I feel sorry for the people living in this town -
The mayor of an Austrian town called ‘F**king’ has appealed to British tourists to stop stealing the road signs. The Austrian town of ‘F***ing’ is asking British tourists to stop stealing their road signs. Siegfried Hauppl said the small town always attracted a lot of attention from tourists driving up from nearby Salzburg to pose for pictures in front of the signs.
Okay, before continuing any further, just a word on my political and religious beliefs. I’m definitely not a far-right wing believer like Andrew Bolt or Janet Albrechsen. But neither am I as left-wing as John Quiggin or Tim Dunlop either. I believe in the right of a person or community to practice their cultural or religious beliefs freely, provided those beliefs don’t clash with the freedoms and rights that other people have fought so hard to preserve.
My grandparents are Churchgoers, and I have family friends that follow elements of Buddhist and Taoist teachings. I’ve also had the fortune to know at least one Muslim too. For that reason, I despise and have little patience for religious intolerance or bigotry, and I cannot abide by racial hatred.
Considering the hysteria being riled up in certain quarters, it was bound to happen in Australia eventually:
A PROPOSAL to ban Muslim girls from wearing traditional headscarves in state schools has been rejected by Prime Minister John Howard and all the main political parties in Victoria. Mr Howard said yesterday a ban on scarves — urged by prominent Liberal backbenchers Bronwyn Bishop and Sophie Panopoulos — would be impractical and could mean turbans had to go as well.
The two Liberals sparked the headscarf debate days after Mr Howard called Muslim leaders to a summit to calm tensions after the London bombings, and to seek help in countering extremists. Mrs Bishop said wearing scarves at public schools was an iconic act of defiance, while Ms Panopoulos said it was more an act of rebellion than religion.
I can’t see how implementing a ban on headscarves is going to help matters any. All it does is unfairly antagonise a section of the community who feel alienated and vilified enough as it is. We need to make sure the Muslim community feel more welcome and included in the wider Australian community, just as Greeks, Italians and Chinese newcomers have before them. This type of thoughtless political point-scoring doesn’t help matters any.
Apart from bigotry, ignorance and religious intolerance, the only reason I can think of for Bishop and Panopoulos to push such a useless ban is to bolster their own political careers. I haven’t heard anything constructive from either of them lately. If this is the best they can do, it’s time for their constituents to vote in new MP’s.
When I was younger I was pretty gung-ho when it came to my career. I felt that the best way to demonstrate my dedication to my burgeoning IT career was to move to Melbourne (like every other young Tassie Uni Graduate), get a job with a big multinational IT company, and spend long hours at work. I would even volunteer to come in on weekends to complete a job. It never occurred to me that this type of dedication isn’t rewarded by your corporate masters unless you’re very, very lucky.
Then there was the lifestyle. I found Melbourne a stressful place to live. There’s the constant battle to board a train for the daily commute to- and from- work. There’s the constant irritation of fighting my way through crowds everyday - I hate crowded places. The worst part is that Melbourne is landlocked - you can’t see the horizon and get a sense of scale. I felt like I was trapped in a concrete jungle, with no way out. Remember in Lord of the Rings, when old Bilbo says “I want to see Mountains Gandalf, Mountains!!!”. That’s how I felt.
Towards the end, my job was about to be outsourced to India, and there was plenty of pressure at work to meet impossible deadlines. The combination of dissatisfaction with my lifestyle, my dronelike nihilistic attitude towards my career - not to mention I was going to lose my job anyway - drove me to eventually leave Melbourne and return to Tasmania.
I’m quite certain a lot of people thought I was absolutely insane for leaving a well-paying job in “the world’s most liveable city” (hah!). Firstly, I don’t think Melbourne is all that liveable. Secondly, I abhorred the materialistic attitude and rampant consumerist greed I sometimes saw. Thirdly, I wasn’t going to just meekly accept being another victim of a cost-cutting-redundancy-payout-IT-offshoring exercise.
So I applied for a job in Hobart working as an IT programmer. In essence, I downshifted - which is something I thought only happened to highly-stressed corporate highflyers, not people like me.
The result? I’m happier than I’ve ever been, both on a personal and professional level. Because I’m working for a much smaller firm, I’ve been learning a much wider range of skills. In addition to regular programming, I’ve also had to dabble in everything from database design to web programming. And Tassie’s lifestyle is very relaxed and easygoing. I don’t have to fight my way through crowds just to buy my lunch everyday.
So what have I learned from all this? Don’t stay in a job you aren’t happy with. Always be true to yourself and who you really are. Words to live by.
After 10 long years, Doctor Who has at last finally returned to Australian television screens – and it’s about time.
The updated time vortex is a nice nostalgic touch for those of us who remember it. After over a year, the new Doctor Who logo still looks far too “photoshopped” for my tastes. The new theme tune is a wonderful combination of the old Delia Darbyshire melody, overlaid with a symphonic score. It’s a big improvement on the pompous bombastic John Debney version from the TV movie. And light-years better than the chintzy cheesy version used during the Sylvester McCoy years. The opening shot immediately catches your attention – a wideshot of the earth and moon, then zooming into Rose’s alarm clock. Clearly showing that this series will explore the unknown, but will be returning to Earth from time to time.
Murray Gold’s new theme tune is excellent – his incidental music is not so excellent. The inspired-by-department-store melody was perfectly appropriate for the first five minutes, but I don’t believe it was particularly appropriate for repeated use throughout the entire episode.
Rose’s mother Jackie very much reminds me of my own mother. Especially her overprotectiveness of her daughter, not to mention her tendency to natter over the phone with her friends. As a result, I find the character of Jackie annoying for all the right reasons – as a reflection of the bland and uninspiring life that Rose will soon leave behind. Mickey is your typical faithful boyfriend. Like most males of his ilk, he’s not a particularly articulate or refined fellow, but its clear that he does love Rose, in his own hamfisted way. I find Mickey to be an immensly annoying character for the same reasons as Jackie. And that’s fine – as a Doctor Who fan gunning for Rose to leave in the TARDIS, I’m meant to.
In a breathtaking forty-five minutes, Christopher Eccleston has redefined the role of Doctor Who for the 21st Century. Other actors who have played the role, have sometimes taken the larger-than-life eccentric approach. For past episodes in a more innocent time, this has worked exceedingly well. Ecclestone’s Doctor is truly alien, without taking the overly bombastic approach that some past actors have. For me, the “Earth turning” speech was when I truly believed that he was the Doctor.
Billie Piper’s character of Rose is an even bigger revelation than the Doctor himself. Rose is a fully- fleshed out character, and the fact we see this adventure from her point-of-view only emphasises this. She’s a fully-rounded person with a family who loves her, who’s then flung into the most extraordinary situation imaginable.Billie Piper plays the role with charm and verve, without ever descending into maudlin histrionics.
The most interesting aspect of the episode (from a continuity) perspective, is the war that the Doctor refers to in his confrontation with the Nestene consciousness. Just what exactly has the Doctor been up to in the past few years since we’ve seen him? It appears that RTD is setting up a large arc for the Doctor – hopefully it will work. I enjoyed the Doctor and Rose’s confrontation/conversation next to the London Eye. In addition to quickly establishing their relationship, it also brings new viewers up to date – what is the TARDIS? Why is it bigger on the inside than the outside? Just who IS the Doctor? Essentially, RTD has to sum up the forty-year premise of the show in forty-five fast-paced minutes. It’s quite a challenge, and RTD mostly pulls it off.
Rose is by no means a perfect Doctor Who episode – how could it be? This new series needs to respect forty years of past history, as well as forge a new and viable future for an attention-deficit viewing audience. In that regard, the debut episode builds a solid foundation from which to improve upon.
Well hello! hello! hello! 
After several long years of prevaricating (not to mention seeing other people’s brilliant work), I’ve finally worked up the gumption to setup my own blog. This blog won’t just be about myself or my own life, I’ll also be commenting on local/national/international events. I don’t pretend to be even a tenth-as-clever as John Quiggin, or a hundredth as creative as Neil Gaiman. I’ll just offer my opinion on what I see, hear or read. I make no guarantees that I’m right, only that I can change my mind based on the way I interpret the facts. I also plan to post reviews on films, television or books that I’ve read as well.
It just occurred to me that I’ve posted so many things in other places about various issues, this’ll be the first time that I’ve ever tried to centralise them all in one place. So I hope you enjoy your little sojourn into my tiny little brain.
I was walking into work this morning, and I noticed a plume of smoke emanating from a building a few doors away from where I work. There were three police cars blocking the street, as well as a fire engine parked in the middle of the road. At first, I thought it was the Chinese Restaurant that was on fire. It transpired later that it was the building next door to it -
There is no reason to believe a Hobart Islamic study centre was the target of a religious hate crime, according to police and fire investigators. The Sufi and Islamic Study Centre in Liverpool Street has been gutted by a fire that broke out around 7:30am AEST today. Part of the 99-year-old building’s roof has collapsed and the area is still closed to traffic due to fears of further instability. Police Inspector David Plumpton says while the cause is yet to be determined, there is no sign of forced entry and the occupiers have not received any threats.
It’s really weird getting a birds-eye view of an event that’s going to appear in national newspapers. How much you wanna bet this wouldn’t have received any national attention if it had been anything but an Islamic Study Centre? Nevertheless, my commiserations to the owners and occupiers of the Study Centre - it’s not easy seeing years of hardwork and study be taken away like this. Hopefully, they’ll be able to rebuild.
Well, here’s the first of my PC Game reviews. Dawn of War is a game that I pull off the shelf from time to time. Hopefully hardcore Warhammer gamers will be impressed with the slavish attention to detail. The Relic Developers are clearly Warhammer fans, and it shows in every frame - from the Orc flamethrower in the opening cinematic (with a cigar shoved in its mouth), to the harsh fascist nobility of the Space Marines (”Beware the alien, the heretic”). This game doesn’t shy away from its martial origins, and doesn’t pull any punches either.
There’s nothing I can say about the gameplay that hasn’t been commented on, elsewhere. The learning curve for the user interface isn’t all that steep. The only change is the use of constantly aggregating resources from strategic points, which leaves players to focus on the strategy element, rather than micromanaging resource gathering.
The music from Jeremy Soule is outstanding (as always) - he has been a composer on several excellent games, including Neverwinter Nights, and once again shows why he’s the “go-to guy” for quality music.
The only problem with the game is the extremely short single-player campaign - at 11 missions long, the storyline is seriously abbreviated. By the time it’s over, it’s obvious that only one-third of the story has been told. This is quite remarkable, as Relic were the same developers who created the classic epic Single-Player storyline for Homeworld and Homeworld 2.
Inevitably, this game will be compared to Starcraft and Warcraft 3 (both developed by Blizzard). The comparison is inevitable, as both games revolve around the same themes. In terms of technology and gameplay, Warhammer is the better choice. But in terms of storyline and Single-Player campaign, Warcraft 3 and Starcraft are still unparalleled in its execution.
In summary, Warhammer is an outstanding addition to the Real Time Strategy genre. Despite it’s visceral violent content and action, it’s not a revolution, but rather an evolution. The key achievement is placing the focus on combat and strategy, rather than micromanagement.
This blogging thing is pretty addictive, isn’t it?
I expect my enthusiasm for this whole thing will fade as the novelty wears off. Having a blog is NOT like writing a diary. With a diary, the intention is to keep your thoughts private so that you can freely express what you’re really feeling. With a blog, you run the risk of offending someone if you tried the same thing.
Anyway, this marks my first comment on international news events. And the honor goes to Pat Robertson, the religious leader of the 700 Club. Who receives this month’s (or possibly this year’s) “Dumber than a Bag of Nails” award.
Maybe it’s just me, but I do wish religous leaders like Pat Robertson would actually think about what they’re going to say before they open their mouths. Robertson makes our very own extremist religous leaders look like Little Red Riding Hood in comparison. If I had a choice between Archbishop George Pell or this maniac, I’ll choose the former thank you ever so much.
And this isn’t the first time Robertson has opened his big mouth either. The last time he popped up prominently in the press, it was claiming that the terrible events of September 11 were God’s punishment for the US’s immorality. Hogwash. The guy’s entitled to his opinion, but there are better ways of expressing it.
