CONTENTS
BOOKS AND FILMS AND STUFF
Books and films and stuff (Internet)
1
The Source Code(2011)
Charlie’s Theory of Change (Charlie)
3
By Peter Bradshaw again
Hello Mrs (Anon)
4
Cooking on a camp stove (Anouk)
6
With his debut movie Moon, Duncan Jones made a mighty leap; now with this superb follow-up, he has hit the ground sprinting. Source Code is a terrifically exciting and hugely enjoyable sci-fi thriller, written by Ben Ripley. For pure entertainment, there's nothing around to touch it.
EDITORIAL By Pete Howson and Sarah Oakes
Sarah’s back now so the club house, just like Mugabe’s brutal clearances a few years back, was demolished without warning. Rabbit has moved back in to her old run, but I have been left on the cold tiles of the living room without even a blanket! Source Code is about conspiracies, altered minds and altered states, far-fetched in the most elegant and Hitchcockian way, and the sheer outrageousness of it all is muscular and streamlined. The film is about modified reality and inner space, and there are points of comparison with Christopher Nolan's Inception. But the world of Source Code seems to me more interesting, and more able to incubate real drama, real suspense and even some real humour. At its centre is Colter Stevens, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, a US army helicopter pilot who has crashed in Afghanistan. When he comes to, he finds himself in civilian clothes aboard a crowded commuter train arriving slightly late into Chicago on a glorious summer morning. He appears to be in someone else's body: that of a suburban teacher. Opposite him sits Christina (Michelle Monaghan) who behaves as if a brief nap has merely interrupted their highly flirtatious conversation, but she is then increasingly alarmed as Colter, wild-eyed and panicky, demands to know what is happening and what is going on.
We apologise for the rather short issue this week. I can only imagine that volunteers are busy with less important things than bringing sunshine and happiness into the hearts of others. Thanks to those who did find the time to produce articles. I’m sure others will find inspiration in your commitment and repay the favour in the following weeks to come. Well we hope this issue finds you well. Xxx
Love Pete and Sarah
After eight minutes, a catastrophic event then hurls Colter back into a situation that is in some ways even more perplexing. He is in uniform, injured and 2
immobilised in what appears to be part of a wrecked military aircraft. Is this real? Or is it the train that's real? Through a video monitor, he must communicate with a woman who is evidently now his commanding officer. Goodwin, played by Vera Farmiga, treats him with the same unreadable solicitousness as Kevin Spacey's robot-voice did with Sam Rockwell in Moon.
and her shadowy boss Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) are keeping secrets from him. Source Code is glitzy and hi-tech in a 21st-century way, but also has something from an earlier age: it is a story from the Twilight Zone, with hints of Philip K Dick, and traces of the television world of The Prisoner and The Fugitive. With its weird deployment of playing cards in one scene, Jones has channelled The Manchurian Candidate – perhaps specifically through Jonathan Demme's Iraq-themed remake – and the overall effect is smart and to the point.
Without consenting, Colter has evidently been dragooned into a new mission using futurist technology known as "source code"; he has been brought back from Afghanistan – or has he? – and ordered to relive the past eight minutes on a Chicago commuter train over and over again until he discovers vital information. Ripley and Jones show how each metaphysical go-around discloses more clues; each makes Colter fall for Christina a little more, and each makes the thought of losing her seem more unbearable.
In its own way, Source Code also aspires slightly to the status of comedy, and Colter's increasingly wan and desperate conversations with Goodwin from his mysterious pod reminded me a little of David Niven's radio conversations with Kim Hunter's June in A Matter of Life and Death – as he plummets to his certain death, Niven's character exploits his prerogative as a dying man to flirt with this radio operator. This isn't exactly what is happening here, and Colter's affections are engaged with Christina, not Goodwin – but equipoised with the action and thrills, there is a serio-comic sense of fantasy and romance that have been endangered by this terrifying situation in one sense, but in another sense made possible by it. Source Code is absurd, but carries off its absurdity lightly and stylishly. It is a luxuriously enjoyable film. Jones has put himself into the front-rank of Hollywood directors, the kind who can deliver a big studio picture with brains. With twists and turns, and at breathtaking speed, this film runs on rails.
With its train setting and Chris Bacon's score imitating the jagged clamour of Bernard Herrmann, the movie is clearly indebted to the Hitchcock of North By Northwest and Strangers on a Train. But it's also a particularly tense and fraught kind of Groundhog Day, and just as in that film, repetition endows banal, forgettable events with an eerie familiarity and inevitability.
CHARLIE’S THEORY OF CHANGE?
Yet in the Bill Murray movie, our hapless hero had all the time in the world, an infinity of time, as many Groundhog Days as he needed, to learn the piano until he was at the level at which he could casually appear to be a brilliant pianist to impress a woman. Making an impression on a woman is not wholly absent from Colter's mind either, but he can't just repeat his eight minutes ad infinitum, because the security situation is pressing and time is running out. Each time he starts again, his own physical condition in the mysterious cockpit deteriorates, and Goodwin
By Charlie Ventura
What do we want to change? Being a VSO volunteer already twice in Cameroon and now in Indonesia but there are still questions in my mind of what really I wanted to change in my organization and the people I worked with and then as I reflected there is only one answer...and it is... 3
VSO vision which is a world without poverty where excluded and marginalized women and men have a choice and an opportunity to participate effectively in society, have enough to feed and clothe their families, have access to education and healthcare services, have land on which to grow food or a job to earn a living.
This will help us guide in our work in fighting poverty. How can we bring about change? I always believed that each of us has different contributions in our organizations and I salute my fellow volunteers for giving their time, talents, resources, skill, etc in making the world a better place.
For this to happen, poor and marginalized people must have access to quality essential services, be able to work together to improve their lives and have access to information and ideas that will link them to the wider world.
“Every day people thank us… not for doing the work for them, but for giving them the opportunity to work themselves. But it goes both ways I’m incredibly grateful for the chance to share my skills here and to learn.”
We believe that it is people who can play crucial roles in initiating, promoting and facilitating change in organizations, in the provision of services and in changing policies.
Stephanie Stoker, volunteer, Peru. “I'm really proud of what the team achieved. We went from virtually a standing start to having objectives, work plans, policies and budgets. But most importantly for me, by the time I left the change was being lead and driven by the staff – we'd got some real momentum going and it was being sustained.”
Now it answers my questions!
Martin Fawdry, volunteer, Nigeria Share with us too and were happy to hear your own stories.
How do we contribute to change? •
By improving the skills of one individual we can increase the effectiveness of a local organization.
•
By bringing a new perspective to a problem, we can create a new approach to issues in a respectful way.
•
By creating a lasting difference in the aspirations of an individual, we can, over a lifetime, help transform an entire community.
Theory of Change in action There are countless individuals whose lives have been changed as a result of VSO’s work. But at the heart of the Theory of Change are the efforts of volunteers who have worked within poor and marginalized communities to help bring about permanent improvements to the lives of the people there.
What can we change?
Note: Some extracts are taken from VSO Cameroon update to VSO Returned Volunteers assigned in Cameroon and I find it interesting to share to everybody.
This log frame is taken from VSO Cameroon updates to all Returned Volunteers and I just want it to share all my colleagues in Indonesia. 4
HELLO MRS
Traveller’s Good Health Guide, 2006). Treating water from city centre aquifers however, deserves extra caution, as arsenic and other nasties will not be removed through boiling alone. You’re better off treating water from a roof downpipe or other rainwater source than risking the water from an unidentified manky well under your house. Professionally treated water is of course desirable, but make sure you find out the processes used, as your water vendor might just be boiling water from the manky well and adding extra arsenic for taste.
By Anon
Hello Mrs I get lots of big spiders in my house that look like this:
Hello Mrs I am usually able to manage quite well on my volunteer allowance, except for 1 thing – Beer! I’ve long ago ‘externally used’ all the mentholated stuff we got in our first aid kits, and the fermented potatoes just give me a head-ache. Is there a tastier alternative? Dear Not So Special Brew From my childhood days on the farm, I for one am well aware of the short term highs Meths and Diesel fumes can bring. But the experience almost always ends in a massive headache and a clip round the ear from your mother. Making homemade beer is dead easy. Anything with sugars and starches can be easily fermented, but the best way to avoid the head ache is to use yeast! Why not experiment with the internet (for instructions), and your favourite fruits and throw a party with your neighbours to show-off your new skills.
And snakes in the garden and kitchen that look like this:
Hello Mrs Where I live, there is one drinking water gallon place near-by. The fancy machine they use is usually broken, which often means buying lots of bottles of Agua till the machine gets fixed. They told us in HCT that boiling the tap water should make it drinkable. But living in the city centre, with all the heavy metals and benzene etc., is this still true?
Are either of them dangerous? Dear Dr Doolittle The first belongs to a family called the wolf spider or jumping spider. They can bite, but are unlikely to harm a fully grown human. The second is probably an Indonesian garter snake. These are poisonous, but are also unlikely to harm a human. Both kill other nasty bugs so don’t be too quick to shoo them away, unless you keep other small animals as pets.
Dear Heavy metal hater The key rule for making water safe to drink is to boil it at a continuous rolling boil for 3 minutes (from The 5
COOKING ON A CAMP STOVE
8.
By Anouk Cleven
Something special:
Save bread/buns in closed bag/Tupperware.
-
Add small chopped fresh onions, chopped garlic and chopped chili’s.
-
Add fresh cinnamon (or powder), raisins, nuts and coconut scraps.
-
Add chopped garlic, Italian herbs and chopped sundried tomatoes.
-
Add chopped garlic, small chopped peppers and olives.
BREAD What do you need: 1.
An oven
2.
500 gr flour (tepung)
3.
300 ml water or milk
4.
1 spoon salt
5.
5 spoon oil
6.
1 package of yeast (fermipan) = 11 gr
PIZZA What do you need: 1.
An oven
2.
200 gr flower (tepung)
3.
100 ml milk (not cold)
4.
½ package of yeast (fermipan)
5.
½ spoon sugar
6.
½ spoon salt
7.
3 spoons oil
What do you do: 1.
Mix yeast with water/milk, leave for 10 minutes
2.
Mix flour with salt
3.
Mix the water/yeast with the flour and add the oil, until you get a nice piece of dough. If it’s to wet, add some extra flour. If it’s to dry add some extra water.
4.
Leave it for 50 minutes in the dark (put a towel on top of the bowl).
What do you need to do:
5.
Form 1 bread or 8 buns and leave them for 30 minutes in the dark again.
1.
Mix milk, sugar and yeast and leave for 10 minutes
6.
Meanwhile pre-heat oven on 200 degrees.
2.
Mix flour with yeast mix
7.
Put bread in oven for 20-30 minutes; when top is getting brown.
3.
Add salt, add oil
6
4.
Mix until you get a nice piece of dough. If it’s too wet, add some extra flour. If it’s to dry add some extra milk.
What do you need: 1.
200 gr flour (tepung)
5.
Leave for 30 minutes in the dark.
2.
125 ml water
6.
Roll the dough into a flat circle (you can do this with any glass bottle, be sure to put some flour under the dough, otherwise you cannot get it from the table).
3.
½ spoon salt
4.
1 spoon oil
Put the pizza bottom on the oven plate (put some foil under it, or grease the plate with oil).
1.
Mix flour with water, oil and salt.
2.
Leave in the dark for 30 minutes.
3.
Cut the dough in 4 pieces, roll rounds of them.
4.
Role the rolls into wraps (you can do this with any glass bottle, be sure to put some flour under the dough, otherwise you cannot get the wraps from the table).
5.
Bake the wraps in a wok on high fire, try to use as less oil as possible.
7.
8.
Leave it for another 30 minutes in the dark.
9.
Pre-heat oven on 200 degrees
10.
Add sauce and toppings.
11.
Put it in oven for 20-30 minutes.
What do you need to do:
Toppings: -
Tomato sauce, either from a can (add some fresh onions and garlic) or homemade.
-
You can also use pesto as sauce.
-
Onions, mushrooms, peppers, chili’s, olives, tuna, shrimp, tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, carrots, garlic, cheese, pineapple… almost everything you like!
-
What do you eat with the wraps: 1.
Guacamole: mix 2 ripe avocados, 1 spoon of oil, 2 chopped tomatoes, 4 chopped garlic gloves, salt & pepper and juice of 2 limes. Put in fridge for 2 hours.
2.
Chili: mix onions, garlic, red peppers, corn and all kind of beans with can of mashed tomatoes, add chili pepper(s) to your taste. (keep in mind that fresh red beans have to be welled in water for 8 hours and cooked for 1 hour before you can eat them)
3.
Rendang: package of bumbu Rendang (Indofood), mix it with can of santan (coconut milk) and all kind of vegetables.
4.
Cucumber salad: sliced cucumber, chopped onions, dressing of oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt & pepper.
5.
Fresh corn: boil for 20 minutes in water (add spoon of sugar). Serve with some garlic & butter.
If you have Italian herbs you can either add them to the dough or the sauce.
Tip: -
You can also use the pizza dough to make quiche!
WRAPS
7