Idea Fix - The Blog

Saw the new Aussie film release Cactus. It’s had a bad critical response and box office results so far haven’t been good, but due to my on going critique of the local industry I trotted off to the Kino to check it out. One other person in the cinema at a 9pm session.

The film wasn’t all that bad. Better than I thought. At least its a genre film. Why it hasn’t had better notices I’m unsure. Part of the critical Oz anti genre conspiracy perhaps? Its a semi crime film about a wanna be kidnapper delivering a gambler in debt to somewhere, in the middle of nowhere, where he will get his comeuponce. Travis McMahon from Good Guys Bad Guys plays the kidnapper/hitman well. David Lyons is just as good as the victim. Add Bryan Brown as a psycho cop trying to quit smoking and Shane “Kenny” Jacobsen as a truck driver and would be rescuer of Lyons and you have a good support cast too. Shane Jacobsen would be good in a crime film, he’d make an excellent gangster I’d suspect. And Bryan Brown is always a pleasure to watch.

Jasmine Yuen Carrucan, who has worked on films with Quentin Tarrantino, does a work women like job directing. The cliche of the Oz outback is used, but its isolation is actually part of the story, so its cool. The cinematography is effective to convey this feeling.

The main problem though is the script. Its just a bit corny and unbelievable at times. For example, the motivation of Bryan Brown’s character, a cop who kills one of the main characters, is sort of absurd. So to David Lyons character who feels sympathy for his abducter, when he gets a chance to escape. The film ends on an obtuse moral note that doesn’t ring true of Lyon’s character or the film in general.

What is it with Australian films and morality? Always ladelled on, corn syrup thick and in a condescending way to its audience way. Please, Australian filmmakers, read Nietzsche before you make another film, he’s only been around like120 years and its time you all caught up with the lay of the land. The script has some other odd moments, that mean the film just doesn’t really work. But still its a competent job and a lot better than early 08 turkeys Esther Blueberger and The Black Balloon. You could do worse than see this Aussie flick. But its lacklustre box office continues the Australian Film Industry Crisis. My report on the Film Vic Mindshift conference coming soon.

Yes, this photo is for real. That naughty Heather Mills gets a bit of what she deserves and what Paul McCartney should have done a bit more of. A good old fashioned over the knee spanking. Now its cost him millions when all Heather wanted was to be shown ‘who’s the boss’ and get some good hard slaps across her ass. What is it with Beatles and their women? Such pussies.

Domination is the true way to a women’s heart.

Enjoy the photo. Anyone got any links to more?

A lot of shit is written about Star Wars. So, I thought I’d write about who ‘is’ The Shit in Star Wars. Yes, none other than your friendly neighborhood Ruler of the Universe Emperor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious. I mean, what a legend!

He got rid of those pesky religious nut jobs and terrorists, the Jedi. He brought much needed order to chaos in the Republican shit pile of discord. Some of Palpatine’s innovations include separating Church and State, getting rid of the ineffectual Senate, founding the mighty Galactic Empire and being an excellent multi tasker on many political fronts like domestic security, industrial relations, military strategy and foreign policy. Add to this being the boss of unruly minister without portfolio, Darth Vader, and you have a mighty accomplished political animal.

Played with aplomb, in Lucas’s at times unflattering portrait of the Galactic Empire, by Ian McDiarmid, I think Palpatine is being given a raw deal! By none other than that channel for all things Star Wars, Mr. George Lucas himself. Palpatine is constantly portrayed as Evil, when he clearly is a more balanced figure working towards Galactic unity, strength and wholeness. Palpatine digs both sides of the Force, so is much more balanced than that Galactic dwarf and Buddhist rip off artist, Yoda. He appreciates art, politics, women, sex, intrigue and power like any normal, healthy person. He also manages to keep his thoughts hid from annoying mind reading Jedi pests, that hijacked the Republic, while he goes about saving it and creating something new and better in the Empire.

Here at Idea Fix, we’d like to open the Emperor Palpatine Fan Club, the only one on the net. Probably not, but let me know others? A place to share and care about that misunderstood, humble Galactic ruler with da cool cloaks and da even cooler rhetoric.

Add your comments and send me Palpatine poop to post here on Idea Fix.

What up with this new animated Star Wars movie? It looks shite. Lucas, stop playing with Jar Jar Binks genitals and let new blood who appreciate the Dark Side as well as Light, direct a new episode each of the famed 7, 8 and 9 in the Star Wars saga. And bring the damn Emperor back, as a ghost if necessary, to train new Sith. That sounds sexy.

Ein report, mein leiblings, von The St.Kilda Film Fest Opening Night, 2008.

First, the films. A tad mediocre, was the general consensus. Exceptions, The Funk by Chris Jones and Melanie Coombs, Nash Edgerton’s film clip and Summer Breaks by Sean Kruck. The Funk was snappy, clever and dark, three things I like. The Edgerton clip used some interesting footage and juxtapositions. And Summer Breaks had a teen energy that worked but it could have had a bit more substance. Len’s Love Story and Yolk were both about mental illness or down syndrome… being the PC flavor of the month this year lead by The Black Balloon. As for Wind, I’ve passed wind better than this film. The Roger Spottiswoode (who I met briefly last year), short The Touch Of a Kiss. had some good editing and shots of Spanish dancing but was little more than a well shot film clip and bit light weight.

Jason Turley, the MUFF shorts programmer, who accompanied me, said he would have rejected all but those two or three praised above, from MUFF. So there you go my dears, MUFF has high standards! MUFF 8 shorts like Forged by David No, Lap Of Death by Jean Luc Synikas, The Interrogation of Bryan by Tom Salisbury and Physical Graffitti by Daniel Hayward all blew me away at my own festival at the quality of the work we show and that doesn’t get selected elsewhere. I have not seen many of these shorts play at other festivals and they all showcase major new Australian directing talent.

But anyway back to St.Kilda, the fest has some other good shorts to look out for over the five days. See their catalogue for details.

The host for the Opening Night, by the way, was inspired. Pete Smith did a great job with showbiz flair and suitable memories about the Palais venue.

Then onto the after party. The main reason to go, was sadly not the free piss up it normally is, with only one free drink on offer. I got palmed a few extra drink cards and bought a few rounds, as well, so soon Jason and I were on the rampage. I chatted to many industry cognoscenti like fest director Paul Harris, Richard Sowada, Jeremy Weinstein, Damian Walshe Howling (’Benji’ from Underbelly), Greg Sitch, Mark Spratt and many others. I spoke to a female circus acrobat who wanted to liven things up by staring a ‘pashing’ contest. I was all for it, but not sure how some industry professionals might take to it. Jason Turley was eyeing Rose Byrne and telling me how ‘gorgoeous’ she was. She’s a new Aussie ‘it’ girl, who has been in some major Hollywood stuff of late and is coming out in The Tender Hook later in the year. We got stupid and hung out ’til late, as you do. I need to rope in these big nights out, as I have a flu that is just lingering and I can’t be fucked getting antibiotics. Nights on the bricks like these, makes it all linger longer.

St.Kilda fest is a good short film event and Paul Harris (in his tenth year) should be proud of his captain ship of the festival by the bay. He could be a little more risque on some Opening Night films. But, hey, who am I to judge, beeatchhhs! But do bring back the free booze for the 09 Opening, there’s a good chap…

Its been a busy few weeks. I’ve attended three OZ film events and will share my thoughts on them in the coming days. The first was my reaction to the Framed Open Channel forum of April 24. I was on a panel with James Hewison, now Madman cinema’s head, Tait Brady from the FFC, Megan Gardiner from Film Vic and Andrew Apostola from The Portable Film Festival, all hosted by filmmaker Peter George.

The questions were fairly broad concerning getting films into festivals and distribution possiblities. James spoke about Madman’s innovative role in Australian distribution and about how he recently joined them, Tait spoke about the producers off set, the ramifications of Screen Australia and the importance of certain major festivals like Cannes, Toronto and Rotterdam. Megan spoke about the role of Film Victoria in assisting filmmakers selected to International Film festivals actually getting to the festival and various grants for such. Andrew Apostola spoke about content platform diversification and his initiatives at The Portable Film Festival.

James and I spoke of the importance of seeing films still at a cinema. I expounded the importance of DVD’s as a forum for watching cinema today, like Criterion collection and DVD extras, etc. Tait spoke of the lack of or reduced revenue streams that can come from digital content. My own feelings are that Digital formats are great, especialy for short films or music videos and a whole world is expanding, that is open to everyone with a computer. This is all good. But feature films are best viewed at a cinema, at home on Large TV’s or home cinema from DVD or Blu Ray or on a laptop when the other two are unavailable or one is in transit.

Tait from the FFC spoke about the lack of good genre scripts he receives. If you have a good genre script send it to Tait Brady at the FFC, as he does not get enough he says. I know from experience at MUFF at least 20 local filmmakers who have excellent projects, all genre related, in various stages of development or script writing. I said that maybe first time filmmakers might feel intimidated going straight to the FFC, as it requires Sales Agent attachments and Distribution agreements, etc., that most first time filmmakers do not usually have organised. So maybe lets overcome this issue, the FFC I believe can see scripts at various stages of development, i.e. before any attachments, so get those genre scripts in the mail, people.

I spoke about genre, how cool Underbelly was, how getting your first short or feature into Cannes should not always be your first priority. I suggested building up to it through a first film playing fests like MIFF and MUFF, then a second aiming at Berlin / Rotterdam axis, then maybe a third aimed at Cannes, etc. I suggested having a low budget guerilla film in development, at the same time as applying for funding for a larger industry standard budget project.

Andrew Apostola’s ideas were very interesting and we both I think felt like ‘the outlaws’ on stage. Regarding Digital Cinema you can see these portable platforms playing a larger part in how content is viewed in the future. Ever the iconoclast, I quoted David Lynch on watching a feature on a mobile phone or ipod, being “a terrible sadness”. But still one can’t help but be excited at the possiblities for rebel short film making on You Tube, ipods and laptops. Its clear cinema is expanding into these platforms and as small monitor resolution gets better, it becomes another vital medium for us to watch cinema. Shit, I bought one of these cheap mini dvd/monitor sets in Thailand, that I enjoyed on the way back on the plane, with my pirated mainstream release booty, so I dig it, baby…

All round it was productive session with near full attendance. Great people came up afterwards to chat, too.

Stand by for reports of St.Kilda Film Fest and Film Vic’s Mindshift conference.

It really is! Think about it people. All so called exponents of the Multiculturist worldview always expand upon ideas of the Other, respect for different cultures and tolerance, etc. But these opinions are always broadcast by those in positions of power and privilege, to keep the Other at a safe distance. i.e. usually operating in some demeaning lower strata of the Capitalist system. Our country is multicultural, but who drives our cabs? Works at 711 or service stations, etc? Capitalism is merely importing for itself new exploitable working class units. More easily exploited, in fact sometimes, due to lack of knowledge of Western notions such as unions, access to education before arrival here and even knowledge of the local language and tongue.

Slavoj Zizek noticed how at the same time talk of class struggle was fading from public discourse, the rise of Multiculturist speak was growing. It became an ersatz class struggle. Zizek considers multiculturism a part of Global Capitalism’s hegemonic totality. Zizek notes how whenever we talk of the Other, it is always in a condescending way of what he calls ‘the reduced Other’. The poor Aborigines needs us to say sorry to them, owww, the poor Asian’s need our help with language, aren’t we sweet?, etc. Zizek also notes that we respect other cultures as they fit ours. When issues of Muslim misogyny or religious based terrorism are raised our tolerance ends, or the example Zizek uses of respecting Hindu’s… but even their custom of throwing the wife on the funeral pyre with her dead husband?

Zizek also notes the only way to truly not be racist is to be able to exchange racist jokes with other races and to be comfortable about it. When we play the Political Correctness game its a form of reverse racism, that is equally as insulting as open racism. We consider the Other too ’sensitive’ to hear racist jokes, we must protect her from our unspoken notions of superiority, etc.

I have long been deeply suspicious of multiculturism as a forced political concept. It can be used to destroy national cultures to create a mish mash nowhere land, ripe for Capitalist exploitation. The ideal ‘wasteland’ where Capitalism’s code can play out in its endless emptyness.

Hiding behind the PC Multiculturist, is always privilege. An understanding that, yes, we tolerate you ‘the Other’, as long as you fit into our general Western humanist liberal perspective. Slightly left capitalist newspapers, theatre, a little tennis, wine tasting, a nice brie, a walk in the park, riding a bike, a little ABC TV, some alternative radio and culture. It’s all so fucking trite and bourgeoisie.

I should like to expand these ideas in another post but for now I’ll leave you with a cool quote from our Slovakian provocateur Mr. Zizek, who says:

“Multiculturalism is a racism which empties its own position of all
positive content . . . but nevertheless retains this position as the
privileged empty point of universality from which one is able to
appreciate (and depreciate) properly other particular cultures — the
multiculturalist respect for the Other’s specificity, is the very form
of asserting one’s own superiority’

Well, the people have spoken. Someone directed me to a poll created on Vizu polls recently, “Was Hitler a Cool guy?” and 76% of people voted “Yeah, he was awesome”.

So apparently Hitler is cool! See here.

I post this really to make a point about democracy and polls, they can bring back results people don’t like. To give just one example, the US free the Iraqi people (supposedly), so they can vote in the exact kind of Muslim theocracy that will be the ideal enemy of the States. Democracy is a crap shoot and if you don’t believe me, just cast your vote above and see how you go.

And you know what? Holocaust aside, Hitler had some good points. More on this later, peeps…

If you want a drink after 2am in Melbourne, its going to be a dry argument.

In an retrograde decision all Melbourne clubs now have curfews because John Brumby can’t control law and order in his own State. The clear way to deal with additional violence on city streets is more and better paid Police patrolling the CBD on weekends and maybe even implementing a people’s militia to keep control. The redirection at train stations of large gangs (mostly of Ethnic origins) from the CBD, would be a good idea too.

Not some absurd return to 1920’s prohibition. This decision will ruin Melbourne’s cosmoploitan bar and club reputation that is world famous, all becuase the Premiere can’t control the citzens in his own state.

Mr Brumby if you can’t control your Sovereign territory, maybe a people’s militia’s needs to step into the breech, under a Transcendental Fascist structure, that could easily and peacefully keep law and order in the streets, with a little help and backing from comrades in the Police. Mr Brumby, do not deprive Victorians of their freedoms and liberties, all because you can’t keep a handle on youth Violence!

And what of the underlying issues behind youth Aggression? The youth of today are so Violent for simple reasons, i.e. they have nothing to live for. No ideals, no existential spiritual path, no leaders, no hero’s (except empty headed sport stars and moronic celebrities), basically, no future. Working with no discernible goal, empty shopping at Malls and getting drunk from depression on weekends, is the spiritual vista open to todays youth. Tiny cogs in the giant Capitalist machine, the endless “Hell with air conditioning” is their present reality

Another future is possible!

And it does not begin by restricting the freedoms of all noble citizens of Victoria.

I have been a life long fan of Dr Who. I’m the only non-nerd Dr Who fan in the world or I keep my nerdiness well hidden, one of the two. But with the new series and its driving force Russell T Davies, I can keep silent no longer!

I love the original series, all of it, right up to the end of the Tom Baker era, then the Peter Davison and Colin Baker eras were alright, with the Sylvester McCoy era, generally, sucking Sontaran dick.

So, it was with delight a few years back that I heard of the shows return, after that mediocre 90’s telemovie. Russell T Davies, the resurrector of the show, gets for this one feat a place on the Gallifreyian council, guaranteed.

Christopher Ecceleston’s new Doctor was cool, David Tennant’s is equally good. Billie Piper was a good companion too, pert, bit of a tart, cheeky, etc. The show brought back old villains and had some good episodes, vastly improved the special effects and even had some effective tearjerker comebacks from the likes of my favourite female companion Sarah Jane Smith. This is all the good news.

Now, the bad news. It’s the stories. They kind of suck. They set up a villain or story, then there is 30 minutes of manic peril, followed by a conclusion. Now the FX are great, etc. But that’s all we get now. Dr Who used to be about ideas, a whole Galaxy of them.

We have to blame Russell T Davies, the new shows shamen. Maybe he’s under some form of experimental mind control from Davros? He wrote most of the offending episodes. They’re a bit ‘gay’. I mean the term in the way of ‘lame’, not homosexual; yes I know Davies invented “Queer as Folk”, a gay lifestyle drama. Maybe that’s the problem. The show is too politically correct. The Villains in Dr Who were never PC. They were always manifestations of various forms of alien fascism. Ruthless, blood curdling, terrifying, once you get over the plastic suits and look at the content of the show.

Not only that, the original show was rich on ideas about every conceivable sci fi tale, parable, metaphor or situation you can imagine in this dimension or the next. Classic Who touched many political, ethical and social issues and not in some ‘gay’ PC way either, but in a way that was unsettling, original and unconventional.

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Dr Who was daring as a children’s show, for being so legitimately disturbing. It treated its audience, both child and adult alike, as if they had brains and could actually make up their own minds about what they see. The Doctor is a very morally ambivalent character, essentially good but nuanced and with a dark side. Best exemplified in episodes like Genesis of the Daleks, The Green Death, The Silurians, Tomb of the Cybermen, The Invasion, The Dalek Invasion Of Earth, Talons of Weng Chiang, The Ark In Space, The Sontaran Experiment and many others. These episodes all dealt with issues using more intelligence, heavier subject matter and better scripts than most American sci fi movie blockbusters of today! I shit you, not.

While we may not expect such daring and intelligence to be manifest in the beige and pop TV land of the 00’s. I was hoping to see some of the great ideas of Who return. And they have sometimes. Mark Gatiss, from League of Gentlemen, has written a few good eps in the new show and the one with the statues that moved from the last season, was classic Who. Even, the RTD’s episode that had Derek Jacobi revealed as the Master, made the hair stand up on my neck and had me jump for joy (ala Tom Cruise), on the sofa at this arch villain’s return. What a shame they had to bring in John Simm, who gave us a ‘too much Ritalin’ young funky Master. Jacobi’s Master was magisterial and magnificent, but all too brief, he can come back, though. After all the show is about time travel…

In coming weeks I’ll review a classic Who episode, to explicate the complexities of ideas going on in the old show and the apparent idea/content wasteland of the current series. Russell T Davies, get off the cybercock and start bringing Ideas back to Who. Daring, challenging, chilling ideas, need to be new catch words at the BBC Wales. The episode about the Who fan’s video diary was good Mr Davies, so you have ideas within you. Channel the disturbing non-PC threat of the original show, its there to see in hundreds of classic episodes. Do that and you will be nominated an honouree Time Lord, in perpetuity. You can still keep a PG 13 rating, just make it subversive and in the subtext.

Oh and please bring back Tom Baker, for just one or two episodes. That would be a truly timeless gift from the Vortex.

The Austrian Government is planning a tourist campaign to clean up Austria’s image, after that discovery of one of the creepiest news stories of the year. See here. Yes, that woeful tale of the father Josef Fritzl keeping his daughter Elisabeth prisoner in a dungeon for 20 years and having children by her. Utterly grotesque. Following on from a similiar sick tale here in Australia on 60 minutes, recently… without the coercion and dungeon part.

We at Idea Fix would like to suggest a few slogans for the Austrian Tourist Board, free of charge, our favorite is above.

Others include:

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Incest

Oedipus Schmedipus: Come to Funny Austria

Amstetten on You!

Austria: Where families stick together

Austrians: We aren’t all a bunch of sick daughter raping perverts

Austria: We want to Anschluss You!

Ahh, I could go on all day…