17 Apr 12 Dawkins vs Pell on #QandA: Dopey Questions from a Dopey Audience
Richard Dawkins has commented since this debate that he was disappointed in his performance, blaming partly his jet lag, but also “… the astonishing bias of the audience and, second, the interfering chairman.”
During the debate, Dawkins repeatedly asked some members of the audience with credulity: why is that funny? He really ought to have been able to answer his own question without thinking about it too much.
Tags: American Broadcasting Company, Australia, Cardinal, Catholic Church, Dawkins, Debate, Neanderthal, Richard Dawkins
06 Oct 11 Andrew Bolt: more offensive than sex with a horse?
Recently, the well known columnist and blogger Andrew Bolt was found to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act. Justice Mordy Bromberg found Bolt and the Herald and Weekly Times contravened the Racial Discrimination Act by publishing two articles on racial identity which contained “errors in fact, distortions of the truth and inflammatory and provocative language”, reported the Herald Sun.
Ron Merkel, QC, for the complainants, said there was no attempt by members of the group to shut down freedom of speech or debate about racial identity issues. Mr Merkel said Bolt was free to express his views on the subject but should not have chosen to attack the nine individuals he named in his columns and blog.
Many of us, including myself, may not agree with Andrew Bolt’s views on this issue and many others. Whatever happened to the famous saying, sometimes incorrectly attributed to Voltaire which many in the legal profession are fond of quoting: ” I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. ”
Yes, there are a number of errors in Bolt’ articles on this topic. Is Bolt being prosecuted for publishing errors? It is true that had the facts been presented accurately Bolt’s arguments would not hold much water. For example, he questioned indigenous lawyer Larissa Behrendt‘s Aboriginality, incorrectly stating that her father was German and that she is somehow claiming benefits that should be the right of indigenous people of ‘purer blood’. In the sometimes heated court exchanges, Bolt took exception to the prosecution’s comparison of the debate and Bolt’s views to Nazi race laws, the Holocaust and eugenics. Bolt argued those who chose to identify with only one part of their background over another were contributing to racism and came at the cost of less focus on the important issues of education, housing, health and poverty.
It is interesting to note that earlier in the year, Larissa Berendt attracted criticism after using her Twitter account to describe watching bestiality on television as “less offensive than Bess Price“, an Aboriginal woman in favour of the radical Northern Territory intervention. “I watched a show where a guy had sex with a horse and I’m sure it was less offensive than Bess Price.” (more…)
Tags: Andrew Bolt, freedom of speech, Larissa Behrendt, Racial Discrimination Act 1975
12 Jul 11 OMG I’m a GPS: 6 degrees of separation
Some time ago (26th December 2008 to be precise) I published an article entitled “OMG I’m a gay porn star” The article was about the unforeseen consequences of Googling oneself. My search discovered that I share my name with another ‘Liam Alexander’ who is a model on a site called ‘originaleuroboys’; a gay porn service. In the article I wondered if “this Liam is a real person…; quite likely he was dreamed up by two guys fantasizing on the phone”. However, I learned that this Liam is a real person after receiving this comment:
“Liam Alexander the porn star is for real. I was the photographer that did the originaleuroboys.com photoshoot with Liam that is now on originaleuroboys.com. To add the the interest in Liam take a look at our studio website http://www.7bluestudio.com because Liam features on the homepage larger than ever! Ben Willis, Director”
Tags: Ben Willis, Google, Julia Gillard, liam alexander, staci child, Tim Mathieson, zoo weekly
23 Jul 10 Chasing Mummies: Archeology as Reality TV
- Image by vintagedept via Flickr
Dr Zahi Hawass the Egyptian archaeologist is well known to those who enjoy historical documentaries. He is highly respected in his field and is the current Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. I have always found his manner rather abrasive and have tended to avoid his offerings. However, his new TV show program on the History Channel: ‘Chasing Mummies‘ is quite a different affair; this is actually riveting and addictive television. The producers of ‘Chasing Mummies’ seem to have recognised the potential of Dr Hawass’ explosive temper and have harnessed it to great effect.
In one incident, Dr Hawass’ assistant Casey Fitchner gets completely blasted by the good doctor for being late to work. Later, while exploring inside the Stepped Pyramid, Fitchner asks if there is somewhere she can go to the bathroom. Dr Hawass informs her in no uncertain terms that the pyramid is a holy place and of course she can’t go. Later, she can no longer resist the call of nature and wets herself on camera. Dr Hawass’ outbursts make Gordon Ramsey look kindly and avuncular.
Tags: Archaeology, History Channel, outburst, reality TV, Supreme Council of Antiquities, tantrum, Zahi Hawass
09 Apr 10 Heckler exposes ‘celebrities’ thin skins
Image via Wikipedia
I recently watched a documentary on SBS TV called “Heckler”. In this program, a series of well known entertainers and comedians recount their reactions to hecklers and also, that most loathsome of all television denizons: critics. Celebrities such as George Lucas, Bill Maher, Mike Ditka, Rob Zombie, Howie Mandel are interviewed.
Heckler is initially interesting as an account of how entertainers deal with the disruptions of hard core hecklers. Some deal with audience antagonists with skill, firing back one liners and making the disruption an amusing part of the act. Others become overwhelmed with rage and descend to exchanging obscenities; allowing the heckler to win in doing so. As the program progresses the focus is more and more on critics and how they are the lowest form of life.
Tags: arts, Beverly Hills California, Celebrities, Celebrity, entertainment, George Lucas, heckler, Howie Mandel, People, SBS TV
14 Feb 10 Shoes on a Wire: Love is the Drug?
In a previous post entitled ‘The postmodern dilema‘ I posted a similar photo of some high heel shoes hanging from power lines. In the article I posed the question (rather naively as it turns out) “do people create such spectacles out of an innate need to produce art?”. A reader subsequently informed me that shoes hanging from a wire is a clandestine indication that drugs are available nearby. I have never been able to look at a pair of shoes hanging from the wires again in the same way; you can’t help but wonder, okay, where are the drug dealers hanging out? Usually, of course, the shoes are a grubby old pair of trainers.
More than a year later, who ever strung up the stylish ladies shoe (featured left) continues to maintain this piece of post modern installation art. What then is the cryptic significance of ladies heels hanging from the wires? Is a better class of drug available in this location, or is something quite different available, ‘love for sale’ perhaps?
Since reaching the dreaded ‘middle aged’ milestone, I seem to have developed something of an obsession with shoes. Scuffed old trainers will no longer do; shoes need to be carefully chosen and colour coordinated with a range of different styles of outfit. The usual stereotype is women being shoe obsessed while men pay very little attention to this all important detail of any outfit. Perhaps this is less the case with older men, or perhaps it’s just me. Either way, I’m starting to develop such a shoe collection my friends are starting to call me ‘Imelda’. It certainly seems a shame to me that otherwise well dressed men often resort to wearing an ugly pair of modern trainers as some kind of misguided concession to looking casual. Modern trainers have all the style of a rocket launcher and don’t look good with anything, despite the delusion that many labour under. Look down; you really never have seen anything more incongruous and UGLY!
Perhaps I would prefer not to be enlightened on the significance of ladies shoes hanging from wires. I really would rather hold on to the delicious mysteries they conjure up. Perhaps if more dealers advertised with a better class of shoes, they might increase their sales while setting an excellent example and performing a much needed public service: grubby old trainers should never be seen, not even hanging from the power lines!
Related articles by Zemanta
- the history of high-heel shoes (recycleemail.com)
- ARA: Where to find pink heels for my wedding (timesunion.com)
- Wardrobe Essential: Black Kitten Heels (amominredhighheels.com)
- Discount Christian louboutin shoes you like (recycleemail.com)
- Getting Tipsy (vivanista.com)
- Fashion trumps health in footwear, again (cbc.ca)
- Sexy now, sorry later: Most women in heels report foot pain (dailyfinance.com)
- The 12 Days of Red High Heels- Day 4 (amominredhighheels.com)
- China’s Chuck Taylors (boingboing.net)
- The Best Christian Louboutin Pumps (recycleemail.com)
- Sigerson Morrison on the Sale (shoeblogs.com)
- Virginia Mason to send 2,200 pairs of shoes to Haiti (seattlepi.com)
- What Is Art (slideshare.net)
- Rodarte Show Focuses On The Elemental [Destruction] (jezebel.com)
- Letters: ‘Changing My Mind’ (nytimes.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3b63ab85-6169-4a5e-a997-a7e143ea7fae)
Tags: Clothing, Footwear, Heel, High-heeled footwear, postmodern, postmodernism, Shoe, Shopping, Women's
26 Jul 09 Foul play; first Brian Jones, now Hendrix?
Image via Wikipedia
In 2005 it was revealed that Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones did not commit suicide but may well have been murdered. Now it emerges that Jimi Hendrix, arguably the greatest guitarist ever also met with foul play.
Jimi Hendrix’s former road manager has claimed that Hendrix was murdered and did not die an accidental death, as has been commonly believed. In the book ‘Rock Roadie’ by James “Tappy” Wright, (a former road manager who worked for Jimi Hendrix’s manager, Mike Jeffery) Wright rejects the widely held notion that the guitarist died accidentally, choking on his own vomit after a drug overdose. He claims Hendrix was murdered by a gang who broke into his girlfriend’s Notting Hill flat in the early hours of September 18, forcing enough sleeping pills and wine down his throat to kill him. The gang, Wright alleges, was organised by Jeffery, a shady character who was heavily in debt and feared that Hendrix wanted to end his management contract.
The Australian doctor who attempted to revive Hendrix, John Bannister, the theory the guitar legend was murdered is “plausible from a medical perspective at least”. At the time of his death, says Bannister, Hendrix was saturated with wine.
“He drowned, no question. His hair and his clothes were full of red wine, his lungs and his stomach were full of red wine. You couldn’t think about mouth-to-mouth because there was so much wine coming out of him.” smh July 25 2009
I personally had no idea that Hendrix was completely soaked in red wine when he died. I’d read he had choked on his own vomit and had always understood that he was so far gone on drugs that he basically forgot to breathe. Tragic, yes, but it fitted Jimmi’s live fast, die young, wild man image like a glove. The current revelations are suspicious on more than one level.
Tags: Guitarist, hendrix murdered, Jimi Hendrix, John Bannister, Mike Jeffery, murder, Suicide
17 May 09 Zen and the art of follower maintenance
My twitter follower count is now over 3500. A friend of mine with whom I used to compete a little on how many followers we could attract told me recently I should focus on quality not quantity when it came to followers. No matter what I did, she always seemed to be at least 100 followers ahead of me. (okay, it was @kateblogs and it was probably just me who did the competing. ) This is most likely because she is smarter, more interesting and prettier than I am but I eventually became determined to catch up, so I experimented with auto following sites like TwitSeeker and Tweepular. Using these, I have managed to eclipse Kate‘s count by at least 1000 but I doubt she’s losing any sleep over it.
Tweepular not only allows you to follow large numbers but also lets you manage those who don’t reciprocate your follows and those you aren’t following. In other words, you can bulk follow or unfollow. TwitSeeker allows you to bulk follow based on certain key words. For example; you might be interested in following graphic artists (important if you are trying to pitch products at a particular target audience). This is where the issue of quality comes in; are we really so elitist that we imagine that some people are of a higher quality than others? As long as my followers are not bots or out and out spammers I’m quite happy to have them on my list. Surely anyone who publishes online wants as large an audience as possible. You don’t have to like or have a personal relationship with everyone who hits your site, and to me it’s about the same with twitter. No one could manage to maintain any kind of personal relationship with group that consists of 1000s of people.
Furthermore, if you have read the iconic novel ‘ Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ‘ you will be well aware that pondering the true nature of ‘quality’ too deeply has the potential to drive you insane.
The following is an automated weekly twitter update. (more…)
03 May 09 The Weekend Eunuch
“When I was in high school in the ’70s, I was a member of a generation of girls lucky enough to benefit from the gains won for us by the feminists of earlier decades. We were told we could do and be anything we wanted. Yet, more than 30 years later, there are still some occupations and professions that many people regard as ‘men’s work’…” Editors Note by Judith Whelan, editor of the Good Weekend Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald. Whelan goes on to say that the ‘women’s issue’ will contain stories on women in a range of jobs; a jockey. a pilot an engineer, a doctor and an umpire. It might well be true that many occupations and professions are still regarded as men’s work, that the glass ceiling still exists and that equal employment opportunity rules go only part of the way towards redressing the imbalance. However, this belies the fact that Whelan’s editorship of The Good Weekend may well have significantly hampered the feminist cause and moves towards equality.
Tags: equal opportunity, feminist, Judith Whelan, The Good Weekend
