Oh, dear me, the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull...and the Opposition Leader, little-boy Bill Shorten...talking about the importance of Patriotism...oh,for fuck's sake, it is fucking 2017...where do we dig up these absurd knuckle-dragging low-life brainless wankers? We are Australian...we are NOT fucking retarded like the Americans. We are not THEM. We are far more troublesome and far more radicalised. Fuck off Malcolm, fuck off Bill.
Sunday 24 December 2017
Both Kim Jong Un and Yukio Mishima were, to some extent, extreme in their views. I don't know yet about Kim Jong Un, but I guess the Yukio Mishima was somewhat extreme in his life, although anyone who has a delight in Disneyland is hardly likely to be extreme in anything in the real world. maybe this is where Kim Jong Un, Yukio Mishima, and even Donald Trump, actually meet each other...in Disneyland rather than in reality. Now there is a thought.
Why not do something really hard every now and again just for the hell of it? Just to know ourselves a bit more in our fully protected lives here? What are we made of? Paper? The funny life secret is that it doesn't make one bit of damn difference whether you challenge yourself or not in terms of the life value or meaning or outcome. The only value in challenging yourself is in curiosity. To me being curious is very important, and far more important than accepting things, including the self, as they are. Curiosity is a journey in itself. Be careful of curious people, they will undo all untruths, like cats with balls of string. Current morality, current social mores, current social loves and hatreds etc, current good vs evil etc, these are all balls of string...ready for the curious and clawed.
Saturday 2 December 2017
Thanks for notes of advice & understanding regarding the pen repair fiasco. Much appreciated. I guess if my hands were more like fine musician's hands rather than like slabs of boxer's mallets, that would have helped. Anyway, onto cars, and 4WD vehicles...I bought a 2015 last of the line D22 Nissan Navara 4x4 dual cab pick up, or ute, in 2015. I'd always liked them since back in the early 2000s and, apart from an engine, they haven't changed at all, and I like that. Whilst ISIS chose Toyota, because ISIS had more money than I did, I went with the humble Nissan. A good turbo diesel 2.5 common rail engine, heaps of used parts available, and a good long record as a strong vehicle. I kinda bought it as my 'final' car, trading in a 2011 Mazda BT50 2WD single cab one ton alum tray ute. I wasn't sure of the wisdom of this at the time as the Mazda was very good, with a 2.4 common rail diesel engine...but it could only fit 2 people in it, unless the third was an armless and legless Laotian person in the middle. The Nissan has been really quite faultless in the drives around the tropics, the drive down here, 3000km to melbourne, and getting round the Melbourne streets. It is not a city car at all and yet does everything with a simplicity that I like. It features 4 ash trays and an actual cigarette lighter and a 6 stacker CD player...but no other technology per se. The only thing that beeps is the horn, and there is no screen entertainment, just a pretty shitty radio...but everything works simply and is predictable. The Mazda BT50, 4 years older, was somewhat more advanced in some ways but it did always fishtail out on turns and I kept reversing it into poles and other cars due to the cramped vision out the back. Anyway, yesterday's massive downpour here was a great way to see how the Nissan went in absolutely horrid flooded road conditions, and it did so very well. Sure footed and secure and never missed a beat even with a few hundred gallons of water coming into the engine bay. The high engine snorkel seemed, for the first time, a pretty smart choice. I'd recommend to anyone the last of the line 2003-2015 unchanged D22 Navaras...still some of them near new with low mileages...nothing pretty but designed to last a long time. Minor dents and scratches simply add to the truck's appeal...and it pretty well can and will go anywhere. The engine isnt as free-breathing as the Mazda's but then the Mazda was 2WD and so benefited by being lighter...but wow, did it fishtail in the wet...and I was tired of reversing it into cars especially. Very unpopular. The Nissan does give you a higher view of the road and the landscape, and I like that too. The worst car I guess I've ever owned was a Russian Lada Niva constant 4X4, years ago but still it had its strengths and the strength was...its strength. On a country dirt road it stayed on the road and when it hit a cow, as it did once, at 50 miles an hour... no damage to the Lada at all. Poor bloody cow was a mess. Fortunately I was a remote area Director of Nursing at the time so I pumped the cow full of morphine by the side of the road and stayed with it til it left the world. The Russians didn't build a good car, but, fuck it was strong.
Thanks for notes of advice & understanding regarding the pen repair fiasco. Much appreciated. I guess if my hands were more like fine musician's hands rather than like slabs of boxer's mallets, that would have helped.
Anyway, onto cars, and 4WD vehicles...I bought a 2015 last of the line D22 Nissan Navara 4x4 dual cab pick up, or ute, in 2015. I'd always liked them since back in the early 2000s and, apart from an engine, they haven't changed at all, and I like that. Whilst ISIS chose Toyota, because ISIS had more money than I did, I went with the humble Nissan. A good turbo diesel 2.5 common rail engine, heaps of used parts available, and a good long record as a strong vehicle. I kinda bought it as my 'final' car, trading in a 2011 Mazda BT50 2WD single cab one ton alum tray ute. I wasn't sure of the wisdom of this at the time as the Mazda was very good, with a 2.4 common rail diesel engine...but it could only fit 2 people in it, unless the third was an armless and legless Laotian person in the middle.
The Nissan has been really quite faultless in the drives around the tropics, the drive down here, 3000km to melbourne, and getting round the Melbourne streets. It is not a city car at all and yet does everything with a simplicity that I like.
It features 4 ash trays and an actual cigarette lighter and a 6 stacker CD player...but no other technology per se. The only thing that beeps is the horn, and there is no screen entertainment, just a pretty shitty radio...but everything works simply and is predictable.
The Mazda BT50, 4 years older, was somewhat more advanced in some ways but it did always fishtail out on turns and I kept reversing it into poles and other cars due to the cramped vision out the back.
Anyway, yesterday's massive downpour here was a great way to see how the Nissan went in absolutely horrid flooded road conditions, and it did so very well. Sure footed and secure and never missed a beat even with a few hundred gallons of water coming into the engine bay. The high engine snorkel seemed, for the first time, a pretty smart choice.
I'd recommend to anyone the last of the line 2003-2015 unchanged D22 Navaras...still some of them near new with low mileages...nothing pretty but designed to last a long time. Minor dents and scratches simply add to the truck's appeal...and it pretty well can and will go anywhere. The engine isnt as free-breathing as the Mazda's but then the Mazda was 2WD and so benefited by being lighter...but wow, did it fishtail in the wet...and I was tired of reversing it into cars especially. Very unpopular. The Nissan does give you a higher view of the road and the landscape, and I like that too.
The worst car I guess I've ever owned was a Russian Lada Niva constant 4X4, years ago but still it had its strengths and the strength was...its strength. On a country dirt road it stayed on the road and when it hit a cow, as it did once, at 50 miles an hour... no damage to the Lada at all. Poor bloody cow was a mess. Fortunately I was a remote area Director of Nursing at the time so I pumped the cow full of morphine by the side of the road and stayed with it til it left the world. The Russians didn't build a good car, but, fuck it was strong.
Anyway, onto cars, and 4WD vehicles...I bought a 2015 last of the line D22 Nissan Navara 4x4 dual cab pick up, or ute, in 2015. I'd always liked them since back in the early 2000s and, apart from an engine, they haven't changed at all, and I like that. Whilst ISIS chose Toyota, because ISIS had more money than I did, I went with the humble Nissan. A good turbo diesel 2.5 common rail engine, heaps of used parts available, and a good long record as a strong vehicle. I kinda bought it as my 'final' car, trading in a 2011 Mazda BT50 2WD single cab one ton alum tray ute. I wasn't sure of the wisdom of this at the time as the Mazda was very good, with a 2.4 common rail diesel engine...but it could only fit 2 people in it, unless the third was an armless and legless Laotian person in the middle.
The Nissan has been really quite faultless in the drives around the tropics, the drive down here, 3000km to melbourne, and getting round the Melbourne streets. It is not a city car at all and yet does everything with a simplicity that I like.
It features 4 ash trays and an actual cigarette lighter and a 6 stacker CD player...but no other technology per se. The only thing that beeps is the horn, and there is no screen entertainment, just a pretty shitty radio...but everything works simply and is predictable.
The Mazda BT50, 4 years older, was somewhat more advanced in some ways but it did always fishtail out on turns and I kept reversing it into poles and other cars due to the cramped vision out the back.
Anyway, yesterday's massive downpour here was a great way to see how the Nissan went in absolutely horrid flooded road conditions, and it did so very well. Sure footed and secure and never missed a beat even with a few hundred gallons of water coming into the engine bay. The high engine snorkel seemed, for the first time, a pretty smart choice.
I'd recommend to anyone the last of the line 2003-2015 unchanged D22 Navaras...still some of them near new with low mileages...nothing pretty but designed to last a long time. Minor dents and scratches simply add to the truck's appeal...and it pretty well can and will go anywhere. The engine isnt as free-breathing as the Mazda's but then the Mazda was 2WD and so benefited by being lighter...but wow, did it fishtail in the wet...and I was tired of reversing it into cars especially. Very unpopular. The Nissan does give you a higher view of the road and the landscape, and I like that too.
The worst car I guess I've ever owned was a Russian Lada Niva constant 4X4, years ago but still it had its strengths and the strength was...its strength. On a country dirt road it stayed on the road and when it hit a cow, as it did once, at 50 miles an hour... no damage to the Lada at all. Poor bloody cow was a mess. Fortunately I was a remote area Director of Nursing at the time so I pumped the cow full of morphine by the side of the road and stayed with it til it left the world. The Russians didn't build a good car, but, fuck it was strong.
Friday 1 December 2017
LIFE LESSON: Tragic. I love fixing things. Sometimes I fix them well. I fixed the fake UBOAT Italo Fontana wristwatch last night and was so happy, and it gave me the confidence to fix the fountain pen my father in law gave me about a decade ago... Chinese communist party peace treaty signing pen, gold coloured, heavy, huge, blood rubies imbedded in the top, perfect 1950s East German Iridium nib that I dropped and bent awhile back... and anyway, inspired by how well I fixed the watch, I set about fixing the beautiful pen nib and at one point I actually had the binary nib points aligned and signed my name with it...but the two points were, although aligned, still just bent a bit and so I tried to make the nib perfectly straight and...crack...one of the binary points just broke off. Sigh. I doubt I can find an East German pen-smith master from 1950 to make it right, ever. It is actually stuffed. Damn. So I have walked about today calling out Damn! I expect I will continue to call out Damn! occasionally for quite some time because nothing can be done to fix it now. Ever. Damn! It is like the lessons in the Koran. There have been quite a few Damn! occasions in my life. Damn! And yet I know I will still go about trying to fix up important things and half the time I will get it just right....and half the time I will get it just wrong. Damn!
Wednesday 22 November 2017
The Spring Yard a poem for Matsuo Basho by John Fitzpatrick, 22 November 2017. A magnolia bloom tumbles onto the dead fence and all is tumbled new. there is work tomorrow.
A magnolia bloom
tumbles onto the dead fence
and all is tumbled new.
there is enough work tomorrow.
tumbles onto the dead fence
and all is tumbled new.
there is enough work tomorrow.
Tuesday 21 November 2017
In the great scheme of things, if North Korea could ever develop a nuclear war head they could fit to an intercontinental ballistic missile and hit Hollywood with it, who in their right mind would think that could in any way be a bad thing? The thing is this...the little rockets that NK fired over Japan recently weren't taken out by the massive US military intelligence and massive forces in North Asia...because they couldn't do it. They couldn't hit them. This kind of war is very hard to do. America can't do it with any accuracy at all. It is highly unlikely that somehow North Korea will work out how to do it, so it's all kind of silly.
Monday 13 November 2017
From my book "After the Wake...Stories from Palliative Care". Joe was 58 when he started actively dying from cancer and this was about the same time he was diagnosed. He was shocked at first, but then, didn't mind. He said he would never have had any kind of reconciliation with his 5 children except for the fact that he was dying. He was grateful they turned up and everyone wished everyone, including him, well, as was the truth of his and their time being. He traded in his Subaru Forester and bought an Alfa Romeo, knowing that neither he nor the Alfa, unlike the Subaru, needed an extended warranty, or needed to be reliable. His wife loved him anyway and she was a competent enough person to make a living, as she always had. He had no insurance and some debts...but there would always be someone who wanted to take the Alfa off his hands for almost nothing anyway. He was a man of reasonable virtue and reasonable reach, as he described himself. He offered his body to forensic science at a local university, so they would take it and chop it up etc and cover the costs for his Memorial Service. He was relieved, in a way, because the only way he could really afford to have a life he valued would have been to keep working until he was 80, as an engineer, and he never liked work at all, much anyway. He always just preferred not being at work, whenever he could, and he liked not thinking about things more than was necessary. Joe died within the year as 99.9% with his diagnosis, do, and always have done, no matter what they say on TV, and he never once had 'a battle with cancer', and he really didn't mind it at all.
From my book "After the Wake...Stories from Palliative Care".
Joe was 58 when he started actively dying from cancer and this was about the same time he was diagnosed. He was shocked at first, but then, didn't mind.
He said he would never have had any kind of reconciliation with his 5 children except for the fact that he was dying.
He was grateful they turned up and everyone wished everyone, including him, well, as was the truth of his and their time being.
He traded in his Subaru Forester and bought an Alfa Romeo, knowing that neither he nor the Alfa, unlike the Subaru, needed an extended warranty, or needed to be reliable.
His wife loved him anyway and she was a competent enough person to make a living, as she always had.
He had no insurance and some debts...but there would always be someone who wanted to take the Alfa off his hands for almost nothing anyway. He was a man of reasonable virtue and reasonable reach, as he described himself.
He offered his body to forensic science at a local university, so they would take it and chop it up etc and cover the costs for his Memorial Service.
He was relieved, in a way, because the only way he could really afford to have a life he valued would have been to keep working until he was 80, as an engineer, and he never liked work at all, much anyway. He always just preferred not being at work, whenever he could, and he liked not thinking about things more than was necessary.
Joe died within the year as 99.9% with his diagnosis, do, and always have done, no matter what they say on TV, and he never once had 'a battle with cancer', and he really didn't mind it at all.
He said he would never have had any kind of reconciliation with his 5 children except for the fact that he was dying.
He was grateful they turned up and everyone wished everyone, including him, well, as was the truth of his and their time being.
He traded in his Subaru Forester and bought an Alfa Romeo, knowing that neither he nor the Alfa, unlike the Subaru, needed an extended warranty, or needed to be reliable.
His wife loved him anyway and she was a competent enough person to make a living, as she always had.
He had no insurance and some debts...but there would always be someone who wanted to take the Alfa off his hands for almost nothing anyway. He was a man of reasonable virtue and reasonable reach, as he described himself.
He offered his body to forensic science at a local university, so they would take it and chop it up etc and cover the costs for his Memorial Service.
He was relieved, in a way, because the only way he could really afford to have a life he valued would have been to keep working until he was 80, as an engineer, and he never liked work at all, much anyway. He always just preferred not being at work, whenever he could, and he liked not thinking about things more than was necessary.
Joe died within the year as 99.9% with his diagnosis, do, and always have done, no matter what they say on TV, and he never once had 'a battle with cancer', and he really didn't mind it at all.
Sunday 15 October 2017
After working in end of life pain control nursing for about 20 years, I arrived at being 50 and realising that most folk I'd met, most australian blokes like me, retired at 65 and then got cancer or had infarcts, went on cruises and died really quickly, so I decided my life wouldn't be like that...so at about 50, faced with 2 terminal diagnoses, one of heart and one of cancer, I jetted off, travelled the world, ended up in very bizarre and sensual places, lived a rich and incredibly expensive life, blew heaps of money, did things I thought I would never do, had things done to me I thought would never happen, and saw things and places that I never ever expected to see, and then, well, I came home and now, post my career in end of life care, I work in mental health nursing. it is still rare for me to meet anyone under 90 who has experienced life as much as I have. I'm not judging, I'm not boasting...I'm just noticing. I wouldn't be an adviser to anyone who has ever displayed congruent reason, and just stayed put at home, but at the same time, I have some good advices from time to time for fellow travellers.
The back yard lawn is verily mown. The long grass is thus smote. On the grass strip outside the house, near where all the private school kids get off the bus and toss their rubbish, well...all the rubbish hidden by the long grass for countless eons has been cut up into millions of tiny bits of paper and plastic and it is now all drifting in the wind into the rich neighbour's front yard where he has just washed his stunning Rolls Royce. Hard work is not without its subtle satisfactions.
My girlfriend left me, years ago, in the Holy Land. We were on a walking tour of Mt Sinai, there with other travellers, guides, and donkeys carrying food and water. It was a hard climb and my girlfriend complained about having sore feet, over and over again. She was still complaining when we reached the summit and looked around, had something to eat and drink. When looking at the descent in front of us, she started complaining again about her sore feet. All I said was "instead of complaining so much, why don't you go down on a donkey?"
Sunday 8 October 2017
The only problem I have with god relates to the existence of funnel web spiders. I grew up with them in Sydney. They are profoundly aggressive and vicious fucking spiders...and they can kill you...and want to, for no reason. they are just horrid creatures...sticky legs that cling to skin, and fucking sharp fangs and tons of venom.... Who would make that? So, I had to rationalise that God indeed, whether Jesus or Allah, isn't perfect. When I think about it, that makes sense. I could not love a perfect god...but a god who made...ooops...errors when trying to do the right thing, yes, I could love a god like that indeed. Just like my human family.
Mental Health Nursing:a good thing the other night working night shift at a famous mental health clinic, me, as Agency nurse, being in charge of a ward, as happens quite a bit these days as the privateer owners and middle management dudes and dudettes, try to screw their staff to death for a buck in bonuses....me with my brown scapular around my neck, consulting with the girl who was in charge of the next ward, also Agency, in her hijab. No problems. A quiet night was had by all. We are the night, and the night is calm...spiritual... and incredibly good looking.
Friday 29 September 2017
Local Melbourne wage for untrained staff in shops, expensive restaurants, and manufacturing industries...with all our amazing First World Advanced Democracy Status: $8AU per hour, no superannuation, no holidays, no sick leave, no entitlements...and sack you on the spot. This is Australia, 2017. For Fuck's sake. After all those years fighting by us baby Boomers. we are tired now. Where the fuck are the Millenials? What the fuck are they doing? Deconstructing coffee?
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS CONTINUE: As Mr Dylan noted decades ago..."you don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows". For now, the sun, climbing out of winter, late afternoon, tippling splayed gold over the tiled roof of the neighbour's tall house. The chirp of birds, resonating on old red brick through misted trees, much like bright leaks of troponin ...The sky, a late 1970s metal blue, with some parts of the clouds lit up to be white.
Thursday 21 September 2017
Australia's National Broadband Network: I think this is a big issue for the technology companies. they design and implement something that doesn't actually work well or often, and they know that, and charge a premium price anyway, and then it is up to the complainants to tell them what isnt working. They save millions in research and development this way. Millions handed out in quick pays to their CEOS. thats what they do. The NBN internet thing inAustralia is a glorious indicator...it often doesn't work but rather than spend the money or making it work, the national company gets everyone to join up and then tell them... what doesn't work...and they will, sometimes, eventually, get around to sending out a human being who they hate to employ because of the cost to their profits. So, we haven't joined up to the NBN as yet. The recent NBN ads say that the other methods for internet and phone are going to be turned off soon, so you better fucking join up. Miserable cunts who wont invest in their own technology because they know it is faulty and try to persuade people that we have no choice. Now, that is a Corporate Morality/ Ideology. very 21st Century Corporate Community ethics.
I see that America continues its telling of North Korea of what it can and cannot have, telling Iran what it can and cannot have, telling Russia what it can and cannot have...but very quiet about what China can and cannot have. I believe the irrepressible teenage culture of Real America may slowly be growing up. Give them a hundred years and they may make a good decision about something...if they have a hundred years. If they have invested in their own people and in their own country. Otherwise...well...a few fireworks...and the world gets on much better and much more peacefully without them.
My natural inclination to be at home when not at work was shaken yesterday by a trip to the local market at Box Hill. Exposure to the society in which I live. They say it is good for you. I bought some soft shoe inserts for work. $2. I really didn't like it, exposing myself to my society...and never have liked it... although, as always, the women looked nice.
I like all statues. In comparison with the people who wish to tear them down...the statues are so very quiet now. I like soviet statues, roman statues, catholic statues, emancipation statues, hero statues, especially flawed heroes. If the sculptors had made all statues, indeed, with feet of clay, we would have no statues at all...and I like statues, even of angels. I like their silence.
I recall counselling a nursing colleague who was, indeed a Nazi, and yet still I was fond of her. She was in a lot of trouble because she was really horrible to people...and they had made claims. Instead of retiring, she chose to stand up and make a mess of herself, legally...and I said 'Dear friend, the worse thing you can have as a nurse, or a doctor, is a clear memory. This will get you in so much trouble...simply because it is not true. You may think you recall everything perfectly, but, you don't. You don't have a good memory of the events...and events. The sole purpose of having a memory is to survive, this is why humans created ways to remember... a memory doesn't exist as anything perfect...a memory is not designed to be forensic, or even vaguely true.' But she didn't get it. She had to have her day with her flawed memory and get into even more trouble. I am not an enemy of even really bad nurses...but nor am I in solidarity with them and their very worst notions. If nursing has paid your bills for a number of decades, and you have done what you can to helpfully influence some good outcomes for some people, be at peace with that, and be at peace with the cost to you of that. This is no time to jump on the high horse...it is not a high horse...it is an ass.
On Nursing Violence: Not the violence metered out to Nurses by the public, or sometimes by the spouses of nurses, but rather the violence forms within the profession. I did a semester on this years ago at Uni, and it was a fascinating study. The violence is usually metered out to young nurses or to fringe dwellers of the trade by way of race or belief or orientation etc and is not usually physical but rather tonal, or task related so that the nurse knows exactly where they belong and don't belong in the organisation. This is done by repetition. This is called 'horizontal violence' and has been, for many decades, a method of control by some managers. As an Agency person I am a fringe dweller. Incident: Overhearing 2 nurse managers at one particularly odious establishment talking about replacing staff on leave... 'well, what we do is just order some Agency nurses for those shifts and as we get closer to the date, we usually find one or two of our own who will do the shifts, so we cancel the Agency staff. Stuff them. It keeps them lean and hungry for shifts. We definitely, absolutely, will need an Agency nurse for Thursday night, but we'll order that later.' Then I got 2 shifts a few days later at that place, and re-arranged my life to meet their needs only to have the shifts cancelled a few hours before each was to begin. Then, come Thursday, a desperate emotional appeal for an Agency nurse to fill a vacancy Thursday night... my response... 'Stuff 'em.' Interesting to see that their are still some of the traditional fuckwit knuckle-draggers who haven't left the Temple yet, and it surprising how young some of them are.
Sunday 10 September 2017
Wednesday 6 September 2017
North Korea progresses along the lines as expected...hey, we do have nuclear weapons...the US proceeds along the lines...but you shouldn't...the only people who can decide on what is best for Koreans is Korea, north and south, working it out with each other...the solution is there and it is the only solution.
Advice to the student nurse with me as her mentor the other day...her first day in a mental health clinic....imagine that! Poor kid. John: "The trouble with identifying patients by their photos is that, well, with women, mostly, after 60, it all crinkles down into wrinkles, naturally, and they all look kind of like sister prunes...and with men, they all mostly look bald and round, and they look, generically, just like little babies again...except a hundred kilos larger...hard to pick 'em out by a photo from each other...but still, neither are likely to run off anyway...or run off very fast. By 60 most folk have evolved beyond their shallow individual ego appearances and they have no where else to be, or go, anyway, or they wouldn't be here."
Tuesday 22 August 2017
WOLF WARRIORS 2/ MOVIE REVIEW
FILM CHINA: On the Adventure/Action side of the movies, WOLF WARRIORS 2 is pretty damn good. Massive pyrotechnics and special effects as the Chinese Military Special Ops Hero fights to save Chinese innocents working in Africa from death and torture, after the US has gone home...Brilliant cinematography, not a lot of plot...but then, that's what action films are all about, and Wolf warrior 2 is one of the best of all time, anywhere.The equal of any high potency Arnold Shwarzenegger film, except much better actors, & much higher quality directing, and much better english subtitled dialogue, and a lot more expensive to make. The quality, the direction, the filmatic delivery is intoxicating...so this is very much a modern day saga.
At the end of the film is the visual notation...if you are Chinese, if you keep your Chinese passport, and never give it up, you will be okay in this world. You will be safe and protected. The audience here in Melbourne applauded wildly. So did I. It was a very good action film. 7/10. (I still rate Predator 10/10 in that milieu...but Wolf Warrior 2 does actually surprise you... which is different, and doesn't happen in Western films). These young bright bastards know exactly what they are doing. Compared to most films you go to the Cinema to see, anywhere on earth, this one is well worth watching...and even worth paying to see.
At the end of the film is the visual notation...if you are Chinese, if you keep your Chinese passport, and never give it up, you will be okay in this world. You will be safe and protected. The audience here in Melbourne applauded wildly. So did I. It was a very good action film. 7/10. (I still rate Predator 10/10 in that milieu...but Wolf Warrior 2 does actually surprise you... which is different, and doesn't happen in Western films). These young bright bastards know exactly what they are doing. Compared to most films you go to the Cinema to see, anywhere on earth, this one is well worth watching...and even worth paying to see.
FILMS/ CHINESE/RECENT: COMING HOME /GONG LI/ so much grace and wonder....and MR SIX... Brilliant...These are great world films
2 great recent Chinese movies well worth seeing, and well worth the subtitles....
1. COMING HOME....in mandarin....a beautiful film about a man coming back from political prison after 20 years, during the Cultural Revolution, and finding his wife with brain injury/ dementia related to his incarceration, and due to his daughter informing on him...a brilliant and charming study of love and reason in the face of adversity...and in the massive power of understanding in one small family. Fantastic film by the director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and starring the remarkably talented Gong Li. A film of of pure grace and mastery of the
cinematic art form.
It also provides an insight into the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution in one family/
10/
(Wanyi notes...well, yes, that's what it was like to grow up and through the Cultural Revolution. It was just like that).
2. MR SIX..in mandarin... A great film about the individual and the collective in modern China...the changes in the morals/ethics between generations of Beijing men. VERY much set in the present day of New China. Brilliant.. A FILM MEN WILL REALLY APPRECIATE. POWERFUL ACTING AND DIRECTION. Universally, the enduring meaning and great depth of the relationship between father and son.
It compares the relative and powerful interpersonal loyalties between Beijing men of different generations. 9/ (Wanyi notes...yes, this is exactly how traditional Beijing men are, and what drives them, and what makes sense to them, and what gives meaning to them)
Both are remarkably elegant and gentle films, highly fascinating and made with directorial brilliance, perfect timely reconstructions, and acting gems....whilst at the same time being very profound. I love Gong Li...she is in the 4th photo, with the head injury. She's an amazing artist/actor, and the part was made, by the director, only for her.
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| COMING HOME |
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| MR SIX |
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| MR SIX |
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| COMING HOME |
Friday 11 August 2017
"Thucydides Trap" is the term used when an empire is falling (in our case, the USA) and a new empire is rising (in our case, China) and it notes that what happens in this natural rise of some and fall of others, is that there must be some great war...but this is not necessarily true at all in our time. China is, obviously, going to be the only Super-power or World Empire, for at least the next 300 years on earth, but the rise of China is very different to the rise of other empires. No one has ever seen an 'empire' like modern china....ever...and this is because China is quite different to other nations, traditionally, historically, and naturally. What is the difference? It is simply that China trades, China does not make war. With China at the helm of the world economy...and it is..., the most benefits will, of course, flow to China, as is natural, but because of China's inherent non-interventionist dogma, the dogma and tradition of having walls and having gates, the rest of us will not ever be invaded or conscripted into that empire...but rather just have to trade with it as fellow human folk. We will certainly have to see to our own defences, rather than rely on alliances etc...but the best defence is always to trade with someone and be a friend rather than to bomb them or trick them into being our slave. The rise of China, for the first time on earth, can, and I think will, create a world without much in the way of major conflicts at all...because trade is best when there are few conflicts, because people prefer to send their sons and daughters to the shops to buy some milk and a kit kat bar, rather than to send them to war.
Un & Trump & Diagnostics/The fascinating thing about the naughty young late 30s President Of North Korea, Mr Un, noting that the President of the USA, Mr Trump, has Dementia is that, well... he may well be quite correct. The signs are there, when you think about it. Dementia actually does answer a lot of the questions about Mr Trump's actions and reactions, and his need to have family close, as his protectors, and as his only confidants. Interesting. It certainly wouldn't be the first time in the last 40 years that a US President has had dementia whilst in office. Mr Un is quite bright....naughty, yes, awful fellow, yes, and also sane, yes; and quite the brighter one of the two. Interesting diagnosis, Mr Un. Nicely done.
Thursday 10 August 2017
I can imagine how proud Mr Kim Jong Un's father and grandfather are of him, kicking back there on the Holy Mountain of Korea...he has achieved what they sought all their lifetimes. Real Time Recognition as a Real Power on Earth, at the most important time on earth, in the most important place on Earth. As a parent, and grand parent, I'd be damn proud too. Not going the American way, not going the Chinese way, not going the Russian way, and certainly not going the piss-weak yet murderous hate filled Japanese way...but going your own way, as a Korean...and winning every day. Well done, enjoy the sushi.
On Trump & Un
What can you say about the self-importance publicity war between Mr Donald Trump and Mr Kim Jong Un? Well done, Mr Un, you are much more popular in your country than he is in his.
Actually, Mr Un, still in his 30s, has done incredibly well in building up his regime and country into being totally un-invadable, simply by pursuing nuclear weapons, and being able to actually build them. This is quite an achievement...not only being born into a regime as the most unlikely son, most unpopular young one, from that low position, into his very safe total presidency, simply by being bright and for the last few years doing the opposite of what the Americans demand. He is The Man of our time. This is what a private Swiss education can do.
You don't get to survive the harshest most murderous system on earth and come out on top without being very bright and resourceful...whereas anyone with a bit of money on earth, obviously, can be President of the USA.
Mr Un...he has the runs on the board...he will outlive them all. Mind you, he is a bastard, but then, that is The Way of this world. He has learnt well The Way and knows exactly what he is doing.
Actually, Mr Un, still in his 30s, has done incredibly well in building up his regime and country into being totally un-invadable, simply by pursuing nuclear weapons, and being able to actually build them. This is quite an achievement...not only being born into a regime as the most unlikely son, most unpopular young one, from that low position, into his very safe total presidency, simply by being bright and for the last few years doing the opposite of what the Americans demand. He is The Man of our time. This is what a private Swiss education can do.
You don't get to survive the harshest most murderous system on earth and come out on top without being very bright and resourceful...whereas anyone with a bit of money on earth, obviously, can be President of the USA.
Mr Un...he has the runs on the board...he will outlive them all. Mind you, he is a bastard, but then, that is The Way of this world. He has learnt well The Way and knows exactly what he is doing.
The USA, the DPRK, Nuclear Politics and Animal Husbandry
I think the US's powerful omnipotent determination that North Korea shouldn't ever be allowed to develop nuclear weapons is a bit old, especially now that North Korea does actually have them...and 60 of them. A bit like shutting the gate after the Kiwi sheep in wedding dresses have bolted.
Tuesday 8 August 2017
On north korea
I still think that it would be a good idea for the US to stop buzzing North Korea with nuclear bombers and stop having massive invasion drills on the border every few months.
Monday 7 August 2017
Noticing as a person, not directly connected to an institution, on a shift by shift basis, per se, how many private hospitals bully their young nurses into working more, and harder, for less...as if this is normal..in 2017... This has not been normal for a long long time in our human history in this country. This is actually wrong. I really don't like or respect the corporate mentality of this current time. Nurses rights and pay, these are old wars well settled...and well won by good hard nurses over time...you don't pick on the soft young just because you are the kind of cunt that finds a little profit in it for yourself. I don't like this about corporate management in our private health system at all. You don't get good health care that way. Good public and private health care costs a lot and the folk who have every right to that pay are nurses...not managers brown nursing their future by bullying, horizontal violence in all its forms, and sheer utter bastardy. Human Retardation is not an acceptable goal of private mental health care, as it is now in 2017. It is just wrong. We all know what nursing costs, year by year, it is always the same. the notion that private health companies can deliver better care by screwing nurses to the wall and bullying the youngest and most altruistic of them...this is the awful work of real cunts in that system. We live in a kind of advanced democracy...if you seek to fuck up nurses, as the private system does, you will be fucked up. The costs for good care by nurses are known. Care is not cheap and it wont get any cheaper. Stop fucking around with that. Do you job. Think harder than just butchering the young. We all need to eat...so Eat the rich, don't eat your own young.
Friday 28 July 2017
Tuesday 25 July 2017
If euthanasia is wrong for you, then don't do it...don't enable someone to kill you. That is pretty simple. No one particularly wants to kill you. It's up to you. if turning up at 3am to an emergency department with a terminal illness with three hours of life left, demanding you live forever, then don't do it. It's up to you. if palliative care doesn't suit you in terms of not functionally controlling the end of your life, then don't do palliative care. These are not hard notions at all. We are mortal guys and gals and death will happen. There is no need to be too worried about any of that. Death knows us and our bodies far more intimately than we will ever know death. And, after all, life isn't everything.
The Euthanasia debate is slowly coming up in Victoria with legislation on the horizon and so I have thrown in my two cents worth, thus: As a veteran palliative care nurse for well over 25 years, having worked in 2 states as a Pal Care Registered Nurse, a Clinical Nurse, a Clinical Nurse Consultant and senior health project officer, the main writer of palliative care strategic plans, having won a state premier's award for excellence in service establishment and provision, and a Govt advisor who established a very good free standing palliative care inpatient and outreach service-which wasn't easy, I remain, as always, in favour of Euthanasia as do 50% of my colleagues. I expect, as usual, palliative care services will use the 'threat' of euthanasia to demand more funding as, historically, palliative care has only been funded basically so that governments didn't have to consider euthanasia...but the truth is that one is usually dealing with very different people, people who choose palliation, and people who would choose euthanasia if given the chance.
Monday 24 July 2017
BREXIT: England breaks away from Europe because England has its own ideas...it is a divorce, and is a real human divorce, with all the lawyers etc...but the divorce is real and for good reasons. I wish Englanders well, as most Irish-made folk do...they are the neighbours, we deal with them, we marry them...but they are not us...good luck to England and good luck to the end of the United Kingdom. The nature of Kingdoms is to, equally, both rise and fall. The UK is in free fall to failure as a state...and there's nothing unnatural, or to do, about that. In the antipodes here, Australia, having never ever been independent of anyone...must find its own way and the only reason it must find its own way is the truth coming in that being connected at the hip to the UK or the USA is a very bad idea for Australians who have hope in the future. We must move from the notion of parasite to human independence. That's hard, for sure, but a hell of a lot of countries have done that and have reaped that reward and self respect over the centuries. Australia, very late in the day, has to do that...because it has to do that...because the world has changed...and because the time is right. To exist is one thing...but to exist for the pleasure for others is different...If we do not determine for ourselves who to be, then the time will determine who we are and the sad limits of what we can be...for other peoples' jokes, for other peoples nuclear waste dumps, for other peoples wealth, and for other peoples' pleasures.
Friday 14 July 2017
A quarter of the whole round world is China. China is held together not by the Communist Party of China, nor by massive money, but rather by Chinese Women. Now you know who you are really dealing with...just accept it for the next 300 years. Save yourself a lot of grief. Gain yourself some happiness. They keep families together. They know men to their core, and some even still like men. They have been doing that for 5 thousand years without a pause. No one else, no society on earth, does that. They do know exactly what they are doing and they do know exactly how to do it.
The attainment of abiding human economic wealth and power is based upon 3 factors that never change: 1: You inherit it. 2: You steal it. 3: You marry it. there are other very infrequent happenings, for sure, but they are far too insignificant to even be worthy of the statistical analysis of the 7.5 billion of us. in terms of the stats, a person creating enormous wealth for themselves is an anomaly and hardly ever happens. This is one reason why, to me, the 'notion' of 'choices' comes up so often in our present day-dream, and, always, supporting the status quo, and, this is why, to me, it is so interesting as a concept. Do we really have these choices? Really? Is a Gambian at 3 or 33 making choices or are they simply doing what they have to do? Is an Australian from Aurukun or Parramatta really ever making choices? Did people flock to the Grenfell Towers rather than Edinburgh Castle by choice? Do soldiers fight for their country by choice? Really? Or through having no other path? I'd be interested in hearing views on this as 'choices' seems to be one of the more prevalent of our current myths about life on earth. In time it will be replaced by more fitting and believable myths, for sure, but just now it is an interesting one.
The attainment of human economic wealth is based upon 3 factors that never change: 1: You inherit it. 2: You steal it. 3: You marry it. there are other very infrequent happenings, for sure, but they are far too insignificant to even be worthy of analysis. This is one reason why, to me, the 'notion' of 'choices' come up so often in our present day-dream. Do we really have these choices? Really? Is a Gambian at 3 or 33 making choices or are they simply doing what they have to do? Is an Australian from Aurukun or Parramatta really ever making choices? I'd be interested in hearing views on this as 'choices' seems to be one of the more prevalent of our current fallacies about life.
Wednesday 12 July 2017
My three favourite philosophical phrases I'm trying to perfect in my reasonably brief lifetime: 1: It doesn't matter. 2: It does matter. 3: That's it! I think that if you can get a good handle on those 3, well, that's it!
My three favourite philosophical phrases I'm trying to perfect in my reasonably brief lifetime:
1: It doesn't matter.
2: It does matter.
3: That's it!
I think that if you can get a good handle on those 3, well, that's it!
1: It doesn't matter.
2: It does matter.
3: That's it!
I think that if you can get a good handle on those 3, well, that's it!
Friday 7 July 2017
Australia Poem
AUSTRALIA 2017
Girt by Sea
this island made
in fact for me
and not for those who were
nor for those who'll be...
this nation,
girt entirely
by me
in my surplus
obese
entirety.
The worried well are worried and well now none of us are going to hell and so they teach their kids their truth and seek for sooth, for sooth, for sooth. The worry-less world it rolls along an occasional punch, an occasional song and thus defines this best address ah, welcome home, forgive the mess.
OPTION ONE: I think basically that the separated whole of Korea does need to be whole again, as countries do seem to need to be whole again, and it can only be whole when other countries leave it alone to work out its issues. OPTION TWO: The next best alternative is for the North to be subsumed into China as a province. At least this would deal with the poverty issues of the North...and set that new Province on the China industrial road to a much better life. These people are, in fact, Manchurian anyway. The whole North of China, Korea, and even parts of Russia, are Manchurian. Maybe it is about time the Manchurians took control of their own nuclear weapons, wealth, and massive resources...and looked at Japan, seriously, and with due prejudice to right old wrongs in the North of Asia.
"If North Korea was attacked by the US, then China and Russia would both be in Pyongyang well before the American troops could be there...and then there would be a massive almighty world war fist fuck for control of the most strategically and economically important place on earth......and no one wants that...so Kim Jong Un is a far better alternative. Any solution must not involve Japan, a country most hated by both North and South Koreans en masse, and for good reason".
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Sunday 25 June 2017
RESTAURANT REVIEW/AUSTRALIA/MELBOURNE/KEW/THE GRILL ON THE HILL
Restaurant Review: Kew, Melbourne, The Grill on the Hill
The Difficulty with Reviewing The Grill on the Hill at Kew is that it is both very good and also very horrible.
The food is brilliant and yet the cost is ridiculous.
The 20 or so page extensive wine list made for interesting reading of just how many bottles of wine there are between hundred dollars a bottle and eight hundred dollars a bottle, and that was fun...passing it back to the waiter saying "we don't usually drink at all, so just a glass of your house red."
The response: "Two glasses sir?"
"No, just the one."
"Oh, well, I will see what i can find..."
[Image of him going out to the alley and beating up some old bloke and stealing his flagon of plonk...]
...but the house red was okay.
Altogether, the cost/benefit equation just didn't work at the Grill on the Hill. There was an all pervasive sense of the narcissistic anally retentive menace that people oddly call professionalism these days, but, in fact, it wasn't professional, just rather overall menacing with an obvious and hard $ profit/person equation being the only standard the place has.
Two simple entrees, 2 simple meals, and very good food it was, to be sure...some free bread, one glass of house red, two glasses of tap water, and the cost was AU$175. Great food, indeed, and yet, at an dreadful overall cost.
The waitress was kind enough to point out to me that I could add a tip to my credit card bill. I thanked her for so clearly pointing this out to me but said that it wouldn't be necessary.
On the way out the bullish manager was there at the door intent on shaking my hand, but I refused fearing I might lose my watch.
Would I go again? Absolutely not.
On the Fitzpatrick World Food=Value Fine Dining Equation Graph, where A McDonalds Cheese Burger scores zero out of a possible 5 stars, as the base standard....The Grill on The Hill, whilst having great food indeed, scores a minus 4.
I was particularly fascinated by the rampant generosity in the amount of the complimentary bread in the 4th picture.
SCORE: THE GRILL ON THE HILL: MINUS 4
🍽️🍽️🍽️
The food is brilliant and yet the cost is ridiculous.
The 20 or so page extensive wine list made for interesting reading of just how many bottles of wine there are between hundred dollars a bottle and eight hundred dollars a bottle, and that was fun...passing it back to the waiter saying "we don't usually drink at all, so just a glass of your house red."
The response: "Two glasses sir?"
"No, just the one."
"Oh, well, I will see what i can find..."
[Image of him going out to the alley and beating up some old bloke and stealing his flagon of plonk...]
...but the house red was okay.
Altogether, the cost/benefit equation just didn't work at the Grill on the Hill. There was an all pervasive sense of the narcissistic anally retentive menace that people oddly call professionalism these days, but, in fact, it wasn't professional, just rather overall menacing with an obvious and hard $ profit/person equation being the only standard the place has.
Two simple entrees, 2 simple meals, and very good food it was, to be sure...some free bread, one glass of house red, two glasses of tap water, and the cost was AU$175. Great food, indeed, and yet, at an dreadful overall cost.
The waitress was kind enough to point out to me that I could add a tip to my credit card bill. I thanked her for so clearly pointing this out to me but said that it wouldn't be necessary.
On the way out the bullish manager was there at the door intent on shaking my hand, but I refused fearing I might lose my watch.
Would I go again? Absolutely not.
On the Fitzpatrick World Food=Value Fine Dining Equation Graph, where A McDonalds Cheese Burger scores zero out of a possible 5 stars, as the base standard....The Grill on The Hill, whilst having great food indeed, scores a minus 4.
I was particularly fascinated by the rampant generosity in the amount of the complimentary bread in the 4th picture.
SCORE: THE GRILL ON THE HILL: MINUS 4
🍽️🍽️🍽️
Saturday 24 June 2017
Looking around for small houses to buy in Melbourne...a nice little 3 bedroom 1 bathroom narrow house in Collingwood for only a million dollars and in a street obviously filled with...street artists...in walking distance of Churches, cafes, crack houses and a very respectable heroin dealer. Maybe best for a young family with little ones I think...but I like the olde world charm of it.
Thursday 15 June 2017
Australian News Round Up
For ten years I was a poetry literary editor with a very avant garde small publisher in Neutral Bay in Sydney...very left winger commie set up...I loved it...working hard and then talking socialism whilst drinking Grange Hermitage on the balcony over looking Sydney Harbour...sigh. That was a decade in time indeed. I recall one night being in a punch up with Gerry Bostock, the remarkable indigenous film maker from 'outback' Redfern, just after his brilliant film 'BBQ Area' a savage indictment of Australian white culture, was in the cinemas/ I helped him a lot...and then...He called me a White Cunt and so I hit him and we wrestled around the floor there for some time before we both realised we really had no need or desire to hurt each other at all, and so, as really good men, him, being a classic black cunt, and me being a classic white cunt, we were simply too tired from the effort of hitting each other to even vaguely dislike each other anymore. I think I taught him a lot about real men in all cultures. I sincerely hope the cunt learnt his lesson. I still think BBQ Area is the best film ever made in Australia by anyone. It is just brilliant. ..and even though Gerry was a real cunt, he made a great film indeed. He made that film many many years ago and to indicate how important it was, and is, it is still hidden away from white cunts. Great film. you won't find BBQ Area on Netflix, that's for sure...why? It was just too fucking good.
We BBQ'd the TBones for about 5 minutes one side, and 3 the other, whilst roasting the peppers/capsicum, and some purple onions on the grate.
Had them with some sour dough bread stick oven cooked a bit too long, burnt, and butter, and some salad, and some good wine.
And me and Mrs Fitz talked over dinner for about an hour and a half about our journey to here, and about the future.
It is hard to beat that kind of day.
AND We still have some chocolate coated ice cream hearts in the freezer for later.
All up, nothin' much to complain about.
If the day has something to do with the love you share, then there's nothing much else to be wanting in the now.
Had them with some sour dough bread stick oven cooked a bit too long, burnt, and butter, and some salad, and some good wine.
And me and Mrs Fitz talked over dinner for about an hour and a half about our journey to here, and about the future.
It is hard to beat that kind of day.
AND We still have some chocolate coated ice cream hearts in the freezer for later.
All up, nothin' much to complain about.
If the day has something to do with the love you share, then there's nothing much else to be wanting in the now.
Sunday 11 June 2017
on islamists and christianists etc
There's nothing wrong with having one's own ideas and building up a world view based upon them and upon both curiosity and experience.
There's nothing wrong with rejecting the swill we are fed in Australia, whether we be citizens or immigrants or hard battled refugees...it is the same swill.
There's nothing wrong with believing in our own notions, with thinking our own remarkable thoughts, with sharing them, and with speaking our own ideas (if you can think it, you can speak it), and acting upon these ideas, as we see fit.
The structural and cultural limitations on thought are pretty fucking obvious in Australia, and have been backward, white, xenophobic, bizarre and sick, and self-defeating for 200 years, but that doesn't mean shit in the long term if you are prepared to think for yourself, as you are, right now. Keep That Faith. There ain't no church for that, except yourself.
There's nothing wrong with rejecting the swill we are fed in Australia, whether we be citizens or immigrants or hard battled refugees...it is the same swill.
There's nothing wrong with believing in our own notions, with thinking our own remarkable thoughts, with sharing them, and with speaking our own ideas (if you can think it, you can speak it), and acting upon these ideas, as we see fit.
The structural and cultural limitations on thought are pretty fucking obvious in Australia, and have been backward, white, xenophobic, bizarre and sick, and self-defeating for 200 years, but that doesn't mean shit in the long term if you are prepared to think for yourself, as you are, right now. Keep That Faith. There ain't no church for that, except yourself.
On The Subject of Islamist (I doubt that 'Islamist' is actually a real word yet, because it doesn't actually define anything, but we do tend to drive it into currency, even though it can't actually mean anything...it is the same as saying a Christianist, or a Buddhistist, or a Jewistist) De-Radicalisation, as a psychological fantasy-phenomenon...I tink I missed my callin', you know. I think I woulda made a damn fine Irish Jesuit rogue priest, all in black, with samurai sword on the back, and AK47 under the underarm in South America...and with five children...sigh, ah well, only the one life, so it goes, so I should find some peace in that, to be sure, to be sure...but I am not without regret. 'Be Mindful. Change your Mind, Change the World' that's what they say, these days, but you know in your heart that whether they be psychologists or jihadists, they are teaching the same shit, and they're just as fucking crazy as each other, after all.
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