Brett Debritz’s archive

If the space object with the catchy official name of 2003UB313 and rather more memorable unofficial name of Xena really is a planet, it’s not only the astronomy books that will have to be rewritten. How long before the astrologers start telling us we’ve got Xena rising?

In case you haven’t noticed, you’re new to this site, or you’ve recently rediscovered it, here’s the lowdown on some changes I’ve made over the past few weeks:
1) Page layouts are being standardised, hopefully giving the site a more consistent look. The most recent change has been to the About Me page.
2) The Celebrity Deaths Archive is regularly being updated, and it has been extended with limited listings for the year 2000.
3) I’m still trying to get my head around the technical and legal challenges of launching a podcast. It looks like I’ll be able to get a voice-only version happening sometime soon but, because I want to do it all strictly above board, it may be a while before I can add music.

I bet a lot of people will sleep more easily now that it’s official: The Simple Life will be back for a fourth season. This is despite the ongoing feud between co-stars and former best friends Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton, who are contractual obliged to make the series.

Michael Jackson may have been found not guilty on child molestation chages but it seems he hasn’t fared well in the court of public opinion in the US. His latest greatest hits package – his first CD since his trial – has sold just 8000 copies in its first week of release, reaching just No. 128 on the charts. Maybe his fans already have the songs.
PS: Hello to my readers in Orlando, Florida. Thanks for the email; I’m glad you find views and news from half-way around the world of interest.

Ever tried, but failed, to get on the radio? Rung in for a competition, talkback segment or request but never got on air? In this article from The Guardian, Colin Murray sets out how exactly to do it.

Woody Allen once said that everything he knew about comedy, he learned from Danny Simon. Simon, the brother of playwright Neil Simon and a pioneer television comedy writer, has died at the age of 86. Also passed on recently are British singer and actor Betty Astell, Dutch cartoonist Marten Toonder and New Zealand television personality and artist Tungia Baker. More details at my Celebrity Deaths Archive.

In something of an ignoble end for one of ancient Rome’s great leaders, the head of a marble statue of the Emperor Constantine has been found in a sewer. Experts believe it was placed their deliberately, either to divert water or to demonstrate the contempt of the pagan population for the man who allowed Christians to practise their faith freely.

Last chance to see: The Queensland Theatre Company’s production of Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water closes at the QPAC Playhouse tonight, as does La Boite’s revival of Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls, at the Roundhouse.
First chance to see: Saturday Night Fever officially opens at the Lyric Theatre tonight and runs until September 1.
Only chance to see: Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde in concert, at the Concert Hall, tonight.

The handwritten lyrics might say “All you need is love”, but they fetched US$1 million in cold, hard cash at auction in London. A sale of John Lennon memorabilia, including the All You Need is Love lyric sheet salvaged from The Beatles’ last UK television appearance, raised US$1.75 million in all. Lennon, of course, also wrote something about imagining no possessions …

Saturday Night Fever boogies into town tomorrow night at the end of a lenghty Australasian run. Meanwhile, in Melbourne, the curtain has gone up on The Lion King, which has transferred after a long run in Sydney. That show will probably hit Brisbane next year. Wouldn’t it be nice for a major stage show to debut in musicals-loving Queensland for a change?