CHOCOLATE CAKE

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." - Charles M. Schulz

Chocolate cake is always good and home-made is even better. Trouble is many of the recipes are quite involved. This is fairly simple and you don’t even have to take the mixer out of the cupboard. No eggs are needed, either!

Lazy Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
Cake:
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour
3 tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla essence
1 tsp. vinegar
5 tbsp. molten unsalted butter
1 cup warm water

Syrup (optional):
Glassful of sugar
Glassful of water
Juice of a quarter lemon

Icing:
2 cups icing sugar
sprinkle of vanillin sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
1/3 cup unsalted butter
Enough milk to moisten
½ cup molten chocolate

Method
Cake:
Preheat oven to 180˚C.
Grease 20 cm cake tin.
Mix in a wide bowl, by sifting together all of the dry ingredients (sugar through salt).
Make three holes in the dry ingredients.
Add the vanilla, vinegar and melted butter, separately, into each of the three holes.
Pour the water over top of the ingredients in the pan and stir well, until well mixed.
Pour into the tin and bake 30 – 35 minutes at 180˚ C in the oven with the tin on top of a biscuit sheet.

Syrup:
If desired, boil the sugar and water for 3-4 minutes and squeeze the juice in as you turn the heat off.
Drench the cold cake with hot syrup, allowing it to be absorbed.

Icing:
Mix together the icing sugar, vanillin sugar and butter into a paste.
Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time to make a smooth icing.
Add the molten chocolate (reserving a spoonful), stirring well.
Put icing on the cake once it has cooled.
Use the reserved chocolate to drizzle on parallel straight lines, making the chevron patterns by dragging a skewer across the lines.

Enjoy your weekend!

HAPPY PILLS

“We need not destroy the past. It is gone.” - John Cage

Oblivion is the word of the day today.

oblivion |əˈblivēən| noun
1 The state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening: They drank themselves into oblivion.
• The state of being forgotten, esp. by the public: His name will fade into oblivion.
• figurative Extinction: Only our armed forces stood between us and oblivion.
2 historical Law Amnesty or pardon.
ORIGIN late Middle English : via Old French from Latin oblivio(n-), from oblivisci ‘forget.’

A news item today reports that neurobiologist researchers at the Brain and Behaviour Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine claim to have selectively erased memories from mice in the laboratory.

Our memory works in four stages: Acquisition, consolidation, storage and retrieval. Earlier research identified that different chemicals help nerve cells in our brain deal with these four processes. Communication between brain cells, connections between neurons and the way that different chemicals interact with receptor molecules on the surface of brain cells determine what we learn, how we store it and how easily retrievable it is.

The research team at the Medical College of Georgia is headed by Joe Tsien, who together with his team found a way to quickly manipulate the activity of a memory molecule, a protein called αCaMKII. This plays a key role in brain cell communication. The researchers found that as they changed the levels of this protein in the brain, they could manipulate the level of recall of a stimulation, of a memory.

They applied electric shocks to mice and this stimulated a memory in them, which associated the electric shock with a certain place in their cages. The mice then avoided that place. By manipulating the levels of αCaMKII in the mice’s brain, the memory was erased and the mice no longer avoided the cage part where they had received the electric shock. Other experiments confirmed the selective loss of memory.

The logic of this research is that eventually its results could be applied to humans. Goodbye to phobias and painful memories, no more anguish over broken relationships, post-traumatic stress syndrome no longer a problem. In fact it could be a wonderful dream come true! Think of it, eternal bliss… Whatever hurts us and causes us pain erased away. Happiness on tap. Bliss pills, joy injections! Shades of the Aldous Huxley book “Brave New World” and its mind-numbing “soma”. A sad reflection of the 2004 Michael Gondry film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”.

What are we turning into, we humans? On the one hand we dread Alzheimer’s disease and the devastation it causes by robbing us of memory, and on the other hand we look to find these magic drugs that promise us oblivion and a “safe” erasure of our “bad” memories. We wish to live an existence that is free of all pain, a life packed in cotton wool, where our every experience is a cushioned, pleasant one. We want nothing but pleasure, joy, happiness, bliss, contentment, ecstasy, perfection. We cannot stand a challenge, buckle under stress and strain, succumb to depression over trifles, become demented because of experiences that caused us distress. Our tolerance levels are decreasing and we are more likely to fly off the handle over irritating matters than something of truly mind-shattering proportions.

Here is the perfect solution! Dr Tsien’s wonderful “happy pills”. We ask someone to think of an unpleasant memory, we administer the drug and whiz, bang, kazam, blowie! We “cure” them. The “patients” become a wonderful vegetable, as happy as a pumpkin basking in the sunshine of a safely guarded garden. The mind police has patrolled brains, eliminated the “bad guys” of the memory store and has established a wonderful new existence for the “patient”. Think of it, there would be no more “bad jobs” – you go and do what you have to do, take your “happy pills” as soon as you finish working and zap! Memory erased! Think of how cheerfully you would go back to work in the morning!

You could become a very efficient killer. But then, zap! All memory erased! You could be abducted, degraded, made to do whatever your captors wanted. They then inject you with a little “happy drug”, memories erased! No problem! You could be grieving for a loved one, you could be suffering and hurting and crying and living a miserable life – “happy pills” to the rescue. You take the pill and forget that person ever existed! Problem solved – or is it?

My memories define who I am. Both good and bad. The pain of experience moulds the shape of my conscience. The anguish that painful memories cause me is only there because beneath the anguish lies the pleasure of the experience that pre-existed or co-existed with the pain. Life is a mixture of pain and pleasure. Good memories balance the bad. Good memories are no longer “good” if we have nothing to compare to them It is not the lot of a human to be perpetually happy. Happiness non-stop is the ultimate of boredoms. As Wendell Berry says: “The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it.”

MADWOMAN MOON

“It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.” - Heraclitus

I was in Sydney for the day for work today and spent nearly the whole of the day indoors. This proved to be a good thing as the weather was wild and unseasonable. Wind, rain and cool temperatures with leaden gray skies that was more like the midst of a Sydney winter, rather than a mid-Spring day.

The poem I give you today was written just recently as the full moon filled the sky with its glowing orb.

Madwoman Moon

The moon struts across the sky
Like a madwoman tonight.
She holds aloft her bright light
Looking down with a glassy eye.

The moon watches me, still,
But her tapping long fingers
Drum a tattoo, and it lingers,
Echoing, my empty room to fill.

She glares at me and spits
The stars, like orange pips;
Her furrowed sweaty brow drips
And in the garden as she sits,

She mutters senseless words.
Cackling, now and then –
Scaring even brave men,
Silencing crying night birds.

The moon is on the rampage
Like Mad Meg, she rants;
Angry, she sighs and pants,
Unable to assuage her rage.

I hate the moon tonight,
Her silvery, bright light,
Her mad ways, her loud
Screeching, her crowd
Of dark, night creatures.
Her shining, dead features,
And her madwoman hair
Entangling me in her lair,
As once again I succumb
To her magic. Struck dumb,
I follow, and like a fool
Again drown in her dark pool.

THE NEW DARK AGES

“In all nations an exceptional man exists that compensates the deficiencies of the remainder. In those moments, when humanity is found collectively in a state of decadence, there always remain those exceptional beings as point of reference.” - Augusto Roa Bastos

The more I look at the news every day, the more disheartened I get. We seem to be living in decadent times and each news item is evidence enough of this. I am reminded of the days preceding the fall of the Roman Empire. The Romans became the most civilised and most powerful people of the ancient world but the more territory they accrued, the greater their wealth, the more their power, then the greater their decadence became and they ended up easy prey of the barbarian hordes that overran their heartland and defeated them ignominiously in the late 5th century AD.

The Roman Empire became “decadent” because immorality and excesses corrupted law-makers. Its emperors became weak through their dependence on army legions whose allegiance was questionable and whose soldierly talents grew degenerate. The Roman aristocrats of the capital were so busy at their orgies (often with their siblings), throwing dissenters to the lions, poisoning their spouses, parents, and children, and eating exotic foods (in between visits to the vomitorium so they could eat more), that they didn't notice all the Vandals, Goths, Gauls and other “barbarians” gathering on their frontiers.

The ruthless, warlike, proud and pagan Germans rode in, trampled under their horses' hooves the few poor debauched legionnaires who remained, still foolishly fighting on foot, sacked Rome, destroyed civilisation, overthrew the last emperor in 476 AD, and ushered in the Dark Ages, from which Europe only emerged with the Renaissance, a thousand years later. Christianity eventually built a new civilisation on the ruins of the old, but only through the mediation of the Classical ideals of the Renaissance.

We are living at an age where our civilisation is once again threatened by a new Dark Age. The world domination of the world by the USA seems to be on the verge of collapse and no amount of largesse will rescue the dying behemoth of its economy. Our selfish, pleasure-centred existence with its emphasis on the here and now is inviting a degeneracy that is reminiscent of the dying days of Rome. We seem as a civilisation to have lost our sense of values, the significance of our self-respect, the importance of shame in a public context, our feeling of social justice, the value of religious observance. We have lost touch with what family really means, we have sold love to the highest bidder, we have betrayed the meaning of true friendship, we have reduced our personal relationships to the most superficial level.

We live on the surface of a soap bubble, recklessly prodding it constantly to test its fragile surface. All the while, the soap bubble is growing larger and drifting towards oblivion. Our politicians have become traitors, our countries have degenerated into people markets, money reigns supreme and human dignity is insulted non-stop. Can such a civilisation survive?

A survey of the last few days news items has left me stunned:
• The world economic crisis, with no improvement in sight

• The looming US presidential election that has become a running joke

• A New Zealand toddler put in a tumble dryer, spun on a clothesline and kicked in the head as part of ongoing abuse before she died

• The final year students of one of the most prestigious and exclusive of Melbourne high schools going on a destructive rampage

• A UK man convicted of killing his lover and eating his flesh

• A US man convicted of murdering three people, including a couple who were tied to an anchor and thrown from their yacht off the California coast

• 21 prisoners died in a jail riot in Mexico near the U.S. border on Monday, some in a fire after a gun battle between rival gangs

• Nazi flag flown in a suburban house in Adelaide

• Families with children becoming homeless as they face mounting economic pressures

• Alarming news of rising disease tolls, new epidemics and threats of plagues to come

• Continuing gloomy news on climate change

• Inane reports of inane celebrities doing inane things, over and over again, ignoring the world on the brink of the apocalypse…

O tempora, o mores!

MOVIE MONDAY - THE GOLDEN COMPASS

“I believe in the absolute preciousness of the here and now. Here is where we are and now is where we live.” - Philip Pullman

We watched Chris Weitz’s 2007 film “The Golden Compass” at the weekend. You may remember this caused quite a great deal of controversy when it first came out as it was thought to be quite irreverent and blasphemous, based on books with “anti-religious themes”. The books are written by Philip Pullman, a self-professed atheist and member of a number of humanist societies. “His Dark Materials” children’s book trilogy comprises “Northern Lights” (1995 = The Golden Compass), “The Subtle Knife” (1997) and “The Amber Spyglass” (2000). Pullman is a typical Oxford scholar and his children’s books correspond with C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books in that they are concerned with children plagued by difficult adult moral dilemmas, the struggle between good and evil, parallel universes, anthropomorphic animals and the quest for the meaning of existence. It is rather surprising that the controversy arose as in Pullman’s books there is no attack on religion as such, but perhaps there may be a strong criticism of dogmaticism, organised religious bureaucracy and religious intolerance.

In any case, the film shows no evidence of any atheistic doctrine and it may be enjoyed as pure and simple escapist fluff. In fact, the subtlety of the books is lost and the heavy-handed way in which the film starts with an explanation (thus stripping the plot of any mystery or wonder) does not presage well. Significant cuts in the plot are further hampered by poor character development and one feels that the whole thing is rushed with a lot of good material left on the cutting room floor. It is clear that the film is trying to ride on the crest of the success of the “Lord of the Rings”, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, the “Harry Potter” films, and “A Series of Unfortunate Events”. However, despite the excellent special effects and overall exceptional technical quality of the film, it does not rate as highly.

The plot in a nutshell is as follows: Lyra, a young orphan girl, lives among scholars at Oxford's Jordan College, in a parallel Universe to our own, in which every human is joined to a physical manifestation of an animal (called a daemon), which is the human’s soul. One day Lyra eavesdrops a secret conversation in which an extraordinary dust is mentioned and which is rumoured to possess profound properties that could unite whole universes. But there are those who fear the dust and would stop at nothing to destroy it. Central to the plot is the Magisterium, a totalitarian government that seeks to control the population’s thoughts as well as its actions. Children are also being kidnapped left, right and centre, and Lyra's best friend, Roger, is among them. Lyra is taken from Oxford by the sinister Mrs Coulter and is thrown into the midst of a desperate struggle of good and against evil. Lyra is forced to seek aid from witches, Gyptians, and formidable armoured bears, to help her save her friends from these evil experiments. She also has the aid of a magic golden compass, which is an alethiometer (truth meter) capable of answering any question put to it, provided one can understand its cryptic symbol answers, which are always true.

On thing about the movie that stands out are the good casting and equally good performances. Nicole Kidman is the delicious villainess Mrs Coulter, while Dakota Blue Richards does a good job as Lyra Bellacqua. Eva Green is a fetching witch and Daniel Craig a suitably aloof Lord Asriel. The music is understated and suitable, the sets exceptional and the special effects wonderful. Overall, a good film if you have not read the books, but if you have read the books it is a disappointing effort.

As far as the political or religious implications of the film are concerned, it is a satire of totaliarinism (which should keep the conservatives happy), but I could find no evidence of atheism (unless one considers the favourable view of witches portrayed, as irreligious). Perhaps I may let Pullman justify his religious convictions for himself:

“The religious impulse – which includes the sense of awe and mystery we feel when we look at the universe, the urge to find a meaning and a purpose in our lives, our sense of moral kinship with other human beings – is part of being human, and I value it. I'd be a damn fool not to. But organised religion is quite another thing. The trouble is that all too often in human history, churches and priesthoods have set themselves up to rule people's lives in the name of some invisible god (and they're all invisible, because they don't exist) – and done terrible damage. In the name of their god, they have burned, hanged, tortured, maimed, robbed, violated, and enslaved millions of their fellow-creatures, and done so with the happy conviction that they were doing the will of God, and they would go to Heaven for it. That is the religion I hate, and I'm happy to be known as its enemy.” Philip Pullman

ART SUNDAY - MAX ERNST

“If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.” – Marcel Proust

The last couple of Sundays I have been choosing surrealistic paintings, and today I am continuing the trend with a painting by Max Ernst (1891-1976). He was a German painter-poet who was a member of the Dada movement and a founder of surrealism. A self-taught artist, he formed a Dada group in Cologne, Germany, with other avant-garde artists. He pioneered a method called frottage, in which a sheet of paper is placed on the surface of an object and then penciled over until the texture of the surface is transferred. In 1925, he showed his work at the first surrealist painting exhibition in Paris.

This painting from 1944 is called “The Eye of Silence” and is characteristic of Ernst’s style. Vibrant colour, irrelevant, painstaking detail, writhing forms, organic evolving rocks and hidden enigmatic figures that contribute to the dream-like state depicted in the painting.

CALLING YOU

“Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing.” - William Cowper

An evocative song, sung by an extraordinary songstress. Here is the Holly Cole Trio performing “Calling You”, which I first heard to great effect in the film “Bagdad Café”…


Calling you

A desert road from Vegas to nowhere
Someplace better than where you’ve been.
A coffee machine that needs some fixin’
In a little café just around the bend.

Chorus:
I am calling you
Can’t you hear me?
I am calling you…

A hot dry wind blows right through me
The baby’s crying so I can’t sleep
But we both know the change is coming
Come in closer, sweet release.

I am calling you
Can’t you hear me?
I am calling you…

A desert road from Vegas to nowhere
Someplace better than where you’ve been
A coffee machine that needs some fixin’
In a little café just around the bend.

A hot dry wind blows right through me
The baby’s crying so I can’t sleep
And I can feel the change is coming
Come in closer, sweet release.

HORS D' OEUVRES

“It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.” - Julia Child

Some of the most satisfying meals I have had, have been non-meals. What do I mean? Well by satisfying I mean that even though I was quite hungry to begin with, I felt satiated after partaking of the food; and by a non-meal, I mean that it did not involve sitting down at a table and having course after course of a formal repast. However, what I am not talking about “fast-food”, take-aways and eating on the run (and other such uncivilised behaviour).

Many a satisfying meal can be had in Greece where one goes out and drinks some ouzo, which is accompanied by all sorts of interesting tidbits called “mezedhes”, for example, small triangles of cheese, little fried minced meat balls, fried whitebait, fried baby calamari, saganaki (fried cheese), slices of tomato and cucumber, olives, slices of crusty bread, boiled prawns and sea snails, pastrami slices, and so on and so forth, the variety being almost limitless and dictated by the imagination of the host and the richness (or otherwise) of his larder.

In Spain the same may be experienced with tapas. In fact one may go bar-hopping (“ir de tapas”) and sample various different ones in each location. One may choose from various seafoods (mariscos) like anchovies, mackerel, sardines, squid and prawns or various smallgoods, including sausages (chorizos), ham (jamón), seasoned meat dishes, bread, etc. All of course, being washed down with sherry, wine or beer.

In France, one may be tempted by a range of savouries known collectively as hors d’ oeuvres or canapés salés. Accompanied by champagne! These are favourites of mine and they can be extremely diverse and varied, the idea of the canapé being more important than its actual composition. At home we often have champagne and hors d’ oeuvres as a complete meal – either because we feel like it or alternatively because there is not time nor inclination to cook anything else…

Here are some of the hors d’ oeuvres we have, not French only, but with an international flavour:

HORS D’ OEUVRES

• 1 tub of ready-made taramosalata (Greek red caviar dip)
• 1 tub of ready-made babaganoush or melitzanosalata (Middle-Eastern/Greek
eggplant dip)
• 1 tin of smoked oysters
• 12 tiny continental sausages (fried)
• 100 g of smoked salmon
• Cream cheese
• 1 jar of back caviar
• 1 jar of red caviar
• Sliced stuffed green olives
• Lemon juice
• 100 g of ham
• Some grated Gruyére cheese
• Some blue cheese
• Walnut halves (or pecans)
• 1/2 lemon sliced very thinly
• Dill sprigs
• Fresh basil leaves
• Fresh parsley
• Capers
• Tomato slices
• Mustard
• Mayonnaise
• Canapé crackers
• Vol-au-vent shells
• Mini toasts (tiny squares of crisp oven-toasted bread)
• Butter (optional)
• Olive oil
• Freshly ground pepper

Prepare the mini toasts and crackers by buttering them liberally. Brusht he vol-au-vent cases with olive oil (you may also brush the crackers and mini toasts with oil if you prefer it to butter).

Taramosalata canapés:
Place about a dessertspoonful of taramosalata on a cracker and spread it evenly. Top with a smoked oyster and decorate with a sliver of a lemon slice.

Smoked salmon canapés:
Half an hour before preparation, soak the smoked salmon in the lemon juice. Spread some softened cream cheese on a mini toast. Cut a strip of smoked salmon and twirl it on top of the cream cheese in the form of a scroll. Place two capers in the centre and decorate with small sprigs of dill.

Caviar canapés:
Spread a thiCk layer on mayonnaise on the buttered cracker. Place half a teaspoon of black caviar on one half of the cracker and half a teaspoon of red caviar on the other half. Decorate with half a lemon slice across-wise the two caviar halves.

Ham and cheese vol-au-vents:
Place some grated Gruyére in the vol-au-vent case and place some mustard on top of it. Cut strips of ham, wrap it and place turban-like on top of the cheese/mustard. Top with half a teaspoon of mayonnaise. Bake in a hot oven until the mayonnaise develops a gold crust. Decorate with freshly ground pepper.

Cheese and tomato canapés:
Place some grated Gruyére on a buttered mini toast on which you have spread some mustard. Place in the oven until the cheese has just melted. Top with a tomato slice and freshly ground pepper. Decorate with capers and basil leaves.

Blue cheese and walnut canapés:
Place some blue cheese on a buttered cracker or mini toast. Twirl a strip of ham around the edge of the canapé. Top with half a walnut (or pecan).

Eggplant canapés:
Place a dessertspoonful of babaganoush on a buttered cracker. Top with sliced olives and capers. Decorate with sprigs of parsley.
Sausage vol-au-vent:
Dip the sausage in mustard and wrap a strip of ham around it. Place it in vol-au-vent case and sprinkle liberally with grated Gruyére. Place in the oven until the cheese melts. Decorate with tomato wedges and parsley sprigs.

NOÖSPHERE

“We are one, after all, you and I. Together we suffer, together exist, and forever will recreate each other.” - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

And the word of the day today is “Noösphere”…

noösphere |ˈnōəˌsfir| noun
A postulated sphere or stage of evolutionary development dominated by consciousness, the mind, and interpersonal relationships (frequently with reference to the writings of Teilhard de Chardin).
ORIGIN: 1940s: from French noösphere, based on Greek nous ‘mind.’ and Greek sphaira ‘orb, globe.’
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) was a visionary French Jesuit, palaeontologist, biologist, and philosopher, who spent most of his life trying to integrate religious experience with natural science. A monumental task, to say the least, as his Christian theological catechism was in direct conflict with the newly developed theories of evolution of Darwin. While immersed in this task he became enthralled with the possibilities for humankind, which he saw as heading for an exciting convergence of systems, an "Omega point" where the coalescence of consciousness will lead us to a new state of peace and planetary unity. Long before ecology was fashionable, he saw this unity he saw as being based intrinsically upon the spirit of the Earth.

He wrote: “The Age of Nations is past. The task before us now, if we would not perish, is to build the Earth.” Teilhard de Chardin died a full ten years before James Lovelock ever proposed the “Gaia Hypothesis” which suggests that the Earth is actually a living being, a collosal biological super-system. Nevertheless, Chardin's writings clearly reflect the sense of the Earth as having its own autonomous personality, and being the prime centre and director of our future, the guiding force for the synthesis of humankind into a new and more wise evolutionary race of beings.

“The phrase ‘Sense of the Earth’ should be understood to mean the passionate concern for our common destiny which draws the thinking part of life ever further onward. The only truly natural and real human unity is the spirit of the Earth. The sense of Earth is the irresistible pressure which will come at the right moment to unite them (humankind) in a common passion. We have reached a crossroads in human evolution where the only road which leads forward is towards a common passion. To continue to place our hopes in a social order achieved by external violence would simply amount to our giving up all hope of carrying the Spirit of the Earth to its limits.” – summarises his philosophy.

He suggested that the Earth in its evolutionary unfolding, was growing a new organ of consciousness, called the noösphere. The noösphere is analogous on a planetary level to the evolution of the brain in humans as they evolved from lower animals. The noösphere is a “planetary thinking network” – an interlinked system of consciousness and information, a global net of self-awareness, instantaneous feedback, and planetary communication. At the time of his writing, computers of any merit were the size of a city block, and the Internet was, if anything, an element of speculative science fiction.

However, this evolution is now evolving into being very rapidly, which in Gaia time, is but a mere blink. In these few seconds of evolutionary time, our planet is developing a cerebral cortex, and emerging into self-conscious awakening. We are approaching the Omega point that Teilhard de Chardin was so excited about. This convergence however, though it was predicted to occur through a global information network, was not a convergence of merely minds or bodies, but of heart, a point that he made most fervently:

“It is not our heads or our bodies which we must bring together, but our hearts. Humanity is building its composite brain beneath our eyes. May it not be that tomorrow, through the logical and biological deepening of the movement drawing it together, it will find its heart, without which the ultimate wholeness of its power of unification can never be achieved?”

In these days of uncertainty, economic crisis, terrorism, massive population shifts, gross inequity, East versus West, First versus Third World, it is important to reflect upon the notion of a noösphere, a higher level of being that transcends our greedy venality and our worldly, materialistic pursuits. The answer lies in the melding of religion with science, intellect with emotion, idealism with pragmatism and the breaking down of barriers worldwide. A new state of evolution of humanity, where heart and brain no longer are in conflict but interdigitate and complement one another to indeed bring about the noösphere proposed by de Chardin…

DISENCHANTMENT

“The love we give away is the only love we keep.” – Elbert Hubbard

A poem recovered from an old diary. It speaks of enchantment and disenchantment, falling in and out of love, of looking through hazy, rose-tinted glasses and clinical, prescription ones of crystal-clear glass that reveal the world and all of its imperfections.

Outside your Door

When I loved you, I loved you so
That even your door, shut as it was,
Was a thing beloved.
When I loved you, I loved you so
That each night I had to spend outside your window,
Until you turned off your light.
When I loved you, I loved you so
That tears would flow from my eyes,
Whenever I but thought of you.

Now so much time has passed,
That your door, even though open wide,
For me has no appeal.
Now so many things have come between us,
That even though your light burns all night,
I would not even know it.
Now so much has my heart hardened,
That the tears that you may shed for me
Are but scattered raindrops in a parched desert.

WORLD STANDARDS DAY 2008

“If our food and drink don’t meet your standards, please lower your standards” – Chevy’s Restaurant Graffiti

Today is the 39th annual World Standards Day. Every year on World Standards Day, the international community celebrates the importance of standards-related activities and pays tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of individuals that give of their time and expertise to this important work that benchmarks products, services and activities ensuring our quality of life is ever on the rise. A world without standards would soon grind to a halt. Transport and trade would seize up. The Internet would simply not function. Hundreds of thousands of systems dependent on information and communication technologies would falter or fail - from government and banking to healthcare, air traffic control, emergency services, disaster relief and even international diplomacy. Nearly all aspects of the modern world are heavily dependent on standards.

The date, October 14th was chosen because it was on that day in 1946 that delegates from 25 countries first gathered in London and consequently decided to create a new international organization dedicated to the coordination and unification of standards work. The International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) was officially formed one year later and it was at the prompting of an ISO President that the first World Standards Day was celebrated on October 14th, 1970. Since that time the spirit of collaboration embodied by World Standards Day has expanded to include its celebration by members of ISO, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). A variety of unique activities are devised by national accreditation bodies and participants in the international community, to commemorate World Standards Day.

The work of the ISO, the IEC and the ITU in developing international standards opens up markets but also brings environmental protection, safety, security, health and access to information and knowledge. Increasingly international standards are helping to break down the barriers between rich and poor nations. Standardisation helps provide higher quality at lower costs by ensuring that competition exists between vendors. It makes it easier for consumers to make an informed choice about equipment or services that they buy.

Ultimately, the goal of World Standards Day is to raise awareness of the importance of international standardization to the world economy and to promote its role in helping meet the needs of all business sectors. A specific theme for World Standards Day is selected annually by ISO, IEC and ITU. In 2008, "Intelligent and sustainable buildings" has been chosen for the 39th World Standards Day. The poster for 2008 World Standards Day above has been added to a design for a “green” building designed by Mithun and planned for downtown Seattle. This building design has won the Cascadia Region Green Building Council's Living Building Challenge: To create a building that functions like an organism, with apartments, a restaurant that utilizes food grown on site, and that is fully self-sufficient.

GOING TO THE MOVIES...

I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians. - Francis Ford Coppola

How often have you seen lists of “100 Best of …” whether it’s books, music albums, places to visit, great paintings, or movies? There is a whole series of books nowadays, of the ilk: “1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die”, and its companion “1001 Films You Must See Before you Die”. I guess it’s much easier to be inclusive when you are dealing with a large number of “greats”, but what about the best 10 of all time? Can you construct a list of the 10 greatest films of all time?

The problem of course is that great films can’t be measured scientifically because “greatness” is extremely subjective – “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” so to speak. Artistic merit of films (or other works of art for that matter) can never be rated or quantified, although critics, reviewers, and fans still make ten best lists, hundred best lists, all-time greatest lists, favourites lists, awards lists, and generate results of polls. The nationality and cultural background of the compiler of the “10 Best…” list will also play an extremely important role in his or her selection. The movie industry is also one that has been dominated for a very long time by Hollywood, and most lists tend to reflect this.

Over a long period of time, it has been found that the English-language films found here in this selection of Greatest Films repeatedly appear on all-time best film lists by critics and are often noted in the collective responses of film viewers. There is reasonable consensus by most film historians, critics and reviewers that these selections are among cinema's most critically-acclaimed, significant "must-see" films (of predominantly Hollywood-American production).

These choices were limited to English-language, theatrically-distributed, narrative feature films. And that means foreign-language films, documentaries, TV movies and mini-series, and short films were not considered. Emphasis in these selections is purposely directed toward earlier, more classic Hollywood/American films.

Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Ben Hur (1959)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Casablanca (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Fantasia (1940)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather - Part II (1974)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
North by Northwest (1959)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Psycho (1960)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Some Like it Hot (1959)
Star Wars (1977)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Third Man (1949)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Wuthering Heights (1939)

Now, if your tastes are a little more universal and cosmopolitan, you could include some non-English language films that are amongst the “greatest”:

8½ (1963)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)
L’ Avventura (1960)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Belle de Jour (1967)
La Belle et la Bête (1946)
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
Le Boucher (1969)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Cria Cuervos (1975)
Les Diaboliques (1954)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
La Double Vie de Veronique (1991)
Earth (1930)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
The Four Hundred Blows (1959)
Grand Illusion (1937)
Jules et Jim (1962)
Landscape in the Mist (1988)
Lola (1961)
M (1931)
Metropolis (1927)
Nosferatu (1922)
La Notte (1961)
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Playtime (1967)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Ran (1985)
Rashomon (1951)
La Regle du Jeu (1939)
Rocco e I Suoi Fratelli (1960)
The Seven Samurai (1954)
La Strada (1954)
Viridiana (1961)
The World of Apu (1959)

My lists may seem a little eclectic and I may have omitted what you would consider are amongst the “greatest”, however, as I said earlier, this is a subjective process. Besides, these films that I have listed above are ones that I have seen and have liked for one reason or another. What are some of your favourite films of all time that should be on my lists?

ART SUNDAY -

"In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom!" - J. G. Ballard

For Art Sunday, the art of David Tench McKean (born 29 December 1963 in Maidenhead, Berkshire). He is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art and sculpture. He is an exponent of surrealism, and his 2005 film “MirrorMask” best exemplifies his enormous artistic

CARAVAN

"The eternal quest of the human being is to shatter his loneliness." – Norman Cousins



A song in Greek today sung by Yorgos Perris, from a French original by Raphaël. Terrible video clip, but I rather like the Greek lyrics better, so here they are:

Καραβάνι

Αν ξυπνήσεις το πρωί
Κι η καρδιά σου πάει να σπάσει,
Ήλιο σύμμαχο θα δεις
Μπόρα είναι θα περάσει…

Αν στο δρόμο σου χαθείς
Και δεν ξέρεις που σε πάει,
Στην καρδιά φάρο θα δεις,
Άς την να σε οδηγάει.

Ξέρω ψάχνεις το γιατί
Και το ψέμα σ’ αρρωσταίνει,
Σκέψου αυτό είν’ η ζωή
Καραβάνι που πηγαίνει.

Σαν κι εσένα είμαι κι εγώ
Κλαίω, γελάω, αγαπάω,
Καραβάνι είναι η ζωή
Και μαζί σου προχωράω.

Ξέρω νοιώθεις μοναξιά,
Και τις νύχτες σε βαραίνει,
Μα ταξίδι είναι η ζωή
Καραβάνι που πηγαίνει.

(Έλα πάμε)

Caravan

If you wake up in the morning,
And your heart is about to break,
The sun is your ally,
It’s just a storm, it’ll soon be over.

If you get lost on the road,
And you don’t know where it’s taking you,
In your heart there is a lighthouse,
Follow it and you will find your way.

I know you’re searching for the reason why,
Lies make you sick,
Remember that life is just
A caravan on its way.

I am just like you,
I cry, I laugh, I love,
Life is just a desert caravan
And we’re travelling on it together.

I know you’re lonely,
And at night it weighs heavily on you,
But life is just a journey,
A journey on a caravan…

(Come on, let’s go)

And here is the original




Est-ce que j'en ai les larmes aux yeux
Que nos mains ne tiennent plus ensemble
Moi aussi je tremble un peu
Est-ce que je ne vais plus attendre

Est-ce qu'on va reprendre la route
Est-ce que nous sommes proches de la nuit
Est-ce que ce monde a le vertige
Est-ce qu'on sera un jour puni

Est-ce que je rampe comme un enfant
Est-ce que je n'ai plus de chemise
C'est le Bon Dieu qui nous fait
C'est le Bon Dieu qui nous brise

Est-ce que rien ne peut arriver
Puisqu'il faut qu'il y ait une justice
Je suis né dans cette caravane
Et nous partons allez viens
Allez viens

Allez viens
Tu lu tu tu, tu lu tu tu...

Et parce que ma peau est la seule que j'ai
Que bientôt mes os seront dans le vent
Je suis né dans cette caravane
Et nous partons allez viens
Allez viens

Allez viens
Tu lu tu tu, tu lu tu tu...
Allez viens
Tu lu tu tu, tu lu tu tu...

EATING OUT IN BRISBANE

“In general, mankind, since the improvement in cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.” - Benjamin Franklin

I took my staff to lunch today as a little bit of a social, team-building exercise but also as a small way of acknowledging their continuing efforts in doing their job well. In the past when I was a junior staff member at University, I remember working very hard, doing my job well and getting very little recognition for my work. It often takes very little to show people that work for you your appreciation of their work. Today’s lunch was a case in point. I let them choose the venue and was pleasantly surprised as it turned out to be a little of a revelation. I guess I should not have been surprised given that they were academics.

We walked to the restaurant, which is about a kilometre from our College and I had some reservations as the skies over Brisbane today were leaden grey and we had a few downpours during the morning. Nevertheless, the weather held fine during our walk and we were able to enjoy our lunch in dry clothes. The place is called “L’ Académie” and it is a combination hotel, restaurant, bar, patisserie. The interesting thing about it is that it is the training establishment for a cooking academy, catering and hospitality industry school. It is where the aspiring chefs get to try out their skills under the watchful eye of their supervisors. The advantage is that the prices are extremely reasonable ($15.00 for a three-course meal!) and one gets the satisfaction of helping these young people develop their skills.

I must say that I was quite impressed by the venue, the service and the food. The interior is in harmony with the late Victorian exterior of the establishment and the sensitively renovated generous rooms have dark red and green walls on which hang suitably lurid Victorian oil paintings, with the regulation potted palms. An open central kitchen and food preparation area allows one to watch the young chefs at work and it is wonderful to see them busily working away producing one’s selection from the menu. I had the Mediterranean platter for entrée (marinated baby octopus, eggplant and capsicum antipasto, tomato and onion appetizer and toasted home made rusks). This was followed by a well-done steak on a bed of mashed potato and spring vegetables, and for dessert a tiramisu parfait. It was accompanied by a very good Western Australian shiraz wine.

Although not “gourmet” quality, my meal exceeded my expectations and was ten times better than the (much more expensive) meal that I had the previous night in my hotel’s “gourmet” restaurant. The evening meal last night was abominable. I chose to have only main course and dessert, and unfortunately I selected the grilled pork. I always like my meat well and truly cooked, even steak (what did Woody Allen say? “I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead - not sick, not wounded - dead.”), but pork especially has got to be very dead, very well cooked. The pork last night was blood-red raw inside and seared on the outside. Add to that the fact that it took just over 50 minutes to arrive (and I was one of only three patrons in the place!). Needless to say, I did not eat my pork, only nibbled on the sickly sweet stewed apple that accompanied it and made do with the broccolini on the side. The dessert was a standard chocolate mud cake – nothing to write home about.

This restaurant was at the “Watermark Hotel” a four star establishment which would only manage a maximum of three stars on my scale. Admittedly the staff were solicitous when they saw that I did not eat my meal an enquired whether I would like something else. I politely but firmly refused and they did have the decency to cut my bill. Nevertheless, I don’t think that this type of meal or service is representative of a four star hotel or a gourmet restaurant.

I am now home after a flight which was (surprisingly for a Friday night) on schedule. Needless to say that I shall be relaxing at the weekend (although there is some work to do, as well). Tomorrow night we are going out to a very nice restaurant in Melbourne (entertaining overseas guests), and certainly in Melbourne the standard of the food and service is easily the best in Australia. That concludes my Food Friday entry, even though it included a little beef…

BRISBANE POSTCARD

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

My day today has been full of meetings, interviews, consultations with staff and many administrative duties that go hand in hand with my visits to Brisbane. A very hectic schedule, but also very satisfying, as at the end of the day one gets the feeling that much has been achieved and the trip is worth it. Although the weather has been very pleasant I have not had a chance to enjoy it as I have spent most of my time indoors. However, I did walk to work in the morning from my hotel, which is a good 2 kilometres away, and I walked back there this evening. Spring is evident in the gardens and parks and the subtle fragrance of the mauve jacaranda mixed with the headier creamy frangipani blossoms, perfuming the streets.

I shall be spending the day in Brisbane tomorrow also and then returning home for the weekend on Friday evening. There is lots of work to be done at the weekend as every time I come to Brisbane I take home a new project or two. Such is the lot of a peripatetic worker! Hence our word of the day:

peripatetic |ˌperipəˈtetik| adjective
1 Travelling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods: The peripatetic nature of military life.
2 (Peripatetic) Aristotelian. [ORIGIN: with reference to Aristotle's practice of walking to and fro while teaching.]
noun
1 a person who travels from place to place.
2 ( Peripatetic) an Aristotelian philosopher.

DERIVATIVES
peripatetically |ˈpɛrəpəˈtɛdək(ə)li| adverb
peripateticism |ˈpɛrəpəˈtɛdəˈsɪzəm| noun

ORIGIN: Late Middle English (denoting an Aristotelian philosopher): From Old French peripatetique, via Latin from Greek peripatētikos ‘walking up and down,’ from the verb peripatein.

SPRING IN BRISBANE

“A little Madness in the Spring Is wholesome even for the King.” – Emily Dickinson

I am in Brisbane again for work and the Spring has sprung gloriously here. The sun was brilliantly shining today, the flowers blooming and the heat already beginning to become almost uncomfortable. A poem by John Keats for today’s Poetry Wednesday offering, suitably in season!

Daisy’s Song

The sun, with his great eye,
Sees not so much as I;
And the moon, all silver, proud,
Might as well be in a cloud.

And O the spring – the spring!
I lead the life of a king!
Couched in the teeming grass,
I spy each pretty lass.

I look where no one dares,
And I stare where no one stares;
And when the night is nigh,
Lambs bleat my lullaby.

John Keats (1795-1821)

THE BUBBLE BURSTS...

“Ask five economists and you'll get five different explanations (six if one went to Harvard).” - Edgar R. Fiedler

The world economic crisis seems to be worsening and the share markets continue to totter. The multi-billion dollar rescue package approved by the US congress seems not to have affected the sinking confidence of investors and the world may have to brace itself for a very serious economic downturn. I was speaking to a friend today who is close to retirement and his superannuation funds have taken a hiding, making him contemplate yet another few years in the workforce. Nervousness abounds and trepidation is uppermost in the mind of some of the more parasitic of professionals: Bankers, stockbrokers, consultants, agents, non-producers of all sorts… The skimmers of the cream are anxiously watching the layer of cream get thinner and thinner and the milk get watered. This is the time of the lean cows.

Every now and then, we must have this reality check and the high-flying cowboys of Wall Street must come down a peg or two. The trouble is the ordinary person in the street will hurt also, or rather will hurt more. Where did the $700 billion come from? From where did this largesse rain down like manna from heaven? Surely not the bank account of Mr Bush or his cronies. The failure of the US bailout plan brought credit markets to a virtual standstill and some US traders believe US banks may start cutting credit card lines if the crisis worsens. It is also becoming virtually impossible in the US to secure new credit.

In the face of the world crisis, a slowing economy and tumbles in our own share prices, our Reserve Bank has cut official interest rates by 100 basis points to 6 percent in an effort to shield the Australian economy from further fallout from the global financial crisis. The central bank may make further cuts by Christmas, economists believe. This is a dramatic move and evidence enough that things will get worse before they get better. The Australian dollar fell 1.6 US cents in the minutes after the Reserve Bank announcement at 2:30 pm, to 70.36 US cents, but it has since risen back above 72 US cents. This is quite a dramatic drop as a few months ago it was almost on par with the US dollar.

The fear that a “recession” will escalate to a “Recession” is uppermost in most people’s minds at the present time. Economists may theorise and try to explain the burst soap bubble of Wall St in terms of economic cycles and the ideas of Marx and Engels, however, the moral of the story is that working people will just have to bear the brunt of factory closures, increasing unemployment, house dispossessions and descent into poverty that is inevitable in a Recession. Oh, by the way all of the unemployed dispossessed and poverty-stricken ordinary citizens must try and save some money to help the poor Wall St financiers and the bankers, the stock-brokering cowboys and the agents. They must maintain their million dollar lifestyles somehow. It’s so tough when their cooks and their butlers and their maids and their chauffeurs are all so poor, we must give them another $700 billion…

TEN FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!

“Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.” - Alfred Hitchcock

I’ll give you a pot-pourri report of several movies we have watched over the past few weeks and I haven’t had a chance to report on in Movie Monday. I’ll provide a brief outline of the plot and my recommendation as a mark out of ten.

Kenny (2006)
This Australian movie is a “mockumentary” about the trials and tribulations of Kenny, a portable toilet plumber who works for the Splashdown company, supplying executive lavatories for all occasions, from the humble church fête to the huge crowd magnet, the Melbourne Cup. It is set in Melbourne and the first few minutes are amusing, but the poo jokes get a bit much after that and Kenny’s philosophies are bit trite and predictable. A few laughs here and there, but despite what most people that I talked to about this think (recommending it highly), I wasn’t terribly impressed. Clayton Jackson, the director, delivers a dud…
5/10

The Castle (1997)
“A man’s house is his castle” says an old English proverb and this is where this film takes its title from. I mention this film here, even though it’s been ages since we’ve seen it, by way of contrast from the film above. This Australian film is a gem and delivers a great punch. A Melbourne family is very happy living where they do, near the Melbourne airport "practically their back yard". However, they are told that their house it to be acquired by the airport authority and they have to leave their beloved home. The film is a wry look at their fight to keep their house, fighting Government and airport authorities, taking their case as far as the High Court. Very well done and excellent direction by Rob Sitch with ace performances by the leads.
8/10

Blithe Spirit (1945)
This classic film by David Lean is based on the play by Noël Coward and has Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings and Kay Hammond playing the leads, with Margaret Rutherford stealing the show. The plot is silly enough, but Coward keeps it light and fluffy and David Lean directs it with gusto. To get background for a new book, author Charles and his second wife Ruth light-heartedly arrange for local mystic Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford) to give a séance. The unfortunate result is that Charles' first wife Elvira returns from beyond the grave to make their life something of a misery. Ruth too gets increasingly irritated with her supernatural rival, but Mme Arcati is at her wit's end as to how to sort things out.
7/10

Beowulf (2007)
Beowulf is the great Anglosaxon epic poem written sometime between the 8th and 11th century AD. This is not the first film of the epic, but it has the dubious honour of being the first animated 3D projection one. One has to admire the technology, but it is still quite clunky and one wonders why they bothered…
Set against the coming of Christianity, this is the story of the last hero, Beowulf. Grendel, a monstrous troll wreaks havoc in the mead hall of the Danish king, Hrothgar. He offers rewards for the death of Grendel, so Beowulf, a great and boastful Geat warrior, arrives with his thanes. Beowulf sets aside his armour and awaits the monster; a fierce battle ensues that leads to Beowulf's entering the watery lair of Grendel's mother, where a devil's bargain awaits. Beowulf returns to Herot, the castle, and becomes king. Jump ahead many years, and the sins of the father are visited upon Beowulf and his kingdom. The hero must face his weakness and be heroic once again. Very violent, very clunky, some beautiful moments.
5.5/10

Bonbón - El Perro (2004)
This Argentinian film by filmmaker Carlos Sorin is a little gem. It is a simple and deceptively superficial tale about ordinary people living in the wilds of Patagonia. The actors are non-professional and the plot revolves around a 52-year-old man, Juan "Coco" Villegas, who has been a petrol station attendant for twenty years. When Juan finds himself unemployed overnight, he first tries to survive by selling his hand-made knives. Business is bad and he can't find real work, until one day, after fixing a vehicle on a farm, he gets paid by means of a beautiful Argentinian watch-dog, Bonbón! From this day on, his life changes as he is convinced to start showing the dog. A heart-warming tale, told without artifice and with no pretense. Quite charming!
8/10

15 Minutes (2001)
This is a film written and directed John Herzfeld that takes a critical look at America and the forces that drive its culture. It uses the ploy of two external stressors that come into a system and cause it reach a crisis. The two stressors in this case are Oleg and Emil, criminals who come to New York City from Eastern Europe to pick up their share of a heist. Oleg steals a video camera and starts filming their activities, both legal and illegal. When they learn how the American media circus can make a remorseless killer look like the victim and make them rich, they target media-savvy NYPD Homicide Detective Eddie Flemming and media-naive FDNY Fire Marshal Jordy Warsaw, the cops investigating their murder and torching of their former criminal partner, filming everything to sell to the local tabloid TV show "Top Story." The result is explosive. This is a very violent and confronting film, not for the squeamish. However, it does make a point and points an accusing finger at mass media and its often underhanded methods.
7/10

Deep Rising (1998)
Stephen Sommers wrote and directed this potboiler of a thriller/horror movie that is embarrassing to watch. The only reason I bought it was because it was $1.99 at our video shop and the cover was rather attractive in a surrealistic way – bad move! Bad movie! A band of ruthless hijackers invade the world's most luxurious cruise ship and they're shocked to discover the passengers have mysteriously vanished (shades of the Marie Celeste!). However, they soon find that they are not alone. Something horrible is lurking just out of sight - a deadly creature from the unexplored depths of the ocean is on the ship and it begins to snatch the horrified intruders one by one. There’s blood (lots of it), there’s violence (gratuitous), there’s guts and gore and goo and glop and glime (I made that last one up – glistening slime). OK for a rainy Sunday afternoon when there’s nothing else to do and you can’t watch something decent.
4/10

Oxygono (2003)
The tag team of Greek writers/directors Thanasis Papathanasiou and Michalis Reppas have a made a very strange film – “Oxygono” (= Oxygen or its pulpy English title “Blackmail Boy”). It is set in a small provincial town where Magda, the matriarch, tries to maintain a balance within a family facing many serious problems. The family’s apparently “normal”, bourgeois, every-day existence is threatened by internal stress that will crack it open, bringing to the surface hatred and passion. At the bottom of everything lies money, the root of all evil. Sex is the other motivating force, which makes many of the characters commit acts that are neither pleasant nor moral. Magda runs a bakery while caring for her invalid husband injured in a car crash that killed one of her daughters. The other money-hungry daughter is married to Stelios, with whom Magda is having an affair. Christos, is Magda’s son who is bisexual and is sleeping with a young girlfriend, an older woman and an older bisexual man, the city official Yorgos who is married with children and is in charge of the city planning. Yorgos chief project involves the land Magda owns. The plot boils down to a blackmail plan that will gain money for the land the family owns. The blackmail plan involves Christos' affair with Yorgos in which videotapes are made of Christos' assignations with Yorgos. The lives of all the characters are altered once the greed consumes them and there are discoveries, betrayals, twists and turns that end with tragedy. This is violent film with graphic sex scenes – quite confronting and once again not for the viewers with weak stomachs.
6.5/10

Reign of Fire (2002)
Hmmmmm, another little dud of a movie here… Rob Bowman paints a picture of post-apocalyptic Britain where the destruction has been caused by a brood of fire-breathing dragons. A B-grade science-fiction/fantasy shoot-them-up-arcade-style-game type movie with lots of action, special effects and a scientific explanation of how dragons breathe fire! It got a bit tiring because they were all being so earnest about everything… If they injected a bit of humour, it may have been a bit more enjoyable!
5/10

Water (2005)
Indian-born, Canadian director Deepa Mehta has made a very beautiful and sensitive film about the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi in the 1930s. Mehta focuses on the relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. “Water” was not allowed to be filmed in India and Mehta had to go to Sri Lanka to make the film. It was subsequently banned in India and Pakistan as “irreverent and seditious”. The film is one of a trilogy, the other two “Fire” and “Earth” also being quite controversial.
8.5/10

ART SUNDAY - PALLIDA MORS

“Death is a distant rumor to the young.” - Andrew A. Rooney

For Art Sunday today, a painting by James C. Christensen, an American artist whose works are very much in the surrealistic/fantasy style. This is one is called “Pallida Mors” (Pale Death) and superposes the young girl on the verge of womanhood with the skeletal remains of bird and reptile skeletons in the tradition of the “memento mori” paintings of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Certainly an arresting image and a skilful portrait.


All but Death, can be Adjusted-
Dynasties repaired-
Systems - Settled in their Sockets-
Citadels - Dissolved-

Wastes of Lives - Resown with Colors
By Succeeding Springs- -
Death Unto itself - Exception -
Is exempt from Change -

Emily Dickinson