Friends of the Armchair Traveller

  A ward in a major hospital in Gaza, image courtesy of Médecins Sans Frontières Australia Well, I hope I will never have to be admitted to a hospital with facilities devastated like this. In fact I have a great aversion to hospitals even when they are relatively clean and well run as I have found here in Australia. Even at my worst moment in 2015 at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, I was never confronted with a ward such as we see in the image above. The procedure I was in hospital for required an operation in the middle of the night, in a theatre which was "under construction"... it was being "renovated" while still being used for serious operations! I was aghast at the situation but had I had no choice, it was an emergency and I was happy to be looked after by people who cared about my wellbeing and did their best under the circumstances. The news we endure every day and night shows us that we are a most privileged society... it's far from perfect here, but you ...

  Professor Des Ball: The insurgent intellectual These days have been momentous days, weeks and months and years. In the past couple of days the news has included the McBride case: Jailed whistleblower David McBride loses appeal against  severity of sentence, flags High Court challenge Former military lawyer David McBride has lost his appeal  against the severity of his sentence.  ( Four Corners: Nick Wiggins ) ands also the Richard Boyle case: Whistleblower protections failed 'superhero' Richard Boyle, calls grow for urgent reforms Whistleblower Richard Boyle with wife Louise Beaston outside  the  SA Supreme Court.   ( ABC News: Olivia Mason ) and then yesterday a visit to my home in Kyneton from John Hughes, lots of goodies as in wonderful   pastries from Italian bakery Monelli  near his home, plus a film John has worked on for many years about Des Ball. This film is called Twilight Time and is voluminous in the history it covers from...

Recently our friend Kim has sent me two new or reworked pieces. I find them both engaging works with mixed qualities, edgy! First:                                              Wine And Then Valium.                                    A piece of Video Art. On Sale For $5 Million.   and yesterday this one arrived in the mail:                 Surreal Relationship, LOVE AND FIGHT.                                          #shortvideo   #romantic   #love   #hate Thank you Kim, pt

  As I mentioned in my previous posting, and as I also mentioned when I spoke at Nigel's Memorial last week, Nigel had a lifelong passion for music of many genres.  I could list thousands of numbers he sent me, but in this blog I will present just a sample of the sorts of musical items which he sent to me. TEE-SET  "Ma Belle Amie"  Alela Diane, "The Rifle" The Waifs, "London Still" Gerry Humphrys & The Loved Ones,  "Blueberry Hill" Big Bill Bissonnette & Sammy Rimington, "Porter's Love Song" Mae West,  "My Old Flame" The Red Onions,    " Miss Hannah" Woody Allen,  "In The Evenin' " Harry Dean Stanton,  "Cancion Mixteca" Annette Hanshaw "That's Just My Way Of Forgetting You" Leon Redbone & Robert Gordon  "Melancholy Baby" Lazy Ade Monsbourgh,  "Ragtime Dance" Alela Diana,  "The Pirate's Gospel" Tuba Skinny "What's ...

Our friend Nigel Buesst. A friendship of so many years, 62 years since we first met. Plenty of water under the bridge. Nigel at home with his minder, Jedda  photo by Ivan Gaal I was just starting out in my life as a filmmaker, working at the State Film Centre in the library section. One day I was on counter duties, receiving films returning from borrowers and handing out films to other borrowers. In walked Nigel with a bundle of films under his arm, returning them from a film society he was involved with at the time. I think it was the CSIRO film group and Nigel was collecting another bundle which they would run in an upcoming programme. A short conversation of a few minutes at the counter established that we were both interested in making films and soon enough we became close friends. Nigel was about to shoot “Fun Radio” which was a real buzz for me. He asked me to shoot a few shots from his fancy sports car so I got to operate his new Bolex camera for a tracking shot or two as ...