The week that was

Not sure that I am up to resuming my daily blogging routine just yet - I still have a large backlog of work that I started making progress on last week, and the number of books that I haven't started or finished reading  from the last couple of years of visits to the Lifeline bookfest (and gifts from my family) is just ridiculous.

Anyhow, the week that was deserves some comment:

The sad:   Robin Williams, of course.  I liked him most for his spontaneous work, whether that be from (early) Mork & Mindy, or virtually any chat show or television interview he did.  But as a movie star - well, I have to say I was never entirely swept away by any role or movie he did.  He could be competent as an actor, but he was one of those people who had such a distinctive persona in one field that I could never quite shake it out of my mind when watching him in another.  (For Australian readers - it's a bit like watching John Doyle trying to be himself after years of identifying his voice as Rampaging Roy Slaven.)  But apart from that, I just didn't care much for the type of material he generally went for in movies.

That said, I always had the impression that he was a very empathetic man, and generous.   It's rather incredible that a couple of right wing boneheads in the US could make politically tinged comments about his death, given his long support of American soldiers, which was something I had forgotten about until this week.  The Guardian listed some of this other notable charity work and advocacy.  The upset you could see in many show biz personalities talking about his death indicates he was genuinely liked and admired. 

And one other point:  my frequent visitor Homer - shame on you for taking up the "suicide is cowardice" line on your blog.  As many, many people have said this week, it's not as if the depressed are thinking straight when they only see a tunnel of blackness ahead of them; in fact, they can think they are doing not just themselves, but their family, a favour by exiting now.

As for the other Hollywood death this week - well, if you had asked me, I would have guessed that Lauren Bacall had already died, but she was very entertaining in the role of Cranky Ageing Glamour Star Who Regrets the Passing of Old Hollywood.  From The Guardian:

In old age, Bacall raged against what she saw as the mediocrity of contemporary Hollywood, as represented by everything from the career of Tom Cruise to the Twilight movies that her granddaughter dragged her to see. “She said it was the greatest vampire film ever made,” Bacall recalled. “After the film was over, I wanted to smack her across the head with my shoe.” 

The Good:  The Brisbane Exhibition visit this year calls for my (almost annual) duck in a cage photo:

(He/she was already standing like that before I approached the cage, honest.)   And the type of carnival entertainment that I seek to highlight this year is the high dive team that climb up a ridiculously flimsy looking tower:

and sometimes descend from it while in flames:

Don't ask me why - there must be easier ways of making a living - but entertainment can take many forms.

As usual, I continue to be impressed when I see immigrants at the Show - this year I noticed some Muslim families, and given the extremely bad PR their religion is currently, deservedly, suffering, I am encouraged that attendance at this rather old fashioned, very Western, form of entertainment is at least some indication of assimilation.

As for Guardians of the Galaxy:  yes, I agree with the critics' consensus - it's a terrifically entertaining film.  I liked pretty much everything most reviews liked - an unoriginal type of story (just how often since Lord of the Rings have we seen the dangerous, quasi mystical object with incredible destructive power?)  but which is nonetheless very well scripted and funny; characters that have charm and wit; a somewhat retro  but gloriously colourful and vivid visual look; and enough plot leads at the end to pique interest in a second instalment.   

As usual with many films of its genre now, some of the effects laden scenes (especially of space battle) are too busy for their own good, but it's a small reservation on a film that has its heart in the right place.

The bad:    radical Islam continues to disturb everyone, but I did notice the increased effort Saudis are making to fight it (well, not that they are willing to put their actual soldiers in harm's way - in fact, when did we last hear of that country actually putting its own lives at risk instead of paying other countries to do it for them?)   From the New York Times:

Increasingly worried about the spread of Islamist militant extremism reaching its own doorstep, Saudi Arabia donated $100 million to a fledgling United Nations counterterrorism agency on Wednesday and expressed hope that such an infusion — 10 times what the Saudis gave to help create the agency three years ago — would strengthen its abilities and set an example for other donor countries.

The money was the second big contribution by Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in the past few months, largely in response to crises caused by the ascent of radical Sunni Islamist militancy in the Middle East. On July 1, Saudi Arabia provided $500 million to United Nations humanitarian relief efforts in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of people have been uprooted by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a marauding force that many counterterrorism experts now regard as a leading threat.

With its vast trove of petroleum wealth, Saudi Arabia’s Sunni monarchy has also provided grants and loans worth more than $1 billion to help strengthen Lebanon’s armed forces, which have recently battled ISIS fighters on the Syria-Lebanon border. The Saudis are also huge financial underwriters of Egypt’s new anti-Islamist government and have been somewhat silent about Israel’s war against Islamist militants in Gaza. 

Puts fears of a "clash of civilisations" somewhat back into perspective, doesn't it?   But nonetheless, I am happy to see our government giving our own Islamic ratbags a hard time.

Politics, politics:    The government continues to have no idea how to convince the public that a Budget that pleases no one actually deserves to be passed.    There is some interest in years to come as to who to blame for its concept - haven't I read before that it was genuinely the work of Abbott? - yet I'd be willing to bet there will be a memoir and ABC interview fuelled circle of finger pointing in the future.

By the way, Insiders was especially entertaining yesterday.  

The mad:   I see Catallaxy is actually accelerating its descent into unfathomable, eccentric, unpleasant and ideologically driven nonsense of all kinds, with recent contributions including Sinclair Davidson ("What?  'Ape' can be a racist insult? - well I never") saying that the Abbott proposed constitutional recognition of aborigines is racist and akin to apartheid*; and Steve Kates, who I think any prospective economics student with sense would recognise as an advertisement against studying at RMIT, telling us this morning that he keeps an open mind on the question of whether water really is made up of hydrogen and oxygen.  That's the scientific thing to do, apparently.



*  I'd be particularly pleased with a constitutional amendment if it meant there could  be a reduction in the number of meaningless acknowledgements of original owners and custodians of land at the start of meetings.

Also on aboriginal issues - it appears beyond doubt that Noel Pearson, in private, carries on as an offensive, swearing attack dog against anyone - politician or journalist - he perceives as standing in the way of his ideas for aboriginal betterment.  Another great choice by Abbott for a special adviser, hey?   Does he not believe in climate change too, as that seems to be the qualification for Abbott's other advisers?.   (Actually, I see that last year he was supporting Abbott's Direct Action plan, so he's half way to being a non believer, it would seem...)