polymorphic.reality

Infected Mushroom

2003-12-20T01:15:00.000+11:00

I was just at a friend's birthday party, and the DJ at the place played the infected mushroom & Berry Sacharoff track "yom huledet".

The DJ had no idea what he was playing, just another random infected mushroom track...but it made my day. Night. Week. Year.

My friend, who isn't Jewish (but likes infected mushroom) was pretty stoked when I told him what the song was. As I said to him, it was a birthday wish from my people to him.

I gotta say, there's no better ambassador for Israel than Israeli trance. Infected Mushroom, Yahel, Telafon Tel Aviv......ask anyone into trance and they'll know them instantly. That totally rocks in my book.

to swastika or not to swastika?

2003-12-13T20:02:00.000+11:00

Microsoft has published this letter of apology after its Bookshelf Symbols 7 font, included in office, contained two swastikas (via typographi.ca)

I just opened the font up in the microsoft character map, and sure enough...there it is.
Personally, I don't find the symbol offensive when I see it displayed in that context - within a white circle surrounded by red is a different story. Yet, at this point in time, I can't see any use for it in a widely distributed microsoft font other than in neo-nazi propaganda. For its use would still signify Nazi hatred and practises - particularly as so many WW2 survivors still exist.

Yet we often forget that the swastika was actually hijacked by the Nazi party, effectively demonising the harmless ancient symbol. This website discusses the history of the swastika, as part of an effort to redeem it of the negativity it connotates since its associations in the Second World War.

The question follows: once a symbol is appropriated, how easy is it to abolish this new meaning? The meanings of many symbols around us are today representative of something completely different than they were hundreds, or thousands, of years ago. For instance, We all know that a tick means yes, a cross means no..but have we ever wondered how that came into place, and what the origin of these symbols are?

The same holds true for many facets of a particular culture - symbols abound in art, film, music and- most importantly - language. Study of these types of symbols, their impacs and evolution is called semiotics, and is fundamental to cultural studies - also coming into play in any kind of exploration of visual culture.

Most semioticians agree that culture is something that constantly evolves. So too do the meanings of our symbols. As such, perhaps there will come a time that the Nazi symbol will become devoid of its message of hatred. At the same time, there would have to be a general cultural infusion of an apathy towards the occurrences of the holocaust, or at least forgetting what the Nazi party, Hitler and the Swastika truly signify.

On a related note, the Australian memories of the holocaust website has been nominated as one of the top 10 Australian websites for 2003. You can vote for it here.

IMC at it again......

2003-12-10T13:39:00.000+11:00

Via Gil. Timely, considering my last post on the matter.

The saga continues with LGF noting that the Israel IMC is actually down due to Israeli investigation rather than the "upgrade" noted on the website. A post about the whole situation can be found here.

Opinion: The picture that sparked the entire saga, one of Sharon kissing Hitler, is absolutely ridiculous in and of itself. The controversy sparked is just legitimising an absolutely idiotic stunt by this Brazilian "artist". I strongly doubt that IMC Israel is being shut down due to this piece of stupidity, but it's about time that the IMC introspection I alluded to in my last post occurred.

Late, but....

2003-12-07T14:15:00.000+11:00

Whilst trying to catch up on happenings within the blogosphere, I came across this post on LGF, about the Seattle branch of Indymedia closing down.

Some of my studies last semester centered around the internet and media democracy. One example that came up recurringly was the Indymedia story - which many political economy media theorists (who are on the left by definition) lauded as one of the truer examples of democracy on the internet.

Of course many of the sources I read were from around 1999-2000, and it shows. Ultimately, Indymedia version of democracy became a mouthpiece for anti-Semitism, as long as it was thinly veiled as anti-Zionism. The time I read a post which described a certain far-left Israeli as a "good Jew" comes to mind.

I had come to terms with the fact that by virtue of my stance in the middle east, I would disagree with some if not all of the left-leaning academics of the Arts department. So I took the comments regarding Indymedia with a grain of salt. I even accepted the fact that electronic intifada was accepted as an example of democracy on the internet because - in essence - it is. The fact that the Electronic Intifada website is coupled with sites such as Internet Haganah makes accepting such statements much easier, regardless of how pointedly one sided such a statement is.

Yet I can't help thinking that there is much more to democracy than meets the eye. It's not simply handing out two different viewpoints and letting people decide - because people, we all know, are creatures of habit. We tend to read and accept those things that naturally fall in line with what we wish to accept. If we prefer to read what we see on LGF (and I'm not sure that I always do) over Indymedia, we stick to reading LGF and leave Indymedia by the wayside. Same is true for certain newspapers over others, television channels and so on.

There's nothing truly democratic about the media at all. Many would argue by saying that the media help keep us truly politically informed in a democratic fashion. I disagree. Spin doctoring, and media hype, place a shroud on top of what should truly be informing us. So, to a certain degree, the internet and all it's offering of choice should technically allow us to keep ourselves informed in a way independent of all those things that caused indymedia to establish itself in the first place.

When the answer becomes the anathema, that's when we have ourselves a problem. So indymedia became a Mecca for "jargon-laden, factually incorrect anarco-leftist rants" - hypocritical to its very thesis.

So...Goodbye Indymedia Seattle. Hopefully, the death of the flagship Indymedia centre will prompt the other indymedia centres for some introspection. If it doesn't, the dominoes will fall, and even if they don't, who cares. I mean...it's only the internet, right?

time to get re-acquainted

2003-11-23T21:40:00.000+11:00

Hi. Sorry about going a whole week without posting. It's just been one of those weeks....y'know?

Bombs in Turkey, worrying about possible casualties of friends who were visiting Turkey at the time, things to see, people to do...etc etc. Hopefully it's all over. Tomorrow I join a new gym, wish me luck.

2003-11-17T11:38:00.000+11:00

It seems that Al Qaeda have taken responsibility for the Turkish synagogue bombings, citing that their intelligence stated that there were "five israeli agents" in the synagogue.

Nice. They've justified the bombing, linked it to Israel, and we can all hold hands and be happy because there really was a reason for the bombs other than anti-semitism.

All that worry was for nothing! Back to regular scheduled programming....

Bomb in Turkey

2003-11-16T15:13:00.000+11:00

I've made this a two in one post, but two separate posts because I believe this subject warrants its own mention.

Last night, while I was enjoying my saturday evening, my sister phoned to tell me of the Turkish Synagogue bombings.

As many have noted, this represents pure and simple anti-semitism. There can be no genuine claim that these attacks were any form of "Islamic resistance", whatever that may mean.

Personally, I would have to say that this attack made me mad. Really angry. It will have a ripple effect throughout the world, with Jewish communities stepping up their security and making people paranoid to drop their kids off at school or go to a synagogue and pray - as if that feeling wasn't present already.

We are all aware that there have been such senseless attacks before - Argentina and even the harmless attempt at Tunisia more recently come to mind. Yet there is something markedly different about the attack. Firstly is the undeniable link with Al-Qaida - if for no other reason than the fact that terrorist groups are most united when it comes to a common cause, particularly, unfortunately, Israel and the Jews (while the same can be said for the more recent general, and more acceptable, Jihad against the West). Second is the timing, which of course makes the impact of the message so much stronger. We knew we were hated in the 90s, we knew that there was the threat of attack. However in the early years of the new millenium, there is an omnipresence of attack that is more obvious than ever before, and it's not just us.

So I've been asking myself the question: why now?

More to come later

More about Al Manar Television

2003-11-16T15:00:00.000+11:00

Gil has expanded on my previous post regarding Al Manar tv, the Lebanese television station that has been pulled from Australian television.

I was skeptical about the whole thing, so I treated it as such. Yet Gil recommends that you ask any Israeli about Al Manar TV and they will tell you that it is most definitely a mouthpiece for Hizbollah.

Seems like this is indeed a pertinent step to banish Jihad TV from Australian airwaves.

oh man

2003-11-14T15:52:00.000+11:00

A quick pre-weekend post because it's totally warm and i'm totally going back out to enjoy the true beginning of the Australian summer.

This caught my attention today. I remember reading about the fact that the television station had been reported to be linked with Hizbollah a while ago. Will be interesting to see how that pans out.

I would also like to add that Boards of Canada are totally rocking my world right now. Thank you.

my own knafaim shvurot

2003-11-10T13:06:00.000+11:00

Yesterday, I watched the Israeli Movie "Knafaim Shvurot" or "Broken Wings", for the second time.

There's something about watching a film for the second time. You can concentrate less on the narrative and more on what's actually surrounding the film. I saw shots of Haifa that I hadn't seen, I absorbed the beauty of the city (Haifa is one of my favourite cities in Israel - definitely in a trinity of sorts with Tel Aviv and Jerusalem) and got beneath the surface of the characters, looking at their language and expression. It also helped that knowing the story, I felt less inclined to read the english subtitles and relied on my understanding of hebrew to see all of this, and I was reminded of what it felt to think about Israel in a de-politicised, non-argumentative way.

You see, in the 5 years since I last visited the country and particularly in the 3 years or so since the intifada began, I had spent so much time worrying about the political situation in Israel that I had forgotten about all the things that I truly *loved* about Israel, about my immersion in and fascination with Israeli culture. On reflection, I couldn't think of a time that i'd thought about Israel without getting a pang of depression by placing Israel in a wider, political context - and realising how much hatred there is out there for all the things I love about that little country.

I should probably track back to an incident last week which really kick-started this whole stream of thought. I was waiting in line at my local starbucks with a few girls who obviously went to a local jewish day school (you can always pick them), one of whom was wearing a cute Israeli Air Force fitted t-shirt, jeans, and had a large, chunky, silver magen david around her neck.

This was the first time in a while i'd seen someone wearing something like this so boldly in public. During my days at school and in a zionist youth movement I would wear my range of Israeli t-shirts i'd collected during my travels in Israel, occasionally doing so in the street. Mostly these were saved for time in the youth movement and at school, or related functions. Yet here was a girl proudly displaying this same degree of involvement in Israeli culture in a place where not all those viewing the t-shirt would be sympathetic to the culture surrounding the wearing of such t-shirts. Since 2000, I've been exposed to the seething hatred of Israel and all it espouses - and I was blissfully unaware of any of this prior to the outbreak of the current violence. I mean, I knew there were those out there who wished for the destruction of Israel. I also believed these people were contained in the middle east.

That was when Israeli culture wasn't political. Back when we were immersed in what Israel had to offer was about being proud in the country and the culture. We wore those T'zahal (or IAF) t-shirts that we'd bought from Jerusalem. We managed to "liberate" a few sets of khaki army uniforms from various sources, and adapted them to the militaristic street fashion of the time. We wore our naot, tevas, and pants we'd bought at various shukim (markets) around Israel. We smoked Nargilah, and played shesh besh with those ornate sets that we picked up for more than we should have payed after trying to haggle with the market vendors who knew that we came from a country where fixed prices were de riguer. We listened to Artzi, Broza, and whatever other cd's we managed to bring back with us. The politics were one thing - left and right disagreed on some things, we all had an opinion about Israel, but the consensus was that regardless of whether we give land away or not, we loved Israel, and everything it had to offer.

Yesterday afternoon I found my book full of Israeli folk songs buried in a pile of old stuff, and I reacquanted myself with the simplified guitar chords. I found most of my old Israeli t-shirts, and I put them back in my wardrobe. Finally, I remembered what everything was like before I knew how much hatred towards Israel there was in the world, and when Israel had so much more to offer me than a simple political cause to espouse. When wearing a simple IDF t-shirt had nothing whatsoever to do with world politics.

In honour of those days, i'm thinking of ordering a few more of those T-shirts and wearing them proudly around the place. Whaddya think?

peace prize debacle

2003-11-06T14:54:00.000+11:00

The pressure is mounting as Hannan Ashrawi gets set to receive the Sydney Peace Prize this evening.

For those who aren't aware of the debacle, Sydney Peace prize committee this year decided to hand the award to Ms Ashrawi, believing that she was an opportune recipient for the award - essentially proving that the peace committee wished to highlight the Mid East conflict (fine), that they wished to stress that there should be movements towards peace by handing the award to a prominent Palestinian who has taken steps towards a peaceful solution (fine), and than Hannan Ashrawi fit these criteria (not fine).

In fact, I couldn't think of a worse candidate as recipient - perhaps other than Arafat himself, or Saeb Erekat. Maybe even Sheikh Yassin. Instead of than promoting the dialogue of peace she's partial to the monologue of incitement and hatred, waxing lyrical about the "brutal occupation", with your standard key phrases: "apartheid" (ask Arab Israelis whether Israel has separate water fountains for "coloureds")", "colonialism" (the brits did that - blame them), and my favourite: "dehumanisation" (coz I can't think of anything more dehumanising to people than strapping an explosive belt to them and turning them into a human bomb).

I see the rhetoric on the Israeli side too, but unlike the Palestinian side, the Israeli rhetoric is washed out by dissenting voices all over the place (you know - two joos, three opinions). Ashrawi functions as a mouthpiece without the voices of dissent to back her up. Which is probably why it had to be the so-called "jewish lobby" that was most outspoken about the prize. Leading me to my next point.

As undeserving as she is of the prize, mainstream Australia wouldn't have had a clue that it existed if there had not been such massive moves by Jewish groups to petition the Premiere not to hand her the prize. By being so outspoken against the prize, Jewish groups have simply publicised the event without allowing it to pass as the token gesture it is. By saying this, I am not giving credence to the whole "powerful Jewish lobby" argument. I am saying that whilst there should have been opposition to the award, it may have perhaps been taken a little too far, and that gentle lobbying should have been geared towards publicising how unfit a candidate Ashrawi is for the prize, rather than trying to persuade key figures not to give her the prize. Either way, it didn't work - it just made the press more aware of the controversy surrounding the issue, and others more aware of their own version of the protocols spinning around in their heads (particularly following Mahatir's recent remarks).

I may add, however, that the Sydney Lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull was not the target of Jewish appeals and has decided not to attend the ceremony - for the following reason:

To my mind, winners of peace prizes should have a strong track record of promoting peace, and of doing so in the language of peace. Looking at Dr Ashrawi's track record, it is significant that she was part of a small minority who voted at a meeting of the Palestine National Council in 1996 against removing the clauses in the Palestinian charter that call for the destruction of Israel. The majority in favour of removing these clauses was overwhelming - approximately 500 to 50, or 10 to one. She has also described Hamas, the Islamist group behind bombing attacks on civilians, as "a legitimate component of the Palestinian political spectrum." Dr Ashrawi has also spoken strongly against the performance-based Road Map for a negotiated settlement to the Middle East conflict.

See? She wasn't influenced by the Joos....or are we just that powerful?

sounds of silence

2003-11-05T11:15:00.000+11:00

Hear that?

That's the sweet sound of me having nothing to do. Now that my exams are over with, I'll probably be spending a loss less time procrastinating by writing in this blog and more time writing things of substance.

Maybe.

In other news, Australian parliament has seen fit to move towards banning Hamas. Although quite clearly it's not Australia where Hamas is doing most the damage. Still, it's a positive step in making Australians realise that Palestinian terrorism isn't a cool thing. Sometimes I really do appreciate how right wing the Australian government is.

Last of all, a big welcome back to Gil, whose blog I sorely missed while he was traipsing around Nepal. Some people have all the luck.

chocolate sheik with a wtf booster?

2003-11-01T15:04:00.000+11:00

Cleric: Holy war "unacceptable in Australia"

JIHAD, or holy war, was not appropriate in Australia, but was acceptable in Iraq and other nations, a Melbourne Muslim cleric said last night.

What's even more frightening is this:

Sheik Hilali, of Sydney's Lakemba mosque, told the program that Sheik Omran's views were dangerously radical.

Well, it's not that frightening unless you know this: Sheik Hilali has been spouting anti-semitic and anti-israel comments for as long as I can remember. He tends to be no friend to the Jewish Community in Sydney. The fact that he describes Sheik Omran's views as radical is either a comfort and rather scary, and I can't quite decide which.

A bit about Sheikh Hilaly's "moderate" opinion:

It was Imam Hilaly who, at a publicly advertised meeting at Sydney University on September 18, 1988, managed to include in a speech on "Tolerance in the Islamic Religion" comments such as "the Jews’ struggle with the human race is as old as history itself", "the methods used by Judaism to control the world … include secret movements as well as the destructive doctrines and groups, such as Communism, Libertinism, Freemasons, Baha’ism, the Rotary Clubs, the Lions Clubs, Jehovah’s Witness, and the new Christian sects", and "the Jews try to control the world through sex, then sexual perversion, then the promotion of espionage, traitory [sic] and economic hoarding".

Reminds me a little of the view of someone else....begins with an M....ends with an r. Has a hat in the middle. Yes, that's right, the Mad Hatter

bro-ken

2003-10-31T13:48:00.000+11:00

It's been a few days since I posted. Well.....two. After procrastinating to the point that I was a nervous wreck before yesterday's exam, it seemed rather pointless to detract myself even further from trying to beat the information into my brain. Post-exam wasn't much better, I was rather broken. Not because of the exam, I think I did rather well given the consequences - but because for some reason some renegade synapse in my brain decided to yell out something in random pirate vernacular that loosely translated to "jump off ship and get chased by random sharks". I think that explains how I felt yesterday rather well.

After 12 hours of incredibly restless sleep, I have to say I'm feeling much better today. So, it's back to business as usual. Study, try to stay away from stupid drawings and reading blogs. That's about it.

Before I go back to business as usual, however, I just wanted to mention two quick alternate developments. First the fact that i'm looking into purchasing a cannon powershot G5. A word about me and photography: I have no idea about it. Which is not to say that i'm not incredibly interested in taking pictures - I am. I think the G5 looks like a great camera, but if perchance someone out there is reading this and wants to tell me why the G5 isn't so good, and suggest an alternative camera with the G5's features in the same price range, by all means go ahead. Email me, comment, send me smoke signals or messages by carrier pidgeon...just let me know somehow.

I can't remember what the second development was. I think it's something about me finally getting off my arse and trying to score some work. I had some irksome political points to talk about, but I really don't feel like bringing them up now at all. I'm still recovering somewhat from yesterday's brokenness, and there's a big textbook on the desk calling my name.

boredumb

2003-10-28T23:32:00.000+11:00

This is what happens when I should be studying:

the good, the bad and the ugly

2003-10-27T18:49:00.000+11:00

ISM activist shot while playing with terrorists

Just reaffirms the sheer ludicracy of what they're doing. I spoke about this a while ago, and i'll say it again. ISM activists stand to gain nothing by martyring themselves in the name of the Palestinian cause. If they want to do something, get rid of Arafat and the corruption of the PA. Otherwise all anyone gets is 72 fictional virgins. Blech.

Oh, I also wanted to add that as of today I only have two more exams to go. Which means, two more exams to go....

from sheep to dogs

2003-10-25T15:18:00.000+10:00

From today's Sydney Morning Herald: "Toy Dog Causes Stink"

Question: what self respecting person would purchase a dog that farts when it bends over?

sheepskates

2003-10-25T13:05:00.000+10:00

A starving African Country finally accepts the "52,000 politically embarrassed sheep" rejected by the Saudis : "Sheep ship of shame finally unloads"

Dr Nigel Brown, a veterinarian with Meat Livestock Australia (MLA) for the Middle East and Africa region, said the animals had been inspected by Eritrean veterinary authorities before they left the ship and they were in good health.

"They are showing no signs of clinical disease, of infectious disease or contagious disease," he told reporters.

"They are very fit and healthy and we are delighted. They will be looked after well in Eritrea where there are excellent facilities."

The sheep were originally exported live because the Saudis required them to be killed according to the strict Halal regulations, however would not have the facilities to store the meat if they were killed here.

Hopefully, this will make the Australian government think long and hard before they allow live animal exports in future.

goodbye elliott

2003-10-23T21:19:00.000+10:00

Today I found out that my favourite artist of all time, Elliott Smith, died of a seemingly self-inflicted knife wound to the heart two days ago. I found out after a friend called to ask me how I was, thinking that I knew about his death already. This isn't the best way to hear news like this.

I've dealt with the passing of a parent already this year, so hearing that your favourite musician has died pales in comparison. But I was on the verge of tears for most of the afternoon. His music changed me. I first heard his music - like many - on the soundtrack of the film "Good Will Hunting", and immediately went out and bought the soundtrack the day after I watched the movie. It remains my favourite soundtrack ever released. Over the years I purchased other Elliott Smith albums, both as they were released and his earlier albums. I listened to the stuff he recorded with Heatmiser, and I ruthlessly scoured the internet for covers, bootlegs, and rare releases.

In a webchat in 2000 on nme.com, someone asked him "what makes you so sad especially in your songs?" to which he answered:

"I'm not so sad - there has to be a certain amount of darkness in my songs for the happiness to matter - just 'cos I'm not singing about sex and sports doesn't mean I'm sad"

The irony of this statement made the reason his music appealed to me so clear: sadness in my life has made my happiness matter. I've spent time enjoying misery...missing misery...and hating it. I never thought myself the person to feel a personal sense of loss when an artist has died. However the fact that I never had the opportunity to see Elliott in concert, coupled with the way his music has been a constant factor in the last four years of my life (the hardest ever), prompts me to say this:

Elliott, I'll miss you.

the visit

2003-10-23T10:52:00.000+10:00

I just realised that amongst the inane ramblings of my last two posts, I neglected to mention the fact that George W. was currently in Australia. This is good for a number of reasons, not least of which the fact that professional protestors have been sitting down and twiddling their thumbs ever since the war in Iraq finished up. Thank goodness for the President, who's giving them something to do.

Disclaimer: I'm not a huge fan of GWB, but hey....I don't think a bunch of protestors holding up stupid signs about licking people's arses are much better.

rootin' tootin'

2003-10-22T23:50:00.000+10:00

Allow me to take a few seconds to toot my own horn (if ya know what I mean).

I've spent a bit of time on this blog so far complaining about assignments, etc, and talking about how bad I am at time management skills and so on...blah blah blah.

Well, I received three (3)! pieces of work back today, and surprisingly, I did pretty ok. I ended up doing better than I expected in two of them - in one I received my best mark ever, (like, best since grade 3 when I got full marks in a story about being lost at the supermarket) along with a really nice comment. I tells ya, it's comments like those that make it all worthwhile. My professor was all like "I think you should strongly consider taking some straight arts subjects, particularly history, in addition to your current degree" and so forth. Whilst incredibly flattering to hear, I gotta say it aint gonna happen. I wanted to reply to her with "I'm lazy, you see, and I finished that essay midnight before it was due. Do you really think I could handle doing another degree? I'm trying to finish two off now after two unsuccessful attempts so far!".

But I didn't.

Ok blah about the other assignments, I'm sure nobody reading this really cares, anyhow. The other two I received back were good results but weren't so unexpected and full of praise for the wonderful, talented moi. So they don't get a mention here. I did well though, which has boosted my confidence to the point where I think this semester might not be the entire write-off I thought it might. Which is good. I'll be happy when exams are over.

Update: oh my god. I swear the ditzmeister in me wrote the post above. It wasn't me. I thought she'd left when she was 16...but there she is, back to haunt me..and blog, while she's at it.

sigma, gamma, delta

2003-10-22T00:05:00.000+10:00

Tonight was the night of nights for Australian music - the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards.

I love watching the ARIAs. You get to see some of the more obscure Australian acts mix it up with the pop-divas, and everyone gets to enjoy some cheesy Aussie comedy by our local talk show darling, Rove McManus. I have to say that despite the fact that we lack television talent, I think the Australian music industry churns out some really good acts - and I'm not necessarily talking about your Kylie Minogues or Natalie Imbruglias.

Yet tonight, something irked me. Big time. It was totally irkily irkesome, and I'm not talking about the blisters I got trying to window mount my work while I watched the show for my design folio due tomorrow - I'm talking about Delta Goodrem.

Incase you've never heard of her, Delta is Australia's latest pop starlet. Like any good Aussie pop princess, she started out on Neighbours (which, incase you've never heard of it, it Australia's foremost soap opera). Unlike most of them, she can actually sing, and she plays piano. She's also totally gorgeous. So what irked me, you ask?

It's her cancer. Yes, Delta has cancer.

Now, before you accuse me of being terribly insensitive, my heart pours out to her. She seems really, genuinely lovely, and managed to thank everyone in her life with absolutely no air of superiority that we see in some other so-called stars. I mean, the poor girl had to wear a wig to the awards ceremony (a really good wig, I may add). Yet there's this niggling feeling within me that all the attention she's garnering is solely because she has cancer.

Sure she had a bit of a following before she got sick, but when she was diagnosed with (treatable) hodgkins disease, suddenly she was a media darling. Presenters at the awards (whom I REALLY detest) like Mark Holden from Australian Idol, sickeningly sang her praises when there are just as many incredibly talented young songstresses on the Australian music scene (who unfortunately don't have cancer). What about Amiel? Sarah Blasko? Little Birdy? Sure Amiel's performance tonight was a little shaky, Sara Blasko was nominated for one paltry award and nobody's heard of Katy Steele from little birdy (though her brother Luke, of the Sleepy Jackson, totally rocks), but that's completely beside the point. I would say that the other girls have much more independent talent than Delta, simply because they don't conform to the cut-out-of-a-stencil school of pop. These girls write, they perform, and they don't sound like every other female performer out there. They sound different.

Basically, scores of great Aussie talent got pushed by the wayside because Delta, who no doubt has sold more albums than all the others combined, won so many awards. She deserves the awards, but her cancer doesn't. So, I would have to say that the best part of the evening was Delta's only defeat - suprisingly enough in the best album category by Powderfinger's latest album, Vulture Street. It's not even close to being their best release, but someone managed to win over the stardom of Delta's cancer, and that has to amount to something.

the saga continues

2003-10-21T15:00:00.000+10:00

Something else just occurred to me. Does crazy Mahatir realise that placing the blame for the attention his statements garnered on "Jews controlling the Media" is the anti-thesis of his original argument, which was telling Muslims to start using their brains to "win" against the Western/Jewish empire? Maybe he should practising what he preaches, and look at why his speech was a piece of anti-semitic bullshit, rather than blaming the media for being controlled by a bunch of Jews (because clearly Rupert Murdoch wears a kippah and schleps his tallis to shul every shabbos).

Just as I posted the last entry, this thread came up on LGF. Curse them! always one step ahead of me. Go there for your meme collection on the Mahatir saga.

#3?

2003-10-21T14:44:00.000+10:00

I was planning on posting something else, but what a nice segue from my last post:

"Mahatir Renews Attack on Jews"

"In my speech I condemned all violence, even the suicide bombings, and I told all Muslims it's about time we stopped all these things and paused to think and do something that is much more productive," he told the Bangkok Post.

"That was the whole tone of my speech, but they picked up one sentence where I said that the Jews control the world.

"Well, the reaction of the world shows they control the world."

Frigging moonbat. Retire already, so nobody gives you a platform for your anti-semitic bullshit.

crazy mahatir part deux

2003-10-19T23:11:00.000+10:00

As a follow-up to this news post, here is an interview with the Malaysian Foreign Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, where he tries to defend Mahatir's statements by claiming they were taken out of context.

People more eloquent than I have commented on the issue all over the internet. I'll just say that i'm disgusted; moreover as I continue to read this kind of rhetoric from "moderate" Islamic leaders, I begin to lose hope that the rational Islamic voices out there will ever be heard. By rational I mean the ones that realise the only thing causing Islam such harm are muslims themselves.

overheard

2003-10-18T18:49:00.000+10:00

Song being sung by some crazy ragamuffin boy in one of my classes (to the tune of some generic punk riff):

Hel-fucking-vetica, Helfuckingvetica
sans-serif yeah, sans serif.....

That's all I caught.....but it's catchy.

my latest acquisition

2003-10-18T13:55:00.000+10:00

My Palm Zire 71 arrived on Thursday. I'm already pretty sure it was an overly zealous purchase, but i'm kinda happy I have it, for a number of reasons. First of all, it's a nice step up from my black and white clunkly Palm 105, which I previously used for reminders/appointments/etc. Secondly, it has an inbuilt mp3 player, which I will take advantage of when I purchase a Multimedia Expansion card (rampant consumerism, I curse ye!). Third, and coolest feature: the inbuilt camera, which has really limited picture quality but is fun to play with. I have had little to photograph over the last view days, but here are a couple of shots of my window, the view from the car, my puppy and myself:

Someone new in the pope buggy

2003-10-17T12:04:00.000+10:00

Candidates for next pope: Black, Hispanic, American, Liberal or....Jewish?

Crazy Mahatir

2003-10-16T23:37:00.000+10:00

"Arabs should emulate Jews, says Mahathir"

Yah, and Mahatir should try to emulate someone slightly more sane..........

I wanted to Kill him. But I didn't.

2003-10-16T00:40:00.000+10:00

Best feeling ever. After a killer 24 hours full of essay writing, presentation preparation and design research, I feel like a new man.

Allow me to trackback so you get an idea of exactly how i'm feeling, and why.

Each semester, I promise myself that come assignment crunch time (around this time), I will manage my time wisely and ensure that I have plently of time to devote to doing them well, and get stuff done well before the due date. Yet somehow, every semester, I manage to leave everything until the last minute, and spend the 24 hours before pieces of work are due eating cadbury triple deck chocolate (strawberry, white and milk chocolate. oh my god) and inhaling pepsi max while furiously typing away at the computer until ungodly hours. You will notice that I even managed to post twice yesterday, in a classic textbook case of avoidance.

Well, frigg you chocolate. You didn't beat me. Frigg you bad-time-management-skills, you didn't break me. And finally, frigg you assignments. Because I won against you. You cannot make me crack. You cannot make me crack! (But if you decide you really wanna, be sure to supply me with a crack pipe as well)

ps: I hereby solemnly swear that I shall be more organised next semester to avoid having to compete with my trinity of arch-nemeses: chocolate, bad-time management and assignments

Kill Bill, Volume 2

2003-10-14T17:44:00.000+10:00

C'mon, seriously...as if that's going to make up for it, Ethan.

idiotISM

2003-10-14T17:15:00.001+10:00

This post on LGF made me think about something that's been bugging me ever since the weekend, in an article about left-leaning economist Clive Hamilton:

In March this year, in a speech he gave to commencement students at the ANU [Australian National University], he talked about the death of a young America, Rachel Corrie, killed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent it from demolishing some Palestinian homes.

Using Corrie's bravery as an inspiration, he told the students not to enrol in courses at universities simply because they had the right university entrace rank, but to identify their passion in life and stick to that.

Now most of those out there who are rational-minded enough feel great empathy for the plight of the Palestinians, but I don't think lauding Rachel Corrie as a heroine is the way to go, no less to impressionable first year university students. Does Mr. Hamilton really thing that getting accidentally killed by a bulldozer is really the way to change the world? Was Rachel Corrie's passion really what she became infamous for, that is, being stupid enough to get killed by a ruthless privately contracted bulldozer in the line of duty? Not only has Mr Hamilton given moral superiority to one side of the mid-east conflict in one fell swoop, he has also condoned martyring yourself for no real reason at all. I should add that I was actually interested in reading what Mr. Hamilton had to say about neo-liberal economics and capitalism (and his days as a hippie) until I read that. It just wasn't as exciting anymore, now that he'd said something marginally stupid.

And then there's the news that another poor deluded aussie has gone over to form a human shield around Arafat. I have two questions for her. Is she aware there's a good chance that Arafat could die of natural causes? and, more importantly, has she read her safety instructions?

oh, just a thing

2003-10-12T16:12:00.000+10:00

I really wanna see Kill Bill when it's out here on October 16. The website's great. The movie could be even better...or suck. Don't let me down now please, Quentin.

I may be listening to the new Lamb album, but that's not why my brain is so mushy at the moment. In between trying to write an essay on the effects of market deregulation on the media and read LGF, it's little wonder I have a bit of the schizomentals. My brain's marching from one political militia to the next: left-right-left-right-left-right-left-right.

Not to worry. I'll get through it. With the help of my crack pipe, of course......

about me

2003-10-11T17:00:00.000+10:00

Now that (after a record span of 24 hours) the site looks closer to the way I would like it, I can finally sit down, relax, and just harp on about moi.

Of course all information is purely on a need to know basis; I doubt anybody ever wants to know too much anyhow. I (still) call Melbourne, Australia home. I'm female. 23 years old at time of writing this, I turn 24 in about 3 months (hopefully i'll remember and update this). I'm a student, currently studying communications/multimedia. I'm Jewish, not really practising. Whilst my political outlook tends to be hovering somewhere around center, i'll often lean slightly right or left when it comes to political issues. No, i'm not a capitalist, nor am I a socialist, though I do like reading Marx. I feel strongly about conflict in the mid-east, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I am a strong proponent of a two-state solution, oppose excessive Israeli action and strongly oppose Palestinian terrorism. Because it's no good for anyone, least of all the Palestinians.

I love film, and if you ask me to list my top 10 favourite movies of all time you better set aside at least an hour, maybe two, but among them would be Rushmore, Being John Malkovich, Donnie Darko, and more recently Pirates of the Carribean. I'm also obsessed with music. I play guitar. I sing, mainly for my own enjoyment, though I have done a bit of training. A quick summary of a few of my favourites would be Sigur Ros, Jack Johnson, John Mayer (I don't care that he lacks the indie cred, I LIKE THE MUSIC!), George/Elixir, Stevie Wonder, and I could go on for days and days, except I won't, because I have to talk about television. Television!. I'm addicted to the Comedy Channel. I try to watch Jay and Conan nightly. Also the office, spaced and black books (UK), Kath & Kim & CNNNN (Australia). I find Queer Eye for the Straight guy highly entertaining. I have no patience for people who find homosexuality uncomfortable. I have no patience for people who are small-minded, full stop.

My family/friends consider me somewhat of a technological person, and therefore tend to come to me with all problems technology related. I don't know how to programme. I know nothing about networking. I know a bit about computer parts, but that's only because I did some research before I bought a new computer last year. I don't keep up much with new stuff. I love design. I love the ability to use the computer for creative expression. I would love freelance design work, but i'm above begging people to give me work - I prefer to hint subtly. One day I might finish making a folio site. Maybe this summer. Maybe I'll just post my personal/professional/schoolwork here sporadically. Maybe I won't, but I probably will.

I love gadgets, particularly new ones. At the time of writing this I'm awaiting shipment of my new palm zire 71, which i'm planning on using to totally organise my life. I'm also dying for digital slr camera, but I might just go for a sleek little silver thing as my next digital purchase instead. I love apple computers, I would sell my soul for a G5 with a cinema screen, though I've only ever used a PC.

I'm pretty sure this not only tells you about me in excrutiating detail, it also tells you about what to expect in this blog.

Oh, final thing: if you're wondering whether I forgot to tell you my name, I didn't. I'll tell you when i'm good and ready. So be gone already.

Update - 24/10/03: Strangely enough, I forgot to add Elliott Smith to my list of favourite artists. Music is one of those things whereby I have so many favourites at any particular time, I simply forget my true all-time favourites. The death of Elliott Smith recently has made me compile my ultimate list of favourites: Stevie Wonder, Jeff Buckley, Eva Cassidy, Badly Drawn Boy and of course, Elliott Smith.

to do

2003-10-11T11:18:00.000+10:00

~~1. Make post titles smaller~~
2. Put together a decent site of my own design. Blogger templates?! *shudder*
3. Get into the writing flow
~~4. Put a comments function on this. Because I love comments. Weee!~~
5. Finish all the assignments/work/etc I have before I embark on any of the above.

Thank You

Update: Never, ever underestimate how much you can get done when you're really trying to procrastinate. Never.

all about it

2003-10-10T17:07:00.000+10:00

Welcome to the new incarnation of my constantly undulating attempts at blogging. I usually start off, then get sick of blogging and and finish, then realise there are so many issues I feel like blogging about, then begin again. Rinse, lather, repeat.

First on the agenda is the scattering of ideas on what this is about: changing, staying the same, new ventures, fronts, ambitions. Me. The state of the world/society/my bedroom. Art, music, film. Me. All things digital. Me.

Anticipate my dissapearance from the blogosphere at any time. Anticipate my re-emergence. Anticipate my arrival, my occasional unthinking stupidity and my frustration with anything/everything/nothing at all.

Ready? Set? Let's go....

As an afterthought, I should add that I previously blogged at the url http://avot.blogspot.com, incase there was some reason you had to know that.