Ayn Rand? You've been pwned

Helen Mirren - the real reason young people have low self-esteem

I am never going to be as cool as Helen Mirren. Or look that good in a bikini when I grow up. But at least she makes me laugh:

Interviewer: Why did you choose to star in the soft porn cult classic Caligula, in which you danced in a cone bra?
Helen Mirren: It was an irresistible mix of art and genitals.

Guy Rundle's finest hour (and ours too maybe)

Guy's article for Crikey today is the most marvellous and moving summation of what just happened in America than anything else in the incredibly vast pool of marvellous and moving material that is out there. Read it all the way, you'll thank me. And then I will stop writing about Obama. Maybe with the exception of something on inauguration day..

Rundle08: Tears and laughter. This is what Obama means

From Washington DC, US correspondent Guy Rundle writes:

These are the days of tears and laughter. Up mid-afternoon after filing for UK media at 7am, light pushing past the curtains. After the result was declared last night and Barack Obama gave his speech, we all headed down to the White House, where a street party had been brewing since McCain had commenced his concession speech. The city which had given Obama a 93% to 7% victory was going wild. Along the broad avenues -- spokes in a wheel, an expression of the enlightenment worship of the pure form of the circle, written down in town planning -- people were hanging out of cars shooting, sounding their horns. Cops stood at each intersection, inscrutable.

People hugged each other spontaneously in the street, shook hands, slapped palms, black and white and brown and yellow. Everyone was gentle with each other, everyone was kind. Even the occasional disconsolate Republican -- you could see them , the young men and women who work at thinktanks, the boys in blue suits and red ties, the girls in black dresses and pearls, walking, no marching, hand-in-hand, eyes fixed ahead, desperate for a cab to levitate them out of this hell-hole.

If they had any sense they've already put together the survival kit -- the stack of DVDs, a half dozen big books you wanted to read, the single malt and the smooth merlot, a few lines of china white, maybe a holiday in some awful all-in resort at Hilton Head. Pull the cable out the back of the TV, smack the laptop sharply against the wall, and swim into the embracing waters of the timeless imaginary. Emerge a week or two later when President-elect Obama -- PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA! -- has already announced his core staff, outlined a bunch of policies, set the course for the next year. A fortnight or so of chasing the dragon and Lord of the Rings and World of Warcraft, and you can emerge at least partially restored to face at least the next four years ahead.

God knows the left has done it often enough.

Outside the White House last night there were the young, there were old black women, in pan-Africa scarves and Sunday-best hats dancing a war-jig, there were old hippies, there were gay couples holding each other singing the Star Spangled Banner, there were drums and songs, and a sign hung on the wire fence with a photo of the Obamas' daughters, saying "Mali and Sasha, welcome home" -- and think about that for a while and what it means.

At 2am I ran into Alex Kelly, an old comrade I'd first met at S11, that moment in 2000 when Melbourne rose up and challenged the World Economic Forum, the most-effective -- Seattle included -- challenge to these series of slick elite meetings to date in the anti-globalisation movement. S11 -- September 11th 2000 -- was swallowed in history by what happened a year later.

But it felt like a direct line from there to here. As the anti-globalisation movement had, as it always would, fallen apart, I had gone West to London, and Alex had gone north and taken up the harder yards of working in, with, at the frontier of, indigenous Australia, out of, I think, a sense of absolute responsibility to battles close to home, battles most of us simply couldn't hack.

Seeing her there felt like the completion of a passage, through dangerous waters, over a decade, and I hugged her tight enough to break her ribcage. It was the relief of possibility, of renewed hope.

On TV, in the streets, people kept breaking into tears. Colin Powell, on a TV interview could barely continue, Jack Garretty an old newsman on CNN who lost his wife eight weeks ago, had to turn his face sideways and spit out a conclusion to his segment before he fell apart. Condoleezza Rice teared up. Even Dubya in a White House lawn speech seemed struck by the moment.

I lost it this morning, after filing the last article and radio interview, and staggering down to the lobby for a coffee and some ice. DeShaya, a young black woman who'd been on the desk when I'd checked in, was on there for the graveyard shift. We'd traded insults over my routinely screwed up reservation -- this is the US after all -- and then bitched together about the inadequacies of the booking company. She was at the end of her 12-hour shift because thats how you work in Bush's America -- and I was at the end of it all, and mutually wreathed in exhaustion and relief, we just held hands and wept for a minute or so, in happiness, in relief, in the victory of something larger than both of us, that contained both of us.

But I wouldn't mention it if it were unusual. All over the city, the Rome of the twentieth century, the Capitol monument and the Dome on the horizon wherever you look, people were doing the same.

Tears and smiles, in the street, in the Starbucks, in the metro station. No-one is ashamed of their emotions, of this release, of this vulnerability to others in a city where, othertimes and even now, you would want to watch your back.

Let's be clear about what this victory means, and why it means so much. It is not simply the victory of a black man as President. A Colin Powell becoming the new Republican Eisenhower of 2008 would not arouse a hundredth of this enthusiasm. Nor is it a victory of the left. A Dennis Kucinich, by some bizarre cosmic accident, becoming President would not arouse this level of passion.

What makes it powerful is that it is a victory of the global left in the incarnation of a black American, that it is a double blow to power and skin-privilege. Will President Obama be a programmatically radical leader? Of course not. But will he be a shivering neurotic Jesus-freak sycophant like Tony Blair? No, equally.

His achievement before anything has occurred is this: that every vector of power -- money, race, media -- has been defeated in the US, the declining but still regnant capitol of the world. That what won was the idea of wisdom, judgement, intelligence, prudence and audacity, conservatism and radicalism, a measuring up to the demands of the world. That, as opposed to past Democratic campaigns, this was not a party machine insider -- a Tennessee grandee or a billionairess's husband -- presenting themselves as the least-worst option.

It was someone who, by his own account, had come through the world of the radical left, of radical black action, to the realisation that any change in America had to come not against its traditions, but within them, and who therefore drew on the strengths of every residual radical and progressive notion of this one-time revolutionary society. It was an achievement, but it was also a channelling in to a deeper moment of historical shift.

In the USA this has been greeted, even by conservatives, as a historic transcendent moment. Why? I am reminded of the Jorge Luis Borges essay about Buenos Aires during 1940, when it looked like the Nazis -- who had a lot of support in Argentina out of hatred of British imperialism – would win. Borges, a resolute anti-Nazi, was visited by an Axis supporter.

"France has fallen," he said, "nothing can stop them now!" And then Borges notes:"I realised he was as terrified as I was".

In other words -- and am I not breaking Godwin's law -- there are moments in politics when, on one side, no-one really wants to win. That was the curse of the McCain campaign. Deep down they knew that McCain's moment was 2000, and that it had passes. But they kept going, against a historical moment which, deep deep down, most of them -- and that may well include John McCain himself -- wanted to happen, and, deep deep down, did not want to stand in the way of.

For those of us who committed ourselves to the left, whatever that means, these are great days not because of what Obama will do, but because of what he will not do -- because he will normalise progressive, moderate, multilateral, modernised politics in the US and in the western world, and that is the context in which we will work.

If you want to see some graciousness in that moment, read (sections of) the US conservative press. If you want to read bitterness and incomprehension about it, read Albrechtsen and Sheridan in The Oz today.

For the rest of us it is tears and laughter, laughter and tears. For all the people I've marched with, argued with, whatever, this is a moment. I have no compunction at all about feeling part of this in however distant a manner. For the right, globally, you will have to reinvent yourselves. You are the Whigs in the 1850s. You are about to cease to exist.

Tears and laughter and laughter and tears.

Election prediction - *fingers crossed*

Even more Pol-LOLs

Ok, this is the last lot - just in case this is the last of Sarah Palin both an appealing concept though one in which the LOLs are harder to come by. And we'll see much less Tina Fey. Vote, then wait, then celebrate!

Hope for Change

It's almost time for the US election. I'm nervous as all hell - more than is possibly reasonable given I'm not a US citizen and don't have any particular bond with the US of A. Still, in the spirit of hope and ROFLing I present my last selection of campaign LOLs from Pundit Kitchen. You should do the same!

For a good cause

This Saturday I'll be volunteering at the Sydney Food and Wine Fair. It's at Hyde Park from noon to 5pm - get there either very early or very late if you do not care to queue and coupon purchases go to the very worthy AIDS Trust of Australia. The restaurants offering up grub are some of the nicest and fanciest in Sydney including Cafe Sydney, Quay and Guillaume at Bennelong. And if you need more incentive, here's a review of the fair in 2006 with scrumptious pictures.

It's obviously genetic

My little brother will this weekend be doing the 2008 MS bike ride from Wollongong to Sydney. It's a 90km ride. I think that sounds like quite a long way. He and his best friend will be doing the ride together treating it as a pedalling pub crawl. There was even talk of next year doing it on a tandem bicycle.

Love it. Wish I'd thought of it first.

New methods of campaigning

The latest American election has seen some new and super innovative ways of candidates communicating with supporters (like Barack on Twitter) and the public showing their support.

My favourite development is Yes We Carve - making Halloween 'Barack O'Lantern's'. Too too good.

Surprising

Apparently the Oporto vegie burger sans mayo is vegan. I am surprised. Also - 3am drunken snacking here I come!

Mixed metaphors in Austria: Jörg's demise

There is clearly something lost in translation in this comment on Jörg Haider's death and the subsequent visits in preparation for the service:

'"We wanted the kids to feel the enormity of the occasion. After all, he is our Lady Di and this is our 9/11,"says Anton Krem, 45.'

Eh?

The truth is apparently also insulting:

'In the Pumpe pub on Benediktiner Platz in Klagenfurt, drinkers sit around whispering about how Haider died. The figure "142" is repeated often. That is the speed (in kilometres an hour) at which he was driving when he crashed his VW Phaeton on Saturday night. The news has by now filtered down that he was drunk at the wheel.

"Some say he was criminal because he was drunk, but that's an insult," says Christa, a 17-year-old who was among the country's new young voters (the voting age is 16), who gave her support to Haider's BZO in elections two weeks ago. "He did so much for everyone."

And therefore couldn't be drunk? Teutonic logic has obviously not extended into Austria.

Also - there seems to be some inevitable rule that the more conservative a politician is the more likely he is to die returning from a gay bar under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I'm just sayin'...

More politics

Judge people by the company they keep?

Goths for Obama FTW!

LOL Summaries of complex political issues

Snowed under with uni and travel packing but still finding time to procrastinate/contemplate the state of politics through LOLs. Its amazing how a well captioned picture can stand in for such complex political moments.

The Joe the plumber saga (nb Joe the 'uncommitted voter' is also a registered member of the Republican party):

On the idea that black people who vote for Obama are voting purely on racial lines:

And those slurs? Well...

Over the shoulder bazoonga holders

As someone with what some refer to as a 'generous pair' my sympathy was captured by the uplift bras project. The programs accepts donations of used or unwanted bras and sends them to Pacific Island countries where a bra might cost as much as a weeks wages and are quite important for women to feel comfortable in Western clothes in work environments or more secure working on farms etc.

I have some spares from the days that I still believed I could squeeze into a D Cup (oh, those were the days) and I'm collecting from my mother and her friends and will send them off in a few weeks. So c'mon ladies and drag queens - pitch in!

Our reward is free license to ogle Gisele Bunchen's rack. For research purposes obviously.

A change in course

I have been engaging in this:

Well, that's not entirely true. I'm not really blogging it but I am experiencing a temporary bout of veganness.

Undoubtably there will be some sniggers from those who have seen me inhale steak tartare before, but nevertheless.

No idea where thisvegan desire has come from but it is a good thing: for the planet, for my health and probably for my lovely le creuset pots who have been getting a little bored of the routine of late. They're ever so surprised to see so many lentils now.

Accurate representations of the VP debates

President Obama

I'm starting to actually believe in an Obama win.
I feel like a political groupie - I'll be taking Election day off work, be down the pub and glued to every vote. And I'm looking forward to election day more than I thought possible for an election in another country.

In the meantime, this is my favourite picture of the campaign. It's getting a lot of use over at Pundit Kitchen but I think it deserves a moment of its own.

Roos shall rue the day

Something of Miranda Devine's last article/incoherent rant about leftist scum reminds me of my childhood. Her ranting about how terribly vile kangaroo meat is and how, no matter what Ross Garnaut says she will not eat it reminds me of my 5 year old self confronted with lambchops and a stern mother. Listen to her pretty much quoting me directly: 'I don't want to eat kangaroo. Ever. It's dark, chewy, gamey and smelly'.

Note also that on past diatribes against the 'anti-meat culture' of greenies Miranda has owned up that she doesn't really like or eat meat at all suggesting her arguments against roo would apply equally to other forms of less Garnaut endorsed flesh.

As for her idea that 'Beef and lamb will be reserved only for the very wealthy in the brave new future [Garnault] envisages' - I think this is currently already the case - meat eaters without exorbitant budgets are eating cheaper meats (turkey and roo) and cheaper cuts of good meats (chuck, blade). Even more sensible meat eaters are realising that consuming huge chunks of flesh is not an everyday necessity but that there are many marvellous meals to be made based on vegetables, grains, nuts, fish, whatever.

For those that do like roo though, this is marvellous:

Rare roo with balsamic

Heat olive oil or butter in a pan until really hot. Place roo fillets (not steak, fillets) in pan and sear for 1 to maximum 2 minutes per side. Salt and pepper. Remove and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. After roo is out of the pan add in a good sploosh of balsamic vinegar and thinly sliced shallots (white & green), fry for a minute or so and then pour over the meat to serve.

Serve with red wine (shiraz) and a copy of the Communist Manifesto.

Notes from a bureaucracy

Highlights from yesterday's work meeting:

- Discussion about whether PD for new tech position was for 'Senior nerds' or 'Uber nerds'

- Trying to find correct metaphor for our organisation and how it relates to climate change. A choice between tug boat to Titanic, tug boat for Queen Mary or tug boat to the Love Boat.

- Discussions about 'dewatered cake'. Even less pleasant than you might imagine.

Profanity filter fail

My work clearly has an issue with macrobiotic vegan lunch products. No Iku.com.au for me.

Clearly another part of the Man's conspiracy...

A pictorial representation of Torts

If I was an academic I would help my students remember particularly important points using Lolcat memory aids. Like this:




Liability in tort:
Duty of care? But of course - it are a kitteh after all.
Breach of duty? Clearly, reasonably forseeable that kitteh will require boxhab after this episode. And so it goes. It is possibly lucky that I am a desk monkey rather than an academic.

Lolling for change

In which I once more advocate the political potential of LolCats.

Who could vote for that gun-hungry lady when confronted by these fuzzy faces?

I also notice that Pundit Kitchen is very consistently Lolling in support of young Barak. The youth have spoken!

Neo-con-logism

This is possibly no longer appropriate given the state of the Palin offspring of the same name:

Bristol fashion
PRONUNCIATION:(BRIS-tl FASH-uhn)
MEANING:adjective: In good order.
ETYMOLOGY:We know the term is coined after Bristol, England, but we are not so certain why. Some believe the term alludes to the prosperity of the city from its flourishing shipping business. Others claim that the term arose as a result of the very high tidal range of the port of Bristol: at low tides ships moored here would go aground and if everything on the ship was not stowed away properly, chaos would result. The term is often used to describe boats and typically used in the phrase "shipshape and Bristol fashion".

Oh the sharp, shooting irony. Or is that the terror that they may fall for SP? *shudders*

Pouty

Of late things have been somewhat 'trying' in that Stella Gibbons kind of a way. Nothing to do about it but soldier on, eat truffles as often as possible and perhaps affect a little pout. Much as my man Karl does.



There. That's better.

Special for your subaltern friend at the Bad Spelling Cafe

The rudest game in the world

I recently shared with dear friends bads33d and scarlet the best game in the world. It requires no special equipment other than a reasonable vocabulary and a dirty mind. It's called 'I'd like to verb your noun'. The challenge being to generate a sentence that follows the format of "I'd like to your " that does not sound like a filthy double entendre. Try it, it's harder than you think.

And finally this place has the official shirt:

Alternate option: Fail part 2

Same website. Different suggestion fail.

Pushing it.

I love that Amazon learns what I like through my wish lists and purchases. It's even quite intellectually flattering when it sends you a little email to note that you might enjoy the latest book of obscure European philosophy that was just released.

Sometimes the learning is quirky and funny, as with the well known sexuality detection skills of TIVO.

Having recently tried an online nutrition program (tragic I know) I'm starting to wonder what it thinks of me. I do drink a lot of green tea but the following recommendation seems a bit of a stretch:

Meet Matt. He's a fun-ghi

The King Oyster mushrooms that have been appearing in fruit shops across town. They're quite regal indeed but what does one do with them?

Lost in translation

Prime ministerial commentary on the Georgian conflict:

Medvedev branded Saakashvili a "lunatic" as he outlined tough terms to the French leader, in effect demanding Georgian capitulation to vastly superior Russian forces.
"The difference between lunatics and other people is that when they smell blood it is very difficult to stop them," Medvedev said. "So you have to use surgery."

Is that a threat?

Confusing.

A fork in the road

It appears that some of my favourite bloggers like qp and ms fits are dropping out, or at least not dropping in as much as they once did. Seems to me the way to keep interest in keeping on would be to decide on some kind of core thematic and focus on that, so I wonder, what is it to be?

Options are:

Food Upside: I'm obsessed with eating. Downside: my food photos are terrible.

Politics Upside: lots of interest in it. Downside: tendency to get ranty. Really really ranty.

Pictures Upside: relatively little effort. Downside: I work in an office so would generally be limited to the bus ride in and pictures of rude words on my calculator.

Cartoons Upside: would be hilarious. Downside: I can't draw.

Personal reflections Upside: ego stoking. Downside: my personal and emotional life would make for rather dull reading.

Diary of sexual adventures Upside: kooky and risque. Downside: would possibly not meet with the approval of my SO.

Something new and interesting Upside: I would be teh cool. Downside: Can't think of anything.

Oh dear, it's all quite dire! Kind gods of the internets, please guide me safely through your tubes..

Dedication

Oh Mi Goreng you saviour of foods. I salute you. With a fried egg and some bok choy you are an almost rounded meal. Cooked quickly in the middle of the night you give me powers to resist late night drunken pizza indulgence. When overseas, you taste like home.

And I salute the forward thinkning young man I saw in the Market City IGA buying you by the box. Those are serious snacking preparations. Respect.

Cooking school for lawyers

Back studying of an evening and most disappointed to hear that there will be no tortes in torts. What happened to the much lauded interdisciplinarity?

On the list

It's frustrating being an eco-kid and trying to live ethically when others who one might think would be on the same side do not. The following people will be reported to Captain Planet and the Planeteers who will no doubt ensure they come to a sticky end:

* People who buy cage eggs when they can afford free range. Very mean. If you want to torment chickens do it in person.
* People who take plastic bags for a single item. Especially if that item is a newspaper. Turtles hate you.
* People who do not put bells on their cats, especially if they let them out at night. Stupid.
* People who don't recycle, especially when the recyc bin is less than a metre from the regular bin. Too lazy to be true.
* People who drive for trips that are less than 1km and do not involve carrying pianos or whitegoods.
* People who drive to work by themselves in a car every day when they could take public transport and then arrive at the office to complain about the traffic, the price of petrol and air quality. Aaaaaargh!

Ambrosia

I have long asserted (most often drunkenly) that not only dumpling the perfect food, but that the genius of stuffing something in something else and serving with some kind of sauce was evidenced by the fact that almost all cultures has their own version of the 'dumpling'. We have dumplings and gyoza and ravioli and so on. I have also been known to argue for quenelles as a form of dumpling. And finally, with the wonder of Wiki, I have some proof - here.

Next stop - proving my 'everything has 3 layers' theory...

JC is down wit u

More hilarity from Rh Von Lux.

SMS from Pope Benedict XVI to pilgrims for WYD this morning:

'Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI'

Should have been:
'Yo mofo, God & his peeps xpect much frm u cos u has w/i u Dad's gift++:
Spirit of G.sus kthx B16 :)'

Lyrical stormings of the Bastille

R Von Lux's take on the lyrics of the Marseilleise:

Leader of the resistance: "They come right here among us to slaughter our sons and wives!"

*whispered aside from Aide*

*Leader covers microphone with hand, whispers* "We have daughters? Merde/who knew."

The best LOL ever. EVER.

Friday night @ Onde

A Friday night dinner with friends and this:


Onde's rather delightful duck confit with poached apple segments and walnuts. A charming combination with the duck done so it was perfectly tender and dripping off the bone whilst retaining it's moist sweetness. Putting the duck on the salad had the rather nice boon that the dressing was essentially duck juice - always a fan of the old French tradition of dressing salads with meat juices.

With a too busy schedule and a need to have at least a semblance of a life outside of university and work, these Friday night dinners have become rather the highlight of my week. And to have a few passable bottles of shiraz and cheerfully passionate discussions about the future of state politics, the actions of St Kevin of Canberra and the like? Divine.

Victorian Clouds

For bads33d who occasionally pines for Southern shores.

Meilleur en France

I very much enjoyed the film Waitress. It's a little kooky, has a charming and witty script and involves much cooking. I do however think that the Americanness of the cuisine was somewhat of a dissapointment.

Here's how I imagine the pies would have looked if the movie was French:

The 'Weekend in Sardinia' pie:

Amaretti crust filled with creme brulee and topped with blood orange marmalade glaze and honey poached mandarin segments.

The 'Winter evening in Melbourne' pie:

Sweetened shortcrust pastry crust filled with cinnamon poached pears and caramelised pecans. Served with clotted cream.

The 'Broken heart' pie:

Hazelnut meal pastry crust filled with frangipane studded with red currants, wild strawberries and raspberries topped with minted sugar crystals.

The 'Hot and heavy kissing' pie:

Chilli cocoa pastry crust lined with dark coverture chocolate filled with marbled white and dark chocolate mousse topped with chocolate dipped sweet basil leaves.

I would serve these all with either a strong cup of Earl Grey tea with a slice of lemon or, if you preferred, a cup of strong black coffee - halfway between an espresso and a long black.

The hardest job on earth

Obviously, as we are told so frequently, being a mother is the hardest job on earth. But there are some others that might just come close for those who are not quite ready for the full challenge:

* Mossad/PLO double agent
* Zimbabwean Bank Manager
* President of Italy
* Columbian Soccer player
* UN weapons inspector
* Liberal Party leader (federal)
* Liberal Party leader (NSW)

The things you learn when you fly

From the VirginBlue website:

The only item that can occupy a seat (apart from a Guest of course) is a cello. To book an extra seat for your cello please call the Guest Contact Centre.

I am utterly charmed by this and almost tempted to take up an instrument myself...

Cloudsley : Look up

Sydney has had the rockingist clouds of late. Enjoy:

Enterfence

WTF?

"Last week the Arizona-based company Taser International unveiled a new device that combines the Taser with an MP3 player, saying the technology affords people a less cumbersome way to protect themselves while on the move."

It is in America, so I am tempted to say "only in America.." but I'm not so sure that's going to hold. Gosh knows - one of these might help foil a terrorist attack/un-Australian activity of some kind.

I want a precision rifle built into my mobile phone. And also some capsicum spray in my laptop.

Then I'll feel really safe.

Voting with cuteness

Politics has changed. Srsly.

The way people engage with politics has changed. Srsly.

Do you think that the Ancient Greeks/forefathers in America or whomever you want to credit with our current democratic system envisaged a world in which a global communication technology could be used by a "fan" of a politician to offer kitten-shaped condolences after she lost one of the democratic caucus preselections?

I actually, rather in spite of myself I confess, think this might be a step in the right direction.

There ain't no rainbow in the baggy whites

The Indian cricket team are accusing the Australian team of being hypocrites and cry babies for complaining about racist sledging because the Aussies are apparently known for doing it themselves. Upon which in the past the Indian team have complained.

The Australian team are outraged at the racial sledging of one of their players. Though in the past they have downplayed the comments they have delivered.

Cricket fans have been appalled with the Indian teams behaviour. Never mind that they have their own variety of borderline racist chants and epithets.

And the United Indian Association of Australia argues that "monkey" is not a derogatory term because one of the major Hindu gods is a monkey.

also:

The Japanese are accusing Australia of racism in the recent anti-whaling campaigns. Interesting this accusation didn't come under the Howard Government really. The Japanese record on these matters not being blemish free of course.

NEWSFLASH:

Shouting loudly and pointing at someone elses racism doesn't work so well if your credibility is quite low on these matters. Remember JWH? I thought so. You're all a bunch of silly monkeys. F'real.