Who the hell are you?

I've opted not to put my name on the website anymore. I have reasons for this, and don't particularly feel a need to go into them. If you've been to the old site, or have visited the blog before about the middle of May, then you know what it is anyway. If you don't know and have some pressing need to find out, email me and ask. The little South Park-ish graphic of me over there was made by a friend. It's a pretty fair likeness.

What happened to the other stuff you used to have here?

If you've been here before you may or may not remember the site being rather more extensive. There used to be various stories, essays and other things here, not just the blog. The simple fact is that I've just basically grown tired of a lot of them and really not satisfied with the stuff I've written. And frankly I wasn't writing anything else to keep the site going, haven't really done anything new for quite some time for various reasons. Hence I've taken those other things down with the intention of focusing upon the weblog instead.

How long has this been going on?

Hot Buttered Death began (under a different name) on February 9, 2002, since when I've maintained an almost daily stream of often ill-tempered and possibly ill-informed grumbling and commentary to go with the stuff I've hunted down on the Internet.

And what's with that name?

Please don't ask me what the title means, I have no idea. It just came to me one day while I was out walking in town, the words "hot buttered death" literally just popped into my head from, well, nowhere as I was thinking about other things. I somehow knew instinctively that would have to be the name of the blog, so it was duly renamed that day when I got home.

So why blog?

There's a website I frequent called Three Way Action. It's a message board set-up, primarily frequented by folks in the world of online journalling, much like I used to be (let's not go there, though, eh? not the most pleasant of stories), and one day a couple of months ago someone started a thread on alternative news and opinion sources, what Internet sources could people go to if they were over the usual TV news sources. I can't find the thread any more (think it might've got wiped in a recent purge, the site has recurring problems with hard drive space), but anyway someone there recommended Instapundit.
      For some reason, of all the suggestions made by the various posters, Instapundit was the one I took a random punt on. And I won't say it blew the world of blogging wide open for me, as I was already familiar with online journalling and knew of Blogger through some of those. That said, I did discover just how many people were out there using Blogger for more than just the usual day-by-day journal thing... a quick scoot through just a few of the blogs linked on Instapundit and a few more blogs linked from those blogs revealed how widespread this sort of blogging is. Hell, there were even people down here at the arse end of the world™ doing it.
      Hence I decided that, my ultimately unpleasant experience of journalling aside, I wanted a piece of the action. Except I didn't really want to dwell on the politics as much as some of them do, which is why I fill it instead with the somewhat more frivolous stuff I find on the Net. Part of the reason is that if I did discuss the political situation in the Middle East to the extent that some pundit bloggers do, my always troublesome blood pressure would probably rise so high my brain would eventually blast its way out the top of my head, which is not something I need. Anyway, I don't really know enough about politics. Though I may disagree with certain pundit bloggers, I'm willing to assume they know more about politics than me, so let them discuss it.
      On the other hand, a quick quiz through any issue of Fortean Times, for example, should demonstrate clearly that, despite the best efforts of rationalists throughout the centuries, the world I live in and the people who live in it are strange, humorous and interesting, prone to stupidity at times and to magnificence at others. I've always suffered from that slightly artistic bent which has always made me interested in the strange, clever, humorous, idiotic, etc things people do, hence why I like to discuss that sort of thing more than I do the politics. More fun. Obviously I don't shun all political content or political blogs, but it's not what I'm interested in writing about—at least, not as much as the other stuff.

Technical specifications?

Hot Buttered Death is maintained using Blogger, and checked with Internet Explorer 5.5 and Opera 5.12. I have no idea how it looks in earlier versions of the aforementioned browsers, and don't really care that much. Unfortunately it appears to be invisible in Netscape, which you shouldn't be using anyway (as a former Netscape user, I know its evils). Best viewed at a screen size of 800x600 or above.

Other vital statistics

Born November 15, 1974. Two parents, one sibling (deceased), no pets, no significant others.

Resident of Sydney, Australia.

Educated variously at Matraville Public School (first in class/first in year, 1984; Dux, 1986), Sydney Boys High School (Roger Peyrefitte Prize for excellence in French and Latin, 1991), University of New South Wales (BA [Hons] in Film Studies/BA in History, 1993-97), and the Sydney Institute of Technology (DIploma in Library and Information Services [ongoing]).

Performed at the Schools Spectacular at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, 1986. Worked as production assistant on Tell Me On A Sunday, 1994-1995. Worked as camera operator / video editor on two short videos at UNSW.

One of various editors on the ill-fated SBHS Record, 1991. Contributor of film reviews to Kino, Blitz and Tharunka (publications of various student bodies at UNSW). Contributed two stories to American 'zine Dark Legacy in 2001. Currently a volunteer at Sydney radio station 2SER.

Worked Xmas/New Year part time jobs with Australia Post from 1989-1993. Shop assistant with the Salvation Army, 1998. Clerical assistant, Waverley Cemetery, 1998-99. Pharmacy assistant, Botany Pharmacy, 2000.