Deveski Talks Rubbish, And Other Things

It's All About Being Lost In Translation

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Devereux) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:25:00 +0000

As far as bad habits go, needing TV or movies playing in the background to sleep is probably up there in Burt Reynolds' list of stupidity. Being an on and off again insomniac and refusing to succumb to the obvious means of chemical sedation, this technique, no matter how unhealthy to my REM style sleep, seems to be the only viable solution. I constantly check Google for unauthorised Fight Club meetings, or strange guerilla style productions of Fame in Queen Street Mall, just in case Brad Pitt has taken control over a mysterious alter-ego I have developed.

Last night, I decided to put on Lost In Translation, which ended up being a bad idea cause I stayed up longer than usual watching it all the way through. In essence, when Sofia Coppola wrote the screenplay for this play, I don't think she realised how many people feel like this everyday in their regular lives. The opening scene where the car tracks through modern day Tokyo with a tired, unenthused Bill Murray looking out at a unfamiliar world seems to be the illustration for my life at this point in time. Bill Murray's character explains that in the beginning life was fun, and somehow he ended up disenchanted by the lack of connection to those around him. Even though that the movie is set over a period of a week, the changes was wonderful and meaningful to both characters. The sort of moment that writers and musicians publish novels or write songs about. I remember a time in my early 20's, being naive and free-spirited, trekked up and down the east coast of Australia trying to find that purpose that everyone searches for at one point or another. The exception being that my impatience, and being exposed to old age and death at a young age, decided early not to waste too much time experimenting and dabbling. And as you all know, when life deals out the scenarios, it doesn't play all the cards fairly.

Recently I've realised something weird. I always believed that what I did as a profession was against the principals of what I was about. Entertainment, Fashion, and The Arts in general, the belly of it all is so superficial. Whilst at one point, the arts was a great distraction for the regular person. Now it has become an over-flurry of mass produced headaches that has created a generation of plastic surgery obsessed girls all wanting to be famous for doing nothing, and guys who do nothing but watch nut punching on Youtube. It was this that made me come up to my "Lost In Translation" moment at the start of the year. For something I used to think made me happy, has now made me miserable and lost. I shopped around for alternatives and ended up landing a change to sport through V8 Supercars. I still felt the spirit wasn't there though. I was happy but it wasn't real. I am not denying that I have found my purpose, and that feeling this way makes me selfish, but I can't help experiencing it nevertheless.

It scares me to think how many people feel this way. We spend all of our early years preparing for the great unknown, and then get to a point where you wonder if you were actually prepared enough. It's funny too how people look at others with rose coloured glasses on, seeing there lives as perfect and symmetrical, when in fact they are fraught with the same insecurities and issues as the next person. I've had a number of people I grew up with die over the last few years, and no-one sticks out in my mind more than my friend Rebecca. She grew up in an adopted family, which straight away threw confusion and identity issues into the mix. The time I knew her, she struggled to find any sort of purpose. She was an inventive and beautifully organised young woman, but could never shake the drugs and feeling of life being pointless. I stuck by her side till the end when most had ran for the hills, and always hoped that the fog that clouded her mind eventually cleared. The last time I saw her was on her trip down in 2008 to meet her birth mother, which was a momentous occasion for both of us as I had known her since we were 14. When she left on the train, I had a sick feeling in my stomach I wouldn't see her again. Later that year, she fell pregnant and I could in her voice tell that she had finally found purpose, and pictured her finally looking at the world and smiling. Even though her death after giving birth to Jhordan, I was happy in a way that before it happened, she had achieved some form of purpose being a mom before she died. Jhordon had been her "Scarlett Johansson".

My transition, though not being so sad and dramatic as that, happened in July of this year. I recently met this group of people who were wanting to start an online show showcasing entertainment around the country. It wasn't like I was expecting it to happen. People approach me all the time about advice. I had a guy send me a script about pre-mature ejaculation earlier today. No shit. That really happened today. But after agreeing to sit in on the first meeting a couple of hours before my life changing S.E.L meeting in Sydney, I realised this was different. Raccoon Dog. As I got to know these people, I could see that glow and enthusiasm I used to possess. Gab, Jolen, and Alex from Raccoon Dog TV ended up being my 'Scarlett Johansson' as there fun, genuine nature made me realise the reasons why I did what I did in the first place. In an OB-1 Kenobi style manner, I helped them discover that same magic I had once felt back in the day before becoming jaded. What ended up being a business opportunity turned into a great friendship and huge awakening for yours truly.

Thinking on how to sum up this blog, it brought me back to this time last year when my lower back met the front of Nissan Patrol whilst saving a toddler from getting run over, and think that they might be somewhat related. I remember sitting down after that happening, and even though I couldn't admit it then, it did affect the way I look at the world. But as the year plays out quicker than Kenny Rogers, I realise now that I can hop back in the cab and look out the window at the world and see the end of the mental crossroad. And even though directions change, I will still hear Phoenix's Too Young playing in the background.

Waving A Power Wand Is The New Tubetop

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Devereux) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:43:00 +0000

The Mayan Calendar

It doesn't take a brilliant and sophisticated mind to see that the world at the moment is one big struggle for control. If you look at the civil unrest happening in Egypt and Libya, it shows you that regular people are rising against governments and agencies who use and abuse power. According to the Mayan calendar, the Mayans said thousands of years ago that all factions including religion that abuse power would fall, and would cease to exist (para-phrasing). If you look back in the last 30 years, back in the 70's, you would think that as an almost impossibility. But in our day in age, people of our generation have been given the greatest weapon of all, the internet.

This is interesting, because people generally don't think of the internet as a physical thing. People don't take time to think that the internet is actually man's greatest invention. Not only for information and communication purposes, but has had a massive impact on the power that once was there for corporations and governments to exploit. As an example, people are no longer influenced by product placement, mass advertising campaigns, and false or misleading press announcements. Instead, most people rely on reviews and customer reports done by other people who have owned these products. I know this because its what I do.

Egypt Revolution in 2011

So because the change of the original social structure of humanity and the introduction of social media, regular people have been given a voice, and are less influenced by what the powers to be used to force people into their direction. The situation of Egypt could have possibly been catastrophic if the threat of the internet hadn't been there. It only takes minutes for somebody to take photos or shoot videos of an inhumane situation happening and for it all to be online for millions to see. Would have Hosni Mubarak done something unheard of to his civilians if there the internet wasn't shadowing over the top of him like a nuclear weapon? And would the people in Egypt risen against him if the internet didn't exist? and if so, was the internet the main factor in this uprising, knowing that the internet was there like a security blanket to protect there welfare.

Unfortunately, because of this new found freedom of power, it has become a double edged sword. It has opened a "Pandora's Box" of people and organizations finding different ways of exploiting, "Fake Power". An interesting story recently of a gig in Cairns where I witnessed the tour manager for the Australian musical group, "The Waifs" rip into security and production personnel for not wanting to conform to the rules and regulations that are set by the government run venue because of a delusion of "Self-Importance". As everyone has the right to stand up for whatever rights they have in a situation, this one was a perfect example of an exploitation of 'Fake Power" and self delusion. As this is no longer the rocking 60's and 70's, being loud and rude to show your fake power hurts nobody but yourself and your reputation, equal to that of the band that person is managing. It was this incident that gave me the idea of this blog.

Uthman Badar's interview on ACA with Tracey Grimshaw

This is also the problem of organizations and governments who originally has power over citizens resorting to drastic measures out of fear of losing power all together. For most western countries at this present time, most governments are finding themselves with there hands tied as they deal with a pendulum shift when it comes to the use of affirmative action. For those who don't know what affirmative action is, it was an idea set forth by the JFK government about the equality and balance of when it came to race and religion. But as time progresses, organizations that are involved with dealing with the protection of race and religion issues are playing certain cards to use affirmative action policies in order to gain huge advantages over general citizens. For the non-Australian readers, another perfect example of this came from an incident that involved the Muslim community wanting to create a completely separate state in Australia.

Uthman Badar talk about Islamic states with no democracy

Uthman Badar from the International Islamic group Hizb Ut-Tahrir was leading the charge for this Islamic state, and was announcing that the state had to be created in order to protect the beliefs of Muslim people. He said that democracy was incompatible with Islam because the Koran insisted Allah was the sole lawmaker, and Muslim political involvement could not be based on “secular and erroneous concepts such as democracy and freedom". The problem being with this, is that Australia being a democratic country, has allowed people of any race or religion to live in this country based on the act of democracy and the sole goal to protect people's freedoms and liberty.

So if Uthman Badar was demanding that this Islamic state to be created based on the fact he lived in a country where he had the freedom to do so, doesn't that contradict his beliefs of Islamic law that freedom and democracy doesn't exist? And if Australia doesn't accept this, will that make us a racist country? I believe that this has come down to what can be seen as an opportunity to exploit power based on the fact that Islam as a religion is a severely sensitive issue. But the real eye opener is that would this have had the power it had without the use of social media. The group posted a video claiming Australia's narrow view on Islam, followed by disturbing scenes and photos of the war in Gallipoli, which again, turning social media from a productive tool into something to gain sympathy for something that wasn't related to point they were arguing about.

Regardless of this though, we all made great headway as a species in the 21st century to eliminate the distances between race and religion, and eventually, both parties will find a solution to suit everyone.


Phillip Defranco - One of the leaders in social media freedom

So to sum up, the funny thing about approaching this subject in a blog that I have written, is I am showing my example of being able to reach people on opinions of what I have about certain subjects using a social media format. I am not deluding myself that all people will find what I write informative, or even right. But it enables me to have discussions with people about topics without having to worry about being controlled or watched over like a child. But if you don't take the chance to include yourself in this wonderful place that social media has created, then you are really missing out. To embrace the world and to listen and talk about things that matter, whether it is digital or not, is the reason why information is the real power. Not all of us are interested in Katy Perry's arguments with Calvin Harris on Twitter.

The Tired Face Of An Old School Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Devereux) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:55:00 +0000

There I was, sitting in my seat on the plane back from Cairns after 2 weeks of dazy alcohol fuel shenanigans when I spotted a person I went to school with walking to the toilet with her young daughter. Struggling to remember her name with a water bottle on my head curbing a huge headache, she recognized me and stopped on her way back to her seat. We had a brief chat about the last 10 years and what had been going on, and who we had seen. As I looked at her, I could tell the last 10 years had been a tough one. Her mum died of cancer a couple of years after high school, and had recently spent the last year tangled up in a heavy divorce with her husband. As she was telling me all this, I couldn't help but remember the last days from senior year, and how she was very excited she had been accepted into a highly sort after program at Macquarie University. She told me she pulled out after the first year to go home to look after her mum when she was going through her cancer treatments.

As she sat down in the vacant seat across from me, her weathered face saddened me greatly. Being a mother seemed to be her saving grace as her young daughter climbed all over her during our brief conversation. But regardless of seeming tired and worn out, she still had that same grin she had back in high school, which told me that all of this hadn't broken her spirit completely.

Turning 30 last year didn't bother me in the slightest. But it's moments like this that hit home when you realize its been a lifetime since the last bell rang at the end of high school. With the invention of Facebook, it has been easier to keep track of old high school friends, what they have been up to, and what type of people life has pushed them to be. For myself, nothing much has changed in the fact I still love big and glitzy. For others, certain choices have led them down a different path, and I often think they look back and say, "Where exactly did I make the decision to be where I am today?"

I often think what was going through my mum's mind, and what plans she had before falling pregnant with me. She was in Perth at the time, and made the decision to return to Newcastle to be with family, and raise me by herself. When she hit my age, I was already 10 years ago, so unlike myself and others that have had time to reflect over there 20's and the decisions we have made, my mum really didn't have that luxury. But she now has found her niche working in entertainment at one of Queensland's premier live venues.

So as I sat waiting to be picked up, I looked back over the last 10 years and realized probably 4 out the last 10 years were probably wasted. Which isn't too bad. I have achieved enough to be satisfied professionally and that from 2000 to 2010 was successful time in my life, but then I remembered what I had written as my goals back in high school, and that was to have a wife and family by the time I was 30. So I suppose the term, 'success' really has become a loose term with society dictating professional success is true success. For my friend, even though her mum passed away, and is going through a divorce, in my mind, having two kids is still considered success, regardless if she pulled out of the program she fought so hard for back in high school.

To sum up, I think that there are people out there who ride on negativity as an addiction, regardless of professional or personal success, as they see the height of there happiness was the awaiting possibilities of the future at the end of high school. I think the thing I took away from my friend on the plane was that really we have no idea what's in store after high school. But if you can still smile like you did back then, then life is really just a big laugh, or in my case, a sit-com.

The Bizarre Nature Of A Media Fuelled Natural Disaster

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Devereux) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 09:33:00 +0000

The majority of my life, I have experienced my fair share of what the media classed as 'natural disasters'. When I was 9, I was in Newcastle when the famous 1989 earthquake hit, and was very aware of the panic that happened afterwards. I went back to live there in 2002, and even today, there are buildings that still carry a scar of that tragic day.

Apon moving to Cairns towards the end of 1990, the city not long after became under threat by Cyclone Joy; a Catergory 5 monster that made Cyclone Tracy look like a summer breeze. Watching the news as a child with reporters saying that thousands of body bags were being flown up from Brisbane, in preparation for the devastation, you can understand the reasons behind people's panic. Fortunately though, Cyclone Joy didn't come across the coast, and it took 16 years before Cyclone Larry decided to rip through Innisfail in 2006.

Cyclone Joy's path in December 1990

After a number of years in Far North Queensland and many close calls with cyclones and flooding, it never seemed such a big deal afterwards as the majority of people who live in FNQ are prepared and well-versed in what to do in such an emergency. This however, is not how I felt over the last week with the recent flood disaster currently in South East Queensland.

Being right on the river and my cousin in Lismore, I admit I started to worry early. Although I was on a hill, I had no idea what the outcome was going to be, mainly because I wasn't around in 1974. The next thing I did, which was probably the worst thing to do, was turn on the news. If ever I was to think that the Australian media was starting to go the way of fear-mongering US news channels like Fox News, this event was the turning point. Campbell Newman, the Brisbane mayor, was constantly on TV and radio repeating the words, "Stay calm, and in an orderly fashion, move to safer ground if possible." But in dramatic style, the media continued to make the situation worse by quoting predictions that sent people completely insane.

People were emptying shopping centres and having punch-ups for milk and bread; lining up and emptying petrol stations and driving and swerving like complete maniacs on the road. It was like watching scenes from the movie, "Cloverfield".


Sight-seeing causes gridlock today on Moggil Road

Even today, as Rome and I got stuff ready to go help out with the volunteer work in the Graceville area, sight-seers were blocking up the roads into Chelmer, preventing trucks and utes with water damaged rubbish and emergency services to get through to these vital areas. The reason I called this blog, "The Bizarre Nature Of A Natural Disaster", is because the behaviour of people has been, of course, biiizaaaree. Because of recent drought, the media and government have been complacent in reminding people that most of inner Brisbane, like Cairns, is built on swamp land, and very prone to flooding.

But in hindsight, all of these little things are overshadowed by the actual damage this has caused, especially to Toowoomba and The Lockyer Valley. And if you look at the way Australians respond in need to those, including volunteers and emergency workers, it made you happy that you don't live in places like New Orleans, or Indonesia. My thoughts go out to those who have lost everything, and hope your copy of trivial pursuit is still in tact, so you can at least keep your mindset positive.

To the media, shame on you for creating unnecessary panic. There is no positive outcome for making people completely lose there minds, as most people are smart enough to calmly get themselves to safety.

This blog is dedicated to the families who lost love ones in the floods, and hope you find peace in the future.

Being A Real Life Batman Is Over-Rated.

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Devereux) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:21:00 +0000

You see it in the movies all the time. Mainly in spoof sections of comedies when a extremely handsome super-hero looking dude rushes in front of a speeding train to save a damsel in distress. Usually the outcome is met with, "Oh my god, thank you kind sir, you saved my life". With hands on hips, and a shine in his eyes, the super-hero, or "Jack" always replies, "That's o.k ma'am, just doing my job", before flying off backwards into the sunset.

It's like all superhero myths that have been conjured up since the beginning of time. There is always that obsession of someone there looking over you to make you feel safe. The problem is that, when someone tries to be a hero in this day in age, it isn't met with the same prestigious recognition. For all of us who grew up watching Dr. Who send a Darlak back into the void to save millions of people, this is a big disappointment.

The reason I am writing about this is because my super-hero moment happened to me today. Walking with my iPhone headphones in listening to The Weepies, I traveled to my local shops to grab a few essentials. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a young toddler run after what looked like one of those super bouncy super-balls and about to run directly underneath a Nissan Patrol. Without thinking, I stepped out, grabbed the boy, turned my back, and took the full brunt of the Patrol directly into my tailbone. At first, I was shocked I reacted so quickly, followed by an Anthony Mundine moment of, "Hell yeah I still got it, maybe I can get into that basketball team after all next year". This all happened in about 9 seconds before a surprisingly calm mother walked over, grabbed the child, and walked off without even the slightest bit of gratitude that I just saved her child from possible death.

With the confusion of what just happened setting in, and a completely overwhelmed driver congratulating me by patting me hard in my freshly car-smashed back, it was more of a shock that the mother didn't say thank you. Why was the lack of gratitude of this selfless act more painful then actually getting hit the car. One of the reasons most likely is that my 120kg 6'6" Maori frame did more damage to the guy's car then it probably did to my back. But the real reason is that subconsciously we all deserve to be shown gratitude for the good deeds we do, in order for our brain to logically let us continue to do them. Without gratitude, random acts of kindness seem pointless and we start to feel jaded. This happened to me today, very badly. But I was able to bring myself out of it fairly quickly by thinking, 'if I didn't react and the boy got badly injured, the feeling of helplessness would have been dramatically worse.'

Now, the weird thing is I see random acts of kindness all the time. Maybe it's the type of people I associate with, which always makes me believe it's second nature. One of my best friends Rome is constantly on the mission to help others around him without reward. My friend Tania is always doing random acts of kindness including bringing food she had cooked to people cause she loves the fact people appreciate her sharing her kick-ass cooking. Tania's mother, Rosa, posted me a book out of the blue when my friend passed away from complications due to childbirth.

So if you look at the whole picture of people who actually care about others in this day in age, the percentage is frighteningly small. In a world of increasing financial and personal pressure, you can see in people's eyes that events which involve opportunism regardless of how it came about, they see it as a deserved win. Whatever problems or stress that mother from today has endured in her life, obviously saw today as a win the universe owed her, not that she now owes the universe for saving her son's life.

But I am not going to change anytime soon. Today's events, and however I feel about it now, it dwindle by the time I finish writing this blog. I feel gifted to have the ability to be able to do things like that today, and proud of the people around me that also believe that. The lighter side I took out of today is I know I still have the reaction times to pull of my signature 3 point jump shot when I start my basketball season in Sydney next year. Maybe I should wear a batman suit.

Irish Singer Gemma Hayes Finds Pot Of Gold

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Devereux) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 19:37:00 +0000

I was up late one night back in early 2003, ironically doing the exact same thing I am doing now when Irish singer Gemma Hayes came on Channel V with her debut single, "I Let A Good Thing Go". Being pre-iTunes, trying to find a copy of this single was extremely tough. Eventually I tracked down her full album in a hung-over daze one morning about 3 months later, and it still to this day is one of my most favourite albums of all time. Randomly, that song came on in my iTunes the other day, and I hadn't listen to it for ages, as it bought back some awful memories the album has attached itself to of the last half of a decade of my life (as music does). I decided to see if she bought anything else since, and came across two more albums, including her newest release, "The Hollow Of Morning", and I can tell you, she hasn't lost her awesomeness. The album is amazing, if not more amazing than, "Night On My Side" her first release. It's hard I think for people to recommend music these days, as most peeps enjoy such a variety of music, but I decided I am going to share mine anyways.

Check it out here:

GEMMA HAYES - IN OVER MY HEAD 'HOLLOW OF MORNING' (2010)

http://www.myspace.com/gemmahayes

Songs Recommended: Home, In Over My Head, At Constant Speed

The British has Top Gear, America has Jersey Shore.

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Devereux) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:42:00 +0000

I was sitting with a group of people the other night, and the topic of favourite TV shows came into the conversation. The days of favourite sexual position and, 'Is Meg Ryan's face natural' had become a thing of the past. As I was summing up my top 5, I realised that 3 out of my 5 were from the UK or British television. "Why was this?", and before I could answer my own thought like a crazy person, everyone around me rattled off names like The Young Ones, Monty Python, Absolutely Fabulous, The Office, Red Dwarf and Top Gear. At that point I realized I wasn't the only one. People love british television.

Most of my life, I always accepted that the reason why I loved British TV was because I am an Australian. Australia and the UK has always had the un-explainable bond since the plucky Brits sent us all here on convict ships. Our sense of humours have always been very similar, and watching old re-runs of Fawlty Towers and Mr. Bean still makes us laugh our Australian asses off. Back in 1996, the people of Australia decided against becoming a republic saying that, "We like the bond the Commonwealth gives us with the British, plus we don't want to miss out on the new season of Coupling". It probably is a lot more complicated that that, but that's what I like to think.

The Office's Ricky Gervais Vs Steve Carrell = No Competition

But recently, this generally isn't the case. It isn't just British and Aussies that find UK TV funny. The Americans have been stealing UK TV shows for years and remaking them into complete rubbish for no apparent reason. The Office for example, was built around Ricky Gervais's personality and awkwardness, which to me, cannot be remade by a very irritating Steve Carell. Skins, which is probably one of the most impressive TV dramas ever made, was remade into a sickening MTV version which could only be described as vomit inducing. And don't get me started on the Vicar Of Dibley. Yeah sure, the show isn't 100%, but Dawn French is comedy royalty. Making a US version with Kirstie Alley and calling it, "The Minister Of Divine" is frankly a complete insult to British comedy. Why can't American's watch the original versions of the shows, are they too stupid to understand British culture? Do they get confused at the terms, 'wanker' and 'pillick'? Whatever the US networks are thinking, they aren't treating the US public as the smart, educated people the majority of them are, they consider them more like mindless drones running around with buckets on their heads running into each other.

MTV's Jersey Shore - proving once and for all that
MTV US are about the dollar rather than quality programming

US TV isn't all bad though, but the preponderance of it is. US networks are finding it hard to jump off that reality bandwagon that died along time ago. I turned on MTV the other day, and was completely blown away by the shows this network actually throw buckets of money at. I believe now that MTV is run by a bunch of 10 year kids, and an ex-pornstar. This is very sad considering that MTV was a pioneer for the music industry for so many years, and that it somehow decided one day to become a reality TV conveyor belt spitting out mindless junk for the stupid. An un-named US Senator was addressing a press conference last week, and told the public that the US is proud to be leading country of entertainment for over 80 years, and frankly, that just isn't true. The British have long claimed this title, whether it be movies, music, art, literature etc, they have been the top dogs for a long time.

If you were to ask yourself, what has been the greatest TV show of all time, what would it be? Was it MASH? The Simpsons? Seinfeld? Friends? Well.. no. Not even close. The greatest show of all time happens to be a small pokey British car show hosted by three middle-aged men called Top Gear. Don't believe me? Well here is some numbers: When MASH's last episode, "Goodbye, Farewell, And Amen" aired in 1983, the total audience numbers were estimated at 105.97 million people, and due to limited syndication, remained the highest viewed US show in history, only just recently surpassed by last year's Superbowl. The last episode of Seinfeld reached numbers close to 76.51 million viewers worldwide, which still remains as NBC highest rating show of all time. Top Gear however, reaches worldwide audiences close to 389.31 million people per episode. Per episode. Those numbers are astonishing considering that at it's base, Top Gear is still only a road testing show.

Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, and James May.

You look at the formula for most TV shows over the last 50 years, and you realize the ones that succeeded had a fair whack of complete dumb luck. Top Gear is a perfect example of this. BBC has no idea at the time of filming the re-hashed version of the 1978 TV show, that it would become more popular for its antics rather than its road-testing of cars. They have no idea that the hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May would become so tight, and their on-screen chemistry would be unrivalled by anything shown on the TV. They did however, underestimate the world's insatiable passion for the motor car. The show is fast, informative, and above all, fun. Watching three middle-aged guys build completely useless amphibious cars and try and drive them across the English channel is hilarious. Jeremy Clarkson proves that you can always keep that inner child aspect of your life, and I believe that is what people feel when they watch the show. But if you look at Top Gears formula, its simplicity is what get's it home. It's not complicated, it's entertainment in it's purest form.

So in the end, why do we all love TV shows? We love them because after a crappy week, you can sit down and have a laugh and feel like you are a part of something else. As the US lose grip on what is actually classed as proper entertainment, the networks are spending all it's time concentrating on creating revenue-making rubbish, and anything that is any good that out of the US these days, is pretty much immediately cut for reasons unknown to science. But you can always rely on the British to bring out more TV gold. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

P.S One more thing to the yanks, Reality TV aside, if I see one more crime/police/fbi style show to come out to strike fear into your citizens, I'll punch myself in the groin. We get it... the black or latino guy did it. Give us a break.

Sport Corrupted, Let's Go Back To War

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Devereux) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:39:00 +0000

It's my first blog, and I couldn't be happier. Well sort of. I have left the blog writing up to real writers like my good friend Mariko Smits and the like for some time now, but realizing I have alot of rubbish things to say on a constant basis has left me no choice but to join the contingent of bloggers. Behold Deveski Talks Rubbish. My first blog is in response to the growing new fad i'd like to call, "Sport Is Completely Corrupt, And Is Becoming Stupid" theory.

My family is a pretty tight knit community, drawn together by our very strong sporting background. All of us at one point or another have represented state or above in all sorts of sports for years now. My cousin Brak and I, regardless of whatever is going on, find time to follow whatever massive sporting event is going on, whether it would be State Of Origin, World Cup, The Ashes, Bathurst, you name it and we follow it.

Horse Racing still leads the way in sports corruption.

But over the last 10 years or so, sport has become more about revenue and power, rather than the spirit and passion it used to be, and this saddens me. This all pretty much started when Rupert Murdoch bought The English Premier League in 2000 and turned the once loved sporting faction into a huge money hungry machine. All US based sports have long been like this, with massive trade deals, moving sporting teams from one town to the next, and making the once proud American people to turn away in numbers as big corporations threw accountants at everything like they are water balloons. No more passion, no more love for the game. Just numbers through the gate, and numerous way in which to keep stockholders happy.

But the real question is, why is the passion for sport so strong? Is it because Kevin Costner inspired people with his sport movies to become a golfer in order to meet similar pointy women like Renee Russo? I don't think so. It's because men since the dawn of time have had the need to show off their might and dick size by going to war and slaying whole countries in order to quell that ultra competitive nature that is engrained into all of us. War was the only sport. War also had a secondary purpose. Male leaders used their power in order to impress the ladies. Leaders who has the strongest armies also had the most available poontang on disposal. Guaranteed that Colonel Paul Tibbets on the day he dropped 'Little Boy' onto Hiroshima was thinking at the time, "I wonder if Ginger Rogers will notice me after this".

So you'd think that in sports rise in status and popularity over the last 70 years, it has somehow reduced the need for leaders need to blow each other up. And to some degree I believe this is true. Millions of dollars was just spent by numerous countries in order to host the planets biggest sport event, The Football World Cup. No longer do countries feel like they have to sacrifice thousands of lives in war, when they can mentally feel the same prestige having only 11 guys walking out onto a grassy paddock.

But unfortunately for us sport lovers, man will always be corrupt. Principal and morals will always take a back seat if somebody is waving a check around. The biggest example of this in recent times is FIFA. FIFA is by far the most corrupt sporting board on the planet, and after a completely disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa, the FIFA body has just named the next 2 World Cup locations for 2018 and 2022, leaving everyone baffled. As an Australian, I was disappointed that we didn't get the bid for 2022, especially with ever growing football presence and sporting heritage. But what shocked me the most was England's miss on the 2018 bid, losing out to eventual winner, Russia. Whether the decision was fair or not, you can definitely say that there was a feeling of some form of money going underneath the table, which leaves me to think that sport now, is just another form of political power rather than the love for the game.

Australian sport used to be amazing. I take example from Australian Rugby League player Allan Langer. The young football genius carved a career based on passion and for the love of the game. He stayed with one club, has a legion of loyal followers throughout the country, and now acts as a trainer in his spare time. But unfortunately these days are gone. NRL and AFL players now spend more time in courts for sexual assault and harassment then on the field, teams are breaching rules to pay their players more, and most of all, the passion of loyalty has left the fans.

So in conclusion, I think that maybe its time that sport takes a backseat and we start warring again. But not with nuclear weapons or gunships, with wet rolls of newspaper. Send in all of the American troops into China and equip everyone with one rolled up wet newspaper and a can of baked beans. Why may you ask? Because it was be as big of a joke as sport has become today. Because in my mind, sitting down with family and friends after Christmas watching the Boxing Day Test, or watching the NFL on Thanksgiving is really what life is all about.