Archive for October, 2005
Tuesday, October 25th, 2005
It’s not every day you go to a high school reunion. Last time for me was in 1990 for the 25th anniversary of Central Southland College, Winton, New Zealand. This time it was the same school celebrating 40 years. I started in the third form as a twelve year old back in 1975, ten years on from the start.
It’s interesting to see who turns up to this kind of do. First thing I noticed was the number of people who were at school in the five years before me. There were six people from 3H, my original form class at the reunion. The class stayed together for all core subjects for two years and then as a maths class in the fifth form. Somehow there was a high percentage of that group still there in the seventh form. So it was good to get together again and compare notes on the range of educational experiences we shared.
Walking around the buildings brought back many many memories. But there wasn’t really time to experience the memories, let alone process them.
I wasn’t there for the dinner and dance, or for the Sunday morning school assembly. But I felt there were some things missing for me, apart from absent friends. It would have been great to connect with the talent as it had developed.
So what would make the fiftieth anniversary in 2015 a stand-out event for me? A reunion of the avant-garde Synthesisers? Or perhaps a reunion of performers from the stage musicals. Maybe I should volunteer for the organising committee. I’ll see where we’re living before making too many suggestions…
In the meantime, if you’re reading this and you attended Central Southland College, make sure you sign up at www.oldfriends.co.nz
Posted in Worth Reading | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 25th, 2005
Well it has finally actually happened. Apple has pulled off the opening of its Australian iStore. If you don’t believe me check out the web site. Prices are reasonable - $1.69 a song, $3.39 a music video, $5.07 an EP, and $16.99 a full album.
The iTunes Store runs from the iTunes software, not from the internet like HMV and Sanity. It took me a while to work out how to change the settings from USA to Australia. I tried the “Account” feature but found no joy there. Finally I found the “Choose Country” option down the bottom of the page. And there it was - Australia.
There’s nothing on the iTunes store to specifically tell us we’re in Australia. But a look at the content gives it away. The featured albums at the top include Paul Mac, Evermore, Spiderbait, Missy Higgins and Bernard Fanning (of Powderfinger). There’s a free download of the single, “Shadowland” by up and coming band Youthgroup.
Sony BMG is yet to join the iStore party in Australia. I wonder what they’re holding out for.
We recently upgraded to the video version of iTunes on the family computer and promptly tried out all the quicktime videos on the hard drive. I don’t think iTunes was designed to cope with the number of videos we now have in the library. iT stalls every time we open up. Not good. However the earlier version is still working on the laptop.
Posted in Worth Reading | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 25th, 2005
I spent most of this last weekend in Invercargill, New Zealand, connecting again with family, friends and land.
The locals had a lot to say about how the city is going. House prices have rocketed at the bottom of the South Island. Temperatures even seem to be rising slightly, though the sea is still a chilly 12 degrees celsius all year round.
One thing going for Invercargill is the long twilight. The light lingers for a long time after sunset. Which is the opposite of Queensland where the light invades the day well before dawn.
Southern Institute of Technology offer their courses free of tuition fees - for people who pass their courses. That’s got to be good for you.
And the seasons are clearly observable. You can find golden leaves in the autumn, ice on the puddles in the winter, daffodils, poppies, tulips and blossom in the spring. And there are some nice days in summer! I’ve included here part of a photo I took of poppies growing in the Invercargill Botanical gardens.
Posted in Worth Reading | No Comments »
Monday, October 24th, 2005
My sister Margaret and I drove through Hokonui on the way to Invercargill on Thursday, for the sake of old memories.
I grew up on the family farm there, along with seven brothers and sisters. Most of the farm has now been sold to one of the neighbours who is working with both sheep and cattle. It’s lambing time now but we could also see the arrival of a new generation of cows, as shown in my photograph here.
Southland is going through a transformation with the conversion of many sheep farms to dairy farms. I hadn’t caught on before now to the development of Fonterra, the dairy cooperative formed in 2001 just after I left New Zealand for Australia.
We checked out some of the old fishing spots - sharing yarns about the eels and trout we pulled out of the Makarewa and Otapiri streams. We inspected the spots where the family houses were before they were burnt to the ground - uninhabited and derelict of course.
We drove past the old two classroom primary school which now appears to be a private residence. The Presbyterian country church of Hokonui was closed and removed long ago. What remains as a public building is the war memorial public hall. It looks smaller than I remembered it as a young boy attending Sunday School, community concerts, films and dances.
It was good to hear the familiar sounds and smell the familiar smells of country life - the bloom of gorse, the seeding grass and flowering New Zealand flax.
Here’s a few more photos from my Flickr account…
Posted in Worth Reading | No Comments »
Monday, October 24th, 2005
I flew into Dunedin Airport last Wednesday, to stay with my sister and brother-in-law. It was twelve degrees celsius at 3.30 pm in the middle of spring. A refreshing break from 20 degrees every day back on the Gold Coast.
It was good to be back in the city where I spent seven years studying for two degrees in history. The place is full of memories, including the smell of roasted coffee from Greggs, the mist hanging over the hills, the rhododendrons, and the azaleas and magnolias in the gardens during exams.
Had an excellent vindaloo in the Meridian Centre in George St, had supper with old friends. On Thursday I looked through a couple of second hand shops and photographed old haunts in the Botanical Gardens before heading south to Invercargill.
Posted in Worth Reading | No Comments »
Thursday, October 20th, 2005
When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all of his angels, he will sit on his royal throne. The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”
Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”
The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”
Then the king will say to those on his left, “Get away from me! You are under God’s curse. Go into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! I was hungry, but you did not give me anything to eat, and I was thirsty, but you did not give me anything to drink. I was a stranger, but you did not welcome me, and I was naked, but you did not give me any clothes to wear. I was sick and in jail, but you did not take care of me.”
Then the people will ask, “Lord, when did we fail to help you when you were hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in jail?”
The king will say to them, “Whenever you failed to help any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you failed to do it for me.”
Matthew 25:21-45 (Contemporary English Version)
I like the approach taken by William Loader, in his presentation to a worshipping community at Bishop’s College, Calcutta in 1999. This was just after a supercyclone had devastated the neighbouring region in the state of Orissa to the south. He tells the story from the perspective of a fictional goat. Here’s an excerpt from his web site:
He said to the red people who were on his left: Come and live with me in my fathers city. For I was an outcaste and you welcomed me into your home; I was in Orissa and you sent me help; I was trying to bring change through politics and you supported me; I was a child labourer and you found me another way for me to live; I was a woman burnt by her husband and you gave me refuge. They all said, When did we see you as an outcaste, or in Orissa, or a politician, or a child labourer or a burnt woman and come to your aid? He said, You did it to them; it was like you did it to me.
Then he turned to the people in blue who also called him, Lord, but the situation was much less happy. They had kept themselves pure and had not helped the outcaste, the people in Orissa, the politician, the child labourer, the burnt woman at all or anyone else for that matter. There was no room for them in the city.
Just then it started to rain and the vision went away. We were left to ponder what we had seen.
Nanny, who was standing beside me, said, I know. If I am a human being in my next life, I shall pretend I see the shining one in everyone I see. I shall help all those needy people like Im helping him. That way he will reward me with a place in his fathers city.
I was thinking about that when from the other side her sister they always used to argue said, No, no, no! Dont you see it was all a surprise. They didnt care for people because they saw the shining one in them. They cared for people because they were people. They did it naturally. It was their way. Only later were they surprised to learn that they had also cared for him.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 18th, 2005
I’m flying back to New Zealand tomorrow for a high school and family reunion. Central Southland College in Winton, Southland is celebrating 40 years of education. The last reunion was the 25th anniversary in 1990. Back I was one of three CSC alumni who led the Sunday morning worship service. This time I don’t have to worry about such responsibility. In fact I only decided to go a week or so ago when my family offered to help out with airfares.
I’m looking forward to catching up with family, including my seven brothers and sisters. I’m not looking forward to the temperatures. Basic rule of thumb when working out the temperature from Queensland is take the minimum temperature here then subtracting up to five degrees to find the maximum temperature in Invercargill. Apparently tomorrow the maximum in Dunedin will be 11 and the minimum 4.
I’ll be flying with budget airline, Freedom Air. Which means take your own food or buy it onboard. The 3.5 hours flight leaves at 8.10 am and arrives in Dunedin at 2.35 pm. Coming back I leave Dunedin at 3.50 pm and arrive back in Brisbane at 4.50 pm. Funny what time zones can do.
Posted in Worth Reading | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, October 18th, 2005
There’s been a spot of bother over billboards and bus advertising in Ireland this month in response to Paddy Power’s Last Supper picture. Paddy Power is an Irish gambling web site that promotes gambling linked with racing, soccer, sports, lotteries, online casinos and so on. They have a series of humorous advertising billboards that provide a gambling twist to otherwise ’straight’ scenarios.
The PaddyPower Gallery 2005 Poster Campaign currently has eleven pics from its advertising campaigns available for view: a (censored) naked man and a mosquito, a man choosing a magazine, two kids and a ‘floater’ in the bath, a bunny with a missing foot, Iain Duncan Smith’s occupation in 2010, an almost empty toilet roll, a couple embracing on a bench, two grannies crossing the road, and a baby choosing which breast to take.
The most recent two posters, in colour, are the ones that have copped the most flack. With the sideline “There’s a place for fun and games”, PaddyPower presented gamblers at The Last Supper and at a birth in a maternity delivery theatre. After complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland the Last Supper poster was removed from billboards and buses around Ireland. In their place PaddyPower put white posters with red censorship squares with a reference to the web site.
What do you think? An unthinkable piece of blasphemy? Or an example of an irreverent engagement between two icons of Irish popular culture? If nothing else, it’s a great conversation starter.
Posted in Worth Reading | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, October 18th, 2005
New Zealand and Australia embraced the Toyota Hilux Bugger ads back in the 1990s. Now New Zealand is saying yes to the Toyota Hilux Bulls on the Run ad. TV One’s Fair Go 18th Annual Ad Awards were held earlier this month. Viewers gave more votes to the Toyota Hilux ad than for the other four finalists combined. The other four were Telecom ‘Cat and Dog’, TV One ‘Ten Fingers and Toes’, Vero Insurance ‘Bull in China Shop’, and Telecom ‘Fast Eddie’.
I wonder if people have caught on to the insider joke on this one. The production team have called this spot ‘Toyota Hilux Bulls Hit”. Take out the space between ‘Bulls’ and ‘Hit’ and you get the next instalment on the furore over the use of the word, ‘Bugger’.
I’ve written up the ad and where to find it online at Duncan’s TV Adland.
Posted in Worth Reading | No Comments »
Sunday, October 16th, 2005
UN Day is celebrated on 24 October each year, the day that the United Nations came into existence in 1945, sixty years ago. In preparation for the day here’s a TV ad with a critique of racism and vilification.
I referred to the Saatchi & Saatchi television commercial, “Bad Mouth”, back in April in a discussion of Australian church, popular culture and identity.
I’ve now sourced the video clip at Saatchi, 8 Commercials and Guillotine. Details are at Duncan’s TV Adland.
Posted in Worth Reading | No Comments »
