Saturday, July 30, 2005

Mysterious Skin

I saw Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin last night; a sold-out session as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival. Controversy had attached itself to this film due to censorship threats via Attorney-General Philip Ruddock. I found the film spellbinding; two lives affected by the same incident, both spin off onto different trajectories, coming together again ten years later in a touching dénouement, wherein the answers they seek reside in each other. The subject of paedophilia is treated with curious objectivity, we're not asked to condemn the perpetrator, nor to sympathise with the victims; we're asked for empathy. The film moves with the glacial pull of Claire Denis or Sofia Coppola; tugging at your sleeve, as you wander through a blur of childhood memories, evinced by the Harold Budd / Robin Guthrie score, and tracks by Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, and a great drunken scene with Ride's "Drive Blind".

Friday, July 22, 2005

Introduction

About this blog. At the beginning of 2005, I decided to begin work on totally changing my career. For the past 10 years I have been employed by universities to do all kinds of audio-visual odds and ends. I have never been a 'technical' person, have never really had a passion for technology, and have no idea how I ended up where I am today. Having completed half a Media & Communications degree, I faced the prospect of digging myself further into the technology trench. And so in 2005 I enrolled in a History degree through Macquarie University, studying via correspondence. The aim is to undertake a Diploma of Education once I finish the degree, which will qualify me as a history teacher for secondary schools. This blog is an attempt to document my path through this change, as well as being a general blog about my life, and other things.