Archive for June 29th, 2006

Stargate SG1 Returns to Channel 7 Tonight at 11pm

During my perusal of the local television guide I noticed that Channel Seven are bring Stargate SG1 back to Australian screens, starting tonight at 11pm. This will be series nine of SG1.

Oddly enough, despite Stargate SG1 series nine and Stargate Atlantis series two being run in tandem on US television (and presumably linking story lines somewhere along the way…much like the previous series’), the two shows will not be shown in tandem in Australia. This means that Australian viewers will have to continue to wait for the conclusion of the three-episode, dual-series cliffhanger ending to series one of Stargate Atlantis.

None the less, it is good to have Stargate back, and I’m looking forward to SG1 series nine.

By the way, 11pm is the time for Canberra and Sydney, others areas are likely to be the same, but check your local television guide for details. Next week SG1 is scheduled to start at 11:20pm due to the preceeding program running longer than usual.

Samuel

June 29th, 2006 at 07:57pm

RIP Moose

It has come to my attention (thanks to Mike Jeffreys for bringing it to my attention…it nearly slipped passed me) that Moose, the first dog to play Eddie on the television show Frasier, passed away on June 22 aged 15 and a half human years (108 and a half dog years).

Moose sitting on Frasier's lap
Moose sitting on Frasier’s lap

Wikipedia has the following biographical information about Moose

Moose (December 24, 1990 – June 22, 2006) was a veteran canine actor. He was a Jack Russell Terrier and is most famous for his performances as Eddie Crane on the television sitcom Frasier.

Moose was born on Christmas Eve, 1990 in Florida, United States, the youngest littermate. He was the largest puppy in the litter. Like Pal, the original Lassie, the obstreperous puppy was too much for his original owner. According to an article by Lori Golden:

“In fact, chasing cats was one of the activities that led to this troubled terrier becoming one of TV’s most precious pooches. Originally owned by a Florida family, Moose was too hard to handle. He couldn’t be house trained; he chewed everything; he dug and barked a lot; and he was constantly escaping and climbing trees. Eventually given to the Florida manager of Birds and Animals Unlimited, a company that trains animals for TV and motion pictures, Moose was put on a plane at 2½ years old and sent to Mathilde de Cagny, an LA trainer working for the show-biz animal company.”

DeCagny has been quoted as saying that Moose was very highly trainable and won the role on Frasier after only six months of training. Moose had the ability to fix Kelsey Grammer with a long hard stare; this became a running sight gag on the show.

The longevity of Frasier necessitated the breeding of puppies as possible replacements for Moose. A daughter, Miko, was considered but never grew large enough (she was given to a technician); a son, Moosie, now lives with Peri Gilpin. Moose’s son Enzo was a closer match and turned out to have unusually similar facial markings; later in the series he was used as a stunt double to perform the more physically challenging tricks for his aging sire. Enzo took over the role after eight years.

Moose and Enzo also appeared with Frankie Muniz in the 2000 feature film My Dog Skip.

Moose has numerous television appearances and several magazine covers to his credit. There is an official Moose calendar and an ‘autobiography’, My Life as a Dog.

Moose spent the last 6½ years of his life in retirement in West Los Angeles with son Enzo, Mathilde DeCagny (their trainer), her husband Michael Halberg and Jill, the dog from As Good as it Gets. He passed away due to old age at home at the age of 15 1/2 years on June 22, 2006.

Moose will of course live on in the hearts of many millions of Frasier fans around the world, and in the endless reruns of the fantastic television program of which he was a part.

This has been difficult to write as I have burst into tears three times whilst thinking about what I could write about Moose and choosing a picture to place in this article. Whilst I never met him in person, he certainly appeared to be a loveable little doggy, a very talented actor, and one of the most reognisable furry faces on television. I am very sad to hear that Moose has passed away, although I must say that he had a very long and priviliged life, and it is lovely to know that he passed away of old age, and not of a medical condition.

I think it is only appropriate that Moose receive the prestigious Samuel Salute. Moose is a dog I will miss dearly, as I grew up with him, and despite the fact he lived on the other side of the world, he felt like family.

Moose in Frasier's studio
Moose in Frasier’s studio

May you rest in peace Moose.

You will not be forgotten.

Samuel

Photos: NBC/Associated Press

June 29th, 2006 at 10:57am

Save Dickson College Update

I received the following email from the Save Dickson College mailing list last night:

Six Representatives from the Save Dickson College Committee meet with Minister Barr and two of his advisors on Tuesday 27th June

– The meeting went very well.

– The committee came across very strongly and were clear that we didn’t want to look at any other models – which he tried to get us to do.

– The committee asked did he have the answers to the questions from the meeting (and of course he didn’t!) so we gave him a list of questions (attached) and went through them. This really put them on the back foot I think and made David Peebles, Minister Barr’s Chief of Staff look silly as he promised the community he would take the questions back to the Minister.
They couldn’t really provide us with any answers or any rationale other than cost cutting.

– Minister Barr acknowledged one of the messages from the community that the 7 to 12 option at Campbell is not on, which probably means they have to keep Dickson College. But he hasn’t given us any guarantees so we need to keep the pressure up.

– Minister Barr did suggest that the community would have to work with them to increase programs at Dickson to keep it viable

– The Govt are holding their public meeting next Monday at where we can put more pressure on. The committee hope to get some questions together for people to ask at this meeting.

We need a good turnout at the Monday meeting so bring along everyone you can muster up. The hall only holds about 150 people.

The committee will meet a week or so after that and work out a longer term strategy ie. Meeting with all the MLAs, writing letters etc.

All in all pretty positive meeting for the community.

Annette Matheson
On behalf of the Save Dickson College Committee

From my reading of it, it looks like Dickson is now unlikely to close, as the silly ill conceived idea for turning Campbell High into a year 7-12 school has been acknowledged by Andrew Barr as silly and ill conceived.

The “Towards 2020 consultation meetings” are not designed to be consultative. Just about every school in the inner north which isn’t Campbell Primary has a hall which holds more than 150 people, but that’s the location for the inner north meeting. Further evidence of the non-consultation involved in these meetings can be read here and here.

Andrew Barr wants the Dickson community to work with him to keep Dickson open…sounds like a message which everybody affected by the ACT budget should take notice of.

Anyway, it looks like some ground is being made…perhaps my idea that the government don’t actually want to close 39 schools, and that number was just an inflated headline grabber, wasn’t so far off the mark after all…or am I just being too cynical? For some reason, with this government, I suspect the former.

Samuel

June 29th, 2006 at 09:12am

Samuel’s Footy Tips: Results

Quite a good weekend of football tips. My NRL tips were quite good and the AFL tips were only one tip away from being perfect (and the same percentage as last week).

AFL Round 12 (Part Two): 1/2 (50%)
NRL Round 16: 5/7 (71.43%)
Week Total: 6/9 (66.67%)
Graph of the weekly results

Totals:
AFL: 45/96 (46.88%)
NRL: 55/111 (49.55%)
Total: 100/207 (48.30%)
Graph of the total results

Samuel

June 29th, 2006 at 07:26am


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