Weddings, Unitarians, Work and Study, Aboriginal Camp, V for Vendetta, Memage

[tcpip]

thorfin's and seedy_girl's wedding at the Fairfield ampitheatre yesterday was a delight. Attended with caseopaya and her friend Karin who was engaging in a three-day holiday from Perth. Chatted with a bundle of old friends and then went out to a local with trayce, Nick, bar_bar_ella, kits_the_dm, and proceeded to drink an excessive amount.

Following morning I was most unwell to put it mildly. I missed the bus to the Church literally by 60 seconds, so I had to take a taxi. Despite looking and feeling like death warmed up, I conducted the service and, upon discovering half way through that Andrew Chalmers was unable to make it (struck down with the 'flu) I had to improvise, repeating a prior presentation on The Future of the Human Species. However it turns out that despite the fact that presentation was given some eighteen months ago, our radio producer had used it recently. What to do? An impromptu interview on the life of famous Unitarian-Universalist and inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee. Immediately after that I was slotted in to lead the discussion at the Church philosophy group on the economic virtues of land-tax under the title of "Common Wealth or Stolen Wealth?". Just to continue the roller-coaster day, we also had a session of GURPS Australian Noir, which involved brain sucking aliens from beyond the stars.

Work was tiring this week. Have delved far too deeply into the innards of MS-SQL server, learning about things I never thought I would have to worry about. Spent far too much time trying to work out how to do animated GIFs with The Gimp. I'm really not a graphics-orientated person in case no-one's noticed. Oh, and I've enrolled for semester 3 for CCNA and for a Microsoft Certified Professional course at NMIT.

Wrote to the City of Melbourne this week urging them not to forcible disband the aboriginal camp in King's Domain. Prime Minister Howard is worried it will end up like the Canberra Aboriginal embassy. An hour after sending the letter out organisers of the Black GST circulated it to their members are a pro-forma example.

Saw V for Vendetta on Wednesday with caseopaya, kremmen and dukeofmelbourne. Thought very highly of it and quite liked the inclusion of contemporary themes. Alan Moore's criticisms are, in my opinion, overly harsh.

Oh, and apparently I'm in the top 0.12% of livejournal users which is quite a surprise. I feel very honoured. After all, gentle readers, I wouldn't be able to do it without you.

tcpip's LiveJournal popularity rating is 5.32/10. tcpip is more popular than 99.88% of all LiveJournal users. tcpip is more popular than 95.6% of their mutual friends. How popular are you? LJ Popularity created by thehumangame.

Comments

[bar-bar-ella.livejournal.com]

Twas excellent catching up with you after far too long, sir! :)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Too many moons have passed since our last meeting. Heck, and seeming that we're practically neighbours and all.

More film nights, that's what I reckon!

[drjon.livejournal.com]

You know the story behind Moore's distancing himself from the movie, yes?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I was of the opinion that it was primarily because V was not as morally ambigious as Moore would have liked. There's more to it than that?

[drjon.livejournal.com]

"I explained to [Larry Wachowski] that I'd had some bad experiences in Hollywood," Mr. Moore said. "I didn't want any input in it, didn't want to see it and didn't want to meet him to have coffee and talk about ideas for the film."

But at a press conference on March 4, 2005, to announce the start of production on the "V for Vendetta" film, the producer Joel Silver said Mr. Moore was "very excited about what Larry had to say and Larry sent the script, so we hope to see him sometime before we're in the U.K." This, Mr. Moore said, "was a flat lie."

"Given that I'd already published statements saying I wasn't interested in the film, it actually made me look duplicitous," he said.

Through his editors at DC Comics (like Warner Brothers, a subsidiary of Time Warner), Mr. Moore insisted that the studio publicly retract Mr. Silver's remarks. When no retraction was made, Mr. Moore once again quit his association with DC (and Wildstorm along with it), and demanded that his name be removed from the "V for Vendetta" film, as well as from any of his work that DC might reprint in the future.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

"Given that I'd already published statements saying I wasn't interested in the film, it actually made me look duplicitous," he said.

Published statements?

Well if they were published that would be the end of the debate.

Although Moore's reaction is still a bit over the top. Very much once bitten, twice shy.

[drjon.livejournal.com]

True. Except he'd been bitten lots, not just once.

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

I haven't been keeping up with Australian politics, so your journal is always great for links. I had no idea about this protest.

*goes to read*

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

It didn't attract as much media coverage as it should have and there were some in the indigenous community who thought the objectives were a little on the radical side. To paraphrase William S. Burroughs.. "They're not united anymore than we are"

[zey.livejournal.com]

Have delved far too deeply into the innards of MS-SQL server, learning about things I never thought I would have to worry about.

I know your pain. Not with MS-SQL Server, but, another SQL server whose name is best left unsaid.

I'm really not a graphics-orientated person in case no-one's noticed.

I definitely know your pain there too ;-).

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

another SQL server whose name is best left unsaid.

Aww! Tease! I want to see a SQL-server flame war! ;-)

[zey.livejournal.com]

Ha! Oh, alright ;-). It's SQLite3. It's not really an SQL server as such, more a file format you establish and query with SQL. No support at all for network requests and it's data structures are very primative. (But it does have a niche in giving low maintenance SQL database functionality to apps that would otherwise need an account on a real SQL server somewhere.)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I'd never read of it, but it certainly makes good sense that such a creature exists.

[shorxrore.livejournal.com]

i think moore is plenty valid just because he's the one who wrote it. it would seem over the top coming from the average fan, but it is his book, and now millions and millions of people have seen a bastardized version of it he didn't want made, so i'd probly be pissed as hell too :)

i thought it was very entertaining, but it was really hollywoodized. and they left out important things. and the fact that it was made to apply to contemporary events only served to take away from the true meaning of the story and replace it with a partisan feel. i'm sure plenty of democrats will see that movie and walk away thinking bush is the devil and being glad they're democrats.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

i think moore is plenty valid just because he's the one who wrote it.

Well that much is true, but I've noticed a tendancy with artists never to be happy with derivative works.

and now millions and millions of people have seen a bastardized version of it he didn't want made, so i'd probly be pissed as hell too :)

And millions and millions now know there's a comic out there of the same name when they didn't before. I think we'll see a few back issue sales.

and the fact that it was made to apply to contemporary events only served to take away from the true meaning of the story and replace it with a partisan feel.

I accept that as par for the course in popular films; indeed I'm glad to see that V wasn't a noble warrior. It would have been better still, of course, if it could be shown the government was actually running an orderly society of material success and that it was only deviants and renegades that were subject to its punishment.

[shorxrore.livejournal.com]

true true. i liked the movie but feh...it wasn't anything special to me, hopefully it definitely will make people read the comic but you'd be surprised how many people don't even read books in america, ever.

Bill Hicks, yet again.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

"I was in Nashville, Tennesee last year, after the show I went to a Waffle House, I'm not proud of it, I was hungry. And I'm alone, I'm eating and I'm reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me, "Tch tch tch tch. Hey, what you readin' for?" Is that like the weirdest fucking question you've ever heard? Not what am I reading, but what am I reading for. Well, godammit, you stumped me. Why do I read? Well... hmmm... I guess I read for a lot of reasons, and the main one, is so I don't end up, being a fucking waffle waitress.

But then... this trucker in the next booth gets up, stands over me, and goes, "Well, looks like we got ourselves a reader." What the fuck's going on here? It's not like I walked into a klan rally in a Boy George outfit, godammit, it's a book! "

Re: Bill Hicks, yet again.

[shorxrore.livejournal.com]

lollllllllllll

ok now that is just hilarious.

welcome to america everyone!

[lula-neith.livejournal.com]

Glad you were able to conduct the service. Hope they keep the Aboriginal Camp open! I have yet to see V for Vendetta. It's funny, though, how here in the States, the right is taking it as an insult, though it's from a graphic novel written ages before 9/11. If they see something in it, they've got to look at themselves. LOL! I'm going to nick that popularity thing and see what I get. Take care!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Conducting the service, giving the presentation, having a radio interview and leading the philosophy class all in three consecutive hours was quite exhausting.

There are a couple of contemporary hits in V which weren't really part of the original comic series.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nightflower_/]

I saw V for Vendetta on Saturday arvo @ Chadstone *shudder* but I really enjoyed it. I thought the filmmakers were very true to the graphic novel, right down to some of the shots and the way they were framed. I really believe this story could be pre-empting our world's dystopian future... :(

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I must confess I haven't read the graphic novel (heck, what am I saying? I read the series comics, dammit) since about 1989.

There was a sense in which the government was too nasty. Far better to propose a dystopia (keeping in mind a dystopia is a flawed utopia) where there are real benefits for the overwhelming majority of the population. This was hinted at (e.g., the crises in the United States), but not made sufficiently explicit. Lots of order, material wealth and so forth would have been nice.

Anyway, it was still a great film and clearly requires multiple viewings as well. We all picked up different things in the subtext which is a good sign of suggesting a multi-layered narrative. I like that.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nightflower_/]

This was a Hollywood film however, and there have to be heroes and villains, which in Hollywood is often played out as extremes (because the viewing public are stupid, and won't get subtleties, right?!).

When I saw this thing, I immediately thought of the film Terminator, and what was birthed from the chaos of world disorder (as opposed to dystopia). There was something very similar about the scene where V emerges from the flames...

[zey.livejournal.com]

My most recent reading of the graphic novel was about a year back (a borrowing from a local public library, no less!) I really don't think Moore has a lot of just cause to be upset. I'm agreed with _nightflower_, they got the atmosphere right and did a decent job of translating it from comic to screen.

The changes to the base storyline were fairly minor as far as Hollywood goes. A few points were obviously cropped and condensed for time: Evey not being a prostitute but instead working for the studio where the second hit takes place. All up though, we were damned lucky to get the film out of a major studio at all, given its general themes and today's political climate. A less obvious totalitarian government parody would probably have got the cast and crew done rendered to an overseas torture camp for sedition.

I really liked the film on a number of levels: it'll be very thought-provoking for a lot of people, it was sweet seeing my favourite actor (John Hurt) going full circle in the genre from 1984's Winston Smith to V's totalitarian despot, and it's the first one in a loooong while that gave me the impulse to jump up and cheer at the end ;-).

Tell me you will forgive me ... one day?

[imajica-lj.livejournal.com]

ungh just ungh...

Re: Tell me you will forgive me ... one day?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Already done, ya poor wee thing. Noone is to blame for illness (I have no excuse - it was self-induced).

Just arrange another gig with Donna and knock 'em out. I know you can do it.

The brain sucking aliens from beyond the stars were an appropriate conclusion for the day.