Bernard Curry scores hot spot in US show

By Darren Cartwright - Gold Coast Bulletin

BEAUTY and the Geek Australia host Bernard Curry (pictured) has scored a recurring role in a new US television series which stars former TV Superman Dean Cain.

Curry heads back to the US this week, well ahead of the start of filming later this year.

Bounce is a comedy that revolves around a cheerleading team for the fictional NBA basketball team the LA Devils.

It stars Cain - who was the lead in the popular 1990s series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Kimberley Elise and Charlotte Ross (NYPD Blue).

Curry, 38, said he was initially cast in Bounce during a pilot season in the US earlier this year and the show was only picked up by channel VH1 in July.

He plays a sports agent who manages half of the players on the Devils' team.

"They only had the green light to go to a series," Curry said.

"They have to write the series before they go into pre-production and then into production. I'm not playing one of the series leads, but it's a recurring character and it's great to be involved."

Curry, who appeared in Neighbours, Home and Away and had a small role in Packed to the Rafters, has been based in LA for more than a year.

He hoped Bounce would be the stepping stone to more roles in a cut-throat industry.

"It's great to have something under your belt and runs on the board to gather momentum," Curry said.

"It's a nice place to live... it's a competitive scene but I am enjoying the challenge."

HDR Photographs

Diane is away in Sydney so I've been playing with some of my pictures using Lightroom and Efex Pro 2 HDR software to enhance them. Here are a few of them.

Wave Rock, W.A.

Port Headland

Shark Bay W.A.

Our front Garden

From our back Garden

Water Lillies at Rochedale Park

Hipstamatic Shots from Bondi Beach

I love taking photos with my iPhone using the Histamatic App. I find them interesting. Here are some shots taken since we've been helping out looking after the grand children:

Bondi Beach, the most famous beach in Australia but by no means the best.

I spotted that graffiti on a building the other day. Today, Australia has a new tax called the carbon tax.

'Wake up granddaddy.' Looking after grandkids can be tiring.

Fox loves watching Fireman Sam episodes on You Tube.

Bondi Beach afternoon

Fox on the Run

Moon Over Bondi Beach

Some swimmer padlocked his thongs onto the fence

Fmily in Sydney

It's Diane's 70th birthday today and we're lucky enough to have the whole family present. Carol and David live in Sydney and Bernie and Sonya with Fox and Banjo are over from Los Angeles for ten weeks so we drove down to Sydney for a party which is about to begin.

We had to visit a Telstra shop in Armidale as our WiFi didn't work. An hour waiting and they fixed it

We stopped next morning for morning tea, in Wallabadah when we saw this sign. We had to wait for a while as locals who walked in after us were served first, but the wait was worth it, the coffee was good.

Now we play with Fox and Banjo whenever we have a chance.

I took Fox with my iPhone and an appp called WordFoto. The picture is entirely made with the word 'Fox'.

Sonya and Fox, it's great to see them again.

 And of course the latest addition to the family, Banjo Foster Curry

Grandma and Granddaddy on duty, watching an episode of Fireman Sam for which Son-in-lad David wrote the music.

At the moment we're in heaven.

The Cable Cars of San Francisco

I was extremely impressed with the cable car system in San Francisco on our recent visit there. The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system and as such is a very big tourist attraction to that town.

We had seen these cars on our first visit there in 1970, but to be honest, I never really thought about them until we actually saw them in operation this time around.

The cables which are about 1 1/2" (31.75mm) run under the streets of the 3 lines, the Powell-Hyde, the Powell-Mason and the California lines.  The cable cars are operated by a 'Gripman' and a conductor. The gripman moves the lever which 'grips' the cable which is running at a constant speed,  and the car moves forward. At the next stop, he releases the cable and applies the brake to stop the car from rolling. It's quite a tricky job being a gripman. they need to be alert to release the 'grip' when they cross another line to avoid dragging that cable up.

San Francisco's streets are sometimes quite steep so the conductor at the back helps by putting on manual brakes to assist descents. 

The machines that run the cables all over the town are in the cable barn (and museum). The car barn is located between Washington and Jackson streets just uphill of where Mason Street crosses them. Cars reverse into the barn off Jackson Street and run out into Washington Street, coasting downhill for both moves.

There are four separate cables: one for the California Street line, one each for the separate parts of the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines, and one for their common section.

The cable cars are not only a tourist attraction, but they are used by the locals also to get around the city. When the cars are full, people just hang on to the railings.

It is amazing how these cable cars perform on the sometimes very steep hills of the city.

There are turntables at the three terminals served by the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines, and these two lines are served by a common fleet of single-ended cable cars. Cable cars on California Street, however, have cabs at both ends, so the terminals are single-track stubs and the operator only switches ends.

As I said, I was very impressed. Well done San Francisco.

These pictures are from my Cable Car of San Francisco video

Madonna Inn San Luis Obispo

Someone aked me if we had taken any photos of this fabulous motel in California. Chuck and Lois took us there for dinner upon our arrival in San Luis Obispo (more about that on Diane's Blog).

We didn't take our cameras, but I had my iPhone with me. The pictures of the rooms have been taken from the internet, as we were not able to go into the rooms, but I took the waterfall in the gents myself.

Madonna in is in San Luis Obispo CA.

Diane outside the Restaurant

Diane outside the Motel

 All the rooms at the Madonna Inn are based on a scheme and they are all different.

This is the RED room

This is the BLUE room

This is the CAVE room

Part of the Motel

The famous waterfall in the Gents Bathroom

San Luis Obispo Farmers Market

We visited the Farmers Market in San Luis Obispo CA, while we were visiting Chuck and Lois on the way to San Francisco. It's one of the best markets we've ever visited. They are closing off the main street every Thursday night to hold the event.

There are enormous amounts of produce on offer and lots of food vendors everywhere. The town is crowded on Thursday night, but everyone has fun.

Another curiosity in San Luis Obispo is "Bubblegum Alley." It's a laneay plastered with bubble gum.

See for yourself....