ELECTION LOOMING AHEAD

We have a Federal election looming over our heads in the near future and the politicians have been busy drugging us with their sickeningly hypnotic oratory once again. Even our Prime Minister, who is noted for his arrogance and conceit has watered down his usually bombastic and self-centred pronouncements. He wishes to be elected again and break some sort of record as the most re-elected or longest serving PM, I think… Well, he has quite a record to break with Robert Menzies chalking up 2 years, 4 months, 4 days in his first term (26 April 1939 - 29 August 1941) and 16 years, 1 month, 8 days in his second term (19 December 1949 - 26 January 1966). Mr Howard has been in office for 11 years so far, and I think that most Australian believe that this is quite enough…

The most recent mortgage interest rate rises (the latest of several over the past few years) have caused Mr Howard to “apologise” to the Australian people, the face exhibiting distress and the crocodilian tears flowing as he was saying “sorry” – what a surprise! This is the same man who promised in his 2004 election campaign (rather foolishly, as he does not control the Reserve Bank, which is the authority that raises or lowers interest rates) that interest rates would not rise during his government’s latest term. This is the same man who said last time the rates rose that it was something that had to happen and was not apologetic about it (it wasn’t election time then and also, Mr Howard is not a man who is known for his apologies, as our aboriginal population will confirm).

As a result, many Australian families who are struggling to keep up with their house mortgage payments will experience increasing hardship. The rates rose on March 2nd 2006 to 5.50%, then to 5.75% on May 3rd 2006, to 6.00% on August 2nd, 2006 and again on November 8th 2006 to 6.25%. Another rate rise on August 8th 2007 took the rate to 6.50% and the latest interest rate rise has now taken the mortgage rate to 6.75%. More rate rises are tipped for the near future, sometime between February and March next year.

Meanwhile, the opposition is making much noise about the interest rate rises and is getting as much political ammunition out of it as possible, but the fact is that the bulk of struggling families will have to put up with increasing house repayments and deterioration of their quality of living. I am sick of the mud-slinging and vituperative attacks on both sides. I am thoroughly disgusted by the false smiles in their public appearances and yes they still go to shopping centres and kiss the babies! I would have thought that sort of thing was banned nowadays. To think that we shall be subjected to the bickering until November 24th is worrying, to say the least.

And yet, I always go and vote, I try to select candidates that will represent me and my values rather than vote for political parties, often realising that my vote is “wasted” by not voting the “party ticket”. However, I am more comfortable with that than voting blindly for representatives that my conscience will not support. As John Lennon said: “You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.” The Greens often have reasonable and forward-looking candidates, so my support has gone to these underdogs often in the past, but I have also voted for independents, whose activities and ideas I sympathise with.

What I will not vote for is a candidate that supports wars in foreign lands so as to strengthen our and our allies’ economies. My vote will not go to candidates that attempt to scare people into voting for them by waving the red rag of “terrorism” and “homeland security” in front of us. I will not support someone who is narrow minded, parochial and aggressively nationalistic. Mr Downer’s (our foreign minister’s) outburst a couple of days ago is an amazing sample of our present government’s ideas about Australia, its multicultural population and its relationship with the world:

“Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has accused Labor leader Kevin Rudd of being a show-off who can't hold himself back from breaking into Chinese. Mr Rudd, a former diplomat who speaks fluent Mandarin, used his language skills during an interview on a Chinese TV station yesterday. Mr Downer said there was no need for the Labor leader to do the interview in Mandarin.
‘He likes to show off, and you get that a bit with certain people in life,’ the minister told ABC Radio today. ‘I'm familiar with those types of people who like to show-off but I don't think, realistically, there are a lot of votes in the People's Republic of China for Kevin Rudd to win.’
Mr Downer says Mr Rudd is not the only person in Australia who can speak another language.
‘There are thousands upon thousands of Australians, there are tens of thousands of Australians, who can speak foreign languages and most of them don't bother to show-off about it,’ he said.”



Is this an Australian minister of the 21st century speaking or is it someone of the xenophobic 50s? I find it appalling! I would rather have a multilingual, cultured, educated and urbane man representing my country as prime minister, rather than a nationalistic, blinkered, jingoist who will support outmoded and backward looking strategies and whose foreign policy is that of lap-dog to its master.

My word of the day is a dirty word, it’s a four-letter word of eight letters:

politics |ˈpäləˌtiks| plural noun [usu. treated as sing. ]
The activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, esp. the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power: The Communist Party was a major force in French politics | Thereafter he dropped out of active politics.
• The activities of governments concerning the political relations between countries: In the conduct of global politics, economic status must be backed by military capacity.
• The academic study of government and the state: [as adj. ] A politics lecturer.
• Activities within an organization that are aimed at improving someone's status or position and are typically considered to be devious or divisive: Yet another discussion of office politics and personalities.
• A particular set of political beliefs or principles: People do not buy this newspaper purely for its politics.
• (Often the politics of) the assumptions or principles relating to or inherent in a sphere, theory, or thing, esp. when concerned with power and status in a society: The politics of gender.
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French politique ‘political,’ via Latin from Greek politikos, from politēs ‘citizen,’ from polis ‘city.’

I’ll get off my soap box now and remember, don’t believe everything you’re told, mostly it’s untrue (especially if it comes from the mouth of a politician)!

THE HOUSE OF THE DOUBLE AXE

It’s poetry Wednesday, hosted by Sans Souci!
Here is a poem I wrote a few months ago, and of which I was reminded after observing a scene on the way to work this morning.

Labrys*

Slice through the torpid flesh
With blade sharp shining;
Unwind the thread that leads deep underskin.
Explore interior cellular winding passages
Until you find the beast within residing.

You need to sharply think, be sly,
So as to slay the monster in the labyrinth;
The labrys raised and ready poised,
The brutish head to cut without delay, no pity.

Once beast is killed, once body is freed,
The maze’s secrets will be yours.
Clarity, wisdom, perception, care,
As soul lies bared and reason rules the day.

But then the bloodied double-axe will seem
Not so much a heroic implement of deliverance,
As an assassin’s vile weapon stained by the blood of passion -
And passion’s execution is a wasted crime.
Rust stains on the stainless steel of conscience will appear.

*A labrys is a double axe that was used in Minoan rituals. The labyrinth is literally "the house of the double axe".

MELBOURNE CUP DAY

Today is Melbourne Cup Day here in my home city. At 3.00 pm, on the first Tuesday in November, Australians everywhere stop for one of the world's most famous horse races - the Melbourne Cup. If you cannot be in Flemington Racecourse to watch the Cup live, you can listen to the race call on radio, or watch the race on TV. Even those who don't usually bet, try their luck with a small bet or entry into a “sweep” (a lottery in which each ticket-holder is matched with a randomly drawn horse).

Since 1877, Melbourne Cup Day has been a public holiday for Melbourne, and crowds have flocked to Flemington. By 11.00 am the grandstand is packed to its 7,000 capacity, and by 3.00 pm, many tens of thousands of people usually gather around the racecourse. The party atmosphere often means that champagne and canapés, huge hats and racetrack fashions overshadow the business of horse racing. American writer Mark Twain said of a visit to the Melbourne Cup in 1895:
“Nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation. The Cup astonishes me.”

The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861 at Flemington Racecourse and was won by Archer, a horse from Nowra, New South Wales, beating the local favourite, Mormon. The prize was a gold watch and £170. Dismissed by the bookies, Archer took a lot of money away from Melbourne, refuelling interstate rivalry and adding to the excitement of the Cup. Australia's most famous racehorse, Phar Lap, combined great stamina and speed. He was foaled in New Zealand in 1926 by Night Raid out of Entreaty and he grew to 17 hands. Over his career he won more than £65,000 in prize money and won 37 of his 51 starts. From September 1929 he was the favourite in all but one of his races. Phar Lap became the darling of Australian race crowds during the Great Depression of the 1930s - winning all four days of the 1930 Flemington Spring Carnival including the Melbourne Cup carrying 62.5 kg. Phar Lap is the only horse to have started favourite in three successive Melbourne Cups. He came third in 1929, won the race in 1930 and ran eighth in 1931.

The Melbourne Cup is one of the world's most challenging horse races and one of the richest (total prize money for 2005 - $AU5.1 million), and is the highlight of the Spring Racing Carnival. The race is run over 3,200 metres and is a handicapped race. This means that the better the horse is, the more weight it has to carry in the race. The distance and the handicap ensure that the Melbourne Cup is a horse race in which the occasional punter has as good a chance of picking the winner as those who follow the form. It is a day when all Australians are considered to have an equal chance on the turf as well as on the lawn. This year, the place getters of the Cup were:
First: Efficient
Second: Purple Moon
Third: Mahler

I am not a gambler and I do not bet on the Cup, although I do enter the sweep at work. I don’t recall ever having won the sweep, and seeing I don’t follow the form the only thing that I enjoy in the Cup is watching the magnificent animals in peak condition race. Horses are beautiful creatures and when they gallop they are a poem in motion. Even though we did not go to the races, nor did we gamble, we had a lovely day at home with a delicious lunch, champagne and enjoyed the wonderful weather in the garden that was full of blooming roses. I hope you had a win if you bet on the Cup!

GUY FAWKES FIREWORKS

“Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.” Herbert Spencer.

Today is Guy Fawkes Day in the UK and this commemorates the foiled attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament by a group of dissidents. The conspiracy intended to blow up the English Parliament and King James I in 1605, the day set for the king to open Parliament. The anniversary was named after Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the conspirators.

The assassination of the king and the overthrow of his government was to be the beginning of a great uprising of English Catholics, who were distressed by the increased severity of penal laws against the practice of their religion. The conspirators, who began plotting early in 1604, expanded their number to a point where secrecy was impossible. The conspirators included Robert Catesby, John Wright, and Thomas Winter, the originators, Christopher Wright, Robert Winter, Robert Keyes,Guy Fawkes (a soldier who had been serving in Flanders), Thomas Percy, John Grant, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham, Ambrose Rookwood, and Thomas Bates.

Percy hired a cellar under the House of Lords, in which 36 barrels of gunpowder, overlaid with iron bars and firewood, were secretly stored. The conspiracy was brought to light through a mysterious letter received by Lord Monteagle, a brother-in-law of Tresham, on October 26, urging him not to attend Parliament on the opening day. The 1st earl of Salisbury and others, to whom the plot was made known, took steps leading to the discovery of the materials and the arrest of Fawkes as he entered the cellar. Other conspirators, overtaken in flight or seized afterward, were killed outright, imprisoned, or executed.

Among those executed was Henry Garnett, the superior of the English Jesuits, who had known of the conspiracy. The plot provoked increased hostility against all English Catholics and led to an increase in the harshness of laws against them. Guy Fawkes Day, November 5, is still celebrated in England with fireworks and bonfires, on which effigies of the conspirator are burned.

Please to remember
The Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
I see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

‘Twas God’s mercy to be sent
To save our King and Parliament
Three score barrels laid below,
For old England’s overthrow
With a lighted candle, with a lighted match
Boom, boom to let him in.

Anonymous Hertfordshire Rhyme

Quite aptly for today, I am considering a film that was inspired in part by this historical event, but which also looks towards the future and creates one of the most convincing filmic dystopias and asks several questions that relate to our present-day society. The film is James McTeigue’s “V for Vendetta” (2005) and its screenplay is an adaptation of Alan Moore/David Lloyd's graphic novel. Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry and John Hurt have been wonderfully cast and do a sterling job in playing out this tale of the fight for freedom and justice against cruelty and corruption. There are elements of Orwell’s “1984”, Leroux’s “Phantom of the Opera” and superhero dramas such as “Batman” and “Spiderman” in this movie, but there is also an underlying serious political/social message in it.

Its plot takes place in the future, when Britain is under totalitarian rule and is rife with prejudice against minorities, unfair punishments and the cries of tortured dissidents in captivity. In the mist of this nightmarish background, one man known as “V” dares to stand up to the government and is labelled by it as a “terrorist”. One night V rescues a young woman called Evey Hammond and an unlikely bond between the two emerges which results with Evey becoming V’s friend and helper. V has a passion for justice, but he is also bitter and nurses his own personal hatred for the government as he was treated unjustly in the past. November the 5th is the day V and his followers will stand up to the government once and for all. The government is represented by Detective Finch who tries to track down V. Finch’s search leads him to discover much about V’s background, but also confronted by increasing evidence of tyranny and oppression, he begins to question whether or not he is on the right side.

Important questions arise upon viewing this film. Is V a hero or a terrorist? Are his actions justified or should the violence he espouses be condemned? “V for Vendetta” is a movie that looks scathingly at present-day politics. One cannot fail to see that President Bush is the model for Stutler. The news media and their coverage of V’s activities are inspired by on the propaganda machines at the disposal of today’s politicians, with V’s actions put on par with those of suicide bombers and underground train attacks. Does “terrorism” become “freedom-fighting”? A totalitarian oppressor in power who utilises torture, unjust rule, (a reign of terror, in fact) is not likely to arouse our sympathies, whereas V, who is presented as the “terrorist” is much more likely to appear to be the “hero”. This is a disturbing and chilling film because it presents the reality of today and yesterday as the “Status quo” that our children will inherit in the future.

If you haven’t seen this movie, I strongly recommend that you see it. It is dark, thought-provoking, and quite entertaining. I have not read the original graphic novel it is based on, and I realize that the film has created characters that are rather exaggerated, but the message is quite powerful and for me, well-conveyed in the film medium.

If you are taking part in Movie Monday, please leave a comment on my 360 blog!

DÜRER ON SUNDAY

Art Sunday today finds me rather tired as we stayed in all day shifting bookcases, moving books, making room for some recent purchases and generally rationalising space. When one buys books and does not bear to part with them once one has read them, the problem of space becomes ever more acute and pressing. We bought two new bookcases yesterday and then we had to find room for them. Once they were in place, we had to move books so that they were where we wanted them to be. Alphabetical by language and author for fiction, and by subject for non-fiction. A mammoth task when one considers that we have several thousands of books.

Therefore, my offering today is a single work by Albrecht Dürer. Dürer was born May 21, in 1471, in the Imperial Free City of Nürnberg, Germany and died April 6, 1528, Nürnberg. He was a painter, printmaker, draughtsman and art theorist, generally regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist. His vast body of work includes altarpieces and religious works, numerous portraits and self-portraits, and copper engravings. His woodcuts, such as the Apocalypse series (1498), retain a more Gothic flavour than the rest of his work.

The work I give you toady is a favourite of mine, “The Large Turf” (1503, watercolour and gouache on paper. Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria, 41 cm x 32 cm). In this deceptively simple watercolour, Dürer creates a microcosm that is beautiful to behold and relaxing to meditate upon. One has to immerse oneself in this work and let the green serenity wash over one’s soul. To see this masterpiece with one's own eyes in Vienna is an amazing experience...

MARINA LIMA

For Song Saturday today, I am featuring a Brazilian singer. Marina Lima (born 17/9/1955) who is a prominent pioneer of Brazilian rock music. From the age of 5-12 years, she lived in the USA and learned to read first in English and then in Portuguese. She gained attention in 1977 when popular singer Gal Costa recorded her song "Meu Doce Amor". Other songs she wrote were inspired by her brother’s poetry.

Her album, Simples Como Fogo (1979), would be extremely influential in the Brazilian Rock scene of the 1980s. She gained major success with the 1984 album Fullgás, with hit singles "Fullgás", "Me Chama" and "Mesmo que Seja Eu". She sings equally comfortably in English as well as Portuguese and sultry looks coupled with her rich voice have gained her a world-wide following. Here is one of my favourite songs of hers, “Something that we Missed”.

ZUCCOTTO

We have had a rather civilised but slightly decadent night tonight with a lovely dinner, beautiful music, candlelight, quiet conversation, gentle laughter and to top it all off a rich, creamy dessert that hails from wonderful Sicily. I can’t share with you the intimate cosiness of the evening, the flicker of the candle flames or the ambience of the music resounding in the air, but I can share with you some of the sweetness left on the palate and the fragrance of the vanilla and the liqueurs that make of this dessert a wicked delight.

ZUCCOTTO

• 700 mL of cream
• 3 tablespoonfuls sugar
• Vanilla essence
• About a dozen Savoiardi biscuits (“sponge fingers”)
• 1/2 cup of chopped glace cherries, candied peel and sultanas
• 1 block of cooking chocolate
• 1/2 cup of ground, roasted almonds
• 1/2 cup of ground, roasted hazelnuts
• 1 measure each of Cointreau, Benedictine and Tia Maria

Soak the fruits in the Benedictine for a few hours. Moisten the biscuits in the Cointreau mixed with a generous amount of cream. Arrange the biscuits in a deep jelly mould (abour 20 cm diameter) to form a biscuit shell around the sides and bottom. Beat the cream, sugar and vanilla to form a stiff Chantilly and divide it into two portions. To one portion add the almonds and the Benedictine-fruits. Mix well and coat the biscuit shell leaving a depression in the middle. Melt the chocolate in a bain-Marie and add it to the reserved Chantilly together with the hazelnuts. Fill the depression in the mould with this mixture. Refrigerate overnight and when ready to serve, turn upside down onto a platter and dust with icing sugar.

Enjoy your weekend!

ALL HALLOWS

Today is the feast of the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches that commemorates all Saints, known and unknown, and is called All Saints Day or All Hallows. Catholics are obliged to attend mass on this day, All Saints being one of the major feasts of the Roman Catholic faith. It is a holiday that principally honours martyrs of the church who died in groups and whose names are not known. In 609, the Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome, as a church in the name of Our Lady and All Martyrs. In England the festival was known as All Hallows, hence the name of the preceding day, Halloween. The Christian feast has melded with the Celtic feast of Samhain, the pagan of New Year festival when crops were blessed, stored fruits and grains were hallowed and the dead were remembered.

All the gods of this world were worshipped on this day
From sunrise to sunset.

When All Saints’ comes on Wednesday,
The men of all the earth will be under affliction.

Children born on All Hallowstide were sure to have the second sight and all November’s children were lucky, beloved and fortunate in their life:
November’s child is born to bless
He’s like a song of thankfulness.

A couplet from An Early Calendar of English Flowers remarks upon the scarcity of flowers at this time:
Save mushrooms, and the fungus race,
That grow till All-Hallow-tide takes place.

The weather on this day should be observed as it gives an indication of what lies ahead:
If ducks do slide at Hallowentide
At Christmas they will swim;
If ducks do swim at Hallowentide
At Christmas they will slide.

As the next day is All Souls’ Day, “soul cakes” were made on this night for distribution to the poor. The recipients of these cakes prayed for the souls of the departed, interceding on their behalf. The returning, visiting souls of the dead on this day were thought to somehow be able to partake of these “soul cakes”.

The illustration today is by Aladar Korosfoi-Kriesch and is called “All Souls' Day” (1910 Oil on canvas, 51,5 x 72,5 cm - Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest). The word for the day is:

hallow |ˈhalō| verb [ trans. ]
Honour as holy : The Ganges is hallowed as a sacred, cleansing river | [as adj. ] ( hallowed) hallowed ground.
• formal make holy; consecrate.
• [as adj. ] ( hallowed) greatly revered or respected : In keeping with a hallowed family tradition.
noun archaic
a saint or holy person.
ORIGIN Old English hālgian (verb), hālga (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German heiligen, also to holy.