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Tales From The Other Side - Alternative Culture to enlighten a mediocre mood

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Pop Culture Subcultures - Tales From The Other Side

Extreme Ironing

April 2nd 2008 13:51

I’m proud to say that I discovered Extreme Ironing before it was cool. It was grade nine, and I was researching for a HPE assignment where we had to make a magazine for a sport.

I decided to make mine on extreme sports. Searching terms on the Internet, I would hunt for something interesting to write about. And then… I found their Webpage HERE.

Extreme Ironing is one of those wonderful curiosities that reminded us of the strangeness of people. The depth of passion that one could feel for a thing for no other reason than because it was in some way theirs.

If you’re still wondering what it is, I assure you, there is little need for confusion. It is what it sounds like; a profoundly silly fusion of Extreme Sports and Ironing. As the site quotes, it “combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt.” Extreme Ironing activities regarded as official include, but are not limited to;

Climbing large mountains and ironing on top of them;

Ironing underwater;

Beach Iron Flinging;

Freestyle Ironing (a test of creativity – including such events as trampoline ironing).

It is tempting to COMPLETELY dismiss extreme ironing, but for the fact of, despite all the nonsense, ironing clothes while suspended in mid air by a wire between two cliffs, while not exactly sensible, is neither exactly easy.

It lives long, lives hard and looks sharp. Here’s to Extreme Ironing.

Image by Wikiworld Comic Licensed under a Creative commons attribution Share alike license.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Pop Culture, Subcultures

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Disney – Ford – Nazis?

March 3rd 2008 12:52

Disney has long been at the centre of a vast number of conspiracies. A number of these are centred around Disney’s namesake – Walt Disney, famous for his capitalist passion and ability to be ‘difficult’.

Henry Ford was another Capitalist, father of the modern production line. He regarded himself a pacifist, and opposed the first world war, considering it a waste of time.

Both of these men however have been associated with some kind of Nazi connections.

Ford was the owner of the newspaper The Dearborn Independent, in which a number of articles that were right wing and anti-semantic, including the Protocols of Zion. There were published and distributed widely, including in Germany. Hitler himself was a fan of both the publication and of Ford. However when a case was brought against Ford, he spoke out against the content and claimed he was unaware of what the publications contained, though this is contested by some. He did however express a belief in the Protocols of Zion, saying they matched up with what seemed to be going on in the world.

Prior to the outbreak of World War two, Ford was awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, by the German Consul of Cleveland – the highest medal that could be given to a foreigner.

However, when he was shown the actions of the Nazi’s against the Jews later in his life, he was shocked, and, reportedly, suffered a heart attack.

Disney, who is the more famously known as an anti-Semite, is the lesser qualified to hold the title. What is confirmed is that he was a great opponent of Labour Unions, a main source of his criticism, and was a strong opponent of Communism. However where we move into allegations of anti-Semitism all we have to go on are a few reports of anti-Semitic behaviour from a few who knew him, including Ford, and an oft sited example of a Jewish looking Wolf in one of the Cartoons.

The following video is not the one oft sited, but is another cartoon brought up as evidence to suggest Disney was anti-Semantic.

There has never been any credible suggestion of Disney associating with Nazis.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Politics, Pop Culture, Film, Subcultures

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Crying Clubs

February 7th 2008 13:05

Crying clubs are pretty self explanatory. The antithesis to a nice happy night out, Crying Clubs are where groups join together to cry their hearts out together.

They usually will have a number of people in the club cutting onions, to help stimulate the tears.

One would have to wonder how such a phenomenon may have gathered such vast popularity.

To understand one possible explanation, we have to go over a couple of the basic ideas of the idea of what constitutes Gothic.

Gothicism began during the Victorian Era, a time period characterized by the view, popularized by the monarch of the time, that one should aspire to goodness and properness.

The reaction to this popular idea of ‘goodness and correctness’ was equally matched by a sense of ‘evil and wrongness’ – a movement that became the Gothic.

If we look at today’s world, the overwhelming mood seems set more by the major corporations than Political figureheads, and the message is the same – feel good, feel good, feel good. If there was to ever be an equal and opposite reaction against this kind of thinking, the Crying Club would have to be it’s exact physical manifestation.

Boo Hoo. We party with you.

Image by by Zefrey Throwell; Valencia Street; San Francisco, CA, uploaded by Franco Folini and licensed under a Creative Commons attribution Share Alike License.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Pop Culture, Subcultures

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Banksy

October 29th 2007 06:01

When God sneaks out at night to stencil an old brick wall, he’s making a picture of Banksy. That’s how awesome Banksy is.

Banksy is a well known artist and trickster, centred in England. He is most famous for his stencils, produced illegally in public spaces around England.

A Banksy Painting which locals voted to keep, rather than remove

Banksy art on a Social Entertainment Boat

A Banksy image, now famously erased by London Police

His works typically consist of Rats, Celebrities, Public Figures or Authority Archetypes and Children amongst other reoccurring themes.

An example of Banksy's Rats

Banksy's Works often feature Public Figures

A Banksy Child Work

He has also focussed on cultural and multimedia such as the famed ‘McDonald Balloon Girl’ and works of art painted directly onto live animals.

Banksy Art on Cows

Stonehenge made with Public Toilets at the Glastonbury Music Festival

Banksy had also painted the Dividing wall between Israel and Palestine.

Banksy Painting on the Palestinian Side of the West Bank Dividing Wall

A more recent prank that gained considerable attention was the Paris Hilton CD. While Paris was being released, Banksy was busy collaborating with Dangermouse to produce Paris Hilton Remixes such as "Why am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?"

Banksy's Version of the Paris Hilton Single

He has also snuck ‘ancient cave drawings’ of Cavemen pushing trolleys, into Museums, along with other works.

Banksy in Bristons Park Street , and on Boat Photographed by Adrian Pingstone in November 2006 and placed in the public domain.

Charcles Manson Taken by JustinC. This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License (cc-by-sa-2.0). In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it under this or a similar cc-by-sa license.

Pulp Fiction Image from LinguistAtLarge, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license versions 2.5, 2.0, and 1.0

Banksy Rats by Wetwebwork, licensed under a share alike attribution license.

Banksy Child taken by Matt Whitby in Brick Lane, East End. 2004

Cows from HERE. All rights Reserved, but used under fair use rationale.

Boy on Rock Originally from Really Long Link (Dead link)
Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rockboy.jpg
Used under Fair Use.

IMAGE2 and

IMAGE 3 Original Copy write unknown. Used under Fair Use Rationale.

"Stonehenge" made of portable toilets, made by Banksy at the Glastonbury Festival June 2007. Taken by Rod Ward 22nd June 2007.Image is in Public Domain.

Rock, All Rights Reserved used on HERE. Used here under Fair Use.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Pop Culture, Miscalany, Subcultures, Music

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Is Racism Justified?

October 4th 2007 13:30

We treat different people in different ways. We have to. People are different. We don’t try to demand folk with wheelchairs climb the stairs, and we don’t ask Vietnamese actors to play Michael Jackson in the biopic of his life.

However, when we decide on how to treat people based on race, we run into the issue of racism. The best way to describe racism, I find, is to regard it as ‘racial discrimination’ – specific discrimination based on an individuals race or ethnicity. And there is a question of if racial discrimination is ever appropriate to which I would have to say “yes”. Now it’s very easy to get all indignant and be all like ‘that’s not cool man! We’re all the same on the inside! Don’t be hating!’

You’re a Customs Officer. You have to do baggage checks at a flight leaving Vietnam. A large amount of the Heroin smuggled into Australia is taken in from Vietnamese locals. Who are you going to pick?

You are a police officer in a remote Australian community. Somebody walks past you with a bottle of mentholated spirits. They tell you it’s just groceries for their parent. In one scenario they’re Greek, in the other, Aboriginal. Would your reaction be racially discriminate?

If you’re Investigating terrorism do you start with Koreans? White extremist graffiti, do you ask an Indian? We have to go with the clues we have, and sometimes the only clue we have is a face. A race. An ethnicity. A culture. A stereotype. A presumption.

Racism? Discrimination?

The complexity with racism is that the concept in itself seems to have become synonymous with the idea that we should treat everyone the same. This is obviously untrue, and when failing to pretend that we are all exactly the same is perceived as synonymous, we run into problems. The question is – to what extend does treating people differently for all their differences become an act of hatred, and to what extent does it become an act of common sense?

IMAGE

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Politics, Pop Culture, Miscalany, Subcultures

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Vegetarians and Vegans

September 30th 2007 12:57

Animals and humans – who is superior? One argument put forward for Vegetarian and Vegan lifestyles is that Humans and animals are equal. And Equals do not eat each other for dinner (Fish and Bundy excluded).

However that argument sounds completely dodgy to me. If Humans and animals are equal, then why can man not eat sheep, while wolves can? In fact, if we’re equal to Lions, how come they get to eat us, and not the other way around

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