Mood:
sillyTopic: big media
We have been taking careful note of the change from an ever so serious (post) federal election phase with change of govt and leaders all over the place, to now a well earned rest from full on power politik.
A symptom of the wind down seems to be the traditional silly season stories, the more surreal the angle the better (like our image above of the ants that ate the merc from this years Sculpture by the Sea exhibition.)
Silly season seems to have come early this year, along with the subtropical storms that have blown through Sydney, even if PM Rudd doesn't seem to want a holiday by pushing hard as he must at the Bali Climate Change conference (more from Adrian Whitehead of Zero Emissions here.)
Here's our tally:
- Xmas thieves help themselves to 16 tonnes of bacon, ham | The .... A serious theft but that's not why it led the news.
- The transcendental levitation of pilots onto the wing tip of their own plane - no seriusly the first of no doubt many nuggets from your quality ABC World Today show yesterday.
- The World Today obviously couldn't resist with this happy hunting of Rudolph the Reindeer to feed the hungry while taking pot shots in gun happy urban areas, ain't that so lovely and folksy?
- We even feel the Mohammed Teddy Bear story with it's deadly undertones had a degree of opportunistic madness about it, either from opportunistic Islamist street protesters, to barracking for the teacher by outraged western media, to the stupidity of the teacher not so much transgressing a cultural taboo herself but unintentionally aiding a school room of Muslim kids to also transgress that same taboo. No wonder her teaching career in Sudan came to a thudding halt. Imagine a Muslim teacher telling a bunch of Catholic school class that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalen and never actually rose from the dead? That being said we thank the Christian God blashemy is not a death sentence in Australia. Over reaction all round? You bet.
- Chimps outsmart uni students (ABC Science Online). Say no more.
- Birth date can affect personality - National - smh.com.au, the old nature/nurture one again with a surreal madcap astrology undertone.
We think with this 'admirable' start to the silly season story file we might see a bumper harvest this year. A journalistic balancer to the disastrously low crop of cotton and rice due to failing Murray Darling river system.
And who can blame the Big Meeja for wanting some light relief. It's been a doozy of an 8 week stretch. Not to mention the very real threat of dangerous climate change bearing down on all those coastal mortgage economies. We need our sleep more than ever.
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Postscript #1:
- late entry Nunnery doubles as marijuana plantation | The Courier-Mail, and the rivals are fully into the 'spirit' too Holy smoke! Cannabis found in nunnery - Breaking News - World ...
and on the silly season goes, with a vengeance ....
- The World Today - Family's shock after canoeist returns after 5 years, but there is talk about insurance fraud, and hurried trips by the spouse to Central America. Chalk another one up to Big Meeja funny business.
