Category: News

In a post-modern version of William Burroughs poetry fragments 19 year old student Malinda Kathleen Reese has shot to fame with over a million views of her singing a version of Disney’s Frozen massaged through 15 iterations of Google Translate and liberally massaged and crafted by her creatively fertile mind.

She credits two of her high school friends with the brilliant idea of putting famous works of literature through several layers of Google Translate and putting it back into English and then dramatically reading it out loud.

“Hilarity always ensued,” she tells us in the YouTube video which is briliantly executed and worth watching for the performance alone.

Here are the full lyrics, courtesy of Lybio.

Lit white snow on the mountain tonight
No visible legs,
Discrimination law
Lit white snow on the mountain tonight

No visible legs
Discrimination law
Is probably the queen

Rotating the wind is howling storm
They cannot do that
God knows I’ve tried

Do not let them, do not let them see
It is always a good girl
Hide, do not feel
Do not know
Well now you know

Give up
Give up
You cannot do it back in
Give up
Give up
Tune in, and slam the door

You do not care
What you’re saying
Let us very angry
Cold never bothered me

It’s funny how certain distance
How small is everything
And the fear is that once guided me
They do not know me at all

Now is the time to do
Limitations and improvements
Challenge
Well okay
I have no power
I am

Give up
Give up
I am the wind and the weather
Give up
Give up
Will never see me cry

For it
We will stay here
The storm is raging

Flurries of my ability in the air into the ground
My large circle fractal freezing
Explosive idea is crystalized ice
I never will go back
The past is the past

Give up
Give up
On the rise for radiation
Give up
Give up
It runs perfect woman

I’m here
The light of day
Let us very angry
Cold never bothered me anyway

The thing has gotten so big there is no a YouTube channel called Google Translate Sings. You can follow Malinda Kathleen Reese on social media using the following handles:

Instagram @missmalindakathleen
Twitter @missmalindakat
facebook: malindakathleenreese

Anybody who knows me, knows that I have been having a recurring nightmare – now more than ever – that we are entering A New Dark Age.
And Jacques Attali, who was a professor of economics at the Polytechnique in Paris, and was appointed as the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development based in London, shares my nightmare.
Attali says: ‘By 2050, 8 billion people will populate the earth. More than two-thirds will live in the poorest countries. Seeking to escape their desperate fate, millions will attempt to leave behind their misery to seek a decent life elsewhere. But neither the Pacific nor the European spheres will accept the majority of poor nomads. They will close their borders to immigrants. Quotas will be erected and restrictions imposed. (Renewed) social norms will ostracize foreigners. Like the fortified cities of the Middle Ages, the centres of privelege will construct barriers of all kinds, trying to protect their wealth.’And, when I wake up every morning, I see every reason to believe that the nightmare is becoming a terrible reality
As I look around, I can see signs the New Dark Age has begun. Some of the features of emerging neo-feudalism that I observe include:

1. The emergence of powerful, unelected and/or unaccountable leaders.
2. These ‘lords’ offer protection in return for subservience and services.
3. People are given a choice – they are either ‘for’ or ‘against’ these ‘lords’.
4. Those people who are ‘for’ these ‘lords’ live their lives as their ‘vassals’.
5. ‘Vassals’ wait on the ‘lords’, live off the crumbs that fall from their lords’ tables’, and find refuge – in times of danger – inside their lords’ ‘castles’.
6. Those people who are ‘against’ these ‘lords’ are branded as ‘infidels’.
7. The ‘lords’ wipe out ‘infidels’ either by leaving them to starve ‘outside their gates’- in times of hunger – or by slaughtering them in ‘crusades’.
8. There are no universal basic human rights. The only ‘right’ is ‘might.
9. ‘Civilisation’ is the private preserve of these ‘lords’ and their ‘vassals’.
10. And they justify this iniquitous ‘civilisation’ in the name of religion!

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as the National Security Advisor in the Carter administration, supervised the beginning of the Afghan war and credits himself for having bought down the Soviet system, in the true spirit of the son of a Polish aristocrat that he is, says: ‘The three imperatives of geopolitical strategy are to maintain security dependence among the vassals, keep tributaries pliant, and keep the barbarians from coming together.” [ The Grand Chessboard, New York, Basic Books, 1997]
Australian sociologist Ghassan Hage says ‘Not so long ago the state was committed to the welfare of everyone within its borders. (We even called it ‘the welfare state’.) That is no longer so.’
‘We seem to be reverting to neo-feudal times, when the boundaries of civilisation no longer coincide with the boundaries of the nation, but the boundaries of upper class society… There are no universal rights – only the privilege of the elite.’
‘We are increasingly witnessing the rise of a culture that combines a siege (castle) and warring (crusade) mentality; by necessity it emphasizes the exclusion (and/or) eradication of the potentially threatening other.’
‘In each country now – there are first world elites and third-world threats to the elites. In this neo-feudal age the challenge is not how to integrate the marginalised, but how to rid ourselves of these third-world (threats – the refugees and refugee claimants – that we have on our doorstep.)’ (Against Paranoid Nationalism Pluto Press Annandale 2003)
We are beginning to build more and more of what we euphemistically call ‘gated communities’. Citadels guarded by walls, infra-red cameras, heat-sensitive alarms and private security companies. Purpose-built – as the developer of Sanctuary Cove – put it: ‘to keep the cockroaches out!’
The Australian government under John Howard planned to turn the whole continent into a ‘gated community’ like Sanctuary Cove. Millions of dollars – dedicated to foreign aid – were spent on the ‘Pacific Solution’ – a flotilla of heavily-armed patrols dedicated to preventing asylum seekers from ever setting foot upon our shore. It is a policy that is neither ‘pacific’, nor a ‘solution’. It’s meant ‘to keep the queue-jumping cockroaches out!’
The Australian government under Kevin Rudd took the ‘Pacific Solution’ further with its ‘PNG Solution’, according to which, ‘any asylum seeker who comes to Australia by boat without a visa will be refused settlement in Australia, instead being settled in Papua New Guinea if they are found to be legitimate refugees’. The policy includes ‘a significant expansion of the Australian detention facility on Manus Island where refugees will be sent to be processed prior to resettlement in Papua New Guinea, and if their refugee status is found to be non-genuine, they will be either repatriated, sent to a third country other than Australia or remain in detention indefinitely’.
The Australian government under Tony Abbot government funded ‘a nasty little comic book intended to deter those seeking asylum from making the journey to Australia; the narrative culminates with images of asylum seekers languishing miserably in mosquito-plagued camps’. After the latest tragic incidents that have occurred in the Manus Island detention facility, Jeff Sparrow says: ‘Perhaps an updated version can now depict them being shot or hacked at with machetes. Why not? That’s the logic of deterrence, isn’t it? Continue to make refugees miserable until the oppression they face from Australians becomes worse than that which they’re fleeing’. (The Guardian 18/02/14)
Walid Aly writes ‘It is the very logic of our asylum seeker policy – which is built on the sole rationality of deterrence – to create horror. So now, let us make this calculus finally explicit: whatever these people are fleeing, whatever circumstance makes them think they’d be better off chancing death on boats hardly worthy of that description, we must offer them something worse. That something is Papua New Guinea. The worse it is, the more effective it is destined to be. It is the very best form of deterrence.’(21/02/14)
For me these are signs we are entering a New Dark Age.

<Ed> This is a preview of the forthcoming March 2014 print edition of Westender.

For similar articles that we have published in the past search Westender for feudalism

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk is searching for the next crop of Brisbane’s most talented and innovative technology start-up companies.

Applications will open on March 1 for round two of the Lord Mayor’s Budding Entrepreneurs Program, part of Brisbane Marketing’s Digital Brisbane Strategy, designed to provide practical support to young entrepreneurs to encourage more start-up success stories across Brisbane.

“The Budding Entrepreneurs Program is one of Digital Brisbane’s most successful initiatives, with the first round attracting hundreds of applications and introducing us to some talented young technology start-up pioneers,” Cr Quirk said.

“My expectations were vastly exceeded by the original ideas and talent of all who applied in the last round and I would encourage any budding entrepreneurs, even those who missed out in the first round, to get their applications in now.

“The 12 successful applicants, who shared in $25,000, were businesses that impressed us by tackling global markets or solving problems through technology.

“These are young technology start-up pioneers, often teaching themselves the skills they need to develop and launch innovative businesses.”

Round two of the Budding Entrepreneurs Program will again offer $25,000, and entrepreneurs can apply for grants of up to $5000 for activities such as attending a start-up event or conference, obtaining professional advice, membership of a start-up support program, entry into education programs or funding for trade missions.

Past grant recipients said their funding went a long way towards helping their start-up businesses.

Mat Chen, who developed buding.com.au, an interactive website for Chinese students, strongly recommended that other budding entrepreneurs apply.

“This Budding Entrepreneurs Program encourages entrepreneurs to introduce their hard word to the public, expand their network and get more opportunities and supporting funds,” he said.

Alex Ghiculescu who launched Tanda, a fully integrated cloud-based rostering, time, attendance and reporting system for small businesses, said the Lord Mayor’s Budding Entrepreneurs Program grants were a great way to give your business a kick-start.

“I would definitely suggest applying to anyone who’s ready to get their hands dirty in building a business,” he said.

“Sometimes the hardest thing is getting started, and the grant is a great way to give you a kick in the backside and encourage you to take the next step – whether that’s building a product, building a team, or just getting more serious about what you’re doing, as it was in our case.”

Cr Quirk said start-up companies with the potential to grow quickly, just like Tanda and buding.com.au, were important to the future of Brisbane’s economy.

“Start-up companies, which have relatively low entry costs, have the potential to reach global markets and bring hundreds of millions of dollars into the Brisbane economy,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t we want to encourage as many of them as possible?”

The next funding round of the Lord Mayor’s Budding Entrepreneurs Program will open for applications on March 1 and close on March 31.

Sunshine Coast firm Sola Mia is flogging a line of leather aprons for cafes and restaraunts on the basis that the savings on laundry bills soon pay for the cost of an apron. Starting at $80 for the little lap numbers and heading north from there. The latest line is now available in navy, hunter green, turquoise, red, terracotta, bone, camel, tan and dark tan.

“These aprons will save anywhere from $208 – $364 per staff member each year in laundering fees. They’re stylish, hardwearing and don’t shows the signs of use cotton and denim aprons do,” Solo Mia Designs Director, Ms Sanam Arthur said.

Solo Mia Designs has now also added a side loop on their aprons to hold cloths and tea towels.

The aprons can be cleaned with a damp cloth and can be occasionally conditioned with leather conditioner, which is readily available in supermarkets.

Logo embossing is also available for cafes, restaurants, bars, hotels and the like. Australia Post delivers all aprons and depending on location will arrive between two – three business-working designs. (Bespoke and logo embossing aprons will take longer depending on order.)

Sola Mia owner Ms Sanam Arthur said, “having been the owner of a busy gourmet café for many years, I was inspired to create a product that would service the hospitality industry by providing a unique new line of aprons that would be practical, comfortable, look stylish and only need minimum maintenance.”

Solo mia designs’ business goal is to help empower women, and as such we are committed to supporting Hand in Hand, a charitable trust based in Tamil Nadu, India which has a focus on child labour elimination, education and the empowerment of women through micro business. If you would like to find out more about Hand in Hand, check out our Facebook page.

Righto, enough already!

You can all stop going into Three Monkeys and telling Ralph Stamos you are sorry to see the end of a West End institution and it is sad to see the old place close. Ralph is moving on but the Three Monkeys stays. Not only that, it stays the same.

Ralph’s brother will be working closely with the new owner Marie Hanson to ensure that the atmosphere of this local institution is carefully preserved.

Ralph called the Westender asking us to set the record straight. So many of you have been popping in to say good bye he felt a little like Mark Twain after reading his obituary in the New York Journal. Twain famously commented, “Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Ralph and the Three Monkeys are very much alive, as is The Westender. Thanks to all of you for letting Ralph know how much you appreciate the work he has put into building a local institution. Thanks too for reminding the local business community just how many of you are reading the paper, now in its twenty second year.

Today is the first day of the Brisbane Comedy Festival . Thats right! There’s nothing between you and a month of shameless, snorty laughter.

Work yourself into giggle-frenzy with brand-spanking new shows from Wil Anderson, Stephen K Amos, and Hannah Gadsby. Go off like a prawn in a hot sock with Sam Simmons, poke fun at Campbell Newman doppelgänger Tom Gleeson, and hear how Nick Cody survived a ferocious bear attack. The gags continue with funsters Rhys Nicholson, Glenn Wool, Alex Williamson and more.

The Festival opens today with Frank Woodsley’s Fools Gold, Jack Druce in Adventure Peach and Dave O’Neil with Back in My Day. At least another three shows round out the opening offerings.

Hannah Gadsby’s The Exhibitionsist will run from 11th March until 16th. In 2013, Hannah performed comedy art lectures in London, New York and Far North Queensland. She also discovered she had convict ancestry.

The Gruen Transfer’s Wil Anderson is back with a brand-new show running from 18th March until the 23rd.

The Sun Herald  described him as “a masterclass in comedy… he may be one of our biggest comedy exports, with a national profile on radio and television, but flying solo on stage is where Anderson truly shines… the man is on fire.”

With a line-up of over 50 comedians in the building and at the bar, we say… go forth and photo-bomb! #BrisComedyFest