Mood:  a-ok

"Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you."

"Unless you get hit in the head by a dictionary."

-- words of wisdom from my niece and nephew

David's "Policing the Pacific" gig sounds intriguing.  Until recently, I didn't realize how dependent South Pacific states like East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands are on Australia to help maintain law and order.  Australia is a nation of only 20 million or so, already stretched thin with commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all their neighbors turn to them first in a crisis.  There is no NATO or EU equivalent to help spread the burden around.

There is a loose alliance of southeastern Asian nations (ASEAN), formed about 40 years ago, who are working together to build a free-trade area.  Although ASEAN is an economic alliance, it's been suggested that these nations might be persuaded to join Australia in forming a peace-keeping coalition for the region.  In the meantime, Australia is shouldering most of the obligation of supporting its faltering neighbors.

*abrupt subject change*

One of my fervent movie wishes is that someday David and Jonathan Teplitzky decide to work together again.  I'm an ardent admirer of Jonathan Teplitzky's strong color sense and offbeat way of composing frames.  Think of the "tiny David head on large Susie body" shot in Better Than Sex.  Or this little moment in Gettin' Square, where Sam Worthington pauses for a nanosecond in front of a mural of a Native American headdress:

I don't know why, but something about this aesthetic sensibility reminds me of Mr. Tyzik, the "head crushing" man from Kids in the Hall. 

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 11:06 AM EST

Updated: November 20, 2006 12:06 PM EST

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It's election day today in the US.

One can't help thinking of that lovely ballot scene in Answered By Fire, where thousands of East Timor residents turn out to exercise their hard-won right to vote, despite threats, violence, and militia harrassment.  The only thing I had to worry about this morning was finding a parking space, and getting through the handshake gauntlet of eager local candidates.

So vote!  Because you can.  You'll oil the gears of democracy, get a free sticker, and meet nice people like my mom, who's working the polls today at her local station.

On an entirely different topic, I was watching a video of Possum Magic with the girls last weekend.  Possum Magic is a children's book about a young possum named Hush, whose Grandma Poss has turned her invisible to protect her from predators.  Unfortunately, Grandma Poss has forgotten the spell to turn Hush visible again.

So they travel around Australia sampling native delicacies, and Hush gradually becomes visible.  They eat ANZAC biscuits in Adelaide, Minties in Melbourne, pavlova in Perth, and so on.   Hush finally becomes fully visible when she eats a lamington in Hobart.  In order for Hush to stay visible, they go around every year and do the eating tour all over again.

I mentally wrote a sequel to the book, featuring David movies at each pit stop:  Alex in Adelaide, Mark in Melbourne, Faramir in Fremantle, Brett in Brisbane, Doug in Darwin, etc.

An All-Australia Wenham Film Festival might not counteract invisibility, but it would sure be effective against boredom.

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 11:54 AM EST

Updated: November 7, 2006 12:20 PM EST

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THREE DOLLARS GOOD!

by The Incredible Hulk

Movie based on Elliott Perlman novel, but Hulk not know how read.  Hulk only know compelling character study when see it.

Robert Connolly skillful director.  Him concerned with global economy, high finance, and impersonal brutality of urban life.  Hulk hate cities.  Give Hulk claustrophobia.

David Wenham give shrewd thoughtful performance.  Bring tear to eye of Hulk.  Chemistry of cast very good.  Hulk think little girl actor do good job.  If Hulk make same movie, Hulk make Eddie less puny.  Able to lift cars.   Hulk also wonder: where Eric Bana?

Plot simple:  Good man with family have hard time.  Childhood sweetheart appear every nine and half year.  When Eddie lose job and youthful idealism, Hulk angry.  Hulk SMASH puny TV screen.  Aargh!!  Hulk not know how movie end.

See “Three Dollars”, or Hulk smash you too.

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 10:07 AM EST

Updated: November 3, 2006 10:37 AM EST

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Mood:  mischievious

The other night, just before Halloween, I was in line at the health food store, waiting for my pineapple to be rung up.  The cashier was clad in a fuzzy duck costume.  Stapled to the front was a square piece of chicken wire.  Her face was made up with very realistic bruises, contusions, and blood.  I wanted to ask her what her costume was, but I was afraid if I did, the bruises might turn out to be real, resulting in an awkward apology.  (My guess is she was a chicken unsuccessfully crossing the road.)

Even though Halloween is past, it's never too early to start planning your David/Dessicated Coconut-themed costume for next year:

David's Character In "Marriage"

1.  Ring the doorbell.

2.  When asked who you are, say "I don't know yet.  But keep checking imdb.com."

Alex's Architecture Firm

Logistically, this one is pretty tough.  To be a convincing architecture firm, you must be equipped with a diverse staff of dedicated project managers and draftspeople, plus the latest in CADD and 3-D rendering technology.  You also need ample pinup space, conference rooms, and parking.  Few people take this into consideration before attempting to go trick-or-treating as an architecture firm.

A 56K modem

1.  Cut out two eyeholes from a grey cardboard box.

2.  Ring the doorbell.

3.  When the person answers, wait for 4 - 6 minutes.  Then say "Trick or Treat!"

4.  Receive the candy (freezing once or twice during the upload). 

5.  Wait another 4 - 6 minutes.  Then say "Thank you!"

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 4:12 PM EST

Updated: November 3, 2006 10:46 AM EST

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Mood:  on fire

I don't know why, but my spam has been extra weird lately.  I've gotten email from Australia ("A low-interest loan for you!"), Sharpe ("Enjoy sssex with her"), and some guy named Howard Dean ("Democratic Presidential Campaign '08").

 My favorite aspects of spam are the randomly inventive names ("Rosario Thacker") and the junk-filter-evading subject lines, which sound almost like haiku if you savor them on their own:

 Unpleasantly, of our complete.  You, Pherl, will be nothing.

Now, doesn't THAT just make you want to dive in and read the rest of the message?  All your base are belong to them.

The other day, I watched Gettin' Square again, and was just bowled over by the courtroom scene.  That is a phenomenal piece of physical comedy.  It's done with such subtlety and skill: Johnny missing the chair, the timing of the dialogue, the smug little head motions at the end after he's weaseled bus fare and lunch money out of the prosecutor.  Just brilliant.  David deserved every bit of the AFI award for that scene alone.

I've also been musing over Answered By Fire, which unfortunately didn't do as well in the CBC ratings as hoped.  It's a very powerful and extraordinary movie, particularly in light of the renewed violence in East Timor, and the current situation in Darfur.  The analogies are fairly close.  Similar to what happened in East Timor, the Sudanese government, after signing a separate peace agreement with the SPLA, has armed a militia that is attacking civilians with helicopter gunships, burning villages, obstructing access to humanitarian aid, and going into refugee camps nightly to slaughter men and drag women away to be raped.  Foreign witnesses are being quietly removed.  The international community has been shuffling their feet over whether this constitutes "genocide" and warrants appropriate action, but it's mostly a semantic debate.  Genocide doesn't always mean targeted butchering of a particular ethnic group; it can be carried out through indirect means, such as taking Aboriginal children away from their parents to "breed the color out" (as one Australian official said in 1933), or failure to provide legal or military protection to threatened groups, as happened in East Timor.

Thus far, Darfur has been viewed as a humanitarian emergency, not genocide, and the UN won't act unless invited in by the Sudanese government.  Among their limited options are to put peacekeepers on the ground in Chad to try to stop the violence from spreading.  I don't see the US intervening as they did in Kosovo, not with troops already overextended in Iraq.  Meanwhile, over 2 million people have died.

Wow, this turned into a depressing blog entry.

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 12:57 PM EDT

Updated: October 27, 2006 4:13 PM EDT

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Mood:  suave

This story is probably going to get me added to the "No Fly" list, but... 

My mom is seriously addicted to a brand of peanut butter not available in her area of the country.  She asked if I would bring a jar with me last weekend when I flew to Baltimore.  Stupidly, I put it in my carry-on bag, thinking that OF COURSE peanut butter wouldn't be classified as a liquid, gel, or aerosol under the new FAA regulations.

No go.  I knew I was in trouble when the X-ray lady started inching my bag back and forth on the belt.  There was a minor kerfuffle, during which the jar was removed from the bag and brandished accusingly. I pleaded that it was a special gift for my dear mother, that technically peanut butter isn't a liquid or hazardous substance, and besides they hand out free peanuts during the flight anyway so why arbitrarily criminalize peanut butter?  Each plea got the same response: "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you're going to have to throw this out."  (Never argue with security personnel.)

I decided I wasn't going to let a bunch of terrorists stop my mother from getting her peanut butter.  There was still half an hour left before boarding.  I walked back to the car, opened the trunk, got out a plastic bag and a Swiss army knife, and started scooping the peanut butter into the bag.  In my furtive haste, I cut my finger.  Anybody watching through a surveillance camera would have seen an agitated passenger rummaging ritualistically inside a car trunk, fiddling with a knife and a jar, flinging blood onto the pavement, and muttering incoherently.  The scene wouldn't have looked out of place in a Murray Whelan telemovie.

Then I wrapped the bag in a paper towel, stuffed it in my sock, and limped nonchalantly through the metal detector, reeking of peanuts (thank goodness they didn't have bomb-sniffing dogs, or my ankle would have been toast).  The expression on my mom's face when I handed her the goods was priceless.  My sister accused me of being a "peanut butter mule".

Just to wrest this post vaguely back on topic, the reason I was traveling was to attend a family party for one of my cousins who just got married.   They lived in Sydney for many years, in Bellevue Hill.  My cousin was 13 when they moved, and it was a bit of a cultural adjustment to get used to school uniforms (gray tunics, gray underwear, house girdles).  When they handed her the list of school supplies, she was momentarily confused to see rubbers on the list.  In most places in the English-speaking world rubbers are erasers, but in the US they're condoms.

Similarly, we say "pencil", but they say "tractor"; and their word for "ruler" is "weapons-grade plutonium".  No wonder the school supply list was confusing.

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 10:11 AM EDT

Updated: October 10, 2006 11:00 AM EDT

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Mood:  sad

I haven't had a chance, until now, to fully reflect on the recent loss of Steve Irwin.  Like the rest of the world, I was profoundly shaken and saddened to hear the news that he had died while snorkelling off the Great Barrier reef.

What I appreciated most about Steve was his contagious enthusiasm.    Sharing his genuine passion for the natural world was far more effective in promoting the cause of conservation than preaching.  He made a career out of drawing attention to neglected, less-than-cuddly creatures - snakes, scorpions, crocodiles - and making us fall in love with them, even as we secretly thrilled to the risks he was taking.  As one of my friends said, "He didn't have a death wish.  He had a life wish." 

Despite his outsized, larger-than-life persona, he never took himself too seriously.  He had fun with his own image - who can forget that ESPN ad where he wrestled the U. Florida Gator mascot to the floor?

In some ways, I think Steve was even more idolized overseas than at home in Australia.  He was a perfect ambassador for his cause - cheerful, charismatic, hard-working, a magnet for kids.  David Wenham was so exceptionally lucky to have a chance to work with him in Crocodile Hunter.

Australia has lost a legend and a one-of-a-kind hero.  Goodbye, Steve...we'll miss you.

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 12:49 PM EDT

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Mood:  chillin'

 If you were as amused by Doug's Rap in "Cosi" as I was, you might also enjoy this blindingly white rap video:

Tea Par-Tay

I especially like the whale pants.  Nice touch.

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 11:56 AM EDT

Updated: October 5, 2006 1:15 PM EDT

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Mood:  lucky

"You run the gamut of emotions at football games - depression, despair, elation," Wenham told PS . "I love it. It's just the greatest drama. My great dream: if physically I was different I would have loved to have been an AFL player."

In any case Wenham has his own way of helping the Swans to win.

"My personal ritual is buying the footy record, the official program," he said. "I have to search out a female seller of the football record as I have an 80 per cent win rate purchasing off a female seller."

Professional athletes just don't appreciate how much effort fans have to put in towards keeping their teams' playoff hopes alive.   T-shirts go unwashed, beards go unshaven, hats get turned inside out, mascot dolls get moved to weird spots in the room.  I still have a candy bar wrapper that I can't bring myself to throw out.  It single-handedly won the 2004 World Series for the Boston Red Sox.

In game 4 against the New York Yankees, I was eating a candy bar during the ninth inning.  The Sox were down 4 - 3 and on the verge of elimination.  I was just crumpling up the wrapper and preparing to hurl it at the wastebasket in disgust at the prospect of yet another humiliating October drubbing by the Evil Empire, when Dave Roberts stole second base.  In mid-hurl, I froze.  Bill Mueller singled Roberts home, and the game was tied.  Suddenly I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the wrapper itself must be wielding unearthly powers against the Curse of the Bambino.

For the next three weeks it sat on the coffee table, except during games, when it was clutched nervously in my left hand during tense moments.  Nobody else was allowed to touch it.

My request to have the candy bar wrapper ride in the lead limo at the victory parade was turned down.

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 2:41 PM EDT

Updated: September 29, 2006 3:22 PM EDT

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Mood:  cool

August 10 is national "Sneak Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night"

The other day while going through a box of old papers, I found some notes from a Film Appreciation class that I took back in college.  It was taught by William F. Buckley and Simon Cowell's love child.  Picture acres of tweed, a killer Locust Valley Lockjaw accent, and overuse of the word adumbrate.

As a public service, I'm inflicting sharing these notes with you.  These are actual, verbatim quotes from the professor:

1.  "It would probably be awkward to zoom in on the twitch."

2. "There are quite a few wing chairs in this film.  Did anyone notice them?"

3.  "One measure of documentary film is how much confusion it leaves the viewer with."

4.  "What about the interlarding of black and white film?"

5.  "Usually, epiphany occurs at a hierophany".   (This note was followed by my snarky addendum:  "Unless there is cacophony at Tiffany's.")

6. (to the projectionist, as class time ran out) "Continue screening this, and most of us will leave."

STUDY QUESTIONS

1.  In which David films do wing chairs appear?

2.  How about twitches?

3.  Discuss the use of hierophany in Sea Change.

4.  Is interlarding bad for your cholesterol?

Posted by dessicatedcoconut at 4:08 PM EDT

Updated: August 10, 2006 4:10 PM EDT

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