The Age has reported that private detectives in Melbourne are being paid to have illicit sex to gather evidence against illegal brothels.

Melbourne City Council and Yarra Council yesterday confirmed they had paid private investigators to approach prostitutes, and in at least 17 cases, investigators had sex with them.

Other councils across the city confirmed they had also paid private investigators to visit illegal brothels, but stopped short of confirming sexual services had been provided.

It's all very interesting, and I'm glad my taxes are being put to good use. I think we need a Today Tonight special investigation to really get to the bottom of the issue though.

The most interesting thing that came out of the whole piece was the statements made by the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV). Well not so much the statements, but more so the name of the MAV's President!

The Municipal Association of Victoria President Dick Gross said it should be easier for councils to close illegal brothels. "It needs to be defined how private investigators can (get evidence) in an illegal environment," he said.

I think that it's quite apt that a guy with the name Dick Gross should pass comment on illegal brothels. Yeah, sure, you can call me immature, I don't mind, I still find it piss funny!

Generally, the Golden Globes make for crap television. Self indulgent speeches interspersed with clips of the nominees and their 'finest work'. I'm sure it's interesting enough if you're there and nominated to win something, but sitting back at home, it's all a bit of a yawn really. The Golden Globes aren't all bad though. Occassionally something comes along that's worth looking at. P-Diddy clearly illustrates this point in the picture below...

I found this script that is allegedly the opening scene of what would be Alien 5. Not sure how genuine it is, but it's an interesting read.

The most notable thing from the opening scene is the absence of Sigourny Weaver, and after reading the opening I'm not sure how they would work her into the plot. But perhaps that's the point? I'm not sure they need to make an Alien 5, it may be time for the producers to quit while they are still in credit. Bring on Predator 3 I say!

If this script is legit it makes for an interesting opening to the film, but I guess there is no way of knowing if this is real or not until any official news is released. In the mean time I guess I'll wait for Alien vs Predator 2, which is said to star "Michelle" (Tony's wife) from 24, to come out later this year.

WordPress 2.1 was released just recently. I tried upgrading Swollen Pickles to 2.1 and it seemed to roll on relatively smoothly, until I refreshed the home page and found my blogroll links have moved themselves to a mystery new third column. Not sure how or why, and don't know how to fix it either, so if any one else out there knows how to fix it, let me know. In the mean time I'll put up with it looking ugly.

The other thing I have noticed is that the HeadSpace 2 plugin does not seem to play nice with 2.1, so I've disabled that for the time being.

In summary, if you notice any dodgy behaviour please let me know via the comments field.

Tenuous link of the day: poker tables.

Woah! Eva Longoria is supposed to be a hottie! Well clearly she's a hottie when she's got make up and a team of photo shopping nerds on her side. But without them she looks a little... well... I guess the word I'm looking for is 'average'.

Now if your a teenager who has spent hours in his (or her - we don't discriminate here) bedroom gazing longingly into Eva's eyes as you make sexy time with yourself, then the following photo may come as a shock to you. In that case, quickly run to your closet, grab your favorite Penthouse and go to your happy place. For the strong willed 'nothing can shock me' types, check out this pic:

I'd like to call for a ban of make up on the grounds that it is the equivalent of 'false advertising'. The madness has to stop.

I saw this video of someone drawing (in fast forward) a car using only MS Paint. Check out the video cause you really need to see it to believe it. The end result looks pretty good, particularly given MS Paint's reputation as a program to let the kids play around with if your looking to distract them for five minutes.

In any case, it prompts me to ask the question, what is the best picture you have ever drawn using only MS Paint? If you want to share your MS Paint creations, post your pictures in the Swollen Pickles forum.

Well this picture is a little on the freaky side. Be disturbed or amused, it's your call. It reminds me of one of those nail, face impression things. Maybe the driver stopped suddenly and the person in the back wasn't wearing a seat belt?

Click on the image if you want to view more weird stuff, that site has a buffet of freaky shiznit.