Random Developments

There’s no manly way of shooing flies away from your face when you’re walking on the street.

Boxing Day is “the” big day for movie openings in Australia; I took the day, however, to watch a movie that had already opened a while ago: “Fun with Dick and Jane”. My intention was to just watch a “light” movie, good for some laughs and nothing else; and I’ll tell you, this is a good one for that. Sure, some of the jokes are very predictable, and Jim Carrey is always Jim Carrey, but it is a fun movie.

However, besides being a fun, light comedy, it also takes some time to do a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) critic of American corporate sins. Think of it as a Hollywood, comic version of “Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room”. There are a few quick jabs at Enron and WorldCom executives, and a good hit towards Pres. Bush around the middle of the movie (”Now watch this shot”) that I’m not sure many people identified (I was the only one laughing in the theatre, but, then, this is Australia; maybe this would be better recognized in the US). Plus, the movie credits start with special thanks to executives at Enron, Adelphia, WorldCom and a few other companies I don’t recall now. Nicely done, and funny as well.

As a side note: you have to love a movie that mentions Unix in the first two minutes of action.

Everyone seems to be talking about the Cronulla Beach events, so I thought I’d add my two cents…

It’s an unusual situation because you can’t really choose sides: everyone who was involved in the incidents is wrong. The allegedly Lebanese gangs who assaulted the lifeguards (and that, reportedly, have been causing problems for Cronulla residents for a long time) deserve nothing but contempt from Australians and immigrants alike, but because they’re criminals; not because they’re Lebanese. The same applies to the people who retaliated on Monday night by attacking people, cars and houses in mainly Australian neighbourhoods.

Similarly, the white Australians who ignited the violent protests last Sunday (fueled by lots of alcohol) should be despised by everybody, regardless of origin, but because they are violent racists; not because they are white Australians. The fact that they’re using the Australian flag (and the Eureka flag!) as a symbol is no defense, but further indictment: they are violating a symbol that does not stand for that kind of behaviour or opinion (the old “White Australia” policy notwithstanding). I agree with John Howard that no one should be censored for being proud of the Australian flag, but these people should be strongly and publicly censored, even by the PM, for associating the flag with racism and violence.

White Australians who attack people of non-European appearance for no reason other than their origin deserve going to jail just as much as immigrants who retaliate indiscrimately against caucasians; both groups are equally criminal and should be equally rejected by the Australian society.

I watched this movie a few days ago; veeeery weird. It reminds me of “Being John Malkovich”, actually; not because of it has a similar story, but because it is as weird as. And it has an “all-star” cast, as well.

Since I knew nothing about the movie when I started watching it (other than that it was supposed to be good), and I think that this made me enjoy it more, I won’t comment on the story here. But I seriously recommend it to anyone who enjoys weird movies.

Oh, and I really liked the “auxiliary” websites the producers have set up: Huckabees (from the corporate timeline: “1998 - E-tail store launched; 1999 - E-tailer store closed”; not that this has anything to do with the story), Open Spaces and Jaffe & Jaffe.