Fly Guys

There are those of us in the world who swat, spray, smack, and even stick those pesky buzzing insects we call flies. They love to prance on our freshly laid picnics, perch on our bare feet, and even sometimes take a bite of our tender flesh. Yet, there are a few in the world with a passion for such small creatures. Their sole job is to collect, classify, and understand the behavior of the fly. They travel the world from the jungles of Brazil to the islands of the Pacific in search of new flies. Recently, some fly guys visited Fiji and invited me to join them for a morning of fly collecting high in the mountain rainforest. The result of their visit was the identification of some 40 new fly species and one that is only found on continents, suggesting Fiji separated from a continent millions of years ago.

I invite you to take a look at a moment in the life of a fly collector. As you will see it requires excellent vision, a quick hand on the fly net, and lasting patience. Sometimes though other bugs are discovered - check out this newly discovered spider.

PLAY FlyGuys Video (.mp4/12.7MB)
PLAY Spider Video (.mp4/7MB)

Hassling the Hoff

On a casual Sunday afternoon stroll leading to the Maritime Museum I bumped into the professional American entertainer, David Hasselhoff. For those of you new to the name, he's the dude from the popular television series, Baywatch. I was particularly surprised to have had this occasion as he's plastered all over Australia on Pepsi Cola billboards. A massive celebrity in Australia, David Hasselhoff is one not to be missed.

Some Background:
Below is a rough cut of Dave's appearance for a local Sydney radio station promotion. At the time of the recording Sydney was experiencing some racial riots at a nearby beach between European Aussies and Immigrant Lebanese. This temporarily resulted in the closure of some beaches. Also included are three girls contesting for the Pamela Anderson titty run. There was a competition for the guys as well though filming became impossible.

PLAY video (.mp4 / 9.2MB)