The Ottermanempire.com

Nearly all the famous Australians , or those known to  the average American,  are the stereotypical  outdoor  bloke’s bloke personified by Steve Irwin and  “acted” by Paul Hogan  but there’s  Murdoch, Robert Hughes ,Germaine Greer and Clive James  that if they are not out trying  to buy all the words in the world then they’re trying to create them.

Most people have no clue that “Uncle” Rupert  until he  became a naturalized US citizen  hails from the largest island most people can’t find on a map;)   and the other three are  pretty obscure  , least I can’t say I’ve found another person that’s  heard / read of all three. 

So while happily trawling through Slate I noticed a “Clive James”  show link and .. oo  content for the next week or two has appeared. He wears many hats running the gamut from serious critic to hanging around on the corner of  CRT and remote  and has put ,what I  named the “Due South”  affect ,( drama/ comedy re a Mountie and a US cop that had jokes, had violence and fell over sooner than it should have) into the following.  

America doesn’t really like two labels on the can: Humor and seriousness, for example, are two separate things, and there’s room for each in the supermarket, but the idea that there could be a can with those two labels on it is inimical to the culture.

Sadly  I come with a whole magnetic set of labels that so endears me to the people here  that in many respects resemble adults ;)    Anyway his new  show online is The Clive James Show and maybe you should start on the Terry Gilliam  interview since it  segues neatly into what follows.

What’s this about the Toasters?    Well this article here from James relates to  torture as depicted in the media, something  that’s been bugging me lately since the appearance of such in movies and TV shows  seems  to be increasing and in most cases not in a  ” this isn’t who we want to be manner” it’s leaving it up to the viewer’s digression..  Lovely   seemingly we can  preach on the joys of every ISM  being evil while presenting  an ends justifying the means..  There’s a post following re how the new Battlestar Galactica  has  been handling this..