The Archibald prize and all that - 2013 winner

The Archibald portrait prize has come around again in 2013 with this year's winner being Del Kathryn Martin's painting of actor, Hugo Weaving. The work is typical of her style, merging contemporary design and style with a more traditional painting technique used in portraiture. Her style is described as vibrant, figurative imagery.

This is the second time that Del Kathryn Martin has won the prize having also been successful in 2008 with a portrait of herself and her two children. It is also the fourth time she has been chosen to be included in the exhibition. The prize is awarded annually to the best portrait, 'preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’. This year the prize money is worth a cool $75,000 which is more than enough together with the prestige and promotional value to garner much interest in the arts community.

Film Review - Zero Dark Thirty

Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty by film director Katherine Bigelow is a fictional account of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, leading eventually to his location and assassination. Parts of the film are based on events as far as known with the rest being scripted-in. The story is centred on the lead character, Maya (Jessica Chastain), a young CIA intelligence analyst who has spent her entire career hunting for bin Laden and not much else. The film follows a chronological sequence of events incorporating actual historical incidents into the fictional narrative (such as the bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad) weaving fact and fiction into the suspense of the hunt. Internal political divisions in the CIA portray effectively the often contrary nature of opinions and information which influence intelligence work and the ease in which critical information can be overlooked. The baseline in intelligence is often merely a matter of gut instinct when reaching a conclusion, a point which Maya forcefully pursues in her quest to find her target. The film garnered controversy for its portrayal of torture of al Qaeda prisoners in the early scenes however in reality, there are far more confronting images in many other films. Zero Dark Thirty was also criticised for the unattributed use of actual recordings of 9/11 victims from the hijacked flights which hit the World Trade Centre Towers. The film has high production values overall, a reasonable pace and effective acting but remains trapped with an unlikely story line relaying on a single character to carry the plot.

Earth Hour 2013

Film Review - Silver Linings Playbook

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence

Silver Linings Playbook is a feel good film within a well defined story telling genre of reaching goals despite adversity. Director and script writer, David O'Russell, well known for various off-beat, black humoured films (Three Kings, Spanking the Monkey) has chosen a topical subject dealing with mental health for this film. The synopsis: Bi-polar Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) returns home from a state mental institution as a result of a plea bargain arrangement. Bradley has lost his house, his job, and his wife, Nikki, as a result of his condition. His mother (Jacki Weaver) and father (Robert DeNiro) struggle to ensure he is stable however Pat is also determined to rebuild his life, remain positive and reunite with his wife, despite the circumstances of their separation. Pat's parents also want him to share their family's obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles football team especially as Pat's father is a bookie with bets on various games. When Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) the sister of his best friends's wife, life becomes more complicated. Tiffany strikes a deal with Pat, that she'll help him reconnect with his wife, but only if he'll help her by entering a dance competition and partnering with her in return. Silver Linings Playbook has received considerable attention in film festivals and 8 Academy Award nominations however in many respects, the film is not much more than Saturday afternoon matinee fare. 

Film Review - Lincoln - Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg's biopic on Abraham Lincoln, with the screenplay by Tony Krushner, offers a limited timeline on the life of the 16th president of the United States  focussing on just the last four months of Lincoln's life. In the short period Lincoln sought to both end the incredibly destructive civil war with the Southern Confederate States whilst gaining the approval of Congress to pass an amendment to the US Constitution to formally outlaw slavery. Much of the film is devoted to the complicated dealing-making and legislative hurdles although the wheeling and dealing amongst the lawmakers provides fascinating and dramatic scenes. Daniel Day-Lewis provides a powerful and convincing interpretation of the very canny, almost folksy, Abraham Lincoln balancing a multitude of relationships, both personal and political, during arguably the greatest challenging period in the history of the United States. The film is largely set in the chambers of Congress and the White House with only occasional visits to the battlefield to meet General Ulysses S Grant and as a result, the story often risks falling into an almost airless atmosphere due to these confined settings.  Some lighter moments are provided when Secretary of State William Seward (David Strathairn) hires a trio of agents (John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson and James Spader) to lobby for votes supporting the Constitutional amendment from possible waverers in Congress - proferring inducements but never bribes. This trio appears to be the precursor of the modern day lobbyist in Washington. On the floor of the House of Representatives, slave abolitionist lawmaker Thaddeus Stevens  (Tommy Lee Jones) thunders away with provocative oratory against fellow lawmakers he deems to have questionable values.

Lincoln as a film has an excellent cast, dramatic script, high production values and provides some insight into this critical period of Lincoln's presidency. There are scenes of overt sentimentality which appear over contrived both for the characters and for the historical period in which the story is set.  

Global warming audit - better or worse ?

Global warming - on track for 40C increase and beyond

With the IPCC's latest assessment due out towards the end of this year (and given some of the leaks of the draft report have been manipulated by a climate change sceptic), the question arises of where the world's environment currently sits and forward projections. Looking through the various aspects of the measurement of climate and geoinformation available the trend of serious climate change appears to be unstoppable with the reality that current generations will also experience the effects, first-hand. 

  
Loss of sea ice in the polar regions: sea ice has fallen to its lowest levels for at least 1400 years which means heat reflecting white ice has been replaced by heat absorbing black ice. The effect of this change is more extreme weather events in the Northern Hemisphere, melting of the higher level permafrost and hence the  release of more carbon into the atmosphere and faster melting of the Greenland ice sheet which affects ocean levels.

Extreme weather increases: Russia experienced extraordinary hot temperatures above 400C in 2010, North America (Canada and the US) had the converse with record snow  and rainfall  and superstorm 'Sandy' demonstrated the impact of more extreme weather events. 2012 and early 2013 have followed similar weather trends The warming in the Arctic is believed now to have caused the polar jet stream to have slowed thus reducing the movement of patterns of weather. In this sense storms can  become locked in place.

Falling food production: Global production of staple food stocks such as wheat, maize, rice and soybeans between 1980 to 2008 which were expected to increase, in fact have fallen 1%. Extreme rainfall and extreme heat are considered the likely culprits.

Rising sea levels faster than expected: the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been losing enough ice each year to raise sea levels by 1.3 millimetres per annum which is increasing each year. The expected sea rise is projected at 2 metres which would render many major coastal urban cities vulnerable to flooding and storm surges.

Greenhouse gas levels continue to rise: half of the  CO2 which is emitted is absorbed by land and oceans but with global warming, the capacity for this absorption is reduced and conversely the risk increases of CO2 releases from both may occur instead. The various climate change models which have been used for forecasting did not include the permafrost melting or methane hydrate's being released from the ocean.   

The reality which now underpins all projections of increases in global temperature is that carbon emissions have actually been rising not reducing so the planet is well on course to be between 50C and 60C hotter by 2100 and will reach 40C many years before that.  As yet however the necessary levels of mandatory steps have not been taken as the imperative for immediate action on a greater scale has not been accepted or is being denied. Surely there are few species on the planet that could do more to render their own home uninhabitable.

Carbon pollution and US coal exports - an unholy connection

Of all the fossil fuels responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, coal remains one of the most prolific, polluting, preferred energy sources despite increased use of renewable energy and the exploitation of gas resources from coal seams in a number of Western countries including the United States. The US, despite reducing its' own direct reliance on coal through natural gas expansion, is instead seeking to increase the export of this fossil fuel to Asia. Of particular interest and public controversy are plans to increase the number of coal export ports along Western seabord of the United States to enable increased exploitation of the Powder River Basin, straddling the states of Wyoming and Montana. Powder River Basin provides 40% of energy in US coal-fired power plants and over 7 milllion tonnes of coal are exported from there to Asia. Three additional ports (Millenium Bulk, Morrow Pacific and Gateway Pacific) are planned for construction which will increase coal exports to 100 million tonnes per annum with an upper target of 135 million tonnes. 

The impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, has been measured as 194 million tonnes of carbon dioxide according to the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh. In effect this would nullify most of the advances made in reducing US energy reliance on carbon-rich fuel by increasing consumption in developing countries. As one hand gives, the other hand takes away.