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VillageRoadshow AGM, EVICT THEM - Angry Residents
Rebuff Rudo, Pop Porn II, Highlights of 2002 music, Carpe Diem - Eminem does
Robin Williams, Ghost of Paul Keating, Melbourne Film Festival, New Zealand
Trip
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AGM at HOLLYWOOD ON THE GOLDCOAST
The Australian Voice in its quest to find Aussie links
to Hollywood films sent a preference shareholding reporter to the Village Roadshow
AGM at Warner Bros Movie World. He was treated to a trailer of upcoming films
and a day of wild adventure all by himself on the attractions at movieworld.
Here is his report.
Robert Kirby, Chairman of Village Roadshow, told shareholders
and their visitors at sunny Warner Bros Movie World for the AGM that this company
was "unique". This would be the mantra for the meeting. The 900 million dollar
line of credit the company was still arranging was "unique". The combined salary
of the top 8 executives (10 million) may seem obscenely generous for such a
small company, but Robert was again assuring shareholders that this was because
they were "unique". And I'm sure the sort of pain the Kirby brothers said they
felt because of their loss of dividend for the year was "unique" given the generous
2 million dollar salaries they pay themselves. It's always cringe time when
someone pulling in that sort of money talks about understanding the "pain" of
a pensioner who relies on that dividend for an income stream.
UNIQUE UNIQUE UNIQUE
The meeting itself struck me as unique. As a holder of preference
shares for a few months, it was my first meeting. Coming into the huge carpark
at Hollywood on the Gold Coast, I was greeted by the sight of kids holding the
Notices of Meeting, with their parents dressed prepared for a long day of excitement.
As you can imagine, the visitor's table was packed with partners and children
filling in forms! Many of these people sat in the meeting for a half hour or
so and began walking out to enjoy the free refreshments and the rest of the
day on the Lethal Weapon and Wild Wild West rides.
THE SPEECH
Robert Kirby gave his speech to shareholders, and urged us all
to hold on and hang in there so that their investment in movies start to pay
off. We were treated to a trailer of upcoming movies, which Robert Kirby says
shows how all the pain will pay off. The pain to shareholders has been the cutting
off of dividend payments to ordinary shareholders. This is because Village wants
to have a 900 million dollar line of credit (instead of 700 million) due to
the half funding of the two Matrix films (Village's share is a whopping $165
US Million according to Veriety Magazine) as well as the production of other
films including TROY (historical epic starring Brad Pitt and Eric Bana) and
the sequel to Oceans Eleven. The facility has yet to be finalised, the details
will be confidential. The "rocket" for earnings this year after a slow start
hovever will be THE MATRIX sequels. Opening in May, these star wars' films for
the post-modern generation are the lynchpin for Village's hopes.
QUESTION TIME
Questions were then open to shareholders. The first person was
asking questions on behalf of a shareholder in Melbourne (someone told me they
thought it was Stephen Mayne, but no reports on Crikey yet):
1. Contingent Liability to the Tax Department. Village thinks
its contingent liability is nowhere near what the tax department says it is.
In fact, the liability is closer to 85 million dollars.
2. Political Donations. Crikey has commented on the 'good work'(from
a shareholders perspective) village roadshow has done to protect its interests,
especially in radio. Kirby was challenged to stop making donations and reveal
political donations in the ANnual Report like other companies are now beginning
to do. Kirby said that they would continue paying up to political parties and
would consider inserting the details in the report.
3. Independent directors/audit committee. The shareholder also
commented that the number of independent directors on the board was less than
50% and that Village did not meet best practice standards. Kirby said that they
were working on an appointment soon.
4. Executive Renumeration. The shareholder made a comparison between
Village and Boral in terms of executive renumeration. Village pays the Kirby
brothers 2 million each, and six other executives get 1 million each. That's
10 million in a company that barely turns over 400 million dollars. Kirby's
response was that boral is a didferent company. Yes it is. It turns over billions
of dollars. Kirby said that because village was 'unique' and international,
it had to pay to keep the "artistic" talent required to make truly great films.
One wonders whether that talent read the script for PLUTO NASH. So basically,
shareholders have to endure these huge salaries for a pay-off that's five years
down the track if some of the movies are successful.
STUFF THE DIVIDEND, WE WANT FREE ENTRY
No one clapped or cheered for any of the questions at the AGM
except for the man who got up and said that because Village abandoned the dividend,
they should consider introducing a card entitling the shareholder to free admission
to the park. This would be in addition to the book of goodies all shareholders
receive annually.
QC's OPINIONS and SHAFTING PREFERENCE SHARE HOLDERS -How
to keep the company in family hands 101 or All Gain/No Pain
Finally, someone asked a question about Preference shares. Why
are these shares trading at a 40% discount to ordinary shares and if you don't
pay a dividend next year, won't these shares become voting shares? Kirby couldn't
give a reason for the big difference in value between the two classes of shares.
Nor could he guarantee that a dividend would be declared on preference shares
next year. This is an issue that has a huge impact on the future of the company
should VRL not pay a dividend on A preference shares. Half the company's shares
are A preference. They do not carry voting rights. The Kirby's don't own any
preference shares. However, the Kirby's practically exercise control of VRL
because they hold most of the ordinary (voting) shares. The company constitution
says this about A pref shares:
"an a class preference share shall confer no right to vote at
any annual general meeting except... during a period during which any dividend
payable on the A class preference share is more than 6 months in arrears"
The conclusion: If 6 months in arrears, 200 million non-voting
shares become voting shares, and the kirby's have half the vote they had before.
On the question of voting in a pref shares came a startling revelation from
Kirby who was absolutely adament that no, the shares wouldn't become voting
shares if they were not paid next year. Peter Foo (i think) explained that a
dividend was not in arrears if it was not DECLARED. While A pref shareholders
should be paid 10.175c per year, if they were not declared for the year, they're
not in arrears. This work of genius was backed up by QC advice that Roadshow
obtained. However, my reading of the VRL constitution states clearly the way
in which A preference shares must be handed out. There is no such word as "declared"
in the text. In fact, the words say:
"the right to receive in priority to all other classes of shares
a non cumulative dividend payable annually in respect of each financial year..."
This is a right to receive annually. To me, even if not declared,
the right is to receive the dividend and if it is not received it is in arrears.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I'd like to see how the QC's advised on this
one. Obviously, everyone bought the shares on the assumption that the Kirby's
would pay up, because if they didn't, they wouldn't have control of the company.
If my conclusion is correct, you can see why preference shares are wildly undervalued.
Ordinary shareholders do not have a dividend and do not really exercise any
effective control. Preference Shareholders do not exercise control but at least
they get a big dividend (over 10%). If I'm wrong, then the preference shares
will probably stay under the value of ordinary shares.
But there's also the issue of this being a really insincere grab
for power that I think underlies what the family is doing to the company. They
are not willing to sacrifice their own control when they make mistakes. They
are punishing shareholders for their mistakes. I'm thinking that perhaps one
of the conditions of the 900 million dollar line of credit could be that the
company should not pay dividends (though we won't find out because it is 'confidential
and unique'). And when someone says: "hang on a minute, if you stop paying dividends
on preference shares, those shares become voting shares", they turn around and
come up with a clever answer that to me shows they thought long and hard about
how they could retain control of the company even if they were so inept they
couldn't afford to pay a dividend. What that says about acocuntability is disturbing.
Like all shareholders I'm hoping the Matrix pays off big time, and we won't
be asking these questions next year.
POST MEETING
After the meeting, we were lead to the refreshments area. The
poor waiters couldn't keep up with the hoardes of people attacking the table
for the free sandwiches and pastries. The families knew that if they didn't
feed their kids here, they'd be paying the 10 dollars for a hamburger meal.
As for me, I spent the rest of the afternoon on the Lethal Weapon ride, the
scooby doo rollercoaster (surprisingly good) and went three times on the Wild
Wild West ride to cool down. It's pretty hard to stay pissed off with a company
when they have for an AGM, a venue that can reduce adults to little kids.
EVICT THEM
Auburn protests at 'artsy' tenants
11 November 2002
Rudolph and Rachael's dream of owning a house in Auburn were shattered
last night as thousands of 'concerned' and 'angry' residents voiced their disgust
at them and urged council to unanimously pass an order that the couple "remove
all non-traditional poetry visible to the general public or be evicted". The
council and its residents fear that the relatively new arrivals to Auburn are
'ruining' people's perceptions of the place and the authentic "neo islamo ghetto"
style of surrounding units and dwellings. Some were so incensed at the poetry
that they voiced their own anger at the extraordinary meeting in "proper poetic
form":
"What will people think if they come to Auburn one time And see
all of Rudolph and Rachael's poetic slime Posted on their doors AND IT DOESN'T
EVEN RHYME!"
An elderly resident was said to have fainted at the revelation
that the Dickson poetry plasted so publicly on the newly-weds' front door featured
non rhyming poetry. Another resident at the fiery meeting said:
"We don't want this suburb to be turned into some sort Newtown.
A hotch potch of Thai food eating arty farty chardonnay sipping intellectuals
who have nothing better to do with their time than try out wierd hairstyles.
They even make fun of the way we don't brush our hair or shave for a few days
by incorporating it into their fashion sense. And here we have these two, rocking
up to OUR suburb, trying to intellectualise it and stuff. Well f*ck them, we
don't need this in Auburn and we must stop it ourselves if council does nothing."
One Auburn restaurant, who claims to have been "top friends with
Rudo before he came to Auburn" has had a souring of his relationship after dessert.
He wrote to council in a submission:
"I was pretty pissed off with Andre's patisserie opening up a
hoity toity French pastry shop giving us profiterol cakes and gourmet pies (what
hapenned to Big Ben hey?). But when the happy couple invited me and a mate over
for dinner, not only were we treated to a curry dish for dinner, but at dessert,
Rachael brings out this inspired creme caramel type dessert with a french sounding
name and not only that... SHE SAYS SHE MADE IT ALL BY HERSELF. Imagine my horror.
An accomplished non-traditional pies/tabouli/turkish pide chef in Auburn? Could
you imagine if they start feeding this food to other residents in Auburn. It
will be like a heroin plague in our own backyards - you'll have Sheikhs demanding
their wives to make desserts like that, you'll have Steven down the road asking
Ethel to cook it up instead of the sunday night pavlova. Let me tell you, this
will infiltrate our suburbs and bring up the quality of cooked food in our area.
You can imagine how disgusted I was and I told them my mind and haven't spoken
to them since this incident.
"What those two have to realise, is that when they come sauntering
into this suburb, they should be sensitive to OUR expectations and the general
mood of the people of Auburn. But those two like to, literally and metaphorically,
stir the pot by trying to turn Auburn into something it isn't. Why can't they
just go back to where they came from and spare us the indignity of looking like
the bloody Double Bay of the west. And on top of all of that, Rachael had the
temerity to diss Eminem and his posse AT THE DINNER TABLE. Sure, she's not afraid
to pull out that ol' terrorist sympathiser, Seamus Heaney from her cupboard.
Apparently, she's happy with Seamus Heaney's works praising Irish Terrorists
on Vinegar Hill, but she thinks Eminem is moulding the minds of rich teenagers
into becoming bigots without any sense of personal responsibility. Now you work
that out and I'll give you a shish kebab! I mean, we at Auburn have no probs
with Heaney, after all, we read his poetry to inspire us to keep supporting
the fight against the Israeli occupiers in Palestine and English imperialists
in Northern Ireland. But, to diss Eminem with such disregard is a slap in the
face to all us Auburnites. Quite simply, I beg the council to pass the special
resolution and even raid their house and remove their subversive poetry and
big intellectual type books written by hippies and other such terrorist sympathisers
(except the ones we think are good)."
Rudolph and Rachael have so far refused to act on removing the
poetry even though council showed rare quad-partisanship in unanimously voting
for the removal edict. They have refused to comment on the outrage and residents
have noticed that poetry is appearing on their balcony glass door so that even
Satellites from out of space can view it. One resident remarked ominously:
"There is a line. We have to draw it. The line was pushed with
Andre's patisserie. But these two intellectual wannabes come squatting to OUR
suburb and try to destroy the very fabric of our existence, and want to turn
the line into an elastic one. Well, guess what happens when they stretch the
elastic so far out of kilter and put their fancy french desserts in them...
it comes back with greater force in our face. Let's stop them slingshotting
us NOW before it's too late. For the sake of Auburn, they must be stopped."
POP PORN II - FEMINISTS CARPE
DIEM ALL OVER MEN
23
November 2002
Porn Aesthetics is no longer high fashion anymore, it has entered
the mainstream with the popularisation of 'porn star' T shirts and enters through
radio stations daily in the hyper-sexed hip hop music coming out (much of it
produced by the Neptunes). And for those of you that think porn demeans women,
the most over-sexed music is coming in overtly sexual dialogue from female voices.
Missy Elliot's new song, WORK IT, twists porn convention by setting up a female
character who is assertive rather than the other way around:
I'd like to get to know ya, so I can show ya
Put the pussy on ya, like I told ya
Gimme all your numbers so I can phone ya
Your girl acting stank then call me ov-ah
Not on the bed, lay me on your sofa
Call before you come, I need to shave my cho-cha
you do or you don't or you will or wont cha
go downtown and eat it like a vulcha
see my hips and my tips dont cha
see my ass and my lips dont cha
Verse 2 highlight
I'm not a prostitute but I can give you whatchu want
I love your braids and your mouth full of fronts
Love the way my ass go ba-bump ba-bump bump
Keep your eyes on my ba-bump ba-bump bump
And think you can handle this ga-donk ga-donk donk
Take my thong off and my ass go boom
Cut the lights off so you see what I can do
Just in case you think this music is not 'mainstream', I just
learned that Missy's track is number 2 on the US charts, behind Eminem's masterful
single from the movie 8 mile (more on the link with Eminem and pop porn later).
But if Missy Elliot's track is tongue in cheek and also gives room for men to
make choices about her, check out this song. I heard blaring out of a homeboy's
hotted up WRX loudspeakers on Punchbowl Road. The female commands:
Lick my pussy and my crack
My neck, My back
First you gotta put your neck into it
Don't stop just do it do it
Then...you roll yo tounge from the crack--back to da front
Then you suck it all till I shake dat cum nigga
Make sure I keep bustin' nuts nigga
All over yo face and stuff
Slow head show me so much love
The best head come from a thug
The dick, good thick and long
Slow fuckin' till da crack of dawn
On da edge makin' faces and stuff
Through da night makin' so much love
Dead sleep when da sun comes up
So lick it now, lick it good
Lick dis pussy just like you should
Right now lick it good,
KHIA
And what do the men have to say about this? Well, they're still
obsessed with their mothers. NO wonder female artists are so assertive - men
are increasingly 'demasculanised' in pop music. If Eminem isn't enough evidence
of false bravura masking deep rooted issues with strong females (i.e. em's depiction
of his wife could well be a Missy Elliot type girl), what do other men say about
porn? Well this male artist is agonising about his mum's reaction to a movie
on television:
Half way through the movie naked bodies getting groovy on the
screen
Mom she changes channels, turns away she can't believe what I just seen
Embarressed she starts to clean
It's just porn, mom, your running away
You wouldn't believe what the kids see today
It's just porn, mom, and it won't go away
Wherever you turn you find porn everyday.
The Trucks, It's Just Porn.
Wherever you look, males are increasingly juvenile in their attitude
toward sex. Just look at the movies Road Trip or Dude, Where's My
Car. Eminem's music is full of obsenity and vulgarity, but again it's often
very cartoonish and teenagerish. The trucks are worried about their embarrassed
middle class mom watching a movie with a sex scene in it. "I wanna do it with
Madonna" is another juvenile song that could come out of the fantasy of a 14
year old kid. Justin Timberlake sings in falsetto "I just wanna love you baby.
yeah." This contrasted with women telling men to eat them like a vulcha and
lick their cracks.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SOCIETY? I read in the Financial
Rreview that Japan was covering up its excellent economic shape so as not to
draw attention to itself. Remember how in the 80s there was widespread paranoia
about Japan buying the entire world? Anyway, this trend in pop could be similar
to that. Maybe the male has found that the best way to self preserve their way
of life is to be a lot more clever about the way they obtain sex. They'll turn
into sensitive new age guys. Even the way men film "hot chicks" is
different. Rupert Murdoch has deleted the page three girls from his metropolitan
dailies in Sydney and replaced them with models from 'fashion shows' or some
movie premiere featuring a leggy actress. Road Trip films the inside of the
girls' locker room as the fantasy of the freshman telling the story (Tom Green)
rather than an actual point of view shot of the male in the lockeroom. Even
if this new world where men go all 'sensitive' to get sex, I think something
has fundamentally changed this time around. You'd be hard pressed to find such
a consistently popular mainstream of female artists who are in control and in
charge and at the very same time, men have regressed into point-of-view and
fantasy. Furthermore, the women still remain women... Missy Elliot's not a domanatrix
of a woman in man's clothing, she's just a woman who needs sex that'll make
her happy. And in a way, this is a reflection of the 2000s, where we are finally
at a point where the promise of the sexual revolution can be achieved due to
scientific advancement. It's also not coincidental that the increasing destruction
of privacy is accompanied by an increase in unhidden sexual lyric and the mainstreamisation
of pornography and reality shows (the same difference) on television. Are we
abandoning the notion of God, who is the one who can see everything we do, and
replacing him with the public sphere, where everyone can see everything we do?
This could be why Conservatives really have to fight scientific
change alongside pornography. It's their last bastion to maintain moral control
over society. This is why they have to fight lyrics in albums and films like
Baise Mois alongside the quest to ban stem cell research. Why? Because this
century is quite simply th time when Science is able to 'help out' cultural
change - and this includes the fundamental way we define words like 'family',
'freedom' and 'femininity'. And this is bad news for conservatives because if
we have a world where freedom of speech thrives while the world DOESN'T collapse,
what sort of legitimacy will those who are scaremongering now have? For now
however, President Bush has the power to fundamentally reverse both the cultural
and scientific march forward - but is this just a set back to a new world? THe
most important war going on right now is not the war on terrorism, of which
most people are supportive of in principle. The war will be the way in which
elites will want to control us in an age where we are more educated and more
able to look after ourselves, exactly how Stuart Mills described the most perfect
democracy. And in an information age, we have to make sure that in order to
develop into the best possible individual that God intended for us, we have
to stand up to protect our public sphere and all information that accompanies
it, whether it be challenging any attempts to censure our music, our literature,
our films and/or our porn.
CARPE DIEM
Eminem does Robin Williams
(without standing on tables)
You better lose yourself in-
The music, the moment, you own it,
You better never let it go
You only get one shot
Do not miss your chance to blow-
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime
Eminem's "Lose Yourself"
from the 8 Mile Soundtrack demonstrates an artist so at ease with shifting character,
an artist who so completely understands Hollywood narrative, who in one year
can put out a prodigious amount of music that thrills with its dextrous technique
and expertly inventive delivery that it confirms my belief that he is the most
significant figure in music since Nirvana.
Lose Yourself is one of those songs that seem completely out of whack with Eminem.
Hardly the stuff of a man equally at home with portrayals of nihilistic losers
with mama problems. It's a rap that utilises the themes of a Kennedy speech
or a James Stewart monologue in a Capra film. It is about the individual being
able to triumph over all of life's adversities, and even to use those adversities
to their advantage if only they can take that moment, stand on that table and
think outside the square, lose themself in the moment, but by God, you must
take that moment or you'll be bitter and squander your true potential. The song's
Carpe Diem is spelt out from the very start, even before the chorus, in the
opening question to his audience (notice the direct use of the word seize -
subtly used because it's the only time the word is mentioned in the track):
"Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever
wanted, one moment, would you capture it? or would you just let it slip?"
While Eminem seems to be changing his character and colours with this song (after
all, one of his songs on the Slim Shady Show was "say goodbye to hollywood"),
I don't think it is as big a departure from his previous albums. Eminem has
always emphasised personal responsibility - perhaps it is the anarchic side
of his music that deems personal responsibility to be absolutely essential.
His tirades against authority figures who try to legislate against his music,
who try to prescribe a meaning for his words, who misinterpret his intentions,
all logically lend themselves to the notion that Eminem regards personal responsibility
as paramount. Why else then would he lambast parents who leave their children
alone to listen to his violent and mysoginist lyrics? His own issues with his
parents, the absent father that came out of the woodworks when Eminem had a
multi-platinum album and his own daughter stress that he believes the best protection
of an individual lies not with a prescriptive and overbearing Government but
individuals who are free to realise their full potential and take responsibility
for their actions in their personal lives and when they bring up their children.
So, even though Eminem is probably in the skin of another character in "Lose
Yourself" - that of the movie's protagonist, this inspirational and strangely
one-textual track seems to fit in with the broader body of work he has produced.
This song, which will certainly hit the number one position on charts all around
the world, would make even the most obtuse parent happy - Eminem is using his
talent to spread the Hollywood gospel in the words of a generation that can
often become detached from the mainstream. The outsider, the disposessed and
the isolated can survive and thrive if only they recognise that opportunities
should not and cannot be squandered. If the movie is any good - and with Curtis
Hanson directing it would have to be better than any rock star in a movie film
for a long time - I think Eminem could be standing next March on the oscars
podium with the best song oscar for this song. And if there were any doubts
about his lyrical dexterity, the chorus (printed at the start of this article)
demonstrates how clever the writing is. Just look at the way the lines interact
within the stanza. The last two lines are a perfect example. The second last
line actually ends in the last line "Do not miss your chance to blow/This
opportunity" while simulataneously being another sentence as well "This
opportunity comes once in a lifetime". Such sophisticated technique, and
such an inspirational song, will be put on study lists to simultaneously torment
and inspire school children, and will cement Eminem's position as one of the
great writers of the 21st century.
26 October 2002
MURDOCH'S NY POST CASTS
THE FIRST STONE AT JACKASS
I'm a fan of the crazy antics of
MTV's Jackass crew which last weekend found its way into cinemas across the
United States. Their humour is basically a mix of often vulgar stunts and Candid
Camera type scenarios. This show riled many US politicians and the protagonists
were accused of being irresponsible as some children tried some of the dangerous
stunts and sustained injuries. Expecting bad reviews, I was trawling the net
on Friday and thankfully, Rupert's US tabloid, the New York Post, exceeded my
expectation.
Their shocked reviewer Lou Lumenick, gave the film a score of ZERO STARS. He
must've rushed to an opening night screening because Viacom didn't have test
screenings for the press. Here is how he concluded the review:
"The depressing thing is the mostly male audience at a screening last night
laughed heartily at what was half a step up from a snuff film - an appalling
illustration of just how low corporate America will pander to make a buck."
I thought the last bit about corporate america was a little trite coming from
a news limited owned publication. The duplicity of that statement can be shown
with two examples.
1. Lou Lumenick himself has given similarly disturbing and violent films more
credit. For example, Fox's own film FIGHT CLUB was given 3 out of 4 stars. It
is a film that respected film critic Roger Ebert called: "the most frankly
and cheerfully fascist big-star movie since Death Wish, a celebration of violence
in which the heroes write themselves a license to drink, smoke, screw and beat
one another up."
Unlike Jackass, where the protagonists inflict the violence on themselves, Fight
Club glorifies in violence against perceived enemies, including Capitalism.
Nastiness is inflicted, often unknowingly against OTHER people. The ending of
Fight Club itself reinterprets the happy ending of a Hollywood film in the destruction
of the symbols of capitalism. Now, I loved Fight Club and think it is one of
the great works of 90s cinema. While it is not necessarily fascist, at face
level, at narrative level, it IS. ANd Lou Lumenick, if he decides to take one
movie literally and another movie with more intellectual grace and subtlety,
should apply the SAME criteria to all his reviews. Therefore he should have
looked behind the antics of Jackass to uncover deeper rationalisations for the
going ons. And to lambast Jackass because stupid children DO NOT FOLLOW the
disclaimers, is to lambast Superman because kids jumped off roofs of houses
thinking they were superman. Why couldn't Lou be honest. I didn't like it. I
don't like this sort of humour. Don't turn it into a bankrupt intellectual point
like "this is irresponsible because people will copy these stunts"
or going so far as to refer to it as a step above a snuff film.
2. Paul Sheehan in today's (28.10.02) Herald referenced earlier reports about
how in Los Angeles, police pursuits are up 40% in areas of Los Angeles where
the chases are televised. Some even wave to the helicopters, knowing they are
being filmed live. Fox News ratings' DOUBLES during these chases. How many people's
lives are at risk because Fox and other networks decide to televise these dangerous
pursuits in a grab for ratings and the resulting monetary benefits to the networks
that those ratings bring.
Box Office estimates show that the 5 million dollar movie has made 22 million
US in its first weekend. I suppose it'll make all those semi-snuff makers at
Viacom feel a lot less guilty over this appalling film attracting young impressionable
teenage males! I can't wait for Mr Lumenick to top himself when the obligatory
sequel to Jackass is released.
28 October 2002
THE GHOST OF PAUL KEATING
- Indonesian Engagement
The Bali Bombings came as a huge
shocks. With the USA constantly warning about 'terror threats', we were complacently
snide in dismissing them as war mongering and cold-war fear tactics to unit
people to President Bush's ministerial zeal to finish off his father's dirty
business and make his mates a few billion dollars richer. Such cynicism diappeared
on October 12. Unlike the cold war, these terrorists would carry out their threats
and their absolute rejection of civility in any place and with a brilliantly
executed cold hearted brutality. We have to realise that fundamental Islamic
terrorism threatens our way of life and our openness, principles of rules of
law and undermine democracy itself. This threat must be ruthlessly pursued for
the sake of humanity. There's an underlying irony in the term "fight for
peace", but let's not forget all those peace marchers from Vietnan at the
rallies urging the Government to liberate East Timor.
John Howard's dealing with the
crisis has been expert. Even on the night of the attack, he refused to engage
in the Independence Day banter that we expect from a movie hero president. On
Sixty Minutes, he refused to be goaded into President Bush type cowboy antics,
even though he was egged on by Richard Carleton. This is what Howard said:
"I think what we want is a
measured, sensible, but powerful reaction. The fist thing we do is comfort the
victims of this attack... we have to prepare ourselves for a large number of
australian deaths... you have to find out what hapenned, why it hapenned and
who did it and react appropriately... we are going to find out who did it -
in a situation like this you don't lash out blindly."
Howard prepared the nation for
the long road and the difficulty we would have in bringing this dark and tragic
episode to a close. For that, he should be congratulated. As much as the PMs
policies fill me with dread, he was at his best that night - showing the same
character and strength as he did after the Port Arthur massacres.
But Howard's reaction to the tragedy
brings into strong light that perhaps we could have done more to prevent this
disaster. In this, I'm talking about our detachment from Indonesia. The Federal
Government is finally admitting it needs to engage much more closely with Indonesia
and Peter Costello's speech admitting that our future (by necessity) lies with
asia puts into perspective Keating's security pact with Indonesia. I always
thought Keating's policy on Indonesia was flawed, but the events of the last
few days show that the Keating doctrine is our only choice (apart from paranoia
and war). Keating was a true advocate of Carpe Diem, unfortunately not all of
us did or liked the ramifications that we saw his policies would bring us. Below
are some excerpts from Paul Keating and then Peter Costello's speech on 16/10/2002
Paul Keating 7 April 1992:
It depends on establishing beyond doubt –
- that Asia is where our future substantially lies;
- that we can and must go there;
- and that this course we are on is irreversible.
What John Curtin said in 1942 is right for us in 1992: "On what we now
do depends everything we may like to do."
---
Paul Keating in 1997 (in a remarkable and now eerie discussion of Samuel Huntington's
accusations that Keating's doctrine equals the decline of australian civilisation):
“What I did say, and many times, was that Australia was not Asian or European
or American or anything except Australian. This is what history and geography
have delivered us. It is the only option we have and one which we have every
reason to celebrate...
I certainly believe that in a way which has never been true in the past, all
Australia’s principal interests now come together in Asia. As Prime Minister
I wanted to sharpen the focus on the region around us. This is the part of the
world we live in. This is where we can have the most influence and where we
can make a difference. It is where our future predominantly lies. It remains
in my view the foreign policy area where investment of time by Australian political
leaders is most needed and can have the greatest impact.
And because the stakes for Australia were and are so high, and because there
were powerful cultural and historical forces resisting this transition, I wanted
to make our intention abundantly clear.”
-A Prospect of Europe, Robert Schuman Lecture by Hon Paul Keating, 4 September
1997.
---
Peter Costello in 2002:
"The events of last weekend in Bali have reminded us again all too clearly,
and all too painfully, how Asia and Australia are inextricably linked. Asia's
security problems are our security problems. Asia's future will influence our
future. And Australia has a vital interest in the way the countries of the region
deal with the immense challenges before them... What we must be careful about
is that it (the terrorist attacks) does not lead to a withdrawal of Australian
engagement with Indonesia. We must not withdraw. We must increase our engagement.
In the first place we must increase our engagement on law enforcement."
19 October 2002
US CASE A WARNING TO
NSW
Leave mandatory sentencing
to the barbarians
6 September 2002
A jury will today begin deliberations
on whether to find 13 and 14 year old brothers Alex and Derek King guilty of
murdering their father. The prosecutor argued that Alex masterminded and Derek
carried out the attack on their father with a baseball bat. However, Alex was
allegedly involved in a sexual relationship with a convicted child molester,
Ricky Chavez. In a separate murder trial for the same crime, the same prosecutor
accused Chavez of instigating and killing the boys' father. Not only are the
circumstances surrounding the killing extraordinary - involving a 12 year old
boy who was in love with a pedophile - the prosecution tactics are beyond belief.
Furthermore, the two boys are being tried as adults. Therefore, if they are
convicted of first degree murder, the judge will have to sentence the boys to
life in prison without parole. That's right! A 13 and 14 year old could be given
such a sentence. And that Alex King, the twelve year old "mastermind",
was clearly under the influence of a pedophile makes the whole sordid mess distasteful.
Alex King's diary reads like the fantasies of a teenage girl blindly infatuated
by a member of N Sync. Included is a doodle "AK and RC forever"
amongst other entries like "Before I met Ricky I was strate but now
I am Gay." The prosecutor had the duplicity to use Chavis' molestation
to try to secure a conviction against Chavis, yet in this trial he told the
jury to put aside their distaste for Chavis: "Chavis is the kind of
guy you love to hate... What's lower than a child molester?"
Some of you might wonder what sort
of significance this case has to NSW? Well, it's very significant. In the USA,
the justice system is run by elected prosecutors and judicial officers. In our
system of Government, judges are separated from election to preserve their integrity
and impartiality. After all, if judges were elected, they would be quasi politicians.
Recently however, it has become frequent to politicise judicial descisions.
This has been exacerbated by the Government of the day being unwilling to support
some basic principles of our rule of law.
Only last week, a drunk scrawny
16 year old who trespassed into a laundry of an apartment attached to a pub
was awarded $50000 in compensation for the assault at the hands of the publican,
Mr Newton. The media was in an uproar. How could a trespasser get $50000 from
a man that was only scared for his wife and kids? Considering how strongly the
courts view the right of the individual to defend their homes (from Entick v
Carrington to Plenty v Dillon, our homes are our castles and not all the kings
horses or kings men can interfere, let alone burglars), the media should have
been more considered in its assessment of the reasons for such a large payout!
The reason was that the force used was beyond excessive. It was brutal. It was
so brutal that even the owner of the pub sacked the man. It was so brutal that
the boy was in hospital for an extended period of time and needed a plate in
his head. Of course, we didn't get that story, and it added fuel to Bob Carr's
effort to reform Tort Law. If Mr. Newton got away with this without a penalty
in tort, it would send a message that any trespasser could be beaten to within
an inch of his or her life. A child playing illegally on a construction zone
or some rowdy young children in a mall who do not leave the property after they've
been asked are also trespassers. Would it be fair, just, decent or understandable
for a security guard to corner them and then beat them? Now we can see why a
judge would want to punish Mr. Newton for his excessive actions. We might not
agree with it, but at least we get an alternative picture. With a few exceptions,
we did not get the alternative picture!
Then this week, Carr finally came
closer than ever into making judges impose mandatory sentences for certain categories
of offences. What all this posturing ignores is that judges sit down for weeks
and listen to evidence. That is what they're paid to do. Alan Jones, Bob Carr,
John Brogden or most people in the community do not have the time to listen
to the evidence of the cases. There may be circumstances in which an offender
is guilty of a crime but does not deserve a minimum sentence. A drug addled
person that holds up a convenience store with a Swiss Army Knife is different
from a professional armed robber who has a 22 calibre rifle.
By imposing mandatory sentences,
we continue on the path of undermining the rule of law and judicial independence.
When a government assumes a greater share of the judicial function, then that
function by necessity becomes, just like in the USA, politicised. And if we
do want freedom and safety, we must remember that our version of the rule of
law was a fundamental basis for democratic change in England. When judicial
independence and the integrity of the officers of the law is not supported by
governments, we will see more political opportunism infiltrate our legal system.
We will see cases like the King case, where in order to secure convictions,
every suspect will be put to trial for a murder that only one person has committed.
As human beings, we must resist
our gut feelings and look fully into a case before we pass judgement on whether
a decision reached by the court is correct. And I wouldn't be naive enough to
say that judges get it right all the time. However, when we're not willing to
look into all the facts, how dare we pass judgement or even advocate changes
to the law - especially when they interfere with procedures honed over the last
couple of hundred years and especially when they're procedures which have traditionally
protected a citizen's freedom from the power of the state? Maybe we're becoming
so desensitised in our thirst for vengeance, that we'll forget, just like America
has, the basic dignities that we should afford children (who after all, cannot
vote). And that day could be coming. With victories on mandatory sentencing,
shock jocks and the reactionary press won't be content. They will become emboldened
by their power and their legitimacy as their ideas are etched in the law. And
as long as crime is the bread and butter of commercial radio and television,
there is no legislative measure that will be sufficient. Stories of shocking
crime will always emerge and there will come a time when we will have to stand
up to the reactionary forces that greet every alleged injustice . For now anyway,
I hope we have not begun our descent down that barbaric slippery slope, where
it will not be long before one of the political parties begins treating children
like adults as part of an election platform to get "tough on law and order."
Click Here for the King trial - fascinating
video, diary excerpts and the unbelievable prosecution tactic that tried to
get three people convicted for a crime only one person could commit. UPDATE
1: Alex and Derek King guilty of second degree murder and arson, face up to
seventy years in prison for those offences. Child molester Ricky Chaves is found
innocent! UPDATE 2: Judge throws out verdict in a win for the Rule of Law
NEW ZEALAND ADVENTURE
The longest tale ever told via e mails to
friends and relatives
 
Picture 1: Dominic's First Class Meal on QF25
to Auckland.
Picture 2: Dominic on the way to Wanaka from Queenstown.
Thin Red Line music playing in background.
|
PART ONE
Brisbane Airport
Qantas Lounge, Free Internet
July 2 2002
I've been in Brisbane for an hour now, and two pieces of news are disturbing
me. Firstly, QF25 to Auckland has been delayed by an hour and forty five
minutes due to "technical difficulties." Secondly, 97 people
are reported dead in a mid flight collision between two planes in Southern
Germany. Not even if the Prime Minister's jet was somehow caught up in
this tragedy would it have made me any less nervous about the next flight.
Oh ok, so i'm heartless. God, do you think those e mail spies at ASIO
will get me. Shit, and I just realised I'm reading Michael Moore's absolutely
brilliant STUPID WHITE MEN
click here to read the full five
part series
|
MIFF - Give me a lot
of that please
The Australian Voice Sent out the resident film
critic to Melbourne for a number of one day visits to Melbourne for the Melbourne
International Film Festival. This culminated in a three night visit to check
out the films on offer.
WEDNESDAY 24 July 2002
Is Melbourne unusual or what? I'm not talking about
the weather, or the people or the wierd urban art pieces the hang off the freeway
into the city (something that when Sydney tries comes off as dreary and grey
as Melbourne's weather). No, I'm talking about Spruikers.
SWANSTON STREET SPRUIKERS
In most cities, when you walk past a series of
adult shops, you may find a spruiker telling you about the latest lot of "hot
chicks" in a live show "just about to start mate." Well, walking
down Swanston Street, I went past a few "adult shops" and was not
attacked by one Spruiker. It wasn't until I got to the Golden Tower Cafe
Bar, which is basically a takeaway kebab shop with chairs, that I was accosted
to sample the goods. And it didn't end there, two shops down and it was the
Swanston Walk Cafe that also had intimidating men trying to force me
in for a quick Kebab.
Anyway, the reason why I'm here is that your trusted
paper, the paper that more Australians turn to for their opinions to be formed
for them, has flown me over to Melbourne - in ECONOMY class mind you - on the
airline that Australians still call their own (not for long if that 50% govt
cap is dropped). My brief today was to get in-get out of Melbourne, watch two
films at the festival and make comparisons to the Sydney Film Festival. Well,
from the two films I've seen today, I can say that I'm very excited (more than
Big Kezza) about what Melbourne is doing. Melbourne seems to have the screenings
very well organised. I mean in the eminent stupidity of the Sydney Festival,
sessions in the two cinemas aren't synchronised. This meant that if you had
two films in two different cinemas you couldn't go and see both of them because
of clashing times. In Melbourne, the cinemas are very close to each other, there
are four locations playing films, and the movies are in sync - so you can watch
a 2pm, 4pm, 6pm session in three different locations without having to race
over from one place to another. The two films I saw were real festival type
films. They were both documentaries, both were enlightening, and both will not
end up with a wide cinematic release (they'll be snapped up by cable television
or ABC/SBS).
Click Here to Continue - Waning:
Huge amount of writing
TRACKS TO LISTEN TO -
The best of 2002 so far:
EMINEM: THE SLIM SHADY SHOW
Hands down the best album of 2002. Mind blowingly good, Eminem
continues his amazing relationship with the Zeitgeist, incorporating militaristic
themes even in some of his beats and addressing S11 in subtle ways - whether
it be in the background of the brilliant "My Dad's Gone Crazy", which
samples his own daughter and the sound of a zooming plane or in "White
America" or his personal "Soldier". Eminem continues with his
homophobic persona, but again, his music can be misconstrued as homophobic and
mysoginistic if it is not taken with the knowledge that this is a post-modern
character - where truth and fiction blur, where meaning is broken down and new
meanings are created. Where cardboard cutouts turn into complex characters,
and where the very worst in humanity is exhibited to create some of the most
profound dialogue. Eminem inhibits a world that is completely fictional yet
resonates with our perceptions of reality because he is a pastiche of all we
see in the news, in documentaries, in reality TV and in our own lives. Eminem
could be your son and the truth of his fiction (or perception thereof) is what
makes him controversial. Instead of attacking this form of genius, we should
listen to it and draw some important lessons from it. When I hear or see great
art, it can give me goose bumps. Allegri's Miserere, Durufle's
or Simone Young's amazing conducting of Verdi's Requiem have the
same effect on me as Eminem's Cleaning Out My Closet, which is one
of the most heartfelt and shocking tracks of his album. His outburst against
his mother, culminating in the words "I'm dead to you now, you got your
wish" shows an artistry and a character to match even the great oedipus
complex cardboard cutouts of literature - Eminem is a genuine artist, with a
poet's vocabulary and understanding of rhyme. He is the Neo of rap - at the
height of the most influential art form in popular music today. Expect Eminem
to have an oscar in his hand for best original song if anything he has written
for 8 Mile is as powerfully brutal or remarkably well written as this album.
PS. My opinion of this album gets higher with every listening
of it. I initially didn't think it was worthy of The Marshall Mathers LP - but
when you look more deeply, you'll see how very good this follow up is - and
how integral it is to his last two albums. Eminem is weaving a world here, and
all the albums are integral pieces to that world. Here's to more albums from
the man who has most closely come to creating a movie through his form of music
than any other artist.
Click Here to Read about the Marshall
Mathers Album
SILVERCHAIR: DIORAMA
This album comes a close second to Eminem. Silverchair's music
is so polished, so professional and so complex that I'm surprised that it comes
from a group of kids in Newcastle. Diorama's first track is evidence enough
of the band's supremacy. There are so many different musical styles quoted in
this track, and it's all done accoustically rather than through sampling. But
instead of hip hop quoting pop culture, the track quotes other musical styles
- big band, musicals, and heavy rock all come together when the moon stole Daniel
Johns' slumber. This album could've been big if Johns' could promote it - and
it wouldn't have surprised me that if it caught on in the USA it would've got
grammy noms.
GREEN VELVET: LA LA LAND
Great little track that came out maybe late 2001. Has gained increasing
popularity as the 80s becomes increasingly retro. Reminiscent of the great electronica
bands of the 80s (the song "pocket calculator" comes to mind), the
video clip adds a new dimension to this abstract work.
MISSY ELLIOT: Single: FOR MY PEOPLE (Basement Jaxx remix)
In Missy Elliot's album So Addictive the song appears
in two forms. The first form is interesting enough, but it is Basement Jaxx's
explosive remix that is absolutely addictive. The chorus is wierdly patriotic
- I suppose it has its own version of patriotism, one under the influence with
an atmosphere that is completely slippery and sticky with heat and sweat. Just
look at the sounds that Basement Jaxx add to the background of this track. Formula
One cars racing by, a bell like electronic peel, electronica sounds reminiscent
of 80s futuristic music. The video clip spells out the patriotism a bit more
with Missy in front of a flag. The Album So Addictive is also really sharp -
showing an amazing talent for diversity in musical styles. Jazz, Blues, Hip
Hop, Dance - this album has it all and quotes it all.
MORCHEEBA: Women Lose Weight
Oprah Winfrey had Dr Phil on advising couples who thought their
partners were too fat. One man said on tape that he married a beauty contestant
who a few years later was so fat she "waddled" and that he couldn't
stand seeing her. Obviously, Dr. Phil told him off - what sort of man makes
such a public display of his hatred for the fat chick that was his wife. His
wife wasn't spared for over-eating, and this public form of pathos ended with
them trying to work things out. It's against this background that I heard this
excellent track from Morcheba called Women Lose Weight.
Women Lose Weight is a moderately smoothly toned rap about a man
who kills his wife because she was fat. Very tongue in cheek, it's a great track
that some people could again misconstrue or call inappropriate. Even after he
got caught, the narrator tells us the moral of the story is not that men shouldn't
have to kill their wives, but that:
"keep it trim, keep your marriages healthy. A small message
from Morcheba. "
NELLY: Hot In Here
Already discussed. Simplicity. No depth.
BRITNEY SPEARS: Slave 4 You
One of the most unusual popular tracks to come out of Zomba records.
Not one note of melody in the accompaniment, this would be abject music if it
wasn't for the iconic presence of Spears or its suggestive subject matter that
laid the groundwork for Hot In Here's completely subtextless music porn.
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