Hi.
In my working life I've worked with people from a variety of backgrounds. Sydney itself is a place where a multitude of people from different backgrounds gather, and intermingle freely without any issue.
Of course if you're in the States reading this, you'll know how sensitive a topic this can be. Ever since slavery, it seems, the issue of race has been intertwined with the haves and have nots, the powerful and the downtrodden. Hence the conflict born out of this situation.
And of course we have the interminable Arab-Israeli conflict.
Occasionally, in my own life, the issue of race pops up. For example, when my girlfriend is in the CBD and sees a woman in full burqa. Window shopping for jewellery. She couldn't help but feel deeply disturbed by the sight - a woman clad head to foot with only a slit for her eyes. She told me it made her feel disturbed to think how repressed women must be by that culture, and how strange it is to see that in Australia.
I know how she feels - every so often the intersection of cultures causes internal friction - not that it's anyone's fault, it just seems that one's own consciousness is challenged out of a sort of emotional comfort zone into encompassing someone else's reality.
I think that's what challenges me the most- when I suddenly encounter someone else's psychic reality, it can throw up all sorts of mental debris. Prejudices, misconceptions and just plain errors.
Once its all said and done, the best I feel I can do each day is to take each person on their merit. To abandon any fears, and just go with what is presented to me in each moment. After all, if the person is treating me fairly and decently, I really have no reason at all to be concerned!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Review: The Keeper of Traken (1981)
This story was the 2nd to last of the 18th season of Doctor Who. The season had linking themes of dissolution, decay, and destruction - which tied in with the fact that Tom Baker, the iconic fourth Doctor was leaving the role after a record 7-year stint as the Doctor.
With The Keeper of Traken, these themes became more explicit, being mentioned several times. There was a sense that the series was building up to something, and with its other themes of power (seeking it, using it, holding it and losing it) and domination, it provided the most dramatic expression yet of the series.
As a program, it has a cracking good first episode. It starts very unusually for a Doctor Who story - we are introduced to many of the main plot elements right off the bat. The titular Keeper appears inside the TARDIS and, in a scene similar to the one in season 16 with the White Guardian, the Keeper explains to the Doctor about his homeworld, the Traken Union.
Traken is a benevolent Empire where peace, order and tranquility reign, and anything evil that is drawn into its influence immediately calcifies and becomes immobilised. Such is the all-pervading goodness that prevails there.
Once our introduction story is over, the Doctor and companion Adric agree to help the Keeper, who senses some great evil is about to invade Traken. We meet the natives who, in their sumptuous costumes and quaint dialogue, are as elegant and stylised as their homeworld. The direction is smooth and intelligent, as we get nice long shots of the main Traken hall wherein the five Consuls periodically summon their Keeper.
As the drama unfolds and the Melkur statue begins to walk, events rapidly close around our heroes and the first episode comes to a dramatic close. Unfortunately, the next two episodes are very much a run around, with nothing of note revealed save that the Melkur somehow knows the Doctor...
The pace picks up again in the final episode, where the Melkur assumes the Keepership and is then revealed as the Doctor's arch enemy - the Master. Chaos reigns as his link with the Source is broken and elemental forces are unleashed. A substitute Keeper is found and order is restored - but the Master escapes, and, stealing the body of Consul Tremas, discovers a new lease of life...
The most that can be said about The Keeper of Traken also applies to this era of Doctor Who as a whole - that style and glamour is favoured over substance. A great first episode gives way to a lack-lustre run around, with the usual imprisonments, escapes, and confrontations. This robs episode four of much of its climactic feel, although it is heart rending when the Master takes over the body of the kindly Consul Tremas (whose only daughter Nyssa, is then left behind).
So something of a disappointment, but in the context of early 80's Doctor Who, the re-birth of a series that had grown very tired indeed was well under way.
(The Keeper of Traken was written by Johnny Byrne and directed by John Black, (c) BBC 1981. The next and final story of season 18 -- and of Tom Baker -- was Logopolis. )
With The Keeper of Traken, these themes became more explicit, being mentioned several times. There was a sense that the series was building up to something, and with its other themes of power (seeking it, using it, holding it and losing it) and domination, it provided the most dramatic expression yet of the series.
As a program, it has a cracking good first episode. It starts very unusually for a Doctor Who story - we are introduced to many of the main plot elements right off the bat. The titular Keeper appears inside the TARDIS and, in a scene similar to the one in season 16 with the White Guardian, the Keeper explains to the Doctor about his homeworld, the Traken Union.
Traken is a benevolent Empire where peace, order and tranquility reign, and anything evil that is drawn into its influence immediately calcifies and becomes immobilised. Such is the all-pervading goodness that prevails there.
Once our introduction story is over, the Doctor and companion Adric agree to help the Keeper, who senses some great evil is about to invade Traken. We meet the natives who, in their sumptuous costumes and quaint dialogue, are as elegant and stylised as their homeworld. The direction is smooth and intelligent, as we get nice long shots of the main Traken hall wherein the five Consuls periodically summon their Keeper.
As the drama unfolds and the Melkur statue begins to walk, events rapidly close around our heroes and the first episode comes to a dramatic close. Unfortunately, the next two episodes are very much a run around, with nothing of note revealed save that the Melkur somehow knows the Doctor...
The pace picks up again in the final episode, where the Melkur assumes the Keepership and is then revealed as the Doctor's arch enemy - the Master. Chaos reigns as his link with the Source is broken and elemental forces are unleashed. A substitute Keeper is found and order is restored - but the Master escapes, and, stealing the body of Consul Tremas, discovers a new lease of life...
The most that can be said about The Keeper of Traken also applies to this era of Doctor Who as a whole - that style and glamour is favoured over substance. A great first episode gives way to a lack-lustre run around, with the usual imprisonments, escapes, and confrontations. This robs episode four of much of its climactic feel, although it is heart rending when the Master takes over the body of the kindly Consul Tremas (whose only daughter Nyssa, is then left behind).
So something of a disappointment, but in the context of early 80's Doctor Who, the re-birth of a series that had grown very tired indeed was well under way.
(The Keeper of Traken was written by Johnny Byrne and directed by John Black, (c) BBC 1981. The next and final story of season 18 -- and of Tom Baker -- was Logopolis. )
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
My job...my current one, that is
Hello, readers.
As I type I am at my day job, a humble phone answering person. Now while that may sound ordinary, I can say it is in the TV industry.
Its actually a unique place to work - a fact I'm valiantly bearing in mind as I deal with some difficult callers! It's the place that approves & classifies all TV ads before they can go to air.
For ages I've at least wanted to get a start in the TV industry - the fact I've accompished that makes me happy.
Its just that some of these callers are getting under my skin....they make their demands that I chase stuff all round the office and I'm like F!*& OFF I don't have time you F&^#%^ers.
Aah. I've got that out of my system now. Look sorry about that, I'm just struggling with my own frustration.
My work is located in the Sydney suburb of Mosman, and I have to say that makes the trip here and back, and lunchtimes, very pleasant indeed. Its a beautiful ferry ride across Sydney Harbour. The fresh sea air and the natural surroundings leave me blissing out in the mornings and afternoons, while the well-cared for streets of the suburb and the beautiful houses create a wonderful spring-time ambience on my lunch break.
So its not all bad! Just have to work on that temper of mine....and not scare my poor co-workers.
Bye for now
As I type I am at my day job, a humble phone answering person. Now while that may sound ordinary, I can say it is in the TV industry.
Its actually a unique place to work - a fact I'm valiantly bearing in mind as I deal with some difficult callers! It's the place that approves & classifies all TV ads before they can go to air.
For ages I've at least wanted to get a start in the TV industry - the fact I've accompished that makes me happy.
Its just that some of these callers are getting under my skin....they make their demands that I chase stuff all round the office and I'm like F!*& OFF I don't have time you F&^#%^ers.
Aah. I've got that out of my system now. Look sorry about that, I'm just struggling with my own frustration.
My work is located in the Sydney suburb of Mosman, and I have to say that makes the trip here and back, and lunchtimes, very pleasant indeed. Its a beautiful ferry ride across Sydney Harbour. The fresh sea air and the natural surroundings leave me blissing out in the mornings and afternoons, while the well-cared for streets of the suburb and the beautiful houses create a wonderful spring-time ambience on my lunch break.
So its not all bad! Just have to work on that temper of mine....and not scare my poor co-workers.
Bye for now
Monday, October 8, 2007
Introduction to my blog
Hello, readers. Welcome to my first stab at a "blog", as opposed to a dinky Myspace page!
This blog will be about my thoughts and of course, rants and ravings in general.
However I also have a kink for writing about the TV program Doctor Who. You know, story reviews, commentaries, thoughts. Fan stuff like that.
So read on, gentle blog-peruser! Enjoy, that is my wish for you as you drift through these pages. Er, blogs. And please - leave your scepticism at the door, open your mind and prepare to be enlightened and uplifted!
Kind regards,
AnthonyT
Coming Soon: a review of 1981 Tom Baker serial "The Keeper of Traken".
This blog will be about my thoughts and of course, rants and ravings in general.
However I also have a kink for writing about the TV program Doctor Who. You know, story reviews, commentaries, thoughts. Fan stuff like that.
So read on, gentle blog-peruser! Enjoy, that is my wish for you as you drift through these pages. Er, blogs. And please - leave your scepticism at the door, open your mind and prepare to be enlightened and uplifted!
Kind regards,
AnthonyT
Coming Soon: a review of 1981 Tom Baker serial "The Keeper of Traken".
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