Monday, December 25, 2006

Do you see the light?!

James Brown, the Godfather of Soul was 73 when he died after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia yesterday, in an Atlanta hospital.

The legendery performer who got his start in music while in Juvie, rose to mega-stardom with hits like Please, Please, Please, I'll go crazy, Papa's got a brand new bag, Sex Machine(Get on up) and I feel good.

The man with the tattooed eyebrows, worked as an anti-drugs ambassador for President Reagan before being arrested on drugs and firearms charges. He appeared in the Blues Brothers movie as the Reverend Cleophus James and clocked up four marriages, the most recent in 2004.

If the measure of our worth is weighed by the impact we've had on others during our life, the very old man with the pervasive groove should have a serious amount of St Peter's frequent flyer brownie points saved up to cash in at the Pearly Gates.

The season to be jolly

Amidst the silent night, the stirrings of (thankfully) distant memories taunt my young family, trying to come to terms with strangers reaching out from their past.

Panic attacks are
not uncommon among survivors of domestic violence, and Christmas - a time which brings an idealistic notion of 'family' into focus, for many, raises regrets, frustrations and above all else, fear.

For any number of reasons Christmas time brings an
increase of about 30% in family violence, & while the solution may seem simple enough, outsiders seldom realize the complexities of distancing oneself & loved ones from a partner prone to violent reactions & who perhaps is not that agreeable to a relationship ending.

Systems in place for coping with violence in the home
can only do so much, despite initiatives in WA and other states, to adapt our archaic, classist & chauvinistic 'British Common Law' justice system to the needs of a modern society, which sees women incarcerated quicker than men, regardless of the prevalence of family violence and poverty in their lives.

This year we've seen many bandaid approaches to family violence - a kneejerk reaction from a right-wing, neo-con fed government supporting patriarchal fundamentalist ideals in a distinctly post-Christian society.

White Ribbon Day
received a bashing on Online Opinion for dressing the domestic violence message up in a way that is less confronting & more palatable for sadists, while embattled Victorian Police Commissioner, Cheryl Nixon, hangs the blame for family violence squarely at the feet of the weather gods for sending drought & bushfires to the state.

It's all too easy in this 'quick-fix' culture to proffer immediate solutions or 'bandaid approaches' to a problem which stems from generations of violence and inequality, & in the initial stages at least, any solution requires victims to stop trying to understand their troubled partner and focus on the preservation & quality of their lives and that of their children.

While in eras gone-by therapists bemoaned the
lemming nature of co-dependents, victims/survivors have been emancipated by the relatively newfound understanding that abusive people frequently seek out passive-natured partners.

Other solutions exist in reaching out to professionals trained and educated to: facilitate safe negotiations and safe departures from violent situations, counselling, accommodation, food etc etc. However, true solutions aren't found in bandaid quick-fixes touted by whatever flavour-of-the-month government is in power. The journey to empowerment - to a loving, harmonious and safe environment & to break the cycle of violence, is long and arduous, but starts, and must start, with one tiny, tumultuous step - acknowledging there's a problem & seeking help.

Here's wishing readers of TDM a
'silent, calm and bright' Christmas, and to one & all a reminder that Christmas in itself is annually a celebration of hope and a new beginning.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

For a bit of light Chrissy reading

The autobiography of Bernie Matthews came out last month and can be found, featured fairly prominantly, on the book shelves in most major book stores.

The title, Intractable, refers to the classification of certain prisoners deemed to have a higher risk of violent behaviour or escape attempts.

The 404 pages candidly detail the bashings, wrongful imprisonment, crimes and aspirations of the NSW freelance journalist who has written for Ralph and The Bulletin. A review will follow over the weeks ahead.

Monday, December 11, 2006

For all of you who read the very popular and racy Sydney blog, Much ado about Sumthin, my competition as 'the magnet,' the beautiful Steph, who is a regular commenter here at TDM, had bad biorhythms last week.

She is now recovering from a car accident in which she sustained multiple serious injuries & if you get a chance, go by Much ado and wish her a speedy recovery.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The Chairman returns with cats for PM

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Where angels fear to tread

It's with great trepidation that I launch into this post, quite apart from the deadly break from blogging I've had, where my Daily Magnet has become more of a Daily Magnet Monthly - a la Ita, I've become aware that I may have an unexpected sub-editor looking over my shoulder...

However, without further ado...


Derek Pedley's latest book, Australian Outlaw, has a rather ambitious subtitle of 'The True story of Postcard Bandit Brenden Abbott.' With all respect to DP, can any writer hope to walk the tightrope (with ravenous lions underneath), that is writing a true crime story when all one has to go on is the word of crooks & detectives(sounds like the rc)? Nonetheless, it is all we poor plebian squareheads have at our disposal to catch a glimpse of the other side, and Derek Pedley has provided a great yarn, heavily comprised of warts 'n' all interview material with some of the key identities in Brenden Abbott's past.


The way Derek Pedley has structured the interview material is quite creative and effective giving each of the characters in the book a chance to become the narrator and develop their characters through use of their own language.

I have to dips me lid to DP for conducting interviews with Brenden Abbott without ending up as his cellmate. WA & QLD journalists will know that conducting interviews with prisoners in these two states is fraught with danger, as it can easily be defined as illegal on the whim of the authorities.

The handsome happy snap (1 of 2 photos on the cover - perhaps a before and after photo?) on the cover and the subtitle, belie the tale behind the cover, of a beleaguered life of a kid from a struggling lower-middle class family, dissatisfied with his lot, and going for the lucky dollar in fine colonial tradition of battlers, cops & robbers.

What we see is a nuts & bolts story of the highs, and mostly lows, of a 'career' bank-robber's life - having his booty taxed by pursuers and having to cop the time sweet, realizing once-trusted confidants are a liability due to the very nature that brought them together, having to keep constantly moving around before and after arrest, and losing contact with precious loved ones.


The story stops short of gritty, which may or may not be due to the desired market, it is however, quite technical, which affords the plebs an insight into the mind and workings of a professional crook.

In contrast to the articles in the media that Pedley quotes, the story does little to glorify the lifestyle of Abbott, reading more like a comedy of errors and highlighting the irony of such a clever and talented crook, failing by making the same mistakes over and over.

The technical aspect of the book can become a little tiresome for those of us who are a bit challenged in the patience department, but it's quite gratifying being able to see how Brenden's smoke and mirrors routine was performed and it's nice to think, for a little while at least, a little guy managed to keep big brother on the hop, and maybe offered a trace of glee to Joe Public who see the banks forking over instead of collecting, for a change.

The extensive interview material also helped to develop the characters and create a bond with the reader. It would appear that there is a drive by the author to build empathy for Abbott throughout the story, through keeping the content light and not dwelling on the personal aftermath of crime.

However, greater acknowledgement of Abbott's dark side, which of course was the motivation for his career and life choices, might have offered a lift to the tale. span>


As is the case with a story about any hard bastard there is the danger of them being quite 2 dimensional. With Brenden Abbott telling so much of his own story I have to say it left me wishing for some more depth or risks in the depiction of his personality - which, given his inherent genius and artistic perspective, would be more complex than he'd probably be comfortable with the readers knowing.
One of my favourite parts in the book was the quote from Berichon when he changes his mind about being interviewed, and DP mentions how his court appearances claim Abbott lured him to the dark side, and from that, we get just the tiniest tantalizing morsel of maybe a bit more about Abbott's nature than he would like us to know.
Pedley helps the reader tag along with Abbott on his adventure, and shares the ups & downs of life on the run & in gaol. It's an earthy, urban version of the great Australian anti-establishmentarian outlaw fable using people and places we all know to help make it real, relevant and contemporary.
While DP's first book about the 'Postcard Bandit' had a lot of the media and police spin colouring it's perspective, I was more satisfied this time that both the cops & the robbers got a fair hearing.
For those who get all uptight over money-related crime and wish to feed the ailing and aging Abbott through your Betty Crocker electric cheese graters - you're not forgotten, there's plenty in this book for you, too. You get to watch the Postcard Bandit suffer indefinitely and the cops revel in victory, it's not all warm 'n' fuzzy.
I was really left with the feeling that there could be a lot more of Abbott's yarns that would be suitable for a similar treatment to the Underbelly Rule/Sylvester series and Chopper Read's novels, and given the content and narrative style in Australian Outlaw I think they'd be by far superior.