Art for Arts Sake

It's been quite some time since I last blogged, been busy moving back to the UK etc and then I'd left blogging alone for so long that I knew it would have to be something quite extraordinary to get be off again. And this is it...

I regularly check in to Yahoo for emails and to read the news of what is happening in Aus. How appalled I was to read that an artists exhibition has been closed down to those damn do-gooders again. In case you are wondering to what I'm referring to, do a search for the photographer Bill Henson.

As an amateur photographer and a lover of arts I was shocked to hear close minded people say that his new exhibition was pornographic. I can only say that these people are ignorant and uneducated. Perhaps to allay their fears we should also throw a cover over the Venus de Milo and any other naked forms whether they be in sculpture or on canvas.

While I do not like some of the new modern art, I do appreciate art and dread to think what will happen now. No artist is safe. However, a sculpture or a painter does not face quite the same wrath of the misinformed public at large as a photographer does these days. People live in fear that someone might photograph their kids in the park and that a paedophile will abuse that image. Yet these same parents are more than happy to let their beloved children roam the streets clad in the tiniest of skirts and caked in make up. Honestly, which do you think a paedophile is going to lust after?
And just how many paedophiles are there out there? It is a minority. But that is enough to close down a perfectly fine exhibition of tasteful nude photographs.

If we now live in a world where we are not allowed to enjoy or even produce art for fear of being labelled as something we are not, then please stop the world, I want to get off!

A good weekend

While Sydney was arresting comedians (The Chasers War on Everything guys who pulled a hillarious stunt which proved that the only thing the police were interested in was arresting protesters) and the police were pushing over female photographers (*mental note* must look for that on Youtube), we went inland to visit an Aussie Icon landmark that I've wanted to see ever since we moved here. No, not the big banana though that would be cool to see. No, we went to Parkes to see the Radio Telescope!

It's not sad I tell you, since the film "The Dish" (which is an excellent movie and well worth a watch) the Radio Telescope at Parkes has turned into a major tourist attraction. They say it is the most beautiful radio telescope and they don't lie, there is something about it that is beautiful. It is also HUGE!
Parkes Radio Telescope aka The Dish

After nosing around the visitor center for a while and enjoying a refreshing cup of tea in the Dish Cafe we decided that we would head for Dubbo and go to the Western Plains Zoo.
I've been to Taronga Zoo in Sydney four times now and I absolutely love it there and as the two Zoo's are affiliated I was sure that I was going to enjoy an afternoon at a different Zoo. And different it is! Unlike Taronga which has high fencing around the animals, Western Plains was designed to be a type of Safari Park and as such is built quite uniquely by having the animals below road height. A bit hard to explain, but basically you can drive your car, hire a bike or walk around the 6km circuit. We opted for walking. When you stop to view the animals you find that you are higher than them because of the banking that surrounds them. They are still fenced in but it isn't in your face and they seem to have much more room to roam about. I liked it! It was nice to have a walk too as we had spent an hour in the car getting to the Zoo plus the day before we had made the four and a half hour journey in country.

On the Sunday we detored to a lovely old town called Forbes. A truly stunning place that is very clean and tidy with some beautiful old architecture. It was due to the older buildings that Forbes was chosen rather than Parkes for the Town shots in "The Dish". As it was a Sunday there wasn't much open so after a few snaps with the camera we headed back home.
Forbes Town Hall

Forbes Post Office

Although we were going to head to Adelaide for the Weekend, I was glad that we opted to see more of the NSW countryside. We haven't pushed adelaide of the list, just postponed the trip. We're now looking at combining it with a trip to Melbourne to catch up with friends there before we leave. I'm looking forward to it :-)

APEC

I wish they would all piss off to where they should be - CANBERRA!

That is the Country's Capital, that is where Parliament is, so why in the name of God did the powers that be decide that Sydney would be a better venue. If I'm feeling hard done by than I can only imagine what the tourists must feel like.
But, of course we have messages telling us that we won't be disrupted too much and if you believe that you'll believe anything!
Mr M and I had planned to go to Adelaide that weekend just to get ourselves outside of Sydney, but of course we now hear that travel to and from the airport will be restircted due to the delegates. They shouldn't even be in Sydney they should be in bloody Canberra.

I have to admit that Canberra is not the most exciting place in the world but it came about for a purpose and it serves that purpose well. Just a shame the government doesn't utilise properly.

Packing police

So, we of course keep up to date as much as we can, with UK news. There has been yet another shooting leaving a biker dead. I'm not going into the why he was shot but it does make be question why the UK police force itself is against arming themselves with guns.

I've heard other ex-pats say that they feel unsafe here because the police are packing - you know what, I've actually felt safer. The police in Australia actually HAVE powers! Gee, there's a concept, the Police having the power to bring a criminal to justice rather than the crim taking the police to court because "he/she touched me!" Boo Hoo.

I have a huge respect for the Police force worldwide, I don't care in which country. To me they are the people that I turn to when I need help, if my car gets broken into or my house has a window smashed etc. All the Police I have dealt with over the years, both in the UK and here in Aus have been lovely. They have been helpfull and courteous and as stated before they have my full respect. I know that I could never do their job, particularly the UK police because their powers are so limited. If I was ever allowed to join the UK police force and let out on beat I'd be had for brutality because I would not be able to control myself against the idiots out there that know that the law is on their side! What justice is that! Nope, I'd be making sure that they had punishment, legal or not. And that is the biggest reason today that I have the utmost respect for the Police, because they know where they stand and just what they can do.

But back to guns - I'd like to know why the UK Police don't want to carry them. The amount of gun crime and more importantly killing, is on the increase, so to me it is only logical that the Poilce should arm themselves.
If the UK Police aren't happy with that, can we at least get some Aussie coppers across that are?
They can fly home with me in November for I shall miss them :-(

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

Excellent use of treadmills!

We were in a pub in Sydney the other night when this came on the TV. I had only seen it once before but it mesmerised me and I had to get Mr M and our friends to watch it, so I interrupted the conversation. Sure enough they were engrossed for the entire length of the video and so confirmed to me that it is on of the best music videos, at least to me.


So I thought I would share my list of favourite music vids:

Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer (fantastic vid from the 80's, excellent use of animation)

Blur - Coffee & TV (another with good animation because I really love the milk carton, it's so cute!)

Fatboy Slim - Weapon of choice (Christopher Walken dancing - need I say more?)

OK Go - Here it goes again (I love the use of the treadmills, and the choreography)


Of course there are other music videos that are very good, Thriller is always at the top on programmes that compile these lists, but as much as I do like Thriller it doesn't grab me enough to make my personal list. The videos that have made my list are quite simple in comparison but sometimes the simple ones are best. I was also tempted to include Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity as I do really like that video as it always has me wondering how it was done but but the insects in it are a huge turn off. Eugh!

So while my list isn't very long it is very exclusive and I'm sure I will find others along the years that will take their own place there.

Anyway, a completely pointless post really but I just felt like it. For one thing it has taken my mind of packing!

It's oh so firken freezing!!!!

It's so damn cold that I have gloves on, which makes it quite difficult to type. I'm wearing so many layers that I look like I've ballooned two dress sizes since getting up this morning and if that isn't enough, I've actually started to wear my big black duvet jacket that I brought with me from the UK!

Then you get the smart alecs that tell you that you've finally aclimatised to Aussie weather - bullshit! Listen to the weather reports, this winter is bloody cold! Even the energy companies are struggling to keep up with the demand as we all try to stay warm. There is some things that don't understand about Aussie houses - they don't seem to have any insulation (hell, our house doesn't even have lining in the roof to stop the rain coming through! But fortunately the tiles to a good enough job unless one slips) and they don't have double glazing. Maybe they have more money than sense or maybe it's because not only am I used to it from the UK but it also makes financial sense - you can practically halve your energy bills. Even in the summer, it would help to keep places cool.

But apart from my whining about the weather and freezing my bits off (thank god for padded bra's, at least I can keep some things warm!) I've been doing very well with reading LOTR. In fact, I'm immensily enjoying it! I'm now on book 4, also known as half way through The Two Towers. As I finished the Fellowship of The Ring I decided to re-watch the film again and was surpried at how true to the book they had managed to get it, including some of Gandalfs words that were literally straight out of the book! Amazing! Once I've finished The Two Towers I will re-watch that film as well. The only thing I will say is that the book is no good to read after having a skinfull but what book is? LOL I've done that twice now as I've been so eager to continue with it. I also love the fact the book is really old and musty - it smells of so much history. Mum reckons it was probably read by quite a few sailors as my brother took it on ship with him. It might sound daft, but to me the book is almost like some part of family history and is the only thing of my brother's that I have. It's nice to think that I have something of his now that I live so far away. I really miss my big brother.

I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth...

Though it probably seems that way. Not had that much to say and have had other things taking up my attention.

Of course I have been studying hard with the photography course, which is coming along very nicely! I had my result for my fourth assignment back today and I was pleasantly surprised just like with previous assignments - the mark was good but I was actually more pleased with the comments from my tutor which made me realise why I'm deserving of good marks :-)

As well as keeping busy with study I have been going through a bit of a reading blip. I enjoy reading but I find every now and then I go through a phase of reading one book after another until I'm burnt out and fed up of reading again. I'm not sure whether I've got to the burnt out stage yet or not.
It started about 2-3 weeks ago when Mr M and I went to Chatswood for shopping as we hadn't been there for a while. We popped into Dymocks and as usual he headed straight for the PC/Telecoms books. I milled about and went to find him just as he was heading towards me, we decided we'd seen enough and headed for the door. And there it was on the table looking up at me saying "I'm here! Buy me! Look at me! I'm here waiting for you", of course it was Paulo Coelho's new book!
I gasped upon seeing it then picked it up and hugged it before rushing to the counter to make sure that it was mine.
Then I realised that I hadn't been keeping up to date with his work as I usually know when his new books are out by frequenting his website, someting I hadn't done in about two years. I felt terrible that I had somehow betrayed my favourite author, particulalry when I realised that he had realsed another book before hand of short stories (I've still yet to go and track theat one down in the bookstore). But the reason I hadn't been so interested in his website was because the last book of his that i read, The Zahir just didn't thrill me they way that so much of his work had done in the past. Don't missunderstand, the Zahir is not a bad book as it is the story of Paulo Coelho of things that he has experienced in his life. But that book didn't give me the spiritual uplift that I love his books for. I much prefer his books where he is the storyteller rather than the subject.
The Witch of Portobello, his latest book, was very enjoyable but I didn't find that I was able to bond with the main characters that well, they weren't in depth enough for me. Or maybe it is that I have become a more cynical person and found the story harder to believe in than I would of a few years ago? All I do know is that I loved his books such as The Fifth Mountain (which was the first Paulo Coelho book I read), The Valkyries, Veronika Decided to Die, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, The Pilgrimage and of course The Alchemist (of which I have mixed feelings about it being turned into a film), pretty much his whole works! But if you are reading this and you know of his works that you may have noticed that I missed out the Manual of the Warrior of the Light. Again, a good book in it's own right but not for me.
And of course I don't have listed his book of short stories, Like the Flowing River. Only because I haven't read it yet.
Generally and for the most part I am a huge fan of him as an author.

After finishing the Witch of Portobello, I saw on the bookshelf a book that I bought the same time as when I bought Valantino Rossi's Autobiography, and of course that was more important to read! So I picked it up and started to read that. It had me gripped from the start and had so much action in it that I had a real film going on in my head, something that you would have expected to see the likes of Bruce Willis or maybe Mel Gibson in. It was called Vanish by Tess Gerritson. One hell of a page turner was that!
After I had finished that book (which didn't take me long at all), I decided to read Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe, another book that has been sat on the shelf that I've been meaning to read for a few years. I have previously read the Wilt series (just found out that a new one was released in 2004 and I haven't read that) which was laugh out loud funny and Porterhouse Blue, I'm glad to say also brought on the tears of laughter. Although I found the first Wilt book the funniest of all of the Sharpe stuff I have read. There is also Grantchester Grind on the bookcase that I haven't read bbut I may delay that as sometimes reading the next one straight away is not the best thing to do.

So after reading three books pretty much in succession I looked at what else I had but hadn't read yet. There it was sat on teh shelf gloating at me - The Lord of the Rings. The book is actually my brothers and he loved it. He also has the Hobbit and I thought it would be best if I read that first. Oh, did that book get the better of me, I don't even think I got to the end of the first Chapter and if I did it was an uphill struggle. I mentioned this years ago to my brother and he said that he struggled with the Hobbit and never finished the book but that the LOTR was much better. I tried reading LOTR about a year ago now but got bogged down by the prologue and other such stuff before you even get to start the first chapter. This morning I picked up the book again and flicked to the begining of the first chapter and marked the page with my bookmark. That is where I shall start my journey, and I may even start it tonight! Wish me luck!