audentes fortuna iuvat

Is it my imagination or are the Scissor Sisters a dead ringer for the band from the Muppets – Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem?

I don't know about you but I recall being deeply captivated by the characters in the Band – the cool Dr Teeth, wild and crazy Animal and totally hip Janice, and now that the Sisters are hitting their stride with their new Album "TaDa" I am seeing some shocking similarities.

Actually The Sisters are are really interesting phenomenon, they really are not doing anything particularly new but they are becoming wildly successful doing it. Everything I have seen or head from them is highly derivative but they are just doing it so bloody well, and with a refresh in quality, professionalism, polish and style that is all 2006/7 and all their own.

Suddenly androgyn, Ziggy Stardust-esq pan sexuality is back with all its convention confusing, toe tapping glee. And don't we just love them for not taking themselves or their music to seriously. Its like David Bowie bedded down with Deee-lites Lady Miss Kier and these are their love children.

Maybe its because I spent so much time as a young kid bouncing along to Dr Teeth and crew that now brightly coloured and ambiguous musical characters just float my boat – or maybe it really is the Sisters and their disco, glam-rock/pop, gay-club deliciousness that does it – cause the Wiggles didn't do it to me.

Here is a track from TaDa – you decide.

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In the last week I had the alarming experience of finding myself agreeing, in general principals, with three positions being taken by Federal Liberal politicians. First, and most disturbing, was agreeing with Amanda Vanstone over Taj Aldin Alhilali comments on Egyptian morning television over Australia. Basically if you don't like the countries values, and you are not willing to engage in the process of representative democracy, then why the hell are you here?

Now I don't think that someones disagreeing with the government is a reason to ban them from the country, but Alhilali statements in Egypt certainly damage whatever minimal ground he gained with his apparently heart felt apologies over the "meat out for cats" statement. And on morning television, I mean really. Its like making major policy announcements on Kerry Ann.

Second Minister was the Environment Minister (and his youthful ward) banning Japanese Whalers from Australian ports. Excellent! 'Bout bloody time, but excellent.

Finally I found myself cheering Guy Barnett, arch-conservative from Tasweja who is getting pretty het up over David Hicks. Given Guys voting record, i suspect me cheering for him is as disturbing for him as it is for me. But every voice raised to bring David Hicks to trial – and back to Australia, even if he is imprisoned – is a voice I will support.

Fortunately the Libs and be depended on to not maintain a streak of left leaning, namby pamby, human rights cry baby, tree hugging behaviour for too long. And of course it would be the likes of Alexander Downer who changed things back to "normal".

If you haven't been following the news Alex, referred to by a former Prime Minister as the "Idiot son of the Adelaide aristocracy", decided to go public on a comment passed to him by an anonymous visitor† to Guantanamo Bay.

Showing his signature epilady sharp wit, Mr Downer told ABC radio from New York that "There was no suggestion that he [David] was suffering from mental illness, though no doubt he doesn't like being in Guantanamo Bay but that would, I suppose, be a definition of mental illness".

MWAH HA HA HA HA – my sides are splitting. Hilarious to make light hearted jokes about someone trapped in a detention centre for 5 years with no trial. Particularly since Mr Downer is no doubt staying somewhere nice and comfy in New York.

But is just gets better. Mr Downer refused to tell who had passed on this assessment, just that it was from a representative from another country. At the time I thought it was probably somewhere tiny, like Tobago or something, but most likely it was from the the UK. Imagine my jaw dropping surprise when it turned out to be from Public Affairs Officer with the US Embassy in Canberra.

So lets all pause for a moments embarrassed silence – the kind that follows someone at a black tie event proclaiming loudly that they just soiled them selves and giggling in a high pitched and arrhythmic way.

Cough. Shuffle.

So thats the background, but whats it going to mean? In my book we are increasingly seeing a turning of the tide in Australia and that Mr Teflon, aka John Howard, may not be able to dodge these bullets for much longer. Australia position on David Hicks is becoming increasingly untenable and even the most hardened Liberal Supporter is starting to question the policies that have gotten us, and David here.

Because its NOT about David, he is just the case in point. Its about Australia's place in the world. Are we the sort of country to leave one of our people trapped in a black box facility, in solitary, and with no access to a legal system that gives him a fair chance of defending himself?

If the situation was reversed, the Americans wouldn't have stood for it. If their popular culture is to be believed, they would have stormed where ever their citizen was being kept and forcibly taken him home by now.

Why cant David, at the very least, come back to Australia to wait trial? In almost 6 years surely he has no more intelligence of relevance. Its not like he was in command or a position of authority, he was a foot soldier for Christs sake. Whatever his crimes, the poor man and his family deserve some resolution.

You can read more about Davids case or about  the details of the new US Tribunal system and make up your own mind on the substance of the matter, but he has been there for nearly 6 years without a trial, isn't that long enough? If you haven't written to your local member, please do so now. If you haven't signed a petition, please do so now.

If conservative liberals like Guy Barnett are starting to publicly question the policy around David Hicks, now is the time to raise your voice.

† Anonymous to the public, one presumes that the folks at Guantanamo knew who it was, unless they were doing the whole French Lieutenants Woman thing with the big hooded robe. Highly unlikely since that would just be impractical in Cuban heat

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I joked in the last few days, since the arrival of the Birthday Wii, that I was going to be seen jumping around my living room, semi-naked at 4 in the morning playing games, sweating my arse off. It turned out to be reasonably true, although I did limit it to 10pm.

Maybe 11.

Only once was it midnight.

Anyway, the games do REALLY require you to get up and wave yourself around a bit – and its a combination of the wii-mote and the immersive nature of the game play. And it feels physical, which is fun in and of itself. This from a man who works out 5 days a week is not entirely unexpected but what was unexpected is apparently it CAN have an effect on your weight.

YAY, more calories burnt!! 

I thought this would happen, I just didn't think it would happen so FAST – someone has already done a study on the effect of Wii-gaming on weight and the results are in, limited as the trial set was.

Apparently Mickey DeLorenzo, a 25-year-old living in Philadelphia, began a "Wii Sports Experiment" in early December last year, pledging to spend 30 minutes a day over six weeks playing Wii sports. He also intended to keep his other activities and eating habits constant.

On Monday this week when the six weeks were over DeLorenzo, who while not my type is kind of cute for a gamer, updated his website, wiinintendo.net, with a detailed analysis of his experiment, which was positive and surprising. Apparently he dropped around lbs (4kgs and around 2% of his starting body weight of 82lbs) and went from being in the 'acceptable' category to being in the 'fitness' category".

While only a single sample, I can see (some) Universities tripping over themselves to put together a broader and more controlled trial. And if they are smart, Nintendo will sponsor it.

Maybe at last my some what geeky gamer persona can come out of the shadows and join the sportier side of me. Perhaps now I will not need to hide my over developed thumb muscles or dismiss them as the result of over indulgence in self abuse (I have a tight grip). Perhaps now gamers of all stripes will  stand up and be healthy and strong. Although we may need to get sunray lamps built into flat screens so they can tan at the same time.

Hey – THERES a good idea. 

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With some irony considering my previous post from 6 am this morning, guess what arrived today.

My Christmas present from Mr Special, after a little drama with store.

Because there were none in stock when Mr S went to buy it, and because he was sure (correctly) it was a great gift for me he give me a gift card from Myer – who have NO idea about customer service.

After calling almost every day to see if its was in; cause they wont take pre-orders and wont call you to let you know they are in stock; dropping in on the weekend and generally being a (charming) pest, they finally called me today to let me know they had stock – would I like to come down.

So I did.

And on my Birthday too. Bless. Things are looking up for this year.

Given that its a STINKING HOT DAY here in Melbourne, you know that I am now going to be up until 3 in the morning playing Zelda, naked in my living room, don't you.

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This Christmas I was given a Wii.  Well actually because there are none to be had for love or money, I was given a gift card FOR a Wii. So ever since Christmas I have been stalking the stores trying to find one. They have been highly Elvis like – constantly rumored to have just left the building. But I keep on hinting them.

Some people are however, apparently MORE determined than I.

Consumerism gone mad(der)? Or maybe radio stations should be banned. At the very least, a top contender for the Darwin Awards this year†.

Apparently a 28-year-old suburban Sacramento woman died of apparent “water intoxication” after participating in a contest — “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” — sponsored by local radio station 107.9 KDND. The rules were simple: Participants simply competed to see how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. The winner would receive a shiny new Wii video game console, the highly coveted, $250 must-have from Nintendo.

†Actually this is a somewhat unexpected  outcome, and very sad because she left behind a husband and three kids, who presumably she was trying to win the Wii for. You would think the radio station would have checked that there was no likely harmful outcome – but given some of the radio competitions that have been suggested here in Australia – Celebrity Sperm Donor springs to mind – its not all that weird.

Imagine the fall out from that one, the conversations with an 8 year old child explaining that Mommy never met daddy and in fact the genetic material had been won as part of a radio show.

Now there's family values for you.

The question for me though, is who wil the family sue? The radio station, Nintendo or both? 

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To my amazement I am finding a strand lack of nausea for another Liberal Party Minister.

This time its Ian Campbell, Minster for the Environment – and his youthful ward Greg Hunt, and the topic is Japanese Scientific Whaling.

I can't for a second see the annual Japanese Cetacean slaughter as anything other than commercial whaling wrapped up in scientific lambskin. I mean seriously, if you are interested in researching a species, the last thing you need to be doing is killing them. How does cutting them up provide anything substantive to the store of human understanding?

And it would seem that Mr Campbell (and his youthful ward) are coming around to the same way of thinking. At long last, the government is banning Japanese Whalers from entering Australian ports. The relevant (and heart warmin) quote is "They are banned from Australian ports as long as I'm the Minister." Heres hoping a/ he sticks to it and b/ the Japanse get the message.

The former is possible while the later is far less likely.

Meanwhile I want to yet again call to attention the somewhat paternal appearing relationship between the Minister and his Parliamentary Secretary. It's all very Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson to my eyes. If that was Bob Brown in the portfolio, lord knows there would be much tittering behind hands.

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Not the most pleasant thing to realise, but I almost have to agree with Senator Vanstone – if Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly doesn't like Australia, he should bugger off.

I am not a White Australia Policy advocate, but after a stint in Asia I came back with MUCH less tolerance of people banging on about Australians being racist or intolerant. In Hong Kong I saw (and was occasionally the target of) some of the most amazingly blatant racist behavior.

Australia is NOT perfect on this front, but if you don't like the place YOU DONT HAVE TO LIVE HERE. Given the sectarian violence all over the Middle East, I find it hard to accept al Hilalys assertions that "Western people are the biggest liars and oppressors and especially the English race".

I am not sure that its a competition and if it is, I suspect its one that one of us wants or needs to win – unless, aparently, there is some political mileage to be had from it.

What disturbs me the most about this is that al Hilaly (can I call ya Taj?) seems to be flip flopping on his positon of contrition after the whole "meat for cats" episode now that he is in another country and playing to a different audience. The upshot is that yet again Australian Muslims are going to have to deal with fall out of ill advised comments from their "leaders".

My hope if that they are able to see themselves as part of the Australian community rather than only as Muslims and respond to al Hilaly that they do not need or appreciate his input.

I was on the train this morning and there was a Muslim mother wearing the headscarf, the hajib. With her she had one of the most adorable and engaging little girls I have ever seen. The little girl was only about 2 or 3 and did not say a word, but she was captivating. This shy, reserved Muslim mother was the centre of attention in our carriage as her daughters smile reached out to everyone there.

Thats the image I hope for Australia. A place where the culture is shared, where we enjoy and respect each others difference without the need to dominate or over power. Where a little girl feels that comfortible to smile at strangers.

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With immaculate timing, worthy of the monarch Herself, "The Queen", new film from Stephen Frears has been released here in Australia right on the heels of the release of the Stevens Report . The film examines closely the week between the death of Diana Spencer in Paris and her funeral in London and focuses on the, at the time, highly controversial behaviour of Royal family and in particular the apparent inaction of Elizabeth the Second.

Helen Mirren is superb in the title role and she is brilliantly supported by the rest of the cast including James Cromwell as the bombastic Prince Phillip, Alex Jennings as the tentative Prince Charles and outstanding amongst them, Michael Sheen as the newly elected Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The main dramatic tension in the film is between The Queen, who is attempting to maintain reserved dignity in the face of events, and Tony Blair who finds himself working to modernise the Monarchy in an unexpected way by showing them the need for a more emotional and engaged approach. These two central characters are dynamic and multidimensional, and the performances of Mirren and Sheen brilliantly show the difficulties these two complex, proud and powerful people face in coming to terms with one of the most globally watched events of the 20th century.

Although some of the emotional transitions are a little unsubtle, they are heartfelt and appear honest leaving me wondering how much of it is strictly true and how much is fiction.

This is a intimate, familiar film showing a human and recognisably dysfunctional family trying to deal with a tragic accident the best way they know how. It is personal and engaging in the way the British do best while capturing the enormity of the events. The cinematography is beautiful and the production design superb, although there are some dodgy digital set extensions that some might find off putting.

At the end of the film I was left with an deep sense of compassion for The Queen, who from a very young age has devoted a lifetime to a service to her people, her country and the world – a service she saw kill her father and which has to a large extent robbed her of any normalcy in her life or the life of her family.

While "The Queen" will translate well to the small screen I would highly recommend seeing it in the cinemas as some of the scenes have a grander that deserves to be seen on the large screen. This is a film that I would gladly see again, it is beautiful, engaging and heartfelt.

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Here in Australia the weather is well and truly freaking out. A week before Christmas here in Melbourne the temperature was around 32°  every day for a week, and in Melbourne that means dry heat. A week later and it was 18° and snowing in the Victorian High Country.

At Christmas!

Now for your northern centric bores, remember thats like saying it was snowing in San Francisco or London on June 25th.

Freakish!

Of course it did help contain the once in a century bush fires that were at the time ravaging an area the size of Belgium in the states north east. But apart from that small dump of snow, the country appears to have been unbelievably dry. Farmers in the Murray Darling Basin*, one of Australia's bread baskets, conveniently placed in one of the most naturally arid regions in the country, are entering their seventh year of drought. Meanwhile  most capitals are  employing quite sever water restrictions and Melbourne's reservoirs are expected to drop to 20% by May '07.

Its disturbing, in an Al Gore kind of way.

I went to a party up in Lismore for New Years Eve, Tropical Fruits, and the landscape in New South Wales could not be more different to Victoria. Its green and lush still, while down here it is frighteningly dry and brown. The party was fairly good, but it got fairly cold over night and because I was re-hydrating responsibly I found that I was heading to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so. I say "bathrooms" but in fact there was not much in the way of facilities on offer and because boys will be guys† were going where ever they liked.

It feel like we had become nothing more than a clandestine mechanism for moving water from one place to another while warming it slightly. Its as if the Lismore Shire Council was secretively flouting the water restrictions by using 2000 gay men as a watering system for their lawns.

Aside from anything else it resulted in an evening of "no don't sit there…or there..no not there either".

But I digress.

In actuality its been a higher than average rainfall year for Australia. No really, it has. Its just that its not raining on the places we live and farm – which used to be where it rained all the time. Thats why we lived and farmed here.

But it seems that has changed. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2006 has not only been one of the hottest years on record, its been one of the strangest and the Australian farming districts heading for a decade of drought its pretty clear that Australia is going to need to lead the world in addressing climate change. I know I am banging a well gonged drum at the moment, but this needs reinforcement at every level because the reality of the situation STILL Doesnt seem to be sinking in with most people.

Its going to take more than a few peeing faggots to solve the problem. Its going to take a concerted effort, changes in habits (do you really need to flush), government and public programs and a willingness on the part of businesses to look to get ahead of the climate change curve and advantage from the differences rather than suffer. But before they will do that, there needs to be government pressure to push them in that direction.

As my friend Sharon says – Carrot AND Prickly Stick.

The question I have for you dear reader is – what the hell are you doing? What have you changed in the last 12 months to reduce power usage (power leads to carbon remember), reduce emissions and reduce water usage.

At the very least, have you written to your local member, or the Minister for the Environment and Heritage letting them know that you are concerned with the issue and you want them to address it more directly? If you dont say anything, they don't know – and an email takes literally 10 minutes. 

Think about it – ok? 

* Actually its name, I am not just being camp 

† And some girls actually

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I thought it would be worth while to reflect a little on the past year. I set myself a few goals for 2006 so lets have a look at how I did.

First and foremost

> Be happier

Definitely!

After the appallingly unhappy years of 2004 & 2005, '06 has been MUCH better. I have been caring a whole lot less what other people think, been concerning myself with my own stuff and living within my own limits. I had put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect, get everything right and not fail at anything I do, and that's just not possible I am afraid. I think the biggest thing I am learning is to forgive myself my weaknesses and worry about the things that I can effect and control rather than all the things outside my control.

With a new job has come some opportunities to affirm my capabilities to myself. The last job I had in the US was pretty draining in the end, and with all the other things that were going on behind my back – lies, betrayal, infidelity – my confidence was pretty shaken. This new role has allowed me to regain some of my strength, while the year of so off has taught me to not value myself for my work alone.

> Learn Spanish

Not quite.

Having met quite a number of Francophone's at the start of 2006 I went for French instead.

J'ai étudié French pour six mois avec L'Alliance de Francaise et je jouis l'expérience. My french classes are all of Saturday morning, about 4 hours each week. Its pretty draining, but I like the mental challenge. Apparently I have a good accent and my construction is good, but I need to work a little more on my vocab. I suspect I will try studying a different way this year as I appear to be spending a lot of time shuttling to Sydney on the weekends, which is difficult if my Saturday mornings are taken up.

I am enjoying it a lot though so I don't plan to give it up. I would really like to spend some time in France soon, as I suspect that would really help. I am thinking I might need to relocate for a while to Europe so I can get some immersion.
 
> Physical Adventures

I work out a lot, and mostly I enjoy the exercise, but I feel that gym work is a bit limited and unreal so this year I wanted to do some more physical things. While I didn't get into a really regular routine with anything, I managed a few adventures.
In January of this year I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef with a mate from France, and had a fantastic time. I learnt to dive after visiting the Maldives with Stephen in 1996. I got my certificate after that and went diving a couple of times, but dating an (unadventurous) asthmatic put a bit of a crimp in that so I hadn't been diving for years.

Its a really beautiful and peaceful experience.

Even my overactive cognition slows to a putter when I am underwater and my head is full of only the sounds of my own breathing.

I also went rock climbing a few times, which TOUGH but great. Its made harder for me given that I am nearly 115kgs and that's a lot of weight to dangle from your fingertips. I think there are also some technical skills that I need to learn because I was pretty crap at it, but I think I might go on an adventure weekend this year and see if I can pick a few things up.

Gliding is not exactly a physical adventure, but it was a blast none the less. I had developed over the long dark tea time of the soul that was '04/'05 a bit of an aversion to heights and flying. I found I had gotten really anxious about it, so I figured the best way to deal with that developing fear was to face it.

Gliding is an amazing sensation, peaceful and not at all scary – which surprised me a bit. I didn't go in for any acrobatics, unlike my adventure partner, but next time I will. And i am sure there will be a next time.

I am working my way up to parachuting, but one step at a time I think.

> Finish my Masters

Oops. Didn't get this one done. But you cant do everything. I have until the middle of next year so I still have some time up my sleeve, but I need to get a wriggle on.

> See more of Australia

After travelling in America, I decided that I need to make sure I had seen more of my own home country before I stepped outside again.
This year I managed Cairns, Port Douglas, the Daintree, the Reef, Batemans Bay, Jarvis Bay, Canberra , Byron Bay, Lismore and the Yarra Valley. I want to do some more short trips this year coming and I REALLY want to get to Uluru. I have not seen the desert interior of my country and I want to. I would love to cross the Nullabore on the  Indian Pacific train, or go to Darwin on the Ghan. We will see how those plans come along.

All up I think I did pretty well for 2006, so now its time to start thinking about what's on for 2007. I will make a more definitive list by my birthday in mid January, but for now here are some opening thoughts.

> Plan less, be more in the moment
> Become more financially stable
> Save the deposit for a apartment for my mother and purchase said property
> Complete my Masters thesis
> Disconnect myself completely from my ex (there is still some peripheral entanglement, but I am chipping away at it)
> Travel overseas again
> More physical adventures
 - Abseil
 - Parachute
 - Rafting
 - Snowboarding

As a final note on 2006 I think I will remember it as the year that I learned my heart hadn't grown cold and hard. It seems as badly hurt as I was by my ex, my capacity to be open and trusting was only set aside, not forsaken. While I have been proving this to myself, there is someone who as been a catalyst. I don't know where things are going with him, but I do know that  I am enjoying it and I have missed him a lot while we have been off on our separate, long pre-planned, Christmas getaways.

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