Quote: John Mortimer

"I had inherited what my father called the art of the advocate, or the irritating habit of looking for the flaw in any argument."

Movie: Jedda

Spoiler Alert:  Just as the movie now contains a warning at the beginning for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders that there is depiction of images and the names of persons now deceased, this article contains a warning that what follow contains spoilers. Do not read the article if you do not want key moments, scenes and the ending revealed.

In the early 1960’s my mother and father took my brothers and I out each Sunday for “The Outing”, which usually consisted of driving somewhere and having fish and chips. Sometimes the trips were further afield and more varied: a day at the beach, fishing in the Hawkesbury River, or sometimes a trip to La Perouse to watch the “Snake Man”, the chap who handled the snakes and lizards. La Perouse was populated almost entirely by aboriginals in those days. I can remember watching the black kids dive for coins thrown from the wharf into the water by the white tourists.

It was in about the mid 1960’s when I first saw Jedda, on TV. My mother did not let my brothers and I go to movie theatres because of her conviction that they were used by teenagers as “passion pits”. She was right but only for the back of the theatre. Still, my mother and the mother in Portnoy’s Complaint have a lot in common.

Even then Jedda struck me as a strange, powerful and mystical movie, unlike any others that were on the TV at the time. Remember that this was the days of Bonanza, Father Knows Best and Skippy. The referendum to change the Constitution to count aboriginals as part of the population was still a few years away, that happening 1967.

Quote: Charles Swindoll (1943 - )

"Life is 10 percent of what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes."

(Charles Swindoll is an evangelical pastor, author, educator and radio preacher).

Music: Malvina Reynolds / Little Boxes

(First emailed 17.01.2009)
“Do you know a song about houses made of ticky tacky?” my 15 year old Honourable Number Two son asked. “Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky..” I began singing, as my thoughts drifted back to the simpler, bygone 1960’s. Then I stopped and asked how he knew it. “It’s used in Weeds all the time,” he said, “and it’s been going around in my head.” He suggested that I do a post on Little Boxes and, as I headed up the stairs singing it, honourable 19 year old Number One Son called out “Have you been watching Weeds?”

Now I confess from the outset that the only acquaintance I have with weeds is that you pull them out of gardens, often getting told off by honourable wife because what looked like a weed turned out to be a valued plant. We therefore now have a division of labour in the garden where I am free to do anything except pruning or weeding, unless the weeding is pulling up the green bits between the pavers.

People: Sonia McMahon

In 1965 Sonia Rachel Hopkins, 32, married William "Billy" McMahon, 57, a politician in the government of Sir Robert Menzies.  Billy McMahon was Australia's Prime Minister between 1971-1972 until defeated by Gough Whitlam.

Today Lady Sonia McMahon is probably better known as the mother of Julian McMahon of Nip Tuck and Danii Minogue's ex.

In 1971, however, she created world wide headlines with a dress worn to a White House reception (pic below).  The dress had see-through slits on both sides and showed off her legs to their full advantage, no doubt to Richard Nixon's delight.  According to the Washington Post, it was one of the most talked about dresses ever worn to the White House.

Billy McMahon died in 1988.  Lady Sonia still lives in Bellevue Hill.

Quote: Jack the Ripper

“One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the twentieth century.”

- Jack the Ripper (murders committed 1888).

Words: Macquarie Dictionary 2009 Word of the Year

Official announcement:

Word of the Year:

"Shovel-ready": a building or infrastructure project capable of being initiated immediately, as soon as funding is assured. "Shovel-ready projects were worthy to receive money from the economic stimulus package because they could provide jobs immediately.'' - editor Susan Butler.

People's Choice:

"Tweet": to post a message on the social network site Twitter.

Honourable Mentions:

"Head-nodder'': a supporter of a politician or other media figure who stands beside them in the frame of a television shot and nods his or her head in agreement with what the speaker is saying;
"Cyberbully'': a person who bullies another using email, chat rooms and social network sites;
"Roar factor'': the influence that a home crowd has on a referee or umpire in making adjudications.

Photographs: Afghan Girl

In 1985 National Geographic featured a cover photo by Steve McCurry of a 12 year old girl with striking eyes who came to be known simply as Afghan Girl, the title of the photo in the magazine. Her name and identity were unknown. McCurry had taken her photograph (the first time she had been photographed) in a refugee camp in Pakistan after she had walked overland for 2 weeks from Afghanistan. She had been orphaned as a result of an attack by Soviet gunships on her village. The photo became a symbol of the Afghan conflict and the plight of refugees worldwide.

In 2002 National Geographic sent a team to seek to locate the girl, which they eventually did in a remote part of Afghanistan. Her name was Sharbat Gula (meaning “Rose Sherbet”), she had left the refugee camp in 1992 and was now married with 3 daughters. Iris scanning established that she was the same person as in the 1984 photograph, necessary in that various other persons had also claimed to be her National Geographic ran a story about her in a 2002 issue and set up a charitable fund for educating young Afghan girls, later varied to also include young boys.

Quote: Frank Zappa (1940-1993)

"Politics is a valid concept but what we have to do is not really politics...it's a popularity contest. It has nothing to do with politics. What it is is mass merchandising."

Words: Grok

In 1961 Robert Heinlein's book A Stranger In A Strange Land was published,.  It is the sci-fi story of Valentine Smith, a human raised on Mars by Martians and his difficult interaction with humans on return to Earth. 'Stranger in a  strange land' is one of the items mentioned in Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire.

Heinlein coined the term "grok" for the novel, a Martian concept that is hard to define in Earthly terms.  In the novel it is described as:

Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science—and it means as little to us (because of our Earthly assumptions) as color means to a blind man.

The above meaning - to understand something so well that it becomes part of you - is also explained in the novel as "to take it all in," to understand fully, or to "be at one with."  Others have explained it as to understand fully by intuition and empathy.  The word has become favoured by computer geeks and sc fi fans.  You can even buy T shirts bearing the words 'I grock Spock".

The Urban Dictionary also provides "to become one with" as a meaning, which gives me the excuse to ask:  What did the Buddhist monk say to the hot dog vendor?  Answer: Make me one with everything.

Quote: Al Capone (1899 - 1947)

"You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone."

Quote: Andy Rooney (1919 - )

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don't enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you're not going to be very happy. If someone bases his [or her] happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness. "

- Andy Rooney, American radio and television writer. He is most notable for his weekly broadcast A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney, a part of CBS program Sixty Minutes since 1978

Art: Van Gogh / The Potato Eaters

“I have tried to make it clear how those people, eating their potatoes under the lamplight, have dug the earth with those very hands they put in their dish, and so it speaks of manual labour, and how they have honestly earned their food. I have wanted to give the impression of quite a different way of living than that of us civilized people. Therefore I am not at all anxious for everyone to like it or to admire it at once.”

- Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), on his first major work The Potato Eaters, painted early in his artistic career and before his involvement with impressionism.

Question: Why do the people in the painting sit on the corners of the table instead of the straight parts? Would that not make a crowded room more crowded?

Epitaphs: John Laird McCaffery (1940-1995)

John

Free your body and soul
Unfold your powerful wings
Climb up the highest mountains
Kick your feet up in the air
You may now live forever
Or return to this earth
Unless you feel good where you are

Missed by your friends

The above epitaph is on the tombstone of John Laird McCaffery, who is buried in Montreal.  The cemetery has strict rules on what is, and what is not, allowed on tombstones, hence the true message being hidden in the epitaph.  It can be found by reading down the first letter of each line.

Kristian Gravenor of the Montreal Mirror spoke to the man who made the tombstone:

The cryptic message occurred to the monument maker after he finished sandblasting it into stone. “Afterwards, as I’m done, I’m looking at it and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ I noticed it just like that,” says John, whose full name won’t be published here for professional reasons. “This guy’s ex-wife and mistress came in together and ordered the stone. They said the message represented him. It was a thing between the three of them.

Quote: Woody Allen (1935 - )

“I asked the girl if she could bring a sister for me. She did. Sister Maria Teresa. It was a very slow evening. We discussed the New Testament. We agreed that He was very well adjusted for an only child.”

Great Cricket Sledges: Viv Richards

The following has been ascribed to an exchange between Viv Richards and various other players, including Merv Hughes, Geoff Lawson and Greg Thomas.

Whoever it was (and the most likely person appears to be the English county bowler George Thomas, playing for England), the bowler had bowled a few that Richards had swung at but missed. The bowler said "It's red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering."

On the next delivery Richards hit the ball out of the ground into a nearby river, saying to the bowler “You know what it looks like, now go and fetch it.”  

Awards: New Words

Image from Wordle.net

Language is a dynamic system.  Words can lose favour and become extinct or remain in some archaic form, eg

The adage “the exception proves the rule” does not mean that the exception establishes the rule, which is nonsense, but that the exception tests the rule, the original meaning of "prove". That archaic meaning remains in its original sense in the words proving ground, meaning a military test site for weapons.

Who doesn’t cringe when they hear or sing the words to our national anthem “our home is girt by sea", a matter already mentioned in an Auistralia Day post.

The original wording of The Ode by Lawrence Binyan was “Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn..”, "contemn" meaning despise or scorn. These days the word used in The Ode is condemn.

Movie Moments: More about The Godfather

Leo sent me an email after I posted the previous item, asking some questions about The Godfather:

1. I don't think Brando played in all the Godfather movies.

2. When were they made?

3. Why didn't he play in them all?

4. Did he play this before or after "Apocalypse Now" ?

5. When did he enter his really fat stage in Hawaii?

Movie Moments: The Godfather

I watched You’ve Got Mail again over the holiday break, but that is not the topic of today’s post. Sitting here and typing away (is typing still the correct word when it is a computer and not a typewriter?) I feel a bit like Tom Hanks communicating with Meg Ryan in that movie.

During that movie Tom Hanks quotes something from The Godfather (“Go to the mattresses”, meaning preparing for battle). She asks why men seem to relate to The Godfather and he replies “The Godfather is the I Ching. The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather is the answer to any question.”

Music: Elvis / Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Laughing Version)

Are You Lonesome Tonight? was written in 1926 and has been covered by various artists since that date. Even Al Jolson recorded it in 1950. Elvis covered it in 1960. He was reluctant but was persuaded by his manager. Colonel Tom Parker, it being one of his wife’s favourite songs. Colonel Tom was on the money: the single hit No 1 and stayed there for 6 weeks.

Deus ex Machina: Plot Devices and Defects

Deus ex Machina:

On a Parramatta Road intersection near where I live is a motorcycle shop with a painting of a big motor bike on the side of the building with the name of the shop: Deus ex Machina. You may have seen it driving into the city. The Latin words translate literally to “God from the Machine”, not a bad name for a motorcycle dealership.

The words, however, predate motorcycles, being a plot device used in Greek tragedy whereby a god appeared in the sky (an actor suspended from a crane, in Greek a mechane) to resolve plot. In this manner insoluble difficulties were overcome and everything finished nicely. Horace, writing about 18BC, coined the term Deus ex Machina and said that it was a crappy way to resolve plots, but not in those words.

The term and concept are still in use today but no longer means a god coming from the sky. Instead, it now denotes something that appears suddenly and unexpectedly, providing an artificial solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty.

Examples:

- Superman: Lois dies at the end, so Superman flies faster and faster against the Earth’s rotation until he reverses time and saves her.

- Superman 2: Lois Lane discovers that Clark Kent is Superman, so he takes her to the frozen North to his Fortress of Solitude. He decides that he will become human so that he can love her and so he gives up his super powers, then spending the night with her. He is told that if he gives up his powers, it is forever and is irreversible. When he and Lois get back to Metropolis, they discover that the bad guys from the Phantom Zone have been pretty much tearing the place apart. Clark goes back to the Fortress of Solitude where he discovers the magic green crystal that reverses the irreversible loss of his super powers. He defeats the baddies and gives Lois an amnesia kiss so that she forgets that he and Clark Kent are one and the same.

Movie Moments: Runaway Train

If you see only one movie before departing this world, make it Runaway Train. I guarantee that by the end of the flick, you will feel drained, not by the physical action but by the emotional intensity. This movie ranks in my personal Top Ten, which means it must be seen. Rent, buy, borrow or steal it.

The Plot:

Jon Voight, in the performance of his career plays, Oscar “Manny” Mannheim, a hardened convict in a brutal maximum security prison in Alaska. Manny, accompanied by another prisoner “Buck” (Eric Roberts, also in the performance of his career) escapes from the prison, pursued by Rankin, the vengeful warden of the prison. Manny and Buck, with a female rail employee, send up on an uncontrollable runaway train, as the name of the movie implies.

Newspaper Item: Goan..

Poetry: Janet Minor / Spell Check

I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC;
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I’ve run this poem threw it,
I’m sure your pleased too no,
Its letter perfect in it’s weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.

Quote: William Pitt the Elder (1708-1778)

“The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake, the wind may blow through it, the storm may enter, the rain may enter - but the King of England cannot enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.”

Quote: Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it.”

Poetry: Footprints in the Sand / Buttprints in the Sand

My friend sent me an email in response to something I had posted  that his mother's favourite poem was Footprints in the Sand.  In his words:

Whenever things were tough, she would remind us of this poem and say that we never had to take on a burden by ourselves, there was always someone to share it with. That's why it's so important to have a circle of  friends to at least email things to, so you know you are never alone and there is always someone to help.

For those not familiar with the poem, it was written in 1936 by Mary Stevenson and reads as follows:

Music: Phil Collins / In the Air Tonight

I like Phil Collins, I like In The Air Tonight, but I love the video clip used in the Cadbury advertisement that utilises the song. The video clip I am referring to is the one with the gorilla, which has spawned numerous remixes, spoofs and the like.

The clip can be viewed at:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=wHjieD6CTYs&feature=related

Sometime ago I heard that the Phil Collins’ song was about his brother drowning, that there was a man on the shore who watched and did not help, and that Collins learned who he was. He sent tickets to his show to the guy, front row seats, and then sang that song to the guy with the spotlight on him. True?

The lyrics of the song are:

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord

I've been waiting for this moment all my life, oh Lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord

Wedding

A conversation with a long established client today:

Client: "Could I get you to send me some certified copies of Mum's Power of Attorney? She's got dementia now."

Me: "Yes, I'll do that.  I'm sorry to hear it."

Client: "You wouldn't read about it.  She's gone and married my dad again.  He's got dementia as well.  They've obviously both forgotten that they hate each other.  They keep hugging each other and giving each other kisses.  Mum was walking down the aisle with me when they married again and she said to me 'Who am I marrying again?' and I said 'It's Dad, Mum.'  She said 'Oh good, I hoped it was him.'

Movie Moments: Was Ben Hur gay?

Leo suggested a classic such as Ben-Hur, The Magnificent Seven or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, for a Movie Moments, hence this selection.

One interesting item about Ben-Hur, released in 1959, is its underlying gay aspect.

The story:

Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy merchant of noble blood living in Jerusalem. His childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), a tribune, arrives in Jerusalem to command the Roman garrison. At first happy to be reunited, they argue over Messala’s belief in the glory of Rome and imperial power, and Judah’s commitment to his faith and the Jewish people. They part in anger.