Be afraid, be very afraid!

Be careful! My political opinions may not agree with the majority!

I have been shaking my head baffled for the last half hour. Utterly confused at the over the top and ridiculous reaction to Bob Katter’s Australia Party advertisement on gay marriage. To view the advertisement, go to this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY8N2xSU3c0

I have watched it at least half a dozen times by the time I write this, each time trying to find the outrageous and homophobic slurs this advertisement contains. Did I find any?

I think I did. At one point it says: “Do you really think he [Campbell Newman] will stand up to minority groups?” in front of a picture of two gay men before stating: “That’s right, he supports gay marriage!” Thus, I can imagine that minority groups (not just homosexual couples) could feel affronted that they need standing up to. Even more affronting, it’s by a well known crazy politician that could be labelled a red neck and is often ridiculed for his unusual antics. In fact, the more I look at it the more concerned I am.

[It is ironic that Katter wants to stand up to minorities when his opinion on gay marriage has been proven to be a minority one. Does that mean he will need to stand up to himself? If anyone could do it, I’m sure Bob could.]

Also, the image they use could be offensive. Yes, an image of two gay men, one clearly older than the other. Does this not represent homosexual couples? Is it offensive because it only shows men? Is that pixilation of the image some sort of hidden message about the abhorrent nature of their relationship? Are all gay couples like this? Who knows? But the fact that I have to read so much into the image with no words or voice over condemning them (NB: the worst the advertisement implies is that is threatens family values – see Julia Gillard’s statements below on that issue) makes me wonder is it really that scary?

Indeed, the fact that Katter will be lucky to get 10% of the vote and even hold the balance of power makes this whole debate even scarier. He is a fringe politician with a small niche constituency that the advertisement clearly plays to. Does it mean he dislikes gay marriage? Clearly it does. Does it mean he should be harangued by media and receive hate mail? I think not.

Let us remember back to what Julia Gillard had to say on the issue:

“I think that there are some important things from our past that need to continue to be part of our present and part of our future. If I was in a different walk of life, if I'd continued in the law and was partner of a law firm now, I would express the same view, that I think for our culture, for our heritage, the Marriage Act and marriage being between a man and a woman has a special status.

Now, I know people might look at me and think that's something that they wouldn't necessarily expect me to say, but that is what I believe.

I'm on the record as saying things like I think it's important for people to understand their Bible stories, not because I'm an advocate of religion - clearly, I'm not - but once again, what comes from the Bible has formed such an important part of our culture." (Downloaded from http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pm-julia-gillard-gay-marriage-against-my-upbringing/story-e6freuy9-1226025009815 on March 12, 2012)

So our PM feels that gay marriage shouldn’t be legal because “I think for our culture, for our heritage, the Marriage Act and marriage being between a man and a woman has a special status.” The same PM who stated that:

“The Greens will never embrace Labor's delight at sharing the values of everyday Australians, in our cities, suburbs, towns and bush, who day after day do the right thing, leading purposeful and dignified lives, driven by love of family and nation” (Downloaded from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/greens-dont-share-aussie-values-pm/story-fn7x8me2-1226031649495 on March 12, 2012)

Thus she too is against gay marriage and implies that Greens policies, like gay marriage, are against “the values of everyday Australians”. Yet do we have this level of vitriol and hatred directed against her despite the fact that she refuses to support the gay marriage bill if it was presented to the parliament. That’s right, a big fat no.

Do I agree with gay marriage? Yes, I do. Do I agree with Bob Katter opposing gay marriage? No, I don’t. But the point is that Bob Katter has a right to have a policy that opposes gay marriage. The fact is that in a democracy some people will disagree with you but this is ultimately a good thing. Katter has raised the issue of gay marriage and there should be a genuine debate on the issue. That means listening to all sides of the argument, even those who oppose gay marriage, without resorting to over the top denunciations. Sarah Hanson-Young has clearly been taking populist political lessons from Tony Abbott with her ridiculous claims that the advertisement should be pulled off the air.

So I am quite scared but not about Bob Katter’s advertisement. I’m scared about people who are afraid of a democracy in which people can hold minority opinions.

Elimination Chamber & Wrestlemania Musings

Did you say something about me on Twitter?

Due to my laziness in not posting soon as Elimination Chamber finished, here is a briefer summary of Elimination Chamber and some thoughts on Wrestlemania 28.

Elimination Chamber 2012

World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan won the SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match

This was the less entertaining of the two elimination chamber matches but with people such as Big Show and The Great Khali involved this really wasn’t a surprise. Khali’s involvement was mercifully short but provoked the question: why include him in the first place for 30 seconds of in-ring action? Big Show climbing into Bryan’s pod was interesting and made sense with their recent feud. The only excitement came when it looked like Santino might win the match with a cobra but Bryan thankfully made him tap out. Overall, some good spots with a nice win for Bryan.

WWE Champion CM Punk won the Raw Elimination Chamber Match

This was the first match of the night and started off nicely with Punk and Kofi going at it. This was much faster than the SmackDown match and thus far more interesting. Jericho dominated before being concussed by Punk while Punk defeated Miz to retain the title. For all the apparent heat Miz is receiving he performed well and showed why he deserves to be in the main event. While WWE argue that they are keeping Jericho from losing to Punk, the end was lame and clearly looked like a work.

John Cena def. Kane (Ambulance Match)

For two generally boring wrestlers this was an entertaining match. The two went at it over the arena with an AA off the top of the ambulance to end the match for Cena. It ends the Cena/Kane feud with Cena not embracing the hate but by this point did anyone really care?

United States Champion Jack Swagger def. Justin Gabriel

Missed this match as I was getting a drink and it seems it wasn’t much to write about anyway.

Divas Champion Beth Phoenix def. Tamina Snuka

Tamina needs to develop some more moves apart from the superfly splash. The fact that she went for it every third move indicated clearly she wasn’t going to win and when Beth kicked out it made it look weak. Beth is an awesome champion but WWE needs to seriously build the women’s division or just get rid of it.

Wrestlemania 28

As the year’s biggest event rolls round it seems WWE is trying its best to build excitement for Rock/Cena and Taker/HHH. Unfortunately, as a member of the IWC recently stated, the Cena/Rock feud has been going for a year and the most fighting has occurred on Twitter. That’s right; the most interesting reason they have to fight is that they troll each other on a social networking site! This sounded lame when Rock interfered at WM last year and isn’t getting any better. The match itself should be good because the Rock will lift Cena to new heights but I wish the WWE would stop trying to make the reason behind it seem important when it clearly isn’t.

Similar things could be said about HHH/Taker. Firstly, Taker doesn’t appear for one year and decides to challenge HHH at WM28. Surprising? No but then again everyone knew Taker would have a match in Florida. Secondly, HHH can’t stay away from the spotlight. He claims he wants to build up other talent but then makes his match the co-main event at WM28 thus relegating the championship matches to mere afterthoughts. The Hell in a Cell stipulation will make a fitting end to both their careers and will be a great match but once again with no help from WWE creative.

The stupid thing about this is that the championship matches are going to be great. Jericho/Punk will be a great wrestling match and Sheamus/Bryan will be a fitting reward for two hard workers. Firstly, Jericho’s return has been completely screwed up by WWE creative: he doesn’t win the rumble, doesn’t win the elimination chamber and just seems like a whinging has been. If this was their aim then kudos but one can’t help but think they held off on giving Jericho the title too long and now his return seems unimportant and pointless. His match with Punk will be great because those two can wrestle the house down and hopefully they can show the powers that be what WWE should be about. As for Bryan/Sheamus, Bryan’s heel turn has been awesome and he will go into WM28 as champion much to most people’s surprise. Sheamus’ build has been pointless and slow: he wins the rumble and hasn’t had a real feud to keep him busy apart from routinely burying Mark Henry. Bryan win or lose at WM has had a longer and better run than many suspected. He has proved that smaller guys can carry the belt and I suspect AJ might help him retain the belt.

Mesmerising

Williams as Monroe is mesmerising

My knowledge of Marilyn Monroe prior to My Week with Marilyn was pitifully limited to an Elton John song used in a McDonalds’ commercial. She was the candle in the wind: used up and spat out by Hollywood and eternally misunderstood. While my knowledge of Marilyn hasn’t increased much, apart from her marriage to Arthur Miller, I do have a new found interest in her career.

Michelle Williams plays the lead as Marilyn Monroe with Eddie Redmayne as her infatuated rich kid Colin Clark. The movie is based on the real Colin Clark’s memoirs of his experience as he worked with Monroe and Sir Laurence Olivier (superbly played by Kenneth Branagh) on the set of the film The Sleeping Prince. Colin becomes Marilyn’s emotional support on the set as the tumultuous filming occurs with him eventually succumbing to her charms and ending up broken hearted.

The challenge for film makers was always to make Williams the star and as mesmerising as the real Monroe was on film. As far as this goes, they succeeded handsomely with Williams dominating every scene she is in and capturing the spirit of Monroe in one of the best biopic portrayals in recent times. Her charisma is well balanced with her fragility and always with a dash of sexual allure. Branagh is also excellent as the aging star Sir Lawrence Olivier. His crotchety demeanour is slowly revealed to be sheer terror as he sees his career slowly fading away and this provides a stark contrast to the short life we know Monroe experienced.

The one disappointment was the geriatric cast and performance of Redmayne. To the latter, I know he was meant to be naive and young but he was just plain annoying. His puppy dog eyes and inane promises capture the public’s infatuation with Marilyn but ultimately make him a pain to watch. Moreover, the who’s who of British actors who fill the bit parts was equally dismal. Dame Judy Dench’s small role is thankfully limited while the rest of the cast aren’t really worth mentioning. On reflection, this may be a result of Williams’ star shining so bright but having lesser lights in these roles would have made this less obvious.

As biopic film features go this was one of the best recent attempts. While our narrator is an annoying, rich, twat, Williams shines as Monroe and delivers a mesmerising and ravishing performance that was worthy of an Oscar.