RED LIGHTHOUSE

AMERICAN GODS

2009-12-21T11:40:51Z

I haven't read a science fiction novel since Snow Crash back in about 1999. Now I'm reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods and it's fucking awesome, so far. I'm about halfway through it. I'm reading it because it's a great Supernatural hiatus compensation, and because Eric Kripke recommended it, yes. The influence on Kripke is even more profound than Hellblazer, which I've discussed previously, and would border on plagiarism if Kripke didn't have such a creative flair and originality of his own. Supernatural is better, imo, but if you're strung out for some monsters-in-america allegorical horror/sci fi while Supernatural is on holiday, put down that stupid, seen-it-all-before fanfic and read American Gods. It's spellbinding.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S REALLY HAPPENING

2009-12-16T10:47:22Z

Oh my fucking god the Australian Government seriously intends to pass legislation in January which will effectively censor the internet, exactly the same way that every other Western democracy in the world doesn't. Iran, Saudi Arabia and China? Yes. Just like those progressive, liberal regimes.

www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/internet-filter-laws-need-urgent-public-debate-20091216-kwdk.html

Trying to slip this through in the middle of all the Copenhagen distraction just makes you look even more sneaky and underhanded, Senator Conroy.

If you want to vote in the Sydney Morning Herald's poll regarding this issue, click this link:

www.smh.com.au/polls/politics/form.html

Currently 96% of respondents are opposed to the filter, which is the second highest landslide in the newspaper's history. Make it the highest! The Australian Government needs to hear loud and clear that voters won't accept this outrageous infringement of their freedom.
Fucking fuckers.

for further info and to vote, write angry letters, sign petitions etc:

www.nocleanfeed.com

TWO OF THESE THINGS BELONG TOGETHER

2009-10-22T12:32:53Z

While making GI Joe, did nobody in the ENTIRE filmmaking process bother to mention that GI Joe is the exact same movie as Team America, only without the irony or the marionette puppets? Actually, even the puppets are debatable, hey.

CONSOLATION PRIZE TV

2009-10-16T11:58:20Z

This week I finally got around to watching Weeds and True Blood. Ohmygod holyshit they almost make up for not being able to watch 5.05 & 5.06 of Supernatural yet because of download limits. Almost.

HALLOWEEN

2009-10-13T00:23:04Z

I wish we celebrated Halloween here in Australia. It looks like a lot of fun.

VOLTAIRE

2009-10-11T12:32:04Z

When Voltaire lay dying the priest came to him and said 'You must renounce the Devil', and Voltaire said 'This is no time to be making enemies!'

I HATE YOU LJ

2009-05-12T00:21:50Z

LJ just ate part 2 of my atheist's guide to season 4. So now I'm like, 'screw this, I don't wanna do this anymore'.

SUPERNATURAL: THE ATHEIST'S GUIDE TO SEASON FOUR - PART 1

2009-05-06T14:28:16Z

At the start of season four I thought it was going to be so hard to be an atheist and still enjoy my Show. When Castiel spread those creepy black shadow wings and said 'I am an angel of the Lord' in the first episode of season four, it was almost all over for me right there, in that moment. No more Supernatural for me, thanks. It's been fun. Unfortunately (fortunately), the individual stories of the individual episodes just wouldn't let up being so fucking EPIC and AWESOME and I just had to continue to tune in, put up with my own uncomfortable squirming at any mention of God and Angels, Heaven or the Lord and just enjoy being scared and told a ripping story.

I was brought up religious and went to church every Sunday until the age of fourteen. I never felt God reveal himself to me in any way in all of those years, but never quite wanted to give up on the idea that he might be out there, either. Since that time, I've had a number of frightening experiences, near death experiences, the suffering of loved ones, etc. It's in those moments, when you're backed into a corner, that you find yourself praying, because it's not up to you anymore. You can't influence the outcome, take away the pain, prevent death. Except I never prayed. I just knew no-one was listening. No-one was out there taking a special interest in me. Even when I was still nominally a believer, it never occurred to me that God would intervene, so praying seemed utterly futile. I wished and hoped, but never prayed.

I've had times when I've been in tears and terrible pain and terror and I can recall specific moments, usually in bed or on bathroom floors in the middle of the night, wishing so hard that I believed in God, so that I could pray and feel that someone out there was watching over me and helping me through. But you can't make yourself believe what you don't believe.

Beddytime now. Wil continue.

UN-FUN

2009-02-25T13:38:28Z

I haven't checked in for...probably since around Christmas. I quite literally woke up one morning to find that fandom was not only not fun anymore, but was severely diminishing my enjoyment of the show and in some aspects getting kinda disturbing. Spoilers without LJ cuts or warnings, hysterical speculation and wank just made the whole thing completely tiresome and I also felt a bit creeped out by knowing so much about the private lives of famous people who are otherwise complete strangers to me. Or maybe it was more that I was creeped out by how NOT creepy it seemed. Suddenly I felt like I was in the twilight zone or something. Like, did you ever have one of those 'naked' dreams where you arrive at school or work and realize you forgot to put on clothes? Only everyone is just acting normal like there's nothing strange about being naked in public? So, instead I'm carrying on watching Supernatural alone, in private, spoiler and speculation free and gossip free. Just enjoying a damn good story and watching it unfold as it is broadcast, as it was meant to be enjoyed. No judgement on anyone who enjoys spoilers or gossip. I just need to get away from it all for awhile.

Love to all, especially agt_league who I miss heaps and gretazreta - I'm so desperately sorry to hear about your cat, babe. I have a cat as well who is like a child to me and can't imagine what you must be feeling. *hugs*

BEST AND WORST MOVIES 2008

2008-12-21T13:33:19Z

Here is a list of my selections for the best, worst, most over-rated and most under-rated movies of 2008. These are movies released in Australia during 2008 that I have seen. I'm sure there are many films that deserve to be on this list but I can't comment on them because I haven't seen them, such as Australia, Wall-E, Saw V, Max Payne and others.

I'd love to hear other people's best and worst of 2008. It's the time of year for "BEST AND WORST" lists!

BEST
1. No Country for Old Men
2. Burn After Reading
3. Rambo
4. The Orphanage
5. The Dark Knight

WORST
1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
3. Get Smart
4. Towel Head
5. Sex and the City

MOST OVER-RATED
1. Juno
2. Iron Man
3. Eagle Eye
4. Vantage Point
5. Hancock

MOST UNDER-RATED
1. The X-Files: I Want to Believe
2. The Jammed
3. Black Water
4. Untraceable
5. Tropic Thunder

HONOURABLE MENTION
The Quantum of Solace
Not Quite Hollywood
Cloverfield
The Strangers
In the Valley of Elah
Body of Lies

MAD AS HELL & NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE

2008-12-11T10:47:38Z

FIRST: To my funny Christmas valentine, agt_league I got your card today!!! You really made me smile, honey ILU! You are such a cool chick that I'm proud to have as a friend!

I was perusing a Richard Dawkins forum a couple of days ago when I came across a thread entitled 'Stop Internet Censorship in Australia!' Thinking 'wtf there's no internet censorship in this country!' I clicked on it skeptically. What I discovered is a proposed federal law to be introduced next year, being pushed by the Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, that has received absolutely ZERO media coverage and been allowed absolutely ZERO public debate. This proposed law makes my blood run cold and I am fucking boiling mad about it! If being both boiling and cold is possible in one very angry body.

Basically, the government wants to introduce mandatory internet filtering in ALL homes in this country, regardless of whether or not there are children living there. This filter will prevent all 'illegal', 'unwanted' and 'inappropriate' websites from being viewable. Illegal websites are those that are blacklisted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and pertain only to activity that is already a crime, such as child pornography, which we can all agree is abhorrent. As for material that is 'unwanted' or 'inappropriate', this is of course a completely subjective and nebulous matter, and the decision as to whether a website is 'inappropriate' is made by a select group of people without any transparency or debate. Furthermore, the filter is likely to slow internet speeds by as much as 80% and is highly unlikely to help curb criminal behaviour in any way.

I am absolutely fucking outraged about this, and I just found out today that the company I work for (a large telecommunications company) is participating in the trial early next year. I brought it up at work today with our national manager, who had nothing to say except, 'Well, it's a good thing, right? We all want to live in a clean world where we don't have to look at filth'. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

For more info go here: http://www.nocleanfeed.com/

Most Australian capital cities are conducting protests on Saturday 13th December. The one in Melbourne is at midday at the State LIbrary. Here is the info about the others:

http://wiki.efp.org.au/index.php?title=13th_December_2008

Just shows if draconian censorship like this can happen here it can happen anywhere.

WHEN YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES IS IT HELL THAT YOU SEE?

2008-12-04T13:17:29Z

I mentioned in a comment to someone today, ewanspotter I believe, that I've never held a full-time job and base my entire life around not getting up before midday. The problem is that I do wish I wasn't like that. I do wish I could be an early bird who gets things done and has that 'busy energy' you see people with, you know, those people who finish work and then...go and do something social or improving...instead of what I did today, which is come home and watch five hours of television I wasn't even committed to (I don't even remember the names of the shows. Oh. One of them was Eli Stone.) The only edifying part was watching Lateline and learning about the government's proposed new national school curriculum and thinking that Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is pretty foxy, for a politician. Then I shaved my legs and critically evaluated the size of my bum in the mirror.

The issue is my body clock, I think. I probably have the perfect body clock for, like, Northern Europe. But here it's all screwed up and I take about two hours to fall asleep so how can I get up early?

I just Googled 'caffeine addiction' because I'm actually getting a bit concerned about my habit. Is my caffeine dependence related to my inability to sleep? I mean, it's only caffeine, right? It's not like I'm mainlining heroin or meth on a daily basis. Reminds me of the story about Peter O'Toole and how he famously gave up drinking, only to be admitted to hospital two days later with caffeine poisoning. We all gotta have our vices.

I AM PULLED IN ALL DIRECTIONS

2008-11-23T01:07:46Z

Spoilery for Supernatural 4.09 and 4.10 under the cut:

Let us never confuse our Show for what it really is: The epic love story of Dean and Sam. An heroic saga of Man-Love conquering all, in the venerable tradition of Ben Hur, Top Gun, Point Break and more recently, Hot Fuzz. It is this premise that drives the narrative, underpins every perilous adventure and justifies the constant danger they put themselves into and why they don't just go back to Kansas and get jobs. They live and die for each other, and totally not in a gay way, but, even better, in a deep and profound, genuine brotherly love and respect way.

When you have a story that is essentially built upon the strong foundation of one monogamous relationship, it is with trepidation and suspicion that any threats to this unit are greeted. Upset the delicate equilibrium of the central monogamous unit, and the whole story is liable to go spinning out of control and land in a topsy-turvy world of Hawaiian weddings, celebrity guest appearances and talking cars. Female love interests are strictly a temporary distraction and typically embody a lesson about looking outside the relationship. Punished with death or exile, the women of Supernatural personify complication, disorientation, travelling off-course and inviting deeper peril, like the Sirens luring the hero Odysseus away from his life's work, his Hero's Journey. They increase the danger, lead the heroes astray and disrupt their cardinal strength: Their unity.

Ruby and Sam's relationship was justifiable only in Dean's presumably permanent absence. The unit has disintegrated and loneliness, heartbreak and desperation drive the surviving character to hold onto whatever comfort's being offered. We all get that. Most of us have done that. Personally, aside from the kinda-creepy dead body rape implications and the unresolved matter of some cute family's coma baby miraculously reawakening, only to vanish into the night leaving sorrow and suffering behind her, I found Sam and Ruby's love scene to be surprisingly moving. I'm familiar with that "I want someone else, but you'll do because you're here and I'm lonely" feeling. When you understand that Sam is metaphorically making love to his absent brother and trying to recapture a lost sense of connectedness and being part of something, it makes sense.

So OK. They were friends and fuck buddies while Dean was dead. But Dean's not dead anymore. Why is Ruby still there? The problem for the rest of the season will be how her presence, and her relationship with Sam, is dealt with. Even if they never fuck again, her very presence is still a threat to the integrity of the central love story. My guess is that she's still going to show up periodically to help out and teach Sam some new tricks, lure him further down the road to the darkside, paved with good intentions. But Ruby is going to pull the story out of orbit. Make it less about Sam and Dean, alone in the world, reliant only upon each other and loyal above all things to each other. Only if they hurry up with her story arc, bring about her permanent damnation or (more likely) eventual redemption and fuck her off out of the story, will the monogamous unit survive intact. Which is what we're really tuning in for.

HARDWORKING AMERICANS

2008-11-10T11:39:52Z

As a non-American, the recent US election campaign (recent meaning going-on-for-the-last-two-years) alerted me to a curious piece of confusing cultural disconnect between the American and Australian way of life. All throughout the campaign, especially on the part of Obama and the Democrats, all I would hear about was hardworking Americans, hardworking families, parents who have worked hard all their lives, hardworking this, hardworking that... Why is this considered such an attribute in the United States? Why is working a fucking hundred hour week considered something to aspire to? Or am I misunderstanding the rhetoric? Perhaps Americans just want acknowledgement and validation that their contribution is appreciated, and that is certainly understandable. In Australia you can work three days a week on minimum wage pulling beers or serving coffee and make enough money to spend the rest of your time surfing (or gardening. or whatever). Isn't having a life that's liveable more important? Isn't it better to notice you're alive? I'm hoping someone American can tell me whether I've misinterpreted what it's like to be a working American. Is it really the Dickensian grind I'm picturing?

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

2008-11-08T00:20:18Z

This is a special birthday message for gretazreta . I hope you have a wonderful birthday and I hope the fact that it coincides with the New Zealand election is an advantage in some way, rather than a stealing-your-thunder detraction. I've been very lucky over the last twelve months to witness your infectious love of life, enthusiasm for learning, your boundless faith in people, especially your very lucky students, and your incredible talent and intelligence!

Just keep doin' what your doin' baby or keep on truckin' or some other appropriate classic rock metaphor because you are wonderful. xox

MINORITY OPINION

2008-11-01T03:09:23Z

* I now more fully understand how the Bela and Ruby lovers last season felt to watch all the hate rain down upon their beloved characters (even though they were wrong, wrong, wrong to love them). Being the only Supernatural fan on Earth at this moment who dislikes Castiel and his whole tedious arc is lonely.

*This season I've also realized that this show is not just inspired by, but actually lifted wholesale, from Hellblazer. Hellblazer is a comic book series about a longstanding war between the soldiers of Heaven (or something like it) known as the Resurrection Crusade and the soldiers of Hell, called the Damnation Army. Earth and Humanity are caught in between as their damaged and fragile battleground. The main character, John Constantine, is a morally compromised anti-hero who mediates between both sides, sometimes for his personal gain, and sometimes for more altruistic purposes. He is infected with demon blood and has special powers as a result. He makes bargains with demons and is saved from Hell because of his specialist abilities and consequent usefulness on Earth. He deals in rare and esoteric books and antiquities and the ghosts of those he failed to save or who died because of him follow him around tormenting his broken soul.

This doesn't make me love the show any less. I think it's kind of cute.

KRIPKE IS MY CO-PILOT

2008-10-08T05:25:21Z

1. I've realized recently that I think Eric Kripke is HOTHOTHOT. Is that wrong? Weird?

2. Just 3 episodes in and I'm SICK TO DEATH of Castiel. Angels are strictly for the housewives and teenagers and a performance consisting of one facial expression, one tone of voice and one costume belongs in 24, not Supernatural. How many more episodes is he going to be in?

3. New!Ruby sucks balls.

4. I still love the show, in spite of.

5. I've had two hours' sleep.

6. I'm suffering from the WORST case of writers block I've ever had. It's killer. Anyone who can offer any cures gets free love and cupcakes!

EPISODE REVIEW: 4.02 "ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME DEAN WINCHESTER"

2008-09-29T02:45:16Z

This is not really a review.

I don't know whether this is something unique to the people on my flist, but I have noticed a strong reluctance to say anything critical about the last two episodes of Supernatural, and by extension, anything critical about religion.

I have a strong belief that there should be a separation of church and Supernatural and that bringing god into the mix is nothing but trouble. Sure, it can be implied - the existence of hell should suggest the existence of heaven. The existence of hell and heaven should suggest the existence of god and the devil, or at least some dualistic principle of ultimate right and ultimate wrong, life and death, creation and destruction. But these last two episodes are getting WAAAAY theological. Castiel's dialogue is so literal, so assuming. Supernatural has to have some nihilism to it, some, 'we're alone in the universe and no-one is going to save us' in order to maintain its basic premise: Two guys on the outside of the law and civilized society, fighting monsters, unthanked, unacknowledged, unnoticed.

I don't know how the rest of the Supernatural story is going to unfold, but I've always thought this was ultimately a tale of family redemption, much like the Skywalkers of Star Wars. But they didn't have to rely on god to redeem them, and neither should the Winchesters.

Reservations about religion aside, the plots of the last two episodes have been rippers, to be sure. LOVE Meg. LOVE Nicki Aycox. I just wish that the overall arc could be a little more ambiguous, a little darker: No god, no devil, we're just alone to figure it out without divine assistance. Assuming Castiel is even remotely what he says he is. He's obviously got more potential if he turns out to be a demon or some sort of deluded spirit. We'll see.

EPISODE REVIEW: 4.01 "LAZARUS RISING"

2008-09-19T14:39:06Z

Look, I'm an atheist and stuff but I've got no quarrel with religious people. That said, the second Supernatural starts GODDING me, I AM OUT OF THERE.

An angel of the LORD? Are you fucking kidding me? Give me back my show, sorry.

First half: Rocked
Second half: Sucked

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOVINA

2008-09-08T13:29:20Z

It should be a special kind of birthday that happens to a hot little pixie called kentawolf who can speak with as much eloquence and erudition about astrophysics and quantum mechanics as she can about comics and video game rendering. There is literally no-one in the universe like you and I just wanted to let you know that I love reading all your posts (and Encyclopedia of Weirdness, of course!) and I'm sending you awesome birthday vibes from down here in Melbourne Australia! *hands you ENORMOUS margarita you could swim in*

XOXOX

ATHEISM AND BIRTHDAY WISHES

2008-09-05T07:45:39Z

I decided to combat my internet-less days at work by downloading audio books onto my ipod and listening to them all day at work, thereby learning something and avoiding boredom-induced dementia. I've started with The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, read by himself (and occasionally his lovely wife) in a gorgeously avuncular upper class British accent. I've resisted this book since its first release due to not really seeing the point of it: To an atheist it is merely preaching to the choir. To a religious person it is dismissed without any real attention, if the book is even opened at all. I'm so glad I overcame this 'what's the point' prejudice because it's a stunning work of genius that I recommend to the non-believer, the resolutely devout and everyone in between. Even if you DO dismiss everything he says, if your faith is strong, then what harm is there in listening to what he has to say, at least? If nothing else, it is a very compelling and well-researched presentation.

So hey, anyway, today is the birthday of someone very special: icymorning I love your insight, your loyalty, your love of life and your strong willed fighting spirit! I hope today is the day the clouds break on the rough couple of months you've been having and the good times and parties begin! Have a wonderful birthday, wherever you are and whatever you're doing! xoxoxox

CRYPTO FASCIST CORPORATE C**TS

2008-09-04T07:14:51Z

My work is taking away our internet access *hyperventilates*

I'm going to climb the walls without it! *woe*

WHAT DOES BLUE TASTE LIKE?

2008-08-28T06:20:28Z

When eating colourful sweets, I must, MUST eat according to colour. The M&Ms I'm eating right now at work, for example. I eat primary colours first: A red, a yellow and a blue, altogether. Black jellybeans go with white ones. Green goes pretty well with white, as well.

So, hopelessly obsessive and pedantic, or something everyone does?

COLOUR ME UNIMPRESSED

2008-07-26T12:28:12Z

We have no hot water. Our hot water system has imploded in the middle of winter and our landlord is in London. I called a plumber/gasfitter anyway. They said they'd call me back. About six hours ago....is this normal? I don't want to be a bother or anything but did I mention the no hot water?

I just watched a movie with a very promising title, Colour Me Kubrik, with John Malkovich. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? Well, this movie consists of scene upon scene upon neverending scene of an outrageously gay guy walking into bars, restaurants, laundromats, taxis and so on and pretending to be Stanley Kubrik, thereby eliciting favours of a fawning, admiring, financial and/or sexual nature from his unwitting victims. That's THE WHOLE STORY, PEOPLE! Jesus, how do some films get made? You know how hard it is to get a film up and running, you'd think only the very best scripts would actually interest people enough to really bother. So why is nothing GOOD?

I have to choose a world heritage listed site to write three major assignments on this semester. Does anyone know of any good ones? I'm leaning towards either Easter Island, that place with all the giant heads, or Skellig Michael, an early monastery in the south of Ireland.

Oh, and also? Still SPOILER FREE for season four! So proud of myself. So far. And, like, what was Katie Cassidy doing at the premiere of the new X-Files movie? Is she in it or something? I'm stunned that she could still be getting gigs.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

2008-07-14T07:27:44Z

Went and saw the new Errol Morris documentary, Standard Operating Procedure, which is about the Abu Ghraib scandal. It's pretty chilling to see what human beings are capable of in the right circumstances. It's equally chilling to see how willing we all are to collude in sending scapegoats to the gallows to avoid responsibility. No-one above the rank of Staff Sargeant was held accountable for what was clearly a culture created from the top down which not only condoned but actively encouraged this kind of dehumanizing abuse and depravity. And what you come out of the theatre understanding is that these individuals who committed the now notorious acts of abuse, violence and degradation were punished not for the activities themselves, but for being stupid enough to photograph them and not hide their behaviour, thereby publicly embarrassing America, the military and the Bush administration. They were punished for making Bush, and by extension the campaign in Iraq, look bad.

Although this was an extremely enlightening and interesting documentary, it really fell down in its lack of explanatory context. Morris chose to limit the story just to the accounts of those involved, those who were actually there, and these people were sometimes less than stimulating or sympathetic. What struck me most about them was their complete lack of accountability or remorse for their actions. Frequently throughout the interviews they'd describe some horrific act of humiliation and abuse and then conclude their story by saying "yeah, I felt kinda bad for the guy. But it was just how things were done." Oh, OK then. Carry on.

Here's where it could have really delved into something I find especially fascinating: Group psychology and behaviour, particularly among people in unusual circumstances. These kids were trained soldiers taught always to follow orders, the females were no more than 21, they were isolated in a forbidding an unforgiving prison outpost in a strange country with a completely different language and culture, AND they were in the middle of a WAR! None of these things excuses the abandonment of our humanity, although it can go a long way in explaining it. I really would have liked to have seen some psychologists or other types of professionals come on and discuss HOW ordinary people, given certain circumstances, can be persuaded to commit such treacherous acts. It's easy for us to sit at home comfortably and judge, but I think history has demonstrated how frighteningly capable WE ALL are of ugliness and violence, which we then rationalize on the basis that the culture permitted and encouraged it.

Worth seeing, but didn't go deep enough, and most, if not all of those involved clearly still haven't faced their own darkness.

See also Stanford Prisoner Experiment and the Milgram Experiment (which were surprisingly not even mentioned in the film).