Month: January 2014

Australian Open- Tennis or just a Bake Off

liligans totally absurd

Silly moi!

I was under the impression that tennis was about playing well, with skill and strategy against a human opponent. A tennis match was meant to be something exciting to behold rather than a gruesome gladiator type contest in which players fight against the elements and risk their lives to remain conscious.

To watch the tennis players struggle against the Melbourne heatwave has been painful and, in my opinion, horrifying.

I would not have been surprised if a player had died from dehydration and I have been told that several of them could not take the infernal conditions of Melbourne.

There were three days of torture before the organisers decided that perhaps a temperature of over 42 degrees Celsius, and so much higher on the court, was dangerous for playing tennis.

At last, yesterday, the roof was closed in the main court but that was very late and inconsiderate. There was ridiculous confusion among the players because nobody could tell them how long they would have to endure this inhumane Inferno.

What a disgrace!

How ironic that at the same time that the Australian Open organisers failed to do the right thing, there were constant health warnings in the media directed at the general population about remembering to stay cool and hydrated and to not do anything stupid!

It’s a shame that the Australian Open “powers-that-be” were deaf to sound advice.

PS
and to all those intrepid souls who declare “if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen,” my reply would be “why not install an air conditioner?”

PPS
Today the unbearable temperature was the same as yesterday but play on all courts continued. Go figure…

August: Osage County movie makes you want to go visit Syria for a break

liligans Films, So you think you're cultured?

You have to wonder what got into the heads of a collection of excellent celebrity actors to accept a role in this woeful film. Fine acting is how one could describe it or perhaps an example of O.A.A (over acting anonymous).

A bunch of annoying characters get together in Osage County, Oklahoma to have it out following a family tragedy. Now that is an original premise, is it not?

Plenty of screaming, moaning, groaning, accusations. A collection of the usual redneck gripes…”He’s not your cousin, he’s your brother…damn. Shouldn’t make a difference, should it?” Not round here in these parts.

Nothing like the old musical “Oklahoma” you could say.

May I suggest that this film will do very little for the tourist trade in Osage County, Oklahoma. It will reinforce old prejudices about dysfunctional families and whose family isn’t, anyhow?

No wonder I’m sick and tired of the old themes. Marriage stinks, children abandon you and then you die, old and lonely. Very uplifting, indeed.

My one consolation is that this film did not receive any awards in today’s Golden Globes Awards.

Explosion in Middle Park, Melbourne, Australia– a further example of why threats to self-harm should be ignored

liligans Society, totally absurd, What Pisses me off

It is a tragic beginning to 2014 for two police women and one police man. These poor souls have suffered extreme burns to their bodies when they answered a call to come to the aid of a man who was threatening to blow himself up.

Something had upset him, some romance gone wrong or whatever and so the place blew up when the police entered his apartment. One police constable has burns to 90% of her body. What horror!

The explosive guy has survived, unfortunately, while the innocent police folk are scarred for life. That’s if they live…

I can’t help thinking that there is something wrong with society that puts up with these people who want to cause so much grief to innocent hard-working citizens like the police who tried to help him.

I have to be frank here and state that if someone threatens to self-harm or go on a hunger strike we should call his bluff. As Nike says “Just do it.” It will save us a lot of trouble and will get rid of these publicity-seeking pests.

So a person refuses to leave his apartment, so what? Hours of negotiations would be avoided if they just told him “Go ahead, make my day!”

In my opinion, the only time that we should interfere in the displays of stupid egotism is in the case of an hostage situation in which innocents may be in danger. That’s when the authorities have to become involved.

Quite frankly, I would have organised for the other residents in the apartment block to be escorted out of the building and then, for all I care, he could blow himself up to smithereens.

It breaks my heart to see three innocent people have their lives ruined just because this idiot was having a tantrum. It’s simply not right.