Spacehamster’s Blog

Is Leona Helmsley the perfect example of the adage that “money can’t buy love”? Despite her vast wealth, she was estranged from the grandchildren of her only son and had very few friends. This article gives a pretty good insight into her lonely life. And her Wikipedia entry is here.

Once vilified by the tabloids as the “queen of mean” for her quick temper, Helmsley has now largely cut herself off from family and old friends. For companionship, she relies increasingly on the middle-aged male executives who come in and out of her life and business. But in the wake of recent events, the billionaire says she has lost confidence in her ability to distinguish people who genuinely like her from those who just want to get close to her money.

Anna Paquin, along with Claire Danes, is one of my favourite actresses. So I’ve taken a passing interest in ‘The Squid and the Whale’ - a film about the breakdown of an overly intellectual family and the impact it has on their two children. Having never seen the film, this article fascinated me -

“Interesting” is the highest compliment The Squid and the Whale’s family patriarch, Bernard (Daniels), can give something. His constant overuse of this one non-commital, cold, academic word for everything made me feel a pang of shame since it is also one of the first adjectives I myself jump to to describe a work of art I admire. The film as a whole made me feel somewhat ashamed to be the kind of person who says “interesting”.

This is due to the fact that the film feels one of the most impassioned, persuasive, and yet even-handed, arguments against ‘intellectuals’ I have recently come across, one that combines a number of different styles and influences, most of which could probably be described as variations on stories of New York intellectual life. I want to look at these influences in relation to Squid to try to find out quite how it made me ashamed of the part of me that wants to call everything I like not “wonderful”, or “beautiful” but “interesting”.

I’ve always rued the fact I was always less “intellectual” than some of my University counterparts. My life up til’ now seems to value intelligence more than intellectualism. “Intellectualism is the facets of the jewel”, as someone once said. So this argument in the article fascinated me. I’m so in awe of overly-intellectual people, it never occurred to me that there could be a personal downside to that kind of personality.

It was precisely for that reason - valuing intellectual thought processes over very human reactions - that caused me to stop visiting Doctor Who forums. Hardcore Who fans pride themselves on being more “intellectual” than a mainstream audience. Ideas are more important than mere emotion. No wonder why intellectual hardcore Who fans hate the new series. New Who values emotional intelligence - something which is anathema to the intellectual way of thought.

My parents house was built in 1974. Back then Tasmania was renowned for its cool summers and chilly winters. But with the advent of Global Warming(tm), the summers are positively tropical and the winters have gotten even colder. So they decided to buy an airconditioner. We settled on a Daikin model. According to Choice Magazines most recent survey, this is one of the most cost efficient and effective air conditioners on the market. Much to everyone’s surprise, the installation cost $3000, rather than the $6000 we were all expecting.

So by beginning of September we should finally have an air conditioner in the house. Hooray!

I first read about the Yangtzee River dolphin in Douglas Adams novel ‘Last Chance to See’. So it was with some sadness that I read this -

THE Yangtze River dolphin, until recently one of the most endangered species on the planet, has been declared officially extinct following an intensive survey of its natural habitat.

The freshwater marine mammal, which could grow to 2½ metres long and weigh up to a quarter of a tonne, is the first large vertebrate forced to extinction by human activity in 50 years. This is only the fourth time an entire evolutionary line of mammals has vanished from the Earth since the year 1500.

Conservationists yesterday described the extinction as a shocking tragedy, caused not by active persecution but inadvertently and carelessly through a combination of factors including unsustainable fishing and mass shipping.

I’m well aware that most people might say - “Well so what? It’s just a dumb, stupid worthless animal. Aren’t there more important things to talk about - like the War in Iraq or the economy?”. Since Douglas Adams is no longer with us, I’d remind them that the world can be a truly extraordinary and wonderful place. The extinction of the Yangtzee River dolphin makes the world just that bit less wonderous.