MILEY CYRUS

“Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.” – Alphonse de Lamartine

Breaking up is hard to do, and goodbyes take much longer than hellos, don’t they?
Here is an apt song by Miley Cyrus…

FAREWELL YAHOO 360!

“No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth.” - Robert Southey

Well it’s official, Yahoo 360 is closing down… I guess we could all see it coming for a long while, but now that it is official, it is easier to accept it and move on. I left the following comment on the Yahoo 360 Australia site:

“I am rather disappointed to see 360 go, although its steady decline over the past couple of years, frequent bugs, lack of technical support, rumour-mongering amongst its users, and their progressive exodus have foreshadowed this announcement.

I first started blogging here on 23/3/06 and since then have produced a daily blog. I have met many fine people on 360, have exercised my mind, have been moved, have laughed, and have been creative. It will be hard to say goodbye, but such is the way of the world. Nothing is permanent, all is in a state of flux, all changes (as Heraclitus has said...).

I for one will not move to Profiles, it is a sad and poor relative of 360 (just like Mash was). I shall be changing my home page from Yahoo to something else (Google?). Whether I continue to blog or not once 360 goes, I have not decided yet.

It is appropriate to thank Yahoo at this stage for having created one of the best blogging sites on the net. In its heyday it was elegant, simple, well-supported, popular, ground-breaking. In its decline it has retained the quiet and melancholy dignity of a beautiful corpse.

Vale, Yahoo 360!”

NEW FLU - AUSTRALIAN UPDATE

“It is a wise man’s part, rather to avoid sickness, than to wish for medicines.” - Thomas More

As the numbers of the dreaded “Swine Flu” increase in Australia, it is perhaps appropriate to give some facts about the disease, as well as some advice. The whole world now is aware that a new influenza A (H1N1) virus of porcine origin (henceforth called “New Flu”) was first detected in April, 2009 in Mexico. The virus is infectious for humans and is spreading from person-to-person, causing a growing outbreak of illness around the world. With more than 128 suspected cases of the swine flu in Australia already (as of 27/5/09), the government has now introduced many new strict measures for travellers who are coming into the country. All flights that come in from North and South America have already been screened for several days now. The cabin crew on these planes are told to report any kind of flu like symptoms before the aircraft lands. However, these precautions have now been spread to cover all international flights.

It is thought that New Flu spreads in the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread, i.e. mainly through the coughs and sneezes of people who are sick. Because this is a new virus, most people will not have immunity to it, and illness may be more severe and widespread as a result. Presently, there is no vaccine to protect against New Flu. It is anticipated that there will be more cases, more hospitalisations and possibly more deaths associated with New Flu in the future.

Symptoms
The symptoms of New Flu in people are similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu and include: Fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected with New Flu also have reported diarrhoea and vomiting. The high risk groups for New Flu are not known at this time but it is possible that they may be the same as for seasonal influenza (i.e. people age 65 years and older, children younger than 5 years old, pregnant women, people of any age with chronic medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease, and people who are immunosuppressed, e.g., taking immunosuppressive medications, infected with HIV.

What to do if you are sick
If you become sick, you may be ill for a week or longer. You should stay home and avoid contact with other persons, except when seeking medical care. If you leave the house to seek medical care, wear a mask or cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue. In general you should avoid contact with other people as much as possible to keep from spreading your illness.

People may be contagious from one day before they develop symptoms to up to seven days after they get sick. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.

Treatment
It is expected that most people (especially those with a good constitution and otherwise well) will recover without needing medical care. However, if you have severe illness or you are at high risk for flu complications, you should be contacting your health care provider or seek medical care as soon as you experience flu-like symptoms. Your health care provider will determine whether flu testing or treatment is needed.

Antiviral prescription drugs can be given to treat those who become severely ill with influenza. There are two influenza antiviral medications that are recommended for use against New Flu: Oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu ®) and zanamivir (Relenza ®). The drugs will be given first to those people who have been hospitalised or are at high risk of complications. The drugs work best if given within 2 days of becoming ill, but may be given later if illness is severe or for those at a high risk for complications. Aspirin or aspirin-containing products should not be administered to any confirmed or suspected ill case of New Flu aged 18 years old and younger due to the risk of Reye’s syndrome. For relief of fever, aches and pains, other analgesic and anti-pyretic medications are recommended, such as paracetamol (e.g. Panadol ®).

Emergency Signs
If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care:
In children emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish or gray skin colour
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough.

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough.

Sensible advice
• Stay informed. Health officials will provide additional information as it becomes available.
• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it and wash your hands.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you are sick with a flu-like illness, stay home for 7 days after your symptoms begin or until you have been symptom-free for 24 hours, whichever is longer. Keep away from other household members as much as possible. This is to keep you from infecting others and spreading the virus further.
• Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds, and other social distancing measures.

Natural Medicine health measures
Please visit the following websites for some advice regarding how natural medicine can help in coping with the New Flu:

Free Natural Cures site*
http://www.freenaturalcures.org/infectious-diseases/influenza.html

*Note Disclaimer from above site: The authors of this site are neither licensed physicians nor scientists. The information within this site is designed for educational purposes only. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting your pediatrician or family doctor. We will not be liable for any complications, or other medical accidents arising from the use of any information on this web site.

Natural Home remedies site#
http://www.natural-homeremedies.org/homeremedies-influenza.htm

#Note Disclaimer from above site: All information available here is for educational purposes only. We do not claim to cure, prevent or treat any disease. If you have, or suspect to have a health problem, you should consult your health care provider.

Hpathy site§
http://www.hpathy.com/diseases/influenza-symptoms-treatment-cure.asp

§Note Disclaimer from above site: All information provided on this site, particularly any information relating to specific medical conditions, health care, preventive care, homeopathy, homeopathic medicine, and healthy lifestyles, is presented for general informational purposes only. It should not be considered complete or exhaustive and does not cover all disorders or conditions or their treatment, nor all health-related issues. The information provided on Hpathy.com is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or health care provider, and may not necessarily take your individual health situation into account. You should not use the information on Hpathy.com as a means of diagnosing a health problem or disease, or as a means of determining treatment. You should also not use the information on Hpathy.com as a substitute for professional medical advice when deciding on any health-related regimen, including diet or exercise. You should always consult a your own licensed health care provider for these purposes, or for any specific, individual medical advice.

Further information (sites from which the information on this page was compiled)

Australian Government – Department of Health and Ageing site:
http://www.healthemergency.gov.au/internet/healthemergency/publishing.nsf

USA: Center for Disease Control
http://www.cdc.gov/

World Health Organisation (WHO)
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

PALIMPSEST

“Take away love and our earth is a tomb.” - Robert Browning

Our life is brief, our years in short supply like a small stack of parchment, which we have heedlessly scribbled on. To our horror, our incunabula have laid waste the precious resource and needing a clean surface in which to write our maturer thoughts, we have none. Our thrifty ancestors, master recyclers, made the old into new by rubbing down the used parchments and on the palimpsests, wrote again, their more gravid thoughts.

Would you take the opportunity to do the same with your life, were it possible? Try to efface all traces of years wasted and begin anew? Has this happened to you already? Out with old, in with the new? Forgive, forget, move on, write new chapters on parchments scraped clean? The trouble is, as with all palimpsests, one can still read the original, and ostensibly effaced, writing underneath the new…

Palimpsest

Time passes and obliterates scars of old wounds,
Like the ink that blots the copybook.

My emotions fade, wafting aimlessly as my perception dulls,
Like the fog that obscures the landscape.

Years rush by, eroding the sharp pungency of my past life,
Like the sea that washes over the footsteps in the sand.

My memory begins to fail me and I forget you willingly,
Like the drawn veil that hides the beauty of the face.

All of the echoes of words I spoke, all of my fading words on old letters,
Like the writing on a blackboard, wiped by a sponge.

Our years together, as time passes, disappear
Like the black dye that seeps in and hides the pattern on the cloth.

As time passes, the densely written book of my existence,
Is unwritten; my life’s traces on the sand erased,
The printed words on paper lost, faded, effaced;
My parchment scraped almost clean,
The palimpsest ready for a new story.

THE LIBRARY

“To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul.” - Cicero

The history of civilisation walks hand in hand with the history of writing. It is no accident that as soon as writing evolved, the storage and safe-keeping of written records became a concern for the budding civilised states. A hoard of about 30,000 clay tablets found in ancient Mesopotamia date back more than 5,000 years. Papyrus scrolls from 1300-1200 BCE have been discovered in the ancient Egyptian cities of Amarna and Thebes, and thousands of clay tablets in the palace of King Sennacherib (Assyrian ruler from 704-681 BCE), were discovered by archaologists at Nineveh, his capital city.

“Library” is the name for these repositories of written records. Libraries have developed concurrently with the development of permanent storage media on which information has been stored. Whether it is clay tablets, papyrus scrolls, tablets of wood, sheets of parchment or paper; and whether the collections of these records have been private or public, libraries have been founded, built, destroyed and rebuilt. The library as an institution has survived for thousands of years, well into our digital age where the printed medium of the book is presently under attack. The survival of the library is a testament to the value humans place on knowledge and its transmission within populations, horizontally amongst individuals, but also vertically, through time.

The earliest libraries may have been in the Near East, but the ancient Greeks propelled the idea of the library as a cultural and civilising institution through their heightened interest in literacy and intellectual life. Public and private libraries flourished through a well-established process: Authors wrote on a variety of subjects, while scriptoria or copy shops produced the copies of the books, and book dealers sold them. Though the public library first appeared by the fourth century BCE, the private library was more prevalent, and older.

The greatest and most well-known library of all time was the Great Library of Alexandria, a public library founded about 300 BCE and open to all with the proper scholarly and literary qualifications. When Egypt’s King Ptolemy I (305-282 BCE) asked, “How many scrolls do we have?” the librarian, Aristotle’s disciple Demetrius of Phalerum was on hand to answer with the latest count. After all, it was Demetrius who suggested setting up a universal library to hold copies of all the books in the world translated into Greek.

The Alexandrian library's lofty goal was to collect half-million scrolls and the Ptolemies took serious steps to accomplish it. Ptolemy I, for example, composed a letter to all the sovereigns and governors he knew, imploring them “not to hesitate to send him works by authors of every kind”. At its height, the library held nearly 750,000 scrolls. Much of what is now considered to be literary scholarship began in the Alexandrian Library. Funds from the royal treasury paid the chief librarian and his scholarly staff. Physically, books were not what we think of today, but rather scrolls, mostly made of papyrus, but sometimes of leather. They were kept in pigeonholes with titles written on wooden tags hung from their outer ends.

Fires and depredations during the Roman period gradually destroyed the Library. When Julius Caesar occupied Alexandria in 48 BCE, Cleopatra urged him to help himself to the books. Obliging, he shipped tens of thousands to Rome. Mark Antony was rumored to have given Cleopatra the 200,000-scroll collection of rival library Pergamum to replace Alexandria's losses. Thanks to the Great Library, Alexandria assumed its position as the intellectual capital of the world and provided a model for other libraries to follow. Christian and Arab invasions eventually destroyed this jewel of ancient civilisation with the scrolls from the library being burned in the public baths to heat water, there being enough books for fuelling the boilers for six months.

Rome’s Vatican Library is one of the richest manuscript repositories in the world, with more than 65,000 manuscripts and more than 900,000 printed volumes. Most works are in either Latin or Greek. By the middle of the second century BCE, Rome also boasted rich library resources. Initially they comprised some scattered private collections, but holdings eventually expanded through the spoils of war. Even Aristotle’s famed collection was among the bounty.

To serve as director of a library was a great honour. The role became a stepping stone for the ambitious government servant. Staff consisted of slaves and freedmen, who were assigned to either the Greek or the Latin section. Educated slaves fetched rolls from the systematically arranged and tagged bookcases and returned them to their place when the user had finished with them. They usually transported the rolls in leather or wood buckets. Scribes made copies to be added to the collection and recopied damaged rolls, while keeping the catalog up to date. Libraries were typically open during standard business hours - sunrise to midday. However, they remained the domain of the learned: Teachers, scientists, scholars.

As the Roman Empire crumbled, the libraries began to close. In 378 CE, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus commented, “The libraries are closing forever, like tombs.” As the Roman Empire fell, libraries seemed doomed to extinction. However, sparked by the spread of Christianity, the eastern half of the empire did much to foster the use of libraries. The capital city of Constantinople had three major libraries: The university library, the library for the royal family and civil service, and a theological collection. The Christian tradition and the monasteries revived the library in the West. The Benedictines created libraries, and the scriptorium became a sacred place. It soon became customary for monasteries to lend to other monasteries, giving birth to the inter-library loan. Charlemagne, who owned a robust library in Aachen in the eighth century, ordered every school to have a scriptorium. The road was well paved to invite the Renaissance and a new age for libraries.

The invention of printing through Johannes Gutenberg's movable type innovation in the 1400s revolutionised bookmaking. Printed books replaced handwritten manuscripts and the new books were placed on open shelves. Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, libraries surged in popularity. They grew as universities developed and as national, state-supported collections began to appear. Many of these became national libraries. As the industrial revolution swept through the world and increased urbanisation led to the rise of the middle class, the public library came into being and the university libraries expanded their collections and scope of services to accommodate the burgeoning of new knowledge.

Libraries may have changed over the years (no longer do we store scrolls in pigeon holes), but the need for a repository of knowledge remains. The digital revolution may be changing our ideas of what a “book” is and how we read may be need to be rethought in the near future. However, the library has withstood attacks of barbarians and religious fundamentalists, has had to reinvent itself several times through several technological advances and changing incarnations of “books”, and has survived. As an institution the library continues to educate, inspire and civilise. I am hopeful that this will only continue and improve with the passage f time.

BRISBANE COMMUTING

“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.” - Isak Dinesen

I was in Brisbane for work today and the day was full of meetings and a busy schedule. Although it all went well, there was no time at all for anything else and the plane was reduced to a commuting means of public transport. The only problem is that the trip takes two hours and of course there is the time one needs to get to the airport and back. Consequently, after a 4:00 am start, it will be an early night tonight.

At least the weather in Brisbane was mild and overcast and the heavy rains that they have had causing the widespread flooding in Southern Queensland a Northern New South Wales had abated. The big surprise was coming back to Melbourne this evening and seeing the rain pelting down. I think just about the whole plane cheered, but of course this rain was just a downpour lasting for a short time and we need a few tens days like that so we can replenish our water reservoirs, which are down to about 26% capacity at the moment.

Seeing it’s Movie Monday today, I shall conform with the theme by mentioning that in the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane, there is Movie World, a theme park/studio. Warner Bros Movie World is the only movie-related theme park in Australia. With one of the best roller coasters on the coast and a good handful of movie related rides (think Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, Harry Potter, Batman and more), families are promised a fun-filled adventure with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. OK, it’s tacky, it’s a cheap thrills entertainment machine pandering to the masses, it’s crass and commercial, a Disneyland formula theme park, but popular it is. Maybe one of these trips I’ll even make a special effort to visit there, or maybe not …

Enjoy your week!

RENOIR

“Why shouldn't art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world.” – Pierre Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was a famous French impressionist painter, associated with the Impressionism movement along with his friends Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille. Renoir was born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, on February 25, 1841 as a child of a working class family. Renoir’s first encounter with painting dates from his childhood. Later, he worked in a porcelain factory where his drawing talent led to him painting designs on china.

From the beginning in early 1860s when Renoir started studying art under Charles Gleyre in Paris, when he didn't have enough money to buy paint, to his last day when rheumatoid arthritis severely hampered his movement and he was forced to paint by strapping a brush to his arm, and created sculptures by directing an assistant who worked the clay, Renoir's painting was always beautiful and optimistic. So was his view of life and his painful condition: “The pain passes, but the beauty remains” were Renoir's words.

Renoir's paintings are probably the most popular, well-known, and frequently reproduced images in the history of art. Almost everybody has heard of the Bathers, The Umbrellas, Luncheon of the Boating Party and one of the most expensive paintings ever, Le Moulin de la Galette along with many other. They present a vision of a forgotten world, full of sparkling colour and light.

The “Moulin de la Galette” (“Flour Mill”, shown above) of 1876 was one of 21 works shown by Renoir at the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877. Every Sunday afternoon young people from the north of Paris contributed in the dance-hall and in the courtyard behind it in fine weather. Most of the figures in Renoir's work, rather than being habitués of the Moulin were in fact portraits of his friends, with the occasional professional model posing for thin. The scene which Renoir has painted in this work is not an authentic representation of the clientele of the Moulin, but rather a scrupulously organised series of portraits.

The writer Georges Rivière, who knew Renoir well at this time, and is himself included in the painting as one of the three foreground gallant drinking at the table, in his review of the work in the journal “L' Impressionniste “which accompanied exhibition referred to it as a page of history, a precious and strictly accurate portrayal of Parisian life. That he should have stressed its realism is odd knowing the very painstaking working method Renoir had adopted.

OCEAN KISS

“A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years.” - Rupert Brooke

Another very full day today, with attendance at a conference in the morning and then the graduation ceremony for our Melbourne Campus in the afternoon. It was all very good, but exhausting. We had dinner after the graduation at “Feddish” in Federation Square. Although the food was good, service was very slow…

For Song Saturday, a very special song sent to me by a very special person, so far away… It is sung by Eleni Peta, with lyrics by Marina Dimitroula and music by Constantine Katomeris.

A Kiss on the Open Seas

How shall I send you my kiss,
So far away without it losing its warmth?
So that it doesn’t drown in the oceans,
So that it doesn’t bleed on the sharp rocks…

If I give it to the birds
I don’t know if it will be delivered,
If the wind carries it
I am afraid it will be lost.

Maybe I shall give it to the silence
Of a sleepless night,
Which will wrap it gently
In the nets of your dreams.

And when in your dream,
I secretly touch your body,
I’ll give you my gift of a kiss
And then I shall be yours…



Φιλί στα Πέλαγα
Τραγούδι – Ελένη Πέτα Στίχοι – Μαρίνα Δημητρούλα. Μουσική – Κωνσταντίνος Κατωμέρης

Πως να σου στείλω ένα φιλί
Τόσο μακριά πριν κρυώσει;
Να μην πνιγεί στα πέλαγα
Στα βράχια μην ματώσει…

Αν θα το δώσω στα πουλιά
Δεν ξέρω πως θα φτάσει,
Κι αν θα το πάρει ο άνεμος
Φοβάμαι μην το χάσει.

Ίσως το δώσω στη σιωπή
Μια νύχτα με αγρύπνια.
Να το τυλίξει απαλά
Στου ονείρου σου τα δίχτυα.

Κι όταν κρυφά μες στο όνειρο
Αγγίξω το κορμί σου,
Θα σου χαρίσω το φιλί
Και θα γενώ δική σου.

SCALLOPS

“Plough deep while sluggards sleep.” - Benjamin Franklin

A very busy day at work today, but quite satisfying as I got much done. Food Friday is fishy as it was this for dinner tonight:

SCALLOPS À LA GRECQUE

• 12 scallops in their shells
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped rosemary
• Salt, pepper
• 1 rhizome of ginger, grated.

Wash and clean the scallops, removing all the grit from the gut. Drain them and season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil until very hot, scald the ginger and immediately the oil heats again put in the scallops, ensuring they are seared all around. Stir in the flour and once it browns slightly, pour in the wine and water, stirring all the while. Add the rosemary and keep heating until the sauce thickens. Serve each scallop in each pre-heated shell (have them in the oven while cooking the scallops).

Serve with dry white wine, a fresh green salad and crusty bread.

Enjoy your weekend!

CULTURE

“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.” - Jawaharlal Nehru

The 21st of May has been declared by the United Nations as the World Day for Cultural Diversity and for Dialogue and Development. This is further to the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity by UNESCO on November 2001. This day provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to “live together” better. UNESCO continues to promote greater awareness of the crucial relationship between culture and development and the important role that information and communication technologies play in this relationship.

In these days of globalisation, increased urbanisation, massive shifts of the world’s population to countries away from their origin, and the effects of a unifying and aggressive cultural imperialism (for ideological, imperialistic or economic purposes), it is important to remember the great richness that is there to be discovered for all who are interested in the great diversity of cultures around the world. Many of these cultures are under the risk of extinction.

I personally have seen it occurring in the country of my birth. Greek culture has been a vast storehouse of traditions, beliefs, folklore, observances, religious practices, music, dancing, art and even social mores that has been preserved for thousands of years. In the last few decades, this rich storehouse has been depleted and is at risk of bankruptcy. The European Union, of which Greece is now a member, has exerted a massive pressure for economic, social and cultural integration. This is aided and abetted by the export and avid consumption of American “pop culture” through a very efficient worldwide marketing and communication machine.

One of the major challenges of the 21st Century is to convince people around the world that their indigenous culture, however meagre it is in terms of propaganda or number of its followers, is as worthy as any widely publicised and popular culture followed by many billions and which is imperialistically subsuming all others in its path. The challenge to make diversity out of difference, to promote unity by cultivating (not by reducing) human complexity will be one that is hard to accept and champion.

Forces of unity up till now have tended to subject our planet to a simplified order. Each of these efforts has missed the target and left bitter traces. Instead of unity there is often an increased division and prolongation of distrust and intolerance. Now is the time to build kinship on the basis of plurality, which has as its raw material the rich diversity of humankind. Culture is essential to this endeavour, as witnessed by the scope of world heritage sites and artworks and by the originality of creations which keep uniformity at bay.

The Diversity Festival organised by UNESCO in many regions of the world, from 11th to 22nd May 2009, to celebrate World Day for Cultural Diversity, for Dialogue and Development has the rich cultures of all people around the planet at its core. The Festival is made up of extremely diverse events, held in a multiplicity of places and countries from Paris to São Paulo.

Culture in all of its forms and diverse expressions enriches our life and surprises us with its delightful difference from the culture that we are brought up with. The independence, integrity and fruitful diversity of the culture of all the world’s countries promote the democratic principles of dignity, equality and mutual respect. This can be achieved through education, the sciences, culture and communication. Cultures are not monolithic and preserved through isolation, but they need be interdependent, enriching each other through mutual exchanges and borrowings, and that this diversity is a source of strength and unity.

culture |ˈkəl ch ər| noun
1 The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively: 20th century popular culture.
• A refined understanding or appreciation of this: Men of culture.
• The customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group: Caribbean culture | People from many different cultures.
• [with adj. ] The attitudes and behaviour characteristic of a particular social group: The emerging drug culture.
2 Biology: The cultivation of bacteria, tissue cells, etc., in an artificial medium containing nutrients: The cells proliferate readily in culture.
• A preparation of cells obtained in such a way: The bacterium was isolated in two blood cultures.
• The cultivation of plants: This variety of lettuce is popular for its ease of culture.
verb [ trans. ] Biology
Maintain (tissue cells, bacteria, etc.) in conditions suitable for growth.
ORIGIN: Middle English (denoting a cultivated piece of land): The noun from French culture or directly from Latin cultura ‘growing, cultivation’; the verb from obsolete French culturer or medieval Latin culturare, both based on Latin colere ‘tend, cultivate’. In late Middle English the sense was [cultivation of the soil] and from this (early 16th century) arose [cultivation (of the mind, faculties, or manners)]; sense 1 dates from the early 19th century.

HERACLITUS

“Abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise.” - Heraclitus

For Poetry Wednesday, some food for thought from William Johnson Cory. The subject is the great Ancient Greek Philosopher, Heraclitus from Ephesus the great city of Caria on the shores of Asia Minor.

Heraclitus

They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead;
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.

And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes, long long ago at rest,
Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales awake;
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.

William Johnson Cory (1823-1892)

Heraclitus of Ephesus (ca. 535–475 BCE) is probably the most significant philosopher of ancient Greece until Socrates and Plato. Heraclitus’s philosophy is perhaps even more fundamental in the formation of the European mind than any other thinker in European history, including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Heraclitus, like Parmenides of Elea (early 5th century BCE), postulated a model of nature and the universe which created the foundation for all other speculation on physics and metaphysics.

His ideas that the universe is in constant flux (Πάντα ῥεῖ… - panta rei, “everything is in flux”) and that there is an underlying order or reason to this change (λόγος – logos, reason) form the essential foundation of the European world view. Whether it’s a science, economics, or political science course that you study, to some extent everything you do in that class originates with Heraclitus’s ideas on change and the “logos”.

Despite the fact that the ancient Greeks considered Heraclitus one of their principal philosophers, unfortunately little remains of his writings. A few fragments, quoted by other Greek writers give us only a tantalising taste of his ideas and arguments. These passages are difficult to read and interpret fully, not only because they are quoted out of context, but because Heraclitus deliberately cultivated an obscure writing style (so obscure, in fact, that the Greeks nicknamed him the “Riddler” or the "Dark One").

However, by piecing together all of the fragments that we have of Heraclitus’s writings, we are able to piece together the central components of his thought. We can understand his concept of the logos, although it may be difficult to contextualise it in the universal sense. We can consider his claim that the logos consists of all the paired opposites in the universe, but what is the nature of the logos as the composite of all paired opposites? How does the Logos explain change? Fascinating glimpses of a great mind, as though one were trying to discover the meaning of life through snippets of conversations overheard in a busy train terminal…

Some of these fragments:

ποταμοῖσι τοῖσιν αὐτοῖσιν ἐμϐαίνουσιν, ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα ὕδατα ἐπιρρεῖ.
potamoisi toisin autoisin embainousin, hetera kai hetera hudata epirrei
“On those stepping into rivers the same, other and other waters flow.”

τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν
ta onta ienai te panta kai menein ouden
“All beings going and remaining not at all”

ποταμοῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμβαίνομέν τε καὶ οὐκ ἐμβαίνομεν, εἶμέν τε καὶ οὐκ εἶμεν.
potamois tois autois embainomen te kai ouk embainomen eimen te kai ouk eimen
“We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not.”

ἐκ τῶν διαφερόντων καλλίστην ἁρμονίαν
ek tōn diapherontōn kallistēn harmonian
“Out of discord comes the fairest harmony”

Some of these ideas have been independently vocalized and explored by the great Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (6th century BCE).

The painting above is by Bramante and depicts Heraclitus on the left as the “Crying Philosopher”, while on the right is Democritus, the “Laughing Philosopher”, personifying the essence of their credos.

PONTIAN-GREEKS MEMORIAL DAY

“Refugees have done more for my heart and my spirit than I can ever express in words.”
- Angelina Jolie

Today marks a commemorative day that is observed in Greece to remember the genocide of the Pontian-Greeks. The Pontus (Εύξεινος Πόντος - Euxeinos Pontos), is the Black Sea and Greeks settled the area from around 1000 BCE when they first visited the area for trade mainly in gold and minerals. The trip of Jason and the Argonauts to Colchis commemorates Greek visits to the Pontus. Mythology is full of more adventures in the region, including the travels of Ulysses to the country of the Cimmerians, the punishment of Prometheus by Zeus chaining his body on the mountains of Caucasus, the travels of Hercules to the Black Sea, which all testify to the existence of ancient Greek trading routes in the Black Sea.

The trading posts started to develop in to permanent Greek settlements by about 800 BC. The city of Miletus on the Western shore of Asia Minor was the first to start the colonisation of the Black Sea by founding a daughter-city, Sinope. This became a rapidly growing city gifted with a good harbour and easy accessibility to the hinterland. More colonial cities developed along the length of the Northern shore of Asia Minor, along the coast of the Black Sea. Large populations of Greeks settled there and their cities became powerful cultural and trading centres.

During the first centuries of their existence the colonies retained the same patterns of social and political organisation as their colonial mother-towns. With the passage of time, the Greek cities dominated the political life of the region and the local indigenous people became hellenised. In the Alexandrian period, the economic power of the Pontian-Greek cities peaked, with Greek culture leaving an indelible mark on the surrounding regions. Under the reign of the Pontian king Mithridates VI Eupator (134-63 BCE), Greek became the official language of the many different (and until then polyglot) people of Asia Minor. During Roman times, Greek culture in the eastern part of the Black Sea flourished and the Pontian-Greek cities retained their freedom, independence and self-determination as well as continuing to play a leading role in the economic and cultural life of the region.

The apostles St Andrew and St Peter brought Christianity to Pontus, profitting from the fact that the language of the populace was Greek, which had become the lingua franca of the time. As Christianity spread, Greek culture and national identity became fused with it. The result was that a homogenous culture emerged, based on the uniting element of Greek Christian Orthodoxy.

The capture of Constantinople by the Franks in 1204 CE, resulted in the fragmentation of the Byzantine Empire into small Frankish states. Smaller Greek states survived and Alexius, a member of the Byzantine dynasty of the Komnenoi, with his brother David, founded the Empire of the Great Komnenoi of Trebizond on the Pontus. The Georgian queen Thamar (aunt of Alexius and David) aided in the establishment of this state. Up until that point, Trebizond was relatively insignificant but because of the Komnenoi’s choice, it became a powerful dysnastic centre.

The fall of Constantinople (1453 CE) the fall of Trebizond (1461 CE) mark one of the great turning points in Greek history. Immediately after the capture of Trebizond by the Ottomans, many inhabitants of the rich coastal towns and the villages fled. Most of them escaped into the remote mountain regions of Pontus where in protective isolation they were free to continue their cultural, religious and linguistic tradition. Some of the refugees settled in central Russia, others on the coasts of southern Russia, in Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan, where they founded new Greek cities. These thriving cultural centres were able to welcome persecuted Greeks in later years. This resulted in the simultaneous existence of a second, ever-growing Pontian-Greek civilisation (particularly in Russia), which throughout the whole period of the Ottoman Empire received refugees. These refugees were fleeing the 1914-18 persecution of Pontians by the reigning Ottoman regime.

By 1918 the total Pontian-Greek population in Russia had grown to 650,000 people. On the opposite shore of the Black Sea, on Turkish territory, the history and culture of the Pontian-Greeks and also of the other Greek inhabitants came to a tragic end through the treaty of Lausanne in 1923. This treaty brought about the forceful expulsion of Greek people living on Turkish territory (the “Asia Minor Catastrophe”). Similarly, Turks living on Greek soil were expelled to Turkey.

The criterion for the population exchanges outlined in the treaty of Lausanne was religion. Greeks who become Muslim in the 17th century could stay in Turkey. This explains why inhabitants in regions around the Pontian towns of Tonya, Ophis, Sourmena and Matsouka still live in Turkey and speak their Pontian-Greek dialect. They remember their Greek heritage and preserve their Greek (and some Christian traditions, although nominally they are Muslim).

Pontians living in the territory of the former Soviet Union are still estimated to be half a million people who stick to their Pontian-Greek traditions. The Pontians managed, like all persecuted peoples, to stick together and through hard work they established themselves in their new adopted homes. They preserved their language, tradition, songs and dances, their culture.

MOVIE MONDAY - THE BROWNING VERSION

“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” - Sydney J. Harris

The movie for this Movie Monday is a classic piece of British drama, Anthony Asquith’s 1951 film of Terence Ratigan’s play, “The Browning Version”. This is a dark and wonderfully acted piece of psychological drama, which more than 50 years after its making still looks fresh and has the power to involve, engage and move the viewer.

The plot centres on Andrew Crocker-Harris (AKA “The Crock” to his students), a stuffy professor of Classical Greek at an English public (i.e. private) school. He is greatly disliked by his students and his fellow teachers and when he retires because of poor health he is denied a deserved pension by the stingy headmaster. To make matters worse his younger wife who is a social climber cheats on him with a younger professor. Although Crocker-Harris began his career eighteen years earlier as a brilliant young scholar, he has been buried by the stiff rigidity of school rules and regimentation and has made himself cold and distant from all human emotion. While his future seems to be financially ruinous and his marriage has failed, the kindness of one of his students rekindles his humanity.

Central to the film is Aeschylus’ tragedy of Agamemnon whose wife Clytaemnestra is cheating on him while he is away fighting in the Trojan War. On his return, the wife and her lover Aegisthus murder Agamemnon in his bath. The play not only mirrors Crocker-Harris’s life, but is also pivotal to the story. The title relates to the Browning translation of the “Agamemnon”.

The acting in this film is superb with Michael Redgrave giving a great performance as Crocker-Harris. Jean Kent as his duplicitous and shrewish wife supports him admirably. Nigel Patrick as the lover and Crock-Harris’s colleague is good, as is the young Brian Smith, playing the likeable young student, Taplow. The starring role won Michael Redgrave best actor in that year’s Cannes festival and the film also won best screenplay there. Ratigan who wrote the screenplay adapted it from his own play and the transfer from stage to film has been done eloquently and with a good understanding of the medium. As Ratigan was a homosexual it is easy to read a subtext into the movie, but the film works well even without such a subtlety.

It is quite a moving film, but not in the standard “tear-jerker” fashion of “Goodbye Mr Chips”. There is a raw energy in the film and a biting candour that grips the viewer as the layers are removed from the characters. In the end when their souls have been laid bare, one cannot but identify in turn with the tragedy in each of them. This is definitely a great film to watch, but be warned, it’s quite challenging viewing!

ART SUNDAY - CEZANNE

“A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.” - Paul Cézanne

The French painter Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) was one of the most important figures in the development of modern painting. In particular, the evolution of cubism and abstraction was largely due to his innovations (so now you know who to blame!). During the greater part of his own lifetime, however, Cézanne was largely ignored, and he worked in isolation. He mistrusted critics, had few friends, and, until 1895, exhibited only occasionally. He was alienated even from his family, who found his behaviour peculiar and failed to appreciate his revolutionary art.

For many years Cézanne was known only to his old impressionist colleagues and to a few younger radical post-impressionist artists, including the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and the French painter Paul Gauguin. In 1895, however, Ambroise Vollard, an ambitious Paris art dealer, arranged a show of Cézanne's works and over the next few years promoted them successfully. By 1904, Cézanne was featured in a major official exhibition, and by the time of his death (in Aix on October 22, 1906) he had attained the status of a legendary figure. During his last years many younger artists traveled to Aix to observe him at work and to receive any words of wisdom he might offer. Both his style and his theory remained mysterious and cryptic; he seemed to some a naive primitive, while to others he was a sophisticated master of technical procedure. The intensity of his color, coupled with the apparent rigour of his compositional organisation, signalled to most that, despite the artist's own frequent despair, he had synthesised the basic expressive and representational elements of painting in a highly original manner.

Cézanne's goal was, in his own mind, never fully attained. He left most of his works unfinished and destroyed many others. He complained of his failure at rendering the human figure. Even the great figural works of his last years (eg, the “Large Bathers”, painted 1899-1906), reveal curious distortions that seem to have been dictated by the rigour of the system of colour modulation he imposed on his own representations. The succeeding generation of painters, however, eventually came to be receptive to nearly all of Cézanne's idiosyncrasies. Cézanne's heirs felt that the naturalistic painting of impressionism had become formularised, and a new and original style, however difficult it might be, was needed to return a sense of sincerity and commitment to modern art.

I like many of Cézanne’s still life paintings, such as the one I feature, and also some of his landscapes where the elements of the painting assume a strange sculptural quality that achieves monumental proportions. I would have to agree with him on his own self-assessment o his figural painters. His “Great Bathers" look like they were modelled on transsexual men soldiers whose transformation into the opposite sex was influenced the stalwart physique of the men and marred by worst efforts of a terrible plastic surgeon…

SICILIA ANTICA

“The leaves of memory seemed to make a mournful rustling in the dark.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We were looking at some old photo albums today and while leafing through one of the ones that contained photos of a trip to Sicily taken about ten years ago I remembered a beautiful summer night in Palermo and a song that we heard while sitting on a terrace. It was night, with a full moon and gazing at the sparkling silver sea, this song wafted up from an open window. I looked it up on YouTube and here it is, evocative now as it was then. Nostalgic and reminiscent of a folk song, even then it bemoaned the times gone and never to return again. Now, it brings those memories to mind and is reminiscent of happy times that have gone by.

Sicilia Antica – Old Sicily
Marcella Bella

Born of sea and flowers,
Earth of love, you’ll never die.
Wheat-fields, burnt by the sun,
There, where I left my first love.

Old Sicily in my heart,
How many treasures in you!

People with dry faces, hard eyes,
But in their hearts much warmth.
These are my people, who sing easily
Whose work makes them happy.

Old Sicily in my heart,
How many treasures in you!

In sea and sun I was born,
Son of an earth that exists no more.
In my mind return a thousand alleys,
There, where I left my best memories.

Old Sicily, salt of the earth,
You’ll never return, like my first love!

THE STAFF OF LIFE

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts!” - James Beard

I must confess that I don’t eat much bread. At meal times, I’d rather have my food without bread, and at breakfast who needs bread or toast, if one can have cake? Besides which, I seldom eat sandwiches. However, there are occasions when I must have bread, especially if the bread is fresh out of the oven and home-made. The taste of freshly-baked bread lavishly spread with butter is wonderful! Strangely enough there is myth that making bread is difficult. It’s not actually if one understands the biology and the chemistry of it. The idea that it is time consuming is also a myth. Time spent in preparation is very quick, but of course, you have to leave the dough lying around for a long time so that it can rise.

Things that can go drastically wrong when you make bread are that you burn it (turn the oven down) or that it doesn’t rise. If it doesn’t rise, you may have used old yeast or you may have scalded it – remember it’s a living organism! Yeast lasts for quite a long time (around 6 months), and will last even longer if kept in the fridge or freezer. Incidentally, never buy yeast in those small foil sachets in the supermarkets. It is seriously over-packaged and very, very expensive. Buy your yeast in bulk from a fine establishment like health food store. Also, don't get confused and buy brewer’s yeast; you need granulated yeast. The water that you use to suspend the yeast in, should be around 35°C, but the best way of telling is by testing the water on your wrist. It should warm, but not at all hot, just like a baby’s milk bottle.

Always remember, the amount of flour is only a rough guide; flour absorbency varies greatly, and it is not difficult to tell when your dough is the right consistency, if you add the water carefully. Some bread recipes include sugar and honey, but these are not essential and can make the bread sickly sweet. If the water is the right temperature and you knead your bread well, you don’t need the “extras”. Salt is needed as it does add so much to taste (as does a little oil, I guess).

Here is a recipe for wheat germ bread, which is much more reliable than wholemeal bread:

Wheat Germ Bread

Ingredients
7 cups white unbleached flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 tablespoon dry (granulated) yeast
2.5 cups warm water
2 teaspoonfuls salt
2 tablespoonfuls olive oil

Method
Mix the yeast with about 1/2 cup of the warm water. Leave for about 10 minutes, by which time the yeast should have begun to foam.

Put the flour, wheat-germ and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, and pour in the yeast mixture. Stir and add the oil and the remaining water gradually, always stirring, until the dough forms a ball but doesn't become so sticky that it sticks to your fingers. There is no precise way of knowing when your dough will be ready except by experience... You really have to go on how the dough feels and looks. As you knead you can add more water or flour if it is needed. Thankfully, bread isn’t one of those things that require a perfect balance of ingredients. Furthermore, once you've made bread a few times you will learn to tell exactly when your dough is right.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Every so often sprinkle the board with more flour as you knead, or the dough will stick. Knead by pushing the heels of your hand into the dough, folding it back on itself, turning it around, and generally giving it a good work out. Kneading generally takes about 10 minutes but again the best way to tell is by experience and just by feeling it. It should be satiny, springy, elastic and smooth.

Put the dough in a bowl and cover with a clean, damp tea-towel. Leave somewhere warm to rise (under a blanket in winter). It will take between one and three hours to rise, depending on the ambient temperature. You can tell when it’s ready in two ways: Firstly, it should have doubled in bulk. Secondly, give it a little poke with your finger. If the indentation disappears let it rise some more. If it stays in the dough, it is ready to be shaped.

Now, take out your aggression by punching the dough down. Knead for about 3 minutes, and then shape the dough. The possibilities here are endless. Loaves, rolls, plaits, twists, knot rolls, cottage loaves, wherever your imagination takes you. Put your loaves or rolls or whatever onto a greased pan or bread tray, cover with a damp cloth, and leave to “prove” (i.e. rise again; this is quicker than the initial rising, and will take about 45 minutes).

Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C. Loaves should be left to cook for about 40 minutes, rolls need about 20 minutes. The bread is ready when it has a nice brown crust. Also, you can tip the loaf out of its pan, and tap its base. It should sound hollow. If it doesn’t, put it back in the tin and leave it bake for a little while longer.

Variations
Once you've mastered the basic principles of bread making the possibilities are infinite. You can just do about anything you like as long as you include yeast and balance the ingredients to get the same smooth, elastic dough.

Suggested additions include:
Herbs and spices: Whatever you like in whatever mixture.
Seeds: Sesame, linseed, sunflower, poppy.
Sprouted grains: Rice, wheat, lentils.
Vegetables, mashed: eg. potato and pumpkin; grated: eg. carrot, beetroot, parsnips, potato; or chopped: eg. onion or spinach.
Whole grains: Barley, rice, cracked wheat (these should be cooked first).
Different flours: Rye, buckwheat, rice, potato, soy, gluten, cornmeal. Bread can't be made from these flours alone (well, not using the basic recipe given above), rye can be used for about half of the flour, gluten should be used for more than a cup or two.
More exotic additions are grated parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried capsicum. Either added to the dough, or just sprinkled on top.

Now that I have said that I seldom eat bread, I should rephrase it. I seldom eat bread, but would love to have it more often as a full meal. Some bread and salad, or bread with cheese and some wine, or bread and butter…

Hmmm, let’s bake some bread and enjoy!

BUDGET TIME

“There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money, either.” - Robert Graves

The day today was extremely busy and I worked non-stop for almost twelve hours. There were several important meetings and important deadlines to meet in terms of reports, as well as several urgent phone calls that needed important decision to be made. The day ended with a budget meeting, which (as these types of meetings go) went way overtime…

Budgeting really bores me, especially since I seem to have a good money sense and seem to do well with financial matters in terms of good management. However, I can see the importance of budgeting, especially when large sums of money are involved and a large complex organisation with much revenue and expenses is involved.

At the moment we are digesting a particularly unpalatable federal budget, which was handed down from the treasurer this week. Given that times are tough globally and we are living through a global recession that is of the first magnitude, nobody expected this federal budget to be beer and skittles. However, it contains some highly controversial items that renege on pre-election promises made by the government; the highly unpopular measure of increasing the pensionable age up to 67 years; cutbacks on rebates for private health insurance cover; a victimisation of single people in terms of unequal treatment in terms of deductions, etc; voluntary superannuation payment tax benefits decreased; cutting back on skilled migration programs; a deficit of over $50 billion!
(see http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/05/12/78221_gold-coast-top-story.html).

The opposition of course are opposing this budget and some independent senators have threatened to vote against it in the upper house. This (and several other pending bills that the senate could refuse) will give the government cause for a double dissolution and an early federal election… Just what we needed!

In any case, the word for Thursday is quite apt then:

budget |ˈbəjit| noun
1) an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time: Keep within the household budget. | [as adj. ] A budget deficit.
• an annual or other regular estimate of national revenue and expenditure put forward by the government, often including details of changes in taxation.
• the amount of money needed or available for a purpose: They have a limited budget.
2) archaic a quantity of material, typically that which is written or printed.
Verb
(budgeted, budgeting |ˈbədʒədɪŋ|) [ intrans. ]
allow or provide for in a budget: The university is budgeting for a deficit | [as adj. ] (budgeted) A budgeted figure of $31,000 | [as n. ] ( budgeting) Corporate planning and budgeting.
• [ trans. ] provide (a sum of money) for a particular purpose from a budget: The council proposes to budget $100,000 to provide grants.
adjective [ attrib. ]
inexpensive: A budget guitar.
PHRASES
on a budget with a restricted amount of money: We're travelling on a budget.
DERIVATIVES
budgetary |-ˌterē| |ˈbədʒəˈtɛri| adjective

ORIGIN late Middle English: from Old French bougette, diminutive of bouge ‘leather bag,’ from Latin bulga ‘leather bag, knapsack,’ of Gaulish origin. Compare with bulge. The word originally meant a pouch or wallet, and later its contents. In the mid 18th century, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, in presenting his annual statement, was said “to open the budget.” In the late 19th century the use of the term was extended from governmental to private or commercial finances.

NIGHTMARE

“There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.” – André Gide

I had a nightmare last night peopled by strange undersea creatures and awful dark brooding monsters that threatened by their lurking non-presence. The sea with all its mysteries and unknown vastness, its unimaginable depths is a frightening thing. No wonder our ancestors peopled it with sirens and tritons, Nereids and giant creatures, the Kraken and the Selkie, all ready to drown and tear apart all those who invaded their domain…

Seascape

Wild cries of sirens echo
Tearing the reigning silence
That until now lay serene
In deep red coral caverns.
Seaweed and sponges part, green sunrays disappear
As Nereids swim to escape from the frightening din.
Seahorses gallop away,
Tritons blowing warning horns, swim, hide
In blue darknesses of ocean woods.

And there, bare-breasted they appear,
Awfully shrieking frightening yelps,
With hair loose and nails sharpened:
The sirens pass by and pearly palaces
Are laid waste, their great halls empty.
But in a moment, silence returns;
A pregnant pause, a short hiatus,
An unbearable wait ensues.

A siren-song exotic resonates
A heavenly harmony is heard,
Ecstatic voices sing mellifluously
A melody devastating in its beauty.
Seductive songs ring out, airs magnetic
Attracting hapless mortals to the deep.

The luckless sailor dives in liquid satin
The sirens stop their witching song.
Their scalpel claws tear flesh,
Their leech lips suck spilling lifeblood.
The body twitches in drowned exsanguination
His face becomes so deathly pale,
His eyes dull, and with fleeting last gaze
Pursue his soul that rises up
As both chase the echoes of the deathly song.

GREETINGS FROM SYDNEY!

“Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth.” - Thomas Carlyle

I was in Sydney today just for the day for work. Getting up early in the morning has never fazed me and I have never used an alarm clock – I just set my own internal clock and usually wake within 5-10 minutes of the time I “set”. However, in winter it is rather hard to get up at 4:30 am when the house is cold and dark and then have to prepare oneself for a 6:00 am flight. The mystique of travel rapidly wears off, when one travels so often on such short trips for work…

Sydney is a lovely place to visit, but I don’t think I would like to live there (although one never knows, I am quite adaptable). Even today with the busy schedule I had to deal with, there was time in between catching the train to look out on the Harbour and see the Bridge and the Opera house from Circular Quay, the lovely parks and gardens (the Sydney Botanical Gardens are lovely), the city heritage buildings. The weather of course helped – a beautiful warmish autumn day with sunny skies and fine, still air.

Nonetheless, I was not being a tourist, but rather going about the work commitments, which thankfully all went well. A bonus was that I could catch an afternoon flight back home, rather an evening one!

One of the Sydney icons is the Luna Park, situated in Milsons Point, a very prominent Harbour site across Circular Quay and almost under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The origins of Luna Park go back to Coney Island, U.S.A., part of metropolitan New York, where in the late 1800’s a number of competing amusement parks sprang up. Elmer Dundy and Frederick Thompson developed an amusement called “A Trip to the Moon”, which was extremely successful. In 1903 they opened their own amusement park on Coney Island and called it Luna Park in acknowledgement of their successful ride.

Soon Luna Parks spread throughout the world. American showmen, brothers Herman, Leon and Harold Phillips with J.D. Williams, opened Australia’s first Luna Park at St. Kilda in 1912. Showman David Atkins noticed its enormous success and convinced the Phillips to open a Luna Park in Glenelg, Adelaide in 1930. Ted Hopkins an electrical engineer joined the Park just prior to its opening to complete the electrical and mechanical installation. Despite several successful seasons, the Glenelg park was forced to close because of friction with the local residents and a local council that resisted any changes or expansion of the Park.

Herman Phillips and David Atkins commenced a search for a suitable place to relocate the South Australian Luna Park and found the vacant Harbour Bridge factory site at Milsons Point. Under the guidance of Ted Hopkins, Luna Park Glenelg was dismantled, packed up, transported by ship and unloaded onto the Dorman Long wharf and reassembled in Sydney. When the doors opened at 8.00pm on the 4th of October, 1935 it cost 6d to enter (3d for children) and 6d for most rides. The Big Dipper and Coney Island cost 9d. The Park was an instant success. After the first year, the admission charge was removed and Luna Park proudly advertised “Admission Free”.

Since then, the Luna Park has opened and closed numerous times, has had to weather fires and other tragedies, has narrowly escaped redevelopment several times. After many trials and tribulations, including dismantling of the famous face, selling off of many rides and periods of closure that threatened to obliterate its tradition, government and private enterprise collaborated and finally, the Park re-opened on the 4th of April 2004, complete with face lift and multi-million dollar renovations. It has operated non-stop since then.

MOVIE MONDAY - MANSFIELD PARK

“Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.” - John Le Carré

We watched a rather puzzling film at the weekend, one which perhaps had the best intentions, but through expediency, factors relating to its direction, marketing considerations, and the pandering to modern tastes and expectations, fell rather widely off the mark. The film was Patricia Rozema’s, 1999 “Mansfield Park” an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, which also happened to be the author’s favourite. The film was a BBC production, which sets a certain level of expectations in the viewers, as English costume dramas are so very well done in terms of costumes, sets, acting and general “feel” of authenticity when one watches them.

The plot concerns itself with Fanny Price, a poor relation and daughter of a woman who has married “for love” rather than money, who at age 10 goes to live at Mansfield Park, the estate of her aunt's husband, Sir Thomas. Fanny is clever and imaginative, a writer with an ironic sense and fine moral compass (Jane Austen being autobiographical to a certain extent). At Mansfield Park she comes especially close to Edmund, Sir Thomas's younger son. As Fanny grows up, she becomes beautiful as well as intelligent and charming. She comes to the attention of a neighbour, the well-off Henry Crawford. Sir Thomas supports this match, but to his displeasure, Fanny asks Henry to prove himself worthy. Edmund becomes attached to Henry’s sister, much to Fanny’s chagrin. Tom, Sir Thomas’ eldest son exposes Sir Thomas's fortunes as having originated in New World slavery. Fanny finds herself in an embarrassing situation where her position at Mansfield Park becomes untenable...

This is the bare bones of the plot to which Ms Rozema has confined herself. Sure enough to condense a novel of the breadth and subtlety of Austen’s work is difficult to do in two hours of film, so many essential characters and plot twists have been removed, that the husk remaining is rather oversimplified and caricature-like. This contributes to some of the puzzling aspects of the film and the inexplicable motivation of some of the characters. By reducing to the bare boens of the plot, leaving many characters and stressing the wrong parts (or even adding some parts that were not in the novel), the film becomes a poor adaptation.

The actors did a good job nevertheless, especially considering the limitations of the script (And incidentally Ms Rozema is responsible for the script as well as the direction). Frances O’Connor as Fanny Price is rather too feisty and more reminiscent of other Austen heroines. Jonny Lee Miller as Edmund does a relatively good job, Harold Pinter as Sir Thomas is good, but my money goes to Lindsay Duncan in the double role of Fanny’s mother and her sister, Lady Bertram, Sir Thomas’s wife. Hugh Bonneville as Rushworth as the cuckolded husband is good and the Crawford siblings played by Embeth Davidtz and Alessandro Nivola make a good pair.

The film satisfies the casual viewer because the “authentic feel” is still there, and if this casual viewer has not read the novel, he or she would be infinitely less demanding and more easily pleased with Rozema’s film. However, having read the novel (and enjoyed it, as it is a biting satire of social mores and a subtle commentary on the social structure of Austen’s time), the film lacks depth and is quite inconsistent, emphasising all the wrong things and giving a rather garbled and mangled account of the novel. Maybe if Ms Rozema had changed the title and the characters’ names, it would have been a passable “period drama”, even though it is too modern in its characterisation for that. If you decide to see it and have read the novel don’t set your expectations too high, but you still may get annoyed. If you haven’t read the novel, don’t set your expectations too high and you may enjoy it.