Australians Do It Better

[joni]

This is very fun to read (make sure you click all the "..." footnotes):
https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-a ... -instagram

[yourfriendclaire]

This article made me snort-laugh like four times. I miss blogs

[alexshred420]

Yah this is so good. I was confused though, in the middle-ish part they say "Update: I have been arrested." but don't go into any detail about that. Is that a joke? Some type of dry Australian humour that I don't understand?

[m o l l y]

I read that to escape grading 10th graders' Ted Talk reviews. What a world.
[mention]alexshred420[/mention] Noticed that too. Pretty sure he was joking.

Have you guys seen the 90's Australian movie, The Castle?

[joni]

[mention]alexshred420[/mention] & [mention]m o l l y[/mention] Yeah, there are tons of jokes peppered in there and that was definitely one of 'em.

[yourfriendclaire]

[mention]m o l l y[/mention] I have not seen The Castle! Tell us about it. I'd like to know more about Australian cinema. Our Melbourne friends (i.e. one-time-only boardie [mention]brain.of.bird[/mention]) once recommended a truly harrowing flick called Wake In Fright, sort of an outback Deliverance...

[alexshred420]

Watched the Australian movie "Long Weekend" from 1978 on the Criterion collection and it was pretty dumb. About how nature fights back against human assholes.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079482/

[RCH]

Ooh, I like the eco theme of Long Weekend even though you said it's bad.

There's this sci fi movie called Alien Visitor (1997) that you would like if you haven't seen it, Claire. It is kinda boring but it has an interesting premise: a land surveyor meets a space woman who tells him how bad people are fucking up Earth.

The Last Wave (1977) is by Peter Weir who did Picnic at Hanging Rock. It is kind of an eco theme psychological drama about ominous apocalyptic premonitions. Kinda boring, kinda neat.

Wake In Fright is a hard and nasty psychological thriller akin to Deliverance* or Funny Games.
The unease it creates plays on the tensions between rich and poor, urban and rural, hypermasculinity, and lots of other stuff that goes over my head because I'm American. It is infamous for featuring real footage of a mass kangaroo culling.

There's this other similar thriller about a handyman who gives a tenant the creeps called The Plumber (1979)... it's basically about how her instincts are warning her to a real threat and everyone around her is trying to convince her she's wrong. Oh, it is also by Peter Weir! "Good on ya"

The Cars That Ate Paris (1974)--another weird Outback Peter Weir flick about a town that traps motorists and uses their cars for monster truck rallies!

Red Christmas (2016) is an absolutely insane slasher using themes of motherhood, family planning, and abortion. A tale for our times!

I liked Cargo (2017)--sparse, zombie movie with Aboriginal characters

Here's some other ones that I want to watch:
Road Games (1981)--stars Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis
Night of Fear (1972)--compared to TCSM
Razorback (1984)--creature feature about a wild hog
Dead End Drive-In (1986)--punxploitation

*I just realized that you said Deliverance already. I just watched D for the first time in the last year, it was way better than I thought it would be from how it's talked about.

[RCH]

the Castle looks cute as heck!

It sorta reminds me of this super adorable and heartwarming movie Malcolm (1986)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL_9QRupGLQ

[yourfriendclaire]

Wow, cool, [mention]RCH[/mention], thank you for these recommendations!

Someone else recommended The Cars That Ate Paris to me recently, must be a sign.

Jona's stepfather was trying to remember the name of an Australian film about two highway line painters--does that ring any bells for you? A comedy. We utterly failed at Googling it.

[RCH]

Highway line painters... sounds delightful!

I love using the IMDb advanced search for stuff like that. Reddit also has some subs for figuring out movie titles and someone always comes through.

[yourfriendclaire]

G*d bless IMDb, truly the most wholesome place on the Internet

[m o l l y]

The Castle is apparently one of those movies that every Australian our age saw as a kid and can quote in most scenarios. Like an Australian Goonies or Wayne's World?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki-Aw9PZFIQ

[yourfriendclaire]

Oh my god I love Australians

"It's justice, it's law, it's the vibe"

[yourfriendclaire]

A few items of Australiana!

I was just reading through my favorite writing tool, the online idiom dictionary, and came across this nugget of (apparently) Australian rude slang:

"not here to fuck spiders"

Used to express, either humorously or indignantly, that one is supposed to be attending to serious business, not engaging in idle, unproductive, or unhelpful activities. Primarily heard in Australia.

Would you quit screwing around? We're not here to fuck spiders, so get your shit together!
Right, come on you lot. We're here to organize the warehouse, not to fuck spiders.

Also, our Australian friend Kellie recommends this flick:

https://youtu.be/F_klJfpt2WY

Looks DELIGHTFUL. Dismantle film club?

[RCH]

I'm hyperventilate

[m o l l y]

holy guac!