The Anorak Down Under
Posted by The Powers That Be, Saturday, 6 September 2003 at 2:43 pm, EDT
So, barely two columns in and I’m already travelling the world in order to increase your reading pleasure. No… please don’t thank me, happy to put myself out…
Really.
So… Perth. The most isolated city in the world, and, after Chicago, the second windiest. Hogging a chunk of the Western Australian coastline it seems ignorant of its inferred inhospitality, basking in the ‘winter’ sunshine it wears its wealth and cosmopolitan air with all the smugness of someone who’s damn well earned every cent of its fortunes.
And that’s the point isn’t it rather? My initial impression of a carbon copy America populated by painfully frank Yorkshire men is (while accurate in some ways) barely grazing the surface of it all. This is a nation who have carved themselves a culture and a place to house it all out of a desolate wilderness. An Island that was as potentially hostile as it was large, an island that dwarves ours in every respect. (True, it was already inhabited when they got here and they proceeded to dominate and eradicate the aboriginal population with all of the gusto of… well… of English settlers frankly so let us not get too sanctimonious on that point shall we? Glasshouses and stones spring to mind so maybe we should turn that particular page of history over quickly.) A certain amount of national pride is, therefore, to be expected.
And they have it… in spades. ‘Made in Australia’ emblazons products with all the fierceness of a battle cry. Walk into McDonalds and you’ll find even America’s notorious attempts at culture stamping shoved aside, those bastions of the ‘free-spirit’ such as the Big Mac superceded by the glories of the ‘Oz Burger’ (made with 100% Australian Beef) - presumably making the point that the testicles of Australian Bulls make far better snacks than those of their Yank counterparts; unable and unwilling to test the assertion (there being no Oz Cows in the neighborhood willing to ‘kiss and tell’) I’ll choose to sit on the fence. But the patriotism stands.
There has been much talk of Australian’s dislike of the English, not something I have experienced myself, politeness across the board frankly, but I would have understood it had it been the case. We make a joke of them, a nation of sheep farmers with no history, crass and crude, base. It is an impression that they partly convey if we’re honest, anyone calling cheddar cheese ‘tasty’ rather than ‘mature’ is asking for comeback. But I would hazard that there’s a touch of jealousy inherent in our criticisms, we look down on them as we do all ‘nouveau riche’, wondering how they dare make so much of themselves in so few generations.
But they must be careful, patriotism often leads to jingoism. Already there are a few hints of superiority creeping in, suggestions that not only are they good at what they do but that they do it better than anyone else. Wouldn’t that be an irony, desperate to distance themselves from the ‘Motherland’, they could end up mirroring it more than they would have ever believed. After all it was England having that attitude that put them there in the first place…
G.
Spread the love, it’s good for your skin:
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Listen to: Spirit of the Century - The Blind Boys of Alabama
The musical equivalent of gravy. The thick rich sounds of voices matured to the point of ‘extra-tasty’ (if you’ll forgive the Australianism). Blues and gospel stuff that reaches out to non-fans of the genres. |
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Read: Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Slightly clichéd choice really but it had to mentioned sometime. It is easily forgotten in these enlightened times what a ground-breaking work this was. Never had the super hero genre been so successfully speared and laid out as interesting for those with a mental age above 12, an absolute must have for anyone who has even the slightest interest in the world of graphic storytelling. |
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Watch: The Big Lebowski [1998]
For John Goodman’s ‘World of Pain’ performance and that final joke. |
Categories: Anorakism, Australia
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