Whither the Australian Spine?

Since this corner of the internet is still mostly visited by non-Australians, I would like to let you in on a little controversy that has popped up today down here in down-under land.

This past Sunday we had The Logies, which essentially are the People’s Choice Awards (in how they are decided) with a heavy dash of Golden Globes (in setting) and The Emmys (in terms of scope and prestige).

Australian Celebrities + Grog should = a good time.

But it didn’t. Jiminy Cricket, it was one big suburban tea party with all the fake smiling and “aren’t-we-having-a-good-time”-ing going on.

And the producers banned/strongly suggested that Tweeting not be done.

Lest we all realise that we have been hoodwinked into thinking this was such an exciting show.

Fortunately, two comedians in attendance Catherine Deveny & Wil Anderson made the ceremony all the more bearable by poking a stick at the proceedings.

Unfortunately, Deveny has lost her column at The Age as a result. (Read Deveny’s take on the situation at her website.)

Personally, I don’t think this is right. For starters, Deveny’s humour and opinions are what attracted The Age to employ her, and Deveny strikes me as the smart and savvy kind of person to use her Twitter presence as a further extension of her column and work, and realise that it is her public face. (If that wasn't the case, then they would be locked.)

The real danger here, I believe, is the fact that when it comes down to it, the Australian media landscape (at least print-wise), is a duopoly, and when there’s only two in town, you get awfully paranoid about offending anyone.

I always thought Australians had a spine. In fact, post-Logie coverage gave the Australian public a self-congratulatory pat on the back for being cool and relaxed about a wardrobe malfunction and the occasional swearword being uttered.

I read both Deveny’s and Anderson’s tweets, and I would say they were sharp and funny, but whether one found them funny or not, this criticism being heaped upon them is unwarranted and reactionary.

Has Australia forgotten the larrikin?

Because it can be a slippery slope.

Just ask anyone who was living in George W. Bush’s USA from 2000 to 2008.

Tuesday Jukebox Goes Shape Shifting

Still crook in the voice box, but the upside has been that I’ve been able to really get a chance to take some serious musical journeys.

The notion of a Kiwi drum n’ bass band may sound odd, but Shapeshifter quite frankly blows all preconceived notions out of the water, and the band holds its own against the UK dnb.

Here’s a sampler:

Shapeshifter has their own YouTube channel under the username of ShapeshifterLive. Check the lads out.

The Labour Day Post

As in International…which is not a holiday here in NSW (they celebrate it in September). Still, it deserves to be honoured.

Australian rant: Labor under Kevin Rudd is like Labour under Tony Blair, except Kev has no personality. Every day we are presented with Kev telling us how well-off we are, how desirable Australia is as a destination, and how we manage to have close to zero unemployment. The latter I, and many other people down here have come believe, is a crock. Yes, indeed we have lots of jobs advertised, but only because they are legally supposed to, never mind that the position has long since been filled. So Kev, I ask you on this day that we celebrate Labour, that you look at your party’s name and see if you can do something about cracking down hard on HR. Seriously Kev, because we’re really doubting those employment figures.

American rant: Really, I have nothing to complain about. I guess if I was full-time resident, I would, but I don’t. More jobs, maybe?

Global rant: Dubai is getting its comeuppance, and that is good. Greece is realising the value of hard yakka. Bastard Steven Harper is still in power in Canada. Ditto John Key in NZ, but can anyone ever really swing right in NZ?

Anyway, here is the L’internationale.

Friday Jukebox is Hoarse

I’m not going to sugar coat it at all, my voice is buggered, and has pretty much been non-existent for the past fortnight, ergo no April video log…and believe you me it is killing me because I have A LOT TO SAY, but the Benadryl tends to make writing it out not a dignified option. (See that pretty cloud, or is it the skylight? You get the idea.)

So in lieu of that, I would like to hype the comedienne Loni Love, whose first comedy special will be airing (in North America) on 8 May. I have no idea when—if ever—it’ll come down here.

Stop at Redfern for Birth Control?

A little interesting titbit (pun intentional) I picked up via Twitter.

For those who might not know, Redfern has a bit of a dodgy rep in Sydney. Yet, Redfern—or rather specifically, Redfern Station—features in an euphemistic expression for crude birth control according to the Urban Dictionary.

Sunday Jukebox Says “Only You Can Save the Quartet”

Continuing the trip down nostalgia lane, let’s take in a couple of clips from the quartet Circus.

First off, the very AM friendly Mr. Summertime. (This is their performance at Kouhaku 1978.)

American Feeling was the theme song that JAL (back when they weren’t haemorrhaging money) had for their COME TO AMERICA ‘79 campaign. This likely explains why this mob are pretending they are planes soaring above the clouds. (For some reason it reminds me mostly of the musical clips on The Great Space Coaster.)

 

Since the revival of boy bands and girl groups in the mid-to-late 1990s, the quartet has been a bit of a dying breed. Pop music seems to favour every combination except for four (bands excepted)…and mixed-gender groups (bands excepted)? Not outside of children’s television, thank you very much.

Bonus: Watch the Mr. Summertime clip again, and follow it up with the Turkish entry at Eurovision 1978.

If you’re thinking here comes a Eurovision retrospective, then you’d be right. That was the first of four quartet related clips.

This last one is a personal favourite of mine. It’s nonsensical and Gemini manage to the trick of harmonising while also looking stunned. (How those sleeves managed to not hit the two male members is a miracle.)

The quartet hasn’t died at Eurovision, but it’s a definite endangered species.

What is it about present-day pop groups having 3, 5, or 6 members anyway?

Ok, just the soothe >4 beast, here’s one another Eurovision quartet clip.

And Circus performing Mr. Summertime in the 1990s, smooth jazz style.

Won’t you please save the quartet?

Thursday Jukebox Loves Vintage Italian-Japanese Duos

Which pretty much comes down to Hide & Rosanna, who notched up a few hits in the 1960s-70s.

Interesting how present day pop seems averse to duo groups.

Bonus: It’s Eurovision next month, and here are some selections from the 1972 contest, which was chock-a-block with duos.

And the ultimate Eurovision duet (despite not winning) of all time:

What Great Migration?

I like to think of myself as a very worldly person, but periodically, some story about the US pops up in the Australian press which makes me, as an American, say “duh,” and I have to remember that I am in a foreign country.

ABC News has a story about how cotton has declined in Mississippi. It’s rather unremarkable for the most part, but what struck me most is that the story takes the tone of expressing shock that cotton has declined across the Mississippi Delta, as if it was only a short time ago that everybody was picking cotton galore.

Pardon the pun, but I just have to nitpick this article because it misses one of what I think is one of the most important events in American history: The Great Migration (actually there were several), where millions of American blacks moved from the former agricultural slave-holding states to the industrial states of the North and Upper Midwest.

This event helped shape the American economic engine just as much as the influx of immigrants into Ellis Island. (On a completely popular culture level, were it not for the Great Migration (mk. II), Oprah Winfrey would not have ruled Chicago, and by extension global daytime television.)

Yet, I remember it being glossed over at school, so is it that much of a surprise that it doesn’t feature into international studies of the US?

Sadly, not really.

Have Things Changed in 4 Years?

Several years ago, I wrote an article for AfterElton, where I discussed the relative invisiblity of gay black lives in film and television. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the state of gay black imagery is a subject of a panel at the Writers Guild (link courtesy of Mediaweek).

How To Create An Oscar Script

It may seem a bit silly, but this short does illustrate that film clichés are still here.

A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever -- powered by Cracked.com

Monday Jukebox Ponders Toshi Kubota and aging

I don’t know what it is about Toshinobu Kubota, but for some reason I’m a bit of lightning rod for his 1980s OTT performances and videos on YouTube. I certainly enjoy them, and feel free to keep sending me the links, but now that I’m on the other side of 30, I really get how long ago this all was.

One could say, It’s BAD

Personally, I’m rather impressed by his backup singers.

And it’s a damn shame Toshi & The Gap Band never collaborated, he probably could do a killer version of Burn Rubber On Me. (Yes, Kickin’ back is a cover.)

Eh?

Gain Healthcare, lose abortion?

Tuesday Jukebox a Go-Go

I always thought that AI was well-suited for Go-Go music, but Namie Amuro too? Yes, indeed.

This is their new collaboration FAKE, not too shabby.

Kerri-Anne: Subversive Morning Television?

One of the upsides of my work schedule down here is that I do get to watch Kerri-Anne in the morning.

She is the archetypical lady-who-lunches/Liberal Party voter.

I am not.

Yet, what makes the show work for me is that you get the impression that she is basically just trying to entertain herself before she can hit the champagne down by Sydney Harbour.

To put it bluntly, she don’t care, and it’s television gold.

Here she gets then-Workplace Relations minister Joe Hockey to act like Shrek.

 

KAK and drag racing don’t mix.

 

It’s not quite the booze-and-whinge fest that is the last hour of the Today Show(US)*, but it certainly is entertaining.

* Seven doesn’t know what they’re missing by not airing that.

The March Video Log

The first proper video log from down under. Topics covered:

• I have no rhythm, and I’m not lying.
• Commercial television
• Is television Australia's dirty little secret?

‘Twould be more, but midday Sydney heat and me don’t agree.

Eurovision 2010: Bosnia Joins in the Nostalgija

Bosnia-Herzegovina debuted their entry yesterday. The song could best be described as Balkan Rock, the likes of which we have seen last year from Macedonia, this year from Macedonia, and way way way way back in 1974 when Bosnia was part of Yugoslavia, except that was also witty and progressive (and Serbian).

Mind you, in style, it’s pretty much Finland’s 2007 entry or Iceland’s 2007 entry.  (Why oh why didn’t they aim to nick Finland 2008?)

At least he’s good looking and can move.

 

And here is Yugoslavia’s 1974 entry just to balance things out:

Fierce NZ!

As much as NZ is the butt of Aussie jokes, one must admit they are much more inclusive when it comes to Queer representation.

This performance on TV3 (NZ)'s Sunrise was to promo the Aroha festival, which concluded last week.

Fa'afafine duo gear up for Aroha Festival - Sunrise - Video - 3 News


Posted using ShareThis

Meanwhile all Mardi Gras seems to yield is a bunch of giggles from presenters.

Unexpected Oz

Some more photographs that show the uniqueness of modern-day Australia.

On the road to Southern NSW:

While I’ve posted this before, I still think this is the sign of a decade:

 

A nice break from the onslaught of Retrovision this year.

Unexpected Sydney

Mr. Mary's Placard
Originally uploaded by hikarueast

My local in Sydney is probably one of the most unexpected gay bars in all Sydney.

And it's in Redfern.

Eurovision 2010: You Wouldn’t Think We’re in the 21st Century

Right now, I am watching the Rabbitohs get slaughtered by the Roosters in their opening game, and it ain’t pretty.

Serbia on the other hand has chosen a very pretty boy (in contrast to the sirens, including marijia lang and their dirges) with a very pretty folk song, clearly geared to scoop the votes that went for Moldova last year.

 

Germany has taken note of Gabriela Climi (shout out to Oz!) and Amy Winehouse (shout out to Narcotics Anonymous!) and actually picked a song that could be seen on present day charts. It’s not terribly remarkable, but at least it’s modern.

 

Following the lead of its fellow Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden is going s-l-o-w and simple. This Is My Life is livelier than the Norwegian entry, but misses the comical dramatics of the Danish entry.

 

The last time Flanders went to Eurosong-land, they had a quirky nonsense song in a nonsense language. This time they have some Ronan Keating-esque dross sung by a whinging Idol cast-off about him and his sodding guitar. Denmark did the same last year. The UK did the same some time back, and the Dutch did it even earlier. Come back Kate Ryan, PLEASE!

 

Speaking of the UK, it’s one of the few countries who could benefit from digging in Eurovisions past, and they have pretty much done that. Pete Waterman arguably is the father of the Swedish-pop sound which has pretty much been on the charts nonstop since 1999. That Sounds Good To Me might remind a lot of Don’t Play That Song Again, but perhaps in 2010, it might get a better reception than in 2000. (Josh’s nerves notwithstanding.)

 

Shockingly Greece might actually sing in Greek this year, and while OPA might be sung in the standard “More Greek than Ouzo in Athens” style, the fact that it’s actually in Greek makes it really stand out. I’m going to get a bit controversial here, but it’s like a really testosterone-driven Greek-folk answer to Superstar (complete with male dancers in body-hugging outfits).

 

Now onto Spain. I never quite know what to make out of Spain ever since they’ve decided to rely on MySpace to come up with their entry, but after Soraya’s cruel result on the scoreboard last year, and the inanity of Rodolfo, we have Daniel Diges. What can I say about Daniel? Well, he certainly is not adverse to being photographed in nothing but briefs (aiming for the DNA magazine vote), but his song and performance!

It’s pretty damn bizarre: take the wackiness of Bosnia-Herzegovina 2008, and add on De Oude Muzikant (same writer as this year’s Dutch entry) sung in Spanish.

 

Croatia has picked former Bosnian entrants Feminnem to fly their flag in Oslo. Last time they were at Eurovision they had a catchy shout-out to former Eurovision entrants, this time they are telling us that everything is easy. So easy as to be near comatose. In other words, it’s pretty much every dull Croatian entry since Severina apparently used up all of the Croatian reserves of upbeat music. (Oh well, at least they are nicking their own lot.)

Not even a very random dance break livens this up, but they are at least excellent vocally.

 

Ever since realising that Eurosong-land wasn’t keen on their soft-core porn ballads and preview videos, Bulgaria has had more success going the quirky route (be it percussion and screaming or male operatic screaming). This year they have opted for a really shiny looking man singing another knock off of Romania’s 2006 entry.  I think it’s a fair bet that the choreography will be more than just Miro sitting down and singing. At least I hope so.

 

Belarus has generally been playing follow the (Russian) leader at Eurovision, fortunately they aren’t this year. No, this year, they are taking the 2 men + 1 woman line-up from Macedonia’s 2008 entry and singing a less operatic version of Azerbaijan’s 2008 entry.

Be happy they are at least ripping off entries from the past two years, and the singers’ English is comprehensible. (Remember this was the first Belarusian entry.)

 

Cyprus, poor Cyprus. They just don’t know what to do at Eurovision now. After having some brother & sister warble about butterflies last year, now they have some Welshman doing a musical therapy session with Spring as a metaphor.

I just made the song sound inherently more interesting than it really is, because basically it’s another knock off of Denmark’s 2009 entry as performed by a John Mayer wannabe. (Just play Monika, Cyprus’s excellent Eurovision debut, and you’ll resist the urge to kick in your screen.)

 

Estonia & Latvia used to be rivals for the quirky Eurovision entry stakes, until Latvia pretty much decided that they will be weird at all costs. Now Estonia has decided to go the serious, artistic route, and while it paid dividends last years, I don’t think Siren (which really comes across as a very cold version of last year’s Lithuanian entry…in comprehensible English crossed with a b-side from an old Cure single) is going to do the same.

Malta pretty much has been sending the same song every year (save for 2002, 2007, and 2008): It’s a woman singing a Disney-esque ballad. Mind you, we’re in a post-Susan Boyle world, and this old hat might work now.

 

From one dull ballad to another, Georgia now. Georgia had a kickass debut with Sopho and the avant-garde Visionary Dream. They followed that with Diana Gurtskaya’s screeching ballad about peace. After sitting last year out (killjoy EBU), they bounce back with a dull ballad by a young woman called Sofie or Sofia and a song called Shine. She can sing, and manages not to be upstaged by the pantomime act and pyrotechnics going on around her. She also manages to perform a bland version of Hungary’s 2008 entry.

 

Armenia closes this post out. They are going to be represented by Eva Rivas and the song Apricot Stone. It’s pretty much the classic “let’s put folk instruments over English lyrics that talk about motherland…a lot” (aka VOTE FOR US DIASPORA!), which Armenia has sent pretty much every year save for their debut. I never thought I’d wish for Qele Qele part 2, but compared to this engineered-for-maximum-saccharine song, I do.

 

The Eurovision rumour mill has it that France is going to go upbeat this year because the head of the French Eurovision team is eager to have a danceable song.

GRACE A DIEU SVP!!!

Mind you the title looks like it could be Allez! Ola! Ole! and the performer’s name is Jessy Matador, so it could be a big fromage-fest