Year: 2014

Think twice before you have a Synvisc injection

liligans So you think you're cultured?, What Pisses me off

The reason I am writing this is because we are all being bombarded by news of procedures that may benefit us medically. This has always been the case throughout history. We have a pain and we want to get rid of it so we are open to suggestions from legitimate or illegitimate purveyors of the miracle cure.

Nothing new in that, of course. Snake oil or modern supplements are often one and the same.

My warning is about the hyaluronic lubricant which is being marketed under various names for injecting into an arthritic joint. Synvisc is one of them which claim to replace the loss of synovial fluid which lubricates the joint.

Granted that in some cases the injection has helped, although reading up on it makes one wonder how much of the cure is actually placebo.

In my case I paid the $700 and endured the painful injection in the hope that it would get rid of the pain in my knee. I did some reading on it and the specialist told me that there was an 80% chance of improvement.

In medicine these stakes are encouraging. He told me that 20% of patients get no improvement.

So what did I have to lose apart from the money? I would be no worse off and there would be a good chance that I would be better off.

Well, as it turned out, following the initial few weeks of painful swelling which I accepted as part of the experience of getting rid of the pain, I ended up ith much more pain than I had started with.

I wish I had never had the injection.

I wish I had done more research and found the articles in which they are questioning the genuine benefits of such injections.

The statistic of 20% of no benefit didn’t mention that the procedure could actually cause more pain and you could be worse off.

Had that been mentioned then I would not have taken the risk.

My final point on the subject is that if Synvisc lubricants are so beneficial they would be subsidised by Medicare. After all, knee replacements for seniors are an expensive drain on the government.

Consequently, any procedure that postpones such operations must surely be a bonus for the government who have to face the pitfalls of an aging society.

As with everything in life there’s a risk, but when it comes to medical treatment the stakes are terribly high.

As someone said, “did you know that the word “gullible” does not appear in the dictionary?”

If you rushed to your copy of the dictionary, have I got a panacea for you!

The hypocrisy of the Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia

liligans So you think you're cultured?, totally absurd

As I sit in my home in Melbourne and listen to the whirring of the racing cars going round and round in circles, I can’t help but scoff at the hypocrisy of the entire farce.

We are told incessantly that we should cut down on carbon emissions. We are taxed to do so. Polluting the air is bad, apparently, but not when it comes to an event such as the Grand Prix. Here we have powerful engines churning out poisons for about four days. The noise is bad. The atmosphere stinks of petrol and yet all is forgiven because it is a special event which will put Melbourne on the map.

Well, it does that for sure. It confirms that the Victorian government has Fifty Million Dollars to waste supporting an event which does not even make a profit. It stands for nothing but hypocrisy about protecting the environment etc.

Not being a genuine Victorian I obviously don’t get it. The Grand Prix is about fashion show-offs, drinkers and voyeurs who hope that some of the cars will crash. And let’s not forget the gambling.

It reminds me so much of the events in Ancient Rome when the Emperors used to put on shows to amuse the rabble in the Colosseum. It seems as if nothing much has changed since the First Century AD.

The Daniel Morcombe murder and a twist of fate

liligans Society

In 1997 I was commissioned to review a TV program called “Front Up” for The Courier Mail newspaper. This program was screened on SBS and I admired what its producer, Andrew L. Urban was doing. So I interviewed him about his program and promoted it unashamedly.

During our interview Andrew explained how he believed that everyone has a story to tell and that is why he would stop people in the street and see if they were willing to talk frankly about themselves.

And yes, he was right. People are quite happy to talk about themselves if they are approached in a relaxed and non-confrontational manner. Andrew told me that he relied on “an educated hunch”, a degree of openness which would encourage a friendly conversation.

“Front Up” became very popular because it was about ordinary people rather than celebrities.

So who would have imagined that two years after my interview with Urban that Brett Peter Cowan, the paedophile who has just been convicted of murdering Daniel Morcombe ten years ago, would appear on one of Urban’s “Front Up” episodes?

In it, Cowan appears relaxed and affable, the sort of man whom you would introduce to your parents. He talked about his hard battle with drugs and that he’s over all his problems and that he has found God… blah blah.

Alas, poor Andrew Urban had no idea that he was talking to a convicted child molester. How ironic it is that what was intended to be a show about ordinary people should have accidentally stumbled upon one of the most monstrous criminals in Australian history.

The main problem with doctors

liligans What Pisses me off

Went to the doctor the other day with a stomach upset which had lasted a few days. My usual doctor was unavailable so I went to another one in the same practice. He was a doctor I used to visit but decided to avoid, if possible.

I told him what had been going on for the past four days. I told him I was drinking Gastrolyte which compensates for electrolyte imbalance owing to gastric upset. I also told him that I was using Gastro-Stop for obvious reasons.

He examined me, reassured me that I was doing fine and then informed me that I should drink Gastrolyte and take Gastro-Stop to ease the symptoms.

He then took out a small slip of paper on which he wrote down two names, Gastro-Stop and Gastrolyte which he handed to me and told me to take those.

How I wish that doctors would listen to their patients!

“Le Week-end” or perhaps “Le Weak-end”- movie review

liligans Films

We chose an early morning session on Saturday because we didn’t fancy battling the crowds who would want to see this latest film about empty nesters.

You see, Melbourne people do not rise early to greet the dawn. Anyway, when the two of us entered the theatre we doubled the audience. So that was a good decision on our part as I’m quite crowd averse.

Sadly, this was the best feature of our visit.

I had declared in previous film reviews that I don’t want to see any more films about aging, but here I was again, hoping that this time there would be some sort of optimistic outlook about this business of getting old.

“Le Week-end” is about a senior couple going to Paris for the weekend to recapture their joie de vivre. He, a professor(played by Jim Broadbent) is sick of work and she (Lindsay Duncan) is fed up with her life and bored with her husband.

The stage is set, as you can guess, for a miserable search for excitement. Is Paris how they remember it? What do you think?

Lousy accommodation, constant quiet bickering, complaints about their useless offspring who is sponging off them and wants to move back home.

Then they meet up with a bright and effusive character who knew the Prof in the old days at university. Other reviewers have admired Jeff Goldblum’s acting and I am usually a fan but this character is so manic that he’s frightening. I suppose he’s the foil for the perennial “misery guts” portrayed by Broadbent. But things are really not that great for Happy Jeff either.

The film plods along with mumbling from Broadbent and a bit of sadism from Duncan until it peters out at the end. It’s a weak ending. Nothing is resolved because it’s so true to life that everyone realises that nothing will change for this couple. It really can’t, can it?

After leaving the theatre and deciding to enjoy a gastronomic treat of chargrilled calamari WITH chips just to make up for the melancholy of “Le Week-end” I thought that it reminded me of “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf” with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Minus the passion.

And, in a way, that lack of passion was even more nihilistic.

How low can females go? She stoops to conk out…

liligans So you think you're cultured?, Society, totally absurd

There is a clothing store in the Chadstone Shopping Mall which displays a female T-shirt with a worrying message.

I have walked past it several times and wondered what sort of female would wear it.

This is what the T-shirt says.

“Did I have fun?”

My reply to this chick’s question is “If you can’t remember whether you had fun or not, then you can be certain somebody else definitely had fun.”

The flower of womanhood has certainly withered, has it not?

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.