A Snail is Vanquished

Stand down, Team Barnacle. Your work here is done.  Meet Australia's Top New Species*:

You will have noticed, it's not my Mum's barnacle.  It is a fish with hands, and fair play to it.  After all, I expect it gets quite a hard time from the other fish in the playground for being a bit different. And just imagine what it must be like to be a boy handfish; as if coping with those weird hand-like fins wasn't bad enough, there's also the small matter of being bright pink to deal with.

But what of the epic battle between my Mum's barnacle and that ridiculous tree-dwelling snail named after Steve Irwin? Well, on that front I have good news.  The Opera House barnacle, discovered by my Mum, came third with 14% of the vote.  Crikey steveirwini, meanwhile, came in fourth, with only 13.5%.  Full results, if you are interested, can be found here.

So it's official: My Mum is better than Steve Irwin.  And, let's face it, that's the contest which really mattered.  The result couldn't have been closer, which means every single voted counted.  If yours was one of them, thank you from the very bottom of my heart. My mum says thanks too.



*Some context for newer readers: my Mum discovered a barnacle a while ago which was nominated for this title.  Other contenders included a tree-dwelling snail named after Steve Irwin.

Go Team Barnacle

The time has come.

My mum is a really nice person.  She is also, as you may already know, a barnacle expert, and a barnacle she discovered last year has been nominated as one of Australia's Top New Species (2009). 

I mentioned this a while ago, but maybe you haven't read back that far, or maybe you did read about it but had forgotten. Or, and this is the scenario I prefer to imagine, maybe you did read about it and have been on the edge of your seat ever since, anxiously awaiting further news about how you can do your bit to help my Mum's barnacle snatch victory from the jaws of a mountainous tree dwelling snail named after Steve Irwin.

If that's the case, then today is your lucky day.  Voting couldn't be simpler; all you have to do is click on this link, select "General Public" and then pick the Opera House Barnacle.  To make things even easier, it's right at the top of the list.

Please vote, and please ask everyone you know to vote too. They'll probably think you are quite mad, but go on, ask them anyway.  You don't have to live in Australia to take part, and polls close on August 22nd.  Your help will be appreciated more than you know and once you've voted it would be great if you could tell me so I can shower you with gratitude.

(I do know snails don't have jaws, by the way. It's a metaphor. The snail, though, is real; it is called Crikey Steveirwini and is one of the other contenders. Please don't vote for it.)

Sunday Night Music Club - Live from RFH (almost)

Tonight's SNMC comes to you from the Royal Festival Hall, one of my favourite places on earth. To be honest, it's beautifully sunny outside, I'm contemplating a second glass of wine and the Sunday night blues are still far, far away.  But it could be different for you; if thoughts of tomorrow morning are already snapping at your heels, you're in exactly the right place.

I've been here catching up on a bit of admin (on a Sunday, yes - who ever said that a freelancer's lot is an easy one?) but have also been enjoying some rather lovely live music performances.  One of the artists was this guy, Johnny Flynn, who I had never heard of before today, but I will listening to a lot more of.  He's ace.  I particularly like the fact that one of his songs is called Barnacle Warship*, but that's not the one I've got for you tonight. Instead, may I present the Brown Trout Blues:




This clip is an accoustic version which is great, but the proper one, which is also on Youtube, is even better.** I can't embed it here, which is annoying, but it's worth having a little listen to as well.  Even if you don't like the song, you really should click that link if for no other reason than to read the comments underneath the clip.  I don't tend to bother with these usually, but this time a funny little exchange caught my eye, between Prufrocksong and some other guy:

10 months ago (Prufrocksong):
I love him. Saw him play a couple of years ago and he left such a lasting impression on me. Has anyone else noticed that he always incorporates food? Listen to his lyrics/song titles - cold bread, leftovers, flushed red apple skin, bacon rind, bread of christ etc..


3 days ago (the other guy):
@prufrocksong I'm sure there are a few extremist christians who'd say that the bread of christ is a bit more than food... more of a ticket to everlasting life :) Nice observation though..
 
That other guy is really on the ball.


Reading on through the comments, since I was already there, I learned quite a lot about an ongoing war between Twilight fans and folk music lovers.  Apparently R-Patz (in case you're not as down with the kids as I am, innit, that's yoof-speak for Robert Pattison, the sexy*** vampire bloke in the Twilight films) is a folk music fan and whenever he's in town, folk gigs tend to get over-run with obsessive teenage girls who couldn't give a flying fiddle about the music and are just there in case he turns up. I can see how it might be annoying if you're a proper music fan, but it's also incredibly sweet.





*

(Just a reminder)


**This is unusual for me; I often prefer stripped down versions of stuff. There's a particular song I've wanted to use for Sunday Night Music Club for ages, but I can't find the (far superior) accoustic version anywhere, which is driving me nuts. I will let you know if I find it.

***Unless you're Team Jacob, obviously.

The campaign begins here

There has been a distinct lack of (my own) words round these parts lately. Sorry.  At the start of the week I was struggling to find things to write about (lurking behind the cool, calm exterior of this blog there are, at last count, SEVEN abandoned earlier drafts of posts which were going nowhere fast) and now I've thought of lots of things but have no time to write about them.  Such is life.

Tales part 7 is on the way, but in the meantime, I have exciting news from the world of science.  Exciting if you are me, at least.  Mildly interesting, I expect, if you are you.
I have mentioned, in passing, that my Mum is a marine biologist.  Barnacles, specifically, which is the bit I didn't mention before. A while ago, she and a colleague discovered a new species of barnacle, which looks like this:

Its scientific name is Calantica Darwini but it's also called (rather fittingly, I think) the  Opera House barnacle.  Although they don't say WHICH opera house, I'm pretty sure it's this one:

Of course if they mean a different one, maybe it's not so fitting after all.

I am sure you are impressed beyond belief already, and that isn't even the exciting bit of my exciting news.  Calantica Darwini has made it onto the list of Australia's Top Ten New Species (2009).  I'm not going to tell you too much about the rest of the list now, because there's going to be a public vote in August which I want my mum's barnacle to win, and although you can't vote yet* I am getting in early with a spot of product placement. Not much point in doing that if I place them ALL, is there?  You can click on the link, though, if you are desperate to know more.  Her stiffest competition, I think, is going to be this:

which may not look much of a contender until I tell you its scientific name is Crikey Steveirwini.  Yes, my mum's barnacle will be battling it out with a mountainous-tree-dwelling snail named after Steve Irwin. It's going to be a tough campaign.

Coincidentally, the same day I heard this news, I stumbled across a different list of captivating new species, which I am more than happy to tell you about now, because they're not in the competition.  It's just as well, because there are some seriously cute critters on that list.  My favourite, I think, is the Pinocchio Tree Frog

But I also love that this is called Tim Burton Seaweed:

Here is Tim Burton, for purposes of comparison:

(This reminds me, I have stuff to say about an incredible Tim Burton exhibition I saw in New York.  You don't need to know this now;  I'm just borrowing my blog back to use as an electronic memo-board.)

Then again, who doesn't love a teeny, tiny sea-horse?  These ones are smaller than your finger nail, and their babies are 3mm long when they are born:

I am quite relieved none of these creatures are competing against my Mum's barnacle.  Her barnacle is great, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to beat a mini seahorse.

 *In case you are worried you might forget to vote in August, fear not.  I will be reminding you. Quite a lot, probably.