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"Wokeness gone mad": Steve Price slams AO Australia Day boycott

Steve Price has slammed Australian Open organisers for choosing not to celebrate Australia Day for the second year in a row. The decision came after the Victorian government axed its Australia Day parade last year, amid growing backlash from athletes about celebrating on January 26. “This started last year and ended Australia Day celebrations, they used to feature fireworks, the playing of the national anthem and special musical events to mark the day at the tennis,” the Sky News host said. “So we have First Nations day, no drama from me about that, then the organisers have set aside a day for Australian Open Pride Day, an Australian Open All Abilities Day and an Australian Open Glam Slam for the LGBTI+ folk that will run across January 26 to 28. “You can’t make this stuff up.” Price also slammed the AO's decision to move the induction day for the tennis player who made it into this year's Australian Tennis Hall of Fame. The event normally takes place on January 26, but this year Lleyton Hewitt’s induction has been moved to the 24th of January. “This year it’s going to be Lleyton Hewitt – you couldn’t get a more Australian Australian than Lleyton Hewitt,” Price said. “They’ve changed the date of that event from Australia Day, when it used to be, to the 24th, two days earlier. “This is just crazy wokeness gone mad. “Can anyone at Tennis Australia defend this disgraceful snubbing of our national day by a tournament that carries the name of our nation," he ranted. Price then slammed the AO organisers for their decision. “It’s a pity the woke directors who run Tennis Australia don’t have the courage to drag the South African bloke running the organisation Craig Tiley into line and insist we recognise the great nation that lends its name to his tennis tournament," he said. A few others have agreed with Price, including Journalist Joe Hildebrand, who said that the decision is “counter-productive” in terms of making any meaningful difference. “The idea that these sorts of ridiculous virtue-signalling gestures are going to make any difference … is absolutely ridiculous – in fact, it puts people off even considering or wanting to address these issues, “This sort of stuff is what cost the Yes vote its victory … and it’s just so counter-productive, self-destructive, idiotic – you could use any name.” Radio Personality Tom Elliott, also called the move ridiculous. “If you’re going to call yourself the Australian Open and it happens that our national day takes place during the tournament, you have to acknowledge Australia Day,” he said. “Maybe the date will change down the track, but right now it’s January 26.” Images: Getty/ Sky News

Travel Trouble

“Utter madness”: Australian Open thriller drags past 3am

Day five of the Australian Open has seen a nail-biting match between Russian champion Daniil Medvedev and Finnish player Emil Ruusuvuori drag on until 3:30am. The epic match would’ve lasted even longer, if Medvedev didn’t blow away Ruusuvuori in the fifth set, claiming his victory and winning 3-6 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-0. Before the Australian Open began, the ATP and WTA introduced new rules that would force night sessions to begin prior to 7:30pm and prevent matches from going on court after 11pm. However, the Australian Open is not bound by these rules meaning that when Medvedev and Ruusuvuori stepped on court at 11:15pm, there was little chance of them finishing anytime before the early hours of the morning. The match was already in its fourth hour before the fifth set began at 3:20am, as Ruusuvuori lost his steam in the final set. Speaking after the match, Medvedev paid tribute to the fans who stuck around, saying he wouldn’t be among them if he didn’t have to play. “Honestly guys, I would not be here,” Medvedev said. “Thanks for staying.” “If I’d have been a tennis fan and I had come, at 1 I’d be ‘okay, let’s go home, we’ll catch the end of the match on the TV, we’ll watch 30 minutes and then go to bed’.” “So I guess thanks guys, you are strong.” Sports fans and commentators echoed Medvedev’s statements online, as journalist Ryan Sidle wrote on X that the match has descended into “utter madness”. The epic showdown now makes it two years in a row that an Australian Open match has gone into the early hours of the morning, with Thanasi Kokkinakis and Andy Murray taking their AO battle to 4am in the 2023 competition. Image credits: Getty Images

News

“Please go away”: Grieving mother slams “god-bothering” vandal

A heart-broken mother has slammed a “god-botherer” who superglued a cross to her son’s memorial. Sydney parents Edwina and Anthony Symonds lost their son Sebastian, lovingly known as Seb, when he was just 10-months-old in 2018. After Seb’s death, the grieving parents organised for a memorial plaque to be fixed to a sitting rock located at a popular walk in the city's northern beaches – a place they frequented with Seb before his passing. Edwina told <a href="https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/sydney-baby-memorial-plaque-cross-super-glue-parents-message/348ed1ef-3155-4d56-977e-df84db43715b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9Honey </a>that she is used to finding well-wishing trinkets people have left behind on Seb’s memorial. "Previously we've had little bibles left there, or small rocks that have been painted by children, or feathers," Edwina said, adding that the family usually takes the items with them as they go along. However, Edwina said one passerby has taken it too far, by supergluing a religious cross to the plaque. "It's obnoxious," Edwina says. She was informed of the unwanted addition to her son's plaque by a friend, and shared a post on a local Facebook page to explain her distress. "To be fair, I'm Catholic and I used to go to church every week when I was younger. I don't have a problem with religion," she said. "I think I captured it well with what I wrote. But don't super glue your religion to me or my son." Her Facebook post read, "To the God-botherer that vandalised our son's plaque by supergluing a cross to it!!! I imagine somewhere in whatever religion you choose to follow, there is some sort of rule that says, 'Don't be a low-life by wrecking other people's property.' If not, there should be.” "Religion is a nice ideal. You are entitled to your beliefs and no-one should take issue with that. I certainly don't.” "I am sure you had some lovely thoughts when you were sitting with Seb like, 'God took this baby to a 'better' place, or that he 'had a plan' for this child, or even the classic 'everything happens for a reason.'” "Cool story, but please go away. Seb doesn't need you to 'save' him. He died already. He can't be saved.” Anthony also commented on the post, not holding back with his frustration over the vandal’s actions. "To the god botherer, Seb is looking down having a laugh at your kooky effort and giving you his swear finger. At 10 months old, his heart was as pure as it gets, though he has subsequently learnt the words f--k you.” "A narrow minded fool, keep away from Seb's little playground. Keep your ideas out of other people's lives unless invited in, the end.” While many of the comments expressed distress at news of her son's death at such a young age, Edwina was quick to explain they are managing to live with their grief, and that Seb's death isn't the issue at hand. "I'm sure they had good intentions, but their execution is s***house," Edwina told 9Honey. "I haven't been down there yet, you have to walk one kilometre along the walkway to see it. I'll have to go to Bunnings to get some bond remover or something. But I have two young kids, so it's just another thing on my to-do list." Image credits: Facebook

Family & Pets

Girl, Interrupted interrogates how women are ‘mad’ when they refuse to conform – 30 years on, this memoir is still important

Thirty years ago, American writer Susanna Kaysen published her memoir <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/susanna-kaysen/girl-interrupted">Girl, Interrupted</a>. It tells the story of her two years inside McLean Hospital in Boston as a psychiatric patient. She was admitted, aged 18, in 1967. A few months earlier, she had taken 50 aspirin in a state of despair. Late in the book, she reveals she had a sexual relationship with her male English teacher at school. Kaysen was interviewed briefly by a doctor before she was admitted as a “voluntary” patient: a legal category used to indicate a person’s status in the institution. Despite what the term implies, “voluntary” doesn’t mean a patient can leave without the consent of their medical team, as Kaysen explains. People admitted as voluntary patients acknowledge their own need for treatment. During Kaysen’s stay, she was treated with an <a href="https://theconversation.com/story-of-antipsychotics-is-one-of-myth-and-misrepresentation-18306">antipsychotic</a> medication, chlorpromazine, and received psychotherapy. In her memoir, the stories of other young women confined with her at McLean convey sympathetic and recognisable experiences of the institutional world and its regime. Girl, Interrupted is one of the most famous memoirs of hospitalisation and mental illness. More <a href="https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/ircl.2019.0310?journalCode=ircl">recent interpretations</a> describe it as a narrative of “trauma”. <h2>‘Mad’ or refusing to conform?</h2> Kaysen did not anticipate the book’s reception at the time of its publication in 1993. It seemed to open readers up to tell their own stories, and they wrote to her from many places around the world to tell her about their hospitalisation. Looking back in a new edition published this year by Virago Books, she writes “it was surprising to me how many people had been in a mental hospital or had what used to be called a nervous breakdown”. When it appeared, her book was widely reviewed as “funny”, “wry”, “piercing” and “frightening”. Set out as a series of short vignettes, the book allowed readers the space to “insert themselves” into this story of human suffering. Investigating whether she had ever really been “crazy” – or just caught up in an oppressive approach to girls whose lives strayed from expectations – likely meant possible personal exposure, admission of frailty, and fear of judgement for Kaysen. Thirty years later, we have better understandings of trauma and of care for people with mental illness. So what can this book tell us now? Kaysen had waited almost three decades after these experiences before sharing her story in the early 1990s. This may be one reason it resonated with readers. The book was published at a time when most large institutions had closed as part of a worldwide trend towards deinstitutionalisation. Many people were starting to talk more openly about their own episodes of mental illness and recalling periods of hospitalisation that were sometimes grim and harrowing. By the 1990s, there was also much greater awareness of the uneven power relationships in psychiatric treatment. Women and girls, subject to gendered social expectations, have historically received different forms of medical and psychiatric treatment. Women have been described as “mad” for centuries when they refused to conform to gender norms. The book – an account of adolescent turmoil, with girlhood at the centre – can tell us about the lived experiences of teenage girls who face interior struggles over their mental health and wellbeing. Published in 1993 about the events of the late 60s, its insights are enduringly relevant. <h2>A controversial diagnosis</h2> In 1993, The New York Times ran an article titled “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/20/books/a-designated-crazy.html">A Designated Crazy</a>” that explained Kaysen had hired a lawyer to access her patient clinical records, 25 years after being at McLean. These appear in the book. Placed at intervals in the narrative, these notes show the objectifying medical practices of admission, collecting information and establishing a diagnosis. The information in these clinical pages is deeply personal. Sharing them is an act of resistance and defiance. “Needed McLean for [the past] 3 years ... Profoundly depressed – suicidal ... Promiscuous … might get herself pregnant ... Ran away from home ... Living in a boarding house.” Kaysen’s father, an academic at Princeton, wrote these notes in April 1967. In June 1967, the formal medical notes from her admitting doctor stated she had “a chaotic and unplanned life”, was sleeping badly, was immersed in “fantasy” and was isolated. Kaysen was admitted as “depressed”, “suicidal” and “schizophrenic”, with “borderline personality disorder”. While the psychiatric diagnoses used in the 1960s still exist, the borderline diagnosis is <a href="https://theconversation.com/borderline-personality-disorder-is-a-hurtful-label-for-real-suffering-time-we-changed-it-41760">now controversial</a>. Progressive psychologists and feminist psychologists are more likely to use the term “complex trauma”. Some of the other young women in the memoir had traumatic life experiences of sexual abuse and violence, which manifested as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-many-people-have-eating-disorders-we-dont-really-know-and-thats-a-worry-121938">eating disorders</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-self-harm-and-why-do-people-do-it-11367">self harm</a>. Diagnostic labels have evolved over time. The first edition of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-dsm-and-how-are-mental-disorders-diagnosed-9568">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual</a> (DSM) was published in 1952. In 1967, the year of Kaysen’s committal, the DSM did not include “borderline personality disorder”, though the borderline concept had been <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/newsroom/dsm-history-psychiatrys-bible">theorised from the 1940s.</a> <h2>McLean’s famous patients</h2> We can also read the book as an exposé of the controlling world of psychiatric institutions for people in the 1960s. The vast majority of people with psychiatric conditions were confined in public institutions, in often overcrowded conditions. Abuses happened, and violence was common. One distinction for those hospitalised at McLean in Boston, a private institution, was that it housed people whose families could afford the steep fees. Kaysen’s father had to declare his salary when he signed the paperwork. Famous patients included the mathematician <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-legacy-of-john-nash-and-his-equilibrium-theory-42343">John Forbes Nash</a> (whose story was told in the film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268978/">A Beautiful Mind</a>), and New England poets Robert Lowell and <a href="https://theconversation.com/60-years-since-sylvia-plaths-death-why-modern-poets-cant-help-but-write-after-sylvia-199477">Sylvia Plath</a> in the late 1950s. McLean’s own “biography” is the subject of another book. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/01/the-asylum-on-the-hill/303058/">Gracefully Insane</a> shows its reputation as housing sometimes idiosyncratic and wealthy people whose families wanted them to be hidden, fearful of the stigma of mental illness in the family. Plath’s <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Sylvia-Plath-Bell-Jar-9780571268863">The Bell Jar</a> fictionalises her hospitalisation at McLean in the 1950s, following a suicide attempt. "Doctor Gordon’s private hospital crowned a grassy rise at the end of a long, secluded drive that had been whitened with broken quahog shells. The yellow clapboard walls of the large house, with its encircling verandah, gleamed in the sun, but no people strolled on the green dome of the lawn." Like Kaysen, Plath’s character Esther Greenwood has been involved in sexual relationships with men that made her uneasy, affecting her confidence and sense of self. Skiing with Buddy Willard, she falls and breaks her leg: “you were doing fine”, someone says, “until that man stepped into your path”. Later, floundering at college, she too is admitted by a male doctor acting on the advice of her mother: she has not slept, she is exhausted, she is not herself. He advises she needs shock therapy. In her new biography of Plath, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/red-comet-9781529113143">Red Comet</a>, Heather Clark describes McLean in the 1950s as reliant on shock therapy and activities, rather than psychoanalysis and careful therapeutic interventions. It was reputedly only a “notch above” a public institution, though it had the veneer of being for elite residents. Just a few years before Kaysen’s admission to McLean, Plath died by suicide in 1963, aged 30. The Bell Jar had been published one month earlier, under a pseudonym. By the late 1960s, teenage admissions were a focus for McLean’s doctors. Did adolesence present a new challenge for families and authorities, making young women vulnerable to institutionalisation? <h2>Psychiatry and romantic love</h2> Revisiting Girl, Interrupted, I am struck by its raw and honest recognition of the way women have sometimes experienced relationships with men as inherently oppressive. The structures of psychiatry and romantic love intersect throughout this book. Kaysen, like Plath, sees the family as a toxic institution. Male psychiatrists loom over both women, imposing in their authority to diagnose. “He looked triumphant”, wrote Kaysen of her doctor. “Doctor Gordon cradled his pencil like a slim, silver bullet”, wrote Plath. Women writing about their own madness has a long history. American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) penned the story <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/286957.The_Yellow_Wall_Paper">The Yellow Wallpaper</a> in The New England Magazine in 1892. It <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/feb/07/charlotte-perkins-gilman-yellow-wallpaper-strangeness-classic-short-story-exhibition">tells the tale</a> of a woman’s mental and physical exhaustion following childbirth. Historians such as Elizabeth Lunbeck <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691025841/the-psychiatric-persuasion">write about</a> the way a “psychiatric persuasion” came to dominate thinking about gender in the early 20th century. Psychiatrists began to see everyday life difficulties – such as the changes experienced during adolescence – as signalling illness (we might say, pathologising “normal” responses to stressful events). The rise of psychiatric expertise paralleled their professional reactions to women (and men) who struggled with life. In Australia, the history of “good and mad women” up to the 1970s by <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Good_and_Mad_Women.html?id=NIZ9QgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Jill Julius Matthews</a> showed that women who experienced hospitalisation as a result of mental breakdown were perceived as having “failed” to meet the gendered expectations of them. Femininity and its constraints left some women unable to function or live authentic lives. <h2>Institutions on film</h2> Girl, Interrupted was released <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172493/">as a film</a> by Columbia Pictures in 1999, with a cast of rising and established young actors, including Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie and Brittany Murphy. It dramatised the interpersonal relationships inside the hospital described by Kaysen. The film script was not only the perfect vehicle for an ensemble cast of these women. It was also another opportunity to make mental illness visible on the screen. Another page-to-screen adaptation in 1975, Milos Forman’s film of Ken Kesey’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073486/">One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest</a>, brought to life the dramatic environment of institutional control and violence personified by the character of Nurse Ratched. Girl, Interrupted’s screenplay surfaced different women’s experiences of abuse, neglect, trauma and violence to explain their behaviours and responses to institutional constraints. Like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the film also emphasised the theme of resistance to institutional control. Patients hid pill medications under the tongue, broke into the hospital administration office to look at their case files, and found ways to circumvent the routines of institutional life. The film depicted the drama of group therapy, and the power dynamic between staff and patients. Not everyone who was institutionalised reacted the same way to being in hospital. Kaysen wrote "For many of us, the hospital was as much a refuge as it was a prison. Though we were cut off from the world and all the trouble we enjoyed stirring up out there, we were also cut off from the demands and expectations that had driven us crazy." A recent collaborative history of institutional care by Australian poet <a href="https://theconversation.com/secrecy-psychosis-and-difficult-change-these-lived-experiences-of-mental-illness-will-inspire-a-kaleidoscope-of-emotions-191011">Sandy Jeffs</a> and social worker Margaret Leggatt, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/am/podcast/out-of-the-madhouse-with-sandy-jeffs/id992762253?i=1000501765764">Out of the Madhouse</a>, challenges the idea of the institution as a place of alienation. Jeffs found community and solace at Larundel Hospital in Melbourne in the late 1970s and 1980s. However, the book also acknowledges this is not a universal response for institutionalised people. Like Kaysen, people with lived experiences of mental illness and hospitalisation have found it therapeutic to write about their personal challenges. For some, it provides an opportunity to embrace the “mad” identity, to find empathy for others. And to create a new self out of the chaos of mental breakdown. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/girl-interrupted-interrogates-how-women-are-mad-when-they-refuse-to-conform-30-years-on-this-memoir-is-still-important-199211" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Images: Getty

Books

Bunnings announces barking mad new range

Hardware supergiant Bunnings has unveiled its plan for the “biggest category expansion in 20 years”, to the delight of pet owners nationwide. In a move sure to set tails wagging, the retailer has declared its pet products range will swell from a few hundred lines to roughly 1000 items. Pet retail has thrived during the Covid-19 era, and Bunnings’ latest move stands as a challenge to its rival retailers, with the likes of Woolworths having spent $586m in 2022 for a controlling stake in PETstock’s parent company. Bunnings hopes to have its brand new dedicated pet areas up and running by the end of March, effectively launching the competition for best in show between retail giants. As Bunnings’ managing director Michael Schneider told The Australian, “what we are going to be bringing to life in our stores over the next four weeks is quite a comprehensive step change in our pet range, probably the biggest category expansion in Bunnings for 20 years.” The company, which has allowed dogs to enter the shop with their families since 2015, has seen a staggering boost in pets coming by to sniff out the best deals since Australia’s Covid restrictions were lifted, something that Bunnings hopes will encourage people to turn towards their new pet category. “We have an internal page called Bunnings Pet Spotting,” Schneider said, “we have 10,000 of our team signed up to that page who share photos of dogs and their owners coming into our stores ... our team members like to share the space. “I think the fact that you are already there with your pet creates a natural habitat for people to come in and shop [for them].” Schneider went on to discuss that the company is aware of how important pets are to people, and how competitive prices are key for Australians, explaining how “we’ve seen some really significant shifts at a societal level around how we think about four-legged friends in our homes. This is an up to $10 billion category, depending on how you look at it.” That $10b category has benefited greatly from Australians setting pet ownership records with the puppy pandemic boom, and Bunnings is eager to embrace it. “Sixty per cent of Australians now own at least one pet,” Schneider said. “It has become a very important part of many, many families across Australia and we think that that connection that people have with the Bunnings brand, bringing those pets into the store, creates a great advantage.” Despite its enthusiasm, Bunnings has announced that it will be “strategic” about the expansion. Rather than offering the likes of grooming and vet-care as many competitors do, they will keep their attention on necessities with their general merchandise. One thing is for certain, despite new market competition, the retailer has assured shoppers that they will still have the opportunity to do exactly what they’ve come to expect: fetch a good deal. Images: Getty

Family & Pets

“Please don’t be mad”: British expat’s bone to pick with Australia

British expat Jordana Grace has taken to TikTok to share her three biggest gripes with Australia, with the claim that most Australians don’t bat an eyelid at them. Jordana lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast after leaving the United Kingdom behind, and boasts a following of almost 300k on her TikTok where she regularly shares insight into her Australian adventure. “Sorry in advance,” the budding MixFM radio host began, “I’m gonna make Australia mad.” “Three things I don’t like about Australia,” she went on, “that Aussies don’t even realise is a thing.” From there, Jordana went on to list the aspects of life in Australia that were causing her the most trouble, though her claim about Aussies may have missed the mark, with Jordana’s gripes known frustrations across the country. “First up is the slow internet speed - like, what the fudge?” She said, “sorry for the salty language, but it’s like nails on a chalkboard how in some areas in Australia the internet and WiFi is just so slow.” In 2023, the UK ranked 45th in the world for average broadband speed with 145.33 Mbps, while Australia came in at 73rd with an average speed of 88.77 Mbps. “Please don’t be mad,” Jordana continued, “but next is the terrible phone service. There’s like three major providers in Australia, and they all have nicknames like Vodafone is Vodafail, Optus is Optus Droptus, and Telstra … no-one can come up with a clever nickname for but it’s just very inconsistent phone service over here." <div class="embed" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: none !important;"><iframe class="embedly-embed" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px; max-width: 100%; outline: none !important;" title="tiktok embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2Fembed%2Fv2%2F7197724229943446789&display_name=tiktok&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40thejordanagrace%2Fvideo%2F7197724229943446789&image=https%3A%2F%2Fp16-sign-va.tiktokcdn.com%2Ftos-maliva-p-0068%2Fo0hBIk9tbBrEQhCIsd8xABfiuj1zkbogAuDFjA%7Etplv-dmt-logom%3Atos-useast2a-v-0068%2F0f22bd61bc15443ea1f3e5214fcdd9f3.image%3Fx-expires%3D1676361600%26x-signature%3D1ck2cF1fvQNZsDbJz4kKysELBSg%253D&key=59e3ae3acaa649a5a98672932445e203&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=tiktok" width="340" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> “And finally, the postage cost and speed," she said. "In the UK I didn’t realise that next day delivery was such a luxury, because over here postage not only can take weeks but the postage cost can cost as much as the item sometimes.” In the United Kingdom, prices to post a parcel begin at £3.95 for 1st class ($6.90). In Australia, 1st class parcel postage begins at $9.70. And as any Australian knows, postage times can span from a couple of days to a couple of weeks in busy periods. “Okay, but that’s it!” Jordana concluded, before pleading for everyone’s understanding, “I love you Australia, please don’t hate me.” Images: TikTok

Travel Trouble

UK national anthem undergoes change now Charles is King

After 70 years of singing ‘God save the Queen’, Brits will be faced with a change to their national anthem, prompted by the shock death of Queen Elizabeth II. With King Charles III to take the throne, the national anthem will change to God Save the King. Though nearly all of the lyrics will stay the same, there will be some key replacements: ‘queen’ with ‘king’, and ‘she’ and ‘her’ swapped for ‘he’ and ‘him’. The change will see the anthem return to its original title, as it was first publicly performed in 1745 after Prince Charles Edward Stuart defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpas, according to the royal family’s <a href="https://www.royal.uk/national-anthem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>. It became the national anthem at the beginning of the 19th century, with the lyrics changing when a King or Queen takes the throne. Queen Elizabeth II began her reign in 1952, when she was 25, resulting in the lyrics changing from ‘God save the King’ during her father King George VI’s reign to ‘God save the Queen’. Image: Getty Images

Music

"It's mad!" Steve Price goes ballistic over Greens rent freeze proposal

Steve Price has clashed with a Greens MP over their party's idea of a rent freeze, calling the proposal "mad". Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather spoke with the The Project on Thursday night to discuss the Greens' proposal, which was met with a frosty reception. Earlier this week, The Greens urged the government to impose a nationwide rent freeze for two years, citing the sharp increases in rent that have outstripped wage rises in recent months. The minor party has also called for future rent increases, beyond the proposed freeze period, to be capped at 2 per cent every two years. When Mr Chandler-Mather explained the proposal to the panel, the questions came flooding in. “Max, this does sound vaguely like socialism, possibly even communism. How would it work in practice?” host Hamish Macdonald asked. “I wouldn’t call it socialism or communism. I’d call it what is being done around the world, and (what has) worked. Victoria froze rents for six months during the pandemic, and what we are saying now is we are in a worse housing crisis even than in the pandemic, and we need an urgent national response," Mr Chandler-Mather replied. “What we’re proposing today is a two-year national rent freeze, because rents are out of control. They’ve increased seven times faster than wages since the pandemic began.” “It is not a crazy proposal ... I think it is a moderate proposal for what is a national crisis," he said. As he went on to cite other global examples of a similar scheme working to protect renters, Steve Price jumped in. “Max, you call it moderate. I call it mad,” he said. “What do you say to landlords who, over the next two years or so, are going to have an increase to their mortgage repayments, council rates are going up, repairs on rental properties are going up, it’s hard to get tradesmen – they are just expected to wear this increase in cost with no rent going up." “They’re going to bail on the market, they’re going to sell their properties, and you’re going to collapse the real estate market. It’s mad, mate!” “Well I don’t think the real estate market collapsed in Victoria when they froze rents for six months,” Mr Chandler-Mather said. “There was a six-month rent freeze in Victoria, but similarly in British Colombia or in New York or Scotland-” said the Greens MP. Price interrupted saying, “We’re not in British Columbia, New York or Scotland, we’re in Australia.” “We’ve got a rental system that works. There are a lot of great landlords. There are even landlords who, during Covid, made the rent cheaper for people because they wanted to look after good tenants. You’re trying to blow up a system that actually works.” “I think you just need to talk to the 2.7 million renters who are in severe rental stress at the moment and ask them if the housing market is working,” countered Mr Chandler-Mather. The pair continued their feisty back and forth before the interview drew to a close, where Macdonald thanked the MP for being “a good sport”. Image credits: The Project

Real Estate

Quaden Bayles' blockbuster new role

A young Indigenous boy with dwarfism, who captured hearts after an emotional plea to his school bullies went viral, has been offered a role in the new Mad Max movie. Quaden Bayles, an 11-year-old Queensland boy with achondroplasia, <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/quaden-bayles-puts-vicious-rumours-of-fake-age-to-rest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went viral in 2020</a> after his mother live-streamed a video on Facebook following the latest cruel bullying incident. The heartbreaking video, in which Quaden asks for a knife so he can kill himself, captured the world’s attention and Quaden received support from celebrities like Australia’s A-listers such as Hugh Jackman, Mark Hamill and Jon Bernthal. The boy’s anguish was also seen by Oscar-winning Australian filmmaker George Miller, who invited Quaden to appear in his upcoming film Three Thousand Years of Longing, which is due for release next month. Miller was so impressed with Quaden’s performance in the film, which also stars Hollywood heavyweights Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, that he invited him to appear as an extra in his next film Furiosa. Furiosa is set to be the fifth instalment in the Mad Max franchise and a prequel to 2015’s smash hit Mad Max: Fury Road. “It was good for us and it was good for him,” Miller told Good Weekend magazine. “And he did such a good job that he’s got a small role in Furiosa.” Due for release in 2024, Furiosa will star Anya Taylor-Joy and Australia’s Chris Hemsworth, and is expected to focus on the origins of Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa character, who was introduced in the six-time Academy Award winning Mad Max: Fury Road. Image credits: Getty Images / Supplied

Movies

14 signs your cat is mad at you

Top reasons your cat is angry Cats can’t speak, but that doesn’t mean they can’t communicate, and they’re always trying to tell you something, says Dawn Kavanaugh, cat behaviourist and CEO of All About Animals Rescue. Whether they’re happy or sad, in pain, or particularly when they’re a little ticked off, they want you, their favourite human, to know it. Your cat may make angry cat noises, seemingly purposefully knock something over, or wee on your new bedspread. Instead of instantly reacting, play detective, says Kavanaugh. Out-of-character cat behaviour may be a sign of cat anxiety, cat depression, or something else. “Your cat needs you to be watching and listening to what it tells you,” she says. “You have to figure out what the kitty is trying to say ≠ and perhaps kitty is saying it’s angry or upset.” A cat’s body language can also hold a number of clues to how it’s feeling. As for why your cat is angry, chances are it’s afraid, feeling territorial, having a conflict with another cat or a dog, or in pain. We asked cat behaviour experts to share the subtle signs of how your angry cat may show anger. But remember, no matter how your cat is feeling, you, as their human, should always respond with love and patience. They watch you from afar It can be hard to tell if your cat is keeping her distance because she’s upset, or if she’s staying away because, well, she’s a cat and cats are weirdos. But if your furry friend actively avoids you when she’s normally playful or keeps away for longer than usual, it can be a sign she’s mad, scared, or anxious, says Michael Rueb, cat behaviour expert. Angry cats will keep their distance when they get confused by, say, a sudden loud voice, quick movements, or even an unfamiliar smell on your jacket, he explains. The solution? Let her have her space – she’ll come back when she’s ready. They growl at you Think it’s just dogs that growl? Then you’ve never seen an angry cat or fighting cats. Angry cats can make a wide variety of noises that signal their displeasure, including a throaty growl, Rueb says. If your bestie is vocalising his feelings, start by giving him his space and then slowly do things that will create a positive relationship, like feeding, playing with toys, grooming, or speaking softly, Rueb continues. They give you 'the look' What look? If you’re a cat owner, you don’t even have to ask – cats are masters of showing their feelings through their eyes. “Cats especially become perturbed when their routine is messed up, like if you’re late feeding them or during daylight savings time,” says Kac Young, PhD, author of The One Minute Cat Manager. The solution is obvious: Cats will do better on a regular, predictable schedule, so do your best to stick to one, she says. They avoid their favourite toy Toys can actually be a major source of irritation for a cat, Young says. “They get bored with the same toys, so it’s important to mix them up or refresh them with catnip,” she explains. “Cats need lots of stimuli because they are natural hunters and love the game of chase and capture.” That has to do with their hunting instincts, which is also the reason why cats sleep so much. They hide under the couch and refuse to come out Hiding is one of the first signs your cat is unhappy or fearful of you or the situation, says Amy Shojai, a certified animal behaviour consultant and the author of ComPETability: Solving Behaviour Problems in Your Multi-Cat Household. Resist the urge to try to drag your angry cat out of hiding – it’s a protective reflex, and if you force him to socialise before he’s ready he may become aggressive, she explains. They suddenly get very fluffy The very stereotype of an “angry cat” is a kitty crouching with an arched back, fluffed out fur and a bushy tail, Shojai says. This gives the animal the appearance of being bigger and more intimidating – which often backfires with enamoured owners. But no matter how cute or funny you find this posture, now is not the time to try and pet her. Give her space or she may swat at you or bite, she says. His ears look like he's taking off Ears flattened back against the head and slightly sticking out – ”like aeroplane wings” – are a sure indicator your cat is upset, Shojai says. Don’t worry too much but do keep your distance. “An all-out attack toward people isn’t terribly common and, when it happens, may actually be a redirected aggression,” she explains. “Your cat cannot address the real reason for their angst (that bird trespassing in their yard!), so instead they nail a human hand that tries to pet when kitty is upset.” She poops on your pillow Rare is the cat owner who hasn’t discovered a “present” in a surprising place. “Eliminating on your bed is a typical sign of feline separation anxiety,” Shojai says. Even though it may appear she’s an angry cat taking out her frustrations on you, in reality, she is using her own scent as a way to cope with her anxiety. “That they target the bed is sort of a back-handed compliment, because it smells the most like their beloved – you,” she adds. They bit your hand when you go to pet them Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! Has your cat ever begged to be petted and then bit or scratched your hand? This is called “petting aggression,” and it’s totally normal (if annoying), Shojai says. “This ‘leave me alone’ bite doesn’t mean he’s angry, but that he wants to control the interaction, and the petting that goes on too long overstimulates him,” she explains. Their tail is all twitchy One of the first subtle signs that your cat is mad at you is when you see her tail placed low, swishing quickly back and forth, from side to side, says Emily Parker, cat behaviour expert at Catological. “Whenever you see the tail twitch, stop whatever it is you’re doing that is upsetting her, give her some space, and back off for a while until she calms down,” she explains. They pee on your clean laundry Your cat hasn’t had an accident since he was a kitten, and now all of a sudden he’s weeing all over the house? It’s a sure sign he’s distressed, says Linda Campbell, a registered veterinary technician specialist in behaviour. An angry cat most often urinates on soft surfaces like piles of laundry, sofas, or yes, your bed, she says. It’s important to take care of this problem early, before it becomes a habit; talk to your vet if you need help stopping the inappropriate eliminations, she adds. They refuse their favourite meal When a cat is upset she may eat less or even refuse to eat at all, Campbell says. Often this is a reaction to a new or unfamiliar situation, a change in routine, or a big event at home, like the birth of a new baby, she says. Keep a close eye on this one, however, as it can also be a sign of illness. If she won’t eat for more than a day or two, take her to the vet – it could be a sign of cat cancer. They purr Cats purr because they’re happy, right? Not always! Purring can also indicate anxiety, fear, or even aggression. If you keep petting a purring cat even after he shows other signs of irritation, you’re asking for a swipe or a nip, Campbell says. They scratch your furniture There’s nothing more infuriating than an angry cat that looks you straight in the eye, extends her claw, and then swipes at your new leather couch. Rather than aggression or anger, this is more likely due to your cat marking her territory, says Karen Miura, an animal communicator at Whispers from Animals. “Cats are very territorial,” she explains. “Cats perceive the house and yard as their kingdom, so things like claw marks on furniture and urine spray on walls are simply fresh boundary lines.” She suggests using a cat pheromone spray to help calm things down and save your sofa. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/pets/14-signs-your-cat-is-mad-at-you" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

Family & Pets

Frankenstein: how Mary Shelley’s sci-fi classic offers lessons for us today about the dangers of playing God

<a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/frankenstein-9780241425121" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus</a>, is an 1818 novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Set in the late 18th century, it follows scientist Victor Frankenstein’s creation of life and the terrible events that are precipitated by his abandonment of his creation. It is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gothic novel</a> in that it combines supernatural elements with horror, death and an exploration of the darker aspects of the psyche. It also provides a complex critique of Christianity. But most significantly, as one of the first works of science-fiction, it explores the dangers of humans pursuing new technologies and becoming God-like. <h2>The celebrity story</h2> Shelley’s Frankenstein is at the heart of what might be the greatest celebrity story of all time. Shelley was born in 1797. Her mother, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mary Wollstonecraft</a>, author of the landmark A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), was, according to that book’s introduction, “the first major feminist”. Shelley’s father was <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/godwin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">William Godwin</a>, political philosopher and founder of “philosophical anarchism” – he was anti-government in the moment that the great democracies of France and the United States were being born. When she was 16, Shelley eloped with radical poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Percy Shelley</a>, whose <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ozymandias</a> (1818) is still regularly quoted (“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”). Their relationship seems to epitomise the Romantic era itself. It was crossed with outside love interests, illegitimate children, suicides, debt, wondering and wandering. And it ultimately came to an early end in 1822 when Percy Shelley drowned, his small boat lost in a storm off the Italian coast. The Shelleys also had a close association with the poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lord Byron</a>, and it is this association that brings us to Frankenstein. In 1816 the Shelleys visited Switzerland, staying on the shores of Lake Geneva, where they were Byron’s neighbours. As Mary Shelley tells it, they had all been reading ghost stories, including Coleridge’s <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43971/christabel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christabel</a> (Coleridge had visited her father at the family house when Shelley was young), when Byron suggested that they each write a ghost story. Thus 18-year-old Shelley began to write Frankenstein. <h2>The myth of the monster</h2> The popular imagination has taken Frankenstein and run with it. The monster “Frankenstein”, originally “Frankenstein’s monster”, is as integral to Western culture as the characters and tropes from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But while reasonable continuity remains between Carroll’s Alice and its subsequent reimaginings, much has been changed and lost in the translation from Shelley’s novel into the many versions that are rooted in the popular imagination. There have been many varied adaptations, from <a href="https://youtu.be/TBHIO60whNw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Edward Scissorhands</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGzc0pIjHqw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rocky Horror Picture Show</a> (see <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/11/the-20-best-frankenstein-films-ranked" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> for a top 20 list of Frankenstein films). But despite the variety, it’s hard not to think of the “monster” as a zombie-like implacable menace, as we see in the <a href="https://youtu.be/BN8K-4osNb0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trailer to the 1931 movie</a>, or a lumbering fool, as seen in <a href="https://youtu.be/nBV8Cw73zhk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Herman Munster incarnation</a>. Further, when we add the prefix “franken” it’s usually with disdain; consider “frankenfoods”, which refers to genetically modified foods, or “frankenhouses”, which describes contemporary architectural monstrosities or bad renovations. However, in Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein’s creation is far from being two-dimensional or contemptible. To use the motto of the Tyrell corporation, which, in the 1982 movie Bladerunner, creates synthetic life, the creature strikes us as being “more human than human”. Indeed, despite their dissimilarities, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoAzpa1x7jU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the replicant Roy Batty in Bladerunner reproduces Frankenstein’s creature’s intense humanity</a>. <h2>Some key elements in the plot</h2> The story of Victor Frankenstein is nested within the story of scientist-explorer Robert Walton. For both men, the quest for knowledge is mingled with fanatical ambition. The novel begins towards the end of the story, with Walton, who is trying to sail to the North Pole, rescuing Frankenstein from <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Das_Eismeer_-_Hamburger_Kunsthalle_-_02.jpg/1280px-Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Das_Eismeer_-_Hamburger_Kunsthalle_-_02.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sea ice</a>. Frankenstein is being led northwards by his creation towards a final confrontation. The central moment in the novel is when Frankenstein brings his creation to life, only to be immediately repulsed by it: <blockquote> I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. </blockquote> Victor Frankenstein, like others in the novel, is appalled by the appearance of his creation. He flees the creature and it vanishes. After a hiatus of two years, the creature begins to murder people close to Frankenstein. And when Frankenstein reneges on his promise to create a female partner for his creature, it murders his closest friend and then, on Frankenstein’s wedding night, his wife. <h2>More human than human</h2> The real interest of the novel lies not in the murders or the pursuit, but in the creature’s accounts of what drove him to murder. After the creature murders Frankenstein’s little brother, William, Frankenstein seeks solace in the Alps – in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog#/media/File:Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Wanderer_above_the_sea_of_fog.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sublime nature</a>. There, the creature comes upon Frankenstein and eloquently and poignantly relates his story. We learn that the creature spent a year secretly living in an outhouse attached to a hut occupied by the recently impoverished De Lacey family. As he became self-aware, the creature reflected that, “To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being.” But when he eventually attempted to reveal himself to the family to gain their companionship, he was brutally driven from them. The creature was filled with rage. He says, “I could … have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery.” More human than human. After Victor Frankenstein dies aboard Walton’s ship, Walton has a final encounter with the creature, as it looms over Frankenstein’s body. To the corpse, the creature says: <blockquote> “Oh Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted being! What does it avail that I now ask thee to pardon me? I, who irretrievably destroyed thee by destroying all thou lovedst.” </blockquote> The creature goes on to make several grand and tragic pronouncements to Walton. “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy; and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change, without torture such as you cannot even imagine.” And shortly after, about the murder of Frankenstein’s wife, the creature says: “I knew that I was preparing for myself a deadly torture; but I was the slave, not the master, of an impulse, which I detested, yet could not disobey.” These remarks encourage us to ponder some of the weightiest questions we can ask about the human condition: <blockquote> What is it that drives humans to commit horrible acts? Are human hearts, like the creature’s, fashioned for ‘love and sympathy’, and when such things are withheld or taken from us, do we attempt to salve the wound by hurting others? And if so, what is the psychological mechanism that makes this occur? </blockquote> And what is the relationship between free will and horrible acts? We cannot help but think that the creature remains innocent – that he is the slave, not the master. But then what about the rest of us? The rule of law generally blames individuals for their crimes – and perhaps this is necessary for a society to function. Yet I suspect the rule of law misses something vital. Epictetus, the stoic philosopher, considered such questions millennia ago. He asked: <blockquote> What grounds do we have for being angry with anyone? We use labels like ‘thief’ and ‘robber’… but what do these words mean? They merely signify that people are confused about what is good and what is bad. </blockquote> <h2>Unintended consequences</h2> Victor Frankenstein creates life only to abandon it. An unsympathetic interpretation of Christianity might see something similar in God’s relationship with humanity. Yet the novel itself does not easily support this reading; like much great art, its strength lies in its ambivalence and complexity. At one point, the creature says to Frankenstein: “Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.” These and other remarks complicate any simplistic interpretation. In fact, the ambivalence of the novel’s religious critique supports its primary concern: the problem of technology allowing humans to become God-like. The subtitle of Frankenstein is “The Modern Prometheus”. In the Greek myth, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prometheus</a> steals fire – a technology – from the gods and gives it to humanity, for which he is punished. In this myth and many other stories, technology and knowledge are double-edged. Adam and Eve eat the apple of knowledge in the Garden of Eden and are ejected from paradise. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, <a href="https://youtu.be/RWCvMwivrDk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">humanity is born when the first tool is used</a> – a tool that augments humanity’s ability to be violent. The novel’s subtitle is referring to Kant’s 1755 essay, “The Modern Prometheus”. In this, Kant observes that: <blockquote> There is such a thing as right taste in natural science, which knows how to distinguish the wild extravagances of unbridled curiosity from cautious judgements of reasonable credibility. From the Prometheus of recent times Mr. Franklin, who wanted to disarm the thunder, down to the man who wants to extinguish the fire in the workshop of Vulcanus, all these endeavors result in the humiliating reminder that Man never can be anything more than a man. </blockquote> Victor Frankenstein, who suffered from an unbridled curiosity, says something similar: <blockquote> A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind … If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. </blockquote> And also: “Learn from me … how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.” In sum: be careful what knowledge you pursue, and how you pursue it. Beware playing God. Alas, history reveals the quixotic nature of Shelley and Kant’s warnings. There always seems to be a scientist somewhere whose dubious ambitions are given free rein. And beyond this, there is always the problem of the unintended consequences of our discoveries. Since Shelley’s time, we have created numerous things that we fear or loathe such as the atomic bomb, cigarettes and other drugs, chemicals such as DDT, and so on. And as our powers in the realms of genetics and artificial intelligence grow, we may yet create something that loathes us. It all reminds me of sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson’s relatively recent (2009) remark <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00016553" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that</a>, “The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.” This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/frankenstein-how-mary-shelleys-sci-fi-classic-offers-lessons-for-us-today-about-the-dangers-of-playing-god-175520" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Books

REVIEW: Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Warning! This article contains spoilers. Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has returned with his flying cape sidekick to save earth - but this time there’s more than one that needs help. The unshakeable do-gooder, with his grey-winged hair, is pulled into a deadly game of cat- and-mouse. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is a terrifying witch who chases America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) across different dimensions for her superpower - the ability to jump through the multiverse. Maximoff leaves a trail of destruction in her path and it falls to Dr Strange to put an end to her madness. If he fails, then you can wave goodbye to this earth and all the other earths floating out there in the infinite cosmos. Hollywood is pumping out superhero movies at such a fast rate, it’s almost impossible to keep up with the pace as a viewer. The Multiverse of Madness assumes you have watched at least one Avengers film, part of the Wanda Vision series and the first Dr Strange. Oh, and don’t forget Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. If you haven’t seen any of them, good luck trying to understand who is who. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aWzlQ2N6qqg" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> There’s plenty of action and exploding heads to keep the unversed audience member entertained. Director Sam Raimi weaves in elements of horror along with a few jump scares. His personal touch falls short of making the superhero franchise feel new. At its best, it just adds a fresh twist to an overdone genre. There is only one annoying little detail in the film. It’s so teeny-tiny, but it hurts as much as a rose thorn stuck in your side. It’s nothing to get worked up over. Right? Wrong. Most, if not all, superhero films are packed with undertones of American patriotism. Superman wears a red cape and a blue, tight-fitting onesie (the colours of the American flag); Iron Man is held captive in a cave in the Middle East before he blasts his way to freedom (America, f*** yeah!); and Captain America needs no explanation (his name says it all). In most cases, at least, these references aren’t screaming in your face. They dwell in the background so you can continue to enjoy the film at its surface level. That’s not the case with Dr Strange. America Chavez is a central character who is not only named after the United States, but she is also dressed in a jacket with the stars and stripes printed onto the back of it. She is, literally, a walking flag of the country. Every time Dr Strange spoke about saving America, I couldn’t help but cringe as I had a sneaking suspicion he was not referring to the young girl. When the character needed a dialogue break, his monster-bashing sidekicks were filling in the blanks with their own toe-curling lines about America. She needs to be saved, her powers could be used for bad if they fall into the wrong hands, with great power comes great responsibility. Blah, blah, blah. For all its shortcomings, Raimi manages to pull off an entertaining two hours and six minutes. The action is backed up by strong performances from Cumberbatch, Olsen and Gomez. Written by Aidan Wondracz. Image: YouTube

Movies

‘A gentleman with the mad soul of an Irish convict poet’: remembering Chris Bailey, and the blazing comet that was The Saints

Inala in the early 70s was bleak. A Brisbane suburb of wide dusty streets, treeless and bland. A planned community, meant to grow over time. Austerity, accented by the cheap houses – weatherboard, red brick, concrete – stifled the suburb like a blanket on a hot February night. It was boring. Beyond boring. The only concession to communal childhood joy was the pool, and the crazy concrete skate rink. But if you wanted a creative outlet, you needed to search elsewhere. Ivor Hay, (future Saints drummer), was heading to the picture theatre in Sherwood one Saturday night in early 1971, "and I saw Jeffrey [Wegener – another Saints drummer] with these two longhairs, Chris [Bailey] and Ed [Kuepper]. They were off to a birthday party in Corinda and asked me along. That was our first night." Bailey was raised by his mum, Bridget, in a house alive with siblings – mostly girls, who looked after the kid. He got away with a lot. “None of us had a lot of money,” Hay tells me. "Both Chris and I were raised by single mums in reasonably sized families. Chris’ mum was pretty feisty, with this Belfast accent which was just fantastic. They all looked after ‘Christopher’, he could do all sorts of things and they would accommodate him. His mum would have a go at him about the noise, but we’d just go to his bedroom and rehearse and bugger everybody else in the house!" Kuepper taught Hay to play the guitar: Stones and Beatles and Hendrix. Hay passed the knowledge down to Bailey, who was keen to learn. Neither Kuepper nor Bailey learned to drive, so Hay became the driver in those wide suburbs where driving and cars were everything. There was politics in Bailey’s house – his sister Margaret chained herself to the school gates to protest uniform policy – but this pervaded the town. The conservative government had no time for the young, and the police force did their best to make life difficult. But there was a sense that these young men were making something new. As Hay says, "We used to sing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internationale">The Internationale</a> at parties. I don’t know if we were revolutionaries, but we had that sense that something was happening. [With the band] we were doing something that we thought was going to change something. Chris was particularly good at pushing things, at being anti-everything." <h2>Out of Inala</h2> To escape the suburb was to head north to the railway line. It was the lifeline to the centre of Brisbane – record stores, bookshops and other forms of life. Kuepper remembers going into the city with Bailey. "We had intended to steal a record, and we went into Myers […] both wearing army disposal overcoats […] these two long haired guys walking into the record department with these overcoats […] surprisingly enough, we were successful!" Like the railway line, Ipswich Road joins Brisbane to the old coal town of Ipswich. It slices through these western suburbs, carrying hoons in muscle cars and streams of commuters, the occasional screaming cop car or ambulance. On Thursday nights, the boys used to sit at the Oxley Hotel, overlooking Ipswich Road, “just sit up there having beers, we wouldn’t have been much more than 17 or 18 at that time. Chatting about all sorts of stuff,” says Hay. "Chris and Ed were comic collectors and Stan Lee was the hero […] there were political discussions, philosophical discussions. Those guys could talk underwater." They talked and played and sang. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5YP_tsPzmg&t=905s">And Bailey had the voice</a>. It was a force, not just loud and tuneful, but full of snarl and spit. Soon they had songs, and in 1976 scraped the money together to record and release their first single on their own Fatal Records label. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpMwMDqOprc">(I’m) Stranded</a> took Bailey out of Inala, out of Brisbane and into the world. He never looked back. <h2>A changed city</h2> The Saints released three albums in as many years – (I’m) Stranded, Eternally Yours and Prehistoric Sounds – before Kuepper and Hay returned from the UK to Australia, leaving Bailey to his own devices. Bailey remained in Europe, releasing a cluster of solo albums and many Saints records over the next 40 years. He wrote some achingly beautiful songs. It is a testament to his talents as a songwriter that Bruce Springsteen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ4a_tgJp4I">recorded a version</a>of Bailey’s Just Like Fire Would in 2014. There’s no doubt that Bailey and The Saints changed Brisbane forever. People around the world who love music know Brisbane exists because of The Saints, The Go-Betweens and bands like them. Peter Milton Walsh (The Apartments) was one of many who benefited from The Saints legacy, "They blazed through our young lives like comets. Showed so many what was possible – that you could write your way out of town." “Without The Saints,” Mark Callaghan of The Riptides/Gang Gajang told me, “we probably wouldn’t have started. ” "They just made it all seem doable. It was like, ‘Well, they’re from Brisbane!’ So we started our first band, and at our first gig we covered (I’m) Stranded! We even took a photo of the abandoned house in Petrie Terrace with (I’m) Stranded painted on the wall. But it never crossed our minds to stand in front of this. It would be sacrilege, you know? And we were trying to work out a way that we could get it off the wall intact, because we recognised it was a historical document." Chris Bailey isn’t the first of our creative children to leave this life behind and move on into memory. With their passing, like the returning comet, the past is freshly illuminated, allowing us to look back at our young lives. Back when the future was broad in front of us, urged on by voices like Bailey’s to open our eyes and see the world. And Bailey’s was a unique voice. Kenny Gormley (The Cruel Sea) remembers him singing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYA5WdP47Y0">Ghost Ships,</a> "But ah, I’ll never ever forget seeing Chris pick that shanty, alone at sea in a crowded room, holding us sway, wet face drunk and shining, quiet and stilled in storm, cracked voiced with closed eye and open heart. And that was Bailey, a gentleman with the mad soul of an Irish convict poet.“ Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared in <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-gentleman-with-the-mad-soul-of-an-irish-convict-poet-remembering-chris-bailey-and-the-blazing-comet-that-was-the-saints-181059" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

"Why Phil Tippett will never do another film like ‘Mad God’

Phil Tippett, the man behind physical special effects seen in the likes of Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Robocop has spoken about his latest project, <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.madgodmovie.com/madgod-home" target="_blank">Mad God</a>, and why he could never do it again. The independent stop-motion film, funded partly through online platform Kickstarter, took the iconic animator 30 years to make, and premiered at the annual cult cinema festival, Monster Fest, in Melbourne this year. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846211/tippett3.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/49414a0037f44b4d9eb0c8ee60851f41" /> Phil Tippett’s most memorable monster creations include the wooly Tauntauns which appeared in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. Image: @tippettstudio (Instagram) Tippett’s latest feature is a wordless, nightmarish film that follows a figure in a gas mask known as the Assassin, as they make their way through a landscape filled with monsters, zombies, disturbing science experiments, and other grotesque forms. Speaking to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/inside-the-nightmares-of-hollywood-s-mad-god-monster-maker-20211129-p59d29.html" target="_blank">The Sydney Morning Herald</a>, Tippett said his work comes “entirely from the unconscious”, which saw him experience a “psychic breakdown” while making Mad God. “You can only know your own mind. So my mind is a cage, and that’s where I am unconsciously trapped,” he said. “But within is an entire universe. And you never know what path you’re gonna go down. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846210/tippett1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/8a0d0c80699746d49efe33cfadc5ee60" /> Grotesque figures and monsters fill Phil Tippett’s latest film. Images: Mad God Movie “And Mad God led to a psychic breakdown for me, and then I had to go to the psych ward for a little while, and then it took me six weeks to recover.” Tippett went on to say finishing Mad God came both as a personal triumph and a relief, as something he would not repeat. “I will never do another Mad God, ever. It’s impossible. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” he explained. But, he said he already has an outline and “about 800 storyboards” made up for Pequin’s Pendequin, a sequel that’s intentionally more commercial and influenced by classic Warner Brothers and Popeye cartoons. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ6ZZ1yDVo0/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ6ZZ1yDVo0/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Phil Tippett (@madphilg)</a> </div> </blockquote> Despite its clear change in direction, Tippett conceded that it will still contain elements of his style. “As the canary sings one song, it’ll get my flavour in it somehow,” he added. “There’s a certain amount of darkness to it. But it’s a lot more humorous, with very vibrant colours, and … happy.” See the trailer for Mad God below. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pbW5ns_pIZo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Images: Tippett Studio / Getty Images

Movies

“Please. God. No”: Basil Zempilas mocked for AFL grand final suggestion

Basil Zempilas, Lord Mayor of Perth, probably didn’t anticipate quite this level of backlash when he shared an idea on Twitter on Friday morning, posting, “TOMORROW @OptusStadium - 20.21 in the first quarter #AFLGF - we’re asking everyone in the stadium to stand for one minute and applaud - a nod to our friends around the country who are doing it tough & to let them know we’re with them in this difficult time. Let’s do it WA”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> TOMORROW <a href="https://twitter.com/OptusStadium?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OptusStadium</a> - 20.21 in the first quarter <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AFLGF?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AFLGF</a> - we’re asking everyone in the stadium to stand for one minute and applaud - a nod to our friends around the country who are doing it tough & to let them know we’re with them in this difficult time. Let’s do it WA 👏💪🏆 — Basil Zempilas (@BasilZempilas) <a href="https://twitter.com/BasilZempilas/status/1441170568972095495?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2021</a></blockquote> The match, set to take place in Perth on Saturday night between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, comes at a time when WA’s borders are closed to the majority of Australians, and will most likely remain closed for the foreseeable future. As many responses to Zempilas’ tweet pointed out, this hardly engenders feelings of solidarity. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> No offence but this is a horse shit idea. I couldn't go to Perth last year for my grandmother's funeral. My brother and nieces haven't met my almost 2 year old son. WAs borders are constantly closed off to the rest. Don't give us the "we are all in this together" crap. — Adam Hoskins (@hosko) <a href="https://twitter.com/hosko/status/1441199359262003204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2021</a></blockquote> An overwhelming number of responses focused on the families kept apart by Premier Mark McGowan’s tough approach to fighting the spread of COVID-19, and also pointed out that WA’s low vaccination rate was only prolonging these separations (<a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyBriggs/status/1441274845996535809/photo/1">WA currently has the lowest vaccination rate in the country</a>). <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Instead of clapping I would love WA to hurry up and get vaccinated so Mark can open the border and my kids can see their grandparents again <a href="https://t.co/nYYxL2f0ZR">https://t.co/nYYxL2f0ZR</a> — Chryssie Swarbrick (@chryssieswarbs) <a href="https://twitter.com/chryssieswarbs/status/1441230427847462913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2021</a></blockquote> Other footy fans said they’d rather everyone just got on with the game, frankly: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> It’s a nice thought Baz but I reckon most of us footy fans on the east coast would rather the crowd just focus on and enjoy the game — Michael Sleap (@michaelsleap) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelsleap/status/1441191160936951808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2021</a></blockquote> One Twitter user pointed out that amidst interstate sniping over lockdowns and vaccination distribution, it’s almost heartwarming to see the country come together to make fun of Zempilas’ terrible suggestion: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Australia's a very fractured country right now. But it's been nice to see everyone united against this terrible idea. <a href="https://t.co/sgFTMm6luk">https://t.co/sgFTMm6luk</a> — Vince Rugari (@VinceRugari) <a href="https://twitter.com/VinceRugari/status/1441227932937064455?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2021</a></blockquote> ABC Melbourne sport reporter Catherine Murphy even got the hashtag #NOBASILNO going, encouraging users who share her belief that Victorians have been subjected to enough to post using the hashtag in order for her to get an idea of just how many people found the suggestion patronising and meaningless. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Please. God. NO. <a href="https://twitter.com/AFL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AFL</a> Can we just STOP the week?!!! 😩😩😩😩😩<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoBasilNo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoBasilNo</a> <a href="https://t.co/iwlyqTPQQz">https://t.co/iwlyqTPQQz</a> — Catherine Murphy (@CathMurphySport) <a href="https://twitter.com/CathMurphySport/status/1441225144035250179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2021</a></blockquote> Pre-match festivities kick off at 6.15pm on Saturday and include performances from John Butler, Eskimo Joe, Abbe May, Stella Donnelly, Men at Work’s Colin Hay, and Baker Boy. Birds of Tokyo will perform during half-time alongside the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Image: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

News

"He's proper mad at you": Why Karl walked off set

It’s no secret that Today host Karl Stefanovic hates creepy crawlies of all types. So, when he was talking with some snake catchers this morning, the worst thing happened. Stefanovic and co-host, Allison Langdon, were chatting to a trio of Queensland snake catchers and as they wrapped up the interview, something gave Stefanovic the fright of his life. Unbeknownst to Stefanovic, weather presenter Tim Davies was hiding behind the couch he was sitting on. Davies had planned the prank and he reached up from behind the couch to touch Stefanovic’s shoulder as the chat was wrapping up. "Good on you, guys. Thanks for being with us. Appreciate. What a gorgeous day," Stefanovic said before screaming loudly. As Langdon burst out laughing and then when he realised what had happened, Stefanovic threw a pillow at Davies. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PFvsj6hNkdE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> But that’s when Stefanovic stood up and walked off set. As he walked away, he could be heard muttering under his breath. Langdon admonished Davies saying: "That's the best. He is proper mad with you, Tim," she said. "Note, the moment the team fell apart, 8:53.57," she added. <img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/c87af49c6c594a1ba1cae78e5203ea8a" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.39904610492846px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844045/karl-walks-out-2-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/c87af49c6c594a1ba1cae78e5203ea8a" /> Image: Today Show

"Oh my God": Woman discovers $1 billion in her bank account

American woman Julia Yonkowski got the surprise of her life when she went to withdraw $20 from her bank account and saw $1 billion instead. According to the bank receipt she received from Chase Bank, she had $999,985,855.94 in her account. “Oh my God, I was horrified. I know most people would think they won the lottery but I was horrified,” she explained. “When I put in for the $20, the machine came back and said we’ll give you the $20 but that’ll cause an overdraft and you will be charged and I said, ‘Oh just forget it,’”. She hasn't touched her account since Saturday night. “I know I’ve read stories about people that took the money or took out money, and then they had to repay it and I wouldn’t do that anyway because it’s not my money,” she said. “It kind of scares me because you know with cyber threats. You know I don’t know what to think.” She's tried reaching out to Chase Bank several times but gets "tied up" with their automated system. “I just can’t get through. I get tied up with their automated system and I can’t get a person,” she said. However, a representative for Chase Bank confirmed that the high amount of money was a fraud prevention method. It also explains why Yonkowski wasn't able to get the original $20 she tried to withdraw from her account. According to the bank, Yonkowski's late husband was also named on the joint account and the bank requires proper documentation to release the account to a sole individual.

Money & Banking

Scott Morrison "called to do God's work" as PM

Scott Morrison has told an audience at a Christian conference on the Gold Coast that he was "called to do God's work" as Australia's Prime Minister. The statement was recorded at the Australian Christian Churches conference last week and shared on Facebook by The Rationalist Society. In the address, Morrison, a Pentecostal Christian, said the misuse of social media was "the work of the evil one" (ie the devil) and had a "corrosive effect on society". “It is going to take our young people... it’s going to take their hope, it’s going to steal their hope,” he said. “Sure, social media has its virtues and its values and enables us to connect with people in ways we’ve never had before, terrific, terrific, but those weapons can also be used by the evil one and we need to call that out.” The PM said he had looked for signs from God during the 2019 election campaign and often prayed while working, as well as practicing the "laying-on of hands" when out visiting people. Morrison said he had asked God for a “sign” while he was at an art gallery in New South Wales. “And there right in front of me was the biggest picture of a soaring eagle,” he says in the video. “The message I got that day was, Scott, you’ve got to run to not grow weary, you’ve got to walk to not grow faint, you’ve got to spread your wings like an eagle to soar like an eagle.” He also revealed that he had practiced the laying on of hands when he visited victims of the devastating Cyclone Seroja in Western Australia. “I’ve been in evacuation centres where people thought I was just giving someone a hug and I was praying, and putting my hands on people ... laying hands on them and praying in various situations,” he said. “God has, I believe, been using us in these moments to be able to provide some relief and comfort and just some reassurance.”

News

"That's madness": Steve Price takes aim at Sydney COVID decision

The Project panellist Steve Price has berated the NSW Government for deciding to go ahead with the third Test at the SCG with fans in attendance as “madness”. On Monday – the same day zero COVID cases were recorded in Sydney – it was revealed the SCG will be reduced to 25 per cent crowd capacity for this week's cricket Test. Acting NSW acting Premier John Barilaro urged regional NSW residents to reconsider going to the match. The third test against India plans to allow for 10,000 fans each day, instead of what was first to be around 20,000. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839303/steve-price-third-test-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/ca8db37194254e2c8ac17f5dffe90dc9" /> Medical experts have called upon the state government and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to rethink the crowd numbers and protocols ahead of the Sydney Test. Venues NSW CEO Kerrie Mather appeared on The Project on Monday night, saying: “We’ve hosted more than 20 events during the COVID period and welcomed more than 150,000 people through our gates without a single incident of transmission.” However Price fired back, labelling the decision to allow fan attendance at the Third Test as “madness”. “Well, good luck with that. You’re going to let people go to the cricket,” he said. “I think they should have no one at the Test Match. Play the Test for the broadcasters, but that’s madness having a crowd in there.” Acting Premier Barilaro joined The Project later on, saying he was “confident” the Test could go ahead. “Look, we said from the outset that we would be working through our health officials with the SCG and Cricket Australia and to find the final outcome and we’ve had some spikes in an area of Sydney that bothers us and that worries us,” he added. “We have decided to work with the SCG Trust and we will work to see if there is any movement after that.”

News

James Bond is more than a (sexist) secret agent. He is a fertility god, a Dionysus of the modern era

James Bond is more than a (sexist) secret agent. He is a fertility god, a Dionysus of the modern era “History isn’t kind to people who play God,” quips James Bond to supervillain Safin in the trailer for No Time to Die. The film’s release has been delayed yet again, to April 2021. It will mark Daniel Craig’s swansong as 007 and speculation continues as to who will be the next Bond. Will it be Idris Elba, Tom Hardy or perhaps a woman? Bond has long been criticised for his sexist attitudes, with even Judi Dench’s M in GoldenEye (1995) dubbing him a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” . But what if we view him through the prism of Greek mythology? Is Bond, in fact, a contemporary incarnation of Dionysus, the god of wine, pleasure and fertility? In Greek mythology, the gods punish mortals for the sin of hubris. In our pop-culture pantheon, Bond is a deity. Dionysus travelled throughout the ancient world, sometimes by boat in the Aegean islands, sometimes in a winged chariot. Bond also circumnavigates the globe, equally at home on yachts or in helicopters. But his chariot of choice is an Aston Martin. Its logo? A pair of wings. Secrets of wine – and martinis Wherever Dionysus went he initiated his followers in the secrets of wine-making. Wherever Bond goes he initiates the mixologist in the secrets of making the perfect Vesper martini. In Ian Fleming’s Diamonds are Forever (1956), Bond tells the bartender to combine three measures of Gordon’s gin, one of vodka and half a measure of Kina Lillet with a thick slice of lemon peel and poured into a deep champagne goblet. In Casino Royale (2006), he adds the martini must be shaken “until it’s ice cold.” Unlike mortals, Bond’s prodigious consumption of alcohol does him no harm, indeed he is hailed as “the best shot in the Secret Service.” In a study of the novels published in the British Medical Journal in 2013, researchers estimated Bond consumed an average of 92 units of alcohol per week with a maximum daily intake peaking at 49.8 units. There were days when Bond abstained – 12.5 out of a total 87.5 days – but mostly because he was being held prisoner. Weapons of disguise Dionysus carries a thyrsus: a sacred pinecone-tipped staff wreathed in vines. The thyrus is a phallic symbol, sometimes displayed with a kantharos wine cup, denoting female sexuality. The union of the two created a powerful representation of fertility and rebirth. Dionysus also turned his thyrsus into a dangerous weapon by secreting an iron tip in its point. As a secret agent, Bond conceals his Walther PPK pistol in a hidden holster, but one of his most lethal weapons is disguised as a cigarette – a potent symbol of sexual union in cinema, where smoking a cigarette signifies the completion of copulation. In You Only Live Twice (1967) the villain makes the fatal mistake of allowing Bond “one last fag.” It turns out to be tipped with a rocket-propelled bullet, proving that cigarettes aren’t just lethal for smokers. Gods of possession Dionysus was deeply attractive to his female followers, Maenads, who would drink themselves into a frenzy to be possessed by the god. Likewise, Bond is pursued by a bevy of beautiful women – Pussy Galore, Plenty O’Toole and Honey Rider – panting to be possessed. As with the Maenads, devotion to Bond comes with its perils. In Live and Let Die (1973), Bond girl, Solitaire loses her psychic powers after a close encounter of the passionate kind with Bond and becomes a target for heroin baron, Dr Kananga. In Goldfinger (1964), Jill Masterton is punished by the eponymous villain for betraying him to Bond, dying of skin suffocation when he covers her in gold paint. This puts a new spin on the Midas myth in which Dionysus granted the king’s wish to be blessed with the golden touch, only to discover that it is a curse making it impossible to eat or even embrace his daughter without turning her into metal. Ecstasy and death In ancient Greece, the number seven was sacred and composed of the number three (the heavenly male) and the number four (the heavenly female). Bond’s number in the secret service – Agent 007 – is thus the perfect number to represent a modern-day fertility god. Like Dionysus who is depicted in a number of forms which range from an older, bearded god to a long-haired youth, Bond has appeared in a variety of guises from the debonair David Niven to the strapping Daniel Craig. Yet regardless of his age and physique, Bond’s dual Dionysian nature brings either divine ecstasy in bed, or brutal death to his foes. Dionysus almost dies before he is born but his father Zeus saves him. Later he returns from the dead after he is dismembered by the Titans. Bond says, “You only live twice: once when you are born and once when you look death in the face.” Like Dionysus, Bond is resurrected in Skyfall (2012) after he is accidentally shot by Moneypenny. The bullet penetrates his body causing him to fall off a train and into a waterfall where he sinks to the bottom. But Bond is immortal. He returns to save another day. When it finally reaches cinemas, No Time to Die will be the last hurrah for Craig, but gods do not die. Bond will live on. Written by Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan. This article first appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/james-bond-is-more-than-a-sexist-secret-agent-he-is-a-fertility-god-a-dionysus-of-the-modern-era-131040">The Conversation</a>.

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"Wokeness gone mad": Steve Price slams AO Australia Day boycott

“Utter madness”: Australian Open thriller drags past 3am

“Please go away”: Grieving mother slams “god-bothering” vandal