I recently had a chat with my brother about his homework for this week. He said he was overloaded with homework, and that he didn't like his English teacher. Since I went to the same school as he does now, I knew who the teacher in question was, and I did happen to know that while this teacher is a bit eccentric, he is very capable and a good teacher. I asked my brother what his homework was, and it turned out to be a book report/review and a handwritten letter.

Now, I don't know about you, but to me book reports are very easy. You say what's good, what's bad, and come to a conclusion. At the most basic level, you're simply telling a reader who knows nothing about the book a brief overview so that they know what the book's about. At higher levels you might go into thematic elements, symbolism, etc. But I digress. So I thought it was very easy, and gave him some Eugene-style compassion ("Take it like a man and stop whinging, it's easy"). He responded that he "wasn't me" and didn't know how to do it. I responded that I'm hardly a genius at this sort of thing, and advised him to go read a review in the paper to get some ideas about how to construct a review.
Who knows whether he took that advice to heart or not.

I also asked him about the specifics of the handwritten letter. It turns out it's a handwritten letter of about 250 words in length. My jaw is still dislocated from how far it dropped when I heard that. To put it into perspective, I've just went over that number with this current blog entry two sentences ago.After giving him some more Eugene-style sympathy ("You're an amateur and a fool. That's the easiest assignment in the history of mankind"), I asked him what was so difficult about that kind of task. After some coaxing, he responded that he didn't have any idea how to start a letter. I said that that's how people communicate without using the internet or instant messaging. He said that these days people rarely write each other long letter via email (To paraphrase what he said: "Hi. LOL. Bye."). While that's true that writing isn't really what it used to be, I find it mind boggling that he couldn't think about ANYTHING to write to another person about. I suggested that he pretend that I was overseas, and write to me telling me what's going on in his life. Somehow, I don't think it sunk in for him.

I guess some kids these days are so saturated with information that they skim over it; hearing and reading a lot of things, but ideas don't really sink into them. I wonder how it is with people my age and those slightly older. In fact, there's probably an older, grumpier version of me out there writing something similar right now. Perish the thought.

However, while there is little defense for Kyle and Jackie O, let's first look at the facts, since there are a number of parties who are, at differing stages, at fault for allowing this to happen. Firstly, the mother agreed to let her child to be hooked up to the lie detector, and even agreed to let her child be subjected to a battery of invasive and inappropriate questions regarding her sexual activity. While plenty of blame can be thrown at the two radio hosts for arranging such a horrid interview, let's spare a thought for the stupid parent who neglected to protect their child from such verbal abuse.

Secondly, 2dayFM has one of the largest listener bases in the country. While I realise that they have other shows on at other times, surely the popularity of their breakfast show contributes a large number to that listener base. While I wouldn't go so far as to accuse them of turning a blind eye to Kyle and Jackie O's weekly antics, it's not unreasonable to believe that the studio would want the show to continue as long as they don't push too many buttons. Perhaps that's something that's even worse; a studio allowing a show based on deception and humiliation to generate listeners and adverstising revenue.

Thirdly, I think it's good that ACMA (the Australian communications and media watchdog) has considered to launch an investigation of 2dayFM. It's very rare indeed that ACMA would even threaten to do so (as it has very severe implications, worse of all the station losing its right to broadcast), but why has it taken so long for them to act? The Kyle and Jackie O show have surely been in breach of the commercial radio code's of practice for years now:

All program content must meet contemporary standards of decency, having regard to the likely characteristics of the audience of the licensee's service.

— The Commercial Radio Australia Codes of Practice and Guidelines

I must stress that while the show has done many things wrong, it's also us as society who tune into shows like these that also support them. We buy into these media, and it's us who stand by and watch people be degraded unwillingly on radio and television.

It is times like these that I feel more strongly than ever that Australia and indeed the world needs a media source that is wholesome and based on God's love for its readers/listeners/viewers. It makes me glad that Audrey and I are working on a project for a girl's magazine that tells encourages them that there are ways to assert yourself other than appearing for a 5-minute's-of-fame stunt that involves sickening and gratuitous abuse of sex, genitals and crude humour. I really hope that one day we'll be in a world that has clean, wholesome media that doesn't need to use content such as this to get their point across.

For now, I take comfort in the fact that I am working on a project that will push back the torrent of darkness, and that someone out there gives a damn about the media that we're flooded with day after day; someone who looks and analyses at the real issues rather than sensationalising the story and simply retelling it.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

-Edmund Burke

EDIT: By the way, I just noticed that this blog is rather hard to read with the old style. After seeing a few of Xandra's blogs, I think it's time for a lighter feel to the blog.

I don't know why it is, but I don't find women very funny.

I'm not being sexist. But genuinely, I don't find myself rolling on the floor at anything any female has ever said or done. Let me give you an example. Watching my Thank God You're Here boxset, comedians and radio hosts such as Rebel Wilson, Fifi Box, Julia Zemiro...none of them tickle my funny bone. The only possible way that they can do so is by resorting to the lowest common denominator and using a sexual joke. That's not to say that I don't appreciate these kinds of jokes. Male comedians use them all the time, and I usually find them funny!

Maybe it's because I can relate to males more. They can usually appeal to stereotypical traits of the male gender, such as laziness, slackness, general idiocy or perhaps they can more easily perform physical jokes because of these above characteristics. Or maybe it's the complete opposite, and I have trouble relating to females. Either way, I usually skip over or listen less hard when female comedians appear on TGYH.

Wow, a lot of time has passed since my last blog entry. I guess a lot has changed since the last one I did, I'm due to graduate this month, and am looking forward to some further studies in a different field. 

But one thing that hasn't changed is my love of movies. I recently watched John Woo's action epic Hardboiled, which features Chow Yun Fat as  the Hong Kong ass-kicking heavy-duty supercop Tequila. Like most of Woo's movies, it's a complete action fest with some of the best choreography and general chaotic insanity that you'd expect out of an old school action film. Definitely worth watching.

I also watched what could be the last Futurama-related show that the world will ever see; the 4th and final straight-to-dvd movie Into the Wild Green Yonder. Some people dislike the series since they started creating the 4 feature length movies. To an extent I agree, the slapstick and completely oddball humour always worked in the series, but somehow lost something when the plot was extended in a feature length film. In any case, the series hasn't lost the quirkiness and tongue-in-cheek parody of modern life that has always characterised the series. The final film ties up some loose ends in terms of the romantic relationship between Leela and Fry, which means that this very may well be the last Futurama we'll ever see as nothing is planned in the future. It's a great sendoff for an underappreciated gem of a series.

The last one I saw recently was in the cinemas; DC Comic's Watchmen. Going completely against the trend of glitzy, glamorous superhero movies, Watchmen aims to portray superheroes as they would exist in real life, with all their psychological vices and real life consequences of their actions. Set in the 60s as the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war, Rorschach, a member of a disbanded group of superheroes investigates the murder of one of its oldest members and eventually uncovers a plot that endangers the whole world. I like the very different perspectives of each hero - from Rorschach with his black and white moral absolutism to Dr. Manhattan's cold objectiveness, each character provide a different view of the world. Also interesting is the fact that none of the superheroes possess what you'd call a super power, aside from Dr. Manhattan. All the jazz about Batman being a realistic hero because he lacks any powers and has only his will and his intelligence doesn't hold a candle to these guys. In some ways, they are similar to what a much darker Batman could be, if he were not bound by certain rules and regulations he imposes upon himself. It's quite a deep movie, and one should definitely have their thinking cap on before walking into the cinema. But it's a bleak look at the world worth watching, if only to see the world from so many highly variable eyes.

Reading Wong's recent and most heartfelt blog entry, I must admit that I felt a twinge of regret and quiet jubilation that only parents must feel when their children fly the roost. My boy's grown up, I think. Even though I frequently chastise him about his incorrect use of grammar and spelling (indeed, I did so in that very entry), I do think he has improved, probably in some small part to my effect on him. He thanked Seeman, Mel and myself, in that order.

Now I'm not kicking up some minor foible, and I don't mean to look at the list as an emperical list as some kind of bizarre friend ranking system (convenient as it may be). I'm just strangely bemused by what people have to say about me. In particuar, this part that Wong wrote about me.

"chee, ah well, always around to give a funny or kick in the bum sort of quip, quick humour and simple adfice, no frills sort of thing.  my english will never be at his level, but it';s thanks to his and phil's corrects have i improved a little since year 12.  yet another important comment giver to this often rambling and ranting blog of mine."

It's strangely humbling and disheartening that people usually don't list me being a particularly loyal or trusted friend of theirs in their comments about me. I'm not angry at anyone for anything that they have or haven't said about me, because quite frankly being listed at all is a rather large testimony in itself.

Perhaps it's because that I don't project myself as a particularly warm or friendly sort of fellow. It's not personal, ladies.

Perhaps it's because I find it difficult to make friends. Again, nothing personal guys.

Or maybe it's my fascination with the other guy.

The other guy. The kind of aloof but strangely helpful wizened sage who has a large but indirect part over the story. The kind of character who might be incredibly helpful in the grand scheme of things, but at the same time not appearing for very long, or even in the actual present-tense of the story at all.

Think Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars movies. He died within the first half of the movie, but indirectly influenced Luke Skywalker to become the great Sith Lord-whooping Jedi that he was in the final movie.

Or perhaps Rafiki in The Lion King. He christens Simba, and doesn't appear at all in the timespan that Simba grows into an adult. Yet it is he who faciliates the final advice that Mufasa has to enlighten Simba, and helps him along his quest to regain his rightful place at the throne.

Maybe Treebeard the Ent? He was funny in a bogan sense, and indirectly helped the main human/elf forces by cutting off Saruman's reinforcements by destroying the Uruk'hai birthing pits.

It is my utter fascination with these side characters whose presence is rarely seen, but almost always felt that perhaps drives me to be these guys. The kind of person who may barely appear in the background, but then again might just save your life when you need it the most. Am I in a constant state of readiness to help my friends? Almost certainly. But maybe they just don't know that a silent helper skulks in the background, quietly waiting and watching to see if they need assistance.

For all those of you who were wondering where the 'is' from Facebook went, here is your answer...

Retrieved from: http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/facebooks-is-now-a-was/2007/12/20/1197740431410.html
"For years, members of the popular online hangout Facebook have been able to compose one-liners called "status updates" to tell friends what's going on with them, as in, "Jessica is craving egg and cheese on an English muffin".

Each update started with the member's name and "is," followed by a blank box. This led to tongue-in-cheek workarounds (say, "Jessica is egg and cheesed"). Others ignored "to be" completely and followed "is" with a second active verb.

To the delight of several hundred thousand Facebook users who joined protest groups online, the "is" quietly disappeared last Thursday, making "Jessica is wants an egg and cheese muffin" a thing of the past. Users now supply all their own verb.

Facebook claims 58 million active members. In comparison, the largest anti-"is" group, "Petition to Get Rid of 'is' from Facebook Status Update!" was 182,015 strong when its founder, Ahmed Shama, pronounced the "is" dead.

In an interview, Shama, a 29-year-old technology consultant who lives in Irvine, California, said he was half joking when he started the group with his brother and invited friends to join. But supporters all over the world wrote to him - and not just because they were tired of gerunds.

Many who speak languages other than English complained Facebook "was imposing a very English-specific way of updating your status," said Shama.

Anti-"is" groups formed in Turkish and even Norwegian. Facebook hasn't translated its site into languages other than English yet, but a spokeswoman said that's on the agenda for early 2008.

Reeling from public outcry against a viral advertising effort, in which it published information about what members were doing and buying online, Facebook declined to speak about this issue. The company had hinted in November that it would drop the verb. It began by letting programmers write code to suppress the "is" if another verb was given.

Twelve thousand people have left Shama's group since last week, and he, too, is turning his attention elsewhere.

"I try to use my Facebook profile to create groups that raise social consciousness among people, whereas this was more for fun," he said, though he acknowledged the "is" was his biggest success so far.

"Nothing came even close."

AP

Researchers in a remote jungle in Indonesia have discovered a giant rat - five times the size of a typical city rat - and a tiny possum that are apparently new to science.

Unearthing new species of mammals in the 21st century is very rare. The discoveries by a team of American and Indonesian scientists are being studied further to confirm their status.

The animals were found in the Foja mountains rainforest in eastern Papua province in a June expedition, said US-based Conservation International, which organised the trip along with the Indonesian Institute of Science.

"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

"With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip."

The possum was described as "one of the world's smallest marsupials".

A 2006 expedition to the same stretch of jungle - dubbed by Conservation International as a "Lost World" because until then humans had rarely visited it - unearthed scores of exotic new species of palms, butterflies and palms.

Papua has some of the world's largest tracts of rainforest, but like elsewhere in Indonesia they are being ravaged by illegal logging.

Scientists said last year that the Foja area was not under immediate threat, largely because it was so remote."

AP tnf

What I wonder is whether or not this rat has evolved through human intervention or not. You always see crazy satirical stories of genetic mutation in shows like The Simpsons, where a vat of toxic goo instantly evolves a creature into something grotesque, but in this case, who knows? Rats have extremely fast reproduction cycles (compared to other mammals), so it may be the case that this species of rat has come into contact with a man-made implement and has evolved into something beyond its original design. This is only speculation, as the rat has only been recently discovered. But still, the possibility of this scenario can't be dismissed. One of my greatest disappointments with mankind is that our impact on the world has eradicated thousands of beautiful species, and has altered the development of other animals through our alterations to their natural environments. God's original plan is so perfect, and His works masterful. Why must we ruin his handiwork?