Sunday, September 18, 2005

Love Me Daddy

Muse this...
Should it be difficult to enjoy the Suicide Girls as a sexy burlesque show knowing the background of some of the girls is splattered with abuse?
Do most of these girls have sad backgrounds?
Chldren of divorce, alcohol, drugs. Abused, molested, neglected.
If society feels burlesque is art, sexy, entertaining, does that make society an enabler of dysfunctional behaviour?

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Big Unit vs Little Bird

Guess who wins...

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Live8




Robbie Williams - Best Performance of the Day

How GREAT was this event?! I know a lot of people thought it was indulgent, ineffective & insulting to have a mass of the world's richest entertainers poncing around 4 continents performing for human rights, but it was still the coolest thing to happen since
Live Aid.
I watched the whole day on my puter with extremely good streaming, it was amazing!

I will not say the same for the US MTV broadcast of the same event however. How anyone could balls this up so badly still mystifies me!

"Yes, we have Will Smith on in the background now & he's doing a magnificent job. What a great show today. You should see how the crowd is reacting...blah blah blah."

Yeah? Well, get out from in front of the camera & let us see, YOU WANKERS!!!!

Anyway, I just think it's amazing to live in this era where we can all watch the same thing & interact with people from all over the world, all in real time.
Gives me goose bumps.

Now if it has an effect on the G8 then it will really have been worthwhile. If not, it was still a rockin' day & I'm sure it will be appreciated in years to come way more than it seems to be now.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Old School Piracy?

When I was a young'un my day could be ruined by the ill timed slam of a door or a squark of a cockatoo. Why? I was 'recording' in my room & neither my parents nor nature had any respect for my need of absolute silence.
Silence was necessary because I had a record player & a tape recorder...& there was no way to connect the two.
My solution (remember when it comes to music, for a teeenager, there's always a solution) was to play the record & tape it, thereby giving me the precious music I needed to survive while I was livin' large away from my stereo.
Now, as I see it, the only difference between me then & teenagers now is they can be tracked doing this & I couldn't.
Hey, wait up, don't get your knickers in a twist! I'm not naive enough to think it's only teenagers downloading from Kasaa & Grokster et al however, I do think this new lunacy from the US Supreme Court does nothing to solve the real problem of large scale piracy but instead is well, just an easy way out.

Justice David Souter wrote for the court...
"The question is under what circumstances the distributor of a product capable of both lawful and unlawful use is liable for acts of copyright infringement by third parties using the product. We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyrights, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps take to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting act of infringement by third parties."

Huh?

If I read 'copyright infringement' as 'unlawful act' then can someone tell me if I can still buy blank videotape for the express purpose of taping General Hospital? Or is the blank tape legal but the video recorder now suspect? Maybe ABC who airs General Hospital without a way to block me from taping it are the culprits? No, according to Justice Souter, I think it's the videotape manufacturer.

Where is TiVo in all this? Expressly manufacturered to record stuff while we're out living life so we can watch later....without commercials!!! The reason for the TV in the first place!
Surely that is 'a device with the object of promoting it's use to infringe copyrights' to quote Souter again.

The music business is not only strangling the innovation & talent of artists but is choosing to ignore progress. On top of that, they're trying to force everyone do the same instead of progressing with new technology. Now they have The Supremes voting with them. I wonder if Florence, Mary & Diana would agree?

If piracy is the problem, I think it wise to go after the pirates not their vessels. Nor the little sailors putzing around in their tinnies through the sea of sound. They're not pirates, they're explorers.

Although maybe, in the big karmic wheel of life, the Supreme Court is this generation's parents & cockatoos.


Thursday, June 23, 2005

Love My Neighbour

I'm having a shades of gray day 2day.
How luxurious for me that I have a great friend (who was 1st a neighbour) to take the young'un to the beach with her brood.
I like very much the idea of 'it takes a village' - he gets some sea time, I get some me time.
Gotta love it!
I wish you all a least 1 really good neighbour who becomes a friend.

Monday, June 06, 2005

We Want To Relieve Their Debt?

The tsunami has apparently uncovered a dirty little secret along the shores of Somalia. Tonnes of toxic waste from EU companys have been washed ashore from illegally dumped barrels which were dug up by the churning ocean. This dumping was enabled by some Somali warlords who profited hansomely from charging for access to 'their' shores throughout the '90s.
Now many Somalis are suffering illnesses - from unusual infections to symptoms similar to radiation sickness.
How is it I found out about this in the June edition of Surfer mag?
Did you know about this?
Shouldn't it be a bigger story? - it would be if it was happening to a 1st world coastline, dontcha think?
Next month Live8 will be encouraging the G8 to forgive 3rd world debt, including Somalia.
I agree that 3rd world debt is a millstone around the necks of many poorer countries but before we go forgiving debt all over the place, can we have a gander at the regimes of these countries & maybe ask them for a little more humanity, a little more responsibility, a little less selfishness in exchange for forgiving the debt?

I suggest Googling 'tsunami + toxic waste' to find out more.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Stupid Is As Stupid Builds


If you live on a hill / cliff / edge / ledge / side of a mountain, you have to know there's a chance you might slide down.
When you look at the coast of Southern California, you can see how the ocean & the rains have eroded the land.
That's not gonna stop just because you've built a bungalow / cottage / house / McMansion / mausoleum with a great view.
The saddest part of this latest man-made disaster is the land will be reclaimed / reconstructed /rebuilt instead of being rested & released to do what comes naturally.
May I suggest Bluebird Canyon National Park?

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Clean Up, Ya Bastards!

Went for a run on the beach this morn & am now disgusted enough to be inspired to rant over the trash.
If you go to the beach & have some kind of picnic there with paper plates, cups etc or even just a stick of gum...TAKE IT WITH YOU!!!!!!!
Remains of Memorial Day 'fun' were strewn along my entire run - gross!
This reminder is not just for the beach either. Wherever you are, if you have trash - find a bin!
I'm sick of seeing rubbish fly out of cars or be dropped by the thoughtless.
Where do you think it goes?
Do you do this in your own house?
FYI - Mother Earth IS your house!

Websites for your education....
www.surfrider.org
www.bushgreenwatch.org

Monday, May 30, 2005

Thoughts On Freedom

Cruising in overdrive can turn the notion of freedom ugly
Being free to do anything is no justification for being totally irrational, writes Hilary Burden.
In the mouths of Condoleezza Rice and George Bush, the word freedom has taken on a bad taste. Using it as justification to invade countries and lecture undemocratic regimes, they have succeeded in turning freedom into a threat, as if to say, "You will be free only if you live by our rules and follow our example."
This standardised, centrally controlled, big brother version of freedom seems to advance that only an American sense of freedom is the right one, that US freedom is good, and anything that threatens it is bad.
This notion of freedom is an ugly monster, turning a good word into justification for just about anything, even if it may be totally irrational in a modern context: such as war without end. Or love over 40. Or having twins at the age of 57.
What was Tom Cruise thinking when he jumped on Oprah's leather couch last week to shout "I am in love, I am in love". He's a 42-year-old twice-divorced man with two young children, who's been dating a 26-year-old for four weeks - and should know better.
Yes, Cruise and actress Katie Holmes - the latest object of his love - have films to promote, but why embarrass yourself, your host who cringed, your exs, and everyone who knows you, by doing the lawnmower over your newfound love? It was neither wise nor admirable, and no one cares that much about the details of two people in love.
Cruise has always known this, having been a famously private and controlling person for many years. But even with a film to promote, his behaviour last week was cringe-worthy and weird. Most people in their 40s realise that love is not what it seems once you've married it. That companionship takes over.
Yet, with his knowledge of the principles of Scientology, with his LA-uber-superstar-access to self-analysis and psychotherapy, why did Cruise's behaviour lapse maniacally into an adolescent lack of control?
Maybe it is more a problem with freedom and power. When you're the biggest and most bankable movie star in the world, maybe the pressure to be the most superlative at everything is unavoidable. Like Bush, running the country with the psychology of a cowboy: if someone hits you, you hit them back. This is not strategy talking, its emotion as the First Amendment.
We seem to be losing the more grown-up Hegelian notion of freedom: that individuals are truly free not when they act on this or that arbitrary caprice, but when they have rational control over their lives.
Cruise's crazy love-fess was not rational. Bush's invocation of freedom as a threat is not rational. And whatever your views on the great-grandmother who at 57 gave birth to twins in Alabama last month, her choice cannot have been rational.
"I was feeling absolutely great, almost like I hadn't delivered," Rosee Swain told breakfast TV about the birth. Swain and her husband Jay did not want their youngest child, who is six, to grow up as an only child, although the couple have two adult children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. It is, of course, a private decision to have children, but you have to wonder whether Swain got carried away with the powerful realisation that she could (through IVF), rather than thinking more about the moral and social reasons why she should.
In this propagation of an American sense of freedom, we seem to be losing a notion of restraint, self-discipline and a choice we allow ourselves by not acting habitually and automatically on our first instincts.
A 40-year-old man should have experienced too much and developed a greater emotional intelligence than to behave like an 18-year-old in love. A 57-year-old woman should know it is highly likely her twins' children will never have grandparents. And Bush should know by now, with the examples of Afghanistan and Iraq, that starting a war in the name of freedom does not guarantee freedom.
Or, in the words of another famous American, Mark Twain, "It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practise either of them."
Not all freedoms are good, especially in the hands of the powerful.

Hilary Burden is a writer and broadcaster.
Source: www.sydneymorningherald.com.au

Carrying On McDuff

As you can see, nothing has happened here since I set it up.
I have been waiting (very patiently) for my mate to jump in...alas...that's obviously not happening.
So.....
I am carrying on regardless.
I'm sure she will eventually. When this site becomes too 'liberal' or 'unbalanced' there will be an outcry from the sidelines & she will feel obligated to get in the game & present the 'sane & rational' view of whatever I've discussed.
Manipulation? Maybe. It's what friends do for each other all the time. I know it will be good for her & at some point she will thank me...or give me a ration for forcing her to add more work to her already overloaded days. Probably both.

EDIT: As it's been almost a year (today is Apr 30th '06) & my friend has yet to put finger to key, I have officially taken over this blog!
Of course, her imput is still welcome anytime (never gonna happen! lol) but I am now treating this as my own personal playground, studio, school & soapbox.

Monday, May 02, 2005

One Small Key Stroke For Me.....

One GIANT step into the 21st Century for Lee.....& Lee.
I did all this setting up & we will both be doing the work. Well, that's the idea anyway. We'll see how it pans out.
Now I'm off to explore the rest of this little space I've created. Will let you know what I find (hopefully Robbie Williams behind a door somewhere...but then again, I hope I find him behind every door) hehe!