POETS UNITED - SILENCE

“Absolute silence leads to sadness. It is the image of death.” - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Poets United this week has challenged participating poets with the midweek theme of “silence”. Here is my contribution:

The Strength of Silence

“Silence”, says he, “is golden,
Words are silvern
So speak not, for it’s more precious
That way, the speechless way.”
And even in the account book of words,
His mind is on profit.

A strong, silent type, he is,
Or so he would have you believe him be;
A man of few words, silvern – remember?
But more often his is the loud silence
Of hollow ringing as each gold ingot falls on begging ears:
Taciturnity passing off as fortitude.

When evening fell, when night cut cold
When every fibre of your orphan soul
Was crying out for a flood of words,
Brazen, leaden, wooden even –
His silence (precious but empty, golden but hollow)
Met your begging expectancy.

And in the darkness, as your heart froze
His icy golden fortress of quiet
Chilled your being even more.
How strong, the silent type,
How motionless, immovable,
How unmoved, unmoving…

The strength of silence harder than rock,
Sharper than scalpel blade,
Colder than arctic tundra,
More efficient executioner than falling axe.
The strength of silence hides weakness,
Crippled emotion, cowardice, egoism.

MOVIE MONDAY - ED WOOD

“Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theatre.” - Roman Polanski

I received a message a couple of days ago asking me why I referred to the art of cinema as the “seventh art”.  The art of the cinema is the “Johnny-come-lately”, the newest of the generally recognised “fine arts.” Many of its early critics initially dismissed film because of its supposed slavishness to commercial interests; its appeal to the “uninitiated and uneducated”; its seemingly mechanical technique, and for its apparent lack of an identifiable single artist as its primary creator.

The fine arts (as distinct form the applied arts) have been traditionally categorised thus:
1) Literature (including poetry, drama, fiction, etc),
2) Visual arts (painting, drawing, design, sculpture, modelling etc),
3) Decorative arts (enamelwork, furniture design, mosaic, etc.),
4) Performing arts (theatre, dance, music as performance),
5) Music (as composition),
6) Architecture (often including interior design).

Cinema was added as the “seventh art” when towards the middle of the middle of the 20^th century, the motion picture was recognised as legitimate an art form as painting, music or literature. Critics and connoisseurs of the cinema feel that the greatest films are the artistic and personal expression of directors, who are considered to be the primary creative force behind a motion picture. The spectrum of cinema, however, is greater than the creation of movies as “art for art’s sake” (this is the famous “Ars Gratia Artis” motto around the growling lion of Metro Goldwyn Mayer). The art of the cinema has been exploited to create documentaries, experimental films and finally (the most popular), the fictional, story-telling mode.

The documentary mode incorporates those films relying primarily on cinema's power to relay events in the world. Included in this mode are the ethnographic or geographic type of documentary, the newsreel, and also the propaganda film.

The experimental film is an interesting one as it often uses the medium of film unconventionally, sometimes being influenced by new movements in other arts (eg surrealism in painting was followed by surrealist films). It may use film at its technological limits and capabilities. It encompasses animated (non-photographic) and computer-generated images.

The fictional mode is most often thought of as “the movies” and is the most popular one as far as film-makers and public are concerned. There are many genres in this mode and Hollywood has refined and popularised these so that the public is aware of them, for example: The western, gangster film, police thriller, melodrama, musical, comedy, science-fiction, or social problem film, epic or historical, disaster, fantasy, play adaptation, etc.

An interesting film that I think highlights the complexity of the art of the medium of cinema is “Ed Wood”, (1994) directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau; Sarah Jessica Parker and Patricia Arquette. It is a biopic (but not only!) of the life and work of the legendary “worst director of all time”, Edward D.Wood, Jr. It concentrates on the best-known period of his life in the 1950s, when he made “Glen or Glenda”, “Bride of the Monster” and “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. The film touches on both his transvestism, his personal relationships and his moving friendship with the once great, but then ageing and unemployed horror film star Bela Lugosi.

“Ed Wood” is a multifaceted film about a man who believed in himself and did what he loved to do – make films (that they were considered to be the worse films of all time is immaterial). It is a poignant film, one to make you laugh and cry, one to make you ponder and one guaranteed to entertain also. It also made me want to look at some of this man’s movies and try to understand what motivated him.

Looking at these “worse films of all time” and knowing something about Ed Wood’s life made me look at them less harshly and made me try and judge them less dismissively. The question remained with me – was this man an artist and a genius or a deluded mountebank who could have spent his life more productively doing something better? If you have seen this movie and/or any of Ed Wood’s films, what do you think?

MOVEMBER 2013

“Everything I do from now on, I’ll have a mustache. I can promise you that. I don’t care who I have to convince. If you see me with a mustache in a movie or on stage in the future, you’ll know that I pitched the idea.” - Ty Burrell
 
Tomorrow, the first day of November begins the “Movember” campaign, which encourages men to grow moustaches for the month in order to raise funds and awareness for men’s health. This has helped raise the profile of prostate cancer and encourages men to see their general practitioner and get tested for prostate cancer. Statistics such as “one in eight Australian men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime” provide an impetus for men to be aware of the disease and do their utmost to get screened and be treated at an early stage fi they need to be.
 
Of course, prostate disease is not the only reason for Movember. Testicular cancer, mental and health issues affect men in high numbers and these diseases also are highlighted during the month, with an emphasis on diagnosis, treatment and raising of funds for research. Movember challenges men to grow a moustache for the 30-days of November, thereby changing their appearance and the face of men’s health.
 
In October Mo Bros sign up at www.movember.com, and on the 1st of November with a clean-shaven face start their Mo growing journey. Then for the entire month, these men known as “Mo Bros”, effectively become walking, talking billboards for 30 days. Through their mustache growing efforts they raise awareness for the often ignored issues of men’s health, by prompting conversations wherever they go.
 
Another crucial part of being a Mo Bro is to raise funds for men’s health. Men donate their face, and much like taking part in a run or a walk for charity, ask their family and friends to sponsor their efforts. Movember’s not just for men. The women of Movember are known as “Mo Sistas”. They play a vital role in the success of Movember by supporting and encouraging the men in their life to get involved. Mo Sistas also get involved by signing up at www.movember.com, and participate by raising funds and awareness themselves. Essentially, Mo Sistas do everything that Mo Bros do, without a mustache.
 
Since its humble beginnings in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, Movember has grown to become a truly global movement inspiring more than 3 million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to participate across 21 countries worldwide. In 2012, over 1.1 million people around the world joined the movement, raising AUS $141.5 million.

MOVIE MONDAY - JCVD

“The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it.” - Bill Cosby
 

We watched a very interesting film at the weekend, which proved that all is not what it seems. I had bought this out of the “specials” basket in our local video store, believing it to be a typical action, “dick-flick”, judging it from its cover and its star, Jean-Claude Van Damme. However, it was quite a surprise, turning out to be a satire, with elements of action, drama, comedy and action.
 

It was "JCVD" starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Valérie Bodson, Hervé Sogne. It was a Belgian/Luxembourgeois/French co-production with the soundtrack mainly in French, although there was some English dialogue. I am once again airing my displeasure with the producers of DVDs and BluRay discs who do not subtitle their films. While the French dialogue was subtitled on this disc, the English dialogue was not and half of it was unintelligible, greatly detracting from the enjoyment of the movie.
 

Van Damme plays himself in this movie, giving a great performance as an ageing action film star who has difficulty in getting good roles, problems with the tax department, and is in the middle of a custody case with his wife over their daughter. He tries to escape these problems in the USA by going back to his home in Brussels, Belgium. Unfortunately for him, when he goes into a Post office/Bank he stumbles into a hold-up where a number of hostages are being held by a bunch of desperate thugs. Unfortunately for Van Damme, the way in which things are perceived by people outside the post office, causes police and media alike to believe that Van Damme is the mastermind of the robbery, in order to pay his half-a-million-dollar legal bills.
 

The film opens with a signature Van Damme action sequence, with what everyone expects his movies to be like. Lots of violence, kicks, shootings, blood, gore and explosions. Typical generic guff that one sees not only with Van Damme but also with Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, etc. It turns out that is just a short scene from a film that is being shot in Hollywood, with Van Damme as the star. It serves to highlight the plight of the actor who is typecast and who cannot break free from the shackles of Hollywood contracts. We are then transported to Brussels where Van Damme retreats in order to try and put his life in order. The film is episodic, with flashbacks, flash-forwards, repetition of scenes from different observer’s perspective and even contains quite an astonishing monologue where Van Damme bares his soul…
 

I was pleasantly surprised to see Van Damme act! I mean really act, rather than take part in a carefully orchestrated set of action sequences separated by a few scenes of minimal dialogue as in his usual films. The story was involving and the direction snappy and inventive. The film overall reminded us a little of the 1994 Quentin Tarantino, now classic, “Pulp Fiction”.
 

If you are interested in an action movie with a little more depth, if you are a fan of Van Damme, if you wish to see something that is unusual and rather offbeat, then watch this film. It still has quit a lot of violence in it, but it is after all a product of our times and shows the way that we parasitise violence to achieve our various ends.

MOVIE MONDAY - UNSTOPPABLE

“Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.” - Charles de Gaulle
 
Every now and then we like watching a good action/thriller, especially the believable kind where the situations depicted are not too far-fetched but still make for engaging, nail-biting viewing. The bonus is when such movies are based on or have been inspired by true stories. Such was the case with a film we watched yesterday. It was Tony Scott’s 2010 movie, “Unstoppable” starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson. It is a solid, action/thriller that is inspired by true events, the real-life CSX8888 incident in which a runaway train travelled for 66 miles on a track through northwest Ohio with nobody at the controls. The screenplay for “Unstoppable” was written by American screenwriter Mark Bomback.
 
The movie centres on a runaway freight train loaded with thousands of gallons of diesel fuel, eight carriages of molten phenol, a highly toxic and explosive chemical, and way ahead it, in the midst of a city, a curvy track that requires all trains to slow down to 15 mph to negotiate it safely. The train travels at 70 mph and the track ahead it must be cleared to avert disaster, while everything must be done to stop the train before it gets to the curved track. Two train operatives, a veteran (Washington) and a rookie (Pine), attempt to stop the train armed with little in the way of stopping impending disaster except a one-car locomotive and their wits.
 
The movie does have its faults, however, it is a quickly moving (pun intended!), solidly entertaining thriller from beginning to end. Although there are two minor subplots involving the family situation of the two leads, the director cannot afford to spend too much time on characterisation or back story, launching straight into the story with two incompetent railyard employees who are responsible for setting the disaster in train (pun intended again ;-).
 
Both Washingtom and Pine give great performances with some depth added to the heroics, mainly through glimpses of their private lives interspersed within the action sequences. There is a lot of coverage of the trains as they move backwards and forward on the tracks, and the runaway train 777 assumes an active antagonistic role, almost an animated incarnation of evil as it hurtles down the track. There is good supporting work from Dawson who plays a rail traffic control officer who tracks the progress of the rescue operation. Minor supporting roles also add a little depth to the movie and provide relief from the constant background action.
 
We enjoyed the movie and recommend it as a bit of mindless entertainment, which is quite well done. It is a typical “dick-flick” so be prepared for lots of heroics, action and tough man stunts exploring the (basically shallow, but quite straightforward) male psyche. This is a “we have a problem – lets solve it” movie with little emotional depth, yet quite engaging.

MOVEMBER

“The way you think, the way you behave, the way you eat, can influence your life by 30 to 50 years.” - Deepak Chopra

With “Movember” almost over, it is perhaps appropriate to take stock of this initiative and evaluate its goals. Movember (a portmanteau word from moustache and November) is an annual, month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health problems and to raise funds for associated charities. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at www.movember.com.

The goal of Movember is to “change the face of men’s health.” By encouraging men (“Mo Bros”) to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. Besides getting an annual check-up, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of any family history of cancer, and to adopt a more healthful lifestyle.

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan and the United States. The event has spread from Australia to South Africa, Europe and North America. As of 2011 Canadians were the largest contributors to the Movember charities of any nation. In 2010, Movember merged with the testicular cancer event Tacheback. In 2012 the Global Journal listed Movember as one of the top 100 non government organisations in the world.

The immense popularity of the event cannot be denied and there is a great buy-in from the community. The emphasis on prostate cancer, while understandable (this is after all “the” male cancer par excellence to counterbalance the women’s own breast cancer), is a little unfortunate. There is quite a controversy raging in terms of screening for prostate cancer. The advocates for screening (typically specialist doctors who treat prostate cancer) and those who do not believe in its efficacy (typically public health practitioners and GPs) quote studies and research that support their divergent opinions.

The extensive prostate cancer screening trials (similar to the ones for breast cancer 30 years ago), have only been published recently, and the results are ambiguous. Some studies show a small benefit, while others show no benefit of screening. It is something that statisticians are still arguing over and it supplies each side of the debate with enough ammunition to further its own different opinion. As far as the general public is concerned, there is confusion (as man may get conflicting advice from equally respectable men’s heath experts) and there is the touting of prostate screening by some organisations as the “magic bullet” that will reduce prostate death rates in a similar way that breast cancer screening has (breast cancer screening certainly works!).

Unfortunately, prostate cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment is a minefield. Not only is screening equivocal, but once the disease is definitively diagnosed, the treatment is damaging too. Despite real advances in surgical removal of cancerous prostates (“radical prostatectomy”), the chances are that most men will be rendered impotent by the operation and most will develop urinary incontinence. So, there may even be harm in prostate cancer detection! Detecting cancer in men for whom treatment will confer no benefit is very damaging. Even the diagnosis of this cancer is with ridden problems: Men diagnosed with prostate cancer  are nearly ten times more likely to commit suicide than before...

So what is the answer? Everyone agrees (and the research evidence is quite strong) that cancer prevention works. Diet and lifestyle are the by far the most effective measures in protecting against a range of cancers, including prostate cancer. Eating a wide variety of good food with lots of fresh, seasonal vegetables and fruit less dairy and meat, reducing fats especially saturated fat, keeping physically active, stopping smoking and making sure you greatly reduce alcohol consumption are very real, effective ways of lessening the incidence of cancer (and many other diseases!). Movember would be a better advocate for men’s health if it highlighted these self-help steps.

We are fast becoming a society of instant gratification, hedonistic pleasures, immediate solutions, technological fixes and “magic bullet” cures. Taking personal responsibility for one’s health, while advocated in many quarters does not have the uptake that it needs to have to make a difference. We would much rather swallow a miraculous tablet, have a wonderful life-saving operation that will rid us of disease, and in the meantime enjoy ourselves with physical pleasures. Movember can make a difference, but it does need a shift in its emphasis to be even more effective.

UNIVERSAL CHILDREN'S DAY 2012

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” - Frederick Douglass
 

Universal Children’s Day is celebrated annually on November 20th. It was first proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954, and was established to encourage all countries to institute a day, to firstly promote friendship and understanding among children all over the world, and secondly to initiate policy, strategy and action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world’s children. It is also an occasion to rejoice in the beauty and innocence of childhood.
 

Universal Children’s Day is immediately preceded by International Men’s Day on November 19 creating a 48 hour celebration of men and children respectively during which time the positive roles men play in children’s lives are recognised. It is a 48-hour period in which father and their children can celebrate the special bond that unites them. Events and activities focus on language and literacy, health, sport and recreation, the arts and science, as well as children’s cultural, social and emotional needs.
 

In 2000 world leaders outlined the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015. Although the Goals are for all humankind, they are primarily about children. UNICEF notes that six of the eight goals relate directly to children and meeting the last two will also make critical improvements in their lives.
 

In 2012, the Secretary-General of the UN launched a new initiative “Education First”. The Initiative aims to raise the political profile of education, strengthen the global movement to achieve quality education and generate additional and sufficient funding through sustained advocacy efforts. Achieving gains in education will have an impact on all the Millennium Development Goals, from lower child and maternal mortality, to better health, higher income and more environmentally-friendly societies.