Gran Torino

I've just finished watching Clint Eastwood's latest movie Gran Torino. He acted in and directed the film and they say it is probably his last acting role.

The film is a giant leap from the Clint of old days when Dirty Harry sorted out the hoodlums and crims with his trust 44 magnum or the un-named stranger in the westerns who could outdraw anyone.

Gran Torino is a strange kind of vehicle for Eastwood to finish on as it has a surburban setting and feel and I couldn't help wondering what was the point of it all. Maybe it is his way of saying that we all get old and can't do the things we used to do, like blow away a couple of neighbourhood hoodlums who terrorise him and his new Hmong neighbours.

In the end, Clint confronts the gang and is filled full of lead in a blaze of machinegun fire. His motive was to let them kill him in front of witnesses so they could be arrested and charged with his murder. It doesn't have quite the same impact as "Well punk, do you feel lucky?".... click... boom!

But once again Eastwood has added another phrase to our everyday language... "Having a Torino Moment". I have them all the time!

58 Not Out!

Almost 6 years ago to the day I was in Nepean Hospital being pumped full of drugs in an attempt to stave off a heart attack. Well I survived that one due to the skill of a wonderful cardiac surgeon Dr Mark Cooper and despite some problems in the meantime, diabetes and needing a hip replacement, I made 58 a week ago.

We just had a quiet family lunch at the newly opened Coffee Club down by the Nepean River. As I say, Every Day You Get Vertical Is A Good One!

The Lowest Point in Australian TV History

I hardly know where to start this and I have purposely put off writing this because I have been absolutely filthy over the Chaser stunt involving the Make a Wish Foundation.

If you don't know what I am talking about then it's best you remain ignorant of the issue as it is the lowest point in Australian TV history and that's not just my assessment of the segment which went to air on the ABC a couple of weeks ago.

After the usual TV executive bullshit and spin, the CEO of the ABC Mark Scott has finally demoted... yes demoted but not sacked ... Amanda Duthie, the head of ABC Comedy. In my opinion, and that of thousands of other Australians, she and the whole Chaser team of morons should be sacked and publically shamed at every opportunity. To make kids with terminal illness the subject of a so-called satirical skit is in the worse taste but what amazes me even more are the morons and half-wits who support the Chaser and in particular the skit in question. It really says something of the society we live in today.

I know this sounds cruel but I really hope Duthie and the Chaser idiots contract a terminal illness... then lets see if they think that's funny.

Sanity Prevails after Public Outrage

Well after weeks of public outrage, Nicola Roxon and the bureaucrats in Canberra have finally come up with the measly few bucks to send Pauline to the US for her life-saving operation. It's amazing what a bit of public stirring in the right place can do and I know Alan Jones on Sydney radio station 2GB and some of his colleagues have been serving it up to the government over this issue.

So Pauline now has a chance at life and our thoughts and prayers are with her.

On a sadder note, Jane, a close friend of sister Wendy has been battling ovarian cancer and the latest reports are that it's finally in the terminal stages. We have never met Jane and Peter who hail from New Zealand but our thoughts are with her at this time. Life is cruel sometimes so make the best of it.

The Rudd Government - Heartless Bastards!

How is this for being heartless bastards! Kevin Rudd (our globe-trotting, big-noting under-achiever) and his government, especially Health Minister Nicola Roxon, have virtually condemned a lovely lady to death. They can throw millions at other countries, most of whom hold us in contempt, yet they can allow this beautiful young lady to die because of a few dollars.

Here's the story... you make up your mind....

"SAVE my life" - those are the words 36-year-old Pauline Talty hopes will touch the heart of Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon.

Ms Talty has been told her application for an overseas bowel transplant - an operation yet to be successfully performed in Australia - does not meet the Federal Government's requirements.

Now she fears she will die in hospital, her home for almost 12 months.

What More Could a Bloke Want?

I really wanted to get something special for Charlie for his 21st birthday present. Something he would always remember, something that would always remind him of his 21st and something that he would look at and remember an important period in his life.

So, after much deliberation, I bought him his own chainsaw. He loves helping out cutting the wood for winter and although I have an old chainsaw he uses, there's nothing better for a bloke to have his own special piece of equipment.

 

He loves it!

The Woodcutters

 

The expert team of Woodcutters sorting out Ben's backyard.

Dave - Roy - Tip and Charlie.

RNSH Chapel

The lastest news in this city, and no doubt it will make the news across the country, is that some idiot at Royal North Shore Hospital has decided to be politically correct and has had all the symbols of the Christan faith removed from the hospital chapel, which was built in 1968.

Apparently this was so as not to offend other faiths. Well even the muslims have called the removal stupid and they have no issue with the chapel being a Christian chapel. But there will no doubt be some religious bigots around town who support the move.

Health Minister, the incompetent John Della Bosca, came on the radio and announced he would call for some committee to look into the matter and that everything was being done to keep everyone happy... blah blah blah.

How about this for a solution Minister.... after all, you have the power, or is it that you are as ineffectual as every other Minister in this State government? You personally call the CEO of RNSH and simply say "Put the crosses and other stuff back." If the CEO utters one word of complaint or even says anything other than "yes Minister" then Della Bosca's next sentence should be ... "If they are not back by tomorrow morning then you look for another job... goodbye!" Thats the way Ministers SHOULD run their portfolio.

Don't hold your breath.

Happy Australia Day

An American decided to write a book about famous churches around the world.

So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to Orlando, thinking that he would start by working his way across the USA from South to North.

On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read '$10,000 per call'.

The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for.

The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God.

The American thanked the priest and went along his way.

Next stop was in Atlanta. There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same golden telephone with the same sign under it.

He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Orlando and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.

She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God.

'O.K., thank you,' said the American.

He then travelled all across America, Europe, England, Japan,New Zealand. In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same '$US10,000 per call' sign under it.

The American, decided to travel to Australia to see if Australians had the same phone.

He arrived at the Gold Coast, in Australia and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read '40 cents per call.'

The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. 'Father, I've travelled all over the world and I've seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I'm told that it is a direct line to Heaven, but in all of them price was $10,000 per call.

Why is it so cheap here?'

The priest smiled and answered, 'You're in Australia now, son - it's a local call'.

What an Embarrassment!

Kevin 747 has done it again! Our globe-trotting Prime Minister (Kevin 747), who likes to step out onto the world stage at every opportunity and tell the rest of the world how to run everything from their economy to their health system, has recently embarrassed us yet again and in so doing, has come out with the most insensitive remarks to our soldiers in Afganistan.

Not content with turning up and wishing them all well and letting them know they have the support of those back home ... which they do, he then goes on to tell how he dislikes funerals ..."I have been to too many funerals and I don't like going," he said. "But when we say goodbye to one of our own, the nation is united in a common purpose." Yeah right. Just the thing that front line troops need to hear!

Rudd thinks he is a world Statesman... he is a bloody embarrassment.

R.I.P General Aviation in Sydney

I know airports in and around cities in Australia brings out the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) set, but the airports were there before most if not all the current residents moved in so they knew the score. They have set up groups to try and lobby the politicians to close the airports and it seems they have been successful.

Already Hoxton Park airport has been closed and the bulldozers have moved in to make way for more industry.

The news today that the owners of Bankstown Airport (a well known merchant bank) have raised the rents for aviation organisations and closed several pilot training schools spells the death-knell of general aviation is Australia. It is another nail in the coffin and sad to say, it was the Howard Government who started the systematic dismantling of GA in this country. Successive ministers oversaw the rape of a once proud and viable industry.

What makes this all the more hypocritical is how the politicians of all flavours like to trot out the Charles Kingsford-Smith stories, the Lawrence Hargraves flights and how Australia was a pioneer in world aviation. We were once, but a farmer posing as an incompetent transport minister destroyed any future for general and light aviation in Australia.

The Plan

You gotta love Robin Williams......Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.

Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!)

'I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.'

1) 'The US will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good 'ole' boys', we will never 'interfere' again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East , and the Philippines . They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign 'students' over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a 'D' and it's back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not 'interfere.' They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH..learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

'The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?' '

It's a tough life!

Sydney Harbour By Night
Originally uploaded by Just1Thing

When Liz and I stayed at Traders Hotel in KL back in June it was a return to our favourite hotel in the world. We'd stayed there during our trip to Malaysia in May 2007 and we vowed we'd go back.

Last June we stayed there with my sisters Wendy and Jan and that's a whole other story. But because we'd stayed for 5 days, we scored a free night at any Shangri-La Hotel anywhere in the world.

Well we chose the Shangri-La in Sydney and we enjoyed a wonderful night looking out on the best city view in the world.

They Will Be Missed

People are born and people die every day. To families and friends, both events are of great significance and emotion... one of joy and the other of grief. But then there are famous people who die and their passing is felt world-wide. Recently the world lost two of it's great artists, each as different as could ever be.

Richard Wright, founding member and keyboard player from Pink Floyd recently passed away from cancer. His music was the sound of a generation and he was a part of one of the most influential groups of all time. In a hundred years people will still listen to Pink Floyd and marvel at the genius of Richard Wright, Syd Barrett, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Roger Waters.

At the other end of the scale we also lost comedian, philosopher and irreverent social commentator George Carlin. George was funny but he also had a take on life and religion which appeals to many in it's simplicity and logic. It works for me.

Both will be very much missed.

A Short Take on the Financial Crisis

In a nutshell.... here's what's happened.... according to Brian Yap (yeweni).

1. A person in the great depression decided the government should lend money to those who the banks would not.
2. A person many years later decided to sell these loans to the banks.
3. A banker many years later decided to guarantee these loans.
4. Many people many years later discovered that there was a reason why it was the government making these loans and why the banks would not.

The Magic of Paris

I don't know about you, but over the past 2 weeks the Spam folder of my Gmail has been inundated with Paris Hilton messages. All Spam of course and almost all of them not fit for publication but the subject of one this morning caught my eye ... "Paris Hilton Refuses to Write a Book Until She Has Read One". More than a grain of truth I would have thought!

The Sweet Smell of Spring

The Sweet Smell of Spring
Originally uploaded by Just1Thing

For me, the first sign of Spring is the intoxicating scent of those little beauties of nature, Freesias. I've been picking them every year since I was a kid at Newport where they grew in abundance amongst the low scrub behind Bungan Beach and on the headlands.

They live for a few weeks, until the heat of the day gets to much and they wilt and die until they bloom again in a years time.

Out here they grow in the lower Blue Mountains around Glenbrook and this year they are very late blooming. Still, winter is hanging on this year so maybe we are in for a late show of colour and heavy scented evenings.

Anyway, here are the first ones for this season.

A Good Read

I must thank Judy for her kind comment regarding my recently found espresso-making ability. Not only is she my Mother-in-Law but she's a good sport and a thoroughly good sort (I know where Liz gets her good looks and other fine qualities from)! Anyway, enough crawling ... !

I've always been an avid reader and so much so that I could not go to sleep at night unless I had put a few pages behind me. And my literary tastes run to almost anything but I draw the line at comics and Mills and Boon! But my long love affair with India and South-East Asia has resulted in more than a few books about that part of the world and the people who live there. So here is a small collection of what I am currently reading and recommend....

The Jungle is Neutral by F. Spencer Chapman. The true story of the guerilla warfare against the Japanese in Malaya. A page-turning account of one of the most interesting periods and places of WWII.

The War of the Running Dogs by Noel Barber. After WWII the communists tried to take over Malaya. They called it an Emergency ... it was war and the pre-cursor to the Vietnam conflict.

An Eastern Port by Julian Davison. Wonderful recollections of Malaya and Singapore during the 1950s and 60s. Sprinkled with excerpts from Conrad, Orwell and other SE-Asian lovers it is a treat to read.

Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but you could do worse. If you love that part of the world you will love these books.

Tangerine Dream

I may be an old fart but a lot of the music these days leaves me shaking my head ... I guess much the same as my dear old Dad felt back in the 1960s. But one of my favourite bands of those heady days is German Electronic band Tangerine Dream.

Some of their stuff is downright crap ... but when they shine they take you to places you've never been. Anyway, I've joined up with the Tangerine Dream Fan Zone on Facebook and they have a Tangerine Dream Podcast at the link below. All good wholesome stuff... there that should discourage the rappers and scramble-heads.

Get a hold of their live album Quichotte, stick on some headphones and strap yourself in for a treat.

The Daily Grind

The title suggests that we're really back to normal... that is, wake up, go to work, back to sleep and so it goes. But "Daily Grind" around here is the wonderful Morgan's Coffee hit we brew every morning using our Sunbeam EM6900 Espresso machine.

We bit the bullet and bought this marvel of domestic engineering back in December last year and there's not a day goes by that we don't grind some Morgan's Cafe Verde beans and brew up a couple of cups of out-of-this-world espresso. Forget Starbucks and Gloria Jeans, this is the real thing and what makes our brew special, is that we buy the freshly roasted beans every week from Morgans and that's the secret, fresh beans. The beans you buy in Woolies etc are stale and not worth it.

So, if you are passing, drop in and we'll throw on the barista stuff and brew you a cup of pure gold.