Well, let me tell you a story. Sobek, dear beloved Father, has been trying in vain to get me into heavy metal for years. It’s never been my thing, or so I thought, so I figured He’d stopped pestering me about it because He had accepted He’d never win me over.

Apparently not. -_-

Now, this story requires some past history, so bear with me. I have this weird instinct where I just *know* if I’ll like a certain band or artist, usually just from hearing a few songs. This instinct has rarely been wrong, so I tend to listen to it when it calls.

Enter silverchair and The Prodigy. I first fell in love with these bands when I was a wee teenager. It was that instinct again, see? But mother was not a fan of this sort of music, and I’m a nice sort of kid, so I didn’t rock the boat. My time would come. And when I did begin buying their albums years later in my 20s? Lo, I did fall in love with them. My instinct was right.

Now, enter Black Sabbath. This requires a little more explanation. I’ve had a flirtation with this band for years. YEARS, people. Now, maybe it was my Christian upbringing, maybe it was because mother would not have approved at all, but I always kept Sabbath at a distance. That instinct of mine was there, but I always said no. Even though Ozzy Osbourne is fucking adorable, I still said no. I think part of me was slightly afraid at how much I would like it, as if it was my ‘dark side’ or something.

Now, enter rage and The Chaser guest progamming for NYE 2007. What did I get out of that epic experience? I fell in love with ELO, of course. And Pink Floyd to a certain extent. It aged my music collection certainly. (In an unrelated note, I also fell in love with of Montreal and The Decemberists, but that’s another story.)

ELO are actually a terrible enabler. The effect they’ve had on my music collection is rather significant, and there are some people I would never have bothered listening to otherwise. Also, Roy Wood? Fucking nuts, and also fucking awesome. <3 …It’s an ‘epic hair’ and a ‘boys in make-up’ thing. XD

(Also, the impact ELO has had on my writing is rather extraordinary and should be discussed at length elsewhere.)

Now, enter rage again their ‘rage gets hairy’ special. Now, I like a bloke with long hair, as I’ve mentioned, bonus points for leather and/or chest pr0n. So, naturally, it’s quite a good special. Twisted Sister come onto my radar and I like what I see and hear. Twisted Sister, of course, have come onto my radar in the past from my love of No Doubt.

I have also recently fallen in love with Led Zeppelin, and not just because of Go! and other assorted coincidences.

I feel there are more than three coincidences here and I ought to have twigged this was leading to some sort of clue-by four. But, of course, I’m somewhat dense to these sorts of things, so naturally, I was left slightly without warning.

Now, when I happened across a charming blog that offered bootlegs recently, and happened to offer ELO bootlegs to boot, well, I couldn’t resist, so I downloaded them. I was not looking for said bootlegs, but I found them. Now, I happened to scroll down to see what other bands they had, and lo, there was Led Zep and Black Sabbath.

How does ELO link to Black Sabbath? Well, quite easily. You see, I remembered from reading Bev Bevan’s blog that he had toured with Black Sabbath in 1983 (which I will point out is the year I was born? XD). (Listening to his radio show for months has also been awesomefuntimes and has kinda made me fall in love with other artists, but that’s another story.) This piece of knowledge had always intrigued me because going from ELO to Black Sabbath sounds so… weirdly awesome, so I checked to see if there were any Sabbath bootlegs from that particular tour. There were. I downloaded them both. I discovered my instinct had been right. Again. XD

Now, the ABC has been showing this ‘Seven Ages of Rock’ series of late. Well done, it’s an awesome series. Cue tonight’s show. Topic? Heavy metal.

So they start with Sabbath, of course, move to Judas Priest and Motley Crue and in between all this I’m hit across the head with a combination of epic hair, leather, and fucking awesome guitar. The whole Birmingham thing doesn’t help either. Cue my instinct popping up and suggesting I might rather like Sabbath and Judas Priest and Motley Crue, if I bothered to listen to them properly.

Now, earlier in the afternoon, I had written a rather pr0ny piece of fiction involving an anthropomorphised Foxtel seducing the fuck out of Charles Firth in a rather kinky and awesome fashion.

After watching ‘Seven Ages of Rock’ tonight, I feel pretty much like Charles did after Foxtel was done with him: like I’d been seduced by a rather enchanting Dom in leather who had left me rather exhausted and desperate for more by the time he was done with me.

Cue Sobek, that smarmy croc God of mine, smirking contentedly. Yes, crocodiles have an infinite amount of patience. He was just waiting for the right moment. I believe He has won this round fair and square.

Okay, I surrender, already, happy now?

Will post what I have left over the next few days, but yeah. Not cool. :/

Don’t you just love technology? -_-

I was completely shocked by the furore that erupted over their ‘Make A Realistic Wish Foundation’ sketch, especially considering all the other potentially offensive material in that particular episode.

Okay, I’m the first to admit I did laugh at that particular sketch. It was wrong on so many levels, but damn did I laugh. Still, I do think it could’ve been executed better. This doesn’t make it an offensive sketch, it makes it one that was just done badly. There’s a difference.I was most angry at the Prime Mininster casting judgement on the sketch without having seen it. It felt like the whole Bill Henson bullshit all over again, with our PM acting like the nation’s moral compass and criticising art as if he’s got a mandate to do so and tell us what’s acceptable because he knows best. Christ, it’s like a Father Knows Best state here.

I, for one, don’t accept that, and I think there are better things for him to be focussing on than a comedy sketch gone wrong.

I was also angry at Amanda Duthie losing her position over this. Nothing said scapegoat more than that, and I was actually ashamed at Media Watch for calling her out on it. One bad decision shouldn’t have been enough to warrant her removal, and I think it was totally unfair to do that, especially when she’s one of their most valuable assets (in my opinion).

In all of this, though, I”m not the sort to defend every Chaser sketch they’ve eber done, just becase I think they’re beyond fault. That isn’t true. There have been things they’ve done that I’ve disliked or hated or not laughed at. Has that changed my love for them? Not really. I think it’s disingenous to say you can’t criticise them as a fan, you have to love and adore them, no matter what.

However, this, just like all the other things that have caused controversy over the last few years, I think a lot of people have completely missed the point and were merely looking for a reason to get angry at The Chaser.

Acknowledging that this is just my opinion and might differ from the way it was supposed to be taken or how others took it, I saw the sketch as a comment on, well, lots of things. Not just the foundation, but the way we lavish all this shit on dying kids and it doesn’t actually solve anything. The pointlessness of it all.

Perhaps this is just my expreince talking, but I suppose because I’m aware the rest of the health system is fucked and the elderly and the mentally ill especially don’t get the same sort of sympathy or funding. I suppose I wish there were better things to do with that money than keep paying for every kid to go to Disneyland because they’re dying.

I think especially with mental illness there’s a certain stigma attached to it, and there’s little compassion for them. I think there’s a certain dismissal of them and their issues and a reaction like ‘get over it’ rather than a genuine concern for their welfare and a desire to help. And I know this is a tangent, but compared to all the sob stories on TV of some kid who’s dying, stories of people with mental illness don’t get the same treatment.

The bloke who was Tasered to death in Queensland recently comes to mind. The attititude of the cop who was describing him didn’t seem to care. There was a certain disdain/dismissal as he talked about him that I thought was completely unnecesary. It was like, he was mental, we were perfectly justified in Tasering him.

Tangent aside, yes, the sketch itself perhaps could’ve been executed better, but I don’t think that just because it was a bad sketch that meant it was made to be offensive. That’s not the same at all and anyone saying so has completely missed the point.

Either way, that’s what I took from it. I’m not trying to be callous, nor am I trying to say that dying kids isn’t bad. I suppose I’m trying to be realistic myself. I just remember all the kids dying of starvation in other countries and wonder why we can’t spare the money to help them.

Perhaps I’m overanalysing or overthinking it. I don’t know. They’re my thoughts on the sketch at any rate. Feel free to disagree.