Blogschool

Mum I'm on the Telly.

2008-10-21T09:11:00.001+11:00

We have it all on Film

2008-07-07T09:47:00.005+10:00

Hello World!!!!
Been so busy I have neglected all this blogging.
Nevermind.
I'm just another blogger now and dont have to do it for a living.
Just come back from Melbourne.
I traveled there to film the culmination of our documentary.
Mark is a dream subject an a wonderful human being.
He is also visually impaired and has AS.
Documentary making is full of ethical questions.
I was worried that Mark was going to die from the stress of going to Melbourne.
I am still worried that after all that excitement how will he ever come down to earth gently?
The trip was a huge success although we will remain tight lipped about actual events until after the program is aired.
Needless to say SBS is very interested in the film.
Now we have the enormous task of editing all the footage.
Will construct a trailer first up.
I feel that this will be a winner.
Ill keep you posted.

Blogschool is out forever

2008-05-25T08:40:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I resigned from the staff at the city college where I was teaching the blogging and the podcastin' one day a week.
I really enjoyed teaching there and I think I inspired a few students in some small way.
The management was strangely non plussed by my announcement.
It is a strange institution, the bureaucrats seem to out number the teachers 3 to 1
I think they are even glad to see the back of me.
I don't think they actually even understood what i was doing.
Getting total neophytes to produce an hour and a half of radio magazine programs a semester was quite a feat esp on the antiquated equipment they had but I had to drop something in order to concentrate on more creative projects.
Teaching is really draining.
Sometimes it sucks the life out of you.
I was doing way too much and it was making me an real unhappy camper.
I've got a new film to make after all.
And I should finish that album that been kicking around.
Seeing our dear friend pass away recently has made me reevaluate some things.
Everything is temporary here on earth.
Every minute is precious.
You've got to choose what you put your energy into.
Talking of energy I dont think they quite realise what the price of oil will do to the international student trade.
Cheap flights will disappear in the next year.
So it's a good time to get out.
Probably the greatest achievement from this blogging thing was talking my dear brother into blogging.
He had the advantage of being himself where as I was always being careful not to go to far on this one.
Sometimes he returns the favour by knocking out a blog that is a great opener for the school of rock which is the other job I have.
I'll post here once a week or so don't tune out.
May you all find the courage to do what you will.

A word from the Don

2008-05-13T09:48:00.003+10:00

Went to see Don Letts at the Manning bar on saturday.
He was the DJ who introduced reggae to the punk scene and vice versa.
Arguably their mightn't have been bands like the Police and latter day Clash if not for his influence.
He became a documentary maker and his Punk Attitude is a corker if you are interested in that sort of thing.
He was also in Big Audio Dynamite who I saw back in the day.
I bought his autobiography, he is one funny geezer.
He is a real inspiration, still fighting "The Man".
Well poking him in the ribs occasionally anyway.
He made this great doco on Parliament and Funkadelic which is one genre I'd kinda missed.
Now it all makes sense especially after watching The Mighty Boosh.
Old Greg has the Funk and milks it..... you have to see it I guess.
I went with a couple of students who were totally into this doco.
So I loaded my pod with Maggot Brain and will try and get the funk.
I know I have a funk deficiency.
Now where did I leave those funky silver boots?

Rainman goes to Rockwiz

2008-04-11T09:35:00.004+10:00

I have some wonderful students this year.
One of them is a very interesting bloke who is visually impaired and also has Aspergers syndrome.
He has this amazing ability.
He can tell you the top 5 songs from any week from about 1970 to 1995.
He is really smart, positive and personable yet he has never really had a full time job.
The guy is 38 and has never had a real payday.
I believe this is a dreadful failure of our society.
Did I mention that although he has only 20 % vision he is a master of Illustrator and Photoshop?
He has applied for hundreds of jobs but no one will let him get a foot in the door.
Any way on a whim I sent an email to Rockwiz the SBS show. I think I used the words -The rain man of the Australian Music charts, and with in half an hour the main guy is on the phone saying he'd love to get him on the show.
Which poses me with the next problem.
Rockwiz is in Melbourne.
So we will have to raise a bit of money to send this guy down.
Everyone is excited about the prospect but it doesn't seem like anyone wants to front the cash to get him (and probably me) down there.
I'm thinking this might also be a cool little doco especially if he wins.
There isnt any prize but it would just be cool and maybe some one watching would give the guy a break.
Making a documentary is so much work and hassle.
I am still recovering from the last effort so I really want to be sure I want to commit to this.
What do you think?

The universe and you

2008-04-04T12:55:00.004+11:00

I've been waiting for some good news and I guess this will do.
Watch this video for a greater understanding of the paradox of you and the universe.
You are both at the same time.
Cosmic isnt it?
I have a good friend in hospital who is dying.
So i am contemplating the big questions.
Like whether to love Mac or PC?
Ha!
I said to someone it's like these two guys have both stepped in shit, one cat shit the other dog shit, and they are both arguing over which smells worse.
Ever met someone attractive down the beach ,beautiful face and body lovely smile.
You talk to them and they are full of charm.
They light up a cigarette which normally you dont like but with them it seems natural like an old school hollywood actor.
Then they casually stub it out in the sand and flick it into the water.
The spell is broken, you see them for the shallow person they are.
Computers are like that too.
Computers are attractive but ultimately shallow and awful.
I understand this isn't what you want to hear from a self-proclaimed podcasting and blogging miester, but I'm dedicated to truth above all else.
So sorry to disappoint you.
The screen you are looking at is illusion.
The naked girl you desire is just a collection of pixels.
Your my space friends have never met you.
The money you made has disappeared in a swirl of binary.
Walk out in to the outside world.
Yes it is messy, full of trouble and suffering and in it you are no longer an avatar with super human powers but it's the one where you really live.

Getting Infected with Jack

2008-02-29T09:35:00.005+11:00

Had one of those crazey nights recently.
A mate of mine put me on the door for this trance/bar mitzvah outfit Infected Mushroom.
This older guy came over and started chatting to us.
It was Jack Thompson one of Australia's great actors- you should see him as the bastard boss in The Assassination of Richard Nixon.
The guy is seventy and out at this gig.
he is really switched on and larger than life.
We shouted at each other for hours.
Infected Mushroom are good although most of it seems to be preprogramed.
It is quite like the stuff I was doing 15 years ago.
Actually the whole thing was a pale imitation of the sort of dance parties they used to have back then.
Which was probably an imitation of the great times they had back in the sixties.
And round and round it goes.
Also have the new Goldfrappe album on high rotation at the moment.
It's light and fluffy but it makes me feel good (and Alison is the bomb.)

Crazey Plant Lovers

2008-02-12T08:13:00.000+11:00

Before
After

As you may have realised I am dedicated to changing the world in any small way I can.
My guide on the side at the moment is Bushcare Bob.
He is an interesting character, a botanist, ranger,shaman and teacher.
Extremely practical as well as quite fruity.
He is a quixotic optimist.
(Quixotic as in Don Quixoti chargin' windmills)
He will be a major character in my upcoming novel- the one I have yet to start.
Bob is a renegade gardener.
He will plant stuff anywhere he sees a space.
Bobs motto is it's easier to ask forgiveness than ask permission.
It's my motto too.
Recently we started an action at the local shops.
It's a sad little zone of empty dusty footpaths and cigarette butts.
The fair number of the shoppers seems down and out.
Little Aussie battlers.
Is the shopping centre like this because of the type of people who are there or are the people like this because it's so ugly?
Any way Saturday we took action.
We arrived with picks and shovels and a trailer load of plants.
At first I felt strange as though I was doing something wrong.
Pretty soon I relaxed.
Old ladies started praising our efforts.
Some people realised we weren't from the council, others just ignored us, other stopped to chat.
Will it survive the Saturday night drunken yobbos?
Or the clumsy feet of single mums and red faced plumbers?
I'm not sure.
So far so good.
You can see the before and after shots above.

Note the orchids in the tree.
Careful though renegade gardeners can strike anytime and any where!

New Curriculum

2008-01-11T06:25:00.000+11:00

For me Xmas is like going to the dentist painful at the time but you soon get over it.
So I'm glad i didnt slag it off like I was going too.
Now it would just be churlish.
Tonight i'm off to see Can not buy my soul at the State Theatre.
It features the songs of one of Australia's great songwriters Kev Carmody.
The fact that he is aboriginal does have some bearing on his work.
I'm glad I got to go as I mixed and recorded on of the tracks on this record as well as working with Kev back in the day.
I have an embarrassing abundance of shows i'm off to including Byork and The Arcade Fire.
With out going to the Big day yob out.
Read Blind Faith Ben Eltons new book.
Mr Elton wrote Black adder one of the great British Comedies.
This book isnt that funny.
It's kind of put me off blogging and podcasting a bit.
It's set in a future world where privacy is forbidden.
Blogging and you tubing are compulsory.
London is nearly underwater and everyone is fat and seminaked.
It's a ridiculous nightmare dystopia.
And kind of close to the bone.
I might make it part of the curriculum.
Am taking the family to Tasmania next week.
I want to go there to see all the usual stuff- rainforests and wild rivers and also to check it out for a future escape plan.
I apologies to my students in advance.
This term has been a disaster as far as getting podcasts out on time.
Partly my fault , partly theirs, equipment dramas, overload, it hasn't been easy.
Hopefully I gave them something to think about in the maelstrom.
Note to self never teach two consecutive classes ever again.

Modern Sell- Ebb- Bratty

2007-12-14T07:01:00.000+11:00

The era of Modern celebrity agueably began with T.E. Lawrence, the Geezer known as Lawrence of Arabia.
WW1 was an ugly unglamourous and unheroic war. It largely involved thousands of men charging over mud and barbed wire into the brutal maul of machine guns. It was faceless and horrific and unwinnable.
Enter our Lawrence famously played by Peter O'Toole in the movie.( A man so good looking Noel Coward quipped it should be called Florence of Arabia).
Lawrence was a man of substance, an archaeologist already fluent in Arabic language and customs. His story was appealing, heroic and he was extensively filmed and photographed.
He got close ups.
It is impossible for us to imagine the effect of seeing someones face 4 metres high on the big screen for the first time.
Imagine a genuine hero, a man who led the Bedouin across the uncrossable desert into Akabar, imagine studying his face, a tactical genius, who achieved the unthinkable ,looking up and staring into his 1000 yard stare.
Coz in real life the only people you are legally allowed to stare at close up are lovers or maybe your children and even then it's not often advisable.
If photography captures our soul then film magnifies and distills it.
Andy Warhol used this to some effect in his film portraits.
He filmed a close up portrait for 15 mins.
Warhol explored modern celebrity and mass production of images.
He coined the term superstar and first applied it to Edie Sedgwick, the first modern celebrity. Edie, as beautiful as she was, was famous for nothing really.
Couldnt really act or sing, wasn't even really a model.
She crashed and burned in true celebrity style.
Check out her story in Factory Girl.
Guy Pierce is awesome as Warhol too.
So in the 20th century we went from a people of substance to a people of no substance.
We celebrate their lack of substance, fame achieved by sunglasses, porno romps or turkeyslaps.
Their only achievement the random recognition of their face at the supermarket.
We bask in their vainglorious nothingness.
Hey everyone-Hooray for nothing!

The Big Night

2007-12-05T07:17:00.000+11:00

You may or may not remember I've been making a film with my beautiful and clever wife.
As well as working 2 jobs and all the political stuff.
I MUST LEARN TO SAY NO!
Any way we had the premiere the other night.
Opened by thee Mayor who made a big speech and then racked off.
I gave a speech too in a packed theater.
It actually made sense and seemed funny and humble.
I couldnt look at my wife coz she was crying.
Anyway I sat through the film which was hard as i was so nervous.
There was something in the theater before us so I didn't get a chance to test the disk etc.
It played all the way through thank God!!!
So there was a bout a hundred people and they cheered and clapped at the end.
Big time.
Outside at the drinkies after party I was a bit like the anointed one.
Women were hugging and kissing me.
Men were crying and shaking my hand -it was all overwhelming.
I was grateful they liked it and we hadn't done the wrong thing.
We had told our story and their story too.
My boss was there and she loved and seemed to understand why I was so stressed out.
My professional filmmaker friend was there too.
He said it was great but was cagey about helping us polish it up to get it on TV.
He is trying to do a project on the same subject which is perhaps the source of his reluctance?
Dont get me wrong.
He's a good man but his business is to find other peoples stories.
I'm a happy amateur.
The word comes from the French amore: To love.
I did this film for love.
For the love of my son who was so cruelly bullied at school and for all the other Asperger kids through out the ages.
That is the point of the film .
That we need human diversity to survive.
Political, religious,philosophical, sexual and neurological.
We need different views and skills and ideas.
Look through out history.
The most vibrant places are the most diverse.
Ancient Rome, Renaissance Venice, Victorian London, Modern New York.
All melting pots.
Fascism and communism sell the same idea.
Strength through unity.
Nature proves this to be untrue.
The monoculture is weak and is swept away by a single infection or tiny bug.
The web of Natures God is vast,complex and intertwined.
Remember this always Grasshopper!

Can Rock change the world?

2007-11-21T05:12:00.000+11:00

Well can it?
I grew up thinking for some strange reason that music could change the world.
I have no explanation for this except I was born in the sixties when music did seem to have that potential.
Is it now a spent force?
It definitely seems more vulgarly, cynically formularized and corporatised.
Watching "Don't look back" you can see Dylan was at least part prophet to the people at that time.
You can also see how simple and primitive the whole business back then.
No light show, an acoustic guitar and a couple of microphones plugged straight into a tiny, tinny PA.
Not a video screen, merchandise stall, coke sign or corporate sponsor in sight.
This week end we may see the unfolding of another experiment.
I cant think of another ex rock musician who became a minister of Government.
I'm speaking of course of Pete Garrett MP.
I first saw the Oils back in the late 70's when the released their first album.
I snuck in to a gig at the ANU, I was underage and embarrassingly got chosen out of the crowd by Pete to receive a copy of their self titled first album.
I really liked it especially the song Run by night.
They were post punk rock, honest and edgy with a slightly dangerous energy.
They went on to become one of Australia's most successful and most un -compromising bands.
10, 9,8.... was a masterpiece.
"US forces get the nod.."
Of course Pete was blessed with at least two great songwriters in the band but he was the enormous, bald bloke with all the hand action.
They were an amazing band live but for me the audience was often a scary rabble and I think the political message was often drowned in the beer and fights.
The band were undoubtedly aware of the paradox.
Pete ran in the short lived Nuclear Disarmament Party.
It was a quixotic idea but beautiful too.
I attended some meetings for this party and it was infiltrated from the beginning with spooks. There were endless arguments and in fighting.
Apparently Pete found the whole process horrible and draining and swore to leave politics alone forever.
I am glad he had a change of heart.
And it worked out well for him that this is his 2nd election.
He must be made of strong stuff to have survived the boredom, intrigues and party room chats that must be part of being a politician.
He has held his tongue and been in for the long haul.
Ignoring the stings and arrows of his former friends and admirers he is poised to go perhaps were rock has never gone before.
But soon we will see whether he still has the Spirit of Rock or is now bleached out cog in the machine,working for The Man.
I'm hoping it's the former we'll see some real rocking in parliament soon and some crazy dancing-hand action as well.
Can Rock, the rebel outsider, be the Power?

Melt,Baby,Melt.

2007-11-12T07:36:00.000+11:00

Now I am between the Devil and the deep blue sea.
Ethics are something you have, morals are something you force on other people.
Obviously I'm not into moralizing.
The world is a complicated case.
People in glass houses....etc.
I don't approve of missionaries at school although I myself was influenced by some great teachers.
(I still have a thing for girls in overalls after my Art teacher Mrs Spence but that is a different story).
So for my International students you are welcome to watch the video from the link below.
For my Australian students who might vote please don't, not ever, ever, ever click on this link to see the video of the Ice Carving..
Will it take off?
It's definitely has some charm compared to other boring political youtube stuff.
Very tempted to write a tract on whether it's supposed to be boring.
Maybe tomorrow?

Meet Mr & Mrs Troll

2007-11-08T07:42:00.000+11:00

Trolls lie in wait for the heroes to walk over their bridge and then demand tribute.
They are ugly and mean and won't listen to reason.
They usually end up being tricked or killed.
Recently a couple popped out in front of me.
As you know I have been working on a film on Aspergers.
This has a tiny budget that I haven't even bothered to invoice for yet.
I am doing this because my son has this disorder and I want to give a voice to a group who don't have one.
So I asked some of my ex students if they wanted to help me do some filming.
"There's no money but great experience"
I've worked for free on dozens of films so that's the deal.
Anyway I picked this student who had some small children coz I thought he'd be solid and understand what we were trying to do.
First week everything goes well.
Next week he's late. His wife strangely refused to drive him.
I give him some money and tell him to catch a cab.
Next week I call him on the Friday night. "Everything is good, see you there etc"
The guy never shows.
I am extremely pissed off.
I have to get my 15 year neighbour to operate a $6000 dollar camera.
She did her best.
Next week the guy rings up my wife and begs to be given another chance.
She arranges to get him picked up.
He is having bad problems with his family.
I don't believe this and organize a reliable person.
Just as well.
His lift beeps the horn and calls his phone but he doesn't appear.
Later we get a text message apologising coz "he has bad drug addiction problems".
Well that makes sense.
Then the plot thickens.
A couple of weeks later his wife rings up ( she is a singer apparently) and asks if I can help her record some songs.
I flatly decline after the way Mr Troll had mucked me around.
Who could blame me?
On monday my boss is banging on the studio door.
Your in a lot of trouble. Someone has filed an official complaint about your and your private practice with the head of the institute. The bosses bosses boss.
"What did I do?" I ask.
" I don't know "she replys in a Kafkaesque moment.
(Read "the Trial" if your not sure)
Makes it hard to defend yourself if you don't know what you have supposed to have done.
After a very long time I get to see the bosses boss.
I am in a total state.
"Is it Mr Troll" I ask?
"Yes "he says "He has accused you of misappropriating equipment and ripping off students to build your private film empire."
I am dumbstruck.
Was Mrs Troll involved?
Yes it was pay back for not wanting to work on her great album.
This is for World Disability day I say.
I have written approval from the director I say.
It's a charity project for heaven sake I say.
"Don't worry they withdrew the allegations" the bosses boss tells me.
"You were in the clear anyway"
I am a nervous wreck.
How could it all have gone so wrong?
A classic tale of betrayal and revenge.
Now of course it's my move.
Should I sue for defamation of character?
Should I report these self confessed drug addicts with children to DOCs or the police?
Should I link to Mrs Trolls myspace page to encourage a storm of comments?
No.
I wouldn't give them the steam off my piss but I wont make their troubled life any more troubled.
Mr and Mrs Troll I have crossed your bridge and I turn my back on you.

Hit her where it hurts?

2007-11-07T22:28:00.000+11:00

Somewhere deep in the southern suburbs a crack team is cooking up a secret project.
If all goes well it should get some media coverage in Fridays paper.
Keep your fingers crossed for this one.
This is exclusive content.
This is a press leak.
If this falls into the wrong hands....
This message will self destruct in 15 seconds.

Oh the Irony

2007-11-05T10:24:00.000+11:00

Couldn't resist this screen capture.
In 1998 a barrell of oil was $9.
Now it's $95.
If you need to study the implications of this I suggest LATOC might be a good place to start.
Driving a Hummer is the ultimate F**k anyone else statement.
Only a psycopath would buy one to drive around Sydney.
Of course it would squash my little graniemoblie like a tiny insect.That's the whole idea.
But you still will have to stop at all the same lights as everyone else even though you dressed up in 4 tonnes of steel.
And I so will laugh as you run out of petrol and abandon your monstosity on the side of the road.

A small Fluffy Blog

2007-11-02T08:52:00.000+11:00

I am a big fan of the TV show Lost.
As you know I don't have TV reception cause the antenna is stuffed.
I had foxtel but it was such a waste of time I turned it off so a million channels of crud is only a phone call away.
We previously watched a lot of the 1960's Star Trek.
We watched the first season of Lost at Christmas, the whole family got into it.
We all sat around and bond around the TV, old style no arguments or channel surfing.
The show is great on DVD coz you can watch 3 in a slab. I imagine it would have been frustrating to watch on a week by week basis.
For those who never bothered it is The Prisoner( the cult British 60's show) meets Gilligan's Island with a large helping of Dallas perhaps.
It has mysterious hatch's, polar bears and everyone has lots of secrets.
The island itself has a whole bunch.
There is a whole industry of pundits exploring the shows enigmas.
For me is probably works well as a metaphor for my life but mostly as a overt fantasy.
I would love to be stranded on a desert island with lashings of mysteriousness. Who wouldn't?
I could even put up with the flashbacks.
Not sure about all those Americans with perfect smiles but then I could always join the others.
Or become a ghost?
It must be the only series where actors get killed but still keep coming back as ghosts and flashbacks.
Sadly we are approaching the end of the third series which will thankfully help me get the Aspy Doco finished in time.

Hypocrisy is the grease on the wheels of society

2007-10-26T04:34:00.000+10:00

Look it's easy to point out other peoples hypocrisy.
Take Chris Martin.
Lead singer from Coldplay.
Very concerned about Climate change.
Writes songs about it.
But flys his family round on a private jet.
For lunch and back home for a nap .
And did you realise that flying is the big kahuna of carbon travel.
Thats coz your high up and the gases go straight in the mix.
Also the water vapour produced has an effect.
After 911 when flying was banned America experience noticeably warmer days and cooler nights.
It seems flying at night is worse.
So it's easy to point out someone else's faults.
So here are mine.
One of my jobs is based on cheap air travel.
That's right none of my international students swim over here.
But perhaps worse one of my best mates is the owner of over a million frequent flyer points.
How many trees does he have to plant to sort that out?
Enough to reforest Borneo no doubt.
So not only have I never mentioned this too him but I have twice flown to Japan on his largess merely to see music concerts!
HYPOCRITE!
So given the choice between saving the lives of some Bangladeshi I never met and the chance to see a Rock concert by some slightly ridiculous 70's dude without enough fans to play Australia, I bury the Bangladeshis every time.
Sorry.
And I'm doubly sorry because I think most of the western world will find it even harder to give up air travel than the morning traffic crush.
It wont happen voluntarily.
Which is why we are up the creek without a paddle.
Read this only if you have taken your prozac.
Otherwise shop, fly to rock concerts. buy blood diamonds but hear that sound, I think your wheels are starting to squeak.

Warmly Strange

2007-08-31T06:28:00.000+10:00

The sun is just about to peek over the horizon in another strangely warm winter/early spring morning.
It is so warm that there are winter fire bans inSouth Australia.
Nothing to worry about of course.
As we can no longer say to the lady who lives next to the Acropolis.
China has introduced an animated net nanny to protect workers from doing naughty things on the internet like looking at pictures of naked people or the Dalai Lama.
I like these characters, very Astro Boy, whether that would soften the blow as the Thought Police crashed through the door is another thing altogether.
I think a little old lady tut-tuting would be equally effective, maybe more so.
Especially if she had an umbrella.
Of course I have no smirking Western leg to stand on as my country has a press freedom rating below Bolivia.Ask Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey is one of my heroes not just coz he is married to the chick that wrote Puberty Blues.
Why isn't he head of the labour party instead of Kevin Only Drunk Twice.
Who wants a PM who can't drink?
Bob Hawke was in the Guiness book of records for skulling a yard glass for crying out loud.
Bush the Younger was arrested for drink driving.
Even Our Fearless Leader John enjoys a good quaff of Grange most nights.
Back to censorship.
How can I be cutting edge if the Dept of Education blocks Myspace and Youtube?
Which in the music industry are the too most happening things going.
They wont install Itunes either.
So how do I show em anything ?
Speaking of Itunes I actually wrote my first review for this amazing harp playing chanteuse Joanna Newsom.
It's quite a fun thing to do.
I doubt it will do much for her record sales but I was hearted to see her on Johnny Dep's I tunes list/
I doubt whether many of my students will like her as she is as far away from Avril Lavigne as you can get.
Doco filming starts tomorrow so wish me luck!

Courage is a Telescope

2007-08-24T11:30:00.000+10:00

About to start a new project- a little doco on Aspergers Syndrome which my son has.
It's a very interesting type of Autism.
Some might might say it's just a different way of looking at the world.
Humans tend to persecute any body who's different.
At school is the worst.
They will seek out and exterminate anyone who is a bit left of centre.
You remember the wierd kid who got hassled all the time.
I think back to my school days, there was a kid called Leo Mensen who probably had it. Couldn't socialize and spent every lunchtime by him self.
I never hurt him but other kids teased him mercilessly.
I wonder what he does now?
My partner is running these workshops for a whole bunch of these kids and I am filming it.
We will get some talking heads as well but mostly try and capture what it is like to perceive the world they way they do.
Of course lots of famous people probably had Aspergers- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison and maybe Bill Gates.
So maybe we need difference to move forward as a species?
I suspect having a whole bunch of hyper intelligent kids with no social skills may be like having a whole bunch of cats in a bag should make for interesting footage nevertheless

Clever and Silly

2007-07-26T22:19:00.000+10:00

Had the malaria flu.
Hope you don't get it.
Thinking of becoming a Luddite.
They were a bunch of people who smashed up the machines in the dawn of the industrial age.
Would love to do that at times.
Especially my little computer lab.
Working with computers(Mac and the other silly ones) is like the War On Drugs- never ending and in the end futile.
The new operating system update means you have to upgrade this which causes conflict with that and you end up getting blamed for someones class that didnt go as planned.
I want to go back to pen and paper and bits of string. Maybe not just yet.
Because I just got a really good new deal from my Telco, I get unlimited local and national calls and 7 gig of Broadband for 89 bucks.
I'll save like 700 smackers a year if there isn't a hidden catch, which there must be.
They must be freaking out about Skype and the like coz I was just about to ditch the landline all together.
I need the internet to keep me informed of all the really bad news.
You want some -try this.
Yep it's a hoot.
I really don't want to panic the natives who no doubt are enjoying their consumerismo credit card tango so I steer you to this clever and silly little video clip.
Have you ever edited some video? Then this is for you.
Look out for the umbrella as the rainbow ball of death.

The power of the Arts

2007-07-13T09:49:00.000+10:00

Saw the movie "The Lives of Others".
It won the Academy award for best foreign film.
Set in East Germany a senior Stasi officer is given the job to get some dirt on a famous playwright because his actor girlfriend is coveted by a senior party official.
East Germany was one of the most watched and spied upon places ever.
Every fifth person was an informer.
A very grey and sad looking place.
In the process of watching this couple and listening to their every word the Stasi guy realises how empty his life is and starts to protect them from the party.
It is Art that changes him, a piece of music, some literature he steals from their room.
He eventually ruins his career protecting these people who he comes to love and betrays the Party but redeems himself to himself.
A very powerful film although it could have finished a little earlier.
Art does change people.
It comes in under the radar.
Newspapers and TV shows only confirm what you already think you know.
There is a truth beyond science.
Science, for all it's miraculous works will never get to the big truth because that can never be contained by mere words or the logical mind.
For me the big truths can only be sensed for a moment out of the corner of ones heart when one is deeply immersed in Art or nature.

I wanna be a cave man

2007-07-06T11:21:00.000+10:00

Totally buggered today after a big day out in the Royal.
Went for a long ride with my old mate Dan( see above).
He lived for a while in a cave.
It was a lifestyle choice.
He was quite comfortable apparently.
It was summmer so it was easy
So we decided to start Australian Cave Dwellers Magazine.
Should be big!
After much laughter we decided to explore these limestone caves I have always been meaning to check out.
Well worth the effort.(30 km bike ride plus 4km hike)
And now we have the cover shot for a most unlikely lifestyle mag.
Also has a great waterfeature.
I always offer to take my international students into the great ozzie bush for a little walk but unfortunatly they seem disinclined.
Maybe it's a result of all those most poisonous animal shows I dont know.
Maybe they are suspicious of my navigational skills?
Viva la cave man!

Is freedom of speech always good?

2007-06-29T11:28:00.000+10:00

Don't like to speak in absolutes.
This is always wrong or right.
Everything is relative.
Isn't it?
So this so called right of free speech is always our top priority?
Only sometimes.
During war "Loose lips sink ships" .
So freedom of speech is curtailed heavily.
Our economic boom times are wholly dependant on China both in it's hunger for our raw materials and it's ability to produce incredibly cheap goods.
Nearly everything I own is made in China.
Probably most things everyone has are.
Read this story about a family who tried to survive without any thing made there.
But thirty years ago very little was coming out of China.
At school we taught of the terrible population explosion that would ruin the world and make a lot of people starve.
And what a hopeless case India and China were.
But both countries curbed their growing populations.
Something no western country has ever tried to do.
Peasants who would of had many children were forced to have only one or two.
Which meant that they could be educated instead of being sent to work in the fields.
This would never happen in an open society.
India which is the worlds largest democracy had the "Emergency" where civil rights were suspended and men were forcibly sterilized.
No western politician would even mention population control, not even The Greens.
The press would eat them alive.
It's an impossible sell.
But without enormous in puts from fossil fuels our planet can really only support a couple of billion people.
So the crunch will come eventually.
I of course am a complete hypocrite in this regard as I have three ankle biters to add to my footprint.
I could be accused of listening to our beloved treasurer who said have one for each parent and one for Australia.
Who said I'm perfect?

Here yestaday gone today

2007-06-03T21:24:00.000+10:00

Well the doco on the Aboriginal students turned out pretty good.
I'll link to it later when the dust settles.
It was quite emotional playing it to a whole mob of Kooris and them really liking it.
I feel honoured to work with those kids even tho some of them probably thought I was just another uptight whitey.
I might have legs and end up on TV we'll see.
The song feature in the film is very sweet and I'll link to that too.
Now I have some sad news, sad for me anyway.
A lot of my old film clips were on Youtube, it was great to see them again until they just dissappeared.
Gone into the ether.
I of course never got copies of any of them.
Will they ever return?
Am I erased from history?
Perhaps.
Did I wear them out?
Does it mean something deeper?
Hardly the library of Alexandria but it was mildy important to me nevertheless.

Please allow me to excuse myself

2007-05-11T02:24:00.000+10:00

What can i say?
Too busy to blog?
I have to learn to say no to things.
Currently I am trying to finish the Documentary on the Aboriginal youth hostel.
Why am i knocking myself out?
It has to be finished by Saturday week for the big birthday party they are having.
Hours of footage to trawl through.
Then chop together into some sort of story.
If you never made a film you have no idea how time consuming this is.
And fiddley.
Then a sound mix.
As well as a song to mix.
As well as teaching 24 hours.
And they just made me a blog and podcasting "champion".
Yes I know, what can I say?
Did I have to defeat any ogres?
or outfox any trolls?
I dont think so but what this totally bogus title means is more WORK!!!!!!
Random people (Read fellow teachers) ask me questions and get me to solve their podcasting, blogging dilemmas for them.
Note to self.
In a future life never go near computers.
Also in this life will avoid all lifts as I got caught in a lift and freaked out just like in a movie.
I knew I woz stuck before I knew I was stuck.
It all fed on itself like a giant De Ja Vu self forfilling prophecy.
Is this the first sign of a work related nervous break down?
I can only hope they put me in a warm safe place a long way from any thing with a screen.

The island in the Sky is almost dead.

2007-04-20T11:18:00.000+10:00

Sorry things went a bit Sideways. (Great and appropriate film reference).
Took the family up to Bright in the Victorian Alps.
Alps is a fairly vague term which in Australias case the Mosquito bites in Victoria are the nearest we have.
We went up Mount Buffalo again and the change was unbelievable.
It was like evil super villian had sucked the life out of it.
A year ago this was a magical place.
Isolated from the main bit of the high country for millions of years it had developed it own little unique ecosystem.
Misty peat bogs and stunted snow gums.
We wandered around in the chill, damp and fog swirling around.
This winter there was no snow at all.
So there was no melt water to feed the peat bogs.
No protection from the cold for the pygmy possums
Then came the fires.
Which raced through the bone dry park.
Turning it into a dead place.
As a bitter aftertaste for some reason only the Europian wasps survived in frightening numbers.
Will it even come back?
I doubt it.
Not in my lifetime.
The incredible (Shining-like) lodge is closed.
The rangers look sad at the entry gates and no longer charge you a fee.
How could they?
The island in the sky is almost dead.
Yet I am but a climate change hysteric.
Pushing some agenda.
Reporting something you'd rather not hear.
It's getting harder and harder to cling onto that straw.
Harder to block up your ears.
As Arnold said
"You are a penguin on a little ice berg that is rapidly melting. Goodbye my little friend"

Kurt Vonegut RIP

2007-04-13T13:17:00.000+10:00

A human has died.
Someone proudly imperfect who changed my life.
Slaughterhouse five was an amazing book.
So was Mother Night and Ice Nine.
And all the others
But the last thing you wrote was so spot on.
A man without a country.
An essay on the barbarians who control the White House and the world.
I'm sad that you wont get to see the palaces of these tyrants torn down.
And they will.
Just like Saddam and Idi Amin and Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler and Stalin and the Gang of Four you Tyrants will get your comeuppance.
Kurt you were a great human being, who always kept me laughing at the follies of man.
Hope the weather is good on the planet Tralfalgadore.
Say hello to Billy Pilgrim.
For those who havent read Slaughter house five(The movie is also good)I suggest you do.

Insomnia is ticking me off.

2007-03-23T03:18:00.000+11:00

Apologies to the Insearch crew, I'm off to do my bit for reconciliation.
Camping out with a whole bunch of Koori kids.
Footballs future greats and maybe a couple of good songwriters too.
It's a mens camp.
There will be secret mens business.
Should I tell them I'm not circumcised?
Better keep that to myself.
Do they read blogs?
Crikey this could be dangerous.
Have worked up a couple of songs with these guys.
Really nice tunes.
Will post them up when finished.
Did I mention that Kev Carmody's record is number three on the country music charts.
I mixed and engineered a track on that.
Did i also mention that the ABC are talking to me about another story?
Did I also mention that I am covered in tick bites?
I itch!
A couple of years ago i thought I had chicken pox , I had a week off work.
I thought I was contagious but i was just covered in these tiny poisonous little bastard ticks.
They come out when it's moist.
Note to self -get industrial strength aerogard and snake repellant on way to meet up this morning.
Note to self who wakes me up every morning at 3 oclock.
Please stop.

Gentleman charge your batteries

2007-03-16T11:00:00.001+11:00

Was drafted on the radio the other day as an expert of blogging.
I guess some one has to pretend to be one.
I was fairly nervous coz it was scheduled right in the middle of a class i was teaching.
So conflict of interest.
The call comes at the agreed time.
I excuse myself and race out into the corridor
The topic was on political blogs.
Particularly this article from the Guardian on a Swedish minister who is getting some flack for his blogs which of course I hadn't read .Normally I read everything to do with blogging and podcasting of course but lately I have been so busy.
I didn't make any sense at first coz I was a bit nervous also I didn't immediately get the tone of the piece which was giggly sarcastic.
Any way just as I was starting to make sense my mobile started to make a noise like it was running out of charge.
So I race back into my class still pontificating and scramble around for a USB charge lead.
The class are looking at me a little strange.
I plug into a computer and sit down to relax a bit.
I'm actually making sense.
I tip a nod to Andrew Bartlett who is a democrat politician who keeps a reasonable blog.
I dis Peter Debnam ( The Budgie Smuggler) who gets someone else to write his and doesn't allow comments.
I'm making sense, my mouth is responding to the signals my brain is sending.
Suddenly the line goes dead.
I'd plugged into the wrong computer.
The one that died first thing on monday morning.
That sort of ruined my week twice
So that was the end of my brief stint as a radio talking head.
Thanks to all involved.

Connect to country

2007-03-02T12:49:00.000+11:00

A mate of mine stayed over the other night.
We are working on a number of things chiefly a project with about 25 Koori kids from a local hostel.
They are recording songs and making a little film.
They are going into the Royal to see the sacred sites, whale carvings and shark people and to gather some bush tucker.
I am going along.
They are an incredible bunch full of energy although I know most of them are missing their family and some of them have had hard lives so far.
It is hard to imagine the lack of opportunities they have outback in some of the aboriginal communities.
I'm encouraging them all to be Prime ministers when they grow up especially the girls.
Predictably they like Rap, hip hop and RnB.
Whatever speaks to you I say.
Anyway next morning after a quick cup of tea I've got this mate out in the Bush regen project planting a rain forest tree beneath the foliage.
When you go to work this morning I say look at everyone in the city and I bet not one other person out of the whole city has planted a rain forest tree this morning.
This makes him feel very special.
I like getting people to plant stuff.
It's a very rooting thing.
Grounding even.
It seem to be different planting a tree on communal land than a rose bush in your front garden.
I guess with a bit of luck the tree will out live the planter and provide shade and beauty for an unknown number of future people.
I guess that could be a wishful metaphor for teaching.
Although weeding and fertilizing could also work!

I'm a lazy sod

2007-02-08T22:31:00.000+11:00

Couldn't post anything coz I was busy doing other stuff.
Like wandering around in the bush without a torch looking for spirit paths.
Maybe that's just a metaphor.
Just make sure you take a stick for the spider webs.
Had to post something about the stupendous waste of money that was just come to light.
Read this and weep and laugh.
This is it , the Caligula moment, the emporer who ordered the roman legions to attack the sea.
The US have lost/misplaced/whatfuckenever 363 tonnes of $100 dollar bills in Iraq.
$12 billion.
Handed out left right and centre to every Tom Dick and Alli.
Trully it doesn't get more ridiculous than that.
What we could have done with that?
What I could have done with that!
Bought Tasmania?
I am astounded at the stupidity of it all.
Life is worthless, now money is worthless.
At least it woz shrink wrapped so it wont go off.
Now if there was any one left in the whole wide world who doesn't think the US government is wackier than a naked man with one gum boot on could they please contact their doctor for immediate assesment.

Lou was almost happy.

2007-01-19T11:00:00.000+11:00

Finally got to the sumptious State theatre on the right night.
Lou Reed was performing one of the great moments of rock angst. His album Berlin.
It was brutal and confronting when it came out but never sold much.
Ahead of it's time perhaps.
Lou had some of the best players in the world including Steve Hunter who took my head off with his feel and style.
Lou was funny in that he did that Vegas thing with his own songs a bit.
You know come in late and then rush to pick it up again.
Still he is Lou.
His voice is unforgetable, I wish he hada stuck to the tune a bit more.
The choir and orchestra were brilliant as were the backing singers.
One who was Anthony from Anthony and the Johnstons.
What a voice this man has!
An angel who is obviously not neurotypical, but then neither is Lou (but that might have been self induced.)
The concert was populated with a lot of old rockers done good as well as some of the houghty toighty Sydney Festival crowd.
Lou did a nice encore too.
Sweet Jane and some old velvets number I didn't recognise.
Rock is now officially a high culture item.
Cant be long before the Australian Opera does a Metallica album.

Right Gig Wrong Time

2007-01-12T10:45:00.000+11:00

Very excited about seeing Lou Reeds Berlin, part of the Sydney festival.
Same price as a Big Day out ticket and I must be getting old because I could nae face all the crowds at Homebush.
Anyway last night we organised an babysitter got dressed up and went out to see Lou, only problem was he aint on till next week.
Duh!
Had a lovely Spanish Tappas fest instead.
January is such a time warp, must remember to check dates for everything.

Like a true Mac Dweeb I watched Steve Jobs strut around the stage and launch the I phone .
The man is a immaculate showman.
A wizard of techno spin.
He talks almost non stop for one and half hours.
Doesn't seem to be reading and except for a dud pointer is flawless.
All the other CEO's that trot out seem goofy and dull compared to Stevie.
Apple is everything that is good about America.(and perhaps the flaw)
Religious belief in themselves and the future.
Enlightenment through superior design.
Powerful and easy to use technology/magic.
A man with a vision.
His connection to Disney/Pixar is just perfect too.
Why isn't he running the country? Or someone like him.
I want one of those iphone things of course.
Then I'll change my Nom DePlume to Peter Iphonecast- or maybe not.
Also just finnished mixing a great track by me brother, a Grant McLennan song called the wrong road.
For a tribute compilation.
Used nashville tuned guitars for the first time.
You might think you know all the tricks and then ya see something that makes you realise how far you have to go.
Complacency is an insideous flaw.
I banish it forever and open myself to the everchanging whirling energies of the universe.
Now where was I ?
Mmmm.
Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Back to the grindstone.

2007-01-05T11:17:00.000+11:00

Hope the holidays were good for everyone.
I went up to visit friends on the central coast.
Swam,read, ate, drank and slept.
Read The Beach which was a top read and made me want to dissapear on a Thai Island.
Now am reading a novel called American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Which is right up my alley.
This guy gets out of gaol and goes to work for Odin- the nordic god who is a con man since noone worships him anymore.
Neil Gaiman wrote the Sandman series as in the Metalica Song.
We are in to the home stretch with the blogging class.
Have some wonderful posts from the students.
Hope the stragglers catch up.
Remember you must have at least twelve posts.
Photos and movies don't count unless there is a fair amount of text with them.
Now you should work on your blog critique which should be posted up for the world to see.
Say the person who writes the blog reads it?
Quite possible....
Recently Saddam was executed and you can see the video,if you have a ghoulish streak- the photos were enough for me.
A lot of people have a short memory or are too young to know much about him so I link to this excellent obit of his life.
It was another blunder to execute him under such atrocious circumstances.
He went with a calm resignation that made him into a marytr.
I had to admire how bravely he went even though he had ordered the deaths of thousands.
That cant be a good thing.

Charity begins here

2006-12-15T11:33:00.000+11:00

Took my daughters friends to her school carols last night.
I had to do two trips.
One for my family and the other for the four of them.
I didn't mind the running round coz it's Christmas and i know they have had a rough trot.
These girls are from war torn Sudan and are all extremely tall and quite clever.
Surviving in a war zone will do that I guess.
They've only been here for 4 years or so and are getting awards for their English.
Their father was murdered, I can't get the real story and don't really feel like prying but I know he was shot, perhaps defending the church or perhaps walking to the shop to get the milk.
So I am really proud that M has befriended them.
It must be strange to stick out in this milky white, homogenised neighbourhood.
So this morning I was a little perturbed to find the glorious city of Tamworth has rejected five refugee families from Sudan.
Seems they don't want these poor, traumatised black people drinking their water and bringing diseases.
They dont want another Cronulla riot in their town.
Merry Christmas Tamworth.
I can see you have really taken Jesus's message to heart.
The parable about the good Samaritan, remember that one.
To be fair they reckon they have had some trouble with the last bunch of Sudanese they took in.
People from different cultures in war zones can be tricky to settle down I guess.
If I'd been shot at and seen members of my family murdered or starved I 'd be tricky to settle down too.
Tamworth where is your heart?
Where is that famous country kindness?
Coz I reckon Jesus is ashamed of your mean spirited, ugly actions so close to his birthday.
Hell you don't even deserve an invite to the party.

Blogging is the new punk rock

2006-12-08T09:24:00.000+11:00

Well isn't it?
First a little musical history ( or is it mythology) lesson.
By the mid seventies rock had become a bloated beast, at least there was a lot of progresive rock bands with arcane names like Matching Mole and a florrid and complicated aesthetic.
The rock no longer spoke for the people or so the story goes.
I guess if you were growing up on a grey council estate, unemployed then Genesis and Emerson , Lake and Palmer and top of the pops didn't really speak to you.
Along came the Ramones from Usa and Sex Pistols from England to revitalise the whole tired music scene.
It was like early Elvis, simple music full of energy and an Up Yours ATTITUDE.
But most importantly it said" Hey you can do this too".
It was a back to basics approach that screamed DIY.
Do it yourself.
And they did.
People like Blondie, The Pretenders and Talking Heads all sprung out of this scene.
Later punk came to mean something else again and god knows what it means now.
Just another marketing niche.
Anyway what attracts me to blogging is this same attitude.
You can speak your mind.
You can do it yourself.
You can say up yours to the cowering and bland main stream media.
And cover what you feel is important.
What speaks to you.
Of course just like punk or any other musical movement you have to search through a lot of swine to find the real pearls.
Go on Piggies get out there!

Mind control for the young at heart

2006-11-24T11:54:00.001+11:00

Everyone is lazy let's face it, if they let themselves be.
The mind is incredibly good at justifying it's actions.
We usually think as a post script, most of us just use instinct and ritual to give us a semblance of a thinking person.

Effective artist/warriors/lovers have to conqueor the mind's tricks which allow one to do nothing or more likely something that adds up to nothing.
It is often said that the student house is cleanest when the essay is due and we have all noted how true that is.

This is a veiled aside at those students who aren't blogging at least once a week.
Is it that hard to find the time to post once a week?
Or are you thinking up pale excuses to justify your actions.
Can't do it coz the dog ate my computer, have sore fingers, don't like writing only like messenging my friends, blah ,blah blah.
You must lead the mind, beware of it's tricks because you will fall behind and only have yourself to blame ( although no doubt you will try to blame moi)

I only wish I had a student with an essay due at my house coz it usually looks like a natural disaster area. Having 3 rugrats and a home school going on makes it that way. Also my partner in crime is a bower bird, she hates to throw anything away. She wants to keep the strangest things, strange to me anyway.
This is usually our only source of friction.
I throw bits of crap out and she wants them back.
I have to pretend I never saw them.
Isn't that terrible?
Admittedly I have better things to do than pick up toys.
Grandparents always buy stuff that spears into your foot at 3 in the morning.
Lots of little sharp baby landmines to teach you a lesson.
My feet are bruised and pitted from these deadly toys.
Where was the warning labels for that?

"Warning contains objects that will cause severe damage as you try to pee in the night".

Have installed a pay pal donate button on my space rocker brothers blog.
It seems to be getting some subscriptions.
He has enourmous amounts of selective self discpline.
He blogs every day and it's nearly always good, funny and serious.
He has really connected with his small army of fans.
I thinks they understand him more now.
Selective self discpline because he would eat a whole block of chocalate in front of you, piece after piece.
But when it comes to writing blogs/songs/swimming laps he is the ruler of his mind and body.
I have observed that most successful artists have this ability- to be totally obsessed to the exclusion of all else with their thing.

I saw a real bower bird the other day in the Royal.
It had collected all this blue stuff for it's bower of love.
They only collect blue stuff.
Its that artistic exclusion at work again.
What did they do before whiteys came with their blue straws and cloths pegs I'm not sure but it was a sight I can't remember seeing before.
I only hope someone gets it a blue recycling bin.

The Customer is always right (unless they are doing a test)

2006-11-17T10:41:00.000+11:00

Looking forward to 10 weeks of partial employment now that my big casual job is finished for the year.
I say that sarcastically coz of course poverty over Christmas sucks.
The family want to move back into the city too.
Which will be a joy.
Moving always is a barrel of laughs.
My big job has offered to let me apply for a permament postion and I had to fill out endless forms and waffle on.
Which I'm not very good at.
One of the criteria really got up my nose-A demonstrated commitment to quality customer service,
like I'm some fast food worker.
"Do you want fries with that diploma Miss. Have a nice day!"
It was making me ill just thinking about this.
Apparently even the CIA talks about it's customers now.
STOP IT NOW.
A customer is some one who walks into a shop and buys some thing aren't they?
A customer is someone you say what ever you think they want to hear in order to get them to buy your stuff.
"Yes you look great in that."
"Wow that really brings out your eyes which are beautiful by the way."
Is that how I should be teaching now?
I can't do it.
When my propective music students ask me for career advice I usually give them vague answers like
Put up a flag see who salutes it and
Many are called but few are chosen.
Coz making a living out of your Art is hard.
It is a rocky road.
Your car could break down.
You might get lost.
You'll be hungry.
You might be too early or too late
You might never get there at all.
But now I should tell them what they want to hear like a good sales man?
Yes Nigel stardom used to be a random event bequeathed by the gods but now if you do a Certicate 3 in Advanced Jiggery Pokery you can be a singing sensation in no time.
My beautiful ladyfriend works at the primo acting school, first lesson for this cream of the crop of applicants is "Most of you will spend most of the time looking for work".
In any creative field there is a huge amount of luck and doggered persistance that get you there .
And then your only there for a short time.
You're only as good as your last album, film, showing, whatever.
Not to even mention how likely it is that most of the money you do earn will dissapear somewhere........
Ask Les McKeown from The Bay City Rollers.
Their first two albums stayed on the album charts for a total of 99 weeks from 1974 - 1976.
"Bye Bye Baby", was the UK's biggest selling single of 1975.
Over a few years the band turned into an international supergroup, selling an estimated 300 million records all over the world.
But by the end of the 1979 Les was homeless and totally broke after quitting the band.
I once left my bass guitar strap at a gig in Balmain so I went back there to this big empty RSL the next afternoon and opened the dressing room door and who were there but The Bay City Rollers on ther 1989 reformation tour.
They looked so sad and despondent I almost asked them for an autograph to cheer them up.
I think that tour was organised by a revolting little English man called Mr Grit.
But thats another story.....
So would you like to upsize that degree?

Happy Tree Friends

2006-11-10T08:03:00.000+11:00

Recently I showed my 8 year old son Happy tree Friends and he loved it as I knew he would.He also loves the Simpsons which contains the Tom and Jerry parody Itchy and Scatchy.
Happy Tree Friends is sold on the premise it is so full on violent that it shouldn't be watched by kids.
Of course it is not really any worse than Tom and Jerry or Roadrunner as a matter of fact it has some great lessons about life.
Basically that stuff can kill and maim ya.
Permanently.
It's sales pitch works like Parental Advisory Stickers. They are the only kind of records any self respecting teenager should buy of course. Putting a warning on something is like honey to a bee.
The forbidden fruit of consumer culture.
Most rap music works the same, selling itself as anti-establishment when it is really the opposite.
Instead of stick it to the man and march to your own drum, its message seems to be making lots of money and buying stuff will liberate you.Just like an ad for Rolex.
A matter a fact some Hip hop is an ad for Rolex.
Rappers spend an inordinate amount of lyrical space listing products coz they get paid to.

Did I mention that I'm one of those terrible people who don't have free to air TV at all?
How weird is that?
How do my children find out about the world?
Now do you mean the real world or the world of TV, you know what's going on in the OC?
Cause I can guarantee they are better informed than most kids their age.
Coz they don't have to swim through a great tide of garbage to get to the good stuff.
You find out about the good shows and get them on DVD.
We had 99 channels of cable crap for a while and it was truly horrible, over night the kids started talking with American accents and saying "You wanna piece of me".
It had to go.
So liberal with Happy Tree Friends, Fascist with TV in general
My parenting is a paradox, actually my life's one too.
One show I'll try and not expose them to is Southpark.
Yes I know your thinking this guy doesn't get it but I do.
I laugh and it's funny but it's also at it's center heartless.-
I was watching it from the beginning,but over the years come to realise there is a cold and inhumane personality streaking behind this creation.
I was drawn to Monty Python from an early age because there was a philosophy behind the humour that resonated with me and I am suspicious of Southpark for the same reason.
Of course it's only a matter of time before they are watching it but I'll try and be the gatekeeper for just a little longer.....

The Sauce of Denial

2006-11-04T23:29:00.000+11:00

Went round to my brothers place the other day.
He boils water in a very inefficient way in a kettle on an electric stove.
I had pointed out before that a $15 electric kettle would save him time and a fair weight of greenhouse gases.
When he started to complain about how long the kettle was taking, I tried to gentle remind him a small investment would soon pay off.
He went off his brain.
"I don't need this shit."
I wasn't just thinking of you I replied.
'Well I don't need to think about that shit either"
And there is the source of denial.
Because it is the small actions that we are all taking that is making our planet less habitable for our children and their children. Unless they are good at treading water, that is.
This is a big conundrum.

Nowadays every one knows cigarettes cause cancer but it wasn't always so.
For decades tobacco companies denied there was any link between their product and ill health.
They spent millions of dollars funding bogus research, buying influence in governments and paying mouthpieces to create a climate of uncertainty about the dangers of tobacco.
Did you know more people have died since 1940 from smoking than were killed in World War 2?
And that tobacco companies knowingly made cigarettes worse for you?
You can learn more about this in the excellent film "The Insider" with Russell Crowe.

One of the most vocal climate change deniers is a Fox News columnist called Steven Milloy. He also runs a web site called
Junk Science which a brilliant use of double think of course.
He is also not suprisingly funded by none other than the biggest oil company in the world Exxon/Mobil.
He runs several "thinktanks" with names like the Free Enterprise institute which collect money for their good work muddying the waters in the minds of Joe Public about our world wide changing weather patterns.
Read all about it here.
Well guess what Steven Milloy, your boss the Big Rup Murdoch has changed his mind about global warming thanks to his son James.
James is actually a pretty cool guy (and I speak from personal experience) doubly so if he's turned his dad.
So I'd be feeling a little nervous about my Fox column if I was you Steve because you don't want to go displeasing the Big Boss now do ya?
Hopefully you'll also choke over breakfast on the corporate fat you've been hoovering for up spreading your sneaky snakey misinformation for so long.

This Time it's Personal

2006-11-02T07:42:00.000+11:00

I know I've been a little strange in my last couple of blogs.
A bit Orwellian in fact.
So to make up for it all, here's some holiday fun.

Firstly am I brave or stupid.
Maybe a little of both?
One thing for sure I am already addicted to Youtube, what a great idea!
The whole world is up there.
To paraphraase Mr Cobain" Here we are now-Entertainment".
We are our own amusement.
Want to see the real Halo?
Check out
this.
Totally scary?
But for a real laugh you cant go past this one.

Careful at work.
Great to see the yanks having a laugh at the horrible situation they got us in.
Finally had the best bike ride native animal score yestaday.
30 kms through the Royal.
No I dont run them over, I just watch them on the trail.
Seems animals dont react to bikes the same way they do to footsteps.
So the sightings were....
Three lyre birds,
two echindas
And a goanna up a gum tree.
Beautiful animals living happily a few kms from my front door.
Steve Irwin RIP.
Next post I will give you my recipe for kangaroo curry which is absolutely delicious.
No I dont eat Lyre Birds or Echidnas but I did use goanna oil once.

See no*, write no**

2006-10-27T10:53:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the unpleasantness in my last blog.
After spending some time with some comrades at************ I have realized that I was an instrument of the traitor Goldstein.
From now on I will only give you fun and relaxing blogs.
I wont mention************ or **** ***** or anything else that may cause you alarm.
I was wrong to think that there was anything wrong with our glorious civilization.
Our shopping malls are second to none.
We have produced many fine actors and pop musicians and fashion designers.
There is nothing wrong with air conditioning, in fact if only we could build a really really big one we could all keep cool.
Don't listen to the fearmongers.
Our leaders have only our best interests at heart.
Put your trust in them, they know what's best for you otherwise how would they have become leaders in the first place?
There is nothing wrong with a country speaking in unison and we can thank Comrade Murdoch for helping us stamp out he unAustralian disenters and naysayers.
Ignore any feeling of emptiness.
Bow to authority.
If you haven't anything nice to say then shop until you drop.
If only the people of Sudan would spend more time in the shopping malls and less time squabbling it would be much more pleasant for all.
Remember if some one is poor or starving it is only their own fault for not trying hard enough.
We are the winners!
And to the winners go the spoiled.
Long live Big Brother and may his merchandise be consumed by all.

Where the truth lies.

2006-10-20T07:24:00.000+10:00

Bulletin from the Ministry of Truth.
Our glorious leader welcomes the news of our victory over the insurgents in Mesopotamia.
Peace now reigns over that beautiful land.
Once the evil dictator Saddam Hitler was dethroned by the will of the people.
It was an easy victory with few casualties and much rejoicing.
As predicted the country was crawling with diabolical weapons of mass destruction.
We praise the armies of liberation.
Democracy is blossoming all over the world.
Our farmers will produce a record crop this year.
No heed should be given to alarmist elements who spread falsehood about our beautiful weather.
We are blessed, our land is bound by sea and plenty.
Our glorious leaders are without sin.
Praise be our freedom.
Praise be our wonderful shopping experiences.
Praise be or glorious celebrity magazines.

Bike riders on the storm.

2006-10-13T08:45:00.000+10:00

Been on a cycling holiday of the Victorian Alps-well that sounds more impressive than it was but illusion is everything.
Still my thighs have grown a little from carting 20 kilos of stuff around on a bike over several hundred kilometres.
It's called the rail trail coz it is an old railway that has been converted into a bike track.
It never goes up by more than a gentle slope although the brochure makes it seem a lot easier than it is.
Scenery was magnificent though scarily dry.
We met farmers in the pub facing the grim task of selling all their stock because there is no water for them to drink.
There is nothing you can say to some one who is going broke because of the changing climate.
We promised to do a rain dance but it didn't work.
Today will be very hot and I definitly smelt smoke in the air and it's only just turned spring- we are in for a nasty summer.
I used to love summer but now after the terrible heat of Jan 1 it scares me a bit.
We only just made it out of the central coast before the fire came.
Lots of people were trapped on the side of the road in 40 degree heat.
That must have been hellish.
Wish it would scare Little Johnny Howard a bit too.
Although there are signs he is about to change his tune on climate change or climate chaos as I more accurately descibe it.
Because it's a security risk!
Yes burning and dying of thirst is a bit of a security risk.
I'm finding I prefer the cooler climates in my old age.
I grew up in Canberra after all.
Cold weather makes people snuggle up under a blanket but really hot weather makes people angry and exhausted.
This is an Australian perspective.
A sunburnt country an all that
The sun in Europe never has the bite ours has.
Today I start a new class of bloggers and podcasters on their journey.
Then off to the Enmore theatre for some Thai and some space rock.

Big in Sweden

2006-09-17T20:03:00.000+10:00

Sweden is a wonderful country.
I would move there in a flash.
Love the food and the people and their outdoorsyness.
They are progresive and proud of their mixed economy and social welfare system.
Not sure about queing up to buy alcohol but hey no where is perfect.
Why am I so hot for Sweden?
Coz they have publish a story on me and my podcasting classes.
Podcasting is huge in education right now.
Every where you look someone is running a workshop on how to get your students into learning stuff through the magic of the pod.
I was so stoked with the publicity I bought myself a new Ipod for the family to "gift" me.
It plays videos an all.
It is semi justified by the fact it will come in handy to pacify my son with educational vodcasts.
National geographic, nature channel, one called Ecogeeks- all free too.
It is totally justified by the fact it is TAX DEDUCTABLE.
I always feel guilty buying stuff so I have to justify it to myself somehow.
Loving the new Itunes with the 3D flip through thingy.
Of course The Sydney Morning Herald is trying to beat it up as a lemon.
I feel I have to defend Apple.
I guess I'm branded and a Apple snob too.
But what other company generates such excitement about design and innovation?
Yes they arent perfect .I tried to argue with this Apple service guy the other day- it was like the scene from Dark Star where he argues with the computer.
Sorry Dave but i'm not programed for refunds or negotiation . This ship will self destruct in 5 seconds......
But I love them all the same.
That's customer loyalty for ya.
It works on gut feelings not rational thought processes.
Why do some people hate Macs so much?
I usually retort "What are you- a communist? You want the whole world on one operating system?"
Sometimes it works.
If they remember what a communist is.

Dilemmas of a Cyber Dad

2006-09-12T22:24:00.000+10:00

Computers and technology are a twin edged sword.
It can cut both ways.
Sorry if that's stating the bleeding obvious but that's a nice way to lead into today's rasp.
There is an almost overwhelming tide of information flowing into my world at the moment.
I have to try and stay on top of developments in technology and audio software in order to teach my eager students.
(strangely, some of them are.)
Mining manuals, jigging guides, scouring sources, translating textbooks, fossicking on forums, it is a relentless quest for knowing a little bit more.
Of course the goal posts aren't being are just being shifted, they are driving porches, leaving you eating the dust of last months upgrade.
It's like you're mapping the coastline but the Teutonic plates are shifting every afternoon.
I geta few freebie Quick start guides and the like but by Jimminy they go out of date fast.
I was teaching podcasting with Audacity on PC then switched to Garageband on Macs.
Garageband is great for podcasting except for a few strange foibles like you cant export to MP3.
Meanwhile the new Beta version of Audacity is also a vast improvement.
You can move tracks around in relation to each other, reduce noise and export to mp3.
So I now use them both.
that's as well as
Cubase SX3- a very powerful but complicated audio app.
Reason-a totally awesome virtual studio.
Protools LE -simple and reliable
Not to mention all the other bit and pieces.
Even Itunes (which a groovey new version was released today) has got more and more complicated.
So I'm using all these programs and trouble shooting my Mac Lab (coz students do the strangest things when they don't know what they are doing).

Sometimes I have to go for a long walk in the bush , far away form things that go bleep and crash.
Another new problem is my two sons.
Marlon is 8 and has a type of Autism called Aspergers Syndrome.
He wants to be on the computer 24/7.
Now my other son Logan who is two can navigate his way around (this is kinda spooky to watch) the Mac I get no chance to get online at all.
Except for my secret Wi Fi hotspot that is.
Down the back of my house I can log in.
I don't know who paying for it but I thank them here.
Whoever you are you are saving my arse fella.

Dont feed the Non-Natives?

2006-09-01T15:53:00.000+10:00

Watched "the New World" the other night which is the story of Pocahontas shot in a very realistic but dream like way by Terence Malick who made the Thin Red Line.
These stories of first contact between Native people and White men always choke me up.
I just want to yell -"Dont trust em-they will ruin everything".
Which is basically what Colin Farrell as Captain Smith says to Poc.
But she trusts him and almost gets taken to the cleaners but she survives and actually grows to have the supreme satifaction of rejecting Captain Smith years later.
Still in the minds of Native Americans was she a traitor coz without her the first settlers would surely have perished?
In the film they seem to have a perfect life. Hunting, fishing ,hanging out, smoking peace pipes. It looks ideal esp. compared to the white trash settlers who argue and spout the gospels as they cheat each other.
It is a wonderful film if you like long, love stories and frolicking in the fields.
There is a bit of carnage but probably not enough to interest the lads.
You see I want to go back to pre-Columbus America or pre-Cook Australia.
For a visit at least.
I want to work out whether they were happier than us.
Whether they smiled more than us.
Laugh more than us.
Argued less.
All those barrometers of well being.
Whether they were depressed and over-ate.
Whether they couldn't get up in the morning.
Or killed each other as much.
Or worked as hard.
Coz our modern life is a wonderful gift but to what can I compare my modern life.
I'm looking for a scientific control so we can acertain if it's all been worth it.
Progress and it's relentless march.
Does it play the tune you hum along to?

Uprooting the non-natives

2006-08-25T10:46:00.000+10:00

Check out these big machines clearing the non natives for the new rainforest in my front yard bush care project.
They are noisy as hell but I don't mind as they are clearing the way for a little bit of paradise.
These guys were really impressed by how much we had done with only hand saws.
Council wont cover us for power tools.
I always admired the foresight of people who planted amazing gardens knowing only their grandchildren would enjoy them.
Coz trees take a long time to grow.
In 100 years this will be a rain forest Natures God willing.
I won't be here then but I probably wont be here in a few months.
The landlord in gunna sell this old place and they we build 20 town houses here.
It a very big block.
That means no more "Lodge" studio down the back with roaring log fires making music and playing guitars.
It was built in the 1920's and was the only cottage in the area.
Heres a snap.

At least the new people will have a rain forest to enjoy.
If they stick around for a while.

Love is in the ear

2006-08-18T07:24:00.000+10:00

Spring is almost here.
I know that because the first flower of jasmine popped open yesterday.
It smells amazing.
Loaded with memories.
When I was a teenager I used to come up to Sydney from Canberra.
Canberra is very cold in the winter, ice and fog and layers of clothes, and I used to come up to Sydney and think it was a tropical paradise.
A real city with trendy punks, legendary live venues and exotic jasmine perfume. The stuff don't grow in Canberra.
A lot of stuff doesn't grow in Canberra -not back in those days anyway.
Sydney was a different place back then.
It wasn't yet an international city.
There was squats full of artists,cheap rent and a hint of danger and neglect -in other words a perfect city for a coming of age.
squatting is almost extinct in Sydney now but it was big back in the eighties.
There are laws about the use of disused property especially government property and you basically had to find an empty building and move in.
Sometimes the owner didn't mind too much as it meant someone was looking after the place.
I had friends who squatted in a huge old pub on William street, they used to have these famous parties and all sorts of people used to turn up. Artists, musicians, models and designers, street people and wayward youths, dealers and derelicts.
They didn't even charge a door fee.
I can see their faces and zany haircuts and I wonder what they are all doing now.
Some are dead and some are working for the man doing very well no doubt.
I wish them well through time and space.
Thanks for those parties.

We are History's playthings

2006-07-30T22:54:00.000+10:00

Recently was informed by a Indonesian student that protection of religious belief is enshrined in Indonesia's constitution. All 5 beliefs were protected he said. I could guess four ,Hindu ,Muslim,Buddhist and Christian but what was the other I asked?
Not Christian-Catholic and Protestant he replied.
Yes of course the writers of that document must have been aware that ever since Martin Luther banged his little protest note up on a church door Christians (whose central doctrine is surely love thy neighbour) have been at each others throats. We had the Thirty years war and The St. Barthothemew's Day Massacre, not to forget a couple of English civil wars and The Troubles in Ireland.. It's been going on for five hundred years and the good news is it's just about stopped. A war of centuries can turn to peace if there is sufficient will and disgust for blood shed.
Which brings us to the Vexed Middle East.
What can anyone say except the obvious-Stop killing each other!
I want to take neither side, a dead child is a dead child, hate begets hate, and two wrongs don't make a right.
Can you fight for peace? Or only pray for it?
Is love stronger than hate? People can forgive but can they ever forget?
In time anything is possible.......
Read some blogs below, make your own judgments what is truth and which is propaganda?
It's a very hard call.
An excellent article on blogging from Beirut
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
And in a strange twist of fate Mel "Passion of Christ"Gibson is the talk of blogs all over the world for his Anti-Jewish drunken rant at a cop.This is so strange how fortunes can reverse-See Andrew Sullivans blog.Was he some kind of lightning rod,picking up signals from an evil entity because for a Hollywood Star there is certainly no quicker way to stuff up your career than the words he spouted.
Like William Wallace he may find himself being hung,drawn and quartered...for a few days anyway, until the next Celebrity Train Wreck pulls off the station.

To the top of the blogcharts

2006-07-21T12:43:00.000+10:00

I recently fixed some blogcounting chicklets to my brother's site.One from belligerent's and another from Top Blog sites. You can watch your self go up (or down) the charts, it's quite a interesting distraction. Currently he is number one in his section on Blogrankers which is smaller and Number 19 on top blogsites.He is in the personal section there along with the randy girls and chronic mastubaters and bottom smackers. He wanted to be there, don't ask me why.Maybe he wants some other blogs to "riff "off. I spent a bit of time perusing these sites and they really are rubbish,I admit. In a burgeoning field where one can write anything they want to, inspire some art and imagination and propogate worldchanging new thoughts but the vast majority of blogs appeal to the lowest common denominator, it's true. Celebrity blogs are huge and so are porn blogs.
Each to their own I guess, pun intended.
Hope you brought your headphones.

Never, ever trust computers.(and maybe teenage girls)

2006-07-13T21:57:00.000+10:00

Bought a new piece of gear a little while ago for my studio down the back.
A Focusrite trackmaster pro. Sounds impressive, huh?
It is lovely bit of "frontend" a preamp which is the first thing a microphone hits and therefore is extremely important for audiophiles like moi. Focusrite are like the Rolls Royce of audio or one of them at least and actually it's the cheapest thing they make.
It does seem to make a real difference.
I got a chance to use it during the week as I got a little job recording a version of a Kev Carmody song called "the Streets of London".
Kev is an aboriginal singer of some note who I got to work with in a small way ages ago.
After working on this song for a whole day I went back to mix it a couple of days later only to find some of the tracks had disappeared totally.
I got a sick nauseous feeling like when the school bully singled you out for treatment after school.
After a bit of panic I realised we'd only lost a few things and luckily could get them redone with out too much bother but will it all be there next time I open it up?
I would feel better if I could constuct a theory.......
Well actually I can.
You see I was doing this round at a good friends house and he had had a visit from his teenage daughter and she loves to get on his computer and check her Myspace and stuff.
But I couldn't really make accusations.
It wouldn't have been right and besides it would have helped anyway.
So we re did the missing bits and will keep our fingers crossed.
Sadly the legendary recluse Syd Barrett died again yestaday.
Here is an excellent post with lots of links to early footage etc. about the man who started Pink Floyd and who spiraled into psychosis.
Without out him would there have been a David Bowie or a Robert Smith?
Certainly his brief career inspired a whos who of rock music.
Shine on you crazey diamond.

Finally a short message from our sponsor.
Do bring your headphones as tomorrow we will be entering the world of sound!

Declarations and Straussian Intrigues

2006-07-06T23:42:00.000+10:00

Well it's the day after Independence Day which celebrates the day the New world broke from the Old.
You may have seen National Treasure with Nic Cage, you will know the almost mystical reverance that Americans hold this document.
And probably rightly so.
Have you ever read it?
Try it NOW .
Written by Thomas Jefferson , notice the use of the words Nature's God.
They were fairly enlightened the founding Fathers and most of them were Deists.
That is they believed in an organising cosmic intelligence but didn't subscribe to any creed of religion.
They liked JCs simple teachings but considered him just a man.
I like their philosophy.
However ever the current Administration may be under the influence of an entirely different fellow.
Meet Leo Strauss.
Straus apparently is admired by Richard Perle and a whole bunch of Project for a New American Century chaps.
Strauss is at the total opposite from The Lamb when he said "those who are fit to rule are those who realize there is no morality and that there is only one natural right, the right of the superior to rule over the inferior".
Sounds awfully like Darth Vader to me. Or some one even nastier.
Of course I've already warned you that bloggers are being watched. Heres some more proof straight from the Dept of Offence.
Yes your right they're only following orders from Big Brother. No No No, Not the TV show.
It's all so Orwellian. A great example of double think.
And seeing as this entry has ended a little darkly why not some light relief.
Yes folks sit back, break out the popcorn and enjoy 1984.

Elvis Who?

2006-06-30T13:15:00.000+10:00

My next door neighbour is from a small village in India.
He came over here not so long ago to an arranged marriage to his beautiful wife.
I was talking to hima whil ago and made a joke about Elvis having left the building.
He replied Elvis who?
I said you know Elvis Presley "The King","The White Nigger",you know Heartbreak Hotel and several hundred other hits.
He said no he didn't know this man.
I was astounded, dumbfounded even.
So I asked what about the Beatles?
He looked at me blankly.
You know "I wanna hold your hand", Sergeant Peppers,Fab Four, Mop Tops....
Sorry he said.
They worked with Ravi Shanker....
Oh this man I have heard of, he replied.
We make so many cultural assumptions, not just and people from different places but from different time periods as well.
My Indian neighbour speaks english pretty well but knows no Rock n' Roll.
I have had a similer experiences with other friends who you do a Doctor Smith and the robot impersonation at (from the 1960s TV show lost in space) and they look at you blankly.They never saw it ,only the film version which was quite different.
Which just goes to prove the old saying
"Don't assume -it makes an ass out of U and me".

Bloggers use their heads, not lose their heads

2006-06-21T00:07:00.003+10:00

Well I'm back here again.
I must admit I'd had a kind of bloggers block caused in some small part by Mr G.Reaper who seems to have been harvesting souls near by.
Must return to the saddle of my trusty blog, dust off my spurs and barbs and head up a posse of thoughts your way.
Ever read the real story of Easter Island?
The Polynesians who landed on this most isolated of islands found a fertile forested paradise and their population soon swelled. To amuse themselves or as some sort of inter tribal art competition they started to build large statues called Moai and as competition heated up they made bigger and bigger ones. We suspect they used the forest trees to transport these heads all over the island. Shortly before European contact they cut down the last tree and their population crashed perhaps due to the fact they could fish anymore coz they also used the trees to make canoes. So they spiraled down into war and canibalism.
You can pretty much see the whole Island from the top of the mountain in the middle,
which means they knew they were cutting down the last tree.
Why didn't they maybe leave a few standing? Because to paraphrase a prominent American -The Easter Island way of life was not negotiable.Their society was doomed by group think, a herachical structure where perhaps no one spoke out.
Of course they didn't have Bloggers either.
Increasingly the voices reporting events from inside some of the worlds closed societies, the people saying hey maybe we should keep a few trees on the island, are bloggers.Including the Middle East amongst other places.
Heres a nice example of Arab lady who speaks her mind.
Of course she is risking her liberty and perhaps her life to publish this.
I only hope shes read Handbook for bloggers put out by Reporters without Borders.
We can only wish her good luck and safe passage and maybe an invisiblity cloak!

Two Funerals and a Creepy Lake

2006-05-19T09:11:00.000+10:00

Been to two funerals in a week. I like wearing black but this is ridiculous, both sad days of not knowing what to say.All the big questions and what ifs come up at funerals but Life is a mystery and even more so is death.Of the two funerals, the less religious one for my dear auntie was actually much better, no spruiking for converts, just a celebration of someones life. Both choked me up because although there is often a lot fibbing about what a great person such and such was at these things both of these human beings were truly wonderful and my world seems duller without them even though I only saw them occasionally.
Permanence is the great myth. All things will pass. Change is the only constant much as we humans try to deny this. Yet we live as if we had all the time in the world.

Recorded a podcast on the way down to Canberra yesterday in the car. Which was an excellent way to pass the time and talk about obscure music facts and future projects although I'm not sure about the background noise. Note to self buy a Prius for future podcasting- they are sposed to be almost silent.Also not sure about the impact on my driving ,searching for CDs etc wilst careering along at god knows what speed.
Must mention spooky Lake George.The lake doesn't exist at the moment, it comes and goes depending on rainfall I guess. Driving along this non lake is always a spooky creepy experience for me and my brothers. It is the last place in the world I would want to breakdown. We always told ghost stories along this stretch, they have been several dissapearances and phantom hitchhikers and the strange encounter with the girl in the red cape as well as a whole canoe of sea scouts who drown there. So I'm wondering is this just us or does everyone feel this creepy vibe along that stretch of road?
Try it and see,just don't break down and remember the urban legend -whatever you do don't look back.

An Antipodean Gentleman retires from the fray

2006-05-08T21:41:00.001+10:00

You may have heard of the untimely death of one G.W.Mclennan of the Australian group The Go-betweens.
I was privileged to record an album Snow Job for this great lyricist and songwriter in the early nineties.
He was such a incredible gentleman of the sort that is now rare and which I can only aspire too.
A true romantic, a lover of love,music, women and books not nec. in that order.
We used to sing great harmonies together.
You were always a pleasure to spend time with.
You introduced me to some other great musicians and friends and novelists.
The candle that burns twice as bright only burns half as long I guess.
Hope you are hanging out with George Harrison and Kurt Cobain.
You left your mark on us and the world.
Be seeing you.

Bloggers are people too

2006-05-03T22:44:00.001+10:00

Rather proud of some of the blogging that is going on in my classes.
There is some really interesting writing going on.
Some times the English is a little out there but who am I to talk.
Really I feel like I am in some sort of Sci -Fi cybernovel and feel very honored to be at the birth of a new generation of thinkers/dreamers.
Blog on you crazey Diamonds.
This is an interesting rasp on the price of petrol. Want to know how much energy is in a barrel of oil? About the same as a slave who worked for you 12 hours a day for 12 years and we get that for a measly $70. We are bloated on oil like the Maori were on moa birds before they went extinctomundo.
Yes although I like to adher to the myth of the noble savage and have several lovely Maori friends they made a few mistakes back in NZ. They ate their way through Eden and started on each other like a real life nation-wide lord of the flies.
Of course petrol is gonna get more expensive which doesn't worry me so much coz I've got a little Honda that sniffs petrol rather frugally. Also I can't wait for all those sorry mothers in their Toorak tractors who terrorized me much worse than Osama to abandon them on the side of the road.
Finally a cele-braty blogger . The man who writes Boing Boing a huge blog that would be worthy of a critique released his first book under a creative commons license. It's great read if your interested in aquiring stuff which I guess we all are.
What does blogging consume?
A little elect trickery and a lot of time.

Holiday in the Vic Alps

2006-04-28T09:12:00.000+10:00

Look I don't want to bore you with holiday snaps but I feel it is my duty to point out this primo holiday destination with a few photos.
The Victorian Alps are an amazing place in Autumn. Lots of trees in a multitude of hues, berry farms and wineries and large (for Australia ) mountains.
I did a bit of trout fishing and manged to catch two (Alas at the trout farm).
Still delicious with fresh chestnuts and a mescal salad.
Oh and there was snow on Mt.Hotham which was totally great for the kids who managed to get soaking wet in a couple of minutes.
Theres my holiday plug-only seven hours by car from Sydney!

Modern life is a chinese puzzle

2006-04-21T08:52:00.001+10:00

Looks like bloggers are the disproportionate makers of news and purveyors of influence acording to this article We are "influentuals" and you can ignore us at your peril. Of course the CIA being an intelligence agency have already figured this out.They trawl the blogospherelooking for clues and weapons of mass destruction. As one of the class found out the internet is a very public domain and you don't have to hold a seance to attract spooks.
The price of petrol is in the news again. It has rocketed from $10 a barrel in 1998 to over $70 a barrel today. Ask yourself why? Perhaps it is because we have picked all the easy fruit off the oil tree and now we have to clamber up the trnk amongst the thorns to get the fruit that's left.Don't believe me ? Read what "Rich Dad/Poor Dad has to say about it. He wouldn't lie to ya.
Which is why I'm taking my family on a road trip to the Victorian Alps for some walking and maybe some trout fishing.
Yes I know hypocrisy is the grease on wheels of our society.
Because I'm not just using petrol we may need to grow food and medicine, I'm also creating greenhouse gaseswhich will ruin the party for everyone.
Help me out of this morale dilema please.
Surely the rainforest I'm planting gets me off the hook?
And the worm farm that must be worth something too?
And that time I walked to the shops?

A Python Falls from the Sky

2006-04-04T10:02:00.001+10:00

Went for a big walk in the Royal on sunday.
20 kms from Waterfall down to Lady Carrington and back to Audley then up the hill home.
We were walking through this lush rainforest when something crashed down out of the canopy.
"Look out theres a big snake fallen out of the trees" says Mike nervously from behind me.
"Yeah , sure there is" I say.
But there was and it was huge.
What are the hances of that ?Right in front of my feet .A beautiful 15 foot diamond python that had caught a flying fox and proceeded to crush it in it's coils.
We watched tranfixed.

Nature is cruel and takes no prisoners.
I take a few photos.
Don't get too close my friends say.
It's OK I know parseltounge.
It might bite they warn.
Maybe we should have lunch I say.

So we eat our lunch while the snake eats his.
Two coincidences.
My previous post was about a bat and I am currently reading a book on Monty Python.
Does this mean I am the new David Attenborough?
Or should I take up comedy?
Snakes don't fall at your feet every day you know!

Australia is a bat

2006-03-28T20:25:00.000+11:00

In case you didn't realize Australia is the Saudi Arabia of uranium.
We have huge amounts of the stuff up north.
Soon we'll be selling the stuff to China and India or Chindia as some people have been calling these to new kids on the economic block.
Of course viewed in the long scale of human history they aren't new kids but great empires that had a couple of hundred years off.
Some supporters of Uranium mining claim it is better to risk radiation poisoning than global warming.
There is a couple of conundrums ( very tricksy puzzle) posed here.
Before WW2 we had a Primeminister called Pig Iron Bob who had no problem selling scrap iron to the Japanese who were at that time raping Nanking and soon would be bombing Darwin.
Now hopefully China and Taiwan will have a full moon party, get the love vibe and sort out their differences like sensible people but there is the chance that things will get out of hand and seeing that the US is the sworn defender of Taiwan and we are the Yanks obedient little brother it could get very scary and most unpleasant.
Especially unpleasant would be our own true blue yellow cake raining back down on us!
So how do you guarantee the stuff will only be used for peaceful purposes?
Our fearless leader is dedicated to the religionlaissez faire capitalism which means he believes the market is like a god that knows all.
The free market is great for some things and I love being able to sell stuff at whatever price to whoever but Mr Howards vision is to sell everthing the government owns to anyone who can afford it.
Witness Telstra. Why sell a profitable enterprise thats bringing in billions of revenue?Glad I never bought those shares!
NZ went further and sold all their power generation and surprise, surprise they suffered rolling blackouts because the companies generating power deemed it unprofitable to invest in more infrastructure.
So I take the middle path. Private enterprise good for somethings.State control good for others.
So selling uranium to China needs careful consideration and state control.
Will it help the cut carbon emmisions?
If you add up all the mining ,processing ,transportation, building and decommisioning of Nuclear power plants you probably didn't save much at all.
But who knows, the Chinese are clever people and have been investigating fast breeder reactors as well as pebble bed reactors so might know something we don't.
Finally an excellent article about Australias relationship to the rest of the world.
Are we a bat neither bird nor beast or something else. If this sounds obscure read it in the SMH.

So Sue Me and a post script

2006-03-23T22:58:00.000+11:00

Whoa, look out there flamers and name callers cause youll end up in court getting your pants sued off.
It happened in England it can happen here.
So stop calling me a silly person and a son of a hampster and blowing your nose in my general direction OK?
Can blogging save the enviroment?
We can only hope so coz things are getting so awfully baaad.
Remember Bladerunner and the scene with Decker and the artificial owl, well I hope it never comes to pass coz every extinction belittles us all and makes the world seem sader and duller.I wanna be where the wild things roam....
Lastly a sad post script to our post a few days ago.
After days of deliberation the jury let the dirty slime ball off.
The law can be an ass- which is a kind of donkey- and on this occasion it was indeed.
I don't understand how that could happen but it did so we can only hope for some sort of instant karma.
Anybody know vodoo?

Almost invent a word again

2006-03-21T19:29:00.000+11:00

Remember pog. It meant crap or rubbish,stuff lying around. My friend Ralph invented that, it's true.
Ever wondered who stared the saying "he's high maintenance" .That was mine, can't prove it but someone owes me big time.
So yesterday I was thinking about blogging and the bigots it attracts and it hit me -Bligot.
A new word .This time I wasn't gonna let it slip unauthored into the lexicon. I was gonna be lauded for being a clever chap.
Alas a quick google and the balloon of ego gratification popped with a smirk.
Here was a bloggers dictionary with bliggot and a whole lot of other words I probably would have thought of.Here is the blog of a bigot or a bligot. This guy wrote the book on smug and sneery so maybe bigot isn't totally correct.
Hey how about smigot! Now for a quick google.Yah for me! Hope the resident of the swedish town fo Smigot don't take offence.
Why dont we start an award for the worst bligot on the web? Hell, a least we'd have a lot of contenders.

Horrible Coincidence

2006-03-20T08:20:00.001+11:00

For the last couple of years my wifes family has been involved in a terrible matter.
Seems 30 years ago a family friend used to molest her brothers.Her parents, who are the lovliest people never knew. They had kept it a terrible secret.
They have been in and out of court for a couple of years. It must be awful dredging this stuff up and I am totally grateful that I was never subjected to that kind of attention.
Anyway today is the day the court brings down it's decision which will be a relief for everyone no matter what the verdict.
Today a cyclone approachs Far North Q'land, Cyclone Larry is the strongest cyclone to hit Australia for decades.Perhaps the biggest ever.
Winds will be 230 kph, there will be a lot of destruction.Lives will be ruined.
What are the chances that both disasters would share the same name?

Pluck some fruit from the Commentry

2006-03-14T15:00:00.000+11:00

Sooo....bloggers are to comments what fish are to scales.
Not talking about the comments section,
although I could be but the art of gleaning through current news and issues
and adding your two cents worth. What do you think? If you think at all.
Freedom to think seems to be a hard to come by commodity in my busy life.
I have to snatch time inbetween a thousand and one distractions and commitments.
The Huffington Post is one of the big blogs at the moment,Arianna Huffington compares newsbloggers to the pitbulls of media journalism.
Can you believe a media baron like Rupert M declaring mainstream news in dead and blogging is the future, see I told you this was big.
Read it here. Yes we bloggers are the New Explorers sailing to whole new worlds of endless digital prarie. Uncle Rupert should know cause he just bought My space, the friend build community. Here is my my space for a record I did. Myspace now has 62,500,000 members 54 of which are my special friends. Lets make it 55 soon!
It's not all loving friendship thoughthings can get nasty.
Bloggers of course can get into trouble at work especially if you're a memeber of the police force.
As my mother used to say if you can't say something nice make a cup of tea.....
Bit strange my mum makes a good cuppa though.
You notice I called her Mum and not Mom. Heres a nice little rasp about the Americanisation of our dear language cobbers.
See all you folks in class.

A Brand New Class

2006-03-10T10:06:00.000+11:00

Well great to meet all the newbies.
I am excited by meeting new people so much so that I want to hide under my desk.
But I made it through the day without running out the door.
Unfortunately we are in a strange room full of archaic computers and bad lighting.
We work in an epileptic induction zone.
Screens flicker, flouros flicker beating out a random pattern on your brain.
So we will take regular breaks.
In my other classes we play hackie sack in the breaks.
It is great fun and loosens you up after crouching like a gargoyle over your computer.
I am going to ask for a new monitor or else a new set of eyes like Tom Cruise in Minority Report.
Till then.....

Ink:Handle with care

2006-02-10T23:35:00.000+11:00

Catoon by Alen Lauzan Falcon, Santiago, Chile

I've been wanting to talk about the Satanic cartoons controversy but I have to admit I'm scared.
So is most of the free press.
It wasn't Big Bro that brought them down but Big Mo'(PBAH).
I want to support our Princess Mary.
She gave up nice quiet Tasmania for the number one holiday destination for suicide bombers.
I've been to Denmark and it's a cool place.
They have a free state called Kristiana where anything goes.
It's insane to think a whole country should be targeted because of what a few people scribbled on a piece of paper.
Heres a debate on whether an Islamic state is compatable with democracy. I think the neo cons might have read this.But then why did they think they could spread democracy though the Middle East?
Heres what the Malaysian PM thinks.
Heres another point of view
Heres a moderate Arab voice.
The cartoons arent actually funny,you can find them at Wikipedia and it was deliberately provocative to publish them.
The strange thing is these cartoons appeared in October in Cairo but nobody got upset then.
Theres a lot we in the west don't understand about Islam.
Certainly the whole thing has made being a cartoonist a more interesting profession.
Does God bless free speech?
Maybe we should keep Him/Her out of the arguement!
I'm off to play with my Lego set .....after I finish eating my falafel roll.

Dessicated like Bourke and Wills

2006-02-02T11:56:00.000+11:00

Went bushwalking with brother J and Frankie who's over here from Ireland.
Went from Waterfall to ulaloo falls,5 kms of easy if hot walking.
We stop at the falls which have stopped due to lack of water.
Have a bite to eat and carry on.
The sun comes out from behind the clouds.
We follow the track which suddenly dissapears.
Where has it gone ?
We start to augue .
It's stupidly brainfryingly hot.
My companions don't have proper hats.
J wants to backtrack.
We bush bash around looking for the track,paranoid we'll step on a snake.
A mild panic is setting in.
We follow the ridge back to the falls.
Dive into the water.
Rest and discuss if we should try again .
We head off down the same track which dissapears again.
We bush bash down into the gully for 3 hours.
Looking for footprints or a sign of humans.
We soak in small pools totally cooked.
This is how Burke and Wills felt, two Australian explorers who died in the desert.
Eventually we find our way to Karloo Pool which is beautiful and cool.
We walk out in the twilight,burnt and sweating, desperately thirsty.
We had a map and a compass and still we got lost.
I havent been lost for a while, it is a scarey feeling.
Panic comes from the Greek God Pan who waited to confuse people in the forest.
Thank you Mr Pan. Thank you Mr Sol.
A most exhausting but hard core day.

The wests secret weapon- football

2006-01-31T16:17:00.000+11:00

People are starting to wake up to the prospect that we may be heading down the slippery slope towards another coalition of the killing,this time all steam ahead to sunny Persia.
Sanctions may actually hurt the west more than the sanctioned.
Coz the loss of the fourth biggest producer of oil could send the price of the stuff skyrocketing.
I can actually see why Iran might want the big stick seeing as the country next door got invaded.
Anyway it seems we have a secret weapon-football or soccer as it is called here in Australia.
Read these Iranian blogs
As well as coming across as.... well normal people worried about their shonky leaders, a lot of them are worried about being excluded from the world cup because of restarting the nuclear research.
Football is bigger than anything it seems and rightly so.
It's an international language.
The language of the boot.
This time lets forget the killing an destruction and just have a bit of kick around of a the ball eh?

What hit me?

2006-01-29T23:08:00.001+11:00

Thanks for the great night out.
Thanks for the bottle of red.
Thanks for making sure I stayed sober and an outstanding example to you all.
Enjoyed the toasts and the food and especially singing White wedding.
You gotta love Billy Idol.
Hope you all made it home OK.
Hope you find peace and happiness.
Or at least a good hangover cure.
I'm not drinking for a while.
I'm not very good at it.
That's not a very Australian thing to admit.
Went to Hustville and saw the lion dance or the dragon dance I'm not sure which.
Those guys are amazing, jumping from pole to pole dressed in an animal suit.
Very young too
Should take this op to wish a properous and faithful year of the dog to everyone.
I hope it is a good dog and doesn't chew anyones slippers or dig holes in the garden or anything else naughty dogs do.

The end of the affair

2006-01-16T21:50:00.000+11:00

Citizens
Some of you may have noticed beneath my fastidious nature, military planning skills, attention to formalities and personal hygiene is the glimmer of a soft centre.
I may seem hard and unapproachable but deep deep down I am a quite sensitive fellow.Really.
So most times as I near the end of a relationship I start to reflect and ponder and get a little misty eyed.
I have met some lovely young people,shared some stories, had a laugh, showed them some tricks of the trade and sent them off into the world to who knows where.
Hopefully I have a positive effect.
Hopefully I am on the side of good.
Hopefully I might make a small difference to some one.
Maybe opened their eyes to some things.
Probably not for all, or even most but a few.
I know I had teachers like that who helped a little, made me entertain some possibilities, sheparded me towards........
Anyway I now have to put my service medals back on my chest and get into some serious marking.
How do you mark a blog?
Frequency is important.
Depth also.
Information?
Links, you need them.
Readability?
How about grammar and spelling?
Or creative use of the English language?
How about an original voice?
That's a lot to ask I know but there have been glimmers, little peeks of what might be.
Do you agree that the blog is king? Or at least something important?
It's certainly a great way to teach and get insights into peoples minds/lives.
I hope you got through the work load without stomach ulcers and that you get the marks you need to do what you want to do, be what what you want to be .
Occasionally pop into this blog, drop me a line, tell me you new book/film/expose/podcast is coming out and make me smile.
Untill then back to the marking.

Give me Liberty or give me shopping

2006-01-09T22:06:00.000+11:00

Well we survived the silly season and it wasn't so bad.
Almost got caught in the bushfires on the hottest day of the year (although it's very early to make that claim).
Only a couple of weeks left to complete this pocasting /blogging module.
Heard of John Pilger? Heres an interesting read from the man who continues to be a thorn in the side of Governments and the media.Love him or loath him? He is a dedicated and persistant journo who exists on the margin.He talks of the Death of freedom.
Thought you might as well have a link to another interesting writer,George Monbiot.Here he talks aboutthe struggle against ourselves which may put you off shopping for a nano second, then again maybe not....
Still want more?
Probably not coz your all busy doing amazing podcasts but
Persons interested in democracy should check this out.
The American founding fathers should be an inspiration to us all.
Thom Hartman has a scary rasp on our rights as humans. If you are human.
Will Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin please reincarnate?
Before the next election?
Stuck on an investment decision?
Try investment blogs.
And if your still stuck for a blog to examine try the worlds bestblogs.In their opinion anyway.
And now for the fluffy animal story........
Whoops sorry got things mixed up...Here is the fluffy animal story
See you in class citizens!

Did I ever like Xmas?

2005-12-24T13:36:00.001+11:00

Hope you are all looking forward to a relaxed time with family or friends or your pets or whatever.
I lost the vibe for christmas some time ago, about the same time I realised Sea Monkeys were just tiny prawny things.
Of course it is a confused festival down under.
Christmas or Yule or whatever just doesn't make sense in the horrible heat.
Yes I am Captain Bah Humbug.
Fake snow,Christmas lights, fake pine trees, overeating, overdrinking,boring racist relatives, shopping centres on sterioids, it drives me insane.
This year I bought a crate of champagne and that is it.
Everyone gets one even the kids.
It's quality stuff dont worry.
Santa of course is evil as any one who has seen "silent night deadly night" will know. I'm not recommending you do.
Anyway enjoy your time off.
Heres a stupid game to get Santa off his faceand on the floor
Heres a sickly sweet one for ya
too.
And be nice to people and your credit card.
And don't eat the fake snow.

Living in a Westside story

2005-12-13T09:45:00.000+11:00

Well....
Looks like we aren't in for a summer of love this silly season.
We Sydneyites are in for our own version of Westside story.
We even have the Sharks.
Unfortunately I fear it won't stop until someone is push off this mortal coil.
Racism and hatred are very hard to get back in the bottle once they have been let out., and boy are they out.
But it is nearly all young men I believe having the same turf war they have always had.
Unfortunatly there are some other salts in the wound.
Osama,Tampa,gang rape,Bali,Alan Jones and The patriotic youth league and lets not forget the media who have endlessly publicised the whole thing.
And they will sell more papers over this dull time for news.
Which makes me wonder is there reallyless news over Xmas or is it just that Journos are all on holiday?
On a lighter note did you see Podcast was voted word of the
year?
I was slightly ahead of my time? or am I now passe.
Maye I should change my nom de plume to Peter Podjackas this seems to be the next little thing!
Untill we pod again.
Peter

Who let the Blog Monster out?

2005-12-03T13:31:00.001+11:00

I have tried to maintain some discretion between my work at various institutions and my other lifes.
Which i admit is counter to the spirit of blogging I know.
I talked my brother who is a international cult rock star (at least to my Mum) into starting his own blog and although he was dubious has now declared it to be a wonderful thing.
He is posting every day, long poetic, silly, touching entries that I really enjoy reading.
And so do his fans.
And they have all started blogging too.
I wont be advertising his site though coz I don't want my secret identity to be revealed.:-)
By Google I reckon at least 100 people have been infected through me.
Should I get vacinated?
My little doco may be on in Federation Sq in Melbourne which is a little exciting.
Must show it to the class with popcorn an jaffas.
Blog ye well.

Why rainy days are best

2005-11-28T09:44:00.000+11:00

Yesterday just teemed down and I remembered how great that is for getting stuff done.
I worked all day at my friend Micheals studio, trying to finish off some tracks for the Karmic Hit christmas give away. Did some good work with no crashes or stuff ups but am feeling a little tired today.
This is why Melbourne is a much more inducive to artistic endevour.
Final week for my Music business students. They have to hand in assignments and practical work for marking.Will be sad to see them go as always.
Hopefully my afternoon podcasters had a successful time out in the field with no mishaps.(It's my butt on the line).
Here is a little article on a sound designer for computer games.
Students with more than one blog might want to check out super glue
This will get you thinking. Seems 90% of students in NSW selective schools are from a non english background. Mostly from China and Korea. Are Asian students are just more motivated? Less distracted and focused on the game? If your parents are working non stop to put you through school you have do your best.
And make your mark.

My son stole my bandwidth

2005-11-21T22:10:00.000+11:00

Yes that's my lame excuse for not posting this week.
I have a 7 year old son who hogs the computer. He trades neopets, which is suposed to be like the stock market. I guess theres a slim chance he might be learning how to make a fortune but I'm not sure. I watched the bandwidth dissapear until it ground to a crawl.
So I had to cough up to get extra. The joys of parenting.
Have you seen Kiss Kiss Bang Bang yet?
It is hilarious in a way that you might think I shouldn't be laughing at this but....
Also saw The Corpse Bride which is macabre and heartwarming at the same time.
There are two interesting movies about to be released.Heres a review. Oil and suicide bombers theres a link there somewhere.
Heres a great blog about blogging.
Apparently there is now a trade show for podcasters.
Also the rules for gathering an audience. Which we should all take note of....
A good podcast should have
• Truth rather than dishonesty
• Goodness rather than evil
• Beauty
• Unity
• Aliveness
• Uniqueness
• Perfection
• Simplicity
• Richness
• Effortlessness
• Playfulness
• Meaningfulness
• Passion
Is that aiming too high?
We create our own reality. Ask any quantum physicist.

Whoops No World!

2005-11-10T10:11:00.000+11:00

I read a lot of interesting news stories that are really quite grim.
I guess I am a little like the guy watching the aftermath of a car accident, I just can't help myself.
On the other hand grim stories are easy to find.
Heres an example.
Seems like the Amazon is drying up which is a real worry seeing as it's the largest source of fresh water in the world.
I find the idea of manatees and fresh water dolphins drying out on a river bank deeply disturbing.
Pass me another world waiter this ones dry.
If you thought blogging was for only for panty waists, geeks and girly men, then check this out.
Seems the riots/revolution in France is being provoked by bloggers.
Yes bloggers are the new pamphleteers.
In China there is a sexual Blogalution going on apparently.
Young and not so young ladies command huge audiences telling all about their loorve lifes.
I don't think thats an angle I can take regretably.

We have an Audio Kit or two

2005-11-07T22:14:00.000+11:00

Yes tomorrow we will gather up news stories from the dirty streets of harbour town.
Our fearless cub reporters will be out in force. No story is too big or too scarey.
We will break open pandora's box, stir up the hornet's nest and empty the can of worms onto the table to be sliced and diced with Audacity.Karen Silkwood would be proud of us as we leave no stone unturned in our search for truth and justice and a free counter meal.

Bandicoots lurk in my backyard

2005-11-07T00:26:00.000+11:00

The other day I discovered termites in the laundry. I thought I better call the landlord before the house fell over.
He turned up with the pest control man, a big friendly
Samoan .
My landlord is a little bit.........gone. At least something has left him and he can ask you the same question 3 or 4 times.
He was freaking out about the termites and I said "You know there are bandicoots living in this backyard (which is quite rare).
He looked horrorfied."Oh no we'll have to get rid of them too." He looked fearfully around the backyard like they might pounce on him. I don't know if he had bandicoots confused with another animal like saltwater crocodiles.
I try to convince him bandicoots were cute and furry and almost extinct but he would have none of it, he could sense their evil presence. They seem harmless and shy to me but maybe I should be more careful in future.

Mice sing in ultrasonic sqeaks

2005-11-01T21:44:00.000+11:00

This is quite amazing,seems male mice compose complex songs to sing to potential mates.
You can't HEAR them except if they are pitched down.
That's because they sing in ultrasound.
This is no april fools Joke.
There is another world beyond our senses.
Or maybe many worlds.
We just can't quite reach it.

Bring your flipping Headphones

2005-10-31T21:26:00.000+11:00

Hope you all remember to bring some headphones.
They have promised me that our equipment will arrive soon but who knows, nevertheless we will be getting stuck into Audacity this class.
I've had a traumatic week so I must give apologies for my tardy entries.
Saw a great film last night"Crash" all about race relations in America.
A very clever film. No one is what they seem. Your assumptions are challenged all the time.
Just when you thought Hollywood was a rotten carcass along comes something fresh and tasty.
This is more of a concern. Looks like Australia might not roll over so quickly.
What were they were thinking......
Trying to put through some very very important legislation on Melbourne cup day. Were they hoping we'd all be too drunk to notice........

Here is a interesting thing

2005-10-25T10:45:00.000+10:00

Here is a link to a great story on the battle for control of the internet.

The real meaning of the word Idiot.

2005-10-23T21:50:00.000+10:00

Now correct me if I'm wrong but the original meaning of the word idiot ( which comes from Ancient Greece) is one who is only interested in private life ie one who plays no part in Democracy. The Greeks were big on democracy, at least for men.
Unfortunately women had to wait another 2500 years or so.
Just thought that was interesting.
Also interesting is the fact Idiot box is slang for TV.

There are interesting winds blowing in Washington at the moment.
Seems there may have been a conspiracy to silence a diplomat who was investigating forged documents used to justify the war in Iraq.
You can read about it HERE
Also some interesting reactions to Australia's anti-terror laws.
Humour is used in this one.
Who are we fighting this week Oceania?
Thats a reference to your favourite book Winston.
I was going to quote a section but decided it would scare my meagre audience.

The week end went quickly as it always does.
I made a feeble attempt to clear some privett from the future rainforest opposite my house.
I didn't get any ticks which totally love me so that was good.
Met my new niece (see below). She had the most bewitching eyes.Seemed to like me.
Of course new borns can't really see much so she might change her mind when her eyesight improves.
May the farce be with you.

Teaching and meetings and meetings about teaching

2005-10-20T22:59:00.000+10:00

Teachers have to go to a lot of meetings and they have to learn a lot of acronyms too.
They also have to deal with a lot of curriculum commisioned by managment and written by people who seem ill qualified.
You get music courses written by plumbers and other strange mismatching.
Don't worry Winston this course is being written by moi.
And I am a hopeless plumber although I made plum jam once.
I dont think it set.
I must link to this early Blog for a good description of what a blog is.
One of my film students asked me to be in his film, being a homeless person.
I had to decline, not that there is anything wrong with the part but I can't spare the time.
Secretly of course I am a closet actor so I should jump at the part but my agent said I should wait for a better offer.
Strangley I scored the part of a doctor just minutes later which I said I'd think about.
It was almost a delicate situation which I handled with utmost indiscetion.
I wish I was better at telling lies.
So off to more meetings tommorrow, better practise some fibbing skills.

Big Brother is not a TV show

2005-10-19T14:10:00.001+10:00

Well check this out.
Want to check your email?
Seems like Winston isn't a flatmate in a silly TV show.
Seems he might have been Italian.
Get a identity less yahoo mailbox now before it's too late.
All over the world Government are cracking down a supposed threat.
I'm feeling deja vu.
Perhaps those disinclined to check out 1984 the movie could have a look at
This

Lastly a great speech from the editor of Harpers Magazine
Ignorance is strength,comrade.

See my new niece.

2005-10-18T23:42:00.000+10:00

Her name is Scarlett.
As in O'hara.

What have I done?

2005-10-18T23:17:00.001+10:00

Today I launched a thousand blogs.
Well not quite but we certainly did a bit for the cause.
If there are 40 million blogs we have increased there number by.0000000056%.
Don't bother to check my maths- I just made it up.
Find teaching International students an interesting experience and feel very lucky to have such a decent bunch.
Some real characters.
Esp. since I have a little peephole into their psyche with regards to their blogs.
Had trouble with my voice, just wasn't up to too much vocal work.
Maybe I should switch to singing?
Or sign language?
Or telepathy?
Anyway seemed like both classes went super well today.
Will actually relax when I have worked out photocopiers and door locks etc.
Working in the Mac lab is so much better for me.
Will talk more on this later.
Still no sign of equipment.
Better hurry up or I'll get jolly baity.
See you in Class!

To be honest am I really being honest

2005-10-17T16:58:00.000+10:00

There is a paradox in blogging and all diary writing.
The more honest they are, the more interesting they become which can only mean the more dangerous they are to the person telling the truth. The blog can be read by a spouse,a boss or a Government and that can land the writer into hot water, sacked or a permanent holiday in Siberia.
Conversely I guess the more dishonest/imaginative they are, the more interesting they become too.
Or a Tom Clancy novel or even a Dan Brown.
But I forgot Dear Reader, you may not read.
Another paradox.
The above are cheesy novelists.

Can one be trully honest with ones self?
We are all onions ........you peel off one layer only to find another, and yes to extend the metaphor I guess we are all smelly at times and can make people cry too.
The danger with searching your soul is you may find you don't really have one or part of it missing or it's not what you were expecting.
Lisa Simpson said a soul has to be earned and she would know.
See you in class!

Meet the Students

2005-10-12T11:46:00.000+10:00

Day one went well I think.
Morning class are a lovely bunch.
Seemed very into it.
Stayed past the bell which is unusual.
Think perhaps I have made it too easy and need to try for more podcasting.
Afternoon class are lovely too but had a case of the afternoon attention span deficit.
Perhaps I was dull? Impossible!
Although I was full from lunch at the Japanese down the stairs.
Looked at some food blog sites.
Definity have to make this course full of suprises.
Wondering about the old PC's they've given me.
May have to throw a hissy fit!
There is so much happening out in the blogosphere and the podosphere too.
Thinking of changing my pseudonym to Peter Podcast.What do you think?

Dipping my toes into cyber-ink

2005-10-10T22:26:00.000+10:00

Firstly the irony of starting my first blog the night before I start teaching a near university level course investigating blogging and podcasting is not lost on me but how hard can it be?
Well trickier than thought.
I discovered a aussie blog hosting site called whitepages and thought being a patriot I'd try it.
Two tries and a peeved letter resulted in no luck , no log in.
I think the templates for pages were a bit daggy too. (Daggy is slang for uncool,unfashionable)
So much for being a patriot.
Still I bought Australian fetta cheese the other day even though it cost more than the danish stuff.
Euro subsidies no doubt.
Ended here at blogger and it feels OK.
So tomorrow I embark on a slightly new but interesting road teaching mostly foreign students the ins and outs of Citizen Journalism.
Will be the guide on the side for sure.