GSM ed. 2 vol. 2 "Review"

“REVIEW” “Review” GSM ed. 2 GSM Ed. 2 Vol. 2

!

END OF SEMESTER PARTY rd

FRI, 3 JUNE from 2PM AT JO TAVERN FREE ENTRY The Fox Society Members = 1 free drink

‘STACHE

BASH 2

‘Stache Bash /stæ!! bæ!!/ • noun a gathering of people who like facial hair.

Contents

“Review” GSM ed. 2 vol. 2

The Usual Suspects

4 Editorial & Presitorial 5 Vox Pops 14 Campus Scene 16 Nightclub Review 21 Postcards From Postcodes

Reviewing...

Critic’s Corner

6 India 8 Tattoos 9 Mental Illness 10 WW2 Films 11 Sink taps 12 Names 13 Feminism 17 The Poodle 18 True Blood vs. Buffy 19 Perth’s Buskers 20 Cheap Booze

22 Arts - Reviewing Bumper Stickers 24 Books - Reviewing E-Reading 26 Film - Interview with J.J. Garnier 28 Music - Interview witth Ta-Ku 30 Games - Reviewing Minecraft

About the cover: When introduced to the theme “Review” my mind instantly started filtering out typical ideas in an effort to find something a bit more off-beat. I took the word literally – re-viewing an image in a different light – by contrasting negatives of film photographs I have taken with the positives. Taking the pictures and scanning them onto my laptop proved much more simple than actually lining them all up, which took the better part of three or four hours. Luckily MacBooks are made for creative ideas and it ended up being quite simple to do, just time-consuming. I’ve been photographing people and places since I was the length of a ruler but only more professionally for about two or three years. I’m really happy with how the cover turned out and if you like it, send GSM a message on Facebook and let us know what else you’d like to see us give a go. - Georgia Foulkes-Taylor

Editor: Tom Reynolds (08) 9370 6609 editor.gsm@gmail.com GSM - ECU 2 Bradford Street Mount Lawley WA 6050

GSM’s all-star proof readers this edition were: Aldy Hendradjaja, Ana-Victoria Neves, Brennan Peers, Divja Jankee, Jackson Ladyman, Jasmine Reilly, Jess Gibbs, Larry Fife, Maddie Adams & Susanne Harford

Cover: Georgia Foulkes-Taylor Desgin: Tom Reynolds The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Editor or the ECU Student Guild. The Editor reserves the right to make changes to submitted material as required. GSM reserves the right to republish material. Contributors retain all other rights for resale and republication.

Printed by Vanguard Press Photos: pg 6 - 7 Luke Pegrum, pg 14 - 15 Georgia Foulkes-Taylor, pg 4 Tom Reynolds, pg 26 Eve Garnier Advertising: Tom Reynolds communications@ecuguild.org.au (08) 9370 6609

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Criticism is as unavoidable as it is necessary to sustain, rejuvenate and promote creativity in all its haphazard, fluidic and controversial discourses. So i’m making this our standing motto for the team of writers, designers, photgraphers, reviewers and sub-editors who display their work to you, the audience, each edition with full knowledge that for better or worse haters are going to hate.

In the West, nobody has the right not to be offended.

Don’t get me wrong, i’m usually the first to share my fury at that nails-across-the-chalkboard phrase “political correctness gone mad”. As far as I understand it PC is just another way of saying “talking about people with respect”.

Having said that, I also believe that there are no taboos to great, no sacred pedstools to precious to be pushed over.

Woof!

My month has been bookended by two quality quotes: Criticism is the price you pay for having an audience.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a hater is going to hate. For example: someone, somewhere will always insist , and usually with great indignation, that Helvetica is clearly a superior font (and anyone who uses otherwise is the Hitler of grapic designers). Even though it clearly isn’t.

Stupid haters. Anyway, the point I want to make is that you can’t please everyone, especially when creative vision and leadership is necessary. Vision is contentious.

Editing this edition i’ve noticed more swearing and emoticons. Personally I think emoticons are unnesscessary. If you need to spell out your intentions with a smiley face to clarify the tone of a sentence you’ve effectively signed yourself “unable to write any better” (haters are gonna hater, right). But I appreciate that they constitute legitimate self-expression where they have appeared in GSM. Likewise, swearing is not only okay, but can improve an article, a review - or an interview - where it appears in an appropriate context. But to santise any publication of intentionally, or potential, offensiveness you may as well print blank pages. We’re here to express, not repress; contravene, not conform.

Your Editor-in-fucking-Chief , Tom

FREE! Hopefully our program will encourage you to help us decrease traffic nightmares on campus and help us pave the way for green ways to travel. Having problems trying to find a job? Whether it be a seasonal short-term job for some extra money to a job working in retail or electronics, we can help! Our employment newsletter will feature many places you can easily get a job, we plan to have this ready by the end of May. Conference rooms... You’ve got a group of about 10 students all working on the same project, where can you all meet and discuss your topic project? The Joondalup Guild has a meeting room now available. With seating capacity for 12 this room also features on-desk power points and internet LAN connections, no VPN or password required! Bookings are FREE and prioritised to Financial Guild Memebers. Upon request a projector is available.

It’s good to see so many faces popping into the Guild now and then. But there’s still more room! We’ve finally finished our IT upgrades at both campuses with some monster 8 series core2 computers and some water-cooled beasts of computers! We’ve also finally got a Wii to accompany our 50” TV at Joondalup... So any of you out there who think you can play Mario Kart? Guess again! First one to beat the President gets a free lunch!

Hello

again and welcome back, hasn’t time gone by fast! I hope your studies are going well and you’re keeping safe. While you have been studying hard we’ve also hit the books too! I’m proud to announce our new initiatives for May 2011 such as emergency food drops; food is an essential part to ‘living’ and if you are struggling with finances for food, then that’s a problem we can help you with. Our emergency food drops will provide you with 5 days of relief food.

Another great program is the Bike Hire, which we are about to commence trial at Mt Lawley. Free Bike-Hire for anyone,

The Guild by-elections are coming up soon. Would you like to represent your faculty or a department? Keep an eye out for the full list of positions available!

- Tim Sandhu

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Michael /17 /1st Yr. Bachelor of Arts How do you rate ECU out of ten: 7 Jam tarts and banana peels make Larry a... sick boy What’s the best thing to eat on campus: cafeteria food

Jill / 24 / 2nd Yr. Visual Arts and Ed. How do you rate ECU out of ten: 8 Jam tarts and banana peels make Larry a... interesting fella What’s the best thing to eat on campus: raspberry and white chocolate muffins

Kristen /19 / 3rd Yr. Music Education How do you rate ECU out of ten: 7 Jam tarts and banana peels make Larry a... happy fellow What’s the best thing to eat on campus: wedges with sour cream

Charlotte / 21 / Post Grad How do you rate ECU out of ten: 7 Jam tarts and banana peels make Larry a... who is Larry?? eh... happy.

What’s the best thing to eat on campus: chinese food, next to the kebab area

Kia, Cameron, Jack / 18, 20, 22 /2nd all round bachelor of ed and creative arts How do you rate ECU out of ten: 7, 5, 7, Jam tarts and banana peels make Larry a... happy man, happy, really awesome guy What’s the best thing to eat on campus: chocolate muffin

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Vox Pops

Daniel, Brendan / 18, almost 19 / 2nd yrs film and vid majors How do you rate ECU out of ten: 6 1/2 and 5 Jam tarts and banana peels make Larry a... very strange person... yeah What’s the best thing to eat on campus: chips and gravy

Christian /19 /2nd year. Bachelor of classical music How do you rate ECU out of ten: 2 Jam tarts and banana peels make Larry a... cone What’s the best thing to eat on campus: cheese toasie (because it’s $2)

As soon as the plane touched down at Mumbai Inter-

I seriously struggled to comprehend the sites that engulfed me during the taxi ride to our hotel. Every building looked halfway between being built and demolished, rubbish was everywhere, the traffic was complete madness and all of this just went on, and on, and on.

national Airport the cabin deteriorated into chaos. The people around me were up out of their seats and opening the overhead lockers and the plane was still slowing down. ‘Everyone just chill the fuck out,’ I thought as the airhostess’ raced around trying to get people to return to their seats until the seatbelt light was turned off. In India, it takes more then a silly little light to stop people from doing whatever they want, and this is one of the cool things that I took a while to get during the month I spent cruising around India.

Eventually we made it to our hotel, and after several more arguments with both the taxi driver and the hotel manager, we decided to go for a short walk and take in some of the sites. Our short walk went awry, and after spending literally half of my money on a combination of ear wax cleaning services and a tour of Rajasthan organised by some extremely dodgy men apparently from a government tourism agency (but actually just some extremely talented salesmen with some government tourism agency posters), we returned home and decided it was better we stayed in our room for the rest of the day. Then I spewed on the floor. All in all, solid start to the trip.

A couple of friends and I had planned this grand Indian adventure early in 2010 and had booked our tickets months in advance. I use the term ‘planned’ very loosely as we did not put the following months to good use and left home soil with a horribly arrogant sense of satisfaction about the fact that we had no idea what we would do once we arrived.

The realisation of how poor a decision this deliberate refusal to plan the trip was became terrifically apparent as soon as we walked out of Mumbai Airport.

We didn’t stay in Mumbai long, and after a short but insightful tour through the slums (the slum folk seemed to be among the most genuinely friendly people that we met), we boarded a train headed north through to the Princely State of Rajasthan with high hopes of a change in our fortunes.

Our first mistake was that we went in the hottest time of the year. It was literally over 45 degrees the entire time we were there. I have never sweat so much in my entire life.

The second mistake, was that I hadn’t organised a way to access any of my money. The pathetic sum of $700 that I had managed to save over the last 4 months was sitting in a bank account that, as it turned out, I had no way of extracting funds from. Good thing my friends were there (winks).

The train ride turned out to be a great way to relax after the overwhelming start to the trip. We cruised across some amazing mountains, with our legs hanging out of the doorways to catch some fresh air, while we chatted to high school students on their two-hour daily journey to school and took in the beautiful site of the women working the fields in brightly coloured saris.

So we made our way out of the terminal, and after pulling funny faces at the soldier manning the giant machine gun that overlooks the taxi rank (another great idea) we were quickly ushered off to a taxi. There our luggage was strapped to the roof by a man whose friendliness quickly evaporated when he realised we had no money. Our first argument aside, we set off into the sprawling mess that is India’s largest city.

Feeling invigorated by the day on the train, we were super relieved to see that the driver we had arranged at great expense and minimal paperwork in Mumbai was actually waiting for us at the Udaipur Train Station. It turned out that our driver, whose name we never quite managed to learn in the short fortnight we spent with him, spoke little English. We decided to nickname him Boss after he informed us in his typically cheery way that he had just started this job and had never been to Rajasthan before. Naturally we hit it off immediately.

Mumbai doesn’t look real. I’m pretty sure that Slumdog Millionaire must have had to pick its locations super carefully so that us western folk would find it realistic, because

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Over the following couple of weeks we travelled far and wide, visiting every town, city and temple in all of Rajasthan. If the Lonely Planet Guidebook said it was interesting, Boss’s tiny, ancient car would take us there. We would lay sprawled across the backseat, feet out the windows and wind in our faces, as Boss drove us all around the barren countryside. We crossed mountain ranges on incredible, narrow windy roads, swerved around falling boulders as we drove along perilously constructed cliff-side highways, and wasted away hours in tiny villages while the car was seen to by local mechanics (this actually happened quite regularly). But Boss and his car never failed us (or stopped honking) and together we visited some amazing places.

While in Rajasthan we decided to have a major argument with a camel tour operator in 48o heat in the middle of the Thar Desert near the Pakistan border. We had joined a French couple for an overnight camel-riding extravaganza in the sand dunes, but when it turned out that we had been the victims of somewhat false advertising, the French people took exception and began an argument with the burly camel safari owner. The argument quickly got out of hand and it appeared that we were not going to be driven back to the town we were staying in. Strangely, the man had a sudden change of heart, telling us to ‘get in his jeep,’ and it seemed as though we could be about to inspire our very own Bollywood version of Wolf Creek. But instead he simply drove us back to our hotel and apologised for his ‘short temper’. Even so, I’m glad that my friend Oscarhad his knife open and concealed in his pocket throughout the ride back into town.

at kick-starting the bike and several near death incidents was allowed to ride out astride a roaring Chopper (read 30-year-old 125cc Hero-Honda), despite my best efforts and bribes to convince the manager that he should have to take the bright pink scooter instead.

After spending the day terrorising the local population aboard our Hogs we had a quick dip in a fancy hotel swimming pool and went out to get some dinner. Inspired by the days events, and encouraged by a little of India’s finest whiskey, I decided make some enquiries with the waiter about procuring some fireworks. “Fireworks?” the waiter asked with a strange look, “Yes we can bring them to your table.” 45 minutes later we were diving for cover as the very drunk and equally awesome Police Chief of Pushkar (seriously) fired the first of many fireworks into the sky from our restaurant table. At one stage he actually tried to shoot a firework like a bazooka at my friend Braedan. He was only saved by a waiter who wrestled the firework off him and directed it away before the fuse burnt down. This day pretty much sums up everything that is awesome about India.

The rest of the trip was spent flying kites on the banks of the famous ‘Ganga’ river in Varanasi (where it finally rained!), before we all decided to contract food poisoning and go on a 48-hour train ride at the same time. I pity the poor people who shared the cabin with me on the train, because I literally either spewed or crapped for the entire two days, and not always in the toilet. It was easily the sickest that I have ever been.

The best day of the whole trip happened during our tour of ‘Radasthan’ in the small town of Pushkar. Thoroughly sick of looking at temples, we decided to hire motorbikes.

Now in Australia the fact that two thirds of us had never ridden a motorbike before probably would have stood in the way of this plan. But not in India, and after a short and hilariously pitiful demonstration of our bike-handling competency we were given the keys and told to have fun. Even Oscar, whose demonstration included a 15-minute attempt

While this was definitely the low point of the trip, it is also one of those times that I will never forget. It is experiences such as this that make India such an incredibly ridiculous place to go for a holiday. Every aspect of the trip was a shock to my system. Every day I had a new feeling or idea that I struggled to understand. I still think about this trip regularly, and I’m still trying to come to terms with what I experienced. Visiting India will really make you take another fresh look at your life. You really should give it a visit, and if you do, I know of a little travel agency in Mumbai that will really help you out.

- Luke Pegrum

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Wikipedia commons

Picture this scenario...you are in a tattoo studio to

Thus, the trend of tattoos from celebrities have influenced the popular community to believe it as a statement than just a pretty image on the body.

get your first tattoo...you imagine what design you would like and where you would put it...you then start to feel nervous, what makes you more nervous is choosing the right design which reflects something important to you. It is unfortunately, something that is going to be permanent.

It is not like going to the hair salon and eventually your hair is going to grow out. You then decide to think about this further and leave the store until next time.

You may find in popular culture that many have very different tattoos. However, there are popular trends of tattoos, such as the koi’s, flowers, dragons, tribal bands and winged tattoos. These trends depend on the person’s values and what they interpret from them. We know that winged tattoos symbolise freedom and some tribal bands represent the meaning of bonds.

I cannot review on tattoos to an extent of having one myself. However, I can review that tattoos are an interesting art form in terms of reflecting one’s identity.

Through personal experience, I have enjoyed designing a few tattoos for friends. One in particular asked me to design an arm band tattoo of two dragons for their dad and also wanting his daughters’ names with this same tattoo. To me, this was an important project as it would present a powerful bond between these family members.

Other popular tattoos like the dragon are usually referred as a sign of destruction or death by Western culture.

Despite having a negative cite, dragons can also assume the notion of power and greatness. Another example is the koi tattoo; the orient koi is seen as very revered and is though to have mystical abilities. The koi is the symbol of courage, strength, determination, advancement and even love. Whilst describing that tattoos hold different meanings, they have also been considered carefully in society.

Everyone has their own reasons for wanting a tattoo, and they usually fall within three categories: when you are inspired by others, when you want to enhance your body, or simply want a visual representation of something important to you. In some occasions, tattoos are obtained through one-night stands or over-intoxication from alcohol. Then the day later you might find yourself regretting it, along with a massive case of the hangover.

Careful considerations of tattoos can refer to other problems in society besides choosing the right design.

For instance, today police look into tattoo records to identify criminals. This literally means that if the person wanting a tattoo will eventually commit a crime, the police will have to look into those records to find a match to that person’s identity. Another consideration is the pain resulting from tattoos that you regret getting as a result of too much alcohol from hen and stag nights.

Recent years, the tattoo has become a growing trend.

It began when the only people with tattoos were sailors, bikies and certain scruffy groups who were really just posers in society. Further back in history, others may have used tattoos as a “coming of age” tradition within a tribe. Nowadays, I find a growing number of different groups who have tattoos and use it as a way to express their values to the world.

So whatever the reason for wanting a tattoo or your view on tattoos, consider the design according to your values.

Otherwise you will be in a world of pain trying to remove it. Otherwise the pain will be expensive and excruciating.

Explore the possibilities by going to different websites or going to a tattoo parlour to decide on a design. As for me, I might consider a steam punk tattoo, as I really like that artistic style and the Victorian era. Or should I get a kanji representing my family? Or maybe ... Oh the pain, I forgot the pain from the needles. Maybe I should get henna...

Most young celebrities in today’s culture are not afraid of expressing their individuality in public, including their tattoos. Such celebrities like Ben Cousins, David Beckham and Angelina Jolie, have expressed their individuality through their tattoos. Some of these popular icons have chosen their tattoos based on their artistic merit or as a public statement on what they believe in or who they care about.

- Allyana Goff

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grew up in a family where mental illness controlled and determined our lives. How we behaved, what we said and what we did. My dad was diagnosed with bipolar when I was seven, and to my knowledge, his schizophrenia was never officially diagnosed. The doctors, however, supposedly medicate him for both illnesses.

Every year, like clockwork, dad had an episode. “Episode” was the simplistic term my family used for each complex, fucked-up time that dad was sick.

Every year, every episode, we gained some experience. We learned how to identify the dad’s-getting-sick signs, who we needed to contact in the case of an episode and the best escape plan. Each of these were carefully devised plans and often subliminal yet mutual between my mum, sister and I. Whilst we were developing our applied education, dad was also gaining his own insight. He learned what he needed to say to his doctor to make him believe he was well, he knew how to behave and what to say to the police to make them believe there wasn’t anything to worry about. He had become so cunning and manipulative, it was quite extraordinary.

Mental illness stripped me of my childhood. When Dad was sick, I was worried he may actually succeed in killing Mum, and when he wasn’t sick I was waiting for his next episode which was definite, but the timeframe unconfirmed.

Our ability to identify the signs of an upcoming episode counted for nothing. We knew what needed to happen, because our experience was far too extensive. He needed to go to hospital where the doctors and nurses could medicate him and monitor his actions until he was well. If it had been simple to get him there when the signs began, my childhood would have been normal. I could have friends over, I could go to school without worrying about the welfare of my family and I could worry only about whether I wanted to play netball or partake in gymnastics.

It was knowing that he was unwell, knowing what had happened previously, what could happen this time and, most of all, knowing that no one would help us that was the most fucked-up part about it.

The words that will always haunt me: ‘There is nothing we can do until he actually does something!’ So what, when someone is dead that’s when you’ll do something? What a wonderful idea. And routine check-ups for a daily total of 30 seconds? Are you sure you don’t mind? We wouldn’t want to be an imposition.

Kidnapping my sister and I wasn’t enough. Strangling my aunty til her neck was black with bruising and she couldn’t breathe wasn’t enough. Breaking and entering wasn’t enough. Delivering the Holy Grail to Prince Charles at Parliament House, with the assistance of yours truly, wasn’t enough.

As I got older, I realised that I had to something if the authorities who are paid to do so wouldn’t. Firstly, I had to do get Dad to stop hurting Mum—physically, that is; the emotional damage was done and something I or anyone could never undo. Secondly, I had to do the impossible, get him to admit himself into hospital.

Needless to say, mental illness is fucked-up. Or more specifically, the systems we have (or don’t have) in place are fucked-up. It is the people around the mentally ill that are affected. My siblings and I did not have a childhood; I had to be a grown-up before I had boobs. What my mother went through is unimaginable.

Dad liked getting sick; he told me. He said that life is okay on his medication and off it, life was ecstasy. He felt creative, affluent, invincible, aware, important, intelligent and purposeful. He felt like he was a spy crossed between Superman and God. Knowing this, I can understand why in his mind he would want to go off his meds. Whilst he feels these things, he isn’t really a spy, Superman or God. He shouldn’t have the option to stop taking his meds, it should be compulsory.

When Dad and any other person with a mental illness are lucid, the episode needs to be discussed. They need to be informed of what really happened. Dad, for example, needs to be told that Mum isn’t the Devil, he isn’t a spy and our kitchen table wasn’t the Holy Grail. Everybody avoids talking about it but the true, the false, and the made-up needs to be talked about.

- Hayley Chandler

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Schindler’s List (1993) The Library of Congress deemed this biographical film as a significant contribution to the film industry in 2004.

Spielberg’s brilliant work as a director has managed to evoke different (personal) emotions from the viewers when he decided to cast Ralph Fiennes as Amon Göth, a sadistic SS lieutenant who tortured Jewish prisoners for sport. Neeson’s performance as Oskar Schindler, a German war profiteer turned saviour of the Jewish people, is probably the most realistic portrayal of a flawed hero. Despite the 195-minute length of the film, no scenes were wasted.

Little Helga slowly walked in the ruined city of

Berlin. Black smoke could be seen in the background, as an artillery shell had devastated a nearby building.

She was all covered up with dust and her red sweater has turned partially black. Earlier, she’d emerged from a hidden shelter underneath the living room.

What she found immediately changed her live forever. Both her parents sat in the living room with bullet holes in their foreheads. The Feldgendarmerie (military police) that broke into the house had left the wall of the living room boldly painted with a warning message: “I supported the Bolsheviks”. Little Helga had nowhere else to go. She just kept on walking with an empty look on her face.

Neeson’s character is beautifully transformed throughout the film and the beginning of the change is dramatically depicted with a scene where red is the only colour in the film (the rest of the film is in black and white). The sense of fellowship among the Jewish refugees is the main focus of this film.

All the hidings and the secret celebration of the Shabbat by the Jewish refugees successfully immersed the viewers to be in the same shoes as the Jewish refugees.

Kingsley’s performance as Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant who was forced to work for the SS, deserves applause. In the end, some viewers might feel it difficult to hold back emotional tears when they have to part with the some of the lovable characters in the film. As one of the repeated events that stay in the memories of many Holocaust survivors, the phrase “You have been liberated by the Soviet Army” will definitely change the way we see racism and many forms of discriminations for the rest of our lives.

Enter the horror of WW2. These are the reviews from the two extraordinary films that amplify the cries of the victims that were previously unheard to the rest of the world.

Der Untergang (2004) This film is based on the testimony of one of Adolf Hitler’s personal secretaries, Traudl Junge. The film depicts the last 10 days of Adolf Hitler and his inner circle during the Battle of Berlin in 1945. Bruno Ganz, an actor who were previously unknown to most people, has solidified his status as the on-screen embodiment of Evil in his explosive performance as the Führer of the Third Reich. Ganz portrays a paranoid man with a nervous breakdown who switched between his emotional states as if he was just pressing a button.

The meticulous work of Director Hirschbiegel can be seen in the faithful recreation of the ruined city of Berlin.

My Two Cents The reviews of the two films do not serve as a mean to glorify violence that took place during WW2. Even today, there are many people who become victims of violence and discriminations throughout the world. It is necessary for people to learn from the past and make sure that the same mistakes should not be made again. In some parts of the world people are still being oppressed and persecuted.

The feeling of hopelessness as the basic necessities such as water and food were cut off from people serve as a vivid element of the film’s psychological trauma. WW2 film fanatics who appreciate extreme realism may rest easy as “graphical” elements of violence were present in the film. Last but not least, Alexandra Maria Lara’s performance as Traudl Junge has managed to add some residue of humanity with her innocence when her character is juxtaposed to with madness that permeates the air throughout the universe of the film.

Understanding the root of all these problems and watching films will not turn people into saviours of the world over night, but they can be made aware and involve in critical discussions among themselves that racism and all forms of discriminations bring nothing but insult to humanity itself. In my opinion, the university lifestyle is very rich in diverse cultures. If we integrate different cultural aspects into our lives, we should be able to understand one another, eliminate prejudice, and improve our community for a better future.

- Prayitno Wignjopranoto

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A Review of... Taps Having written my last two articles

on politics I was advised that I should broaden my target audience. As a result, this month we are leaving behind what is apparently a boring topic (politics) and moving on to a more exciting one (taps).

Everyone knows what taps are, have them, and uses them. Bam! Massive target audience!

Users: people who have no choice Rating: 2 stars Timer-button taps are those which you just press down (generally a circular knob) to release a flow of water, and when that little knob pops back up your time is up. These taps are quite functional and business orientated.

So the single-handle tap represents the movement away from our ability to use two hands, and our movement towards anally-retentive perfection. And to think some people are worried about the human race...

They save water which is good for the environment, and they cut down on water bills for businesses. The WA State Library is a prime example; individuals are forced to quickly wash their hands or they are simply cut off from hygiene.

Standard Screws Tap Where: my backyard, probably your bathroom Users: laborers, the poor, gardeners Rating: 5 stars In the tap world the ‘standard screw tap’ is equivalent to duct tape; we will all need it throughout our lives, and it’s one of the most reliable things we’ll ever use. In a world where iPhones can’t make calls and USB internet is closer to ‘USB internetif-your-lucky’, it’s nice to have something that just works. As McDonald’s adverts keep telling us, more and more people are wanting something “a little bit fancy”.

And you know what? With the ‘standard screw tap’, if you want it, you’ve got it.

Washers are available (I’d Google what they’re called, but right now I’m not lucky) that actually make it so that when you turn the tap off, there is virtually no resistance.

Personally if you have issues with turning off ‘standard screw taps’ then I will think less of you, but it’s there if you want it.

Things are a bit different in Capitol’s men’s toilets, though. It is not the water loving hands of book readers that taps must tackle, but rather the drunken people who have taken one too many of something.

Here, I concede, timer-button taps are king. If you’re too drunk to turn off a tap, no worries! For a Glassie like myself, they are essentially a god-send. When it comes down to it, though, when I come across a tap that thinks it knows better than me when I’ve had enough water, I’m going to get a little shitty. Dear businesses that use timer-button taps (excluding Capitol of course, you’re the best club in WA!), I will press that knob three times, once to clean my hands, two more times to spite you.

Single-Handle tap Where: Peppermint Grove, doggy training school Users: the rich, Labrador owners, homosexuals Rating: 1 star

Timer-button tap Where: Capitol’s male toilets, WA State Library

Who was it who first thought “I really can’t be bothered using two hands to create warm water”? Whoever they were they are just like those people who walk around with those Labrador dogs; they are simply too lazy to do even the simple things in life.

The single-handed tap is the tap where you move from left to right, and therefore controlling temperature from cold to hot.

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No-Hands Tap Where: ‘The Brook’ in Ellenbrooke, Mansions?

Users: the lucky, people in the future Rating: 4 stars It’s only recently that I learnt about the ‘nohands tap’. It turns out that in Ellenbrooke there is a place where streams of water are controlled by magic (hand movement).

Initially I thought ‘how lazy is that!?’, but then I thought about the whole bathroom tap process. We turn on a tap with dirty hands, clean our hands, then touch the tap which had just been dirtied, thus dirtying our clean hands. With this in mind, the ‘no-hands tap’ outclasses the rest of the taps purely in respect to it’s achievement of leaving our hands the cleanest.

I’d love to thus give these taps 5 stars, but it’s not perfect. With every piece of technology, while it’s still new, chances are bugs will be present (users of wireless hand-driers will know what I mean). In addition to this, a ‘no-hands tap’ couldn’t be used to water the garden. So not perfect, but the most sound in theory. Not to mention the thrill of being a magician.

“Water On!” * makes hand movement * water turns on and Larry feels like a magician :D Closing Thoughts: Has anyone else realised that two taps and a faucet look like man-parts? Who knows, it just may be a phallic symbol like the Bell Tower, representing the important role of men, and superiority over women, in the day to day workings of society.

- Larry Fife

l r i G y t h g u a N Hi, what’s your name?

I’m Naughty Girl.

What? Oooh ... so you’re naughty, huh?

No, no, that’s my name. My name is Naughty Girl.

Oh. Okay, I understand. Well, if you feel lonely at night – NO, you perverted arsehole! My. Name. Is. Naughty. Girl!

That’s my name, for Heaven’s sake!

Now, now, please calm down and consider it a bit.

Why is it that certain words (like ‘Hope’, for example) can be used for names, while the others (like ‘Naughty Girl’) cannot? Why don’t you name your beloved baby with expletives? More importantly, how is your life gonna be if your name is ‘Jerk’? Well, that sure is a question.

You know, even though the possibility of names is unlimited, the basic is still the same. You can name a baby with anything you want – at least in theory. Why doesn’t anyone name their child Jerk? Because that name has a really bad term. Imagine if your name is ‘Fuck You’; you’ll get slapped every time you introduce yourself.

There are two reasons why your parents gave you the name you’re using now: either it is because that name has a positive meaning, or because someone else has used it before. Often, this ‘positive meaning’ is related to virtues: the good quality of oneself.

How many of you are have names based on virtues like Hope, Prudence, Charity or Faith? Why can we use virtues for names but not expletives? The reason is obvious: your parents want you to adopt those virtues when you grow up. If your name is Hope, for example, perhaps your parents want you to be a person who never abandons hope, or even becomes a hope of many people. If your name is Prudence, perhaps your parents want you to be a caring person. If your name is Charity ... well, you get the idea.

Those are names based on virtues. But what about others, like Arthur or Liz or Jack? These names are not virtues, aren they? Here we come to name meanings.

Name meanings are often derived from other languages.

Some have a very long history that nobody can even pinpoint their origin. Take a look at the name ‘Jack’. This name has been used for centuries, yet even now there are many Jacks in this world. The same thing can be said with ‘Charlotte’, ‘Sophia’ and ‘Noah’. The latter has been used since Noah’s Ark millennia ago, and it is still around!

Interestingly, after one name is used over and over again, people often adopt one specific meaning to that name. Noah, according to some sources, means ‘repose’ or ‘consolation’. Jack means ‘God is gracious’. Sophia means ‘wisdom’. And so on.

Some names, however, may have more than one origin, with opposite implications. Take a name ‘Ava’ for example.

This name can be a variant spelling for Evangeline, which means ‘a bringer of good news’, or Eva, which means ‘life’. On the other hand, ‘Ava’ can also be a variant of Eve, the first woman in Biblical history who brings humans into sin. Depending on your perspective, one name can have both positive and negative meanings.

Another and more popular reason behind a name is because a ‘certain someone’ already adopted that name and your parents want you to grow up like that person. Perhaps your name is Jackson because your parents are big fans of Michael Jackson. Perhaps your name is Penelope because your parents are in love with Penelope Cruz. Or perhaps your name is Albert because your parents want you to be the next Albert Einstein.

Of course, it is also possible that the person whose name you adopt is not as famous as Michael Jackson or Penelope Cruz or Albert Einstein. Maybe your name is Agatha because your aunt Agatha helped your parents a lot in the past. Or maybe you simply looked like her.

Either way, the real reason behind your name can be difficult to guess.

That’s the reason why some names are always used, while the others are never used. Perhaps, if you become a parent, you’ll be creative enough to create a name nobody ever uses. Just remember; don’t name your child with something that has a negative indication like ‘Naughty Girl’. When your child grows up, there is a high possibility she can’t introduce herself without everyone giving her a ‘oh, you’re naughty’ look.

- Aldy Hendradjaja

12

myself!” The woman was fierce. Making civil rights fashionable was her lasting legacy - because, as she famously declared, freedom is to die for.

When women won the right to vote, the heady days of feminist militance and red posies seemed over.

Feminism disappeared from view, only to return more fabulous than ever in the 60s. Feminist theory was back, and it was sexed-up. Fearless females were binning their bras (not designer, we hope!) and upping their erotic IQs. They were saying, ‘What if I don’t just want to be a wife and mother? What if I want to be a career girl, or a sex bunny, or a princess?’ YES! We loved the movement’s new mystique.

The Female Eunuch was a real page-turner, but sadly this new wave of feminism left us a little dissatisfied.

After all those decades of fab fems working hard to get equal rights, it was still super hard for a girl to get ahead at work, and her bum was still getting pinched. By the time Y2K came around, we were pretty glum about the whole thing.

It has been out of vogue for a while, but we think the

feminist movement might be poised for a come-back. So, GSM reviews feminism: hot, or not?

Feminism burst onto the western social scene in the 1700s with the women’s suffrage movement. Oppressive patriarchy was hugely fashionable back then, but two tres chic Frenchwomen came up with a provocative new idea: women should be allowed to vote. O, la la!

This new French trend started turning heads all over the world, until suffrage finally exploded in Britain.

Then feminism got really exciting. Not to be outdone by the French, the British suffragettes took extravagance to new levels. In London, 1907, the big look for Winter was ‘mud’ as over 3,000 chilly damsels marched through the sludgy streets. They were showing the British public their determination to be recognised as equal citizens, and they did it with breathtaking flair. Colours were dark, muted tones, with splashes of red and white. Protesters accessorised with matching red and white posies, bound with cute vintage hankerchiefs. And the girls really made a statement with their white banners and scarlet slogans.

Feminism was hip; it was edgy. It was haute.

Of all the stylish ladies (and gents, John Stuart Mill!) who supported votes for women, none was hotter than suffrage it-girl Mrs Pankhurst. This gutsy goddess inspired countless women to starve themselves in the name of fabulousness. In the middle of one hunger strike, prison officials tried to barge into Mrs Pankhurst’s cell and force carbs down her throat. Our heroine raised a clay jug over her head and cried, “I shall defend

But all is not lost. Feminism may not be as exciting or as glamorous as it was last century, but it certainly has the classic appeal of self-righteousness. The movement’s central tenet - that life is way suckier for women than men - is hard to deny. A lot of the super un-fun stuff that women have to deal with (like childbirth, yuk!) is unique to the female sex. Men can never, ever understand what ladies go through, which is great for feminists - it gives them an edge in debates.

If you’re a white, middle-class woman living in a Western democracy, then feminism is a good fit for you. (If you’re a lesbian too, then bravo for going the extra mile!) For you, being a feminist requires very little maintenance.

Mostly, all you have to do is keep being female. While one hundred years ago the suffragette sisters were starving themselves and risking beatings to defend their rights, now you don’t need to go that extreme. It’s easy to defend your rights; you don’t have to be employed, get an education, or even vote - you can simply say you’re exercising your right not to. Hurrah!

As social movements go, feminism is sounding pretty foxy, right? But wait. A lot of feminists you meet seem to wear comfortable shoes and hate men. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you have to! Follow these easy steps, and you’ll be prepared to respond to any questions about your feminism. In case a non-feminist challenges you, memorise this classic fact: ‘In Australia, women earn on average 17% less than men.’ (This is always a safe statistic to quote because it hasn’t changed in thirty years - it isn’t going anywhere!) Should a militant feminist ask you why you’re wearing heels and a Playboy bunny tee, simply learn this adjective: ‘post-feminist’.

So now you know all you need to become a fully-fledged feminista. You’ll feel smarter for being politically active, with the added bonus of moral superiority. Enjoy your newfound sisterhood, but remember one rule: never laugh at feminism. There is nothing funny about it.

- Kaitlyn Plyley

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Bec Russell 17 1st yr Advertising

Kerrie Greenland 21 2nd yr Music theatre

Jesse Pearce 18 2nd yr Visual Arts

Nigel Redolfi 23 3rd yr Jazz Music

Jay Emmanuel 18

Dalton Paull 18

1st yr Contemporary Performance, Theatre Studies, French

1st yr Education & Creative Arts

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4th yr English & Writing

Rebecca De Rozario 23 1st yr Fashion

James Traille 18 2nd yr Music Theatre

Aaron Skinner 18 1st yr Lighting

Sean Miley 20 1st yr Music

Tegan Egbers 20 3rd yr Primary Ed.

Jesse Faely 21

15

“Amps” and “Caps”, as they are lovingly referred to, are two fused bars that house well-worn stages and dance floors.

On Friday and Saturday nights, the two get pretty lively and fill up with lots of regulars and newcomers. During the weekends, local and international acts perform much to the delight of punters. Most of the bigger acts rock out on Capitol’s stage, while local acts dominate Amplifier’s stage. Personally, it doesn’t bother me where they are from or how popular they are, every band that performs puts on a good show! Although… You might have to pay a little extra for a ticket into Capitol for bigger acts, compared to the $15 entry fee at Amplifier.

At midnight, Amplifier and Capitol become one; the conservative and un-smiling security guards open the connecting doors for everyone to pass through. By this time, the musicians have packed up and gone to their backstage rooms and the DJs are at it on the stages. In Amplifier, they like to play fun and upbeat tracks for toe tappin’ and invented choreography, while Capitol pumps with bass soaked dance tracks for jigging and head nodding. Apart from the over intoxicated and snobby, everyone seems to have a good time jumping, shuffling and arm flinging on the dance floors.

I suppose the biggest down side to Amplifier/Capitol is the toilets. The female loos get pretty filthy. Sometimes there isn’t even a toilet seat left for you to sit on, sometimes there are half finished drinks all over the floors and basins, sometimes there is vomit and other things present. I’m not too sure about the male toilets, but I’ve heard stories about slippery pools of urine all over the floors. Not the best if you just want to innocently use the water closet.

Another thing that can be irritating, especially if you’re wearing your best pair of shoes, is the amount of broken glass on the dance floors. Of course, the patrons dropping glasses and bottles on the floor are to blame for this, not Amplifier or Capitol. Yes, they could send out some floor sweepers, but I don’t think the customers would like that, nor would it be profitable.

Apart from the two gripes I have with the place, I still think that most people can go to Amplifier and/ or Capitol and manage to have a good time! It depends on who you are and what you like, but if you love all kinds of music, dancing and people, then Amplifier and Capitol may tickle your fancy on a Saturday or Friday night.

– Alisha Bee

The Wehrmacht Years Stalin: “Death is the solution to all problems. No man, no problems.”

The untimely death of Stalin’s pet rock left him just a little cold in the face of loss. His mother would tell him that Pebbles was in a better place now, while suspiciously ducking his more specific questions about the physical location of this better place. But if Pebbles was happy, that was all that mattered, right? Carrying this idea into adulthood, young Joseph managed to solve any and all problems a Kulak might be suffering at any given time, making them the happiest dead dudes in Soviet Russia. His mother must have been so proud.

Hitler: “Great liars are also great magicians.”

Some say that Hitler’s issues stemmed from his rejection by a Jewish-run school of arts, but can we all just admit he’s always been a jerk? Just go ask four-eyes over there...

I mean, Timmy. Adolf both terrorised and mesmerised the playground as a boy, cultivating his mad manipulation skills from a young age. By the time he reached high school, he had developed a fairly solid code of ethics... one that deviated from the norm, and revered intelligence over decency wherever the two were mutually exclusive, but a code all the same. Hobbies included ogling the blondes in adult magazines and making smartarse remarks to his school teachers... simultaneously.

to be any kind of useful. Fidel took pride in his ability to have independent thought, and would drive his mother mad in his attempts to exercise it – particularly when it came to “revolutionising” his school uniform with a pair of sharp scissors one summer afternoon.

Gaddafi: “We are telling the American people to have patience, courage, resolve and determination.”

Gaddafi only wished that sometimes the other boys would invite him to join their foursquare game. But no one ever wanted to play with little Muammar. Maybe it was because he was always taking credit for other peoples’ ideas, or because his own concepts were blatantly unoriginal. Either way, he swore to take revenge on the bastards who made his formative years so lonely. And for a guy who heard “Thank you, Captain Obvious” growing up more times than you’ve seen the 6 o’clock Simpsons reruns, he sure made those ideas work. You’ve got to hand it to the man; he knows how to take his own advice. Determination is dangerous.

Mussolini: “The history of saints is mainly the history of insane people.”

As a small boy, Benito would continuously pipe up where his opinion was not wanted. Perhaps it was the brain damage from constantly having his ears boxed that prevented him from learning to shut his mouth where his thoughts were unwelcome. But Mussolini was a proud heretic and, after years of being forced to attend Sunday School, refused to shut up about it. His stubborn nature, while problematic growing up, turned out to be quite a handy trait in his chosen career path – flexible dictators have simply never been fashionable.

Castro: “I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened.”

Castro was an overacheiver from a young age. Growing up, he could never quite put his finger on what it was about people that he abhorred so much, but as he hit adolescence it occurred to him that many were quite simply far too stupid

- Jess Gibbs

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The Greatest Dog in the Universe: roadtesting the Poodle

There’s something about a dog that just warms the heart. I’m not sure if its just an Australian saying, but it is said that a dog is Man’s best friend. Maybe a woman’s too. Or, just pets in general. But there’s something about a companion that makes home feel like home. So what is Man’s best friend. I put it to you that it is poodles. Yes, that’s right, poodles.

I’ll never forget the day I came home to discover that my mother had purchased a little fluff-ball poodle. Oh, the humiliation! Sure. It stole my heart briefly as I looked upon him, but then I thought of the looks I would get walking down the street with him, and throwing the ball to him in the park. I’m supposed to be a tough guy, and wasn’t sure if you could be a tough guy with a poodle attached to the end of your leash.

According to my mum, poodles are the smartest breed of dogs available. I’m not sure how somebody came to this conclusion. I suppose there may be some institution out there that gathered every breed of dog and made them perform the same tasks, and then crowned the poodle the smartest. If there was, it was probably a French institution, which makes it biased, so therefore I don’t believe that; like I didn’t believe my mum as she tried to convince me why a poodle stole her fancy.

So I decided to test the poodle’s intelligence myself. Originally poodles were bred for duck hunting. I myself don’t hunt ducks, so I had to make do with some tennis balls and food. Poodles love both.

Test 1- Food. If I had a piece of food for one, they know its for them, and they just be themselves; jump around, sit down and break my very soul with puppy dog looks. In these acts, they are so convincing, I had given up the food before realising, “Damn! I was suppose to make that poodle role over.” In my opinion, test 1- pass; flying colours.

Test 2- Tennis Ball. I thought poodles love food, which they do, but they go absolutely ballistic for a ball. Upon seeing a ball they go into some sought of uncontrollable frenzy.

I’ve never seen an animal move so fast. So its best to at-

tach the dog to the leash before revealing the ball. This is the poodles’ favourite game; it knew how to play. It ran the leash around my legs, I tripped over, making sure I didn’t land on the poodle and harm myself on collision with the ground, dropped the ball, the poodle untangles itself from my legs, retrieves the ball, and delivered it back to my hand so we could do it again. And we hadn’t even made it to the park yet. Test 2- High Distinction.

The problem I had with testing the poodle is that they are probably smarter than me. I needed more variables and ways to monitor its genius. But I was unwilling because I’m not prepared to be outwitted by a poodle again. I resigned my experiments and decided to agree with any biased French institutions, and my mother. It was too dangerous to do otherwise.

There’s many reason’s you can own a poodle- they’re French, their bark is worse than their bite and they do what they want and not what you tell them. However these are the very reasons that make them so great. I mean you can’t hold someone’s nationality against them, and if you need your dog to bite something other than your shoes and other things its not supposed to be biting, you’re probably a drug dealer. As for not doing what its told, who doesn’t love a rebel.

On top of these points, they’re one of the stupidest looking dogs I have ever seen. So when they are not doing what they are told, and acting like the French that bred them, you can’t help but laugh and smile (while trying to hide them from the public). They really make for a dubious adventure.

So if your ever thinking of purchasing a canine companion, don’t forget, poodles look hilarious chasing their own tail.

The only thing that may put you off making the best purchase of your life is the price-tag. As always: Thank you mum.

Yours sincerely, Jack Sparrow

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Vampires. These fascinating creatures seem to rise to glory in Meyer’s Twilight novel series, deemed a New York Times Bestseller in 2005. Films, however, are not the only place where they have seen success. My two favourite vampire TV series of all time, which I also think are crucial in popularising vampires: Buffy and True Blood.

Settings Both series take place in fictional small towns. Buffy is set in Sunnydale, California and True Blood in Bon Temps, Louisiana. While Sunnydale’s popularity seems to be due to the central hell hole of the world called the Hellmouth under Buffy’s high school, Bon Temps’ main attraction is its heroine – Sookie Stackhouse.

Heroines Buffy is centred on a female vampire slayer, Buffy Anne Summers. It started off with the movie version, about an L.A. high school hottie. While Buffy seems to have superhuman strength, she is still human. Sookie Stackhouse of True Blood, on the other hand, has a telepathic ability. As the series progresses it is revealed that, as if telepathy hasn’t done the job already, she has something more than meets the eyes. She shoots energy rays from her hands.

Themes Buffy largely deals with personal issues – nightmares and inner demons that she faces everyday as a high schooler, a university student, then a working adult, as well as a chosen one. Joss Whedon expressed that the monsters are manifestations of the metaphorical demons we face everyday. As Buffy matures, the demons become stronger, yet the series doesn’t expand the issues it covers. To be honest, that’s probably a good thing. Afterall, its targeted at teenagers and young adults. Buffy promotes friendship, family value, and all that jazz; it is a light-hearted, enjoyable series suitable for its audience.

True Blood, however, brings more controversial issues ranging from politics to drug addiction, discrimination to sexuality, and racism. While Sookie may be the main character, the premise encompasses the personal lives of other characters. True Blood is like a post-modern drama that is constructed through so many sub-plots adding complexity, depth and richness to the series. True Blood portrays the social condition that the world is facing. The more conservativeness and historical background of the southern US add complexity to that situation, especially regarding the political stand of the vampires.

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Vampires The vampires in Buffy follow the traditional image: they are monstrous bloodsucking creatures of the night with a hunger to overpower the human race. Granted the humanity in Angel and, later, Spike, these exceptions are given, not developed. Thus, as the title suggests, the human-vampire relation in the series is not the friendliest and Buffy is there to get rid of these vile monsters.

True Blood has more developed vampires. Most of them don’t want to rule the world; they don’t see the human race as mere food. I regard them as the subordinate group in society, in this case in the American society. As a minority group they want to be accepted and struggle for it. One image in the opening credit of the series displays a billboard with a statement I believe the LGBT community can relate to, “God hates fangs”. The existence of vampires in True Blood doesn’t only depict the conflict between the conservatives and vampires, it also suggests the opposition within the human society: pro-fangs and anti-fangs.

Storyline Usually having a main villain each season, Buffy’s episodes are not necessarily attached to one another. I think it’s not a big deal to miss a Buffy episode because there are different monsters or demons in each episode.

On the contrary, I’d feel lost if I missed a single episode of True Blood. True Blood’s plot flows continuously and the information one misses from an episode may lead to destruction! Well, almost.

My fascination for vampires started with Buffy. While I’m a tad ashamed that it didn’t start with the movie adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire: the Vampire Chronicles, the Buffy series was probably a better start for me. It was funny, mildly violent, thrilling enough, and it was most definitely an acceptable watch for a 14 year old according to my mum. Buffy was definitely my favourite TV series of all time until True Blood.

Buffy now seems boring and too mild. I enjoy it now and then, but the wilder, gorier part of me wants more blood, and something that can represent the true dark nature of vampires. More importantly, I want something I can relate to – something that resembles the situation of the world I’m living in. I got it all and more in True Blood. True Blood doesn’t only offer a more mature, more complex depiction of vampires, but also deals with more complex issues.

- Dina Waluyo

A Review of Buskers Walking down Murray Street Mall on weekends,

it’s not uncommon seeing people gathering around a dancer or juggler, watching them strut their stuff.

Buskers for me have become a fascination since I landed in Perth. When I arrived in Perth, just walking along Murray Street Mall was so entertaining; I saw people with actual skill singing and dancing. Watching buskers has become both the best and worst thing of spending time at Murray Street Mall.

Musicians Hippie new wave guitar dude: I can’t rationale his musical act. He sits at corner William Street and Murray Street Mall, strumming to his electric guitar, amped up the loop, playing new age-y numbers, which I can’t even tell if they are actually one very long continuous number or separate pieces. Nobody wants to hear new age guitar piece of crap in the arvo with so many other noises in the background. I suggest you walk past really fast.

Panpipes band: Not bad but I’ve listened to them so much everything they play sounds the same. They sell their CDs for 20 bucks apiece. I think that’s a serious oversell for a band that’s been rocking the same sound over and over again on the exact same spot: just in front of Woolies.

Sally Hegotule: This lady successfully stops me. The pieces she sings are easy to listen to and very laid back. Her voice and the sound of her ukulele take you to that tropical beach with coconut trees and sparkling blue water. If you’ve got time and happen to be at the Murray Street Mall with this lady around, try to absorb just one number.

John Gill: I call this man ‘the Piano Man’. Equipped with his mobile full size acoustic piano, his fingers dance ever so swiftly delivering piece by piece. He doesn’t play classic number from Bach or Mozart, neither does he do jazz. Honestly, I don’t know whether he does covers of other people’s works or if he simply does improvisations; it doesn’t matter.

He knows his stuff and he is doing an exceptionally amazing job at it.

Dancers

I guess you can say he dances but if that’s called dancing then I can dance too. I guess maybe his main premise is not to dance but to provide entertainment in any kind of form. I don’t know… Even with that assumption, his act just doesn’t do it for me.

Twirling cute Asian girl: I seriously don’t know her name. And maybe her dance doesn’t really offer anything particularly new but goddammit it’s so hard to resist staring at her. She puts the widest, sweetest smile and dances her heart out. And she’s simply cute and so lovely to watch.

Mickey J.: My. Favourite. Busker. Ever. There is nothing in his act that doesn’t say awesome. Well maybe his dance moves are not groundbreaking but personally I don’t think you can’t help but at least smile watching him. He does side walk, moonwalk, slow motion running act, comedy and mime. The best thing I can say about him is his interaction with the crowd. He is working it! Some professional buskers are known to ask for one or two volunteers, he doesn’t just ask for a couple of them, he actually reacts to his audience. I’ve seen his performance more than four times and his act still makes me laugh. And by God I can swear he recognised me the last time – I’m a regular!

Jugglers There is only one juggler I’ve seen on Murray Street Mall. Name unknown, but he does a straightjacket escape act for his final act. He’s really quite funny (he includes comedy) but, although he calls himself a professional street performer and although he does get quite a large crowd, once is enough for this guy.

Maybe it’s because I’m more into music, but I’m just not really interested in a guy throwing stuffs in the air.

Maybe if he does flame juggling I’d watch him more.

Good or bad, buskers are always fun to watch. Whether you admire them ,or quietly criticise them harshly, there is always something to say about busking. I am glad I’ve seen quite a few buskers in the city, both good ones and bad ones. As I used to perform music back home as well, finding some mates to make a dime from busking might be a good idea ;) - Dina Waluyo

Dude in glittery colourful outfit: The dude is bizarre.

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Drink.

Drink. Drank.

Drank. Drunk.

Drunk. roadtesting Australia’s favourite undergraduate beverages classy drink, when you are trying to impress someone As a worker of possibly one of the greatest businesses The with some champers, everyone knows Passion Pop. This that has come from the East Coast, Dan Murphy’s, I get to see the new products, be amused by what people buy and, of course, buy cheap booze. Have you ever been to a bottle shop with $14.89 on your card, hoping to fill that basket with enough to last you through the evening? Yes? Welcome to being a broke Uni student constantly on the grog. So here is a little update on what you are seeing at the parties, the classy way to behave: You’ve got to love the good old saying; Fruity Lexia makes you sexier! It totes true. But on a serious note, you and a few mates pull out your shrapnel and all of a sudden you have 22 standard drinks and a very sexy night ahead of you.

So is everyone around you glowing because of the wine in a bag, or are you so blind drunk that anyone could really get down and be sexy? FACT! There is a new meaning to this saying, introducing Fruity Lexia Lite! For the calorie conscious, this is an amazing invention. Get pissed on a budget, keep that ‘Hot Bod’ and enjoy the amazing taste of Fruity Lexia. Another piece of advise; keep the bag, blow it up and voila; you have a pillow for your after party nap.

Currently when I hear the word summer I automatically think, “Cider! Cider! Cider!” On a hot summers day, nothing is better then an ice cold cider. Which brings me to my next product: Rekorderlig. A Swedish cider that has just made its all the way to Australia, yay!- And the response has been beyond overwhelming. So with four flavours, apple, pear, strawberry and lime and wild berry, Uni students are being forced to get a second job just to deal with this addiction.

Starting at $5.90 (I even payed $16 in a bar), this sweet aromatic sensation is mouth watering.

is an all time favourite for under $5, having introduced Passion Pop Pink and recently Mixed Berry. There has always been an issue with this drink, it is difficult at a party, unless you go all class and drink out of the bottle all night, because who carries a champagne glass and cooler bag for the rest of the bottle? That’s why the maker’s of passion pop have been incredibly smart and bought to the market; Passion Pop in a can. All your problems are solved! I can’t say I can ever see myself drinking sparkling wine out of a can. At the same time; neat new product.

It’s quite common for a uni student to go out even though we know that we have uni, or work, the next morning, but ‘we are only young once and have to live,’ so I am on a quest to find out what drinks give you the least hangover with the use of my Hang-O-Meter. It’s a proven fact that dark spirits (4/5) are a lot worse for the morning after, your best spirit to consume is vodka (1/5) because it is the most pure, (just like anything else, too much and you may not agree). Cheap wine and champagne (3/5) are never going to make you feel good the next day, a reason they are so cheap, be prepared for a headache. Anytime you mix drinks (5/5) be prepared for one of the worst. From personal experience: don’t mix cider and cheap wine. Drink water, stay to one drink, and sleep it off. If you make the mistake, Panadol and water.

- Sophie Bates

Goon => voon => moon, wow! The little silver bag used to hold one thing, cheap wine. Now when you see it, you don’t know if people are tacky, or absolute class with cocktails in a cask! So first of all it was Smirnoff in a bag the famous ‘voon’ bag; blood orange and cranberry. Quite nice, but very sweet. Make sure you serve over ice. Then we have the popular drink ‘cowboy mudshake’ in a new inventive ‘party’ cask or as I refer to it – ‘moon’. When I first unpacked the moon I giggled a little. I am yet to try a milky drink out of a cask- all seems a little wrong to me… EXCITING NEWS, a new product from just last week; Vok have introduced cocktails in a bag, one gentleman said “my wife and I are going to have cocktails in the spa tonight” and then put on my counter a bag of Mojitos and Pina Coladas. Can’t wait to see this at the next party, and BYO martini glass.

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6051

postcards from postcodes

In

Perth there is a couple of official mental institutions, most famously Graylands, where the mentally unstable are held for society’s well-being. However there is a suburb where the disturbed are free to roam as equals. This suburb is Maylands.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not writing this article to bag Maylands. I’m quite attached to the suburb, and if you were to ask me where I’m from I will answer your query, “Maylands”. It’s a beautiful place, much the same as any other West Australian suburb; it has roads with houses in it, and these houses are numbered, and inside these numbered houses live everyday-normal people, who make these houses their home. It’s what is on the outside of these houses that make Mayands such a superb place to live.

Location, location, location! That’s what a real-estate agent would tell you to try and sell you a place in Maylands. After all it is only a 15 minute drive to Perth City- Western Australia’s capital, and has played a rich part in Perth’s history (or at least that’s what a real-estate agent told me). Mainly because of its location. But I’m not a fool who is taken with such shallow spiels. It’s what is with-in that makes my heart swell, and my hand reach for my pocket to make sure it hasn’t been picked every time I leave the lovely abode my mother has made her home.

Mother chose this suburb because this is where the real West Australian money is (I mean apart from the outback).

Although it is being given a proverbial face-lift so it’s more appealing to the masses. It’s not like those new up-andcoming suburbs. The ones where cashed up bogans and hooligan miners who have more cents than dollars, and more dollars than sense.

Where they’ve bought houses, in places where the scenery is the same for kilometres around, having been developed buy profit hungry land developers reproducing the same architectural design every third lot. And it’s not where the old-money resides, near the beach, talking about how much they have to wipe their arse with (that’s where my Dad lives- he doesn’t have much money, but he’s a big arse- so he fits right in). This is what makes it so real.

One of the defining attributes that makes Maylands so real is the Maylands train station- located at the end of Eighth Avenue. This could be referred to as the heart of the suburb- its connects the citizens of this beautiful district with the rest of the state (again- not including the outback, although if you take the train two stops to East Perth, you can catch a train to anywhere in this beautiful countryAustralia).

Here you can see what sought of demographic calls Maylands home. And believe you me, they are an eclectic bunch; some of who seem to call the traino home. I wonder where they have come from, and I’m often tempted to follow some of them home to see what sought of abode they live in, but they’re just as paranoid about the loons as me, so its a fair’s-fair situation and we go our separate ways. More than a few make their way up Eighth Avenue.

If the train station is the heart of the suburb, then Eighth Avenue is its main artery. Along Eighth Avenue is a variety a lovely shops and service providers. Basically everything you need to live in a capitalist society- there is a supermarket, a newsagent, a post-office, a Church, Maylands Medical Centre (ask for Dr. Rodino- he’s the best, although he always seems to be running 2 or 3 hours behind schedule), a gun-shop (that’s right! A gun-shop! Which sells an assortment of handguns, rifles, and crossbows to keep the loonies at bay), hairdressers, and a delightful pick of cafes and fashion outlets. Everything you need to while away your day.

Of course, I’m not sure if you feel the same, but to me there’s something comforting about being surrounded by people who seem crazier than yourself that makes one feel less detached from reality. So if you’re looking for a new suburb to live in, I highly recommend Maylands. Although if you do check the place out, I suggest you drive through, not walk; unless your first stop is the gun-shop.

- Jackson Ladyman

21

Hatched National Graduate Show 2011 16 April -5 June Free admission Perth Institute of Contemporary Art Perth Cultural Centre, James St, Northbridge /Tues-Sun 11am-6pm 92286300 info@pica.org.au

Lawrence Wilson Gallery UWA 35 Stirling Highway Crawley 11 March-24 April Free admission Contact gallery for hours T 64883707 E info @lwgallery.uwa.edu.au Art and social justice in the work of Bob Birch, Christopher Crouch, Susan Norrie & David Mc Kenzie, and Jon Tarry The artists in this show explore mans’ impact on his environment in varying ways and with very different results. From Bob Birch’s journalistic photos of people on the West Bank to Jon Tarry’s 3d wall works and film of a field of fighter bombers seen from a passing car, the one thing they all have in common is a sense of unease at the state of our impact on the ecology and on each other. I found Christopher Crouchs’ painting of the Swan Valley with black smoke rising on the horizon particularly resonant. Varied and engaging Reconnaissance is well curated by Dr Annette Pedersen and highly recommended.

Heathcote Museum and Gallery

Abdul Abdullah is a noughties

graduate of Curtin who recently painted a portrait of Academic and Musician, Waheed Ali. It is featured in the Archibald Prize this year and I had the pleasure of speaking with him about his practice.

Q: In your role as a teacher of teenagers what sort of emphasis do you place in skill acquisition and what emphasis on idea generating?

A: I think when teaching teenagers, I put a lot more emphasis on skill acquisition. I figure that idea generation will come with growth.

Q: I have heard it said that in Art ‘There are no shortcuts.’ Do you agree?

A: I don’t know about shortcuts, but I do believe in taking the direct path, and my direct path could be whole lot quicker than another persons.

Heathcote Cultural Centre, Duncraig Rd, Applecross Tues-Fri,10am-3pm,Sat&Sun 11am-3pm closed Pub hols Free admission T 93645666

Q: How do you choose your subjects?

Jewellery by 8 WA artisans Carolyn Gorman, Carrie McDowell, Claire Brooks, Claire Moody, Fern Valessi, Helen Bogucki, Alister Yiap &Leah Tarlo. 8 is a showcase of contemporary work by jewellers who share a common interest in the process of making. The figure 8 represents infinity and alludes to the bond of affiliation between these practitioners.

Fremantle Prison Gallery Fremantle Prison, The Terrace, Fremantle 9am-5pm daily Closed Good Friday, Free admission An exhibition revealing the lives of women incarcerated during the late 18th and 19th Century. Includes personal accounts in the form of letters, artworks, objects, photos, domestic items, films, and interactives.

Remix Art Gallery of WA , Perth Cultural Centre, James Street Mall Coin donation admission Weds-Mon 10-5pm Closed Tuesday T 94926622 Remix features the artwork of 20 contemporary West Australians of diverse backgrounds, age and experience. The exhibition includes a broad mix of media with painting, sculpture, film, design and photography most of which has been recently created. A standout work is the oval hand blown white neon glass piece by Brendan Van Hek titled ‘Great White Hope’

22

A: The paintings I do are all of people close to me who I consider friends. I feel the better I know them and the more I like them, the better the picture will be.

Curtin Art School has a structure that does not encourage having one major throughout the course, and I copped a bit of strife for insisting on sticking with painting for the 3 years I was there. While I was at Curtin my works explored the things me and my peers were going through at the time including the transition into adulthood and other coming of age experiences.

Generally I have music playing when I paint and it ranges from Country to hip hop. Often though the album will finish and I won’t notice and continue to paint in silence.

I work as a trainer and sparring partner at ‘Boxing for Fitness’, and I boxed competitively when I was younger. I still train 3 - 5 days a week and do a fair bit of sparring.

From the anonymous charm of ‘Tits out for the

boys’, which had me wondering whether the driver was an overweight gay male or just your garden variety ho, to Zack Adams’ clever ‘I hate bumper stickers but I love irony’ no socio-economic group is safe from their delightful, often propagandist, banal and mundane but usually succinct language found on Bumper stickers.

I don’t know about you but I sometimes find myself mulling over the possible ‘witticisms’ that one could have as bumper stickers (unfortunately none spring to mind currently). However the mere thought of the effort needed to market, print and distribute the messages seen when driving makes me wonder if my precious hours couldn’t be better spent elsewhere.

Social classes and belief systems surround us, especially on the roads. From the Saab with the woolly ‘Magic Happens’ to the old Holden with the pithy ‘Magic Happens but shit happens faster than you can say Abracadabra’, everything is subject to a constant dialogue between classes which is most fun when played out in public.

According to Wikipedia: ‘People who opt to exhibit their individuality through these decals often take part in more acts of road rage. Colorado State University social psychologist, William Szlemko, found that aggressive driving is linked to the number of markers a person has on his/her car, regardless of the messages portrayed.

He says this idea is linked to the idea of territoriality. The more individualized the car, the more the person tends to think of public roads as his/her own.’

Someone, somewhere, is hoping to make money from the sweat of their sticker efforts and presumably some people do. There is probably a PHD languishing in a library about the subject, but most of us are doubtlessly too busy being distracted by them to bother reading it. I wonder how many rear end accidents have been caused by people trying to read them, the RAC have probably got something to say on the issue, but it probably isn’t worth publishing.

We had a sticker once on the back of my girlfriend’s Hyundai, of a JJJ drum, but as it faded, and she grew older along with it, the sticker was finally removed and not replaced. They date, and fade, and become boring with age; a bit like tattoos that once had tremendous relevance, and then lose their colour and vibrancy. But if you are lucky, they can be easily removed, unlike some car registration stickers placed on the inside window and requiring surgery to peel off after a year in the heat.

Why people want to tell anonymous passerby that their child is a genius among geniuses at the local kindergarten is beyond me, but then how else would young Peter or Michelle be acknowledged for their superior recorder playing, or Maths ability? Bumper stickers clearly fill a social need for recognition for people who didn’t get enough attention as kids, and that must be a good thing.J Having said that I smile in agreement with the sticker that reads ‘Your child may be an honour student but you’re still an idiot’.

One thing I love about car stickers is the possibility suggested by altering their letters and changing their meaning. How often do you sit behind a car at the lights and want to climb out with a black Texta modifying the words on a bumper sticker to turn the driver into an object of ridicule? I know I have… OFTEN! My aunt Brigie reckons they are ‘another one of the nutty ways people communicate in this culture. They range from bloody stupid to rather wonderful. My fave is “Every time you download music, God kills a kitten J”.’

Here are a few bumper slogans to enjoy or dismiss: ‘I am not a bum, my partner works’ ‘If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried’ ‘For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism’ ‘Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it’ ‘No one is listening until you make a mistake’ ‘Plan to be spontaneous’ ‘Boldly going nowhere’ ‘Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool’ ‘Success always happens in Private and failure in full view’ Happy Bumper sticker spotting!

- Ben Mitchell

23

Red Queen H.M. Brown

Reading By Moonlight Brenda Walker

1/5

4/5

Two brothers, one woman, one postapocalyptic world, one extremely cliché story.

Reading by moonlight is an enjoyable and interesting book. It does not supply the reader with a traditional plot, but is more of a stream of consciousness guided vaguely by Walkers’ journey through breast cancer. Walker’s favourite authors and books are sewn into Reading By moonlight, which makes it so intriguing.

The Red Queen introduces us to a parallel world where the human race has been wiped out by the ‘Red Queen’ virus. And just like typical postapocalyptic stories, our protagonists are the remaining survivors in that messed-up world: the two brothers Shannon and Rohan Scott. They spend their time together in a secret shelter, until a young woman appears on their doorstep.

Seriously, that paragraph above has summarised the whole book. It’s pretty cliché: boys meet girls, but there are two boys and only one girl. There.

I don’t have to say anything else because you pretty much can guess the whole story already. A lot of erotica and a pretty boring mystery, this book is a very stereotypical suspense story.

And, if I may put it rather harshly, this book places women merely as sexual objects. The word ‘love’ here seems only about sex, sex and more sex.

There’s no love here; there’s only lust.

The worst thing of all is the theme of the story. As I mentioned before, this book is about a world that was destroyed by a deadly virus. Yet, the virus itself barely has a significant role in the story; it seems the word ‘virus’ here is only used to set up the background. I’d understand if the climax and the resolution have something to do with it, but it doesn’t.

It seems out of place to name this book based on the virus’ name.

In the preface, Walker quotes The Hours by Michael Cunningham: ‘You want to give him a book of his own life, the book that will locate him, parent him, arm him for the changes.’

This sums up the journey of the book most precisely.

Brenda Walker is constantly looking for the books that will help her through the different stages of cancer, and choosing to share these with the world. The book is divided into chapters of her life. Preface, Surgery, Chemotherapy, Radiation, Reconstruction and Survival. Each chapter leads you through the issues Walker had to face while treating her breast cancer.

The book is great for women, as we are all scared of getting breast cancer.

It is important to note that it is not a typically story, but that is what makes it so worthwhile reading. Walker does not exactly end on a happy note, but she ends on a life lesson. You need to make it through life, and it is important to remember that you are only mortal. This is a book that I am already recommending my friends and family to read.

- Jasmine Reilly

Recommended to perverts who love suspense stories.

- Aldy Hendradjaja

My Dear I Wanted To Tell You Louisa Young 4/5 To Tell You is a period piece that is also about the intrinsic goodness and warmth of people during war. As the Western World appears intent upon revisiting these horrors, or something very similar, upon its citizens, it is a timely lesson.

While dealing with a horrifying subject Louisa Young paints extraordinarily lively, vivid word pictures. Young is an experienced and knowledgeable researcher who masterfully incorporates real events and records from the WWI era.

Early scenes signal the affluence and comfort of English upper middleclass families. In pre-war interiors and gardens, beautiful and heroic young women and men present the action from individual perspectives.

As the story progresses, these warm and realistic characters must part, to then continue their different-yet-same views from foreign, often loathsome circumstances.

WWI created new types of ghastly personal consequences, and one of the unexpected facts Young deals with is plastic surgery. Woven into this story are authentic details about early forms of modern facial reconstruction, and how dedicated surgeons and assistants searched for and created mechanisms to repair hideously shattered faces and bodies.

The size of the book is modest, yet Young displays great skill in setting the scene over diverse jurisdictions - Ypres, Amiens, London, Paris, Lancashire and Kent – which are all magnificent movie locations. The book is written in ready-made ‘episodes’ well suited for depiction-upon-thescreen or in a television series.

- Susanne Harford

24

Why

do people read? what is it that is so attractive about reading? If you are anything like me, reading offers an escape.

Just for a moment, I can stop thinking. Are you asking: how can you possibly stop thinking if you are reading? Well, I will explain. To put it simply, I am an over-thinker.

My thoughts are constantly going a mile a minute. Thoughts on things I have to do, things that could happen to the people I love, how I am going to pay the food bill tomorrow, how I am going to get all the washing done, how Ryan Reynolds is hot, how I am going to get my room clean, whether I will be able to have a drink soon… and the list goes on.

If you haven’t guessed, my thoughts can often lead me to become irrational and paranoid. Reading offers a way out from these thoughts that drive me insane. It stops me thinking about all these various things at once, and I can simply enjoy the story that is slowly unfolding.

I am sure that many of you are wondering why I don’t simply watch a movie. Don’t get me wrong! I love popping in a DVD and being distracted for a few hours. Movies do offer an alternative world. They are more visual and can be watched with other people. Movies are great, but reading is also.

I enjoy reading, over movies, because it is more personal and way more in depth. When you are reading, you can create the world. How the main character looks is up to you. It offers a personal connection with the characters, the plot, and the settings, that a movie simply can’t.

Books are more portable than movies, so you can take the world with you. You can be on the bus, on the train, on a plane, in a café, or curled up in bed. You can take as much time reading, and discovering the world as you want. Nobody else is waiting for you to get back from the toilet or while you make a coffee.

Reading is all about the reader and the enjoyment lasts longer than a measly 2-3 hours. Reading offers an amazing smell, an alternative world and (often) a happy ending. Reading offers an escape from not only boredom but also the real world. There are very few things that I would rather be doing than curling up reading a book while it is raining outside.If I had to rate the act of reading for pleasure, I would give it a 5/5 The eBook or the paper book?

Firstly, eBooks are easier and quicker to obtain than a normal print book. With a print book you either have to go to a bookstore to purchase it or wait for them to be delivered. With an eBook, you only have to wait for the eBook to download. The books are also more likely to be the most updated version, if you purchase it as an eBook, rather than a print book.

EBooks are easy to store, more portable and more eco-friendly than paper books, or so they say. You can have hundreds of eBooks in the one device, whether it is your computer or your eReader. You don’t to find space on your bookshelf whenever you buy a new book.

EBooks have features that enable you to highlight text while you are reading, and to also take notes that can both be easily removed. Sharing quotes on both twitter and Facebook is easy to do when you are using an eBook. This enhances the sociability of reading - is this a good thing though?

Definitions of words that you do not understand are easier to find when using an eBook; it is easier than pulling out a dictionary. There is also a tool that makes it easier to search for things within the text. This means that researching is easier, for all you students out there.

With all these benefits, why are people still buying print books?

Is it because you have to have a product that enables you to read eBooks – such as a kindle or an iPad? I do not think it is just this. Paper books have a certain feel and wonderful smell about them which an eBook simply can’t offer. Have you ever found yourself leafing through a book, lavishing in the smell and feel of it? I know I have.

Memories are evoked by our senses of smell and touch. While a print book can evoke memories through the use of different senses, eBooks fail to do so as they all feel, and smell, the same. An example of a print book providing a memory is my fourth Harry Potter book. The pages are a little dog-eared and it has some water damage to it; yet I will still read from it. The memories that come to me picking it up are irreplaceable.

I first read this book when I was in high school, it got wet in my bright blue backpack while I was waiting for my mum in the rain. I used to stay up hours after bedtime reading the book with a heat bag to keep me warm in bed. Whenever I smell a heat bag, I think of Harry fighting off Voldemort.

The physical aspects of a print book, such as its cover, can’t be replicated by an eBook. Although the eBook often has an image of the front cover, and sometimes the back cover, it simply does not do the book justice. Publishers will put great thought and effort into the type of paper, the font of the words, the binding of the books, the raggedness of the edges and the indentation of the covers. The packaging of a book evokes certain feelings, which an eBook simply can’t replicate.

Although I said earlier that you could have hundreds of eBooks in one device, I personally like having bookshelves filled with books. I collect books after all. I like showing off the books I have to my visitors, and it makes it easier for them to find a book they might want to borrow.

The sharing of eBooks at this point in time is not possible. Because of Digital Rights Management and incompatible eBook formats, we are not at the stage of sharing. Although an eBook prevents you from losing your text, I think the idea of sharing the books more appealing, even if they do find a new home.

The price of eBooks at this present point in time also offers an issue. Second hand books are often cheaper, and buying second hand is not an option with eBooks.

Although I have to admit that eBooks have many benefits, I do not like them. Even when I am studying and come across information in an eBook, I print the relevant pages. I find it easier to have the physical piece in front of me.

So there you have it. I have given you the benefits of both eBooks and physical books. Which ever you may choose, I don’t mind. Just remember to enjoy reading. That past time should not be replaced.

- Jasmine Reill

25

Now in its 22

year, the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival Australia 2011 is all about first encounters, discoveries and clashes. So, it fits right into this “Review” edition of GSM. We secured an interview with outgoing Festival Artistic Director, Jean-Jacques Garnier, who answered some questions that may be of interest to ECU’s communications students, public relations and other cultural studies. Jean-Jacques has been in charge of the Festival since 2006.

copyright of Eve Garnier

nd

Jean-Jacques, you have turned the French Film Festival (AFFFF) Australia into a major success with nearly 100,000 film patrons in 2010. Are there any particular personal skills that have assisted you?

Is the French film industry financed by the French Government?

Regarding skills for such a Festival as this, I think two things: First of all, I studied arts, I attended a theatre school, and then I had various experience – previously I was a cinema exhibitor in France. So, while you can learn how to manage a Festival, learn how to organise....

You cannot learn how to create a successful programme of films. Secondly, you must experience this process, with patience, linked to loving what you are doing, to loving cinema, of course, year after year. This is how you learn how to understand your audience – this is the most important part – because the Festival is first of all for the audience.

During the five years as Artistic Director the AFFFF in Australia has grown into “the largest national festival of foreign film in Australia”. When you assumed the role, did you have a clear vision?

No public money goes towards production of this Festival.

My salary is paid by the French Government, and also that of the Director of Alliance Francaise, but there are a number of agencies, like UniFrance who obtain funds from private and public companies. UniFrance works for the Festival, inviting eight journalists from major Australian papers; The Australian, The West Australian - to France in October for five days.

There is special government financial support for French film-makers. They are paid a wage so they can concentrate on their screenplay. It is a unique situation, you know. This is the reason why we have such good annual production; why we still have between 190 and 220 films, plus around 60 coproductions ... It is amazing.

Are major stakeholders like Tefal involved in the film choice?

Not at all! It would be terrible. Everybody would have different ideas about the programme. There must be freedom, to be totally in charge of the programme, no censorship, freedom – otherwise the Festival identity could be compromised. And remember, the programme and the Festival must be for the audience, not the sponsor. And we have the skill, the sponsor doesn’t get involved ....they let us create the Festival.

Not at all! When I arrived the festival had existed for 17 years. So I was like a nurse, you know, and I thought I would take care of the baby for five years...but straight away, they said I must choose; prepare a programme for the festival.

This meant I had to quickly get to know the audience that existed here. To know what Australians expect of French film, know the kind of French films that work here, know the French movie exhibitors.

So I tried...and after the first year I could say with certainty I had a plan, an idea for here in Australia - to make the AFFFF ‘grow up’. Because I was disappointed when I began – especially by how few French movies were presented. It was not providing a true representation of current French production. The idea I developed was to make the Festival a ‘window’ of France. This would ‘speak’ - more human interest movies, more universal appeal to the Australian audience.

You provide a rich selection of French films now, with extraordinary actors and directors: is there resurgence in French film-making?

You said previously that there was some talk of AFFFF becoming a bigger cultural event.

That is still an idea. AFFFF is already successful in Australia, so we don’t want to have something here that interferes.... that would simply increase the paradigm...

We want to create something special – around France. I don’t know quite how yet, to use the Festival – to launch ... something of four or five days we are planning something new, huge...

Where next, what next, for you now?

To Japan as Director of the French Institute in Fukuoka in South Japan, and also in charge of the cooperation between France and Japan for the Southern Province of Kyushu – in September, 2011.

No, the French film industry has been strong for many years – there are some good and some bad years – you know, like for wine...What I can say is 2010 was a very good year for French films.

- Susanne Harford

26

Just Go With It Director: Dennis Dugan Stars: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Brooklyn Decker When should we stop lying?

As debatable as this is, Just Go With It shows that a lifetime of lies can sometimes lead you towards happiness and the absolute truth.

Starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, this hilarious romantic comedy involves some of the simplest and best jokes, nicely mixed with deep emotions and a quest for true love. Danny (Adam Sandler) is a plastic surgeon whose fake wife has gotten him limitless success in picking up girls for one night. What he didn’t know though, is that his trick would one day play against him.

Mars Needs Moms Director: Simon Wells Stars: Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Fogler The story takes us on Milo’s journey of adventures and obstacles he comes across in an attempt to save his mum who has been kidnapped

by Martians. In the process, we are introduced to Gribbles, who describes himself as a ‘secrenaut’ (secret astronaut) and Ki, a rebellious, colourobsessed Martian, who help him save the day. Clearly, the attempt here is to appeal to every child’s inherent love for their mothers, mixed with kids’ fascination of the unknown, in this case, the Martians.

Helped by his long-time assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), Danny is going to play his best lying cards to get young schoolteacher Palmer, until he finally realises that the biggest lie was to his heart.

Directed by Dennis Dugan, the movie really makes you wonder when the whole masquerade is going to collapse, as the trick escalates up to a stage where everything seems to go out of control. When Katherine’s two kids get involved in the plan, what revolved around presenting a soon-to be ex-wife to Palmer, slowly becomes about family bonds and the true feelings of Danny who, for a long time, had his eyes and heart shut.

4/5 - Marion Lopez

Unfortunately, it fails miserably as the story line is weak and there are some loopholes that could have been easily filled by the story tellers; such as the origins of Mars and how it became what it is in the movie. The climax is way too stretched out and the 3D effects in this movie are very minimal and were not exploited to their full potential. No exciting fireballs thrown at you! No wild rides that take your breath away! :) Nevertheless, to be completely fair to it, the graphics are of good quality, as you would expect from any Disney movie, and the Martians, sometimes funny, do manage to make you smile occasionally. In addition, some kids (ages 7-11) that were interviewed after the movie all described it as being ‘cool’ and entertaining enough for them.

We do, however, expect a lot from Disney, who has never ceased to amaze but this time, it falls short of the usual Disney magic we are used to.

2.5/5

Mad Bastards Director: Brendan Fletcher Stars: Dean Daley-Jones, Lucas Yeeda, Greg Tait WA has been producing some truly awesome Indigenous cinema of late—most notably Bran Nue Dae, which this reviewer loved. Mad Bastards is a totally different kind of film but it does share a few similarities, especially in its intrinsic attention to detail, its genuine connection to WA land and culture and, yes, the epic road trip north from Perth to the Kimberley region.

Despite being a fictional drama, Mad Bastards is probably about as close to ‘real’ as cinema gets. Writer/director Brendan Fletcher eschewed the usual route of writing the screenplay and then finding actors to fit the part. Instead, he wrote the screenplay in conjunction with the actors, most of

- Divya Jankee

whom had not appeared in cinema before.

So when troubled Noongar man TJ (Dean Daley-Jones) decides to leave his lifetime home in Perth for the Kimberley to see his estranged son Bullet (Lucas Yeeda), he is echoing the actor’s similar journey to connect with his own teenage son. Meanwhile Greg Tait, who plays Bullet’s grandfather Texas, not only acts as a small town Kimberley copper in the film, but he is also, in real life, the local policeman at Halls Creek.

The result is a beautifully honest film that deals frankly with issues such as domestic violence, alcoholism and crime, while earnestly conveying the spirituality of Aboriginal Country and exploring the themes of men’s relationships and Aboriginal peoples’ struggle. But amid the darkness and hopelessness there is incredible warmth, hope and humour. The magic of the Kimberley cannot be faked, and the cinematography captures perfectly its meditative power and inspired madness.

4.8/5

27

- Ben Watson

The Spitfires- Radio Control

SeBADoh - Bakesale Reissue

Nelly,

4/5

2/5

5.0.

Anybody with even a cursory appreciation of the great lineage of British rock bands—especially those of the last 20 years such as Blur, Pulp, or Arctic Monkeys— should absolutely get a load of Perth mob The Spitfires.

SeBADoh are an American band formed in Westfield, Massachusetts in 1986, formed by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow (originally the Dinasour Jr Bass player). The have taken inspiration from the late 80s alternative grunge as well as 90s indie rock.

1/5

The band is fronted by an outspoken scouser, singer/ guitarist Sean Regan, who is one of those dudes who seems destined to succeed in music by taking the weirdest routes possible and blazing his own trail.

This album they have produced “Bakesale Reissued”; a reproduced version of their 1994 album Bakesale compiled by band members Jason and Lou. With two CDs: firstly the original album comprised of 15 tracks, then a second disc of 25 songs with rare tracks, demos and out-takes.

With the release, SeBADoh are also doing a two-week tour in the USA and Canada.

It’s this juxtaposition between visceral early-Clash punk simplicity, and the natural tendency of those post-Beatles bands (and anybody with ambition, really) to experiment and change that has sat a little uneasily on the band’s two previous EPs.But it’s exactly that tension that ultimately makes the band work. They’re just as at home with a hip dance floor as they are at a punk show. And increasingly, maturity and skill is winning out.

Radio Control caused a minor stir upon release due to its original packaging: The Nova 93.7 icon adorned with a suspicious-looking Charlie Chaplin moustache.

This resulted in the band being threatened with legal action by a radio station that clearly has no sense of humour whatsoever about their image being tarnished in such a way.

The style used by SeBADoh is LoFi (low fidelity) a genre that became increasingly popular throughout the 80s and 90s. Producing Lo-Fi music means you are consciously producing music with a lower quality than usual standard.

Using a bare minimum of instruments and having a low file approach towards the technology of music that is ‘improving’. Some other bands that have used Lo-Fi are The Shins, Of Montreal and Smog.

The band appeals to a very acquired taste, using experimental techniques such as childlike synthesiser melodies. The CD is a little mishmash comprising of a few genres and does not flow as a complete album.

This stunt belies the fact that the single is a groovy, catchy corker that sounds freakin’ awesome.

It’s a mid-paced song, as far as Spitfires songs go, and it’s definitely a grower. It’s subtle, in that it will suck the listener in with strangely melancholic hooks that will eventually snag the brain Venus fly trap style.

However there are definitely some standout tracks. For example “Careful 1” and “Give Up” create the perfect demo sounding (Lo-Fi) 80s grunge.

“Skull” and “Got it” use personal lyrics for 90s indi and romantic genres which works perfectly. Overall a few great songs, but the album is not very well put together and I applaud anyone who could sit down and listen to all 40 songs back to back.

- Ben Watson

- Sophie Bates

28

Definitely not going to be getting ‘hot in here’ to the new 5.0. This is the 6th album for Nelly (called 5.0.) having once been a huge success, selling over 8 million copies of his album Country Grammar, with a couple of songs that you know the words to whether you like it or not, for example ‘Dilemma’, Nelly has taken a turn for the worst and produced a true anticlimax.

INCLUDING SMASH HITS; Move That Body… fucking terrible to say the least, and ‘Just a Dream,’ that song from Connections that is constantly stuck in your head, but not for good reasons.

‘Liv tonight’ has been done that many times before, time for something new Nelly, as with many of the lyrics. Even with the help of T.I., T-Pain, Akon, Birdman, Keri Hilson and Kelly Rowland, Nelly still couldn’t produce a decent song.

Having sold 63,000 copies in the first week and of course had to blame his record label (poor Nelly, it just wasn’t his fault). Even on his Twitter writing, “5.0 Every1 luvs da album n say its crazy!

So wen u hear folks say they didn’t no it was out r there were hardly any n the store! WTF?” The cover of the album says it all. So ‘boy you know you got me gone’. As a broke Uni student, or even if you just got paid, don’t bloody waste your money.

- Sophie Bates

Kill Teen Angst

Mick Harvey

ENDGAME - Rise Against

No Walls In The Sky

Sketches From The Book Of The Dead

4/5

3.5 Kill Teen Angst has returned with their long awaited LP, No Walls in the Sky, and the upcoming Perth indie punk rock band have kept their promise to their fans.

Drawing from a mix of indie/punk rock and more hard hitting 90s style rock, KTA is like a fresh breath of old air, but not a bad kind of air, sort of like a musk. Yeah.

True to word KTA brings the energy and power of their live gigs into No Walls in the Sky. This album sounds and feels like a dance album; hard hitting, catchy lyrics backed with the band’s now more in-your-face guitar riffs.

And while definitely moving away from their more poppy EP’s, the band does a great job of riding the fine line between being hard rock enough for the boys and being sweet enough for the girls too.

I wouldn’t say the lyrics are particularly deep, but they are very open for everyone to enjoy, and that fine line rides a bit high and low between some tracks.

I swore I heard some VERY poppy tracks in there. But it’s something that you could throw on at a party, and everyone could find something that they’d like. That said, it is a dance/ rock out sort of album at heart, so don’t expect it to change your life.

- Brennan Peers

3/5 Mick Harvey has been an enormous talent to the music industry over the last few decades. Having worked with the renowned Nick Cave for most of his career, starting with Boy’s Next Door, The Birthday Party and also until just recently Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Since 2005 Harvey has been pursuing his solo career and this is his first album with lyrics written entirely by him. “Sketches From The Book Of The Dead” is a short album, with only 11 songs and under 40 minutes.

Some superb songs and a few misses - but overall a good effort.

The album is extremely poetic and magnificent use of lyrics. Many of the songs are almost dreamlike, yet quite dark and disturbing at the same time. ‘October Boy’ as an opening track was disappointing, however the album definitely did improve track by track.

The greatest tracks were “A Place Called Passion” - slow but very smooth to listen to. “The Bells Never Rang” is repetitive - usually a feature I am not very fond of, but somehow Harvey makes it work. “Famous Last words” is quite different to the rest of the album - but I love it, a little more upbeat yet still carrying on the dark poetic themes.

My favourite would definitely have to be “Rhymeless“, cleverly based with references to well known Nursery Rhymes, extremely clever idea

by Harvey, and yet he somehow continues to make this dark for example with lyrics “All the songs that you never sang”. A few outstanding songs and a few disappointments, defiantly worth purchasing for the good ones though.

- Sophie Bates

29

While I decided to keep my eyes closed of the wrongdoings in the world long ago simply because I couldn’t bear to see much more sufferings, Rise Against successfully screams it all to me. Literally.

Filled with intense riffs, wiry guitar, thumping rhythm and screamos delivering each angry lyric to my ears, Endgame is loud, confronting, and in my face.

Voicing the heartbreaking Hurricane Katrina victims’ plea of the promises they received is Help Is on the Way, while Survivor Guilt questions the motive of the on going war.

The child-chorus in Make It Stop (September’s Children) is haunting and as McIlrath sings, “And too much blood has flown from the wrists / Of the children shamed for those they chose to kiss,” I am forced to yet again see the dreadful facts of homophobic bullying and it sends chills through my spine.

Joe Principe’s dirty bass line in the track Endgame, in tune with the apocalyptic lyric, “She watched the world crumble away / ‘Is this the end of yesterday?’ / ‘Lord, I hope so,’ is all he said,” is heart wrenching, yet captivating.

To be honest, I was tad sceptical I’d enjoy this album since it’s been practically years since I last listened to punk, but Rise Against harkens my days of listening to Blink-182, Green Day and the Offspring, and soon enough I find myself tapping my foot and nodding my head to the rhythm.

Endgame guarantees straight hard rock track after track without a single pause. Be prepared to chant along Architects’s “hey!” and Make It Stop (September’s Children)’s “woah”.

- Dina Waluyo

Ta-Ku! Actually the fact that I’m from a small isolated city seems to help. Especially seeing the BEAT SCENE isn’t too prevalent here in Perth, or Australia even; that tends to help me stand out more I guess.

How’d it feel to have your beats played on Radio 1?

I was so taken by that, it was so humbling & exciting.

That’s always been my ultimate goal, really, to be bumped on Gilles show is a HUGE milestone for me.

For

upcoming future beats artist Reggie ‘Ta-Ku’ Mathews, born and raised in Perth and isolated from the beats scene completely, would seem like an against all odds story; yet in the few short years of the Perth beat battles Ta-Ku has been on a warpath. After taking home the award for the third year consecutively in Perth’s ‘Beatdown’ beat battle, being selected to participate in the Redbull Music Academy, and now recently having his beats played on the BBC Radio 1, Ta-Ku is stepping into the international spotlight.

A lot of artists find the ‘name your price’ option is a worrying concept on the artist websites you use, like bandcamp.com. Do you have anything to say on this?

I love it. Being a listener as well as a producer, I feel that people should really have the option (if it’s available to them) to really pay what they feel the product is worth.

Do you reckon this ‘name your price’ mentality is the next step towards dealing with the internet pirate generation?

So how long have you been making beats, and what made you want to start?

Definitely. 90% of people really want to support their favourite artists if they can afford it. This ‘name your price’ option helps people pay as little or as much as they want.

I heard DONUTS by Dilla in late 2006, and that was the thing that made me want to start. I’ve been making beats since 2007.

Isn’t it daunting knowing you could get nothing at all for your work?

I understand you’re a bit of a Dilla fan, haha

Not at all! Music for me is a hobby, life is my priority. If people want to support my music then that’s a really humbling surprise for me! Haha.

I love every piece of DILLA’s catalogue. Soul just oooozes outta anything the man touches.

Any other inspirations, aside from, obviously, back to the future?

DILLA! Q-tip, Wajeed, Elaquent, Freddie Joachim, Dibiase, Devonwho, MNDSGN, Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke.

You’ve also done a collab with Cyhi Da Prince on Kanye Wests label?

Yes!! I landed a beat on his latest mixtape which has caught a lot of buzz! That’s the last song, however, where you will hear a vocal artist on my music, from here on its strictly instrumental music!

Can you give us any more news on the Knots LP? Sylvia is an absolute gold!

Have the Perth Beat Battles helped fuel the fire?

The Perth battles were so much fun and an inspiring show case of the talent in Perth. I also enjoy the challenge of making beats strictly for HYPE purposes.

Have your inspirations changed over the years?

Definitely. In the early stages my influences were more boom bap based like Premo, Pete Rock and 9thWonder.

However, since attending the RedBull Academy with Teebs, Onra, Pursuit Grooves, KienRa and many other talented Future Beat producers, my influences have been really broadened.

Thanks brother! I appreciate that. Knots is going to be a 14 track LP consisting of really soulful electronic beat music. In the meantime, though, I have a beatape out with Soulection guys on bandcamp, as well as a Digital EP coming out on Darker Than Wax called KT, a 12” called BOUNCE, a 10” coming out with Project Mooncircle, and another beatape coming out in May with www.moovmnt. com.

Thanks for your time dude!

Thanks bro! Thanks for the interview!

Has living in Perth seemed to affect your ability to get noticed?

30

- Brennan Peers

The big budget games of today boast realistic graphics,

inventive gameplay, amazingly detailed storylines and the most fun you can have as a gamer. But one game sets itself apart from those AAA titles saturating the market. That game is Minecraft, a game that is still only in beta, and yet has over 6 million accounts on their website and 1.8 million prepurchases and counting.

Minecraft is a sandbox game developed by Markus “Notch” Persson, the origins of his nickname eludes me. The project began in mid 2009 and has since become an online phenomenon, with its lego’esque graphical quality, simple gameplay mechanics and as an outlet for the highly creative.

Thankfully Notch now has a dedicated team working to release new content and fix the bugs, especially the one known infamously as the “Black screen of Death”. Receiving this black screen can sometimes make you appear inside the blocks you just mined when you go to reload the game.

Being used to AAA titles, I was hesitant at first to play a game still in beta. I quickly found myself engrossed in its simplicity.

In a nutshell, you mine blocks to craft things with, whether that be stone, sand, dirt, wood, or any number of ores. You can use these blocks in many ways including building houses, castles and/or rollercoasters using minecarts and tracks. If you’re into Farmville, the Facebook game app, then there’s something here for you too. Farming is one of the best ways to obtain food and crops, unless you take a strange pleasure in hunting the piggies that roam the landscape. You can literally build anything your mind can come up with, and the community behind the game have already played around with the textures and made their own packages you can download for free, to give your game new life should you grow tired of the default textures.

There is also the exploration side of things which can be quite enjoyable as you sail the seas in your tiny wooden boat or dig down until you come across a cave system filled with creatures and precious metal ores like gold or, rarer still, diamonds. Every so often one can hear strange eerie music while walking through the caves, this music denotes a special dungeon area where enemies will spawn. There is a good reason to seek out these dungeons, however, with the loot you

find including a saddle that you can ride a pig with! Exploring the randomly generated world is its own reward, especially when the maximum surface area of a single world in minecraft, using a block as a meter, can be up to 8 times the surface area of the Earth. Now that’s replayability!

There is one thing you should be wary of should you decide to play on any difficulty above ‘peaceful’. Other than the pigs, cows, sheep and chickens there are creatures, and when I say creatures, I’m talking zombies, skeletons, spiders and the feared creepers, also known as exploding green penises, that explode in your face and can blow up a chunk of your house if you aren’t careful. A recent addition to these I found by mistake on my latest stroll through a cave was a square green blob that bobbled and bounced around, how cute. Most of them come out at night, so it is recommended you build a shelter before nightfall. But do not fear, as you can easily construct weapons and armour to protect yourself from these creatures.

Basically any tool you make can be used as a weapon, but the most effective are the sword and the bow. Should you miraculously find yourself with a surplus of diamonds, your blades will never dull and your armour will be near impenetrable. The zombies and skeletons tend to burn when exposed to sunlight, but spiders and creepers do not, so be on your guard. Let’s hope Notch doesn’t decide to include vampires that sparkle when the sun shines on them in the next patch!

After playing for only a few weeks I can safely say I am a fan of Minecraft. I’ve become inspired by other’s creations, and I marvel at the beauty that this game has brought to the medium. Yet another game created outside of mega corporations that give hope to the gamer ‘demographic’. It just goes to show you don’t need modern graphical realism and a large marketing budget to make a popular game. With the internet, word of mouth is just as good. If you’re looking for amazing reconstructions of real-life architecture, floating skull fortresses of doom, or even simple shelters to keep the zombies at bay, scour youtube, or make them yourself!

4/5 - Christopher Gibson

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