Monday, August 31, 2009

all that jazz in the mall

The impending destruction of Lonsdale House has prompted me to try to get photos of some of my favourite buildings (deco and otherwise) around town in case / before they suffer a similar fate.

This is the beautiful David Jones (former Buckley and Nunn) building in the Bourke St mall. An art deco masterpiece built in 1934, the facade features men dressed in Jazz Age outfits, glazed terracotta panels and spandrels faced with stainless steel chevrons and colourful musical notes.

the truth about bombers and tigers

I have no doubt that the 'sniper' accusation made against Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd after the Hawthorn game last weekend is completely valid.

Essendon is one of two clubs in the AFL which have nurtured a culture of thuggery and violence over the past several decades. It became ingrained at Richmond in the 1970s, when the team included some of the roughest and dirtiest players in the competition, and was transplanted to Essendon when Kevin Sheedy took on the coaching role there. It remains embedded in the cultures of both clubs today... you can almost guarantee that in any big game that either team plays, there'll be at least one incident of out-and-out thuggery and/or a melee.

Lloyd deserves all the punishment he gets for this example, and I hope his team goes crashing out of the finals next week.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

movie guilt

Apparently, the Australian film industry is having a vintage year, producing many critically-acclaimed movies.

So far in 2009, I've paid at the cinema to see 19 American movies, 5 French ones, 2 British and 1 Spanish. I've felt guilty about not finding time to see 'Samson and Delilah' and 'Balibo', but the bottom line is, I didn't really want to see them for any reason other than to support the local industry... and I didn't really *want* to see them at all.

This opinion piece in today's Sunday Age got me thinking about this.

I don't necessarily agree with the writer that public funding of the Australian film industry is the cause, but I can't argue with his other point - Australian filmmakers just don't make many movies that appeal to me.

I will make a special effort to support a locally-made film in a genre that I enjoy, but I can't bring myself to go and see a movie that I don't expect to enjoy, just because it's made locally.

For my money, first choice at the cinema will always be a good comedy - or even a mediocre one that raises a few laughs! (That knocks out about 99% of local production in a single blow!) After that, I like light drama, musicals, sci-fi, occasionally a romance (if it includes comedy).

What I won't go and see is anything designed to scare me - because it probably will, and who in their right mind wants that??; anything reliant on shooting lots of guns at lots of people (which ruined two of last year's so-called hits for me : 'Iron Man' and 'Dark Knight'), or anything that the critics praise for its 'bleakness' - sorry, but there's enough misery in real life without going to the cinema to get more depressed!

Unfortunately, most recent Australian films fall under one or more of those three categories. The only local film that I've seen in the past 12 months was 'Australia'. I almost passed on it because of the critics' pans... but I loved it!

It's not as though we can't make good films in the other genres, but I have to go back a lonnng way to find them : 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert', 'Muriel's Wedding', 'Strictly Ballroom', 'Cosi' and 'the Sum of Us' are all favourites on dvd, but they were made in the last century!!

So for the foreseeable future, while only foreign filmmakers are making movies that suit my taste, I'll be sticking with the masses and shunning our local efforts. I hope that changes soon.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

cute as a button

I'd hoped to go see the new animated 3D movie Coraline at the cinema over the past couple of weeks, but each time I'd planned to go, I had to cancel due to illness. Late last week, the problem was solved for me when Amazon delivered the movie on blu ray, so I was able to watch it on my own tv, in living 3D!

This fantastic blu ray set includes the feature film in both standard and 3D versions, plus four sets of 3D glasses. It was quite an experience to sit in my darkened lounge and watch the amazing 3D effects on my own tv!

The movie itself was better than I'd expected; basically, a more modern riff on Alice in Wonderland, but made wonderful in its own right by a clever script (based on an original by Neil Gaiman), great characterisation of Coraline, her friend Wybie, and her 'other' family, beautiful animation, and some really imaginative situations and effects.

This one will be a long-time favourite, and earns 4 buttons... err, stars, from me.

should've stayed in bed

I hate wasting my sick leave when I'm actually sick. I should have been able to use a rare day off like this to go get 'things' done, but I was so run down with this virus that I couldn't stay vertical for long today.

I got out of bed around midday, had a shower and some breakfast, then went straight back to bed until after 3:30.

The weather forecast for today was bad... damaging winds forecast to hit the city around 4pm, just when I would be walking to the doctor's.

I dressed, looked outside. It was windy, but sunny; no sign of rain, or even rainclouds. I put away my raincoat, and put on a warm hoodie and sunglasses, and left to walk down Dandenong Rd to the doctor's surgery.

As I approached the surgery through a raging headwind, there was some sort of commotion on the road, but I couldn't make out what it was. Not surprising or unusual for peak hour on Dandenong Road.

But as I turned into the entrance of the surgery, I could see everyone inside looking out, past me. I looked back towards the road to see the source of interest.

A motorbike rider was lying on his back on the side of the road, attended by several people including my doctor, and his bike was lodged under the rear bumper of a parked car.

Apparently, speeding up the inside traffic lane, he had run into the back of a driver attempting to reverse into a car park.

In short order, police and ambulance arrived. The rider had apparently sustained concussion and a number of broken bones, and would need a good 6 months to recover.

The owner of the parked car had been in the doctor's office at the time, and was unable to leave until the bike could be freed from under her car, while the poor man whose car the biker first hit was sitting in shock waiting for the police to interview him.

While this drama unfolded, the doctor returned to this schedule, and, around 40 minutes late, I got to my appointment.

As I went in, the skies darkened, and a few spots of rain began to fall. I packed away my sunglasses.

The doctor checked me out and confirmed my expectations. I had started with a virus 3 weeks ago, but then infection had set in, causing the severe cough, chest infection, and inflammation. I needed a course of antibiotics, plus rest and warmth.

By the time I paid my accounty, it was darkening quickly outside, the wind was strong, and the raindrops getting heavier. I had a 15 minute walk to the chemist ahead of me, then a further 5 minutes to get home.

I was pretty damp when I reached the chemist, but I was glad to get there before closing, so that I could begin my medications asap.

It took them 10 minutes to prepare the script. As I was paying the bill, the sound of the rain on the roof grew louder, and then turned into the staccato drumming of ... hailstones! Oh no!

But oh yes. The hail only lasted a minute or two, but the downpour had begun. I waited hopefully under the shop verandah, but it was clear that this rain was not going to stop any time soon, so I had no choice but to make a dash for it. Pointless. I was soaked to the skin before I got halfway home.

Wet, chilled and miserable, I walked in the door just before 6pm.

It could have been worse, though... at least I wasn't in the hospital like that poor biker.

Then the phone rang. It was citibankkkkkkkk.....!

winter misery

It's exactly three weeks today since I came down with... something... something virusy, I guess.

I remember it clearly; it was around 8am on the 4th Aug, and I was at work, when I suddenly started to feel dizzy and see spots before my eyes. That lasted for almost an hour. I was about to go home, when the spots cleared up. Then the sneezing started.

Over the next day or so, that was joined by headaches and temperature. It seemed like just another cold. After a week, I was getting a bit run down. I developed a very painful ulcer on my tongue, then an annoying cold sore on my lip (a sure sign of run downedness!)

As they cleared up, the sinus congestion continued into week 2, and a heavy cough developed. I spent all day Sunday 16 Aug in bed, trying to recover, but I could scarcely sleep due to incessant nasal congestion and coughing.

I thought I'd best start thinking about getting to the doctor, but it's so hard to find time, and after all, these things can't last much longer than 2 weeks... can they??

Each night, I'd go to bed sure that I'd be fine the next day, and each day, I'd cough and hack and lie awake at night and feel no better in the morning. My chest ached from the strain of all the coughing, my sinus was sore and swollen from the sneezing, and as the day wore on yesterday, my mouth felt like it had caught fire. My gums had become inflamed. It's not painful like toothache, but it's like my gums and all of my teeth are suffering an irritation... and it's maddening.

When my alarm clock went off today, I could barely lift my head to look at it. I slapped it off, and turned over and tried to doze a bit, but it was too late... having stirred, I could feel the scratchiness in my throat and needed to cough, while the phlegm was ready to pour from both my throat and my nose, and needed to be cleaned away.

I called the doctor just after 9, secured an appointment for 4:15, then went back to bed for the rest of the day until it was time to go see him and be saved!

psychological warfare

The telephone harassment campaign by Citibank continues unabated, despite my best attempts to encourage them to stop calling my number.

They rang Dusan in the evening of Friday 21 Aug, Monday 24 Aug, and again tonight, Tuesday 25 Aug. Each time I demanded that they cease calling my number. Again tonight I told them that Dusan doesn't live here.

I'm starting to get desperate. Do I seek help from Today Tonight? Or look for one of those shyster law firms and try to sue them for damages??

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

you know you're from Melbourne if...

Just had to save a few gems from today's Catherine Deveny column in the Age for posterity :

YOU know you're from Melbourne if …

  • When diarising anything in September you first consult the footy fixture.
  • You were shocked when you found out not all street directories are called Melway.
  • You know Sunshine, Rosebud and the Caribbean Gardens are not as good as they sound.
  • You refer to rococo furniture as "very Franco Cozzo".
  • You felt betrayed when you discovered Melbourne was not the only place in the world with trams.
  • You think the slogan on our licence plates should be "Melbourne. The Coffee Is Shit Anywhere Else"
  • You think beyondblue does great work but you hate the way it makes Jeff Kennett look good. Which is depressing.
  • When you meet someone from Kew, you always ask "Near Kew?"
  • When you hear the word ''Bougainville'' you think of Northland.
  • You don't judge people on their looks, wealth or status but on the bread they buy, the coffee they serve and the newspaper they read.
  • When you hear the word ''Easter'' the first thing you think of is the Royal Children's Hospital Appeal and Zig and Zag. And then you quickly think of something else.
  • You were against the casino but, you have to admit, it does keep the bogans out of the city.

Looking forward to the next collection in November!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

flight of the bumblebees

It's incredible to think that the State Govt is planning to do away with our iconic W class trams, when we are in such short supply of rolling stock on both our tramlines and railways.

The W class vehicles are old, but serviceable, and they're a damn sight more comfortable to travel in than those ridiculous Combino vehicles that our useless privatised tram companies bought as a bargain, a decade ago. The Combinos are already creaky; they have minimal useful seating, and most seats are only accessible by people missing a leg or both feet. Worst of all, for a city that endures hot Summers: NO opening windows!

Sure the W's lack air conditioning, but at least you can open a window and get a cooling breeze through the cabin in hot weather. And their seats are wide enough for people to sit side-by-side without indecently assaulting each other in the process!

The only decent trams to come into service in Melbourne since the under-appreciated Z and A class last century are the 'Bumblebees', currently in service only on route 96... but of course, they're only on lease, and have to be returned to Europe in a year or so!

After all these years, one would think that the Govt would have learned to listen to what commuters want, but clearly, it's as out-of-touch as ever.

So here's a simple message: Save the W's, trash the Combinos and buy more Bumblebees!

Monday, August 17, 2009

back to the drawing board

Well, that was quick. Even though I told them that Dusan is dead, he got another call this evening. This time, I engaged with the caller. It was Citibank. I requested that they remove my number from their database. If they call again... I know where their office is...!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

what's in a name

I know it's a bit soon for another comic post, but today, DC released the first issue of its revival of Adventure Comics, co-numbered issue #504.

Adventure features Geoff Johns-scripted stories of Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes. I would not have bought a copy of Superboy #1, or even of Superboy and the Legion #1, with or without Geoff's scripting, but I couldn't resist buying Adventure, one of DC's oldest and most revered anthology titles, and one that I read as a kid in the 60's, as a teenager in the 70's, and as a ... grown-up kid, in the 80's!

I can still remember my disbelief when they cancelled Adventure, initially at #490, then after a short revival in digest format, at #503. Adventure was, at the time, the oldest continually-published title at DC, having started even before Action Comics and Detective Comics. It deserved better than cancellation, and I'm so glad to see it on the racks again, that I'm determined to try it out for at least the first half-dozen issues, whether or not I even enjoy it (but I hope I will!)

"dusan's dead!"

Tonight, I was pushed past a limit.

Shortly after I moved to my current address, around 3 years ago, I started receiving calls of an evening by people looking for a "Dusan Belic".

Assuming that I had inherited Dusan's old number, I would politely explain to the callers that Dusan no longer lived here. I was even polite to the people who would get me out of bed to answer the phone when they tried to contact Dusan around midnight.

Whoever Dusan was, he sure seemed to have left his number with a lot of women... although surprisingly, many of them sounded ... older than I would have expected for someone's girlfriends.

No matter how many of them I explained the situation to, Dusan's friends still kept calling him, once or twice a week, for around 8 months or so, and then, finally, the calls stopped.

For the past 2 years, Dusan had maybe 2 or 3 calls a year... until about a month ago. Suddenly, the calls started again, but this time, as often as 2 or 3 times an evening!

I might be a bit slow, but the penny had to drop eventually... these weren't friends trying to contact Dusan, these were %#$$@% telemarketers!

I changed my phone manner from polite to abrupt to blunt to downright rude.

When Dusan got a second call while I was trying to watch a movie on Monday evening, I (literally) yelled at the caller "Please stop calling this number!" before hanging up on her.

I used to feel sorry for these telemarketers... they're only trying to earn a living after all... but now, it's becoming personal. In making their living, they are constantly interrupting and disturbing me and bringing me to the phone unnecessarily, and worse, blocking my phone when I'm expecting real calls.

Tonight, the phone rang just as I sat down to late dinner. I put down my knife and fork, left the table, and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is Dusan Belic there?"

"Dusan is DEAD! Stop calling him!!!"

.....

OMG

I know that won't stop the calls, but it gave me a modicum of satisfaction.

And I've added my number to www.donotcall.gov.au , in the hope that might work.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

ugly but funny

I was reluctant to see The Ugly Truth, after hearing a few mixed reviews. But I'd been staying home and nursing a cold for a week, and was keen to get out for an excursion to the movies. There was nothing much else on at the Classic that I wanted to see last Friday night, so I decided to brace myself for the worst and go along. I was pleasantly surprised.

The film starts a little slowly, but sort of sneaks up on you, and becomes quite funny and involving as the (well, ok, predictable) storyline progresses.

The cast is pretty good, the script occasionally funny, occasionally crass, but generally entertaining, but the real highlight, which had me crying with laughter, is a gem of a scene at a business dinner in an expensive restaurant where Katherine Heigl puts on a hysterical performance when a kid finds the remote control to a garment that she shouldn't be wearing, and activates it - you have to see it to get it, but it had me choking with laughter.

I'll see this film again when the dvd is released, for that scene alone! 3 and 1/2 stars from me.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

everything silver is new again

Two old favourite comics series returned today, in the new release of Doom Patrol #1 ... the title series, focussing on the original DP team, with a backup series starring the Metal Men that promises to be more faithful to the classic 1960's series than most of the other inadequate revivals have been since the original series was cancelled.

Both series have strong creative teams, so here's hoping that this book will be a success.

(Oh, and you've gotta love the 1960's DC go-go checks squeezed in at the top of the cover... that'll catch the eye of this Silver Age fanboy every time!)

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

still more things I hate that other people do

I was really disturbed by a conversation that I overheard at work today.

Maybe I'm naive, but I choose to believe that people that I work with are trustworthy and respectable, and hold similar values and standards to mine. Today, in no uncertain terms, I learnt otherwise.

As I tried to focus on my work this afternoon, I was distracted by a conversation between several colleagues taking place behind a partition next to me.

A senior colleague, whom I already had scant respect for anyway, was explaining to members of his team, in detail, how he cheats the public transport system.

He buys a zone 1 yearly travelcard, at a discount cost through our organisation, then uses it to travel to and from a zone 2 station. He achieves this by disembarking from inbound trains at an unstaffed inner suburban station to validate his card in the morning, or by lying to gate attendants at Parliament station if he's unable to validate in time. On the return trip, he can just walk through the gates at his station, which is generally unstaffed. Doing so saves him, and defrauds the public transport system, of hundreds of dollars a year.

One of his junior colleagues, an American who just moved to Melbourne to live and work this year, then bragged that he had been caught 3 times by inspectors on trams without a valid ticket, but had managed to avoid being fined by making up various lies. He doesn't 'see' why he should have to pay for a ticket, when the system offers him such a good chance of getting away without paying!

Cheating. Lying. Bragging about it in public.

I was stunned by the blatant and arrogant dishonesty of these people. Here are a few more pertinent facts...
  • the Department of Transport, whom they are both defrauding, is a major client of our organisation;
  • as taxpayers, all of us are forced to subsidise the cost of fare evasion;
  • both of these people work in our organisation's purchasing branch, and are trusted to handle purchasing and payment arrangements;
  • it's fairly well established that people who are prepared to cheat and commit petty larceny in one environment are going to be inclined to do so when other opportunities arise as well.
I've completely lost my faith in these people, and won't trust either of them again. I still need to determine if my outrage is based too much on personal beliefs, or whether there's cause to make a formal complaint about the issue to management.

Monday, August 3, 2009

settle somewhere else!

I've always felt sympathetic to the struggle of the Israelis to survive in a hostile environment in the Middle East, but watching the news tonight, all of those years of sympathy fell away.

The Israeli police were forcing Palestinians out of the homes that they had grown up in, to make way for Jewish settlers to move in. And they were moving in even while the owners of the homes were being physically dragged away from them!!

What a disgrace. How can Israel ever hope to live with its Arab neighbours when it pursues such arrogant and aggressive actions against innocent people? Israel has become the bully of the Mid East, and it's going to continue to pay the price for many years to come.

Those 'settlers' need to get out... now!

strange visitors

A few months ago, I ventured out onto my balcony one sunny morning to water my pot plants, and as I admired my potted palm... noticed that someone had mysteriously cropped it all over! Even more mysteriously, the chopped-off fronds were packed neatly into an empty pot in the corner of the balcony. I was sorry to see the palm looking so miserable, and curious about what sort of weird-ass bird would do that to my plant, but thought no more about it.

Weeks passed; the palm started to re-grow, and then I noticed that my fern had been similarly severely cut back one day! This time, I checked the empty pot straight away, and found the cut fern leaves... and the culprits, curled up in the pot on top of them! Not birds, but two little ring-tail possums had decided to make a home in the pot on my balcony.

I checked my new lodgers every day. Most days, they were both curled up in the pot; some days, one of them would stay over somewhere else, but the next day, they'd both be back. Then, this past Saturday, I checked the pot and it was empty, for the first time in the past 6 weeks or so. I guessed they had both decided to stay out for the day, but when I checked on Sunday morning... no-one home again! It seemed as tho my lodgers had moved on and found a new home (I hoped!).

But when I got home from work today, they were both back... looking a little shabby and damp, I reckon, but safe and sound.

I'm sure they won't stay for much longer, as the balcony is going to get too much sun and heat in the Spring and Summer, but it's nice to see them around in the meantime. I'll miss them when they move out.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

things that scare the cr@p outta me

... that a narrow-minded, economic rationalist, climate-sceptic, church-going, extremist bigot weasel like Tony Abbott can come anywhere near the corridors of power in this country. That's the stuff of nightmares.

While the Federal Government looks at ways to improve our public health system, Abbott's answer is to hand it over lock, stock and barrel to the private sector... what he counter-intuitively calls 'handing it back to the people'!!

Whose people?? The right-wing rationalists who put a monetary value on every element of our lives, including our children's education and our health?? The people who will make a great health service available to all.... who can afford to pay for it??

We don't want or need the American solution to a health system. Healthcare must stay out of private hands; only through Government management can we ever hope to provide a fair and equal service for all citizens.

And while we're waiting for that day, we can only hope that Abbott and his ilk are long retired before the next change of Government.