Just watched the ABC2 re-broadcast of the The Gruen Transfer and I have to say I loved it.
Australia’s most creative advertising people each ripping each others work apart!
Even if you loathe Wil Anderson (and he dies in parts) there’s a lot to like in this.
Four Stars.
Well both sides of politics are talking crap about petrol so why not join in?
Firstly it’s expensive isn’t it? Production is limited and for some reason the producers don’t want to spend billions upgrading facilities on fields that will run dry before they repay that investment.
Demand is increasing so what happens?
If your country is run by idiots who try to control the price then you end up with rationing. Older readers no doubt remember odds and evens for buying petrol and people queuing for hours to refill their tanks.
If you’re lucky like we are then it means the price rises.
With the price rising alternatives become attractive. Any government that isn’t buying up used cooking oil from restaurants for re-use as diesel on public transport needs its head read.
Who can say what weird and wonderful alternatives our imaginative people will come up with?
It seems unlikely, however, that personal transport in the comfort of a car will be as cheap as it was in the past. It would be nice to see serious investment in public transport to cater to future needs.
Now, onto fuel-watch. Brendan Nelson is bleating for the families on the bones of their arses who might miss out on the odd bit of discounted petrol to be found on a Tuesday if pricing transparency smooths the discounting cycle.
If Brendan knew any real impoverished Australians he’d also know that they don’t have the money to fill up their tanks on a Tuesday. He’d know that the reason the buggers jack up the prices on Thursday is because that’s when most people get paid and try to fill up their cars.
For the millions of Australians not living in city centres there’s another important point. In my own case it serves me little comfort to hear that petrol in Nowra yesterday was 5c/litre cheaper than it is today. If I were to drive around the servos I’d burn more money as petrol than the highest possible savings. So what I need is to either be able to see what prices will be today in the knowledge they aren’t changing or, better still, be confident that I won’t be ripped off in the town I pull into.
We don’t need the cheapest possible petrol to be available in a hidden corner of the market. We need some certainty and reliability.
That might cost an extra cent/litre. But I think that’s what most of us want.
The SMH is picking up on the hoopla surrounding SBS’s announcement of hosts for the Australian version of Top Gear (the real thing is back on Monday night).
For all the thousands who poured effort into their audition tapes for the show there’s some bad news, it’s an inside cast of blokey luvvies:
“The broadcaster Charlie Cox, cartoonist and motoring columnist Warren Brown and driving instructor and race driver Steve Pizzati will front the Australian spin-off of the hit BBC series”
Which is probably fair enough in the interests of making good TV. But why ask the public to waste their time auditioning for the show except to embarrass the least likely of them in a process story?
A little mean if you ask me.
News reports that Kevin Rudd’s 2020 luvvies are incensed by the investigation of artist Bill Henson’s photographs of children and have sent a sternly worded letter to Kevin Rudd. The Age has helpfully put the letter online.
Leaving aside the persecution of Henson, which we don’t imagine will stand up to a jury trial, we’ve come to a terrifying place here. Art galleries are being raided on suspicion of displaying Henson works. From there it is a very small stretch to seeing anyone who has ever bought a Henson photograph getting a knock on the door from a policeman - in full view of their neighbours - and seeing their name in the paper in connection with an investigation into child pornography.
So even in the absence of a conviction who’s ever going to buy a Henson again?
Who’s going to buy a work of art which runs the risk of running against a future moral outrage?
This line from the News story is particularly telling:
The council-run Albury Regional Art Gallery in southern NSW has removed three of Henson’s photographs from show after a complaint to police. It is discussing with police whether they may be lawfully displayed.
Not asking their own lawyers, asking the police what art work they may display. Desk Sergeant Smith thinks Baroque has too many fat chicks in it so better get rid of that too. God help anything with a cherub.
The trouble with Godwin’s Law is that it makes it very hard to discuss things when the real fascists come knocking. In this case though one really can imagine that Hitler (noted for his forceful methods of art critique) would have approved.
UPDATED: In the SMH Elizabeth Farrely has a good take on events with a wonderful summing up:
“The Henson witch-hunt may yet become Labor’s “children overboard” affair. One effect of which, if Henson weren’t already world famous, would be to make him so, without affecting the child abuse figures one iota. And bear in mind that party signing itself “Yours, disgusted” on this is the party that closed ranks for months around its own ministerial rock spider Orkopoulos. Now that’s disgusting. Almost as bad as living in a town where all art must be pre-approved by the Rudd, Iemma, Sartor triumvirate and all policy pre-approved by the coal industry. Who’s drawing the dirty pictures now?”
The SMH is reporting on stories apparently run in the Australian Army Journal about the shame of being an Australian infantrymen in a time of peace.
The SAS get to go off and do all the exciting (and dangerous stuff) and the infantry are sick of guarding the base all the time and want their chance to play.
Meanwhile apparently the big kids from other countries are mocking our koalas.
Well that’s the best way they can serve their country. Making a token overseas commitment and coming home alive.
The alternative is fighting some serious wars to keep the infantry feeling loved. Which would be a rather serious misplacement of priorities.
News informs us that Jetstar is trying to get permission to bring a huge swag of pilots in to the country on the notorious skilled worker 457 visa.
Not able to find enough pilots in Australia willing to work for them it seems.
If they had a serious program to train locals (rather than looting the ranks of the air force periodically and stealing the publicly provided flight training) they’d have people lining up around the block. Hell I’d be there.
But having taken all the low hanging fruit in this country they’re off to the third world to denude them of skills in the ongoing hunt for cheap labour.
Ok, first the difficult bit, I admit that I have in fact been watching Eurovision on and off for at least 30 years, or over half the length of the 53 year old competition. It’s not something I’d turn down an invitation for, but if I’m home, and it’s on, then I’ll watch.
There’s a certain spectacle and geo-politics in the raw that’s compelling, plus every now and then there’s a good song or two. Ok, maybe just a fun song.
I’m not bad at picking what’s going to finish where either, until this year.
This year every country which fears Russia sent a swag of points their way and put a middle of the field song at the top of the pile. Possibly a bigger tragedy was the British effort, a well performed and solidly constructed mo-town style number coming equal last.
Back in the old days when nominated judges from each nation would allocate points at least the national preferences were out in the open. Now some countries conduct a telephone poll, while other still have an internal jury. Even more problematic is that juries are kept in case of “technical difficulties” with the vote. When announcing the national point allocations no mention is made of whether a jury over-ride has been made, or whether it was a popular vote. Frankly I question the ability of Belarus (to name but one country using ex-Soviet telephony) to record and tabulate thousands of phone votes in a fifteen minute voting window.
Did the people of Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine really all decide that the Russian entry, sung in English, was the best song on the night? Or did their Governments all opt for a simple life and making the bear happy on something that costs them little?
Italy has already walked away from the competition in a huff, it’ll be interesting to see how long the rest of Western Europe puts up with the farcical voting.
Anyway with equal legitimacy to the official process The Concatenate hereby declares Latvia to be the winner with “Wolves of the Sea”. I came to this conclusion because I like pirates and whenever I go to a costume party dressed as one I get lucky.
Michelle Grattan in The Age has an interesting take on the imbroglio engulfing artist Bill Henson for his photographs of children.
A who’s who of authoritarians have gathered to support the prosecution of the artist including Morris Iemma, Kevin Rudd, and Brendan Nelson.
The tragedy is that while Henson might have breached the letter of the law no reasonable person could think real harm was being done here. The children were photographed with their parent’s consent by a legitimate art photographer for public exhibition.
If the law prohibits that then there’s a problem with the law.
But laws shall not be questioned in Kevin Rudd’s Australia, especially when they’re doing it for the children.
Well Weezer have outdone themselves with the official video now out for the new single “Pork and Beans”.
Nerdcore affirmation at its best in what looks like the most fun anyone has ever had.
I need to start a band.
Cnet informs that Sony is spending big bucks on packaging live events for digital projection on cinema screens.
A bit like going to the pub to watch a game but with less sanction for conversation.
One suspects the few cinemas with liquor licenses will make the most of this.
Morris Iemma is trying to distance himself from his party’s former minister with a taste for young boys and illegal narcotics.
But News reports that the party is still rallying around to raise funds for the family of Milton Orkopoulos.
While it’s sad that the wife (described as “estranged” but not divorced) and daughter are down on their luck it makes for an interesting spectacle seeing the party standing by their man in this situation.
News brings word of a new menace of olive thieves who have made off with 10 tonnes of the salty fruit from farms in the Hunter Valley.
The good news is the thieves were unusually tidy.
An interesting trend to keep an eye on, to say nothing of cheap olives turning up at your local markets.
The Oz is reporting that the ALP heavyweight Milton Orkopoulos has been sentenced to a non-parole period of nine years and three months.
Thats for 30 charges relating to the rape of children and getting them high on illegal drugs.
Apparently this is justice done.
Without wishing to join the braying ranks of the Laura Norder donkeys I have to say I feel in my waters that one such incident should have been worth this kind of sentence.
Back in society just after his 60th birthday doesn’t seem particularly harsh at all considering the monstrous nature of his crimes.
I’ve been thinking about the threat by Brendan Nelson to block some budget measures while the Opposition still has a Senate majority (usually mentioned are the “alcopops tax” and the raising of the Medicare levy threshold). Now, most commentators have so far dismissed this as an empty threat (”…and in any event Rudd would like nothing better than to obtain a double dissolution trigger which could become available sometime in October.”). And it’s certainly true that with the Government still riding high, the Opposition would be very unlikely to come out of a double-dissolution election any better off than they are now (most likely, they’d be much worse off).
But the other thing that those commentators have been saying is that Brendan Nelson is not going to be opposition leader for too much longer - certainly not by the time of the next election (presumed to be in late 2010). He’s the Nightwatchman, the sacrificial lamb sent in to take the edge off the worst brickbats lobbed the new Opposition’s way - and even if this wasn’t necessarily going to be the case, the longer this narrative sticks around the more chance it has of becoming self-fulfilling.
The next point is that the Opposition seems to be having great trouble accepting that they were turfed out last November. A great many of them appear to believe that the voters didn’t really mean to change the Government, they just wanted to “send a message”, or some other such garbage. Some call it the “born to rule” attitude.
So look at it from Brendan’s point of view. If he leads the party to a double-dissolution, he has at least a slight chance of becoming PM - which is better than no chance at all, as would be the case if there’s no double-dissolution, the wheel turns and Costello or Turnbull replace him. And hey, he might think - maybe Nick’s right, maybe the voters really didn’t mean to kick us out last year. Certainly no-one else will be falling over themselves to lead the Opposition to a 2008 election.
This is all speculation, of course. I don’t know if he really has the minerals to try this - probably not.
I guess Nelson needs to ask himself - do you feel lucky? Well, do ya?