Snap Movie Reviews

King Kong
1 word: abysmal

Wolf Creek
Visually beautiful. Intriquingly local. Slow to start. Realistic but not overstated gore.

Lord of War
This was a great film. It explores the rise and rise of an internation gun runner (Nicholas Cage) through the fall of the Soviet Union and the African wars. Gritty yet witty. Cage was cast perfectly for this role, and it had a nice political twist at the end.

The Hostel
I was looking forward to this film, thinking it would be of similar style to SAW. It begins with a very interesting pretext with tourists exploring the vices of Amsterdaam - only to be told of a hidden Ukraine village full of young women. It quickly decends into gutwrenching gore (think toes being cut off, eyeballs hanging out of heads, etc). The acting swings from believeable terror to cheesy bravery. Worth a look, if only for the morbidity.

The Descent
This British film shows the Yanks just how to do horror. Unlike the American horrors, were the horror themes start with the opening titles, the first half-hour of the movie could have been from a feel-good adventure drama, with a group of women exploring he outdoors. When the scares come, though, they are brilliantly done. The group end up trapped in claustrophobic caves and tunnels, being hunted by semi-human cannibals. There are some interesting twists towards the end, but overall the ending was a little weak. And the cannibals are nearly identical to the Orcs from LOTR (they must have had surplus costumes). Having said that, definitely worth a watch.

Quotable Quote

"Jesus Saves...
Buddha does the Incremental Backups"

It all makes sense now...

Those Mysterious Australian Values:

After 10 years - he's still at his best!

Costello and "Australian Values"

Costello has come out with an attack against what he describes as "Mushy Multiculturalism". Specifically, he points to Muslims who believes that their Koran driven "law" takes precedence over the Australian Law - and says such people have no place in Australia. He, the PM and many commentators have said that immigrants should come here and adopt Australian Values.

Well... yes - I agree that when you live in a country, you are bound first and foremost by the laws of that country. I also firmly believe that to live in Australia, you MUST be able to speak english.

Having said that, can SOMEONE please tell me what is meant by "Australian Values"? As far as I can see, Australia has no unique 'values', except perhaps for drinking to excess on regular occasions. If you mean that I (as an immigrant, albeit at 2years of age) should forget my culture and behave like "mainstream Australia" - well, you can forget it. Some cultures don't embrace having boyfriends and girlfriends from a young age - are we supposed to take that up under duress? Some cultures do not look kindly on the consumption of alcohol - should they now drink? In fact, "mainstream Australia" today embraces excessive consumerism - people my age are more often than not already in reasonably deep debt! Are you telling me that that is how we should behave? So what exactly ARE these "Australian Values" that keep getting thrown around?

I read a letter to the editor in the Australian Newspapaper two days ago. The contributor was saying that people coming to Australia must embrace a "Western society and Western Religious construct". Presumably they were talking about Muslims? Well, Islam is a Western Religion, you damn fool! And, if you are telling my that I must embrace religions that have at the basis, the notion that you either follow their god, or go to hell - well, you can go to hell.

What I'm getting at is this : Lets not react to a tiny minorty, and try and assimilate everyone into the Ocker Australia. As far as I'm concerned, the moderating factors that hold Australian society together are largely imported (compare divorce/child abuse/theft/murder/rape..etc statistics between "white Australia" and other ethnic subcultures). Cultures should not exist in Australian in that antagonise or seek to override the rest of the society. But it is equally arrogant to try and assimilate all others into an "Australian culture" - a culture that nobody can seem to define.

RU486

2 Points:

1. Legalisation of something doesn't make it mandatory. If people are opposed to abortion, then don't have one. Besides, its legal as a surgical prodedure so if it can be done less intrusively, then all the better.

2. Abbott and Co. have argued that for a drug this important, and with the potential ramifications, the decision should be made by the Minister with the associated Ministerial responsibility to the Parliament, and by proxy, the people of Australia. HAH! This Government has spent most of its time avoiding and indeed eroding any form of ministerial responsibility. If there has been a scandal, the Minister never knew, but its all the fault of the Bureaucrats. Thanks, but I would trust the Medical experts any day over the Government to make these decisisions, and actually be responsible for them.

Comments?

What to do with an empty whiskey bottle...

Build a computer in it, of course!

Israel murders 9 year old

Over the weekend, a 9 year old Palestinian girl got lost and wandered into the demilitarised zone near the Israeli border. It was dark and she was apparenlty trying to find her way home.

She was shot 4 times by an Israeli sniper. The first shot ripped open her stomach.

Israel's official response was that the sniper was in the clear, because he operated within military guidelines. They claim they saw a figure approaching the Israeli line, carrying a large backpack. The figure kneeled down, and they though they were planting explosives.

According to people who found the body -there was no bag. Moreover, the girl was 9 years old and only just over 4ft. How you can mistake that for a terrorist, particularly through a hi-tech sniper scope is beyond me.

I heard the parents interviewed on the radio this morning, and thankfully, they seem like level headed people. Even though they suffered such a terrible loss, they didn't seem to be calling for violent vengeance.

I wouldn't blame them if they did. With incidents like these, why do the Israeli's think they are so hated in their region? Do they think they can quell extremism by shooting little girls? Sometimes, i think the Israeli's and the Terrorist deserve each other.

For all those Fortians...

I was in the area, so I dropped in at my old school. Things have changed a fair bit. Everyone is in uniform (ie, shirts with logos!). And, they have logo'ed bags!!
I bumped into Leondias, whos keeping well. He's pretty happy there. He did mention, however, that when Moynham left two years ago, they didn't give him that good a send-off (probably courtesy of Moxham). Thats unfortunate, because he served the school for 25 years, and certainly put up with a lot of crap from our grade (3 cubic metres of it). Sister Mouse (Red 5) is still there temping. He's apparently just about ready to buy an appartment (he's been working up to it for a fair few years now).

The 2 new buildings change the look of the school a fair bit, but you get that. And the sticker wall house has been destroyed :(

Oh, apparently its Yalichev's last year this year, which is also a very big loss. I think all the quirk teachers are being pushed out. Its costing the school much of its character - and we all know who's behind that.

Anyways, its coming up to 5 years for us now (end of '06) - we probably should be looking at organising a reunion :) Doesn't THAT make you feel old :p

14 Year Old Murderers

I agree with the Premier... where were the parents? Why are two 14 year olds running around at 2am in the morning, on a spree of robbery, assault and now, murder. Again, i think its a sign of our society losing the concept of responsibility (and the Federal Government is setting this trend - see below). This may be also driven by our consumerist society where attaining material goods has vastly overwhelmed our sense of responsibility for ourselves and to others. The new "My" generation has grown up knowing that having their own latest Mobile is more important than having true friends. I suspect the latest emergence of young crime is a byproduct.

AWB and the Government

Dragged kicking and screaming into the whole AWB fiasco, Howard has gone on the offensive to deny that the Government ever knew about the kickbacks.

The evidence suggests that several concers where raised by the American Government (or Wheat Lobby...) about some of the transactions. The UN also spoke the government about that. There were also close communiques between the AWB and the Office of the Prime Minister, and Foreign Affairs. But Howard claims he did not know. The latest defense is that documents produced in the enquiry "did not specifically point to the AWB".

Well, thats just pathetic. The UN warns that Australian companies may be complicit in circumventing UN sanctions. The US raises questions about the AWB. The AWB was the largest user of the Oil-For-Food program. And nobody in the Government thought that the warnings could pertain to the AWB in Iraq? Rubbish. Howard now says that he asked the AWB executive if they were doing anything underhand - and they gave no evidence to suggest there was a problem. FUNNY, THAT!!!! What, they expected that they would say "Oh yes, we have been busting UN sanctions and rorting the Oil-for-food program. By the way, here is the EVIDENCE to back that up"??? OF COURSE THEY BLOODY WELL DIDN'T!!

This is typical of Howard. We didn't know, nobody told us. It is not our responsibility. YES IT IS! It is the responsibility of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to monitor the legality of international trade occuring. The Westminister system operates under the principle of ministerial (including Prime-ministerial) responsibility whereby the Ministers are held directly responsible for what happens in their department. But under Howard - ever since Children Overboard - he has systematically undermined this principle, allowing Ministers to keep their job (Amanda Vanstone) or even be promoted (Phillip Ruddock and the former head of the Department of Immigration). This lack of Ministerial responsibility has become the norm in Australian Politics - which, coupled with a majority senate, is indeed a worry for the future of the country.

Howard - I hope your Metamucil gives you the runs.

History, education and economic rationalisation

This was a very interesting Andrew West article in todays SMH.