Mr Squiggle, the Man from 93 Crater Crescent, the Moon,
turns 50 today.
Created by cartoonist and puppeteer Norman Hetherington, who would take children's scribbles and then craft it into a drawing,
Mr Squiggle, along with friends
Gus the Snail,
Bill the Steam Shovel and the ever grumpy
Blackboard (whom Mr Squiggle would use as an easel, being told to "
Hu-rry u-p, hu-rry u-p" as he did) has been something of an institution for generations of Australian kids.
Relive some of the magic...
posted by Effigy2000
on Jun 30, 2009 -
18 comments
"We don't vote for them, we don't even know their names and we're not quite sure what they do. But they wield enormous influence.
They are the power behind the power. They are The Hollowmen." You can watch the Australian Broadcasting Company's new political satire
The Hollowmen [warning: sound] on the web. Or you can find it via Bittorrent. (Or if you live down under I suppose you could watch it on ABC 1 Wednesdays at 9pm or ABC 2 Thursdays at 8:30pm.) It's worth a look because it may be the funniest new satire on any English-language network.
[more inside]
posted by sdodd
on Sep 12, 2008 -
18 comments
australianscreen launched today. You can view clips from Australian feature films, documentaries, TV programs, shorts, home movies, newsreels, advertisements, other historical footage, and sponsored films produced over the last 100 years, with curators’ notes and other information about each title.
[via Margaret and David]
posted by tellurian
on Jul 18, 2007 -
8 comments
The greatest TV show you will probably never see: Aunty Jack, a ten-foot tall, boxing-glove wearing, motor-cycling, moustached cross-dresser, was the star of
The Aunty Jack Show, which ran for thirteen episodes in 1972-73 on the
Australian Broadcasting Commission TV network (and was the first show broadcast on Australian TV in colour).
Many of the original episodes have been lost (but
records of them exist). Re-release on video or DVD of the remaining episodes is tangled up in copyright issues. The 1974 album
Aunty Jack Sings Wollongong was re-released on CD, and still seems to be available. It includes such classics as 'Fish Milkshakes' and 'Teenage Butcher' and the song 'Farewell Aunty Jack', which was a number 1 hit in Australia. Some samples can be found
here.
There were spinoffs from
Aunty Jack, most notably the
Norman Gunston Show, with Norman playing the prototypical terrrible interviewer and inspiring the much later
Ali G,
Dennis Pennis and many others.
I was two years old when the series aired: Aunty Jack's threat at the end of each episode, that: 'If you don't watch next week,
I'll rip your bloody arm off!' meant that I never, ever, missed it.
posted by chrisgregory
on Jan 30, 2003 -
33 comments
I'd like to report some suspicious behaviour ...a series of recent
television commercials running on Australian TV promoting a toll free phone number to call if the viewer happens to see anything suspicious. Suspicious, you say? Don't be alarmed, it's all part of the Let's Look Out For Australia Campaign, whose motto is: 'Be alert, but not alarmed'. Then it says: 'Australians are friendly, decent, democratic people, and we're going to stay that way.' I feel alarmed, but not for the same reason. I'm alarmed that everything I once valued about my country, a humane welfare system that provided free healthcare and free education (including free university study) and an admirable and enlightened approach to multiculturalism, have been substantially compromised over the past decade.
I feel so betrayed that I can no longer say with confidence that I love my country. Things have reached the point where I want to move somewhere else: anyone have any suggestions?
posted by chrisgregory
on Jan 13, 2003 -
39 comments
