Florida showing the way in combating Woke

 Say what you like about Ron DeSantis, he is definitely show-casing a legitimate strategy to combat woke policies that should be looked at by every right wing politician who is in power, or wants to be.

It is very clear that both market forces and generally Cultural forces are leaning towards the woke agenda...a place where sexual freedom is prioritised, where gender is becoming less a biological fact and more of a social role based activity, where every minority race is celebrated and white people are detested. Its an onslaught, driven primarily by social reproduction of these themes in institutions and social media to make us all believe that these themes are rational social norms instead of fringe theories.

And really, there are only two elements in society providing any sort of limiting factors on this constant onslaught...Religion and the State. With religion becoming less influential, it is only the state that can push back.

And so what has DeSantis and his state representatives done.

1. Legislation to stop white privilege being used to shame or guilt people

2. Banning of sexual materials in school libraries

3.Legislation to stop the teaching of LGBTI issues before Year 3.

4. Immigration limitations.

Its a good first step. In Australia, we don't quite have the same level of conflict, but we need to call out these corporate and social overreaching activities when they appear in front of us. So that means keeping the pressure on sporting organisations to exclude trans women from female sporting competitions, to push back on any teachings of LGBTI or Queer issues in schools, and to oppose the Indigenous Voice.

Artificial Intelligence - Why the fear?

 Been pondering the fear of Artificial Intelligence in the media of that. With the rise of ChatGPT, people like Elon Musk and others are now saying that this technology is posing real risks to humanity.

What a load of tosh. Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long line of doomsday plots revolving around Scientism. There is no fear of God anymore, due to the decline of organised religion, so all we have is science based destruction..Climate Change, Nuclear War, Virus, and now AI.

AI is not sentient. It can never really be. This is pure anthropomorphism...applying human characteristics onto non human systems. And the biggest reason for it? AI will never know what death is...so it will never fear it.

Humanity knows death. It is part of our traditions. Our lived experience. The feelings of loss of losing someone dear to us isn't just an algorithm or a stimulus. This fear of death happening to us is what drives our brains.

So much of our intelligence is based on being inside a biological shell that has a limited lifespan and is prone to the environment...something an AI will never be able to comprehend.

Hence if AI will never fear death, it will never fear us.

 

When did the lack of a pride round become anti-gay?

Was listening to Kyle and Jacki O this morning when Brooklyn Ross, their news guy, reported that the NRL has announced there was not going to be a Pride Round (or a respect) round this year. Now even though there has never been a Pride Round in the NRL, Brooklyn then started a diatribe about now that meant that the NRL was anti-gay!

Come off it Brooklyn. No Pride round just means it is sexual orientation neutral. Not pro, not anti. Pretty much what every organisation should be.

And I dont blame the NRL after the debacle that was the ill-fated Manly Pride round last year, that basically cost Manly, and Des Hasler their chances for success in 2022. You cant make religious players support homosexuality without a backlash, and with a large percentage of the NRL players from the religious pacific islands, it was always going to be a disaster.

The NRL is showing the very definition of inclusivity by not prioritising any particular sexual orientation and treating them all the same. Should be the benchmark for Sports organisations going forward.

CS Lewis - Prophet

 Been reading a bit about CSLewis, specifically "The Abolition of Man". What a triumph of thought.

This was written all the way back in 1943, yet the thoughts around the dangers of relativism and the belief that there are no objective or universal truths and values are as apt now as they were back then. In fact, to me, it seems as if his dystopian vision of a world being controlled by a select group of "Conditioners" who decide, on a whim, what the current values are, is pretty much becoming a reality every day.

CS Lewis believed that there were a set a values (he called the "Tao") which has persevered throughout all civilisations and all times that we should be using as a basis for Good and Evil.

Roughly these involve the following

1. The Law of General Beneficence -Look after everyone

2. The Law of Special Beneficence - Look after those you know - Friends, Countries, Family

3. Duties to Parents, Elders and Ancestors - Honour those that came before

4. Duties to children and posterity - value children and reproduction

5. Justice - Sexual (no adultery), Stealing (no theft), Judgement (no bribes/corruption)

6. Good faith (Try to be honest)

7.  Mercy (Look after the weak)

8. Magnanimity (Be brave and forgiving)

I think a few of these are still alive (1,7) but quite a few are on life support (2,3,4,5,8).

 Unfortunately in todays world, there seems to be only 3 absolute values are being raised in their place

1. Duties to minorities (in race, gender and sexual orientation)

2. Duties to the environment (maybe fits into value 4, but loosely as environment values population control)

3. Duty to yourself (to be happy)

Not sure that is enough to provide a path to a good life. You need more.

Ye's salient point

"A white person can wear a shirt that says "Black lives matter" without criticism, but a black person can't wear a shirt that says "White lives matters" without being attacked"

Very true. Leads into the argument that there are large inconsistencies in cancel culture. Who determines who should be cancelled?

Ye's interview on Infowars

Had a bit of a listen to Ye on Alex Jones. Once again, there is the odd good point in a stream of consciousness with a heavy dose of Anti-Semitism.

The start seemed ok...Ye has a problem with Pornography and believes that Paedophilia is at the heart of it and all sex work. So anyone who participates in those things, is in fact supporting paedophilia.  Also said Instagram was a prostitution ring. Look, brutal, but not outside the lines. I think there is no doubt that the increased sexualisation of the world has leaked into childhood as well and resulted in a greater acceptance of deviate behaviour against children. And the rise of Instagram lead directly to the monetarisation of ordinary people's explicit images through Only fans and other platforms that impact family life. 

 Then he goes into the idea that there are acceptable and unacceptable groupings of people in society. Can talk about blacks or Catholics as a group, but not Jewish groups without being silenced. I mean, that is true. There is no doubt that Jewish groups are hyper sensitive of being grouped together based on their history and are more inclined to react negatively when portrayed as a collective that wishes ill on the world. But he does make good points about cancel culture. It is extremely selective about what earns you censure and what is allowed without comment.

And then the Hitler stuff started. Based on Alex Jones being upset about being called a Nazi and said that Ye wasnt a Nazi or Hitler either. But then Ye said Hitler and the Nazi's weren't that bad and did make positive contributions. Now again, he is not wrong that Germany during the war were responsible for various innovations and research that are still useful today (Ye mentions Autobanes and Microphones...not sure Nazis were responsible for either. If he said Jets and Rockets, maybe) But again, celebrating the Nazi regime for what ever reason is a taboo subject and any positive outcomes pale against the horrors they committed.

And that is all that comes out of the interview. Again, he leaves himself open to attack and hence people disregard some of the more salient points he is trying to make.

Rules of Manhood - according to the Goat

Dont be a victim. Change things if things aren't working.

Dont show negative emotions. Laugh and smile, but be a rock in the case of anger and sadness. Emotions make you less capable.

Strength is the most important quantity in manhood. Even if you dont have it, you need to project it.

Be as Physically capable as you can be. Exercise, lift weights, eat well

Know things. Try to understand the world

Do things. Have a purpose or theme to your life

Dont be a slave to your lust.

Find your competitive advantage

KK Ultra - Scientists who may be involved

 Martin Theodore Orne

Gordon H. Deckert

Louis J West

RK Siegel

Does Ye have a point? Not really, but exploitation of artists is rife in the entertainment industry

Been reading about the latest Kanye West controversy where he has had a go at Jewish people in the entertainment industry and how they control black people.

He isn't the first to complain about Jewish influence in the entertainment industry. Mel Gibson, John Travolta, Gary Oldman have all been critical of the Jewish influence in Hollywood. Miley Cyrus, Ice Cube in the music industry. But Kanye (or Ye as he has been known now) is probably the most influential. And the backlash has been swift. Ye has often claimed he cannot be cancelled. Well we will see.

As for the claim, to me, its a big call. There is no doubt a lot of the CEOs of parent companies of the big studios and record companies are Jewish. But they are all technically in competition with each other so the idea that they are colluding to exploit black entertainers is a stretch.

But maybe its less about collusion by Jewish people, and more about collusion of purpose. Lets not forget that ultimately the aim of these companies is to make money for shareholders. And the best way to do this is to maximise their profits by increasing revenues and reducing the costs. And the best way to reduce the costs is to sign the talent at the lowest cost that reduces their expenditure.

I think, Ye should be blaming capitalism, rather than Jewish people. And the fact that black artists may be getting less of the pie than what he believes they are due.

So what is the answer? Better negotiation of contracts is probably the answer. Ye is rich enough to start a management company for black artists. He could think about unionisation of black artists to demand a greater share of profits.

But blaming the exploitation of artists on the CEO's religion should be no where near this conversation.

Socially Responsible Socialism: Manly own Goal

 Reading with interest about the Manly NRL club coming up with the bright idea of producing a Manly "Rainbow" football jersey and then expecting all the players to wear it, without consulting the players.

Some players, mainly devout Christian Polynesian players are now engulfed in a social media storm none of their making as they are refusing to wear the jersey due to their opposition to Same Sex relationships.

Such an own goal from Manly. Here is a club who for some reason, know only to its executives, decided on their own bat to promote a LGBTI agenda on the week of a must win game. As a result, 7 players have decided to stand down, and basically Manly will lose this game.

So its been a waste of time and money and it has divided the team at a time when they should be unified and focussed.

LGBTI rights will not be moved an iota by this type of stuff. It doesnt help. Purely marketing propaganda.

Players in Environmental Activism in Australia

 Kristen Hoffman

Law Firm: Xenaphon Davis (Mark Davis)

Law Firm: Sydney City Crime (Joe Harb)

Violet Coco

Andrew George

Tim Neville

Emma Dorge

Max Curmi

Zelda Grimshaw

Jay Larbalestier

Sergeio Rebel

Sally-Anne Brown

Zianna Fuad

All these people have been part of Extinction Rebellion/Fireproof Australia/Blockade Australia, which seem to be groups of convenience for these people to perform anti-social activities.

I think we need to identify these people as they as so wedded to their beliefs it is inevitable that they will end up performing terrorist actions at some stage in the future.

Dangerous Ideas - How to bring the right back to power

With the change in Government in Australia, it is becoming increasingly clear that the right side of politics here needs to get a lot more organised in its strategic thinking. Unlike the US for example, which has developed a model to return right wing thinking to the populous, in Australia, the right is in retreat.

Which is a shame. Traditionally and historically, Australia has been a conservative nation. We need to start finding those policies and views that will mobilise the right wing and earn a path way back to power.

In the US, the right was in decline after the decline of George W Bush and the start of the Obama years. But then the Tea Party movement started, which was a focus on fiscal discipline. This then turned into Trumpism with the election of Trump whose influence is very strong in at least 2 out of the 3 areas of Governance...the legal and the Congressional Something similar needs to be started here.

A lot of the themes used in the Tea Party Movement could be adapted here

1. Fiscal Conservatism (Less Taxes, Less Debt, smaller government spending)

2. Social Conservatism (Family values, Religious Values, less feminism, less trans-activism, less LGBTI policies, less immigration)

3. Freedom (less government policy in general. Less regulation)

4. Patriotism.

But we need a framework and a narrative to couple these broad themes into action.

I was examining the use of the 5 belief framework by Eidelson and Eidelson. The idea is to view the actions of the Left through a prism of its impact on the ordinary populous to perceive them as a negative and then provide the right as a solution.

The 5 Domains of this framework are as follows

Superiority : Need to believe that the Right is superior to the Left in terms of the ordinary people. That the policies of the right will make the populous better and the left will cause harm. This could be done in the realms of morals, economics, intelligence etc. However the Left dominates in the spheres of culture and academia which is a source of concern. That said, the left dominates in those fields in the US, but has not affected the power of the right.

Injustice: Need to believe the Left are mistreating the ordinary people by taking opportunities away, making people poorer. Could be union membership denying people the right to decide what is best for themselves, less salary negotiation. Need an enemy that is either the Left wing of Government, or an ally of the left. Targets could include Unions, Teachers, the Arts (like Hollywood), LGBTI, Indigenous organisations etc. Left has been able to acheive success here around Business.

Vulnerability: Need to believe that the ordinary people are in peril by the actions of the Left. This could be regarding unemployment, standard of living, energy security, food security, defence etc. The left have been very good at adapting this message to Climate change as a source of their power against he right. The right need to apply this better as well to adapt to counter this. Traditionally this has been Defence or Terrorism. To say Climate change is so far in the future, yet China, Russia, Islamic fundamentalism is a threat to the here and now.

Distrust: Need to focus on the lies or corrupt behaviour of the Left. The left traditionally have been corrupted by money and power. The right, generally by sex scandals. The narrative that Labor is not to be trusted needs to be promoted at every opportunity. This was successfully deployed by Tony Abbott against Julia Gillard and the Carbon Tax.

Helplessness: The populous need to believe they cannot solve theses issues themselves and hence need to rely on the right and its allies for success.

So areas to focus on

1. Patriotism (Australia is superior to all other nationalities, is being treated badly by the UN and China, is vulnerable to sanctions and hostile powers, cannot trust the global environment, and needs the right policies to save them)

2. Mens rights (Men are superior to women, are being treated badly by government and women, is facing an existential threat due to policies that favour women, cannot trust women to work in our interests, needs the right policies to save them)

3. Religion (Catholics morally superior to atheists, under attack by secular policies and the LGBTI community, cannot trust government or the law to protect religious right, needs the right policies to save them)

4. Education (Learning focus in public education, under attack by private schools and teachers union which detracts from quality, Labor cannot be trusted to help with education as they are in thrall with the unions, needs the right policies to remove diversity/trans stuff from curriculum)

5. Government Spending (Less Spending better than more spending. Taking away opportunities for small business, Debt becoming unworkable, needs to be reduced, Cant rely on the left as they grow the public sector, Needs the right policies to reduce the deficit/debt

 

Australian Abortion Laws

 Thankfully in Australia, we have no issues of judical activism here. The states decide abortion rules via state based legislation. So we have the following rules

NSW - Abortion was illegal until 2019 (though not enforced). Post 2019, available on request before 22 weeks. After 22 weeks, need 2 doctors approval

ACT - Abortion was illegal until 2002. Now available on request before 22 weeks

VIC - Abortion illegal until 2008. Post 2008, legal on request until 24 weeks, after 24 weeks if 2 doctors agree

SA - Abortion illegal until 2021. New law has yet to take effect.

WA - Abortion illegal until 1998. Legal on request up until 20 weeks. After 20 weeks, requires 2 doctors agreeing

NT - Abortion illegal until 2017. Legal upon request until 23 weeks. After 23 weeks, if life in danger

TAS - Abortion illegal until 2013. Legal upon request to 22 weeks. After 22 weeks, requires 2 doctors agreement

So not sure why the yanks are so up in arms. Australia got there in the end. States should decide restrictions based on their parliaments and elected representatives. Not by unelected judges

Alito is nothing if not consistant in his reading of the 14th Amendment

 I was reading through Alito's dissent on the gay marriage case "Obergefell v. Hodges".

He has basically made the same point in that decision as he made in overturning Roe Vs Wade...that gay marriage is not a right that is "deeply rooted in the nations history and tradition" and hence not applicable to the 14th Amendment.

It is clear that Alito does not believe the Supreme Court should be creating new rights and enforcing them. He believes that  the proper place for these rights to be created is in legislation via the peoples elected representatives.

I would agree. Justice Roberts in his dissent of "Obergefell v Hodges" said the very same thing

"Understand well what this dissent is about: It is not about whether, in my judgment, the institution of marriage should be changed to include same-sex couples. It is instead about whether, in our democratic republic, that decision should rest with the people acting through their elected representatives, or with five lawyers who happen to hold commissions authorizing them to resolve legal disputes according to law. The Constitution leaves no doubt about the answer. "

Abortion is a contested concept. It isn't a natural right that the framers of the constitution expected the 14th amendment to protect nationally. Hence Roe Vs Wade was a mistake. The judges decided to hold a position instead of upholding the law.

It is way overdue that it was overturned and the restrictions, if any, of abortion delt with via legislation.

Roe Vs Wade - Overturn of Abortion rights

 Well the left has gone mad again about the leak draft of an opinion (reportedly the majority one) which will overturn ROE vs WADE, the Supreme court judgement that so called legalised Abortion. There are so many myths being propagated about this, I just wanted to cut through the hysteria and go to the facts.

Firstly, What was the judgement in ROE vs WADE? It was the the "right to privacy" in the 14th Amendment of the constitution (which is effectively the right to be left alone) means that any state law restricting Abortion had to be balanced with the states interests to make sure the health of Mothers and babies was protected. So a Texan law to restrict abortion to only those circumstances when the mother was in danger meant that the state was interfering with a woman's personal rights and hence was unconstitutional.

The 14th Amendment states

"No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Now while the judgement struck down the Texan law, it also said that abortion wasn't legal all the time, in any circumstances. The court said that before the embryo was viable, a mother could have an abortion, but after that, when there was a high chance of a baby being delivered, the state could restrict abortion.

This is why there has never been any issue with laws affecting late term abortions....the late term abortion has never been part of the Roe Vs Wade decision. In practice this has meant before 24 weeks, abortion in constitutional, but after 24 weeks, its not as the state has a legitimate interest to restrict abortion.

Which brings us to the judgement today. In Mississippi, there is a law that wants to restrict abortions to before 15 weeks. After 15 weeks, abortion would not be permissible unless the mother was at risk. The state is justifying this by saying that by 15 weeks, the featus has alot of the behaviours of a new born already and resembles a baby.

And it appears the court agrees. Says that Roe vs Wade was a massive reach of judicial activism and that the 14th amendment doesn't mention abortion, or even privacy, so the right shouldn't be protected by the constitution. Also that the right to an abortion is not a "deeply held or historical right" in the US, which is a requirement, which I would probably have to agree with. As a religious country, the right to abortion has no business being a right worthy of protection. Similar to the case of assisted suicide, that the Supreme Court found was also not a protected right, and hence states could restrict it for the public good.

So I think on the basis of law, the Court is correct in overturning Roe vs Wade, and allowing the states themselves to decide how they should restrict it. But it is going to cause no end of grief for the uneducated left wingers who only see their right to use abortion as a contraceptive taken away.

Is posting/liking on social media cheating?

I was listening to Kyle and Jackie O on Friday (28/04/2022) where they were interviewing some US podcasters who run a pod cast called Fresh & Fit Podcast. Seems like a standard male podcast that focusses on dating from a male perspective.

So far, so normal.

Anyway, the thing that caused the grief was the claim, from the podcasters that women in committed relationships should not be on Instagram, and be posting "thirst trap" bikini shots as it is a form of cheating or can lead to cheating.

Yet the podcasters seem to claim that men could still be on Instagram without penalty. It was just women that needed to self police their behaviour.

Cue outrage from Jackie O about the double standard, where women cant post, but men can.

Now obviously this is just one podcasters opinion, but it does lead to some interesting questions.

1. Why do women post bikini pictures on Instagram/social media?

2. What is infidelity in the modern world and does posting scantily clad pictures fit that definition?

3. Are women or men more prone to cheating?

4. Does the transformation from single woman, to serious relationship women require adjustments in social media profiles

5. Do the podcasters have a point.

In regards to question 1, there has been some research as to why women post selfies. Comes down to 4 main reasons, in order

1. Communication (i.e a a picture is worth a thousand words)

2. Attention seeking (get likes/appreciation)

3. Archiving (record a moment)

4. Entertainment (pass the time)

Now in regards to bikini shots, women would be either using it for attention seeking/entertainment (i.e get likes from friends and strangers), or to document a holiday they are on (would fall into Archiving or communication).

So whether posting bikini pics is bad or not is contextual. If it isn't for communication or archival purposes, it is likely to be for male/female attention, which might indicate a red flag in the relationship.

There has been some research to suggest that the greater number of selfies posted, the more negative affect on real life relationships...mainly due to the Jealousy affect of other users likes/reactions as the difference between the heavily curated online presence vs the reality of every day persona. But it is difficult to detect whether the number of selfies influences the relationship or the relationship influences the number of selfies. Likely to be a feedback mechanism involved.

In regards to questions 2,  Infidelity has been defined as a violation of a couples emotional or sexual exclusivity. But what defines that violation depends on the couples own values as well as society norms. For example, a couple in an "open" relationship  might not be concerned about sexual exclusivity, but extremely concerned about any emotional attachments with others.

In regards to a female positing pictures and receiving likes, a lot would depend on their partners acceptance of that behaviour as appropriate. As far as society norms however, most people would say that posting photos is not necessarily cheating, as it is to a broad audience, but direct messaging (DMs) would be. (survey is from 2017)

In regards to Question 3, according to research out of the US, men are more likely to report that they cheat, to the tune of 20% as opposed to women, who report 13%. That could be reporting bias however. Women are also more likely to cheat in the younger years (i.e 18-29 age, they report 11% cheating to 10% for men...the only time women are more likely than men to cheat). That said, young people are less likely to cheat than older adults

So up until age 29, the peak age of women on instagram, there is some evidence to suggest women are more likely to cheat than men, which would indicate some conccerns with instagram photos.

In regards to question 4, socially, women are expected to change when they enter a committed relationship, as are men. Behaviours that were acceptable as a single person are no longer tolerated as a member of a relationship...this can involve drinking, excessive partying, drug use, gambling and other risk taking/extraverted behaviours. It is fair to suggest that less tolerance of certain behaviours would also migrate to the digital world. One of those could include flirtatious behaviour on-line.

So the podcasters do have an element of truth here. It was badly explained, but there is an argument to suggest that posting sexy selfies as a member of a committed relationship is not appropriate for some people. But like everything, it should probably be decided by the two people within those relationships rather than blanket rules.

NRL Season 2020: Most improved Teams

 Once again, looking back at the crazy game of the NRL. End of regular season means checking just how well the teams went and which teams are the most improved.

Based on comparing the Z-scores of the teams from last year to this year we have the top 5 improved teams

1. Penrith (Z-score in 2019, -0.25. Z-score in 2020, 1.8 : Missed the finals last year, but won the minor premiership this year. Stunning turnaround and probably the favorite to win the comp this year. Ivan Cleary should be a shoein for coach of the year

2. Titans (-2,-0.25): Finished with the spoon last year, but just missed the finals this year. Looking good for 2021

3.Knights (-0.5, 0.24): Missed the finals last year, but will compete this year. New coach has worked well.

4.Eels (0.54, 1.13): Top 4 finish this year a testament to the quality of the team

5. Dragons (-1, -0.66): While not a great result for the Red V this year, the improvement is there.

Intensive Therapy

Trying to fix the unfix-able. Make broken things less broken.

Its a hard race, less a sprint, more of an endurance event. Full of false starts, breakdowns and yes, triumphs of awe inspiring joy.

The entrance fee is exorbitant. Intensive therapy is 3 weeks of 3-4 hours of one-on-one
professional time. You can do the math. Thousands of dollars. All up front. Even with government assistance, there is still the expense of time. Time off from work. Management of siblings. And the emotional impact.

I'm always taken by the noise. The cries of frustration, pain, the orders barked by the physios, all merge and combine in a background wall sound. Like engines at idle. 5 to 6 children, each roam their own territory on a mat, surrounded by aids and toys, with their handlers in attendance. Generally a parent/grandparent, on their knees with the child, all with that same expression on their face; love, mixed with sadness, mixed with hope. Its a unique look, one that only those of us who have a child with special needs can really pull off. The physios, exclusively young and female, wrangle the kids with enthusiasm. Cajoling them to stretch, step, throw; all the activities we so called normal people do without thinking and take for granted.

You walk in, sign in, and compare your kid to everyone else's. Hoping, macabrely, that they are worse than yours. And hating yourself for it.

And the variance is huge. The Kidd, thankfully, is in the higher end of capability. Needs assistance to walk and has some speech impediments. But is verbal and has good control over his limbs. He, for all his impairments, is one of the lucky ones. There are children who are Grade 4's and Grade 5's who have greater challenges. Kids with no hope of getting out of wheelchairs. Kids born with syndromes that are unidentifiable but mow down their hosts without pity or respite. Kids born with no eyes.

But we are all here for the same thing. We all bought a ticket to ride the bus of hope. And hope we do. Hope that the physiotherapy will improve...something.

At the end of the 3 weeks, we get a T-shirt. Lets hope its more than that.

The Suit

I look in the mirror at the pale, naked form in front of me. The permanent frown, the unkempt hair. The acne pock-marked skin cratering my face and chest. I notice a few new spider veins appearing on my nose, the red spaghetti signposts of beer and scotch marking my features with their detritus. 44 years of abuse from the sun and alcohol have left their toll. Who could find this attractive?

I bend over to pick up the underwear from the floor and put them on one leg at a time. Boxers today. I remember when the toughest decision i had to make was whether to go boxers and briefs. Also a time when there was always the chance that a new lover would see the result of those decisions. My penis twitches slightly as my thoughts move back to tales of lovers past, both real and imagined.

I let out a sigh as those dreams fragment with the laser of reality.  Now days, its just the wife who sees me in my underwear state, and she doesn't seem to care, I think sadly. The penis, interest gone, returns to its original state.

I pick up my freshly warmed shirt that I had spent the last 10 minutes trying to iron into some semblance of respectability. Today it was the purple, pattered number, though I did notice for the first time, that the collar was starting to show some signs of wear and tear. Much like its owner, I muse sadly. Still, might be time for a new shirt. Or a new life.

The shirt goes on, arm by arm, and I slowly do up the buttons, thinking about the plans for the day ahead. Head down, bum up. The usual. The Monday morning shuffle. They say you are supposed to be at your most motivated at the beginning of the week. That certainly isn't me today.

But my eyes light up when I gaze at my last piece of clothing. My suit, standing at attention. I love my suit. Dark grey, 100% cotton, single breasted. The wizards cloak, but not invisible. Invincible.

I pull on the pants. The reflection improves. Already my beer gut has gone. The hair combed, the nose becomes smaller, less prominent. Those spider veins disappear, the lunar landscape of my face looks more like a plain than the mountains. Constant and warm. Black boots, freshly polished, appear as if by magic on my charcoal coloured, silk clad feet.

The Jacket goes on last. Crisp, clean. Shoulders back, guns out. I check out my profile. Already I feel better about the day. Plans and projects flow into my brain, awakened from the sleep. Meetings to be had, checkpoints to meet. Hot co-workers to inappropriately flirt with.

A smile warms my face, and the spark of fire appears in the eyes. A smile slowly forms as i gaze lovingly at the man in front of me. The world awaits.

"Thanks Tom Ford", I whisper.

"You are welcome" I hear in my ears as the Suit takes its passenger into the day ahead.

Californication - An insight into Hollywood values

Been binge watching Californication, the TV series on STAN recently. Great show. But morally troubling.

For those who have not been alive during the late 2000's, the show follows the adventures of a writer, Hank Moody who is living in LA. Seven seasons of 12 episodes (though I am only on Season 2 at this stage)

Reminded me a little of Entourage (though Entourage premiered a few years earlier in 2004), though I would say it is a little more thoughtful that that show. Themes are a little more detailed and varied, rather than just friendship in LA which was the main provoker in that show.

Hank is basically a pleasure seeker. Pretty hedonistic, and seems to have an endless supply of women at his beck and call, all captivated by his writing. Not married, even though he appears 35+ and has a daughter who is at least 13/14. And seems to be independently wealthy via the proceeds of his book sales and movie.

Hank exists on a diet of booze and drugs, and spends most of his time either in a car, with his daughter, in other women's bedrooms. Yet he is still trying to recapture his previous life as the partner of his long term girlfriend. And a good father to their daughter, born out of wedlock.

It is a very well written show..the dialogue especially is captivating.

That said, the show treats traditional religion and marriage as things to avoid. Hank's daughter is a hard rocker who seems to worship Satan. There are various dream sequences in the first few seasons that have Hank disrespecting the catholic church (i.e cigarette thrown in the Holy Water. Sex with nuns etc.) Also has a go at Scientology.  And marriage is seen as something to run from (when his ex-partner leaves the wedding reception for Hank in his car at the end of the first season), or something that women are determined to get out of (the various cheating and divorced women on display that Hank bonks on with are legion)

His daughter and wife consistently feel let down by Hank's choices, which seem to involve him de-prioritizing them for other people (his ex-lovers, his best friend). Which is true. While his heart is in the right place, he constantly makes the incorrect choice and has no self control over his passions. He blames everyone else but himself for his failures, claims he loves women, yet treats them like disposable pleasures, rather than relationships.

Watching it, I wonder if this is a cautionary tale, or an insight into what Hollywood believes in. A world where the creative rules...that everything is forgiven as long as you keep producing what the public demands. That marriages are actually constraints, rather than an aspirational state to raise children in.

Generally a cautionary tale involves some punishment. Hank has had some fallout from his decision making...Has been beaten up by husbands/partners, had his book stolen by his underage one night stand, is living apart from his partner and daughter, been car-jacked. Yet he is still bonking on, still getting cash. And his daughter forgives him of it all.

Maybe the fallout continues in the next few seasons. I will watch on..waiting to see if Hank is held up as a prophet of the modern age, or a fallen angel.