Australian Flags Make Us Racist…Apparently.

Since when has flying the Australian flag a sign of disrepect for ones country? I find it amusing when universities publish “research” that is dubious in nature. It makes me wonder why research as shoddily obtained as this would even be needed. Apparently researchers at Curtain University have concluded that people who have Australian flags on their car are apparently more racist that people who don’t have an Australian flag. What a load of nonsense!

Thanks to a miniscule 513 people in the sample group, it has been determined that the majority of the population is more racist if we have an Australian flag, because those surveyed believed Australia had less problems under the now defunct “White Australia Policy” than today. This has to be one of the most preposterous findings I’ve ever heard. Not being an “academic” I would have thought more qualified research would have been required before conclusions like this could be entertained by an establishment such as this.

As an Australian I’m personally sick and tired of the politically correct brigade calling Australians “racist” because they have an Australian flag or for whatever other reason appears popular at the time just because they want to pander to some minority group. Now I don’t have an Australian flag on my car, at my house, or even wear Aussie flag undies, but if it’s racist to love your country, than call me a racist.

Here in Australia we’ve always had certain freedoms to say what we think or how we feel without persecution. In fact you’ll find that this is the main reason many refugees come to our country also. But herein lies the problem. While refugees come to this country for freedom, in turn our freedoms are being threatened due to the fear of offense we might cause to these refugees and in turn these divisions grow and cultures clash due to modern immigrants not wanting to assimilate into the culture they now live in.

Whatever peoples modern thoughts are on the “White Australia Policy”, history shows that it worked. There was much less cultural conflict between ethic groups such as the Italians and Greeks during the 50′s, 60′s 70′s than there are now, because they did want to fit in with the Australian way of life as best they could and in turn, they introduced us to some wonderful parts of their culture as well.

Today though things are much different, with newer ethnic groups not wanting the assimilate into the Australian way of life, it creates a divide between all parties that is only going to grow deeper thanks to “research” like this. If its racist to think that people should adapt the Australian values when living in Australia, then I must be racist, but I’m sure there are many millions of others who must be racists too.

New F1 Film Has A Title “RUSH”

A little while ago I wrote about the possibility of a new feature film directed by Ron Howard based around my favorite sport, Formula 1. Now word comes that the film is now in production with filming commencing around The Nurburgring in Germany. While details of the script are still a little bit light on, what is known is that the film is a biopic set in the 70′s that revolves around the famous rivalry between Nikki Lauda and James Hunt.

Presumably the film will, or at least should focus on the 1976 Formula 1 season where Lauda suffered a near fatal racing accident at the Nurburgring only to make a comeback later in the season and only lose the title by the the slimmest of margins – 1 point.

While the track record of good Formula 1 films made in Hollywood is shaky to say the least, I remain hopeful that this will be a competent film seeing as it’s in the hands of Ron Howard and Peter Morgan. In fact I’m pretty excited after the brilliant Senna documentary from last year.

84th Annual Oscars Trailer

Any self respecting film fan would enjoy the annual Oscars telecast. Sadly though over the last several years they’ve been a hit and miss affair because of terrible hosting choices. Thankfully this year the academy have decided to go back to multiple time host Billy Crystal to make up for last years dismal effort by James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

Personally, Billy is a good choice as he’s brilliant at handling the crowd which makes for a fun show over the notorious running time of each Oscar show. To announce Billy’s return to the Oscars, a new TV trailer starring quite a few excellent actors and Megan Fox has been commissioned and it’s quite a hoot to view. See it embedded below.

Goodbye Kodak?

Many Gen-Y’s that are going around aimlessly in this digital world, wouldn’t know the word Kodak and if they did it probably wouldn’t mean much to them. But in the days long before digital photography, Kodak was the king of photography, Kodak gave us the tools we needed in order to capture those cherished family memories. I remember in the early 80’s when I was 7 and got my first Kodak instamatic camera to take photos with and I loved it and it’s that little instamatic I was given all those years ago that began my love of photography.

Of course it’s been many years since Kodak have released an instamatic, but over the years their many film types would have captured many amazing images which to me are more impressive and lifelike than a digitally modified image created today.

When Kodak’s famous Kodachrome film was discontinued several years ago, it was to me to was like a death in the family, no more would we truly have photos with the life and characteristics of what Kodachrome film could achieve or any real film for that matter no matter how much digital photo editing software tries to mimic it’s effect. Film to me is a life of it’s own and no two rolls of film were the same, just like no two photos were the same either.

Now comes the sad new that Kodak is potentially looking at bankruptcy protection. How sad it is that one of the titan photography companies could be no more very soon. Sadly it appears that Kodak hasn’t been able to adapt to this soulless digital world. It makes me wonder how much longer we will have the iconic “Kodak Moment” as part of our vernacular too.

The Ten Best Films Of 2011

Another year has passed by yet again and with it more great films. I’ve been doing these lists for a few years now so I’m sure you know what to expect from these. Here is my list of the ten best films released in Australia during 2011. Sadly many of the apparently great releases of 2011 like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy, The Descendents and Girl The The Dragon Tattoo have yet to be released here in Australia sadly. Maybe they’ll make my 2012 list?

  • 10. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.
  • 9. The Adjustment  Bureau.
  • 8. Midnight In Paris.
  • 7. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
  • 6. Drive.
  • 5. Source Code.
  • 4. Moneyball.
  • 3. Red Dog.
  • 2. War Horse
  • 1. Senna.

Christmas

Another Christmas has come an gone and with it another year. I enjoy Christmas for the time it allows my family to get together and see each other. It’s a small amount of time where the World can take time out and appreciate what they have when it comes to loved ones instead of chasing the dollar for the rest of the year. I still remain convinced that if the world had one day per week where everything shuts down to allow people to take stock of everything around them, this world wouldn’t be such a screwed up place.

Anyway, that’s just a pipe dream. On a related note, one of the presents I received this year was STIG shower gel and STIG soap, so I could experience “the great smell of STIG”….. Now I apparently smell like engine oil, brake fluid and strawberries. Weird!

Importing Complete

I’ve finally finished importing my older blog entries back onto here from my old self hosted site. I’ve also imported across entries from my old spaces/blogger accounts as well, just to keep everything neat and tidy. Some of the post formatting might look a little strange due to the different formatting nature of sites other than WordPress, but I’ll fix those over time.

Blown Diffusers In F1

Even if you’re a Formula 1 fan or not, I’m sure many of you would be familiar with the screaming sound of an F1 car in full flight. This year a new technology was implemented by some of the teams called a blown diffuser.

While it’s a very complex operation in how it operates, fundamentally the system blows those exhaust gasses down onto the chassis to allow for extra grip in corners by adjusting how the engine creates exhaust gas. From next year it is banned which in my opinion is a sad thing because it sounds AMAZING!

Like a lot of facets when it comes to a F1 television broadcast, they don’t do these diffusers justice. About a month ago an interesting video popped up on online showcasing the sounds of the blown diffusers in action. Click play and turn up those speakers.

Record Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Here’s one for the racing fans out there. Every July racers from around the globe assemble at Pikes Peak in order to race up the mountain in various classes. This year though the record was smashed by the appropriately named Monster Tajima when he broke the 10 minute barrier. Impressive as it sounds, the video is even more impressive. If you have the time (and the bandwidth) click to watch this in FULL HD, it’s impressive!

Steve Jobs

It’s been a sad day in the tech world. While it was widely known that Steve Jobs had been battling cancer, there had always been the small hope that he would survive. Sadly that was not to be. The world is now in mourning for a man who changed the world through his innovation and vision. While millions of people have never known the man personally, indirectly though, his products have changed our lives immensely and hopefully with the passage of time, for the better. Thank you Steve.