Two Time Grammy Winner

Have got the AFL Grand Final pre game 'entertainment' on the television behind me - two time Grammy winner Irene Cara (who?) is bouncing around on top of a stage in the shape of the Toyota logo - oh, What A Feeling from Flashdance, with attendant cheergirls in pink spandex. I have to ask, what did she get her second Grammy for? All the club colours around the stage, in prayer to the Toyota corporate dollar - cynical, moi?

And oh yay, the Australian Idol finalists singing Waltzing Matilda. Or rather, murdering it - shit, I even prefer John Williamson singing it after the haka at the rugby. And just when I thought how they could improve on the pre game show, what with half an hour still to go, here come the Young Divas, aka Idol contestants of the past. Gee, I wonder which channel is showing the AFL?

I don't mind Ricki Lee though - no, not going to say why lol - but again, the choice of song, Chicago You're The Inspiration. Is this the Superbowl or something? No, here's some Aussie content, the club songs, always the highlight of the game - NOT. And no doubt that fucking Holy Grail song will make an appearance.

Okay, I have to admit that Daryl Braithwaite's Little Darling isn't that bad of an Australian song. Up There Cazaly however, is not.

Better go or this will really turn into a boring live-blog - yes, not that it wasn't before I know.

Paul

Baghdad Burning

When is it going to get better?

I hate to - well, I should rather say I dislike to - go on about the same boring subjects every so often, but yes, it is back to Iraq for this post, apologies to those not interested. Yes, you can feel free to switch off now.

A total curfew on all pedestrian and motor traffic has been announced for most of the weekend, running from Friday evening, Iraq time, through to Sunday morning. Obviously intelligence is about expecting some big attack on Saturday.

Over six and a half thousand Baghdadis died violent deaths in July and August, with more bodies turning up with evidence of torture than 'clean' deaths. The UN's chief anti-torture expert, Manfred Nowak, apparently suggested torture in Iraq now is worse than it was during Saddam's reign.

A new book out by investigative journalist Bob Woodward asserts that the Bush administration has misled the American public over the chaos in Iraq - the Administration has countered by saying that the death toll is public knowledge. That may be so, but Woodward has said that there is an attack on US forces once every fifteen minutes, 800 attacks a week - we all hear about the Iraqi on Iraqi violence, but the attacks on US forces have gone under the radar a bit.

There was a secret report from the US intelligence community back in April, asserting that Iraq had become the cause celebre of the jihad movement, and forecast a worsening in violence going into 2007. In the run up to the September 11 commemorations earlier in the month, Bush said things were getting better in Iraq - the report got leaked about ten days ago, and the White House testily released extra pages this week. Hopefully that blunts any momentum the 'good news Republicans' were getting heading into the mid terms.

'Not only does this American finding have the ring of truth about it, but millions of ordinary people in Britain, Europe, the US and far beyond have reached the same bleak conclusion from a daily torrent of news, analysis and information that is freely available to all. It needs neither spy satellites, informers, nor highly trained analysts to observe the rage and fury that has been generated by Iraq...'

Oh, and going back to earlier in the month, there was a plan to lessen the insurgency in Baghdad by building walls all around the city, sand berms mostly, and lessen the amount of exit and entry roads in. A city of five million people, seemingly busy enough killing each other, and they think that building a wall around the place will calm things down?

Another 4000 American troops got their tour of duty extended, and the head of the US Army didn't submit a budget request to Rumsfeld, protesting that the army didn't have enough money to continue the operation in Iraq and also

Not to mention Afghanistan, another war in the process of hotting up - another Canadian soldier killed today, the total death toll for Canada there up to 37 since 2002, but the tenth death this month. The Brits are going through more ammunition than they have since WW2, this after one of the defence ministers in London said they would probably not have to fire a shot. Reminds of of the Americans thinking they would be greeting with flowers in Iraq in 2003. Iran and North Korea are still out there, researching on nukes as well.

WMDs, the 45 minute lead time for Saddam to use them, and Mission Accomplished on the USS Lincoln seems so long ago now. Was this what it was like towards the latter part of US involvement in Vietnam? Although back then, at least there was a North Vietnamese government to have peace talks with - this time around, it is only the insurgents and militias you can talk to, in the middle of a civil war, 'Baathists and dead-enders' I believe was the term.

Where is the good news? Is it ever going to get better there? What will the long term effect be - you could make an argument that Al Qaeda is partly tied up in the CIA's response to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, nearly thirty years ago now, or the current Iraqi fiasco could be traced back to the 1991 Gulf War or the Iran Iraq war, or the Iranian revolution even. Iran of course supporting Hizbullah, opposed to Israel, going back at least to 1948, or 1917 and the Balfour Declaration.

Mao Zedong apparently said of his reaction to the French Revolution, by saying it's too early to tell. I wonder what people in 200 years time will think - with global warming, perhaps living on the Himalaya tropical islands...

Being flippant, hockey season is about to start, and the Mets are into the playoffs - that's good news.

Paul

Rolling Eyes Here

For 99% of the season, I avoid The Footy Show like the plague, but sometimes when I channel flick, as I did about ten minutes ago, and see Peter Sterling with that Devo red button hat on, singing Whip It, or Paul Harrogan trying to do a Liam Gallagher with Wonderwall, moments such as these it doesn't seem so bad.

Mario Fenech dying a slow death with the Proclaimers Misery To Happiness was simply misery though. And why would any feral audience member wear a shirt that isn't Storm or Broncos? It's like celebrating a losing season - and yes, I did have my tongue in cheek there.

Come on the Broncos!

Pauly

In Agony Can Sometimes Be Beauty

I think the quote is somewhat related to what happened at Port Arthur ten years ago - that's how I interpret it anyhow. Beautiful picture, beautiful sentiment.

Ende - for this post.

The Brownlow Must Be Just Around The Corner

Hmm, I have been away for a week, so no new entries have been added until the seven earlier this morning. And this blog isn't really the happening place of the web even when I am posting. However, when I looked at my reader stats last night, they had skyrocketed - in proportion to my usual readership when I am away, keeping it in context.

On further investigation, 90% of them seemed to be google searches for Rebecca Twigley, the girlfriend of Aussie Rules footballer Chris Judd - or are they even still together anymore? It's been a while since I checked, or was interested. And it is somewhat bizarre to think of all the stuff I write about on this thing, that what is searched for most is Ms Twigley. I mean, I'm not even an Aussie Rules fan.

Of course, the Brownlow Medal, best and fairest AFL player awards, are on tonight. When the girlfriends get all decked out to show themselves off at their best - I mean, the last time this site mentioned Twigley was two years ago even. Although it was a 'nice' red dress that she wore from memory.

It's funny, in an annoying way.

Paul

Day The Finale - Sept 24

Oh, that's what my dream this morning was about - a murder had taken place in a tall building, at first I think in Brisbane, but later it appears to be somewhere in the States - tall building still under construction in fact. Then I am part of the CSI investigating team, or is it Law and Order and the cops - we have to go to Siberia to figure a portion of the case out - I go with two women detectives, there is something about the international date line and us gaining an extra day in Siberia, but that is actually going the wrong direction unless we are Oz to Alaska or something. Then one of the female detectives has to communicate with her tribe, she is Inuit or Siberian or something.

Back to real life Tassie, didn't do too much yesterday, went into Launceston, had a look around, did a bit of shopping, had KFC for lunc - always a good idea at the time, halfway through eating it you think why did I make this choice. Tried finding the Colorado shoes that I wanted, all over Tassie the smallest shoe size was 8 - think I waill order something at Chermside tomorrow if they still don't have my size, either at Colorado itself or Williams. Saw the 9/11 WTC photo book that I want, at two bookstores, $120 in Aussie money, so at least I know it should be in stock up north.

Bought Zoolander on DVD, it was cheap LOL. Decided not to get my photos developed in Tas, fingers crossed will be cheaper at home as well. Had a coffee, look at menswear stores, bought another shirt, this time at Target, and felt all shopped out - we were going to grab Chinese in town, and heat it back up for dinner, but we were 15 mins late after the Mee Wah had closed for its lunch time.

Had sausage rolls for tea and watched 3 DVDs - Grease, Zoolander and Mallrats - well, I saw three, V fell asleep half way through the last two.

Day Six - Sept 23

Now that was a second half I should have watched, but with the 11pm broadcast for Tassie, it was midnight by the state of halftime where the Broncs were getting flogged 20 to 6 - went to sleep not happy, read in the paper this morning, in one result slot, as opposed to 6 pages of Aussie Rules, that must have been the turnaround of the season, the Broncs into a Grand Final on the back of a 37-20 win. There will be enough replays of the pivotal points of the game in the next week.

Dream report from last night I dream that the next book in one of the fantasy series I read, either Robert Jordan or Steve Erikson, brought in time travel from modern day Earth back to those worlds, whether an earlier time on Earth or whatever. The time travel bit was written in purple, the 'normal' stuff in black, and it just was utter crap writing wise, but then again, what does it say about my dream world, to have that as a plot line.

Oh, and there was a part in the dream/book where there was a gay person from here and now saying that things were better in the modern era than in these fantasy worlds. I don't know whether I was one of the time travellers, or whether it was writing purple at the same time as the actual time travel - Never Ending Story plot device? You get sucked into the book?

Day Five - 22 Sep

Another strange dream this morning - can't remember too much of it now, but the part I do remember is going into a 17th or 18th century era museum, it feels Austrian for some reason, and then a school tour is organised to restore the museum a bit more with some more antiques. There was more but it has just slipped away too quickly with wakefulness.

Today we were out of the motel by 9.30 and headed to Northgate, one of the shopping malls in northern Hobart - I was looking for nice shoes from Colorado which are also stocked in Williams, but the best I could get was in central Hobart at a size eight - no such luck at Northgate, but picked up Mallrats and Foo Fighters latest, which were both in the bargain bin already, well impressed to see Mallrats there, and got a nice long sleeved T-shirt from Westco. Had eggs benedict for brekkie, and V asked where I had learned about that dish - of course, I had to say Canada with the post WW Saturday brekkies, hmm.

Then off to Island Markets in a shed on a side street in Glenorchy - just had a wander around, not much of interest - apart from the live fish tanks - for seafood, not for pets. Headed out on the highway via Bridgewater and Brighton, we were thinking of heading to the animal park there, but when filling the petrol tank, the wind absolutely cut right through me, and rainclouds weren't too far off, so I made the decision not to go - there was querying about that from the other three, but it soon pissed down and my judgement was as sound as Solomon's.

Stoppef for lunch at Ross again, another chicken pie, with an added vanilla slice - took more pics inside the St John's Anglican Church, and then the rain was almost sleet like, all the way from Ross to Perth. Got home at about 3.30, dropped P and T off, and went to visit L, dropping off an eckle from Ross bakery as we did so.

B came around to be babysat for the evening, we went and got sausages from the butcher, potatoes from the greengrocer, dropped a postcard with Postperson Pat (as in Patricia), and V had a chat with the doctor's wife - all very Mount Thomas village like.

Dropped the luggage off at base camp, went to the supermarket for shopping, and am now about to relax - although they are showing the wrong footy on TV, Swans v Dockers, should be Bulldogs v Broncos, but that won't be shown until 11pm - grrr.

Latest Tassie Trip Day Four - 21 Sept

I have having weird vivid dreams on this trip. Overnight it started off in a ragged convoy of troops and equipment in some tunnel in the States - it appears Washington got a direct nuclear hit and New york was hit in one of the suburbs - the Bronx perhaps - and that was it for WWIII, as far as the US was concerned. It then morphed into an Aussie Idol audition, and I was sticking close to one of the 'hot picks'. There was also an earlier sequence involving V, but that's all I remember of it...

Today, we got into town at about 9.30, and P and T went off for brekkie, while V and I headed off for the central tourism info booth. I wanted to see how much and what time the double decker bus trip around town was - 90 minute trip, $20, first bus off the rank was 10am - good timing on our part, because the next trip would have been at five to midday. We were the first people on and therefore got first dibs on the upper deck front seat - score! I was bouncing with excitement basically before the bus took off.

Went through Battery Point and Sandy Bay, the trendy and expensive parts of town before getting to the casino - the first legalised casino in Australia. Wrest Point before 1974 was a motel, before 1930 was farmland, and I think was a whaling station run by convicts before that. Then out to under Mount Wellington and the Cascade Brewery - there was actually a sprinkling of snow on the mountain today, I think I got the remains of it once the colud lifted - got a couple of good shots of the brewery as well. The ride was a bit bumpy at times, was windy today, although the driver said the double decker could take 25 degrees of tilt before it would keel over.

Back through town and then through the domain up to Government House and the Botanic Gardens before coming back into town. Hopped off the bus, met up with P and T for lunch - fish and chips on the waterfront. Lots of food and we threw more than a few chips out. Off to the Maritime Museum, which V commented seemed to be a very male attraction, out of about 20 others in the place at the same time, there was only one other woman, and V was bored out of her brain. Good whaling history bit, with video and all - icky, disgusting, but I'm sure if a video of an abattoir was shot and shown, it would be just as disgusting.

Tried to do a bit of shopping, but nowhere had the shoes I wanted - some nice stuff in Roger David, but not in the mood to pay $50 to $70 for a shirt. Headed off to St David's Cathedral - was open, which surprised V. Absolutely awesome, and we were the only two there - V sat in a pew, while I took pictures. Lovely.

Met up with P and T again and had milkshakes from Donut King, then was back out to the motel. For all of about five minutes before V, P and I headed off to Centro Glenorchy and especially the Big W there. I went to Ed Harry, bought my first pure white shirt in I don't know how long, and then headed into Big W, where they have self service check outs now - along with a return that V had, it took about 25 minutes to get out of the place - my tiredness and a bit of crankiness kicked in.

Caught the news - supposed to be 100 kay winds over the state tomorrow morning - and then headed to the pub next door for tea. Had a T-bone steak, whell done, and triple ice cream, as well as about $15 down the slot machines, and a beer. Oh mi god, I cannot rave enough about the food at the Carlyle Hotel in Glenorchy - the steak was well done, not the usual smidgeon above medium you get, and the ice cream was to die for. So much better than the usual pub meal - and the pub itself was very open and airy - even the gaming room wasn't dingy.

Could not eat one more smidgeon of food, even if it was just a wafer - a la Monty Python LOL.

Latest Tassie Trip Day Three - 20 Sept

It's been an age since I've been in a camping ground, and even though we are just in a cabin, rather than a tent, the feeling of living on top of each other, the freshness of the grass and trees after a reasonable amount of rain, very nice.

Had some weird dreams last night - one of which K had travelled to Oz before kicking on to Africa (via Darwin and India for some reason, on Delhi Airlines), but before getting on the plane I didn't have a visa for India, simple me thinking that as a Commonwealth country I was allowed in anyways - K, of course, had her visa months ago.

Second dream was somewhat weirder even - I was at work, in a windowless office by myself (the layout of the office reminded me of Richmond Gaol, actually), whereas everyone else had windows, and weren't working just by themselves, usually two to an office. Being by myself for 10 hours a day was causing me stress, and I was maybe close to another breakdown, my boss LD (from the Ministry back in Wellington) called me by phone to call her into the office.

Then it morphed into another dream, whereby my contact lense was stuck in my eye, so I had to take the entire eyeball out - accidentally snapping the optic nerve, so we sorted the contact lens out, but when I put the eyeball back in, hoping I would be able to see, the reality of the optic nerve going meant that I was now blind in the left eye. I think it actually woke me up to check that I could see out of both eyes because the dream had turned so realistic or terrifying.

We left Richmond about 9am, and had breakfast at Maccas at Sorrell - stopped myself getting run over at the drive thru, which was nice - and then drove down to Port Arthur. Found a Hobart FM station (HOFM, named Aich Oh, rather than Ho) to get the Steve Irwin service - oh, and there has been a coup in Thailand, which is the big news story internationally - Thaksin was overseas at the UN General Assembly or something.

Anyways, listening to Steve Irwin's memorial service while going down the peninsulas to the Port Arthur area - good lookout to the Tasman park, then the Tessellated Pavement, the Tasman Arch, the Devil's Kitchen and the Blowhole. Absolutely stunning scenery, and hope it comes out in the photos.

Off down to Port Arthur, when I was in the car, I imagined how it must have been for the cops racing down the same roads in 1996. Decided to do the general admission and the two side trips, so lots of walking, lots of cruising.

Before the cruises we did the Government Gardens and the churches, then off to the Isle of the Dead, where the Port Arthur graveyard was, and then off to the Point Puer Boy's Prison, where they tried to rehabilitate the young Brits before they had youth centres in the UK - there were only six of us, four being the usual suspects, and me being the only boy, was picked as both the good and bad boy, and the guide was interacting with me in front of the others - I did the better job as the bad boy. Must have been the beanie, which V suggested made me look like a crim.

Went to the Memorial Garden for That Shooting, and then up to the Penitentiary, Military Barracks, Commandant's Quarters, Hospital and Seperate Prison. All very good, all very striking, all very tiring.

Headed to Hobart, got lost trying to find the motel in Glenorchy, the light on the sign was on the blink and the map was inconclusive. We got here, got BBQ Idol pizza from across the road, and flopped into bed, figuratively and literally. I have a few ideas of what I want to do tomorrow, but the others are looking more to shopping...

Latest Tassie Trip Day Two - 19 Sept

Flights down, Sydney and Launceston, were uneventful, apart from being delayed for ten minutes as they reconfigured runways at Sydney, and there was a bit of turbulence coming into Launceston.

Headed into Mount Thomas for lunch at the Deli, at approximately 2 o'clock. V had a ham and cheese baguette while I had the works bagel - well, bagel of roast beef, artichoke, apricot chutney and swiss cheese - was yum! We then pottered around for most of the afternoon, picked up some cheesecake for desert that night, and then headed to L's for dinner. Roast chicken, parsnips and the rest, with the raspberry cheesecake for dessert - along with A Current Affair, Futurama, 50 Years of TV News, and a bit of Idol. Most of the conversation was about the TV or the work thing with V and L. Was a good meal and is always a good evening out with D and L.

Dropped around to M and S to drop off I's present - V got talking to M while I watched Austar - Friends and Drew Carey - while sometimes switching onto the conversation. Got home, packed and went to sleep - although V only slept half the night, apparently as having Coke Zero keeps her awake.

Woke up at about 8 today, got ready, chucked the bags in the back, picked up P and T, our trip buddies, got petrol and were then on the road. First stop was Campbell Town, nice church and a log to take pictures of. Then it was to Ross, to partake in Scottish fudge, yummy bakery goods, second oldest bridge in the state/country, old churches and prison grounds, and lots of walking and photos. Then it was a drive through Oatlands for some reason, we just drove through though. Then we took the back road to Richmond, which was very scenic, very pretty, but I didn't take any pics surprisingly enough. For about the first time all day - it is very dry in southern Tassie, the land almost looks like it is begging the sky for water, and the sky is blithely ignoring it. Or so I will title one of the pics that way.

Got into Richmond about 12.30, and vegged out in the cabin for about half an hour, watching the Peter Brock state funeral - media overkill tomorrow for Steve Irwin's thing, what's the bet. Then into town, had another pie and sausage roll for lunch, on top of the chicken pie for morning tea. Wandered up and down Richmond's main street, went to the Old Hobart Town model, got lost in a couple of mazes, came back up and saw the Gaol - which was worthwhile, even though I said going to Port Arthur should suffice - Port Arthur is mainly ruins, whereas Richmond is complete.

Seeing the early history of Tasmania is wrenching, absolute nasty place to be in. Solitary confinement, floggings, executions, brutality seems to breed brutality and the echoes of all that early history seems to stay in the walls, in the bricks and all. Went to the bridge and oldest Catholic Church (1823 and 1835 respectively) and wandered the Catholic graveyard for a bit. There is a hill there which looks perfect for Thriller or Silent Hill, dead come to life graveyard scene or something. Then went down to the bridge again, and fed ducks, while geese honked and tried to chase me. After the bread had gone, the geese calmed down and I went by the riverside, very calming, the sound of the birds, the water bubbling away, was nice.

Came home to watch the news, then out to the pub for tea - cajun chicken, yum. A normal Tuesday evening of watching All Saints and off to bed shortly.

Latest Tassie Trip Day One - 18 Sept

Yes, I was that annoying person on the peak hour train with a suitcase today - mind you, I haven't caught a train before 8 ayem in a long time, and on the 7.15 this morning, the main issue was all these freaking schoolkids - compared to which, I was just a minor irritant. I hope.

Generation Z is in for a nutty time - I can't imagine living through a mobile phone almost 24/7, and the girl behind me couldn't get off it on the train trip - and the most boring subjects! It's all very well to communicate more, but is the mindless conversation worth having? They probably think everything the talk about is life changing, but the lie that adults tell us as teens, that they are the best years, most important of your life - school is not important in the big scheme of things. And yes, I was in the freaks/geeks category.

And the second time in three days that I have made myself sound old, after the 'I'm too young to remember Monty Python' on Friday.

Anyways...

There was a suspicious looking guy in the check in queue this morning - he kept kicking his bag forward until it was right at the top of the queue - just so, placed perfectly. Just a duffel bag, white guy, scruffy beard. Just the precision with which he placed the bag was a bit jarring - and for me, who likes to affect a been there done that attitude to air travel, that's saying something.

Just boarded the plane a couple minutes ago, and 9/11 must have flashed through my head. We are on a 737, which certainly looks like it has as much punch as the 767s hijacked on that day - to my embarrassment I made a mental note there were no Ay-rabs or obvious Middle Easterners - embarrassing for my lefty Guardian reading credentials, no racial profiling here - ha, I wish. And the film United 93 is bouncing around my head, the somewhat fake pleasantries and politeness of the passengers, the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness once the plane had left the tarmac.

I just wish at times like this that I cared about Paris Hilton, Justin Timberlake and the rest of those trashy magazine stories - ah well, Economist, here I come LOL.

I'm Feeling Old

We went out for a work team building type exercise dinner on Friday night, a few drinks and a meal out, primarily because as a team we hardly ever go out together, ever. And so it happened Friday night, if you want to be technical, three team members didn't turn up - but we had two ring-ins, so it almost equalled out - and that's another thing, it was supposed to be team members only, but somehow some people managed to invite friends from other sections, but others didn't.

Anyways, while we were gorging ourselves on Vietnamese - everyone buy a plate, and everyone tuck into it, and why do I always seem to go for the foods that aren't hoovered up as soon as they get out? Always seems to be the case that my choices have the most left overs. Anyways, everyone is eating, everyone is starting to get full, and I remember that skit out of Monty Python's Meaning Of Life, where the guy eats and eats and eats, and one last chocolate wafer and he explodes.

F, the girl across the table from me starting relating with best scenes out of Life of Brian and Holy Grail - the Python movie, not that stupid AFL anthem - while K, the girl next to her says she was too young to get any Monty Python reference. Oh mi god, I felt old at that stage of the night - K feigning ignorance is completely nice and everything, one of my better friends at work I think, but she is only 23 or 24. And I feel even older now I realise I wrote ONLY 23 or 24 in the sentence before this one.

Was talking to S who was on my left hand side about how I feel about work at the moment. Said to her that after seemingly the longest time getting comfortable in my job, getting good at it, I can basically sleepwalk through it now - not saying I am the best, just saying that I am the best I can currently be, always room for improvement.

However, if I was to look for another job at the moment, that would lock me into being in Brisbane for a while longer, and I'm not sure whether I want that. Beyond paying off this godawful debt I have been having hang over my head for the last few years, I'm not sure what to do beyond that - it is too scary, too complex, too open to even think about, and I shy away from any sort of decision making beyond clearing the X number of dollars I still have to go.

History repeating in a way, I was too deer in headlights about the whole going and staying in Canada thing as well - but I can't remember what the circuit breaker was there. And really truly at the moment, I don't think I want to remember. Man, I must have been thinking way fuzzily back then, to not realise my job, my finances and my relationship were all getting screwed up. The wonders of hindsight.

I do still love Canada though - maybe more as a concept than an actual living, breathing place though. Hockey, snow, stunning landscapes more so than finding a job, finding a place to live and all that. I do shy away from the thought of ever living there again - but that shying away from line is a busy busy place at the moment. I shy away from living in Canada more than most other possible decisions though.

Anyways, back to the thought of changing jobs, I gave S a couple of hypotheticals I think I would like to try out - being a travel agent or working for an emergency line organisation like Lifeline. Of course, it was about six months ago that one of the bigger travel companies in the country was advertising for new recruits to train up - me, worried about applying for another job while I still had a lot of debt to pay off said no, not looking for another job at the moment. Travel would be an interesting field to get into, and, with my customer service focus, I think I would be good at the customer handling side of it, and of course, have always been interested in travel anyways.

Lifeline or something similar, I think they are only volunteer workers anyways, but it would still look good on a CV, and I think I would be good at that and have a high burn out threshold. Perhaps, but I am at a good point in my life (even if I don't know what to do next), and have been there done that on the depression thing, so think it would be good and interesting.

L, on the other side of me, was asking what I was up to for the weekend - I said I was probably going out to a movie - which one - Inconvient Truth I replied - who is in it, what's it about - Al Gore, and it's about global warming. A dull 'oh' was the only reply to that one, followed up after a short period by who is Al Gore? Yes, I do have dull topics and interests, although P and F sounded more interested - they were thinking of seeing Thank You For Smoking, so more along the lines of my movie preferences than L.

So, I just saw that a couple of hours ago - is good, in a scary end of the world type way. The way Antarctica and Greenland are melting hmm, scary - and Gore says that at the end of the last Ice Age the North American glaciers flooded the Atlantic, screwing up the Gulf Stream cooling Europe down for another thousand years. All in the planetary insignificant timeframe of ten years. Day After Tomorrow indeed. Also the CO2 levels, and the population explosion, blah blah, apocalypse. Well worth watching, but I think the majority of the population can wait until the DVD release, I'm sure the audience at the cinema was a bit like preaching to the converted.

And the advertising slot immediately before the movie was for V8 Supercars. Yes, let's burn lots of petrol for entertainment - I guess if they make it carbon neutral it will be okay.

United 93, Thank You For Smoking and Inconvenient Truth - I have weird taste in movies, don't I? Although at the height of winter (the summer season in North America) I did do my fair share of Mission Impossibles, X-Men and Superman, just to name three popcorn franchises.

'What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?' - Lord Byron

About the best quote of the day I have seen in the day calendar for a while. Even though it sounds suspiciously close to a Missy Higgins lyric LOL. Followed up by a lesser but more to the point quote -

'Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they do not like him.' - Marlene Dietrich

I was going to write something about how some of us ended up at a gay bar on Friday, and how I'm not sure whether in being unfazed about it that means I am tolerant and undiscriminatory about that whole subject, or whether I make a point of it all, look at me, I'm in a gay bar, hooray hooray, and making a big deal about it. I think I do the quiet toleration thing, but sometimes I worry whether I am just making a point about it all. Doesn't usually happen like that, but on Friday I was just a bit over it all, and quietly observing.

I was thinking of writing a paragraph about it all, but wasn't sure where it was heading, what the point of it would be, but thought I would lay it out as above anyways. I do truly believe in equality for all, lefty Guardian reader that I am, but on Friday night I just wasn't sure what I was doing there - was in the mood for dancing - nothing like a good bass line - but no one else was, and then I just ran out of enthusiasm I think.

Off on holidays for the week ahead, to see V in Tassie, so will report back probably Monday week.

Take care of yourselves, and each other.

Paul

Aussie Values

Another wonderful idea out of Canberra today - all tourists and immigrants to the country may have to sign off on a section of the visa confirming they will abide by 'Australian values'. Not to worry too much, it is an idea out of the opposition, so it won't take place for at least eighteen months, maybe five or eight years.

Australian values such as respecting the country's laws, political system, religions, cultures, women and hard work. Because the current way people come into the country, and the unspoken need to respect all that already needs to be toughened up, obviously. It will catch out any terrorists, obviously. It will be a good use of money to reprint entry visa forms, obviously. It will not make the country or any potential government look stupid.

This of course being a one-upmanship from the Prime Minister last week saying that a section of the Muslim population not integrating, needing to learn English quicker, and to respect women.

'The refugee and human rights advocate Marion Le said the one-upmanship between Mr Beazley and Mr Howard had become ridiculous.

"Already people sign forms to guarantee all sorts of things like they will not rip off the social security system, and there are threats to cancel their visas."'

Because of course there is no social security fraud in this country. And by writing mateship into the visa application, by getting immigrants to sign up to it, everyone will be mates after that and there will be no further social conflict - or worse - in Australia, ever.

Yeah, yeah, I know, sarcasm doesn't become me.

Paul

The Yanks Don't Do Subtle

Am just watching the second part of this Path To 9/11 thing that the ABC network in the States produced as a little commemoration for the Obvious Five Year Memorial. There was a lot of flak Stateside of the thing slagging off the Clinton Administration for being more interested in interns than terrorism, and apparently there was a lot of last minute cutting to the thing over that way, but we got the Monica Lewinsky 'pathetic' comment from Harvey Keitel in all its glory.

But this coverage of the actual attacks in 2001 themselves is so Over The Top. The super slow motion coverage, the flickery camera angles - we can all blame the success of 24 for that - the heroic poses, the call for action, any action. It's like fucking Pearl Harbor, with Harvey Keitel instead of Ben Affleck. What utter tosh - especially when you compare this to the movie United 93. And there are a lot of differences between what happened according to United 93 and what is happening according to Path To Stupidity.

Yes, I love those long, lingering shots of the actors playing Condi and Cheney and Tenet. Like, whatever. Maudlin to the extreme, looks like Michael Bay directed it - the question with United 93 and World Trade Center being made too soon after the event, maybe not, but it has to be quality to qualify.

I'm just shaking my head in astonishment at the banality of it. Fuck super slo-mos of plane crashes. Give me the real coverage anyday - terrifying, and you don't have to put music to it or slow it down or anything. Replays I mean, I don't intend to seem to be asking for another act of mega terrorism.

Quote of the day that I just saw on a 9/11 related thing on SBS -

Does God's light guide us or blind us?

I think it was in reference to the terror man can inflict on man, but I'm not sure - is a good one to ponder though.

Paul

Another Useless State Election

Had an election in Queensland yesterday, after a four week campaign. Absolutely nothing changed in the big picture - a seat or two swapped parties as it were, but nothing else. And this with a government that has been in power for eight years, has seemed to be in crisis for the three years that I have been in country - from electricity, to health, to water - and suddenly during the election campaign comes up with a plan for the issues. Like, what were you doing the previous seven and a half years?

And they may have lost one or two seats, but still have two thirds the seats in the state parliament. With a swing towards them - the pundits have been saying it was an election the opposition lost, they were pretty disorganised, and their best campaigner was out of the campaign for a crucial four days with a family death. But still, the government won the seat where the health issues were most prominent, what the hell is going on with that?

And also, what was up with the full on kisses the premier gave his wife at the campaign 'launch' and also the victory speech. There is no need in politics to show us that, people, it would put me off voting for him even more. If I could vote of course, being a Kiwi citizen over this side of the ditch.

Another three years of screw ups, I can see it now.

Paul

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out

Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a news hound. That I didn't care what happened with politics in Canberra, Wellington, Ottawa, London or Washington, let alone the wars in Baghdad, Kandahar and the rest. That I felt I could just believe everything that came out of the various governments and the media, and not feel a need to question things, and to keep my own opinions, rather than accept what is said at face value.

That, for instance, I could believe that there had been a water tight case against 'Jihad Jack', who trained doing something in Afghanistan for a couple of years. That the conviction in the case was thrown out on a technicality, rather than apparently because some of the evidence was tainted by the threat of torture in Pakistan or something. That the subsequent control order was due to evidence that he is a likely threat, rather than possibly just a petty act of revenge.

And wouldn't a second trial for Mr Thomas kind of go against the long established precedent of double jeopardy? Not just a so so movie starring the fab Ashley Judd, it is the idea that if you go through a trial and get acquitted, you don't get hauled up on the same charges again. I think the idea behind it is that you wouldn't continually be pursued by a vendetta from the state or someone with lots of money to pay lawyers forever.

But New South Wales is set to fix that 'loophole' for serious cases, such as murder, gang rape and terrorism apparently. Fresh charges can be brought if substantial new evidence comes to light. The Premier down that way will be able to highlight his tough on crime credentials in the state election next year, and the Federal Justice Minister has commended NSW for getting on with double jeopardy reform. And the legislation could be retroactive, cases already thrown out could be looked at again.

What the fuck? Next there will be legislation to approve what is going on in Guantanamo and the CIA secret prisons, that confessions under torture will be admissable in court, and that people can be locked up for five years (and counting) without any charges being brought.

It is amusing, in an oh my god we are so in trouble, to hear the US President blithely admitting that yes, we did have CIA super secret prisons where we had the worst of the worst, but it is alright now, because we are transferring them to Gitmo, and if Congress puts through the correct legislation, everything will be sunshine. Just two months out from the mid term elections, where the Republicans are looking vulnerable, for the first time in five years - am so surprised with the timing of the President and the Administration bringing up all this again.

The President will be in New York on Sunday, at Shanksville and the Pentagon on Monday. After not mentioning Osama bin Laden by name for ages, he mentioned him ten times in a speech yesterday. Last week, Rumsfeld said that those who disagreed with how the war on terror was being run were like those people that appeased Hitler back in the 1930s, that the battle today was like the battles against fascism and communism in the last century.

Any recent set piece speeches on Iraq or Hurricane Katrina? I thought not.

Good Guardian comment piece on what will be the dominant theme of the weekend.

'The weekend is to be wall-to-wall 9/11. Not glorifying terrorism? You must be joking...

Terrorism is 10% bang and 90% an echo effect composed of media hysteria, political overkill and kneejerk executive action, usually retribution against some wider group treated as collectively responsible. This response has become 24-hour, seven-day-a-week amplification by the new politico-media complex, especially shrill where the dead are white people...

I would ask Bin Laden whether he had something special up his sleeve for the fifth anniversary. Why waste money, he would reply. The western media were obligingly re-enacting the destruction and the screaming, turning the base metal of violence into the gold of terror. They would replay the tapes and rerun the footage ad nauseam, and thus remind the world of his awesome power...

The gruelling re-enactment of the London bombings in July and this weekend's 9/11 horror-fest are not news. They exploit grief and horror, and in doing so give gratuitous publicity to Bin Laden and al-Qaida...'

If I thought I could get away with posting the entire thing without boring everyone senseless - anyone still awake to this point? - I would have.

Coming back to a more local angle, the Prime Minister spoke about the need for some Muslim immigrants to Australia learning English and treating women with more respect. The Senate spent an hour debating the ongoing persecution and alienation of the Muslim community in the country, and then went onto more important issues.

'John Faulkner (ALP, NSW): "... I cannot pass over him using the rights of Australian women as an excuse to attack part of our community. When Mr Howard says migrants 'must be fully prepared to embrace Australian attitudes towards women', that is the dog whistle he is blowing.

"Ask yourself, what exactly are these attitudes?

"There are workplaces, as we all know, where women have been harassed, underpaid and ignored for promotion. There are community organisations where women's participation is limited to an auxiliary role. There are religious institutions where women are relegated to subservience. Women's total wages average just 66 per cent of male total earnings. Sixty per cent of minimum wage workers in Australia are women although less than 45 per cent of the workforce are women. Women in our defence forces continue to be victimised, bullied or harassed.

"So where should we look for the cause? Should we blame the 1 per cent of the Australian population who are Muslim? Or should we look at ourselves, our workplaces, our streets, our homes? Perhaps senators might even care to look at our Parliament. It is easy to find scapegoats in members of our community who look different. It is comfortable to pretend the flaws in our society are all the fault of others: the different, the foreign, the strangely dressed.

"Australians of faith deserve better from their Prime Minister than to be demonised for their religion. And Australians who suffer discrimination deserve better from their Prime Minister than to have their real problems blamed on imaginary hobgoblins."'

Of course, as well as being boring stuff out of Canberra anyway, a story such as this got buried by all the Steve Irwin and Peter Brock memorialising. Not even going to venture a dissenting opinion on those two stories, lest I be strung up like Germaine Greer.

Like I said at the start, sometimes I wish I could give a miss on all the geopolitical stuff going on, that I could live by immersing myself into a mixture of reality TV, celebrity gossip magazines and my circle of friends and family. Sometimes I wish that - mostly I don't.

Paul

Bloody Good Read

Wow. Anyone into epic fantasy, and I know that isn't everyone's cup of tea, get your hands on Steven Erikson's Malazan books. I think I mentioned that the first one, Gardens of the Moon, was pretty damned good, but the second, Deadhouse Gates, blew me away - in a literary sense of course.

Best description of swords and shields battle scenes in a fictional book I have read. Ever. And the fact that the army whose point of view you are reading it from is retreating across a continent for who knows how many months, overwhelmed, outnumbered, slaughtered - it has been a while since I have felt true compassion for characters out of a book. It is so damned unfair.

How good is this writing, about an impending battle -

'The named soldier - dead, melted wax - demands a response among the living... a response no-one can make. Names are no comfort, they're a call to answer the unanswerable. Why did she die, not him? Why do the survivors remain anonymous - as if cursed - while the dead are revered? Why do we cling to what we lose while we ignore what we still hold?

'Name none of the fallen, for they stood in our place, and stand there still in each moment of our lives. Let my death hold no glory, and let me die forgotten and unknown. Let it not be said that I was one among the dead to accuse the living.'

Wow. There is much, much more as good as that, over nine hundred pages in fact, and I could have mentioned more, but I don't want to ruin the plot beyond lots of battles and intrigues and sorcery and stuff. And I just bought book three which is over eleven hundred pages - it's been a while since I attempted a book that big...

Steven Erikson, mate, you are a champ. It's been a while since I enjoyed a fiction book so much.

Paul

Assassination, Fake

I can't remember the last time I read the Daily Mirror - it might have been when I was 'tasting' each of the British dailies to get a feel for which I felt most comfortable with, all the way back in August/September 1997 - if you haven't read my blog before, I settled on the Guardian - but today I have gone searching for a Mirror article referenced in a New York Times story. Crazy but true LOL.

The Times was doing a piece on the Channel Four mockumentary about Bush getting assassinated. In the film, this is due to take place in October 2007 in Chicago - the picture that has been going along with the story reminds me very much of what I have seen of Bobby Kennedy's killing back in 1968.

Didn't that also happen in Chicago? Or just the Democratic Convention of that year that basically looked like civil war on the streets about the whole Vietnam thing? This is from memory of archive footage on the History Channel I remind you, I wasn't around in 68 myself.

Anyways the assassination takes place against a similar backdrop of huge public protest against the Iraq war, and suspicion falls on a Syrian-American sniper or something. The important thing is that an interesting question arose from a Daily Mirror editorial, a situation which I don't think I have ever come across before.

'While Channel 4 chiefs are treading a fine line in terms of taste, it nevertheless provides dramatic food for thought. The continuing desperate violence in Iraq, the Taliban's resurgence in Afghanistan and the failure to capture Osama bin Laden are increasingly playing on the minds of Americans. The undoubted furore this will spark across the US and among the handful of Bush supporters in Europe must not obscure the real question facing us all.

Where is the War on Terror going? And how bad does it have to get before it gets better?'

It makes you think. Which is a good thing.

Paul

Let's Try This Video Blogging Lark

Fingers crossed...

The Joys Of Dial Up

Happy happy joy joy. The fun that ensues when you try to watch a six minute YouTube clip that you just saw on television a half hour before - and it takes about an hour to download three minutes. The clip in question was from The Daily Show, where Jon Stewart was mocking one of Dubya's speeches from last week - we here in Oz get the Daily Show in a weekly format about a week after it actually airs in the States.

Suffice to say it is a lot better to watch than take a play by play written approach to it, but the best part was that in the middle of saying the terrorists killing three thousand Americans on 9/11 - were they all Americans? I thought there were quite a few furriners in the casualty toll, but that is by the by.

While Bush was getting himself all worked up about 2001 being before the 'freedom agenda' in the Middle East, one of the press asked him what did Iraq have to do with that. Bush's face at that moment, puckering up as if he was sucking a hundred lemons, and then him asking what did Iraq have to do with what, emphasis on the what - classic. The World Trade Center, the journalist followed up, to which Bush said nothing - to which Jon Stewart cut away, but the President did splutter on a bit about trying to justify Iraqi Freedom.

Best laugh I have had in as long as I can remember, and Stewart than ad libbed with 'So why did you bring it up - no I didn't - yes you did - shut up' - and I don't have broadband to quickly download it, to bring it to my blog for the viewing pleasure. Of course, I am strange with my fascination of most things Americana though, especially Americana politicana.

Or how about that microphone being left on by that CNN anchor Kyra Phillips while she was in the bathroom and the President was doing a speech. Calling her sister in law a control freak, talking to the unidentified second party about 'those extended visits, hehehe', and telling the world that there are good men out there. I sure hope she has more than one brother, and how airbrushed is that official photo?

Broadband would be nice, there's just too much video coverage on the net nowadays - not like my day, when you had to walk through five miles of snow to catch the three hour round trip bus to get to the chatroom LOL.

OK, I'm rambling - more later

Paul