Australia in Pop Culture

[ang]

Oh, The Comedy Company, BatMom!
With Kylie Mole...she goes she goes she goes...she just goes!

I can't find any soft spot in my heart for Steve Irwin. He named his daughter after a crocodile.

[Yossarian]

ang said:

I can't find any soft spot in my heart for Steve Irwin. He named his daughter after a crocodile.

I thought he named her after spiky grass - Bindie.

I like to pretend that Steve Irwin is not Australian. As we Aussies like to claim all successful New Zealanders as our own (Russell Crowe, Crowded House) maybe we can thus pretend that the great Crocodile Hunter is really from NZ ...

[Deleted]

Speaking of Lee Tamahori, this has already sprung up. Hee.

[underjoyed]

yossarian said:

I like to pretend that Steve Irwin is not Australian. As we Aussies like to claim all successful New Zealanders as our own (Russell Crowe, Crowded House)...

....Phar Lap.

I've never been to Australia or NZ, although I had the pleasure of living in a house in south London with three citizens of each (I was the token Canadian).

Home and Away makes me giggle. They show it - or they used to - on UK television. Explain to me this, if you will. Why does everyone on that show appear to be the same age (i.e. early to mid twenties) and all fit, tanned and shiny? It's such an incredible contrast to the British soaps, where everybody's pasty, miserable and drunk. The first time I watched it there were several people talking about the surfing they'd been doing that day and whether or not there'd been good waves, and as the scene progressed it was made clear that one of them was the grandmother and another was the mother of the "youngest". I swear there couldn't have been more than ten or fifteen years separating all three. The hell?

Still, I was inordinately pleased the first time I turned on an episode of House. I yelled out: "Hey! It's Billy Kennedy!" to an entire room of Americans, none of whom knew what I was on about.

[Ripley]

Oh, I like Kylie Minogue. Fever is one of my favorite CDs. Though it killed me to realize that the only reason I can tolerate Kylie is because she is my age. If Brit-bot had released Fever, I would treat it with total scorn.

[Deleted]

CouldCatchAMonkey, that is the most awesome thing I've seen in a really long time. Hee! And I love the part where the people in the cars are semi-celebs...seeing Pierce Brosnan suddenly appear was classic.

And Kylie Minogue...hmm, this is a toughie. I'm not a huge fan of her music, just because it isn't really my style, but I have heard that she's a nice person, and I have respect for anyone that approaches breast cancer so bravely.

[catfrog]

Agreed, she does seem like a nice person. Which is why I hope that once she beats cancer she'll retire to have the kids and family she's always talked about. Not having to hear her sing anymore will be an added bonus.
Anyone remember that brilliant Aussie show, "Frontline"? It was on a few years ago now but I loved it. It was set on a current affairs show and starred Bruno Lawrence and Rob someone. That has to be one of the funniest and smartest Aussie shows I've seen. As much as I love Kath and Kim, nothing I've seen since beats it.
Underjoyed, that's my problem with Home and Away too. The formula seems to be: stick a few crazy old people in the background, then fill the cast with perky tanned teenagers. Once they get too old, ie: 20, replace them with more perky, tanned teenagers. How is this riveting entertainment?
Ugh, I've given way too much thought to Home and Away.

[Deleted]

Are ex-pat poms welcome?

Underjoyed, that's my problem with Home and Away too. The formula seems to be: stick a few crazy old people in the background, then fill the cast with perky tanned teenagers. Once they get too old, ie: 20, replace them with more perky, tanned teenagers. How is this riveting entertainment?
Ugh, I've given way too much thought to Home and Away.

Like a surprising number of Aussie programs / movies, this seems to be one of those things that most Australians seem to actively loathe (or at least, not demonstrate any active interest in), where foreigners (read: British people) seem to love. See also; Steve Irwin, Neighbours, Fosters beer, etc.

Also, I must protest; two pages in and no mention of The Castle yet. Bargain, mate.

[Deleted]

^That's a bloody good set of gates! ...snicker...

Great, great movie. One of the finest to come out of Australia, along with Rabbit-Proof Fence. Good Lord, Kenneth Branagh was at his *evilest* in that one; all pasty and greasy and hypocritical and just freaking *evil*!

[Deleted]

I wouldn't know a Kylie Minogue song if it bit me in the butt. I have to like her, though, because she had a guest appearance on The Vicar of Dibley.

I grew up in NZ so I played rugby, it was a requirement.
Last time I went to my son's soccer game there was a women's rugby tournament going on at an adjacent field. The forwards in the line-outs were lifting each other up to get the ball!!! Is that allowed now? I'm sure that was a penalty back in the olden days. Honestly, kids today have it so good . . .