Call-Out Issue 2: Super(heroes)

Have you ever worn your undies outside your pants so you could be just like Superman? Or perhaps, you’ve been saved before by your own knight-in-shining-leotard. We want to hear all about it in our second issue, ‘Super(heroes)’. Go wild and tell us what it means to you to be a Super(hero), whether that’s having the power of invisibility or perhaps being a good samaritan. We want the fantasies, the jokes, the dramatic and the bad. And as an added bonus, this issue gives you graphic designers out there the perfect opportunity to send us your super designs.

Remember every issue we have our regular columns, and we welcome all topics and creative works regardless of the theme. See below for more details:

Deadline: Monday, 22nd February 2010 (First day of Semester 1).

Send submissions to: grapeshotmq@gmail.com

Every Issue:
If you have any photos – send them in with “Pictorial Round-up” in the subject line.
Pictures don’t have to be related to campus life – if you have some great shots from festivals, volunteer excursions or holidays you’ve been on, we’d love to receive them!

Send submissions of 150 words or less to “The Rant & Letters.”

Send all articles regarding clubs and societies according to the following submission guidelines.

Send calendar dates of no more than two sentences to the “What’s On Calendar”. Submissions should consist of a Date of event, Name of event/Name of club, Brief purpose/details of event.

Word Limits:
Poetry – 30 lines
Fiction – 800 words
Non-fiction/Articles – 800 words
Artwork – 300dpi – PDF or EPS – no more than 1 x A4 page per submission
Photos – send single uncompressed files at maximum quality

Correspondence will be via email only.
Please make sure you read the style guide available at: http://www.campuslife.mq.edu.au/get-involved/student-publication

The editorial team will respond to every submission.

Thanks,

The Grapeshot Editorial Team

Live it Now and win in National Youth Week

Minister for Youth Kate Ellis is encouraging young people across Australia to get creative and win a National Youth Week launch event in their home town.

“This year’s National Youth Week message is ‘Live it Now’ and this competition is just one way young Australians can live it up and get involved in National Youth Week,” Ms Ellis said.

The National Youth Week ourspace competition invites young people to submit an audio, video or photographic entry about the contribution young people make to their home town.

The two best entries will win a live music event in their home town and VIP passes.

“We know that young people are making a big difference in cities, suburbs and towns across Australia and we want to know all about it,” Ms Ellis said.

“Plus we want to see the amazing creative abilities of young people on display.”

This year the National Launch Events will be held in two different locations – one urban and one regional.

“While young people all over Australia will celebrate National Youth Week with a vast array of exciting events, it’s a great honour to host the official launch in your home town – and two lucky locations will get that chance,” Ms Ellis said.

ourspace entries are welcome from 12 – 25 year olds through youthweek.com until 31 January.

“The ourspace competition is just the start of the National Youth Week action.

“By visiting youthweek.com you can get information about more events, competitions and entertainment in your local area and find out how you can get involved,” she said.

National Youth Week 2010 will be held from 10 – 18 April and is a joint Australian, state, territory and local government initiative.

Light and Dark Review and Competition (from Issue 10)

Veteran producer Lee Coombs has been one of the most prominent names in tech funk for nearly twenty years. His pioneering sounds and styles have influenced the likes of The Chemical Brothers and Groove Armada and is admired by heavyweights such as Tiesto and Carl Cox.

Light and Dark sees Coombs continuing to make what is often described as ‘big room music.’ His bass lines are typically heavy and thumping, the riffs are relentless and the synthesizers nothing short of hypnotic. The opening tracks, despite being infectious and groovy, don’t quite leave a lasting impression. The real party begins on the title track which is a very welcome throwback to the late 80s with its perfect mixture of retro synth and clean production qualities. The album features a respectable list of guest vocalist ranging from Katherine Ellis to Seasunz, whose rap performance on ‘Not A Game’ sits perfectly with Coombs’ experimentation with mid-tempo beats.

Throughout his career Coombs has successfully reworked hits by Moby and New Order and to close his latest LP, he has redone the 80s classic ‘Rescue’ by Echo and the Bunnymen and it is truly the highlight of the record. Light and Dark is not as groundbreaking as Coombs’ early work but it manages to maintain his status as one of the premier DJ’s in the world of tech funk.

Asif Ziffer

Win a copy of Light and Dark
Simply email grapeshotmq@gmail.com with your name and “Light and Dark Competition” in the subject line to go in the draw for one of three CDs. Winners will be contacted via email. Good luck!

Naked Nation (from Issue 10)

There I was, on a Thursday morning, sipping a fresh brew and watching Kate Moss writhe about on a bed in Paris with a large bunch of roses and a pair of strong male arms protruding from off-camera. A few shots of splendidly tall heels, some lip biting, the obligatory back arch and then the reveal of the perfume bottle nestled in the silk sheets. Just another amazingly provocative perfume advertisement. Where do they come up with this? I felt like I was having my boundaries pushed and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

And then, as I sipped my tea and scrolled through the rest of the hard hitting headlines, I was overcome with the fizz of realization … I am done with this naked malarkey. Done. Yes, I thought, eating another biscuit, I am over nudity, semi nudity, oiled limbs, simulated sex, women straddling various things (household appliances, cars, Justin Timberlake) yadda yadda yadda, all in the name of ‘provocative’ advertising. Because, here’s the thing … it isn’t provocative anymore. It really isn’t. In fact, it’s expected. If you aren’t selling a rice cooker with a woman wearing nothing but an artfully placed headscarf and doing something suggestive with a grain of Arborio rice, then something’s wrong.

Quite frankly, I’m bored. I’m so bored I can’t even focus on half of what I read/see (Pixie Lott did what with her breasts? Miley Cyrus did what with a pole? Miley Cyrus is how old?) and I even switch off Britney. Every time a new fashion/beauty campaign comes out, or a pop artist releases a new video/album/perfume it’s just variations on the same theme; how much can I make it look like I’m having sex with this here model/actor, without actually having sex? How much can I look like I am challenging our puritanical perception of sex and female sexuality without actually challenging it at all?

Let me say, I don’t have a problem with nudity, or the body, or the body as a form of expression. At all. I love the fact that on most European beaches, eighty year old women get about in nothing but swimmer bottoms (I plan on being that eighty year old woman in nothing but swimmer bottoms and my wonderfully wrinkled skin); I hate prescriptive measures of femininity being pressed upon women, and the notion of bodily shame so rife in our culture. I firmly believe we need to be a little more Scandinavian and a lot less American. So it’s not sex or nudity itself I am rallying against, at all. It is the way it is used to sell an idea, under the guise of freedom and liberation that I am rallying against.

It is fed to us on the premise that it’s illicit and raunchy and forbidden. Still. Post Garden of Eden, post watershed events and people in human history that have decimated and re-set social norms, sex and the naked body aren’t served as something natural and diverse. Still. They are uniform and naughty. Still. All the bullshit about advertisements and photo shoots being celebrations of the female form, are just that. Bullshit. They are celebrations of one female form, one idea of beauty, one idea of what is sexy. All we are doing, with our editorials and ad campaigns, with our actors and popstars, is merely reinforcing the puritanical and stale idea that sex, sexuality and specifically female sexuality is uniform, naughty and ever so slightly sinful.

It would be ‘shocking’ or ‘provocative’ if you went against common archetypes of sexual attractiveness (oiled thighs, nipple stars) - like if Beyonce or Lady Gaga had hairy legs or something, or it was revealed that either one of them had pores (that would rock the Western World, everyone knows real skin doesn’t have pores/lines/spots/hairs, God).

To those creating these morsels of contemporary ‘pop culture’, you are not pushing any boundaries. You are not questioning the status quo. All you are doing is tapping into the decades old mantra of ‘sex sells’ and promoting the dangerous idea (that will plague this generation and those that succeed us) that one is solely defined by and appreciated for their sexual attractiveness (more so if they look like what they see on TV) and attitude. And you’re promoting an image of femaleness (how’s that for a university term) that isn’t real. Presenting these images on the premise they are sending a social or artistic message, are liberating women or promoting sexual and physical pride is ridiculous and insulting.

Desensitizing ourselves to sexual provocation isn’t making ourselves comfortable in our own skin. Let’s not get confused here. Raising our champagne glasses to Womaniser, Poker Face, She Wolf etc, doesn’t suddenly make us all want to love the skin we’re in. It makes us want to love the skin they’re in and lament the fact that it’s not our skin - it isn’t servicing the sisterhood in the slightest. If we’re honest with ourselves, it’s servicing the brotherhood.

Olivia Hambrett

Previously published in Trespass Magazine www.trespassmag.com

Parlez Vous Francais? (from Issue 10)

I remember Paris. A phrase I became accustomed to hearing was “c’est ta faute.” The occasional “imbécile” was thrown onto the end of it.

I arrived in Gare de Nord, Paris’ Eurostar train terminal, at 10am on New Year’s Eve. It was -10°C and foggy. A soft yellow light bordered the glass dome ceiling and exit archway. Rue de Dunkerque, the outside street, was cobblestone. I thought it was a footpath and the taxi drivers thought this warranted death by Mercedes.

“If you got killed it would have been your own fault,” one driver yelled from his window. “Where are you going?”

“Hotel Sofitel, how did you know to speak English?”

“Your hat,” he winked.

I removed my knitted beret and loaded my duffel bag and suitcase into the boot. After about fifteen minutes it began snowing, and fairy lights adorned to most roadside trees were switched on. I squealed at familiar sights - Le Arc de Triumph, Le Tour de Eiffel, Starbucks.

We arrived at the hotel by noon. It was four storeys, flush within a row of shopfronts and cafes. The driver reminded me to never leave my bags unattended. I thanked him and got out of the taxi. I heard the doors lock.

“€60” he said, as he wound his window down. I ordered him to check the meter.

“Check it yourself.”

No meter.

I waved my arms at the hotel doorman. He smiled and waved back. I waved a €5 note at him. He and two others put their red coats on and ran towards me. After an exchange of “sacrebleus,” I was told taxis which don’t have a meter operate on a fixed price basis.

“You would have known this if you read the sign,” one of the doormen pointed to the dashboard. “It is not the driver’s fault, he does not speak English.”

The driver smiled and held out his hand. I gave him my entry to the Louvre, and he released my luggage. He lit a cigarette as he was pulling out and said “c’est ta faute, imbécile.” Translation: It was your own fault, idiot.

Katarina Taurian

MACQUARIE UNI TAKES OUT AUSSIE UNI SNOW CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR 2009 (from Issue 9)

At the end of August, an elite team of 49 skiers and snowboarders from Macquarie University travelled down to Thredbo to compete at the Australian University Championship Snow Games.

This year the Macquarie University Ski and Board Club – MACALPINE - blitzed the competition, and all competitors should be congratulated on their outstanding efforts and results. With an incredible 10-medal haul, the MACALPINE team dominated their opposition. The club was awarded Overall Female team, Overall Nordic team, Overall Individual Male Snowboarder, and second Overall Male team to give the club the prestigious honour of being crowned the #1 University in Australia.

This is the first time since the early 1990's that a team other than Sydney or Melbourne Uni has taken out the Snow Games Championships. The last time that the MACALPINE team won this event was in 1985 – a year that was (for all but one of our team) well and truly before we were even born! So this is a HUGE result for the team and for the MACALPINE Club!

MACALPINE is looking forward to defending their title at Snow Games 2010 in Mt Buller.

For more information on the Club and its activities, or to find out how you can be on next year’s team, shoot us an email at macalpineclub@gmail.com or become our friend on facebook at www.facebook.com/macalpineclub

The Teddy Bears’ Picnic (from Issue 9)

I am not an economist, I am not studying business and I don’t really understand the ins and outs of the Australian and world markets. That of course means that the plethora of expert opinion on the state of the nation’s economy is only going to confuse me rather than inform me. Is there a consensus - bullish or bearish? There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that conclusively supports either side, however everyone has their opinions.

Thank God for China, our giant neighbour to the north who continues to buy our commodities, albeit in smaller quantities, the economists say. Beware our close ties to the US economy who continues to hiccough their way to recovery. Australia seems to be the piggy in the middle, the rope in a tug-of-war – not capable of inducing change ourselves in this arena we are left to feel the effects of the larger players. The best, and the worst, aspect of this middling position is that we could go either way. Will we come out as winners or losers? Will the worst aspects of the recession pass us by or are we just so far away from the rest of the world that the rolling wave of the Global Financial Crisis is just taking a little longer to hit us like a tsunami (let’s hope the giant wave runs out of some steam before it reaches our shores if this is the case).

I’ve listened to some weird stuff over the last year, however one of the favourite opinions I’ve heard from a high ranking global economist at the height of the recession hysteria was that all Aussies should buy a plot of land and a shot gun, because things were going to get very very bad and we would have to grow and hunt our own food (I kid you not). I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I’m certainly glad this prediction didn’t materialise into reality. I actually have a picture of myself petting a wild rabbit on my Facebook profile; I would hate to have to shoot the sweet thing for my dinner.

On a local scale we’re currently arguing amongst ourselves as to whether or not Australia is safely out of harms way and therefore the government’s stimulus package is no longer needed, or whether the market is pulling a sneaky on us and is planning on receding at least once more before heading on back up to comfortably positive figures. You may have seen the reports saying that unemployment held steady in August (suggesting the stimulus is no longer needed) and other stories on the unexpected fall in the latest figures for both retail sales and new housing loans (suggesting the stimulus is still needed) – these are all September stories, I’m giving you as relevant data as I can.

Speaking of relevant, I should mention that Kevin Rudd was on the ABC’s 7:30 Report on Thursday, 10th September, being rather non-committal on Australia’s economic progress. Key takeout from the interview – we’re doing much better than other world economies, but we have a lot of work to do yet (didn’t he say this last year too? I’m glad that he and his advisors are able to re-use material). However, his vagueness on the subject worries me. He has access to the same information I do, but has a raft of economists to interpret it for him and “we have a lot of work to do yet” is the best he can come with? Is this an implication that things may possibly get worse before they get better?

K-Rudd says he wants to be frank, but he’s really Kev, and all I want are answers. Should we keep frenetically alternating between saving for a rainy day and pumping money into the Australian market? When can we expect things to return to the norm? Unemployment held steady this month, but will it trend up or down in the next? Do we need to move back in with our parents (for those of us not living at home)? Can our parents even afford to let us move back in now that their super has been wiped out? Do we buy into the stock market now that everything seems so cheap, cheap, cheap? Mining stocks – I’m particularly looking in your direction.

I understand that no two economists are going to agree on the state and rate of Australia’s financial recovery, but a general sense of direction would be nice. And put it in layman’s terms, please. When I think of bulls and bears, I genuinely get the ‘Teddy Bears’ Picnic’ song in my head so technical jargon will only get lost in the lyrics. My question to the economists is this; if I go down to the woods today - will I find picnicking bears or rampaging bulls? Or perhaps I’m safer sitting at home until this all blows over.

By Therese Raft

The Death of Bart Simpson? (from Issue 9)

Sweet scented smoke fills the air.

Jeremy and his friends watch it rise.

“How did the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pay for their pizza?” the friend who likes to call himself Sid asks.

“And didn’t anyone ever notice that there were giant turtles living in New York’s sewers?” adds Christine in a slurred voice.

Jeremy shakes his head, “No, no, no…” He giggles. “You see, the Ninja Turtles were invisible to the naked eye.”

His friends look confused.

“What about April O’Neal? She could see them.”

“She wore contact lenses!” At this, they all shriek with irrepressible laughter.

Suddenly, Jeremy looks up. “How come the Simpsons are yellow?” he asks.

They all sit quietly, contemplating the Simpsons, or more specifically, Bart Simpson, an important figure of their generation.

“Maybe they all have jaundice,” Claudia, another friend, suggests.

“Yeah…” Stoned sarcasm creeps into Sid’s voice “The entire city of Springfield has jaundice.”

Christine shrugs. “Well they are based around a nuclear power plant.”

Jeremy looks sad. He sighs heavily and lights up another joint. The others stare at him with melodramatic concern.

“I miss Bart,” he tells them. “Don’t you remember when The Simpsons first came on T.V. and we were all in fourth grade?”

Claudia nods. “Yeah man, we could all relate to him, he was totally cool.”

The group fall into silence once more as they realise that while they have all grown up, got I.Ds and left school, Bart is still in fourth grade.

He is an immortal figure, trapped, in a cartoon child’s body. Perpetually left behind.

He presses himself up against the television black screen, patiently waiting for the next generation of kids to laugh at his pranks and mimic his catch-phrases.

But they are all hooked on South Park.

Conception Day Stew - Do's and Don'ts (from Issue 8)

DO
Drink plenty of water

Now don’t think I’m being a party pooper and encouraging complete sobriety on this glorious day. It would be hypocritical of me to tell you to do something that I myself wouldn’t do… However I will be drinking lots of water because alcohol dehydrates you, the sun dehydrates you and water will also help alleviate some of that pesky hangover many of us will have the day after Conception. Don’t just go up and get a plastic cup (as if they’ll be serving us glass) of water every now and then; get yourself a plastic bottle to tote around and refill at regular intervals.

DON’T
Overindulge

There is always one wanker or wankette who is so completely drunk that they ruin the fun for everyone else. Make sure that person isn’t you. Rolling down a grassy slope so fast you lose your pants is well and good, but passing out and cracking your head on a toilet bowl is not. Drink in moderation and don’t tell yourself that you just have to try every cocktail, liqueur, spirit and beer on offer. Your friends and your aching head certainly won’t thank you for the experience. Don’t roll your eyes at me like that…Oh, what? What’s that? Is that your wankage showing? Put it away.

DO
Take lots of pictures

If you’re anything like me, you won’t remember everything you do or everyone you meet on Conception Day because you’re running around like crazy chocolate eating Chihuahua, so take a camera. Strike a pose. Take a picture with a stranger. Take a picture of a stacks on with the smallest guy of your group on the bottom. Hey, how do I know what shenanigans you’re going to get up to? I’m just saying you should document it in digital imagery. However, be kind when posting on Facebook – if your friend un-tags a picture of themself with squinty eyes, open walrus mouth and some strange hand creeping towards their neither regions, leave it un-tagged.

DON’T
Leave your belongings alone

This may be a no-brainer, but a little bit of alcohol, music and sunshine can make the commonsense go flying straight out of your head. If you bring a bag with you to Conception Day, then make sure it goes everywhere with you otherwise your wallet and new iPhone might decide to party without you. If you don’t think you can be trusted to look after your own stuff, then don’t take it. Just take your ID, some cash and whatever other necessities will fit into your pockets and head on out to party in the knowledge that your goodies are safe at home.

DO
Have fun

Seriously, what’s the point of a day long party with 10,000 of your best friends if you’re not going to enjoy yourself? Live music, DJs, rides, food and friends; our little festival is the highlight of the academic year and has made it onto Sydney’s festival calendar as well – which of course means that there will be non-Mac students basking in our gluttonous glory. But who can blame them? We have a kick ass party in store for 2009 which just happens to be the 40th Anniversary of the very first Conception Day. So to everyone making an appearance at our hallowed event, behave responsibly and have heaps of fun! The Grapeshot Team will see you there!

Up-and-coming filmmakers will be at SPAA Fringe 2009

On 16 and 17 October at FOXTEL Television Centre in North Ryde, SPAA Fringe 2009 will gather Australia’s top film industry professionals and rising talent to share their experiences and expertise, offering insight and creative direction for up-and-coming filmmakers seeking lasting careers in the screen industry.

Already, the line-up is shaping up to be bigger and better than last year and speakers to date include Kath Shelper, Producer of Samson & Delilah; the team behind the first Australian Muslim comedy series Salam Café; Dario Russo, creator of the hilarious viral Italian Spiderman; and filmmaker and new media auteur Nicholas Carlton who created Australia’s first social web series, OzGirl.

SPAA Fringe 2009 is also offering young filmmakers unprecedented access to television executives. Commissioning Editors from Foxtel, ABC and SBS will be in attendance for a series of 1on1’s to receive pitches from delegates for new television projects. This is an amazing opportunity for all emerging producers, directors or writers to get their work in front of the real decision makers, and turn their ideas into reality.

Also new to SPAA Fringe 09 is The Clinic, a cross platform hothouse for redefining distribution strategies. As well, the SDA Pitch returns with fantastic prizes worth over $3,000.

1 ON 1’s
Delivering a unique opportunity for a private 15-minute face to face to pitch your compelling idea, the SPAA Fringe 1 ON 1 is an unprecedented entry point into a career in television production. For all students, graduates and up and comers, this represents an opportunity that may otherwise take years to access.

In 2009, the entire factual team from FOXTEL will be available, ready to receive ideas for the next great documentary to appear on the Crime Investigation Network, The History Channel, National Geographic, BBC Knowledge or Discovery Channel.

Executives from ABC TV attending include Carla De Jong, Head of Commissioning & Development for Children’s TV; Amanda Duthie, Head of Arts Entertainment and Comedy; Alan Erson, Commissioning Editor for Documentaries; Dasha Ross, Executive Producer and Edwina Waddy, Development Producer.

Executives from SBS will include Vincent Beasley, Executive Producer for Factual Entertainment; Caterina De Nave, Executive Producer for Drama and Comedy; Erik Dwyer, Executive Producer for Food & Leisure and John Godfrey and Peter Newman, Executive Producers for Factual Commissioned Content.

THE CLINIC
New to SPAA Fringe in 09, The Clinic will help you define or refine your distribution strategy. Three specialists in distribution, Dr Peter Broderick, Dr Peter Giles and Dr Gary Hayes will be leading intensive sessions to enable filmmakers to individually and collectively analyse their distribution plans. Each clinic will be one hour in duration and between one and three projects will be chosen to be analysed. Delegates must be able to clearly outline their project in a few sentences. Any type of project will be considered

SDA PITCH
If you have an idea for a screen project and are wondering if it has legs, then this session is not to be missed. Finalists from a nationwide search of pitching workshops (held in each state by members of the SDA) will pitch their projects to a panel of television & film executives and be in the running to win prizes valued at more than $3,000.

Entrants may pitch any genre, form and duration from TV series and features to shorts, animation and multi-platform content. A ‘Wild Card’ component to the session will be allowed, time permitting.

Prizes include:
- SPAA Conference 09 registration
- $1800 cash prize from SDA (and $200 for a 'Wild Card')
- Software and post production package from Azure Productions including a full copy of the new Final Draft 8 Scriptwriting Software valued at $329, a copy of your short film project output on DigiBeta tape, 50 DVD copies of your project in DVD cases with full colour printing.

TICKET INFORMATION

From September 12
2 day registration
Non Members $250
SPAA Members $200
Students $200

1 day registration
Non Members $150

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the website www.spaa.org.au/fringe or call (02) 9360 8988.

SPAA Fringe is brought to you by the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) an industry body that represents Australian independent film and television producers on all issues affecting the business and creative aspects of screen production.

SPAA FRINGE COMMUNITY
Start getting connected now. Sign up to Facebook, Twitter and the SPAA newsletter now and stay in the loop with Fringe announcements:

Website: www.spaa.org.au/fringe
Facebook: www.facebook.com/spaa.fringe
Twitter: twitter.com/spaafringe

Looking For Eric - Film Competition

Win one of 5 double passes to the film ' Looking for Eric ' simply email grapeshotmq@gmail.com with your name and email contact for your chance to win!


SYNOPSIS: LOOKING FOR ERIC

Eric the postman is slipping through his own fingers...

His wife has gone, his stepsons are out of control and the house was chaotic even before a cement mixer appeared in the front garden. Life is crazy enough, but it is Eric's own secret that is driving him to the brink. How can he face up to Lily, the woman of his dreams that he once loved and walked out on many years ago? Despite the comical efforts and misplaced goodwill of his mates, Eric continues to sink.

In desperate times it takes a spliff and a special friend to help a lost postman find his way, so Eric turns to his hero: footballing genius, philosopher and poster boy, Eric Cantona.

As a certain Frenchman says "He who is afraid to throw the dice, will never throw a six."


www.iconmovies.com.au/lookingforeric

Only at the movies September 24, 2009

Stone Bros. Review and Competition (from Issue 8)

We’re not black and white, we’re all different shades of green…that’s just one of the messages I took away from the very funny Stone Bros. Australia’s first Aboriginal comedy embraces stereotype, myth and tradition and pretty much sits on them – but in a very light-hearted, good-natured way – before directing you down paths you didn’t know exist.

Eddie, the straight guy of the piece is caught between two worlds. He looks pretty white, so not even the dog that hates black kids would chomp on him as a boy, but he wants to go back home to Kalgoorlie in the mining region of WA and prove he’s a real black fella. He has a special stone, imbued with mystical properties that he has to take with him, but it’s been lost and now Eddie has to find it before it’s gone forever. Always along for the ride (and for a major dose of hilarity) is Charlie, who gets all the girls because he’s as dark as yummy chocolate (my phrasing).

Stranded on the road is the worldly and wise Vincent, who they pick up because Charlie knows “a good looking woman when he sees one”, before coming across another cousin, Reg – now referred to as Regina – who dreams of stardom. I don’t want to give too much away, but the film has some generous moments of laugh-out-loud funniness, great one-liners and weird but wonderful quirks in the plot.

The film is crisp and clean – very Hollywood – and so much better than I was expecting. The play on culture and politics is extremely clever and the cinematography highlights and celebrates the Australian landscape (think Priscilla, Queen of the Desert).

Shall I watch it again? Yes. And I’ll still laugh at all the jokes. They won’t get old for a while. In fact, I can see at least one of those one-liners making a drunken appearance or twenty. I wonder if we can do a poll to see if you can all guess which one?

The movie will be released on September 24, and I highly recommend that you all watch it – not for the ‘post-sorry’ feel good factor, not just because the cast comprises of mainly indigenous people, but because it is genuinely and deadly funny.

By Therese Raft

Win a double pass to the exclusive special preview screening of Stone Bros.
Simply email grapeshotmq@gmail.com with your name and “Stone Bros. Competition” in the subject line to go in the draw for one of 30 double passes to the special preview of Stone Bros. The preview is on 21 September – stars from the movie will be in attendance, and lucky door prizes are up for grabs. Winners will be contacted via email.

Ankle tattoos, lattes, iPhones and Bravo (from Issue 8)

“I want to be divorced someday”, isn’t the line someone wants to hear on a first date. In this golden new age of finding oneself, there is a distraction of falling into the messy pits of desirable flings, trysts, and experiences we all want to taste.

Instead of taking up dance or cooking classes, the bored housewife dates a younger man. Instead of upping his golf swing, the power executive man dons a deep v-neck shirt, frosts his tips and goes hunting in the night clubs that for some reason don’t have age limits. There is an existential pining in the hearts and minds, and libidos, of Americans now in any age range.

It used to just be the college graduate deciding between globe hopping and grad school. Or it was the mid-life crisis victims in the suburbs ending up in a Porsche and a weeklong cruise to Jamaica. Now it is all the more extreme, perhaps because of a world in disarray and ever increasing needs to feel younger.

It was bad enough when the saying a few years ago was “40 is the new 30”. Now it’s “40 is the new do-whatever-the-hell-I-want-because-I-don’t-want-to-grow-old”. This usually ends up in midnight mayhem and ankle tattoos.

I made a list of things I want to try before I hit 30. They include the not too extreme ingredients of sky diving, East Indian cuisine, polo, photography and tap dance classes. And on the back of the café napkin, encircled with the milky-brown coffee stain, I wrote the five things I want to do, just to say I did them.

In no specific order here they are: enter a hot dog eating contest, fight a Guido, vote Democrat, get married and get divorced. Yes, get divorced. The last two are paired up next to each other to show my lack of belief in either of them. They actually correspond with, in that sense, the other three activities.

Constantly surrounded by life goals of wanting kids before 30, two cars and a high five figure income, I felt it was my right to extend opposing wants in my life. If 40 is the new 15, why shouldn’t I hold back on landing a concrete suburban life? That’s if I end up in suburbia.

We live in a society where the perfect creation of a latte is more important than soul searching. We are delineated and defined by those who care more about their makeup than their own children; where people drive on shiny rims and roll right into an apartment complex. It’s such an upside down blueberry pie world we live in and in order to, in so many ways, flip off the social currents and flows I have made it a virtuous objective to be unique.

I fight every day to stay away from the grips of boredom in this desert town, but I can appreciate the fact that I’m on the other side of mostly everyone. It does kind of suck knowing I share some of the same social beliefs as dread lock wearers and potheads, but hey, whatever works. So, maybe one day I’ll get married for the heck of it to shake up social restfulness. But trust me, I will also succumb to the same post-marital fate as 49% of American couples who were supposedly meant to be. Just for the fun of it.

By Nick Esquer

[Nick is an American who will be commencing study at Macquarie in 2010. We feel rather chuffed that he found our editorial guidelines and submitted something to our little publication].