Awesome Stuff: Pat Grant draws wicked comics

What little of the internet is not obsessing with cats or busily working to fulfill Rule 34 (do NOT google image search that rule) seems to me to be filled up with comedy.

Some of it is bloody awful, most of it is generally 'meh', but every now and then you come across an Artist. Someone who manages to combine style, humour and depth without coming across as an arrogant twit (such as a blog I may or may not write).

Pat Grant of Pat Grant Art Dot Com may not be the most original when it comes to names, but he is an Artist in the truest sense of the word.

And this is on low-res...

The Ethics of Staring at a Woman's Boobs

As with many great ethical issues of our time, the question of whether it is acceptable to stare at a woman's breasts is very simple, according to most people. Unfortunately whether that is a simple 'yes' or a simple 'no' depends entirely on who you are talking to.

Having risen out of the neolithic 1950s, women's rights are now the mainstream and it is well established in Australian society that staring at a woman's chest is rude, immature and grounds for a a well-deserved verbal thrashing. Modern women should dress how they wish and be free from harassment.

Recipients of these thrashings on the other hand, have been known to mutter that if women don't want their breasts stared at, then why are they putting them on display? And it is becoming increasingly difficult to argue that they aren't, with plunging necklines, push-up bras and even breast enlargement surgery becoming fairly normal in modern fashion. And it doesn't help that the most common answer you get when asking women why they dress like they do, if it's not to attract sexual attention, is “It makes me feel good about myself”, a line which could be used to justify just about anything.

Alleyway dining: Panama

Smith Street is, in my opinion, one of the most bizarre streets in Melbourne. 

Walking down here you see everything; hipsters, fashionistas, fabulous gay men, homeless people, grungy teens and everything in between. Within a single block you can pass the most ridiculously over-priced boutique selling useless arty crap and then world's cheapest shitty café, often right next to each other. Want to feel fashionable and slightly uncomfortable about your safety at the same time? Smith Street is the place to do it.

So when I tell you that Panama can only be reached by entering a very nondescript door,

Inviting!

climbing what appears to be a metal fire escape for three stories, before arriving at a fire door completely devoid of any signage, you're likely to think I've made a terrible mistake.

Look at this door. You just know you're about to walk in on something extremely important that you absolutely should not interrupt. Like a theatre production or mafia drug deal or something.

But if you manage the climb and have the guts to barge through what looks like the door into a high-risk industrial plant, then you'll experience the only restaurant I've ever found that manages to combine relaxed with excellence.

The 6 Ps.

Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Apparently I need this tattooed on my face. Or my hand or whatever. It's a sign of my mental state today that it's taken me 15 minutes to realise that I wouldn't be able to see a tattoo on my face. Guh.


I've been sitting on about three half-complete  blog posts for the last 3 weeks because I've been busy with a variety of things that I suddenly realised could no longer be put off on the basis that they were 'ages away'. One of those things was a tender I've been writing up for work.

Without naming names and exposing myself to legal acion, I work as a sustainability consultant for a small environmental consultancy (who'd have thunk it) based in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. The job is a new one and if there was a single word for my experiences there, that word is "WTF".

As in "WTF am I meant to be doing here?", or "WTF is my job description exactly?", and today, very suddenly,  "WTF do you mean I have 3 hours to submit that crucial proposal?".

My mental landscape for the last 9 hours.

 

A disgruntled, cursory and pretty damn flippant review of political systems and why they suck.

What is the point of politics? In my opinion at least, it's to try and figure out what the best thing to do is. 

To do this you need a society where ideas flow freely and are considered on their merits, based on evidence.

This is a brief list of systems that have been created to try and make sure this happens. They all suck.

Awesome stuff: How It Should Have Ended

Another new feature of the Chronicles to help break up the endless reams of existential crisis is Awesome stuff.

It's exactly what it sounds like. Stuff I stumbled across that is awesome. Enjoy.

How It Should Have Ended