The Marcster Blog

The Problem With Pilgrimage

2010-02-21T10:49:00.005+08:00

White Man's bleeding heart runs like sewerage down a poorly maintained road. An incessant need to show the poor maldeveloped just how it's done. Riding in on a calvary of Toyota Landcruisers and housed in five star hotels, we all can sleep easier tonight. The miracle workers have arrived. Their virtuous intentions are applaudable, but can you really save the third world from its biggest enemy - themselves?

It's a tough ask right from the beginning. The child born into a household with no electricity, poor nutrition, and uneducated parents now has to create a life for himself? Sleeping on cardboard, no room to study, no parents to help with homework. The NGO (non government organisation) lacks the community acceptance needed to storm into corrugated iron huts and lecture parents on how to raise their children. Despite being necessary, the response is likely to be a torrent of abuse followed by a chaser of 7.62mm bullets.

Because grass roots societal reform is so inherently difficult, NGO's resort to larger scale projects like tuberculosis eradication and construction of utility infrastructure. However these struggle to trickle down to the user. Still affected by untreated scheme water and hygiene related illness, people wonder what is the point if their child is uneducated and underweight.

This desperation drives many societies to another miraculous saviour - religion. Generations of little buddhas enter monastic life to find inner peace and suppress natural desires such as inquisition, knowledge, and experimentation. The hardship of street life is now replaced with free meals, robes, and accommodation provided by white pilgrims escaping their horrible first world lives to find "real" happiness.

Does this all encompassing faith help society to progress? When your day is occupied with praying, chanting, and circumnavigating objects in a clockwise direction it's hard to make a positive contribution to basic infrastructure. Society falls apart around you while you sit in the lotus position focusing on abdominal breathing. Are you really finding happiness or just ignoring things that make you unhappy?

It's an exercise in futility. Your teenage daughter is moody and dysthymic because she enjoys it. She pretends she doesn't but that's part of her identity and no amount of time at the bookshop's parenting section is going to change it. Perhaps the destitute are merely fulfilling their own destiny, unaffected by bleeding hearts and four wheel drives.

Short of altering the DNA of every newborn, your efforts are going to be minimal and will always make you feel better than the people you are trying to help. Families that only know conflict will pass this unfortunate trait onto their children. Pride is a rare commodity in a society with corruption for leadership and hopelessness as its main aspiration. Without pride, there's no incentive to change things for future generations. It's far easier to don a robe and have dahl and rice slopped in front of you for the rest of your life.

Resistance to change is causative, not just symptomatic. Financial advisors repeatedly say past performance is no indicator of future gain however the third world clings onto conservative views out of fear that something new could upset their predictably pathetic lives. The brave amongst them who dare for progress are lucky to be alienated if they survive the beatings and assassination attempts.

There is hope though, small pockets of common citizens with overseas perspective have become uncomfortable waiting for their contemptuous government to pick up the pieces. Shiromani Dhungana (The Kathmandu Post 14/2/10) writes "We are becoming indifferent to the problems of the city. This culture of negligence and growing indifference towards the city's problems is not in favour of the greater good. Citizens themselves should look for proactive measures to improve the condition. We need the will power in us, we need to have a feeling that the city belongs to us."

It is up to these adults of today to create a life that the children of tomorrow will aspire to live. An existence where corruption and crime are replaced with opportunity and pride, a society that applauds contributors and shames detractors. The problem with this solution is it starts now. It requires immediate action by the very people that were let down by their forebears. Using history as a convenient excuse, generations propagate stagnation and unknowingly deny their society of a better future.

This kind of change can only come from within. Lubricated by the blood of bleeding hearts but originating from the hearts of its people. People who have the courage to rally fellow countrymen to discover inner pride and actively work towards change. Not monastic outcasts using religion as an excuse to leach off society and contribute nothing in return. Positive action that completely overturns the cultural matrix of society to reset past belief and give people tangible hope that there is a better way.

Anything less is just humoring a process that could transform the lives of people long into the future.

Take Me Home

2010-02-15T13:47:00.004+08:00

Q: Why do birds fly home for the winter?

A: Because it's too far to walk.

What is this magical place birds fly to? What does it mean to say "I've had enough, I'm going home." Where do nomadic globetrotters (and drug traffickers) call home when their bags are perpetually unpacked?

It must be more than a geographical location. Perhaps there are elements of our environment that trigger a sense of home within us.

Firstly, a feeing of safety. Abundant in the beachside suburbs of Pleasantville, more elusive when a potentially violent force looms. Like inmates in an Ecuadorian prison, it's hard to feel home when there is a less than fifty percent chance of seeing the sun again. In the face of danger, only an appropriate barrier allows safety to be found. Afghanistan may be a dangerous country but workers are happy to call the US Embassy home knowing there are several machine guns and surface to air missiles to keep the riff raff away.

Difficult to earn, safety can be stolen as easily as tax from your pay slip. Using a crowbar, the uninvited intruder emulates the tax office destroying any allusion of safety and prematurely terminating the beloved connection between house and home. No surprise that those who have been violated lose not only possessions but a far more valuable sense of home. Many see no option but to leave.

Physical safety and its emotional counterpart are intertwined with a feeling of home.

Next element of home is regeneration. Like a mobile phone calling out for its charger, we need a place to regenerate for the next day. A lion makes do with a warm rock, but we humans have complicated and demanding needs. Physical ones like food and sleep seem simple enough, but mental stimulation and social interaction prove more elusive.

A home with family is better equipped to provide this than a mezzanine loft with one inhabitant fuelled by pizza and beer. The joy of returning to a house full of people, noise, and clutter - akin to a living breathing creature able to share some of its life with those around.

Family is also integral to the last component of home, familiarity. Something unique and individual that sets one apart from the six billion bipedals that share Earth. Seeing the group of people who nurtured you or the people that you nurtured, each helps to impart a familiar feeling of home.

But there are other ways to find famliarity, even something as simple as the way clutter is scattered in a space. Arranged by subconsious desire, a quiet sense of achievement identifies that physical space as your own. Animals have been doing this for ages, proudly marking their home with bodily secretions to repel others and identify a space as theirs. Something to try if you are struggling to find personal space.

A uniquely individual space impervious to others develops immaterial ownership which is crucial to feeling at home.

Interestingly, all three factors are needed to yield a comprehensive sense of home. Checking into a five star hotel instantly offers safety and rejuvenation. But without an individual sense of famliarity it soon becomes a sterile and artificial experience. Similarly, living in a remote area without electricity becomes unhomely when simple rejuvenating activities like a hot shower or meal become tortuous ordeals.

But when all are present, the synergism quickly unlocks what we know as home. Famliarity removes uncertainty providing comfort which allows rejuvenation. It becomes effortless, a subterranean warmth rises within us and we are there.

Even if fleeting and transient, its power at that instant should not be underestimated. A sense of home acts like a springboard propelling us into the trials and tribulations of life with a glimmer of optimism. No matter how frequently the geographical characteristics of safety, regeneration, and familiarity change, their combined effect remains the same.

This allows us to view the world as a single space. High speed internet, webcams, and air travel allow us to function whether we are based in one city or many. With human ingenuity, we can find a sense of home without ever needing to be there.

Turning Japanese

2010-02-07T20:25:00.000+08:00

Japan, a country of mystery. Medieval castles, Zen Buddhist temples, the elusive Iron Chef Italian. That crosswalk where people interweave like cogwheel teeth epitomising Japanese psyche. Hard to imagine another place where two million people could pass obliquely without collision.

Perhaps there is an equally mysterious force swirling amongst the black and white tarmac - social responsibility. Plucked from the dictionary of bleeding hearts, it explains the nature of people in an inherently chaotic and crowded country. As Little Boy violated Hiroshima in 1945, an incredible sense of collective responsibility spread over Japan more emphatically than the radiation that initiated it.

A need to look after your fellow man not for him or you, but for everyone. Hiroshima's light rail network was up and running the next day. Contrast this with the familiar council worker solar array statically reflecting light onto the sole worker doing anything.

Venture beyond Ginza into Japan's suburban neighbourhoods and even the outsider can experience this. A unique sense of calm and patience instilled amongst its people as if sedatives had been aerolised into the atmosphere. A reserved but insatiable urge to do the right thing coupled with an individual's sense of pride.

Pride, revered in progressive society with the same passion as it is condemned in others. The covert tall poppy syndrome rears it's ugly head to pulverise individuals who dare achieve excellence and positive contrast. An infected society suffers as its brightest members are pushed towards warmer lands that nurture pride and social responsibility for the benefit of all.

Instead of embracing an exceptional outlier, the bell curve throws them back onto the homogenous bed of familarity with an appropriate sound effect. Welcome home Mr Tryhard.

Thankfully, the Japanese resist this. From the bus driver on your morning commute to the barman salting your grilled chicken at day's end. A passionate desire to have ones garden lush and healthy regardless of size. Leadership by example encourages all to aspire towards the sharp end through an unspoken feeling of societal cohesiveness.

Like a supportive running group. Cramps which ordinarly reduce one to walk fade with the surrounding rhythmic drive for excellence. To look beyond the individual's desires and do the right thing by those around you.

The reward is an inherent sense of calm. The head dives into the pillow knowing a positive contribution was made to the kitty. Instant satisfaction may be lacking but it is replaced by a deeper sense of self worth with the longevity to resist unfortunate nay-sayers who try to dilute it.

Lost in the Middle

2010-02-06T10:08:00.004+08:00

Buddha rocks. About time Buddhism mirrored Christianity and embraced secular corruption. Millions of hypermanic youth can't be wrong. If something more ancient than time itself becomes "uncool," just modify the hell out of it until it befriends your Chuck Taylors and witty graphic T-shirt.

There are many stories of Buddha's origin, but the grossly abridged version is predictably the best. Essentially, there lived a young boy named Sid who was unhappy with the world. Everywhere he looked there were unhappy people chasing impossible dreams and reaching new levels of lunacy like having different iPods for different situations. He quickly realised that people were inherently stupid, pursuing infinite apparitional goals that became less achievable the closer they approached.

He exclaimed loudly "Fuck this!" (or words to that effect). Equipped with the coping skills of a six year old boy, he ran into the metaphorical forest to sit under an equally metaphorical tree and ponder his new predicament. After an elasped three days or so, he became bored and wanted to go home.

At that point, and without any fanfare, he discovered The Middle Way. No, not another pretentious cafe in Perth, rather a realisation that moderation was the key to life. The multiple iPod owner was idiotic but the tree shrouded thinker equally so. Defining something as good or bad was merely a choice made in your own mind, quite distinct from the reality that it was neither.

Quoting The Age's Catherine Deveny (Australia's equivalent to Buddha): "nothing is ever as good or bad as you think it will be."

Or is it? The problem with humans is we're too smart for our own good. Too lazy to walk, we invent a four wheeled device that transports us from home to work whilst perforating the ozone layer along the way. When it comes to choosing one, the smart human has already decided yet still undergoes the arduous ritual of buying magazines laden with bikini clad girls to "read the comparison tests." He painstakingly wades through voluptuous mounds of information sub-consciously ignoring negative reports until he convinces himself of his pre-determined choice.

Reality is no match for the persuasiveness of cognitive dissonance. It's our best attribute - the ability to convince ourselves of truth that doesn't exist.

So why can't we use this for positive effect? That grumpy bastard at work, maybe he's had a fight with his wife. That dickhead in the imported Japanese car, maybe he pulled in front at the traffic light because he's late for the birth of his first child. Yeah right. It would make no difference which way you swung, except if you chose the positive you'd be spared the premature squirt of adrenaline that compresses your lifespan by at least half a day.

Maybe the best choice is neutrality. Take a lesson from Buddha - he went crazy so you don't have to. Not everything in life happens for a reason, bad things happen with surprisingly similar frequency to the good. Apply cognitive dissonance and suddenly "only bad things happen to me." How tragic. With the same effort, you could convince yourself of the opposite. It's a miracle, your life is now filled with rainbows and small leprechauns.

Dishonest? Who cares. Embrace your human flaw and let the pendulum swing in your favour for a change, it's instinctively trying to find the middle way.

Until Death Do Us Part

2009-11-10T09:54:00.011+08:00

obligation /obligaysh'n/ n.
1 the constraining power of a law
2 a burdensome task.
3 a binding agreement, enforceable under legal penalty

Delicious.

From young, we are conditioned to despise obligation. Our earliest exposure to adult psyche introduces us to a foreign concept: a task we must perform against our will "because I said so." This is counter intuitive, a life precedingly occupied by unburdened impulsivity is replaced with a squeamish conflict between desire and action.

This feeling of internal conflict breeds an atmosphere of defiance. Why should I do something I feel is wrong? Like a bad case of gastroenteritis, repulsion spreads in waves throughout the body manifesting vocally and remedied by a healthy dose of "Mum knows best" discipline.

Rebellion then ensues. Like a crustacean receding into its shell, we transform into self protection mode refusing to comply with these instructions that defy our sense of self. A pivotal battle is fought, internally and externally that crucially shapes our character. We either accept conformity or choose to repel it with every drop of spirit we can squeeze from ourselves.

Failure to do so leads to submission. Trapped in an infinite helix of mind-numbing obligation and expectation, our lives advance chronologically with the illusion of progress. We "succeed" in high school, "succeed" in university, "succeed" at work, find the love of our lives and settle into the greatest obligation of the world - marriage.

Yes, nothing says "I love you" like two hours of embarrassment in front of your friends and three hundred people you barely know. Where you have to identify people allowed to attend your wedding, but not palatable enough to have at your reception. Positive sentiments on your special day.

Love is a unique bond between two people that is self-evident. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is not required to justify it's existence. It's either there, or not. Commitment and selflessness are integral and remain unenhanced by a ceremony that leaves your credit card puckered and parched.

The burdensome constraint of obligation destroys fun and spontaneity, replacing them with stagnation and familiarity. The goal posts are firmly embedded into the ground, their chaotic fluidity halted prematurely. It is our never ending search for perfection: just a little extra touch to the cake to make it "better", a dab of marriage to make our relationship "perfect" and solidified.

At our peril, we disregard the uniqueness in imperfection, the stimulation created by instability, and the inherent value of a partnership held together by intiuative desire rather than obligation.

Now that's something worth celebrating.

The Scourge of Self Importance

2009-11-04T21:18:00.011+08:00

Everyone loves firemen.

Saviours of felines, not to mention annual sweaty appearances in calendars brandishing large hoses. Such important people. But at what point does self-importance becomes arrogance? Are they as entwined as a hose around a fireman's body?

One of the greatest mysteries of the universe is why doctors' handwriting is illegible. Typically, an egyptologist is needed to decipher it. Or a pharmacist. Could self importance be a contributing factor? Perhaps he believes he is such an "important" person, others should be able to read his hieroglyphic scrawl. His time is so "important" that he can't afford to slow his writing to improve legibility. In fact he is so "important," people should move out of his way when met in a corridor because he is obviously enroute to an "important" job.

I'm sure most would deny this, only because they don't even realise it. It's subconscious, placed by society's expectations of a doctor's role and what level of importance that serves in the community. The doctor is far more important than the supermarket clerk, are far more selfless right?

Well, true selflessness is quite hard to find. Everyone has something to gain from what they do, we just wouldn't do it otherwise. Be it money, status, spirituality; we kid ourselves into believing we're "helping others" but really we're just pandering to our own sense of self importance.

Instead of acknowledging the selflessness of our actions, we misinterpret gratification as a reflection on ourselves which further feeds self importance and propogates arrogant behaviour.

To counter this, the human race combines our uniqueness with abundance to ensure our actions are replaceable. Put simply, we're not the only doing it. Life is full of variety, people share similar traits but their actions manifest in different ways. This should prevent people from becoming self important as they realise their "selfless" actions can be performed by someone else.

However this doesn't eventuate as fear causes people to be threatened by difference. The strong personality is threatened by the stronger one in a social group. Like a large dog intimidating its smaller peer, we are drawn towards the seemingly superior model. Fed by an upbringing of heirachy and status to partition life into easily digestable chunks, we attribute more importance to the perceived higher status. We fail to appreciate the homogenous yet distinct shades of grey that add diversity to life. There is room for more than one strong personality, we shouldn't allow fear to illluminate people as threats.

With seven billion people on Earth, each of us is really quite insignificant. Even if you wear high visibility clothing or a stethoscope draped across a white collared shirt. Modern society should be appreciated for its abundance and diversity. Placing objects in shelved compartments makes them easier to find but rummaging in a mixed box doesn't diminish their importance.

Jesus on the Radio

2009-10-24T11:06:00.006+08:00

You know the world has changed when Jesus sponsors motor sport.

Well, not Jesus per se (although the advertising makes you think otherwise) but an extraordinary attempt by the Jesus All About Life campaign to perform that well worn cliche: "reach out to the younger generation."

Yawn.

It's a gallant effort though. Disillusioned adolescents everywhere are crying out for a dose of religion to get their formative character-building lives back on track. How unsatisfactory, exposing youth to adversity so they can develop coping mechanisms for the future. The answer surely is to "show them the way." The one size fits all solution to living the perfect Christian life.

Why don't other religions pick up on this theme? Can you imagine - "Muhammad, All About Judgement Day?" It is doubtful our society would be as welcoming of an Islamic youth outreach campaign. Even perfect Australia, the most "tolerant" of nations.

It can't be cheap either, plastering the son of God on utes, touring cars, and Mini Coopers. If you believe the website jesusallaboutlife.com.au, production costs are courtesy of the NSW Bible Society. You have to wonder if this bible society operates from a offshore gas platform or if there's more than is publically declared.

What has happened to religion? Sacred and secular have forever been antonyms, now they are one. Rock bands in Church, Jesus on a race car. What's next - an extra holy McJesus Value Meal at McDonalds?

There are many ways to be a Christian, many ways to have a relationship with God. These campaigns are flawed as they project the one and only way for a Christian to be faithful. They alienate people who cringe at the thought of Jesus on a burger. People who believe religion is sacred and about a personal relationship rather than "getting high on Jesus."

Good God. Jesus must be rolling in his grave.

www.jesusracing.com.au

Crime and Punishment

2009-07-24T21:34:00.007+08:00

Louis Theroux is a pretty unlikable person. The way he substitutes his Oxford educated background for a Hugh Grant-esque ignorant Englishman is annoying. That said, he does make interesting documentaries such as BBC's Law and Disorder in Johannesburg, where he meets the gentleman pictured above - Maleven.

This guy makes Louis Theroux look like Pope John Paul.

Maleven is a career criminal who spent ten years in prison after killing three police officers for the sole purpose of taking their firearms to commit robbery. He proudly admits that he feels absolutely no shame, it's his only way of earning an income: "Only money that I want."

And he's not submissive in obtaining it: "I take your wife, I put knife here. You don't give me money or you give me?"

Theroux travels out to Diepsloot, a slum town north of Johannesburg, where vigilante law enforcers are as rampant as the criminals they claim to be fighting. It's hard to decide who is more violent when you see the methods they use. A senior member of security group Bad Boys explains: "We can fight with the law, within the law, and we've got other tactics we can use."

William Mayangoni of Mapogo boasts about giving criminals "special medicine" which involves beating them with a sjambok, or heavy leather whip.

These groups are driven to unleash their brand of justice by a lack of faith in the criminal justice system. After "sjambokking" a young man suspected of stealing mobile phones, William details how he will give a "donation" to the police force to avoid being arrested over the retaliatory assault and to retain the suspect within the community to receive more "special medicine".

He says if you are arrested by the police and have connections, the next day you'll be out and will escape prosecution.

It becomes a self perpetuating cycle. The absence of a well equipped and motivated regulatory force encourages groups like Mapogo and Bad Boys to fill a necessity that should be filled by the law makers themselves. It's an issue of responsibility - he who makes the law should take responsibility for enforcing it.

Unfortunately Theroux gives no suggestions as to the cause of this crime or a potential solution.

For that, we have to turn to the murderous Maleven for some rare words of wisdom: "I never go to school, so what can I do?"

No education means no opportunity, which leaves crime as the only option.

Maleven's future was sealed in June this year when police finally arrested him over fifty counts of armed robbery, murder, rape and carjacking across a two year period. (Cops nab hijack kingpin, Nkosana Lekotjolo, The Times 19/06/09)

But he won't be the last Maleven.

Without systemic reform, the future for South Africa looks equally bleak.

I Love My Job

2009-07-20T14:29:00.002+08:00

"There are good moments but it's mostly bad."

- Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear Season 12 Episode 8

Onion Love

2009-07-19T09:53:00.007+08:00

It is not often that you are greeted with such pungency as Patty Chang's In Love. A double video installation showing the artist sumptuously devouring a raw onion while her mother and father return the favour. Tears stream down her face and you wonder of the origin: Onion? Disgust? Love?

Pungent. Strangely, the next work at PICA's Intimate Acts is her mirrored reflection in water locking lips with herself. Maybe to wash out the onion breath?

On the adjacent wall are selected prints from Kelli Connell's Double Life series. Onion love, now replaced with its human counterpart, is shown between two versions of the same person. The use of a remarkably androgynous girl is a significant move by Connell. One print, Brickhaus Cafe, best embodies the intimacy theme with it's close depiction of two people in a cafe, eyes locked, smoke swirling amongst human warmth. It is a powerful image, framed to sweep the viewer into the world and deeply impart it's feeling of initimacy.

This theme continues up the staircase to Adam Geczy's Concerts. We get a unique birds eye view of contemporary composer Peter Sculthorpe teaching a sonata to Geczy using only his left hand. It is painful, tedious, and demanding - anyone who has had a piano lesson would understand. This is reality television of a different kind, a voyeuristic look at the patience and persistence required to master a contemporary work.

It offers a level of insight into one's personal space rarely afforded in mainstream media.

Intimate Acts runs until 2 August.

What Have We Learned From Current Affairs?

2009-05-07T21:11:00.003+08:00

One of the funniest segments on 'The Chaser's War on Everything' is a parody of the farcical one sided stories that Today Tonight and A Current Affair think are important to society.

Tonight, their star was a volunteer firefighter suspect of the Victorian bushfires. The classy gentleman was interviewed previously where he proudly exclaimed "I'm a quiet guy, I don't like the attention."

In fact he disliked attention so much that he reappeared tonight - attached to a lie detector.

Inconsequentially, he was told that movement would render the test useless. So he moved constantly to disrupt the test.

Maybe he wasn't so stupid after all.

Spicy Chicken

2008-08-28T12:10:00.004+08:00

British indie rock bands are as ubiquitous as fast food chicken outlets. Fresh baked from London, Cajun Dance Party offer a spicy selection of indie in their debut The Colourful Life.

Like any good party, the title track starts us off with a light-hearted take about honey and Wrigley's gum whilst commentating on the ups and downs of modern life. We next taste pop radio's The Next Untouchable leading us into the sublime No Joanna. A stripped down arrangement of synth, strings, and electric overlayed with Daniel Blumberg's cockney about a summer break up.

Daniel challenges biology in Amylase, using it to dry up plaster, rather than break down sugars A light-hearted poke on the exchange of body fluids during love to fix soggy feelings from the past? Perhaps.

We cruise downhill through The Firework and Buttercups with profound lines such as "is that her smiling or a reflection of his own toothed face?"

Landing finally on the The Hill, The View, & The Lights. A background of syncopated unwired snare warms us to Vicky Freund's sassy lounge-bar defiance of gravity. Blumberg returns us firmly down to earth with full drums juxtaposed with airy ride and a distant Freund. Clearly, the highlight of the album.

And what an album. Well structured, brilliant songs, typical indie rock but then with enough variation to make it somehow not.

Like fast food chicken with a difference.

I Need You So Much Closer

2008-08-27T19:01:00.004+08:00

You could feel it amongst the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars scattered through-out Metropolis Fremantle. Seattle's Death Cab for Cutie, a champion for disenchanted emo youth had returned to Australia.

Sold out weeks before the event, excitement pulsed through the disheveled teenage bodies like blood through self-harm wounds.

The entree was Brisbane's indie pop duo An Horse. My complete ignorance was pointed out by my concert guest when she told me the "front-man" actually had breasts. Kate Cooper was in fine form with her raw narrative voice ably supported by partner Damon. Their soulful melodies worked well on the right-brained audience although Kate's stories about her flight across from Brisbane didn't have the same effect.

A resonating guitar vibrato signaled the start of Death Cab's Bixby Canyon Bridge. The emo crowd gasped as Ben Gibbard emerged from the dark sans trademark black plastic rimmed glasses. He looked plump and well nourished, disappointing the black shirts in front of him. Bixby swelled to it's beautiful climax accompanied by a strobe light which would've worked better with the other lights dimmed.

DCFC then stepped back in time playing perennial favourites The New Year, Styrofoam Plates, Title and Registration, and Soul Meets Body which was met by a well deserved roar.

Pop radio's friend I Will Possess Your Heart was unsurprisingly a bit of a let down but remained a crowd pleaser. A short burst of lovable newbies Grapevine Fires and Your New Twin Sized Bed failed to have their desired effect. Perhaps fatigue had set in after a literally exhausting set or these songs had yet to engulf Generation Y.

I was hoping for a surprise ending but predictably Transatlanticism rounded out the night. It was superb though. Always special watching Jason McGerr playing nothing but continuous quarter notes on ride cymbal and snare. His increase in intensity towards the end of the song epitomised sublime simplicity.

All in all, I'd have to say their first concert was argubly better. More surprise, more spontaniety. They seemed too professional, too polished. The joy of going to a live gig is experiencing things you couldn't possibly imagine. Quoted by Ben Gibbard in Drive Well, Sleep Carefully.

But do come back Death Cab. I'll have my Chuck Taylors ready.

The Meaning of Life

2008-07-21T10:28:00.001+08:00

Richard Hammond:
“James, we are grown men playing conkers with caravans.”

James May:
“That’s ok, it’s better than working in a bank.”

- Top Gear Season 5 Episode 4

Naughty Naughty Boy

2008-06-18T01:36:00.006+08:00

“If heaven is such a wonderful place, then how is getting crucified such a big fucking sacrifice?”

- Igby Goes Down (2002)

Writing about religion feels like an animal walking through a game park. There are people waiting to blow your head off, skin it, and mount in on a wall.

No better reason to do it then.

Faith. How much evidence does one need before it becomes truth? If enough people believe, do you doubt your own beliefs because you are the minority?

Peter Joseph’s 2007 documentary Zeitgiest raises some interesting points about Christianity. It shows many similarities with ancient Egyptian theology, a practice based on respect and adoration for the sun.

The sun, which rises every morning to overcome darkness, bring warmth, and nourish crops. That descends in the northern sky during the winter equinox on December 22th, falls under the Southern Cross constellation, stops moving for three days then rises again on December 25th where it is aligned with Sirius - the star from the east, and the Three Kings - the three brightest stars of Orion’s Belt.

The documentary states Egyptians worshipped the sun’s movements so much they personified them into the god Horus. Born December 25th accompanied by three kings and an eastern star, Horus brought light and warmth to the world, conquered darkness, died for three days, and then rose again.

Three thousand years later, Christianity translated the movements of the sun into their own deity – Jesus Christ.

It gives examples of other ancient gods which had similar lives to Jesus Christ. Attis and Dinoysus from Greece, Krishna from India, Mithra from Persia. All had virgin births on December 25th accompanied by three kings and a star from the east, performed miracles during their life, died for three days, and were resurrected.

These figures were simply mythical personifications of the sun.

Now, Zeitgeist is not the world’s greatest documentary but what if it’s true? What if Christianity is nothing more than an adaptation on the ancient Egyptians’ adoration for the sun?

Take two rats in a cage. A box is placed in the cage with a hole in it. One rat crawls into the box and receives an electric shock. The other rat sees this and stays away. The first rat is then replaced with a new one. The old rat warns the new one to stay away from the box because he saw his friend get shocked. Then the old rat is removed and replaced with another new rat. Now there are two rats in the cage that are staying away from the box, based on a handed-down story.

Neither of them saw the electric shock, yet they stay away.

That’s the whole point about faith. We take things as truth even when we don’t know why. We follow obediently without question or rationality, as if motivated by a mystical force.

Maybe the real motivation behind religion can be found back on earth.

Proponents of positive thinking say believing in good things becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. What better way to promote positive thinking than believing a higher power is protecting and guiding you? A power that is all-knowing and all-powerful. To have that on ones side must surely be a confidence booster.

Maybe that’s why people choose to be religious. To gain strength and confidence to get through the day. But people can’t admit that. Our highly intelligent minds need two thousand year old handed-down stories to justify things that are scientifically flawed.

It’s ok. Faith is inherently blind, it needs no justification. The more people try to justify religion, the more ridiculous it sounds.

Just believe.

Or don’t.

Plug In Baby

2008-06-13T08:26:00.004+08:00

One of the great things about The OC was the ease of the characters’ interactions. Seth popped across to Ryan’s pool house, Summer came over and knocked on Seth’s bedroom door, all and sundry would get past Summer’s evil “step-monster” to enter her pillowed abode.

The degree of social contact was enviable, people would make the effort to spend time with each other. Writer Josh Schwartz took the piss out of “Seth-Ryan” time, but it showed people’s desire for connection and the effort required once established.

To avoid losing credibility, The OC will no longer be mentioned.

It does raise a serious point though. Are people in the real world making the same effort to establish and maintain social connections?

Richard Watson, author of Future Files: A History of the Next 50 Years, discussed this recently using “cuddle parties,” gatherings where complete strangers provided each other with non-sexual intimacy. Fast food on demand? Try physical comfort and reassurance on demand.

Sounds ridiculous? How about this. Businessmen in Japan, overworked and stretched to the limit are resorting to intravenous cures for “three-thirty-itis”. Infusions of vitamins and minerals are given by health boutiques to boost energy and provide sustenance for the working day.

Not that ridiculous considering a certain AFL football team decided the best way to treat dehydration was to infuse saline intravenously during the half-time break.

It’s all just too easy.

And this is Richard Watson’s point. Time is money. Efficiency is everything. If we spend less time and money interacting with people or improving our health then we’ve won haven’t we? We’re a more efficient society.

Why bother going over to your friend’s house for a chat, when you can sit in your bedroom and talk to seven friends simultaneously on instant messaging? That’s far more efficient.

Better still, why go to the effort of talking when you can Super-Poke your two hundred “friends” on Facebook to show them how much you care. Social interaction en masse, the pinnacle of efficiency.

We’re better connected than before. High speed broadband, wide mobile phone networks, instant messaging. It’s all bullshit. Where’s the quality in our connections? Human adaptability is an admirable trait, but sometimes works against us. If we don’t need to make the effort, we won’t. We’re too smart for our own good.

However, there’s another human trait that’s as important.

Physical presence provides a degree of comfort and well-being that no amount of intravenous vitamins could compete with. It stimulates on many levels, and is unquantifiable in its ability to invigorate and renew.

So, next time you’re sitting alone waiting to log on to WiiConnect, just stop and think.

Is the internet your only connection that needs upgrading?

Happy Little Vegemites

2008-06-10T15:19:00.004+08:00

It’s one of our most basic emotions, yet so fleeting and inaccessible for many. Twenty billion dollars a year are spent on pharmaceutical solutions to treat our chronic lack of serotonin.

Surely there must be a better way.

The problem is, modern man is chronically unhappy. Due to accesibility, he wants too much, expects too much, and wants it all now. If he can get a Happy Meal with five food groups and a toy in three minutes without leaving his car, shouldn’t he expect the same in other areas of his life?

So he tries, he constantly searches for things to make him happy. Successful career, braggable hobbies, supermodel partner, two and a half kids. The perfect life. Surely this will bring everlasting happiness?

Well, there are a few fundamental problems.

Firstly, these sources are external. Our influence is inherently limited, we can only do so much to change things before we are at the whim of other people’s emotions and the fickle hand of fate. You can trim the sails as best you can, but the wind will always direct the boat.

Secondly, all these sources are fleeting and transient. The impermanence of life is reflected in its components. Jobs don’t last, supermodel partner gets a better offer, holidays come to an end. Add unpredictability to impermanence, and the only thing you can guarantee is that there is no guarantee.

Lastly, transient sources of happiness are similar to recreational drugs. The more you take, the lesser the effect. The human body becomes densensitised and tolerant. So we need more. The bigger car, rapid career progression, holidays in more expensive hotels. It’s a unrelenting search for increasing levels of happiness.

So, what’s the better way? Well, take the monk. Wearing a bedsheet, head shaven, under a tree contemplating why that cloud looks like an apricot and the other looks like a squashed pomegranate. He’s not even wearing underwear and he’s the happiest man on earth. How is this possible?

He simply chooses to be happy.

Instead of running around looking for sources of happiness, he increases his basal level of happiness. He achieves chronic happiness independant of external stimuli. It then doesn’t matter what happens, because he is already happy.

On a physiological level, choosing to be internally happy has similar effects to meditation which functional magnetic resonance imaging has shown to increase levels of serotonin in the brain.

Well that’s very cute but we can’t all sit around all day wondering why clouds resemble fruit. It’s shit boring.

And that’s the beauty of it. Because we are running on internal happiness, we no longer need to do things to make us happy. We do them for the best reason of all - because we want to.

We stop becoming hostages of ourselves, demanding we find happiness from everything. We are free to do whatever we want, knowing the outcome is irrelevant. Failure ceases to be a demon of fear. It becomes an undesired outcome that gives up experience, whilst not taking our happiness.

This allows us to enjoy the ride, appreciating things for what they are, not for what we want to get out of them. We don’t need to rush around desperately searching for happiness.

Because we already have it.

All is Full of Love

2008-06-09T01:49:00.005+08:00

"I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is."

- Forest Gump (1994)

Wrong. I don’t think anyone really knows what love really is. We know the feelings it provokes, but it largely remains a mysterious force shrouded in chocolates and Hallmark cards.

Maybe love is when you really like someone, think about them all the time and have an inner desire to spend every moment with them. The mere thought of them sends warm shivers up your spine. Whenever they contact you, you shriek in amazement. And you constantly long for anything that reminds you of them.

Well, no. That's limerance. A superficial feeling based on intense romantic desire for another person. A desire that demands reciprocation to be validated otherwise the limerant person experiences immense distress and feelings of abandonment.

Maybe love is when you choose to care about someone, motivated by an inexplicable feeling of concern. To commitedly cater for their every need and want. Psychologist Robert Sternberg's 1986 Triangular Theory of Love yields seven different types of love. Each has a combination of passion, intimacy, and commitment. Only four have commitment as a component, so maybe it isn't that crucial after all?

And is the love negated if the commitment is obligated? It could be argued that the love between parent and child is born out of biological obligation. That a morally sound parent will always care for a child not necessarily out of love, but out of moral duty. Put simply, it’s the right thing to do. Is this love different to the one that two complete strangers create by their own volition?

Maybe love happens when two people simply agree to put up with each other. When they understand each others imperfections and embrace them. When they agree to unconditionally commit to each other exclusively, selflessly providing reliant support that eases them through life’s challenges. When they are held together by an unexplicable attraction, one that our highly intellectual minds are unable to fathom.

“Every asshole says they love somebody, it means nothing. What you feel only matters to you. It’s what you do to the people you say you love, that’s what matters.”

- The Last Kiss (2006)

Enough already. Hand me a bucket.

One for the Road

2008-05-11T09:57:00.005+08:00

Bimbo Deluxe, Fitzroy

One of the reasons Perthians make the eastern migration to Melbourne is its vibrant bar culture. One which echoes dingy European cities with bad weather, and allows the disgruntled twenty-something to trawl dark streets for hours on end making discoveries about themselves, the world, and members of the opposite sex.

This right of passage is in jeopardy, with Victorian premier John Brumby introducing a 2am lockout restricting entry to licenced inner city venues after this time. Patrons inside would be denied re-entry if they left, effectively locking them in.

The motivation for these changes are Victorian Police crime statistics such as a 17.5% increase in violent assault over the past twelve months in the inner city.

But is this a really a solution? When implemented in June, it is bound to further suffocate Melbourne's bar industry.

Melbourne City Council has temporarily frozen new licenses from opening beyond 1am, with heavy penalties to existing venues for this privilege. It is a dark sentiment amongst bar industry stalwarts such as Gin Palace owner Vernon Chalker who feels that only the strongest will be able to survive in such a competitive and restrictive environment.

It will discourage the smaller operators from setting up unique niche places, the kind of places Melbourne is synonymous with.

This is a great tragedy, and reeks of the typical reactionary approach of government to act on the symptoms rather than the root of the problem.

If the disinhibitory effects of alcohol result in interpersonal violence, what does that say about society as a whole? Maybe we are becoming increasingly violent people and the solution is to be found away from the darkened laneways.

There is increasing evidence that introducing conflict resolution programs in high schools has a significant effect on reducing violent youth. Reducing Violence in the High School (Stader/Johnson 1999) presented an eight year conflict mediation program in Missouri which used peer mediators to counsel violent students on how to deal with conflict in a non-violent way. The results were impressive. Suspensions due to violence dropped from an average of 3.6 per month to 1.2.

More importantly, not a single student who had been through the program was involved in another violent act.

By intervening early in an adolescent's developmental period, they were able to create lasting mechanisms that reduced future episodes of interpersonal violence.

Early intervention is taken further with Hill Walker's First Steps program developed at the Univeristy of Oregon. This is a kindergarten based program which uses screening to identify children at risk. Walker acknowledges the contextual nature of a child's development. Factors such as socioeconomic background, family support, and physical health are all taken into account. A team of childhood behavioural experts including psychologists, social workers, and teachers then work with both child and family to prevent and treat anti-social behaviour.

This proactive approach has an excellent and lasting effect. A case study which followed program children for five years showed significant improvements in observational ratings such as aggression, adaptation, and social interaction.

Isn't this a better solution to interpersonal violence than destroying an urban sub-culture?

Conflict resolution and early intervention programs should be mandatory in Australian high schools. Equipping high risk youth with the ability to deal with issues in a non violent way has the potential to yield a better adjusted and less violent society.

Such that when we are disinhibited by alcohol, we do not feel the need to unleash our anger onto other people.

That's certainly worth drinking to.

Intestinal Faith

2008-04-27T23:07:00.000+08:00

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and

I took the one less travelled by

And that has made all the difference"

Robert Frost

I tried that once. Got terribly lost and needed to be rescued by two goat herders and their dog.

Sorry Frosty, not going to agree with you on that one.

There must be a better way to find the right path than rebelliously choosing the unpopular option which leaves you being equally unpopular and lost.

Go with gut, I reckon.

Humans have an innane sixth sense, an untapped resource sitting inside left ignored because we perceive it to be less tangible than our other senses. It's like a crouching tiger waiting to be unleashed.

Many people have been intrigued with the most useful element of our sixth sense, precognition. The first documented theory on precognition was by an Irish guy called William Dunne in his 1927 book An Experiment with Time. He found that he was able to have awareness of future events during his dreams, so much so that he documented them as written evidence of his ability to predict the future.

Now Dunne wasn't some loony leprachaun who downed too many Guinesses. He was a highly educated aeronautical engineer and war hero so this revelation was a huge surprise, especially to himself. Being rational, Dunne wanted to see if others shared his ability so he got his friends and family to also record their dreams. They would document their dreams as soon as they woke in their hyponopompic phase, the transition between sleep and awake.

The results were remarkable.

His Irish counterparts were able to record dreams that in time became self-fulfilling prophecies.

Dunne's hypothesis is that the past, present, and future are occuring simultaneously. What we do in the present is dynamically altering the future, however human consciousness can only see linearly. It only perceives what is happening now. When we dream, we lose our human consciousness such that the continuum of time is opened up and we see a combination of the past, present, and future.

We can only capture this during the transition from sleep to waking consciousness. When we are still aware of our subconscious state but are conscious enough to record our subconscious perceptions. It is during this time that we are most able to gain insights into ourselves and perhaps see into the future.

While having this precognition is all very good, it remains useless if we don't act on it. The modern human is a highly intelligent being so when choosing the right path, we feel compelled to make intelligent choices and find justifications for what we do. If this goes against what we feel through precognition, we ignore it because sensible humans don't believe in the intangible feelings experienced through precognition.

This is where we go wrong. We have this great ability inside us to see more than our current state. However, we ignore and suppress until it loses its perceptual strength. Such a waste.

We don't need to run all our decisions through sub-committees in our minds. Our precognitive perception is already inbuilt to guide us along the way. It sees into the future for us, telling us where we will be and how we should get there.

All we need to do is listen.

Arty Farty

2008-04-25T10:06:00.001+08:00

Contemporary art is widely marginalised for being non-sensical, pointless, and appreciated by similarly marginalised fuddy-duddys who are yearning to escape from a prolonged adolesence.

I beg to differ.

The Hatched 08 National Graduate Show is running at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. It displays work from current graduates of art schools across the country. One of the most diverse exhibitions showing a cross section of contemporary art in Australia.

Rose Skinner's The Bubblegum Factory (above) is a delicious arrangement of confectionary and toys delivering a multi-sensual experience of sight, sound, smell, and taste. It can be taken as an awe-inspiring composition or one can use the stimulated senses to evoke childhood memories. See the work in the context of modern life and it suggests subtle messages about childhood materialism. You can take whatever you want from it.

Except of course, the raspberries and sour worms scattered on the floor.

Passing Sally Stewart's Lotus, you come across a clever work about endangered Australian animals. The artist travelled to various outback places where certain species were last seen. He then placed an orange picket synonymous with a road marker and photographed the location. These photographs are arranged as part of his work, and then mirrored in the arrangement of the orange pickets. Two neon signs glow, one saying "extinct" and the other "endangered." However the latter is flashing, suggesting that there is more that can be done now, before the transition to "extinct."

Standing in front of the life size pop art of Suited Rituals by Nick Neilsen is a confronting experience. The sounds of his accompanying video are surprisingly familiar to any office worker. The contrast between his pop art and the video is surreal. He has used two modalities to great effect, portraying the inner feelings of real life suited individuals in the form of a monochromal almost exploding pop art character trying to burst out of the screen. Not an uncommon sentiment.

One of the more challenging works is Exercise #38. Joel Casemore has used his own journey with depression to depict moments of clarity in a series of two plate colour aquatints. It's hard to find the connection between what you see and how the artist must've felt. He talks about the work helping him to simplify, rediscover opportunity, and find a sense of security. You get the impression that Exercise #38 has far more significance to it's creator than any observer could ever appreciate.

But that's the beauty of this kind of art. It has different meanings for different people, with no limitations, and complete freedom of expression, both for the artist and the viewer.

Hatched 08 runs until 25 May.

Love You Long Time

2008-04-24T22:00:00.000+08:00

"A mighty pain to love it is

and tis a pain that pain to miss

But of all pains, the greatest pain

It is to love, but love in vain."

Abraham Cowley "Anacreontiques"

Unrequited love. Poetry makes it out to be one of the most romantic notions of modern culture.

What a load of shit.

It's about romantic as smearing your testicles in peanut butter and running into a dog pound.

There tends to be an attraction inequality in every relationship. One partner always loves the other just that little bit more. And everyone wants to be the receiver. Which means there has to be the giver or "the bitch."

"The bitch" is gender independent. There have been many male partners who are "the bitch".

On first glance, this attraction inequality seems unfair and detrimental especially to the unlucky partner who fulfills the role of "the bitch." It may seem that an inequity of emotion will only lead to one partner being taken advantage of, resulting in rebellion and the demise of the relationship.

But this underestimates the power of inequality.

Inequality allows the relationship to grow. It expands it by it's ability to pull "the bitch" towards the receiving partner. The receiver sets the bar which "the bitch" strives to conform to. Both partners then become closer and the relationship expands.

But how unfair, and how one sided that the bitch is always having to compromise and sacrifice for their partner?

The beauty is, it's a dynamic process where the role of "the bitch" and the receiver is constantly changing. So each person, at different times, will use their individual strengths to nuture and develop both the other partner and the relationship as a whole.

Of course, static attraction inequality also exists. This is where one person is always "the bitch" and gazes at their partner with puppy dog eyes. Whether limerance or love, it usually ends in one way. "The bitch" compromises themselves regularly in order to keep the relationship alive whilst the reciever becomes complacent, secure in the knowledge that "the bitch" will be limerantly attached no matter what.

So while unrequited love can be a positive thing, it more commonly acts as a relationship filter. It ends relationships that are destined for failure due to a unchangeable attraction inequality.

If you are sick of being "the bitch", rest assured that with six and a half billion people on earth, there are high odds of finding someone who loves you more than you do in return.

And if you haven't found them yet, there's only one thing to do.

Keep looking.

Goodbye Cruel World

2008-04-21T20:21:00.000+08:00

At the risk of being discovered and banned from China forever, I feel compelled to make an observation about this so called "emerging first world country."

First of all, it's not a first world country. It's government quotes achievements such as economic development, urbanism, and the Beijing Olympic Games as signs of it's transition from a lesser developed nation into a rival to the great United States of America.

Really, who are they kidding?

There is a fundamental change that needs to happen and that is a cultural one. China is about as far from democracy as we are from the moon. The government exerts an iron grip over its people, controlling aspects of public life which we in the real "first world" take for granted.

30,000 internet police patrol the superhighway every day, shutting down sites that express any from of free opinion which differs from the official line. Free speech is considered a threat to internal security and is dealt with in the harshest way possible. Corruption is intertwined in everyday society, a society where class and social standing can mean the difference between a free life and repression.

These are not traits of a first world nation.

At least the hypocrisy of their translated titles can bring some levity. People's Liberation Army? The only thing it's liberating from it's people is their freedom.

Walk around Tiananmen Square in Beijing and you see streets with names such as Peace and Freedom. The irony is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Where was the peace and freedom during student protests in 1989?

The Chinese haven't failed to disappointment with the current Beijing Olympic torch relay. Those athletic Chinese men in light blue tracksuits are seductively titled "The Beijing Olympics Sacred Flame Protection Unit." They sound like a high school cheerleading group when in actual fact they are paramilitary soldiers from the People's Armed Police. Highly trained in riot control and maintaining internal security.

Don't be fooled by the blue tracksuit.

And this is part of the problem. China has been fooling it's own people for many years now. People who due to limited education and government suppression take the government's word as gospel.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world isn't going to fall the same way.

Classically Trained

2008-04-19T19:42:00.000+08:00

Have you been to Perth Railway Station lately? For quite a while now, the Public Transport Authority have been filling in the gaps between the female robot with a long deceased Austrian. Forget transit officers, Mozart is the new weapon in combatting station violence.

Apparently, ten minutes of Mozart is equivalent to a standard dose of Prozac so maybe it is a useful therapy for both hoody wearing youth and depressed office workers.

More here