TRAVELLING AGAIN...

"Travelling is almost like talking with men of other centuries." -- René Descartes

This is the beginning of our travels for this year. Presently sitting in one of the lounges at Singapore Airport, which is I think one of the best in the world. It is a very relaxing atmosphere and one gets a chance to do all sorts of things and not even have to go near one of the duty free shops. Duty free is rather a misnomer nowadays as the goods there are seldom any cheaper than may find in a good department store at home. Still, it is surprising to see how many people are buying, buying, buying all over the place.

Airports are interesting places and it is always revealing just sitting and watching the people go by. Thousands of faces and each with its own story. Some travel for pleasure, some for work, some for family, some because of special reasons for all kinds. Some faces happy, some sad, some apathetic, many showing the fatigue of travel.

Our flight from Melbourne was uneventful, although the service on board is steadily declining with each trip one makes. However, the plane was absolutely full and one puts up with the inconvenience of the long flight because of the destination and all it promises…

MOVIE MONDAY - THE TERMINAL

“If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon.” - George Aiken

We are about to go off on our trip to Greece again this year (leaving tomorrow, in fact), so it is apt to review a wonderful film about airports today. We watched this yesterday and it is one of the most touching and heartwarming movies we’ve watched lately. It is Steven Spielberg’s 2004 film “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks. It is a comedy/drama with moments of pure comedic invention, sequences of pathos and emotion, romance and moral equivocation.

Tom Hanks play Viktor Navorski, an Eastern European from the fictitious country of Krakozhia, who is visiting New York City on a special mission (watch that special can of peanuts he has with him). During his arrival at Kennedy Airport, his country is overtaken by a military coup and all passports are suspended. Navorski becomes stranded in the airport terminal, unable to go back to Krakozhia, but also unable to enter the USA.

The film traces his months of residency inside the terminal building, his burgeoning friendships with staff, his struggle for survival as he learns English and his patient forbearance in adversity. In the terminal, he finds a job, meets his dream woman but also makes some enemies in high places. It is a microcosm that reflects society and also is a statement about our prejudices and our way of looking at people with suspicion when they are different from us. We question their motives, suspect hidden agendas and we are prepared to do our utmost to frustrate their supposed nefarious activities.

The film criticizes contemporary American society to the extent of making a statement about the USA and how it may not be as desirable a destination for everyone who reaches its shores and makes (for an American film) the almost heretical point that perhaps there are other better countries around the world that you would prefer to live in. The part of the film where Viktor is being advised to demand political asylum is quite poignant…

The acting was very good, with Hanks giving a great performance. Some of the supporting roles were excellent and Catherine Zeta-Jones playing the fragile flight attendant was well cast. Stanley Tucci played the villain very well and a particularly nice touch was Kumar Pallana playing the suspicious cleaner with the mean streak.

It’s a sentimental, understated, enjoyable character study, which despite is length (just over two hours) manages to captivate the viewers and holds their attention. Well worth watching!

AFRICA DAY 2008

“There is always something new out of Africa.” – Pliny

Today is Africa Day and each year on May 25th, is dedicated to the celebration of Africa in all its diversity, beauty and mystery. Africa Day commemorates the founding anniversary of the Organization of African Unity, on May 25, 1963. In May 1963, thirty-two independent African States, who had genuine hopes and visions for the continent of Africa, came together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to create the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The Africa Day symposium was first envisioned as an annual event in celebration of the founding of the OAU.

Starting from 2008, the annual symposium takes place in September to acknowledge the Sirte Declaration, the founding document of the African Union. In September 1999, the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity issued the famous declaration which called for the establishment of the African Union (AU). The African Union is an intergovernmental organization consisting of 53 African nations. Established on July 9, 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the amalgamated African Economic Community (AEC) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Its headquarters is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Among the objectives of the AU are to accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent; to promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples; to achieve peace and security in Africa; and to promote democratic institutions, good governance and human rights.

Every year, Africans mark May 25th as an official Africa Liberation day. The date is celebrated to push for an onward progress on the liberation movement and symbolize the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation.

To celebrate Africa Day, here is Angélique Kidjo of Benin, singing “Agolo”.

The painting above is by Roy Astley Fryer of South Africa and encapsulates the spirit of the great continent.

NERO & POPPAEA

“Tell me whom you love and I will tell you who you are.” – Arsène Houssaye

“L' Incoronazione di Poppea” (SV 308, The Coronation of Poppaea, ≈1641-2) is a three-act opera in by Claudio Monteverdi to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello. It was first performed in the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, in 1642. The opera is based on historical incidents as described by the Roman historian Tacitus.

Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of the Roman Emperor Nero, is the heroine (or anti-heroine?) of the plot. It begins with a prologue in which a conversation between Fortune, Virtue and Love as driving forces in Poppaea’s life affirms the power of love and promises Poppaea her heart’s desire – to become empress of Rome. The plot is full of irony and even though Nero and Poppaea are shown to be in love, Poppaea’s scheming and ambitious self-interest has been portrayed in a masterly way by both libretto and music.

Two pieces from the opera, for Music Saturday. The first is a triumphant aria by Poppaea after she learns that Seneca (the philosopher and objector to her liaison with Nero) has committed suicide after being ordered to kill himself by Nero. She now remarks joyfully that with Seneca dead, nothing will stop her from becoming Nero’s wife and empress.



The second aria is Arnalta’s lullaby. Arnalta is the old nurse and confidante of Poppaea, who sings this beautiful litlting melody as Poppaea falls asleep. In admiration, Arnalta praises Poppaea’s eyes. “If when closed they steal the viewer’s heart, imagine what they can do when they are open!” – she sings.



Enjoy your weekend!

THE RESTAURANT FROM HELL

"After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations." – Oscar Wilde

Do you often go out to dine at a restaurant? And I mean a proper restaurant not something like the fast food, “family restaurants”, a high class restaurant with tablecloths on tables, fresh flowers and candles, waiters that wait on you with consummate skill, where the food is delicious and the occasion is made perfect and special for that wonderful someone you are accompanying? Well, we sometimes make a special night of it and we go out to such a restaurant – not too often, but when we do, we wish everything to go right and the night to be truly memorable and special – and it mostly is!

Sometimes, however, the experience is tainted with all the things that could ever possibly go wrong, and as Murphy would have it, they do go wrong spectacularly! This blog is triggered by a recent experience at a restaurant, which reminded me of several other occasions (thankfully rather unusual in a clutch of usually excellent ones!), where to dine out has become a terrible ordeal rather than the culinary delight it should have been.

Firstly, when you arrive at the restaurant (on time!) and you give details of your booking to the Maitre D’ there is no record of your reservation. The restaurant is busy and almost every table is occupied. Finally after much arguing and to-ing and fro-ing, a table is got for you in a poky little corner in front of the door that leads into the kitchen. There is a constant sound of pots and pans clanking, dishes rattling and agitated conversations between the chef and several sous-chefs.

After an inordinately long time, the waiter comes to take your order. While you are ordering, his mobile phone rings (!!!!!!!!!!) and he goes off to answer it. He comes back, takes your order and almost immediately returns to tell you that what you have ordered is no longer available. After a new order, the drinks waiter brings the wine list and recommends a wine that is overpriced and which you know tastes like cat’s pee. You order the cocktails and wine which is definitely not the recommended one (but still overpriced!) and then you wait. And wait, and wait, and wait… There is much activity next to you as seemingly thousands of waiters go back and forth through the kitchen doors laden with platters of hot steaming food, but nothing turns up at your table.

You try to catch your waiter’s eye, but he manages to ignore you most adroitly. You try to catch any waiter’s eye, but they are all so busy and you are waved to, have reassuring things whispered to you as they rush by and generally, well… you are ignored! By this stage your stomach is making loud rumbling noises and your patience has been exhausted. Just as you are about to go to the Maitre D’ and complain most vehemently, your waiter comes to your table and ceremoniously takes your napkin, unfolds it, waves it about and plops it on your lap. I don’t know about you, but I hate that. Some bread rolls materialise and they are decidedly the frozen variety that should be put in the oven before serving. These have been baked in some previous incarnation, but they are wan and cold and their centre remains decidedly doughy.

The entrée arrives. It is definitely not what you ordered. You complain to the waiter who looks at you suspiciously and then prepares to whisk the plates away with an exasperated look heavenwards, but a sobering thought hits you: It has taken 50 minutes to get this food, if it goes back into the kitchen who knows when the dish you ordered will arrive? Another 50 minutes? 70, 80, 90 minutes? Tomorrow morning? You hang on to your plate, after wresting from the waiter’s rapacious hands. He begins to argue with you, saying that if it is not what you ordered you should not eat it. You manage to hold onto the precious food and fend the waiter off, but only because his mobile phone rings again and he goes off to answer it.

The food is bland, unidentifiable and chewy in a way that seems to mimic bubble gum. It could be seafood, but maybe it is some kind of meat. Perhaps it is textured soy protein and hence organic and produced in an agriculturally sustainable manner – that would be the only excuse for its disgusting taste and texture. By this stage your drinks have not arrived yet. To your surprise the drinks waiter comes straight to your table when you wave to him. He is desolated and extremely apologetic about the drinks not having been dispatched to you yet. He rushes off to rectify the situation. You try to make pleasant conversation and look at your dining companion’s eyes, attempting to remedy the experience so far by immersing yourself in their double pools filled with love.

Some commotion in the kitchen with a particularly loud series of clangs seems to herald the arrival of your main course. Your waiter arrives and notices that the entrée dishes have not been taken away. Your main course disappears back into the kitchen and he comes out to retrieve your dirty plates. The wine still has not arrived. Five minutes tick away after your waiter goes into the kitchen with your plates. Ten minutes, 15, and when you decide to go into the kitchen and retrieve your meal yourself, your waiter appears and plops your main course in front of you. The food seems nice! It is what you ordered and there is just the right amount of everything on the plate, quite aesthetically arranged.

The waiter makes a big show of bringing to the table an enormous pepper grinder that is grotesquely carved. After you nod your assent to have some pepper freshly ground onto your food, he twists the top once and two grains of pepper fall out. The grinder is spirited away and you proceed to pick up your cutlery. However, at that stage the drinks arrive - all of your drinks, at the same time: The water, the cocktails and the wine. A great show is made of opening the wine and some poured to be tasted. The wine is white and warm. Very warm, as though it has been heated. There is no ice bucket in sight and you ask for one. The drinks waiter looks at you superciliously and mumbles something about the wine being at “cellar temperature” while going away in a huff.

The cocktails are too sugary when they should have been dry and the water is decidedly brackish. Nevertheless, you valiantly proceed! This meal will be enjoyed! The steak is too rare, in fact, you could have sworn it was barely cooked at all. And cold. Everything is cold. Have you ever tried to eat cold steak and icy mashed potatoes and gelid butter French beans? Not nice… But you are still hungry and you desperately try to make the best of it. Not that complaining would have done much good, had you found anyone to complain to – all the waiters and the Maitre D’ have disappeared in some unthinkably distant and utmostly secret place.

You look desperately at your dining companion and at each other’s plates and bravely try to cut through raw bleeding meat, attempt to demolish the stodge masquerading as mashed potato and to separate the congealed mass of icy cold, buttered French beans, all washed down with warm white wine. This will not do. You decide you’ve had enough and call for the bill.

Suddenly you are surrounded by a host of obsequious waiters, all beaming at you asking you whether you enjoyed the meal, bowing and strutting, making a fuss of you while the extravagant bill arrives, which has listed on it together with what was ordered (and not consumed, in any case), several other dishes you did not order and which never appeared on your table, including a fruit and cheese platter and two special chocolate degustation desserts. After much negotiation the bill is settled and you walk out of the restaurant, stomach still rumbling and the sour taste of the warm wine still in your mouth. The waiters stare daggers into your back as you did not leave a tip…

As you drive out of the (outrageously expensive) car-parking establishment, you spy the twin golden arches beckoning to you from the gloom somewhere int eh distance. Yes, it’s a “family restaurant” coming up ahead and without even thinking about it you turn your indicator on, drive up and order two giant hamburgers (and yes, we’ll have fries with those, thanks!)…

WORLD BIODIVERSITY DAY 2008

“It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.” - B. C. Forbes

biodiversity |ˌbīōdiˈvərsitē|noun
The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
ORIGIN from Greek bios ‘(course of) human life.’ The sense is extended in modern scientific usage to mean [organic life.] and from Old French diversite, from Latin diversitas, from diversus ‘diverse,’ past participle of divertere ‘turn aside’ (see divert ).

Today is World Biodiversity Day and the theme for 2008 is “Biodiversity and Agriculture”. Agriculture is a key example of how human activities have profound impacts on the ecosystems of our planet. This year’s theme for Biodiversity Day seeks to highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture not only to preserve biodiversity, but also to ensure that we will be able to feed the world, maintain agricultural livelihoods, and enhance human well being into the 21st century and beyond.

Biodiversity is the root of this plenty: the variety of crops and food on which human civilizations have grown and depend is possible because of the tremendous variety of life on Earth. If the Earth’s population is to feed itself in the 21st century and beyond, humankind needs to preserve the biodiversity that grants us our own complex and diverse lives. But biodiversity is diminishing at unprecedented rates. Over the past few hundred years humans have increased the rate of species extinction. Human drivers of change, including habitat loss, climate change and overexploitation of resources, have increased the rate at which species are going extinct by as much as 1,000 times background rates typical of Earth’s history.

Perhaps this is a good time to mention also that 2008 is the International Year of the Potato. This celebrates the Potato and will raise awareness of the importance of the potato - and of agriculture in general - in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.

Biodiversity is the variety of life: the different plants, animals and micro-organisms, their genes and the ecosystems of which they are a part. Australia is one of the most diverse countries on the planet. It is home to more than one million species of plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else in the world. We are very much aware of the threat our increasingly urbanized environment is placing on different species of our country. The modern agricultural methods and the use of selected monospecies in high yield agricultural systes is another way of threatening biodiversity, while the introduction of exotic species into Australia has also threatened the local fauna.

There are several initiatives in Australia, which try to limit the threats we pose on or environment and which will help to preserve biodiversity. The priority actions are to:

1. protect and restore native vegetation and terrestrial ecosystems
2. protect and restore freshwater ecosystems
3. protect and restore marine and estuarine ecosystems
4. control invasive species
5. mitigate dryland salinity
6. promote ecologically sustainable grazing
7. minimise impacts of climate change on biodiversity
8. maintain and record indigenous peoples’ ethnobiological knowledge
9. improve scientific knowledge and access to information
10. introduce institutional reform

AUTUMN LEAVES

“Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone.” – C.S. Lewis

Autumn Leaves
(FOUND PRESSED BETWEEN THE PAGES OF AN OLD BOOK)

I wouldn’t write to you first, I decided,
And every day I checked the mailbox for your letter,
Having my answer to you already written.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

Looking at the full moon tonight, I remember,
Nights that I spent outside your door awake all night –
Why are bitter remembrances the most persistent?

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

They told me someone had asked for me on the telephone today.
My heart skipped beats – could it have been you?
I clean forgot I had refused to give you my new number.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

Come back to me, return, my fount has dried up.
Come and let the fountain flow clear water once more,
Come back and I shall not mind even if its water runs salty.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

I saw you changed last night, repentant, sorry,
As if you’d suddenly realised what you had lost by leaving.
But all I felt right then was peace, a calm after the storm.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

I thought that I had forgotten you, that you were indifferent to me,
But yesterday our common friends remembered you to me,
And I felt hatred – from hate to love a small step.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

As you betrayed me, saying goodbye, you told me
“Wait, for good things come to those who wait…”
And as I wait I lose more and more each day.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

I found a note of yours yellowing, forgotten in a dusty drawer.
I was dismayed seeing on paper old heartbeats jotted down.
And even worse because I thought all of your letters were long since burnt.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

You friend, who see her often, tell me:
Does she still listen to that song?
The song that we listened to together and I could hardly restrain my tears?

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

I left, my head held high, my tears swallowed,
My only gain, my pride intact.
I hope that in the long years of loneliness ahead, pride is good company.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

The hours of night, grow smaller, the sky rotates,
Each minute draws out longer than the one before.
Sleep eludes the one who loves too much.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

My heart is healed, I do not let my tears flow in the evenings.
I can bear to look at the full moon unflinchingly,
There is no risk of losing the keys that open my soul’s door.

∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗

And the old captain stares at the horizon,
Scanning the milky depths to find the magic island
Once glimpsed and nevermore to see again…

WESAK - BUDDHA DAY 2008

“May all that have life be delivered from suffering.” - Buddha

Today is Wesak (or Vesak), also known as Buddha Day, which celebrates the Buddha’s birthday, enlightenment and death. It is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar. During Wesak, Buddhists celebrate the life of the Buddha and his teachings. They remember the night of his enlightenment and his insights into his previous lives, as well as his revelations about the nature of death, karma and rebirth, suffering and desire.

Wesak is celebrated with great joy and vivid colours. Homes are cleaned and decorated in preparation. Celebrations begin before dawn, when devotees throng the temples early in the morning to meditate and take the Five Precepts. Sutras are chanted by monks. Celebrations vary from one country to another. ‘The Bathing of the Buddha’ often takes place. Water is poured over the shoulders of statues of the Buddha as a reminder of the need to purify the heart and mind. Offerings are made to the monks and the temples, and may be laid on the altar as a sign of respect for the Buddha and his teachings.

In China, traditional elements from Chinese culture, such as dancing dragons, are incorporated into celebrations. In Indonesia, Wesak lanterns are made from paper and wood. Another popular custom in some countries is the release of caged birds, symbolising letting go of troubles and wishing that all beings be well and happy. Buddhists in some parts of the world make origami paper cranes which are used as decorations or sometimes floated down rivers to symbolise the same thing.

Many Buddhist temples serve vegetarian food (as many Buddhists avoid eating meat). Special lectures on the teachings of the Buddha are given, and candle lit processions take place through the streets. Observers are made welcome, both in processions and at temples. Giving to others is an important part of Buddhist tradition. Gifts may be exchanged as part of the festivities on Wesak. There is also emphasis on giving to the needy. Devotees may visit orphanages, welfare homes, homes for the aged or charitable institutions, distributing cash donations and gifts. Some youth groups organise mass blood donation to hospitals. Donations are also made to monks and nuns.

The Five Moral Precepts of Buddhism are especially important to remember and practice during Wesak, and these are refraining from:
- Harming living things
- Taking what is not given
- Sexual misconduct
- Lying or gossip
- Taking intoxicating substances e.g. drugs or drink

Samaneras (novice Buddhist monks) live by ten precepts, while Buddhist monks actually keep 227 rules of the order. The Ten Precepts are the five precepts plus refraining from the following:
- Taking substantial food after midday (from noon to dawn)
- Dancing, singing and music
- Use of garlands, perfumes and personal adornment like jewellery
- Use of luxurious beds and seats
- Accepting and holding money, gold or silver

Therefore on celebration days, Buddhists will often eat vegetarian food and will not drink alcohol. Gifts will be simple, especially those given to monks. Monks in particular will not dress up, and people will not eat to excess. However, Buddhist celebrations are also very joyful, colourful occasions. Wesak is celebrated on different days each year, because the lunar calendar is used to define when dates of festivals should take place. Dates when there is a full moon are used often.

Happy Wesak!

MOVIE MONDAY - OSCAR

“The person who can bring the spirit of laughter into a room is indeed blessed.” - Bennett Cerf

At the weekend we watched a film that reminded me of my childhood. It was a French farce of the 1960s with the French comedian par excellence of those times, Louis de Funès (1914-1983). If you have never heard of him or seen him, something closer to home perhaps, the character "Skinner" in the animated film “Ratatouille” (2007) was loosely based on him. He is a very funny man, M. de Funès and the film we watched was one well-suited to his talents. I had not seen this film before, but had watched several others of his when growing up in Greece in the 60s. When I found this DVD, needless to say I bought it and have not regretted it, as it was full of laughs.

The movie is “Oscar” (1967) and is from the play by Claude Magnier. It is typical farce, an exaggerated comedy, full of coincidences, extremes, zany characters, non-stop action and overacting. It is conventional and not so original, but it works. It works because all the actors play well, but the gem of the show is Louis de Funès. He plays M. Bertrand Barnier, a successful and rich real estate agent who lives with his wife, daughter, maid, butler and chauffeur in a very new, very expensive house in the lap of luxury. Out of the blue, one of his junior employees, Christian Martin (played by Claude Rich) comes to his house early one morning and has the gall to blackmail him. It turns out that Christian wants to marry his boss’s daughter. But that’s not all, he also discloses that he has diddled M. Barnier out of 60 million francs, which he has used to buy a collection of magnificent jewellery, which he keeps in an innocuous-looking black valise.

M. Barnier’s dismay, surprise and discomfiture turn to something more threatening for his mental health when his daughter reveals that she is pregnant, but not to Christian. Rather, it is Oscar, M. Barnier’s chauffeur who is her true love. Add to this mayhem an unflappable and scatty wife (excellently played by Claude Gensac), a dim masseur, an ever-suffering butler and a social climbing maid. Oh, and did I mention another two black valises identical to the one containing the jewels? Well yes, but one of them contains 60 million in cash and another contains the maid’s clothing and underwear. That and several more surprises including Jacqueline and a mystery woman who applies for the vacant maid’s position. The pace is frenetic, the French word-plays funny and the situations amusing and constantly evolving comedically.

The film is available on DVD with English subtitles and well worth a look if you come across it.

ART SUNDAY - WORLD MUSEUM DAY

“Shouldn't a great museum foster serious seeing before all else?” - Mark Stevens

International Museum Day is celebrated every year around the world on the 18th of May. Quite apt today for Art Sunday! International Museum Day has been celebrated since 1977. Each year, a theme is decided on by the Advisory Committee. This year the theme is "Museums as agents of social change and development". The celebration provides the opportunity for museum professionals to meet the public and alert them to the challenges that museums face if they are to be (as in the International Council of Museums definition of a museum) "an institution in the service of society and of its development".

Many events are organised on this day in more than 45 countries around the world, in the spirit of the motto: “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, co-operation and peace among peoples”. Museums, by definition, exist to serve society & its development. Museums can stay open 24 hours a day, offer free entry, and create new areas for social gatherings and events with community organisations and associations in light of this year’s theme for an all night debate on social change & development. For example, see what France is doing this year.

Most people think of a museum as a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited. The word in English was used from the early 17th century, and taken directly from the Greek where the word was used to denote a university building, specifically one erected at Alexandria by Ptolemy Soter. In Greek, “Μουσείον” (mouseion = ‘seat of the Muses),’ based on “Μούσα” (mousa = ‘muse’). The most famous museums around the world are to be found here. Here is a site with links to many famous museums in the USA. If you desire an even more inclusive list of world museums, go to his link.

Here in Melbourne, we are lucky as there are several museums and galleries, a couple of them world class! There is the Museum of Victoria, the Immigration Museum, the Ian Potter Centre, the Heide Museum of Modern Art, and the jewel in the crown the National Gallery of Victoria. As well as that we have several more and many small galleries and art spaces, justifying Melbourne’s pre-eminent position as the cultural capital of Australia.
Enjoy your Museum Day!

IT'S RAINING

“For after all the best thing one can do when it is raining, is to let it rain.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The first winter’s day in Melbourne today with a gray leaden sky and low temperatures punctuated by showers of icy rain. Looking out of the window and seeing the puddles of water mirroring the silvery light, the images are broken by the falling drops of rain as they form ever expanding and melding rings. The cars on the road few and far between, most people are inside by the heater.

Perfect day for listening to some Bach… Here is Mischa Maisky playing the Prelude from the Cello Suite Number 1, BWV 1007:



Perfect music for a rainy day…

BREAD

"The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight."
- M. F. K. Fisher

A busy day at work today, which started at 7:00 am and did not finish until late. After several meetings and many consultations with staff, we had a delegation from a Chinese University come and visit our campus. They are our guests for the next five days and we have to have many discussions regarding cooperation and exchange programs. The day culminated with dinner, which I hosted at one of the Italian restaurants close to our campus in the centre of the City.

The restaurant is called Spiga and it’s a handy one to have just across the road from where one works. It has a good service and the food is very nice, with a warm ambience and good location. Our Chinese guests very much enjoyed the food with most of us having fish. Baked fillets of ocean trout, or tuna steaks or deep fried Barramundi. The bread served was rather nice and although typical yeast bread, it reminded me a little of some beer bread I had had some time back in another restaurant.

Beer bread is an interesting beast. It belongs to a class of foods that I call the “faker bakers”. These are foods that you concoct fast and without much preparation, but they resemble very much something that takes a lot longer to make the usual way. Here is a recipe for the faker’s bread, which is much easier than the yeast/knead/rise/knead/bake variety.

BEER BREAD
Ingredients
2.5 cups of sifted plain flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 can (350 mL ) of beer
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cardamon
1 teaspoon dried, ground mixed herbs
1 teaspoon turmeric
Sesame seeds

Directions
Preheat oven to 190˚C.
Sift flour (very important!) and mix in other dry ingredients.
Mix in the beer (at room temperature) quickly
Pour into a greased loaf pan.
Pour melted butter over mixture.
Sprinkle sesame over top.
Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes.

Enjoy your weekend!

FAMILY

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." - Theodore M. Hesburgh

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that the 15th of May of every year shall be observed as the International Day of Families. This Day highlights many of the family values that form a part of social moral values. The observance recognises the importance of the family as the basic unit of society. The International Day of Families provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and can become a powerful mobilising factor on behalf of families in all countries, allowing them to lobby for the protection and support of family issues appropriate to each society.

Families nowadays are finding greater challenges and more obstacles to raising children to be healthy, responsible, productive adults. Economic hardship, increasingly hectic activity, tight schedules, domestic discord, divorce, absentee fathers, changing attitudes about what is right and wrong, some popular music and entertainment, influences of street life – all these and other stressors do little to promote healthy families. Children that are growing up in modern urban societies have more needs for a stable family in order to grow up healthy and happy.

The Families Day theme for 2008 focusses on “Fathers and Families: Responsibilities and Challenges.” Family structure in our society is in a process of change and this is evidenced by the increasing numbers of “non-traditional” families – single-parent families, same-sex couple families, families where both partners have been previously married and each may bring into the family children from previous relationships, families that rely heavily on the input from all sorts of external support structures. The role of fathers is changing, especially now when IVF has made the biological role of the father almost redundant - the patriarchal role of the father as catalyst for the creation of a family has been eclipsed by technology. The social role of the father, however, has become an increasingly important one.

Research has shown that children with fathers who are actively involved in their lives are more likely to stay out of trouble and become successful adults than those with absent or uninvolved fathers. Responsible fathers make a big difference. The timely 2008 Families Day theme invites individuals, families, communities and governmental policy makers to reflect, pray and act to facilitate healthy families and responsible fatherhood.

The focus on responsibility is a timely one and it is important for us to redefine it. Traditionally, the father has been considered to be the one who is the “provider”, the one who spends most time away from the home, the one who is perhaps the most uninvolved in the upbringing of the children. We still speak of “mother’s love”, “mother tongue”, “mother’s milk”, “mother hen”, etc all denoting a very close and special nurturing relationship. As society is changing, so are the family relationships and increasingly, more fathers are spending more time with their children and are more actively involved with their upbringing – some to the extent of being “house-husbands” while the wife is the “provider”.

In other cases, we find that increasingly permissive social mores, greater emphasis on individual liberties, greater sexual openness and increasing acceptance of personal interests being more important than the interests of the group (family or larger social group), are causing a greater likelihood of fathers to abandon families and pursue their own personal goals: A younger woman, another man, another career in a distant place away from the family, etc.

The greatest and most despicable of irresponsibilities is the loss of respect for the normal restrictions that are placed within the family group: The father who commits violent or sexual crimes in the family. The recent events in Austria and the heinous Josef Fritzl are only the tip of the iceberg. How many more of these crimes are reported almost daily, and unfortunately how many more go unreported, undiscovered… It is fathers such as Josef Fritzl that often have been brought up in dysfunctional families and pass on that terrible legacy to their own family.

How to deal with it in this increasingly precarious urban society that seems to be a major stressor on wholesome family living? The qualities of love, laughter, listening and learning within a family are the key factors in its happiness and success. These four values are the foundation of any happy, healthy family and by extension society. The family is the most basic and important unit of any society or nation. Without healthy, functioning families, a culture cannot survive.
Have a good Family Day, whatever your family is.

family |ˈfam(ə)lē| noun ( pl. -lies)
1 [treated as sing. or pl. ] a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household.
• a group of people related to one another by blood or marriage : friends and family can provide support.
• the children of a person or couple : she has the sole responsibility for a large family.
• a person or people related to one and so to be treated with a special loyalty or intimacy : I could not turn him away, for he was family.
• a group of people united in criminal activity.
• Biology a principal taxonomic category that ranks above genus and below order, usually ending in -idae (in zoology) or -aceae (in botany).
• a group of objects united by a significant shared characteristic.
• Mathematics a group of curves or surfaces obtained by varying the value of a constant in the equation generating them.
2 all the descendants of a common ancestor : the house has been owned by the same family for 300 years.
• a race or group of peoples from a common stock.
• all the languages ultimately derived from a particular early language, regarded as a group : the Austronesian language family.
adjective [ attrib. ]
designed to be suitable for children as well as adults : a family newspaper.
PHRASES
the (or one's) family jewels informal a man's genitals.
in the family way informal pregnant.
ORIGIN late Middle English (sense 2; also denoting the servants of a household or the retinue of a nobleman) : from Latin familia ‘household servants, household, family,’ from famulus ‘servant.’

INIMICAL CITY

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” - Albert Einstein

I was in Sydney for the day for work and it was very much a commuter’s trip. Getting up at 5:00 a.m. to catch the early flight, seeing the sun rise several kilometres above the earth, landing in the busy airport, finding myself surrounded by milling crowds, queueing for a taxi, doing battle with the early morning traffic and spending all of the day locked up in a sunless room, conferencing and meeting, assessing and moderating… A quick lunch in-house, more work afterwards, a brief recap and then another taxi to the airport for yet another flight back home. The business trip is not a pleasure trip when packed into a very busy day like this.

Flying above Sydney, seeing the bright lights, the endless ribbons of cars on streets, the grid of streetlights and the hum of the engines brings to mind our modern-day existence, technology and the loss of something precious…

The Sound of the City

The city lights cold and distant
Suspended above gloomy shadows
Hovering between the concrete and the ethereal.
Neon flashes mundanely its inanity
Its message thankfully illegible in the distance.
Revolving signs in multicoloured glare
Make known anonymous companies
And broadcast lurid messages of brands X, Y and Z.

The city streets lit brightly in sickly yellow,
By rows upon rows of sodium lamps
And by the blue-white cold and hurtful glare
Of sentinel streetlights.
Spires, domes and towers in full spotlit splendour
Advertise the venues of the rich.
Regular, square, cell-like, impersonal
Windows of the tall office blocks
Enclose faceless cut-outs of carbon-copy people.

City, all brightly lit and brilliant
You are peopled by the men of shadows,
A corpse-like populace.
Ugly, unhappy ghosts transparent
Who lost in the dreary shadowy depths
Revere your garish, gaudy, neon illuminations.

The hum of traffic, erratic red of tail lights
The stinging, ever-moving discs of head lights
All echo your bright lights in unnatural imitation.
City, you callous, cruel, empty-hearted harridan
Your dazzling flashes, your hurtful luminous din
Obliterate the silver symphony of moonlight
And the wispy, hopeful streak of argent falling star.
Your empty humdrum and incessant noise mechanical
Drown the voice of humankind
And the song of rustling leaf and nightingale.

Lucky are those of you that live away from this maelstrom of pullulating humanity, in the countryside, breathing fresh air, enjoying the quietude and the empty spaces on your doorstep.

CHINA QUAKE

“Perhaps catastrophe is the natural human environment, and even though we spend a good deal of energy trying to get away from it, we are programmed for survival amid catastrophe.” - Germaine Greer

The earthquake in China is the latest news of a disaster to hit our newspapers and TV screens. More human lives lost, more pictures of destruction and devastation, faces paralysed by grief and fear. The death toll stands at over 12,000 and there are thousands more reported missing. No doubt, the death toll will rise over the next few days.

The images of bodies covered with sheets lining streets as rescue workers dig through schools and homes turned into rubble by China's worst earthquake in three decades makes for a terrible scene. The survivors dig in the ruins in a desperate attempt to rescue victims trapped under concrete slabs. There are varying reports of the magnitude of the quake, some as high as 7.9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake struck Monday afternoon and the epicenter was in Wenchuan county. Tuesday has seen a massive rescue and relief operation begun. The number of casualties is still unknown as the quake tore into urban areas and mountain villages. The quake was China's deadliest since 1976, when 240,000 people were killed in the city of Tangshan, near Beijing in 1976.

All this in the wake of the Burma cyclone that has claimed thousands upon thousands of lives, while in USA tornadoes and hurricanes cause damage and claim lives as well. The earth is sick and we humans continue heedless of its cries of pain and the shudders of its disease-ridden frame. We have become immune to these news items and we plod on with our lives steeped in routine and mindless concerns over non-issues. What will it take to galvanise people into action?

MOVIE MONDAY ON THE WEB

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!” – Sir Walter Scott

OK, I must admit it, when I was young I used to love reading comic books too. I mean I couldn’t always read Proust and Shakespeare and Marx and Stevenson, could I? In any case, I enjoyed reading all sorts of things and comic books full of super heroes are the modern-day mythologies. Superman and Batman, Spider-Man and Aquaman, the Fantastic Four and Captain America. I had a friend who had an attic full of comic books so I used to borrow them all and read them at the weekends.

When the comic book heroes were transferred to the big screen, I watched with amusement, sometimes with wonder sometimes with bemused surprise at the more or less successful adaptation of comic book into comic movie… Superman (1978) was a big hit and rightly so as the casting was excellent, with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder a well-matched pair, transferring well to the screen. Batman (1989) interesting, not the least because of the surprising choice for the lead, Michael Keaton, who until then was definitely not super hero material. The rather prosaic Fantastic Four (2005) and the abominable Captain America (1990).

Spider-Man came into the scene in 2002 with a satisfying transference of comic book to celluloid. Tobey Maguire was young and fresh, playing the superhero role with sufficient wide-eyed wonder to allow all young fans to identify with him. The story was good, the special effects excellent and the movie a success. Spider-Man 2 (2004) a good sequel, with a continuation of the shenanigans and high spirits, more web-spinning adventures and poignant soul-searching for our hero.

Last weekend we saw Spider-Man 3 (2007) and wished we hadn’t. It was too long, too full of special effects, too many villains, too much of a dog’s breakfast. There were some funny scenes (unintentional, but just ridiculous), the attempts at poignancy heavy-handed and false and the action way too violent and gratuitous. The plot is disjointed and episodic, the villains like a sampler at an ID parade in the police station and the romantic interludes wishy-washy. The “dark side” of Peter Parker with the emo side of his self plain ludicrous. The black glop that makes it all happen is just stupid.

OK I said I liked comic books and super heroes but obviously not enough to forgive whatever glop is dished out. If they dare to make a Spider-Man 4, I am calling the pest exterminators...

ART SUNDAY - BERTHE MORISOT

“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” - Rudyard Kipling

Berthe Morisot (born Jan. 14, 1841, Bourges, France - died March 2, 1895, Paris) was a French painter and printmaker. She was the first woman to join the circle of the French impressionist painters and she exhibited in all but one of their shows. Despite the protests of friends and family she continued to participate in their struggle for recognition. Born into a family of wealth and culture, Morisot received the conventional lessons in drawing and painting. She went firmly against convention, however, in choosing to take these pursuits seriously and make them her life's work.

Having studied for a time under Camille Corot, she later began her long friendship with Edouard Manet, who became her brother-in-law in 1874 and was the most important single influence on the development of her style. Unlike most of the other impressionists, who were then intensely engaged in optical experiments with color, Morisot and Manet agreed on a more conservative approach, confining their use of color to a naturalistic framework. Morisot, however, did encourage Manet to adopt the impressionists' high-keyed palette and to abandon the use of black. Her own carefully composed, brightly hued canvases are often studies of women, either out-of-doors or in domestic settings. Morisot and American artist Mary Cassatt are generally considered the most important women painters of the later 19th century.

Here is one of Morisot’s canvases, entitled “The Cradle” (1872), very apt for Mother’s Day.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mums!

FIRST KISS

“Ah why refuse the blameless bliss? Can danger lurk within a kiss?” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The memory of our first kiss can stay with us throughout our life and sometimes may colour a gray moment. Whether it was really as beautiful as what we remember it as being is debatable, but nevertheless, we hold it in a dear place within our heart. Here is a short extract from the movie I reviewed last Movie Monday, “The Choir of Haritonas” (2005) by Greek director, Grigoris Karantinakis. It captures beautifully the magic moment of that first innocent kiss. The music is by Nikos Platyrachos.



What is your memory of your first kiss?

PAVLOVA IN PERTH

“Cookery has become a noble art, a noble science; cooks are gentlemen.” - Robert Burton

The pavlova is a very popular dessert in both Australia and New Zealand. It is named after Anna Pavlova, the famous Russian ballerina who toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926 and Australia again in 1929. In 1934, the chef of the Hotel Esplanade in Perth, Western Australia, Herbert Sachse, created the pavlova. The dish is sweet, light, foamy white and delicious. A truly poetic interpretation of a great dancer’s angelic stage presence in sugar and egg-white.

There is some controversy over which country it originates from - both Australia and New Zealand claim the Pavlova as their national dish. The Meringue Cake was common in NZ in the early 1930s. In 1973, Sachse stated in a magazine interview that he sought to improve the Meringue Cake recipe that he found in the Women’s Mirror Magazine on April 2, 1935. That recipe was contributed by a New Zealander.

TRADITIONAL PAVLOVA

Ingredients
5 egg whites
pinch salt
250 g caster sugar/sugar (equal parts)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 level teaspoons cornflour
(Please note the following equivalents:
Caster sugar or fine/super fine sugar; corn flour or cornstarch)
Whipped cream
Fruit to decorate: Sliced kiwifruit, peaches, strawberries, blueberries and passionfruit pulp.

Method
Preheat oven to 200˚C. Lightly grease oven tray, line with baking paper or use non-stick cooking spray. Beat the whites of eggs with a pinch of salt until stiff (until peaks form). Continue beating, gradually adding sugar, vinegar and vanilla, until of thick consistency. Lightly fold in cornflour.
 Pile mixture into circular shape, making hollow in centre for filling. (Mixture will swell during cooking).
Electric oven: Turn oven to 130˚C and bake undisturbed for 1.5 hours.
Gas oven: Bake at 200˚C for ten minutes, then turn oven to 130˚C and bake a further hour. Fan forced oven: temperature and time needs to be adjusted accordingly.
Turn oven off, leave pavlova in oven until cool.
Top with whipped cream and decorate with fruit.

When seeing the dessert, it is easy to understand why some people say it was inspired by one of Pavlova’s famous tutus, draped in green silk cabbage roses. The basic shape was provided by a meringue case, while the froth of the net was suggested by whipped cream with slices of kiwifruit for the green roses. I must say that while in Perth I enjoyed a delicious slice of pavlova, home made too! Thank you, Rosanne!

RING-A-DING-DING

"You owe me five farthings" say the Bells of St. Martin's – Folk rhyme

I’m still in Perth and this morning I enjoyed a walk down by the river. The Swan Bells, situated on the banks of the Swan River close to the city centre of Perth, are housed inside this futuristic tower with armadillo-like shells enclosing a glass and steel spire. It contains 18 bells, 12 of them (cast in 1724) from St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London, and the Perth tourist bureau speak of this carillon construction as one of the world's biggest musical instruments. They really do sound majestic as one walks by and are a great focal point in the Swan River foreshore park. The bells had to be removed from the London church because they were vibrating so vigorously every time they pealed that they caused structural damage and would have shaken the old building into eventual ruination. They were then sent to Australia as a gift during the bicentennial in 1988.

The tower and the bells have become a monument synonymous with Perth, the sound of its success ringing proudly through the city. The tower is within the redeveloped cafe, restaurant and shop-filled Barrack Square. The square also features entertainment areas, offices, cycling and walking paths, boat ramps, jetties and function areas within a landscaped garden and has become a focal point for residents and tourists alike. The tower was designed by architects Hames Sharley and is highlighted by innovative illuminations that show it sitting in a pool of water lit at night and refracting sunlight during the day.

The noise emitted by the bells is such that it has to be controlled. Soundproof louvers and doors were used to muffle the sound and can be manoeuvred to direct the noise towards either the city or the river. The 18 bells have a combined mass of about nine tonnes and when rung, exert forces of several times their mass on the support structure. To achieve the required stiffness, the six-storey bell chamber is made with reinforced concrete that was cast in-situ.

The 80m high glass clad spire is designed using the same concept as a bicycle wheel, laid horizontally. The spokes radiate from the centrally-positioned axle, the form declining in width as it rises to a point. The solid steel columns of the spire are rectangular. The concrete bell chamber is enveloped in 30m high, armadillo-like copper sails and glass.

carillon |ˈkarəˌlän; -lən|noun
a set of bells in a tower, played using a keyboard or by an automatic mechanism similar to a piano roll.
• a tune played on such bells.
DERIVATIVES
carillonneur |ˌkarələˈnər| |ˈkarɪljəˈnəː| |-ˈrɪlə-| |kə-| noun
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from French, from Old French quarregnon ‘peal of four bells,’ based on Latin quattuor ‘four.’