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It has always been a bone of contention whether a decade begins at 01 or 00. Many will contest that 2009 is the last of the decade and already the “best of the decade” accolades are coming out, even though we really haven’t finished 2009 yet.
Webby Awards has already come out with its top among the techo contesters and awarded the internet itself for being the “story of the decade” and one that “changed not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture”.
Milestones that were given accolades at the Webby Awards included the birth of Wikipedia, the iPhone, Facebook and Twitter. They also included the expansion of Craigslist and the launch of Google AdWords.
Webby also cited the online video revolution led by YouTube and the use of the internet during the 2008 US Presidential Campaign and Twitter during the 2009 Iranian election protests.
All these things have revolutionised the way we act and go about our daily lives that is for sure. That is, of course, if we all want to play in the game.
You can be sure that “Best of the Decade” lists will be bombarding us in the next few months.
In Andrew Denton’s second series, Elders on the ABC last night, Alan Alda was the man of the moment. I have always been a fan of Alda and if we are to regard the world “elder” as someone who is higher in rank than most of us or an influential member of the community, then Alda deserves that title completely.
The show really aims to draw on some of that widsom of life of some older achievers, all not quite as famous as others. This idea is an interesting one too. It sets the show apart from other guest interviewing shows. Too long have we in the West discarded the knowledge and the wisdom from our most valuable source and one that generations before us honoured – our elders.
The well chosen guests aren't all that make this show so watchable either. It is also the brilliant skills of Andrew Denton as interviewer. Denton is so skilled at bringing a relaxed and comfortable approach to the interview that makes it all looks so easy. Somehow, Denton always draws out some really interesting information that some well-known celebrities or figures have kept under wraps and this interview did not disappoint.
We heard about his upbringing, his life as a child growing up with a father in the acting profession and a mother who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. With the troubles in all that came the very good and he told of his willingness to perform for his classmates at an early age, even though that had its drawbacks.
Alan Alda has been many things and achieved many things. I always found him interesting because decades ago there was not too much transition of actors between television and film. You were either a television actor or a movie star and that was it. In an era when it was uncommon to be both he switched from his original film and stage acting to land the role as Hawkeye Pierce in the much loved television series M*A*S*H which ran from 1972 to 1983. In fact, he even did a lot of it at the same time.
I loved him in that and I also loved him in some real memorable movies such as Same Time Next Year and The Four Seasons. In later years, most of his roles have been supporting ones but even then he has made an impact, winning an Emmy for best supporting actor in 2006 for the role of Republican Senator Arnold Vinick on the much loved television political drama series, The West Wing.
His roles in recent years may not have been the key ones but he always seem to make an impact. So too have his books “Never Have Your Dog Stuffed” published in 2006 and “Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself” which was published in 2007.
Alda who has played the field in the entertainment profession as actor on stage and screen, writer, producer and director and still makes a success of every part he plays was a brilliant choice of subject for Denton’s show. Maybe it is the fact he revealed about his father that spurs him on. His father played various roles in his life but made two very huge successes but before and after these, according to Alan Alda, his father was scraping to make a living.
Sourced: ABC’s Elders, www.wikipedia.org
Driver etiquette seems to have gone all by the wayside. There are still a lot of road rules and a lot of road courtesies but they are slowly either disappearing or being totally ignored.
On Channel 7’s Today Tonight Program yesterday, a road expert gave us some of the most annoying habits of drivers that bring out the worst in the rest of us who tend to have some consideration of others who share the road.
A psychologist then summed it up to be a general self-centredness in drivers that can trigger bad behaviour in some of the most considerate and well mannered drivers. They concluded that some people just don’t pay attention to what anyone else is doing and simply don’t care. Others just enjoy the menacing behaviour.
Here are some driver habits that according to the driver expert will nearly always light our fuse:
Late Blinker Indicator:
One of the most annoying habits of drivers is to wait till a light turns green before flicking on the right-hand blinker indicator. By that time a whole queue of cars is usually behind and they can’t move until the car in front turns off the road.
No Thanks Salute:
Whenever someone lets you cross in front of them rather than having to wait or even move from another lane in front of them, it has always been customary to give a kind of “thank you salute” acknowledging the gesture. This has been rapidly vanishing from driving etiquette and our expert thinks it is a shame. I have often wondered how those with tinted windows actually manage this gesture. Maybe we could introduce some sort of gadget similar to what the truckies used to use indicating they were turning.
The Ipod Pedestrian:
It is not only drivers who bring other drivers to boiling point. Pedestrians, particularly those too happy listening to their Ipods who stand in the middle of roads, walk across roads without even looking to see if the road is clear or weaving their way through traffic without a care in the world, will often have many a driver doing more than honking their horns.
Taxi Hazzard Lights:
We all have our pet hates about the driving behaviour of taxi drivers but one habit that goes to the top of the list of our expert is using the hazard lights to stop anywhere to pick up or collect passengers. They stop in No Stopping zones, Bus Lanes, Clearways and seem to think it is OK because they have their hazard lights on.
The Tailgate Tosser:
Don’t you just hate those drivers who drive so close to you that you can’t slow down. Often of course that is the whole point but it is really frustrating and our expert agrees. I always want them to just go past but often they won’t. They just enjoy the scare tactics. Our expert has labelled this menace The Tailgate Tosser.
The Right Lane Robber:
This is one of my favourites, particularly if I am on a freeway and a driver stays in the right lane but wants to drive at a much slower speed than the limit. It is particularly frustrating if the car in front of you in the adjoining lane is driving slowly too and you just can’t get past either one of them.
So those are a few from our “road expert”. I could certainly add a few of my own:
Missing the Green Light:
It is really frustrating when you are in a line of traffic at the lights and the driver of the first car is so busy doing something else, he or she misses the green or only goes through before it turns amber. The rest of us have to wait for another round.
Bravado Pedestrians:
I loathe it when pedestrians walk half way across the road and you don’t know if they are going to stop before you go through or try to race across in front of you. Either way, you need to slow down just to make sure.
Stopped cars in side streets jutting out onto the main road:
Now this one slows down the traffic every time. If a driver is waiting in a side street to drive out into the main road when the coast is clear it makes no sense for him to jut out into the left hand lane and every car has to try to swerve around him. It only slows everyone down.
So there are some driving habits of really bad drivers that make even the experts’ blood boil and I have added a few of my own.
What driving habits make your blood boil? If you have some, add them to the list.
Sourced: Today Tonight – Channel 7
Imaged credit: www.nydailynews.com.au
Can Facebook prove your innocence? Maybe not but it certainly helped 19 year old Rodney Bradford from New York in the USA. Bradford had criminal charges for robbery dropped because, as his defence lawyer pointed out, he was busy social networking at the time of the crime.
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Who would have thought a country such as Brazil would be up in arms and facing a controversy over a university student wearing a mini to class. The student, Geysi Villa Nova Arruda, was expelled for wearing a short pink dress to class. Supporters have had a field day since Arruda was kicked out of her class and used the internet to protest against the extreme measures.
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Can you identify an accent from listening to a baby cry? Contrary to long held beliefs that accents are cultivated long after birth, researchers have now discovered that accent traits in babies are clear from their very first sob.
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Our cemeteries are running out of space and governments are seeking out alternative methods of burying our dearly departed. This week the NSW Government in Australia announced that proposals are to go before Cabinet to make “natural burials” legal.
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We are fascinated by lists aren’t we? The one that got my attention today was the just released Forbes list of top earning dead celebrities. This is actually the ninth annual one compiled by Forbes and it puts fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent at the top of the list with estimated 12 months earnings of $US350 million.
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It is not something that you really see too often, if at all – a politician thanking people who have supported him throughout his career. They may usually do a farewell speech and utter a few kind words to many who have kept them in office over a long time and have even sweated out on voting days helping to get people to vote for them.
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One of the things most of us would like to be described as is interesting but what is interesting? What makes a person more interesting than another? Is it their extroverted persona or their skill at telling a good yarn? Is it the job they do or the career they are in that almost leaves us with this silly sense of adoration?
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on The Boys Are Back ($13-)
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