save our wild rivers

RED STATE MOVIE REVIEW

 

It may not be the horror film smith planned but it’s a great story that comments on controversial aspects of society.

Head into the movie store, straight past special interest, turn left at the romantic comedies and you’ll find yourself at Red State, a slightly funny, very Ideological,  action packed horror film with enough artistic touch to make it bearable to watch. It’s technically a action horror but as this is director Kevin Smiths first break away from conventional dramas, he hasn’t pulled off the intense editing a horror film needs. Nevertheless, Smith has expanded out of his comfort zone and given audiences a genuine piece of art. The film was released to cinemas in Australia on October 13, 2011, and has just arrived on DVD.

Smith has developed a reputation for having an opinion; he’s incensed by religious intolerance and by the abuse of state power, but mostly he is fed up with the hypocrisy, meanness and plain stupidity that seem to infect every corner of contemporary American life. Red State definitely doesn’t shy away from hiding his views.  The film is filled with hatred towards fundamentalists, and federal agencies,  and little sympathy is developed for the promiscuous boys. The problem is that the film seems to be vehicle for this view, swerving between horror and satire without being quite sharp or scary enough.

Red State revolves around sex, religion and politics. Sex is embodied by three horny school boys; Michael Angarano, Nicholas Braun and Kyle Gallner, who find themselves involved in “the devils business” when they respond to an ad on a sex hook-up website. The boys arrive at the trailer of the woman who sent out the invitation, Sarah Cooper (Melissa Leo). Only to be drugged and wake up to find themselves held hostage in the compound of Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) an fanatical fundamentalist pastor known throughout the town for protesting against homosexuality. Cooper decides the promiscuous boys are sinners;  "I hate the wickedness in America. Rampant fornication, adultery, abortion, flagrant sexuality everywhere....and it's up to the righteous to curb the spread of this disease".

While the boys are locked up, Cooper makes a longwinded sermon speech that seems to uncomfortably drag on. Yet the scene is intriguing and useful for enabling the viewer to get  feel for the church characters and understand why they like Cooper. At the end of the monologue a homosexual captive is cling wrapped to a cross and executed with a revolver. One character warns; “Careful of that gay saliva, if you get some on you, it’ll turn ya,” demonstrating the films unusual style.

The state gets involved when police get wind that something’s not right at the compound. John Goodman, (Joseph Keenan) the officer in charge, and his men are somewhat perturbed; “Come out with your hands up and you will not be harmed. Repeat: You will not be harmed”. Goodmans’s Deputy adds; "I think it's the use of the word 'repeat' that makes this work every time." Despite this call, The situation deteriorates and the police are given orders not to leave any witnesses. The rhetoric around the polices’ actions is Smiths view of what’s wrong with the state.

Red State has some mesmerising performances worth watching the film for; Keenan’s character shows beautiful talent. While , Cooper, based on infamous pastor Fred Phelps knows for protesting events such as military funerals and gay pride gatherings, is intriguing and almost likeable.  The most disturbing figure is Cheyenne (Kerry Bishé ) who is very emotional in her endeavour to save “the babies”.  All the performances are believable in their own quirky way. However, Melissa Keo’s wig was a reminder of reality.

Smith personalises characters on both sides to ensure we never quite know who’s going to save the day or get a bullet in the head next. This detracts from the horror but get’s us more deeply evolved with the films message as we’re shocked by the twists and turns and how strange the film becomes.

It’s a really weird and wonderful example of how crossing genres can turn out; terribly violent on one level and on another filled with lengthy, long-winded philosophical discourses and blind alleys. It ends up being an ideological take on a horror film which won’t be everybody’s cup of tea. However, Smith was attempting to do something different and he definitely has. While, the plot seems somewhat confused, the bizarre quality reflects what Smith seems to be conveying, and leads to quite an original film. To find fault with the sloppy editing or awkward performances would be to miss the point. The film has the effect of filling viewers with a sense of desperation as we look at Smiths tragic depiction of human nature.  I give it four out of five stars.

BAD SERVICE

 

Victoria’s Irresponsible Service of Alcohol       

When people get drunk they often turn ugly, doing and saying things they wouldn’t normally. Waking up the next day only to clean up the mess. These mistakes seem to often be accepted as part of the deal, the mere consequences of too much fun. The reason for this is that when you’re drunk the people around you most likely drunk and behaving badly too. The culturally accepted way to handle drunken incidents seems to be to laugh, wink and say no more. But is this really what socialising and friendship is about? People need to take more responsibility for their own drinking and look out for people around them.

On Saturday night, while I was working in the function room at an inner-city hotel, my life flashed in front of me as I had to call an ambulance for a man who appeared to be dead. I saw the fine for serving an intoxicated person, the fine for not having a current RSA and my boss firing me flash in front of my face, not to mention the horror at the thought I’d contributed to somebody’s death. The customer was lying on the ground, still as a rock with blood pouring out of his mouth. His mother hysterically crying. Luckily, the man eventually came around to consciousness and was okay. But I couldn’t help but thinking that we’d been lucky.

I’ve worked on the not so fun side of the bar for five years now. Serving drunk people week in, week out. I’ve seen people throw punches at strangers, cut friends with broken glass, vomit on the floor, and then yell at me for refusing to serve them more alcohol.  According to VicHealth, alcohol was responsible for 24,714 hospital admissions in Victoria and 759 alcohol-related deaths in 2011” Sean O’Rourke, the senior project officer at VicHealth said.

Yet, Employees still see it as ‘easier’ to keep serving customers than to have to deal with cutting them off.

One of the main problems is that there is so much money to be made from selling alcohol. Drinking venues have a vested interest, and therefore cannot be assured to self regulating when it comes to ensuring lawful alcohol service practices.  Management doesn’t encourage people to cut people off early because they leave and take their friends. Individuals need to take responsibility for alcohol service before something eventually does go wrong.

The reason there isn’t a movement to stop this is because it’s so socially acceptable. Alcohol is such an intrinsic part of Australian culture that people no longer see it as a choice. "In our eyes alcohol is not a choice, it's a cultural expectation," he said. Society encourages and glamorises binge drinking. “people see drinking alcohol as a normal, healthy choice” O’Rourke said.

Realistically, people aren’t proud and often drink to hide psychological problems. One reason excessive drinking is so culturally accepted is that people secretly want to bring other people down with them. People encourage each other to drink so that the mistakes they make will go unnoticed. “The harm alcohol causes is directly related to how common it is in our community” O’Rourke said.

Society needs to break down the social acceptance of unhealthy drinking. “Permanently reducing alcohol-related illness and accidents will require a range of coordinated initiatives, rather than one single approach. community organisations, alcohol manufacturers, retailers and suppliers, and individuals within the community need to be involved.” Sean O’Rourke said. We need to ensure everybody is educated on the ugly side of alcohol and stops encouraging others to binge drink. John Eyre the CEO of Arbias says people need to focus on harm minimisation principles, “recommending people know and understand the level of alcohol consumption that will likely do harm to the brain over a period of time and conversely the maximum levels that are unlikely to harm.” 

Wake up and smell the vomit Victoria. Being drunk is not pretty. We

all need to make an effort to fight the unhealthy Australian drinking culture and urge friends family and even customers to drink less. Don’t like the disgraceful drunken pictures on facebook, buy your drunk friends ‘wet pussy’ shots or harass a friend when they have decided not to drink. Instead, help make an effort to change social acceptance of heavy drinking by educating yourself and others, whether they are family friends of simply customers, on the health and wellbeing consequences.

 

Ciaran Hudson plays frisbee

It may not be the most popular

sport but it’s one Ciaran Hudson

has fallen in love with. He tells

Elizabeth Byrne why everybody

should give Ultimate Frisbee it a go.

Ultimately

 Uncovered

It’s taken him til the tender age of 21 but Ciaran Hudson has finally found his passion. Ultimate Frisbee is the most recent sport to be made competitive and while Hudson hasn’t been there since the beginning he is really grateful to be involved in the sport as its taking off.

 “My friends would probably say that I’m obsessed with frisbee, but I’m not your typical jock, it is very different to  other sports” Hudson says.  Most of the teams are mixed and clubs promote the sport as a social game for people who want have a bit of fun exercising but are sick of the aggression and animosity found in other sports. In Ultimate Frisbee “if you make a mistake, the opposition will often suggest techniques and help you out”, Hudson says.

Hudson switched to frisbee from football, because he likes the vibe more; “it gets a bit old when you’re going for the football and you hear the person beside you saying ‘ I’m going to take your head off cunt’” Hudson says.  He loves frisbee’s relaxed and civilised nature; “It’s definitely the laid back atmosphere that draws people to the sport and a lot of girls play because of the noncontact nature of it.”

“If there’s ever tension it's romance related” jokes Hudson who first became interested in Ultimate Frisbee in an endeavour to attract a particular girls attention; “I never imagined it would be such a good game, I fell in love with a girl and a sport but I’m not sure which one I like more”.  Hudson knows how lucky he is to share his passion with his partner and admits that “on field flirting is the best” .

While he emphasises the social and playful side of Frisbee, there’s no doubting Hudson is a professional. After just returning from Regional Championships in Canberra he is just as enthusiastic as ever and hopes he and his girlfriend will one day get to play in the nationals together.

Intended publication: Sunday Life

Sunday Life is a small magazine that comes with the Sunday Age and Sydney Morning Herald.  The publication aims to engage a busy audience who may have a few spare minutes on the weekend to read about current trends and lifestyle advice. The publication’s target audience appears to be discerning females in their 20s and 30s who are interested in softer news specifically written for females.

The profile section in Sunday life often focuses on what goes on behind the scenes in the lifes of high profile individuals. The stories are light hearted, fun and a little quirky. Informing readers of others idiosyncrasies and what makes other peoples’ lives special.

I’ve based my profile on this design despite having a much shorter word limit.  ‘Ultimately Uncovered’ seeks to inform readers about the emergence of frisbee into mainstream culture and specifically the story of how Hudson came to be so passionate about it. I’ve endeavoured to include reasons why Ciaran Hudson finds the sport so attractive, such as its sociable nature, so that readers may be inspired to get involved in the game, or at least know that the option is there.

growing poems

the faces we know

dancrs and flowrs

drawwwwwwwwhat

doodle

nietzshe

If you want information about publishing any of my poems feel free to email me at bessiebyrne@gmail.com

words.

    ‘While English spreads across the globe, the language itself is shrinking. Vast numbers of new words enter it every year, but our children’s and leader’s vocabularies are getting smaller…  You write for your audience and your audience knows fewer and fewer words than it used to and hasn’t time to look up unfamiliar ones. The language of politics is tuned to the same audience and uses the same media to reach it, so it too diminishes year by year’ (Don Watson’s Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language, p.4)

Brisbane election 2012.

Newman grabs the microphone  and directs a joke at the Greens “ah the reason the buses take so long is because all the bikes are blocking the roads” ....oh fuck off newman. I just want to cry. To shoot him. To call rape. Anything to bring this evil man down. The red nosed old fatty behind me is cheering him on and the very young liberal in his very old mans suit laughts along. suddenly i find myself hating them too. Hating all of them. Hating myself for flying all the way from Melbourne to try and make a positive impact in this fucked up world. Newman will win and I”ll be hating some other newman like devil running for premier in some other unfortunate part of the world. This is my life as a campaigner. And occasionally I wonder if I’m just as brainwashed as the man taking bribes from the ‘manipulative –best mate of the guy who has ‘nothing’ to do with anything bad’.

This though passes quickly as I look at the people around who are supporting me who radiate kindness, selflessness and passion for equality and acting out for what’s right. They work seven days a week for minimum wage just because they know its what’s right.

How do we know? Because we’re not being bribed and I personally have nothing to gain. We do it for love. We do it because its right to stand up for lives that can’t speak for themselves. Rivers. Plants. Ecosystems. Anybody who’s ever stood in the middle of one of the worlds old growth forests will know what I mean when I say those trees are worth more than you or I. That smell, the smell of tranquillity and oneness with the nature can’t be found anywhere else. The sound of hundreds of years of progression, everyday working hard to capture light, water and nutrients to become the home of so many animals and the backbone of the ecosystems that enable life on earth.

This is why I’m in Brisbane defending wild rivers.

This is why you should put your hand up for that which is bigger and more important than you, because without it, there is no you, me, us or them.

There’s only the silence of despair.