Perfect Days

Perfect Days is a remarkable film for many reasons

The story follows a guy cleaning toilets in Tokyo and it reveals a city that appears so much more livable than I would've expected.

While it isn't acknowledged in the script, I expect the role of a nature-worshipping religion like Shinto is significant for the pockets of greenery and abundance of potted plants.

There's also a healthy dose of wabi-sabi in the narrative arc, which reflects the role of Japan's other religion of Zen Buddhism.

One of my habits after watching a film is to look on Wikipedia for background information and it was surprising to learn Perfect Days developed from a program to promote public restrooms:

Wenders was invited to Tokyo by Koji Yanai to observe The Tokyo Toilet, a project in which Japanese public toilets were redesigned in 17 locations throughout Shibuya... At first, the producers envisioned Wenders would make a short film or series of short films on the facilities, but he opted for a feature film

I think it shows how much an artist can elevate a project, but it also helps that you have someone of the calibre of Wim Wenders with a celebrated catalogue of stories which are hinted at in small details like the character reading Patricia Highsmith or the evocative dream sequences that might've been taken from Until the End of the World (1991).

Another surprise for me from the film was the Japanese version of 'The House of the Rising Sun,' which led me to get a new perspective on its themes and learn how a song might be related to a 17th-century folk melody inspired Bob Dylan to go electric.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die

One of my interests in time travel

While the means to travel back in time have evaded me so far, there's a good technique for travelling forward in time through watching movies.

So time-travel as a genre has been a fascination and I've got ideas about how it functions as a narrative device.

In fact, if there was a subject that I would consider writing a thesis about, I feel I could develop an essay and fiction combination that would explore this potential.

Since I have time now to indulge in sitting on the couch in front of the TV after abandoning my teacher training, I caught up with this film that had interested me last year.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is a surprising story with developments that lead into dark satire and, no spoiler, an ambiguous ending that still manages to resolve character arcs.

Actually, slight spoiler, I think the ending shows it is similar to that famous time-travel franchise Back To The Future and made me wonder if there was an aspiration for a sequel.

However, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die will likely become one of those cult movies that finds an audience outside of the cinemas since it didn't achieve much success in those venues and lost money.

I don't want to spoil anything, so let's just say this film is worth watching if you like comedy horror and fluffy sci-fi with a biting commentary on contemporary life.

It shows how science fiction can be used as a device to reflect the present day, while leaving open the possibilities of how things could be different.

End of a journey

Nearly two years ago I started a scholarship to become a primary school teacher

The Nexus program is an employment-based, accelerated teacher training pathway, primarily run by La Trobe University in partnership with the Victorian and NSW Departments of Education. 

It allows career-changers and education support staff to earn a teaching qualification while working in schools with teacher shortages.

 

When I applied I was in a job where one of the fun elements was leading school students through discussions of history and, as a parent with three very different kids, I thought I had some sense of how to tailor topics to a variety of learning styles. 

There were a number of hurdles to get accepted and I was grateful that a staff member kept in contact after a series of emails saying that I was unsuccessful.

When I started working at a public school in Narrandera the principal seemed to be almost as in the dark about steps as I was, although a mentor assigned to me had answers to many questions.

Full-time study and part-time work took a toll, but it wasn't until the second placement at a public school in a small nearby town that the wheels really began to wobble.

The first day was characterised by miscommunication, as the principal there I had heard that I taught ukulele and asked me to run classes.

Being eager to appear agreeable, I explained that they wouldn't be the lessons expected of me by the university but that I could introduce students to the basics of tuning and strumming one-finger chords.

It was a surprise during the first lesson that the supervising teacher asked for a lesson plan, since it wasn't something required previously.

When the principal returned she was furious with me for not following directions, cancelled the ukulele classes and abruptly changed the arrangement we had to move from stage one classes to stage two -- where I had been planning to teach a sequence of classes.

This added a level of stress, which combined with a university subject that I couldn't see how I would pass.

In the end I left my placement early, found the school cancelled it and attempted to explain the circumstances to the course coordinator and dean at the uni.

They were unsympathetic and I failed the unit.

 

My mentor was surprisingly sincere in telling me how sorry she was about my experience and it made me wonder at the time, but now I think she knew the culture of teaching is built on bullying. 

This year I attempted the unit again, again failed the assignment and was told I'd need to undertake another assessment while undertaking a full-time placement and working on the next assignment.

I wrote to the lecturer, who was again unsympathetic to my circumstances and this led me to decide that teaching was not for me.

One of the key moments in making the decision was a comment from a friend who, as a mature-aged student like me, had completed a teaching degree and quit the profession within a few years:

My experience of the primary teaching profession once I got there was that it was matriarchal, bullying, political and sycophantic rather than meritocratic... 

Someone will write a Phd on teacher culture some day, and it will speak to toxicity and an endless procession of burnt out former educators with good intentions.

It put into perspective some of the experiences I'd had and made me realise the journey to teaching would likely take a toll.

There are many wonderful teachers I have met and I admire their work and grace in challenging circumstances.

Schools are currently struggling with kids not prepared for classrooms, as well as screen-based activities that appear to be impacting on the attentiveness of students.

The university course was a mess of subjects that were attempting to combine units for the fast-tracked path to graduation, which was occasionally acknowledged by lecturers.

Having previously worked in tertiary education, I am aware how high the attrition rate is for online learning, as well as the number of students who never finish a teaching degree.

I just wish I'd thought more realistically before leaving permanent employment and taking on thousands of dollars of HECS debt.

Meanwhile, I am telling anyone who cares to avoid La Trobe Uni and to watch out for the fees charged by institutions -- including an annual $500 bill tacked on for a study centre in Sydney that I reluctantly visited one time last year to watch a bunch of useless things on Zoom.

Farrer election result

The result of the Farrer by-election shows a massive swing that must be understood as a protest vote

It wasn't a popular candidate, but a representative of a party in tune with disenfranchised voters.

Water is the big issue in Farrer and the major parties are all blamed for the impacts from buying water out of the catchment.

One thing that isn't being acknowledged is the dissatisfaction from Covid responses, which I think has solidified as a form of opposition -- because on the surface the mess of ideologies doesn't make any sense.

Another aspect is growing unpopularity of Labor in NSW and my guess is that the party didn't run a candidate because they knew it would attract all of the criticism toward the Minns government, particularly in response to gun legislation.

The decline in informal voting is interesting and I think shows the number of disgruntled voters has increased.

A key issue in the Riverina is the desire for changes to how water is managed in our country.

The NSW agencies badly treating a wetland has been in the news and it's worth remembering that the management of these resources was the trigger for the creation of the Murray-Darling management plan.

This region, the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, delivers a significant contribution to the state's GDP and, if you look into some of the ABC's remarkable investigations on Four Corners, there are surprising examples of how investments in industrial agriculture here should be gaining more scrutiny.

For a local it is significant to see the local independent candidate reflecting the longtime aim of the independent state member, Helen Dalton, to see a royal commission into the water market.

You might remember that she was courted by One Nation for this election.

It seems surprising to me that you don't need to look far to start connecting dots, given how some of the same names that have been discoloured in the rort of privatising water were out campaigning in this region.

If you're a student of history then you know the Riverina has been exploited by politicians for literally centuries and it takes a royal commission for the facts to be brought to light and justice to be served.

After FriendlyJordies' attempt at connecting the dots in the region, I guess I can understand why some journalists might hesitate but I wish more would look further into this area!

Robo kettle

Serve the public trust by offering a cuppa

Given those that saw Robocop in the cinemas are approaching an age that should be entitled to a pension, this meme hits closer to home than the satire of the original!

Capcha culture

As I logged into Facebook I pondered how the fire hydrants shown here look nothing like those in my part of the world

If I didn't watch TV shows from North America, would I know how to answer this question?

Magpie stencil

Keen to see how this one goes

Beginning to think I should cut a series of songbird stencils.

I cut a second stencil and painted a couple of birds onto a guitar body after giving it a wash with diluted paint leftover after doing the sides.

Anyway, a day later I didn't like the top bird and decided to cut another stencil.

I also bought a cheap secondhand electric sander and now the guitar looks like this.

Outsiders

Watching ABC's Insiders this week and their panel discussed the local Farrer by-election

Retiring Liberal Sussan Ley was one of the few remaining moderates within her party and clearly made a statement by leaving when she lost the leadership to Angus Taylor, particularly by forgoing any form of speech to Parliament.

Ley gained the seat after the retirement of Nationals' leader Tim Fischer, another considered a moderate within his party.

So it was surprising that a collection of esteemed political commentators from the city all agreed that Taylor's recent proposals to limit migration were aimed at the Farrer electorate.

When you consider that a city like Griffith has the most culturally and linguistically diverse population west of Western Sydney, you realise how little metropolitan journalists understand regional Australia.

Given how little faith I have in polling results, it's disheartening to see journalists with such limited understanding of an issue important to me.

 

Bigger Fish

Jo observed that within a few guitars I moved from solid colour to painting a scene this week

I call this one Bigger Fish.

After writing a list of possible subject matter I remembered the murray cod exhibition drafts were among the pile of laminated rubbish I've been cutting into stencils, so I worked with those images.

Started painting the edge of the guitar body with the diluted paint from washing brushes and am now marvelling at the marble-like result.

It's also wonderful to observe how the paint layers blend when the oil soaks into the wood.

The guitar bodies are cheap from China and, although described as maple or sycamore, commentators described it as paulownia.

This wood is very light and, while not traditional material for telecasters, is resonant when playing unplugged.