Monday, August 15, 2011

Grrr...Torchwood.

I'm back...
Well, I didn't think it would go well...and it was what I expected. Torchwood exposed the badies, and the governments claimed they were acting for the good of the people. Rather than shutting down the projects and claiming plausible deniability, they've kept them open for the disposal of 'excess' human life.

I suppose that my reaction is worse because I've spent the evening whilst waiting to see the episode by browsing  photos of death and destruction...the bulk of which has been archived in reference to various wars around the world. (I must explain that I got onto the topic quite by accident as I followed a photographic link to prints from the 'Danse Macabre', which was one of my essay topics while I was at Uni. There were many prints made during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, in response to the deaths that occurred after the plagues in Europe. They depicted the dance that every man from every walk of life must take with Death as you're carried off to the afterlife. {I actually built a couch, with a colonnade which I was going to paint with facsimiles of these charming prints...thus I still collect images off the net occasionally, rather than sketch directly from the aged books.}) Anyhow, in my browsing the least unsettling images I found were the peaceful images of cemeteries...Places where individual headstones had been laid by grieving loved ones.  Personally I find the mass headstones that are all identical, as offensive as waste of human life that caused them. To me they scream that there was no-one left to grieve, or that there wasn't enough of a recognisable body left for someone to claim. I feel sick to my soul about it.

On a side note, I feel sick that another generation is being taught that it's acceptable to fight rather than to lead by example. If ever I find that Raph or Mill, intend to join the armed forced I am going to sit them down and make them watch every one of the photos I downloaded...and ask them what if the people lying dead, and broken were people they loved...and if they were willing to cause another family the pain and anguish of having to find members of their family in shattered pieces. I want to point out to them that no matter what side you are on, what you're doing is wrong! Certainly some may say that if the allies hadn't gone to war with the axis in the second world war, that the atrocities would have been far worse...but if everyone had been living with respect for each other's lives in the first place then things wouldn't have gone so far as voting the Nazi's et al into power, and our own governments would have exerted pressure in time to reinforce the benefits of tolerance. *Deep Sigh*

IT'S NOT HARD PEOPLE: LEAD BY EXAMPLE...SAY NO TO VIOLENCE. 

I can't write any more tonight, it wears me out contemplating how simple it should be, and yet how hard we seem to struggle achieving it.
Kate 

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Don't know why it took me so long to find this song...

Hey,
I just watched Submarine for the first time, a simple coming of age story, with a nice soundtrack and nice directing (by Moss from The IT Crowd, aka Richard Ayoade). Just quirky enough to remain interesting all the way through.

 Anyway, here is a lovely tune for you, from the soundtrack. 




Alex Turner - It's hard to get around the wind.


It's like you're trying to get to heaven in a hurry
And the queue was shorter than you thought it would be
And the doorman says, "you need to get a wristband"

You've got to lift between the pitfalls
But you're looking like you're low on energy
Did you get out and walk to ensure you'd miss the quicksand?


Looking for a new place to begin
Feeling like it's hard to understand
But as long as you still keep pepperin' the pill
You'll find a way to spit it out, again
And even when you know the way it's gonna blow
It's hard to get around the wind.


Stretching out the neck on your evening
Trying to even out some deficit
But it's saber tooth multi-ball confusion
And you can shriek until you're hollow
Or whisper it the other way
Trying to save the youth without putting your shoes on


Looking for a new place to begin
Feeling like it's hard to understand
But as long as you still keep pepperin' the pill
You'll find a way to spit it out, again
And even when you know the way it's gonna blow
It's hard to get around the wind.


I can hear you through my window
But I'm never quite sure who is who
But they want the world on a dessert spoon
It always sounds like they're fightin'
Or as if that's what they're about to do
It might not hurt now but it's going to hurt soon

Cheerio Kate 

Monday, August 8, 2011

Torchwood : Miracle Day

Hi All,
As you may have noticed I'm a bit of a Torchwood fan (Yes, I'm still hoping that someone will give me a life size Captain Jack). The latest series is Miracle Day, and I'm five episodes into the story.



I have to say that the latest development in the story is quite disturbing. Aside from the fact that so far there have been no aliens (perhaps due to the series shifting to the US)...They have chosen to turn the whole world into a Nazi Death Camp. I feel quite sick as I contemplate where they hope to take the story. Certainly the storyline of experimenting on humans or aliens has been covered in the past, and the parallels have been drawn between Joseph Mengele and other scientific experimenters. But do we actually need to take things one step further into the horrors of our past? To actually put people into a gas chamber and just incinerate them. Surely this is taking things a step too far? The Second World War and the atrocities that were perpetrated then, are not so distant in the memories of the survivors and their children.  What they are trying to say could surely be extrapolated from a less explicit storyline.


Part of what I have found appealing about Torchwood, and Dr Who, is the exploration of our humanity and ability to respectfully apply those rights to beings that are foreign to us. I realise that part of that is facing the times that we have acted inhumanely towards each other...the act of holding a mirror up to see ourselves in a clearer light. My point is that in the past we have been given enough food for thought without having to make direct references.


Certainly I've read enough Sci-Fi, to have covered most of the post-apocalyptic terrors...and each time it has made me more concious about how I treat the people I come into contact with, and more determined to support equal rights for all. I'm not convinced that being force fed issues, leads to that self realisation. I would have thought that it is in our personal interpretations of the storyline, and the application of what we have discovered about ourselves, that works to make the world a better place.


I could turn off and not watch Torchwood, and thus put an end to my pain. I would miss the characters I've come to know and love. There is always the promise of knowing the outcome to try and keep me tuned in; I also know that eventually right will win, and the power of the people will turn against the corporation perpetrating the evil, thus theoretically my world balance ought to have been restored. It's all part of the formula...make us believe that we are capable of the worst, give us an option to do right, and then reassure us that the world will be a better place afterwards...oh and don't forget the scapegoat, without one we might actually have to live with the knowledge that it was our fault after all.

I will continue to watch, just because I'm a sucker. I just wont like what I'm viewing...but hey I watch some of the trashiest horrors made on abysmal low budgets. I will continue to miss the strong characters, the moving music, and the more thoughtful story lines that the original Torchwood had. Hopefully things will improve, the only other alternative is that they die.


My raised ire will over the insensitivity of the storyline will eventually dissipate, and I hope that not too many are offended by it in the mean time. I may of course feel the need reiterate my concern over the dumbing down and force feeding of historical atrocities at a later date.

Kate 

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Soft drink cans.

Hi All,
I've been reading my usual array of things online and stumbled across this great use of soft drink cans.


A simple yet effective heater for the house.
It reminds me of the soft drink bottle greenhouse I want to make, so my tomatoes have a head start. My main problem is that I don't drink enough soft drink to amass my construction materials ;)
Kate

Thursday, June 2, 2011

My two favourite animal clips

Hi,
These crack me up everytime.
The Mannequin Bird.



Techno Tim Cat




www.totalleh.com - click to visit


The cat always makes me laugh. No matter how miserable I am.
Cheers Kate

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

New Look

Howdy all,


Long time no see :)
Life got busy. I'm busy overhauling everything since my brother and everyone else has moved out. The lounge looks great, with different furniture in it thanks to Maria giving me some replacements for the stuff I gave to Trick. It's all lighter and brighter. I've got fabric to recover a couple of chairs, although technically I've got 5 that need doing. I figure the antique I ought to get someone else to do. BTW,  do you like my background? They are poppies that I grew last spring, and are so bright and cheerful I decided to share them with you...although if they make your eyes go funny looking at them on the screen I'll consider changing them. When I re-jigger my garden I'll definitely be putting more in, and maybe some tulips.


The garden also needs an overhaul. Things just fly by in the crash after being a little hypomanic. Not that I achieved anything around the house when I was hypomanic, since I decided to write a book. It's not finished, and I didn't like the direction it took about half way through so it needs a major rewrite before I show it to anyone.


I'm in a spring cleaning kind of mood...getting rid of as much stuff as I can that doesn't bring me joy. Although I'm struggling with the raft of papers that litter my desk. I take note on things that I read on the internet and interest me...but then I don't know what to do with them all. I'd put them all in a book but I hate tearing pages out when the notes no longer have any relevance. Filing cabinets aren't any good either since I tend to put things in them and never think of them again.


I'm dead set frustrated with mp3's. They are such a hassle to organise once you've downloaded them. A cd was easy you just shoved it up on a shelf with the others in that genre...and you could find the one you were looking for without having to scan thousands of songs. I suppose things would be easier if i didn't download stuff from so many genres, then I could just hit play on the whole randomised list. As it is I prefer listening to things to set a mood, so classical mixed with jazz, blues, indie and alt rock just doesn't do it for me. Sorting through 28,000 songs is going to be a long job. *sigh* Bloody wmp isn't working either so I have to try and work in itunes and I can't figure out how to get it to delete the crap songs from my hard drive as I sort them. I wish that I could work it properly because then it would also be easier to put stuff on my iphone.


Now for some music...one of my favourite classical pieces. Rimsky Korsakov - Scheherazade (Moscow Symphony - Arthur Arnold, conductor - Elena Semenova - violin - Live from The Hague.)













I hope you've enjoyed it.
Kate

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Hello,
It's been a while and I thought I ought to share a couple of songs with you. They are both sung by Billy Holiday.
 

First up, a lullaby which I adore: 
Summertime - Billy Holiday


Summertime and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'
So hush little baby, don't you cry


One of these mornings, you're goin' to rise up singin'
Then you spread your wings and you'll take the sky
But 'til that mornin', there's nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mammy standin' by


One of these mornings, you're goin' to rise up singin'
Then you spread your wings and you'll take the sky
But 'til that mornin', there's nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mammy standin' by



Next is a far sadder song: 
Strange Fruit - Billy Holiday

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.


Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!


Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.




May the people's of the world learn from their mistakes, and intolerance become a thing of the past.
Kate 

Sunday, November 28, 2010

A very quick post

Hi hi,


Just wanted to share a movie quote with you. It's from a tv movie "Riverworld" 2010.
The road we walk was built with the stones that scarred our feet. ~ Tomoe Gozen
It just seemed to be another way of putting "what hasn't killed you has made you stronger" or "suffering is good for the character" ...which is said so often in my family that it ought to be our motto.

Cheerio Kate

Thursday, November 18, 2010

A little blog fun

Hi Hi,
Today's game is from another blog. Thanks Lady Drace. I found the page by searching for pictures of Andrew Lee Potts.
Anyhoo, the game is this:
1. Bold the names of guys you'd definitely sex it up with.
2. Italicize the names of guys you might do after a little persuasion.
3. Leave the guys who don't do anything for you alone.
4. Put a question mark after the guys you've never heard of.
5. Strike the guys you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.
6. Add three more guys to the list.

1. Russell Howard ?
2. Criss Angel 
3. Robert Pattinson (In the right light)
4. Jeffrey Dean Morgan
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Brad Pitt
7. Jared Padalecki
8. Taylor Lautner 
9. Jackson Rathbone 
10. Robert Downey Jr. (when he's not drinking)
11. Jared Leto
12. Adam Gontier ?
13. Chris Kane 
14. Michael Welch ?
15. Jensen Ackles?
16. Michael Shanks
17. Misha Collins
18. Ryan Reynolds
19. Andrew-Lee Potts 
20. Lee Pace ?
21. David Tennant
22. John Krasinski 
23. Rupert Grint
24. Justin Chambers 
25. Patrick Dempsey
26. Scott Patterson ?
27. Matt Czuchry ?
28. Ed Westwick 
29. Jim Parsons 
30. Mark Salling 
31. Andy Samberg ?
32. Chace Crawford 
33. Gaspard Ulliel ?
34. Bradley James
35. Colin Morgan
36. Joseph Gordon-Levitt 
37. Christian Bale
38. Alexander Siddig
39. Jude Law
 
40. Tom Ward
41.  John Barrowman
42.  Rupert Evans

Obviously I could have added more than three that I fancy...and I admit to seaching imdb for pictures of lots of the fellows with question marks (and italics since I never remember names that go with faces till I see them :).

Hmm, is it a reflection of my love life that out of 42 men there are only 18 that I wouldn't sleep with? lol, perhaps it's more a reflection of why I don't date...the fact that out of 42 men that are considered good looking I'd still only sleep with 24.

lol something for me to sleep on I think :)
Kate 

Monday, November 15, 2010

Been a while...

Hello, 
So it's been a while since I've written anything. I've definitely been in hibernation mode. There hasn't been anything in particular that's been keeping me there apart from not wanting to upset the apple cart. For the most part my moods have been good when I've chosen to be in the world. I've lost my temper once and shouted at E. Which is something I haven't done in about ten years with a person. 

I stick my head in a hole when there is stress around...perhaps that's the reason I've been hibernating? E has been ill and had exams and hasn't coped with that. T and P have been working away in N.S.W., making it hard for T to see his kids and they've both been working very long hours with lots of pressure. M has been running around after everyone else and is starting to lose it. Me, I just go to bed and sleep.

Um I suppose that I've also been inventing a dream world to live in, just like I did as a teenager. Although I have to admit it's much harder to escape into it as I did when a teenager. I want to put that down to my medication and the way it affects the way my brain works. I have the same trouble reading books. My concentration only lasts so long before I need to reread something, which of course interrupts how deeply I can immerse myself in the story...which is the most frustrating part! I used to read a novel a night as a teenager, and now i'm lucky if I can read a couple of novels a year.

I do escape into the Sims a bit, it's nice to download furniture and stuff, then to build a dream house. Sometimes I theme the build with the characters I've made. Snowy the cat was a redneck with a mullet who lived in a converted warehouse with boarded and barred windows. Millie the chook, lives with John Chook, and a daughter Katie Chook, in a triple fronted cream brick venereal (veneer for those who don't know my families lexicon). Which is quite fitting since they are fifties rockers, poodle skirt included, and they were all the rage in Australia in the baby boomer era.

Oh you may be wondering about the chook references, last week I got 5 chickens. They are Isa Browns (aka brown eyes) which are a medium reddy brown with the odd white feather in their tails, wings or ruff. They are sweet chooks and eat out of my hand. They were on the point of lay when I got them, with only one of them actually laying, whereas now I'm getting three eggs a day. I was given a chook shed for my birthday. I did have a little problem with them eating the odd egg which I fixed by filling an egg with Tabasco, mustard and chilli. I had an old syringe which was used to flush ronnie's dodgy eyes with saline, which after piercing the egg's side with holes large enough to get the nozzle of the syringe into, I just flushed the white out and replaced it with this hot mixture.

Well I don't feel like writing much else today, so I'll leave you with a song.




 "Heartbeats" JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ

[The Knife cover]

One night to be confused
One night to speed up truth
We had a promise made
Four hands and then away

Both under influence
We had divine scent
To know what to say
Mind is a razor blade

To call for hands of above
To lean on
Wouldn't be good enough
For me, no

One night of magic rush
The start a simple touch
One night to push and scream
And then relief

Ten days of perfect tunes
The colors red and blue
We had a promise made
We were in love

To call for hands of above
To lean on
Wouldn't be good enough
For me, no

To call for hands of above
To lean on
Wouldn't be good enough

And you, you knew the hands of the devil
And you, kept us awake with wolf teeth
Sharing different heartbeats
In one night

To call for hands of above
To lean on
Wouldn't be good enough
For me, no

To call for hands of above
To lean on
Wouldn't be good enough
For me, no


And just because I love his voice another one :)



"Teardrops" JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ  

Love, love is a verb
Love is a doing word
Feathers on my breath
Gentle impulsion
Shakes me makes me lighter
Feathers on my breath

Teardrop on the fire
Feathers on my breath

Night, night of matter
Black flowers blossom
Feathers on my breath
Teardrop on the fire of a confession
Feathers on my breath
Black flowers blossom
Feathers on my breath

Water is my eye
Most faithful mirror
Feathers on my breath
Teardrop on the fire of a confession
Feathers on my breath
Most faithful mirror
Feathers on my breath
Teardrop on the fire
Feathers on my breath

You're stumbling into harm
Stubling into harm

Cheers Kate