The Howard Years - Episode 1

First episode of The Howard Years just showed on ABC1. Fran Kelly has done an excellent job on it. Some fabulous archive footage. What I found most interesting was how all the Ministers of the time, including Howard himself, were giving their versions of the events of the time and pretty much jockeying to paint a favourable image of their own actions of the day for the sake of history.

Peter Costello comes across as a pretty decent sort of guy. Though quiet in a way and I get the feeling he had a meek personality compared to the gang he was with and so they were able to push him around how they wanted - into the background to a degree. Not so good when one is Treasurer. But a competent and in his own way fairly moral chap.

Peter Reith comes across as a complete idiot or buffoon who hadn't a clue of what he was doing. Watching him I suspect this is a facade to cover what is underneath a pretty sleazy set of actions. And he knows that what he did was questionable morally. There's altogether too much flippancy in his responses.

Downer seems a brown nosing snooty twat. More of him next episode I expect.

Howard himself comes through as a petty man wanting to make up for shortcomings of the past and leave his own personal mark on the country. I get even more the feeling he was happy to abuse the office of PM to push the others around just for his own petty delight. There were times where there was some pretty well practiced lying going on. Perhaps he has lied to himself so many times about some of his actions of the past that he even believes it - but there was a shiftiness to how he was speaking at times.

The back room party men were all far too interested in the power of office and far less interested in behaving decently toward the people of the country.

And the few public servants of the time interviewed - which seem to be Howard's hand picked replacement heads of Departments - were no surprises. Yes men the lot of them it seemed. The politicisation of the Australian Public Service. The beginning of dark days for Australia with the end of frank and fearless advice to ministers.

So - all up - it was interesting and reminded me of many of the apalling events of the time. Howard's disgusting response when interviewed about Native Title stands out as the worst of the selection, but the events of Patricks and the wharves of the day are a dark time from history too.

Next week will be mandatory viewing!

The Image Is Unclear

Crystal-balling the future for Chloe Sullivan is the only real mystery in Smallville when you think about it. We know Lois and Clark end up together. We know Clark eventually wears the red and slue suit. We know Lois is thick as two short planks and never sees Clark under the suit (all the more stupid now since she has spent so much time with him), nor Supes under the glasses. Admittedly Smallville is jumbling all the elements of the ledend up a bit and making a new-ish tale of it all. But the core stuff is still there.

And then there's Chloe. There is no Chloe in the Superman legend. So really the future isn't looking too certain for her is it? Jimmy and Chloe engaged. Well I dunno. Jimmy isn't married in anything I've seen. HAH. Doom for Chloe? Who can say. Their take on Brainiac was pretty different. Their Flash is Bart not Wally or Barry. Their Manhunter is - well - different. Lois has shagged Ollie and Arthur. Working her way through the Justice League I guess. HAHAHAH.

Poor Chloe

:)

The End of an Era

A poetic moment today. Visited the old ICT office while Gerry was down there, and while there collected my old Billion switch. After fighting a losing battle with a combination lock the pair of us went off to lunch and the afternoon off. Gerry turned off the lights, set the alarm and locked the door. So on the last day of in house ICT the two of us were the last APS staff to leave the old office. It just seemed so apt after the pair of us working there for nearly 20 years together.

Good luck to the guys who are going to the contractor. I've made my transition to another job and I'm the happier for being out of the disgrace that IT had been for the major part of the last decade. One debarcle after another. At least I'll never feel a desire to runaway to a circus. Though I may be obsessed with trying to choke the laughing clowns in sideshow alley.

Well it was a fun time in the early days. And we did some great work I was really proud of. Tom and Gerry and Jason and Greg. They were good days. '98 onwards - a steady decline.

I miss those fun days.

Spielberg's appalling film that used the name of one of HG Well's better books is on tonight. Do I want to watch it, I ask myself. The answer I think is NO. It's a waste of effort and time. I'd rather watch the George Pal version, which itself is quite iffy. What is it with HG's books that the films versions are always so bad. The Time Machine. A wonderful book. The movies - bits of trash really. And the less said about The Invisible Man being the inspiration for Hollowman (1 and 2) the better.

I see Sarah Palin continues to be the US answer to Pauline Hanson. Good luck to them. If these 4 are the best candidates the two parties can offer for the Presidential election, out of all the people in the USA, then it's a sad sad state of affairs. What a sorry selection they are. I don't think I'd vote for any of them personally. Not that ours are a huge improvement. Although I did enjoy Paul Keating on Lateline the other night patiently explaining to the host just how the international money market actually works. Best line of the night "you DO understand how this works, DON'T you?". Errr .. no I doubt she did. Quite educational really. Oh for some politicians who will explain things to people, not just boil everything down to suit the lowest common denominator.

Where oh where are the 32GB iPhones I wonder? I suspect we may see them with the next Macworld show around the end of the year. Once they are released to market I really don't have an excuse not to go to an iPhone. And pass my iPod Touch on to Kyrin I suppose. She WILL be happy.

Complaining pensioners. Whinging idiots. The previous government did nothing for them for years, but they decide all of a sudden that the new Federal Govt has failed them completely because it didn't give them a hefty enough increase in its first budget. Oh boo hoo. Seriously people. How about venting at the group who were in power for over a decade and failed to provide for decent increases for you?? Or did you all suddenly become poverty stricken overnight?

That said - the govt has dropped the ball on this one at least from the PR side. They have their inquiry underway which is more than the other side managed to do. But the sensible thing would have been to say "well the inquiry will probably recommend at least $20 a fortnight, so here's that much immediately, and if it is more then we'll back date that to now, and if it's less then you can keep the balance as a bonus freebie". That would have shut up the majority. Not the bunch you can never satisfy regardless what you do for them of course. But that majority would have the winds taken from their sails on it. And the opposition would look crap.

Instead they've given the Opposition a chance to beat them up on this as having let down these people. And the media have siezed it in their vulture like manner and we now have to endure rubbish like "adopt a pensioner" and continuing segments about how they are all doing so badly and starving and blah blah blah. Frankly I'm over it. It's a lame attempt by the media to find something to blather on about. If this is the best they can do then they should all find new jobs.

Planet's screwed anyhow, so what difference does it make?

Incremental Brain Damage From Repeated Exposures to Kryptonite

So, here we are again. It's now just over a week since Frodo went to Undying Lands in the West. Has been a sad week. I wander down the steps in the morning to get a drink of juice before going to work, and look to the couch he would always be on. At night I expect him to be waiting inside the front door when I come home. There's a temptation to put down some food for him, and to get his Dufulac for nights. It's going to take a while to get used to his not being here anymore. I hope he's in a happy place. Somehow I expect that we'll meet again - perhaps he shall return as my next kitty.

Have been looking around for another kitty, but none of the cats I've seen appear. With one exception. There was a little chocolate brown burmese kitten, but he was already bought by someone. Oh well. In time I'm sure I shall see one that demands I take him home. :)

Seem to be fighting off a flu at the present. Feeling constantly sleepy and have a bit of a dry cough (and sometimes not so dry). May have to go have a nap after I've watched this weekend's episode of BSG. Dr Who was excellent. Georgia Moffett was stunning. Ah now if only she gets to be the next companion, that would just be brilliant.

Missing Nicky this weekend. But Kym turned up on my Facebook listings through a weird set of coincidences. Heh. It's funny how life works sometimes.

Enough for now. More later. :)

What the?

I must be suffering from Altzheimers. I have absolutely no memory of creating that entry above. Nor of even creating this account. Knew it was a bad idea to chew on that lead pipe day in and day out. Bummer.

So I have a Blog page huh? Interesting. Maybe I should bookmark this and come back more often to add things. What a novel idea!

Lets see how lomg it takes for me to make a 3rd entry. Tomorrow? 2010? Hmm ...