Aussie Bloggers

Two weeks into the most recent incarnation of Big Brother, the eighth, and the show might have actually turned a corner for the best. This is the first series with a new executive producer, replacing Kris Noble, who, in the time he was there, turned the show from an interesting social experiment into a launching platform for models and people just seeking fame, with more emphasis placed on looks and age rather than on personality.

This year, we’ve actually seen a range of housemates from 18-year-old Bianca to 50-something grandmother Terri, and there’s actually a variety of personalities in the house, other than the “I’m here for fame” types. Let’s take a look at some of the housemates up close. Just so you know, I’m writing this before having a chance to screen the eviction show. However, the Friday night show had the bottom three as of then, and they’ll be the first ones looked at.

• Alice: The vet from the country who hasn’t had that much airtime during her stay so far in the house. She’s committed to exercising and has earnt a reward from that, with a bye in the first round of this week’s Friday Night show. Whether that does anything to influence the vote, I don’t know.
• Rebecca: Another person who hasn’t featured that much in the daily shows up until now. The only notable thing that she has done is wanted to go home, but then slept on it and decided that she’s a soldier and she’d fight it out…
• Saxon: A council worker who is chock full of tattoos has shown himself to be a bit of a decent fellow, which is something he’s decided to change consciously, and I gotta say good on him for that, but I think his “old” ways are coming back somewhat. He’s also noted as part of the Spa Mafia, but that phrase didn’t really last all that long…

As for the rest of the housemates, this is what I think of them, in no particular order:

• Ben: Law student who is trying to, well I don’t know. My impression of him is that he’s white bread - pretty plain and not that interesting. He just kinda hangs out and is staying pretty much on the down-low.
• Bianca: 18-year-old who is probably a bit like me in the way that she is much more mature than her age would suggest. I like her mind, but one big negative for her was that she got a bit hung up over the whole Corey thing. However, she’s actually finding out that he’s not that bad of a fella, but I think the jury’s still out on that one. I’d tip her to get a lot of votes from the guys
• Brigitte: Dumb blond pretty much sums her up. Though she says she’s smarter than she appears to be, there are questions about that from me at least, and a lot of the housemates. She’s a good girl, but I think she’s also kinda plain.
• David: Cult escapee turned cop turned firie. I tipped him to be in the running for the win, but the voting is going the other way it would seem, with him in the bottom 5 the last couple of days now. They haven’t mentioned it on the daily shows, but I wonder if he’s going to mention his past to the house at any time. It’d make some interesting discussion.
• Dixie: The first of the Dubbo girls, and also a proud Aboriginal. She works as a coulsellor, but it seems that she’s needed some consoling over the time already, with the lack of food in the house, and then losing Rima to her injury. The latest is that she wanted out of the house, but after Rebecca chose to stay, she decided to stick it out as well.
• Nathan: The surviving housemate voted into the house by the public (after Michael and Barney were evicted by Terri at sunup), he’s won the Friday Night Games, but wound up not having any ability to use the main prizes, except maybe for the assignment of chores and the other duties. His popularity on the web could be useful when he goes up on the block for voting.
• Nobbi: What a pain in the rear end! He’s got probably the best sleeping arrangement in the house, even if it is in the unheated Kombi van, and he can’t seem to stop whining about one thing or another. The upside is that his constant requests to be allowed into the house get repeatedly turned down. It’s making him think of ways to ask, and making the producers think of ways to deny him his request. It’s pretty cool, even though he is prone to the occasional dummy spit. I’d expect him to go some distance in the show.
• Renee: The other Dubbo girl, and probably the coolest of the girls, as she is always happy and having fun. She’s definitely a tomboy, and she’s had an interesting past. I can’t say a bad thing at all about her - I like her. She could actually have a shot to take it all, but that’s just me.
• Rima: A professional belly dancer who, in the time she was in the house, has proven herself to be very worthwhile as a housemate, even if she can’t reach the windows in the garden. Unfortunately, the accident during FNL last week which broke her legs, has sidelined her for the time being. Rumor is that she’s going to return to the house.
• Rory: A Geelong brickie who has gone and probably ticked off half of his town by describing his part of town as a slum. I think that he still could go on and be in the running for the final win. At least that was my thought after I watched the launch show.
• Terri: A bit of bait-and-switch was done with her status, but it will work out in the end. She’s the nanna who was booted out of the house (predictably) after just one night. Then she was brought back as Corey’s chaperon, a job which she did with some aplomb, even climbing up a tree to try to find him. She was reinstated as a housemate, however, after taking up the task of removing two of the web housemates (though she thought it was two from the whole lot). I think that now she’s fulltime there, she’ll go quite some distance. Unless the voters are predictable like the housemates were.
• Travis: He can make his voice deep, but he still always talks in a voice that can only be described as fingernails on a chalkboard. His mannerisms are also very interesting, and have led to questions about his lifestyle. I gotta say that those questions aren’t baseless, considering that he hugs just about everything in sight. It will be interesting to see how he uses his twists to affect the nominations. If I were a betting man (and I’m not ), he’d probably save one of the girls if they wind up down in the bottom 3.

As far as other aspects of the show go, the best addition has definitely been the inclusion of a new show to replace the adults only show, which actually features discussion about the program and the goings on in the house by relatively intelligent people - Big Brother’s Big Mouth. It’s a show that started out in the UK fronted by Russell Brand, and has moved down to Australia. Somehow, I don’t think that this show will run into the same issues they’ve had with the Uncut shows in the past. If anything, it should be given acclaim for being able to give frank opinions of the house and the housemates. Not necessarily Logie acclaim, but maybe a nice writeup in The Australian or something.

Changing the hosts to Kyle & Jackie O has certainly created a different dynamic in the studio shows this year - I don’t mind them all that much, but there is something strange about them together. I’m not sure just yet…

If you’re interested in more discussion of Big Brother, there’s a thread ongoing in the forums: Big Brother 2008. Also, you can check out the official site for news and updates directly from Dreamworld. Lastly, the site with the most buzz about the show is Behind Big Brother - it’s been around for a few years now, and has made itself probably the best source for rumors and other news about the show, housemates, and even the constant ongoings from the live stream in their forums.

My overall impression of the show is that it’s definitely much improved over the last few years. I also think that the new eviction process (a hybrid of the old and the way it’s done in the States), will lead to more intriguing decisions about who goes and who stays, especially if the housemates have to specify a reason for why they’re giving so many points to each housemate. Also, unlike the past, I’m actually keeping an eye on the show every day now.

What’s Fiction Blogging?

Fiction blogging is a minority niche where the blogging medium is used to deliver works of fiction. There, that sounds simple, doesn’t it? But of course, it can get far more complicated. Blog posts may consist of:

• journal-type entries - similar to a personal blog, but from the perspective of a fictional character. This may be public knowledge, or kept secret (ie, readers think it’s a normal personal blog)
• whole short stories
• partial stories
• group-participation stories (where a group of people all write parts of a story – this can get quite chaotic in real-time)
• Notes from the author, and a link to the latest story written

Is it possible to run a successful fiction blog? Obviously, this depends a bit on your definition of ’successful’. But in general, I think the answer is “Maybe, but it’s even more work than mainstream blogs.”

Why fiction-blog?

Everyone doubtless has their own reasons for fiction-blogging. Some assume that they’ll make money and heaps of fans. Some want their work critiqued by a wider community than they have access to locally. I have a few reasons of my own:

Love: I love to write fiction. And my motivation to write skyrockets when I know that someone is reading and enjoying it.

Realism: I don’t think my work is anywhere near publishing-quality yet. I could wait around, polish it up, keep writing, and hope to get it published… but let’s face it – I’d be gambling my current level of creativity on a maybe. I’d probably stuff up any chance I have of writing a bestseller by stifling myself this way.

Weird non-original theory time: I think that in the next 20 years, the music and publishing industries will undergo radical change. We’ve seen bits of it over the last few years in the music industry. Think about it – why undergo the huge overheads involved in publishing a paper book or creating a DVD or CD when you can publish electronically? Add to that my suspicion that we’ll move to different methods of paying for products like this, and maybe you can see why I’m not keen to get too embroiled in the traditional publishing industry. Of course, you might just see the words ’sour grapes’ blinking neon lights over my head instead! Certainly, if a publisher came to me right now with an offer of $50000 for everything I’ve written in the last year…. hooooo boy, that’d be a hard offer to resist! But I’d do it with misgivings, honest

That said, there are a number of problems specific to fiction blogging.

The problems

An uncomfortable fit: The blogging world tends to be centred around two concepts – exchanging information, and personal relationships. Fiction blogs don’t tend to enjoy high profiles because they often don’t meet either of these requirements for the majority of readers.

Different expectations: People don’t tend to blogsurf to find fiction, and they often don’t like to read a story from a screen. News, yes. Fiction? No. If it’s a story with lots of background information that requires reading previous stories, the chances of someone sticking around long enough to read it drops even further.

Space restrictions: The writer’s style needs to fit blogging requirements. In order to make a decent amount of sense, the stories need to be fairly short. In order to stay in a person’s subscription list on an RSS reader like Google Reader, the blog needs to be updated fairly regularly.

Losing the deal: If the writer hopes to get a publishing deal for the material in the future, the fact that it’s already been effectively ’self-published’ on the internet will put off many publishers.

Not looking for you: I haven’t gotten a single regular reader (that I know of) from a search. Sure, a number of people find my fiction blog via searches – around 4-5 each day. But they don’t tend to comment, and as far as I know, they don’t come back. Why? People search for information. Fiction blogs offer an experience, not information. Interestingly, even those searches obviously looking for fiction on a certain topic don’t seem to yield readers. Probably because the searcher had something quite different in mind.

So is it worth it?

I hate to be such a fence-sitter, but it’s up to you. A lot of fiction blogs apparently just fade away and quietly die. Worst case scenario, yours might be one of them.

How can I make it better?

Remember when I said that blogging is all about information and relationships? If you want a successful fiction blog, I think you need to harness at least one of these. You might weave current events or the latest celebrities into your stories. You might spend time each week visiting a certain number of blogs (on all sorts of topics) and leaving well-thought-out, appropriate comments. Or you might spend that time getting to know others in the fiction blogging world, commenting on their fiction. Or you might do all of those and more besides.

Just remember this important fact – as a writer, it’s all about the content. As a fiction blogger, it’s that and so much more. Good luck!

I’ve long been a fan of Australian music. I’d say about 75% of my favourite music has come from Australian bands or artists. I thought I’d share probably what was the song that started my interest in Australian music, the classic “Suburban Boy” by Dave Warner’s from the Suburbs.

SUBURBAN BOY

I wake up every morning with no-one beside me
I wake up every morning and my mother will chide me
I’m just a Suburban Boy, just a Suburban Boy
Saturday night, no subway station
Saturday night just changing TV stations
I’m just a Suburban Boy, just a Suburban Boy
And I know what it’s like
To be rejected every night
And I’m sure it must be, easier for boys from the city
I go to the football to cheer for my team
I go to the football to hear myself scream
I’m just a Suburban Boy, just a Suburban Boy
Sunday Session – I’m down at the hotel
Staring at girls that I don’t know, well
I’m just a Suburban Boy, just a Suburban Boy
And I know what it’s like
I’ve been rejected every night
And I’m sure it must be, easier for boys from the city

I just loved this as soon as I first heard it back in 1978 - it was just so …. Australian. I was 16 at the time, and until around this time generally thought the music I heard on the radio and TV was shit (Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, ELO, no thanks, and I was never a fan of the Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, etc types). So to hear an Australian singing in an Australian accent about Australian things was fantastic (Skyhooks “Living in the 70’s” was also around about this time, maybe a bit earlier and it was groundbreaking too). As well as being very Australian in what he sang, Dave Warner also displayed plenty of wit in his observations about Australian life. He was always particularly biting in his observations about people who put on pretensions, and the music industry itself. Apart from “Suburban Boy”, other songs by Dave Warner that I think hit the mark included “Kangaroo Hop”, “Convict Streak”, and his fabulous live monologues “Mugs Game” and “Half Time at the Football” (in these he just tears strips off people he regards as wankers). I did manage to see Dave Warner live in his heyday a few times, and one of the highlights was always these latter songs, which he varied for each performance, weaving current events into the songs (really they were more like spoken word monologues to music, with a chorus every now and then). Very original, highly Australian!

Here for your listening pleasure (and perhaps education if you’ve never heard (of) this song before, is “Suburban Boy”. Enjoy!

Do you have a particularly Australian song that just evokes thoughts of Australia? I’d be interested to know some of your favourites.

The sweetest sound on a farmer’s roof is that of an opening rain.

Around here, May is the best time of the year for sowing our crop and farmers tend to be on the lookout for rain anytime from mid-April onwards. Once we get to the beginning of May, they can get a little “antsy”, concerned that a later “opening break” can reduce the crops potential yield.

So, what is an opening rain? It’s where we get what we call a “break in the season”. Enough rain to start putting in a crop. For us this is anywhere between 1 and 2 inches. On 1 inch, they’ll start if timing is getting desperate. On 2 inches, they have smiles on their faces so big their faces almost fall off.

I’ve been pondering on the significance of an “opening rain” and how that can be applied in our own lives.

The opening rain brings with it so much transformation.

The earth turns from a dry, dusty, lifeless sod to a rich brown filled with all the potential of new growth.

The air has a certain “sweet” smell about it. A smell that brings with it a reminder of life and hope.

Within days (sometimes it seems like hours) tiny little green shoots pop up all over the place. A brilliant display of life in all it’s abundance.

You may be aware that farming has been going through tough times in recent years. A combination of weather patterns and decreased profit margins (caused by many factors) have left many a farmer struggling and wondering whether it’s all worthwhile. Every year many thousands (and in some cases millions) of dollars get invested in a crop. All risked on the hope that rains will fall at the right time, producing a crop which returns the original investment as well as a tidy profit.

In our area, it has been at least 6 years since many farmers have made a profit. Some years we’ve seen big losses and other years we’ve made small losses or barely broken even.

And yet, every year, without fail, that opening rain brings with it hope. A promise of a future. A chance for a fresh start.

Gone are the morbid thoughts of a failed crop the year before (and perhaps the year before that).

Instead, everyone looks forward, to the hope and promise that the future crop has to bring.

Kind of a good way to view life really isn’t it?

I’m sure we could all do with a little “opening rain” in our lives.

I don’t much go in for Australian authors, it isn’t really a rule more of an observation. There isn’t a huge selection in my favourite genres to choose from, actually that’s not true, there aren’t a lot of authors in my favourite genres from Australia that I’m drawn towards, so it was with pleasant surprise that I found myself reading Nylon Angel.

Nylon Angel is a post apocalyptic cyberpunk science fiction action novel by Australian author Marianne de Pierres. It and the two sequels: Code Noir and Crash Deluxe have two things that differentiate them from a lot of the other science fiction that I read, a woman is the main character for one and it’s also set in Australia. Neither occurrence is unique, however together nor amongst my normal sphere of reading are they common.

But are they any good?

Well that’s the real question about anything we read or watch no matter its origin or setting. I think often I personally can be a little more critical of something produced in Australia, for reasons that I have no idea of. I am beyond happy to write that in this case they are indeed good, if not awesome (please forgive my fanboy’ish enthusiasm).

The characters are well written, especially the heroine of the piece: Parrish Plessis (or would that be anti-heroine?). Punches are not pulled by the character or the author. De Perres describes an awful world with great attention to detail and graphically takes us through the underbelly of this post apocalyptic Australia where the media govern and gangs rule the “Tert” (the wasteland ghetto we find our heroine in).

I love the fact that there are an abundance of Australian references throughout the novels, but even-handedly enough so they don’t become distracting or too clichéd. This isn’t a town that could be based anywhere, it’s most definitely Australian but I can’t see non-Australians not being able to relate. In Australia we’re certainly used to reading about foreign places!

If you want to support an Australian artist, you like a bit of post apocalyptic cyberpunk science fiction action and you’re not too squeamish when it comes to violence and the unpleasantness that life can throw at a woman just trying to forge a life for herself in the burnt out ruins of Australia then run, don’t walk to your local library or bookstore and grab a copy of Nylon Angel.

Tell them Lee sent you, they will stare at you blankly as they have no idea who I am but what do you care?