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I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Some of it's from personal experience and some is just observation, but I remember thinking during my Dark Teenage Years that I'd really enjoy getting past 18. For some reason I had this idea that 18 was the age when you'd be treated differently... not so much that your ideas would be right, but at least they'd be listened to before being shot down. I suppose it was all the fuss about turning 18, having rights to drink and vote - you're an adult, so you'd be treated more like one. I was naive, I know. Of course nothing changes when you turn 18 - you can vote, but you're only a day older. The reason it bothered me then wasn't because I felt downtrodden or anything, but because I've always felt more mature than my age. I wanted to be involved in social discussions; I've always been interested in mature topics, so being dismissed so callously annoyed me. Over the last few years I've tried to change how people perceive me; people who know me (family, friends) I've never had a problem with, they know the things I think and write about... but amongst others, socially I've been careful to talk about topics and not get emotionally involved. I thought I'd built up respect, that age and experience didn't matter as much... and then today I experienced a u-turn so abrupt I almost got whiplash. I felt ill yesterday, like I couldn't breathe for an hour, so I thought I'd better go to the doctor. I'm someone who goes very rarely; I know my body well and I only go if I think it's something new. Well, he didn't find anything, but what I didn't like was being told I was 22; I should be going out, being 22 and not worrying about these kind of things. I wasn't worrying; I just go so rarely that I had hoped he knew I thought it needed checking out, even if it was nothing. Instead I was left feeling stupid. I hate that. I wouldn't say it was an eye opener, but it was a reminder. In the end it doesn't matter how old you are, or who you are - it's easy for anyone to be dismissive of you and it happens all the time. Someone might take offence at something you've said, or think you've presented it in a juvenile way; or there might just be something about you they don't like. The way people tend to have conversations doesn't involve debate as much as feeling - if someone's wrong, they're crazy. It's easier to dismiss something you disagree with than to try and explain why you don't agree. Anyway, this has just been on my mind, so I thought I'd get it out. I've replayed the scene a thousand times and I honestly can't think of anything I might have said differently, how I might have been clearer... probably it didn't matter. I just hate the feeling. But that's one difference between the real world and being online which is interesting; there's more of a clean slate - people aren't more tolerant by any means, but they make fewer assumptions unless you give them reason to. Ah, if only that were true in real life...  Also posted at http://cjwriter.com
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Stephen King farewells Harry Potter
Just been reading this column by Stephen King. It’s an interesting perspective; King has this uncanny ability to capture what people are thinking but aren’t sure how to say, and I think (as usual) he’s right on the money. There has been so much speculation about what’s going to happen in the final book that no matter what happens, I doubt people will be satisfied. There’s so much feeling surrounding Harry Potter because it means so many different things to different people (escapism, adventure, a reminder of childhood, a measure of lost innocence); people have this idea of what is right and what isn’t right for the story. But in the end it’s possible that no ending will be right, because people are sad that it’s ending at all. I’m sure everyone’s sensed it, that kind of strange melancholy; a mix of anticipation and dread. People want to know the ending, but they don’t want the story to end. As King said, “The magic is not supposed to go away”.
For me it’s a slightly strange feeling. I’ve read all the Potter books, but have never been captivated by them as others have. I read them more because I felt like it was something I should do as a writer myself; I enjoyed them (particularly 3-6, where Rowling really aged the characters and the themes) but never quite got caught up in them the same way as the fans. I suppose I was caught between ages; without younger brothers or sisters myself, I was 2 or 3 years too old for the books when Philosopher’s Stone was first published, and my cousins were several years too young for me to enjoy the series through them. I’m not that sad to see the series ending; I’m interested to see how it finishes, and I think all good series must finish, must have that finality, to truly be remembered. But I do know the feeling fans are experiencing; I felt it with Episode III. It’s the feeling that it’s not just the end of a series, but the end of a period in your life, and you probably won’t feel the same way about something else again.
Think about the original audience of Philosopher’s Stone. Maybe you are one of them, or the parent of one, a child who was 8 years old when Philosopher’s Stone was first published. For 10 years you’ve followed the story of Harry and his friends; as they’ve aged, so have you. You’ve seen parts of your life mirrored in their stories; feelings of angst, Harry’s first kiss, Ron becoming prefect, perhaps even the death of a guardian or a loved one. Now you’re ready to leave school and be on your own - just as Harry, in his last year, prepares for his own final adventure. For you it’s more than the end of a story, it’s the end of this time in your life. Deathly Hallows marks the end of your childhood, your emergence into adulthood, and it’s completely understandable that it’s something you’d have mixed feelings about. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t.
I think that’s what’s really surrounding the launch of Deathly Hallows. But I don’t think it’s a perspective that’s being covered much in the media. It’s easier for them to cover the predicted sales, but it’s an event which isn’t just about the sales and hype, the marketing and merchandise. It’s not even about magic or whether Harry will live or die, in the end; no, it’s about this period in the lives of millions of children drawing to a close as they move into adulthood, the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. Other books, other series, will come along, and JK Rowling may even write some of them… but for this generation, this group of children, nothing will touch them the same way. Harry Potter was with them while they were children; it touched them because Harry grew up with them. That was the magic in their lives, and now it’s the end of their journey. No wonder it’s a bitter-sweet experience.
So even though I haven’t felt that feeling, I understand it, and I’ll be in line over the weekend getting a copy of Deathly Hallows just like everyone else around the world. I’m curious to see how it ends… and yes, I’ll admit it, I’m a little bit sad too. But I’ll be watching people as I’m getting it too, to see what Harry Potter means to them, to see what part of their lives it’s been part of. I think that should be a very interesting experience.
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Your results: You are Spider-Man | Spider-Man |
| 70% | | Batman |
| 65% | | Green Lantern |
| 65% | | Superman |
| 65% | | Robin |
| 64% | | Hulk |
| 60% | | Wonder Woman |
| 47% | | Supergirl | | 47% | | Catwoman |
| 45% | | The Flash |
| 45% | | Iron Man |
| 30% |
| You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.
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Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
Just a fun quiz a few people might like. I guess it worked out well - intelligent, witty, and a bit geeky, that’s me! 
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Doggie da Vincis paint abstract works of art - and they're selling
Sammy's Gallery
Not so much a weird story as a cute one. Animal paintings aren't anything new, but I don't think these are too bad. And they're for a good cause, raising funds for Shore Service Dogs. 
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There’s been a bit of a shakeup at Wimbledon this year: women will earn the same prize money as men for the first time, Hawk-Eye is being introduced, and a roof is (finally) being built. All good changes, but to balance it here are 5 things that I think will never change.
5) Players will always wear white
4) Tim Henman will always lose
3) Rain will always frustrate players and fans
2) Strawberries and cream will always be spectator favourites (62,000 pounds of strawberries and 1,540 gallons of cream are sold each year)
1) And Sir Cliff Richard will always perform during the rain (and shortly thereafter, the suicide rate in Britain will spike upward )
And yes, I am backing Roger Federer to win again. Seriously, who else could win? For the women, I'd love to see Henin win, but Janković is my tip. I've been impressed by her.
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I saw Pan’s Labyrinth last week, the first film I’ve seen for a long while. What a beautiful film, one of the best I’ve seen. Sometimes I have trouble with subtitles, but I didn’t even notice with this.
Visually Pan’s Labyrinth is stunning; the look of it, the costumes, graphics, light and dark. The story underneath draws you in; it’s meaty, dark, set against the backdrop of war. You genuinely care for Ofelia. Is her belief in the other world real, or a way of escaping the terrors of her world? The last scene stayed with me a long time.
A lot of people have called Pan’s Labyrinth an adult fairy tale, and it is, but I think it’s a morality tale as well. It shows the power of a child’s imagination, but also how decisions aren’t black and white; everything has a consequence. At times it is brutally violent, but you can’t tell a story like this without violence. The violence has an honesty; it shows the darkness of the world Ofelia is trying to escape from, and like with the tales of The Brothers Grimm (before fairy tales were butchered to protect tender eyes and ears), the true strength of Pan’s Labyrnith is only revealed when it shocks and scares.
I can’t recommend Pan’s Labyrinth more highly. The music is beautiful and the film stays with you, as good movies should. It amazes me that something like 300 (glorifying violence, an allegory for modern America and its war) can get so much attention, while Pan’s Labyrinth remains relatively unknown, a film which depicts the best and worst of the human spirit, hope out of darkness. It’s what storytelling should be. Please, please see it.
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I was thinking earlier just how amazing it is that it’s been 10 years since SavageGarden’s first album came out. It really doesn’t feel like that. Their music is still played on the radio all the time, and Darren Hayes’ career is still going well, if not with as much commercial success as when he was part of Savage.
So I listened to SavageGarden again recently (thought I’d rekindle a few memories) and I was surprised at how well the album holds up today. Yes, I Want You and All Around Me couldn’t be more 90s now, but even they are still fun and bring back thoughts of the first time I heard them (and The Matrix for some reason I’ll never understand). But songs like To the Moon & Back, Truly Madly Deeply, Break Me Shake Me haven’t aged much at all. The songwriting is still striking. Now every song you hear is either hip hop or a pop song with a chorus repeated 10 times; something angry and raw like Break Me Shake Me seems to have disappeared from mainstream artists.
Looking back Savage seemed to be one of the first artists to begin the resurgence of prog pop (as the SMH calls it, music which “throws up tunes galore while also presenting material more complex than your standard three-minute radio hit”), which is only now coming more to the fore with Silverchair, Josh Pyke and other artists here in Aus - and they did it 10 years ago. But then Savage won 10 ARIAS for their debut; they had to win them for a reason, right?
It’s still a pity that SavageGarden broke up; I always felt like their best material was still to come (quite something considering how good Affirmation was). But that Daniel Jones in particular showed the initiative to walk away from the success they achieved is even more remarkable, a sign of what really mattered to the group. How many acts could you see doing that now? Not many. Jones has now returned to his roots as a producer, finding fresh talent for his music label Meridien Musik, and Hayes’ third studio album This Delicate Thing We’ve Made is being released later this year.
And for the fans, we still have these two albums, the memories of their music. So congrats to SavageGarden: it’s been 10 years but their music is still just important, just as much a part of the Australian identity, as it’s ever been.
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Swan feeds fish at zoo
Okay, this is from Ananova, so you know it's going to be weird... but hey it's still funny. A swan feeding its "fish friends"... I think some of these animals are more human than we are, sometimes.
How do we know they're not just making these stories up, though? Wait for one innocuous moment, then spin an entire story out of it? Probably not, but these stories just seem to be getting weirder.
This one I know is real, though: Taiwanese product
Ah, here I was thinking contraception is supposed to stop you from having kids... but these are family condoms... as ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) wunderbaum said, wrong on so many levels.
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The Australian: Jobless Goddess
Now this is beyond weird... what came first, I wonder: the man being unemployed, or realising he was the reincarnation of the Hindu patron saint of eunuchs? Sigh. A man as a Hindu goddess... sometimes you just wonder they find these stories!
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Saturday saw the first Earth Hour here in Sydney, a campaign encouraging Sydneysiders to turn off their lights from 7.30 to 8.30 pm to raise awareness for Global Warming. According to The Sun-Herald more than 65,000 homes and 2000 businesses and government departments turned off their lights. And it was quite a sight, I have to say... the skyline, Bridge and Opera House, all much darker, the stars shining clearly. We love our lights in Sydney (just think of the NYE fireworks), so it was strange to see our city in near-darkness. Quite nice, actually.
Organisers are hoping Earth Hour will spread across Australia next year, and to other Asian cities like Hong Kong and Tokyo... but I'm not sure how much of a success it was here, to be honest. The idea of Earth Hour is good, to raise awareness for Global Warming and to get Sydney to lower it's carbon emissions by 5% throughout 2007. But there are 4 million people in Sydney; that's roughly 1 million homes, and maybe 420,000 thousand around the Eastern Suburbs where Earth Hour was targeted - I don't call 65,000 homes a "resounding" success, just a good start. But worse, people were treating it like a party. I suppose that's no great surprise; we'll take any excuse to get wasted, after all. But then the media (or Sky News anyway) started calling it a "celebration", encouraging people to have "name the food" games and other activities. Maybe I missed something but wasn't the idea not to have a celebration, but to take time to think about the issue? We're observing an event and demeaning it at the same time.
That's what annoys me so much about the GW issue. It feels like it is being treated as a "hot topic", not something which is so serious. Maybe I sound cynical, but I'm not; I'm angry. Scientists have been telling us about the dangers of climate change for more than twenty years, and it's only now that we decide to listen? Why have scientists and specialists at all if we simply decide to ignore them when we need their advice? And many politicians are only listening now because it's in our minds, in an election year; they see it as an opportunity to highlight the differences between themselves and their opposition. I'm sure people like Peter Garrett and Kevin Rudd are earnest in their concerns, but they're still scoring political points off of it. Still, at least Labor cares. Howard and Turnbull have been abysmal on this. They want nuclear power. Yeah, great; go and create more targets for al-Qaeda. Thanks, John.
So Earth Hour was an interesting, if not an entirely resounding, success. Hopefully what it has done is to raise more awareness, inspired people to learn more about it and what they can do to help. In the end Saturday night was about sending a statement, and I think it did that, even if the media coverage made it feel a bit more like a publicity stunt. The important thing is, I think, to make people understand that, whatever you feel about GW, it's not an issue to sweep under the rug; talk about it, whether you agree or disagree. Because I fear that what will happen is what occurred with Live8; people wanted immediate change and when it didn't happen, they lost interest. We can't let that happen again with Global Warming, whether we agree or disagree with what's being said... but I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see if that happens.
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It was great to see Rove McManus back on tv again last Sunday. I've kind of grown up with Rove; he started on Ten when I was in my teens, and it was nice having a familiar face on tv each week. When his wife Belinda died in November last year, it was so sad. She was only 32. I wondered if he'd come back at all after that, maybe moving more towards behind the scenes work.
But he came back last Sunday after five months off, in a new timeslot, and I thought the new show was good. A bit more grown up, but still Rove. A few things to iron out over the next few weeks, but it's just good to have the show back on. After so long it almost feels like coming back to an old friend, and hopefully it helps Rove too. Guess my Sunday nights are going to be busy again! 
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Wow, Twitter'sgone from a little experiment to the next big thing overnight. I'm not sure I understand why; Twitter's basically just a service to answer the question, What Are You Doing Now? Very simple, but something about it has caught fire - it's everywhere right now. Just shows how hard it is to predict what trends are going to be popular online.
I like the idea of twittervision, though. There's something strangely compelling about watching people speaking in different languages, all at the same time, all over the world. It's the idea of global community, and twitter illustrates it so beautifully.
Anyway, my twitter for anyone interested: http://twitter.com/cjwriter . And check out http://twittervision.com if you've not heard of before; Twitter's one of those things you really have to see to understand. |
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Read about this book in The Sun-Herald last week. I’ll have to check it out. Nancy Yi Fan was inspired by some great books - Gone with the Wind, Johnny Tremain -, and she’s used those ideas in interesting ways; more of a fantasy epic. What’s amazing is that she’s only 13, a real literary prodigy. She reminds me a bit of Christopher Paolini, of the Eragon series; definitely an author to keep an eye on.
The only thing that annoys me is how she was published; I don’t mean Yi Fan, but HarperCollins. Yi Fan emailed Swordbird to important people at several publishing companies and caught the attention of the CEO at HarperCollins. The problem I have is that publishers are always saying to follow their submission guidelines, but then they’re happy to break their own rules! But on the other hand, Yi Fan wouldn’t have got attention through the normal route, so good on her for thinking outside the box.
She’s definitely got talent, so I’ll have to check out Swordbird. A lot of writers are getting published younger now, in their teens and 20s, so maybe this is a new wave we’re seeing; writers inspired by all media - books, movies, the web -, writing more visual stories. I don’t always like visual writing, but for fantasy it’s not a bad thing, so this’ll be interesting to read. And she’s only 13… suddenly I feel old! |
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Finally got the ADSL modem from Telstra the other day. Got everything installed now and working properly, and it's great. I know everyone says that when they upgrade, but I can't believe how good it is. It used to take an hour to load one movie trailer - today I saw 4 in 5 minutes. Free at last!
Have to change my contact details now, but that's just a small hassle. The main reason I wanted it was for research - shifting through writing info on dial-up was a major pain -, but it's great for music too. Few shops here sell soundtracks, so iTunes is really useful for that.
Anyway, it's good to have it out the way finally. Sigh. I feel like I'm always a few years behind everyone else. Got some catching up to do!  |
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An unbelievable week at the World Cup. First Bangaladesh beat India in a shock win, though Bangaladesh did have a fair chance; they've been playing well recently and India aren't in great form. Then on the same day Ireland beat Pakistan in one of the most amazing wins ever, a defeat which put Pakistan out of the tournament.
All of that seems insignificant, though, with the news of Bob Woolmer's death. It's all happened so quickly and I feel so sorry for his family.
Woolmer died less that 24 hours after Pakistan's loss. Does the pressure of coaching a team like Pakistan, with countless millions of fans who love their team and can turn on them in a heartbeat, have that great an impact? In the interviews prior to the World Cup Woolmer looked strained, certainly... if it turns out that being coach does create that kind of pressure, is it a job anyone would want? Cricket's only a game, after all.
But maybe it's not that. Now there are reports that his death is suspicious; some people are even saying he might have been murdered to cover up match-fixing scandals he was going to expose. And that would be even worse.
But there's no point speculating. Right now I just hope that with the media attention, the Woolmer family can grieve. And that the attention goes back to the cricket soon, so we can remember Bob Woolmer for his life, for being a good cricketer and an inspirational coach, and not for his death. |
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