Spacehamster’s Blog

I suspect some people have read this article in The Age today. For those of us that feel disenfranchised by Howard’s refusal to acknowledge the loyalty of a large majority of migrants towards this country, its very comforting -

“Our leaders must talk about acceptance of other cultures … If you talk about learning English then it is not just Muslim migrants who need to learn it. It’s the year 7 Aussie kids who need it as well. When you talk about stopping crime, then pressure the bikie gangs as much as you pressure the ethnic gangs.”

Mr Piccoli, who delivered his speech as a private member’s statement, said the Government’s plan to make speaking English a prerequisite for citizenship was an attempt to “ramp up Hanson-style xenophobia just to stay in power”.

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Awwwww…doesn’t that just give you warm and fuzzy feelings?

I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but its blindingly obvious after the last paragraph that Adrian Piccoli is making that speech just to stay elected -

Mr Piccoli said he was prompted to make the speech after attending a terrific Indian celebration in his electorate.

Think about it: If a large proportion of his electorate come from migrant families, then of course he’s going to condemn Howard’s negative outlook towards largely loyal migrants. Because he wants them to vote for him at the next election. I doubt whether he really feels that way about migrants - for all I know he probably despises them. He is, after all, a member of the National Party and I can’t think of a single one that is really comfortable with the idea of “non-white” migrants successfully integrating into Australia society. They probably all wish the White Australia Policy were still in force.

On the other hand, we have this honest opinion from Jeremy Clarkson - who lives in England, a country which has a far worse problem with their migrants than we ever will.

I’m told things are different in London, and certainly when you look at the photographs of those killed in the bombings two weeks ago it’s an absolute smorgasbord of colour and creed. But away from the public transport system most ethnic groups tend to stick together just as firmly as we do out here in the sticks. Southall High Street for instance is almost exclusively Indian. Brixton is predominantly black. Golders Green is Jewish. And so on.

Only the other day I was looking round a large and well known public school and I couldn’t help noticing that the black kids all sat next to one another in chapel. And what’s more, we never get mixed ethnic groups in the Top Gear studio. Asians come with other Asians. Black kids come with other black kids. Golfers come with other golfers.

In Harrow there’s to be a school for Hindus in the same way that in Yorkshire there’s one for Catholics. And it’s the same story in the internet. There are chat rooms for Muslims, chat rooms for Hindus, chat rooms for Poles. The whole country is full of people carving out a little enclave for themselves. In much the same way that British people living in France tend to eat and socialise with other British people.

Ken Livingstone may have engineered a multicultural environment but I suspect that Britain isn’t multicultural at all. It’s simply a land mass on which an unknown number of immigrants and indigenous people happen to live.

That differs from my own experience when I was growing up - probably because I was the only Chinese-looking boy in a sea of white faces. It never occurred to me that I had to be different - it seemed perfectly normal to eat fish and chips (yum!), and to talk Sci-Fi and cricket with my mates at school. Nobody told me I had to congregate with my “own kind” (whatever that is), so I never did. And I can’t understand why anyone would do otherwise. Australians are a really friendly generous bunch when you get to know them.

I like Clarkson. He expresses his opinion honestly, and he doesn’t have a political agenda. There’s no element of racism here - just an honest assessment of what he sees. I wish there were more Conservative commentators down here in the Australian media with his wit and charm - the “Conservative message” would go down a lot more easily with people like me if it weren’t expressed so obnoxiously.

So the moral of the story? Don’t trust a politician with a Political Agenda, Do trust someone who expresses their opinion with wit and charm - even if their outlook doesn’t entirely jibe with your own.

It’s the weekend, and I’ve just watched bits and pieces of the Star Wars films, as well as starting to watch Lord of the Rings again. Not for the first time, I can’t believe the huge impact Star Wars has had on the filmic language that I’m accustomed to experiencing. Star Wars was perfect for a 5-year-old boy - good vs evil. It was as simple as that. Those films taught me about the clear differences between good and evil - to sort the selfless actions of good people from the self-centered destructive actions of evil ones.

Its only now, with the release of the prequels, that I sense that George Lucas was also telling a more mature and adult story that still has some resonance in my adult life. And that is how a person with the very best of intentions can use it to justify some horrifically evil acts. Its a theme that the editors and authors of the Expanded Universe have stretched even further - with a new plot twist in their latest entry in the Star Wars literary saga that repeats the events in Episode III. Talk about dipping into the well one too many times.

After watching the Star Wars films, I decided to revisit my absolute favourite film trilogy of my adult life - Lord of the Rings, as envisioned by Peter Jackson. While watching the first film, I actually felt myself subconciously relaxing, as though my mental and creative muscles were loosening themselves after watching Star Wars for a few hours. I have to admit, I’m much more mentally and creatively comfortable with LOTR nowadays than I am with SW.

Part of that is filmic memory - I watched LOTR at the perfect point in my life. I was beginning to question the direction my adult life had taken, and I was beginning to feel trapped in my current job in Melbourne. The LOTR films represented a way of releasing all of that pent-up creative repression and frustration. Of escaping to wonderous worlds of incredible beauty but also great danger. Just as Star Wars had acted as a creative release for my occasionally moody and pensive childhood, so LOTR had served to act as a pressure valve for a frustrating period in my own adult life.

There’s no point in asking me whether LOTR is “better” than Star Wars. That, to me personally, is a stupid question that I refuse to answer because I look at it as more than just films. They’re both artistic masterpieces that profoundly affected me in deeply personal ways, and helped me navigate the moral and ethical complexities of real life. Star Wars taught my five year-old self the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. That it’s okay to help others in their time of need, and that it is acceptable to selflessly help others. LOTR taught me that for an adult in a morally grey world, it takes a special sort of mature courage to stand up for what you believe in and do what’s right for your community, your family and for yourself. But such actions also come with a high price - but it’s a price worth paying.

In our shallow computer-driven age, its always useful to be reminded that there was once a time when the future of the entire planet really was at stake. For me, that time was World War II. Its incredible to think that so many generations have passed since those dreadful events - events that still resonate and effect us, even today. I sometimes wonder whether we’re starting to forget the importance of those dreadful 6 years. Forget the countless millions of lives that were lost - both civilian and soldiers. Forget the importance of what the entire world has won through their sacrifice.

Fortunately, there are plenty of creative minds who have used their art to remind our generation of what it was like. The obvious examples are movies like ‘Saving Private Ryan’, or classics like ‘The Dambusters’. For computer gamers, the most recent effort is ‘Company of Heroes’, a WW2 Real-Time Strategy game from the developers at Relic.

Having only played the demo, from a game-playing point-of-view its very very impressive. The presentation is slick, the user-interface is easy to use. And the AI is the best I’ve seen in an RTS in recent memory. For example, I built a line of tank traps, barbed wire and sandbags across the 3 choke points, to block the enemies from entering my base. Unfortunately, I completely missed the west road leading into my base. The AI snuck 3-4 squads of flamethrowing engineers into my base and burned it into the ground. Frustrating, but impressive.

The fact that this game is based on real-life events adds, to me, an extra poignancy. The events chronicled in the single-player campaign really did happen. Thousands of people really did die storming that beach. Its kinda hard to “enjoy” the game when you realise that these events really did happen. But at least you come to appreciate, even if its only in very small part, the dedication and bravery of the men and women who lived and died during that dreadful part of our history.

So according to John Howard, if you can’t answer all these questions correctly then you’re not really an Australian.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20433955-5006009,00.html

Isn’t it ironic that so many couldn’t get any of those answers right? And they’re criticisng our family for being un-Australian? We know their culture even better than they do!

Notice also the slant Murdoch’s spinmeisters put on the issue. A “large majority of 5 percent” don’t turn up for Citizenship ceremonies, but they never specify the reasons why. Perhaps they have work or family commitments. Perhaps they’re old or inform. Perhaps they live too far away. Its disgraceful the level of innacurate and biased reporting in Murdoch-owned newspapers. And since when the hell is 5 percent a large majority?!!?

Posted by: Bill Myers at September 15, 2006 10:34 AM

RJM, Earth turkeys cannot fly. Kryptonian turkeys, however, can fly if they are on a planet with a yellow sun such as Earth. They also have super-strength, invulnerability, x-ray and heat vision, super-strong and super-cold breath, and are just all around bad-ass. Hunt them at your own risk.

So yeah, be real careful of those Kryptonian Turkeys. They really bite.

Seeing that the remastered ST:TOS was about to be transmitted on US TV, I decided to revisit some of my favourite Trek films. Its been awhile since I’ve visited Trek. I stopped watching after the third season of Enterprise, and was dissapointed with Nemesis. For the latter debacle, I mostly blame the direction of Stuart Baird. I truly wish Jonathan Frakes had directed that last film. He knew the actors best, and understood and respected the material.

The early TNG stuff, along with Nemesis, was truly great television. Unfortunately, I’ve allowed my bitter memories of the latter years of Trek to colour my perceptions. TOS, TNG, DS9 - they were all great television and have certainly lasted the test of time. I sincerely hope that JJ Abrams can revive the Trek Universe - I can’t wait to see his spin on things. I don’t care whether its a complete reimagining or a sequel. His take on MI:3 was terrific fun to watch, and I look forward to seeing what he can do with a now moribund mythology.

I have to confess, the outright xenophobia directed against Muslims - both by my own family and the rest of Australia is getting worrying. I have to admit, I don’t recall even the Anti-Asian hatred fermented by Pauline Hanson being quite this bad. This latest kerfuffle over the latest (quiet-possibly uninformed) criticism against Muslims does raise one very serious problem - the complete and total lack of Muslim voices in the Mainstream media. It seems that every “ethnic” community has one - Asians, Greeks, Italians, our indigeneous Aboriginal brethren. But apart from sporadic contributions by Keysar Trad the Muslim cognoscente seems to be remarkably barren.

One Muslim commentator I can recommend is Irfam Yusuf, who also goes by Madhab Al-Irfy. He’s a Liberal Party supporter as well as being a devout Muslim, so hopefully this should mollify any suspicions from the rabid right. He’s also remarkably and refreshingly honest about the issues facing our fellow Australian Muslims in today’s modern world. And he presents a far better and insightful analysis about the issues then you’ll find in any mainstream paper (eg. Andrew Bolt, Paul Sheehan).

So why doesn’t a fellow like Irfan get more radio time or press? I have no idea. I suppose you’d have to ask him that question. I’ll only say that as long as the mainstream community doesn’t pay any attention to Irfan’s observations, the more fraught with peril our relationship with our fellow Muslim Australians will become. Irfan Yusuf’s writings represent a refreshing change from the one-sided criticism we often get. Hopefully he will continue, as Australia needs more people like him to contribute to the ongoing and increasingly paranoid debate.

I found this posting sitting in my draft area - probably for several months.

The last time I saw a Christmas special for a popular Science Fiction series was Star Wars way back in the Seventies/Eighties. It was - quite frankly - absolutely awful. I’ve wilfully expunged the entire experience from my adult brain. Fortunately, Russell T. Davies and co. have much more on their minds than corny overly sentimental Christmas cheer. There’s one question at the very heart of this episode:

What would the world do without the Doctor?

Its the first time in the shows history that I can ever recall this question ever being directly addressed. As is seemingly traditional in regeneration stories (Castrovalva) the Doctor spends the first half-hour in bed with a raging fever. Without the Doctor’s overshadowing presence, this episode is going to live or die based on the performance of its remaining lead stars.

Its a testimony to the excellent script, acting, directing and special effects that the first half-hour holds up incredibly well. The standout directorial moment is when we see dozens of people ready to jump off those buildings. Its a genuinely scary moment that’s brilliantly directed by James Hawes. In addition to setting up the bad guys, the reactions of the characters (especially Rose) reflect how a new audience would react to a new Doctor. Seeing Rose breakdown towards the middle of the episode was particularly well done. In spite of Penelope Wilton’s great work as the new PM, it’s Billie Piper that has to carry the episode and she does an incredible job here. I don’t know how the show will carry on without her.

Its at the 30-minute mark that the show veers away from the increasingly dire situation that’s been building up, with a fantastic introduction to the Tenth Doctor - David Tennant. I haven’t seen this good a debut since Tom Baker in Episode 1 of ‘Robot’. I can’t believe that in 15 short minutes, Russell T. Davies has done the impossible - convince us (the audience) that David Tennant was the right choice to play the Doctor. He has convinced me beyond any reasonable doubt that he will be good (if not better) than Christopher Eccleston was, and that’s no mean feat. David Tennant has always said he was a fan, and it shows in his performance. Even more so than with Eccleston, there’s a conviction and a sense of fun that is enjoyable to watch. The sword fight was definitely Un-Doctorish, but using a satsuma to kill the Sycorax leader, and six-words to bring down the British Government, definitely demonstrate what kind of a man this new Doctor is.

The most controversial moment in this episode comes towards the very end, when Harriet Jones uses Torchwood for the very first time. To me it seems like a morally ambigious moment. Is the Doctor right? Is Harriet? I hope this is a moment that has ramifications for the rest of the second series. Its far too important an issue to resolve in a single episode. Not just as a plotline, but also as a commentary on current world affairs as well.

And the trailer for the second series was absolutely astounding. There are so many images that put a shiver down my spine. The return of my (now) second-favourite companion - Sarah Jane Smith. A very intriguing baroque android. And that last shot of the Cybermen. I’m still not too sure how well the new design is going to work, but that 2-second glimpse gives me great hope.

So its onwards to a new Doctor and a new series! Doctor Who is now officially my number-one favourite series in any genre on TV or film. Russell T. Davies and co should be commended for writing and creating the best introduction for any character on TV ever.

The last time anyone heard of Ariana Richards was as Lexx in the Steven Spielberg film Jurassic Park. With her blonde hair and pretty eyes she was pretty hard to miss. Over a decade later and my goodness, how things have changed. Ariana Richards is now known as a highly respected artist who won first place prize in the National Professional Oil Painting Competition sponsored by American Artist Magazine.

Like most other plebes, I don’t really know about art, but I know what I like. I respond to artistic pieces on a gut-instinctual level. Either I like it, or I don’t. And I really like Ariana Richards artistic pieces - there’s a feeling of serenity and peace from her work that I find incredibly soothing. You can find some examples of her work here.

So why her, exactly? Its obvious, from her paintings at least, that Ariana is content and happy being a successful artist. Every once in awhile I mull over my current situation - am I happy doing what I’m doing? Leading the life that I am? Would I be happier with a career that fulfils a more creative need? After all, being an IT Programmer isn’t exactly considered an artistically fulfilling pursuit, or a personally fulfilling one.

Or is it?

I believe that the best programming code has an elusive ebb and flow, a logic of its own, that reflects the personality of the person who programmed it. With the advent of Web-based applications, having an artistic eye is more important than ever. Just take a look at sites like Amazon.com or Zen Garden if you want examples of just how important creative skills really really are. Do you really think the layouts would look even half-as-good if the creators didn’t have an eye for artistry or aesthetics?

When my parents brought me to my first music lesson, I don’t think they had any idea of the really huge impact it would have on my life. They only saw the technical skill in playing the violin or a piano, or the pride that comes from seeing your children on stage. I don’t think they’ve ever appreciated the artistic fulfillment and contentment that comes from playing a piece of music, and responding to it internally on a spiritual and emotional level.

To be a truly great musician or artist, it isn’t enough to have great technical skill. You have to have that elusive creative spark. For the same reason, I believe that great programmers also need that creative or intuitive flair. It comforts me to know that I’ve chosen a career and an occupation where creative and spiritual impulses do have a place, even though to the external eye they may seem elusive.

Strong title. But perfectly appropriate when you read stories like this:

A COUPLE who wanted to teach foster children not to take drugs or skip school were accused by bureaucrats of trying to force “middle-class” values on them. Rae and Traill Adams, both in their 60s, quit as foster parents last year after a series of disputes with Queensland social workers over the expectations they had for foster kids. Mrs Adams said a social worker told her: “Rae, you expect every child to be able to eat caviar and some can only have Vegemite.”

Mr Adams said he had asked a social worker whether she thought it was dangerous to send a child back to a home where adults were taking drugs. “She said it wouldn’t really be a risk, not if there were no needles left lying around, if it was the consumption of marijuana or speed,” Mr Adams said.

On another occasion, Mr Adams said he believed a foster child would be “at risk” if she was returned to the home of her drug-addicted mother. He said the child’s caseworker shrugged and said: “We’re in the risk business.”

Mr Adams said bureaucrats were “not interested in promoting education for these children, nor were they interested in the children themselves. They are interested only in returning children to parents because it gets them promoted”.

Unbelievable.

In the same article, Lowitja O’Donoghue describes similar experiences during her childhood in the 1930’s. It’s horrifying to think that nothing has changed in 70 years.