Wye River

The last weekend of the school holidays we went camping. Well almost camping. As my wise and experienced family traveler friend Todd pointed out, camping together as a first joint family venture could be fraught with perils. So we opted for cabins.

Wye river is a sensational destination if you have kids. The park we stayed at has a huge jumping pillow and playground. There are ducks to feed in what is left of the drought afflicted river. It is walking distance from the ocean and the pub, and a short drive from Lorne and Apollo Bay.

Fortunately, the kids got along extremely well. They spent the weekend running, jumping swimming and exploring. There were considerably more laughs than tears. We managed to get in a few hands of poker, and the odd glass of wine. It was a well deserved and needed rest from the usual grind.

Here’s a couple of photo’s from the beach. (the rest are on Flickr – click on the photos to open)

 

As you can see Todd built some awesome sand sculpture cars. Should get some more photos later (thanks Todd).

Quantum Mechanics and The “New Age”

One of my favorite topics at Uni was quantum mechanics. I had an inspiring lecturer, Dr Michael Morgan. He looked like your typical coke bottle bi-spectacled nerdy guy, but had a sharp, pointy sense of humour which he used to pepper his lectures, keeping the class focused and entertained. He was one smart guy.

It would be fair to say QM was also the subject I least understood, (DSP aside). Conceptually I sort of got it, but I never understood it well enough to explain it to someone else – which means I didn’t really understand it… after all, if I actually understood it, I should be able to explain it, right?

Recently I received a news letter from a “New Age” business that offers meditation and other “self help” type courses. It contained a narrative on QM and their theories on the link between quantum mechanics and the human race.

I am as fascinated by these subjects as the next person, but I get rather annoyed at non-scientific scammers who attempt to give themselves greater credibility and authenticity via their version of science, which is essentially some loose jargon and non-scientific mumbo jumbo. They tell half truths and over simplify complex scientific theories to “prove” their point. I guess they could argue they are making science more accessible to the masses. In reality, I believe, they are simply focused on making more money for themselves.

I have noted this particular organisation’s ongoing attempted manipulation of people. It is quite contrived. They use the classic – I give you something for free and then you feel obligated to respond/pay/provide something in return (proved through experimentation and documented in “Influence – Science and Practice” by Robert Cialdini… This is a great read …. and it helps when being manipulated by charity phone calls!) This simple psychology works on many people. It made me feel uncomfortable to say the least.

I have also observed people in the organisation in question couple the “giving” with NLP techniques to maximise their gains. NLP is a subject I have researched reasonably well. It’s truly fascinating and I love it! But I don’t like seeing it abused to extract money from people.

The sad part about this situation; the business I refer to genuinely offers a useful service – teaching people to meditate. Meditation is, I believe, a valuable skill. It has numerous benefits including, improving ability to deal with stress; enabling a high level of relaxation; lowering oxygen consumption; increasing blood flow and reducing heart rate and most importantly (to my husband at least) reducing symptoms of PMS. I’m sure there are heaps of others too!

So, here I am, Ms Hypocrite. I love NLP, I adore the psychology of influence and learning how various techniques can be used to shift people’s thinking. I also love business, business development & business strategy and planning – and using influencing techniques to drive a business forward. And yet I feel eminently violated when these techniques are used by businesses on me. Go figure.

Perhaps if they left the precious realms of Science untouched, I would somehow feel less defiled. How dare they drag quantum mechanics down into their pseudo-intellectual petty money making concerns!

Slam Dance – Love it or hate it?

Every time I wander past a DVD sale, or go to a new video/DVD rental place, I search in vain for an 80’s movie called Slam Dance.

I watched this movie numerous times in my 20s and was fascinated by it. I recall well crafted cinematography and cool music, the imagery was amazing, I can still recall a couple of the images today, almost 20 years later.

The images that captured my imagination and evoked emotion (hence made me remember this film at all) were:

1. Where Drood (the main character) arrives home after his house/apartment has been ransacked, and there is a model ship hanging from the ceiling – swaying back and forth.

2. Drood is painting a scene he is trying to recall, and sticks his paintbrush into the yolk of an egg.

3. A ceiling fan turning creating an eerie feel – although I could be confusing this with a scene out of Angel Heart

4. Drood dancing? uncontrollably at a club – more the crowd making him dance, being jostled around, a puppet amongst a heaving sea of sweaty bodies, I guess it may have been a mosh-pit, but I can’t quite recall

It was a complete bomb at the box-office. It has been suggested the story was poorly constructed and the dialog plain bad, but it was an intrigue/thriller movie. In the 80s I enjoyed both good and bad in this genre.

I do recall one gem in the dialog…. How many surrealist painters does it take to change a lightbulb?  The fish! 

If I manage to lay my hands on a copy of this film – my fantasy view of how great/enjoyable this movie is, will surely crumble. Ruined in part by the artificial build up of my distant, distorted memories and partly my aged, matured and somewhat pickled brain casting a more critical eye over the proceedings. Perhaps it will give me an insight into my psyche during the 80s? Perhaps it will inspire me to finish writing the script I have tucked away (somewhere – if I could ever find it – or did I throw it out in my anti-clutter campaign…)? Or perhaps it will make me realise that I have no taste in films what-so-ever.

Regardless, I have decided to campaign on behalf of the long-forgotten underdog, that has slipped so far into obscurity it has almost ceased to exist. (In fact, if not for the appearance of Adam Ant in a cameo role and a legendary performance by Harry Dean Stanton*- I think, possibly, the film would have evaporated.) I am sick of the video shop clerk looking up their database and then looking at me sideways. “You made that title up” – they think to themselves, or “what a flake, can’t remember the name of a favorite film” as if I pulled the name out of my a$$. I want to be able to cruise the discount tables and see 50 copies in row. I want to be able to buy a copy for $4.99 at K-mart, just like all the cheesy 80s movies. Where’s the justice!  So I will build a fan site for Slam Dance on MySpace. Tom Hulce and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio may think they have successfully expunged this film from their histories, but they are sorely mistaken. Blues Brothers may not have done well at the movies at the first release – but it has been built into a legendary cult movie. I think the same can be done with Slam Dance.

If you are also interested; curious; a complete fan; intrigued or fascinated by this movie – and want to help in my crusade – please join my Slam Dance fan club on myspace and give me your views.

Let’s get the SLAM DANCE DVD into the discount section of your local store!!!

  

*Harry Dean Stanton:

Legendary (amongst my friends anyway) actor, often blends into the background, until you know about him – and then you see him EVEYWHERE. His films/tv roles include:

Alien; Pretty in Pink; Wild at Heart; The Godfather Part II; Twin Peaks; The Green Mile; You, Me and Dupree; Lavern and Shirley; Red Dawn; Repo Man; Private Benjamin; Petticoat Junction; Rin Tin Tin; Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Gunsmoke; Bonanza; Cool Hand Luke; and the list goes on… a long way.