continuing the oddly and purely unintentional international feel to this blog this month is a celebration of australia. well, the day today (of publication) is Australia Day, look you see, so why not.
by no means is this "list", or feature, or simple blog post, intended as a definitive guide to things what are class, or ace, off of the place. far from it. there are too many things to place in such a document in relation to the time i have available. here are just a few things what came to mind when i considered the subject. and let us not forget it was some 40 (!!!!) or so (!!!!!!) years ago that i composed what has come to be regarded as the ultimate, greatest and most comprehensive "book" on the subject of the country. indeed you can read that one, right here. quite surprised i have never been approached for the film rights, but no matter.
so, then -
THE KOALA BEAR
magnificent creature this one. gets to spend its entire life hanging about in mighty trees, living off a diet of (mostly) eucalyptus. oddly, yes, i did indeed try to emulate this at one stage, and it was pure bliss. also, just how cute it is remains an excellent trick of deception. they are vicious, and if angered can rip a mere human to shreds in seconds with its amazing claws. do not f*** with them.
STARSTRUCK (STAR STRUCK)
some might (or may) have expected me, reasonably, to quote Mad Max 2 when making reference to cinema out of australia. but, no. this motion picture shall forever remain dear to my heart. it's a wonderful, fun, charming, witty beautiful story, with an astonishing soundtrack. sadly it also remains buried in "rights and ownership hell", so presently there is no official release of the film or the soundtrack in the present day. worth seeking a pirate, and i am sorry to say that, for i wish all and everyone in the world could go and buy this gem.
DENNIS LILLEE
here as a representative of all great australian cricketers, but also he was something else. when he effectively broke his back, shattering a number of vertebrae, he insisted that doctors and physios worked out how to fix it and get him back bowling, just so he could take more English wickets. that he by all accounts was in absolute agony was, to him, irrelevant. Dennis Lillee is one of the gifted, cultured types who(m) understand that The Ashes are the be all and end all, and absolutely anything else in life is secondary. far too often it is so we English have insulted the australian sense of pride and dedication to cricket by sending absolute sh!t over to get slaughtered off of them.
THE VIDEO FOR LET'S DANCE OFF OF DAVID BOWIE
a video what got (somewhat) celebrated in (glorious) retrospect for being a very big and very clear statement about the inequality faced by the indigenous people of australia, all at a time when few if any were talking about it. but, showing my perpetual immaturity, mostly selected here for that bit where Bowie stands in the desert, pretending to play the Nile Rodgers guitar bit, wearing white gloves presumably to scare off any funnel web or red back spiders. also snakes and what have you.
MENTAL AS ANYTHING
instinct, of course, saw me wish to celebrate Split Enz, but that would cause some disrespect to New Zealand, from whence the heart of that band came and belongs. as fate or some grand plan decreed i happened to be in australia when this group hit it big, with songs like Too Many Times and If You Leave Me Can I Come Too being played on repeat. a few years later, i am back in England, and they gone done hit it really, really, really big with Live It Up off of Crocodile Dundee, a brilliant, uplifting and truly astonishing slice of pop music brilliance.
straight up and straight out apologies if your favourite thing what is australian has not been mentioned here. please refer to the earlier disclaimer. or don't, up to you.
be fair dinkum to each other, i reckon.
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