Week Ending 16th December, 2001	Page 1
Lord Of The Rings And Harry Potter Are Racist	posted 13 Dec 2001
Or so says the Sydney Morning Herald's Chris Henning... When this article was posted on Fark.com, it drew a torrent of responses - some simple-minded, some facetious, some wilfully irrelevant, but some were thoughtful and from people who were familiar with the works. Amongst those could be found both support for and refutation of Henning's position... Which made me wonder about assertions about the "fundamental appeal" of these texts... At the end of the day, it seems that these texts are ambiguous and so we, as readers/viewers, interpret them in whatever way suits our prevailing world-view... Thus, they can be as racist or as inclusive as WE want them to be.. So rather than tell us anything about the "fundamental appeal" of these fantasy books/films, what Henning's article really shows us is the fantasy-film nature of public debate in John Howard's Australia, where everything is a simplistic clash between good and evil - between "compassionates" and "racists"; between "cultural elites" and "ordinary, decent Australians"... And the more we unreflectively toss around these terms, the more we play into the bespectacled politician-wizard's hands... Your thoughts?
It's A Stinker !	posted 13 Dec 2001
Blockbuster Video in London is trialling a form of aromatherapy to help its customer choose videos. Using scent capsules in fitted into the air conditioning units, different sections will be perfumed with fragrances that suit the style of movie they contain - gunpowder for action movies, roses for romance, the smell of bananas for comedies. (Interestingly, the article doesn't tell us what fragance they're using in the adult sections...) If only this technique could used to alert customers to the fact that a movie stinks before they even pick it up...
The Complete Soviet Non-Fiction Film Archive - Now On-Line	posted 12 Dec 2001
The Christian Science Monitor reports that a media company in Texas has gained access to an archive in Russia containing every Soviet non-fiction film ever made - some of which have never been seen outside former Soviet government circles - and are in the process of putting them all on the web. So far, their site contains clips to nearly 25,000 films in Russian and 5,000 films in English.
Xena Says : New Zealanders Are Just Like Hobbits	posted 12 Dec 2001
If you think the frenzy of anticipation surrounding LOTR is bad here, imagine what it's like on the other side of the Tasman where the epic trilogy has been a virtual industry for the last three years. The film is so goddamned big over there that they've set up a Ministry for Lord Of The Rings! And it's even having an impact on the way they're marketing themselves to the world. On the official NZ tourism website is an animated Flash brochure entitled New Zealand : Home Of Middle-Earth. It's narrated by Lucy Lawless of Xena, The Warrior Princess fame and takes you on a tour of the locations where LOTR was filmed. Although there are some nice hints of self-parody in it, I do think the reference to New Zealanders being like hobbits will come back to haunt them one day...
Dog Wanking Inappropriate For Christmas Eve	posted 12 Dec 2001
Someone in SBS management has obviously decided to give their kid a puppy for Christmas... Hence, the recent decision to rescedule an episode of South Park that features a child masturbating a dog to make "dog milk". The episode was originally due to air on Christmas Eve. It will now be shown in February, and in its place we can expect the return of the ever popular Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo.
Wizard Outfits Today... Shark Fin Hairdos Tomorrow	posted 12 Dec 2001
Following the success of films like Shrek and Monsters Inc, Sony have decided to step into the CGI film arena with plans for a completely computer-animated movie based on the Astroboy TV series... I just hope this doesn't lead to a popularisation of that weird shark-fin hairdo of his.
I'll Be Back... But It'll Cost Ya!	posted 12 Dec 2001
That's right! Arnie is promising to return to the big screen for a third installment in the Terminator series. But first, he's demanding a record salary of $30 million upfront! And astonishingly, he'll get it!... How long before these obscene demands start bankrupting studios and bringing Hollywood to its knees?
Page 1