Archive for the 'Pop Culture' Category

Angry Blog Posse

Published on August 27, 2010 in Cranky/Dopey Bitch and Pop Culture. 36 Comments

The reaction to this review has been highly amusing. I totally agreed with Shiner’s review. I went over and had a look at the reviewed blog; it was not, shall I say, my cup of tea. However, what many of the reviewee’s ardent followers did not seem to understand was that when they decided to stand up for their Queen, was they were stepping into the Ask and Ye Shall Receive realm. This world is a carefully constructed one. It is mean, it can be shallow, but it is very bloody intelligent, sometimes thoughtful and always hilarious. Good Writing is King in AAYSR Land. Manage it and you will be paid handsomely. To submit with inferior skill is asking for a new bottom-hole.

Crazy Brunette’s minions barged in half-cocked, not understanding the premise. You have to know the lay of the land before you go breaking the rules. That is how dumb bogan Aussies get put in front of firing squads in Bali. Idiots.

There were responses such as:

Umm question, who gave you the “higher than god power” to sit and pick at everyones blogs?? Fair question right? Seems like you just wasted a whole lot of air and time bitching about cb, when it could have been better spent fuck umm choking yourself? Huh? She ASKED for a review!
Much like when the radio is playing a song you don’t like, and you have the ability to switch the station, so goes the blogger world. If you don’t like CB, don’t read her. For the rest of us who faithfully read her posts, keep it up. How can one change the channel when one has been asked to spend a lot of time perusing the scheduled programing?
My bad. I thought this was a review site. All I’m reading is blatant bashing of another blogger. Though I give you guys a lot of credit. You wouldn’t bash just any old blog. You’re criticizing a wildly inventive, popular blog with tons of followers. That way you guys get noticed. Kudos to you. But I’m curious why do you spew all hate and not do a real review. Give us readers real insight about the blogs you discover. Being nasty just to be nasty? To me that’s really boring. FYI…I do like your skull logo. How is Shiner’s spot on feedback NOT a review?
CB, hatred is the biggest form of flattery…clearly this blogger spent a good 45 minutes (give or take depending on how much their Mom helped them with the big words) making an ENTIRE post about you. I’m jealous! Madam, PLEASE. The reviewer does not take the position lightly. I have heard a scurrilous rumour (That’s how you spell it right, mum?) that they can spend at least 6 hours on a review. Fancy that.

Many people who read the blog (and write on it) have been reviewed or are waiting to be reviewed. And of course they know they are going to get fucking torn apart. The process definitely gives one a bit of back bone and a dose of humility. I understand the need to stick up for a friend but unfortunately it just came across to me as a Southern ladies mob mentality circle jerk.

ps: (Circle jerk was for you MoFoKA!)

40 Hours of No Internet……

Published on August 23, 2010 in Beloved, Cranky/Dopey Bitch, Pop Culture and Queen Me. 16 Comments

Here in Australia we have a fund-raising even called the 40 Hour Famine. Traditionally you give up food for 40 hours and people sponsor you. But the beast has evolved and you can choose to give up anything. Some give up furniture or transport or technology or even shoes. I decided to give up the internet. A bit piss-weak I know, but I was gonna make the money whether I starved myself or not, which would have been very ugly for husband. So that is what I did this weekend. Of course my lil facebook addicted brain couldn’t let go of its status update habit.

If I was near the net, it might have gone something like:

Deep breaths, I can do this.
Wow! I have so much more time to get ready this morning!
Do you think I could make money out of a dog corral at polling places at election time?
I can’t believe how nervous I am just to go on a stupid course. ‘Writing for Young Adults’ at UWA with Deb Fitzpatrick, AJ Betts and Cate Sutherland.
Fuck I despise nodders. The chick in front of me looks like a bobble-head dog. One or two timely nods of agreement will suffice lady.

….this all took me till about lunch time on Saturday. And then I gave up, just enjoying lunch at the Left Bank with Nursey Chick then a lovely election dinner of Little Caesar’s pizza with MoFoKA and family. The company was sterling and Little Caesar’s is actually the best pizza in the world. Like they won an award for it. You haven’t lived till you have had the Greek Lamb pizza or the Eskimo Joe dessert pizza. (See why I couldn’t give up food for 40 hours?)

I know how much time I fart-arse around on the net and it really has to stop. Perhaps I need a 40 hour famine every weekend?

ps: Go listen to the latest song ‘Love’s the Reason’ by Jasmine. Tis awesome. Just like her.

Dear Rihanna

Published on July 28, 2010 in Cranky/Dopey Bitch and Pop Culture. 15 Comments

I get it. At the moment your pop incarnation is cool and edgy with some sort of pseudo-lesbian vibe. I mean, who wouldn’t after that dick-head you were with beat the living crap out of you?

But do you know what else you are? A silly bitch. Normally I couldn’t give a shit about what others do, each to their own and all that; as long as you aren’t hurting anyone. Technically you aren’t holding a gun to anyone’s head but when you are a role model for the impressionable young, the criteria of ‘not hurting anyone’ has to be expanded.

The question I ask you is this; Does a woman who has been a victim of domestic abuse have to sing a song with the lyrics ‘I like the way you touch me there/I like the way you pull my hair’? I get that ‘Rude Boy’ is about sexy-time and supposed female empowerment (pfft – by objectifying men and taking on a domineering persona?) but you can’t imagine that people don’t take the knowledge they have of you in ‘real’ life and apply it to what you sing about. ‘Oh ho – that Rihanna, she likes it a bit rough eh?’

Then there’s your latest offering, a collaboration with renowned bad-boy Eminem. Disregarding the words, I like ‘Love the Way You Lie’ but I don’t like that the message it sends is that you are complicit with a song that glorifies physical and emotional abuse.

I just don’t get it. Sing about your experiences – let us know how confused and hurt and scared you were. But to willingly be part of the aforementioned songs? It is insidious.

You need to get a clue cos at the moment you may think you are coming across as hot, strong and confident but to me it is just sad, brittle and distasteful.

Love,

Grumpy

I Want to be on Thirsty Merc’s Team

Published on July 24, 2010 in Pop Culture. 14 Comments

The venue was a huge barn-like structure with a bar at one end and a stage at the other. The roof was adorned by large Chinese lanterns and red parasols. Beetlejuice-esque pieces of art such as a giant gnarled hand protruded nightmarishly from the wall. I nursed my ginger beer, tapping my foot.

‘Tramp Stamp is on your team’ said Snazz.

‘Huh?’ I replied, smothering a yawn. It was 10 o’clock and normally I would have been ensconced in my bed with a book for half an hour, not at a gig. We had already had greasy Mexican, frozen margaritas and Spanish hot chocolate, which for me is a night out in itself.

‘You pick ‘interesting’ people to put on each other’s team’ explained Snazz ‘It is mean and shallow but it passes the time.’

‘Well in that case,’ I said, scanning the room ‘Teen Wolf is on yours.’

We had already been through 2 support acts; Village Kid who were fantastic and Ali Towers who grew on me and pissed me off with his one-man band talent.

‘Nana Mouskouri for you’

‘I raise you Ranga Man’

‘Drug aware hoodie’

We could have played the game all night, so varied the crowd was but finally, finally Thirsty Merc took to the stage. Thank god for that because I was already trying to plan my late entrance to work so that I could have a 30 minute sleep-in.

Once they started though, going to bed was the last thing on my mind. Well mostly. That Rai is cute for a dude that looks like a pirate. (Love you husband!) Absolutely electrifying. Tight, accomplished, engaging and rocking. They played one of my favourites as well as a heckler’s request for ‘No Sugar’. Rai threatened that they needed to do an obscure B sides tour, which is what Snazz was bemoaning they should do as the gig she has seen in Bunbury the night before was a little too mainstream for her taste.

It was near 12 when they left the stage for the final time, even though I could have danced and sung for at least 2 hours more. With the house lights on, dazed, deafened, and delighted we made away across the rapidly emptying drink-spilt dancefloor.

‘Hey’ said Snazzy spying a familiar figure as we emerged into the chill night air ‘Teen Wolf is actually kinda cute!’

Sometimes I Just Wanna Tell You Stuff

Published on July 15, 2010 in Beloved, Books n Stuff, Pop Culture and Teaching. 10 Comments

It isn’t all literary sophistication around here you know. Well. Actually if you are a long-time reader/friend you probably definitely already know that, having been subjected to posts about pubic hair, haemorrhoids, and me dropping and dragging in Year 9 English classes.

That disclaimer out of the way, I just wanted to let you know how much I love Freaks and Geeks. How the doodlewhacker did I miss this show? I mean, I had heard about it vaguely around the traps and I knew that it was set in a school but that was it.

Love, love, love it. So poignant, funny, heart-breaking, cringe-inducing and lovely.

I am yet to procure the last 2 episodes but I will get my dirty hands on them, don’t you worry.

When I cornered Beloved into watching an episode or two he was all ‘Isn’t that chick from Juno?’ I thought that too, except that, was Ellen Page even born when it was made? Okay, so she probably was but she would have been, what? 5. Okay, I exaggerate. She was 12.

Watching this show I realised which role Linda Cardinelli was made for. If she wanted to be in films that have turned into the biggest pile of poo. Bella a la Twilight franchise. Tell me I am wrong. And yes, she is too old so that cannot be part of your argument. This is my fantasy re-casting, okay?

Have a nice day!

Oh Dearie Me,You Dickhead!

Published on June 2, 2010 in Cranky/Dopey Bitch, Pop Culture and Queen Me. 16 Comments

Grumpy was heading home after a long day at work and a crappy staff meeting. She was in her warm lil car, bopping along to the sounds of Thirsty Merc. Her mate Snazzy had concocted her a playlist since they are going see them next month.

So Grumpy is grooving away and then ‘Ooh! Hello silver Corolla, just suddenly merging into my lane – no, no – that is okay, I will just apply some light pressure to my brakes so you can squeeze in there.’

Grumpy wasn’t particularly perturbed by this seeming act of stupidity – but it did make sense when she glanced into her rear-view mirror and saw the approaching ambulance. When Grumpy flicked her eyes back to the road in front of her she saw the driver of the silver Corolla make rude, impatient and even aggressive gestures towards her. Mercy me! One would think that this driver would be giving a little thank-you wave for not getting bum-jabbed after her impromptu lane swap.

‘Fuck you, you dumb bitch!’ thought Grumpy.

PS: Due to the response to my last post I can at least hear how buff the legs of the crickets around here are getting. Thanks for not leaving me hanging Mr H

Roughage for the Dot Point Diarrhea

Published on May 31, 2010 in Beloved, Books n Stuff, Married Life and Pop Culture. 7 Comments

When I was younger, I had the idea that ‘electronic’ music wasn’t real. This was all pre NKOTB of course. I guess I felt that if the song couldn’t be played without the use of power then it wasn’t proper. Who knew I was some sort of weird sort of music hippie/elitist?
I watched West Side Story (Mariaaaaaaaaaaaa!) on the weekend at the insistence of my mum. It was really cool. I didn’t realise how many of the songs I knew, the costumes were gorgeous and the choreography timeless. Now, I haven’t read this anywhere but Michael Jackson was obviously influence heavily by this musical, right? I could see him all over it in terms of the dance style, the too-short pants, the silences with the clicking and weird calls (a la Smooth Criminal)…Ooh – found ‘proof’ – have a watch!
My new Mary Jane Doc Martens make me little pigeon toed because I walk differently in them to avoid them digging in to my ankles. Kinda scary how easily your whole gait can be put off by shoes that aren’t comfortable.
Right at this moment I am trying to make rice pudding in the slow cooker. I will let you know how that works out.
On Wednesday Beloved and I will be celebrating 11 years together.

Okay non-book lovers, don’t bother reading any further……..

I read Now by Morris Gleitzman and had a good bawl. (Now follows Once and Then – two books in which we meet Zelda and Felix who stick together through thick and thin in Nazi Germany.) In Now we meet Zelda, the namesake of her grandfather Felix’s childhood friend. In this story Zelda deals with absent parents, Felix’s painful memories and being bullied. Gleitzman uses images of the Victorian Bush fires that are evocative of the holocaust, in a touching and haunting manner. A lovely tribute to the story of Zelda and Felix as told in Once and Then. (Then contains one of my favourite lines in a book ever: ‘If he sees a Nazi he can just do a poo!’)
I am also on a bit of a Scott Westerfeld spree. I loved Peeps and I read So Yesterday recently. I like how he takes ‘radical’ ideas and pitches them at teenagers – it feels like he simultaneously trying to teach them and is also pulling the piss. I enjoyed how Pretties (second book in the Uglies trilogy) seems to be looking to the emo culture and how teens of today are so overstimulated and deadened that they need pain and pills to feel again.
Okay – one more book thing. I read Liar by Justine Labalestier too (She and Westerfeld are a couple I believe). Some people have said it was the best book they have ever read. I wanted to throw it across the room when I got to the ‘twist’. Up until that point I was absolutely hooked – the story was mysterious, engrossing, strange and sexy. Micah is a self-confessed liar with a family illness and attends a progressive New York school. It is there that she meets Zach, who takes an interest in the androgynous, weird Micah. When he is murdered Micah is shattered. When I got to the twist I was ‘you have GOT to be shitting me!’ Also, while I liked the unreliable narrator I am not keen on the ‘did I or didn’t I’ quadruple switch – it was then to me that Micah lost her power and credibilty……………5 minutes later. Now that I think about it – if I think of the twist as linked with the narrator it is maybe not so annoying. I mean, it might not be true, right?

Why I Think I liked ‘Inglourious Basterds’ So Much

Published on May 12, 2010 in Pop Culture and Teaching. 12 Comments

She sits at her lap top wanting to tell you something interesting, poignant or funny. Something that will make you nod or smile or sigh. But instead she thinks about how she has coffee breath and is marinading in her gym clothes, goose-bumps forming on her arms as she cools down to match the Autumn dusk.

Before she showers, puts a load of washing in, tackles the crusty oven tray from 2 nights ago, makes her lunch and packs her gym bag she thinks about the lesson she is team teaching tomorrow with Resident Eccentric Teacher. The students are learning about the holocaust. She got some books out of the library, read them. Felt distressed looking at the grainy images of smiling women in line for food. She always wonders, where is the justice?

If it were you, you would hope that those responsible would pay. But in the end what justice, or vengeance, was there? Would you have to believe in hell, to not implode with the agonising frustration of it all?

It makes her sad. Especially for her grandma with her little sister and their shaved heads, marching through the snow – a story that she wishes she knew better.

Lacost(e)

Published on April 30, 2010 in Nostalgia, Pop Culture and Teaching. 11 Comments

I think I got reverse snobbed at the shops today. However it is often my experience that I will be treated snottily by:

1) Wait-people at pretentious restaurants

2) Shop assistants in pretentious retail stores

Perhaps someone is telling me I shouldn’t shop in such wank-holes. I don’t get it because I am a perfect customer. I shop only to spend money, I am smiling, polite, efficient and know what I want. Yet I will walk into one of these stores only to get the up and down.

Today I went to a department store called Myer. I went in particularly to buy a Country Road (Aussie clothing brand) tote bag. We used to have these when I was in high-school and I was feeling nostalgic and thought it would be great to be my new ‘teacher bag’ to carry all my lesson plans, rolls, books, white-board markers etc in. So I bought it, wound up nattily with a piece of calico. When I unwrapped it to use it then and there in the shop I realised that it wasn’t the glorified medium sized bag of my youth but a huge I’m-heading-off-for-a-dirty-weekend sized bag of adulthood. I lined up at the counter to return it but after waiting a while for the lovely older gentleman shop assistant to one-finger peck through a transaction I decided to head over to the hand-bag section and see I could find something Paris-Hilton-Puppy-sized that might do.

When I discovered the bag that I thought would keep my in good stead for the next few teaching (or god forbid nappy) years I took it to the counter and explained to the lady that I would like return the canvas one and get this one instead.

‘It is three times more expensive’ she exclaimed, looking over her glasses at me.

I couldn’t tell if she was judging me or warning me, while I stuttered through ‘Well – it’ll last me a while!’

And so will my Tag watch and Gucci bag. Instead of being snotty and seeing through me to my feral public high school core she instead looked through and saw my try-hard, want want want blackened little heart.

Grumpy Young Lady? GUILTY Young lady more like it.

O My Brothers

Published on April 28, 2010 in Books n Stuff and Pop Culture. 8 Comments

I read and watched A Clockwork Orange over the weekend. (The one before I read The Road – masochistic much?)

Just in case you don’t know they story – it is about a boy called Alex who, with his gang of friends, runs riot at night, full of drugs, raping women and beating innocent citizens up. When he is caught he is sent to prison. He behaves like a model prisoner and becomes a volunteer for an experiment in rehabilitation. Alex is cured of his violent tendencies but he is then unable to defend himself against his enemies. After a suicide attempt the procedure is reversed. Will Alex go back to his old ways? (I won’t spoil the end but the movie and book end differently.)

I incensed a few people on Facebook when I suggested the film could do with a re-imagining. I understand that it is a classic but what I am saying is, unfortunately, society has come to a place whereby the film portrayal is actually a little tame.

Is me saying this making me part of culture the that is desensitized to ‘ultra-violence’? I think that if my students (who are indeed too young) saw the film they would find it laughable and outdated. Another version would be more powerfully served by remaining more faithful to the book – especially having Alex at least LOOK like a 15 year old. That is what made the book so damn scary.

Controversial as my idea is – it is coming from a place, not meant to disparage Kubrick’s vision but to better show Burgess’.