Review: THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES.

I grew up watching Hammer horror films on late night television, back when there was a Late Movie, and a Late Late Movie on Channel Nine. Often, thanks to the blessing of my imagination-encouraging parents, I'd set my alarm clock for 2am or some-such so I could watch such delights as Dracula A.D. 1972 or Oliver Reed in the 1961 flick The Curse of the Werewolf.

Sometimes there would be other delights from different studios: the truly trashy Billy the Kid versus Dracula (1966) was one memorable highlight, and the dinosaurs vs cowboys delight of The Valley of Gwangi (a 1969 film featuring a T-Rex animated by the great Ray Harryhausen) another. But mostly it seemed to be Hammer horror films that I grew up with, featuring Technicolour gore, blue filters and heaving bosoms aplenty.

But one Hammer film I always wanted to see, but never have until tonight, was the 1966 classic, The Plague of the Zombies. Released as the support feature to Dracula Prince of Darkness, this is a true B-movie in every sense of the word: made on the cheap with no name stars. But as horror films go, it's fascinating.

In horror cinema and literature, the vampire - with Dracula as the classic example - has often been seen as a symbol of the 19th and 20th Century's growing unease about the nobility: inbred, decadent and evil parasites who prey on the more vibrant and wholesome working and middle classes.

The zombie, conversely - while often equally the subject of class conscious storytelling - has more often been symbolic of the working class: drones and drudges that go about their lives unthinkingly and automatically, as seen in everything from filmmaker George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978) to playwright Ben Ellis' play The Zombie State (directed by Daniel Schlusser for Melbourne Workers' Theatre in 2008).

But in The Plague of the Zombies, instead of being objects of fear or derision, the undead are creatures to be pitied, even sympathised with.

Perhaps tellingly, the film was made during the tenure of a Labour Government led by Harold Wilson, and tells the story of an eminent medical man, Sir James Forbes (Andre Morell) called to a small Cornish village in the late 19th century to investigate a series of mysterious deaths. Before long the finger of suspicion points towards the local Squire, Clive Hamilton (John Carson), who we soon learn is the head of a voodoo cult - by day a group of wild young bucks who ride about hunting foxes and harassing women, including Sire James' plucky daughter, Sylvia (Diane Clare).

As with many vampire films of the 20th century, the Squire is a classic example of the nobility gone to seed, surviving by exploiting those below his station. But instead of draining their blood, as his vampiric peers might do, Squire Hamilton steals their lives - and then reanimates their stolen corpses to work in his tin mine.

The Plague of the Zombies is a fascinating exploration of 'power, control, exploitation and imperialism', to quote film critic and Hammer devotee David L. Rattigan; and its already compelling subject matter is only further enforced by excellent cinematography and lighting; while its graveyard dream sequence, in which the dead rise en masse (wearing what appear to be cassocks - perhaps a coded reference to the waning power of the priesthood, another oppressor of the working class?) is a classic and much-emulated scene, which has been copied in everything from another Hammer film, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1973) to Lucio Fulci's gorier Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979).

While flawed - the script is occasionally simplistic and not all the actors are exactly top notch - The Plague of the Zombies is a true horror classic, and will definitely reward viewers who prefer their horror films to have a social or political subtext.

* * *

I'll post another couple of theatre reviews tomorrow, but wanted to take a moment to blog about something else close to my heart for the moment. And I should end this blog entry by acknowledging the book that first alerted me to The Plague of the Zombies, and numerous other wonderful and terrible horror films over the years.

In many ways, it's been one of the most influential books I've read in my entire life.

I'm talking about Denis Gifford's A Pictorial History of Horror Movies (Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1973), which my parents must have given me in about 1977, probably for my 10th birthday, and which fed my love of horror and the macabre for many years. A wonderful, accessible and fascinatingly detailed book, it's one that ever horror movie fan should have on their bookshelf. I still have my copy to this day.

Save the VCA!

One of Australia's most important cultural institutions is under major threat. I've talked about it a lot already on 3RRR but it suddenly occurs to me that I haven't written about it yet on this here blog. Bloody remiss of me.

There's gonna be a big rally tomorrow to help save the Victorian College of the Arts from Melbourne Uni's new, economic rationalist educational model (a new model which has already axed the VCA's puppetry and musical theatre courses. What next?) under which academic breadth will be considered to be more important than hands-on expert teaching. Who was it who said we don't need dancers who can write essays, we need dancers who can dance?

Rally tomorrow at the VCA at 10am and march on Parliament at 11am. Details here. See you there.

2009 MIFF Diary part the fourth

More short reviews from the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival...

MOON
(Dir. Duncan Jones, 2009)

As a fan of speculative fiction, I was delighted to see a science fiction film in the festival program that was firmly focused on content and concept rather than blockbuster-style special effects.

Starring Sam Rockwell as an astronaut nearing the end of his three-year solo shift on a lunar base, and the voice of Kevin Spacey as the base robot, Gerty, Moon is a slow-moving and contemplative piece about what it means to be human.

It's not an original theme, and nor is Moon an especially original film - it's clearly influenced by films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris and Silent Running, while its visual aesthetic is clearly indebted to the lived-in and grungy look of Alien - but if you can relax into its minimal pace you'll find much to appreciate, from the performances through to the plot twists (which I'll say nothing of, because the less you know about this film before seeing it the more you'll enjoy it).

That said, the film is not without its faults. Chief among them is that director Duncan Jones fails to develop an emotional tone through the visuals, forcing the film to fall back on that old standby, the heavy-handed soundtrack, to inform the audience when we're supposed to be feeling nervous or sad. In fairness, the soundtrack by Clint Mansell (formerly of UK grebo outfit Pop Will Eat Itself), who also scored the cult film Requiem for a Dream, is suitably atmospheric, rarely becomes intrusive, and more than effectively accents the poignancy of Sam's situation.

Criticisms about pace and emotion aside, Moon is a well-resourced, well played and beautifully lensed SF film that will doubtless find an extremely appreciative audience beyond the festival circuit.

Rating: Three and a half stars


RED RIDING: 1974
(Dir. Julian Jarrold, 2009)

The first film in a trilogy based on the Yorkshire noir quartet by British crime writer David Peace, and originally commissioned by UK broadcaster Channel 4 for television, Red Riding: 1974 is a grim and gothic tale of murder, corruption and the abuse of power.

Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield) is a cocky young reporter for The Yorkshire Post who returns home after an unsuccessful stint down south, only to be drawn into a web of police corruption via the murder of three young girls and a seemingly unconnected attack on a gypsy encampment. What follows is harrowing, for the audience as well as Dunford.

The film's bleak tone is unrelenting, generating a palpable sense of gloom and misery, as befitting the north of England in the mid-Seventies. Period details are astutely observed without being overpowering - thankfully this is not the sort of film in which a 70's pop song burst onto the soundtrack every few minutes - from the fog of cigarette smoke permeating almost every scene, to the ugly brown jocks worn by Garfield in one of his scenes; while the film's spasmodic acts of violence are viscerally and effectively conveyed.

Unfortunately, director Julian Jarrold (whose previous film was the remake of Brideshead Revisited) seems more concerned with the mood of his film that the story, which is based on the 1975 murder of Lesley Molseed. That said, the story he has crafted is magnificently presented; a world of shadows, rain, and roiling clouds hanging low over decaying tenement buildings and miserable lives.

While performances are excellent throughout (particularly Garfield, but also Sean Benn as the corrupt construction magnate John Dawson; and Rebecca Hall as Paula Garland, the mother of one of the missing children) the film itself seems somewhat lacking in heart, and its story only spasmodically engaging. That said, given that it is the first part of a trilogy, I expect some of the plot holes that appeared in this episode to be filled in further down the track, and that taken as a whole, the film will be more than the sum of its parts.

Rating: Three stars


OUTRAGE
(Dir. Kirby Dick, 2009)

American director Kirby Dick's fascination for documenting and exposing secrecy and hypocrisy is once again displayed in his latest film, Outrage.

Having previously examined the issue of child abuse within the Catholic Church in Twist of Faith (2004), and more recently tackled censorship in This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006), Dick now turns his attention to the lives and careers of closeted gay politicians such as former US Senator Larry Craig, who consistently voted against gay law reform, but who was also arrested for soliciting sex from a policeman in a public toilet.

Bloggers and independent media sources, as well as witnesses who testify on the record to having had sex with Dick's shady political subjects, are gathered together in a damning indictment of the political forces which conspire to keep gay men in the closet in Washington DC.

Throughout the film, Dick successfully documents the damage the closet causes - politicians so scared of any public suggestion they might be gay that they aggressively campaign against the gay community, voting down marriage rights bills and government support of AIDS programs. Such hypocrisy is the reason that Dick has made such men his target, and is one of the main reasons I enjoyed this film, as I'm not usually a fan of 'outing' people except under such exceptional circumstances as the film explores.

While he never quite proves his theory that the mainstream media has engaged in a conspiracy of silence by ignoring the truth about the sexuality of men such as Larry Craig, Florida Governor Charlie Crist and others, Outrage certainly goes a long way to indicate that there is something rotten in the USA when it comes to the fact of homosexuality in the Republican Party. A fascinating film which would have had even more power had Obama not been elected as President of the USA last year.

Rating: Three stars

Film review: MILK

The latest feature film by director Gus Van Sant, a biopic of assassinated gay rights activist Harvey Milk, is a restrained and subtle masterpiece.

Cinematically, it's an elegant blend of the more traditional narrative structures of Van Sant's confidently commercial films (Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester) leavened with just a dash of the avant-garde approach displayed in more recent works such as Elephant and Paranoid Park, and richly rounded out with the most judicious, insightful use of archival footage I think I've ever seen. Emotionally, it's a rich, warm, tragic and inspiring film that will inspire audiences as well as reduce them to tears.

Milk, a New Yorker who relocated to San Francisco in the early 70s, became - in November 1977 - the first openly gay man elected to public office in the USA. Instrumental in defeating an amendment that would have seen gay and lesbian teachers sacked from their jobs in California, Milk was an inspiration to thousands: a proudly outspoken homosexual who, by example, showed that bigotry and self-hate didn't have to dictate how you lived your life.

On November 27, 1978, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were gunned down in City Hall by an embittered colleague, former policeman Dan White.

Milk opens with archival black and white footage from the 1950s and 1960s of police raids on gay bars: a grim reminder of the world that gay men of Milk's generation grew up in. When we meet Milk himself (Sean Penn), he is sitting at his kitchen table making a tape-recording to be played in the event of his death. It's this narrative device - based on an actual recording Milk made due to the number of death threats he received only weeks before he was killed - which frames the film. We return to this scene intermittently, with Penn as Milk providing a context or an rationale for certain sequences, but for most of its running time the film unfolds seamlessly, without need for narrative interjection.

Screenplay writer Dustin Lance Black's meticulous research, and the production's attention to detail (the look and style of the 70s is deftly re-created, but never feels forced or laid on with a trowel) bring the story to a beautifully realised, three dimensional life. And unlike standard biopics, which are often so intent on covering key events in their subject's life that they lack cohesion or flow, Milk binds its various aspects - political drama, romance, social justice, character study - into a seamless and fluid whole.

The addition of archival footage, as previously mentioned, not only adds to the film's air of historical vermisilitude, but helps advance the story in a classic example of the filmmaker's mantra, 'show, don't tell'. We see the changing nature of Castro Street as Milk and his ilk transform the district from decaying working class neighbourhood to burgeoning gay ghetto; we witness firsthand the emerging gay subculture of the 1970s which Milk was mobilising as a cultural and political force; and - in a sequence which still shocks - we see a shaken City Superviser Dianne Feinstein announce the assassinations of Mayor Moscone and Milk to a stunned crowd of reporters.

Much of the credit for the success of Milk must go to Black, whose screenplay is a masterpiece of insight and structure; and Van Sant, obviously, is the steady but unobtrusive hand on the tiller that keeps the film on an even course, never veering into melodrama or didacticism. But the core of the film is Sean Penn's performance as Harvey Milk. He utterly immerses himself in the role, displaying Milk's tenderness, versaility and gentle, impish charm, as well as the man's steely determination, ego and a boundless energy that burns up the screen. He is magnificent, and I'll be very suprised if Penn doesn't get at least an Oscar nomination for this role.

James Franco as Harvey's sweet young lover Scott Smith is also superb, both in the early, passionate stages of the men's relationship, as well as in later scenes where his eyes betray Smith's bewildered but painfully enduring love as the couple are driven apart by the demands of Milk's political career.

Emile Hirsch as street kid turned activist Cleve Jones is also excellent, as are the majority of the supporting cast, with the qualified exception of Diego Luna as Milk's unstable, tempremental lover Jack Lira. Lira lacks the definition of the film's other characters (possibly - and this is only conjecture on my behalf - because he was unpopular with Milk's inner circle of friends and colleagues, from whose collective recollections Dustin Lance Black gathered the details which form his screenplay over a long series of interviews) although Luna does his best with the material he has to work with.

The most surprising character in this rich drama, however, is the man who would become Milk's killer: Dan White (James Brolin, pictured at left with Sean Penn).

White, who gunned down Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk at point blank range on November 27, 1978, ultimately served only five years for the two murders he committed. But while it would have been easy for Black and Van Sant to portray White as a remorseless and violent homophobe, they are instead at pains to show us a complex, conflicted man. At one point in the film, Harvey wonders aloud whether Dan might be "one of us", and shortly thereafter, in a memorably vivid and subtext rich scene, Brolin plays out his character's conflicted nature perfectly, and with admirable restraint, as a drunken Dan White launches into a choked, inarticulate conversation with Harvey at Milk's birthday party.

Ultimately, Milk is a film about one man's passion for equality, and how his ideas inspired others even as he himself was gunned down. It's a remarkable cinematic achievement; a vivid tapestry of emotions and ideas and performances woven together into a rich, restrained whole. Van Sant directs with quiet confidence, knowing that he needs no flashy tricks when working with a script, cast and crew of such quality. Without doubt, Milk is the best film I have seen this year.

Milk opens nationally on January 29, 2009.

You got to give them hope...

The inspiring words of the late, great Harvey Milk...

What will a new president do for the arts?

That's the question asked by British journalist Matt Wolf in The Times today. Interviewing a range of arts industry types, and playwrights such as Tony Kushner and Edward Albee, Wolf looks at everything from McCain's position on arts funding, to Obama's detailed arts policy:

'Early on in his campaign, he convened a 33-strong National Arts Policy Committee, including the novelist Michael Chabon and the founder of the American Film Institute, George Stevens Jr. The team then issued a two-page document laying out Obama's vision for the arts. There's much talk of arts education, “to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society”. Obama wants an “artist corps” to go into schools and ginger up disadvantaged schoolchildren, and there's talk of more money for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).'

The feature also looks at some of the possible impacts of the global economic crisis, drawing parallels with the arts during the last great depression:

'More seriously, Lahr predicts hard times on Broadway. “In times of fear, people don't want to think, so you tend to get musicals, spectacle, documentary. It tends to lower the literary quality of work. And producers aren't going to take risks with unknown products.” Similarly, Goodridge sees poor fare at the cinema. “Film is the cheapest form of entertainment and it has ridden out recessions repeatedly, but Hollywood as a corporate society has suffered terribly over the past year; there have been massive lay-offs.” And that is going to have an effect. “Mamma Mia! is about as mindless as you can get in terms of escapist entertainment, and look how successful that's been. Whereas the failure of the Iraq war films has just made the studios more keenly aware that they just have to produce blockbusters.”'

It's an interesting read - see the full article here.

Ah McCain, you've done it again

Photographer Jill Greenberg, you're a bloody deadset legend! The above, photoshopped image is an outtake from a recent series of shots the US photographer took for Atlantic magazine. You can read the full story here...

Burn, heretic, burn

So, at the massive Catholic mass that officially opened World Youth Day in Sydney yesterday, Our Glorious Leader KRudd said:

"Some say there is no place for faith in the 21st century. I say they are wrong. Some say faith is the enemy of reason, I say also they are wrong. They are great partners, rich in history and scientific progress."

Yeah, right, Kevin. Tell that to Galileo.

Review: Keating!

I've now seen this show three times in two different incarnations: the original Drowsy Drivers incarnation (well, not the original - sadly I missed it in its very first production at the 2005 Comedy Festival; I mean the original version before it became a fully fledged wizz-bang stage show with a predominantly new band, The Belvoirs, and mostly new cast) and the Neil Armfield-directed large scale production, which is the version I saw again last night at its (re)opening at the Comedy Theatre.

Yes, three times. It's that fucking good.

That said, I do think the first half of the show as it now stands, pre-interval, is still a little light-on substance-wise, though still very good; but any such qualms are abandoned in the flurry of the second act, which takes the momentum of the first half and charges helterskelter towards the home straight, taking no prisoners and delighting all the way.

Mike McLeish is a dapper, debonair, devilish Paul Keating; a tap-dancing, reggae-singing marvel of a man. His 'Ruler of the Land' song in the first half of the show is endlessly delightful, while in 'Light on the Hill' he drips pathos mixed with passion.

Songwise, Keating! is simply remarkable. Casey Bennetto's magpie-like homage to almost every musical genre under the sun is paired with an enviable gift for lyrical hilarity, evidenced at every turn: from a hip-hop battle in act one to the Cheryl Kernot-Gareth Evans love song in act two.

Terry Serio's Bob Hawke is instantly recogniseable (yes Terry, I think it is the hair; which last night well deserved the round of applause it received); while his take on John Howard captures the thankfully ex-Prime Minister's poisonous ability to be everything to everyone, thanks to a virtuoso sequence assisted by swift and note-perfect costume changes; while simultaneously presenting him as a blustering, pompous, cultural vaccum of a man.

For this latest tour of the musical we had to have that will not die, we have a new John Hewson/Alexander Downer. Previously played by Eddie Perfect, now Brendan Coustley takes on the role, and while lacking Perfect's bite, still brings a camp joy to the latter role.

Evidence of the show's success is that the friend I saw the show with last night, despite not knowing a lot about Australian politics of the early to mid 1990s (having only lived here for some five years or so) still enjoyed himself immensely.

Keating! remains a delight; a wickedly entertaining night out, and a playfully, cheerfully biased romp that satisfies both politically and theatrically. And now that Howard and co are out of office, what more could you ask from a night's entertainment?

Keating! @ The Comedy Theatre Strictly limited season from 13 February - March 8 Bookings: Ticketek 132 849 www.ticketek.com

Sorry - and here's why

This post was originally written as a response to a comment made on my blog yesterday, but after this morning, and the pride and joy and sorrow I felt at Federation Square, gathered with so many people and listening to the Prime Minister's apology, I thought it deserved a post of its own.

Anonymous said...

Loved the symbolism of the opening of parliament and really pleased that this will occur from now on.

On the other hand i just don't see why the government should apologise for past matters that i or most Australians today are just not responsible for.

Will the current intervention in the NT - will we be asked in years to come for an apology, i sure hope not.. The dispaire that many aboriginal kids face in those communities has got to stop.

I am sorry but i can't feel a sence of guilt for something i was not responsible for.

Ant

12/2/08 20:27

richardwatts said...

Ant - for me, it's not about 'a sense of guilt for something I was not responsible for'. It's about recognising the pain that others have suffered - in the same way we say 'sorry' to a friend who has lost a loved one. In this case however, it's the pain of several generations of people who were wrenched away, without consent in the majority of cases, from their families - invariably not because of the conditions in which they lived, but because of their race.

I also think that it's appropriate that the Government apologise for its past actions, because those actions were deliberate: the stealing away of half-caste children while the 'darker' children were left with their parents.

It was a deliberate attempt to 'breed aboriginality' out of existence.

To quote A.O. Neville, WA's 'Chief Protector of Aborigines' from a 1937 conference of Aboriginal Administators:

"Are we going to have a population of one million blacks in the Commonwealth or are we going to merge them into our white community and eventually forget that there were any Aborigines in Australia?"

Saying sorry for the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their parents, who were stolen from their families for the specified purpose of ensuring the eventual destruction of the very concept of Aboriginality, seems only fair and just to me - not to mention long overdue, given that the 'Bringing Them Home' report into the stolen generations was released in April 1997.

The full text of the Prime Minister's apology to the Stolen Generations

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.

Well done, KRudd. You didn't fuck it up. Aww, I think I'm gonna start crying again.

A step in the right direction.

Federal Parliament opened in Canberra today with its first ever Welcome to Country by an elder of the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of the land on which Parliament House stands. Yes, it's symbolic; a gesture only, but what an important symbol it is.

Mr Rudd said indigenous people had occupied the land for thousands of generations but Europeans only for five, six or seven.

''Despite this antiquity among us, despite the fact that parliaments have been meeting here for the better part of a century, today is the first time in our history that as we open the Parliament of the nation, that we are officially welcomed to country by the first Australians of this nation,'' he said to applause.

Mr Rudd said he celebrated that indigenous Australia was alive, well and with us for the future.

''Today we begin with one small step, to set right the wrongs of the past, and in this ceremonial way it is a significant and symbolic step.''

Mr Rudd said the ceremony should become a permanent practice for future governments.

''Let this become a permanent part of our ceremonial celebration of the Australian democracy.''

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson said the opening of Parliament would never be the same again.

''On behalf of the alternative government and supporting the Prime Miister, whatever happens in future parliaments so long as I have anything to do with it we will have a welcome from Ngunnawal and their descendants,'' he said.

Dr Nelson said the coalition, whether in government or opposition, was committed to improving the situation for indigenous Australians.

''We go forward determined, no withstanding our inadequacies as human beings and at times as representatives, to ensure that the mistakes that we have made in the past that we will not ever make again,'' he said.

''And we respect the dignity of humankind, of racial background and of difference but determined to be a better people and a better nation.''

Bring on tomorrow, and saying sorry. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a little quiet, happy cry.

Election

Woke late. The fear and doubt that had built in me throughout Friday was gone, replaced by a 'nothing else to do but wait' mood.

Voted - no sausage sizzle, damn it. Went to Richmond, took over from KP handing out how-to-vote Green flyers at a polling booth for two and a half hours. Still no sausage sizzle. Bantered with a Liberal, kinda ignored Family First, chatted happily with Labor volunteers.

Polling booth closed; walked over to KP's house for election night party, ended up staying considerably longer than intended because bloody Howard wouldn't do the honourable thing and admit defeat early. It wasn't until 10:30pm that he appeared to tell us what we'd know for hours; that his government had been swept dramatically from power. Elation, and yet...

Last night it all felt unreal, even with Rudd claiming victory on the TV before us. Thence to Trades Hall, and a huge fuck-off-Howard party; a sweaty, drunken, happy mess of a night packed with friends and strangers and delighted, disbelieving faces.

Today, it feels even stranger. After waiting and hoping so long for a change of government, now there's a sense of - waiting? sameness? A pregnant pause? Time to see what happens next; to see what Rudd will act on in his first 100 days of power. Indigenous reconciliation? Ratifying Kyoto? Dismantling WorkChoices? Will he govern well? Radically? Badly?

The sense of joy which filled me last night has been replaced by a sense of calm anticipation, and something else; something I can't quite put my finger on.

Don't fuck it up, Kevin.

One more sleep - make it count, people!

So, only one more sleep until the 2007 federal election, and our chance to vote out the morally reprehensible Howard government. Please make your vote count!

Me, I'm voting for the Greens again, but however you direct your vote, whether Labor, Democrats or Socialist Alliance; whether you vote above the line or below the line in the Senate, please don't stuff it up - and please consider voting Richard Di Natale into the Senate, to help give the Greens the balance of power in the upper house and re-install the proper system of checks and balances that our so-called democracy is supposed to have.

HOW TO FILL IN YOUR BALLOT PAPER CORRECTLY

Every Australian elector has a vote in the 2007 election, but it only counts if they fill in their ballot papers correctly.

“Electors will be given two ballot papers at the polling place, and I urge you to pay careful attention when filling them out. If you do make a mistake, please ask a polling official for another ballot paper,” said Mr Ian Campbell, Electoral Commissioner.

On the House of Representatives’ green ballot paper, electors must number all the boxes in the order of their choice of candidate. No ticks or crosses should be used, no numbers repeated and no squares left blank.

The white Senate ballot paper gives electors a choice of marking 1 in one box above the line for a party or group, or numbering all the boxes below the line for each candidate in the order or their choice.

The Australian Electoral Commision has a new online ‘How to vote practice tool’ at www.aec.gov.au to guide electors, especially those voting for the first time, on how to complete their ballot papers correctly.

Electors can find out where to vote locally with the polling place locator at www.aec.gov.au or by calling 13 23 26. The list of polling places with disabled access is also available at www.aec.gov.au or by calling 13 23 26. For more information about voting in the 2007 federal election, visit the AEC website at www.aec.gov.au or call the AEC on 13 23 26.

The Greens' Arts Policy launch this Monday

If you're free this Monday November 12, dear reader, then I'd like to extend a cordial invitation to you and your nearest and dearest to join me at the launch of the The Greens' federal arts policy, at the fabulous Horse Bazaar, 397 Little Lonsdale Street (near the corner of Hardware Lane) Melbourne.

I'll be speaking about the need for governments to properly support small to medium arts organisations, and to fund young and emerging arts organisations; and will be appearing alongsodefilm-maker Adam Elliot, the Greens lead senate candidate, Richard Di Natale, x:machine's Olivia Krang, and comedian Rod Quantock.

It all kicks off at 6:30pm Monday, and should be wrapped up by 8pm at the latest. And if the speeches are boring, you can always look at the video art!

Bring it on!

So, the Rodent has called the election at last, after stalling for weeks in the vain hope that the polls might suggest a closing of the gap in terms of Labor's lead. No such luck, Johnny-boy. So, please make sure you're enrolled to vote and your address details are up to date by Wednesday, so that you don't get squeezed out thanks to the Coalition's sneaky reductions, and get ready to vote the fucker out.

BRING IT ON!!!!!

Oh yeah - final Fringe updates and first Melbourne International Arts Festival details coming soon; probably tonight...

Values, values, values

Love this article in The Age today:

Parents, government split on 'values' for kids

A DRAFT report canvassing the values parents want schools to instil in their children has highlighted "considerable differences" between what parents want and the nine values identified by the Howard Government.

The report, obtained by The Age, says parents are critical of the perceived inconsistencies between the values promoted by the Federal Government in schools — such as compassion, honesty, respect and tolerance — and the conduct of the Government on boat people, the environment, people from the Middle East and Aborigines...

...The findings were based on parent focus groups, held in each state and territory between May and September. All 150 parents who participated had children at non-government schools.

The report — commissioned by the Australian Parents Council, which represents parents of students at non-government schools — was funded as part of the Federal Government's values education program [my emphasis].

Oddly enough I can't find any mention of this story in the Herald Sun online, which is instead prominently flagging this story:

We close door on Africans

EXCLUSIVE: THE Howard Government yesterday slammed the door shut on refugees from Africa. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said that no more Africans would be allowed into Australia under the humanitarian refugee program until at least July next year.

And he said there were no guarantees any Africans would be accepted in the next intake.

Announcing a move critics slammed as simplistic and inhumane [my emphasis], Mr Andrews said the program's quota for Africans had already been filled.

Mr Andrews said Africans, particularly Sudanese, had experienced serious problems settling in Australia.

"They tend to have more problems and challenges associated with them. Their level of education, for example, is a lot lower than for any other group of refugees," he said.

"They've been in war-torn conflict for a decade, many of them. Many are young . . . and many have been in refugee camps for decades.

In other words, classic Howard Government dog-whistle politics: African immigrants don't share our values, they're violent, and they cause trouble. Elsewhere in the Herald Sun today is a charming article quoting another Howard Government MP:

Beware of thirsty peril, warns Heffernen

AUSTRALIA'S north faces a future threat of invasion by Asian refugees who have run out of water because of climate change, outspoken Liberal senator Bill Heffernan has warned.

In a Bulletin article to be published today, Senator Heffernan says that underpopulated northern Australia has to be developed and settled to avoid such a fate.

"Without being alarmist, it would be better for us to do it than letting someone else," he told the magazine. "We're not talking tomorrow, but in 50 to 80 years time. If there are 400 million people who have run out of water -- Bangladesh or Indonesia -- well, you've got to have a plan."

So, scaremongering and covert racism from Coalition MPs instead of... I'm sorry, what were those Australian values the government wanted schools to teach again?

'The Government's nine values for Australian schools are: care and compassion; doing your best; fair go; freedom; honesty and trustworthiness; integrity; respect; responsibility; and understanding, tolerance and inclusion. But according to the report findings, many parents questioned if "doing your best" and "freedom" were values, while "fair go" was dismissed as "wishy-washy jargon" that had been "hijacked for political purposes". And rather than being seen as a value to aspire to, "tolerance" was considered by many respondents as a negative trait better replaced by "acceptance".'

No wonder "parents are critical of the perceived inconsistencies between the values promoted by the Federal Government in schools — such as compassion, honesty, respect and tolerance — and the conduct of the Government on boat people, the environment, people from the Middle East and Aborigines"!!!!!

It's the economy, stupid

While drifting idly along Smith Street approximately 15 minutes ago, I overheard a young woman say, as she looked at the front page of The Age, "It will be an outrage if Howard loses the election. Don't these people care about his economic record?"

No. We don't.

I don't, anyway.

I care about the mandatory detention of refugees. I care about the rise in racism since Howard moved the country to the right in order to nobble One Nation and pick up Pauline Hanson's disenfranchised supporters. I care about abandoning the the idea of an Australian republic and turning our backs on reconciliation. I care about art coming a poor second to sport. I care about draconian anti-terrorism legislation that erodes our rights in order to save our way of life. I care about the impact of sedition laws on our freedom of speech. I care about accountability, honesty and transparency of government. I care about the soul of my country, which has been blackened and tarnished by Howard's cold heart and the Coalition's sticky, grubby fingers.

That's what I care about. Bring on the election.

Kimbo's quote of the day

Amidst all the cheerfully negative press around Howard's leadership and the fate of the Liberal Party that's swirling around at the moment, one quote has stood out from it all for me, and suprisingly, it's from former Labor leader Kim Beazley.

Speaking of the rows of journalists in the Canberra Press Gallery peering down at an embattled Howard in the chamber, quoth Kimbo:

'"It looked," he said later, "like three rows of crows staring down at a dead sheep."'

I LURVE IT!

Suffer in your jocks, little Johnny.

Kevin Rudd in strip club shock!

Good god.

What do you know? Kevin Rudd is human after all, not some bland blancmange of a man who's all soundbite and no soul. I can just imagine the Liberal Party rubbing their greasy hands when they heard Rudd had got blind in a US strip club; and the Hun editors salivating in tabloid glee. "This will take the wind out of his sails," they must have tittered to one another over their port and cigars in a backroom at the Melbourne Club, as they warmed their fat arses over a fire of burning peasants. "This will bring the little oik down a peg or two."

But you know what? I reckon it might actually help, rather than hinder Rudd's election chances.

"Geez, he's just a regular bloke after all," the great unwashed might start to think. "He likes his beers and strippers too, just like the rest of us."

What's next in the (increasingly desperate-seeming) arsenal of smear campaign tricks, do you think?

Artists & arts workers please read this

Media Release
Monday 13 August 2007

Your Shout
Arts Forum with Peter Garrett, Shadow Federal Arts Minister

Shadow Federal Arts Minister, and ex-Midnight Oil frontman, Peter Garrett will be in Melbourne, this Sunday 19 August at 2.30pm to host Your Shout at the Trades Hall in Carlton – an arts forum where local artists and arts supporters will be given their chance to tell Peter what they think the Government should be doing for the arts and artists in Australia.

“As the Shadow Arts Minister it’s vital to hear what grass roots artists working in our community have to say on the issues that affect them,” explained Garrett. “Your Shout is a chance for those artists to come and talk about what is important to them and to have their opinions heard and considered.”

The forum is the first of a number of events that will be held across the country over the next few months as Peter give artists right across Australia a chance to speak out about the issues that affect them.

“The ALP values the arts as a vital component in everyday life,” continued Garrett, “and understands the crucial role artists play in fostering a healthy and productive community.”

“As a working artist myself for many years I understand the challenges and obstacles that artists in the community face on a daily basis and in refining our Arts policy we want to make sure their concerns and ideas are taken into consideration.”

The forum has been organised by Melbourne based film director and producer Robert Connolly (Romulus My Father, The Bank) and playwright and arts worker Alex Broun, who is Artistic co-ordinator of Short & Sweet at The Arts Centre, and is open to all arts practitioners and arts supporters.

Your Shout
Arts Forum with Peter Garrett, Shadow Federal Arts Minister
Date: Sunday 19 August 2007
Time: 2:30pm-4.00pm
Location: The New Council Chambers, Trades Hall
Street: 54 Victoria St, Carlton South