Australian Experiences, TV Series

[tcpip]

'Strewth, it's been a truly Ocker past coupla days. With my move delayed yet again, ironically because of dodgy removalists, I have taken the opportunity to use some spare time restoring old wood. I have a number of furnishings that have seen better days, and the combination of sandpaper followed by stain and varnish has improved my well-used work desk, the entertainment unit, the deco chest of drawers, the coffee table, the old school bookcase, and even the dodgy antique dining chairs. Now obviously this is hardly a uniquely Australian experience, but such minimal restorations are pretty much in character. Even more so however, was rescuing a ring-tailed possum. I am fortunate to have a few veterinary scientists among my friends and the sensible advice of proper warmth and taking it to a wildlife carer was followed through the letter. I was charmed by the suggestion that the possum found me rather than the other way around. I do endeavour to provide sanctuary to those who come through my door. Finally, to finish the trifecta, I have started putting up various course notes for the Noongar language on my main website. In part it is derived from a course I took in 2019 (international year of indigenous languages) from Curtin University, but also with a complement of other sources (including some exposure to the language in my childhood and adolescence). Over the next few weeks, I plan to spend to put up a few hundred words a day on said subject.

I am not a big watcher of TV; once to twice a week is about my normal levels and almost invariably that is in the company of caseopaya. However, two series that I have watched with said person over the past year or so that I believe is worthy of mention is "The Blacklist", and "Stranger Things". The former I have mentioned at least once before and follows a nice combination of criminal investigation with a spy thriller with a little bit of drama (which is probably the weakest point). Anyway, yesterday (post-possum delivery) we watched the last two episodes of the eighth season which had some level of conclusion and enough not said for yet another run. The other series that we've delved into, Stranger Things, is a wondrous 1980s cultural sf-horror retrospective with both emerging adolescent and young adult perspectives. There are a couple of anachronisms, but the series manages to get a lot quite right about the period whilst at the same time drawing upon a number of classics from the time; sometimes it's like "Poltergeist", sometimes like "Aliens", sometimes like "Firestarter", and all with more than a little bit of Dungeons & Dragons thrown into the mix. Thoroughly recommended for those who had their formative years in such a period, and also those who want to find out what it was like.

Comments

[leecetheartist]

Kaya babin, noonook moorditj? Koora maar maar-koodjal bonar, ngany waangkan nakolak baranginy. Yeyi moorditj-mokiny waangkaniny.

That Curtin course was a pretty good introduction, it was confronting at times but I welcomed it, because of course when I was going to school no one said anything about what happened to the Aboriginal people right the way across Australia. But the language side was a very nice addition.

We've been lucky enough to extend our learning with both the Langford Aboriginal Association and with Nyoongar Language being taught through the City of Fremantle over the past few years. If you haven't seen it the https://gambay.com.au/languages/Noongar is pretty cool, and also for other languages across Australia. Our teacher's dictionary https://noongarlanguage.com.au/index.php/noongar-language-dictionary/ might be of interest if you want to delve into the Marribank orthography side of things.

[tcpip]

Kaya moort! Kaya ngany kwob, nidja kwob! Yeyi ngalak Noongar waangka! Maar maar-koodjal bonar? Koora-koora!

I think the worst thing about the education system was how we weren't really taught about what happened locally.

Karni wangkiny, if I recall correctly there was a paragraph on the Pinjarra massacre in year eight (which was portrayed as a "battle"). Absolutely nothing about the apartheid prohibition on Noongar people entering Perth city, let alone the use of Rottnest as a prison/execution centre.

Thank you for the links! I'll make good use of those.

[leecetheartist]

Woola!

Stranger Things

[catsidhe]

The Fortean Times has been identifying more and more, recently, a trend to a sort of 1970s throwback aesthetic, as refracted through the memories of people who were children then. (Like you and me.) It's an aesthetic of a particular style of graphic design, and interior design, and architecture, and grainy videotapes of public announcement safety campaigns played in school, and slightly ratty posters cheerily saying things which are more alarming the more you think about it, and everything in burnt orange and mission brown and forest green and yellow bottle-bottom glass and corduroy.

Stranger Things is one manifestation of it, as are things like Scarfolk, and the reprint of the Usborne's World of the Unknown: Ghosts.

The Fortean Times has called it "The Haunted Generation", possibly after Scarfolk's use of "Hauntology" (= "The past, and elements of the past, returning as a ghost to inhabit the present")

Re: Stranger Things

[tcpip]

Great stuff, there goes my spare time for the day, right down that memory hole.

Part of my is hoping that Stranger Things goes full Threads at some point.