Gravity Wave

I was heartened today when I had a look at my Tumblr for the first time in ages, people were still giving me likes on my archive!

Writing from an outsider’s perspective - a citizen of another country - I write with trepidation. Every country has their problems. Every country has to represent themselves on the international stage and justify their position on all sorts of criteria. My country has a really bad history on it’s treatment of refugees, and other issues.

Whilst the USA is justifiably focused on the result of their federal election - and rightly so - do any of their citizens, or press, or politicians - take a moment to see things from outside their bubble - and think of how bad they look right now on the international stage?

Has the USA really become a place where every dirty trick in the book is considered fair play? Perhaps one of the most sensible things Donald Trump has said (and there aren’t many) over the last 5 years is that the US has been duped over NATO funding, and have paid over the odds in terms of NATO contributions to ensure - exactly what?

But all that bullshit falls over under the argument on Nuclear Weapons. What country would consider nuclear non-proliferation when the power with the most nuclear weapons has a fucking madman with his finger on the doomsday button?

Most world citizens don’t give a fuck about the price of corn, or the DOW Jones index. But they don’t want to die from a pandemic illness that the USA as a collective has chosen to ignore and ridicule. That’s right - citizens of the USA - in many instances you are perceived as a collective - a nation playing on the world stage.

The denigration of the democratic process in the US might be seen by some analysts as some kind of sociological progression, but it is not. It’s an embarrassing descent into ideological lawlessness that shows that a lack of respect for the values of education and empathy, love, compassion, and fairness, are a road to nowhere.

Curvature of Nature with Goat and Tree

Friends, I am so sorry I haven’t been here on Tumblr to support you during this terrible time. I transitioned to remote learning for my Advanced Diploma a few months ago, and it has been a hard road. I’ve nearly lost my shit on so many occasions, but I think I’m getting my mojo back.

Stephen Wolfram’s Physics Project is a Game Changer, get on it.

Chopper has advice for The Prime Minister for Corona

Oh, and here’s an ass-kicking “selfie” for you. My Uni buddy CJ has done a couple of projects from a photo shoot featuring Moi, this one is for a Hamlet poster.

It’s such a pleasure to be in a creative environment where you can just unexpectedly blast off photos of people and they respond and contribute to the shot.

Here I am sitting in the middle of nowhere. The University finally woke up and pulled the pin on classes for the rest of the term. Whether they were just being conservative or protecting their revenue stream by delaying the inevitable is probably now a moot point.

Today, I went to the supermarket for what might be the last time in a while. They still didn’t have any bog roll (that’s an Australian term for Dunny Roll ;) I only use about 2 rolls a month anyway. One crap a day and I don’t mummify.

We had our first online presentation of a piece of work today, and only 3 out of 7 people bothered with it. I’m spewing on the others, but yeah, whatever.

I haven’t been in to classes for the best part of 2 weeks anyway, I’m unlike the rest of the peeps, I’m older and have a ‘pre-existing condition’. The co-ordinator is fine with it and nobody else gives a shit.

There was panic again last night when the state government announced a lockdown - people suddenly thought booze might be limited. But I was able to get booze today.

I’m in party mode because I thought that the government’s fiscal stimulus package had shafted me, but no. I can’t believe it, but the conservative arseholes actually amended their own legislation in the Senate to include people like me on Austudy. So, I get double what they were giving me for being a student, double for the next 6 months, plus a little bonus of a one-off payment of 750 bucks.

So, Corona-Gods, you have made me zzrriccch. Exactly what I do with it sitting out here in isolation with my 12 litres of cheap wine is another thing.

I’ll be taking the filter off the 1.2/50 more often. Obviously it’s a no-brainer, but we say we’re gonna do it and then don’t. Take the filter off when it’s safe. Like in a cushy studio.

Deanna

Did a Studio shoot today with a buddy, and two lovely young models from his church. We shot on medium format film, and used hand held light metering for exposure, but also used DSLR shots in the way polaroid filmbacks were used back in the day to fine tune our film shots.

Dirtbag

It’s totally a cliche that somebody can have a photographic memory. It does exist; but it’s more like being on a spectrum rather than the movie portrayal. As is the same with schizophrenia being portrayed as “split personalities”, it’s bullshit.

Like, if you show me an old fashioned print newspaper, and later in the day you ask me what page the crossword was on, I could never tell you the page number, but I can totally tell you which facing page it was on and where on the page layout it was.

And probably, I have a better memory than a lot of people. I can tell jokes and limericks I heard 35 years ago, and still remember the person who told me that story, and the room and all of that.

And I can remember all sorts of shit from factoids through to stupid shit I did with other stupid people, shit that was dumb and wrong, all that stuff. And good stuff, like people I helped out and all that stuff.