[Miscellany]

The so-called leaders of this fair country Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd have been playing a kind of perverted pass the parcel with the top job over the past few years.  Quite frankly I think I can safely say that we're all rather sick of it fuck you very much.  I hope this is the last we hear of it.  Particularly as this guy:


is about to take over the top job.  Surely we have bigger things to worry about eh Australia?

Having said that, I've spent the last couple of years both mystified and pissed (pisstified is what I wanted to write to be honest) at how the media and even just the Australian public has treated our first lady PM.  I hated it how the Australian media (and other politicians in fact) would refer to her as Julia rather than Prime Minister or Ms Gillard.  What's up with that?   It was despicable how it was deemed okay to comment on her clothes, her body, her face or her posture, particularly when it was clear that she was there to get policies happening.  It was down right disrespectful how her boyfriend's sexuality was questioned TO HER FACE.  I felt sick to my stomach every time the not only unnecessary but downright sexist taunts happened.  I'm not even a fan of hers!

Why?
Seriously, why DID this happen?

My feminist roots scream at me from deep down "it's because she's a woman" and I can't not listen to them.

Another part of me thinks that this all harks back to the Delilah Effect, namely women, bringing down great men and the fear this strikes in "mankind".  Let's not forget that it was Eve that tempted Adam into giving up paradise and brought sin upon "man".  And what about that little scamp Delilah, who seduced Samson, told his secrets and brought him down?  Ummmahhh.   Likewise, the public never quite forgave Julia Gillard for taking over the PM role and turfing old Kev (you see what I did there?) out.

She's Eve.  She's Delilah.  She's the knife in the back of powerful men.

I have a problem with the general public hating her for this.

When Kevin Rudd was in the job (the first time around) he was a mess.  The party (the men behind the scenes if you like) overthrew him, not just Ms Gillard.  Now he's back and are we happy?  No.  Of course we're not.  Most of us remember how shit he was at the time and know that something needed to happen.  Julia happened, and unfortunately she made a bunch of mistakes in her time as PM that made it hard for us to warm to her.  Regardless, it was never going to go well. The damage was done before she was even sworn in.

You know, I'd much rather condemn her for not supporting gay marriage than the fact that she had balls enough to take over the top job from an egocentric, rageaholic and make it her own.

Labels: news, political musings, thoughts, yes I am taking politics

posted by M at 2:33 am 7 comments

The other day I serendipitously found a discarded DVD from unknown origins on the street, which I immediately popped into my player and discovered it was that new gangland inspired Aussie mini-series (my story and I'm sticking to it). You see, due to the fact that all this mafia malarky happened not that far from where I'm sitting right now and is still being trialled in this fair city us Melbournians are yet to see the show on our television screens this is despite the fact that the rest of you sods have seen it. Seems a little unfair but hey, whaddya gonna do? (find a copy on a street, probably).

Anyway the discarded DVD from unknown origins held about three episodes of the show and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with it. As a fan of The Sopranos I expected our version to be well not quite right. It's different, and it should be - but it's real and gritty, which is exactly how things are. It's well made, well acted and fucking scary. Not scary in the horror movie sense but scary in that it's all true - or near enough anyway - to be a worry. Killing people because of "business" or just because you didn't like their face is a truth that happens in this world. I can't imagine a world more far removed from my own but it exists right outside my door anyway. I guess I never really had to think about it because it never actually involved the likes of me but thinking about it further I realise that maybe we are all affected, even if we don't realise it.

The mini-series takes a bit of a 'play by play' account of what went on in the hey day of the gangland murders in Melbourne. It starts with the origins and then moves into how things got out of hand and with whom. What interests me aside from the details is the innocent bystanders that get suckered into the vortex of organised crime without actually meaning to. I mean, the people who happen to be standing nearby on a bad day, but more so the people that fall in love with the criminals themselves and then somehow are implicated into all the violence and lawlessness.

Many of the storylines about these mafia men also focus on the women around them. So far there's been the friend of the girl who is sleeping with the gangster who witnesses a cold blooded murder. She decides to testify but immediately it becomes apparent that actually she's not going to testify at all, she's going to go on a long trip to London with her friend and hopefully never be seen again.

Then there's the Stripper - the ex wife of a bikie who washes her hands clean of the bloke but he says he's with her at the time he commits a murder she decides to testify that actually no he wasn't with her at all and so she's gunned down in bed, after the trial has been said and done. A revenge killing.

I'm sure there are many more similar stories of people who have gotten involved on the outskirts of crime but who are affected - simply because they fell in love with the people committing the crimes. Maybe they knew they were criminals before they got involved with them - maybe it became apparent later - but in any case these people are involved without directly being involved (if you know what I mean). I wonder if there are stories of men who marry women who are either in the crime world or who are daughters of crime figures - who then do something wrong (by the girl) but are then killed ...you know just because they can be.

I wonder about these people who fall in love with criminals or people associated with criminals. I think that if I came across a bloke who had dubious connections I would run a country mile - at least I hope I would. But who knows how the heart will react?

I guess you could say that if you get involved with crime then you suffer the implications but I wonder if the heart really has a stronger say in the matter.

What if you fell in love, I mean real love, with a man/woman who was involved in crime somehow? Would you ignore your heart and walk away or would you take your chances and stay with them? Can your heart ever really be ignored? And if your heart CAN be ignored, then is anyone who ever gets involved with a no hoper of some kind ever really a victim?

Also, what I'm dying to ask but not sure if I should is; would you ever testify against your ex/current if they did something unlawful? What if they threatened your kid or you if you testified? Would you testify anyway? Is this too explosive a question to ask?

Labels: Crazy Nutters, law, loony loony loony, love, news, pop culture, relationships, TV

posted by M at 8:13 pm 11 comments

It's nearly the end of the school year and everything seems to be piling up on me. I'm desperately trying to finish off my program, while keeping the kids happy, clean up the art room, put up new displays, assess the art work, write reports (hahahaha) and think about the orientation program I have to teach for the next 5 weeks. Meanwhile everyone seems to be having a birthday lately, or is holding a dinner I'm required to attend, or I'm dealing with urgent family business dramas while also house hunting. My plate is a little full, and since everything is piling up I feel like I'm rushing everything I do.

This is all important as today in between finishing late at work and going out for dinner with the girls I found myself in front of the mirror with only 5 minutes to tidy up my eyebrows. I was in so much of a rush (yes, okay I was already late) that I accidentally ripped off half the bloody hair on my right eyebrow! I just stared at my hideous reflection in the mirror with my mouth gaping open and no sound coming out. I look like fucking Vanilla Ice. I HAVE THE EYEBROWS OF VANILLA ICE! I always wondered what kind of people draw in their eyebrows. You know what kind of people they are? Unco Vanilla Ice kind of people who can't control a wax wand, that's who!

Fark.

Labels: dumb entry, news, the price of beauty, women

posted by M at 11:42 pm 20 comments

This week there has been a birth, a mourning, a silly dress up day and I went to view a house in a suburb that has the same name as a popular grammy award winning song by daggy 70s band. I've had the offending song in my head all week long. If I do end up moving to this suburb I have to wonder if I will have the song permanently embedded there. I wouldn't put it past my brain to do something like that. Perhaps I should look for places in suburbs that have no associations with 70s bands.

* I've upped my house hunting from 0 to hero in the last couple of weeks. Searching dropped off last year when I realised that I have no buying power. Now I'm back - still with little buying power (and higher interest rates) - but I've stopped looking at Victorian single fronted cottages with open fireplaces. That was a hard dream to let go of. A girl like me deserves an open fire place dammit but I figure that since I squeal at all things creepy crawly then I really shouldn't have a gaping hole in my (imaginary) house. I also figure that if I want a fireplace I can always light one in a garbage can out the front of my future house. I'm feeling that would be okay in the kind of neighbourhood I'm looking at.

* Across to a nicer side of town my friend, S sits in her hospital room having just given birth to a baby that has been rushed to another hospital, pending an operation that may or may not work. She asks for my prayers - not being religious herself. Not being religious myself I don't know how to offer that either. I send out into the universe the only thing I can and that is hope. Hope that things go well, hope that she has the strength to get through whatever comes and an ear... should she need it.

* School has brought with it a silly dress up day coupled with a theme. I must say, school communities these days are much more involved then they were in the 80s when I went to school. Almost all teachers made a supreme effort as did students. I put on a black wig to commemorate a character and was told by half the staff that I should go black and the other half that they're glad I'm closer to honey. All the kids did a double take - hilarious.

* One Aspergers child at our school has a new obsession - music. He's 7 and right into bands like Talking Heads, The Ramones, Bow Wow Wow, Coldplay, Mozart etc. I knew he had okay tastes when he proclaimed loudly in class the other day that Rhianna's "Umbrella" sounded like a dog dying on the street. I laughed and laughed. Being Aspergers his mind has already worked to categorise hundreds if not thousands of songs he's come across into neat little boxes inside his head. He can name songs in correct order on all the albums he has come across. Being an especially bright kid (on top of the Aspergers) he has already figured out how to apply for a credit card on the internet and start downloading many songs legally. I don't know how a 7 year old got his own credit card (yes, he put in his correct DOB) but let me tell you his parents weren't impressed. We have a few Aspergers children at the school and they are all so different from each other, all with varying degrees of the condition. I wonder what this one especially going to be like as an adult - he has quite a severe case.

* My friend M has suffered a miscarriage. About 1 in 4 women do, apparently and I know many, many, many who have. This is an especially devastating blow for M though because it was a bit of a minor miracle the pregnancy happened in the first place. I'm seeing her tomorrow. I'm banking on it being a bit of an emotional get together.

Labels: babies, friends, house, music, news, random

posted by M at 7:45 pm 23 comments