nice reasonable, balanced journalist and then attacked him in the press. I'm sure he didn't have the courage to express his narrow minded views to Moz's face. Carswell scoffs at Moz wanting the state government to spend 96 million on cycling facilities but fails to mention that it would be only 3% of the RTA's annual budget. It's our money and 3% is not a lot to ask for. Why should we be subsidising these obese, irresponsible car drivers?

Carswell also claims that every one of the hundreds of riders who took part were calling for the return home of David Hicks. I suppose he was suffering from the delusion that this would brand us as some sort of deluded liberal loonies. This was because 5 people rode in orange t-shirts with "Bring David Home" written on them. David Hicks has never been convicted of anything and if he was from a more enlightened country he would have been released years ago. Unfortunately for him he's an Australian so his rights aren't worth much. If you would like to attend a demonstration that really is about David Hicks there is one at Noon on the 9th of December at Sydney Town Hall.

Today's motoring commuter is going to be harshly judged by history and the minority who stood up to them will be regarded as the enlightened few of our era.

Sydney Critical Mass November

Michelle French

Paul Johnson

This afternoon I went along to Critical Mass for the Harbour Bridge ride. It was a great evening, I ran into just about every cycling activist I know and there were hundreds of riders in attendance. Heart warming stuff. I have put the best of the photos on the SBAR fotopage

The Two-Wheeled Time Machine

Henry Howard has discovered a way to stay young forever...

Bicycle helmets for Bohemians

Where ever you stand on the never ending debate over helmets, I'm sure we can agree that there are very few stylish looking versions of the soup plates we are required to wear on our heads while cycling in this country. That's why I was intrigued by this story from Radio Prague

Cheeky Party Time!

Meet at Cheeky transport at 2pm for a convoyage to Pyrmont Point Park (3pm) for a vegan barbie. They will be taking the Christiania full of ice and beer and a bicycle powered blender for cocktails. There will be music of some kind and some prizes for outfits and some events like skids and trackstands and some other cool stuff.
Very low key, it’s a real nice spot to spend the afternoon and watch the sunset
All welcome as long as you come by bike.

Monday

I had an exciting day today. Everyone in the office is getting stirred up because we only have two weeks until "My Favourite Album" goes to air so the pressure is on.

This afternoon I did an interview with Professor Germaine Greer which I was a bit nervous about but she turned out to be very nice and obliging.

After that we headed out to Bilgola on the Northern Beaches to interview Stacey Demarco who is an expert on Paganism and modern Spirituality. Stacey was lovely and I felt an instant rapport with her. She lives in a beautiful, peaceful house overlooking the treetops and the Pacific Ocean. Her cat was one of the most striking animals I've met but I didn't get a photo of him. He does appear in the interview though.

After the interview Stacey did a simple ritual for us to film and as if by magic every bird in the neighbourhood turned up.

MFA Platoon in Ingleside

Another day, another shoot for "My Favourite Album" We went out to Ingleside this morning on the coldest November day in a century and spent six hours marching up and down chanting and being shouted at by Sergeant Fred. It rained on us intermittently and when the sun came out you could see the steam rising off our damp and muddy uniforms. Of course the crew and the director were well sheltered under their umbrellas...

There was an obstacle course to complete.

Unarmed combat

And quite a bit of crawling around in a muddy ditch.

Sarah had a great time.

Go ask Alice

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small,
And the ones that Mother gives you don't do anything at all.
Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall.
And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall,
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call.
Call Alice when she was just small.
When the men on the chess board get up and tell you where to go,
And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low,
Go ask Alice. I think she'll know.
When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead,
And the white knight is talking backward, and the red queen's off with her head,
Remember what the doormouse said: "Feed your head! Feed your head!"

Sam and the City

Today we interviewed Samantha Brett who is the author of one of Sydney's most popular lifestyle blogs Sam and the City and an expert on the dating game.

We used my friend Christine's beautiful RED Holden Monaro to provide the right atmosphere. For a location Claude picked the ABC Helicopter pad out at Gore hill which was perfect for panoramic backdrops although we did have to stop while the chopper took off!

Sam was really nice and gave us lots of good grabs. You can see the interview on the 3rd of December on "My Favourite Album." After we wrapped I had to jump in a taxi and rush off to a red carpet event at Fox Studios, despite the gridlocked traffic (I was wishing I was on my bike) I made it just in time. They were launching a new movie called Catch a fire.

After some desperate fumbling with the videocamera I finally got it working just in time to interview Tim Robbins. Next thing we knew a little guy in sunglasses turned up. It was Bono from U2! The paparazzi went absolutely bonkers at that point, we managed to get him over and he answered three or four questions for us. Got back to the office in a jubilant mood and found an e-mail from Kram saying he's happy to come on the show! My performance appraisal is a shoe in for sure now!

Meeting Mr Garrett

We went to UNSW today to interview Peter Garrett for "My Favourite Album." He was very nice.

Morgan and me waiting for Peter.

After the interview.
Peter is pointing at George our sound recordist.

Cool bike

I don't know who she belongs to. I've seen her parked outside the uni in Harris St and last night she was waiting outside the Mori gallery in Day St.

I love the way the rack is built in one piece with the frame.

No idea what this little lever does, anyone know? The pink horse riding helmet is pretty cool too.

Social change is Cyclical!

"The bicycle is a revolution, an assault on civilian territory, intent upon taking, from the ground up, responsibility for the shape of our cities. It is a mutiny, challenging the ever-one-way street. The bicycle is a philosophy, a way of life..."

"We were a cult that saw the bicycle as a lifestyle," he writes, "a political choice, an economic necessity, and an ecological vision," Bikers are going to cure the city, the nation - the world. Redistribute the country's power and wealth and means of locomotion..."

Militant Cycling Culture

Work to eat, eat to live, live to ride, ride to work!

Updated Lyrics

Turn it up

The Mole Exhibition

I recently went to see an exhibition that was staged to raise funds to help protect the land of the Kokatha Mula people in South and Central Australia. This land is the home of the endangered Kokatha Mole and is being threatened by a huge sand mining project. Artists from all over the country contributed artworks and everything was successfully auctioned off.

There were lots of beautiful photos.

Parking was a bit limited.

Art lovers gather.

Phuong Le made a banana cake mole.

This fluffy little fella was made by kids from a Steiner school.

Paris Hilton Mole.

The Wicker Mole.

Fluffy Pink Disco Mole.

Kitchen Mole.

The Book of Mole (I bought this one)

The Mole of Death was very popular with the Goths in the audience.

Cuddly Mole.

Diamonte Mole.

Fangs.

Rajastani Embroidered Hairpiece Mole.

Mole Sand Dreaming.

Mole Fanciers

Renata (the curator) shows off Hoody Mole.

Renata's Helpers