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I have asked my good friends at amazon.com to send me the DVD Capitalism: A Love Story, another Michael Moore documentary.
The film centres on the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and the recovery stimulus, while putting forward an indictment of the current economic order in the United States and capitalism in general. Topics covered include Wall Street's "casino mentality", for-profit prisons, Goldman Sachs' influence in Washington, DC, the poverty-level wages of many airline pilots, the large wave of home foreclosures, and the consequences of "runaway greed". The film also features a religious component where Moore examines whether or not capitalism is a sin and if Jesus would be a capitalist.
A highlight of the documentary is when Moore interviews Elizabeth Warren, the head of the US Congressional Oversight Committee, the government agency serving as a watchdog for Congress' wrong-doing and investigating Congressional "oversights" (mistakes). He asks her, "Where is the $700 billion bailout money which Congress gave to the big banks and Wall Street investment companies?" There is a dramatic pause and the committee head replies, "I don't know." Advised by Warren to contact Paulson's office for answer, Moore's call is promptly disconnected upon recognition of his identity.
"Now, this is a subject on which I flatter myself I really am au fait. The gentleman who, when I was young, bathed me at wisdom's font for nine guineas a term—no extras—used to say he never knew a boy who could do less work in more time; and I remember my poor grandmother once incidentally observing, in the course of an instruction upon the use of the Prayer-book, that it was highly improbable that I should ever do much that I ought not to do, but that she felt convinced beyond a doubt that I should leave undone pretty well everything that I ought to do.
I am afraid I have somewhat belied half the dear old lady's prophecy. Heaven help me! I have done a good many things that I ought not to have done, in spite of my laziness. But I have fully confirmed the accuracy of her judgment so far as neglecting much that I ought not to have neglected is concerned. Idling always has been my strong point. I take no credit to myself in the matter—it is a gift. Few possess it. There are plenty of lazy people and plenty of slow-coaches, but a genuine idler is a rarity. He is not a man who slouches about with his hands in his pockets. On the contrary, his most startling characteristic is that he is always intensely busy.
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen. " [listen]
And if being idle is not your thing, there are also chapters ON BEING IN LOVE, ON BEING IN THE BLUES, ON BEING HARD UP (the story of my life), ON VANITY AND VANITIES, ON GETTING ON IN THE WORLD, ON THE WEATHER, ON CATS AND DOGS, ON BEING SHY (that's me!), ON BABIES, ON EATING AND DRINKING, ON FURNISHED APARTMENTS, ON DRESS AND DEPORTMENT, and even ON MEMORY.
If these links no longer work, view the film's opening scene here.
(Click here for another full-length version)
When I watch Zorba the Greek, I am immediately transported back to the almost two years I lived and worked in Piraeus.
The movie faithfully follows the storyline of Nikos Kazantzakis's book. My favourite is the opening scene of a rained-out day spent in a harbourside taverna in Piraeus which reminds me of the many similar days full of melancholy I spent in almost identical tavernas.
The narrator, a young Greek intellectual by the name of Basil, resolves to set aside his books for a few months to travel to Crete in order to re-open a disused lignite mine and immerse himself in the world of peasants and working-class people.
Taking shelter in a harbourside taverna, he is about to dip into his copy of Dante's Divine Comedy when he feels he is being watched; he turns around and sees a man of around sixty peering at him through the glass door. The man enters and immediately approaches him to ask for work. He claims expertise as a chef, a miner, and player of the santuri, or cimbalom, and introduces himself as Alexis Zorba.
The narrator is fascinated by Zorba's lascivious opinions and expressive manner and decides to employ him as a foreman. On their way to Crete, they have a great many lengthy conversations, about a variety of things, from life to religion, each other's past and how they came to be where they are now, and the narrator learns a great deal about humanity from Zorba that he otherwise would not have gleaned from his life of books and paper.
Unlike Basil, I never had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of a Zorba. Couldn't we all benefit from such an acquaintance and such memorable quotes? Zorba is Everyman with a Greek accent!
"Life is trouble; only death is not."
"This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had every ambition. To live far from men, not to need them and yet to love them. To have the stars above, the land to your left and the sea to your right and to realize of a sudden that in your heart, life has accomplished its final miracle: it has become a fairy tale."
"Let your youth have free reign, it won't come again, so be bold and no repenting."
"Every perfect traveller always creates the country where he travels."
"Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes that see reality."
"How simple a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple heart."
"A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares to cut the rope and be free..."
"When you've made up your mind, no use lagging behind, go ahead and no relenting."
Basil: "Are you married?" Zorba: "Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I’m a man. So I married. Wife, children, house, everything. The full catastrophe."
P.S. Of course, everybody knows that Zorba's dance originated in Australia some 40,000 years ago:
(By the way, a South American scientist from Argentina, after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain and sexual activity read with their hand on the mouse. DON'T BOTHER TAKING IT OFF NOW. IT'S TOO LATE!!!)
It's over! Easter, I mean. We even had a proper pre-Christian Easter bonfire.
Not that everyone was happy: the Greek Orthodox church celebrates Easter several weeks after 'our' Easter. This allows the Greeks to buy their Easter eggs at half price. However, this year the two Easter coincided. My Greek friend Nick wasn't happy.
But I was happy to wipe the Easter egg off my face and again sit by the quiet river while watching - and occasionally trading - the sharemarket.
BHP reached a new 12-month high today of $44.63 and the All Ords are at 4974. A far cry from their all-time high in November 2007 of 6853 but also comfortably above their nadir in March 2009 of 3121.
Of course, we all know that April is a peculiarly dangerous month to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, October, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.
However, I am forewarned with my broker's advice which reads, "The market's rise after a period of reaccumulation is a bullish sign. Nevertheless, fulcrum characteristics are not yet clearly present and a resistance area exists 40 points higher in the Dow, so it is clearly premature to say the next leg of the bull market is up. If, in the coming weeks, a test of the lows holds and the market breaks out of its flag, a further rise would be indicated. Should the lows be violated, a continuation of the internediate term downtrend is called for. In view of the current situation, it is a distinct possibility that traders will sit in the wings awaiting a clearer delineation of the trend and the market will move in a narrow trading range."
What? You don't know what this means? What are you, an Australopithecus or something? Allow me to translate it for you: "If the market does not go up or go down, it will remain unchanged."
Padma phoned from Jember and emailed me this photo of herself with her little niece:
She travelled the 150km from Surabaya to visit her sister-in-law's family. Nice part of Java with lots of tea- and tobacco-plantations.
Ich wanderte im Jahre 1965 vom (k)alten Deutschland nach Australien aus. In Erinnerung an das alte Sprichwort "Gott hüte mich vor Sturm und Wind und Deutschen die im Ausland sind" wurde ich in 1971 im Dschungel von Neu-Guinea australischer Staatsbürger. Das kostete mich nur einen Umlaut und das zweite n im Nachnamen - von -mann auf -man.
Australien gab mir eine zweite Sprache und eine zweite Chance und es war auch der Anfang und das Ende: nach fünfzig Arbeiten in fünfzehn Ländern - "Die ganze Welt mein Arbeitsfeld" - lebe ich jetzt im Ruhestand in Australien an der schönen Südküste von Neusüdwales.
Ich verbringe meine Tage mit dem Lesen von Büchern, segle mein Boot den Fluss hinunter, beschäftige mich mit Holzarbeit, oder mache Pläne für eine neue Reise.
This blog is written in the version of English that is standard here. So recognise is spelled recognise and not recognize etc. I recognise that some North American readers may find this upsetting, and while I sympathise with them, I sympathise even more with my countrymen who taught me how to spell. However, as an apology, here are a bunch of Zs for you to put where needed.
Zzzzzz
Disclaimer
This blog has no particular axe to grind, apart from that of having no particular axe to grind. It is written by a bloke who was born in Germany at the end of the war (that is, for younger readers, the Second World War, the one the Americans think they won single-handedly). He left for Australia when most Germans had not yet visited any foreign countries, except to invade them. He lived and worked all over the world, and even managed a couple of visits back to the (c)old country whose inhabitants he found very efficient, especially when it came to totting up what he had consumed from the hotels' minibars. In retirement, he lives (again) in Australia, but is yet to grow up anywhere.
He reserves the right to revise his views at any time. He might even indulge in the freedom of contradicting himself. He has done so in the past and will most certainly do so in the future. He is not persuading you or anyone else to believe anything that is reported on or linked to from this site, but encourages you to use all available resources to form your own opinions about important things that affect all our lives and to express them in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Everything on this website, including any material that third parties may consider to be their copyright, has been used on the basis of “fair dealing” for the purposes of research and study, and criticism and review. Any party who feels that their copyright has been infringed should contact me with details of the copyright material and proof of their ownership and I will remove it.
And finally, don't bother trying to read between the lines. There are no lines - only snapshots, most out of focus.
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