YarravillePaul

Thanks to Muzbot for the heads up on this viral-marketing, flash-mob video for Sydney's Mardi Gras.

I imagine that advertising in the modern, technological age is significantly more challenging than just finding funds for a TV or radio spot. In addition cash-for-comments and ABC's Media Watch must be making it difficult for presenters to surreptitiously push an advertising messages out to the world.

But this fantastic video found on youtube seems a clever way of combining viral marketing with one of my favourite genres of amateur short film, flash-mob recordings. Not only does it spread messages in a modern, slightly less intrusive way, it does so with a community of interested people, who will also spread the message through word of mouth ("did you see me on....?").

They look like they were having fun, and the crowd appeared to enjoy it. May they have as much fun at Mardi Gras.

This series of images are blatantly homoerotic, and philosophically challenging.

Are these men made whole, through the summation of their parts?
Can your vision move beyond the powerful pull of each penis?
Is it possible to know anything of these men's lives?
Do these images objectify men is a negative way?
Why, for me, are the eye and hand components most informative/suggestive of the individual?

These are great images and I would like to post more and acknowledge the artist. But I do not know where they are from! So if anyone knows, please post a comment...

.... and I have no idea what it is, but I like the photo ....

This short film is gentle and uplifting.
There is no porn, or cock, or gay stuff.
But there is a lot of hope and desire, playfulness and charm, and conquered shyness...
... and a remembrance of brave beginnings with unknown consequences.

It will be 12 minutes of your life well spent.

Am I too old to enjoy a film like Astroboy?
I am clearly older than the targeted demographic.

But I don't think I care. I quite enjoyed the new film.

I am not the sort of purist that needs film details to exactly match my youthful memories of an animated hero. It is enough for me to get a little glimpse of why I enjoyed him so much, all those years ago.

Of course, adult interpretations of childhood memories will contain some embellishments. The strengths I attribute to Astroboy may differ from those I aspired to as a boy. Unless you prescribe to the Jesuit maxim of "give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man...". If so, the pleasure of watching children's film will remain with me for life.

Astroboy is a small adventure in the Pinocchio style. A story recently retold in Spielberg's A.I.

A boy, with special abilities, has to work out how to fit in when he is overwhelmed by the differences between himself and others around him. A boy's search for love and a place to belong. A discovery that it is OK to be a bit different. That some differences make him a stronger person, not a lesser one.

Astroboy is filled with uncertainty, yet also embraces the adventure presented by the world around him. I think I not only liked him as a friend when I was seven, I think I was him! Except that I couldn't fly using the rockets in my legs...

I had a traditional Catholic upbringing...

Church on Sunday, displacing made-up sins with confessional prayers.
A stint as an alter boy.
Learning right from wrong by the teachings of others, and an ancient church code.
Discovering that liking masturbation and (much later) men, was a wrongness to be ashamed of, rather than a healthy expression of my own sexuality.

So I dropped the church when I was 17, and have no desire to revisit, except for family obligations.

Unlike Ben Gresham, who was able to reconcile his differences.

A stronger man than I....

This image is brilliant!!!

I look at it and can feel the fun these guys were having in an old fashion photo booth....
...are they on shore leave between violent episodes of war? ...
...it shows warmth, camaraderie, and belonging...

These pictures are even more interesting if you think about the mens' lives ....

... where did they live? how did they live? what did they do after these images?....
... are they gay? were they used and abused? or did they just have a fun, disinhibited youth? ...

You don't have to be a computer nerd to have heard of Alan Turing, the founder of modern computer science. A mathematical genius by any scale.

His analytical brilliance was demonstrated by his part in cracking the Nazi's Enigma Code.

He received an OBE for his services to the Crown, but this was not enough to stop his persecution for being "grossly indecent" under British law at the time.

He chose suicide rather than suffer continued persecution and chemical castration.

A petition calling for a posthumous apology is circulating in the UK, and I urge all in UK fair-minded citizens to sign here.

ALL past wrongs deserve a dignified reconciliation....

(found through BBC and Gizmodo)

I have seen two films this weekend. Both good, thus marking a healthy start for this 3 week break from work.

District 9 is a good old-fashion science fiction story told well.

Aliens arrive on Earth and we don't know why or for how long. They look kinda ugly, and behave kinda differently.

The story follows one human who has been charged with relocating 1.8 million of the aliens from their detention centre (ie.Detention Centre in the Christmas Island sense), to a new home.

It is a science fiction story well told because it is not the science, or the fiction, or the CGI, or the aliens, or the fighting. Instead, it is a story that examines the human response to a fictitious future world. Human small mindedness. Human greed. Human loyalties. Human ethics.

The film is not earth-shattering, but I found it far more engrossing than I had expected. There is much fighting and running, surreal elements to make you doubt reality, and exploding bodies.

A whole lot of fun, with layers of deeper meaning if you enjoy a good ol' SF fashion yarn.

The Young Victoria tells of the earlier years of Queen Victoria.

It is a gentle story of romance and coming of age for a highly protected jewel of the realm. Prince Albert and Lord Melbourne figure prominently in the rapid maturing of the youthful queen.

I have no idea if the story is factual. Can anyone know about a life lived 150 years ago? I guess that public lives will forever be relived through the invention of modern understandings. Truth is, after all, subjective.

The film is enjoyable as a study of Victoria's struggle against the constraints of her life. A gentle look at her battle to make her existence meaningful when those around her, older and more experienced in politics, attempt to mould and control her every move.

Period films ask the viewer to loose themselves in another place or time, and thus be swept along with a story and world that is different to our life, and our world. Some succeed, but some films become distractingly patronising with over acting and distant accents.

The Young Victoria is a story that gently sweeps you into another time and another place. I enjoyed it, and did not envy her majesties struggles.

I know that makes me sound like an old queen, but I don't really care....

Interested to know what you think these guys are doing?
And why nude?
And would you join in the fun?

I have come late to the experience of Underbelly. An Australian TV drama, set in Melbourne, about a gangland war.

It was over-hyped at the time of its release, with a judicial magistrate banning its screening in Melbourne because trials for some of the gangsters were still underway. It was as if the courts were participating in a bit of cross promotion with the TV station.

The premise is not really one that inspires me. You know, police drama and all that... Not since Matlock Police, and Division Four, have I followed any police drama with significant interest.

But I have become a big fan! Part of the intrigue is that it is actually a three-way drama. A triangle between the police and two warring gangs.

I am interested to find out if I am enjoying it just because I live in Melbourne, and could possibly have been in those Lygon street cafes around the time of all the troubles. Or is it great drama, well written?

Has anyone not in Australia watched the show and enjoyed it ?

I have included the opening titles because I love the visuals and soundtrack. They give a good sense of the mood of the show.
Apparently, the DVD is available for purchase, or a torrent....

I am feeling a little spaced-out after recent night shifts, and found these images whilst blog surfing that demonstrate my headspace.

There is a huge collection of images from the Huble telescope.
Scanning through the images is a reasonably pleasant way to spend 20-30 minutes.
The exercise went from 'a pleasant look at pretty pictures' to 'an overwhelming sense of awe' as my mind tried to grasp the magnificent size of the celestial objects I was viewing.

It does require an active sense of adventure to look at these images, in a world where we are bombarded by visual imagery in every aspect of our daily lives.....

Woohoo....!
Bringing back the anime/manga of my youth ... can't wait!
(Maybe we will also have Kimba the White Lion?!?!)

There is much to be discovered about how the things we believe in, have become the things we believe in....

This cynical parody explores the beliefs underlying the maxim that marriage is only for straight people.

It was interesting to watch. I was amused, despite knowing that I had heard all the punch-lines. However, the more I watched, the more I felt that gay people are being singled out by denying their relationships an equal support from society. Not so much as victims, but as the focus of irrational, outdated understandings of the human condition.

Maybe one day....

I will have to wait until September, but the teasers are here already and they look good.....

Milo posted this clip hinting at some new work by Banksy. I would love some more details if anyone knows anything...

This news report from 1993 tells of a new phenomenen called the "internet".
Absolutely fascinating, I wonder if it will catch on....

What do you think about your body? Do you like it? Is your view skewed by Pornography, Parents, Peer, Media, or self hate?

Or are your gorgeous, balanced and self-aware?

A good mate is investigating men's body image as part of a Masters of Psychology degree.
He is seeking input from men (straight and gay), through an anonymous 30 minute survey.

If you can spare the time, it would be great if you could complete this short survey. You never know, you might even discover something about how you think about yourself, and your body.

Thanks in advance for those that participate.