| Let's Say You Want A Revolution |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|07:57 pm] |
The protests in Iran have got me thinking...
Is there a manual for nonviolent revolution?
A step-by-step guide to organising protests, neutralising suppression, gathering international support, forcing out an oppressive regime, establishing a new government, and preventing the old guard from staging a counter-revolt? Sort of like Machiavelli's The Prince, but for good guys?
A quick search of the internet later...
Wikipedia has an article on nonviolent revolutions, but that's more history than how-to. It does mention that billionaire George Soros's Soros Foundations are involved in helping Eastern European countries transition from communism to democracy. They might be worth talking to.
Portland Indiemedia links to a PDF booklet Nonviolent Struggle: 50 Crucial Points from the Center for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies in Belgrade. It's a very slick document, and includes a section on working under repression. The CANVAS website also has a lot more resources, and links to material like 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action from the Albert Einstein Institution*.
* Actual connection to Albert Einstein spurious.
Okay. That's enough to stage your nonviolent revolution. Then what? How do you go from revolution to functional democracy?
Oh look -- the US Department of State includes the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
Resources on their website include a Reconstruction and Stabilization Essential Tasks Matrix. It's a dot-point to-do list rather than a detailed guide. But if you ever find yourself having overthrown, say, a Middle-Eastern theocratic regime, I'm sure the Office would be happy to send you out some consultants post haste.
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| Star Trekking, across the Universe... |
[May. 9th, 2009|09:08 am] |
Saw Star Trek last night.
It's a good, solid sci-fi action-adventure film. There's fistfights, explosions, giant space battles, and enough character development to give it some emotional heft.
It's easily the best Star Trek-related thing I've seen. But I've seen very little Trek, and what I have seen was uniformly bad. So my opinion may not count for much. The film doesn't measure up to, say, the new Battlestar Galactica, but that may be an apples-to-oranges comparison.
The plot is about an evil Romulan blowing up planets, but really that's just background colour for the story about how Kirk and Spock start off hating each other but then end up best friends.
The star of the film is definitely Zachary Quinto as Spock. This is a younger, sexier Spock, and the conflict between his seething human emotions and his coldly logical Vulcan side is the main character arc in the movie.
Chris Pine as James T. Kirk was probably meant to be the star, but all he really does is be smug.
Eric Bana plays Captain Nero, the aforementioned evil, planet-destroying Romulan. He's fine as an actor, but he never really gets enough screen time to be anything except a fairly generic bad guy. Which is a pity - the quality of a sci-fi film is generally directly proportional to how cool the bad guy is.
There's some cheesy moments, some in-jokes for the fans, lots of action, a clever explanation of how this franchise reboot fits in to the original series, and at least one frustrating plot hole (see Spoilers section). The flim runs for just over two hours, but it keeps up a breathless pace through it all. I'd actually have preferred it if there were a few less punch-ups and a bit more characterisation. But even taken as it is, it's a good bit of sci-fi action fun.
( Spoiler Bit )
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| Star Trek? |
[May. 8th, 2009|09:40 am] |
Anyone want to come see Star Trek with us tonight?
We're thinking dinner at the Terminus Hotel at about 6:30, then over to Victoria Gardens to see the 8:45pm session.
I've never really been a fan of Star Trek. Being stuck on a flight between Africa and England watching Generations didn't help.
But this new movie looks pretty good. Hell, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton both gave it 4 stars. |
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| Comedy Festival 2009 - In Conclusion... |
[Apr. 26th, 2009|10:22 pm] |
The Festival is over, once again.
It's been a slightly weird festival for me this year. I saw a bunch of shows at the start. Then I lost interest in the middle bit, and had to rouse myself to go and see some more shows before it all finished.
I saw 12 shows this year. All of them were good, but none of them were amazing.
My favourite was Dave Bloustien. He show was solid example of classic stand up - a great story serving as the core, and lots of clever diversions, all delivered by a friendly and likeable comic.
But nothing blew me away this year. Nothing like the first time I saw Daniel Kitson, or Josie Long. Or even Andrew McClelland and his Pirates show. Maybe I saw the wrong shows. maybe it's just been a quiet year.
Or maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy.
( List of Shows Seen... )
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 16th, 2009|08:38 pm] |
The Girlfriend is out working at the Comedy Festival.
I'm home. Eating kangaroo roast with roast sweet potato, pumpkin and wilted bok choi. Reading a 60 page report on Retail Management Systems, because someone at work has to.
The glamour never ends. |
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| Comedy Festival 2009: josie Long, Storyteller's Club, Dave Bloustien, The Suitcase Royale Space Show |
[Apr. 5th, 2009|03:37 pm] |
It's only the first weekend of the Comedy Festival, and I'm slipping behind in my reviews already.
THU 02 - Josie Long - All the Planet's Wonders (Seen In Detail)
Ah, Josie Long. Her comedy belongs to the same whimsical, indie-pop style as Daniel Kitson. She's one of my must-see acts, not because her work ishilarious, but because it gives me a warm glow inside.
"All the Planet's Wonders" is about her joy in discovering science. She tells stories about creepy old men on regional tv, Hieronymus Bosch, and visiting the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. And she tells them with a mixture of self-deprecation and child-like wonder. She had a few first-night fumbles when I saw her on Thursday, but she still charmed the audience.
FRI 03 - The Storytellers' Club - "scary" theme
The idea behind the Storytellers' Club is get five or six comedians, musicians and other performers together to tell stories late at night. This year, each night has a theme, and Friday's was "Scary Stories". We heard a UFO story and a horrible date story from the host, Sarah Bennetto. James Dowdeswell talked about his old school friend who turned into a school shooter. We also heard from Maeve Higgins, Alison Bice, Danny McGinlay, Josie Long.
The quality varied from excellent to middling, but to me part of the pleasure of the Storytellers' Club is seeing performers kicking back and doing something less rehearsed than their usual show. And there were a few perfectly timed cracks of thunder to complement the stories.
The roster for upcoming shows is listed on the Storytellers' Club Facebook page.
SAT 04 - Dave Bloustien - The Social Contract
Dave Bloustien was sued last year by a dodgy promoter, and had to prove that he was funny in court. That story forms the backbone of "The Social Contract", but Bloustien diverts off into jokes about working advertising, the economic crisis and the racism by text message. He's written for Good News Week and The Glass House, and his humour is full of that style of clever, political quips. Smart, friendly and funny.
SAT 04 - The Suitcase Royale - Space Show
Like a shambolic Mighty Boosh, only not as pretty.
There was a plot in there, somewhere, about three astronauts (Kevin Bacon, Kerry O'Brien and Chuck Norris, no less) searching the galaxy for a cure to a disease that was ravaging Earth. But the plot was only an excuse for cardboard robots, tinfoil sets, bizarre characters, beachballs doubling as planets, and the occasional musical number.
This was humour as high weirdness. There were a lot of laughs, but I had two problems with this show. Firstly, some the characters felt too much like Mighty Boosh imitations. And secondly, all that surrealism never quite coalesced into a whole. |
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| Time Ninjas - Andrew McClelland and Lawrence Leung |
[Apr. 1st, 2009|10:05 pm] |
Yes. That Lawrence Leung. The one off the ABC.
It feels weird to write that. Lawrence has been doing shows at the Comedy Festival for years. But I overheard several people saying they had just discovered him via Choose Your Own Adventure. Anyway...
Time Ninjas is about McClelland (foppish, sideburns) and Leung (dorky, beard) traveling back through time in Stephen Hawking's wheelchair to meet Jesus, kill Hitler, and stop Lawrence from getting dumped by his high-school girlfriend in 1994.
There's cardboard props, musical numbers, PowerPoint slides and lots of silliness. It's more of a sketch or theatrical piece than their usual lecture-style shows, and it felt a lot more lightweight than their best work* -- mostly it's just them running around the stage being daft. But they do it with charm and infectious humour, so it works.
Lightweight, silly, lots of fun.
* A Somewhat Accurate History of Pirates, Lawrence Leung Learns to Breakdance
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| Too old to emo, too young to die |
[Mar. 9th, 2009|10:42 pm] |
Been sick the last week. Stomach bug. I was meant to go to karate camp on the weekend, but illness precluded it. (Insert joke about brown belts here.)
The Girlfriend is in Tasmania. I'm sitting at home feeling all bleargh and lonely.
And then I discovered it: My So Called Life is up on YouTube.
Blurry low-resolution Claire Danes with dyed red hair being all 90s adolescent angst? Heaven.
Except goddamn Warner Music Group have pulled the audio from some episodes just because it infringes their artists' copyright. How dare their corporate greed interfere with my illegally pirated viewing pleasure!
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| Nine Inch Nails, Festival Hall, 25 Feb 2009 |
[Feb. 26th, 2009|10:43 am] |
They were excellent.
They were so good, that's the first concert at Festival Hall I've been to where I didn't leave complaining about the venue.
We got let in early, as part of the nin.com presale tickets. Jel had to check her studded blt, which was a nuisance, but we still had time to grab a spot on a barriers to the left of the stage.
Support band were Jaguar Love. Who would have been entirely forgettable, if it wasn't for the singer's Steve Tyler-esque falsetto, which pushed them over into being ridiculous. "HEEELLLOOOO MELBOURNE," he squealed between songs, slugging at a bottle of Jameson's.
Cringeworthy. I went and bought earphones during their set.
NIN hit the stage at 9:00pm, and they were tight and loud and ferocious. Trent had announced that NIN would be taking a break after this tour. During he show he said that ever since making that announcement, the shows had become a lot more precious to the band. This wasn't a greatest hits tour -- they were playing the songs they felt were right.
And the band did seem a lot more relaxed. Trent was the most chatty I've ever seen him. And there were none of the temper tantrums from 2007's Year Zero tour.
( Setlist... )
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| Kelp Bed Canyon |
[Feb. 23rd, 2009|09:35 am] |
Ten metres under the waves. I'm kneeling gently on a bed of kelp. The fronds sway softly in the currents. Above and to the right of me, one of the students is having a panic attack. But she's in magnificent hands: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) _ryn is calming her, holding her hand, settling her breathing. Soon the class will be ready, and we will swim deeper. There's a blue devil fish down there, and a undersea canyon that used to be the Yarra, and a toadfish that the instructor will pull by the tail so that it puffs up into a spiky ball. And after that: the heavy climb back into the boat, then hours of theory, and the final exam, and the instructor quietly informing who is now a certified Open Water Diver, and who still needs more work. But that's all still in the future. Right now, I'm kneeling on a bed of kelp, ten metres below the waves. And all I am thinking is yes. |
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| Weekend - Boardgames, boobs and Barbarella |
[Feb. 16th, 2009|11:09 am] |
FRIDAY:
Birthday drinks for a_carnal_mink at the Tyranny of Distance. Lovely to catch up with her and kits_the_dm . Had nice paella for dinner, then the stress of the last week hit me and I had to go home and sleep.
SATURDAY:
Karate. Lunch with Toshi, a fellow karateka who's going back to Japan for a year.
Dinner at Ito, then off to the East Brunswick Club for Sugar Kitten Cabaret. Which was tight and funny and fun, as well as raising money for WIRE. Thumbs up to missmalice for organising it.
SUNDAY:
Lunch in Royal Park with the High Tea Society.
I'd offered to make gluten-free scones. They came out less like delicate little pastries suitable for elegant dining and more like something you'd put in a sling-shot and use to slay giants.
Still - the High Tea included antique linen, a working gramophone and a game of croquet. Plus lots of charming people. (waves at all the new people we met, and whose LJ names we've promptly forgotten).
Sunday night was finished off with Battlestar Galactica: the Board Game at Alex's house.
( Board game geekery... )
TODAY:
First day of two weeks leave. *relaxes*
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| Adam Hills preview |
[Feb. 11th, 2009|09:22 pm] |
Last night: saw a free preview of Adam Hills's Comedy Festival show.
He's such a sweetie. Even when he was picking on the audience members, he did it with a friendly twinkle in his eye.
His show was mostly stories - polite Dutch audiences, heavy metal forensic specialists from Wales, and the crudity of the athletes at the Beijing Special Olympics. He finished up with the obligatory uplifting meaningful bit, which felt like Daniel Kitson without the swearing.
His support act was Hannah Gadsby, with her deadpan stories about growing up in small-town Tasmanian, lesbian haircuts, and her eccentric mother. She started out a bit stiff and nervous, but she warmed up as the audience warmed up to her.
Tonight: swimming. 16 continuous laps (400m), then a few short ones, then 8 continuous laps (200m), a few more short laps, and then another 4 continuous laps. Not exactly going to win the Olympics, but that pwns the 200m swim test for my Open Water Certification in a week.
ObBushfires: Registered at www.donateblood.com.au. Haven't given blood in years, not since the whole chronic fatigue thing.
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| How To Miss The Point Completely |
[Feb. 3rd, 2009|09:34 am] |
The Age has an article about all-women bands in Melbourne. The girls are all right, it's headlined. Sub-heading: No gimmicks - Melbourne's all-women bands just want you to get into their music.
Ok. Fine. There's interviews with members of Killer Birds, The Spazzys and Super Wild Horses.
"We just happen to be female," [...] "We're not trying to make a social comment. People might think, 'They're just a girl band,' but once they have heard us they might not think that any more."
Great!
Except...
The article never once tells us what these bands sound like.
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| Swimming |
[Jan. 27th, 2009|11:08 pm] |
Hit the continuous 200 metres mark today in the pool.
Very pleased. That's the distance I need to pass the swimming portion of my diving exam.
Yes. I know. It's not very far. But given last week I struggled to swim half that continuously, I felt a certain sense of achievement.
The improvements come mostly from 1) staying as relaxed as possible throughout the stroke and 2) breathing properly.
Staying relaxed means I slip through the water, rather than fight my way against it. The only real power I'm applying is on the downwards pull of the arm.
Breathing properly: I realised I was holding my breath when my face was underwater, exhaling rapidly when I turned my head up and then having to gasp down air because I'd run out of time to breathe deeply. So tonight I focused on blowing a steady stream of bubbles out my nose while face down in the water, so that I could "drink" the air in when I turned my head, rather than taking a single quick gulp.
Result: much, much less of that awful "help I can't breathe!" feeling.
Note that I've never had a problem with breathing when snorkelling or scuba diving. But they both supply a nice steady flow of oxygen. It's only when I have to hold my breath I struggle.
I have my diving medical on Thursday. I'll be very curious to see the results of the lung capacity test.
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| Uh... |
[Jan. 16th, 2009|02:23 pm] |
Why didn't anyone tell me that Amanda Palmer is playing the Corner Hotel?
Isn't that the reason I'm subscribed to her newsletter?
Anyway....
Amanda Palmer and the Danger Ensemble.
Corner Hotel
Tuesday 3rd March
$46.20 + BF
Tickets on sale Friday 23 January.
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| "Stop trying to hit me and HIT ME." |
[Jan. 15th, 2009|10:01 pm] |
Survived my first ever sparring class at karate. Sensei only kicked me in the head twice. : )
I spent most of the class trying to work out exactly how long my arms actually are. It seems like something I should know by now, but I've always been terrible at judging distances.
The other thing I need to work out is how to block kicks.
Punches, I kinda know what I'm doing there. Kicks, though... I need to a) spot that a kick is coming and b) block it properly, rather than just waving my hands vaguely in its general direction. Otherwise Sensei will be kicking me in the head many, many more times.
For those who missed it, Jel's photo of me in my sparring gear:
And finally: jockstraps feel really strange.
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| Scuba! |
[Jan. 14th, 2009|11:53 am] |
Just booked to do my Open Water Scuba certification with Queenscliff Dive Centre.
*excited*
The funny thing: _ryn answered the phone there. Neither of us recognised the other.
i've kissed mermaids, rode the el nino
walked the sand with the crustaceans
could find my way to mariana
on a wave of mutilation...
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