I find it ming boggling that the world is prepared to invade Iraq under the pretense of freeing the people from the grasp of an evil dictator after their original reason proved unfounded, yet with evidence of another dictator on the verge of committing mass genocide against his own people, the world sits on it hands. The powers of the world owe it to the citizens of Zimbabwe to step in and protect their right to vote and elect their own government. The people of Zimbabwe have already voted for change and the world needs to ensure that their voice is heard.

However Zimbabwe is a struggling third world nation, it is not rich in the resources of oil or gas so as a result the U.N, Nato, the U.S the powerful world at large will do nothing because for them there is no forseeable gain. I ask myself what is the world coming too when the world continues to sink in a mire of selfishness.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Monday, 23 June 2008 09:42 AM
3 comment(s)

One thing I have noticed whilst I have been following the Democratic Party nomination for President is that both sides have seemed to rely on overblown rhetoric at the expense of presenting a platform for the future. Both candidates have also played the personal attack card fairly heavily as the campaign has dragged on but where is the real message from both of the candidates?

Barack Obama has spoken constantly of change, positoning himself as the Washington outsider who will dispense with the political gamesmanship that has become the norm in the capital. He talks about America reclaiming its values and bright new future ahead, but how does he plan to achieve this with the country facing a number of difficulties ahead? How does he plan to deal with a country in recession, industry shrinking and unemployment rising, a health system in urgent need of an overhaul, unpopular conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan that are exacting a heavy human total as well as mounting costs bounding off into the trillions?

Hillary the ultimate political insider has tried a number of different angles to present herself as the best option for President. We have seen her guzzling a pint of beer, downing a shot of whiskey, claiming her affinity for those who like to hunt the list goes on, I havent seen or heard what she plans to do regards Iraq. Yes she has an exit strategy for the troops but what about the poor Iraqi citizens who will be left behind to fend for themselves. What about the low income earners who never seem to get any benefit from the regular tax cuts that are announced, how will she assist them?

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Monday, 12 May 2008 07:50 AM
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I would Love to be a fly on the wall during production meetings for the footy show. When it comes to Sam Newmans' antics I wonder how much of it's contrived or developed with ratings in mind? Sam Newman appears to enjoy playing the role of being controversial and outlandish, some of the things he says and does don't quite fit with someone considered quite intelligent.

Newman certianly crossed the line with his stunt involving the mannequin dressed up as Age football journalist Caroline Wilson, and then with his comments regarding the role of women in football. His comments were narrow minded and lacked any knowledge of how the game operates in modern times. There is no doubt that women are making a considerable contribution to Australian Rules in a number of areas, both at board level in the AFL and at various clubs as well as in football administration, and I think this involvement will continue to grow. for Newman to assert that women have a marginal influence in the game perpetuates the ethos of football being a male only domain. That style of thinking is completely antiquated and out of step with modern society.

The cynic in me suggests that the Footy show will continue to push the envelope to ensure high ratings, even if it means being controversial they will continue to take the risk as they have done since the shows inception. Personally I think they may have gone too far this time although nothing will come of it. 

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Monday, 5 May 2008 08:43 AM
3 comment(s)

There must be some nervous Democratic Party honchos at the moment, the nomination for Presidential candidate is far from settled as the contest between Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton gets uglier and dirtier by the day. The mudslinging between the two continues unabated and the Republican Party is starting to take advantage. Republican candidate John McCain has been able to campaign unencumbered for some time and this is causing major concern for the Democrats. They desperately want the nomination process concluded as quickly as possible, but based on current predictions it could go undecided all the way to the Democratic Convention in August.

This would give McCain an enormous advantage, he would be able to concentrate on his own campaign and getting his message across to voters without necessarily being distracted by the actions of an opponent. The biggest irony is that the biggest advantage lies with the democrats, the American economy is on the brink of recession, unemployment and the cost of living have risen sharply, and there is also the issue of Iraq which has been an unmitigated disaster. The Democrats have yet to capitalise on this hence the desire for the nomination to be decided sooner rather than later.

The general feeling seems to be that Hilary Clinton is the one who should step aside, but there is no doubt that she has been able to win the big states especially those with a strong blue collar contingent. She was particularly successful in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania which are seen as crucial in the road to the White House. Both Democrat hopefuls now face two crucial upcoming ballots in Indiana and North Carolina, Obama needs to win both convincingly to make Clinton blink first.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Sunday, 27 April 2008 11:37 AM
3 comment(s)

Hard to imagine I only discovered this last year in England, I soon became a fervent user. Right now I'm watching an acoustic version of the Yardbirds classic For Your Love performed by Humble Pie featuring both Steve Marriot and Peter Frampton, it's soulful stuff. Some of the other treasures I've found include a version of You're Running Wild sung by Charlie Louvin and Emmylou Harris. There is a rousing version of All Right Now performed by Free for a televison special. The tragedy about this is that none of this material is captured on CD so I'm now a slave to the computer screen!

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Friday, 25 April 2008 01:51 AM
4 comment(s)

Yews it was a great Temptations song about the state of american society at the turn of the 1970's, it could also be used to describe the state of the world today. Has the world society lost its moral compass? There are some disturbing occurences at the moment that make me think that we need to address some serious issues before all hell breaks loose. First of all the World food crisis that has hit us this year, this is an humanitarian crisis that requires the urgent attention of all wealthy and powerful nations. The World Food program needs more than U.S $500 to cover food price rises in the vicinity of 80%. According to the World bank in an article published in The Age newspaper 33 countries are in danger of political upheaval due to food shortages. Over the past few weeks we have already seen a government toppled in Haiti and unrest in Egypt, the Phillipines and Indonesia. Stape food items such as rice, cerials and corn are in short supply as some countries reduce exports to protect the domestic population. Items such as corn have been diverted into the production of ethanol as the world seeks cleaner fuel sources. It's a scary dilemma we need to find more efficient and cleaner sources of fuel but we must not do this at the expense of feeding those in poverished areas who rely on corn as part of their staple diet.

There has always been talk about stamping out poverty and doing more for countries in need but this latest crisis tells us that not enough is being done. How can a country as rich as America spend trillions of dollars on defense projects that are really not in the best interests of their citizens or the world in general. Powerful nations have had the opportunity to do more to reduce debt in third world countries and provide more practical ecomomic and social support, but at the end of the day in an era of globalisation where large multi nationals can exploit these counties in the name of greater profits, the powerful nations as one stand still.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Sunday, 20 April 2008 02:57 AM
2 comment(s)

Last weekend has seen Brendan Nelson once again trying to avoid a target being nailed to his back. The knives are being sharpened in the opposition ranks, there could be blood on the party room floor very soon. There is no doubt that Brendan Nelson hasn't appealed to voters since his inception as the Opposition leader and it was always going to be a difficult job. For a start he only narrowly won the party room vote which suggests that his support from the outset was not particularly strong. His party is in opposition for the first time in more than a decade and the coaltion has been on the nose with the Australian public for some time. He is also facing a very enigmatic, intelligent and seemingly indestructibe Prime Minister who has an amazing capacity for work and at the moment most importantly is very popular.

Nelsons' listening tour of regional Australia that covered the period that the PM was overseas was a disaster, Nelson appeared unsure of himself and almost desperate in a way, trying every thing he can to prove himself. It's a tough call has he had enough time to present himself as an alternative prime minister, has he had enough time to start re-shaping coaltion policy and the direction of the Liberal Party? Personally I don't think he has I'm not sure that another six months would do any harm as there is no evidence that if Malcolm Turnbull became party leader that there would be an immediate turnaround in the polls.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Sunday, 13 April 2008 10:17 AM
2 comment(s)

I'm a pretty dedicated runner and I often wonder what it is that drives me to keep pounding the pavement when I have a dodgy left knee and runners with holes scattered throughout that have carried me through a marathon and a couple of half marathons. There are a few reasons I will admit that I'm probably addicted to running and its benefits because when  I'm unable to run  I have withdrawl symptoms, I get frustrated and short tempered with those in the vicinity. What I love about running is the physical and mental benefits I get from it, after a long run I feel great, a sense of accomplishment, the thought of having pushed myself to go further tend to resonate with me for the remainder of the day. I love running along the beach I like the scenery, looking out into the distance at the west gate bridge as the clouds roll in over the bay. It seems to push me along making the effort enjoyable and worthwhile. I will also admit that running as much as I do means I'm fit and my stomach is flat and I know it's vain but I get a boost from it. However for this rush I endure problem knees, sore legs, sore feet, it is like a drug so I can see my dependence on running can be unhealthy but I do generally love to run so it's all about achieving the right balance.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Sunday, 13 April 2008 04:46 AM
4 comment(s)

I have been back in Melbourne for over a month now, but every time I see London on the news I feel something akin to being stabbed through the heart with a rusty knife. It didn't take long for the magic of being home to wear off, now I'm longing for the welcoming arms of Heathrow airport! Settling in hasn't been all that bad I took a few weeks before knuckling down to find a job, having to wade through all the crap meted out by recruitment agencies who try to sell you a job you never applied for in the first place, while who knows what happened to the job you originally applied for.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Tuesday, 8 April 2008 10:47 AM
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It would be difficult to contemplate  a life in which I was forced to continually listen to the dross that is rolled out in assembly line fashion on commercial radio. Community radio stations like PBS, Triple RRR and Southern FM offer a respite from the factory line production releases that we hear from Britney Spears and Rihanna. On community radio you get to hear what music is all about, the true essence and spirit of it. You hear the passion, intelligence, conscience and daring without the interruption of dollar signs. It's about hearing the freedom, risk and liberation that so many musicians held as their lofty goal, not that commerce was completely absent from the musical thought process, but it certainly wasn't the driving force. You just have to listen to jazz music from the post war period, listen to Miles Davis following his musical ideas through the cool school to fusion. John Coltrane trying to assert his spirituality into his music and creating something beautiful and unique.  Community radio is about offering up something different from the mainstream of society and giving you an insight into your musical  community, free of the gimmicks and hard sell of commercial radio.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Friday, 21 March 2008 05:26 AM
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While I was in London I read two illuminating books on the history of jazz music, and one thing that stands out is the heroin epidemic that swept through the jazz scene particularly during the years when bop and modern jazz began to alter the musical landscape. Modern Jazz and I include Bop and it's offshoots under that banner was all about experimentation, pushing the boundaries, freedom from the constraints of orthodox jazz and it wasn't just achieved on the bandstand and in the after hours clubs. The musicians involved in cultivating this new sound were eager to take their music and themselves to a greater emotional level and heroin may have assisted them on their journey.

There was also the daily hardships faced by jazz musicinas of the day, the daily grind of the road, racial intolerance and the uncertainty of their future would also have contributed to an escalation in drug abuse. 

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Thursday, 20 March 2008 05:06 AM
1 comment(s)

For the past twelve months or so I have been thinking about a career change, although I hardly have a career to begin with. Whilst I was in London I applied for various university courses and as luck would have it I got in to Swinburne to study Communications. However even though in the course guide it said part time evening courses were available after rining Swinburne I found out there were no night classes, so I have deferred for a year.

Which brings me to my current fork in the road, should I study full time next year and work part time or study part time during the day and try and fit some from of full time work around that. In terms of career direction I'm trying to weigh up doing a course that while it matches my interests doesn't necessarily offer secure career prospects. Then there is the idea that I just suck it in and do a Business course knowing that a steady "safe" career probably awaits.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Sunday, 16 March 2008 08:07 AM
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The sojourn is over, I'm back on my own two feet in Melbourne town. It's interesting to be back much as changed but a lot hasn't. As for myself I think I have changed, hopefully for the better! I had a great time living in London, it's such an amazing city you can just immerse yourself in it but you only ever scrape the surface because the city is so large.

Some of my travel highlights include Iceland which is a truly beautiful country. It also bought home to me during my stay there just how much climate change is affecting the universe. The glaciers along the south coast of the country are melting at a considerable rate, the climate in Iceland has become a lot milder. Well hopefully I'll be able to keep up a consistent rate of entries to my blog.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Wednesday, 27 February 2008 05:30 AM
3 comment(s)

If you have glanced at a newspaper or had your television swicthed on over the last few days you would have been treated to the very public breakdown of one Britney Spears. Watching this tragedy has made me think about the modern society I live in, fame and celebrity, and the role of modern media.

First can I say that I'm not a Britney Spears fan, about the only use I would have for cd's is as a beer coaster, I can't stand her brand of fabricated pop. In the last 12 months we have been subjected to daily sound bites and newspaper commentary on the latest indiscretion committed by Britney. It seems to dominate news, she seems to be getting more coverage than the primaries concerning the nominations for the next Presidential candidates!

It seems that those who control the media are more than happy to keep us dosed up on this trivial diet of pojntless gossip, instead of keeping people abreast of what their organisations are doing to promote real issues such as the environment, war and economic stagnation that seems to be affecting a large portion of the globe.

Britney Spears has certainly brought some of this on herself, she has played the fame game for her own purposes, but it's a game that can't be played by the insecure and unworldly. 

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Monday, 7 January 2008 1:46 PM
3 comment(s)

Another New Years Eve is upon us and the question of resolving the year that has passed and making preidctions for the year ahead is on in earnest. I must admit I am someone who routinely develops new year resolutions. As each year passes my resolutions seem to be identical from year to year. They revolve around my attempts to change careers, resume some fom of studying, to make something more of my various hobbies and interests, to contribute more to society, to reject materialism and selfnishness etc etc.

As for this year I don't think anything will change, as the clock meanders its way to midnight I will still be busy scribbling down my ideas and goals for 2008, it's almost addicitve, I actually look forward to doing it!

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Sunday, 30 December 2007 1:23 PM
14 comment(s)

One thing the cold weather allows me to do is to indulge my passion for music. I have discovered a great little jazz shop called Rays located near Tottenham Court Road and that is where i have been spending my time as well as my hard earned pounds! I recently picked up Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain album, it is an amazing record. I have always loved his sound it's refined and smooth, I think that is why I love his classic 1950's albums. I have never been a fan of free jazz I don't like its jaggedness and lack of melody, it seems a little to easy to dispense with all the rules which is essentially what free jazz does. Free jazz has no restrictions, I think sometimes the most beautiful music comes from working within a framework and exploring all the options within that framework and exdpanding on it. The bop musicians of the 1940's did that and created an amazing body of work in the process.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Tuesday, 20 November 2007 00:41 AM
3 comment(s)

Winter in London is unforgiving on the unprepared! If you do not have a thick wooly coat, gloves, scarf and other assorted paraphenalia this city in winter can reduce you to a quivering mess. Even though it's not officially winter yet, the temperatures are now regulary in single figures and have started to dip below zero at night. However I'm taking the opportunity to get out as much as possible in London to it's various museums, bookshops etc. One place I have discovered is Ray's Jazz shop near Tottenham Court Road. Apart from the fact that the place is heated, I normally find that some pretty good jazz is playing and I can get a good cup of java to stave off the icicles!

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Thursday, 15 November 2007 00:35 AM
80 comment(s)

Hi folks been a long time coming, the days and months are passing rapidly by. I picked up a biography of Bill Hicks during my travels to Scotland this week. I have never heard or witnessed Hicks perform, my first encounter with him was seeing his picture in the sleeve of a Tool cd some years ago.

His biography was interesting reading, he packed more into 32 years than maay of us would be able to fit into a lifetime. He was adept at bringing conservative American values to the table and then hammering them to pieces. He was confrontational, intelligent and honest about his views on a whole range of issues from drug use to christianity. He vented his rage towards politcs, especially the reagan and Bush years. Televangelism and the conservative christian movement, drug use and the need for more liberal reforms and the effects of television in numbing the masses. He was a pioneer taking comedy back to the roots of Lenny Bruce, making it more about social commentary and informing his audience not just about jokes.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Thursday, 14 June 2007 00:16 AM
7 comment(s)

London is now home for at least the next 11 months, the first couple of weeks have been productive, I have found a place to live and I'm working. It's been an interesting experience being on my own for the first time, responsible for all my own decisions and survival! Gaining self reliance can be a daunting task but the rewards are well worth the effort. As of April 1st I will be living in a share house in Colliers Wood which is not far from Wimbledon. The toughest thing to get used to is the famous London weather, it has been freezing the last few days but I have been enjoying the journey to work.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Friday, 23 March 2007 00:55 AM
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I would be trapped in a world of prancing Britneys' and formulated souless record company produced garbage if it wasn't for the efforts of community radio. The first time I heard soul music was on PBS when I was 15. When I was around the same age I turned on my radio one Monday night and was blown away by the jazz music being broadcast on Kenny Weirs The Pearls program. Community radio stations such as PBS and RRR offer a window of opportunity for the listener. The listener can be transported back in time to a place where music was created with ingenuity, passion and the quest to produce something great without necessarily being fully dictated by commercial concerns. Look at Atlantic Records, it was started by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun along with their partner Herb Abramson as a way of fulfilling their passion for R&B, and this was at a time when there was no real sustained crossover market for ryhthm and blues records. The music produced today especially in the pop idiom is computer crafted there are no rough edges, there is no room for individualism, the market dictates. If you steer clear of commercial radio you will hear music where success was often created from mistakes, where there was no clear strategy other than to create a great record.

Filed under: None | Posted by Sean OGrady at Wednesday, 28 February 2007 08:50 AM
2 comment(s)