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Feist!
Seicond
The Australians were embarrassing in Bangkok. Yes, I’m talking about the football.
I can forgive Schwarzer, because everyone has brain explosions, but there was only about ten minutes of defensive football played by the Aussies in the whole match.
Worst on ground: Lucas Neill.
FFA Courtesy Package to G. Arnold, Suite #5262 Bangkok Hilton.
1x Ceremonial Kimono
1x Katana
1x Wakizashi
4x Loyal Retainers
1x Calligraphy pen, ink, etc
“Arnold-san. You know what to do.”
Welcome to Asia.
This bizarre reference to Japanese occupation of South East Asia is in very poor taste, if not rather offensive.
Guess who:
Given the obvious connection between the Cold War and cold weather, the solution to climate change is obvious – bring back the Soviet Union!
…and what about parts of the US having the hottest ever recorded temperatures (118F in one case) for the longest extended periods, doesn’t that balance out our coldest? Or has the CO² migrated?
What is really worrying is that they are often serious over there.
Shameless self promotion.
As election day draws nearer, and policies laid out, positions taken and polls roll in, it is becoming clear that as certain as GW is real, John Howards days dominating our televisions are all but over. This naturally brings up the prospect of the Howard memoirs.
Contemplating the nature of the Howard stewardship, the overbearing arrogance, the patronising putdowns, the procession of lies, the Cole inquiry omissions of memory, the media manipulations, biassed reports, the illconceived lurches to action, etc, one is left pondering what sort of document such memoirs could be. This would certainly have to be a work of fiction, long winded, highly selective in its subject matter, and extensively self congratulatory. It is very likely to find a place beside the Bush memoirs set well apart from the Blair Phenomenon, and be on the short list of publications least likely to inspire a movie (its most probable literary award). The first edition Howard three volume novel is sure to find a place on exclusive suburban curbside council collection pickup piles and in garage sales years from now.
I don’t thimk any right thinking author would only put these brazenly positive aspects of Howard’s political career on paper.
Misheard news report: Last night the airwaves were awash with news of Rio-Tinto’s latest takeover bid, “the biggest takeover in the international miming industry.”
I’m still conjuring with that fascinating thought…
So CK, should I marbuy or marcell?
Perhaps Howard could take over the coaching of the Socceroos after the brilliant jobs he’s done securing the financial status and future of all Aussie Battlers!
Of course by battlers I mean those who are battling to put Grange on the dining table each night!
Shares have always had an imaginary relationship to the commodities they represent – not to mention the labour that produced those commodities. Shares, futures, takeovers, mergers…’tis nothing but a mime act.
No more imaginary than cash.
But think of all the frantic mime action on a silent trading floor as paper empires are exchanged in a flurry of hand-movements and face-paint…
MH- wth?
…interviews on Lateline Business would also be pretty interesting, as the alpha movers and shakers of the international miming industry jockey for competitive advantatge
Then there’s the exposes of the downside of the glittering world of mime: the drugs; the booze; the sex
Could it be that Election 2.0 has taken off in a big way with the launch of the official myspace vehicle for it?
Kev’s been having a torrid honeymoon with it, racking up >4000 friends and ~500 comments in less than 2 days since the msm went to air with the story.
Sure a lot of ‘em won’t have a vote, but they sound rapt that Kev added’em to their friends list, putting him in their pride of place. If that enthusiasm affects their parents vote, well there just might be the decisive margin in it, depending on which electorates are engaging. Did the census have a question about how many many folks in the house MySpaced?
Myspace reckons there are 3 million active accounts in Australia. Of course there will be redundancies, and wastage, but if there are say 1 million unique, engaged MySpacers exposed to the e-Ruddernaut, and he goes the way he is, and it’s not just a short cherry picking season, then it’s just possible the numbers will be there for him, and we might yet see a potent Election 2.0 phenomenon. What odds can I get that he’ll not hit 10,000? Then it’d go viral.
I clocked him as having only 62 friends on thursday morn 9.30. He’d hit the 4000 mark by that time this morning, so , given that they’ve been working/ school days intervening, it really is a phenomonal add rate, even the overall average is almost 2/min.
And it doesn’t look to me that any friendadder bot scripts were deployed, these are genuine Rudd fanbois and girls.
I reckon the libs will be getting a tad nervous, getting textor out of bed quick smart. They rolled out Malcolm T. as their answer with a lame dig at Kev for not leaving his Facebook open to automatic add or something.
Ummm, what part to 4123 vs. 123 don’t they understand?,
You raise an interesting point that leads to a time bomb ticking for Howard. No other still serving PM in our history has had so many serving and ex senior public servants, serving and ex advisors, serving and ex personal staff, serving and ex bureaucrats, serving and ex senior ranking military/intelligence personnel and even serving and ex party hacks speak out against them.
Howard has had less books written about him than any other still serving PM, for stuffs sake Rudd already has two books out about him and Beazley absolutely swamped Howard. The few books Howard has had written were mostly negative (and reasonable sellers), and the positive ones were dismissed (and woeful sellers).
There is the promise of an explosion of exposes when the statute of limitations runs out or when retirement comes to many currently serving personnel across the gamut of government and the party, who are constrained by the secrecy act or by Howard’s draconian anti-whistle blower laws, which can lead up to 20 year jail terms. Then there is the mountain of discriminating documentation that Howard will not be able to shred, like the Treasury documents he has denied public release under FOI as not in the public interest by going to the Federal court (via Costello).
I honestly believe history is not going to be very kind to John Winston Howard.
MorningDude,
History will remember Howard as the man who preferred to destroy his own political party than face an obviously inevitable defeat. A man who couldn’t find a way to go gracefully when the time came, because he didn’t have an ounce of grace in his makeup. A man who only kept his Prime Ministership because none of his rivals was game to challenge him for the thankless task of leading the Liberal Party back into opposition.
Unless the polls turn of course … but that’s looking increasingly unlikely.
Indeed. You’d think that, having taken one rather nasty leaf out of Tony Blair’s book, he’d be able to take another and much prettier one, wouldn’t you.
Oops, still channelling Meg Ryan up there, I see.
Wishful thinking.
Gummo: to be fair, even though he spent all of 2006 lagging in the polls, I can see why he and the Liberal party in general were pretty sanguine about knocking over the Beazer for the third time, and when Rudd took over he could hardly bail out without looking the consummate coward and worsening the Lib’s chances even further.
Bollard says:
“Shares have always had an imaginary relationship to the commodities they represent – not to mention the labour that produced those commodities. Shares, futures, takeovers, mergers…’tis nothing but a mime act.”
Keep waving that red flag, Bollie.
Leinad,
There is a graceful way out for Howard, but it’s a painful one – I described it on my own blog today:
It’s a thought I’ve had on my mind for a few weeks. It’s highly unlikely that Howard would do such a thing but it’s getting depressingly tedious watching him try to stave it off. Because the only way he can stave it off is to come up with another wedge issue to divide the country even more.
Gummo: I thought you were referring to his refusal to hand over leadership last year and give someone else a go. As far as getting this stupid charade over with is concerned we’re in complete agreement. He can’t seriously expect that dragging this out to November is going to endear him any further to the electorate, most of whom are sick of this year-long unofficial campaign business to start with. His wedges have looked decidely soggy in recent times and Rudd is pretty much dead-batting his way to the Lodge with a substanial total on the board. This is turning into Warne vs Pieterson at Adelaide: come November the only viewers left will be the tragics.
.
The GGWS debate, dance remix.
Doesn’t take long, does it?
So with Howard in government we’re also twenty years behind on global warming. How comforting.
MorningDude [1:56pm Bastille Day]
Oh no it’s not ….. IMHO, the best story is sitting way back in the mists of time when he was a Young Liberal …..
Gummo, I disagree. If Howard really thinks he’s going to lose (and he may have a terrorist attack up his sleeve) he will resign tomorrow. Not for him the Keating humiliation.
He knows it won’t look so good in his memoirs (which will surely sell 50 copies).
The GGWS debate:
Did Prof David Karoly or did he not shoot himself in the foot the other night? In a response to Prof Bob Carter, he said that the ‘final nail in the solar forcing coffin’, was that solar activity heats up the stratosphere and that’s where we would expect to see warming if it were due to the solar effects, but the temperature of the stratosphere has been cooling in the last 30 years. Go to
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/swindle/
and choose the ‘Debate’ tab and choose part 2.
However, in Tony Jones’ interview of Martin Durkin, (on Youtube, Interview Part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goDsc9IaSQ8&mode=related&search=
scientists query the solar activity-temperature graph because the solar activity trend line stops at 1970-1980 (actual year not clear to me). They say that while the temperature continues to rise, the solar activity line dips and falls away.
This appears to me to be consistent with the declining temperature in the stratosphere, according to Karoly’s comments.
Daniel,
Howards not going to quit early simply because he is only in there for the money. He didn’t have what it takes to be a entrepreneur so this is the best paying job that he could get. And then there is the vision. Hands up the wit who pointed out that Howard has only ever had one vision for Australia, and that is an Australia with him as Prime Minister. If he quits, then the vision is gone.
I hear a lot of tapping going on. Feet tapping, biros clicking, repeat thoughts washing around peoples heads, people getting snappy with one another. This is the territory of the impatient wait. The expectation is now, every one is ready for the show to begin. But, some one is delaying, dragging it out. God, I need a beer.
Cruisey,
The bit of the atmosphere we live in is the lower down bit – the troposphere. That’s also where the CO2 tends to stay because the CO2 molecule is “heavier than air” (molecular weight (MW) 44 where O2 has MW 32 and N2 (nitrogen) MW 28).
Karoly’s observation was that if the warming was caused by the sun the stratosphere should be warming not cooling so the observed warming of the troposphere can’t be explained by solar activity ergo the cause is something else – i.e. increased CO2 concentration and lower O2 concentration.
In the interview, Tony Jones nailed Durkin on that point. Once the data after 1980 is included in the graph we see the temperature average go up while the solar activity goes downward. If, as Durkin claims, the sun were the driver of global warming the two lines would stay together as they had in the past. The fall in solar activity would take the temperature down with it. Why did Durkin leave out that data? Because he knew it would explode his case.
No, Karoly did not shoot himself in the foot.
You should probably take any further comments on Durkin’s “documentary” here. Otherwise some grumpy moderator bastard might delete them.
The Government Gazette has changed their look. Looks like a sheet of paper.
And, IIRC, our warmest autumn. Not to mention one of the predictions of global warming theory is increasing instability of weather patterns.
I agree with that. And that reckoning will be a lot swifter than usual. The dam will burst the day he loses power, and hence control of the debate.
There it is. Correlation is not causation. But lack of correlation is definitely lack of causation.
Nice one Hilker – mind if I take it out for a spin some time?
Easily done Phil but have they changed their Pro Government attitude?
Re: The GGWS debate, dance remix.
These are good, for those who haven’t seen them.
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=rocsims&p=r
Check the Howard and Keating videos in particular.
Good Ol’ Red.
Go for it. It needs much more exercise.
Actually, the remix was done in a video editor as a video (defintely inspired by Red, but no morphs!), but it wouldn’t export properly (something to do with the divX codec – forgive me, I’m not a geek) so I converted the MPEG into an Mp3 instead.
There is a rumour doing the rounds in Sydney that there is a tunnel being constructed from an underground carpark to the Opera House so that GWB doesn’t have to run the gauntlet of city streets and potential threats during the Big Kahuna Gab-fest. It is suggested that construction is being funded by the Australian taxpayer.
Anybody heard this or know something further?
Also a helicopter with mobile phone jamming equipment will be deployed.
It is on the back page of today’s SMH, but I have also been hearing it from construction folk over the last few weeks.
Cruisey,
Last time you posted your comment on Global Warming I deleted it. Your repost is sitting in moderation.
In my reply to your first comment, I specifically asked you to post any further comments on global warming here.
While this is an open thread, I for one don’t want to see other topics swamped by comments on a specific issue that is dealt with in other posts on this site. That’s why you’re now in moderation.
No correspondence, yada, yada.
Would someone care to toss in a mime comment so we can lighten the mood up again?
Richard Dawkins popularized the idea of mimes in his excellent book The Selfish Gene.
I can’t think of a good mime gag, so I’ll take it back to football instead.
As an antidote to the blanket news coverage of a crap Mancunean going to play for a third rate Yank team –
George Best on David Beckham:
“He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn’t score many goals.
Apart from that he’s all right.”
Phil notes:
Fairfax did so too, not too long ago. Prior to doing so it made mention on site that it was to present differently, as attempt to gentle the change with its readership; and, if memory serves, it provided a preview link for three weeks or so where you could check out how it would appear. It was a significant change; it jolted readers. The rider ran something as: “we know it’s going to affect readers, and appear quite differently, yet we believe it’s better and you’ll get used to it. Give it a go.” A rough assessment at the time prior to change was that it would be rejected – not so, as it happened.
Has this prior notice happened with GG? Not that it matters much, perhaps. Still, it is a significant change. An observation FWIW is that it’s much more open, much more accessible. It’s clever. The old idea of this newspaper-as-printed transferring its image to the net has gone. This is a change of masthead appearance, from print to net. Viewing the new look, the desire for stateliness has given way to a more dynamic, open, here-is-what-you-want-come-and-get-it net energy: forget about struggling with a broadsheet here, this is the feed the must-have requirement of the modern online age. This is an internet look, and its effect cannot be discounted. It’s also ripe for younger viewers. It may, in no short time again, make Fairfax online as it presents as rather stiltiish and obsolete.
Early days, as Australian text media goes online, but this move could prove very powerful. Don’t sell it short. Yes, it’s about content – but the one thing about content is that it is housed, bracketed, by how it embraces you, visually. On first blush, removing the old masthead, visually constricting ‘newspaper’ look to go this way opens up a new ball game.
Sole survivor sitting on a $5b fortune
I haven’t read an article that made me feel this good in ages – almost makes you believe that there might be a future for this planet after all.
Richard Dawkins popularized the idea of mimes in his excellent book The Selfish Gene.
No. I believe that was Marcel Marceau.
OK.
Richard Dawkins popularized the idea of mimes in his book The Selfish Marcel Marceau.
“Would someone care to toss in a mime comment so we can lighten the mood up again?
Happy to oblige.
“Mime eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is peeling down the alley in a black and yellow Ford.”
“All I can hear,
I Me Mime, I Me Mime, I Me Mime.
Now the frightened are saying it,
Everyone’s playing it,
Flowing more freely than wine.
All through yr life,
I Me Mime.”
“It’s dark as a dungeon,
Down past the dew,
Danger is double,
Pleasures are few.
Where the rain never falls,
The sun never shines.
It’s dark as a dungeon
Way down with the mimes.”
“Your southern can is mime.”
This stuff pretty much writes itself.
Melaleuca,
“As an antidote to the blanket news coverage of a crap Mancunean going to play for a third rate Yank team…”
Is there any other kind? (of soccer team, mind you, not of Yank teams…)
Beckham’s arrival is just the yawn-cherry atop a vast, bland, worldwide layer-cake of soccer yawns. Granted D.B. seems to be quite a brilliant athlete in his own way; but so, I’m sure, are the world champeens of jai-alai and tiddlywinks.
Why only yesterday I had the immense pleasure of watching a women’s world softball championship show-down between China and the US; and I swear, enough more interesting things happened, more interesting strategic decisions taken, more daring risks and initiatives in just the first inning, than in the entire history of soccer on all its several snoring continents. Get a real sport. Or, failing that, rugby, Aussie rules football, and cricket will certainly suffice.
– j_p_z, diggin’ that windmill…
Gratuitous Beauty (Which Some Maintain Is the Only Kind) Dept. –
Apart from athletic recriminations posted for sheer puckish fun, this here is courtesy of the genius of the saintly Marianne Moore…
Durer would have seen a reason for living
in a town like this, with eight stranded whales
to look at; with the sweet sea air coming into your house
on a fine day, from water etched
with waves as formal as the scales
on a fish.
One by one in two’s and three’s, the seagulls keep
flying back and forth over the town clock,
or sailing around the lighthouse without moving their wings —
rising steadily with a slight
quiver of the body — or flock
mewing where
a sea the purple of the peacock’s nest is
paled to greenest azure, as Durer changed
the pine-green of the Tyrol to peacock blue and guinea
grey. …
… Liking an elegance of which
the source is not bravado, he knows by heart the antique
sugar-bowl-shaped summer house of
interlacing slats, and the pitch
of the church
spire, not true, from which a man in scarlet lets
down a rope as a spider spins a thread;
he might be part of a novel, but on the sidewalk a
sign says C.J. Poole, Steeple-Jack,
in black and white; and one in red
and white says
Danger. …The hero, the student,
the steeple-jack, each in his way,
is at home.
It could not be dangerous to be living
in a town like this, of simple people,
who have a steeple-jack placing danger-signs by the church
while he is gilding the solid-
pointed star, which on a steeple
stands for hope.
–Marianne Moore, from “The Steeple-Jack”
I live in England now.
Sometimes…it’s too easy…when the people are thirsty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVTYiNYUPz4
when the dirt has only been swept under the carpet…& we like to believe…we’ve cleaned house:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzOk5itf98s
and there’s a bigger picture…don’t turn away…don’t be fooled…again.
“Never stop fighting, til the fight is done!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_61X4_RL3CU&mode=related&search=
remember who…& what yer fighting for…wordsmiths…use yer words…like bullets.
N’
know this movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvoOsWGuhlM
(The Quiet American)
who can you trust?
gaze into the eyes…
N’
Just a reminder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4_6equEYKI&mode=related&search=
(The Thing)
How can we cross the bridge when we feel like this…?
or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QOHGAxs_cU
(The Descent)
what is awakening in Howard World…again…?
sometimes we don’t understand the World we’ve been given…or born into…the cards dealt are not what we expected…but eventually we GROW…to ADAPT…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtxdBl4s6Wc&mode=related&search=
go w/ the flow…
the Journey
but don’t jump into an early grave…reach out for THE LIGHT. And FIGHT for FREEDOM…and LIVE!…and LOVE!
Take every moment, each gift you’ve been provided with…& explore it…moment by moment…dream by dream…friend by friend…look…into …THE LIGHT!
It’s your friend, not your enemy.
N’
and memories are made of sweet things…& yucky things…but in the long run…everyone, needs someone, to…i hear you say:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUVnfaA-kpI
(Stand By Me)
and in this harsh old land of ours…a reminder…that dreams…become nightmares…can be beautiful songs…but realistically…think it thru before you introduce anything that will damage the environment…& give the pragmatic, the pained…& the bastards an opportunity to KILL, KILL, KILL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MODq81_cDKI&mode=related&search=
(Bright Eyes: Watership Down)
know you’re merely part of ‘The Dream’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xepA0nH3LWg&mode=related&search=
(Picnic At Hanging Rock)
a state that John Howard…radio jocks…media Enablers…& his Neo-Con/Neo-Lib mates never quite got…in the tightness of their times…
but some once knew…
now remembering…during the AWAKENING…
whilst…
a legacy…is lost in the drift of…
When you forget the dreams…disrupt the natural order…use the core of a Country for political purposes…eventually, inevitably…the dream becomes a nightmare…in the search for its people:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdCkUu7FufY
(The Last Wave)
“Don’t change the Earth, don’t change a thing for me”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSgV4WIykUY
(Don’t Change: INXS)
Our UNIQUE land…
what do they know?…the hungry ones?…the mechs, the dozers…?…
but how to feed…
the CHOSEN ONES…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mkidP2OUCk
N’
No matter how warm it gets these days…the Australian people look upon each other in confusion…divided, hostile glares…inside the Ice house…
I offer you FLOWERS
to mourn…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c3i8×6XhO4
or to change…the colour scheme…
N’
It’s almost time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG4wSs5OK0U
didn’t you realise…i’m not drowning…
Strange days indeed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO2CgjIRr9E&mode=related&search=
(Act of Free Choice: David Bridie)
sshhhoooshhh…in case THEY here…;)
Sorry Peter, I couldn’t help myself…but hey, we’re all allowed moments of passion…;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbfsd5piwEI&mode=related&search=
(Midnight Oil: US Forces)
anyhow, i’m outa here…
so i turn my head back for just one moment…think about friends & teams…& snow covered mountains…& ice rinks…& Harveys…& Rush…& bronzed leaves during Autumn…& Centre Island…& the Eaton’s Centre…& smoke on the water…& in the apartment…1901…& the lake…& my brother…& his wife…& nephew…
feels like I’m leavin’ here too soon…
but heck…i’m not really goin’ anywhere…luv this land…luv the memories meldin’…it’s all just a dream…
over to…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzIkOHC0lEg
(Sugar Mountain: Neil Young)
&
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O6VxlMi69Q&mode=related&search=
(Like A Hurricane: Neil Young)
Mime
Makes a man take things over.
Mime
Makes him loose and hard to follow.
Mime
Puts you there where things are hollow.
Mime…
Pick up the bags,
Get in the limousine,
And, smile, smile, smile……
Old WW1 song.
Of all the strange coincidences, lately I’ve heard not one, but two, excellent cover versions of George Harrison’s marvelous “Within You Without You” — one on Patti Smith’s fine new compilation “Twelve,” and the other (and presumably older) rockin’ version by the great Sonic Youth, included as an extra on their splendid new deluxe re-release of “Daydream Nation.”
Lawd, now does THAT bring back memories (speaking as I was of the Bad Old Days…) It’s a great record no matter how you slice it, but there’s a certain indelible edge of “ya had to be there” theater to it for me, that clouds my critical perception somewhat, one supposes. Still, it rocks; and, not unlike a hurricane, there’s calm in its eye. They’ve also included, as another bonus, a kick-ass live cover version of the Don Van Vliet classic “Electricity”. Run, don’t walk.
Those were the days, like it or not (mostly not)…
“Does ‘Fuck you’ sound simple enough?”
– Kim Gordon
“It’s time to get it
Before you let it
Get to you…”
– Thurston Moore
“I remember our youth, our high ideals.
I remember you were _so_ uptight.”
– Lee Ranaldo
“There’s bum trash in my hall,
And my place is ripped.
I totalled another amp,
I’m calling in sick.”
Well that might as well be a page from my fucking autobiography.
“You’re never gonna stop all the teenage leather and cooze…”
Rock on.
Oh for fuck’s sakes Nasking, I’m sure your heart’s in the right place but don’t you try occasionally when the blood rushes to your head, having a bex and a nice lie down?
Great poem jpz. Heard bugger all about Marianne Moore until now. Will check out more of her. She really knows how to move words around inside your head.
But like so many American poets, she does strike me as yearning a bit too hard after the transcedental that must be there somewhere lurking in the quotidian.
Whereas Brit poets worthy of their heritage just go for it and let the daily bawdy lay where ever it may. Here’s a good example by one worthy on heat for the Jimi Hendrix of Anglo poetry. Kinda like Alvin Lee covering “Are You Experienced”.
Lullaby for William Blake
- Adrian Mitchell
Blakehead, babyhead,
Your head is full of light.
You sucked the sun like a gobstopper.
Blakehead, babyhead,
High as a satellite on sunflower seeds,
First man-powered man to fly the Atlantic,
Inventor of the poem which kills itself,
The poem which gives birth to itself,
The human form, jazz, Jerusalem
And other luminous, luminous galaxies.
You out-spat your enemies.
You irradiated your friends.
Always naked, you shaven, shaking tyger-lamb,
Moon-man, moon-clown, moon-singer, moon-drinker,
You never killed anyone.
Blakehead, babyhead,
Accept this mug of crude red wine -
I love you.
Yes, not as studiedly and technically accomplished as Ms Moore but far more charged up and ultimately memorable (and vino veritased), ne c’est pas?
Raaauggghhhh! We’re working up a cover version of that right now. With double bass, lap steel and theremin to create a sorta country and western science fiction vibe.
But I think Don’s all time great line was:
“Send your mother home your navel.”
The energy behind Walt Whitman’s entire ouvre summed up in one bluesly growl.
Kinda reminds of Melbourne’s, if not Australia’s, ultimate tabloid “The Truth’” who once ran with a headline and newsagent screamer about a child molester who agreed to be be chemically castrated.
“Castrate Me! Boy Sex Man!” – Bill Burroughs unwittingly distilled to his essence by a grimy Flinders St subbie.
Nabakov — yes indeed, A. Mitchell-sama’s Blake poem is quite a lovely thing. Thanks for posting it. Not enough people write in praise of Blake… although the playwright Paul Foster did, and the humorist Gerry Sussman (if I recall aright) did a beautiful piece in the 70s NatLamp, in which Blake had been deputized to escort the Marquis de Sade to an insane asylum, but naturally our good Donatien Alphonse took advantage of the situation to exchange places, without Bill Blake ever noticing the problem. Well, that was back when humor meant something to somebody.
“But like so many American poets, she does strike me as yearning a bit too hard after the transcendental that must be there somewhere lurking in the quotidian.”
Yes it’s a problem in yank poetry I’m sure; but then again, it’s one of those weird local tics that makes the language richer when it succeeds (Stevens, Whitman, Ashbery) and causes only forgettable problems and little harm when it fails (pages of illustrations). Though I suppose it’s true that too many young writers aspire to the Whitman of “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and “Song of My Self” while they forget the Whitman of “A noiseless patient spider” and the great “Cavalry crossing a ford.”
As a local antidote to the too-grandiose-for-my-blood tradition of transcendence, here’s (one of my all-time favorites) the ending of Frank O’Hara’s great “For Grace, After a Party”:
“Put out your hand,
isn’t there
an ashtray, suddenly there
by the bed?
And someone you love
enters the room and says, Wouldn’t
you like the eggs a little
different today?
And when they arrive they are
just plain scrambled eggs and the warm weather
is holding.”
Blake wrote:
The lineage of “grandiosity” in literature is universal and dates back to Homeric poetry, the Hebrew religion and the Tao Te Ching, to name just a few greats.
Give me Whitman’s “barbaric yawp”, Dickinson’s mystical joy and Emerson’s mind on fire any day rather than the far nourishment-free juvenile homages to Blake and derivative Ginsberg.
MayS: “The lineage of “grandiosityâ€? in literature is universal and dates back to Homeric poetry, the Hebrew religion and the Tao Te Ching…”
Fair enough. Like a man said, The way that can be talked about is not the real way. But then again, if we were to exclude all conversation and chit-chat about it, it’s gonna get awfully boring.
“derivative Ginsberg…”
Well if ya think about it for a minute or two, pretty much all of Ginsberg is itself derivative, which leaves us with… well personally I prefer to skip Ginsberg most of the time, except for “My Sad Self,” “A Supermarket…,” a few good parts of “Kaddish,” and the part in “Howl” that goes “this really happened” (and it really did happen, so I heard…)
I once had an amusing conversation with Ginsberg, out of the blue, that was all small-talk. Charming guy.
My favorite criticism of his work (I think I may have posted this before) comes from a semi-legendary exchange at one of the first public readings of “Howl”…
ALLEN GINSBERG: (intones) I saw the best minds of my generation…
FRANK O’HARA: (scans the room, catty stage whisper) Who’s he *talking* about?
A friend of mine recently visited a friend in an Aboriginal settlement in the Northern Terrotory.
My friend reported that the issue that is greatly exercising Aborigines is the little-publicised Federal Government ban on the importation of kava.
Apparently, kava is viewed as a suitable substitute for the more dangerous and disruptive alcohol. Community leaders are concerned that many will return to drinking, with unfortunate effects.
As far as I can see, this is the only reference to the issue in the newspapers. And in this Age article it is mentioned only in passing.
Love the wide range on this blog/site – sorry, new to this Net thingy, just got a steam driven 4th hand PC on dial up but..wow! If we’d had this in the 60s…
Mark (not) B probably it’s but don’t imagine that Sydney isn’t riddled with underground tunnels.
The MWSDB (now Sydney Water) used to run tours on some of the older tunnels and the dear old PMG, where i had my first job as a bicycle telegram (wot that?)boy has/had a huge network of RAIL beneath the city, can’t imagine that it has been filled in, tho’ who knows what modern bean counters think is rational.
I often used to put my bike on at Martin Place (sic!)and trundle along to Canterbury post office (in 1962 the furthest extent)before putting the thighs to work.
So yeh, probably shrub & shitface have asked for special arrangements but I can’t imagine them in those tunnels -they were only about 5mts wide and I can’t imagine they’ve been updated with a/c or similar.
KATZ – sorry, missed yours above when blathering to Mike(not)B. Kava was ruled a Prohibited Import under the Customs Act in 1989 but NEVER enforced in Sydney – go to any Indian spice store and you can get 200gms for a couple of bucks.
It WAS however, stopped at Port Palmerston (as Darwin was called within Customs for obvious reasons)so nobody bothered to send it there, previously freely available, and it had to be shipped overland from Sydney or Melbourne which raised the price.
As far as we could see, the AHA was ENTIRELY (with CLP backing – the NT gov at the time) behind the Commonwealth ban coz it meant the bungs weren’t drinking enough piss.
Before Independence in Fiji, the uptight missionaries (the crazy amerikan methodists rather than the brits) succeeded in getting it banned (hah!)and all it did was increase the price (wotta surprise) in Suva and reduce the vitamin B12 intake of pregnant women who’d previously used it as a tonic. After Independence it was (rightly) consigned to the dustbin of colonial history.
Anyone wondering about kava, it tastes like shit but is a wonderful aid to pleasant reverie and can be bnought in any Indian shop in Newtown (Sydney).
Nab…if your heart was in the right place you’d learn not to make such fatuous & pompous remarks.
“Arrogance diminishes wisdom�
let me focus on your mind for a mere second in trivial time and I shall find the crack in your veneer, and within the emboldening bereft of charity, scolded by love, polished by the impatience of your own tongue,
urgent orb, blasting for another stage, drained of light and cause, merely ‘is’.
Play on.
Nasking, I’d be careful if I were you. Nabakov might pull down his veneer and show you his crack, if you ask.
The correct phrase is “game on”.
Oh, and Leniad: your dream of cheap autonomous spy drones available to any supervillain is getting closer.
you be correct, i’ll do it my way…;)
Probably not a good idea to use the word “arrogance” just before such fatuous and pompous statement, Nasking old chap.
Pass the word around, it’s Big N v. little n, out the back of the bike shed, straight after skool.
Now fight clean, boys(?).
less about ‘arrogance’ & more about ’scrutiny’ old chap…”Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
which gets me thinkin’ beyond you Nabs (you seem a decent enuff fella in the long run & therefore i’d hate to think you’d mistake the following as a reference to your character)…anyhow, i had an odd dream the other night…
a memory from a possible past?:
as a boy i once owned a magnifying glass, i lent it to a neighbour who used it to burn insects…when i confronted him, accused him of brutality & asked for my glass back he replied: “I lost it at the Fun Park…in the Freak Show”…& w/ a cunning smile gave me the finger & made his way home. He moved soon after. I haven’t seen him since.
Years later, I discovered he’d lied & had graduated to burning animals w/ my magnifying glass…particularly species that did not partake in carnivorous habits. Eventually he ended up in jail for some heinous crime. From that day on I became determined not to lend others tools that could be utilised for destructive purposes…& in turn purchased a telescope…thru which i could observe the goings on of the diverse beings that inhabited this Planet…& read the signs in the night sky…& the ways of the sun…that gave me a wider perspective…but would only be useful as a weapon in the most extreme of cases…to defend myself in case of attack by wielding it as a club…or to observe the strategies of the Pack, their movements, behaviorisms, intended victims…so as to warn others…& empower.
Yeah well Hilker, the scratch post may think it’s been in a fight but I doubt the cat does.
In that case someone as volitile and thin skinned as you really should tone down the general and often incoherent horatory hectoring of others who could well be in be agreement with some of your points. Yer giving mad hermits a bad name here.
Yeah, and I remember me mum busting my brother and I for using the telescope on the balcony to perve at the neighbours too.
I can assure you that raving on blogs about “scrutiny” and smashing the system ain’t advancing your cause a whit. Not to say though that I’m not amused by your stream of consciousness (a word here that I use here about you without much respect for its ontological implications). I am amused, but I suspect not in the way you think you’re engaging others.
Here, let me put all that in a way you might better grasp.
…who watchs the watchers of those that watch their watches…uncaring of the natural rhythms…the ticking and pulse of the biosphere that cradles us like unforgiving yet pliant chopsticks…who does not laugh like a gecko at those playing with shadow puppets in Plato’s Cave…who think the world is watching…”those vast and trunkless comments”…the skin of a rice pudding is easily knocked off… do not stoop to tie your shoelaces in your neighbour’s melon patch…
Goin’ on everywhere these days…check out these two US Senators battling it out over the Iraq War:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INqzC6gzxBs&mode=related&search=
“I’ll let them judge what you said” (Webb)
Virginia on my mind…;)
Don’t take my comment too seriously Nabs, I am just urine extracting both of you. Apologies to you both if I am out of line. Though you gotta admit it’s kind of amusing watching brawling between folks who are otherwise on the same side.
You are. I’m not on the same side as anybody else. And it’s not brawling, just keeping the predatory skills set sharp.
i take it your ranting into a mirror at this point.
lest you forget:
“Oh for fuck’s sakes Nasking, I’m sure your heart’s in the right place but don’t you try occasionally when the blood rushes to your head, having a bex and a nice lie down?”
sorry to have entered your turf Nabs & stepped on ‘precious’ toes by attempting to relate, entertain & take a few visitors down a nostalgic path…i will be sure not to ‘dumb down’ your show again…one can imagine how welcoming the mat must be you’ve left on the trapdoor in other threads? For now I’ll leave you to combine discourse w/ the ‘vicious arts’…to pull the lever on each visitor you see fit…during your waltz of the “natural rhythms”.
Let’s just say i’ve never cared for the ‘lockstep’ dance Nabs…and my sense of ‘flow’ has little to do w/yers obviously…
over the past few years i’ve watched this World take it itself over the edge & into the abyss because the majority are convinced by an Elite few & their Enablers that they can steady the wobble…watched the populace ridicule the Cassandras…& stand by gawking & feasting as the Truth Sayers were hunted down one by one…whilst far too many academics & the so called ‘intelligentsia’ wanked themselves into a fury, signifying bloody nothing. Those who were determined not to be fooled again found themselves running in circles biting their own tails…
Rather than heeding the words & experience of those who accepted its quivering, saw beyond the ’smoke & mirrors’, had already gone where only Eagles dare…MOST decided to MOCK…& pleasure themselves…but a few of us opened our ears, did the research…& decided to relay the information of the Knowledgable Ones, past & present…listened to them, regardless of Class (despicable term)…or ability to articulate…we were nourished by their teachings, we gathered up what had been discovered like squirrels do chestnuts, cherished & analysed each aspect…then sometimes as Go-Betweens we translated the material & projected it outwards to make it more palatable for the readers/viewers…even added our own observations…& style in order to get points across, regardless of reputation…we weren’t in this for fame or financial gain…this was about SAVING this freakin’ Planet from tipping over the edge to Obscurity…
and eventually, thnx to the courage of a few visionary bloggers & their supporters the messages struck a chord w/ the public…& consequently I give Mark & a few others on here credit for focusing on some essential issues & bustin’ a few myths in the process…as I do Tim Dunlop…
and as for the implied: “don’t call us, we’ll call you”…well, i never did like melons…or prats off their leash for that matter. But rice pudding, now that’s a different matter altogether…;)
It was fun. Now, this local crackpot’s got research to do.
First rule of the poet’s club, you… oh never mind
for Nasking….
I taste a liquor never brewed
From Tankards scooped in Pearl.
Not all the vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an alcohol!
Inebriate of air – am I
And Debauchee of Dew.
Reeling – thro endless summer days
From inns of molten blue.
When “Landlords” turn the drunken bee
Out of the foxglove’s door -
When butterflies – renounce their “drams”
I shall but drink the more!
Till seraphs swing their snowy hats
And saints – to windows run
To see the little Tippler
Leaning against the – sun.
Emily Dickinson
a song i used in a interrupted project that stuck in my mind & invades my dreams, thankfully…& an accompanying video that reminds us of how far we have to go…:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tluogv9EGTQ
jinmaro…:)…a gorgeous poem by a perceptive individual…how often people have accused me of being inebriated on alcohol when i’ve been drunk on Life & Existence & all that it entails & demands of us…i can’t tell you…but i’m sure i’d startle a few noses w/ the vapours lingering from my sober dreams…lately, more than those exhaled on more than tipsy nights. But people will think what they think, & in the long run it matters not where fingers point, but whether they can be flexed…or remain rigid til ashed or fallen, in vase or six feet under.
For too many in Iraq, it is the latter.
N’
a century Kim…
for those wanting to escape the box tonite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INgXzChwipY
for S’
Sitting down? Good.
Had a nice filling morning tea? Even better.
Read about the Hunan rat plague, and click through to the Reuters video (ignoring the annoying ad at the start).
Trust me, the involuntary shivering stops after about fifteen minutes.
Plug pour moi. I’m hosting the Four Stone Hearth blog carnival, which concerns things archaeological and anthropological.
For your consideration:
http://sherdnerd.blogspot.com/2007/07/four-stone-hearth-19.html