Stuff Rio–the Sydney International Piano Competition is upon us!

OK, it’s been and gone and so some of us are in the depths of withdrawal and may remain such for another long four years!

The first time I involved myself in this event was either in 1988 or 1992. The event was of a much smaller scale and the competitors of lesser quality (considering it only began in 1976). It was still an exhibition of the brilliance and the exuberance of youth. I popped into the Conservatorium on several days through-out the competition and as I recall, the awards night and final performances were at the town hall.

For various reasons, I have not really followed the event since. But this year, my brother emailed me a month or so before and so I decided to spend sometime there and aren’t I glad I did!

I happened to be in the city on one of the Semi-finals sessions. Whilst I had some problems with booking tickets online, I was able to purchase them at the Conservatorium. The Conservatorium itself had changed significantly since I was there, last.

While in the queue for tickets, I spoke with a lady who was here from Adelaide. She was one of the many volunteers and was rewarded with some concessions for the session. She was regretting that she was heading back before the finals! Many of the others were regretting the same or that they hadn’t come earlier! No doubt the competition was addictive and there were music lovers here from all parts of Australia. What’s not addictive about a group of young enthusiastic musicians – the future of their profession.

Near the foyer, there was an exhibition of pianos and several people were taking the opportunity to play on some of the best pianos in the world! Including some kids who thumped and banged on the keys with utter delight while their adoring mums encouraged them! But there were some brilliant passages of music being played as well.

I was early, so I decided I would go down to the area and have a closer look (yes, the thumping kids and their adoring mums had moved on!!). There were several youth pianists there, probably students from the Conservatorium but there was also an fairly elderly Asian pianist playing some incredible passages, including some from the Liszt Piano concerto.

I sat there and enjoyed the many refrains coming from all sides!

Closer to the time of the competition session, I entered the auditorium. Shortly after, a tall, elegant young lady with “big red hair” (sorry, but that’s the only way to describe it) sat next to me. I had noticed her earlier in the foyer (it was impossible not to!). Several others came and congratulated her and told her that they thought she deserved to be in the Semi-finals. So, she clearly was one of the Australian competitors.

I politely made conversation with her by asking if she was competing and congratulating her on being selected. I then asked her if she had anyone that she was “following”! She mentioned Oxana Shevchenko. I asked why? and she gave me a good youth feminist answer – “she’s the only female in the semi-final”! Ok, but if you took away the gender based biases, who did you find impressive? She said, Oxana was pretty good anyway and judging by some of the comments I heard from others, she obviously was. But she also told me that she really hadn’t had much time to listen to the other competitors and this was really the first time she was attending the sessions. Considering she was participating in the previous rounds, I could well understand that.

As I left the auditorium during the break, I noticed a board with photographs of all the competitors and identified the young lady as Ayesha Gough (winner of the Lev Vlassenko Piano competition 2015). It’s brilliant to see young Aussies playing at that level.

The session I saw included 3 semi finalists – Kenneth Broburg (US), Gyu Tae Ha(Korea) and Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev (Russia). Each performing for over an hour! I found Broburg rather mundane. Ayesha had also mentioned the name of Ha as brilliant and very young! His performance was stylish and he finished off quite brilliantly. But undoubtedly, my favourite was Nokolaev. His performance included my two most favourite composers of piano music, Chopin and Rachmaninov and was masterful, controlled and overflowing with brilliance. It was his performance that continued my interest in the competition.

I was eager to find out the results several days later (as round 2 of the semi-finals which included accompaniment was over a few days and it didn’t really interest me), and was pleasantly surprised to see that both Broburg and Nikolaev had made it in to the finals. I was disappointed that Ha hadn’t and couldn’t help but think that politics probably gets in the way of these judgements. For instance, having to 2 Russians, 2 Chinese and no Yanks – not acceptable. Having no women was probably not acceptable either! Ha was much younger than the rest and so has probably got plenty of time to shine (although this should not have been taken into account). To add to that, the judges had seen the previous rounds as well and could make a more holistic judgement. Regardless, I was sure that the stage was set for a great final.

The Final was scheduled over 4 days. Round one was over the first 2 days and included 18th century concerto and a few days later, round 2 a 19th or 20th century concerto.

For the first time, the competition was streamed over the internet. This was a great offering by the organisers. It meant that a much larger global audience could enjoy the event.

I missed the first day of round 1. But on the second day watched both the Chinese contestants Moye Chen and Jianing Kong and Oxana Shevchenko. All six contestants played Mozart in round 1. Not surprisingly both Chen and Kong had silky smooth techniques with amazing control. Whilst I do enjoy Mozart, it doesn’t move me as much as the Romantic and Impressionist periods. I had now seen 5 of the 6 finalist and still had a preference for Nikolaev, although I did think the Chinese contestants were going to be great challengers.

Round 2 finally arrived – this was my passion. 2 contestants played Prokofiev No 2, one Saint-Saens No. 2, one Brahms No. 2 and 2 Rachmaninov's No. 2. Day one had Broberg, Nikolaev and Gugnin playing Saint-Saens, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev respectively.

Broberg gave a solid performance, but not a moving one. In an interview later, he said that his choice of concerto was more due to a mis-match between the eligible items and his repertoire.

New was Nikolaev playing Rachmaninov, which was for me the performance of the finals. Finally Gugnin played the Prokofiev, which was impressive to watch, but Prokofiev rarely moves me.There is no doubt he played it well.

Day 2 had  Oxana playing Prokofiev, Chen playing Rachmaninov and Kong playing Brahms. Oxana was clearly the hosts of the streaming and the other commentators favourite. Unfortunately she apparently completely messed up a page or so in one of the movements. I’m not sure how anyone would have known(!!) as it all seemed like the orchestra was still tuning and the piano was bashing away numerous notes – physically extremely demanding, I would think!

Then came Chen, whose performance of Rachmaninov was faultless but too me didn’t quite match Nikolaev – I guess it’s hard to beat a Russian playing a Russian! Finally we had Kong take on the ginormous task of Brahms No.2. I was not familiar with the work, but he played it brilliantly all the way!

To me, the result was going to be between Nikolaev, Chen and Kong. Mostly because I just didn’t care for the Prokofiev and the Saint Saens was quite ordinary. And still it was Nikolaev for me!

The streaming had a host and two other guest commentators to fill in the time between performances. One of whom was an totally obnoxious individual by the name of Gerard Willems. The pompous ass decided that the reason some of the audience applauded between movements was because they had never been to a concert!!! In the same breath he mentioned a concert that he had been in where the same thing happened! The idiot didn’t even realise that he was contradicting himself.

I’ve been to many concerts in many parts of the world where concert goers, in their enthusiasm, applaud between movements. In fact, there are certain pieces of music where the first movements have such grandioso endings that consistently audiences applaud – this Gerard clown was talking through his pompous ass!

Let’s leave the pompous ass and get back to the good stuff! It was now time for the results. I couldn’t but think that the brilliance was over and now it was time for the politics. Would the Chinese pianists get a fair hearing (pardon)!

Finally the results were announced. Gugnin won the competition, Nikolaev 2nd and Chen 3rd.The last time I attended the competition the competition was between a Chinese and a German (I don’t recall the names). That time, I preferred the passion of the German over the technical brilliance and smoothness of the Chinese player, but the Judges opted for the Chinese player. Although, he then performed Chopin’s Barcarolle in F sharp major to perfection at the winner’s concert, justifying the judges decision and it have ever since been one of my favourite pieces of music for piano.

So, once again my favourite had come second. There was no encore or winners concert so it was suddenly all over! What had been for me a wonderful week and a bit had now come to an abrupt end and it would be another 4 long years before I would enjoy such a wonderful event back in Sydney. This gathering of brilliance will now disperse – in fact some had left already but they will leave their mark in Sydney forever and least in the minds of some of us. Hopefully we will continue to hear their music and hear of their many future accomplishment.

I wish them all well!

Watch out folks!! The Russians are coming

There are so many interesting news items right now eg. juvenile detention of indigenous kids, Gassing babies, the American elections, the Sydney Piano Competition (I soooo wanna write something on that! Oh! dominated by the Russians and Chinese, I should add!). But the one I thought to be highest priority was the whole corrupt effort of the Western nations to ban the Russians from the Olympics. The media will drum all those other issues to death as will they with this story. However, they will all take an anti-Russian stance. It’s quite normal for Western media to go hysterical and lose any sense of logic when it comes to dealing with issues relating to Russia (or China for that matter).

It’s hard to fathom why this is the case, is it the Cold war (that ended 30 years ago), is it their intense dislike for Putin (Domestically, one of the most popular leaders of that country), is it the terror of communism (long gone) one can only guess. It is more likely due to  a fear and realisation that the new world order – BRICS – is becoming a reality with every day that goes by.

The band wagon to ban the Russians was lead by the usual culprits – the English (Seb Coe), the Americans and a few others. And when it comes to the commie bastards, no legal framework is required, just dumb propaganda.

The case for banning Russians is extremely weak. It is based on a disgruntled whistle-blower and some still to be proven report by a serf of the group. Really wouldn’t  stand up in any court and is simply hear say. The last time the coalition of the willing used a disgruntled whistle blower was when they wanted to massacre a few million people in Iraq. One thing you can be completely confident about is that when dealing with the Anglo-Celtic coalition (The GusWhiSUCs or Sucs in short) everything they say will be a complete fabrication and they will use their sophisticated (and sometimes not so sophisticated) propaganda machines to suggest that their opponents are lying or cannot be trusted. And of course, the gullible plebs are true believers.

The easiest way to win medals at the Olympics (and winning has become commercially critical to these nations) is to eliminate the strongest rivals – remember the Aussie Ice skater Steven Bradbury. Historically the Russians have been one of the stronger teams at the Olympics. By banning them there are more medals for your own athletes and its a great boost to the national ego. I just heard that by banning the Russian women’s rowing eights, the Aussie team has been given a place – you see, it’s all self-interest.

The Sucs’ media has never been able to conduct a structured analysis of any of it’s “opponents” (let alone the Russians or Chinese) – it just turns into a hysterical barrage of propaganda.

When it comes to doping in sport, there is no bigger offender than the US. That is if you consider the number of competitors that get caught. But that is simply the tip of the iceberg. The US also has the most sophisticated drug program and are therefore least likely to get caught. Besides that the commercial benefit of winning medals is so great that there is no incentive for the authorities to clamp down on it. It is far more beneficial  to go harassing the less sophisticated drug programs in Russia and China.

Of course the biggest losers are the third world countries. Not only are they unable to afford the legal performance enhancing techniques, they definitely do not have the wherewithal to run a clandestine doping program.

With the professionalisation and commercialisation (Coco Cola games) of the Olympics, there was never going to be any chance of setting an even remotely level playing field. The games has simply become a source for big corporates to create the resources for increasing their profits.Nevertheless, it is one of the greatest spectacles and a majority of us, (yours truly, included), adore the event.

The West has a track record (sorry!) for using the Olympics as a weapon against Russia. It’s either a boycott or ban of one sort or another. Remember when the Coalition of the willing boycotted the Moscow Olympics due to , guess what, an invasion of Afghanistan?!! Ummm… now doesn’t that sound familiar. But I don’t recall the Russians doing anything of the sort for the coalitions invasion of the very same country nor the war crime that is the Iraq war.

See, the Russians are just a bit more mature and not into the sabre rattling that is required by the Western leaders to keep their own electorates happy.

The Sucs use the phrase “State sponsored” doping to differentiate themselves from the former communist nations. This is done not purely when it comes to doping, but also anything else, due to the nature of centralised planning. So, when some rebel group fire a missile at a commercial flight flying within a war zone by accident, it is Russia committing a crime! On the other hand when the Sucs commit atrocities such as bombing innocent villages in Syria or blasting a whole nation on a fabricated lie, it is merely collateral damage. And I won’t even touch on the atrocities of Israel!

No Suc has ever been charged or executed for war crimes, even though the Iraq war was an illegal invasion of another country.

Country	Medals returned
United States	11
Russia	4
China	1

Olympic Medals returned due to doping

So why do we keep wanting to ban Russia and China?! The thing is that the evidence would suggest to any logical individual that we should be banning a whole different set of nations.

The Americans hide behind an excuse that the doping is conducted by individuals and the State has no involvement. But it is this very excuse that encourages it. We all know that if the US wanted to reduce it, they could very well do it. And taking it a step further, if the IOC banned the Americans for one Olympics for doping (rather than illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and other atrocities) then the games would be so much more cleaner.

The Sucs continued obsession to bully Russia and China is clearly related to the emergence of the New world order. As their (the Sucs) relevance decreases their attempts to bully their new masters increases. The change in power structure was evident in the IOC’s decision to stand by Russia and snub the SUCS. This is something that would never have happened 10 years ago or even 5!

The Sucs do not see the individual athletes of these nations as humans who have dedicated a life time to achieve their dreams and hopes of competing at the Olympics. They see them as an enemy to be squashed, somehow.

This was evident when the Turks (supposedly, more likely to have been the Yanks) shot down a Russian aircraft in Syria. The whole Western world gathered behind the Turks in support. This was clearly an act of aggression, where there was no danger what-so-ever. Whilst there would have been a father, mother, wife and children who mourned their loss, the West simply saw it as collateral damage! Just as they have no remorse for the millions of Iraqi’s they have murdered nor the chaos created in Iraq and Syria (or the entire middle East and Muslim world).

Lieutenant colonel Peshkov was murdered while he was parachuting or shortly after – an act violating the Geneva convention. An Act performed by Turkmen rebel fighters lead by a Turk. So, I guess it was a war crime of Turkey (using the logic of the Sucs in relation to Ukraine and flight MH17) or stretching the logic a bit further, NATO and the Yanks. Is anyone screaming for justice?!

So, America might once again win a great many medals at the games, but one should be suspicious of every single medal they win, rather than bashing the communists!

Turnbull to TurnBullShit–the complete transformation

Note: I started this entry a couple of weeks prior to the elections. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete it until several weeks after!

Close to 10 years ago, a couple of years after Malcolm entered politics, I sheepishly admit that, I thought he would be a visionary leader for this country. He was truly progressive and liberal (not conservative). But he faced a dilemma. Here was a rich white man, who naturally would be assumed to have conservative views but instead had progressive views.So just as he could have very well fitted in either camp (i.e.. Labor or Liberal) he equally didn’t fit in neither! Malcolm chose the Fiberal party although his beliefs were more in line with the Labor party.

Malcolm’s Hockey like ambition to be Prime Minister to stroke his own ego was always a concern (one should always be suspicious about these ambitious jokers who want to be PM for the sake of being PM) and there was also the issue that he was not electable by the Australian public, who typically hate tall poppies and distrust rich arrogant men with egos that couldn’t fit in the parliament house in Canberra!

Malcolm stood fast with his beliefs for many years. At first, because he felt that was his best chance for leadership of the party. He maintained he views after he killed Brendan Nelson – collateral damage one might say – on the march to his objective. It was when he was dumped by the party that political reality began to hit. This was a spoiled brat who got his way in most scenarios and had just had his pant dropped and whooped by his party.

He dragged his sore bottom to the backbenches and embarked in Rudd like passive resistance. This was good political training for the brat! During this period, it was in his interest, as passive resistor, to maintain some of his progressive views on climate change and SSM to remain popular with the public and make a fool of the mad hatter Abbott. But when he struck the final blow to the Mad Phoney Abbott, that was when he knew he had to do whatever it took to be the PM – his ambition! His stars were aligned as the unelectable Turnbull had achieved his goal without having to be elected.

. . . the transformation had begun.

His performance at a recent Q&A displayed his elitism and the extent to which he had embraced the Fiberal culture. Malcolm had morphed– from Turnbull to TurnBullShit.

He was now the specialist in the Fiberal party’s skill of simply fabricating and lying about everything. Ever since Howard, the truth has always been irrelevant to the Fiberals and the Aussie public seem to accept that but castigate the Labor party. The media seem nervous to tackle Malcolm because of his ill-founded reputation of a brilliant business man!

Let’s breakdown Malcolm’s performance at Q&A and it’s quite breathtaking how he was able to Spin so much in so little time.

Border Control

Border control has always been seen as a strong point for the Fiberals. To give them credit they have always had the courage to be more inhumane to refugee seekers and in this particular instance, take what is really an insignificant issue, build it into something that the more racist Aussie plebs find important and emotive and make it an election winner.

On-water operations - Are you sure there were no boats?!!

There is little doubt that the Rudd’s initial position increased the number of boats. The Labor party, despite it’s inner principle’s had to give into the strong Aussie public racist sentiment and change their position. Apart from the turning back boats aspect, it was the Labor party that introduced the current regime and what is even more important and often forgotten – the boats had pretty much stopped before the Fiberals came into power. I guess, it was pointless the Labor party attempting to “labour” (sorry) this point, when they opened the flood gates to begin with.

The big fib it appears to be, is the grand statement that there have not been any boats for six hundred odd days. It now appears that there have been over 20, which have been turned around – those are the boats that the government has been willing to tell us about.

The “we don’t discuss on-water operational matters” shield was no different to a Nazi, Communist or dictatorship regime type action to remove any accountability.

Whenever a government decides to hide something from it’s people, it is due to it being involved in an activity that the majority of Australians would not want to put their name to.

The thing is, the Fiberals discovered that the average dumb Aussie voter, is gullible, racist and really does not care what we do to stop the boats. Cos the illiterate boat people are after their jobs!

Climate Change

Climate change is where Malcolm’s desire to be PM over principle’s shows best. In true Liberal (not Fiberal) spirit, he supported market based emission scheme. He lost the leadership over this when he wanted to support Labor. But now he seems to suggest that he supports the Direct (no) Action approach of the mad Abbott! One that has increased Australia’s emission and made us the worlds pariah’s on this matter.

Climate change flip flop!

Malcolm’s suggestion that Obama thanked him for his position is mastery in spin. Malcolm had only just assassinated the Abbott and really had no time what so ever to have any policy discussion before Paris. He didn’t want to be totally snubbed by the other leaders who saw Australia’s position under Abbott as backward and stupid. So he cobbled together a target (nothing else) and took it to Paris.

Of course Obama was going to thank him for some improvement and in any case, Obama would have thanked everyone there for the level of cooperation. This was absolute spin mastery. And the dumb Aussie public felt all warm and fuzzy about the compliments of the US president and swallowed the spin in glee!

The so called “Economic Plan”

The Great Economic Plan–a mere tax cut!

The strategy of the Malcolm’s advisers has clearly been to make him appear the successful corporate business man leading a party that is professional and business like! And so the election ads which looked like IBM or BHP corporate ads. The 5 point slide presentations etc.

But this grand “Economic Plan” just materialised over night! The dumb Aussie public, once again bought into it hook line and sinker. One didn’t have to scratch the surface much to realise that there was no plan what-so-ever. The reference to the budget papers over and over again was evidence of this. A budget is a budget but a plan required a whole lot more strategic thinking planning. A budget is not an Economic Plan, STUUUPEEED!!!

The “Economic plan” was no more that a tax cut for large corporates. Malcolm sold it well.

Medical costs

Malcolm’s statements on this were complete lies or if you wanted to be generous, simply wrong! With inflation and population growth, the is no doubt that bulk billing will be higher and continue to grow. Not something that Malcolm can claim credit for. His policy is quite different – the plan is to stop increasing the scheduled rates. Naturally, this will have an impact on doctors and there ability to continue bulk billing.

So, no cuts to Medical services?!!

Malcolm has obviously never been bulk billed. There is complete confusion about the GP co-payment. A search on the internet will give you different views on whether a bulk billing doctor should charge the co-payment and if so is it in fact being bulk-billed. Do the doctors who bulk bill have to absorb $5.00 or do they charge the additional $7.50 and end up not bulk billing?!

Getting more competition in the medical industry is a good thing. Increasing the supply is as well – something that the AMA have tirelessly prevented to maintain a closed shop. However, suggesting to the public that reducing the government contribution to doctors will not end up with increased cost to the patient is fantasy.

Medicare, Mediscare!

The Fiberals clearly got caught out on this one. What has resulted is that they now cannot privatise even sensible sections of it! Well, not that their election rhetoric has ever constrained them. If Labor didn’t call this out, we would have had quite a different Malcolm after the election.

Medicare Mediscare!

Outsourcing Medicare as a whole would be quite difficult. The government would have to pay a high premium to get any organisation to take the risk and the funding model would be complex. But by privatising it, the government would be able to reward the service provider for reducing payments – and we all know what will happen there.

The thought of Aussies attempting to put together a modern IT system, is hilarious– let alone a bunch of public servants! It will cost 10 times more than it should and take 3 times as long for half the services (Don’t I know it, just take the Customer Management System ($80m) and website ($23m) solution at Sydney Water!! – that’s another story altogether).

The Fiberal DNA is survival of the fittest and efficiency. There is no place for the sick in such a world – they are inefficient and a burden on society! Why should the rich pay to keep ‘em alive?!! They reluctantly play ball, as otherwise they would lose votes.

The 2 tier NBN

Malcolm attempts portray this image that he is big on innovation and technology. People tend to get confused between a man who made money on a speculatory investment, with someone who is a progressive advocate for technology. They are confused because the Fiberals push this message.

2 tier NBN–one for Rich,Fat, White Men and another for plebs

The form on the NBN is a clear indication of the Fiberal values. We now are spending pretty much the same amount on the NBN as Labor proposed (admittedly, there might have been some increases there too, but less likely, as it was all new and not dependent on assumptions made about the existing network.), and sinking large amounts of funds (close to half the overall costs) on 19th (yes, 19th Century, not 20th or 21st) century technology – copper.

If you are rich, you can pay extra and get the fibre to you resident – tier 1 (Rich, Fat, White man’s version). If not, you get the copper version – tier 2 (Pleb’s version). Malcolm himself says that 85% chose the copper version and received 20Mb connections. The reality is that the old technology ADSL pretty much reached those speeds anyway. And so we have the great waste – an investment of $70b, half of which is on 19th century technology, simply to provide a service that is no better than what most of us have already.

So much for the great technology revolution.

No doubt the Fiberal spin will be that 85% purchasing the pleb version is clear evidence that that is all that is required – supply meeting demand. The reality is that most of them could not afford anything else.

His grand comparison with Labor’s delivery record is simply grandstanding. Anyone with any intellect would know that it is complex to plan these large infrastructure projects. Even in delivery, there is a large learning curve. The hard bits were done by the Labor party. Now they simply have to deliver it using tried and tested approaches. They bloody well should be delivering much larger numbers – you are in the delivery phase – STUUUPEEEEED!!!

The NBN investment is much like building a 2 lane harbour bridge, because there wasn’t many vehicles on the road at the time! Thank heavens that decision was made by more progressive thinking individuals that the current mob.

4k movies are already upon us – but that’s only for the Rich Fat White men. The rest can do without! Malcolm is full of contradictions on this one!

Same Sex Discord!

This is one of the biggest cock-ups of the election. However, it is one that the Aussie public is not particularly interested in. The selfish nature of the average dumb Aussie, ensures that the only reason they would have any interest in the LGBT group is to discriminate against them such that they have a competitive advantage – like racism, really.

The wasteful plebiscite!

The Phoney Abbott tactic to postpone any decision by the Fiberals, who are completely in disarray on this issue, has even got Malcolm flustered. He is suddenly a “leader but not a dictator”!

For some reason, he thinks that Australian are capable of a civilised discussion on this! When has Australia had a discussion on anything, let alone a civilised one. The level of “civilised” discussion taking place within the liberal party itself – bestiality etc. – is fuel for his confidence! Yours truly thinks that Shorten has a much better perspective of the path that this discussion will take.

It seems that he has already reneged on his promise to have the plebiscite by the end of the year – Surprise, Surprise!!

The greatest revolution in taxation in Australia’s history!

All that, and it fizzled out to be simply “a moment of clarity”! This is wonderful spin. The states pointed out the stupidity of the plan. The moment of clarity was that your revolution was really a hurried thought bubble, much like your predecessor – the mad Abbott’s

The greatest tax revolution?!!

Clearly a lower tax environment help making our companies more competitive globally. The problem is that our companies that operate overseas simply dig dirt and they have an incredibly good environment to make money. The other companies that operate here simply take all the profits overseas. That is the reason for the Treasury giving such low rates of return on the massive tax payer investment in his “mates” companies.

If one believes in the trickle down theory, that is mostly canvassed by the Fiberals, then due to the goodwill of the rich, the poor will get some of the spoils. But the reality is that reducing company tax benefits high income earners at the expense of low.

Keating may very well have been the “biggest reducer of company tax” but what you failed to mention (and strongly stated by Keating a few days later) was that Keating implemented a series of changes with it, to compensate the low income earners – a group of people who are not getting anything from your supposedly fair policies.

You have to say that Malcolm did tremendously well to squeeze in soo much TurnBullShit in such a short time – and I’ve only picked some of it!

Ultimately, Australia voted the TurnBullShit back into power and so we will have to delve in it knee deep, for the next 3 years.

A great Fiberal tradition

In the aftermath of Brexit, I’m told, that the phrase most googled in Britain was “What is the EU”?!!! What is clear, is that the plebs of England, particularly the North, had no idea what the referendum was all about. Whilst it may seem rational to blame the “remain” side for not explaining it well enough to them, the reality is the economic rationale behind the EU is complex and it takes more that 3 word slogans to explain. The Northern plebs were never going to get it.

Further more, when the competition has no real argument other than appealing to the usual racism and border protection issues, with promises of power and glory, where being truth full is irrelevant, then, it becomes quite a challenge. Yes, the trick is to somehow relate any subject with migration and any other race and the plebs will be with you.

Over the last 20 years, it has become apparent that the right side of politics appears to have a license to lie and the left don’t. It’s not to say the left doesn’t, but in Australia, there is a complete imbalance in terms of the level of Fibs stated by each party and the repercussions.

Ever since Howard, the Fiberals have become masters of lying. When, the reward for lying is winning elections over and over again, then, it is not surprising that the Fiberals are somewhat addicted to it.

Some would say that this is smart politics. The left attempts to explain complex issues to the plebs, with limited success. The right recognise that no amount of explaining will educate the plebs, they simply accept them as dumb – they are the equivalent of those who were baffled and went looking for cake when Antoinette made her infamous comment – “Let them eat cake”!  . And so simple three word slogans that appeal to the pleb’s inner sense of security, is the Fiberal’s response. The truth is irrelevant – the plebs are too dumb to be explained the truth or to find out, and the pleb media will keep them ignorant.

What’s brilliant about this strategy is that now not only were they guaranteed the far right vote of the conservatives and wealthy, but they also hit the poorest and dumbest mob, who traditionally were the Labor heartland. Ironically, it is exactly for this reason that the Fibs would like to keep those dumb plebs just as they are – dumb plebs. Its good for their businesses and good to maintain power.

Lets look at the form of some of the “Great” fiberal leaders.

The bumbling Howard.

This is an irrelevant ole’ man who still can’t accept that his adventure in Iraq was a mistake and he lied through his teeth to the Australian public. As I say – Whilst is maybe possible to miss evidence of something that does exist, it’s pretty impossible to find it for something that does not! This poor soul is desperately attempting to create a legacy that will never exist.

We all recall the “Howard battlers”. These were the dumb Aussie plebs, mostly racist and completely ignorant. While it might appear that the supporters of the right were wealthy, it was Howard that realised the opportunity to completely exploit this dumb mob and hence started the phenomenon of feeding the plebs with bullshit simple messages that appeal to their DNA – white supremacy, racism etc.

So, we had the Tampa, Children overboard and the Iraq war. Howard won 3 elections purely on the basis of these events which he manipulated into racism and white supremacy appealing to his battlers. He set the standard for Fiberal politics and what a great tradition it has become.

The Mad Abbott

Perhaps due to his religious beliefs, the mad Phoney Abbott just could not differentiate between fact and fiction. But he did master the 3 word slogan. We all remember “Ditch the Bitch” and the Gillard lie. But surprisingly we don’t seem to remember the string of lies that the mad Abbott said. It’s almost as if we still hold Labor accountable but we don’t expect anything but lies from the Fiberals.

There was hardly a word of truth that was uttered by the mad Abbott. The budgets reflected nothing of his promises and he lied to us about stopping the boats. It now appears that the boats kept coming but we simply turned them back – all 29 of them.

The dumb Aussie public and media simply bought in to the secrecy surrounding “on-water operational matters”! We love to be critical of foreign governments who dupe their people, but we were quite happy to accept the Fiberals on this matter. When a Government in involved in covert operations, those that are kept secret from it’s public, one can be quite sure that they are up to no good. This was Putin like behaviour. The Labor party wouldn’t ever have dreamt of covert operations and if they did, with a little bit of pressure they would have made the information public.

Why the Aussie public and media are so accepting of the secrecy is baffling. I suspect it has something to do with feeling proud of a strong navy and the people on the boats were foreigners and even worse Muslims. It’s all relative, the Australia navy seem powerful in comparison to the little putt putt boats of the Indonesian fishermen!

Malcolm TurdBullShit and what was her name – the chic who  votes the same as him?!

Malcolm is a classic case of selling one’s soul to the devil. He entered politics with unadulterated views of the world and complete naivety of the political landscape. His first stint as the leader of his party brought him back to Earth. His attempt to work with Labor for the benefit of Australia on the climate front, was completely foreign to his party stooges and before long he fell flat on his bottom.

He clearly learned from that first experience and now, no one really knows who he is. Everything he stood for before he knifed Abbott now seems to have evaporated. Climate change, Same Sex marriage, a complete transformation. So we still have the mad Abbott policies, but no Abbott! and Malcolm TurnbullShit is just that – complete bull shit. He has lost his credibility.

There is the opportunity for a whole new blog on the TurnBullShit that Malcolm has been pouring on this dumb plebs – old ladies being hassled, an economic plan, Medicare not being privatised, the deficit is Labors fault, Labor has a big black whole even before Labor released it’s numbers. It’s the complete Fiberal package, with a tinge of corporate branding put to it.

When elections arrive, we leave our future in the hands of those dumb plebs who are still  in search of cake and to the three word slogans of the Fiberals. At least the Labor party might drag those dumb plebs out of their miserable existence. But no, the 3 word slogans are as far as they comprehend.

The last hurrah of the GuSWhiSuc Empire!

It is not every generation that has the fortune (or misfortune) to observe the last twitches and spasms of an empire about to perish. In fact, it might even be the last empire ever as the progressive world strides forward towards a world that is beyond tribal boundaries. That is a distant goal, but surely one that will be attained under the new world order – a multi-ethnic world order. This maybe BRICS or one that follows it, but it will not be dominated by fat rich Anglo-Celtic white males.

It is unreasonable to expect an empire to subside gracefully. The images of their military superiority, often mistaken as a superiority in race, will continue to be dangled in their faces by the likes of Trump and Farage and easily consumed by the struggling plebs as the only way to wealth and riches – Make America Great again!!

And so the civilised, and I don’t mean rich, I mean civilised in manner – peaceful, respectful and non-discriminatory – rest of us will have to absorb the missiles this monster throws at us before it is finally dead and buried. As in many good adventure movie, just as you think you’ve finally killed the triple headed, fire breathing monster, it unexpectedly lunges at you with it’s final blow of destruction!

As the new world order takes control, we see the GusWhiSucs struggle to cope. The ideal environment for the far right to make promises to the plebs of returning to the glory days! The plebs are easily suckered in and cry in hysteria as they imaging this world where they strut around with crowns on their heads and large muscular black men fanning their every ounce of pleasure and desire. Wow!! even I could live with that – or could I?!

So, what actually happened to this empire?

The GuSWhiSuc leader and war monger, Churchill, initiated the greatest collapse of the empire by singlehandedly being the cause of two wars against Germany, at great expense in death and carnage across the globe. The world was fortunate that Hitler was strong and annihilated Churchill’s army in a matter of days. Churchill was fortunate that Hitler never wanted a war with Britain and pitied his miserable men on the beaches of Dunkirk, sparing them. That was the beginning of the end of the empire and it was rapid. It also gave close to 5 billion people (in today’s terms) their freedom which in turn set up the environment for other nations to thrive and become powerful.

It is not to say that most of the Old world, including many nations in Europe are struggling to compete. Their power has mostly been a legacy of their swords. But as the playing field is equalised with other nations having nuclear weapons, the economy, brain power and the size of middle class are now the determinants of power in the new world.

As the White supremacy groups in the Anglo-Celtic world get a strangle hold of their pleb classes, It is likely that there will be confrontation. Their control is based on promises of over-powering the rest of the world. So in Australia we had the Cronulla riots, in the US we have Trump and in the UK we have Farage!

Brexit wants all the good of the EU without any of the bad. That’s not particularly surprising as that’s what the Brits did for 400 years around the globe. Just ask the Africans and the Asian!! Under the forces of the new world order, strength is by forming large communities not breaking away. I must admit there was an impish part of me that kept willing on the Brexit mob!! But that was cruel to a large number of Brits who are amongst the most polite people one would meet. Knowing the generosity of the EU, the Brits might in fact get there way. The next few years will tell.

Sometimes the fight becomes more important than what’s good for the nation. Boris who-ever must now be thinking that. Farage is too arrogant to think he has to now deliver. He already is denying his commitment to the NHS (wow, that was minutes after the victory!! Never seen such a quick backflip in my life! The privilege of being a right-wing politician – all show and no action!)

It is inevitable that Britain, US and AUS will form a block. A block of, as their politicians say, a ”like minded” block – the GusWhiSuC block (they might even call it The Greatest Britain and have more Union Jacks and stars and stripes and whatever will instil patriotic tribal instincts – flags are outdated – they are mere symbols of division.). It is also likely that due to it’s leadership there will be much sabre rattling and bullying, destruction, rape and pillage of small nations – this is the only method they understand and it has worked well for them in the past.

The question is, will the New world take on the Old world (ironic, since not too long ago, the US was considered the New world). Like Israel, the Old world is unlikely to perish without creating havoc for the rest of us. We all know the views of the likes of Trump – they just do not take defeat without inflicting chaos. I suspect the dooms day clock will be ticking.

The world is in for a rather bumpy couple of decades. There are times when one wonders what the world might be if we could simply tuck Israel and the GusWhiSucs on some planet where they can knock themselves out and leave the rest of us in peace. Let’s hope we come out of the period a stronger more equal global community.

Two out of Three ain’t bad!

Last Saturday, my son, wife and I attended the outdoor production of Turandot - the last of a trio of opera's presented by Opera Australia and Handa Opera. Whilst I intended presenting my thoughts on each opera immediately after attending them, I didn't really find the time to do so. So, here is a condensed review of all three of them.

 

A few years back, Opera Australia appeared to have made a strategic change to the approach taken to their productions. Rather than the lavish sets etc. The focus seemed to have changed to spending more on the artists. So, rather than having fat, chunky chics running around the stage shrieking at the top of their voices (with the exception of one or two stupendous voices), we had productions with vastly improved vocals but sometimes rather drab sets. This was particularly noticeable in the last 2 productions of Lucia. The first had some of the most brilliant sets, which almost looked like elaborate paintings (a point that was not missed by the producers who at the end of each scene would have a curtain call or of a split second where the cast would stay motionless - just as in a painting). Admittedly, Emma Mathews played Lucia and was simply brilliant. The next production had almost no sets what-so-ever.

Several of the other productions that year were of similar vain.
Since then Opera Australia appear to have got the balance better. We have the privilege of hearing several overseas artists through-out the season and the productions are quite impressive as well. My personal opinion, based on the productions I've seen is that the tenor voice appears to be the toughest one for the company to recruit.

The Pearl Fishers.

The first opera was Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers". I recall having enjoyed the previous production and had high expectations this time around. As the opera is based in Sri Lanka, my wife has a special affinity towards it.

Unfortunately for me, whilst they had taken quite an effort to make the costumes authentic, they decided to have the main two male characters dress up in suits - Colonialist fashion. To most "Western" observers, this might have been quite acceptable and even normal, but it was something I found completing unacceptable. Bizet would have been rolling in his grave! These characters were Zurga and Nadir not Peter and John. This was no Madame Butterfly, this was an opera about a village in Sri Lanka - it was quite nonsensical to have the leaders of the village running around in pants - implying they were colonialists. They had denigrated the opera to a "White man seduces exotic Eastern chic" concept. This was not a mistake made in their previous production.
To make things worse, they had a couple of East Asian muscle bound guys tumbling around with swords - another complete mistake - could they not find someone from the sub-continent, after all there are close to a billion and a half of them?!! It seemed like they had wandered down George street to China town and picked the first two obliging non-European looking chaps they came across!!

I don't usually delve into the calibre of the voices and orchestra as the Opera theatre isn't really the stage to show-case one's voice and even less an orchestra! Unless of course, there is a performance that really captivates me. The sound of the orchestra is never great.

I'm not sure if it was due to these errors or if I'd have come to this conclusion regardless, but I didn't really enjoy the opera as much as I had the previous production. 

Having done and dusted the disappointment, let's now focus on the two that I really enjoyed. 

La Boheme.

This is an opera that I can never have too much of. I've seen several Opera Australia productions and seen it on screen etc. There were two key highlights for me and they were Ji-Minh Park as Rodolfo and home grown Julie Lea Goodwin as Musetta.

As I've mentioned before Opera Australia do have a challenge in attracting good tenor voices. But for the first time in a while, I found Park's voice quite powerful and balanced with the soprano voice.
The real highlight for me was Goodwin's performance as Musetta. I don't recall ever seeing her before. The first few phrases in Musetta's Waltz had me surprised and attentive - her voice was pure, powerful, silky and rounded. To add to that, she was sexy, considerate, care-free and confident - the perfect Musetta!

On returning home, I did some research on her. As much as I tried, her age is still a mystery to me (as it should be!). She Appears to have part-taken in the school spectacular in 2005 and 2006. Unless she was a guest artist, she would then have been 17 or 18 - although the clips of her singing on youtube are quite impressive for someone so young. The maturity and roundness of her voice now, is impressive particularly for a soprano in her mid to late twenties (Typically Aussies voices appear to be lyrical coloratura which later mature in to more rounded soprano).

The production itself was wonderful from the high ceilinged stark drab rooms with the bohemian's grand scale paintings on the walls, the rich and yet seedy café/ night club to the stark wintery scenes.

The café scene had some slinky half nude ladies in the background - very tastefully done, of course. Each time the kids (on stage, that is) marched through, the ladies would tastefully cover-up. My teenage son was with us, and he suddenly had an increased interest in proceedings. So much so that he requested the binoculars and hogged it for the rest of the café scene!

I suspect my son’s memory of the opera is limited to a 10 X magnified set of tits (or possibly several sets of them) witnessed through binoculars, and my wife, just the thought of getting his eyes off those tits, while I enjoyed the glory of the opera tits and all!

I’d love to have been a fly on the wall during the conversation at school the next day!! I suspect there might have been a sudden increased demand in concession tickets – Brooksie in the front row ogling his eyes out!!

Turandot

Finally, the outdoor Handa production of Turandot. Whilst not my favourite Puccini, I usually never get a choice on this one as my wife’s obsession with Nessun Dorma forces us to watch this one every time it is included in the season.

In general we enjoy the Handa outdoor productions, although on both previous occasions we had to contend with blistering wind and rain! The sets are usually outstanding and even the sound, although electronic, is produced well – often sounding more like a digital recording rather than a live performance. Add to that the backdrop of the opera house and the bridge and it presents a wonderful setting.

As usual, we got there early and have dinner. Often there is a menu and area for dining that are along with the theme of the opera. Unfortunately we weren’t early enough to get seating and so had to manage sitting on the floor and tucking into our supper.

This time the weather was brilliant. The set included a dragon along one side that was used dramatically through out the opera as a screen to project various images. And when  the love stricken suitor rang the gong accepting the Ice princesses challenge, the dragon breathed fire and smoke! We had unfortunately selected seats on the opposite side to the dragon and our view of it’s head was obstructed!!

I always feel a sense of discomfort after this opera. The heroine Turandot is for a greater part of the opera, the villain – the ice maiden. But through the love of her suitor, she melts. But this happens at the very end of the opera and so, one doesn’t really have much time to warm up to her. Whilst the other female role in the opera, the self-less, and yet faithful and brave servant, Liu, who sings one of the more beautiful arias, demands my affection throughout most of the opera, even though her role is minor. So at the end one leaves the opera with a sense of conflict!

The three roles of Calaf, Turandot and Liu were sung beautifully by Riccardo Massi, Dragana Radakovic and Hyeseoung Kwon respectively. The dancing was well choreographed and the fire works after Nessun Dorma all blended in to a wonderful evening.

My son picked on the section of the opera where Turandot sings “three riddles one death” and Calaf responds “No, No three riddles and one love” and Turandot repeats her line as they build up inin volume, pitch and passion! As it is a time in his life where he contradicts his father many a time, he found it amusing to present what our next disagreement might sound like!

All things considered, this was a great season by Opera Australia. They simply need to get there pricing strategy sorted out. Having seen there recent accounts, it appears that the revenue from ticket sales is down on last year.

I look forward to the season of 2017!

Imagine a Universe with no Israel!!

Peace and laughter

Hmmmm. . . . flowers, bees, birds, crystal clear rivulets, wonderful fragrances, peace, doves, children playing on beautiful beaches, John Lennon. . .. .. OK, THATS ENOUGH!! Back to reality!!!
That universe would be pretty boring anyway! What, with no Sabre rattling and threats to wipe out the whole of the Middle East with a force of a mere 3,500 of our valiant and gallant members of the ADF?!!! No kid’s body parts splattered on the beaches, No wedding parties blown up to smithereens, no kids being machine gunned down cos they threw stones!! Where’s the excitement and adrenaline rush?!! And all that without even thinking about “death cults” and “evil caliphates”.

Clearly the forefathers of the Gungho-Saxon-White-Supremacy-Crusader mob, didn’t want us to be bored. Not only did they create this piece of mischief, simply cos a book from the dark ages said so and they just could, but they put a bunch of terrorists in charge and funded (and keep funding) the worlds most dangerous military force and nuclear arsenal. Oh! but lets not talk about that, we just gotta divert the attention to Iran and Korea!
Just imaging if we had dumped this misguided, self-pitying mob in the middle of the Sahara or Nevada or even some part of central Australia where the Gungho-Saxon-White-Supremacy-Crusader mob nuked out the original inhabitants! Wow, is that feeling of peace and serendipity returning?! But that’s not what the good book said nor is it what generations of the Gungho-Saxon-White-Supremacy-Crusader mob have fought for. Remember how as kids we glorified the likes of Richard the “lion heart”?!! All that for nothing?!!!
Hitler committed atrocities to many races, nations and religious groups but we have not had the Russians seeking revenge for over half a century and they suffered more than the Jews. Nor did we have the Vietnamese get hung-up by the atrocities committed to them by the sponsors of the Jewish state. They simply moved on.
At the very same time the SuCs national hero, Winston Churchill, was inflicting his own Holocaust of even greater magnitude on the empire’s sub-humans in Bengal. But did we hear a squeak from the Bengalese! Of course, it was not Churchill’s fault what-so-ever.

In contrast, we will have to live forever in the shadows of Jewish revenge. The MOSSAD has been working tirelessly to even things out on the atrocities front (one would have to use a multiplier of many thousands on any statistic relating to this matter)! The MOSSAD is probably the only state funded organisation whose primary existence is based on the notion of REVENGE!!

So, we’re in the midst of an election in the only apartheid state in the universe and heaven forbid, the Arabs are actually voting!!! Get out there you Zionists and beat the crap outa ‘em – in a metaphorical sense in the context of the election, that is – you are already doing that in a literal sense.
So while the Gungho-Saxon-White-Supremacy-Crusader mob indulge in their blood sports and use their pawns to create more mischief to counteract their boredom, the rest of the peace loving world has to grin and bare it all (I wonder if things will be any better when China takes over?!!).