New Year 2018

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The new year beckons and brings with it the hopes, dreams and aspirations for many people around Australia and world-wide. But will it also be a year of disappointment ? The portents do not appear particularly favourable with a mix of political, economic, military and international situations which leave little reason to be confident.

On the political front particularly international, Trump's America, North Korea, the Brexit process and instability in the Middle East seemingly will continue from 2017 travelling on the same trajectory. Terrorism will remain a central concern as the ISIS/Daesh collapse leaves many foreign fighters considering a return to their countries of origin. 

Economically, there is some level of confidence as the US has continued with year-on-year recovery, Europe is following a similar path with 2.60% of GDP growth in the last quarter of 2017. China remains the largest question with constant adjustments and interventions being made by the Government in Beijing. China's economy however remains relatively opaque.

Military actions will continue in Syria, the Ukraine and Yemen with a number of smaller regional conflicts occuring with insurgent activities in the Philippines and Thailand.  Whether peace returns to South Sudan is a matter of continued speculation.

2018 - a year with more of the same. 

Christmas 2017

Christmas, a time of giving, of reflection and temporarily at least, standing aside from the day-to-day business and work life.

So where does Christmas come from ? Simply it is the Mass of Christ as practised by those of the Christian faith. In its earliest form, this religious communion (or Mass) had to occur after sunset usually at midnight and many of the Orthodox Christian Churches have retained that custom. Over the past century, increasingly other non-Christian societies have adopted the practice of Christmas as a holiday rather than the religious belief.

With the commercial promotion of consumer purchases and retail sales that now dominate the public domain, what is the origin of the giving of presents and gifts ? According to Matthew 2: verses 1-12 of the Christian Bible, three wise men came to the town of Bethlehem in then state of Judea and brought gifts of Frankincense, Gold and Myrrh.  Referred to as Magi (or Magos in Ancient Greek and Magupati in Ancient Persian), this is a title often bestowed on priests or astronomers/astrologers. The three wise men are also often referred to as Kings: Gaspar the King of Sheba, Melchior the King of Arabia and Balthazar, the King of Tarse and Egypt.  Their gifts were symbolic and represent specific meanings within the region - Gold represents kingship, Myrrh is death or mortality and Frankinsense as a symbol of deity.

Wherever you are and whatever your belief, Happy Christmas and as the late Irish comedian, Dave Allen often remarked, 'May your God go with you'.

Sculpture by the Sea 2017 - Impressions over time

Janine McAullay Bott, Great Southern Noongar

Sculpture by the Sea 2017 continues to be a crowd pleaser with large numbers of people from the general public, school groups, special needs groups and overseas tourists, all converging on the walk from Tamarama Beach to Bondi. This year 100 sculptures from 16 different countries including various European nations, the United States, South East Asia and Australia form the core of the exhibition. There were almost 500 submissions from 31 countries vying for inclusion in the line-up so there was a depth of choice available for the panel of judges. 2017 also marks the 21st year of the promotion of this art form and the event continues to measurably grow from strength to strength. Particularly stunning large scale works are located in Marks Park on the headland which also has the pavilion with the marquettes (or miniatures) of all the larger sculptures. All sculptures are for sale however be prepared for some cost for even the marquette's range in price from $3,000 to $40,000.

Sculpture by the Sea runs  from 19 October – 5 November 2017.

Anthony Battaglia, Bird Geometry #1,2 & 3

Cirque du Soleil - Toruk - visual spectacle but where's the story ?

The flying Toruk enters the stage - Cirque du Solei - Toruk

For those used to seeing and being spellbound by Cirque du Soliel's brilliant circus arts, Toruk would seem to be something of an oddity. The acrobatics, juggling and gymnastics are marginal and occasional being replaced by the sheer visual impact of lighting, design, visual projections and a new development, puppetry.

Loosely inspired by James Cameron's film Avatar, the imaginative crew at Cirque du Soleil have created their own version of Pandora complete with the native Na'vi, Viperwolves, Toruk and the Tree of Souls. Roughly a prequel to the Cameron story in Avatar, Toruk concentrates on the Na'vi and the quest of three young men to find magical objects to restore the power of the tribe and the Tree of Souls. Apart from the simplistic monotone narration, there is little else to tell the audience of what is transpiring with marginal characterisation, an almost non existent story and no real central focus.

Sheer spectacle it is and the visual projections are dazzling whether through the creation of a volcanic eruption or the impression of a vast streams of water with a flood. The viewer's sense of dimension , space and shape are genuinely transformed by the quality of the imagery. But apart from this spectacle there is little else and with no live music and a reliance on recorded sound, this is a one dimensional effort by arguably the world's greatest circus group.  

After twenty years - End of Mission for Cassini

After 13 years in orbit around Saturn and 20 years in space, the Cassini Mission has come to an end. Launched on 15 October 1997 as a cooperative project between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, the four year prime mission carried the Huygens probe to Saturn with its tour being extended twice. Amongst many discoveries two key ones were on Saturn's Moons, the global ocean and indication of hydrothermal activity within Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on Titan.

As Cassini's rocket fuel used for adjusting its course was almost exhausted rendering control of the course of  the space craft impossible, the decision was taken by NASA to dispose of the orbiter in Saturn's atmosphere. This ensures that Cassini cannot collide nor contaminate Saturn's moons and affect any future studies of habitability and potential life on those moons. The orbiter will plunge into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15, 2017.

Link to the Cassini website:
Cassini website - NASA 

Dawn at Saturn - from 1.23 million kilometres away (c) NASA JPL

Ship of fools, sea of idiots - the epic fail of established political parties

Ship of fools - Shutterstock 

Poorly considered policies, support for narrow sectional interests, short-termism, limited democratic participation processes and capture by elites - the modern landscape of Australian political parties. It is little wonder that there is widespread disaffection with the wider community for the established political parties of the Liberal, National and Australian Labor Parties in Australia

Across a range of major challenges, the political parties have failed to effectively navigate solutions and responses to significant threats to community well-being and, in some cases, actual survival. A cursory look reveals the scale of failure across significant issues -

• Energy: the National Electricity Market has needed reform for almost a decade both in response to the changing mix of supply (coal-fired versus renewable energy) and the advent of distributed energy generation. Excessive power supply prices, perverse incentives for infamous poles and wires upgrades and an almost oligopoly market have been the result.
• Gas: this resource deserves a special mention. The failure to provide a quarantined level of gas supply to be available for Australian households and businesses by both the Coalition and Labor parties is an epic fail. The Australian community has been left exposed to international price competition for its own resources. 
• Balancing natural resource exploitation with wider environmental and social impacts: the suggested economic benefits of the Adani Carmichael coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin have been widely disputed with the higher risks far outweighing any other consideration. The partial efforts of both the Coalition and Labor Parties to protect the Great Barrier Reef has been hap hazard and inconsistent.
• Excessive over development in urban metropolitan centres: for the major cities of Melbourne and Sydney, property has been allowed to become a speculative business venture rather than a basic need. Over development has been permitted despite the thin veneer of 'planning controls' and 'planning strategies'.
• Failure to prepare the Australian community for climate change: climate change is a reality and there has been inadequate attention paid to the need for preparing the community for the impact of higher temperatures and extreme weather conditions. New environmental building structures and removal of heat traps in urban centres still remains novel rather than practice. A raft of other measures relating to health, water supply and land use remain inadequate.
• Tax reform promised, never delivered with high corporate tax avoidance: The burden of taxation is particularly high for middle wage and salary earners, self employed professionals and middle businesses. Yet the political parties efforts to tackle major corporate tax avoidance has been minimal and only after public information comes to light through non government investigations and scandals.

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) came into being formally in 1908 changing its name to the current title in 1912. Its origin is however much earlier and arose from striking pastoral workers in Queensland in 1891. Initially the party was called the United Labor Party. The core of the ALP and its most powerful segment remains its union base, however unions in Australia only represent 39% of public sector workers and 11% of private sector workers.

The Liberal Party of Australia was formed in October 1944 by the then Leader of the Opposition, Robert Menzies (who belonged to the United Australia Party) and brought together 18 non Labor political parties and organisations. The Liberal Party has been in a coalition with the National Party since 1923.

The National Party  adopted its current title in 1982 but previously was the Australian Country Party since 1922. Its origins came from the Australian Farmers Federal Organisation which had candidates elected in 1920. It remains very much a farmer/grazier organisation in regional areas despite efforts to expand its appeal with the exception of Queensland. In Queensland it is the dominant part of a combined National Liberal Party (LNP).

The three established parties have become structural problems within themselves with internal faction disputes often taking priority and attention. Professional political operatives including generational political families are often now the most likely candidates in preselection for Parliamentary seats with a constant challenge to encourage experienced outsiders to participate. It should be no surprise that the rise of minor parties has been the result and now is increasingly necessary in the current political landscape.

Sydney Film Festival 2017 - Film Review - The Other Side of Hope

Wikstrom (Sakari Kuosmanen) with his staff - The Other Side of Hope

Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki is the master of deadpan drollery and the art of the ridiculous which somehow delivers a finely balanced comedy and no more so than with The Other Side of Hope which he also wrote and produced. The film has an element of absurdism but never falls into being either cynical or overly sentimental while providing a sensitive look at the controversial topic of asylum seekers from the Middle East.

The film's plot essentially has two related stories which intersect providing both the essential drama and the humane comedy. Wikstrom (Sakari Kuosmanen), a travelling shirt salesman decides to cash-in his business after his marriage falls apart and after a winning streak in a local casino, buys a local restaurant complete with its existing staff.  While taking out the garbage one night he runs across Khaled (Sherwan Haji) a young mechanic from Syria who has arrived in Finland almost by chance after stowing aboard a coal ship. Khaled had sought asylum in Finland but having been unsuccessful managed to escape from the refugee reception centre just prior to his deportation back to Syria. Wikstrom offers him a job working in the restaurant as he and the staff look at new themes to entice more patronage. Their efforts at masquerading as a Japanese restaurant serving sushi are one of the more hilarious moments in the film.

This is a pleasant enough film touching on an emotive social issue but probably more of a DVD than cinema experience.

The 2017 Archibald Prize for portrait painting - review

The inner stillness of Eileen Kramer: Andrew Lloyd Greensmith

The perennial social voyeur's exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, the Archibald (or 'Archies' as they are affectionately known) is on again for 2017. Each year this exhibition attracts a wider public audience than is normally the case for art exhibitions at the state gallery due to the subjects of the paintings and their portrayal. Which painters are finalists, whom are the subjects and how are they being presented on canvass attracts more than its fair share of commentary and opinion.

This year, the Trustees of the AGNSW chose  Mitch Cairns portrait of his partner, Agatha Gothe-Snape as the winner of the $100,000 prize money which in the true spirit of the competition attacted criticism and controversy. The overall selection of 43 finalists is nonetheless very solid with a range of excellent portraits painted by Tony Costa, Lucy Culliton, Anh Do, Robert Hannaford, Peter Smeeth, Natasha Walsh, Marc Eetherington, Jun Chen, Nicholas Harding to name a few. The subjects themselves have a broad range of connection to the arts including retired art dealer Ray Hughes, former politician Michael Chaney, TV morning show presenter Lisa Wilkinson, philanthropist Ruper Myer AO, actor and theatre producer John Bell, painter John Olsen AO OBE, Professor Gillian Triggs and many self portraits.

The portrait of Eileen Kramer and its painter is synonymous with the often interesting back stories behind many of the paintings. Eileen Kramer, aged 102, is Australia's oldest working dance choreographer and costumer designer and having spent a lifetime travelling the world in her profession returned to Australia at the age of 99. Her portrait was painted by Andrew Lloyd Greensmith who is a plastic surgeon practising at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

The Archibald, Sulman  and Wynne exhibitions run from 29 July to 22 October 2017.

Sydney Film Festival 2017 - Film Review - I Am Not Your Negro

James Baldwin - I Am Not Your Negro

Raoul Peck's documentary takes a different look at the era of the Civil Rights movement  in the United States and three of its key figures, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr through the eyes of writer, poet, playwright  James Baldwin and his unfinished manuscript, Remember this House. Baldwin knew all three men and had himself returned to the US in 1957 from France where he had been living when the civil rights legislation was being debated in Congress. He later returned to France in 1970 remaining there writing until his death in 1987.

The film itself is anchored in Baldwin's personal reminiscences of the civil rights leaders, his own experiences including archival footage of interviews and his observations and analysis of American history. Baldwin takes a more layered and in-depth examination of race relations in the United States examining in particular the importance of economic standing and poverty as major factor of influence.
The film was produced with the assistance of the Baldwin estate and attracted a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards.

VERDICT
Rating out of 10	7
DVD or download ?	Download
Worth a cinema ticket ?	No
Collectible Yes or No	No

Sydney Film Festival 2017 - Film Review - Madame

(Lto R) Rossy de Palma and Toni Collete  - Madame

Toni Collete fans will no doubt enjoy this comedy-drama film directed by Amanda Sthers. Set in Paris, an American couple Anne, (Toni Collette) and Bob (Harvey Keitel) host a dinner party inviting ten of their friends. When their writer son Bob, unexpectedly arrives, Anne is disarray as it means there will be 13 people at the table and being superstitious, she invites her maid, Maria, to attend in the guise of being a wealthy Spanish friend . Bob however mischievously interferes in order to disrupt their plans and create a potential story for his writing. He sets up a family friend and antique dealer, David, with Maria on the basis that she is a woman of wealth setting the scene for a love affair between the two. This is not a fairy-tale with a happy ending however and it all falls apart when Maria's true identity is revealed.

This is a dark comedy and drama story with elements of emotional sleeve tugging but nonetheless, its easy viewing. Toni Collete and Harvey Keitel are well cast as Anne and Bob however the real star is Rossy de Palma. Its also a film for those who also love Paris.