The ratings race: The cricket before reality sets in
To discuss who is coolest in Australian entertainment, go to The Tribal Mind
To discuss the books, music, movies and television that Australians enjoyed in January, go to Who We Are
David Dale's daily media report, updated 10 am Tuesday January 29
Here's what Australia watched on the last day of the summer break ...
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS (and end of cricket) Nine 1,539,000 453,000 497,000 307,000 157,000 125,000
2 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,390,000 383,000 464,000 288,000 139,000 117,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,387,000 397,000 348,000 276,000 171,000 195,000
4 BORDERLINE Seven 1,337,000 396,000 342,000 270,000 152,000 178,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,319,000 435,000 292,000 279,000 149,000 165,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,239,000 387,000 263,000 229,000 162,000 199,000
7 COASTWATCH Seven 1,166,000 339,000 300,000 226,000 143,000 159,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC 1,102,000 293,000 350,000 219,000 103,000 138,000
9 FOURTH TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 1,084,000 325,000 322,000 190,000 144,000 102,000
10 TOP GEAR SBS 1,026,000 313,000 309,000 202,000 115,000 87,000
11 CSI: -RPT Nine 1,000,000 279,000 318,000 172,000 104,000 126,000
12 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 983,000 284,000 293,000 204,000 105,000 97,000
13 CRIMINAL MINDS (R) Seven 959,000 228,000 264,000 193,000 147,000 127,000
14 THE CRICKET SHOW Nine 908,000 289,000 292,000 179,000 61,000 86,000
15 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL 6 Ten 882,000 229,000 269,000 179,000 102,000 104,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
Strangely, Australians seem to prefer men in long pants to women in short skirts, and men in short pants to men in long pants. They followed the tennis closely on television every night last week (with 1.6 million in the mainland capitals seeing the demise of Roger Federer), but only 690,000 tuned in for the Australian Open Women's Final on Saturday afternoon, while 851,000 opted for the cricket's Fourth Test.
Later in the day, 864,000 joined Channel Ten in farewelling Heath Ledger via his action comedy A Knight's Tale.
Then on Sunday, 2.3 million watched the tennis men's final, setting an audience standard it will be hard to beat in the next 11 months. (For more on such viewing records, go to The TV shows Australia loved)
The best non-sports programming achievement of the week was Channel Nine's, with more than a million viewers on Monday for Cold Case, Nurses and Police Ten 7. But the tennis won the week for Seven, which averaged 33 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 23.5, Ten 21.3, ABC 15.5, and SBS on a healthy 6.7.
What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - MEN'S FINAL Seven 2,346,000 671,000 851,000 362,000 229,000 233,000
2 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,406,000 460,000 444,000 237,000 147,000 117,000
- Posted by Stay in touch in The tribal mind at 10:40 AM
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The Tribal Mind: D'Oh! We forgot John Clarke
To discuss the books, music, movies and television that Australians enjoyed in January, go to Who We Are
by David Dale
Being cool is not necessarily the same as being successful, or hard working, or talented, or famous. And coolness is certainly not determined by popular vote. Nevertheless ...
Many readers were infuriated and some were inspired by this column's attempt last week to list the ten coolest people in Australian entertainment. I was operating on a loose definition that included a certain individualism, integrity, nonchalance and elusiveness.
A few readers complained that they'd never heard of half of our nominees, which is kind of the point.
A reader who wished to be known as Nicholas picked up on an observation this column made a while ago -- that daggy is the new black. He was moved to reflect on 21st century Australian values: "Interesting definition of coolness, given how many of your nominees depend on their dorkishness for their success. Shaun Micallef consciously presents himself as a dag in series after series. Remember SeaChange? Micallef as the archetypal 'decent dork' against McInnes as archetypically cool (and both perfectly cast) ?
"Frank Woodley was always the dork to Lane's suave straight man and I doubt Glenn Robbins has ever played anything except dorks, including his one serious role in Lantana. In a way, the coolness of dorkishness is inevitable in a country where you claim the advantage by claiming to be the underdog. Gallipoli, Ned Kelly and Micallef. Our greatest military victory was a fiasco, our greatest criminal is celebrated for the way he was captured, and our coolest man (Micallef) is a dork. That's Australia's paradox."
I asked readers to create their own list, and this is how the voting went:
The coolest people in Australian entertainment (readers' choice)
1 Chris Lilley (creator of Summer Heights High)
2 Juanita Phillips (ABC newsreader)
3 Andrew Denton (ABC interviewer)
4 Myf Warhurst (Triple J broadcaster and panellist on Spicks and Specks)
5 Sam Neill (actor)
6 Toni Collette (actor)
7 Dave Graney (singer, songwriter, comedian)
8 Rachel Griffiths (actor)
9 Wil Anderson (comedian, former host of The Glasshouse, often confused with Adam Hills, host of Spicks and Specks, who is too nice to be cool)
10 Brendan Cowell (actor, screenwriter)
11 Hugo Weaving (actor)
12 Judy Davis (actor)
13 Hamish Blake (broadcaster, comedian)
14 Deborah Mailman (actor)
15 John Doyle (TV presenter and alter ego of Roy Slaven)
16 Dave Hughes (comedian)
17 Peter Cundle (80 year old host of the ABC's Gardening Australia)
18 Geraldine Doogue (ABC TV and radio presenter)
19 Kerri-Anne Kennerley (Channel Nine presenter)
20 B1 and B2 (that's the Bananas in Pyjamas, not Bob Hawke and Blanche d'Alpuget). But is B1 more cool than B2?
Only Juanita Phillips appeared on both my list and the readers' list (with one objection that she would more accurately be described as "hot").
What's interesting is how many nominees are employed by the ABC. This presumably makes the national broadcaster cool-by-association. Or maybe just daggy.
What do you reckon? Have we finally got it right?
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 11:46 AM
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WHO WE ARE: I know what you did this summer
To discuss who is coolest in Australian entertainment, go to The Tribal Mind
A weekly column about Australia, by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 27/01/2008
There's much to be learned about a nation from the way it relaxes. The Australia Day weekend is the symbolic closure of the summer holidays, when we reflect on what we've seen and heard over those lazy, hazy and (this year) rainy days. Here's what Australia discovered this month:
1. If you type a letter you don't intend to send, and you include a swearword in the letter, and then accidentally send the letter, you shouldn't be surprised if it ruins your life.
2. "I'm Mrs Most likely to get on the TV for strippin' on the streets, when getting the groceries, no, for real. I'm Mrs Lifestyles of the rich and famous. I'm Mrs Oh my God that Britney's Shameless. I'm Mrs Extra! Extra! this just in. I'm Mrs She's too big, now she's too thin."
3. The It Girl of the moment is Katherine Heigl - featured on the cover of every second glossy on the newsstand and able to draw an audience to a movie on the strength of her name alone. Her male counterpart is Will Smith.
4. "My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing. You cut me open and I keep bleeding, keep, keep bleeding love, keep bleeding I keep, keep bleeding love."
5. It's possible to continue a television career after a car crash in which you suffered massive brain damage.
6. "I feel so untouched right now, need you so much somehow, I can't forget you, I've gone crazy from the moment I met you."
7. Although she's made some dumb script choices in recent years, Nicole Kidman is actually not a bad actress - she's certainly the most interesting thing in The Golden Compass, apart from the special effects. Matt Damon, by contrast, is a limited actor who makes brilliant script choices. One question raises itself, though: what actually was Bourne's ultimatum, and at what point in the film did he deliver it?
8. A packet of mixed fruit counts as "one ingredient".
9. In America in the early 1960s, racial integration was achieved through music.
10. "I'm holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground, and I'm hearing what you say but I just can't make a sound."
Those observations are explained by this data ...
What we've been reading: According to Nielsen BookScan, the top selling books this month were Atonement, by Ian McEwan (1); 4 Ingredients, by Kim McCosker and Rachael Bermingham (8); The Persimmon Tree, by Bryce Courtenay; and Jamie At Home, by Jamie Oliver.
What we've been watching: According to OzTAM, the second India vs Australia cricket test peaked at 2 million viewers in the mainland capitals; the Federer-Berdych night match in the Australian Open tennis peaked at 1.9 million; and Top Gear, with Richard Hammond (5) back from his car crash, peaked at 1 million, a miracle for SBS. According to GfK Marketing, the top selling DVDs this month were The Bourne Ultimatum (7), Hairspray (10), and The Simpsons Movie.
What we queued for: According to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, I Am Legend, starring Will Smith (7), sold about 2 million tickets; The Golden Compass (3) and Alvin and the Chipmunks each sold 1.4 million; 27 dresses, starring Katherine Heigl (7), and Enchanted each sold one million.
What we listened to: According to the Australian Record Industry Association, the most downloaded tracks this month have been Piece of Me, by Britney Spears (2); Bleeding Love, by Leona Lewis (4); Untouched, by The Veronicas (6); and Apologise, by Timbaland (10). The top selling albums have been Shock Value by Timbaland; In Rainbows, by Radiohead; and As I Am, by Alicia Keys.
What we've been talking about: Corey Worthington's party; Heath Ledger's death; the collapse of the share market.
And now we can get back to work.
What does all this reveal about Australians?
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 6:14 PM
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The ratings race: Week 4
This edition of the blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but no longer current. For the latest media discusson, go to www.smh.com.au/tribalmind.
To learn who are the coolest people in Australian entertainment, go to The Tribal Mind
David Dale's daily media report, updated 10 am Sunday January 27
Here's what Australia watched on Saturday ...
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,296,000 376,000 445,000 220,000 162,000 93,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,211,000 356,000 383,000 197,000 87,000 188,000
3 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS -RPT Nine 897,000 254,000 302,000 145,000 117,000 78,000
4 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 864,000 276,000 227,000 148,000 108,000 106,000
5 A KNIGHT'S TALE RPT Ten 864,000 272,000 242,000 172,000 89,000 89,000
6 FOURTH TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 851,000 240,000 264,000 145,000 124,000 78,000
7 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 839,000 249,000 254,000 147,000 91,000 98,000
8 THE BILL ABC 791,000 236,000 258,000 123,000 90,000 83,000
9 HEARTBEAT Seven 775,000 224,000 221,000 149,000 85,000 95,000
10 TEN NEWS AT FIVE SAT Ten 740,000 164,000 218,000 141,000 68,000 149,000
11 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 13 - FINALS Seven 690,000 182,000 280,000 92,000 63,000 74,000
12 THE CRICKET SHOW Nine 657,000 194,000 181,000 125,000 102,000 55,000
13 SURVIVOR: CHINA Nine 638,000 174,000 232,000 111,000 55,000 66,000
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 9:02 AM
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The TV shows Australia loved
This contains charts of the most watched programs of the 20th and 21st centuries, prepared by David Dale and based on data from OzTAM and ACNielsen. Last updated January 28, 2008. For the latest media trends, go to www.smh.com.au/tribalmind.
To discuss whether TV is a dying medium, click here
Chart 1. The top shows since 2001
Based on OzTAM's audience estimates for the mainland capitals. Series figures are for the most watched episode of the year.
1 Tennis: Aus Open final - Hewitt v Safin 2005 (7) 4.04 million
2 Rugby World Cup final 2003 (7) 4.01 million
3 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony 2006 (9) 3.56m
4 AFL Grand Final 2005 (10) 3.39m
5 Australian Idol Final Verdict 2004 (10) 3.35m
6 Australian Idol final 2003 (10) 3.30 m
7 AFL Grand Final 2006 (10) 3.15m
8 The Block auction 2003 (9) 3.11 m
9 September 11 reportage, September 12, 2001 (9, 7, ABC) 3.10 m
10 Tennis: Wimbledon day 14 2001 (9) 3.04 m
11 AFL grand final 2003 (10) 2.96 m
12 Big Brother winner announced 2004 (10) 2.86m
13 Australian Idol Live from Opera House 2004 (10) 2.86 m
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 1:00 AM
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The death of The Bulletin -- one editor's view
by David Dale
On my first day as editor of The Bulletin, in February 1988, I was taken to lunch at Mario's restaurant in East Sydney by the then managing director of Kerry Packer's empire, Trevor Kennedy.
I'd just spent six weeks in New York researching trends in the magazine industry, and I outlined a transformation plan that included a physical redesign, new sections on architecture, entertainment, technology and food, and an irreverent approach that would take the magazine back to its larrikin roots. I used the phrase "a tone of benign scepticism" a lot.
"Yeah, yeah, that's all fine," Kennedy said, "but there's only one thing you need to save this magazine." Goodness, I thought, my first day on the job and already I'm getting the magic formula from the man who'd taken The Bulletin to its peak of political influence in the 1970s.
"What's that?" I asked. "F---ing good stories," Kennedy replied.
I argued with him then, and I argued with Kerry Packer when I met him a week later, that magazines were no longer about breaking stories.
That function was being performed very well by daily papers and by TV stations. What a magazine could do was break ideas, attitudes, and new ways of understanding society, and present them in an individual voice that would delight more readers than it would offend. That could be the point of difference that might attract readers under the age of 50.
I'm not sure that Kennedy ever agreed with me and I'm quite sure Packer never agreed with me. Two years and one month later, Packer fired me for publishing a cover story called "The Great Australian Balance Sheet - Our human assets and liabilities" (an updating of an earlier cover called "The 100 Most Appalling People in Australia").
Apparently at least one of the human liabilities was close enough to Packer to persuade him that this irreverence was not the best way forward for his venerable weekly.
When I left, the circulation was 112,000 a week. These days, as takes its terminal breath, circulation stands at 60,000 a week.
It's sad that a piece of Australian history will disappear from our newsstands, but it's not surprising. If not for Packer's nostalgia, it would have gone ten years ago. Like John Howard, The Bulletin outstayed its welcome.
I was just one of a series of band-aids applied to the magazine over the past two decades, each trying a different desperate measure to avert the inevitable.
Better journalists than I have edited The Bulletin before and since my period, but none has been able to overcome the fundamental problem -- there is no role in a multimedia society for a weekly publication that simply reports and analyses news.
Packer never recognised that. He kept the magazine going against the advice of his money managers. He never lost hope that it could still exert influence.
One afternoon in 1989, he ranted at me for an hour about the need for a cover story that would stop the federal government from embracing free trade, because the economy would not survive the removal of protectionist barriers.
I said that would make a discussion for the business pages, but as a cover story it would bore our target audience and destroy all the circulation gains we'd been making recently. He didn't care.
The Bulletin has gone and with it, the age of media proprietors who will allow eccentricity to override expediency. That's the really sad part.
- Posted by Stay in touch in The tribal mind at 6:54 PM
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The music Australia loved
Lists of top selling albums and most successful performers, prepared by David Dale. Last updated January 13, 2008. To discuss what Australians do when they go out, go to WHO WE ARE. To discuss what should be our national song, go to Head full of zombie.
The top selling albums of 2007
1 CALL ME IRRESPONSIBLE Michael Buble
2 I'M NOT DEAD P!nk
3 FUTURE SEX/LOVE SOUNDS Justin Timberlake
4 ON A CLEAR NIGHT Missy Higgins
5 THE DUTCHESS Fergie
6 DREAM DAYS AT THE HOTEL EXISTENCE Powderfinger
7 GRAND NATIONAL The John Butler Trio
8 LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN Eagles
9 YOUNG MODERN Silverchair
10 TIMBALAND PRESENTS: SHOCK VALUE Timbaland
The top selling albums of the past 12 years
1 Come On Over (Shania Twain)
2 Jagged Little Pill (Alanis Morissette)
3 Innocent Eyes (Delta Goodrem)
4 Savage Garden (Savage Garden)
5 Falling Into You (Celine Dion)
6 Abba Gold (Abba)
7 Immaculate Collection (Madonna)
8 Recurring Dream (Crowded House)
9 Come Away With Me (Norah Jones)
10 Forgiven Not Forgotten (The Corrs)
11 Yourself or Someone Like You (Matchbox 20)
12 Forrest Gump (Soundtrack)
13 The Very Best of (The Eagles)
14 1 (The Beatles)
15 Affirmation (Savage Garden)
16 The Eminem Show (Eminem)
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 11:10 AM
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The films Australia loved
List of the 125 highest-grossing movies of all time, and list of the 65 movies seen by the greatest number of Australians, prepared by David Dale from data provided by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia. Last updated January 23, 2008.
To discuss what else Australians do when they go out, go to WHO WE ARE. For the latest media trends, go to www.smh.com.au/tribalmind.
The Australian box office
1. Titanic (1997) $58 million
2. Shrek 2 (2004) $50m
3. The Return of the King (2003) $49m
4. Crocodile Dundee (1986) $48m
5. Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $47m
6. The Two Towers (2002) $46m
7. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) $42m
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 1:00 AM
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The Tribal Mind: The cool acid test
For the annual State of the Nation report on Australians, go to Who We Are
To learn about this country's favourite stories and characters, go to The previous Tribal Mind
by David Dale
The horror writer Stephen King recently ventured beyond his area of expertise to discuss who is cool and uncool in the entertainment industry, provoking this column to attempt a similar foolish exercise for Australia.
Writing in Entertainment Weekly magazine, King doesn't define his terms, but apparently a cool person does his or her own thing with competence and flair, without caring how it looks to others. King says Jack Nicholson, Holly Hunter and Morgan Freeman are always cool, even in bad movies, while "the best consistely uncool actor" is Tom Hanks on the male side and Charlize Theron on the female side.
King continues ... "In 3:10 to Yuma, it's the hat. Russell Crowe is cool because of the hat. But here's the thing -- you or I could wear that hat and not be cool. It's Russell Crowe under the hat that makes it cool.
"On TV, Prison Break isn't very good, but it has stayed cool. Battlestar Galactica? Was cool; last season started out cool, then warmed up. It may regain its coolness factor, but probably not; that rarely happens. Lost has stayed cool because it's so weird ...
"There's no rhyme or reason to the coolness thing. Look at politicians, the ultimate entertainers. Barack Obama is cool. Hillary Clinton, who will probably win the Democratic Party's nomination to run for president, is not. "
In Australia the only cool politician is Bob Brown, but that's not this column's department. Here's our first annual listing ...
The coolest people in Australian entertainment:
1 Shaun Micallef
2 Julia Zemiro
3 Justine Clarke
4 Frank Woodley
5 Juanita Phillips
6 Chris Taylor
7 Glenn Robbins
8 Sonia Kruger
9 Shane Bourne
10 Cate Blanchett.
Being cool requires a certain elusiveness, which is why Cate Blanchett is almost Not There. She seems to have developed the ability to walk red carpets simultaneously on three continents. We need to see a lot less of her this year if she's to make next year's cool list.
Same problem for Sonia Kruger. Although anybody would look interesting when placed next to Daryl Somers (who shares with Eddie McGuire the title of Least Cool Person on Australian Television), Kruger earned her spot on the list through a quality of mischievous nonchalance that is now being diluted by too-frequent appearances on morning radio. Much depends on who becomes her support host on this year's Dancing With The Stars.
This is not to say that Micallef and Zemiro got the top spots because their SBS shows attracted fewer than 400,000 viewers last year. There's more to them than cult appeal. Like Frank Woodley, they have a deep-seated strangeness that makes them eternally intriguing.
Like Juanita Phillips, Justine Clarke exudes a calm intelligence in all her endeavours -- -- singing on Play School, frowning in Look Both Ways and The Surgeon, and playing straightman to Richard Roxburgh in the play Toy Symphony.
Shane Bourne is cool in City Homicide and not cool in Thank God You're Here (because he's overshadowed by the likes of Micallef, Woodley and Zemiro). The Chaser boys stayed semi-cool despite their success last year, but Chris Taylor made the list because he seems to seek fame less than the others. The key to cool is not trying to be.
Who else would you include on the 2008 list of Australia's coolest?
more- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 10:51 AM
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WHO WE ARE: A State of the Nation report
To learn who are the coolest people in Australian entertainment, go to The Tribal Mind
To discuss whether the spaghetti sandwich is the pinnacle of Australian cuisine, go to Who We Are
A column by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 20/1/2008
A landmark in Australian history took us by surprise last year. The population passed 21 million. Twelve months ago the Bureau of Statistics was predicting we'd reach our new millionstone sometime in 2008, based on the theory that we were getting a new baby every two minutes and four seconds and a new immigrant every four minutes.
Then the boffins saw the latest birth and immigration figures and hurriedly revised their calculations, giving us only a few week's notice of the big event on Friday June 29, 2007.
In the mid Noughties, Australian women between 30 and 39 started breeding like bunnies, pushing our birth rate up from 1.79 babies per woman in 2001 to 1.81 in 2006. And the economic boom created huge demand for skilled immigrants, so our net intake rose from 110,000 in 2004-2005 to 147,000 in 2005-2006 -- mostly from Britain, China and India.
If you look at the bureau's population clock today (at www.abs.gov.au), you'll see a figure close to 21,200,000, based on a kid arriving every one minute and 56 seconds and an immigrant joining us every three minutes and five seconds. We'll hit our next millionstone early in 2010. Better start organising the party now.
This is how our 21 million splits up: 13.3 per cent of us are over 65, 19.8 per cent are under 15, 2.3 per cent are of Aboriginal background, and 22 per cent were born overseas (of whom 1.6 per cent speak Italian at home, 1.3 per cent speak Greek and 1.1 per cent speak Mandarin, like Kevin Rudd.) Some 21 per cent are smokers, 48 per cent are overweight or obese, and 85 per cent live within 50 km of the sea.
Here's what else we can say about ourselves after a year of transformations ...
FAMILY LIFE
In 2006 there were 265,900 births - the highest number since 1971. There were 133,700 deaths, which meant the lowest death rate ever. The health system is keeping us alive longer.
But the demographers think the baby shower will be brief -- more of a blip than a boom -- and by the year 2020, Australia's dominant family type will couples without children. At the moment they form 37 per cent of Australia's 5.7 million families (up from 34 per cent in 1996), while 45 per cent are couples with children (down from 50 per cent), and 15.8 per cent of families have only one parent (up from 14.5). In addition, there are 2.2 million households containing only one person.
As our families shrink, our wealth expands. The average household is earning 30 per cent more than ten years ago, and living large - 77 per cent of homes have at least one empty bedroom. The average household has wealth of $563,000 (assets $655,000, debts $92,000).
But we're spending way ahead of what we're making. The Reserve Bank says Australians owe more than $41 billion on our 13.7 million credit and charge cards, almost double the amount of five years ago. Nearly 32,000 people went bankrupt in 2006-07.
RELATIONSHIPS
Maybe it's laziness, or maybe it's modesty, but an online survey organised by the condom maker Durex found that Australia ranks 12th among 16 western nations in terms of the amount of sex we say we're getting.
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 4:50 PM
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The DVDs Australia loved
List of most most purchased DVDs prepared by David Dale, using data from GFK Marketing, last updated January 1, 2008. To discuss what Australians do when they go out, go to wankers, geeks and dust-sniffers.
Top selling DVDs of all time
1. Finding Nemo (2004)
2 The Two Towers (2003)
3 Fellowship of the Ring (2002)
4 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2003)
5 Shrek 2 (2004)
6 Return of the King (2004)
7 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
8 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2006)
9 Pirates of the Caribbean (2004)
10 Indiana Jones Box Set (2003)
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 10:10 AM
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WHO WE ARE: Graduating from the spaghetti sandwich
To find out which stories and characters Australians love best, go to The Tribal Mind
A weekly column about Australia, by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 20/1/2008
Peck's paste; lettuce and vegemite; Smith's crisps and tomato sauce; peanut butter, honey, and sultanas; Nutella and margarine; mashed banana and corn flakes ... tempting as these fillings sound, they are not enough to convince me that the sandwich could ever be the pinnacle of Australian culinary endeavour.
Last week (see below) this column lamented the news that Australia's most purchased takeaway item is not the hamburger, not fried chicken, not pizza, not the meat pie but, after all these years of cultural development, still the sandwich. An avalanche of protest descended upon me.
"Sydneysider" wrote: "Nothing but nothing will ever beat the good old Aussie salad sandwich or roll, not forgetting the mandatory beetroot! Mum used to make us our salad sangas for school and thoughtfully wrap the beetroot in a bit of Gladwrap separately so it didn't turn the entire lunch box pink!!!! It's still my favourite for lunch."
Some readers realize now that they didn't know when they were well off ... Louisa: "Coming from an Italian background, my sandwich fillings were always exotic -- crumbed veal (my fav), or fried capsicum (also yum), salami cheese and lettuce, the source of many derogatory comments from my classmates. If I could talk Mum into it, she would give me Vegemite or Peanut Butter (but this was yuck by the time you got to eat it). I was jealous of the devon and tomato sauce sangers my friends used to get."
Onie: "Trading was a bit hard with sultanas & jam, cold meatballs & tomato, home made spag bol (very stinky). I eventually rebelled and asked for tomato, celery and plastic cheese for the next 6 years."
Others found ways of improving on traditional stylings ... Richard Salter: "My favourite was 2 sausage rolls stuffed in a buttered roll." Iain Gorry: "We brought buttered bread from home and put in either a Wagon Wheel or salt & vinegar chips." Shaygh: "My youngest sister invented the crunchy nut breakfast sandwich: crunchy nut corn flakes, peanut butter, honey and squashed banana."
Amy: "I'd buy a pack of BBQ chips and squash them between my chicken roll (or devon) sandwich. Although I really do miss that sugar rush of a 100 & 1000s spinkled on a triangle of buttered bread for only 5 cents."
There were, however, a few readers who shared my horror ... Ian: "Mum made us Peck's paste sandwiches for the week on Sunday - froze them all and gave us them frozen each morning for years. None of us wanted to hurt her feelings so we loyally ate them - sometimes defrosted, sometimes half frozen. Jeez it gave us a strong digestive system."
Crooklyn Dodger: "Nothing was worse than my mum's bizarre early morning concoction for my packed lunch: Nutella and margarine on a cheese and bacon roll! Straight in the bin, love ya mum."
EP: "Occasionally we used to get tinned salmon sandwiches, which were nice fresh but smelt like dead fish after half a day in your 'port' (to use Qld vernacular). But the King of all sandwiches has to be Peanut Butter, Bacon and Banana."
I remain unconvinced. Give me cold leftovers of pad thai noodles any day.
more- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 7:33 AM
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The ratings race: week 3
This edition of the blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but no longer current. For the latest media discusson, go to www.smh.com.au/tribalmind.
For the annual State of the Nation report on Australians, go to Who We Are
To learn about this country's favourite stories and characters, go to The previous Tribal Mind
David Dale's media report, updated 10 am Sunday
Here's what Australia watched on Saturday ...
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 6 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,441,000 379,000 525,000 237,000 152,000 147,000
2 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,408,000 489,000 445,000 225,000 153,000 97,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,234,000 355,000 325,000 240,000 132,000 182,000
4 THIRD TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 1,095,000 351,000 344,000 181,000 109,000 110,000
5 PARKINSON ABC 940,000 315,000 273,000 145,000 103,000 103,000
6 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 907,000 257,000 234,000 172,000 109,000 134,000
7 HEARTBEAT Seven 873,000 221,000 241,000 183,000 96,000 133,000
8 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 6 NIGHT SESSION - LATE Seven 854,000 241,000 331,000 102,000 98,000 82,000
11 THE BILL ABC 725,000 247,000 159,000 142,000 75,000 102,000
15 SURVIVOR: CHINA Nine 603,000 121,000 203,000 127,000 54,000 99,000
16 FRIENDS Ten 572,000 137,000 174,000 136,000 69,000 55,000
17 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 6 Seven 532,000 124,000 210,000 85,000 55,000 59,000
22 WIMBLEDON RPT Ten 448,000 124,000 125,000 85,000 55,000 59,000
25 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 392,000 137,000 94,000 79,000 48,000 33,000
26 IRON CHEF SBS 369,000 125,000 114,000 63,000 41,000 27,00
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 12:43 AM
- Comments (79)
The Tribal Mind: Our never ending stories
For the annual State of the Nation report on Australia, go to Who We Are
by David Dale
It's the story, stupid. And then it's the characters. Always has been, always will be. That's the answer you can give to people who declare that "movies these days are only about marketing/ special effects/ car chases/ big-name stars/ nudity/ remakes/ teenage romance/ dirty jokes/ explosions."
If they still complain, throw these names at them: Dory, Jack Sparrow, Hermione Granger, Michael Corleone, Gollum, George McFly, Darth Vader, Scar, Dr Elsa Schneider, Donkey, Mike Wazowski, Commodus, and Danny Zuko. And if they don't recognise them, walk away, because the fools know nothing about what matters to Australians.
The evidence is in this chart, prepared for us by the research agency GFK Marketing to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the DVD, the most speedily embraced entertainment technology this country has ever known ...
The top selling DVDs of all time in Australia:
1 Finding Nemo (2004)
2 Indiana Jones Box Set (2003, though our picture shows Cate Blanchett as the villain in the 2008 Indy instalment)
3 Star Wars Trilogy (2004)
4 The Two Towers (2003)
5 The Fellowship of the Ring (2002)
6 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2003)
7 Shrek 2 (2004)
8 Return of the King (2004)
9 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
10 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2006)
11 Pirates of the Caribbean (2004)
12 Monsters Inc (2002)
13 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2002)
14 Gladiator (2000)
15 Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest (2006).
In addition, the all-time 50 favourites include The Matrix, the Back to the Future trilogy, The Godfather Collection, The Lion King, Fawlty Towers Box Set, Seinfeld Seasons 1 and 2, Grease, Troy, The Notebook and Love Actually.
It seems Australians enjoy a story in which a hero is summoned on a quest, learns from a mentor, meets friends, lovers and enemies on the road, fights a series of skirmishes before confronting the ultimate evil, goes through a form of death and resurrection, and returns with The Solution. And they love characters who make them laugh, cry, wonder, rage and cheer. That's what produces the kind of disc we keep in our home library and show to our grandchildren.
Australians spent $1.46 billion buying 82 million DVDs in 2007 -- $500 million more than what we spent on cinema tickets and ten times what we spent on DVDs in 2001. Here's where most of the money went ...
Top selling DVDs in 2007: 1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; 2 The Simpsons Movie; 3 Transformers; 4 Happy Feet; 5 Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End; 6 Summer Heights High; 7 Casino Royale; 8 Shrek The Third; 9 Night At The Museum; 10 Grey's Anatomy Season 2.
Now you're in a position to say if they still make movies the way they used to. Do those films and TV shows have stories as intriguing as the ones in the first chart? Can we add Ja'mie King, Mr Burns, Sam Witwicky, Mumble and Izzy Stevens to the pantheon of classic characters in the second paragraph?
That's for you to say. Give us your answers, below.
more- Posted by David Dale in The tribal mind at 10:38 AM
- Comments (9)
