For those of us below a certain age, Michael Jackson has always been the absolute biggest of larger-than-life entertainers in the world. Gloved hands down. In fact, I can’t remember a time of pop culture consciousness in my life when he wasn’t miles above and beyond everyone else in terms of brand name status. The Beatles, Elvis… Sure, but they had all stopped active entertaining by the time I was aware of such things. No, it was always just Michael at the top. In the beginning that stature was for his immense musical and theatrical talent. More recently it has been for less noble press.

When it comes to drinking – especially in the South – it’s generally best to have a really good occasion on which to drink. Because no one in the South would just sit around and drink for no reason, that’s just silly talk by silly people (in their serious suits). No, you need something special to help commemorate the occasion. Perhaps some fancy glasses would help…

Even though gardening has seen a healthy spike in interest this year (all things “recession” are tres chic at the moment), it still seems to suffer from a lack of cool with the kiddos. And since it’s important to me to reach this demographic, I wanted to do my part to make gardening a bit more “hip” and “with it.”

You never know what you’ll learn while reading a computer book. Sometimes it’s actually stuff about computers, but every now and then a much more important tidbit of truth will catch your eye.

So whilst learning about the internets just now, imagine my shock, joy, amazement and embarrassment to learn that toilets have birthdays.

Hey there, Internet Strangers:

Rip Van Winkle here, waking up from a long blog siesta. My alarm was set for the season finale of Lost (It’s kind of like a sporting event, you really only need to catch the last quarter). And let me tell you, I’m ready. I had a fresh Dharma shipment land outside my door this morning, so rations are go. Here are a couple of cold ones the polar bears have been keeping chilled for me:

I hope that you and yours – and those over there – all have an excellent and festive Waitangi Day. Remember to celebrate in the traditional way, which is to celebrate as non-traditionally as possible.