Binnsy's Hovel

Ash Wednesday is a phrase synonymous with disaster in Victoria, and has been for decades. Since that tragedy, the horror of that day has entered mythology for many Victorians. For those that lived through it, memories have no doubt been burned* into their minds that will last a lifetime.

I first heard about Ash Wednesday in primary school in Melbourne’s inner east, where the stories seemed like fables meant to warn us about the dangers of fire. The reality of that day was brought home to me when, on a trip with a good friend to Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean, we met one of those who survived. He was a friendly reverend who lived in the bush not far from the town centre, in an incredible house above the treeline. Wallabies bounded through the scrub, you could hear the possums on the roof at night, during the day the kookaburras cackled themselves silly.

I was intrigued by the reverend’s coffee table. Everything in the house looked relatively modern and up-to-date; a nice TV, newish lounge, kitchen etc. But the coffee table looked very plain, and the wood was very old, and blackened in places. Later that night we learnt that the new house we were in was built atop the ruins of the old one, the one that perished in the Ash Wednesday fires. The reverend had gotten the call a short while (a very short while; half an hour at most) before the flames tore through the area. He had bundled as many of his valuables, sentimental items and so forth into the upturned coffee table, and dragged it into the middle of his gravel driveway, before he jumped in his car and took off into Apollo Bay. He returned a day or two later to find his house smouldering, the bush around it burnt to cinders. But there, in the middle of the driveway, sat the coffee table, with the reverend’s hastily assembled personal items in perfect condition and untouched by the ferocious flames.

Ash Wednesday is now long gone, and in its place we have a tragedy none could have foreseen. At the time of writing, 131 people have been confirmed dead, countless hundreds of homes have been lost, and thousands of people are receiving medical attention for injuries ranging from mild smoke inhalation to severe burns. This has been a dark weekend for all Australia, and my prayers are with all those who have been affected by this tragedy. If you can help, donate now.

The loss of life is tragic. Those responsible for lighting the fires should face a severe penalty. For those who have survived, and maybe lost earthly possessions, their homes, remember that you can rebuild. There is help available; never be afraid to ask for it.

Once I’d heard the reverend’s story, I looked the next day at the amazing house and the bush that surrounded it. I’d never seen anything so lush and green and beatiful and alive my entire life. Fire is horrible, but it has the power to renew, to give new life. Without fire, our country wouldn’t be the wonderful place it is today.

Pray for those hurt, bereft, mourning, lost. Pray for rain. And pray for new life.

Until next time…

* – I use that verb reluctantly, but there is truly no other word for it (seared or scorched were my other options; perhaps etched?).

Unbelievable… from here.

Marie Jones from Canberra, who was visiting a friend at Kinglake yesterday, said a badly-burnt man had arrived at the property where she was staying with his infant daughter, and told her his wife and other child had been killed.

“He was so badly burnt. He had skin hanging off him everywhere and his little girl was burnt, but not as badly as her dad, and he just came down and he said `Look, I’ve lost my wife, I’ve lost my other kid, I just need you to save [my daughter]‘,” Ms Jones said.

Until next time…

This may take a while, just because there are so many thoughts flying around my head at the moment that it could take some time to tie them all down and pick them apart.

I’m currently in the middle (well, two-thirds through, actually) of New Moon, the second book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight book series. Firstly, may I say that despite the fact that it is horribly girly-fantasy 14-year-old hogwash, and I feel the need to watch a film with gratuitous sex, violence and nudity after every hundred pages just to keep myself sane, I am enjoying it. The biggest drawcard is the character of Edward (who also happens to be the best, if only, plot driver) and the modernised mythology of werewolves and vampires etc.

But I have grave concerns about this book and its containing series. The target demographic is teenage girls, without a doubt. The soppy love story and dreamy teen boys running around with their shirts off gives that away. But the nature of the love story is something else; something greater. Beware: spoilers may inadvertently follow.

Edward Cullen is a vampire (whose perfection is described in minute detail every fifty pages or so, and compared to deity more often than necessary), who has spent a hundred years taming his desire to drink human blood. He lives with Dr Carlisle Cullen and his ‘family’, a coven of vampires dedicated to drinking only the blood of animals (Carlisle jokingly calls them vegetarians). Edward meets the main character, Isabella (Bella) Swan, when she moves to the small forest town of Forks to live with her Dad, the local police chief. Instantly, there’s a connection between Edward and Bella, and Edward starts acting strange – soon (and after pages and pages of mindless and exhausting exposition) Bella discovers it is because her blood smells irresistible to Edward, but at the same time he is falling in love with her; indeed has been waiting for her for over a century.

Bella falls for Edward too, and soon becomes part of his life. At the end of the book, a rival coven (non-vegetarians, per se) threatens Bella, and the Cullens intervene – Edward kills the enemy coven’s leader, James, and saves Bella’s life by sucking the blood from the bite James inflicted.

Life goes on well for the happy couple into the second book, when suddenly Edward leaves Bella behind, and the Cullens vanish. Understandably Bella can hardly live, and when you bring werewolves into the mix, the fun can only grow.

So, pithy plot summaries aside, the books are dangerous because of the nature of the relationship around which they are based. Edward and Bella’s love is nothing short of an obsession. Edward is described constantly as ‘Adonis-like’ or ‘God-like’ or ‘perfect’. Further to this, there are subtle religious overtones throughout the whole series: Edward and Carlisle, for example, at various times, discuss with Bella their religious convictions, which at one point overtly contradict the idea of evolution or even so-called ‘intelligent design’ in favour of explicit, downright creationism. The sexual tension between Bella and Edward that drives the first novel, and the times they come close to intimacy, are held back by Edward’s lust for her blood. But at the same time you can almost feel that there’s some moral handiwork at play.

These dangers are completely trivial for thirty-somethings with nothing better to do than fantasise over mythical creatures living among us; because they are capable of knowing the difference. Mature adults know that there is not some perfect, gorgeous vampire waiting only for them. Children, teenage girls, for instance, I’m not certain can know the same.

Consider the impact on a 14-year-old girl when reading about Edward Cullen. He is described as having the perfect face of a Renaissance sculpture, soft, supple skin, gentle but defined muscles, a rippling chest; essentially every woman’s fantasy. For a young, adolescent girl, only just on the cusp of puberty and all it entails, imagine the feelings this description would awake. Suddenly the young girl’s gushing over a fictional character; but this would go further than a crush on Mr Darcy, for example, simply because of the modernity of this story, and the feelings it describes. There are untold sexual undercurrents in Pride and Prejudice, of course, but some of the conversations between Edward and Bella when they are alone raise questions that children should discover themselves, through personal experience, rather than have morals and ideals spoonfed to them.

For a young boy, imagine the confidence he would gain, seeing how Edward can make every woman in the book sway to his every desire. That is a very dangerous notion to be planting in boys just starting to discover what their minds and bodies are capable of.

Now, I’m not saying young people shouldn’t read this book, and I am staunchly against parents or governments censoring anything from children, particularly art or literature, but I think parents should consider the nature of these novels and their themes. Let kids read them, by all means, but make sure that if they have any questions, or want to talk anything through, it’s with you first and foremost.

The Twilight series is probably just about the most popular book series since Tolkien’s trilogy. But there are different kinds of fantasy, with different kinds of consequences.

Until next time…

Blogging from a moving train; don’t try it at home, folks.

It amuses me that the global warming/climate change bandwagonners are bridling up the Clydesdales again. I’ll be the first to admit that this latest Aussie heat wave is truly atrocious (just so you know, that sentiment is not coming from air-conditioned luxury – rather from a sweltering non-air-conditioned CityRail behemoth), but this is Australia, for Christ’s sake! Sunburnt country and all that. A 47-degree day on Sunday is going to be unpleasant, but it doesn’t mean we should all spend our fast-disappearing savings or investments on solar panels.

Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t be environmentally conscious or aware, just that we are all at danger of freaking out over nothing. Mass hysteria serving the bureaucratic/political/corporate status quo – or some other favourite blogging catchphrase.

Until next time…

Maybe if I can get Facebook up to 88 miles per hour…

Until next time…

I’ve returned from wine country up north feeling relaxed and revived, but really not wanting to get back into everything. Though I am looking forward to film work, writing, reading lots and my thesis planning. To get on top of those will be nice.

But for now I just wanted to post this thing, that has been doing the rounds on the Book of Face.

25 things about Binnsy…

1. I have a faint scar on my forehead from when I fell in the hallway at about age 3; I also have a small spot at the base of my spine from a lumbar puncture.

2. I’ve not yet had chicken pox.

3. I believe the imagination is the single most important part of the human consciousness; without it, we would be nowhere near where we are today.

4. Coffee is my lifeblood. I sometimes feel I have too much blood in my coffee system.

5. I believe that words – and words that translate into moving images on a screen – have the power to change lives, inspire, create, evoke, destroy and dismiss.

6. I despair for the current state of cinema. The blockbuster has its place, as does the pulp horror flick, but it should never be at the expense of the independent, the arthouse, the drama, the quirky comedy.

7. I am looking forward to the challenges of this year – my thesis, my film work and my life.

8. I cannot stand energy drinks. They all taste like cough medicine and are horrible for you anyway.

9. Rudd-mania fizzled like a dodgy firework. I don’t think Obamamania will.

10. I am an absolute Star Wars nerd, and I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks. Star Wars rules.

11. I am in love with Eva Green, Scarlett Johannson and Rebecca Hall. No one should be that stylish, attractive and talented.

12. Much to my own chagrin, I am reading the Twilight series, and begrudgingly enjoying it.

13. Art in any form should never, EVER, be censored, removed or whinged about. If you have legitimate negative criticism, be my guest, but if you think it should be removed just because you think it’s revolting, get a life.

14. Poets amaze me. To twist language in such an incredible way is a true gift.

15. My dream house was described to me the other day, and I want it now.

16. I believe Australian cinema is not dead. But I think it needs a new spark plug.

17. I have perfectly legitimate heterosexual man-crushes on Aaron Sorkin, Wes Anderson and Ewan Macgregor – all for very different reasons.

18. I am a passive green person – I do my bit but I think going crazy about the earth and climate change is counter-productive.

19. My dream car is a BMW Z3 Roadster. Blue, silver or red.

20. I want to do all the stuff people do in their retirement before I retire – sail around the Mediterranean, travel all around France, sip wine and other alcoholic things in exotic locales, run a mini-golf course, etc.

21. I want to live and work in New York or Paris – or both.

22. I believe Tom Cruise’s personal issues are his own personal issues – and I think the man is a legend, and I want to work with him some day.

23. I believe Arts and Communications degrees are not pointless.

24. When I was little I wanted to be Harrison Ford.

25. I am Iron Man.

Until next time…