2021 saw SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK publish some of its most personal posts ever. It was that kind of year. Here’s a broad strokes look-back…
National Trivia Day (January)
Pro Chess Gender Gap (January)
Reasons I’ll Never Write A Novel (February)
First Love – Endless Love (February)
Top Ten Favorite Films of the 1960’s (March)
The Last Lighthouse Keeper (March)
Fruitless Frappe (April)
Brisbane KISS Concert Here I Come! (May)
CHARLES MANSON: CONVERSATIONS WITH A KILLER (June)
FLAT EARTHERS ‘R US (June)
I LOVE HISTORY (July)
RELEASE THE BEES! (July)
BEST MUSIC VIDEOS EVER (August)
DUMB & DUMBER BESTSELLERS (August)
Favorite Films of the 70’s (September)
National Book Awards (October)
Book Jacket Blurbs (October)
Outwitted. Outplayed & Outdone Your Honor (November)
Reader’s Bookcase Photos (November)
Bank Vault Lock-ins (December)
Best Book Covers of 2021 (December)
THE DRY
THE LITTLE THINGS
MINARI
WONDER WOMAN 1984
NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) (Recorded from Television)
RICHARD JEWELL (2019) Seen on ‘Movies on Demand’ in a Cairns Hotel Room
Mottos used by SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK during 2021 –
** “I Do this for the Money, Prestige and Power” Said No Writer Ever.
** It takes an Awful Lot of Time NOT to Write a Book.
** Good Things Are Coming
** Entertain Yourself
** Three Scoops of Word Whack
** Antidote to the Novel
** Arts Talk That Will Not Be Tamed
Broadcaster Larry King (January)
Actor Hal Holbrook (January)
Captain Sir Tom Moore – aged 100 (February)
Actor Christopher Plummer (February)
Australian Music Promotor Michael Gudinski (March)
Former Australian Rugby League Captain Tommy Raudonikis (April)
Australian TV Host Bert Newton (October)
For eighteen days back in October/early November, the country held it’s breath as we waited for news of the disappearance/abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith who vanished from a family campsite near Carnarvon in Western Australia. Incredibly, this story had a happy ending that sent headlines around the world and resulted in this triumphant and all-round heart-fluttering picture…
Merriam Webster Dictionary Word of the Year – ‘Vaccine’
Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year – ‘Strollout’
Dictionary.Com Word of the Year – ‘Allyship’
Oxford Languages Word of the Year – ‘Vax’
Collins Word of the Year – ‘NFT’ (Non Fungible Token)
Collins Word of the Year Runner Up – ‘Pingdemic’
Scenic Writer’s Shack Word of the Year – ‘Metox’ (to take a break from self-absoption)
Best book read by SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK in 2021 – MY FRIEND FOX (published September 2021) by Heidi Everett. Read a personal recommendation HERE.
Marched through 37 of ’em this year. Best time? You’re looking at it in blue. Best location? That’s an easy one. Cairns Esplanade. Hands down.
Around this time of year, every man and their neapolitan mastiff is telling you what their favorite reads have been, over the previous twelve months. These guys included –
That’s it. There are no more words for 2021. SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK will return in 2022 – bigger, better and bolder, with some truly nut-cracking surprises in store. Until then…
I did say “No more words” didn’t I? I meant after this. ‘Cause there’s one more thing I need to tell you. And it happened at my place just this morning. I put up a world map on a wall in our kitchen, handed my wife a dart and said “Throw this and wherever it lands—that’s where I’m taking you when this pandemic ends.” Turns out, we’re spending two weeks behind the fridge.
Scenic Writer's Shack 
Thanks for the year, Glen. Keep up the good work!
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Thanks Stuart.
I’ve been really enjoying those ‘Pictures of the Day’ you’ve been posting, btw.
I reckon I can see some kind of distorted face in that shaggy, mossy rock one from December 16!
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That’ll be my brother. As his older sibling, I forced him to lie in the stream and then covered him in moss. Ungrateful so and so complained it was cold! I mean, high up in the Yorkshire Dales in December; what’s he got to moan about?
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Thankyou for confirming my thoughts Stuart.
I really believed for a while there I was going ’round the twist, thinking “Am I imagining that mossy face or is it really there?”
That being the case, that really is one amazing staged picture.
Even more impressive than I originally had thought.
In fact, in the high stakes game of camouflage, that master-class, ‘person-concealed-as-an-everyday-object’ stunt you and your brother have apparently pulled off is on a par with Rambo’s ‘mud monster’ disguise, I’d say.
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For some unfathomable reason, he seems reluctant to repeat the move. I told him he was being unreasonable, but he said the water was too cold and the moss has become entangled with his extensive beard. He even believes there may be ‘things’ living in there potentially attacking his face. I told him that was unimportant as his face is definitely not his best feature. Then, of course, I was requested to point out his ‘best’ feature and could find nothing more worthy than his willingness to submit to my demands and requirements. That seemed to upset him further and he’s now threatened to withdraw from all further participation in what he insolently referred to as my ‘idiotic attempts to convey metaphor through the abstract and abstruse medium of surrealism’. To be honest, I didn’t realise he understood such terms. But it looks as though I’ll have to find a new model if I’m going to do any more similar pics in future. C’est la vie!
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Good models are hard to find I imagine.
Especially ones expected to be covered in moss and immersed in freezing cold water.
This is an all-round crack-up!
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The hunt continues!
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That was an enjoyable tete-a-tete up there.
I have to mention, however, immense feelings of inferiority, shame, and touch of acutely painful jealousy at all that you covered in your blog this past year!
And in the category of photo of the year, even though the little girl with the monkey on her head is adorable, I love the lion with the bloody muzzle a little more.
And we also found Nightcrawler to be a pleasant surprise.
The fox memoir looks sweet; we just witnessed a man playing a banjo while a wild fox sat nearby listening.
We also just saw a documentary about a man who befriends an octopus, but his sappy narration and obviously edited “storyline” made me want to vomit at times. Octopi only live for six months, more or less! The females lay eggs, stop eating, and just die. 😦
I think it’s already new years where you are, so… happy new year!
Can’t wait for four scoops of word whack in 2022 ! ! !
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Hi Stacey,
Is the name of the doco you watched MY OCTOPUS TEACHER ?
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That’s the one, Glen!
The man’s narration/insights were insipid and dragged the whole thing down.
The octopus was fascinating.
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PS: Oh, and not to behave like a certain blogger we both know, I should caveat those comments with, “in my opinion; no offense to those who may think the opposite”
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Ha ha – as caveats go, that’s a nice one.
I saw this doco on Netflix myself mid 2021 when there was a lot of talk about it.
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