The Ayatullah of a Rock and a Rolla!

It's been a while

2007-05-28T17:28:00.000+10:00

mmmmm......what a lapse in time since my last post. This and that has changed...still not really hooked on blogs...

Not much to talk about except I rediscovered one of my favourite games as a kid Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego

ahh the joys of childhood...

time for food

Byyyyeeeee

The Best Music I've heard

2006-11-16T13:58:00.000+10:00

A while ago a good friend and I swapped quite alot of music. I introduced him to many of my records from Mali, Algeria, Iraq, Lebannon and Syria not to mention the little collection of south Indian classical music I've accumulated. My friend gave me more of the finer selections of my own musical tradition, which I've neglected somewhat over the years but which I still find very dear to my heart.

Today, I came home from the same friend's place armed with his copy of "Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the roots of American Music" a documentary about a man's search for the roots of blues and folklore recordings through the south of America. In the right mood to watch it, I thought I'd warm up with some old timey music first and got the "O Brother, where art thou?" soundtrack spinning but inadvertantly played Doc Watson's version of "Keep on the Sunny Side", and from there I decided to give his voice more of a listen.

It's no understatement to say this is exactly the kind of music I admire, adore and love the most. I can't believe the power of expression in Doc Watson's voice and instrumentalisations. One song which instantly stuck to me was Moody River....powerful stuff, I had to share the lyrics.

Last saturday eveningI came to the old oaktree

It stands beside the river

Where you would a-meet me

On the ground your glove I found

With a note adressed to me

And it read

"Dear love, I've done you wrong,

Now I must set you free"

Moody river, more deadly

Than the vainest knife

Moody river, your muddy waters

Took my baby's life

Looked into your muddy water

And what did I see

I saw a lonely lonely man

Just lookin' back at me

Tears in his eyes

And a prayer on his lips

And with the glove of his lost love

There at his finger tips

Moody river, more deadly

Than the vainest knife

Moody river, your muddy waters

Took my baby's life

Moody river, your muddy waters

Took my baby's life

The Following is from the Merlefest website (A festival dedicated to the memory of Doc's late son Merle).

When asked how he would like to be remembered by the countless people from all walks of life whom he has enriched with measures of music and wisdom of astonishing clarity, he responded by saying

"I would rather be remembered as a likable person than for any phase of my picking. Don't misunderstand me; I really appreciate people's love of what I do with the guitar. That's an achievement as far as I'm concerned, and I'm proud of it. But I'd rather people remember me as a decent human being than as a flashy guitar player. That's the way I feel about it."

Accommodation needed

2006-11-14T23:07:00.000+10:00

This is an email my housemate got from someone asking about a room for rent in our place.... the name has been removed to hide the person's ridiculous identity. This could possibly be like one of those Nigerian hoax letters Chris seems to love, as we got 2 identical emails within 15 minutes of each other....but enough clap trap, on with the show

<('-'<) (^'-'^) (>'-')> <('-'<) (^'-'^) (>'-')> <('-'<) (^'-'^) (>'-')> <('-'<)

Sent: Tuesday, 14 November 2006 5:56 AM
Subject: ACCOMODATION NEEDED

Hello!I saw your add about renting a place out and decided to write you. I want totell you a little about myself.

My name is xxxxxx. I am from india.Iwill not write you much about myself right now, I want just to give you anidea of who I am. I have a higher education and I am rather intelligent. Ithink I have everything,I have really many interests:music, reading, books,computers, movies, good conversations, sports and many other things whichmake the life wonderful, less i forget i am also a chirstian and i attendCHIRST EMBASSY, guess your wonderging am a chirstian yes i am and you canlook it up on the website christembassy.org .

I can't say that I have manytrue friends but a lot of acquaintances. Friend is a person who can alwayshelp me, who can support you, on whom you can rely and whom you cancompletely believe and trust. And I am lucky to have some really goodfriends. I am very sociable that is why there are many people I have goodrelations with. I am rather independent and I work hard to have what I need.Also my mum is an indian woman from india while my dad is also from india.I hope that this does not disturb you. However, if you want to give this achance, I'd be glad to tell you more about myself.I dont smoke and dontdrink but love to have a quiet place were i can relax myself and study andbeen searching for a place online until a friend of mine sent me this sitethat i should send am email to you and i had to.I am a foreign exchange student coming down to QUT to study and get mybachelor certificate in environmental chemistry and get some acquintancewith computer statistics cause down here its really expensive trying tostudy such things here and also not alot of places have suchfacilities...Also i have heard alot about here, the lovely weather and theprecious gargens and parks and the way of life, just want to experiencesomething new thats why i choose to send an email to inquire ifaccomodation will be availbale for a period of 4- 6 months cause thats theduration of my course...Also i am not lazy and do alot of outdoor activitieslike playing basketball, cricket, hockey and football also, i am quiet andlove to be friendly with alot of people...I will appreciate it alot if youget back to me so that i can know if it is availbale ok.....

Just a littlenews i heard that i said i should share, pluto has been removed from being aplanet but will now be called a dwarf planet can you believe that... wellwhen i heard about it on CNN i was shocked cause its been deep down in methat we have 9 planets and now making it 8, am sure it will be very hard forthe new generations of kids coming up and whom they have told that we have 9planets and now saying its 8.. just want to see the face of one of suchpeople lol...So sorry for being a pain in the ass just trying to be friendlythoughwe havent know each other that well. Ok guess is time for me to getgoing now and please kindly get back to me if your accomodation will beavailble for the peroid i requested and let me know how much the rent is permonth ok.. so that i know what to do alrite, will be expecting a reply fromyou soon.. Thanks alot and hope to hear from you soon.....and dont forgettry and check out the church website alrite.

xxxxx

On Blogging

2006-11-09T12:26:00.000+10:00

So I was thinking last night....I don't really know how to blog. I'm not a naturally open person so I tend to think that I don't have interesting things to post about...the truth is that I don't really register most things and so never think about posting them.... I'm making a consciouss effort now though.

So let's hope that with this and the new template for blogger that this blog will begin to improve!

Favourite Things

2006-10-31T13:30:00.000+10:00

I have posted in so long I was getting sick of seeing my blog looking the same, so here we go

Lilly tagged me a while ago to name my 15 favourite things

1. Humour and funny people

2. My Instruments: Violin, 3 Guitars, Bass, Darabukka, Bansuri

3. Food

4. Music: Have always, probably will always have a soft spot for Blues, Reggae, Roots (esp. Australian roots, you can't touch us world! :P) Arabic, Malian, Indian, South American and alot of other world music. Don't mind some hip-hop either, and when I say hip-hop I mean bands like Culture Connect or The Roots.

5. Wine: Wine and I have alot in common; we're both alcoholic, sophisticated, get on well with the ladies and age quite well

6. Beer: My personal picks are (these are for you Chris) Hoegaarden, Blue tongue pale autmn ale (this one's only available here at the moment), James Squire Amber Ale, Grolsch and Taui

7. Travelling: Minjerribah (Stradbbroke Island) again next, then who knows?

8. Fishing

9. Art: I really dig Calligraphy and Carving

10. Well written, distinctive Journalism: I read Spiegel and Kevin Sites

11. Mail: I don't know why, but mail is so old school and I just love getting it.

12. Evenings: Especially in late Spring and Summer.

13. Books: Reading "Senor Vivo and the Coca Lords" by Louis De Berniers at the moment, favourite book of all time would have to be "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"; Hunter S. is simply brilliant.

14. The Beach

15. Road Trips

*I was going to add pictures, but the connection between blogger and my computer kept dropping out, thanks entirely to my dodgy dial-up connection. Hopefully the birthday fairies will bring me broadband for my birthday!

2006-10-21T22:44:00.000+10:00

Practical Advice

If only I'd seen this before I went for some summer jobs, I'd be in guarenteed high paying employment.

Thank you Chopper!

(STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING!)

You have been strong language warned.

The Ultimate Showdown

2006-10-05T18:57:00.000+10:00

Paper Vs Scissors

One for the right wing

2006-09-30T11:06:00.000+10:00

This guy is black, the victim of a neo-nazi attack and plans to kill himself through assisted suicide.

As he very rightly points out.

Of the 6 billion people in the world, 5 billion are people of color. Sooner or later they'll all mix.

I guess the future looks bad for you Intolerant. A world full of 'Ape Girls' and inventors

Fatwa Fridays

2006-09-25T09:11:00.000+10:00

This ad is pretty funny because I couldn't believe people could be so openly vulgar and racist. A few weeks ago in one of my classes we saw an ad Frito Lay ran a while ago which had a Mexican guy with a big Sombrero, six shooters and a handlebar moustache; the ad said something like "You'll be making a run for the border to get new Frito Lays".....

Christian = Progressive = Good

2006-09-23T18:57:00.000+10:00

I read this article about the smirking smirktician...I mean politician Peter Costello (the Australian Treasurer for the non-Australians). Apparently the seperation of "church and state" and the equivalent schism in Islam would bring "greater technological and economic progress"

Because as we all well know, Islam the religion which was the catalyst for the preservation of Greek thought, the religion who's followers developed the foundations for western medicine, phillosophy, music, poetry, currency minting, paper milling etc etc is INHERENTLY a very backward religion/culture. In fact I'd say that it's alot like Indigenous culture which also according to the Australian government needs to change to be more successful and acheive "more progress"...

As if 'progress' is even desirable....Costello seems to think it is both desirable AND necessary somehow

2006-09-21T17:25:00.000+10:00

My Instruments Part II

Here is my Darabukka. A crappy 11 second demo...

and it sounds like a machine gun because of my webcam mic

I've been playing as a hobby for about 2 years, and the allan key from my last post is for tuning this thing!

My Pocketly Possessions

2006-09-16T22:22:00.000+10:00

After being tagged by Shlemazl I finally got around to taking a pic of what was in my pockets.

From Back left: My Wallet - plain and trusty (note: normally plain = boring which = avoid like genital herpes, but in the case of wallets, plain = trusty)

my keys with attached bottle opener (has come in handy more than once)

my phone - almost indestructable (except that I think I've broken yet another one)

tablet case - I occaisionally get allergies (cause unknown, possibly life...or irritating simpletons)

and the allen key for my Darabukka (more to come on that one).

So I tag Cookie, Lilly and Arwen

We're all one family

2006-09-12T22:01:00.000+10:00

I couldn't believe this article. When the hell are we going to stop destroying the environment for our own selfish development?! My sardonic sense of humour found this even more laughable since these cockatoos are going to be killed for a tree slaughter-house...

Every time I hear about the environment suffering I'm reminded of what a Bilinara woman once said to me "You see these leaves on the tree, on the ground - they your sisters; we all one family"

Indigenous Beauty

2006-09-08T17:39:00.000+10:00

I saw this article about Samantha Harris the other day. Samantha is an Aboriginal girl with huge promise in the international modelling circuit. I was so pleased to see that Aboriginal people can now be seen as being the beautiful people they truly are; even in this ultra-conservative, ultra-racist country.

The first Aboriginal person I know of to ever be called 'Beautiful' openly was the one and only David Gulpilil

Now that we can see Aboriginal people as people, maybe we can start giving them some rights as people!

And on the note of Indigenous rights, my good friend Sam Watson is running in the Brisbane Central electorate on Saturday against the one and only incumbent Premier, Meaty Peter Beattie...So if anyone is eligible to vote, get out and support Sam and Indigenous rights.

Sam Watson with Dennis Walker (son of the famous Kath Walker aka. Oodgeroo Noonuccal) and Pastor Don Brady - Founders of the Australian Chapter of the Black Panther Party

Meant to be...

2006-09-06T09:23:00.000+10:00

You can find things meant to be
If you look hard into the sea
As the waves land on the beach
I feel her eyes fixed on me

Through the wind in the trees
Mother nature she speaks
Take what she says
Let your heart do the rest

It's in the wind
It's in the trees
It's in the way you smile
At me
It's in the waves up from the sea
It's in the way you feel
When you're pleased

It's all meant to be
It's all meant to be

Your heart knows where to go
But your mind can take it slow
It's okay to rest your mind
Let your heart seek and find

It's in the wind
It's in the trees
Listen hard and you
Will see
It's in the waves up from the sea
It's in the way you feel
When you're pleased

It's all meant to be
It's all meant to be
These are things just meant to be
These are things like you and me

It's all meant to be
It's all meant to be
These are things just meant to be
These are things like you and me

Mother nature sings and breathes

-Xavier Rudd

My instruments: Part 1

2006-09-02T15:41:00.000+10:00

This is my Bansuri which I bought two weeks ago in Montville.

It's only capable of a mere 2 octaves, and not tuned to produce specific notes which give a raga (Hindustani (aka. north Indian) scale) it's 'flavour' or mood, but it still sounds quite nice. Now I just need to get proficient in playing it...

(Sri Krishna Radha playing the Bansuri)

More about the Bansuri

This is what you think

2006-09-01T21:26:00.000+10:00

This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time (cheers to Saba for this one)....

http://www.wikihow.com/Unhook-a-Bra

Make sure you don't miss the related 'Wikihows' they're just as good as the main affair!

It's not what you think

2006-09-01T21:24:00.000+10:00

Have a look at this website....

http://www.penisland.net

and just because I haven't done one of these in a while

<('-'<) (^'-'^) (>'-')>

We Will Not be Silent

2006-08-31T18:37:00.000+10:00

I read this on another Blog... it speaks for itself.

___________________________

"I went to JFK in the morning to catch my Jet Blue plane to California. I reached Terminal 6 at around 7:15 am, was issued a boarding pass, and checked all my bags in, and then walked to the security checkpoint. For the first time in my life, I was taken to a secondary search . My shoes were searched, and I was asked for my boarding pass and ID.

After passing the security, I walked to check where gate 16 was, then I went to get something to eat. I got some cheese and grapes with some orange juice and I went back to Gate 16 and sat down in the boarding area enjoying my breakfast and some sunshine.At around 8:30, two men approached me while I was checking my phone. One of them asked me if I had a minute and he showed me his badge, I said: "sure".

We walked some few steps and stood in front of the boarding counter where I found out that they were accompanied by another person, a woman from Jet Blue. One of the two men who approached me first, Inspector Harris, asked for my id card and boarding pass. I gave him my boarding pass and driver's license. He said "people are feeling offended because of your t-shirt". I looked at my t-shirt: I was wearing my shirt which states in both Arabic and English "we will not be silent". You can take a look at it in this picture taken during our Jordan meetings with Iraqi MPs.

I said "I am very sorry if I offended anyone, I didnt know that this t-shirt will be offensive". He asked me if I had any other T-shirts to put on, and I told him that I had checked in all of my bags and I asked him "why do you want me to take off my t-shirt? Isn't it my constitutional right to express myself in this way?" The second man in a greenish suit interfered and said "people here in the US don't understand these things about constitutional rights". So I answered him "I live in the US, and I understand it is my right to wear this t-shirt".

Then I once again asked the three of them : "How come you are asking me to change my t-shirt? Isn't this my constitutional right to wear it? I am ready to change it if you tell me why I should. Do you have an order against Arabic t-shirts? Is there such a law against Arabic script?" so inspector Harris answered "you can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads "I am a robber" and going to a bank". I said "but the message on my t-shirt is not offensive, it just says "we will not be silent". I got this t-shirt from Washington DC. There are more than a 1000 t-shirts printed with the same slogan. You can google them or email them at wewillnotbesilent@gmail.com . It is printed in many other languages: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, English, etc." Inspector Harris said: "We cant make sure that your t-shirt means we will not be silent, we don't have a translator. Maybe it means something else". I said: "But as you can see, the statement is in both Arabic and English". He said "maybe it is not the same message".

So based on the fact that Jet Blue doesn't have a translator, anything in Arabic is suspicious because maybe it'll mean something bad!Meanwhile, a third man walked in our direction. He stood with us without introducing himself, and he looked at inspector Harris's notes and asks him: "is that his information?", inspector Harris answered "yes". The third man, Mr. Harmon, asks inspector Harris : "can I copy this information?", and inspector Harris says "yes, sure". Inspector Harris said: "You don't have to take of your t-shirt, just put it on inside-out". I refused to put on my shirt inside-out.

So the woman interfered and said "let's reach a compromise. I will buy you a new t-shirt and you can put it on on top of this one". I said "I want to keep this t-shirt on". Both inspector Harris and Mr. Harmon said "No, we can't let you get on that airplane with your t-shirt". I said "I am ready to put on another t-shirt if you tell me what is the law that requires such a thing. I want to talk to your supervisor". Inspector Harris said "You don't have to talk to anyone. Many people called and complained about your t-shirt. Jetblue customers were calling before you reached the checkpoint, and costumers called when you were waiting here in the boarding area". It was then that I realized that my t-shirt was the reason why I had been taken to the secondary checking. I asked the four people again to let me talk to any supervisor, and they refused.The Jet Blue woman was asking me again to end this problem by just putting on a new t-shirt, and I felt threatened by Mr. Harmon's remarks as in "Let's end this the nice way".

Taking in consideration what happens to other Arabs and Muslims in US airports, and realizing that I will miss my flight unless I covered the Arabic script on my t-shirt as I was told by the four agents, I asked the Jet Blue woman to buy me a t-shirt and I said "I don't want to miss my flight." She asked, what kind of t-shirts do you like. Should I get you an "I heart new york t-shirt?". So Mr. Harmon said "No, we shouldn't ask him to go from one extreme to another". I asked Mr. Harmon why does he assume I hate New York if I had some Arabic script on my t-shirt, but he didn't answer. The woman went away for 3 minutes, and she came back with a gray t-shirt reading "new york". I put the t-shirt on and removed the price tag. I told the four people who were involved in the conversation: "I feel very sad that my personal freedom was taken away like this. I grew up under authoritarian governments in the Middle East, and one of the reasons I chose to move to the US was that I don't want an officer to make me change my t-shirt. I will pursue this incident today through a Constitutional rights organization, and I am sure we will meet soon". Everyone said okay and left, and I went back to my seat.

At 8:50 I was called again by a fourth young man, standing with the same jetblue woman. He asked for my boarding pass, so I gave it to him, and stood in front of the boarding counter. I asked the woman: "is everything okay?", she responded: "Yes, sure. We just have to change your seat". I said: "but I want this seat, that's why I chose it online 4 weeks ago", the fourth man said " there is a lady with a toddler sitting there. We need the seat." Then they re-issued me a small boarding pass for seat 24a, instead of seat 3a. They said that I can go to the airplane now. I was the first person who entered the airplane, and I was really annoyed about being assigned this seat in the back of the airplane too. It smelled like the bathrooms, which is why I had originally chosen a seat which would be far from that area.

It sucks to be an Arab/Muslim living in the US these days. When you go to the middle east, you are a US tax-payer destroying people's houses with your money, and when you come back to the US, you are a suspected terrorist and plane hijacker."

If you want to call Jet Blue and ask about their regulations against Arabic script, you can use the following numbers:
* If calling within the U.S., Bahamas or Puerto Rico: 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583)
* If calling from the Dominican Republic: 1-200-9898
* If calling from outside the U.S. or Dominican Republic: 001-801-365-2525
* Customers who are deaf or hard of hearing (TTY/TDD): 1-800-336-553

Raed's Blog

Frühjahr Liebe

2006-08-29T11:43:00.000+10:00

Die Sonne scheint
Es riecht wie Frühjahr und die Farben leuchten
Erinner dich
an die Zeit als alles noch neu war (alles so neu war)
Erinner dich
an die Luft und an das Licht und an mich
Erinner dich
an die Farben an das Licht und da war ich
Erinner dich
es riecht nach Gras und deine Hand hält meine Hand
Erinner dich
meiner Liebe, deiner Liebe
Die Sonne scheint
Nur einen Moment nur ein Gedanke
Erinner dich...

Klee- Erinner Dich

Asfoor

2006-08-15T00:12:00.000+10:00

I really love most of Marcel Khalifé's music, but my absolute favourite song of his has to be Asfoor (the sparrow). I thought given the context it would be appropriate to post the lyrics...

A sparrow stood at my window.
And said “Oh, little one.Hide me with youI beg you.”
I said, “Where are you from?”
“From the limits of the sky,” he said.
I said “Where did you come from?”
“From the neighbor’s house” he answered.
I said, “What are you afraid of?”
“I escaped from the cage”, he said
I said “What are your feathers?”
“Fate took care of them,” he said.
A tear fell on his cheek.
His wings tucked underneath him,
He landed on the ground and said
“I want to walk, but I can’t.”
I held him to my heart,
Hurting from his wounds
Before he finally broke out of his jail
He broke his voice and his wingsI said,
“Do not fear,See the sun rising?”
He looked toward the forest
Saw the tides of freedom glitter,
He saw wings flutter
Beyond the high gates.
He saw the forest flying.
On the wings of freedom.

This song is generally taken to be a metaphor for the occupation Palestinians live with.

Another quite clever and touching song of his Mountassiba Al-Kamati Amshee (With Straight Posture I Walk) really says all the right things about the occupation, I think

“With straight posture I walk,
with the forehead up high I walk.
In my hand is an olive branch,
and on my shoulder is my coffin.
And on I walk.”

Roof Sag Friends

2006-08-12T16:41:00.000+10:00

Have been spending alot of time with Ted, the sag in my study ceiling, lately...

Good friends are hard to come by these days.

It's not even third world

2006-08-09T08:39:00.000+10:00

Another Report into Indigenous living conditions by the UN. The term fourth world is pretty appropriate since the standards in most communities are worse then third world countries.

Read it here

I am God and you can be too

2006-08-08T23:16:00.000+10:00

Om is God and God is Om. God is Creation and Creation is God. God is me and I am God.

Through the process of self realisation I have concluded that I am God, and you are too. I am not this body, but am able to manipulate the material forms of this world with the potential (time) given to me.

Time is potential, do something.

Things are getting Froggier

2006-07-14T18:39:00.000+10:00

You Should Learn French

C'est super! You appreciate the finer things in life... wine, art, cheese, love affairs.
You are definitely a Parisian at heart. You just need your tongue to catch up...

What Language Should You Learn?

Maybe I do...?

My French Name

2006-07-14T18:23:00.000+10:00

Your French Name is:

Olivier Arnaud

What's Your French Name?

Now that I have a French name I can pretend to be more exclusive, and thus, Better then everybody else.

And if my French name sounds ambiguously non-gendered but slightly more feminine, that's because APPARENTLY so is my brain. Maybe that's why women love me so much? or perhaps it's just that the slightly less-then-half male side of me is particularly appealing? But why on earth would I want to question the reasons for a perfectly agreeable situation?

I hate my culture

2006-07-06T22:17:00.000+10:00

I was supposed to be going to bed about now since I'm finishing my intership with the local newspaper tomorrow and I have had a few big days watching the world cup and then the Rugby League. BUT I read an article on leilouta's blog which made me somewhat annoyed and frustrated at people's self-righteousness and ignorance. *actually it was more so the comments then the post Leilouta: Fourth Of July Parade*

I can't believe how people can have ANY cause to celebrate things like 'independence day' or here in Australia, 'Australia Day'! What they in essence represent is the end of Indigenous cultures and the beginning of violent regimes of self-denial. Until I went on a little bit of a finger-pointing jibe, NO ONE had mentioned anything AT ALL about America's idigenous cultures. I think that demonstrates my point clearly that people are more then happy to occupy land stolen through mass murder, rape, forced removal and genocide; but they think it's too unpleasant to talk about such things on 'independence day'.

Why is it even called 'independence day'? When those swine who first drafted the foundations of that day and their decendents who now celebrate it first dreamed up this grotesque concept, the majority of people living on the continent of America were far from being 'independent'. Native Americans were being slaughtered or herded onto small tracts of land (many of whom are still confined to these portions of land) while African people were being stolen, bound and brutalised into the new slave race and forced working class for these 'independent' people.

The situation in Australia is no better. Time again we hear crap from white idiots who go on about how 'Australia is a christian nation, we speak english. If you don't speak english you can leave'. At the last count, pre-invasion Australia had OVER 350 different languages and spiritual belief systems, none of these were either english or christian.

Here too, people on 'Australia day' extol the virtues of the 'Aussie identity'. The only shared identity that I can trace for most non-indigenous people is their participation in the acrimonious and bi-partisan wholesale genocide committed against Australia's indigenous populations.

And yet this is never mentioned; 'maybe a few children were taken away from their families in some isolated cases, but it certainly wasn't a widespread practice', and 'the numbers of deaths talked about in 'so-called' aboriginal massacres, as well as the number of instances of this occaision have been greatly over exaggerated'.

At the very least these pigs should come forward and remove any doubt about their identities by declaring themselves as being 'Aboriginal killers'; but they are even to cowardly to openly admit their tendencies.

Even still the theft of culture continues. I was at a NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Celebration) event yesterday as part of my internship as a reporter and the scene there was quite typical of indigenous and non-indigenous relations here, and across the globe. While the local Wonarooah people were given their 'day in the sun', it all came with provisos. The wonderful and extremely tactful 'Coal & Allied' mining company, who so generously 'sponsored' the event, thought it necessary to erect signs and placards with their company logo all around the performance areas on the day. The non-indigenous keynote speakers did not even know what NAIDOC stood for and found it amusing to take punts on the meaning of the acronym.

The sad fact remains that we know nothing about indigenous culture, and yet keep the relationship with indigenous people heavy with the latent expectation that they will one day become fully integrated members of the 'white Australian' community. And because we have not taken on the initiative to learn more about indigenous cultures, we blame those cultures for being 'closed' and unwilling participants in the 'Australian community'. Because indigenous people refuse to acknowledge the latent hostility of 'inevitability', we blame them for being 'lazy' or 'un-motivated' wellfare cheats. Their culture is seen as a barrier to progress, while ours is seen as a catalyst for this process.

Today I was also so pleased to read the latest from federal health minister, Tony Abbott, who said that 'Desert Aborigines [sic] need to give up the practice of mourning relatives for 3 months if they are to develop a successfull work culture'. Again, it's Indigenous peoples' own fault that they are 'un-progressive' and their culture must be eroded if gains in the indigenous sector are to be made.

It seems to me then that my 'European high culture' has brought nothing but destruction to the rest of the world. What makes me despise it even more so is the fact that this culture is not really MY culture, but it's all that I currently know. My culture was an indigenous culture as well that didn't conquer or dominate and that loved the land as its own family.

There is one of the most universal truths in the concept that indigenous Australians speak of when they say that all people once were indigenous; some have just learnt to hide that part of their identity quite well.

Schwanzkopf power!

2006-07-02T19:17:00.000+10:00

I was listening to one of my favourite bands earlier, they are a turkish hip-hop group from Switzerland called Makale.

I heard a line in one of their songs 'Kingztanbul' which made me laugh, "Schwanzkopf power!"

Until I heard this song a few months ago I was pretty sure I was the only person in the world who used the word 'schwanzkopf' (it literally means 'dick-head' in German).

When I first moved to Brisbane for study last year I was living with a German guy and an American girl, both on exchange for a semester, and both lots of fun! Invariably living with a German I picked up bits of the language, and since schwanz (dick) was my first word, I tried to use all the time...including as a name for any German I cared to talk to.

I was taking a shower one day when I noticed the name of the shampoo 'Schwarzkopf'... even a lumberjack on cocaine can work out what came next; and so from that day on, untill I heard Makale, I was credited as being the inventor of the word schwanzkopf

alas no more, but at least there are others who share the pride of being a truly unique schwanzkopf!

It didn't occur to me

2006-07-02T17:47:00.000+10:00

Recently I've been wondering why my mother didn't name me Olof when I was born. I always thought really traditional norse names like Olof or Willhelm were really interesting and masculine, hence very cool, names.

So I asked my mother why she didn't call me Olof and why I wasn't born in some stronghold of Norse culture like Helsingborg or Rejkjavik....her answer was that "it didn't occur to me at the time".

Instead of being Olof from Helsingborg or Willhelm from Rejkjavik, I'm Andrew from Townsville...doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but it'll do.

HOLY FRUSTRATION!

2006-06-28T21:11:00.000+10:00

OH MY GOD *!&^#%$^!

I got home to my parent's place this evening, and since I've been on this computer (about 1 hour now) it's managed to FRUSTRATE THE LIVING HELL out of me more then 6 months of ceaseless crap from my university.

Everytime I try to click on a minimised window it doesn't show up but blinks orange in the bottom bar and I have to minimis ALL windows and open 1 thing at a time.....

to make matters worse my favourite team was knocked out of the world cup, and then Australia was knocked out by THE single worst penalty call I've ever seen. Bye Bye Sweeden and my beloved Australia. I know this news is a few days old, but I'm still cut

Knulla datoren! Knulla Tyskland! Knulla Italien!

is was

2006-06-21T14:09:00.000+10:00

I've been trying to tap out around 1,200 words for my final papers due in this friday...lot's of boring food, plain booze and long conversations trying to figure out what it is I actually want to say.

I found that after a while of writing everything slows down to the extent that the words continue to appear but I can critically examine things as they are happening.

It made me think, what is the point of words like 'is' and 'was' and 'to'?

of course I'm well aware of their linguistic purpose, but all words are a creation of representative meaning from the material context. I'm sick of purely abstracted explainations of concepts, nothing exists in the abstract, because the abstract itself does not exist.

What does is was mean?

Big Up to Bardi Culture

2006-06-16T16:04:00.000+10:00

Bardi dancers from WA's top end have performed at Stonehendge as part of the Salisbury festival

Go here and watch the video.

*Listen out for a very important statement to the effect of: 'We feel an affinity with these stones'

That's why I love indigenous culture :)

Police State

2006-06-16T15:48:00.000+10:00

I think stories like this one need a MUCH larger airing.

My only response can be to say that Police violence needs to be met head on by positive action from society. If you think this is being overly paranoid or too proactive just wait until you are randomly harrassed by the police for listening to reggae, going to a mosque, being seen with 'blacks' or the most common, BEING black!

The police ARE a political tool, and right now everything that can be done in the political sphere to destroy Aboriginal and Islander peoples IS being done.

Would the same thing have happened if it were a white girl? And if the same did occur, would the story have been relegated to a niche, government funded news resource?

Then I'd rather watch the world cup on Television

2006-06-15T20:42:00.000+10:00

Palestinian president Ismail Haniya has done an interview with Der Spiegel, which you can read here

The interviewer is obviously quite pro Israel existence (maybe not pro-Israeli policy) and so it is interesting to see the polarisation of the Q&A process in this case.

Haniya makes some very valid humanistic points for his case. In particular the emphasis he places on the right of return for Palestinian refugees is right on! The interviewer spins some pragmatic bullshit saying the return of the several million Palestinians of the diaspora would "shake Israel to it's foundations", and goes on to use a very poor historical precedent of Jewish refugees from Europe not being able to return to their homes because of the need for stability and a realistic (read cheap economic) solution.

Maybe they didn't (or couldn't) go home in the past, but if it's possible - and I agree with Haniya that it definately is possible AND necessary in this case - then it should DEFINATELY be given every opportunity to succeed.

In other news

2006-06-13T15:55:00.000+10:00

"Those who love the land and love Justice will ultimately hold the land" - Kevin J. Gilbert

In other news...

*The following is delivered with the utmost dignity and respect*

Australia beat Japan.....IN - YOUR - FACE - JAPAN!

<('-'<) (^'-'^) (>'-')>

<('-'<) (^'-'^) (>'-')>

2006-06-11T17:22:00.000+10:00

this is a serious blog...with serious topics for discussion occaisionally divulging into the sometimes funny and slightly shit sense of humour that I have.

About me: I'm a sometimes serious, partially interested student, who occaisionally lacks motivation and constantly dreams of being a German rap star.

About this blog: I shamelessly stole this name from somewhere, I don't remember where...so if you ever come accross this name again, let me know so I can run a smear (read spam) campaign against the original name holder until they relinquish the title to me....

About this blog's purpose: isn't it obvious? to give me an output for my enormous creative output such as that in the title of this post.

About the internet: a shamless contraption of distraction and occaisional amusement....which steals my time and wastes significant portions of my time on shit.

About Kirby: Kirby can't die....nuff said

About time to end this post: I think that time is now....