Review

Saw Bowling for Columbine, a documentary by Mike Moore, on Saturday night. It was very much worth seeing, but I left with mixed feelings about its content. Most of you will be aware (and I'm sure a lot of you will have seen it) that it discusses the causes and consequences of American gun culture at some length. The title refers to the fact that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went bowling hours before the massacre they committed at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Moore puts forward a theory that bowling causes violence as a playful satire of the hypotheses commonly plugged by the media regarding the antecedents of the shooting sprees that are becoming more common in the US - hypotheses about TV, film, computer games, gun control, whatever.

The film is both informative and moving (particularly the sequences in which the viewer witnesses the consequences of military actions of the US overseas - topical with the approaching conflict between US and Iraq), and at times, shocking, for example when we are privy to the lunacies of a potential accomplice to Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, or the National Rifle Association as represented by its figurehead Charlton Heston. But Mike Moore is such an intense polemicist that by the end of the documentary (which clocks in at over two hours) you're questioning whether or not some of the 'facts' (just how distorted are they?) are even relevant to his case.

I found interviews and other footage shot in Windsor and Detroit, which face each other across a river on the northern border of the US, particularly interesting due to having just seen the Eminem vehicle 8 Mile (quite a fun film) which is set in poverty-stricken areas of Detroit. The documentary footage demonstrated the accuracy of 8 Mile's depiction of Detroit. The contrast of cultures between the US and Canada is very marked in the film, but I thought Moore's presentation accentuated the vicissitudes of one country in comparison to the virtues of the other too heavy-handedly, ignoring any good points in American culture and any bad points in that of Canada.

Definitely a good film despite these flaws though. One finds it hard to disagree with Moore's basic position that the US is unreasonably violent compared to other First World countries (works out at about 20 times as many gun-related homicides per capita per annum as Australia, which is about 3 times again as bad as the UK, for example). I'm convinced that this is due to the easy access Americans have to powerful firearms, and also the legitimacy granted by their media to the use of firearms in self-defence and in defence of one's home. Bowling for Columbine shows you there are a hell of a lot of nutty Americans with guns out there. Scary stuff.

Summer Wasting

... Summer in winter, winter in springtime,
You hear the birds sing, everything will be fine ...
I've spent this summer wasting, the sky was blue beyond compare,
Say cheerio to books now, the only things I'll read are faces,
I've spent this summer wasting, under a canopy of (stars):
Seven weeks of river walkways,
Seven years of staying up all night ...
Belle and Sebastian, 'Summer Wasting'

My Child Support Agency contract came to a conclusion in a shower of book vouchers, well-wishes, candy packets and corporate lunches last week. Bank account fat and healthy, I skipped onto the pavement, never looking back to an already dimming memory of bureaucratic hell tinged with a slight sadness for the passage of time. Things seem less gruelling through the haze of recollection, but in reality the last couple of weeks were a dull, recurring cauchemar more like Kafka than Proust. However, I am finished.

Having suddenly gained fifty extra hours of free time per week, I'm finding myself at something of a loose end. Bought my little brother a trip computer for his new bicycle when he had his birthday last weekend. Have played a bit of Starfox Adventures, a gratingly cute puzzle game for the GameCube. Have read a couple of books, seen a couple of films, been to a couple of parties, had a couple of trips to the beach. A sort of shuffling routine of different activities. Helped Max move house for the second time in four weeks on Saturday, a process so painless it almost defies belief. The whole business was pretty much complete in about three hours, only two of which involved actual work. Sweet compared to the previous effort. Also, her new house (in Cook St, Nedlands) looks like it will be non-disastrous, which makes me feel good for reasons both generous and selfish.

Just before the move, I crushed two premixed bourbon empties that had been left by the inimical, shifty Matt at Townshend Rd. Couldn't help hoping the laws of magical contagion would indicate he was simultaneously being hit by a bus, the little prick.

I will do 'something constructive' soon. Am planning on heading into Claremont this afternoon to buy blank T-shirts and sheet music. Must also organise a new power supply for my PC pronto, so I can enjoy decent internet access at home. At which point this page will no doubt start being updated much more frequently.

Good days. I am really enjoying life at the moment. More seems to be in its place than at any time in living memory.

Indeed Death!

Hornblower: ... and we should all be aware of the punishment for ignoring the command of a superior officer. Remind them, Matthews!
Matthews: (gruffly) Death, sir.
Hornblower: Indeed death!

Top show that. Not watching much TV at the moment - I'm forgetting even which days the few shows I like to watch are on. Shows like Six Feet Under and The Cops that I like enough to get annoyed when I miss them. The only thing I'm seeing semi-reliably is Dragonball Z but since it's on at 7 am I'm sometimes not home, or out of bed in time.

Have been tooling about with blogs and such for the last couple of days. Created a livejournal because I'm tired of posting anonymously to people's journals, and also because some people from time to time create friends-only posts that I'd like to read. Added a few links (bands etc.) to my web-log, which is still going to be my primary online outlet, since I have affection for it. Like the whole 'ataxia' concept as an online presence. Cool word, and I do have these irritating hand tremours.