b r a v e c r e a t u r e s

I thought it was just me.

Seriously.

I thought I was the only fag who has chilled on the material girl. 

Hard Candy is OK - but its never grown on me as some people claimed it would (and you know who you are), unlike the Kelly Rowland or the Mariah Carey albums.

Given I thought I was the only one a bit lack luster on her, imagine my surprise when I asked around to find if anyone would be interested in going to Paris to see the Sticky and Sweet show - and no one was interested. 

Just about every one was totally "not bothered" about it. The most scaothing comment was - "who wants to see a 50 year old woman in lycra parading her camel toe around on stage to songs I don't like"?

Ouch.

The London show was ridiculously over priced and is a mammoth stadium, so unless you paid a fortune you were pretty much guaranteed to see just her on screen.

Might as well do that at home.

So it would seem that, at least for now, the picky fag audience is voting with its feet, credit cards, and snippy comments against Madonna.

Maybe I am not crazy.

It seems almost no time since I wrote anything. LIfe has been rollercoastering from one adventure to another. I have been travelling a lot and each place has been a joy - Mykonons, Madrid, Paris, Bordeaux, not to mention London itself.

Beautiful, wonderful, amazing, vibrant London. I love it here.

Finally I have moved into a great flat in Marble Arch with two truely wonderful Aussie boys. My room faces east more or less and in the mornings at the moment Iam waking up to this incredible Mary Poppins skyline of chimny stacks siloetted against indigo and peach sky. I will try and remember to keep my camera by the beed and snap a shot of it in the morning soon.

People keep going on about how dreary the winters are and how cold and aweful its going to be, but for now I am loving it. In themorning I walk to the tube station along Marylebone Rd to Baker St. In the evening I get off at High Holborn, train in Covent Garden and catch the tube home from Tottenham Court Rd.

My life is a Monopoly Board.

This weekend I am off to Amsterdam with a friend and I am looking forward to it. Not perhaps the best time to visit the city, but apparently there is still much to do an see, so I am very excited.

Another in my series of webcams that I love.

This one is on my Google homepage so I get to see it updating all the time and it is the most amazing series of images.

Everyday the Eiffel Tower goes through the most amazing series of vistas, and there is something about the position of this cam that it seems to get all of them.  With this sort of view, who couldn't fall in love with Paris. 

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.

I am flying in the face of my mate Scott on this opinion, and those who read his sensational blog will realise that this is not a wise maneuver. Scott is an ex-Marine, or Navy Seal or something. He is 3 parts bad temper, 2 parts foul mouth,  4 parts pig headedness with just a dash of saint to round things out.† And he is not happy with Google, which is why we moved him off Blogger. But lets face it, Scott's a grown up blogger now and deserves a home of his own. Given his combat experience, and ignoring that in my own time I have been a SAS(SY) commando, I seek to not piss Scott off.

But daring his ire for a sec, Google has done some good things, even if Blogger is a bit dinky and contrary. Recently I came across their new customisable homepage and I have to say I likee, I likee a lot. Google has long been my homepage, because its a good start to the internet, even if all my browsers have a search box now. With the custom homepage I can get the other thing I use as a home - and thats news etc.

But there is something else I found amongst the widgets they provide, and it makes me very happy.

A web cam showing live shots of the Eiffel Tower .

Sigh!

Imagine getting up every morning to the Eiffel tower lit for the night (remember the time difference) or working in the evening and seeing it bathed in dawn light.

Its just beautiful, and needs to be nothing else.

I have even added a world clock and a weather report showing Paris to round out the experience.

Anyone who knows me, will know I love to travel and this is a window on the world that makes my days a little brighter. So thank you for this one Google, you have brought me some happiness.

Its interesting to reflect as to why this service is so good, and Blogger kind of sucks.I suspect it has something to do with the homepage actually being an extension to Googles core business of search - its about brining together the things I am interested in in a relevant way - where as something like Blogger is a different kind of service altogether. Perhaps a gentle reminder to Google to focus on doing what they do best, and to watch out for things that are peripheral.

 Just a thought.

But for now its back to contemplating Paris. 

†Most of my friends are like this

After a smashing nap the witches of East-Lismore, aka Tony, Gil and Rob, were raring to go to the Tropical Fruits Pool Party in downtown Lismore. I have to say, more than usual this party had its share of personalities. Fun and frolicsome as it was, there was a fair amount of strangeness around to behold, but you do get that the day after a party. Some of the characters are well worth noting.

Mr and Mr’s Messy - I don’t think I have ever seem two people who managed only to stumble, never actually walk. They had been like this at the party, and things hadn’t really changed by the time they got to the pool. Word has it they are actually quite bright and sensible under normal circumstances, but G they were having a good time on New Years Day.

Mr Amazing - a 300 year old party godfather who was apparently part of starting it all in Sydney. Certainly his longevity and indulgence are apparent as this is someone who looked like Dorian Greys portrait. Rumor has it he has been in Europe for the last few years.

According to Gil, and who am I to argue, he is some sort of Disco God and an amazing character to boot. If you ask me however there was certain Lestat look about him. I suspect he has been in Paris (or similar) sucking the life force out of barely post pubescent rent boys and stealing their designer eye ware. To my certain knowledge, he was wearing at least four different pairs during the day.

Victorias Secret - If you have a fantastic backside, and killer leg you can probably get away with wearing lace panties to a pool party, but in this case the wearer was more Veronicas Closet/Fat Actress than Hiedi Klum. Fashion violations are a serious offence in some parts of the world and this one would have gotten young Victoria hung drawn and quartered. It didnt help that he was doing the super model walk up and down the side of the pool.

Kate Moss - Now I know I was that young and skinny once, but please tell me I didn’t go out in public with that amount of dirty undies showing. This pretty young thing, with unfortunate novelty hair, was giving the heroine shiek thing a good whirl, but all of that country air and sunshine was thwarting his plan. He was in great, if barely post pubecent, shape. But the underpants - I mean, really. What was more distrubing was seeing him out again that night - same outfit, same dirty undies showing.

Fashion comments aside, it was actually a beautiful day. The sun was hot and bright, the pool was cool, the music was fabulous and the people there were on the whole relaxed and having a really good time.

I was lucky to meet a bunch of really nice people including Craig and Tony (hello gorgeous ones), Wayne and Doug, Anthony and the Hobbit. The day was spent laughing, dancing and floating around on the many pool toys and/or handsome men. I personally spent a good hour or so sailing around the pool on the “manage” barge, and I couldnt have been happier

Wonderful.

At the end of it, Tony, Gil and I got back on our broomsticks and headed back home for dinner and a nap before our third party, evening after recovery started.

Once upon a time it was seen as admirable and dignified to leave a bad experience behind and move on. To not dwell on it and certainly not to profit (monetarily) from it. Today it seems that if you don’t give the press and the public EXACTLY what they want, they are baying for blood.

In the recent Schapelle Corby case, a middle class girl from Sydney was caught with, and denied prior knowledge of, several kilos of marijuana in her bogie board bag. Several months and a media circus later, the poor girl was sentenced to 20 years in a Bali prison.

20 YEARS?! For marijuana!!!?

I will admit it was a lot, but there seems to be some doubt about the case, even if the Federal Police seem to be down playing the connection.

Whatever the truth, the story captured Australia’s attention and kept the news media sales up for months. Likewise the recent case of Michelle Leslie has kept our attention in Bali.

The Australian model arrested in Bali and convicted for having two (count em folks) tablets of ecstasy in her handbag at a beach party. Ignore for a moment the question of WHAT were the police doing in her handbag, and the fact that just about every 24 year old westerner on the planet has had or will likely have some sort of less than completely legal, recreational inebriant on them at some point. In any case there has been an enormous hue and cry raised over this arrest.

After coming through what must have been a fairly hellish ordeal, the 24 year old girl pleaded guilt and was convicted by the court in Bali. Her sentence? 3 months, back dated to the time of her arrest. Result - she went home pretty much immediately.

WHA??!??

Rumors of bribes have been circulating and it appears that at least AU$250,000, raised by her family re-mortgaging their home, has been “spent” in Bali as part of the case. You would have to wonder if Schapelle would have done so well with a little more money to grease the Balinese wheels.

At long last however, Michelle is back in Australia but, to the horror of the media, she doesn’t seem to want to sell her story. All she seems interested in is getting back to her “normal” life as a model.

It seems like its no longer good enough for someone to maintain a dignified silence and in the case of Michelle Lees, the press is screaming for details that might just be none of their business. She has been so harassed by reporters that she has had to make her get away by prearranged water taxi, and on another occasion by running into a police station.

Its eight years since Princess Diana died in a tunnel in Paris and it seems like the media has forgotten how to LAY OFF. I heard a press conference where one journalist said to Michelle, in a very aggressive tone:

“It’s very simple. Were you planning on taking those ecstasy tablets?” 

I know journalists are supposed to be aggressive about pursuing a story but really, take NO for an answer. It seems the more polite and dignified Michelle is, the more she is attacked. Surely the press have better people to hound. Even the Prime Minister has weighted in to “warn” her not to sell her story.

For god sake, the poor girl has just been through a really dreadful experience. Whether its her own fault or not she has shown no sign of wanting to talk about it. All she seem to want to do is put it behind her and get on with her life. Personally, I can completely respect that.

The media today doesn’t really seem as much interested in truth as they are in sensation. They appear ready to cross any line to seek it out and they don’t much care who is trampled in the process. But the truth of the matter is even harsher, the media is really only doing what the public appears to want them to do.

If the Age or New Weekly didn’t pay a fortune for a candid, embarrassing shot, do you think there would be the drive to get them. I don’t think so! And the reason they pay the amounts they do is because those photos drive sales, because we all want to see them.

It seems that our voyeurism has been overfed and has in turn gotten hungrier, becoming unrelenting and trivia fixated. I mean lets stop for a second, so what if Michelle Leslie took ecstasy. What difference does it make to MY life if Victoria Beckham has cellulite? Who cares if Paris Hilton’s boyfriend scraped her Bentley?

I mean seriously folks, given the impact the governments current three big ticket items - Industrial Reform, Anti-Terrorism and Welfare to work - are going to have on EVERYONE’S day to day lives, you would think we have better things to worry about. No wait, we do have better things to worry about, we are just too busy focusing on Michelle Leslie to know it.