Hi and welcome back!
Thanks to a revived interest in taking my writing much more seriously, and a generous encouragement from a colleague, I decided to revive 'Tim's New World' instead of scrapping it and starting again.
It's been a fairly active but not too-busy time since my last post in late March. One major highlight has to be going to see the latest Cirque Du Soleil performance in Canberra: Varekai! was an intense, colourful and really exciting performance. A seat very close to the stage meant seeing the detail in costumes and also having to crane my neck and lean backwards to see the aerial stunts directly above me. I continued to work at the same museum in Canberra, kept going along to book group meetings, 'pulled the plug' on a plan to travel to Australia's famously wild Kimberleys region (delayed it for next year to allow for more saving), had a quiet but enjoyable birthday celebration in June and of course kept reading. It was great to have the main city library opened again after months of repairs because of a freak hailstorm in February.
In July and August so far l've also joined some on-line forums, learnt a little more about potentials for really interesting and useful blog content and did some house-sitting. Now it's time start some new social activities outside my work life.
One of the basic changes to the blog is the template: it was time for a new look as part of the reviving process. This template you can see now is called 'Scribe'. It's one of the choices from the Blogger menu, and can be customised a bit, so I'll try a few variations. Another plan is to get a digital camera soon and start compiling an on-line gallery. A trip to the Blue Mountains next month should provide plenty of images to start with. There's also work to be done on ensuring the Comments facility section is easier to use for on-line conversations. After all, that's supposed to be one of the attractions of blogs! :)
Cheers,
Tim
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Hugh and Seth - witty and generous blog gurus
Learning to make a blog worth looking at: the search for great teachers goes on...
Hi
During the past week I've been looking for experienced and creative bloggers who can explain the essentials and some interesting extras in ways that are readable as well of giving practical help. Two blogger-gurus that stand out are Hugh MacLeod and Seth Godin. There's already a link to Hugh's 'gapingvoid' blog on my blog and links to Seth's blogs will show up shortly.
In the blog photos they both post, Hugh looks like a serious academic but is lighter in print, and Seth's shaved head give him a classic 'guru' look but his smile is just a little bit impish. :)
Hugh is a London-based blogger and marketing consultant who writes pithy comments about marketing, blogging in general, blogging-plus-marketing, blogging-as-marketing and new ways of understanding What the Customer Wants in the Virtual Age. He is also a cartoonist, which makes his blog into a very appealing source of edgy humour. He's pretty generous with them too - as long as you just use them for your own blog you can install his widget for free, to get a regular supply of his spiky style of punchlines. 'The Hughtrain' is one of his major theme-driven blog 'columns' for getting across his messages. Examples of his 'day job' work make it clear he's very good at teaching and doing.
Seth is an American 'netrepeneur' - (as I understand the term) an entrepeneur specialising in Internet technologies. This guy has been and is incredibly active as a founder and developer of extremely successful Net-based companies and products and also vastly knowledgeable about how to get along in the Virtual Age. Seth loves to write e-books as a way of communicating his ideas and knowledge -some he has given away for free, including Who's There? Seth Godin's Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web. Thanks, Seth! Other titles sell by 100 000s on Amazon. Like Hugh, Seth uses an edgy kind of humour and there's a hint of what some might think is impatience with people who don't catch on quickly. My best suggestion is: don't let it get to you and remember that if he was genuinely impatient he's hardly be spending very valuable time writing 'how to' e-books for beginners and giving them out for free. This guy has a genuine unlimited kid-on-their-birthday kind of enthusiasm for what he writes about and it shows! He keeps creating an impressive variety of amount of blog content and like Hugh is happy to share a lot of it at no cost to bloggers. Hugh gets a mention in Seth's work and vice versa.
Hi
During the past week I've been looking for experienced and creative bloggers who can explain the essentials and some interesting extras in ways that are readable as well of giving practical help. Two blogger-gurus that stand out are Hugh MacLeod and Seth Godin. There's already a link to Hugh's 'gapingvoid' blog on my blog and links to Seth's blogs will show up shortly.
In the blog photos they both post, Hugh looks like a serious academic but is lighter in print, and Seth's shaved head give him a classic 'guru' look but his smile is just a little bit impish. :)
Hugh is a London-based blogger and marketing consultant who writes pithy comments about marketing, blogging in general, blogging-plus-marketing, blogging-as-marketing and new ways of understanding What the Customer Wants in the Virtual Age. He is also a cartoonist, which makes his blog into a very appealing source of edgy humour. He's pretty generous with them too - as long as you just use them for your own blog you can install his widget for free, to get a regular supply of his spiky style of punchlines. 'The Hughtrain' is one of his major theme-driven blog 'columns' for getting across his messages. Examples of his 'day job' work make it clear he's very good at teaching and doing.
Seth is an American 'netrepeneur' - (as I understand the term) an entrepeneur specialising in Internet technologies. This guy has been and is incredibly active as a founder and developer of extremely successful Net-based companies and products and also vastly knowledgeable about how to get along in the Virtual Age. Seth loves to write e-books as a way of communicating his ideas and knowledge -some he has given away for free, including Who's There? Seth Godin's Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web. Thanks, Seth! Other titles sell by 100 000s on Amazon. Like Hugh, Seth uses an edgy kind of humour and there's a hint of what some might think is impatience with people who don't catch on quickly. My best suggestion is: don't let it get to you and remember that if he was genuinely impatient he's hardly be spending very valuable time writing 'how to' e-books for beginners and giving them out for free. This guy has a genuine unlimited kid-on-their-birthday kind of enthusiasm for what he writes about and it shows! He keeps creating an impressive variety of amount of blog content and like Hugh is happy to share a lot of it at no cost to bloggers. Hugh gets a mention in Seth's work and vice versa.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
New season of tv series 'The Chaser's War on Everything'
Hooray! Thank you, ABC! The new season of 'The Chaser's War on Everything' has started on this evening, and the team is really sharp. All the skits were worth a mention, and even the intro-with-audience was entertaining, but for now I'll offer my highlights:
- the prize-winning Free Hugs guy from YouTube, followed by The Chaser's own attempt to mimic the style
- NSW Liberal Party leader Peter Debnam and those budgie-smugglers [also known as Speedos] he insists on wearing, paired with one of the team trying same stunt
- mock epitaph for Naomi Robson's star spot as glamorous current affairs anchor, sung piteously to Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind' and slyly inter-cut with brief soundbites of Naomi in action
- how being seen with a baby wrapped in a blanket can miraculously protect you from official inquiries and unwanted publicity
- the Chaser's own efforts to do a bit of word-of-mouth advertising for the show, by bribing taxi drivers to talk up the show to unsuspecting passengers
- how borrowing the car of fast-driving prominent human rights lawyer Marcus Einfeld can save you (applies to Sydney region only) from being fined for just about every traffic violation in the book, and even from robbing a petrol station.
I'm already looking forward to next week's episode. ABC, 9pm Wednesdays*.
* and if the Chaser team reads this: this first one is for free, since you came back to ABC; the next one costs the $50, just like the cabbies. . :)
- the prize-winning Free Hugs guy from YouTube, followed by The Chaser's own attempt to mimic the style
- NSW Liberal Party leader Peter Debnam and those budgie-smugglers [also known as Speedos] he insists on wearing, paired with one of the team trying same stunt
- mock epitaph for Naomi Robson's star spot as glamorous current affairs anchor, sung piteously to Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind' and slyly inter-cut with brief soundbites of Naomi in action
- how being seen with a baby wrapped in a blanket can miraculously protect you from official inquiries and unwanted publicity
- the Chaser's own efforts to do a bit of word-of-mouth advertising for the show, by bribing taxi drivers to talk up the show to unsuspecting passengers
- how borrowing the car of fast-driving prominent human rights lawyer Marcus Einfeld can save you (applies to Sydney region only) from being fined for just about every traffic violation in the book, and even from robbing a petrol station.
I'm already looking forward to next week's episode. ABC, 9pm Wednesdays*.
* and if the Chaser team reads this: this first one is for free, since you came back to ABC; the next one costs the $50, just like the cabbies. . :)
Monday, March 26, 2007
Comments on new movie: 'The Lives of Others'
Comments on new movie: 'The Lives of Others' [2006]
dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Note: as this movie has only just been released in Australia, I'm not going to do a traditional type of review covering the whole story, but instead give comments on various features that most strongly interested or appealed to me.
My strongest impression of this film is the atmosphere it creates in the very first minutes: intense suspicion and fear. This is sustained right through the film, in various ways: not only by officers of the state security police known by its short name of Stasi, and by high-ranking political officials, but also by the civilians under surveillance. Throughout the story you can see that the constant presence of fear and suspicion and the widely-assumed knowledge the Stasi could be spying on you but not the certainty it was at any given moment, has different damaging effects on different characters. The precision and range of the note-taking, written reports and recording system used to kepe track of an entire population is vividly depicted. So much of the intimidaiotn is done by looks, gestures, casual comments, veiled threats and very little or nothing is directly managed by show of guns or snarling dogs. A quick through-the-lens tour of underground interrogation rooms and the snarling tone of officer Captain Gerd Wisler checking on an inquisitive tenant does more than enough to show how the police operate so effectively and are able to ruthlessly survey so many.
The dramatic content of the movie is based on a small group of characters: a few key Stasi officers, a high-ranking minister and some leading players in the East German theatre world who are constantly under threat of censorship and employment bans. They become increasingly bitter about the system and with each other. Georg Dreyman is a popular and 'loyal'
playwright, his mentor and close friend is an older director who has a famous past but apparently no real hope of a future. Dreyman's lover, Christa-Maria, is a talented and charismatic singer and artist with a secret life of her own. But it is the Stasi officer Gerd Wisler (noted above) who makes the first main appearance: he is the classic zipped-up soulless servant of the state machinery, capable of total ruthlessness on a daily basis and extremely efficient. He works hard to be feared as a cunning and tireless interrogator. Wisler's boss, Grubitz, is a long-time colleague and friend from police college days. Grubitz has a causal and even friendly superficial manner, but can also willingly wreck people and quickly distance himself from disgraced colleagues.
The drama really starts when Wisler is given a special surveillance assignment after teaching a class of aspiring students at the police college. After a night at the theatre, where Dreyman is directing a play, Grubitz has a chat with a high-ranking minister. He then authorises Wisler to start keeping a close watch on the playwright and find out if he really is still loyal or has some secret projects that could become security issues. Wisler's work on 'the operation' is what draws the viewer further into the story, and the reactions and experience of those being spied on show just how damaging life in the regime can be. In various ways they all become trapped in lies and ruses. No one can or will trust the motives of a neighbour behind a door. They start to hate themselves and sometimes even each other. Creativity falters and willpower wilts. Wisler and his junior colleague grimly maintain their lonely work. Sadness seeps into every thin apartment wall.
As the months and years grind on, a couple of supporting characters become angrier and more resourceful: that gives Dreyman some new hope of writing an important documentary piece that is not a play and must be smuggled to the West at all costs. Meanwhile, Grubitz and the minister become impatient with the lack of any significant new findings and mounting staff cost of the 24-hour surveillance. The danger increases, the stakes are raised and Wisler is made to feel the pressure on his own career and at possible cost of his friendship with Grubitz. This combination of streses has some strange effects on him: while wearing headphones and typing detailed reports as he listens in and occasionally exercises his ingenuity by setting traps, he hears music and comments that get past his professionally-trained instincts and thought patterns. At an advanced stage of surveillance, he finds he can no longer trust his original assumptions about the rightness or even ulitmate use of what he is doing. A very unexpected decision at a key stage in the operation shows that there is in fact some sort of human being behind the dress uniform he prefers for interrogations and the drab tracksuit he uses to travel to and from secret operations.
There is a brief period covering the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and what happens to the various main characters following that historical event. It also gives a fascinating glimpse of the sheer extent of highly personal archival material that becomes available to the citizens of the former GDR. The director and screenwriter resist the temptation to present affecting re-union scenes and instead offer different and quiter types of brighter moments.
Yes, there are flashes of humour, intense romance and short-lived celebration scenes, especially Dreyman's birthday party early in the story and much later celebrations about what was smuggled past the border... But these scenes also serve to highlight the daily dreariness, unknowable police actions, personal crises, slippery ideologies and ever-present fear. On screen, 'The Lives of Others' is a profound 'human interest' story made all the more powerful and fascinating by being directly based on a very real regime that still operated in unnervingly recent history.
dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Note: as this movie has only just been released in Australia, I'm not going to do a traditional type of review covering the whole story, but instead give comments on various features that most strongly interested or appealed to me.
My strongest impression of this film is the atmosphere it creates in the very first minutes: intense suspicion and fear. This is sustained right through the film, in various ways: not only by officers of the state security police known by its short name of Stasi, and by high-ranking political officials, but also by the civilians under surveillance. Throughout the story you can see that the constant presence of fear and suspicion and the widely-assumed knowledge the Stasi could be spying on you but not the certainty it was at any given moment, has different damaging effects on different characters. The precision and range of the note-taking, written reports and recording system used to kepe track of an entire population is vividly depicted. So much of the intimidaiotn is done by looks, gestures, casual comments, veiled threats and very little or nothing is directly managed by show of guns or snarling dogs. A quick through-the-lens tour of underground interrogation rooms and the snarling tone of officer Captain Gerd Wisler checking on an inquisitive tenant does more than enough to show how the police operate so effectively and are able to ruthlessly survey so many.
The dramatic content of the movie is based on a small group of characters: a few key Stasi officers, a high-ranking minister and some leading players in the East German theatre world who are constantly under threat of censorship and employment bans. They become increasingly bitter about the system and with each other. Georg Dreyman is a popular and 'loyal'
playwright, his mentor and close friend is an older director who has a famous past but apparently no real hope of a future. Dreyman's lover, Christa-Maria, is a talented and charismatic singer and artist with a secret life of her own. But it is the Stasi officer Gerd Wisler (noted above) who makes the first main appearance: he is the classic zipped-up soulless servant of the state machinery, capable of total ruthlessness on a daily basis and extremely efficient. He works hard to be feared as a cunning and tireless interrogator. Wisler's boss, Grubitz, is a long-time colleague and friend from police college days. Grubitz has a causal and even friendly superficial manner, but can also willingly wreck people and quickly distance himself from disgraced colleagues.
The drama really starts when Wisler is given a special surveillance assignment after teaching a class of aspiring students at the police college. After a night at the theatre, where Dreyman is directing a play, Grubitz has a chat with a high-ranking minister. He then authorises Wisler to start keeping a close watch on the playwright and find out if he really is still loyal or has some secret projects that could become security issues. Wisler's work on 'the operation' is what draws the viewer further into the story, and the reactions and experience of those being spied on show just how damaging life in the regime can be. In various ways they all become trapped in lies and ruses. No one can or will trust the motives of a neighbour behind a door. They start to hate themselves and sometimes even each other. Creativity falters and willpower wilts. Wisler and his junior colleague grimly maintain their lonely work. Sadness seeps into every thin apartment wall.
As the months and years grind on, a couple of supporting characters become angrier and more resourceful: that gives Dreyman some new hope of writing an important documentary piece that is not a play and must be smuggled to the West at all costs. Meanwhile, Grubitz and the minister become impatient with the lack of any significant new findings and mounting staff cost of the 24-hour surveillance. The danger increases, the stakes are raised and Wisler is made to feel the pressure on his own career and at possible cost of his friendship with Grubitz. This combination of streses has some strange effects on him: while wearing headphones and typing detailed reports as he listens in and occasionally exercises his ingenuity by setting traps, he hears music and comments that get past his professionally-trained instincts and thought patterns. At an advanced stage of surveillance, he finds he can no longer trust his original assumptions about the rightness or even ulitmate use of what he is doing. A very unexpected decision at a key stage in the operation shows that there is in fact some sort of human being behind the dress uniform he prefers for interrogations and the drab tracksuit he uses to travel to and from secret operations.
There is a brief period covering the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and what happens to the various main characters following that historical event. It also gives a fascinating glimpse of the sheer extent of highly personal archival material that becomes available to the citizens of the former GDR. The director and screenwriter resist the temptation to present affecting re-union scenes and instead offer different and quiter types of brighter moments.
Yes, there are flashes of humour, intense romance and short-lived celebration scenes, especially Dreyman's birthday party early in the story and much later celebrations about what was smuggled past the border... But these scenes also serve to highlight the daily dreariness, unknowable police actions, personal crises, slippery ideologies and ever-present fear. On screen, 'The Lives of Others' is a profound 'human interest' story made all the more powerful and fascinating by being directly based on a very real regime that still operated in unnervingly recent history.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
End of Extras series; the avatar
1. 'Extras' series: I thought the last episode of Ricky Gervais's 'Extras' was well done as a finale, with an extra guest star or two who were completely full of themselves, Andy finally makes his agent see the 'writing is on the wall' after pathetic performance and an icky scene in the office, and of course another sick kid gets the "do I really have to be nice to them too?" treatment. Andy can be every bit as socially inept as MrBean.
Didn't expect to see De Niro show up in this series -Gervais must be really building up some serious appeal now. Entertaining cameo, with the agent finally managing a Big Catch, the meeting set up in the famous Dorchester Hotel and Bob looking at his watch then becoming fascinated with the agent's tacky novelty pen... I wonder if the new success will turn Andy into another miserable egotistical specimen? Probably. His friend Maggie was a sort of vague, guileless and very indiscreet version of Jiminy Cricket, set against Andy's delusions of achievement and tendency to patronise people -the BAFTA Awards Night episode was priceless.
2. Avatar for blog: Small but significant technical breakthrough in blog content: the avatar I'd put together over a couple of sessions had saved OK but then proved very difficult for the browser in 'Add a Picture' feature to find among other files. Tonight it eventually exported from original avatar site to my blog and ended up in right spot on the 'front page'. I'll quit while I'm winning. :)
Didn't expect to see De Niro show up in this series -Gervais must be really building up some serious appeal now. Entertaining cameo, with the agent finally managing a Big Catch, the meeting set up in the famous Dorchester Hotel and Bob looking at his watch then becoming fascinated with the agent's tacky novelty pen... I wonder if the new success will turn Andy into another miserable egotistical specimen? Probably. His friend Maggie was a sort of vague, guileless and very indiscreet version of Jiminy Cricket, set against Andy's delusions of achievement and tendency to patronise people -the BAFTA Awards Night episode was priceless.
2. Avatar for blog: Small but significant technical breakthrough in blog content: the avatar I'd put together over a couple of sessions had saved OK but then proved very difficult for the browser in 'Add a Picture' feature to find among other files. Tonight it eventually exported from original avatar site to my blog and ended up in right spot on the 'front page'. I'll quit while I'm winning. :)
Saturday, March 17, 2007
'Around the World in 80 Treasures' -tonight's episode
This evening's episode of 'Around the World in 80 Treasures' focussed on the Silk Road/Route and various major cities on it, including: Damascus, the ruins of Persepolis and the Azerbaijan city of Baku. The harsh landscapes, secular and religious architecture and the psychedelically-bright colours in the markets were all feasts for the tv viewer's eyes.
Although the presenter's voice still grates a bit and I wish he'd get rid of that twee little hat he wears (it makes perfect sense on Jacques Tati's character "Mon Oncle" but on a doco presenter it's just...no), I'll agree that he does cover some fascinating places and narrates with real excitement. I'd prefer Michael Palin any day, but if he can't do it then I suppose Dan Cruikshank's travels are better than not seeing the wonders at all.
Although the presenter's voice still grates a bit and I wish he'd get rid of that twee little hat he wears (it makes perfect sense on Jacques Tati's character "Mon Oncle" but on a doco presenter it's just...no), I'll agree that he does cover some fascinating places and narrates with real excitement. I'd prefer Michael Palin any day, but if he can't do it then I suppose Dan Cruikshank's travels are better than not seeing the wonders at all.
Friday, March 16, 2007
After training day; long weekend
The main big thing at work today, after the Time Management course yesterday, was a major clean-up of my entire desk area. And that included a bristled brush, paper towel and detergent -all borrowed from tea room. Doesn't look exciting in print, I admit, but this was a real put-it-into-action kind of activity after a lot of theory in the course. As I work in a collection area of a museum, it's all too easy for lots of stuff to keep steadily building up on trolleys, shelves, etc.
Hooray! Long weekend coming up in my home city, as there's an annual public holiday to mark anniversary of the city's founding. I've planned some out-and-about activities for Saturday and Monday afternoon; Sunday needs to be mainly a 'do things at home' day. That could definitely include learning a new blogging trick or two. :) Last night I tried getting an avatar together and onto my blog, but ran into technical problems with the site and late at night just became fed up with multiple error/"please refresh" messages.
Good night and good blogging. :)
Hooray! Long weekend coming up in my home city, as there's an annual public holiday to mark anniversary of the city's founding. I've planned some out-and-about activities for Saturday and Monday afternoon; Sunday needs to be mainly a 'do things at home' day. That could definitely include learning a new blogging trick or two. :) Last night I tried getting an avatar together and onto my blog, but ran into technical problems with the site and late at night just became fed up with multiple error/"please refresh" messages.
Good night and good blogging. :)
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Training Day -at work
Practically all of today at my work was for a course on Time Management, and it did have some useful things to offer: refresher on some classic strategies, group and individual exercises, and the presenter was lively, which always helps a lot. I expect the manual we were all given will be a handy reference in coming weeks.
It didn't take long (maybe after first half-hour of first session) for it to become clear to me that I did need this chance to step away from daily tasks and see if I could improve some processes. It was handy to get hints and tales of experience from others in the group, not only from the presenter.
Doing the full-day course was also a useful holiday from screen-based work, though not so much of a holiday from being at a desk. Outdoors, the weather was so fine I made sure I had lunch in a local park, and made the most of walks to and from work.
So, tomorrow it's clean-off-desk time and dusting off the neglected diary.
Good night, and good blogging. :)
It didn't take long (maybe after first half-hour of first session) for it to become clear to me that I did need this chance to step away from daily tasks and see if I could improve some processes. It was handy to get hints and tales of experience from others in the group, not only from the presenter.
Doing the full-day course was also a useful holiday from screen-based work, though not so much of a holiday from being at a desk. Outdoors, the weather was so fine I made sure I had lunch in a local park, and made the most of walks to and from work.
So, tomorrow it's clean-off-desk time and dusting off the neglected diary.
Good night, and good blogging. :)
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Adding to my blog, 1 or 2 features at a time
My technical blogging session this evening was dedicated to learning how to add a new feature or two and/or connect to a bigger part of the on-line community. I decided to try linking my blog to a big search engine/directory, so gave Technorati a go.
Success! The logo showed up as claimed, and is sitting neatly in the sidebar to the right. I chose this one as it was a bit easier to read than the little green button and looked snazzier than the third choice. I also liked Technorati's options to get updates, news and tips and on-going searches for blogs matching some of my key interests.
I know, I know - it's be a good plan to add some sort of graphic content very soon, even if just an avatar or single scene from a site that has freebie thumb-print-sized downloads. Watch this space. :)
Good night, and good blogging.
Success! The logo showed up as claimed, and is sitting neatly in the sidebar to the right. I chose this one as it was a bit easier to read than the little green button and looked snazzier than the third choice. I also liked Technorati's options to get updates, news and tips and on-going searches for blogs matching some of my key interests.
I know, I know - it's be a good plan to add some sort of graphic content very soon, even if just an avatar or single scene from a site that has freebie thumb-print-sized downloads. Watch this space. :)
Good night, and good blogging.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Men's brains, women's brains...or just watch 'Frasier'
Earlier this evening I started watching a weekly talk show, SBS's "Insight", that had a special theme issue: "are men's brains different to women's brains and why does it matter?" It had plenty of interesting comments, some info, plus a few different guest speakers on satellite tv, some audience members became stirred up etc etc...but after a day at work I decided it was all becoming just a little too serious so I switched to the Season 7 DD of 'Frasier' which I'd started last night (see yesterday's posts) and saw the theme played out between the cast. It was just the kind of change I needed.
This evening's two episodes (so far) were: "There's Something about Dr Mary" and "Hot Pursuit".
1. "There's Something about Dr Mary" Frasier decides to sign up for a community self-improvement program called Second Start, aimed at giving new job opportunities to people who come from marginalised groups and/or need to re-start their lives. He chooses a woman called Mary to be a stand-in producer for his radio show while Roz is on holiday. He feels good about being a mentor and Roz is impressed to hear he's sounding committed to making it work.
Sadly for Frasier, Mary turns out to be a faster and louder talker than him (and he's no slouch about getting words out) once he assures her she doesn't have to stay silent for each show...so a clash of wills and style becomes imminent as they compete for the caller's attention. It gets worse for Dr Crane when a second woman - Louise- comes in and loudly disagrees with both of them; poor Frasier is sidelined on air. :)
At the apartment, Frasier isn't getting much help from his family, especially his straight-talking dad. It just makes it harder that Mary proudly describes herself as Black American, has a style uncannily similar to Queen Latifah and Frasier is in agonies about getting himself into a minefield of gender correctness issues vs needing to tell her they just aren't working as a duo. His capacity for over-analysis is limitless, and this episode shows it more than most. Eventually, he manages to blurt out some lines in his trusty Cafe Nervosa coffee house, 'the air is cleared' and she's happy to get her own show.
2. "Hot Pursuit" Frasier and Roz are both hoping to 'catch' a new love interest at a regional conference for radio station staff, and Marty Crane, their dad the ex-cop, is happy to get a chance to revive his enjoyment of surveillance work. Each situations starts to look promising: while Frasier and Roz are quickly becoming closer as they play a game about Roz wearing a blonde wig, Marty is really loving his work with a pair of strong binoculars.
Then it all goes pear-shaped, for all the pursuers. Thanks to a storm, Kenny the amiable station manager shows up at the door and asks to share their modest hotel room for the night, as there are no rooms left anywhere in town...and after all, he is the manager. Roz decides that the couch is a less disagreeable or gossip-producing option. Back in Seattle, Niles' re-surfacing memories about his dad's dangerous work life compel him to track down Marty (with a tip from Sid, the apartment block doorman) in a 'sketchy' neighbourhood, and corners his dad - in a white van. Niles has a special genius for pestering and employs it ruthlessly, partly by playing with the tracking equipment and partly by insistent questioning. Marty eventually wears down and admits his surveillance work for Daphne's fiance Donny (a lawyer) is questionable.
But with this show, the scriptwriters don't let you go with that easy ending. At the very last moment, the guy being watched carelessly runs his car into Niles' beloved Mercedes, and all the high-principled talk is instantly dismissed as the younger outraged Crane brother demands that Marty get the guy on camera. The wily old cop couldn't be happier.
Good night, and good blogging.
This evening's two episodes (so far) were: "There's Something about Dr Mary" and "Hot Pursuit".
1. "There's Something about Dr Mary" Frasier decides to sign up for a community self-improvement program called Second Start, aimed at giving new job opportunities to people who come from marginalised groups and/or need to re-start their lives. He chooses a woman called Mary to be a stand-in producer for his radio show while Roz is on holiday. He feels good about being a mentor and Roz is impressed to hear he's sounding committed to making it work.
Sadly for Frasier, Mary turns out to be a faster and louder talker than him (and he's no slouch about getting words out) once he assures her she doesn't have to stay silent for each show...so a clash of wills and style becomes imminent as they compete for the caller's attention. It gets worse for Dr Crane when a second woman - Louise- comes in and loudly disagrees with both of them; poor Frasier is sidelined on air. :)
At the apartment, Frasier isn't getting much help from his family, especially his straight-talking dad. It just makes it harder that Mary proudly describes herself as Black American, has a style uncannily similar to Queen Latifah and Frasier is in agonies about getting himself into a minefield of gender correctness issues vs needing to tell her they just aren't working as a duo. His capacity for over-analysis is limitless, and this episode shows it more than most. Eventually, he manages to blurt out some lines in his trusty Cafe Nervosa coffee house, 'the air is cleared' and she's happy to get her own show.
2. "Hot Pursuit" Frasier and Roz are both hoping to 'catch' a new love interest at a regional conference for radio station staff, and Marty Crane, their dad the ex-cop, is happy to get a chance to revive his enjoyment of surveillance work. Each situations starts to look promising: while Frasier and Roz are quickly becoming closer as they play a game about Roz wearing a blonde wig, Marty is really loving his work with a pair of strong binoculars.
Then it all goes pear-shaped, for all the pursuers. Thanks to a storm, Kenny the amiable station manager shows up at the door and asks to share their modest hotel room for the night, as there are no rooms left anywhere in town...and after all, he is the manager. Roz decides that the couch is a less disagreeable or gossip-producing option. Back in Seattle, Niles' re-surfacing memories about his dad's dangerous work life compel him to track down Marty (with a tip from Sid, the apartment block doorman) in a 'sketchy' neighbourhood, and corners his dad - in a white van. Niles has a special genius for pestering and employs it ruthlessly, partly by playing with the tracking equipment and partly by insistent questioning. Marty eventually wears down and admits his surveillance work for Daphne's fiance Donny (a lawyer) is questionable.
But with this show, the scriptwriters don't let you go with that easy ending. At the very last moment, the guy being watched carelessly runs his car into Niles' beloved Mercedes, and all the high-principled talk is instantly dismissed as the younger outraged Crane brother demands that Marty get the guy on camera. The wily old cop couldn't be happier.
Good night, and good blogging.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Re-visiting 'Frasier' episodes
While I've been browsing blogs in the last few days, and checking a website or three, I found a set of quotes and scenes all relating to drinking coffee. They all come from 'Frasier' episodes. After a year or two of not watching it at all, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the series in general.
A good friend at work really introduced me to the world of Frasier. I'd seen a single episode here and there, but talking about the characters with my friend, who had a kind of infectious enthusiasm about the charcters and stories , convinced me it was worth checking out more seriously. So, today it was time to get out Series 7 from my DVD collection and re-visit a couple of episodes.
1. 'Dark Side of the Moon' - not one of my absolute favourites, but thanks to Anthony LaPaglia's guest role as Daphne's joyfully loutish brother Simon, it's a real showcase of what happens when families collide. This time it's her rough-and-ready background from Manchester vs Frasier's crazy little super-orderly corner of the universe. Simon is the dark side of the Moon family and Frasier is the neat freak who just isn't mentally equipped to deal calmly with this bumbling human hurricane. Not many people are, of course, and Simon's surprise visit (thanks to Donny-the-fiance's bungled efforts in organising a bridal shower party) takes a toll on all the characters, but the simple central fact of Frasier making his living a s a psychiatrist and self-styled sophisticate is the foundation of the comedy in this episode.
'Dark Side...' is also one of the rare times Daphne is analysed by someone outside the Crane apartment, and the analyst is having a hard time with this member of the Moon clan. Daphne is there to get compulsory anger-management counselling after a reckless act caused a mutli-car pile-up in the street below Frasier's apartment. Could she really be more like Simon than she's prepared to admit?
2. 'Whine Club' really shows off the Crane brothers' pretentiousness and intense rivalry at the same time, and the two issues are mutually reinforcing. There's also a 'love interest' for Niles -she not only pumps up his ambition but manages to poison relations between herself and the rest of the Crane group plus Frasier's closest colleague Ros, the producer at the rdaio station. In some ways, Mel the plastic surgeon/Niles's sweetheart (after relations had been permanently frozen with his wife Maris) is as disastrous to peace and friendly feelings as Daphne's brother Simon, but for comically different reasons.
During a scene where Niles is dressing to go to the wine club nomination, thinking he would simply be sponsoring his brother's bid for the coveted title, Mel starts to plant ideas in his mind. She slyly flatters him, 'helps' him alter his choices of tie and jacket -which the audience can see is simply re-engineering his image in her eyes and for her own reasons, stealthily assures him she doesn't want to get between him and his brother, and asks probing questions about why he isn't running for the title himself...
The show-down between the brothers, described in the sub-heading as "Gunfight at the Bouquet Corral" is a hilarious meeting of over-refined taste buds, spiralling tension levels and a spit-bucket's worth of seething hostility, since Frasier is finally faced with a totally unexpected chance of having the Corkmaster title snatched from him by his very own brother, who was coached by the new Lady Macbeth -Mel... Naturally, neither brother can stop talking about the end result, of Niles becoming the new Corkmaster. Niles floats on his own cloud, and Frasier fumes about rank injustice and hints at treason within the family. For Mel, though, the family brunch that Frasier originally planned as a gesture of hospitality turns sour. Like so many ruthless, selfish and crafty people, she is her own main blind spot: for all her manipulation of others, she is blissfully unaware of a very different effect as she talks down to a group. During the doomed brunch she just can't help being or acting in a way that perversely unites everyone against her -everyone except Niles, who hasn't come out from her spell yet.
One of the gems in the whole 11 seasons.
A good friend at work really introduced me to the world of Frasier. I'd seen a single episode here and there, but talking about the characters with my friend, who had a kind of infectious enthusiasm about the charcters and stories , convinced me it was worth checking out more seriously. So, today it was time to get out Series 7 from my DVD collection and re-visit a couple of episodes.
1. 'Dark Side of the Moon' - not one of my absolute favourites, but thanks to Anthony LaPaglia's guest role as Daphne's joyfully loutish brother Simon, it's a real showcase of what happens when families collide. This time it's her rough-and-ready background from Manchester vs Frasier's crazy little super-orderly corner of the universe. Simon is the dark side of the Moon family and Frasier is the neat freak who just isn't mentally equipped to deal calmly with this bumbling human hurricane. Not many people are, of course, and Simon's surprise visit (thanks to Donny-the-fiance's bungled efforts in organising a bridal shower party) takes a toll on all the characters, but the simple central fact of Frasier making his living a s a psychiatrist and self-styled sophisticate is the foundation of the comedy in this episode.
'Dark Side...' is also one of the rare times Daphne is analysed by someone outside the Crane apartment, and the analyst is having a hard time with this member of the Moon clan. Daphne is there to get compulsory anger-management counselling after a reckless act caused a mutli-car pile-up in the street below Frasier's apartment. Could she really be more like Simon than she's prepared to admit?
2. 'Whine Club' really shows off the Crane brothers' pretentiousness and intense rivalry at the same time, and the two issues are mutually reinforcing. There's also a 'love interest' for Niles -she not only pumps up his ambition but manages to poison relations between herself and the rest of the Crane group plus Frasier's closest colleague Ros, the producer at the rdaio station. In some ways, Mel the plastic surgeon/Niles's sweetheart (after relations had been permanently frozen with his wife Maris) is as disastrous to peace and friendly feelings as Daphne's brother Simon, but for comically different reasons.
During a scene where Niles is dressing to go to the wine club nomination, thinking he would simply be sponsoring his brother's bid for the coveted title, Mel starts to plant ideas in his mind. She slyly flatters him, 'helps' him alter his choices of tie and jacket -which the audience can see is simply re-engineering his image in her eyes and for her own reasons, stealthily assures him she doesn't want to get between him and his brother, and asks probing questions about why he isn't running for the title himself...
The show-down between the brothers, described in the sub-heading as "Gunfight at the Bouquet Corral" is a hilarious meeting of over-refined taste buds, spiralling tension levels and a spit-bucket's worth of seething hostility, since Frasier is finally faced with a totally unexpected chance of having the Corkmaster title snatched from him by his very own brother, who was coached by the new Lady Macbeth -Mel... Naturally, neither brother can stop talking about the end result, of Niles becoming the new Corkmaster. Niles floats on his own cloud, and Frasier fumes about rank injustice and hints at treason within the family. For Mel, though, the family brunch that Frasier originally planned as a gesture of hospitality turns sour. Like so many ruthless, selfish and crafty people, she is her own main blind spot: for all her manipulation of others, she is blissfully unaware of a very different effect as she talks down to a group. During the doomed brunch she just can't help being or acting in a way that perversely unites everyone against her -everyone except Niles, who hasn't come out from her spell yet.
One of the gems in the whole 11 seasons.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Morning walk: noticing signs of life in my suburb
In recent months, I've been making a habit of going for a pre-breakfast walk each day, usually for just half an hour during work week and a bit longer on weekends. Now the days are steadily becoming shorter, and cooler, it's not as easy to get out the front door. :) Still, it's another good chance to see, on a daily personal level, what's happening in my part of the city, and also daydream a bit, of course.
Although nothing dramatic happened on my early-morning walk today, there were plenty of signs that life had already started in the suburb:
- newsagency and bakery crew at the local shops were already getting their business activities sorted before opening hours
- a few of the regulars walking their dogs
- early-morning joggers
- the glow of a big tv screen under a half-drawn blind
- cats sitting on windowsills
- first customers at the newsagency and bakery that hadn't opened at start of my walk
- some council workers starting up their leaf-blowing machines
-and some other signs: on a metal pole, a handwritten sign for a garage sale (may have been on weekend just past); half-finished landscaping in a front yard; today's newspaper on a lawn; a building site before the 'brickies' and other tradesmen had arrived.
One of the classic books that relied heavily on the accumulation of daily observations was Rev. Gilbert Whites' The Natural History of Selborne. Written in the late eighteenth century by a priest in a village, it has now become a valuable record of pre-industrial England, including weather conditions, local people, natural landscapes and flora and fauna of the time -many varieties of them are now extinct or endangered.
Readers: if anything really unusual happened on or just after your morning walk today, in any part of the world, please feel free to post a comment.
And now I'd better get ready for work. :)
Although nothing dramatic happened on my early-morning walk today, there were plenty of signs that life had already started in the suburb:
- newsagency and bakery crew at the local shops were already getting their business activities sorted before opening hours
- a few of the regulars walking their dogs
- early-morning joggers
- the glow of a big tv screen under a half-drawn blind
- cats sitting on windowsills
- first customers at the newsagency and bakery that hadn't opened at start of my walk
- some council workers starting up their leaf-blowing machines
-and some other signs: on a metal pole, a handwritten sign for a garage sale (may have been on weekend just past); half-finished landscaping in a front yard; today's newspaper on a lawn; a building site before the 'brickies' and other tradesmen had arrived.
One of the classic books that relied heavily on the accumulation of daily observations was Rev. Gilbert Whites' The Natural History of Selborne. Written in the late eighteenth century by a priest in a village, it has now become a valuable record of pre-industrial England, including weather conditions, local people, natural landscapes and flora and fauna of the time -many varieties of them are now extinct or endangered.
Readers: if anything really unusual happened on or just after your morning walk today, in any part of the world, please feel free to post a comment.
And now I'd better get ready for work. :)
End of Sunday
My curiosity got the better of me again, so instead of spending some decent time making a substantial new blog entry I mainly browsed other blogs. Sure, there were some interesting and bizarre on-line displays but will now need to wait 'til tomorrow evening (for sake of eyes) before making any more comments on the Scorcese movie or Al Gore's documentary.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
'An Inconvenient Truth' - brief notes
It's an inconvenient truth that just now I'm running a bit short of blogging time, but here are some brief notes about Al's presentation:
- he uses a fair bit of personal background story to show his own main reasons for investing so much in this project;
- he uses a few different styles of documentary presentation, from the classic lecture-in-progress to more sophisticated IT tools, and does practically all his own voice-over;
- Some self-deprecating humour at start of story really helps get the audiences on-side, both in the movie and the audience I was in last night;
- His obvious enthusiasm and passionate interest can't be just faked all the time -this guy is really 'into' what he's talking about, and has covered an incredible number of km to check out various parts of the world;
- The end credits are full of 'this is what you can do next' kind of info, so this isn't just another talking head going on about problems -Al wants audiences to start following up on what he's saying and to actually feel they can do something effective;
- By the time he uses his tag line "political will is a renewable resource", it's also become a very hard and deserved dig at the Bush regime, and a sly joke appreciated by audiences;
- Forget about any previous reputation of Al being a 'boring' Vice-President in 1990s -this guy has the gift of the gab and clearly wasn't content to just live out the old VP joke about working on his golf score...if his family story is anything to go by, he hardly had or has time for golf anyway.
- he uses a fair bit of personal background story to show his own main reasons for investing so much in this project;
- he uses a few different styles of documentary presentation, from the classic lecture-in-progress to more sophisticated IT tools, and does practically all his own voice-over;
- Some self-deprecating humour at start of story really helps get the audiences on-side, both in the movie and the audience I was in last night;
- His obvious enthusiasm and passionate interest can't be just faked all the time -this guy is really 'into' what he's talking about, and has covered an incredible number of km to check out various parts of the world;
- The end credits are full of 'this is what you can do next' kind of info, so this isn't just another talking head going on about problems -Al wants audiences to start following up on what he's saying and to actually feel they can do something effective;
- By the time he uses his tag line "political will is a renewable resource", it's also become a very hard and deserved dig at the Bush regime, and a sly joke appreciated by audiences;
- Forget about any previous reputation of Al being a 'boring' Vice-President in 1990s -this guy has the gift of the gab and clearly wasn't content to just live out the old VP joke about working on his golf score...if his family story is anything to go by, he hardly had or has time for golf anyway.
Al Gore's personal project 'An Inconvient Truth'
Just a quick note right at end of evening and before my eyes start to rebel at anything more on a glowing screen: I was pleasantly surprised by Al Gore's personal movie/educational project -'An Inconvenient Truth' -when I saw it earlier this evening at a campus film group.
OK, I freely admit I was a bit sceptical about what kind of documentary a famously slick ex-politician might produce. I'll now say: credit to him for the amount of research he has grappled with, the extent of his related travels and the evident thought invested in how to present it to large and diverse public and specialist audiences.
More on this tomorrow.
OK, I freely admit I was a bit sceptical about what kind of documentary a famously slick ex-politician might produce. I'll now say: credit to him for the amount of research he has grappled with, the extent of his related travels and the evident thought invested in how to present it to large and diverse public and specialist audiences.
More on this tomorrow.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Pt2 Scorcese's 'The Departed' -first reactions
Settings
The action in 'The Departed' is set in various areas of Boston, both street scenes and interiors. In the beginning, there are: some very grainy/archival pieces footage of the city some ten or more years before the main story starts, brief moments of civil strife and some tense, violent scenes in small family-run deli/takeaway businesses. There are the dingy bars favoured by the criminal gang led by Jack Nicholson's character, and the police college that Matt Damon and Leonardo's characters both go through. All this helps to establish background of main characters and some of the underlying reasons Nicholson's Crime Boss character is so eagerly sought as a prize by the Special Investigations Unit detectives.
Street and warehouse scenes: ordinary residents become almost invisible once the story forces your attention onto the activities of the gang vs the detectives, for the streets, alleys and abandoned warehouses are the haunts of the criminals and the beat of detectives. They are a mix of both for undercover cops, who perhaps have the most nerve-wracking jobs of all. Gun battles, ambushes, furtive signalling and dangerous meetings with unseen contacts. This film is full of so much classic material of crime dramas; Scorcese shows us his variations in pitiless detail and from many angles.
The main police station often doesn't look or feel like much of a refuge from the streets: intense and bitter rivalries, fraud at high levels, so many secret plots that often, if not always, threaten to undermine every undercover operation. There is one noticeable exception: the office suite of the in-house counsellor/psychiatrist, home to the one really significant female character. It is decorated in light colours, with large areas of open floor space, sleek furnishings and natural light coming through the windows. The whole suite is hers, making for a drastic contrast to the poky cubicles and compact briefing rooms used by the detective teams. Her own home isn't so spacious, but is decorated with personal photos and is still well-lit. This light is friendly, and at one time even seductively soft. Again, her world is set against the harsh street lighting, sweep of car headlights and garish neon signs that shine on but don't ever really illuminate what the criminals and detectives are doing to each other and to themselves.
********************
Pt3 next time, not sure yet whether it will focus more on story, characters or cast. NB: if you haven't seen the film yet, some of above comments may look like "spoilier" information.
The action in 'The Departed' is set in various areas of Boston, both street scenes and interiors. In the beginning, there are: some very grainy/archival pieces footage of the city some ten or more years before the main story starts, brief moments of civil strife and some tense, violent scenes in small family-run deli/takeaway businesses. There are the dingy bars favoured by the criminal gang led by Jack Nicholson's character, and the police college that Matt Damon and Leonardo's characters both go through. All this helps to establish background of main characters and some of the underlying reasons Nicholson's Crime Boss character is so eagerly sought as a prize by the Special Investigations Unit detectives.
Street and warehouse scenes: ordinary residents become almost invisible once the story forces your attention onto the activities of the gang vs the detectives, for the streets, alleys and abandoned warehouses are the haunts of the criminals and the beat of detectives. They are a mix of both for undercover cops, who perhaps have the most nerve-wracking jobs of all. Gun battles, ambushes, furtive signalling and dangerous meetings with unseen contacts. This film is full of so much classic material of crime dramas; Scorcese shows us his variations in pitiless detail and from many angles.
The main police station often doesn't look or feel like much of a refuge from the streets: intense and bitter rivalries, fraud at high levels, so many secret plots that often, if not always, threaten to undermine every undercover operation. There is one noticeable exception: the office suite of the in-house counsellor/psychiatrist, home to the one really significant female character. It is decorated in light colours, with large areas of open floor space, sleek furnishings and natural light coming through the windows. The whole suite is hers, making for a drastic contrast to the poky cubicles and compact briefing rooms used by the detective teams. Her own home isn't so spacious, but is decorated with personal photos and is still well-lit. This light is friendly, and at one time even seductively soft. Again, her world is set against the harsh street lighting, sweep of car headlights and garish neon signs that shine on but don't ever really illuminate what the criminals and detectives are doing to each other and to themselves.
********************
Pt3 next time, not sure yet whether it will focus more on story, characters or cast. NB: if you haven't seen the film yet, some of above comments may look like "spoilier" information.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Scorcese's 'The Departed' -first reactions
Part 1
That Martin Scorcese really knows how to make a gangster flick! I'm not long home from a mid-evening screening of his new give-the-man-his-Oscar gangster hit set in Boston: 'The Departed'. It is one intense story!
Double-crossing, family debts, rats int the ranks, bent senior detectives, wives and friends caught in the crossfire - it's all in this movie and more. It often isn't an easy story to watch or listen to, but at the same time it's much more articulate and clever in its continuity twists than many crime flicks that are simply about hit-and-run action or last-man-standing plots. Leonardo has finally stopped looking fifteen years old all the time. Jack Nicholson always looks like he's revelling in the chance to be the guy you hope will get it in the guts -but only after he's made the whole rivalry-riddled detective team sweat and bleed hard to track him down.
Pt 2 in next post, I promise.
That Martin Scorcese really knows how to make a gangster flick! I'm not long home from a mid-evening screening of his new give-the-man-his-Oscar gangster hit set in Boston: 'The Departed'. It is one intense story!
Double-crossing, family debts, rats int the ranks, bent senior detectives, wives and friends caught in the crossfire - it's all in this movie and more. It often isn't an easy story to watch or listen to, but at the same time it's much more articulate and clever in its continuity twists than many crime flicks that are simply about hit-and-run action or last-man-standing plots. Leonardo has finally stopped looking fifteen years old all the time. Jack Nicholson always looks like he's revelling in the chance to be the guy you hope will get it in the guts -but only after he's made the whole rivalry-riddled detective team sweat and bleed hard to track him down.
Pt 2 in next post, I promise.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Some first features and topics
To get started on the content, here are some of the options I'll be trying:
- a 'quote of the week' segment and maybe a few comments on the quote
- football/soccer news and my thoughts on it
- what I've been reading/watching at movies or on tv
- reactions to world, national and local news
- museum/gallery/archive news
- historical trivia, maybe some brain teasers, "a funny thing happened..."
- book and film news/reviews
- interesting bits and pieces discovered during Net surfing, scanning blogs
- a 'quote of the week' segment and maybe a few comments on the quote
- football/soccer news and my thoughts on it
- what I've been reading/watching at movies or on tv
- reactions to world, national and local news
- museum/gallery/archive news
- historical trivia, maybe some brain teasers, "a funny thing happened..."
- book and film news/reviews
- interesting bits and pieces discovered during Net surfing, scanning blogs
Welcome to my first blog!
Hi and welcome to my first blog!
For me, this first personal blog really is a brand new part of the astronomically huge on-line world. I'm looking forward to finding and creating new content, meeting plenty of other bloggers and learning a few more IT skills along the way.
It could be a little while before I get a digital camera to really boost the graphic content of this blog, but to start with I'll be investing a lot of time and thought into developing enjoyable and varied text-based content. I suspect my sense of humour -which loves and constantly looks for many different kinds of plays on words - will make the most of being let loose in cyberspace. :)
cheers,
Tim
For me, this first personal blog really is a brand new part of the astronomically huge on-line world. I'm looking forward to finding and creating new content, meeting plenty of other bloggers and learning a few more IT skills along the way.
It could be a little while before I get a digital camera to really boost the graphic content of this blog, but to start with I'll be investing a lot of time and thought into developing enjoyable and varied text-based content. I suspect my sense of humour -which loves and constantly looks for many different kinds of plays on words - will make the most of being let loose in cyberspace. :)
cheers,
Tim
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