edit!

just a quick angry edit! i found out yesterday that the new smoking tax is NOT 2.5% but is in actual fact 25%. TWENTY FIVE PERCENT!!! this sucks! do you have an idea how much more food i am not going to be able to eat to balance that deficit?! today i bought a 20 pack for $17.24! when i asked the lovely young man at the bp service station if that was just for one pack, he looked at me as though i confessed to eating babies and simply replied 'yes'. i only want to smoke! for gods sake i don't do drugs i hardly even drink and i'm treated like a social outcast!

well this is it! i am now going to do something. not sure what that something is but lets put it this way if ole malcolm turnbull was still the leader of the opposition party i would totally have voted for him! skrew you krudd! i hope you get attacked by hot scones on a regular basis!

beat the devil's tattoo!

to celebrate the fact that i can't afford a splendour in the grass tickets this year; ok so 'celebrate' might not be the right word. but anyway, the amazing line up has spawned sideshows! hooray sideshows!

next week tickets to the amazing american band, black rebel motorcycle club (brmc) sydney sideshow go on sale! can't wait! i have never seen this band live. their new album, 'beat the devil's tattoo' is rather wonderful the song of the album title is easily my favourite!

give them a listen here and if you dig that you can pick up a ticket to their sydney show here. if you beat me out of a ticket though i will kick you to death! also so getting some merch! woop!

england's answer to gran torino.

the new michael caine movie, 'harry brown' looks amazing! this months empire magazine has a great story in it about the film and how it will most likely be the charming englishmans final film with him as the leading man. this film, that is daniel barber's directorial debut, speaks of social and cultural decay in london that is ignored by caine's protagonist until his friend is killed by drug dealers. this film combined with clint eastwoods elderly portayal in gran torino has birthed a new sub-genre that critiques are calling 'geezer thriller'.

keep a look out for this film that is in cinemas 25th of may. for now check out the trailer.

i smoke, and i vote!

let me preface this post by saying, smoking is bad it causes cancer and i am under no allusions that there is hard scientific proof to back this up. i'm not stupid i know this. though, i do continue to smoke and yes i know THIS is stupid.

a massive hike in the tax on cigarettes began in new south wales last weekend. 2.5% is a lot in the grand scheme of things and the reasons behind this are highly questionable. the tax hike is posited by governments to be purely for health concerns. as though, smokes will now quit because per packet the price has risen about $1 per 25 pack. one, this won't work two, this also won't stop people taking up smoking and three, it isn't the only reason for the tax. there are other incentives to this tax that are far less noble than, 'we want the youth of australia to live long, happy, cancer free lives'.

we all know tobacco companies are evil. we as evil as mcdonalds yet the are perhaps less nasty than their modern day fast food friends. this is due mostly to restrictions governments around the world to undermine companies freedom to for example target their product to young consumers. this is a good thing. kids shouldn't be smoking. they are still developing physically and mentally; having such a vice at a young age IS dangerous.

the right to choose as an adult is a god given rite. if you want to eat meat then you do. if you don't want to own a hand gun then you don't. but upping the price of either of these products is not going to deter people from purchasing them.

the real reason behind the new tax has got to be far more consumer based. capitalism is more powerful than democracy in first world countries like australia or america. politicians and leaders understand this. people smoke tobacco, tobacco comanies make money and governments want a piece of the action. money is a far greater motive than interest in public health during a global economic crisis. why not be up font about this? why not say we want smokers money? well going into a federal election, smokers vote too.

we have come to expect this kind of underhandedness from our conservative liberal party leaders. but krudd, give us a break! why aren't you upping the price of your precious queensland beer xxxx? oooh right, cause its not at all addictive, harmful and doesn't have greater social implications. more aussies drink and vote than smoke and vote.

light up a cigarette for democracy! its your civic duty!

'cause i was born free!

m.i.a is perhaps best known for her famous song 'paper planes' but what some people don't know she is a very political artist. her latest single 'born free' is her most controversial song to date. due in part to the songs unashamed attack on how governments treat their own people. the much publicised music video has got everyones undies in knots over its violence. still, it is beautifully made and the graphic violence in this case serves a very important purpose.

i can't recommend you watch this clip enough. if you don't feel some empathy or any kind of emotion i believe you are what psychiatrists call a sociopath. please tell me what you think, i'm really keen to see what other people get from this.

WARNING the clip below does show some very violent images and i probably wouldn't watch this if you were under 18 years of age OR on your work computer.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

what ever happened to famous last words?

yesterday i was re-watching the hbo series rome, that i cannot recommend enough btw, when SPOILER ALERT caesar is killed in the senate and finally dies at the hand of his pseudo (maybe actual) son brutus. his last words were, 'et tu, brute?' meaning, 'even you, brutus'. this got me thinking, you only ever hear about famous last words in history and also do they really even matter?

admiral lord horatio nelson's, who died after the battle of trafalgar, last words are heavily debated, 'kiss me hardy', 'fan fan....rub rub....drink drink', and 'thank god i have done my duty' are all posited as his final testament. i think the last is the most poetic, if it's true. the poet that lives in us all, yes i believe we all have one, is driven to say something ethereal in those final moments before the complete unknown. when asked by her husband how she felt on her death bed elizabeth barrett browning said simply, 'beautiful'. to feel and articulate such a thing when in pain and presumably shit scared is a testament to a persons mind, life and subsequent spirit.

still, on the flip side we have h.g. wells, who was another great writer. his final words reflected his life in another way. in his independence and willingness to buck conventions he said, 'go away. i'm alright!'. in more recent years our heros have decided to find the funny. humphry bogart famously said, 'i should never have switched from scotch to martinis.'. we are forced to laugh at the absurdity of death and how we treat it with kid gloves. maybe, it's all the life insurance ads on morning tv talking now but, everybody is going to die. you may as well go out in style.

my personal favourite has got to be oscar wilde, 'my wallpaper and i are fighting a duel to the death. one or the other of us has to go.'. he died how he lived with eloquence and humor. i guess that is what i want. not for my final words to sum up my life, because they simply can't. but to say something profane, to have the last thing you say to impact the people still alive is terribly precious and powerful.

karl marx must have had a similar idea, the man didn't want his final words recorded and as a result they were, 'go on, get out - last words are for fools who haven't said enough'. maybe that's true. but, the reason we feel the need to record and look back on them is because these were people who did have a lot to say. men and women who did the world a service (or disservice) and are celebrated or condemned accordingly. last words only seem to matter if the words of a life time are deemed to matter.

i suppose what it comes down to is having a legacy, having done something with your life that has left the world slightly better off. that and i'm terrified of going out without style. 'hey, everybody, watch this!' or 'don't worry, they don't usually swim backwards.' are terrible examples. my biggest fear isn't dying or even being locked in a cage. but, if i end up in the darwin awards then i will haunt the entire world until the end of time.

oh what fresh hell is this?

what would roger the alien do? today i got some new eps of american dad! i don't care what people say, it is better than family guy! all thanks to the greatness of roger the alien! a guy who is usually always drunk and dressed in elaborate costumes with wigs and hilarious catch phrases. this weeks episode about the apocalypse, 'raptures delight', sees roger take on the absurdity of religion from an 'outsiders' perspective. if only i was a clever as this lazy other worlder.

oh i love your religion for the crazy! virgin births, water into wine....it's like harry potter but it causes genocide and bad folk music.

what's the rapture? its the first sign of the end of the world when good christians ascent to heaven! ascend?! you're flying now!

i hope i haven't missed the bit where the three chinese guys give perfume to the star baby ha ha it's like the diaries of a madman.