I've started to make a significant - but, perhaps, not immediately noticeable - change here at debritz.net. I'm adding category tags to the blog entries. If you click on the tag at the end of the story, you'll be taken to other posts on the blog in the same category. My categories include "theatre", "radio", "showbiz", "admin" (for posts like this one), "movies" and, thanks to Spencer Howson (who has dubbed me a grumpy old man, despite my relative youth), "grumps". It will be some time before I've tagged all my posts (if I ever do), so most categories have only a few entries right now.

I'm a huge fan of markets - both philosophically (because I like the idea of growers being able to sell directly to the public without a middleman taking his cut) and because they can be fun. But they can also be frustrating - especially when they are run by neo-hippies. Exactly how three people can stand behind a counter in a small business and yet only one one of them actually have the nous to serve the queue of five customers has got me stumped. Whatever they are on, they should abstain before market day.

Thanks to the listener of Spencer Howson's show this morning who pointed out by email that the Queensland Theatre Company used to do pantos many years ago, when the cast members included Bille Brown and Geoffrey Rush. And apologies to anyone who thought I was saying that QTC is trying to revive the panto. If that was the case, there'd be one in the 2007 season - and there isn't. A shame, really, because if they keep at it, they might help create a whole new set of regular theatregoers.

I guess one of the things about sending spam email is trying to convince the person at the other end to open-up the thing by pretending it comes from somebody they know. It's such a shame I don't know anybody who goes by any the following names: Wesley Rucker, Ryan Witherspoon (Reese's brother, perhaps?), Willie Toney, Vito Bingham, Myrna Melvin, Marcy Butcher, Hector Pettit, Siegmund Siebert, Randolph Love, Raul Stark or Una Leal. Apologies if you go by any of those monikers, but they just don't sound real to me.

This morning on 612 ABC, Spencer Howson and I spoke about the things that happen on planes and at airports, what time the theatre should start, changes in the news at Channel 7 and Puss in Boots.

Over at the Internet Movie Database, there's a poll asking: "Imagine you're invited to the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes nuptials - what gift would you bring the happy couple?"
The results so far: A South Park DVD set (21.3%); a gift that will self-destruct in five seconds (14.4%); anything that won't result in a lawsuit! (my favourite - 14.2%); a copy of the Handbook of Psychiatric Drugs (12.0%); a copy of R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet (9.6%); and a new publicist (6.2%).

"Prince Philip was sitting in the back seat like an over-excited child at the prospect of going to a Bond movie." That, according to a "security insider", was the scene as the Queen and her husband drove in their Bentley to the premiere of Casino Royale. I find that hard to picture.

Is this a hoax, or is it for real? I didn't hear it myself but a reader of this blog has sent me an MP3 file of an ad that was played on Triple M this morning, claiming the station is changing its name on Friday. I will investigate further.
7.27pmAEST update: My station informant says it’s a national promotion and will take effect for one day only. I can say no more except that it’s related to a big band.
PS: If you want to hear the ad, it's on my other blog.

Sign at coffee shop in Nundah: "Unattended children will be given 2 shots of espresso and a puppy".

The glitch in Brisbane's Translink transport information site hasn't been fixed. Today I need to travel to Nundah by train, so I keyed in "Nundah Station" to the site. It came back with a list of suggestions, the first being Nundah Police Station and the second being Nundah Railway Station. I ask you, which one is more likely destination for the greater number of public-transport patrons?

I'm terribly worried this morning that I'm very rich and don't know about it. No, I'm not thinking of last night's $13 million Lotto draw (although that would be very nice), I'm thinking about the Crossword instant ticket somebody gave me for my birthday and I finally scratched yesterday. I can't make heads nor tails of it and I'm afraid to throw it away unless it's worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I'm sure my cat thinks she's psychokinetic. All she has to do is look at a door and someone will open it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - and I, for one, am not happy about it. I saw a tree going up in Sydney and here in Brisbane stores are already playing carols and flogging gift ideas. There's the best part of six weeks to go before Christmas Day, which means almost an eight of the year has been taken up with this commercialised craziness. Just give me the peace and goodwill, and hold all the trimmings.

Should we listen when celebrities pontificate on issues about which they know little or nothing? I raised this question on my other blog in regard to Elton John's views on religion, now it's perhaps even more relevant given that Rachel Weisz has created a storm by saying it's OK for pregnant women to drink. Some of the people who've actually studied the issue beg to differ.

Callers to the Queensland Theatre Company who get put on hold hear a recorded message extolling the virtues of the 2006 season, encouraging them to request a brochure. What a pity that the final show in the season, Puss in Boots, opens on Thursday, so 90 per cent of the message is redundant.

I made a special "appearance" on Spencer Howson's breakfast program on 612 ABC this morning to talk about the new Borat movie and the press conference Sacha Baron Cohen gave, as the Borat character, in Sydney yesterday. There's more about that, including a photo and some audio, on my other blog.

I know what they mean, but you'd think the authorities at Sydney Airport could come up with a better security-clearance term for people who enter the terminal on a casual basis. I can't imagine that I'd want to wear a badge declaring: "Sterile visitor".

Do you listen to the radio through your digital computer or television set, rather than a radio receiver? Well, doing so apparently pumps more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than need be that case. At least that's what this Media Guardian story says.

Pssst. Want to see the latest trailer for next year's The Simpsons Movie? It's here.

I was just watching the SBS news and it occurred to me, not for the first time: Why do give the global weather to an audience that is in Australia? Even if audience members were intending to travel to another country - especially one that's more than a day's travel away - surely there's every chance the weather will have changed by the time they get there.