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Hello Kitty, you’re dead, and other surprise products

Photograph of Hello Kitty-branded AK-47

Ah yes, what every post-modern terrorist needs: a Hello Kitty brand AK-47. A steal at just US$1072.95! Thanks for the pointer, Boing Boing.

I think it even beats the bacon chocolate bar! “Crisp, buttery, compulsively irresistible bacon and milk chocolate combination has long been a favourite of mine,” says the creator. Gluten-free, apparently, so it’s healthy, OK? Thanks again, Boing Boing.

[Update 16 January 2008: This page is still getting several hundred visitors a month. I’m curious. How did you get to this page? What brought you here? And while you’re here, do feel free to look around and maybe even post a few comments.]

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Exploding the “economic manager” myth

If “economic management” is a key factor in the election campaign, then I’m hoping someone manages to finally explode this myth that the Howard government is a good economic manager.

Yes, unemployment is low. Yes, interest rates have been low. Yes, there’s been a mining boom. But after (supposedly) 11 boom years under the Truthful Rodent, what have we got to show for it apart from huge credit card balances and a series of “emergencies”? What have we actually built for the future, as opposed to aspired to do?

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Political advertising “blackout” loophole. Or not.

There’s a “blackout” on political advertising in electronic media the last three days before an election — but not on the Internet. Is this a loophole which needs closing? Or is the blackout a pointless relic from the past?

The rules on electoral advertising include this blackout…

…to ‘provide a “cooling off period” for electors to consider their stance on the issues without the influences of electronic media advertising’. This provision had been in place for about 50 years before being deemed unnecessary in 1991 when a complete election advertising ban was imposed. However, it was re-enacted in 1992 after a High Court decision declared the complete ban invalid. The ‘blackout’ can also be seen to prevent parties making claims late in election campaigns that cannot be scrutinised before election day.

But political parties will be able to continue broadcast-style advertising over the Web.

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MP3 spam

Is this a new kind of spam? MP3 spam! An email I received overnight had no content apart from an MP3 audio file — which was a voice-synthesized announcement of whatever it was they were selling.

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Funding Mozart cover bands just isn’t right

Photograph of crowd at Gallery 4A

If art is about creativity, then why does most of the government funding go to a few relics from the past?

Last night’s exhibition launch at Gallery 4A included reminders that contemporary art galleries struggle to survive: a begging bowl on the bar, and speeches studded with polite requests to become a member or make a donation, and genuinely thankful thank-yous to the private patrons.

Yet as Marcus Westbury writes in the Sydney Morning Herald today, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra gets nearly $9M funding annually — more than all of Australia’s visual arts artists put together. Or all writers and publishers. Or all the dancers.

Continue reading “Funding Mozart cover bands just isn’t right”