Will Anderson v Jana Pitman

Been sort of following the whole Jana Pitman versus the world thing of late, and its got me thinking about the nature of humour, particularly the sort of must see modern comedy.

Of a Wednesday, or late Friday I sit and which Corinne and Dave do their thing on The Glasshouse on the ABC.Hughsie inhabits a wonderfully surreal world, one I would like to visit sometime, but a world where the butt of most of his humour is himself and his "crapcountryboyfootyloutsensitivenewagenaive"persona. Corinne can be quite satirical, lazer sharp with her observations of the world and its wacky ways. Then in the middle, and I have never understood why comes Mr Will Anderson. He is the exemplar of the point I am groping towards in this particular fog of erudition.

Anderson's stock in trade seems to be to find a soft target then to subject them to a continuing barrage of personal ridicule. Shannon Noll and his "ocker"accent, something I notice Hughsie isn't pilloried for, or Molly Meldrum's sexuality and so on.

Lately the target has been Jana Pitman, an athlete, someone who dedicates her life to running 400 meters and leaping over things faster than anyone else. She also seems to have been born without self editing software or a mute button. This apparently legitimises her for Anderson's ridicule. By all means satirise her opinions, lampoon the lack of logic or the double think, but Anderson seems to have worked out that in the current climate, it is easier to call someone a bitch, than to actually have to construct a clever observation. This he does with a monotonous regularity.

At the same time he is not alone, the bulk of must see Aussie comedic viewing is going down this path. A show like the Chaser, has its moments of comic genius, but there is often an undertone to a lot of the humour that seems motivated by churlishness or jealousy rather than the keen, satirical eye it is known for.

On the international stage, shows like the Office, or Johnny Vaughans faux reality show demonstrate this trait. Don't get me wrong, the whole Tim and Dawn aspect of the Office is wonderful, the observation accute.But, and there is a but, a lot of the humour is predicated on the "pulling wings off flies"aspect of watching David Brent be irredemably aweful.

I laughed myself sick watching the first series of the Office episode by episode. Then it came out on DVD and I sat down to watch, with high expectations, "right I thought, a Brentathon" except I couldn't make it to the end, the mysanthropy at the heart of the writing began to grind me into the floor.

How did we get to the point where the mean spirited became confused with the humorous. Programmes like Black Books or Spaced, both of a similar vintage to the Office, or Family Guy, American Dad or even Scrubs and Arrested Development don't have that spitefulness at their heart.They are eminently watchable, you can sense that in most cases the creators have a fondness for their creations. Takes me back to Dad's Army,(pause here for the thongs and jeans brigade to reveal their insecurity) a well crafted show, funny and with a sense of affection for the characters. Totally different feel and watchability.

I then start thinking about the comic stylings of the likes of Mark Steele and Mark Thomas. Angry, angry men, but with a hatred of behaviour and hypocracy.Sometimes the latter Mark can be hard to watch with his "stunts"which often catch some poor minion in their jaws, but the humour comes from a higher place than, "let's pick on someone because they are more famous than me".

Dunno, weird world aint.

oh yeah Pitman won her medal.

jelly!

I can smell jelly!

Watch the bouncing Julia!

So do I sense a run coming or what?

It seems little Julia Gillard has had a toedip in the murky waters of leadership aspiration in the last few days.

More power to her.

If there is to be a credible alternative to Howard's increasingly inept regime it cannot come with the verbally diarrhoeic, distressingly avuncular Mr Beazley. Politics truly becomes beige in the hands of the man from the West. Essentially it is impossible to truly know what he believes on any issue, or to gain a true indication of passion, anger or concern.

For all his perceived failings, "Iron Mark"Latham always let the world know precisely what he was thinking on any issue at any time. Furthermore he didn't simply line up behind Howard on most issues, maybe a legacy of being further left than Beazley, maybe a sign of passion, idealism or belief.

Anyway, Latham is gone, but another of the Children of Simon has hoved into view, namely the mighty Julia Gillard.

Adelaide girl and proud product of the public education system, Gillard may yet prove to be the saving grace of the party. Together with Stephen Smith and Anthony Albenese, Gillard represents a departure from the tired old warhorse like Beazley and Crean.

She has also hit the nail on the head regarding the electoral poison of the factions. As an observer, someone who would like to be able to consider voting Labor, it is nice to finally see the chorus of support this week for her notion that the party remains unelectable whilst the factions maintain both their stranglehold and ridiculous taste for filial blood.

To take things a step further, maybe the views of Christopher Schacht, disallusioned ex mp need to be considered. His particular beef was the percentage of votes within the party that were held by the Union Movement, which in turn led to control of the party and its directions being exercised by a minority of the party membership. The obvious connection could then be made with events of the last week, where the unions/factions attempted to flood parliament with union hacks.

Now I would be the first to agree that generational change needs to come within not just Labor, but most parties, but surely it shold be the target of the party to elect the best and brightest, not just the time served? It is also not time to think of trying to poach mp's from other parties, remember the Cheryl experiment?

Hence Gillard's notions of reform (and Creans for that matter) are both timely and well judged.
Removing the leadership from factional hands, putting them beyond reach cannot be a bad thing. Maybe removing the prize of the Leadership from the hands of the factions means they will begin to wither? Surely this process can only be accelerated if the factions cannot force their nominations on the leader as well?

Can this go a step further?

I am not sure how, but the factions power needs to be broken.

I can hear the cry in the distance, "but the Liberals have factions!"Yes but the public perception does not embrace this. Furthermore it is not a publically held perception that the factions are a negative. I am sure Liberal factional politics is every bit as nasty as Labor, it is seemingly just done in darkened alleys using dull bladed Stiletto's, not in full view with personal WMD's.

Personally, I would like to bring back the Schacht notion of restricting the voting power of the unions as well, as this also appears to be both counter productive and a pr negative.

Anyway, having departed from my original point, watch the girl with the red hair, there is plenty more to come!

Anyway, I am spent, time for a bex and a good lie down!

Emospotting

Been doing some amateur anthropology of late.

Emospotting it's called.

From the lofty perspective of my advanced years it is interesting to indulge in a little bit of cult spotting. Lately I have become fixated on this whole Emo thing. Precisely what is an Emo? It seems to be a weird magpie kind of thing. A bit of Punk trouserage, with a touch of the Goth hair thing, the odd stray post modernist ironic t-shirt, and the unique facial puncturing of the bewildered little man from the Amazon traumatized by Sting all those years ago.

Usually moving in packs, and oddly, in my part of the world, to be spotted milling about outside superhypermultinationalcoffeebooks.

Short of publishing an Emo Identification guide, there isn't much more to be said. The interesting thing is the body language, sort of confident Goth.

When spotted, wilting beneath our summer sun the Goth can be relied upon to walk from the knees down. There is a definite clenching of the knees with your Goth, quite why I am not sure. When accompanied by the head tilt of Gothdom, it creates a distinctive shape, one more instantly recognizable than perhaps anything this side of the Sydney Opera House.

Your Emo on the otherhand strides confidently ahead, head held high, jewelry a glint in the sun.

Look, if Emo-osity fries your burgers, then cool, but turning as I am into a Grumpy Old Man, I must confess I fail to see the allure. Loud but ultimately safe and whiney music, dubious recycling of old fashion, dunno what the allure is, but more power to ya.