Blog comes to an end February 8, 2008
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My blog has really been dead for a while, but I though it best to officially end it – you know, closure and all that.
It’s in my personality not to be able to remain interested in something for long periods of time – so my humble little blog didn’t get updated all that often. But whenever I was outraged by something I’d always have to express myself. Increasingly I found myself becoming more and more cynical. My cynicism is deeply rooted now. If another Abu Ghraib, for example, happened tomorrow I’d probably just shrug my shoulders. I’ve lost the ability to be shocked. I used to need to scream out at the injustices in the world – now I feel like my voice is merely a whisper into a hurricane. I feel utterly powerless.
I hope one day I can regain my voice.
So long farewell, auf weidersehen good-bye…
I’m badass September 20, 2007
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This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
- fuck (12x)
- fucking (4x)
- sex (2x)
- crap (1x)
Ha, ha! I’ve sed “crap” once. Cool.
Classic Aussie award show moments September 17, 2007
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So “goddamn” and a message of peace is enough to make FOX go into meltdown. Which got me fondly remembering some pieces of Australian award shows:
Joan Rivers goes wild at the 2006 Logies:
Rove’s “fucking awesome” speech at the 2005 Logies:
A drunk Glenn Milne pushes Stephen Mayne off the stage at the 2006 Walkley Awards:
And while I’m at it, here is a short clip of excerpts taken from Summer Heights High, a fantastic new Australian school satire:
They don’t like to be rushed when it suits them December 14, 2006
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Survey indicates Iraqis in despair
More than 90 per cent of Iraqis believe the country is worse off now than before the war in 2003, according to new research obtained by Al Jazeera.
[SNIP]
Bush has said he is considering options for changing US policy in Iraq following the results of the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group report, but has said he will not be rushed into any decision.
Ah, I see. They can rush into a war that kills hundreds of thousands of people, but when it comes to changing strategy in the rushed war they must not be rushed. It makes perfect Bush sense.
Flour power December 14, 2006
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English test example #1:
In the English language there are many words which sound the same but have different meanings and spellings.
1. Flower/Flour
Which word fits correctly into this sentence?
The Australian Government lied about the seriousness of a package sent to the Indonesian Embassy in 2005. The package contained __________ however the Government claimed it was a “biological agent” of “murderous criminality.”
Howard’s bio-terror distortion
JOHN Howard and Alexander Downer sparked Australia’s biggest biological terror scare last year when they exaggerated test results to claim white powder sent to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra — later shown to be flour — was a “biological agent”.
Documents from ACT Pathology and the Australian Federal Police, obtained under freedom of information laws, show the microbiologist who examined the powder on June 1 last year and the AFP never called it a “biological agent” and described it as a commonly occurring bacteria.
[SNIP]
Despite this advice, the Government did not tell the media that no threat had been identified and the next day newspapers and other media gave huge prominence to the Government’s claims, running headlines saying the country had had a bio-terror attack.
New migrants will have to sit English exams and commit to following Australian laws under a new citizenship test being introduced by the federal government.
Just a slip of the nuclear weapon, I mean tongue, yeah, tongue! December 14, 2006
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I really like taking walks around my neighbourhood, and admiring the sweet smelling flowers along the way. Sometimes I’ll see an adorable dog or cute cat or Israeli nuclear weapons. Er- I mean, cute cats, cute cats.
Anyway, I like eating from different cuisines. Malaysian is spicy and creamy, Portuguese is crispy and fulfilling, while Israeli is all nuclear and weapony and Japanese Odon noddles are a great snack. Oh crap, I did it again. This is hard work.
Um… as I was saying, on the music front I like 70s American folk, Swedish new-wave, Israeli nuclear weapons and New Zealand hip-hip.
Fucking hell.
Olmert’s nuclear slip-up sparks outrage in Israel
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, faced calls for his resignation today after admitting – in an apparent slip of the tongue – that Israel has got nuclear weapons.
Articles on the invasion November 20, 2006
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Yesterday I read a terribly sobering and articulate opinion piece by Major-General Alan Stretton. It has an Australian perspective but is quality reading no matter where you are.
As Iraq continues to sink further into the quagmire of civil war, the leaders of the coalition of the willing continue to close their eyes to what is happening and keep repeating the untruths about how democracy in Iraq is starting to work. The remarkable thing is that while President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair are suffering the political consequences, our own Prime Minister is weathering the storm.
Click here to read the rest of the article, “Leave now or perish, Mr Howard” by Alan Stretton.
Another quality read is this piece by Michael Gawenda, titled “Don’t blame the victims”
A day after the result of the US mid-term elections made it clear that Americans had lost faith in George Bush in general and in his handling of the war in Iraq in particular, Bill O’Reilly, spruiker for all-out war against what he calls “Islamic fascism”, said he was sick and tired of the Iraqi people.
He was sick of hearing about Shiites and Sunnis and Kurds, sick to death of it. How ungrateful could they get, these people, after America had freed them from Saddam Hussein and had spent all that blood and treasure on liberating them?
This was despicable but not surprising. Populist pseudo-defenders of democracy like O’Reilly never did give a damn about the Iraqis and did not really pretend that they did.
Continue reading “Don’t blame the victims” by Michael Gawenda.
I’m not dead… October 11, 2006
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… just terribly lazy.Some interesting reasons why I haven’t updated for around a month:
- Porn.
- I’ve been reading a rather dense but compelling and wryly humorous novel, The Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq. Each chapter changes perspective, from the near future to the very far future. The protagonist is comedian Daniel, who finds himself associating with a cult-like group who believe aliens created human life and decides on cloning himself when he dies. Each person who intends to be cloned writes their life story, the book of their life, so that their future clones can understand who their predecessor was. The life book of Daniel, or Daniel1, takes up half the book. The alternate chapters are books written by Daniel24 and Daniel 25, who share their thoughts about who they thought Daniel1 was as well as catalogue their lives for the benefit of Daniel26, Daniel 27, Daniel 28 and so on.
It’s the first Houellebecq I’ve read, and I must admit I found it a little overwhelming at first. But I’ve come to embrace it and I’m really enjoying it. I think a second reading will be very beneficial.
- Porn.
- I’ve been watching lots of documentaries (as I usually do). The BBC film “Bush’s climate of fear” was one of the best in the past month. To quote from the site:
“A US government whistleblower tells Panorama how scientific reports about global warming have been systematically changed and suppressed. Some of America’s leading climate scientists claim to Panorama that they have been censored and gagged by the administration. “
- I’ve been listening to Daft Punk’s Homework a lot. I can’t believe it’s ten years old! It brings back a lot of memories yet it still sounds fresh and alive. 
- Porn.
- I’ve been getting into the drone band Earth. It was the cover of Pentastar: In the Style of Demons that first interested me in them. It was the music of Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method that made me fall in love with them.
- Our VCR is broke. Actually, it’s been broke for the last two years. It finally died this year. I’ve decided to get a VCR/DVD Recorder combo (I was going for a VCR/DVD player combo but frankly it would be a waste of money. Counting our Pioneer, 2 Playstation 2s, and our PC, we’ve got 4 appliances capable of playing DVDs, so I hardly I need another one).
And I have quiet a lot of VHS tapes, which will die one day, so archiving them to DVD will be fantastic. And I might be able to get some little clips onto the net, which would be fun (copyright laws are so fun to break 
).
In particular I’m thinking of the most weird ass porn flick I’ve ever seen. It’s called Dear Diary, and it’s about this woman in a wheelchair who meets a creepy guy in a park who gives her a magic diary (!). Write whatever you want and the diary will make it true, so says creepy park guy*. Hmmm… World peace? Immortality? The ability to fly? No. No. No. Her evil step-mother involved in a three-way? Yes! Yes! Oh Yes! You’ve got to love pron sensibilities.*Come to think of it, are there any non-creepy guys in heterosexual porn? From the assortment I’ve seen, no!- Wheelchair porn
- Getting irritated by Channel Nine. The great thing about Australian TV is that we get most HBO programs on free-to-air television. The Sopranos, Oz, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Rome, Carnivale, Six Feet Under all for free. The only problem is that most of these are shown on Channel Nine, who really hate quality programs. Rome was off air after two episodes (hopefully it will be back in the non-ratings period over summer) and the sixth series of The Sopranos has been moved from 10:40pm Wednesdays to 12:00am Tuesdays. Gah!!
- Michael Winterbottom’s film In This World. Michael Winterbottom is an insanely diverse film-maker. From the sci-fi of Code 46, to the trip down memory lane of the hugely influential Manchester music scene of 24-Hour Party People, the sex and music experiment 9 Songs and cataloguing the effects of war on a group of news crews in Welcome to Sarajevo.
In This World is the beautiful and harrowing tale of two Afghan refugees, making the long journey to Britain via the shady world of people smuggling. A very engrossing, emotional and artistic film. Something I won’t forget.
- Enjoying the Japanese noodle dish Yakisoba. Though the best Japanese cuisine place in our area closed down. I really miss them.
- Also: Porn.
There is no such thing as girlfriends and/or wives September 10, 2006
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Alan Didak is on the cover of today’s Age wishing for the media to intrude less into the lives of footballers. And I totally agree. Not because I believe in privacy or any of that namby-pamby shit, but because it’s a hindrance to fantasies for gay men all over Australia.
The thing I really hate about sport award ceremonies is the fact that you get to see footballers with their wives or girlfriends. It really kills the fantasy that I’ve built up over the preceding football season. It’s just not cricket to see Cameron Smith from the Storm side by side with his girlfriend. No, he’s MY boyfriend, bitch. (Well, at least in my deluded, though sexy, dreams.)
And today The Age has a lovely photo of Alan Didak in the middle of their sport section. He has such dreamy eyes, I could stare into them all day. Until, of course, I actually read the damn accompanying article, which quite rudely informed me that he has a girlfriend. Now his eyes aren’t the same. How dare they!!
Oh, and; also: Path to 9/11 has been switched off to the Collingwood/Bulldogs game on Fox Footy.
