Idea Fix - The Blog

Two of my favourite contemporary artist are Jake and Dinos Chapman. The Chapmans’ seem to to be nicely demolishing the contemporary postmodern art world, with its great expressions of emptiness and nothingness without purpose. They seem to be reconceiving what art needs to be in 21st century, opening an all new space…

This artwork featuring Stephen Hawking called “Ubermensch”, speaks for itself about contemporary values.

Here are two views.

I met Jake Chapman at his Melbourne talk a few years back. While Kristen got her copy of Meatphysics signed conversation turned to Chapmans’ artwork “Hell” and how, in an anti-Adorno vein, holocausts themselves have a potential to be considered as acts of the darkest poetry. Much like Chapman’s own piece, “Hell”. His is a very daring and confrontational mind. I felt in the presence of a kindred spirit.

Don’t you think? It has acquired a real chic, deep intellectual appeal and glamour in the early 21st century…

But Sexy?

Well, at least these photos are, of young Croatian, female fascists. Notice the Ustase tattoo in the later on the girls inviting hip.

Women and Fascism is an interesting topic I have been exploring recently. Previously understood as mostly a male dominated movement, transcendental tendencies of the Great Mother and the Jungian Female Archetype have long been part of Fascist body politic. I’ll post about some of these ideas later, here on Idea Fix, where Fascism is discussed openly, playfully, honestly and forthrightly!… the same way the Left has long had the right and the privilege to openly discuss its ideas and ideology and the many grand and differing traditions that have feed off Marxism, Communism and Socialism.

But really we all know Fascism is all about Sex, don’t we, by now? Or do we?

Can you think of a better way to spend Hitler’s birthday than at Cherry Rock Music Fest 08? Put together by James Young and his team, Cherry Rock is a yearly music lane way festival featuring hard rocking Australian and International acts. A last minute venue change meant the event moved from AC/DC lane to The Palace.

James Young is an old friend of mine. He’s acted in two of my movies, “Bloodlust” and “Pearls Before Swine”. In addition, we shot a cameo for him and Jon Hewitt in the new one. He also used to promote Chaser’s “Hard and Fast” - a great place for picking up pussy in the late 80s and early 90s. He was a lawyer but headed into creative areas by running the ad agency SEE. He has now started his own company “Cherry Rock” of which this event is one of its productions.

James Young loves his hard rock. AC/DC,  Stones, Zeppelin, Guns n Roses, Turbo Negro, etc. He loves his Elvis too… especially the King’s latter day sartorial splendor. He was decked out in a fine black Vegas Elvis-style rine stone suit, that “he had, had made up himself”. An excellent MC, James intro’d each band and hyped up the 1000 or so punters at The Palace into a rocking frenzy.

I’m not a huge hard rock fan, preferring synth, electro and moody vocals etc, but I do dig its aggression and what-the-fuck attitude on occasion and this was in ambundance at Cherry Rock.

X were good. The Hell City Glamours really rocked and by this stage I was pissed and getting right into it. The Hitmen were retro hard rock and had an early eighties New Wave mode with the lead singer dancing ala Ian Curtis . The Galvatrons mixed in some synth rock that I really thought was cool. The Raveonettes with their 50s stylings, bop and ace tunes were my favorite act though…

Kristen was up to her usual tricks. She didn’t bring her ID and somehow managed to offend the door man at The Palace (old Metro). I had to make some calls to get her inside and it took some doing. That girl needs a good spanking sometimes… that I’m more than happy to dish out, given half an opportunity…

I scooted before Supersuckers but I’m sure they would have been great. Congrats to Jamie Young and team for pulling together a late minute venue change and carrying the torch locally for hard rocking enthusiasts out there. James is a true fan of this under appreciated music style and it comes across in the fest’s line up and attitude.

Again responding to the State of Emergency in the Australian Film Industry, Robert Connolly has written a paper called Embracing Innovation (aka The White Paper) about the need for innovation in the Australian Film Industry. From a quick glance it looks very interesting.

See here.

Maybe I was wrong about this guy. The Bank wasn’t too bad, Three Dollars had David Wenham in it, who is ace. He produced Romulus, while it wasn’t my cup of tea, I can see why it was made and it also had magic man Eric Bana in it. Connolly is also making a film called Balibo, about the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the murder of the Balibo five. I hope its bloody, brutal and shows both sides of the battle being equally corrupt. Connolly’s quotes on Into the Shadows trailer… are good also. So, Bob Connolly’s OK in our book. We salute him for at least getting off his arse and coming up with a constructive document for much needed change. Why don’t more people do this? Afraid to rock the boat? This Embracing Innovation paper and The MUFF manifesto should act as a guide to what to do at 2020. And Bob C, as he’s on the guest list, if you read this… good luck at the conference. Transform those words about innovation in vital action.

An examination and my own detailed views on Connolly’s paper will be posted in coming weeks.

Daniel Scharf sent me this article (below) by Jim Schembri, Age film critic.

I like Jim Schembri, he has criticised the Australian film industry in the 00’s. He has now embraced and is espousing what we have been saying - the genre philosophy in Australian film making - as outlined in the MUFF manifesto and elsewhere. This theory we have seen proven many times in practice in this country and this decade (see his article). While many critics walk around praising crap like Black Balloon, Clubland, Blueberger, September, etc. Schembri stands firm and tells it like it is.

Here is his article (in blue) with my comments after:

Tough lessons for the film industry

Just saw Tropfest films first movie, September and I don’t want to sound like Bobby Galinsky but this film was so boring, so dull, so pedestrian… I just don’t know what to say.

But I’ll give it a go, anyway…

First, September. The title - it sucks. It’s also a copy of Woody Allen’s film of the same name. So its unoriginal.

Second, the story is paper thin. Here it is. 1968 WA - Boy is friends with Aboriginal boy. Father employs Aboriginal Father. Government brings in equal pay for Aborigines in 1968 (Yes the political correct message, government public service announcement part- OMG!). Minor conflict. Aboriginal Boy runs away to join a boxing troop. The End. Producer John Polson said this was the best script out of 30. What the fuck were the other 29 like? I dare to think. The story is mind numbingly tedious, no one would want to see this tale… and no one did. I wondered why films like Romulus and Black Balloon get praised so much in Australia. Compared to September they truly are masterpieces.

Third, Mise en scene. Endless shots of the Australian out back as a character. How often have you seen this in Australian movies? 100, 200 times? Its not interesting. Its dull. Have a zombie or car chase or nuclear accident happen and the outback could be interesting. But dull shots of the outback is a decidedly Australian cinematic trope, we should loose. Its so, so cliche.

Fourth, the cast. They collectively have the personality of a postage stamp. The young Aboriginal boy is best. His father’s character is a racist portrayal of an Aboriginal Uncle Tom that you can do nothing with accept wince. The white boy’s Dad gives a walking dead performance Romero would be proud of. And the young male lead is a prat and plays a cowardly character.

Fifth, the direction. Peter Carstairs direction is uninspired, awful and insipid. His tale would put dogs to sleep in Vets without the injection. His shorts (a DVD extra) are mildly better, because they last under ten minutes each.

Sixth, I can’t go on, I’m sorry.

You get the idea, surely. Don’t believe me? You just find out for yourself.

The DVD extras are good for a laugh. Learn filmmaking tips from John Polson, Tropfest creator like “Filmmaking is like driving a bus”. You heard it here first, just get a bus drivers manual and go make your next movie, hey presto.

Please, why would Tropfest make this concrete slab of mediocrity?

Polson in the extras complains about making films ‘the Hollywood way’. You mean good? You mean make films people might want to see? He’s probably referencing genre.

Who is this guy Polson anyway? Who gives a shit if he’s Nicole Kidman’s friend or cleans her pool. Apart from running Tropfest what does this turkey do? Siam Sunset, I think I saw it - Shit. His other films look worse. He’s acted in some second rate Australian and US fodder, so what? This is the guru of the future of Australian cinema? Will research him and do a post on Mr Tropfest John Polson, later.

Oh by the way at the local DVD library there was one measly copy of September and 9 copies of Gabriel by Shane Abess, done the genre way. That should speak for itself.

2007 MUFF hit - Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich’s excellent Blackwater blew everyone away at our 35mm screening at the Erwin Rado Theatre in September 2007. We were proud to be the only festival in Australia to have played it, after every other dull fest rejected it and were equally chuffed to World Premiere it at MUFF 8.

We can now add Traucki and Nerlich to our ever growing and important list of MUFF discovered talent!

But in some good news for the Black Water team, their new film has become one the biggest selling Oz movies of 2007. They claim the biggest! They have sold it overseas to over 40 territories and have a theatrical in the UK and Australia next month. So stand by around the world for this cool Dogme style croc attack flick. Its got a documentary feel and is a scary cinema experience.

See story here.

Black Water is also on the cover of the latest issue of IF mag, out now.

Here is the the trailer for Wachowski Brothers film, “Speed Racer”. I’m sure a lot of you may have seen it. I like the work of these guys (the Wachowski’s I mean, especially Larry who is into S&M and has a dominatrix girl friend), though the last Matrix movie was poor. I liked their V For Vendetta producing/writing effort, from a few years ago and Bound is a perverse low budget guilty pleasure.

While I generally dislike CGI, these guys are being creative with it like Robert Rodrigeuz did in Sin City, i.e. to capture a whole new look and color spectrum only possible with the help of CGI, that also recreates the hyper energy or actual look of comics/cartoons.

The films colors look dazzling and startling… like the photographs of that (rumored) famous crack head photographer David La Chapelle. Indeed, the look of “Speed Racer” I will dub the first example of “Crack Cinema”, whose bright and flashing spectrums of color seems to be the cinematic equivalent of crack. Hollywood has been heading in this direction since the hyper action films of Don Simpson and his partner Jerry Bruckheimer and their ‘borrowing’ of the look of Michael Mann’s work. Bruckheimer produced “Thief”, so can perhaps truly claim to have helped invent this look. Another famous coke head Paul Schrader influenced this look as well with American Gigolo. Simposon/Bruckheimer added silly and childish scripts, pumped up machismo, action sequences that look they were directed by or for someone on coke, etc., that all pepper their films and they established a new aesthetic. I dub this look, logically called, ‘Cocaine Cinema’ that appeared through Simpson/Bruckheimer in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Since then, this aesthetic has become the predominant language of the American action film, ever since. It can be seen in the cheap imitation of an imitation works of Hollywood hacks like Brett Ratner, Mc G (!) and other Simpson wannabe’s.

The stakes have been raised though, it seems as the Wachowski brothers have moved from ‘coke’ to ‘crack cinema’. How appropriate this comes from the production house of Joel Silver - who was supposedly the basis for Saul Rubinek’s Lee Donowitz character in True Romance.

Crack cinema appears to be here, people. Look out, Bling Bling…

Here is a review of the new Gillian Armstrong movie Death Defying Acts from intrepid cinematic truth speaker - Bobby Galinsky.

I’ve never been overtly fond of Armstrong’s work and her rise to prominence in the Australia film industry almost heralded the death nell for the excitement of the Oz cinema Renaissance of the 70’s. Some of her early features are good, especially My Brilliant Career, but in recent years what I have seen of her work has been a bit dull.

I have not seen Unfolding Florence, but think I would like that movie having seen and admired the film subject’s erotic art over the years. I’ll find it on DVD.

Anyway, Bobby’s review is entitled: “My Not So Brilliant Career”.

Over to you Mr.Galinsky:

Okay, it’s official: Gillian Armstrong is dead. After meandering through an marginally interesting but ultimately disappointing and highly overrated two decades of film making after MY BRILLIANT CAREER, she tippy-toed through a semi-groovy doco (UNFOLDING FLORENCE) a couple of years ago–convincing government bodies around the world that she was still alive—and truly could take one more grand dive at ruining a great premise and ensure that Rohypnol was just the liquified version of 99% of her films. DEATH DEFYING ACTS is the hat-trick, the triptych of local rubbish that completes the double-act that HEY HEY IT’S ESTHER BLUEBERGER and THE BLACK BALLOON started the year with. No small accomplishment here!

Congratulations to Croatian restaurant Katarina Zrinski for heeding Idea Fix’s call for more Fascist leader portraits to be hung in Melbourne restaurants. See here. They have started what is surely to be a hip new dining trend, by hanging a portrait of Croatian Poglavenik ( Leader) Ante Pavelic! While blood thirsty butchers of the left like Mao and Stalin are ubiquitous and hanging everywhere across Melbourne restaurants, the fascist leader poster issue is still a “hot tomali” of cultural Political Correctness.

In the on going reformation of Fascist political theory, this most noble of ideas must be viewed historically as a bull wark against the dread leveling of Communism and Socialism. Most Fascist leaders must be viewed, at least in part, as commendable, as they stood up for their individual Nations in the fight against Communism - the true Terror of the 20th century.

Pavelic is no angel and has the usual scoreboard of offences against various minorities, but he founded the modern State of Croatia and is clearly a Croatian National hero. Hence his poster boy image at Croatian clubs and restaurant. And Compared to Mao he is a virtual Saint!

The local Jewish community are complaining about the Croatian restaurant. But until they ask for portraits of Mao and Stalin to be removed from Restaurants… how can the community have a problem with minor human rights offenders, by comparison, like Pavelic. Do the Jewish community only complain because their own ethnic identity and Nationalism is contested by their ancestors treatment at the hands of certain misguided Fascist regime’s of yore? The Jewish community proudly has its own National State of Israel now, that, it could be argued, is more Nationalistic than Croatia even. We applaud the State of Israel here at Idea Fix and welcome all Jewish people and thinkers into the new Transcendental Fascist Internationale. You are our friends, we love and respect your people, religion, culture and the great Nation of Israel. Yes, mighty Israel fought for with heroic Jewish old fighters in a swelter of blood and iron. Any future fascist’s should say ’sorry’ for the past excesses of over zealous and misguided leaders of history, but naturally acknowledge this is hardly enough to make up for past errors. The Tribes of Israel are clearly part of the Indo-European geo-political block. In a sense we are all Jews now. But I feel the vocal Jewish Community cannot complain when heroes of the Nationalist movements are made objects of pop culture or National pride, apropos like many in the Left. Fascism, or a new variant there of, is an exciting subject for cultural renewal. While we must acknowledge its past errors and mistakes (no greater than many Left Errors of the USSR?) and look forward to a bright future, with Zion as our staunch ally. We completely support the right of Jewish restaurants to put up portraits of even their own most right wing leaders like Sharon and others, but you cannot dictate the sources of other’s Nationalistic origin or Pride. To do so is hypocritical, retrograde and unproductive.

Plus its only a poster people, lighten up…

Do not back down Melbourne Croatian club, fight the good fight and do not allow anyone to dictate your sources of National pride, all the while acknowledging your proud position in the great Australian experiment.

Here is an Age good food guide review of the restaurant here.

Here is an article on the controversy here.

And here is some info on Ante Pavelic and his anti communist Ustase here.

Katarina Zrinski… you just picked up a new customer! I highly recommend Idea Fix readers to do the same… for the simple act of defiance against the dangerous Left wing hero worship of the likes of Mao. Dine happy under the Poglavenik’s ever watchful eye. Dobar Tek!