the good doctor

Thompson, like Vonnegut, isn't much of a Bush/Cheney fan, saying he'd vote for Nixon over Bush, because:

He was a crook and a creep and a gin-sot, but on some nights, when he would get hammered and wander around in the streets, he was fun to hang out with.

I realise that I can quote left-wingers until I'm blue in the face, and it won't make a lick of difference to any Republican, let alone to the election, but it makes me feel like I'm socially aware and stuff, so what the hell.

more and more and more on reading

I got around my Ulysses block again. I went to the American library on Saturday morning and grabbed Count Zero, another Gibson, which I polished off on Saturday afternoon/evening, and Vonnegut's Jailbird, which I got through Sunday. The Gibson was a result of limited choice in the SF section; just popcorn. I'd been looking for some Vonnegut, and was really looking more for Slaughterhouse 5 or Breakfast of Champions, but I took what I could get. I enjoyed it, too. He's a better writer than Thompson, and although less vitriolic, probably as perceptive, although not so much Steinbeck. Actually, the book owes a certain amount of its heritage, in terms of its feint but important background in American labour disputes, to The Grapes of Wrath, although that's by the by. It didn't excite me overly, but enough that I'll try to find his earlier stuff.

on reading

This from mum, in turn from the Weekend Australian magazine, in turn from Groucho Marx:

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

continued consumption

Ulysses has surfaced at the top of my reading list. That doesn't mean I've read it. In fact, I started it a few months ago, and failed, and have just recently started again. This is a difficult book to read, and I think I'm making it tougher on myself trying to read it on my laptop.

Land Of Plenty

I cannot be stopped. After a week's break, 2 more films. The second was Wim Wenders' Land Of Plenty.

This is very clearly a statement about certain aspects of American culture. It will be perceived in many circles to be anti-Bush, but it's not. By comparison with Michael Moore, it bears significant comparison to Bowling For Columbine, but none to Fahrenheit 9/11. There are real questions here about the culture of fear in the US, and the personal, rather than collective or military reaction to the September 11 bombings. I was really into the film for probably 90% of the storyline, and only started losing interest towards the end, and particularly in the denouement which, like so many, just didn't resonate with me, and felt forced.

In hindsight, there are probably more problems with this film than are evident in the dark of the cinema. The Michelle Williams character, which I though was fairly well acted, is really not very developed, and lacks a certain reality. Yes, she's very religious but also, one suspects, liberal and, nominally, world-aware, but she really expresses very little opinions in the film. Sure, this is partly her role, the unpainted canvas carrying less baggage than her uncle, who is really the subject of the film. I can appreciate that she's supposed to be the future and all that, to be coloured by the times and the people around her, but I don't buy that a 20-year old can be that.

Anyway, despite that, its a good little flick for the vast majority of its running length, particularly, I guess, if you have comparable beliefs to Wenders, as I suspect I do. My complaints about the denouement may be better ignored - I don't like many :-)

Steamboy

I'm not a religious manga zealot (Jules doesn't read this, I don't think, but hi anyway), but I like the genre, and have probably seen my fair share. About a month ago I read an article (can't find the link now, sorry) that this would potentially be a big year for manga, with 3 of the biggest directors having new films; Hayao Miyazaki (too many to list), Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, and Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira). Akira didn't flick my switch overly, but I like my movies in series, and Steamboy was first here.

I said I like the genre, but it sure ain't for originality of story ideas. Introduce hero, introduce villain, well meaning but constructing large structure not in human-kind's best interest, climax with hero destroying big structure. OK, not all of them, but it happens over and over again. Mononoke, Akira (kind of), Metropolis, Steamboy. Oh, there you go, I gave it away.

Anyway, if you're going to see this, you don't care about the plot. You just want sweet animation, and you'll get it. Actually, the Koreanime flick that I saw a couple of weeks ago was probably prettier, but this is still good candy.

flight risk

Warning, continued unnecessary self-analysis follows.

I'm a flight risk. I seem to have a tendency to leave the scene of a social situation at the smallest provocation. It doesn't happen as much now, but I'm pretty sure that's more tied to a reduced frequency of social interactions than any behavioural change. After a basketball game on Saturday afternoon, I left without saying hello to Liz as I usually do, and I don't know why.

Later that night, even, I got into the wrong lift in the metro station and was pretty shocked to be hearing two Australian girls speaking. We chatted for a while - one of them is a student at Villejean - but I barked some half-arsed excuse about needing to be on the other platform and left. I didn't even get their names, for crying out loud, let alone some sort of contact, which I regretted the minute I left. It's no wonder I don't have much of a social circle over here.

Its epidemic, and doesn't help me one little bit.

Tim Bray on US politics

I never thought I'd link Tim Bray in my personal blog, but his thoughts on the US election are interesting. They present a different approach to the decision, and one that I'd agree with, being in a similar position as an outsider. Certainly, I have and have seen a similar view of Bush as he suggests. Of course, an Australian grad student in France is probably an even less interesting source for an American swing voter than a Canadian computer programmer.

His view probably also applies for outsiders (albeit perhaps more south-east Asian outsiders than others) looking in on the Australian election. Frankly, if they hold it against us, more power to them; perhaps we deserve a good kick up the ass for "reelecting that #*!^!% #$*!%* &*@!$%!".

chamaecyparis

One of the plants I bought on the weekend is a chamaecyparis (can't recall off-hand which member of the family, but I suspect Lawsoniana), which I'm now reading is probably more a tree than a plant. So, either I bought a bonsai, or I've gone and got myself a tree, which probably won't really work in my apartment. I'm betting on the former, based on the moss gathered around the base but also in the hope that I won't have to jettison/kill the damn thing once it gets big. Given that my recent history with minding bonsais for a colleague involved a survival rate of 25% (the life signs of the lost were, to be fair, faint or nonexistent before I took delivery), there is more than a drop of irony in this. I've been keeping it at home, because it brightens up my room, but there is a safety net of other people at work, which might prove valuable down the road. In any case, I need to learn how to trim it, too.

Voting places where I've lived. East Innisfail and Mareeba West, in Kennedy, both voted for Mad Bob, who I respect but disagree with. St Lucia and Toowong voted Lib, as did Indooroopilly West, in Ryan. What's going on, all of my old haunts voted conservative. This doesn't surprise me in the north, but in Ryan, I don't get it. It should be full of the liberal elites from whom Howard supposedly profits by bagging.

photo

That's Emily on the left, I'm sure of it. There may or may not also be a Lee in the second photo.

BTN

The next 3 years could be pretty lean for good-news ABC stories, so lets get in while the going is good. BTN is coming back, which is good to hear. I watched it and enjoyed it when I was in primary school at East Innisfail. Engaging children in news and current affairs at an early age is important for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is grass-roots development of a actively critical and diverse media, something perhaps lacking now.

nothin

In what, by recent standards, would count as a productive day, I've spent the last 2 hours or so reading papers that I haven't enjoyed, making detailed critiques as to why the contained approaches are flawed. I even read a Pegamento paper that I didn't like, although for reasons of lack of substance rather than any disagreement with rationale. I can't remember the last paper I liked, excluding ancient stuff like 1980s typing papers, which I view from a rather less informed and thus less critical perspective.

Add to that the fact that I still don't have a coherent topic for my thesis, after 9 months of trying to find one, and the fact that "middle Australia" chose to re-elect John Howard with an increased majority, and I'm feeling pretty miserable. Oh, and I still don't have my student card, which I need to renew my provisional residency permit, which I have to do tomorrow. Moan bloody moan.

consumerism

On Friday night I went with Jacques, Sophie and Estelle, a friend of Sophie's, to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which was excellent. In fact, although I may regret this later, I would rate it as perhaps the best (and incidentally least formulaic) romantic comedy that I've ever seen, perhaps overtaking High Fidelity.

My intention of Saturday morning was to go buy a bike, return my overdue library books, and go into IRISA around lunch to check the election results. It rained, so all this got reordered and delayed a bit, but I got it all done eventually. Unfortunately, this resulted in an election-induced malaise that still lingers.

After the bad news, I went on a consumerist rampage with the previous night's team, to Conforama, Leroy Merlin and LeClerc, picking up curtains, plants and various other accoutrements that I probably don't need. Sunday was thus reduced to installing said superfluous purchases into my now generously deported appartment, followed by despondently regarding first my shiny new bike and then the light drizzle falling outside.

howard

It would appear that Howard has been returned with an increased majority. I don't understand. I just don't understand. Disillusioned doesn't begin to cover it.