Marshall McLuhan debates his ideas on Australian TV in 1977
"In June 1977 Marshall McLuhan visited Australia and was a guest on Monday Conference, a popular live ABC television show hosted by Robert Moore. McLuhan debated his ideas with Moore and took questions from a feisty studio audience made up of members of the media and advertising industry, including TV boss Bruce Gyngell (see Part One at 14 mins), and young, funky Derryn Hinch (see Part Two from 3 mins).
McLuhan had been brought to Australia to address a broadcasting conference organised by Sydney radio station 2SM, and the Monday Conference was broadcast from the ballroom of the Sydney Hilton Hotel.
Many in the audience clearly admired McLuhan who has well into his prime and at ease with the live television situation. The discussion covered an eclectic range of topics, from television, privacy and Richard Nixon to holograms, transcendental meditation, Jane Austen, Euclidean geometry, denim jeans and nude streaking.
Towards the end of the program the always unpredictable McLuhan can be heard just off-mic, saying to Moore, 'I'm terribly sorry, but I'm going to have to sneak off and have a pee!'."
(ABC Radio National, Australia)
Fig.1,2&3 Marshall Mcluhan, lecture recorded by ABC Radio National Network on 27 June 1977 in Australia.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Tilt-shift timelapse of a Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service training exercise
"This is a personal project that would not have been possible without the support of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service. Thanks to the entire team for their generous access during training exercises and patrols this Summer. Since the Service began in 1973, it has carried out more than 21,000 missions ranging from urgent patient transfers to dangerous search and rescue missions.
This film is 100% 'real', but there are some new techniques for me here, such as using time lapse to create the illusion of forward movement for the helicopter ocean scenes. These flight sequences would not be possible without the skill and patience of Chief Pilot Peter Yates. Thanks also to Trevor Cracknell (for getting wet!) and Family."
(Keith Loutit, 2009)
Fig.1 Keith Loutit (2009). "Bathtub IV" Music: "Clementine" (Megan Washington), Performed by Washington, © 2008 J Albert & Son Pty Limited., used with permission, myspace.com/meganwashington
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Passionless Moments: the banality of everyday life
"Passionless Moments, as its title implies, is concerned less with the gathering up of individual scenes into an overall narrative than with their dispersion. And these are moments without deep emotion, without the passion erotic or otherwise that characterizes the later feature films. Instead, here and in Sweetie, Campion engages in what we might term a surreality of everydayness, in which ordinary, even trivial, incidents from a variety of people's lives receive comic evaluation."
(Dana Polan, 23 October 2006)
[1] Campion, J. and G. Lee (1983). Passionless Moments. Australia.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Kevin Rudd says sorry (to the stolen generations)
"Australia has formally apologised to the stolen generations with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reading a speech in Federal Parliament this morning.
...
Both Mr Rudd and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin received a standing ovation as they entered the Great Hall before the Prime Minister delivered the speech.
...
Former prime ministers Paul Keating, Bob Hawke, Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser and Sir William Deane were all seated on the floor of the Parliament as well as 17 people representing the stolen generation.
...
Redfern [inner city suburb]
Mr Rudd''s speech received a standing ovation at the Redfern Community Centre, where hundreds gathered.
Residents, workers, families, students and Sydney''s Lord Mayor Clover Moore braved the rain to watch the speech via a large outdoor screen.
David Page, composer with the indigenous dance group Bangarra Dance Theatre, said he liked the fact that Mr Rudd made a personal apology.
''It was very moving to see a prime minister with a bit of heart. I loved it when he said he was sorry. There was just something personal about it. It''s very hard for a prime minister to be personal,'' he said.
Enid Williams, 72, who was brought up on a mission in north Queensland after her father was forcibly removed from his family, said she was happy with Mr Rudd''s speech, but said it was now important to look to the future.
''I''m 72. The main thing is the young people, to give them a better future.''
Martin Place
At Martin Place in [central] Sydney, hundreds of Sydneysiders from all walks of life gathered to watch the Sorry Day celebrations holding Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
Men and women in business suits, schoolchildren and other passers-by of all different backgrounds cried, smiled and stood in respect as they listened to Mr Rudd apologise."
(Dylan Welch, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008)
[This has been a long time coming - and is something that was clearly beyond the capacity of the previous Australian Liberal Party administration!]
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Town Hall Square
Australian designer Peter Murphy has created a series of 3-dimensional QuickTime panoramas of the City of Sydney in Australia.
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
