BULL Magazine 2014 Issue 3 by BULL Magazine

Issue 03, 2014 / FREE

SEX ED GETS SCREWED / PSYCHEDELIC TRANCE / DISCRIMINATING NATION / BROKEN RUBBERS / ADOPTION POLICY

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FINDING RESOURCES...

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Issue 03 CONTENTS

CONTENTS

Editors

Eden Caceda Katie Davern Sophie Gallagher Melanie Kembrey Rob North Sean O’Grady

F E ATUR E S

LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX BABY RECOLLECTIONS OF A BUSH DOOF A RACIST AUSTRALIA? 18 A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW 27 ADOPTING CHANGE 32

REPORTERS

10 13

Barbara Taylor Erin Rooney Hannah Edensor Kirsty Timsans Sean May Shannen Potter

Contributors

Amanda Choularton, Brooke Ackland, Claire Paterson, Elizabeth Huang, Emily Shen, Genevieve Canh, Harvey Blissfell, James Hennessy, Katie Stow, Leonidas Kontaxis, Lucy Lester, Max Hall, Nerine Corbett, Rebecca Karpin, Sophie Anaïs BarbeauScurla, Whitney Duan

Publications Manager Louisa Stylian

Design manager Jeanette Kho

R E GULARS What’s On 04 Editorial & Board 06 Letters 07 Opinion 09 Interview 17 Taste 22 Go 23 Move 24 Learn 25 The Time I Tried 31 Campus Fashion 35 Vox & Classic Countdown 36 Cow & Horns 37 Arts 39 Reviews 40 Experience 41 Club Confidential 42 Shutter Up 44 Comics 45 Ask Isabella 46

/bullmag

/USUbullmag

Design

Simon Macias Peta Harris

CONTACT

editors@bullmag.com.au facebook.com/bullmag @usubullmag usu.edu.au/bullmag The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of the USU. The information contained within this edition of Bull was correct at the time of printing. This publication is brought to you by the University of Sydney Union.

Issue 03, 2014

Write for us! Whether you’re a budding student journalist or have a random idea that could be a great story, email us and you could get published here. editors@bullmag.com.au

bull usu.edu.au WHAT'S ON

WHAT'S ON For the FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS – head to USU.EDU. AU AND CLICK THE CALENDAR. Clubs & Socs – remember to submit your events on the website!

MON wk 8 (APRIL/MAY)

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL Eastern Avenue, 11AM–3pm DJ COMP-HEAT 1 MANNING Bar, 12.30pm

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL Eastern Avenue, 11AM–3pm FUNCH+DJ COMP-HEAT 2 Eastern Avenue, 1pm DJ COMP-HEAT 3 Hermann’s Bar, 5.30pm

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL Eastern Avenue, 11AM–3pm DJ COMP FINAL Hermann’s Bar, 5.30pm

TGIF (TELL GRADS IT’S FRIDAY) DRINKS Hermann’s Bar, 5pm

FRIDAY 9 MAY, 7.30PM HERMANN’S BAR

PRESENTS

wk 9 (MAY)

QUEER AFTERNOON TEA & MOVIE Verge Gallery, 3pm FUNCH Eastern Avenue, 12-2pm

DRAGTACULAR Hermann’s Bar, 7pm

PRESENTS

wk 10 (MAY)

FUNCH Eastern Avenue, 12pm MARKETS Eastern Avenue,

INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA & TRANSPHOBIA Eastern Avenue, 12-2pm

USU ELECTION DAY

Free drink for ACCESS Members

Multiple performances and DJs throughout the night!

Dragtacular

PRESENTS

22 MSS252

/USUAccess

@USUAccess

WEDNESDAY

/USUonline

wk 11 (MAY)

7 MAY, 3PM VERGE GALLERY

This event is provided autonomously for individuals who do not identify as cisgender males /USUAccess

wk 12 (MAY)

@USUAccess

/USUonline

usu.edu.au

RECONCILIATION WEEK

usu.edu.au

Issue 03 what's on

every week

2014

monday – friday

SCREENING

PARTY

MONDAY

Presented by the Clubs & Societies Office with the support of USU student clubs

SOLO SESSIONS 1-2pm, Manning Bar

THURSDAY

$3.50 HAPPY HOUR

THEATRESPORTS®

4-6pm, Manning Bar and Hermann’s Bar

1-2pm, Manning BarBar

Bingo

4-6pm, International Student Lounge

POOL COMPETITION

5-6pm, Manning Bar

$3.50 HAPPY HOUR

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

4-6pm, Manning Bar and Hermann’s Bar

12-5pm, Manning Bar

Debating Regionals

AUSTRALIAN DISCUSSION GROUP

Beat The System – Local Bands and DJs

TRIVIA

Tuesday TV

5.15pm, Woolley N395

5pm, Hermann’s Bar

3-4pm, Level 4 Wentworth Building

5-6pm, Manning Bar

$3.50 HAPPY HOUR

4-6pm, Manning Bar and Hermann’s Bar

DJs

2 for 1 schnitty

$3.50 HAPPY HOUR

6-8pm, Manning Bar

4-6pm, Manning Bar and Hermann’s Bar

FRIDAY

$3.50 HAPPY HOUR

4-6pm, Manning Bar and Hermann’s Bar

Get Up! Stand Up! 5-6pm, Manning Bar

4-7pm, Hermann’s Bar

MUST SEE Eurovision Screening DOORSParty OPEN AT 6.30PM

SUNDAY

11TH MAY

SCREENING FROM 7.30PM - Prizes for best dressed

Sunday 11 May 2014, 6.30pm- Flag making & face painting workshop (screening starts from 7.30pm) MANNING BAR - Karaoke Room for ACCESS Entry includes food and drink vouchers Manning Bar //FREE 18+ $5 for Non-ACCESS

to first 200 ACCESS members

Once again, the USU’s Clubs & Societies Office will be hosting the annual Eurovision Screening Party! This year it’s going to be bigger and better than ever, with activities and competitions accompanying Eurovision’s extravagant singing and dancing. If you’re a Eurovision enthusiast this is definitely the place to be. Or if you just want to see what all the fuss is about, come by, grab a drink, and join in on the fun. /USUAccess

@USUAccess

/USUonline

usu.edu.au

ACCESS: Free / Non-ACCESS: $5 at the door Complimentary drink vouchers to the first 200 ACCESS members

COMING UP Salmonella Dub Sound System

2 MAY 3 MAY

Eurovision Septicflesh + Fleshgod Apocalypse

manningbar.com

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Theatresports® – Old vs New 30 MAY

RUSSIAN CIRCLES (USA) 11 MAY

17 MAY

29 MAY

1 JUN 6 JUN @Manningbar

RAW Awards Rock n Roll & Alternative Market PROPAGANDHI #manningbar

bull usu.edu.au EDITORIAL

FROM THE EDITORS EDEN, KATIE, SOPHIE, MELANIE, ROB, SEAN

While we were producing this latest edition of BULL, cramped around a small table at the Forest Lodge Hotel, we realised a universal truth: sex sells. We figured it was better late than never to address this well-known fact, and decided to emblazon our cover with the most sex related thing we could find. Unfortunately

BOARD Q&A: HANNAH MORRIS USU PRESIDENT B: According to released information, you failed

to consult the Board in a recommendation to reappoint Senate-appointed Board Directors whose terms expired in December 2013.Why did you feel you didn’t need the input of other Board Directors when making this decision?

Ryan Gosling was unavailable for a photoshoot, but our Google image search for ‘sex’ yielded some rather fantastic imagery. Look, if you haven’t worked it out by now, we’re a little bit obsessed with sex. After all, bulls are amongst the horniest of creatures. But we’re also obsessed with giving a voice to student writers. We write, edit, and spend long nights reading the works of a talented bunch of sleep-deprived students who often actively avoid their assignments to deliver quality content that stymies the boredom of your train trip. Providing your much needed supplementary dose of sexual content, in this edition Lucy Lester tells us why we need a male version of the contraceptive pill, while Shannon Potter addresses the shortfalls associated with a high school teacher giving you the birds and the bees talk.

If all that sounds a little too salaciously serious then discover what happened when one of our writers got down and dutty at a Jamaican Dancehall class (spoiler alert: a rigorous Beyoncè-style workout, that’s what!). Or you can flick through to discover what we think of the latest dieting fad designed to keep you slim and seductive. Meanwhile Katie Davern gives voice to those suffering at the hands of casual racism, and Rob North outlines the problems with adoption across borders. In our minds student media is vibrant, contentious and discriminates against no potential subject of inquiry. Just as our work as editors is never fully completed as we move from edition to edition, neither is this project. We enjoy contributing, in some small way, to this body of work. We hope you enjoy reading it. BULL x

regulations or procedures that surround the reappointment or recommendation of potential Directors to the Senate. Historically the process of reappointment has been conducted automatically by the Senate prior to the expiry of the Senate-appointed Director's terms, and this is the first time in recent memory the Senate has allowed the appointments to lapse. In light of this procedural error and the lack of regulations surrounding the process as a whole, the Board will be conducting a comprehensive governance review in this area.

was widely discussed. What is your personal opinion?

B: Do you feel there must be more guidelines for the use of executive power? HM: I feel that in this situation, the lack of clarity and communication surrounding everything to do with the mechanism of recommendation, appointment, and reappointment of Senate appointed directors became apparent from both the University and the Union’s perspective, and it is something we are working on together to rectify.

HM: It is important to remember that the

process of appointing Senate-appointed Directors lies entirely within the remit of the Senate. The USU has no formal

B: At the recent USU Members Transparency Forum, the issue of staff members being referred to in tweets during Board meetings

HM: I believe that to regulate the use of social media at Board meetings is a matter for the Board to determine, and hopefully an outcome will be reached from the findings of the Transparency Review. B: With the upcoming Union Board elections, what advice do you have for the candidates? HM: 1) Speak to as many people as possible for advice, guidance and information in the lead up to your campaign. Current and former Board Directors, staff and even your friends are all useful sources of perspective and support.

2) Make sure you take the time to get to know the USU well as an organisation, as we are very unique in many respects, and be clear on your vision for what you would like the USU to look like moving forward. 3) Use your campaign as an opportunity to be creative, express yourself and meet new people. Campaigns can be a lot of fun and don’t forget to enjoy yourself in the process :)

Issue 03 7 LETTERS & PICK OF THE MONTH

LETTERS PURRFECT

WAITING

Dear BULL,

Rob North’s article on cat cafés has stirred something within me. Cats are truly my favourite thing in the world, and the idea of having my morning coffee with a side of some kitty loving sounds like a dream. Just a quiet meow as I bite into my slice of toast would be enough to make my day. I’m truly shocked that Sydney hasn’t jumped on this furry bandwagon. Newtown would be all the better with an alleyway cat cafe. Even Sydney Uni would be improved by one – I’m thinking a quiet corner of Manning converted to this dream dwelling would be amazing! As was noted in the article, I’m glad other Australians feel the same way, but Sydney definitely needs this. If no one else will, I will. Thanks for bringing this important issue to our attention.

I am still waiting for ALL of last year’s campaign promises. Robby Magyar, where’s my froyo?! Tim Matthews, where’s Taichi? Kade Denton, where’s my free food-hunting app? Bebe D’Souza, where’s my cheap grub? Tara Wannaguyinacar, where’s my cinema? Eve Radunz, where’s my free ACCESS?

~ Anonymous

LIBERAL VS. LABOR DEBATE Dear BULL, On Monday 31 March, Hermann’s hosted a debate between the Liberal and Labor societies on the topic of Affirmative Action for women. Whilst things were bound to get heated over such a contentious issue, the amount of vitriol that was spewed towards the Libs was abhorrent. Three brave debaters plucked up the courage to front a mostly left wing room only to be yelled off the stage. There is nothing wrong with being passionate about ones beliefs but when you disallow someone from engaging an audience through raucous screaming, you can taint the credibility of your cause. You go to a debate to be persuaded, to listen carefully and swish new ideas and points of view around in your head. You do not go there to purport your beliefs through sardonic taunts from the safety of a crowd. I hope we see more debates between passionate people in the future but, maybe next time, with a little more respect. ~ Jack Cook (BIGS II)

I’m hurt guys. I’m never campaigning for the USU again. ~ Name withheld

HOT POTATOE Dear Editor, Pope Francis is dead right. In churches and in political parties, this is the hot potato era as only hot potatoes are consumed! Church consumers and political party consumers are only obsessed with hot potatoes. Churches and political parties have become intellectual fast food restaurants where only the hot potatoes are consumed, dissected, analysed, and spoken about. Churches and political parties are far too focused on hot potato issues and their recipe solutions rather than on the true substances of their main games. Hot potatoes are not the only sources of soul food for churches! Hot potatoes are not the only sources of mind food for political parties! There are other nourishing intellectual fast foods to consume at churches, political parties and other intellectual fast food restaurants. Thanks, ~ Jane Wallace

BULL wants to hear from you Tell us about the stories you shared with your friends or those you placed on the bottom of your budgie cage. Or just write and let us know you’re lonely. Email editors@bullmag.com.au

#Selfie The 80s had gloves, the 90s TLC and the Noughties NeoPets, but the word of our generation is without doubt the 2013 Word of the Year. ‘Selfie’, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a Smartphone, and uploaded to a social media website. We knew selfies were a legit thing when our parents started referring to them. But, the reality is that the first selfie was taken in 1839 when Robert Cornelius snapped a photo of himself and walked behind the camera because of the slow process it took to take. This means selfies are actually, like, so 1800s. Formerly called luvos (when we used to upload them to our MySpaces), selfies are much better nowadays in comparison to the amateurish, flash blinded self-portraits we all took in our bathroom mirrors. And now selfies are bigger than ever. With the Sochi Winter Olympics (#selfieolympics) and Ellen DeGeneres (#oscarselfie), EVERYONE is now aware of the wonders of #selfies. Thanks to The Chainsmokers we can even say “but first let me take a selfie” before anything now. While we won’t be seen among the 90 million #selfie posts on Instagram, we at BULL are proud of our nation for being credited for originating the word. Amazing, Australia!

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Issue 03 OPINION

OPINION SETTING FORTH ALONE

Nerine Corbett You can imagine it clearly: you’re all travelling together, the sun is beaming down, everyone is smiling – it’s glorious! There may be hard times but you’ll pull through. Never mind homesickness, you have your friends with you! You’ll make so many memories, and tell these stories for years. What could be better? This is the fantasy of travelling with friends. The dream. But that’s all it is, just a fantasy. What could be better than travelling with your friends? Well, travelling alone.

Photographed and Disengaged

WHITNEY DUAN I’m definitely a latecomer to Smartphone photography. After many years in the bitter conservative camp of devalued camera photographers, I’ve reluctantly crossed the great divide, now sporting an iPhone with an Instagram account. But six months on, and 1265 iPhone photos later, I find myself profoundly estranged from my own photographs, despite photography being more prevalent in my day-to-day life than ever before. I am without doubt pro-progress; the rationale behind detesting iPhoneography lies in how its artless instant editing functions and narcissistic exploits (see: #selfie) undermine photography as a skilled art form. Yet, this new age photographic process is fundamentally very democratic – no longer do we have to fork out hefty four or five digit sums for a quality camera and accessories;

When you travel with your friends, you need to accommodate the wants of everyone. Planning is a nightmare of disagreements and, once you’re away, sacrifices need to be made to keep everyone happy. When you are away spending big amounts of money (that probably took huge amounts of time to earn) you don’t want to be giving up your dreams for others. If your idea of a holiday was laying beach side on the Côte d’Azur, why are you trekking in Nepal? If you wanted to skydive Fox Glacier, why are you shopping on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees? Priorities are always going to be different in a group and the best way to have the trip of your dreams is to take your own trip.

nor do we require technical knowledge about its functions, or training to handle suspicious chemicals in a darkroom; we are no longer limited to the precious 24 exposures in a film roll. iPhoneography has become the universal, democratised form of artistic expression for everyone from acclaimed fashion photographer Nick Knight, to the world’s leaders, to #selfieaddicts. Ironically, despite the endless influx of photos on social media, iPhoneography is disengaging us from the very experiences we attempt to immortalise in pixels. The greed and glut of photos comes not from a genuine wish to capture a moment in time, but a compulsion to prove that we saw Beyoncé in concert or had mouth-watering bruschetta for lunch. The camera has become a mere documenting device that we use to mindlessly take, no longer make, photographs – there are so many experiences documented, but hardly any that are experienced anymore. And sadly this dichotomy is hardly new to us. Modern life revels in this phenomenon. We are spoilt for choice yet we find it difficult to

I know setting out alone can seem terrifying. Will you make friends? Who will have your back if things go wrong? These were my biggest fears before setting out alone, but they proved unfounded. Travelling alone is a real chance to escape, to test yourself and get in touch with another place. When you travel by yourself you’re forced to take chances, go out on a limb, talk to someone new and work it out for yourself. Rather than learning how much you and your friend disagree, learn about yourself and the world. We are so used to compromising and working together that it seems selfish to say “screw everyone, this is what I want”, but trust me, you’ll have a better time if you leave your friends behind.

The greed and glut of photos come not from a genuine wish to capture a moment in time

make decisions. We live in one of the most privileged countries but we’re unhappy. We have so much to do, yet we feel an overwhelming sense of boredom. The democratisation of photography is only another sub-plot in the timeline of the century’s progresses, and all progress has its casualties. While I still occasionally take out my iPhone to snap my coffee, nothing can compare to the moments carefully captured behind my old Nikon.

10 bull usu.edu.au FEATURE

LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX BABY

Issue 03 11 FEATURE

Shannen Potter reports on the failures of sexual education in schools.

“Once in my high school sex ed class, the teacher told us about a girl who got ‘so drunk’ that she didn’t know what she was doing and had sex with two boys in full view of the rest of the party. At the time we were all just disgusted, but when I think back on it I feel like that was not a great thing to say to a bunch of 15 year olds who were starting to have sex.” Heather*, a third year Arts student, divulges this story to me with a confidential, almost indulgent, air. Obviously, Heather’s story of a health teacher using probable sexual assault to dissuade girls from drinking is meant to shock me. But, after delving into the world of high school sexual education, I have heard many variations of the ‘I can’t believe they said that’ tale. In NSW, the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) syllabus is remarkably scant when it comes to prescriptions about sexual education. While it mandates that students should learn about sexual health, reproductive health and relationships, there is little mention of what this should entail. For example, contraception and consent are listed as ‘issues’ relevant to sexuality, and samesex attraction is only addressed as an ‘alternative family structure’. Ultimately, this gives sexual education teachers almost free reign over the content that is taught to their classes. A 2011 survey by the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) revealed that less than half of Australian teachers taught that sex should or could be pleasurable, and that 68 per cent of teachers advocated for abstinence until marriage. Meanwhile, a survey funded by the Department of Health and Aging claims that most students in Years 10 to 12 are already sexually active to some degree. Over half of the teachers surveyed also reported that they avoided specific sexuality related topics as they believed they were not provided for in the curriculum. However all of the subjects presented by the survey were taught by at least some teachers. Further, sexual health education greatly varies between religious schools of different faiths and denominations. This points to an inconsistency across sexual education; students are subject to vastly different instruction, largely dependent on the teacher’s view on sexuality.

Heather saw this reflected in her own experiences throughout the Internet only serve to increase of sexual education. “One thing has always stuck the lack of education surrounding sexual health. with me; we were going through what things are University students in particular understand that ‘clean’ or ‘okay’ to go into your vagina. Tampons this is an education issue that must be addressed. and penises were accepted but when someone Increasingly, opportunities for students to said, ‘your fingers?’ they were told ‘no, your radically relearn sexual education in a university fingers are probably dirty.’ Why would your setting have appeared. Indeed, this year at fingers be dirtier than a penis? It’s just dubious the University of Sydney, multiple events are to me. It was obviously just what the teacher being held which cater to groups who may feel personally thought.” alienated by the practices of traditional sexuality Andrew*, a queer first year Law student, education, specifically women and LGBTQIA describes the sexuality education he received students. As part of USU’s Health & Wellbeing at school as, “well-intentioned but grossly Week, SHADES hosted an autonomous oral sex inadequate.” He says that, as a gay man, most safety workshop which facilitated peer education of what he learned was irrelevant to him. amongst queer and questioning students. The “Whether it was the teacher’s intention or not, Wom*n’s Collective has undertaken a ‘postering’ homosexuality was always discussed in terms campaign for sexual assault awareness and of risky, unhealthy and abnormal behaviour. hosted a panel discussion about the Royal Prince Sex was defined in such narrow terms. It was Alfred Hospital Sexual Assault Service. always about the penis penetrating the vagina Julia Readett, one of the 2014 Wom*n’s and nothing else.” Officers, said, “We believe that it’s important While both Heather and Andrew raised to include everyone in these activities because number of issues with the way they were taught they affect everyone and in different ways.” about sex and sexuality at school, both asserted She indicated that the collective would be that the classroom is not the best environment holding a consent workshop during this semester. for young people to learn about consent, sexual Additionally, a university-wide Sex and Consent health, diversity or body positivity. Instead, Day will be held on the 4 September, with Andrew believes that “you are the only person support from the Wom*n’s Collective and who you can trust with your sex education.” student organisations. This contrasts with the point of view of teachers Student activism regarding sexual education in the ARCSHS survey, who believed that school may help bridge the gap between school, the was an extremely important place in delivering media and the current sexual lives of young education about sexuality. people. Heather hopes programs like Sex and The acknowledgement by students that Consent Day can inform students of the realities sexuality education is lacking has resulted in of sex saying, “I feel like I read a lot online about a turn towards self-education. Here, the vastness consent, slut-shaming, stuff like that but that of the Internet has proven to be a valuable it’s really important to actually talk about it as resource for issues related to sexuality, or, as one friend remarked to me, “I just use Google and like, a community. I’m really hoping we can have an critical thought when I need to know something.” opportunity to do that at uni.” Yet it still remains that re-education would But this is problematic as it can perpetuate not be necessary if the school curriculum falsities around sex. For example, some addressed the broad and varied elements of heterosexual porn establishes illusions of sexual health in the first place. As long as schools female sexuality, misleadingly educating males and the syllabus continue to place little attention on how women act and react during intercourse. This too can be true of homosexual pornography. towards this issue, education will continue to be misleading and lacking. Creating a detailed For example, Andrew says that while gay porn but broad curriculum, in which teachers do not helped him to reaffirm his sexual identity it simply deliver their own opinions and knowledge, “obviously didn’t show real sex. Safe sex was will begin to establish the legitimacy and need rarely shown and porn made me feel negatively for accurate sexuality education. about my body.” The unrealistic perceptions * Names have been changed. of sexual acts that are seen in some porn and

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OPS154

Issue 03 13 FEATURE

Sean May explored alternate dimensions when he spent a wild and wet weekend at a bush doof held in an isolated forest outside of Sydney.

I was wet and on edge by the time I arrived at the bush doof. The rain from the previous night had finally cleared, and the morning sun cut through the fog making the sky pink. I was in a quiet stretch of forest about 150km south-west of Goulburn. As I arrived

at the entrance to the Regrowth Festival, I could see that the campground was well and truly awake – an odd sight at 7am. I drove in slow, guided by the muffled sound of music off in the distance pulsating at a tempo of 160bpm. What is a bush doof anyway? The term briefly made headlines last year when the Macquarie Dictionary included it in their latest edition. A bush doof was defined as ‘an outdoor dance party usually held in a remote location’. This is partly right, yet the ambiguity of the definition opens up room for doofs to be misconstrued. It’s not uncommon for the media to report large gatherings of bored, drunken suburban teenagers as bush doofs, often giving them a bad rap.

In reality, ‘bush doof ’ is colloquial for a psychedelic trance party. Psytrance has its roots in Goa, India, which has been a hippie enclave since the 1960s, and draws on psychedelic rock, oriental tribal music and electronic dance music. Bush doofs take you into a world where technology and spirituality meet on the dance floor; where, with the aid of psychedelic drugs, participants report mystical experiences. The music is key here. The repetitive rhythms and melodies are said to propel partygoers into altered states of consciousness, mirroring ancient shamanic rituals. As she offered me a rum and coke, Mars* told me that “doofs are a place to bring like-minded people together.” Atom* and Mars, a couple from Sydney’s south west

14 bull usu.edu.au FEATURE

“Psytrance parties are places where people can be completely accepted as themselves – they don't have to wear a mask. The dancing is just a pure expression of your inner energy.”

who met each other at a doof about two years ago, were my campground neighbours. We sat in a circle in front of their tent and they shared their stash of booze and cigarettes with me. It was just after two in the afternoon and the sun was hot and high in the sky. “I think the party is going to get better after all that drizzle over the last few days,” Mars said. Atom was one of the first people I met at the bush doof. When I arrived in the morning, I was still soaking wet from being exposed to the elements. Atom had offered me a much-needed cup of hot tea, while several other people lent me clothing. The bag I had strapped to the back of my bike had been soaked through, leaving everything inside of it wet. “Being in a positive state and doing positive things for other people will help develop more of a culture and a basis for positive interaction,” Atom told me. “It’s far better than getting drunk at a bunch of random nightclubs with different people who are out for instant gratification.” Atom wasn’t wrong; people were generous at the bush doof. When I arrived in the morning, I was $100 short for the

entrance fee. I told the security guard at the gate that I had friends inside who would spot me the extra cash and after a little convincing he let me in. However, he took my driver’s license as collateral to be returned when I came back with the money. I was in a moral predicament. While I could have easily found a way to get money it was equally easy, if not easier, to forget about my licence. I could have renewed my licence for a fraction of the ticket price. While I contemplated my next move inside, Atom politely suggested that I should be honest. His plan seemed reasonable. I was to offer packing down the festival the day after the event had finished for a free ticket. But just as I had decided to follow Atom’s plan, an older man, with long greying hair approached me. “You’re the guy without the money eh,” he said, as he handed over my licence. “Some guy came in with a plus one ticket with no plus one, and wanted the next person to get in for free,” he said. “You’re the lucky one.” Regrowth Festival had three music stages sprawled out on the property, with about

a dozen stalls peppered in between. The stalls sold everything from clothes to handmade trinkets, homemade homeopathic remedies and chai. Food options were vegan friendly and there was even an organic coffee hut. Besides a stellar line-up of international and local musical acts, the bush doof offered an array of activities. There were yoga and healing classes during the day and there were light and fire performances at night. But the ethos behind Regrowth was an environmentally conscious one, and one of the main attractions of the festival was to volunteer for revegetation work in a degraded area of bushland. I was seated under a tree waiting for a ute to pick me up so I could go and plant trees. I had seen the truck earlier in the day, zooming back and forth along the main dirt road of the camping section, with people sitting in the utility tray with shovels in hand. It was getting late in the afternoon and as I waited for the ute only four others were with me. It seemed that people preferred to plant trees earlier in the day and party at night. A mother and her young child were sitting next to me under the tree, also waiting for the ute. The child frolicked on the dirt road,

Issue 03 15 FEATURE

“It’s far better than getting drunk at a bunch of random nightclubs with different people who are out for instant gratification.”

waving her arms to the music. “We’ve been to a few events with her,” the mother said while watching her child dance. “She really loves it during the day. She loves the colours and the music.” This wasn’t an anomaly either. There were many young families there and it wasn’t unusual to see a child dancing with the others at the main stage, their heads bobbing under the weight of big noise protection earmuffs. The festival even had a ‘kids’ space’ which ran workshops and activities for children. After a little while, the truck finally arrived. A skinny guy wearing a baseball cap and a wiry goatee stepped out of the truck. “Sorry guys, there are no more trees to plant,” he said. “All finished. One day ahead of schedule.” Two thousand five hundred trees were planted that weekend between the 1300 people that attended the festival. The other would-be tree planters exchanged words of disappointment before dispersing. The sun was setting so I headed to the main stage. Psytrance parties follow a particular pattern in which the music progressively gets faster and darker as the day turns into night, reaching an apex at sunrise. By the look of the dance floor, the party

had begun to take a sinister turn. The main stage area was dimly lit with hues of purple, green and blue, which stood out sharply against the backdrop of night. This had an eerie effect on me, which was heightened by the two giant white faces that flanked the stage, which morphed as shifting shapes and colour were projected onto them. I sat next to Max and Serena on the edge of the dance floor, watching the partygoers as they stomped the earth with their feet. “One thing I want to say about the dancing: it’s really essential to the whole experience,” Max said. “Psytrance parties are places where people can be completely accepted as themselves, they don’t have to wear a mask. The dancing is just a pure expression of your inner energy.” People shuffled on the dance floor at about an arm reach away from each other. There wasn’t anything sexual about the dance, and people seemed to rather dance alone within their own personal space than with each other. “We meet in the fifth dimension, and in that dimension we are one,” Serena said. “When you first start out you need a ticket, something to boost you into the fifth dimension,”

she said of the role of psychoactive substances at doofs. “But I’m trying to get there by myself now, through the music and dancing and breathing.” The night faded under the stern stare of the two white faces on either side of the stage, as the gyrating projections grew darker and more twisted. I woke up feeling like I’d slept for 30 seconds. It was Monday morning and the inside of my tent was hot. Like a rat trapped in some nightmarish lab experiment, I knew I had to get out. I was wrecked. Having slept six hours at the most, my senses were both numbed and heightened. As I lay on the ground I could hear the distant thump of dark psytrance beating through the trees. The campground was near deserted. I spotted a guy with a metallic cream whipper in his hands. “The main stage is heating up,” he said as he loaded a nitrous oxide cartridge into the dispenser, which made a quiet hissing sound. He inhaled and dazed off into the distance. I left quietly as others continued to explore the realm of alternate dimensions. *Names have been changed.

2014

SCREENING

PARTY Presented by the Clubs & Societies Office with the support of USU student clubs

SUNDAY

DOORS OPEN AT 6.30PM SCREENING FROM 7.30PM

MANNING BAR

- Karaoke Room

11TH MAY FREE for ACCESS $5 for Non-ACCESS

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- Prizes for best dressed - Flag making & face painting workshop Entry includes food and drink vouchers to first 200 ACCESS members

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usu.edu.au

Issue 03 17 INTERVIEW

Interview ANDREW HANSEN

Very few comedians have been as successful as Andrew Hansen of The Chaser in so many forms of media. An alumnus of the University of Sydney’s Arts Faculty, Hansen initially rose to prominence as part of the controversial comedy group’s first television series CNNNN in 2002. Now, Hansen has teamed up with fellow Chaser Chris Taylor and is back in front of a live audience for One Man Show. Eden Caceda sits down for a chat with the cheeky comedian. You came to the University of Sydney over 20 years ago.What was your degree like? I took a rather long time to do a degree in Australian Literature. It meant you studied normal literature with a few Australian novels thrown in. It was great. I had a really great time there. What clubs and societies were you a part of? I did quite a few shows with SUDS and I did a couple of the faculty revues. I did the Arts Revue a few times, which were some of my earlier attempts in sketch comedy. And it was a brilliant opportunity because people who wanted to get up and do a sketch could do it. It was a good vehicle for people who wanted to get into that kind of stuff. So you were always interested in comedy and acting? It’s never been my number one dream to be a comic or anything like that, I kind of fell into it by accident, at the risk of sounding clichéd. Nobody has a regular past – anyone who ends up doing comedy or writer-performer stuff never really have a normal story; it’s usually just a series of

accidents and mishaps. So even to this day I’m not entirely sure if I’m meant to be doing it or not. I enjoyed doing comedy at uni. It’s slightly different because you’re fairly protected, your audience is quite small, they’re other students so you don’t get the level of hatred and outrage that you get from the general public, which is good because if you got that straight away nobody would continue doing it. The Chaser started in 1999.What was that like? The Chaser newspaper started back then, which means we’ve been together 15 years. I wasn’t that heavily involved back then but I suppose I grew into it in 2002. People think that every time we do a project, whether it’s a TV show or a stage show or whatever, and it ends, people think we stop. We have this on and off lifestyle. What makes you keep coming back to this group of people? It’s poverty and the need to make an income. We’ve found a bunch of people out there who like us and our stuff so it makes sense to keep making stuff as long as we enjoy working together. We don’t always have the same taste as each other and not every project is all of us. We have done some small solo projects. But you’re right, we keep coming back to this core group. It’s fun and it’s a mixture of pleasure and pain in this job. It’s difficult and stressful but it’s much better than having a normal job. I’ve tried having normal jobs but I don’t like them that much. I don’t really recommend them to anyone. The Chasers War on Everything was your biggest project.Why do you think it was so popular?

Yes, it was surprisingly successful. I always thought our stuff wasn’t mainstream and nothing like an American sitcom or relatable stand-up comedy. It was just a bit weird and odd making that show when we had really high ratings that were reserved for mainstream shows that had broad appeal to the masses. We had normal people watching this experimental show that has poor taste and was dark. As a result of that, there was always a proportion of the audience who was always bemused and disgusted. When it came to The Hamster Wheel, we had an audience who liked our stuff and were comfortable with us. What inspired One Man Show with fellow Chaser Chris Taylor? Chris and I have wanted to do a two-handed sketch show for two years and we finally had the time to do it because we had a nice block of time. It’s a fun show. It’s absurd and there are a lot of characters, putting on wigs and funny moustaches. It’s very similar to Rowan Atkinson’s old comedy shows. It’s letting Chris and I indulge ourselves with our comedy instead of the satirical and contemporary comedy that we screened on TV. There’s a bit of it in the show, but it’s essentially an old song revue of sketches and songs and it’s been working well. Will there be any more Chaser? There will be! There’s a new Chaser TV show coming up later in the year. We’re trying to nut out a new format. I wish I could tell you more but I’m afraid I can’t because we haven’t figured it out yet. It will be a comedy show, though, I can tell you that.

18 bull usu.edu.au FEATURE

A racist australia

Issue 03 19 FEATURE

KATIE DAVERN INVESTIGATES AUSTRALIA’S RACIST TENDENCIES.

Maybe you noticed it between the lines of news stories on asylum seekers. You might have noticed it during a late-night conversation with a friend at that party on Saturday. You most definitely would have noticed it at least once on your Facebook newsfeed. In spite of Australia’s reputation as a multicultural society, racism is still a serious issue and one that needs constant attention. Ours is a nation that has seen extensive changes to population demographics and even greater variation to attitudes towards those demographics within the last 100 years or so. In the 12 months up to September 2013 alone, Australia’s population grew by 240,000 people due to immigration. This relatively large migrant intake today is at odds with the White Australia policy, rooted in the Immigration Act 1901 (Cth), which was more than warmly received by the Australian public at the time. Prime Minister William Morris Hughes in 1919 called it “the greatest thing we have achieved.” For racism to be so openly condoned is a strange concept for the modern day Australian. Though, just because we can all wonder in bamboozled disgust at how it took 25 years for the White Australia policy to be completely eradicated, it doesn’t automatically follow that Australian society is a beacon of cultural tolerance. Those conversations that start with “I’m not a racist, but...”, the fact that recent surveys show 41.3 per cent of recent immigrants report discrimination based on ethnicity or religion compared to the national average of 16.2 per cent, and even the substantial gap in health, education and employment prospects between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the non-indigenous population – these are facts which point the finger at racism as systemic and institutionalised. This is racism that is embedded in our government policies, our social interactions, and everything in between. ‘Casual racism’ is a phrase that bubbles to the surface of public concern every so often and describes the seemingly harmless racial commentary that most often occurs in a social setting. Calling someone of Aboriginal descent an ape, for example, is something that constitutes racism. It’s also something that Australian of the Year, Co-Founder of the Goodes and O’Loughlin (GO) Foundation and AFL player, Adam Goodes, knows only too well. Goodes explained that it wasn’t until he had access to the resources necessary to fully understand and connect with his own Aboriginality that he could fully appreciate the extent of

racism directed at him and Indigenous peoples. “For me, standing up to racism is something I’ve been able to do comfortably in the last ten years, but it’s something that I haven’t always been able to have the courage to do... To be seen as a leader in doing that now is something I’m very humbled by, because it wasn’t always like that,” said Goodes. In everyday conversations, it is too easy for racism to be trivialised and disguised as humour. “Jokes about these types of things, people think that it’s funny. You ask people that they’re making the joke about and it hurts... I think the biggest effect on me was obviously being pointed out as different from everybody else,” Goodes explained. Racism is the societal ugliness that we try to hide, yet it is even further perpetuated in online interactions. Not unlike the concept of casual racism in a physical setting, humour allows online hate to flourish. Elimihate is an online magazine run by Sydney University students Jessica Glanz, Mary Todd and Claire Paterson that has recently been incorporated by the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI). “I think one of the main reasons that it is being allowed to continue is because people think it’s funny; it gets shared, it spreads,” said Glanz. Starting as a university assignment, Elimihate’s aim was to raise awareness of the specifically anti-Semitic content that is allowed to exist on Facebook. Now that Elimihate has been incorporated by OHPI, their focus has shifted to hate speech of all kinds, including that directed towards Aboriginal Australians. “I was absolutely mind blown by how many of these fan pages exist... I mean because I’ve seen really anti-Semitic content, a random post here or there, but when you actively start searching on Facebook for hate sites, it’s just too easy to stumble upon,” said Glanz. The racial vilification experienced by individuals such as Adam Goodes as well as the hatred featured online are only parts of the racism puzzle. Racial discrimination is, more often than not, far more institutionalised and normalised in Australian society. Annette Van Gent, the Employment and Discrimination Solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, deals with clients who have been victims of racial discrimination. She says that people experience racial discrimination when they try to access public facilities, public places, and goods and services, and where the party guilty of discrimination is a much larger respondent and rarely an individual.

This is racism that is embedded in our government policies, our social interactions, and everything in between.

20 bull usu.edu.au FEATURE

“What we’re dealing with is an ongoing challenge that all societies face... it’s not something that you ever solve, but on the other hand it would be a mistake if you stopped trying to solve it.”

Image courtesy of smh.com.au

The effects of racial discrimination are just as disheartening as they are for those who are racially vilified. “I think it causes a lot of emotional turmoil for the client who’s experienced it. It causes them to obviously feel a lot of anger around what’s occurred but I think also sometimes feelings of sadness and depression, feelings of not being able to fully participate in their community and a sense of isolation coming from that,” Van Gent said. It is truly perplexing then, that despite Australia’s clear demographic shift from the days of the White Australia policy, despite Australia being a nation that prides itself on multiculturalism and whose growth as a nation is built on immigration, racism is still so prevalent. Goodes struggled to identify why racism is such an issue in Australia. “I dunno if I have the right answer to why it happens, I just know that it does. I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it, and nowadays I try to put a stop to it if I do see it, or hear it, or feel it myself... I do think we have a real casualness to racism in Australia.” It’s a difficult phenomenon to pinpoint, but some researchers have more clues about the issue. Professor Andrew Markus, through the Scanlon Foundation and Federal Government’s Mapping Social Cohesion Surveys, has been observing the changes in Australian attitudes towards immigrants and asylum seekers since 2007. One of the strongest findings of the 2013 survey conducted in 2013 was that a factor that had once been considered the most desirable feature of Australia – that Australians are friendly, caring and hospitable – was marked as a positive feature by only three per cent of recent migrants. In fact, racism and discrimination against immigrants was one of

the least-liked features of Australian life. Markus said, “When we first started doing the surveys in 2007, levels of reported discrimination were lower than we’re finding in the most recent surveys, so it’s an issue,” but ceded, “It’s an issue I think in all societies. It’s not distinctive to Australia.” “And the general view, and I think it’s a reasonable view, is that Australia is one of the, if not the most, successful multicultural society,” he continued. “When we’re talking discrimination and we’re talking about racism, I think what we’re doing is we’re talking about the actions of a minority, not a majority of the population.” In the reports that Markus has compiled, he has come to the conclusion that only about 10 per cent of the Australian population is “seriously intolerant”. It was also concluded that in 2013, 42 per cent of those surveyed believe that current intakes of immigration were too high. As Markus explained, multiculturalism is harder than it looks, for both the host country and the new settlers. “It is always a very difficult experience for people to have to leave the country in which they grew up and resettle themselves in another place. It’s never easy.” But how do you solve the problem when politicians are advocating changes to key legislation that will limit a person’s capacity to seek justice for a racially vilifying act? Last month, Attorney General Senator George Brandis proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) which will significantly alter Section 18, a section that contains a legislative remedy for those who have been racially vilified, other than more costly resolutions such as defamation. Community consultation on the changes is soon to close and the amendments have been the subject of much debate.

Issue 03 21 FEATURE

Image courtesy of theguardian.com

On one hand, Brandis and his supporters have said they are fighting for the right to speak freely. If one moment in the whole debate were ever to be named the match that lit the fire, it would be Brandis’ words: “People do have a right to be bigots, you know.” Many people such as Penny Wong, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and Gillian Triggs, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, have objected to the changes. Those against the new provisions have said that eliminating the grounds of insult, offence and intimidation and adding a broader exemption clause would prevent access to justice. Van Gent agreed and said, “I guess from our perspective [at Redfern Legal Centre] it is a little bit unfortunate because it means that a person has essentially lost that avenue to be able to make a complaint about vilifying behaviour that might be affecting them.” Some commentators have noted that what will be missed most is the symbolism of the original wording of Section 18C that gave a clear message that racism would not be tolerated. Dr Tim Soutphommasane, the Race Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, addressed the issue in his Australia Asia Education Engagement Symposium in Melbourne in early April. He said, “What some of those calling for more free speech do not recognise is that racial vilification can often harm free speech, by silencing those on which it is targeted.” So, how do you solve a problem so unfortunately ingrained in our everyday lives? Wording of legislation aside, racism speaks to entrenched social attitudes towards different races and groups. “It’s going

to take widespread changes in attitudes amongst us as a community to really address this issue,” Van Gent said According to Goodes, discussion and understanding is key. “I think we need to keep talking about it, we need to keep understanding that we are all different, we all come from different places, we have different religions, different sexualities even, we’re different in gender and we should never discriminate against each other because of any of those differences.” In the online form that racism often takes, Glanz also agrees education is paramount. “It’s about teaching people, particularly on the internet, that sharing a post no longer just affects your immediate circle. Things on the internet have a much larger, broader impact than people realise; it all starts with education.” Markus emphasised that it is the social programs that are put in place in communities where there is a high proportion of immigrants that truly makes a difference. “Local initiatives such as ‘Welcome to Australia’, people volunteering and making that effort to be accommodating and welcoming – that’s significant,” Markus explained. “What we’re dealing with is an ongoing challenge that all societies face... it’s not something that you ever solve, but on the other hand it would be a mistake if you stopped trying to solve it.” Whatever the cause, it’s clear that racism is real; it is a living, breathing aspect of Australian society and is something that needs to be addressed on a government level, but also in our interpersonal relations. Everyone is capable of standing up to racism.

22 bull usu.edu.au TASTE

TASTE COMMUNAL DINING

Image courtesy of paupersguide.wordpress.com

Broadening your palate for food and friendship

Sophie-Anaïs Barbeau-Scurla If you’re sick of having dinner with people you know, there’s a simple solution: share a meal and conversation with strangers. The communal dining concept has been around for a while, and with the local Sydney scene booming there’s no better time to check out this delightful trend. The idea is simple: you head along to a restaurant and sit at a massive table with a bunch of people you’ve never met, enjoy a delicious meal together and perhaps make a few new friends. “No way! We like the same food, we have so many similar interests, let’s be mates,” will (hopefully) be the words on your lips all night. The magic starts when you order your food. Let’s say you ask for the fish fillet, you’re bound to find someone else with a love of modern hip-hop ready to tell you “it’s provocative, it gets the people going.” Failing that, someone might simply choose to have what you’re having, opening up the chance to explore a shared taste for a certain cheesy late 80s Meg Ryan rom-com. And there you have it: BOOM, instant friends (IT’S NOT AWKWARD AT ALL, I PROMISE)! Now that I’ve definitely convinced you that you want to experience communal

dining for yourself, I’m sure you’re asking: “But where do I go?” Relax, I’ve done the research for you. Table for 20 is the main place to check out. It’s open for dinner from 8pm Wednesday through Saturday, however a minimum two-person reservation is required, so grab a friend and head along to experience the unique private dinner party vibe. Triple threat Michael Fantuz plays chef, host and owner, treating diners to a three course set menu of Italian cuisine. Feel free to BYO, with no corkage, and enjoy the live music every night. Plus, you’ll be contributing to Hope Street Charities’ community projects. If that sounds too pretentious for your liking (damn you’re picky), The Farmhouse in Kings Cross is an effortlessly cool restaurant serving food inspired by the simplicity of country living. They’re flexible enough to cater for vegetarians and will happily whip up a non-meat delicacy if given notice. The Farmhouse is open for dinner Wednesday to Saturday with two sittings at 6.30pm and 8.30pm, and for those looking for a Sunday arvo feed, lunch is available at 2pm and dinner at 6.30pm. Check it out next time before you head off clubbing. But if rocking up to a venue and going on what is essentially a blind group date sounds a little too adventurous for you, how about social dining? While it is in many ways similar to communal dining,

social dining utilises the power of social media and the interwebs, allowing you to meet your new friends online first. You can browse their profiles and determine whether they are worthy of dining with you. This is great because you can join specific food oriented groups, like the Mexican food enthusiasts dedicated to trying out every Mexican joint in Sydney (I’ll see you there). Many social diners are also serial diners, where groups dine at restaurants in sequential order, be it by suburb, alphabetically etc. So whether you’re lonely, tired of your old mates or looking to shake up the dating game, rest assured there are gastronomic adventures awaiting you beyond the local sushi train.

COMMUNAL DINING RESTAURANTS in Sydney to try: 1. Table for 20 182 Campbell Street, Surry Hills 2010 2. The Farmhouse 4/40 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross 2011 3. Bills 433 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst 2010 4. Lentil As Anything Opening soon on King Street, Newtown 2042

Issue 03 23 GO

GO Patagonia

ICE CAPS IN SOUTH AMERICA

EDEN CACEDA Few people would associate South America with anything but images of llamas, Incan ruins and Shakira, but should any traveller venture far below the capitals Buenos Aires and Santiago, they would discover sights easily confused for the South Pole. This is Patagonia. Located on the southern end of South America, Patagonia is the region that is shared by Argentina and Chile. Isolated and mountainous, the cold area is host to 47 gigantic glaciers that can be seen from both the Chilean and Argentine borders, resides between mountains and encroaches onto water. Los Glaciares National Park in Patagonia is the only destination to see these unforgettable sights and experience a relatively unknown tourist secret. A five-hour plane trip from Buenos Aires, El Calafate is the remote town that is the tourist hub for the few travellers who visit Los Glaciares National Park. The quaint town is a kaleidoscope of different cultures. Boasting a number of different cuisines and small markets, staying in the tiny municipality is like staying in a town forgotten by the world. The seven million kilometre square Los Glaciares National Park is the second largest national park in the world and an engrossing forest landscape that takes your breath away. Just under two hours from El Calafate, the National Park houses

the largest ice cap outside of Antarctica and Greenland. The dense woodlands combined with the freezing air could make any person believe they are in the forests of Alaska, on the verge of witnessing huge displays of ice. However, unlike Alaska, the colossal glaciers that lie outside the woods are a mystifying spectacle. Confronting the monster that is the Perito Moreno glacier is completely bewildering. The blue mass looks like rocky land and encroaches beyond the water separating the mountains and the viewpoints. Going over 250km back into the Andes and spanning 30km in length, the glacier is truly a wall of ice. With the walking circuit allowing visitors to view the face of the glacier, it is almost impossible to comprehend that this landmass is entirely made of ice. Though of detriment to the environment, every time a large piece of ice collapses as the glacier advances, all spectators cheer. I was lucky enough to board a boat along the central lake of the National Park, allowing me to see most of the other glaciers Patagonia holds. Monstrous and striking, each glacier is different and their sheer size is terrifying. Glacier trekking is probably the most exciting part of the entire adventure but not for the physically unfit. Strapping on ice grips, everybody has a chance to climb Perito Moreno and experience the glacier from the top. Nicknamed ‘minitrekking’, the hour and a half walk allows you to look inside crevasses and run your

hands through running water on the glacier. Thankfully, after some strenuous exercise, the supervising hiker breaks some ice from the glacier and serves it to us with whiskey. South America isn’t often considered when wanting to see gargantuan glaciers usually reserved for Antarctica and Greenland, but what is promised goes above and beyond the imagination. I recommend a visit to this secret and unforgettable location before other people find out about it.

To Do’s in Chile and Argentina: 1. Buenos Aires: Visit La Casa Rosada (The Pink House) where Eva Peron once spoke to the Argentine people. Known for its European-style architecture, there’s a reason they call it “the Paris of South America”. 2. Lookout from Cerro San Cristobal Bike or hike to the top of the cerro (hill) for a full view of Santiago, Chile. From here you can see the entire city and even see the Andes in the background. 3. Do La Boca: The neighbourhood of the Argentine capital is home to renowned football club Boca Juniors. The district has colourful houses and pedestrian streets as well as tango clubs and Italian taverns. Absolute must visit. 4. The Plaza De Armas Considered the “heart and soul” of Santiago, this is the centerpiece of the entire layout of Santiago. Designed in 1541, you can get to all the historical buildings from here.

24 bull usu.edu.au MOVE section heading

MOVE JAMAICAN DANCEHALL

Image courtesy of clintonlindsay.com

GET LOW AND GET FUNKY

CLAIRE PATERSON It’s the first time I’ve been told to “bring my booty”, an asset I certainly have but am not entirely sure how to use. The venue is Dance Central in Surry Hills where a Jamaican Dancehall class is held and I am required to throw said booty. Having no formal booty-shaking training (read: anything non-alcohol fueled), let’s just say I’m experiencing mild performance anxiety. Dancehall was born out of Jamaican ghetto youth culture in the 1970s and has evolved into a dance scene of feverish reggae, bumps, grinds, twerks and something called the ‘willy bounce’. As I wait to start the class, I catch a glimpse of the robotic glide of a front-rower in the hip-hop ‘beginners’. I coach myself through a body roll in my head and I can’t help but compare myself to a fish in its last spasms of life. Damn my parents for idly letting me quit the overlysequined world of primary school dance! Entering the class is teacher Lisa Baker, one of Dance Central’s directors, who

promptly asks the dreaded question: “So who’s never done this before?” To my delight there are four other people looking slightly on edge. In the end, surprisingly, the class is neither impossible to follow or too akin to the hyper aggressive ‘booty style’ I’d seen on YouTube. And boy do you sweat! Eventually I shed my self-consciousness and got into the groove, only to have the illusion shattered when I overenthusiastically performed an elaborate pony tail flick/sassy head dip, sending my glasses across the room. Note to self: invest in contacts. Dancehall in Sydney has only, in the past couple of years, edged into more of a mainstream dance scene. Lisa and her colleagues at Dance Central held what was probably Sydney’s first Dancehall class almost eight years ago with Lisa and fellow teacher Shar Mitchell the only attendees for several months. “The Dancehall scene in Sydney grew very slowly. It’s only been over the last two years that other dance schools have decided that it’s cool... Hip hop will always be the main type of street style, but Dancehall is for people who want something different,” Lisa explains.

It was interesting to note that whilst in Jamaica Dancehall is enjoyed by both men and women, the choreography that I tried to replicate with much Beyoncé-inspired gusto was mostly (ahem) very anatomically geared towards women. Call it the ‘Beyoncé effect’ – there’s a definite Dancehall influence in the choreography of Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)” music video and her famed 2013 Super bowl bonanza – but Dancehall’s local popularity does seem to be linked to the fact that it’s an overtly feminine form of street style dance. As for me, I found it quite useful to imagine I had a lot more ‘junk in the trunk’ (Fergie, 2009) to get my body to move in ways it’s certainly not accustomed to, considering the unfortunate grind and/or fist-pump action commonly seen on the average Australian dance floor. If you find yourself yearning to fulfill the desire to ‘get low’, I do highly recommend you get you and your booty along to a Dancehall class. I’ll probably be there, refining my twerking. I’m sorry if I hit you with my glasses.

Issue 03 07 25 section heading LEARN

LEARN THE PROTEST-DOWNLOAD

A Pirate’s Treatise

MAX HALL The fantasy of a perfect viewing experience is simple: search for a title, click play and your work is done. Efforts to make this scenario a reality have taken front and centre in the world of television and movies, where legitimate sources of content must compete with the allure of freely available pirated material. Leading the charge is American-based on-demand streaming service Netflix whose 44 million subscribers prove that people are willing to pay for content delivered conveniently. A small monthly fee grants users immediate access to thousands of movies and television series wherever they are on almost any device. Netflix and similar services recognise that they will never compete with piracy for price; it’s important that artists are paid fairly for their work and studios have a profit incentive to produce shows. Instead, an emphasis on packaging quality video in an attractive way with extras, such as custom movie suggestions, is used to deter customers from the riskier and more complicated process of downloading illegal material. This approach appears to be working. When asked about the relationship between piracy and legitimate streaming services, Ted Sarandos, head of content for Netflix, claimed that “BitTorrent traffic drops as the Netflix traffic grows.” Last year in Australia, sales of legal digital content through iTunes and other services grew to $143.67 million. Piracy groups have struck back at aesthetically pleasing paid services with the

recent release of a free application called Popcorn Time. It aims to reduce the complexity of accessing torrents by providing an attractive interface simple enough for a three year old to use. There’s no need to navigate The Pirate Bay for potentially dodgy links and nervously virus scan the How I Met Your Mother finale. Instead, you choose from a list of popular movies largely still in cinemas, or search for an older title which simply loads and plays. We deserve this sort of experience legally, yet prohibitive licensing and inertia in an industry that yearns for the ticket sales and advertising revenues of the past has prevented the streaming innovators such as Netflix from expanding quickly to Australia. It is only when companies see enough profit falling through their grasp that they will change to meet the needs of audiences they take for granted. For this reason, when you find yourself craving old episodes of Fawlty Towers, or obsessively waiting for new Game of Thrones, you should pirate your video. But the mere protest-download is not enough. There are two kinds of people in the world of online piracy – ‘seeders’ and ‘leeches’. For the uninitiated, ‘seeding’ is the term for sharing material from your computer as part of a peer-to-peer network so that others, the ‘leeches’, can download it. The more people seed content, the faster it can be downloaded and the harder it is for a file to be taken down. When Winston Churchill addressed an empty parliament as the Blitzkrieg came to an end in 1940, it is unlikely that he intended to articulate the state of the modern internet by saying “never has so much been owed by

*LEGALLY* DOWNLOAD THESE: 1. DARK DAYS Conceived by an amateur

filmmaker, this documentary explores the life of the homeless living in the abandoned subway tunnels of New York City. The homeless were enlisted as a filmcrew, constructing makeshift lighting and audio rigs.

2. Drop Dead Gorgeous: This mockumentary perfectly satirises horror movies and beauty pageants. Simultaneously.

3. Dazed and Confused: Best teen movie ever.

4. Radiohead's Discography: Killer tracks, and they are happy for you to listen to their music for free anyway.

5. GAME OF THRONES: Dragons. so many to so few.” We rely on the efforts of a few individuals to maintain the sprawling array of digital wares that are shared by all. If the fight for accessible, quality content at a reasonable price relies on forcing the film studios and media conglomerates to provide an alternative to the ease of piracy, then it is the moral responsibility of each person to share as much as they watch. Now, we do understand; life is hard and seeding might be too much of a burden when your parents refuse to upgrade their shitty internet, or worse you have to pay for it yourself. While we would never suggest that the uploading of content on university internet during a lecture is a fantastic idea, the moral duty one has to seed cannot be ignored in the fight for that episode of TV.

NOW OPEN C L O T H I N G & A P PA R E L C O U R S E C O L L AT E R A L ACADEMIC DRESS MEMORABILIA & GIFTS

HOLME BUILDING

Issue 03 27 FEATURE

A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW LUCY LESTER GIVES YOU THE TALK.

28 bull usu.edu.au FEATURE

Sarah* didn’t immediately realise what had happened. She thought it was on the floor in the dark; that it had grown legs and walked away, unnoticed. It took her and Jack* a while to realise it had vanished. One thing was certain. It was no longer on the penis – the sex felt too good for that to be the case. Sooner or later, she had to speak up. They scrambled around on the floor looking for the lost love glove. But it appeared their search was in vain. That was, at least, until Sarah finally decided to accept an alternate state of affairs the following morning. After quickly consulting Yahoo Answers, she squatted, slid two fingers inside herself, and felt around. It was painful, but eventually her probe found its mark and she managed to pull the long slippery remnants of a condom from her vagina. She stared at it for a moment in horror. Sex and romance suddenly seemed entirely irreconcilable. Contraception is a slimy area where things can be hard to grasp. Committing to oral contraception requires mental discipline – missing the pill by more than a couple of hours may lead to disastrous outcomes. Forgetting can be easy. An engaging conversation, an early night, the confusion of travel or the simplest of distractions can lead to forgetfulness. There’s a tiny capsule between you and miniature you. Most people view birth control pills as necessary burdens to have decent safe sex. However, it’s only women who have to think about oral contraceptives. Men whip out a condom (sometimes) when the right moment strikes; women are preparing for that moment every day at the same time, rain, hail or shine. It’s time for a decent male contraceptive. There are however disparate market forces at play, and confusion about what impact such a pill would have on sexual interaction and gender politics. While there are creative options for men seeking reversible contraception, research and development in this area are

yet to bear fruit. Current options include heating one’s testicles directly before sex, an injection into the head of the penis, or popping a pill that stops sperm production but has ‘serious side effects’ when given to rats. If digesting millions of hemp seeds is your thing, you’re in luck; that could also decrease your sperm count. If you’re looking for something adventurous, painful and permanent, you can also have your urethra surgically blocked. Comparatively, the number and variety of viable, massdistributed alternatives for women highlights how few options men have when seeking to control their virility. Women can use the pill, the mini pill, femidoms, twelve week hormonal injections, intrauterine devices, vaginal rings and the injected rod. The latter, is particularly worthy of note; it is close to 100 per cent effective, lasts three years and can be inserted with local anaesthetic. Conversely, men have little control over the likelihood of pregnancy, bar the use of a condom. Condoms as many of us, including Ross from Friends, know, fail at an alarmingly high rate. And so the responsibility of avoiding unwanted pregnancy falls to the woman; women suffer the brunt of the prevention and the brunt of the consequences. The lack of social impetus for research and development of easy, painless, economical male contraception doesn’t make logical sense. Although women suffer various physical, social, psychological and financial consequences as a result of accidental pregnancy, men will also bear significant legal responsibility if the pregnancy is carried to term. Child support requires a contribution of 18 per cent of the father’s income. Perhaps this doesn’t faze an unemployed 19 year old – as my brother once told my father when getting ‘the talk’, “18 per cent of nothing is nothing”. This 18 per cent must be contributed until such time as the child turns 18. By the time the man is 37, it is likely he will be contributing more than 18 per cent of nothing.

Issue 03 29 FEATURE

It was painful, but eventually her probe found its mark and she managed to pull the long slippery remnants of a condom from her vagina.

Financial incentive alone is a strong motivation for men to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Unfortunately, a study conducted by researchers at Angila Ruskin University in 2011 found that when asked how they would feel if their partner was in control of contraception, for example, as the sole user of a daily pill, “42 per cent of respondents expressed concerns that men would forget to take a male pill.” There is a lack of research and development for a number of reasons. The first is scientific difficulty. According to andrologist Dr Steven Fleming, the main problem is designing a pill that targets the localised sites of sperm production, without depriving the rest of the body of much-needed testosterone, which would affect muscle, bone and skin. However, scientific roadblocks are slowly being overcome. Fleming said that, once a certain type of purinoceptor hormone blocker is developed, a viable alternative could cause a “seismic” shift in the balance of contraceptive responsibility between the sexes. This shift in responsibility brings us to a more insidious roadblock. Because contraception is considered a female responsibility, not only does the market appear full, but a male oral contraceptive would be considered emasculating. Condoms are marketed in a way that appeals to traditional machismo – with softcore imaging on the packaging; with directives talking to the male about how ‘she’ will react to the ribbed feeling, etc. Ironically, the macho ritual of breaking the packet open with teeth can leave the rubber ripped and useless. For a long time, many women have assumed the responsibility of buying condoms as a means of protecting themselves. This has been helpful in situations where men have had only one condom and needed more, the condom is out of date or faulty; even rolling the condom the wrong way down slightly and re-rolling it the other way can cause pregnancy. Hence if women are not deterred by the hyper-

masculine marketing of condoms, men will likely pay for the necessity, even if the product is seen as emasculating. As any boy or girl buying condoms or lubricant for the first time knows, necessity will always override embarrassment in these matters. Linda Przhedetsky, a gender studies alumni from the University of Sydney, suggested a key distinction between the condom and a male pill: the condom is visible, and the way it works is basic and logical. A pill regulates one’s entire body, and contains a greater element of the unknown. Graduating to pill usage would thus be an alien experience for men, but would presumably become more comfortable over time.The impacts on gender politics would therefore be marginal. Men who want a more reliable contraceptive would be able to control a significant part of their destinies. Even the women with difficulty trusting their partners would still be able to take their own oral contraceptive. Finally, women who experience negative side effects on the pill or other kinds of hormone regulating contraceptives would have another option other than just ‘risking it’. Both quantity and diversity of options is required to defeat an obvious and grave inequity. While condom use will always be vital to avoiding the spread of STIs, many partnerships would benefit from viable male contraception. The more men and women realise this, the more pharmaceutical actors will recognise the valuable gap in the market. While the detriments of accidental pregnancy affect women, men and children, so too will the benefits of empowering both genders to avoid the possibility.

*Names have been changed

Ale Cun xand nin ra Exp gha iry D m at 3 1D

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Issue 03 31 THE TIME I TRIED...

THE TIME I TRIED... THE 5:2 DIET

Hannah Edensor FEELS THE PAIN OF 500 CALORIES Someone once told me that dieting is just eating food that makes you sad. So why do we do it? That’s a damn good question, and I still don’t quite have the answer. For about a week, I struggled to find it with what’s known as the 5:2 diet. Essentially, the 5:2 diet involves eating whatever you want for five days a week. I could gorge myself on delicious cakes and delectable chocolates, devour mouthwatering fish and chips from the corner shop, and binge on creamy, saucy pasta laden with fat. But alas, it wasn’t to last. The trick of the 5:2 diet is, as the name suggests, that two of the seven days are explicitly limited to a mere 500 calories per day. I thought I’d found the ultimate shortcut to weight loss. I hopped online and did a cursory search for meals under 500 calories. Expecting generous options such as pumpkin risotto, or salad with tasty dressing and feta cheese, I was sorely disappointed. Not only did I have limited choices, but the choices were on par with eating some grass from the backyard. Corn thins with a sliver of tomato, white bean and squash soup (hold the flavour), and corn tacos with lettuce and apple slices.

Anyone might look at this and think, “Hey that’s not so bad, it’s only for two days a week”. These were my exact thoughts. I could tolerate a day of starvation to compensate for a few days of indulgence. Day one started strong. I had a single slice of multi-grain bread with a smidge of avocado for breakfast, one solitary role of brown rice and cucumber sushi for lunch, and a teeny tiny bowl of tomato soup for dinner. I was on the express train to Thinsville. Except that my stomach was in hell. I have never been so hungry in my entire life, and all I could think about was sneaking out for a late night burrito smothered in glorious sour cream, followed by a healthy (excuse the irony) helping of fries. But it didn’t matter, because the following day I could do just that. Things were going well, until the second 500 calorie day arrived. I remember it well. It was a Wednesday, and I was wearing a loose fitting dress to hide my hunger-induced bloating, or was that from the binging the day before? I’d had a child-sized bowl of cereal

with low fat milk, a few sticks of celery and five almonds. I was at breaking point when my aunt invited me to a family dinner. I cringed, explaining I was on the 5:2 diet and would have to pass, but was persuaded to attend and “just eat the chicken”. I reluctantly accepted, but knew the challenge that lay ahead. My aunt is probably the most talented cook I’ve ever encountered, and her ‘family dinners’ are more like feasts for the royal family. I arrived at dinner, my feet lagging down the long hallway to the dreaded scene. The kitchen bench was adorned with creamy potato bake, pasta salad sprinkled with bacon, and the final kick in the gut – a flourless chocolate cake with strawberries and cream. It was all over. The willpower required of me for a measly two days a week was simply not strong enough to resist this feast. I apologised to my waistline, hung my head in shame, and picked up a fork. It was the most wonderful meal I’ve ever eaten, and brought me to the realisation that nothing will ever be worth sacrificing food.

I could tolerate a day of starvation to compensate for a few days of indulgence.

32 bull usu.edu.au FEATURE

ADOPTING CHANGE

Issue 03 33 FEATURE

Rob North weighs up the pros and cons of changes to Australia’s intercountry adoption regulations. Crowded around a small coffee table in an unassuming living room, a group of middle aged men and women are learning to speak English. In truncated sentences they relay the painful stories of giving up their children. To my surprise they all express a lifelong sense of regret. These are the Dandelions, the original parents of South Korean overseas adoptees, learning English so that they may better communicate with their long-lost, far-flung biological children. Every week they meet in Seoul to practice their English, support each other, and discuss any developments in South Korean adoption policy. Adoption is obviously never easy but I was surprised to hear just how much they genuinely loved and longed for contact with the children they had relinquished so long ago. After a few hours the conversation inevitably turns to Australia. They ask me the usual questions: “Have you seen a kangaroo?” and “Do you go surfing?” But discussions soon turned away from our golden soil, and the abounding nature’s gifts of beauty rich and rare, first towards the Stolen Generations, with whom they share their sympathy and sorrow, and then towards a more contemporary concern: intercountry adoption policies. Late last year Tony Abbott pledged his support to would-be adoptive parents, and put in place the first in a series of steps to review and reform the current regulations and policies surrounding both intercountry and domestic adoption. Speaking at an adoption awareness morning tea at Kirribilli House late last year, the Prime Minister said Australia would need to make intercountry adoption easier. “There are millions of children in orphanages overseas who would love to have parents and thousands of those, maybe even tens of thousands of those, could come to Australia,” he said. “To be born in Australia is to win the lottery of life and we would like to see more people winning the lottery of life by becoming Australians.” Coming from a government with a harsh line on asylum seekers, these statements seemed incongruous, but I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. In early March the Australian Federal Government followed through on the Prime

Minister’s pledge, making amendments to the Family Law (Bilateral Arrangements – Intercountry Adoption) Regulations. The amended regulations automatically recognise adoptions from Taiwan, South Korea and Ethiopia (countries who have not yet ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, but with which Australia has a bilateral adoption agreement) in domestic courts. Prior to the changes, adoptive parents could wait up to 12 months for Australian courts to finalise the adoptions. Adoption Awareness Ltd., the organisation behind the annual National Adoption Awareness Week held in November, founded by Australian actor and humanitarian Deborra-Lee Furness, welcomed the changes and commended the Prime Minister’s commitment to improving Australia’s adoption laws. “We are pleased to see fast action from the government, and are committed ourselves to ensuring any changes support a truly ethical adoption system that focuses on the interests of vulnerable children,” says Adoption Awareness Chairman John O’Neill. The Prime Minister also established an interdepartmental committee to look at how to simplify the process, and provide recommendations ahead of the next Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in early April, which sees the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association come together to discuss policy reforms. Mr O’Neill hopes the meeting will result in the streamlining of the process and the removal of unnecessary red tape. “We know that there are millions of children worldwide and around 18000 in Australia who are in need of a family,” he says. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the processing times for intercountry adoptions is continuing to rise, with families who adopted a child from overseas waiting an average of five years for their child. Mr O’Neill would like to see the COAG meeting and future adoption policies address this lengthy wait time. “We would like to see those dotsconnected more expediently, while maintaining ethical practice.” However Dr Patricia Fronek, Senior Lecturer at the School of Human Services and Social Work at Griffith University, says that contrary to the belief that there are countless children overseas waiting to be rescued by well-meaning parents in Australia, the number of children ethically and legally available for adoption around the world is on the decline. Further, she argues that the

intercountry adoption process should remain focused on the best interests of the child rather than catering to demand. “Speed and numbers of adoption are inappropriate outcome measures for intercountry adoption…[creating] opportunities for corruption and poor practices,” she says. “It is a simplistic approach to complex situations.” “Adoptees want to speak for themselves and the notion of feeling rescued or grateful is not helpful; rather, it can be harmful.” In her submission to the interdepartmental committee on overseas adoption, co-authored by Professor Denise Cuthbert of RMIT University and Professor Emerita Marian Quartly of Monash University, Dr Fronek urged the Australian government to exercise “extreme caution” in undertaking reforms to intercountry adoption: “any movement on the part of the Australian government to reduce safeguards for children by departing from the highest levels of probity and childcentred, professional practice to parent driven models represents potential and unnecessary risks to children and Australian families, and runs contrary to contemporary knowledge in intercountry adoptions”. Despite the popular image of intercountry adoption as a humanitarian endeavour with positive outcomes for parents and children alike, promoted by international celebrities such as Madonna and Brangelina, Dr Fronek says the government should be seeking and supporting more substantial knowledge stemming from rigorous research. “At the moment the most influential voices are the lobbyists with financial backing who do not represent the majority of the total community,” she says. Dr Fronek also says that the outspoken Deborra-Lee Furness, who has championed intercountry and domestic adoption alongside her high profile husband Hugh Jackman, is an unusual choice to represent parents as she adopted her children privately and domestically in the United States. “Her desire to help is commendable but she has unfortunately adopted a personalised and uncritical perspective representative of the beliefs of a small section of a diverse community,” she says. And while Adoption Awareness and Dr Fronek both agree that the Federal Government should invest in more support for parents and children post-adoption, back in Seoul the Dandelions continue to weep for their own children spread across the world.

University of Sydney Union presents

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Issue 03 35 CAMPUS FASHION

CAMPUS FASHION STRIPES

Kaylla Theo // International & Global Studies II

Baby E // History I

Elisabeth Neale // Media & Communications II

Cardigan and top: Myer JEANS: Vintage BAG: Sportsgirl Jewellery: Colette

ONESIE: Catriona Rowntree BLUE AND WHITE TOP: Vintage

TOP: Just Jeans CARDIGAN: Cotton On JEANS: Valleygirl BOOTS: Nine West BAG: Cath Kidson

Why did you pick this outfit for uni? It was pretty good, plus I was feeling like black and white today. (Fashion Team: “Keeping it monochrome, so chic!”) Do you like the stripes trend? Seeing as I own three stripey tops, I like to think that I do!

How would you describe your style? It’s very Autumn/Winter 2014, sort of onesie inspired with an animal farm feel. I like the whole stripe on stripe with clashing prints. Who’s your ultimate style icon? Blue Ivy. And your girl crush? Again, Blue Ivy all the way!

Style icon? Anyone who lives for casual style. I dress according to my mood so my icon varies day to day.

HOT: EYEBROWS Madonna brought brows in in the 80s and with the arrival of the billboard-dominating Cara Delevingne, brows are most definitely back. So throw away the tweezers, stay away from that wax and keep your eyebrow game strong – the bush is here to stay.

How would you describe your style? Very classic. I don’t like to be influenced too heavily by fads. Why did you go for stripes today? I liked the pattern because it’s a bit different and isn’t too bold. It’s good at brightening up an outfit – I’d rather be overdressed than underdressed. Style icon? Cate Blanchett. (Fashion Team: “Aussie girl all the way!”)

NOT: PRINT x3 Print on print on print. We’re all about the co-ords and the matchy-matchy here, but save the triple prints for Future Music Festival 2015. Where do you even buy matching socks and snapbacks?

Your Fashion Team is Katie Stow, Emily Shen and Rebecca Karpin

36 bull usu.edu.au CLASSIC COUNTDOWN & VOX POPS

CLASSIC COUNTDOWN

VOX pops

BEST EUROVISION 2014 LYRICS The happiest time of the year is almost here. To celebrate the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, we’ve picked out some of our favourite lyrics.

5 4

ISRAEL (MEI FINEGOLD)

Don’t need to criticise I’m not an animal in captivity I’m skinning you out No longer apart We don’t beat from the same heart

SWITZERLAND (SEBALTER)

Like an evil satellite, twisting the truth then leaving us alone In this mad and moody world, society without love And I state my heart has been well trained, I’m gonna be your candidate I am the hunter, you are the prey, tonight I’m gonna eat you up

POLAND (DONATAN & CLEO)

We are Slavic, we know how it is We like to shake what mama in the genes gave us This is the hot blood, this is our Slavic call We’re Slavic girls, we know how to use our charming beauty Now shake what your mama gave us!

2 1

LATVIA (aarzemnieki)

I melted the ice Of the polar caps, Found the raiders of the lost ark, Solved a case for the genius from Baker Street, Helped to clean the Central park

FRANCE (TWIN TWIN)

I lift some weights, My body is a war machine, I have everything you dream to have, I may be all that is true but, I want a moustache.

Maddie Houlbrook // ARTS II Listening to: ‘Waterloo Sunset’ by The Kinks Reading: Tina Fey’s Bossypants Watching: How I Met Your Mother.

Ryan O'Connor // Liberal Arts/ Science II Listening to: ‘Runaround Sue’ by Dion Reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Watching: House

Hannah Cox // Arts I Listening to: ‘Mambo No. 5’ by Lou Bega Reading: Hamlet Watching: Would I Lie to You?

Issue 03 37 COW & HORNS

HAVE A COW JAMES Hennessy dreams of living in a world free of conversational terrorism. In the seminal Hindu text Bhagavad Gita, the author writes: “To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction.” More than 2000 years later, a person I once considered a friend thought it pertinent to tell a group of horrified onlookers everything about a dream they had the night before. The previous conversation, which I believe was about whether French bulldogs were intrinsically funnier than pugs, had been ruined. There is ruthlessness to the conversational terrorist which I regard with both terror and

reluctant admiration. These are people who are content to dispense with thousands of years of social etiquette in order to insert themselves obscenely into every conversation. They can twist a conversation about the films of Jason Statham into a lengthy exposition on their whirlwind tour of the Swiss Alps. Enjoying a friendly conversation about the sociopolitical issues of the day? Not anymore. Now it’s Leonie viciously recounting the time David Jones wouldn’t honour the warranty on a one-yearand-three-month-old DVD player. Bah. I like to think there are unwritten rules which underlie all social interactions. For example, you will find that most people have a very low tolerance for travel stories that do not feature themselves. I have about

a five minute limit on breathless tales of Contiki tour debauchery until I need to excuse myself to go and slam down six vodka shots. The conversational terrorist cares not. They will force you against a wall, between the snack table and the esky, and let it all out. “Have you been to Prague? You must. You simply must.” The free speech fundamentalists might disagree, but I think there should be laws. Hard, codified laws. I dream of a day when airborne drones monitor every conversation on Earth. At the first mention of a cruise in the Dardanelles or a complaint about a long stint in a dentist’s waiting room, jackbooted thugs will kick down their doors and throw them in prison, possibly forever. Alas. A man can dream.

Amanda Choularton argues that behind every great Muppet is Kermit the Frog.

Miss Piggy is one big, bold and beautiful pork chop, according to Kirsty Timsans.

Kermit the Frog, the quintessential symbol of many childhoods and the protagonist of most Muppet adventures, holds a special place in the hearts of fans young and old. The differences between the pig in question and Kermit are plentiful and difficult to ignore. Kermit’s rise to fame preceded Piggy’s by decades, making his first appearance in 1955. Piggy didn’t show up until the 70s. Kermit, displaying his characteristic maturity and independence, was the first of his 3265 siblings to the family home in a Louisiana swamp. Without Kermit’s courage, the showbiz careers of his fellow Muppets may never have taken off, particularly that of Miss Piggy who would be no more than a farmyard swine! Though Piggy did show her ability to tap dance, if Kermit had not given her his fake moustache in The Great Puppet Caper, Piggy would still be in prison. Furthermore, Piggy’s character is in question due to her seductive and manipulative attempts to get her hooves on Kermit. In The Muppets Take Manhattan Kermit was unaware that his growing affection for the pig would end in his unwitting marriage to her. The only proof that his life has been a happy one since the union comes from the mouth of the pig herself. Kermit is courageous, has a natural talent for showbiz and selflessly helped his fellow Muppets into the limelight. Piggy is a liability, a seductive enchantress who will always remain far inferior to her beloved husband.

Firstly, I would like to draw your attention to my adversary’s blatant defamation of the character in question. The character is Miss Piggy and a well-delivered “hi ya!” to your cranium would not go astray to teach you some respect. I concur that there are major differences between Kermit and Miss Piggy but these just serve to reinforce the superiority of the latter. Yes, Kermit may have delved into the showbiz world earlier than Miss Piggy, but it is a fallacy to propose that Miss Piggy would not have been a star without him. In fact, Miss Piggy elevated the success of the Muppets into stratospheric heights. The academic literature to date entitles her as ‘fiercely fabulous’ and a ‘diva’ and that would rival her contemporaries such as Beyoncè and Jennifer Lopez. Consequently, she has graced international magazine covers and is often the muse for a startling number of uberfamous designers, no less than the likes of Vivienne Westwood. On the other hand, the process of natural selection was lost on Kermit as he remains as his name suggests – a simple frog. Miss Piggy has imparted her wisdom on the world through her national best seller, Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life. My colleague’s assertions on her manipulative nature are unfounded. Miss Piggy is ambitious, the modern woman who is coveted, covets and knows how to attain what she covets. Kermit, however, is content with being green and blending into the more mundane things of this world.

LOCKING HORNS Kermit the Frog vs. Miss Piggy

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Issue 03 39 ARTS

ARTS FRANZ FERDINAND

TAKE ME BACK

Leonidas Kontaxis I think it’s a good thing that some of the better bands from the mid-2000s have woken up and begun to grace the airwaves once again. Franz Ferdinand dropped Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, and the Arctic Monkeys released AM in the spring of 2013. Neither album really captured the magic of the postpunk revival, at its strongest before 2009, when everything suddenly and inexplicably went to shit. Though lacking some of the old panache, both albums were a somewhat welcome return to form and brought back that edgy, sharp and decadent sound that my contemporaries and I loved. I was sitting down to beers with some of those mates when someone remarked that, it now being 2014, it would be ten years since Franz Ferdinand released their self-titled debut. All of a sudden, we felt old. Franz Ferdinand had a powerful effect when it came out. Everything else on the radio sounded incredibly banal by comparison; the first time I heard ‘Take Me Out’ was when Nova 96.9 played it after a ten minute Ja Rule/Ashanti marathon, and it damn

near blew my mind. It was loud, fun, edgy, clever, totally pretentious and utterly different to everything on the radio in 2004. That was Korn, Ben Lee and Good Charlotte, not exactly an inspiring collection of artists given the benefit of hindsight. Triple J played a bit of Frenzal Rhomb and everybody who was male and 14 or 15 was trying really hard to enjoy Slayer. We were all bored shitless. But when the time signature in ‘Take Me Out’ shifted, everybody sat up and paid attention. Franz was the first real party music a lot of teenagers got their hands on. That debut album, and the band’s second offering, You Could Have It So Much Better, were played relentlessly at every party I went to for five or six years. It was loud, fast and you could dance to it. More importantly, it was popular with the opposite sex. The guitars were sharp and staccato, the tempo fast, and there was now absolutely no reason to put up with System of a Down while drinking cask wine in a park. As for its effect on the wider scene, Franz Ferdinand was a trailblazer. It got a lot of people into post-punk, and was the catalyst for the next few years of great music, especially that coming out of the UK. Once people heard that album,

they went out with broadened minds, looking for new things. It’s inconceivable that bands like the Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, The Fratellis and Melbourne’s Cut Copy would’ve been able to make it like they did without Franz paving the way. When they were live, they were a force to be reckoned with. I was there when Franz Ferdinand played at the Enmore in 2008; they were relentless. The show went for three hours, Kapranos and McCarthy barely broke eye contact with the audience, they played a version of ‘40’ that went for about ten minutes, and constructivist art was blazed across the stage. Things began to go sour after that, Franz Ferdinand’s third album Tonight was underwhelming, and the decline of the band mirrored the decline of the wider post-punk scene, which gradually slid into irrelevance. Franz released nothing until Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, but that release, almost a decade on from their debut, shows that they’re still a band that has energy and potential. There may still be time to build on the glories of the mid-2000s. ’Til then, go listen to Franz Ferdinand, an album that, unlike the rest of us, hasn’t aged a day.

40 bull usu.edu.au REVIEWS

REVIEWS

LISTEN: BUILT ON GLASS CHET FAKER

Watch: ORPHAN BLACK – S2 JOHN FAWCETT & GRAEME MANSON

SEE: STICTLY BALLROOM LYRIC THEATRE, THE STAR

Watch: VERONICA MARS ROB THOMAS

There is big talk about the “Australian sound” on the electronic music scene; a sound exemplified by key players like Flume, The Kite String Tangle, RÜFÜS and Wave Racer. And whilst Nick Murphy (aka Chet Faker) is typically placed under this same umbrella, it’s his ability to innovate with this sound that makes him a real Australian gem, evident in his debut album Built On Glass. The first half of the record is typical of Chet Faker’s past work, with vocal-heavy tracks and those funky, pulsing beats he does so well. ‘Talk Is Cheap’ is certainly a standout track, with wailing electronic sax that brings to mind the style of Canadian band Destroyer. ‘Melt’ features a husky vocal cameo from Kilo Kish, perfectly complementing Murphy’s own characteristic voice. However, the second half challenges expectations of the album. Inviting the listener to ‘relax a little more’ and ‘drift a little deeper’, Chet Faker begins to expose atmospheric tones and less linear, melodic vocal tracks. Where ‘Lesson In Patience’ is grating with never-ending vocal loops, ‘1998’ strikes a good balance between unconventional and catchy using a danceable beat. Granted, it’s a little experimental, but Built On Glass is a solid release that pushes the boundaries of the Australian electronic sound.

BBC America’s Orphan Black has become an online sensation, mostly due to the excellence of the show’s leading lady Tatiana Maslany. She plays street-smart Sarah Manning who witnesses a police detective’s death and, while attempting identity fraud, unravels the detective’s connection to an illegal human cloning trial. Orphan Black could be a onewoman show. Maslany portrays seven unique clones with such ease. From the tenacious soccer mom Alison, to the kooky PhD student Cosima – in every scene, Maslany nails it. The series has the potential to become a TV classic among critically acclaimed shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Show creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson have created a series arc that could be developed for many seasons, but the episodes are never lost in the multiple narratives. Rather, every episode is infused with humour and thrills that satisfy the basic senses. Orphan Black is a smart and grungy thriller that questions the ethics of genetic evolution. It’s sci-fi with broad appeal and enough plot twists to make you marathon the whole series in a day. The second season has just premiered and promises more intrigue, more clones and more Tatiana Maslany.

Baz Luhrmann’s first film Strictly Ballroom comes to life in this colossal stage adaptation with all the same lines and songs Australia has come to love. The leads are impressive but somewhat forgettable. Thomas Lacey is a strong dancer but his voice isn’t incredibly strong. Phoebe Panaretos is brilliant as nerdy but passionate Fran with a remarkable array of singing and dancing skills. But the supporting characters are the highlights with Heather Mitchell excellent as Scott’s mother Shirley, and Robert Grubb and Bob Baines as the villainous Les and Bobby. With Oscar winner Catherine Martin responsible for costumes and set design, the room explodes with colour and makes the world seem duller after leaving. The show has plenty of sparkle and sequins but lacks enough emotional depth to satisfy a fan who’s after more than just a jukebox musical. Despite blending old favourites ‘Love Is In The Air’ and ‘Time After Time’ with newly written songs from Sia Furler and Eddie Perfect, the show seems to suffer a musical identity crisis. Unlike most directors, Luhrmann is in full control of this glitzy adaptation which is why the final product feels disappointing. But even with the lack of dancing in the aisles, there’s something about Baz that will leave you silently humming and convinced you had a good time.

Wisecracking teen detective, Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) is back in Neptune solving crime and kicking ass in her first appearance since the TV show was abruptly cancelled in 2007. Now a NYC lawyer, Veronica returns to her seedy hometown to help her exboyfriend and everyone’s favourite obligatory psychotic jackass, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), get out of yet another jam. Veronica Mars definitely has not disappointed the Marshmallows (long-term fans) who crowdfunded the project in a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign. While there were times when the film felt like fan service - scenes peppered with Kickstarter backers as extras and casual throwback references the pure charisma of creator Rob Thomas’ writing is bound to charm newcomers. Not to mention the stained glassed window aesthetic and conscious use of shadows that is sure to make audiences feel pretty damn noir. In the movie, Veronica compares her return to snooping to a relapse in addiction – an apt description of the film as a whole. For old fans, it’s a nostalgic halfdose hit that leaves them wanting more and for new audiences, it’s the perfect primer into the ultra-cool world of Veronica Mars. Expect a franchise.

ERIN ROONEY

BROOKE ACKLAND

EDEN CACEDA

GENEVIEVE CANH

Issue 03 41 REVIEWS

EXPERIENCE DR SKETCHY'S // The Arthouse Hotel

“Dr Sketchy’s is not a spectator sport!” the MC declared to the jumble of people in the bar. “You have to draw, or drink, or talk to someone who is drawing or drinking.” He gestured to the clientele with the end of his cane, his free hand tucked between the buttons of his pinstriped waistcoat. Later in the night, he took off all three layers of his shirts and asked everyone to draw his elaborate back tattoo. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Originating in the United States, Dr Sketchy’s is now a worldwide franchise of “Anti-Art” classes. The way I described it to a friend of mine, in an attempt to convince them to accompany me, was, “it’s basically a burlesque show pretending to be a life-drawing class.” As the night wore on, I realised that was pretty accurate. You can pay anywhere from $20-$65 (depending on whether you want dinner, or a sketchbook, or anything other than a place to plant your butt), head to the Arthouse Hotel on Pitt Street, and spend two hours watching, and presumably drawing, the best burlesque performers in the country. The Sketchy’s demographic was reassuringly inconsistent. Older women, young professionals, pretentious fine art students; people of all genders, colours and ages were spread into booths, on stools, loveseats or ottomans. The models, who could also be called dancers or performers, were dolled up. One wore a corset, whilst the other wore barely anything at all. Once the poses started, ranging from lengths of two minutes, five minutes, 10 and 20, all with breaks in between, everyone frantically scribbled on their surface of choice. One boy had a homemade pad of brown butcher’s paper, while another girl drew on her iPad. There was never a moment of awkwardness, or a hint of pressure. Some supremely untalented people flaunted their finished products, while other potentially genius attendees kept their work to themselves. There’s a break halfway through, “for a drink, or a smoke, or to escape quietly,” the MC tells us. There’s also a show, where the model in barely anything bantered, danced, and stripped down to a bejeweled thong and nipple tassels. “Ah yes,” I thought, as the music played and the crowd cheered, “very sophisticated art-type stuff.”

Barbara Taylor

Call The Midwife Season 3: a heartwarming exploration of strength and courage in the face of poverty. A definite tearjerker.

Von Trier's Nymphomaniac is a subtly disturbing film, taking audiences on a four-hour journey through gratification, regret and solace.

An ingenious hybrid of a croissant and a donut, the warm and glazed goodness of the Cronut from Paramount Coffee Project is a must eat.

The Twitter feed of author @tao_lin is an odd concoction of depressing inner monologue and drug-fuelled philosophy. Strangely inspiring.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is another funny and aesthetically beautiful film by Wes Anderson. Big budget but not much heart.

Three Love Songs by Ricky Eat Acid is stirring and ambient. Great for 3am bouts of doubt and realisation.

Battle of the Year is a horribly cliché, boring dance film without much dancing at all. Josh Holloway is good. Chris Brown is bad.

42 bull usu.edu.au CLUB CONFIDENTIAL

CLUB CONFIDENTIAL USU 90s Party

Manning Bar // 26 March 2014 Remember the 90s? Those were the days when trashy fashion reigned supreme; when cable TV was truly a luxury; when MTV played actual music and not just Jersey Shore reruns; and when someone thought casting Michael Jordan in a starring role alongside Bugs Bunny was a good move. Side note: it definitely was, and we can’t wait for the LeBron James sequel. To celebrate these classic years and kick off the semester, the University of Sydney Union decided to jump into their DeLoreans and take Manning Bar back to the era when connecting to the Internet meant thirty odd seconds of unpleasant beeping. Rather than homelessness, unwashed hair and flannel shirts were the sign of a fashionable, if not troubled, hunk. Frosted tips were once again associated with alphas and not with dudes named Chad (sorry mate, you’re probably a top bloke). The boob tube was a classy choice, and outfits were best accessorised with scrunchies, butterfly clips and mood rings. For first years, the night was an all too important opportunity to make new friends, and spice up their uni experience. Older attendees took a chance to stop, collaborate and listen on the dance floor. Student politicians were also well represented, crossing political lines to find a little TLC. While it might be hard to believe that these years are now well behind us, the veneration of our childhood years as a golden era being perhaps the quickest reminder that we are well and truly getting old. Let us rejoice that we can now slam down an alcoholic beverage while enjoying the best tunes of formative years – just the way Chumbawamba intended.

So fresssssssssh

90s Nerd, 2014 Hipster

No Magic Schoolbus episode prepared the children for the magic of the bubbler

Perfecting the girl group pose

Patrick, so hot right now

Rob North

Smells like drink spillage.

I’m just waiting for a mate

#SmokeFreeCampus #Cool #Yea

Issue 03 43 CLUB CONFIDENTIAL

PhotoSoc Disposable Camera Pub Adventure

Hailing a taxi in the horizontal mode

Newtown // March 2014 Yep, that is Kevin in a dress

Tequila shot number four. Still quite the surprise

A small percentage of the damage done

Such naivety

Very impressive creativity, y’know given the context and all

Imagine waking up on a Sunday morning, rolling over with that delightful combo of a splitting hangover and extreme bodily inertia, all the while battling the violent glare of a buzzing iPhone as you hastily recollect the night before through an assortment of trashy and all-too-revealing Facebook photos. Now imagine fifty students doing this, with well over 300 photos to peruse. The PhotoSoc Disposable Camera Pub Adventure, as with all modern photography achievements, was classy as hell. Think tequila. Think photos of tequila. Think photos of people drinking tequila. Think of photographers who have drunk too much tequila. Like I said, classy. Divided into groups of five, the club members were given a disposable camera and a set of challenges to complete throughout a Newtown trek: murder on the dance floor; photobomb a hipster couple; achieve photoception; recreate a classic film noir; get ballin’ with the homies; show us how not to be seen (which in hindsight is actually quite easy); and find someone in need of a taxi! Unsurprisingly, this last challenge was by far the most commonly attempted and the most ill-fated – after all, those who attempted this were equally in serious need of a taxi. Early in the night Newtown Thai II was a hub for young photographers eager to see that shutter click from 1 to 24 in as manic a way as possible. An elongated stint at The Newtown Hotel followed– there was regrettably stripping action; a few of the execs may have got lost in a very tiny fridge; and there were a lot–a lot–of terrible group selfies. Marlborough was next on the list, and this is where the night really come into its own in terms of classiness. The amount of disturbing bathroom shots and Long Island Iced Teas that were consumed leave very little to the imagination. The night culminated in a round of slow drinks at the Bank Hotel (slow predominantly on the motor-skills front), and dispersion eventually ensued, in which we all accidentally reconvened awkwardly for 1am pide about three doors down, before the taxis were called in to end the lunacy. Then the next morning struck. So many regrets. So much confusion. And then the photos were developed… Suffice to say that there were many memorable moments where judgment was gladly, and very mutually, suspended. Indefinitely.

Harvey Blissfell

44 bull usu.edu.au SHUTTER UP

SHUTTER UP ALONE PHOTOGRAPHER: ELIZABETH HUNG CANON EOS 550D FOCAL LENGTH: 55mm SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 APERTURE: F/5.6 ISO: 800

snap!

Send us your unique, arty or just plain cool (as in, not another quad shot) campus snap to editors@bullmag.com.au We’ll publish our fave each edition in full page glory. High-res, 300dpi jpegs only – portrait orientation.

Issue 03 45 FUN

COMICS SEND YOURS TO US AT EDITORS @ bullmag.com.AU

by Barbara Taylor

46 bull usu.edu.au ASK ISABELLA

ASK ISABELLA

Niece of Aunty Irene Lover of Daddy Mack Mother of three and to all those who need advice I am woman, hear me roar

PLEASE TAKE ME

Dear Costa,

Dear Isabella,

Firstly, you should know that I’ve always imagined dipping my spoonbill into the nest of your big, bushy beard. Secondly, I personally try never to upset an ant. The total weight of all the ants in the world is the same as, if not larger, than the weight of all humans. Take some time out from your stag horn to think about that Costa.

I am a third year Media and Communications student at the University of Sydney. I have a strong work ethic, tenacity and a willingness to learn. I am genuinely inspired by your work and would love to complete work experience with you. I look forward to hearing from you soon. ~ Lucy

~ Bella xxx

Dear Lucy,

ENOUGH WITH THE GYM

You sound nice, so I’ll tell you what I tell all my hatchlings. Nice girls don't get the corner office. You need to have chutzpah to do what I do. A little more bitch, a little less buttercup. You won’t be able to do your work experience with me, but I’m sure the USU’s Marketing and Communications department would be happy to have you.

Dear Isabella,

~ Bella xxx

All my friends talk about is the gym. And when they’re not talking about the gym, they’re talking about gym clothes, sprints or the alfalfa-sprout salad they made for lunch. I miss who they were before they started going to the gym. Should I say something to them? ~ Milly Dear Milly,

stag horn DILEMMA Dear Isabella, I have a beautiful stag horn in my garden but a colony of ants is destroying it and it’s too big for me to relocate. I’ve tried flushing the ants out with water, but I can’t do this for more than a few hours because I have to go to work. I’m at a complete loss.

I lost my dear friend Nina to the treadmill and sports bra. It’s terrible. I made myself feel better by repeatedly baking her chocolate cakes because for all their talk, these kind of people just can’t say no. It’s the reason they had to go to the gym in the first place. For them, everything tastes much better than skinny feels. ~ Bella xxx

~ Costa

WIN tickets to afghanistan: HIDDEN TREASURES now on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Feared lost forever, this priceless collection of Silk Road treasures was hidden by museum staff in Kabul, safe from bombs, looters and political instability. Seen by over 1.7 million people worldwide, Hidden Treasures offers a rare opportunity to discover the fascinating ancient culture of Afghanistan and honour the bravery of those who risked all to protect it.

Open now until 15 June 2014. For details, visit: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/ exhibitions/afghanistan To enter, email your name and contact details to editors@bullmag.com.au Email subject heading is HIDDEN TREASURES. Competition closes 16 May.

Your optometrist on campus. We stock all your favourite brands including Tom Ford, Ray Ban, Prodesign, Ted Baker, Jono Hennessy...

CHRIS MACMAHON OPTOMETRIST Quality eyewear and professional service at an affordable price. Level 3 Wentworth Building University of Sydney. Phone 9552 3324 www.chrismacmahonoptometrist.com.au