The decision

Soon, quite soon, I will have to make a decision about something that could affect the rest of my life. It could turn out to be the best thing I ever did, or the worst. I don't know.

What I do know is that I am tired of living on the dark side of the moon. If you don't know what I am talking about then I guess you don't really know me. Whatever, it doesn't matter.

This all sounds way to heavy and serious so I apologize. It's only me.

Is being a nice guy enough these days to make the cut?? The more I think about it, the more I realise no.

Oh my God!!

Ok, I'm just going to say this as honestly and as straight forward as I can. Today, about mid afternoon, something happened that made my heart skip several beats.

A woman came into the store where I work. She was mid twenties I guess, tall, great figure, lightish hair...not blonde, but light. She wore a soft white woolly kinda top and well fitted blue jeans. Under her jeans were white high heeled boots. Her hair was long and her eyes were incredible.

Anyway, I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had seen in ages. It was just one of those moments, the moment when time stops and you see something so perfect and wonderful.

I helped her find the item she was looking for and we had a brief chat, though I have no idea what I said. I was tongue tied for sure! There are beautiful people everywhere, throw a rock and you will hit one, but she, whoever she was, was extraordinary.

I don't know why I felt the urge to record this (to everyone else, trival incident) but here it is. Of course beauty is only skin deep, I know that, it's what inside that matters (well, should matter), but with only a few minutes with her it was hard to determine her personality.

I'm sure I'll never see her again, she walked in and then left. That's it. It was just a moment in a day.

Night time

When I was a little kid my bedtime was 8:30pm. I remember the first time I stayed up late...it was to watch "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". I don't know how old I was but I got to stay up until the movie finished at about 10:45pm. Wow. This was a red letter day. I remember not wanting to go to bed, I really wanted to push the envelope. But I had to go to bed.

Ever since then I've had this odd fascination with night time. (I was asked the other day if I was a night owl or a morning person, and I replied I was both, which means I don't get enough sleep).

Sometimes, if I wake up at some ungodly hour, like 2:30am, I just have to go to the window and look at the world. At moments like that it is as if time has stopped, that nothing is happening, that everything is at peace. At night one is not required to do anything. There are no phone calls to make, or receive, no shopping to do, no work to be done.

The area where I live is usually pretty noisy most times, so it was quite incredible to experience nothing but absolute silence the other night when I looked out the window. I can't remember what time it was, but the moon was high, the houses nearby had all their lights off, and there was no traffic racing past. Nothing but stillness.

Some nights it is so dark that I recall a well known saying..."If you stare long enough into the void, the void stares back at you."

Not sure what all this means, but it's something I think about.

Cooking & blood test

I finally found something else I can cook. It is a rather unimaginative but strangely tasty vege thing. I simply put tofu, squah, some green stuff and soy sause into a wok and heat it all up. That's it, only takes a few minutes. I'm at the point where I can start to experiment a bit with other sauses and vegetables. So far though it still tastes the same.

Got the results of my recent physical today. All good. (I had to give some blood and urine to get the latest goss on what is happening inside). It's amazing how much they can know about one's health from such a small amount of blood and urine. It really is a good idea to have such a test done. I didn't mind the needle so much, but getting up at the crack of dawn to get to the surgery in time took some courage.

And the question I still can't answer is....Do geese see God?

Just one of those days...

A triple whammy today. Three bad things happened, one about my work, one about my personal life, and one about my career. I hope I don't have another day like today again for a long time.

Found time to watch two movies, 'The Party' made in 1968 starring Peter Sellers, and 'The Chorus', a French film which, though popular, I was strangely cold to.

Some dumb movies

I'm always on about movies I love, to the point of distraction in other people I think, but I've seen some recently that I thought were aweful.

Fat Albert - I just don't think that the 'concept' of Fat Albert is enough to justify a movie. I watched the cartoon series when I was a kid, and it worked very well on the small screen, but there just isn't enough to warrant a feature film.

The Ring 2 - The inevitable sequel. If you are going to make a scary film...then make it scary. This wasn't scary.

Mask 2 - Another dumb sequel. This one was made here in Australia and was kinda painful to watch. Whereas the first one had life, energy and vitality, this kind of just laid there.

Bondi Tsunami - A woeful film hyped as the first Australian 'cult' film of the 21st century. It had no story, no characterization, nothing, just a bunch of Asians travelling around Australia and surfing. Looked like nothing more than a home movie.

There's more but I'm getting dizzy just thinking about them. Hollywood is so cowardly these days, churning out sole-les sequels and brain-dead blockbusters that one is almost forced to turn to the independant cinema. Indie cinema is where it is happening. I just watched 'Napolean Dynamite' again tonight. A rather inexpensive but brilliantly imaginative film about a guy who is out to prove that he's got nothing to prove.

Last night

The sun came up last night, only for a minute or two. It was such a late hour that I don't think anybody else saw it. (It didn't sing to me). I watched as it quickly went down again before I climbed back into bed.

Party

Went to Tim's (surprise) party for his mum's birthday on Saturday night. His mum, Jenny, was late in arriving and when she was finally at the house all the party guests were required to cram into a bedroom and the bathroom until called to emerge. I was in the bathroom and the joyful tension was palpable. We could here Jenny, Tim, Lol out in the lounge room chatting. We all finally came out and the party got underway. Was nice to meet some new people and have some good conversions. Eventually left a bit after midnight.

Great Raid photos

If you go to www.imdb.com and then go to 'The Great Raid' page, you will see a little icon that says 'Photos'. Click on that and you will see some pics from the movie. I'm not in any of the pics which have been posted yet, but hopefully some more will be posted in the coming weeks.

The film has actually got some really good reviews!

Big Brother

Saw the final show tonight, in fact I saw most of this series and really liked it. I actually thought that Tim was going to win, though I'm sure everyone else thought it would be the Logans. Sounds as if they are unsure as to whether a sixth season of BB is a possibility.

How I Won the War

One of my all-time favourite films is Richard Lester's 'How I Won the War', made in 1967. It starred Michael Crawford and John Lennon. I own a copy of it on video...a rather old ex-rental. The film has not as yet been released on DVD in Australia, though it has been in the US and the UK. (It is a British film).

I watched it again the other night, after having not seen it for quite some time. The dialogue is incredible and so I wanted to explore some of it in more detail. My fav scene is the one below. It is a scene between Crawford, playing British officer Goodbody, and Michael Vogler as the Nazi officer Odelbog. It takes place near a bridge, the last remaining one of the River Rhine. Goodbody has been captured by the Germans and has befriended Odelbog who, though a Nazi, seems more at home painting and looking after animals.

Goodbody: Did you have many humorous instances?

Odelbog: Oh yes yes!...Tell me about yours.

Goodbody: They're not funny really.

Odelbog: Tell me, are the British cruel?

Goodbody: Oh yes. We know what we're doing.

Odelbog: And are we. Do you know what we have done to millions of people?

Goodbody: ...I think you've killed them.

Odelbog: I don't know anything about it. It was terrible.

Goodbody: Are you sorry about these people?

Odelbog: No...no I'm not, and I've thought about it, and...no I'm not.

Goodbody: I'm not sorry about my men.

Odelbog: Did you have a lot of men?

Goodbody: (nods) You did?

Odelbog: Yes. Hundreds.

Goodbody: Me too, and all with the same faces. They all looked the same to me. You look after them, see their feet is clean. Dry, slightly powdered.

Odelbog: They will not look after their feet.

Goodbody: They were going to kill me with worry. More than that...more. Oh, may I? (Takes the feed for the chickens). The thing about them was they would not respond. There is was for them, a crusade against tyranny...oh - not you, not you. But if they knew the king. My mother knew him well, she used to send something on his birthday, and all the children, the princesses, they all got a little something, even though we were not that well off. I wanted to do my best for him. He knew...why he gave me his commission. You know what I mean?

Odelbog: Yeah.

Goodbody: I wanted to know them. I wanted to know them very well...I can talk to you. I could talk to nobody else. I haven't spoken to anyone else, like this, about the king and me, for the whole of this...

Odelbog: "And I. The king and I..."

Goodbody: You'd like him. (Gives Odelbog the chicken feed).

Odelbog: Thank you.

Goodbody: As I was saying, I haven't been able to speak to anyone else through the whole of this film. You see, one day, after a not particularly arduous or expensive skirmish, they were all gathered around me...I well remember, the way an admirable man, and a great soldier, referred to "expensive noises" as he listened to a battle without emotion. That is the way, isn't it, for our kind?

Odelbog: You are a fascist!

Goodbody: Am I? But I don't particularly dislike Jews...

Odelbog: Oh, I love them.

Goodbody: Have you, are you cruel, have you...killed many Jews?

Odelbog: Quite a lot. What do you say to that?

Goodbody: ...Good Lord. But then I try to find the good in everybody.


I just think that is brilliant writing.

Book

Got a letter yesterday from a publisher saying that they will publish my book, which is called 'Looking for 'Answers in Genesis''.

Am new to this publishing thing. Have absolutely no idea if the book will sell either one copy, or a million, who knows? Looking forward to seeing it in print though.

The Great Raid...finally!

About two years ago I was in a movie called 'The Great Raid' which, for whatever reason, sat unreleased, until now. I was looking through the 'Internet Movie Database' and found out that the film will be coming out shortly.

I was on that film for about two months, in the freezing cold pretending it was summer in the Philipines. We had actual tanks driving around, bomber planes, gun battles, explosions. It really was an amazing experience, and now I can finally see it.

Don't know the release date yet, but the poster looks cool.

Busy...

Today was good. In the morning I acted in an episode of 'The Great South East' for Channel 7. This particular show is about recreating old photographs taken in and around Brisbane. My scene was done at the Botanical Gardens in the city. It was good to work with Carole again, and meet Jaala, another Producer.

In the evening I went to Paula's birthday party and had a great time. Her little apartment was packed with people.

Space Shuttle

I saw the Space Shuttle this evening. It was advertised on the radio that it could be seen at 6:09pm at 13 degrees above the horizon in a south-westerly direction. And sure enough, there it was. It was an unblinking light that moved pretty quickly across the evening sky.

This and that.

The verdict on the stone tool is...inconclusive. The girl at the museum is undecided. That being the case I'll return it to where I found it at the Botanical Gardens.

In the last two days I've seen 'The Ring 2' and 'Alexander', neither of which I liked. The Ring 2 was just plain awful. I was asleep with terror. Alexander had its moments, but no one these days seems able to make a big screen epic that doesn't suck. Am looking forward to 'King Kong' and 'The Dukes of Hazard' though. I watched the original series of Dukes when I was a kid and even today I still own a toy version of the General Lee.

My vanilla trip to the vanilla gardens to do vanilla things.

The other day I went to the Botanical Gardens at Mt. Coot-Tha. It's about the biggest vanilla thing I've done lately but I still had a nice time. I took my digital camera and basically just strolled around clicking away at all the nice scenes. I came across two snakes, a Tibetan chanting trio, one country fair and an Aboriginal stone tool. This last discovery I smuggled out of the gardens and which currently resides on of my balconys. Yes, I know that removing Aboriginal artefacts is illegal, however, I will be taking it to the Queensland Museum on Wednesday to have it verified.

Should it turn out to be genuine, then I will leave it up to the surly folks at the museum to decide what to do with it. They might either wish it to be handed over to the local Brisbane Aboriginal community, or, they may store it for further analysis, or, they may say it is nothing but a rounded rock and tell me to go away. Either way, it should be interesting.

By the way, the most amazing film I have seen in the past twelve months is, and remains, 'Lilya 4-Ever.'