Flicks...

Shrek the Third **
A few good laughs, but seemed to drag a little in places, and recycled some of the earlier jokes. (No. 2 is still my favourite).

Pirates of the Carribaen: At Worlds End **
Disappointing, it just seemed done.

Avenue Montaigne (Fauteuils d'orchestre) [Orchestra Seats] ****
A warm and very human film. In some ways, it reminded me of Amelie.

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Rock 'n Roll disasters

Inspired by this article here's my top and bottom gig.

Top
Radiohead 1998, (2004 not too far behind); and tie U2, (1998 - there was something very special about that night) and Sigur Ros (Brixton, London, 2005 - it was a combination of the venue, and the music).

Honorable Mention: U2, 2005 Madison Square Garden.

Bottom:
Bon Jovi, Eastern Creek, 1995 [touring These Days].
I was given the tickets for my 18th birthday, the concert was held just after the HSC, not much went right really - it was a horrible humid and hot day, in which we lined up for ages, and you could smell, then see, the evening storm approach, it started sprinkling, and 5 minutes later it was hailing. No shelter and not much fun. Perhaps it says something that there is not much that I remember about the concert.

[Edited: corrected date]

A little bit more reading…

Stanley Fish, from the New York Times, writes an interesting article about the three recent books by Dawkins, Harris, and Htichens.

Facebook..

I recently joined – here’s an interesting piece (also from the NYT, but published in the SMH here) on Facebook. [Comments on the NYT article are here]

Australia's Cultural Diasporia

While in Canberra recently, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which at the moment is housing Australia's Cultural Diasporia, an exhibition of photo’s by Nathalie Latham. The exhibition features photographs of people involved in the Arts, who have left Australia. I found it eye-opening that a large number of Australians who in essence leave Australia for opportunities, collegiality and perhaps recognition; but not many have have definite plans to return.

“Her portraits therefore have a double edge, being both celebratory pictures of courageous Australians going out there into the unknown, and melancholic pictures of loss, of the loss of another generation of young Australian artistic talent drawn to the lure of elsewhere.” Geoffrey Batchen

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The Moral Poverty of the West

Its almost two years since "Live 8" and it seems that nothing has changed.

To rise from the floor of poverty the victims need not only grand gestures, but a constant, willing hand that does not withdraw when politics intrudes.

See also: The G8 has forgotten its African pledge.

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Fascinating article from the Herald today, suggesting that the The biggest problem facing the world is women's rights