+ all of the above

I’m in Oz again for a short while for my sister’s wedding (congrats sis). I’m gonna try and post however regular programming will be disrupted for the next couple of weeks.

I’m with the family for xmas. No more updates till I’m back home in a week or so.

Peace.

via Who needs a unifying theme anyway?

I’ve had Bill Henson on the brain the last few days.

via Monster Children

Rare 1974 insight to Sharpies in Melbourne. By Greg Macainsh. Lobby Lloyd and Billy Thorpe concert at the Melbourne Showgrounds

NSFW. 14mins.

If it hasn’t happened already, prepare to have the final nail hammered into the coffin of your childhood. This has a lot of NSFW language in it, but believe me it is worth every damn second.

A bit of a change in topic compared to my usual fare, but I thought that this was interesting enough to warrant it. While this is a post about Australian politics I will attempt to keep my personal bias as far removed as possible. For the benefit of non-Australians, the Australian Liberal Party is comparable to the US Republicans and the Australian Labor Party is comparable to the US Democrats.

You can watch the 13 minute Vodcast which I am discussing by clicking here and selecting the Tony Abbott interview or you can hit it directly here.

What has happened to the Australian Liberal Party is frankly jaw-dropping. I doubt that anyone would have disagreed that two years ago it appeared to be the very strongest party in Australian history. What I found most impressive was that it was a party that seemed to have an iron-clad solidarity, it functioned as a whole and all of it’s members were always careful to reinforce that in both word and action. That was before the election.

Nowadays, it is a very different story. It is always a tall order to rebound from an election defeat however the Liberals appear to have completely fallen apart, some but not all of which is discussed in the interview with Tony Abbott on Lateline which I have posted a link to above. It is well worth watching. Tony Abbott who was one of the stalwarts of the Howard era appears to be at a complete loss in the interview. I’ve watched him many times, in parliament, the press club and on various television and radio programs and while I intensely dislike the man’s belligerent, steamroller approach to a debate or a speech (sorry, trying to keep the bias in check), I would have to agree that he is very successful at maintaining his points while scuttling his opponents. So it is all the more damning to see him at such a loss in this interview. This is the moment, mid-interview, that perfectly sums up the post-election state of the Liberals. It is the moment when Abbott resigns himself to the thought that Brendan Nelson is the best that they can do currently.

That is of course until the wind changes and Turnbull, Costello, or a whole host of others or even Tony Abbott himself challenges for the leadership.

Or else maybe it was the part about the tradition of ‘knifing their leaders?’ It certainly looks like that is the future that is in store for Dr. Nelson.

I had a thought that it could be a ploy to lump up all of the post-election bad-will onto one figure and then usher in a new leader when the going gets a easier versus Rudd. It certainly is not an easy task to go up against Rudd right now, however the Liberals are going to be damaged severely in the long term if they do not get their act together soon, as in this week. Some people (as is mentioned in the interview) are speaking about the possibility that the Liberals have already lost the next election. While I do think that is going a little too far, I don’t think that it is too much to say that Peter Costello is doing both the country and the Liberal party a huge disservice by being unclear about his intentions.

Tony Abbot’s discomfort is palpable. He shifts and moves constantly and perhaps most tellingly are his audible grumbles of admission and frustrated breaths of resignation while being asked the questions. Listen for them, I’ve never seen Mr Abbott seemingly so emotional and frustrated.

Tony Abbott

Tony Jones

The Interview

Meanwhile, has anyone else noticed how brutal Virginia Trioli can be in an interview? Do not try and skirt the issue with her. I’m a big fan, but don’t worry Tony Jones you’re still my favourite (opening an interview with a question about political knifing… yes!).

The Sydney Morning Herald has an excellent summation of the events that have lead to the current situation. Quote of the article is:

Asked a few days before the opening if a new media frenzy was boiling up about the sexualisation of children, Henson told the Herald “there is always something being boiled up. George Steiner once said that the media’s only job is to create and maintain a state of emergency. About what,” he added, laughing, “it doesn’t matter.”

The Gruen Transfer is a new show on the ABC hosted by Wil Anderson. You can watch it over the net at the show’s homepage

I’ve just streamed it to my computer to view it (apparently downloads aren’t allowed outside of Australia), and I thought it was pretty good. It’s a change of pace from Wil Anderson’s other endeavours and I enjoyed having the insiders perspective that his guests provide, industry types not comedians. Although you wouldn’t know it from the amount of jokes they were all cracking, which is another point. Wil was less the main attraction here and more the host, a much more enjoyable scenario and probably something that the producer (Andrew Denton) helped with. Check it out.

A trip down memory lane. Recovery was the greatest. Although looking back, I think I listened to a lot of crap (excuse of youth notwithstanding)……

Dandy Warhols – Boys Better

Mid 80′s Australian awesomeness. The blacksmith aprons, animated blood spatters on the camera, the hick men and the short haired women, the constant flashing of the band name, all types of wrong make me love it all the more.

Love this clip.

Happy Oz day people. God I miss that place. I’m sitting here with some fellow aussies, knocking back a few and listening to Triple J. Have a good one.

I’m annoyed I’m missing the election coverage. However this brings me right back into it. Anyone have any idea where it’s from? It’s not the Chaser boys I don’t think.

This was their first stunt, before APEC had gotten underway:

This is the preview footage before the stunt hits television on the 12th:

As reported by ABC:

Ten Morning News

And Today Tonight, sometimes more (unintentionally) satirical than the Chaser itself.

The Beastie Boys video for their latest single “The Rat Cage” was filmed in Melbourne? How do I know? Watch it and see. The NYC boys have some iconic Ostrayan symbols throughout the video clip.

A little while ago I was on the bus going past the construction sites in the city and I took the pics below. The tree at the top of this building site made me laugh uncontrollably. If I was in charge of a crane I’d be doing stuff like this all the time but apparently this isn’t a stunt, it’s a tradition called topping off.

But the tree is the key symbol and it is not, as many might suppose, a holiday touch. In the high-steel trade, it announces that the construction has reached the sky without loss of life or serious injury. And it is meant to auger well for the future inhabitants of the building.

from Peter Wood

You learn something new everyday. And today it’s that builders are superstitous (in addition to being good at whistling and building).

How’s tagging a whole building, from miles away? Graffiti Research Lab pull it off. Check out the rest of their site too, they have some amazing work.

Found a site dedicated to one of the Sharpie gangs in Melbourne’s colourful past. The Blackburn South Sharps.

The work of Zach Johnsen featured below, just because.