Michael Atkinson – Are you Friggin’ Kidding?!?!?
March 9, 2010
Okay, I know South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson doesn’t like video games and is the main opposition to the introduction of an R18+ rating for games, even though evidence would say that the people of Australia want this rating (you are still an elected representative of the people aren’t you Mr. Atkinson?). But this article on news.com.au says that he donated thousands of dollars (I really hope they were not public funds Mr. Atkinson) to a group that says that video games are a more serious threat than lung cancer. Get real.
To quote the news.com.au story:
A GROUP that says video games and violence are like smoking and lung cancer has received tens of thousands of dollars in funding from politician and outspoken R18+ game critic Michael Atkinson.
An expert from the Australian Council on Children and the Media this week told a TV news program the link between violent games and youth violence was stronger than tobacco and cancer.
“It’s much greater than the effect of smoking on lung cancer,” psychologist Dr Wayne Warburton said.
A ‘much great effect than the effect of smoking on lung cancer’. Wow, I am speechless. Actually I am not. Michael Atkinson, shame on you. You have now poured a reported $33,000 in donations into a group called ‘Know Before You Go’, a service that offers parents advice on films even after the films have been rated. as an example, the film ‘Charlotte’s Web’ was rated G and deemed suitable for all audiences. Know Before You Go says the film should not be watched by under eights alone as it has disturbing scenes. This in of itself not a bad thing. The ratings on films are often vague and this will help a parent know if there is anything in particular to watch out for.
I do worry when you dig a little deeper and find out that Know Before You Go is project of The Australian Council on Children and the Media which is a non-profit organisation that also trades under the name ‘Young Media Australia’, a group that has received funding from the Federal Government in the past. The Council’s purpose is to advise parents and members of the government on the harmful effects of media on young children. This is starting to sound dangerously Orwellean to me, but it gets better.
The Council has another project going called ‘Choosing Fright-Free Fight-Free Viewing: An Intervention for Parents of Under Sevens’ (I kid you not) which actually warned parents about the show Bananas in Pyjamas because it contained slapstick comedy and that could be dangerous. Stop laughing, I’m being serious here. Let me let their own booklet explain, ‘Slapstick comedy can make them think that things don’t actually hurt when in real life they do.’ I said stop laughing, this is serious stuff. And a fine example of your tax dollars at work. Cue my usual call at this point, where the hell are the parents to to explain this to their kids. It is not a council or the government’s responsibility to raise and explain right and wrong behaviour to your kids. If you are incapable of telling your kids that hitting each other might hurt someone then you shouldn’t have had kids.
These people are being funded by the Federal Government and private donations from people like Michael Atkinson. It also seems that the original comment on video games (you know, the one about lung cancer that started this whole rant) seems to originated from the Australian Christian Lobby. Now what a surprise (note sarcasm here)!
Okay, at this point I am going to say to Michael Atkinson, John Howard, George W. Bush, Kevin Rudd, Stephen Conroy, Tony Abbott and any other politician out there who this applies too, there must be a separation of church and state. We pretend that there is but there is not.
The entire population is not Christian so stop shoving your theological crap down our throats. I am a good person, I try not to cause harm to others, I raise my child with a strong ideal of right and wrong and good manners, I am faithful to my wife. I am courteous to others and I don’t drink and I don’t cause fights. In fact I am a very gentle person who doesn’t believe that violence solves anything. However I am not Christian and I do play violent video games. I love a good hard R horror movie once in a while and I watch hardcore porn. I don’t want my internet filtered, not because I support child porn, but because I believe in freedom of speech and I like my internet fast. I support the R18+ rating on games, not because I want to show my 10 year old the RC games, but because I want to play the games that the government has blocked in the past and I don’t want my 10 year old son to be able to buy them. I support gay marriage because everyone deserves to be happy and no Christian has ever been able to answer one fundamental question, how does the union of two men or two women affect my heterosexual marriage? This is a question that has only one answer, it doesn’t.
In Australia we have mandatory scripture classes in public school. For one hour every week the children are segregated into their little groups and told about their various gods. My son goes with the non-scripture kids and watches a movie or plays a game or reads a book. For one hour each week we have unqualified people (that’s right, they are volunteers from the community, not qualified teachers) come into the school to teach our children about something that is suppose to be taught at home. This is a secular public school (remember the church and state thing) funded by tax payer dollars and once a week we get all the kids to look at each other and point out that they are different. You don’t think there is a problem with this? My son came out of non-scripture and a Catholic boy looked at him, saw that he came out of non-scripture and said “you’re going to hell because you don’t believe in god”. I believe that that is more harmful to a 10 year old than Bananas in Pyjamas. Scripture is a personal and family belief system. You go to church to learn about your god and practice at home, keep it out of the public school system. If you want scripture taught to your child, send them to a private religious school.
At this point I have lost many Christian readers and listeners to my podcast, and quite frankly I don’t care. But for those that are still around, I don’t care what your belief in god is, just keep it to yourself and don’t try to force your ideals or faith on me or society, we are not buying today thank you.
Let’s put the Christian moral hammer down now and approach the debates of the Internet Censorship Filter, The introduction of an R18+ rating for games and the re-introduction of the X18+ rating for movies with a logical and theological free mind. I think we might get more achieved if you keep your god out of it or we might have to bring up a few of your little mistakes like The Inquisition or those pesky Crusades.
I have my asbestos underwear on, let the flaming begin.
Help Support an R18+ Rating for Games – Here’s How
March 2, 2010
Our friends over at PALGN are running a campaign (in conjunction with Game – the gaming retail stores) to help usher in an R18+ rating for games. If you have been living under a rock and don’t know what this is all about, click here or here to learn more.
Many retailers and sites are helping to bring awareness to this issue but I particularly like the PALGN/Game approach. Instead of abusing the government or trying to convince people that gamers are mostly adults (true, but it is a hard sell to change perceptions) they are using the logic that some games (like movies) are not for children and we need to protect the children by bringing in an appropriate rating. To quote their site, everyoneplays.org.au:
“Some games are played by everyone, but some are only meant for those over 18.
Australia does not have an R18+ PC and video game classification. An R18+ classification will allow adults the freedom of choice to play games with mature content; and help ensure that mature themed games are not rated MA15+ under any circumstances.The Video Games Industry and the general public support an R18+ classificaiton rating.
We need to ensure that support for an R18+ classification remains top-of-mind for Censorship Ministers around the country.
Protect children from mature themed games.
Together – we can fix it.”
The discussion paper on this topic that is currently before the government has now been closed (as of February 28th 2010) to the public, however this issue still has a long way to go and if stop being vocal on this issue, you will be forgotten and swept under the mat.
We here at Geek Actually wholly support the R18+ rating for games and we encourage you to visit the PALGN page http://palgn.com.au/16060/palgn-everyoneplays-and-game-join-forces/ and the http://www.everyoneplays.org.au/ page for more information on how you can help and have your voice heard.
You will also be hearing about this program and issue across all of the Geek Actually podcasts over the next couple of weeks.
One last note: If we are going to successfully bring in this rating, we need to keep cool, logical minds. Rational argument is what will win. Getting loud and obnoxious or calling out abusive and threatening things to the government or Michael Atkinson does not help the cause and really only solidifies their misconceptions about gamers. We need this rating to bring us in line with the rest of the western world.
Go to a Game store and enter your opinion their by clicking the picture below.
An R18+ Rating for Games Could Be Possible in Australia
December 15, 2009
Finally some good news on the censorship issues in Australia. A discussion paper has been released by The Federal Attorney-General’s department (it was supposed to come out 6 months ago) that will allow the public to have their say on the issue of an R18+ rating for games.
The discussion paper, which can be read here, comes on the heels of the latest game, Aliens Vs. Predator, to be refused classification. Australia stands as one of the only developed nations to not have an adult classification on video games. According to the discussion paper, the government has been discussing this issue for some time but it has finally opened it to community feedback when a 2009 study showed that the average age of gamers was 25.
The discussion paper tells you how you can get involved. Now is your chance to finally have your say. I would suggest that you have your arguments very well thought out and mature. Do not just start abusing people or this will just collapse before it gets a chance. If you are an adult gamer and don’t get involved and write in on this you have no one to blame but yourself if the rating bid fails.
We have to combat the closed minded politicians with reasonable, well thought out counters to some of their arguments. As an example, an Australian Family Association spokesman, John Morrissey, is against an R18+ rating and here is his quote: ”How do you enforce it? An 18-year-old can buy the game and play it with his younger brother. You never know what happens once it’s behind closed doors.”
This is a nonsense argument as we already buy R18+ rated DVDs and if we, as parents, can govern our children’s watching habits, why can’t we govern their game play. I don’t let my 10 year old watch R18+ rated movies, why would I let him play R18+ rated games. The games would have restricted sale at shops so children won’t be able to buy them and it is up to the parents to make sure the child doesn’t play the game at home.
I don’t know about you but I am really tired of being told by our government that they are better parents than me.
Please, go read the discussion paper and then let your voice be heard. Let’s get an adult rating for games and join the rest of the world.
Would you like to know more about what is banned in Australia? Go to refused-classification.com for an eye opening experience.
To finish, let me share one of my favourite quotes that I read on this issue. I apologise to the person who wrote it, I can’t remember where I read it now, but here it is: “Censorship is like banning a man from? eating a steak because a baby can’t chew it.” No truer words have ever been spoken.
There is Hope in Politics – The Australian Sex Party
December 4, 2009
I have just been made aware of a new political party here in Australia, The Australian Sex Party. They are running candidates in the two bi-elections tomorrow and I really think all the geeks, gamers and liberally minded folks out there need to take a look before casting your vote tomorrow. You can find out about the party in detail by going to www.sexparty.org.au and having a good read. They are not what you think at first glance. Here is their mission statement and policy outlines from their site (I have highlighted a couple of their policies that really hit it out of the park for me):
The Mission Statement
The Australian Sex Party is a political response to the sexual needs of Australia in the 21st century. It is an attempt to restore the balance between sexual privacy and sexual publicity that has been severely distorted by morals campaigners and prudish politicians.
Tolerance of sexual free speech and sexual expression is one of the main hallmarks of free and democratic nations. Intolerance of these qualities is one of the hallmarks of autocracies, dictatorships and theocracies.
The vast majority of Australians are relaxed and tolerant of a broad spectrum of sexual expression but state and federal governments have increasingly ignored this demographic and pursued policies and legislation that have restricted sexual free speech and expression – often under threat of large fines and even jail sentences.
The Sex Party is fed up with wowserism in Australian parliaments. It is frustrated by the lip service paid to gender equality and sexual identity by the major parties when real and meaningful law reform stalls on factionalism and behind the scenes handshakes with religious leaders.
The Party has registered with the Australian Electoral Commission and has signaled its intention to field candidates at all levels of government over the coming years.
The Policies
Censorship
- Bring about the establishment of a truly national classification scheme which includes a uniform non-violent erotica rating for explicit adult material for all jurisdictions and through all media including the Internet and computer games.
- Introduce an R and X rating for computer games
- To overturn mandatory ISP filtering of the Internet and return Internet censorship to parents and individuals.
Education
- To bring about the development of a national sex education curriculum as a first step in preventing the sexualisation of children.
- Development of a national internet education scheme for parents.
Equality
- To enact national anti discrimination laws which make it illegal to unfairly discriminate against people or companies on the basis of job, occupation, profession or calling.
- To hold a referendum to create mandatory equal numbers of women in the Senate and State Upper Houses.
- To create total equal rights in all areas of the law for gay, lesbian and transsexuals.
- Overturn racist laws that ban Aboriginal people from possessing erotic and sexual media in the Northern Territory.
- Ensure the sexual rights and freedoms of the disabled and elderly.
Health
- To enact national pregnancy termination laws along the same lines as divorce law — which allow for legal, no-fault and guilt-free processes for women seeking termination.
- The listing of Viagra, Cialis and other drugs used to treat sexual dysfunction, on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
- Overturn restrictions on aid to overseas family planning organisations that reference abortion.
Protection of Children
- Convene a Royal Commission into child sex abuse in the nation’s religious institutions.
- Develop global approaches to tackling child pornography which focus on detection and apprehension of the producers of the material.
Workplace Relations
- Ensure that the introduction of paid maternity leave is fair and equitable for small businesses.
- Abolish sex slavery and sexual servitude by introducing non morality-based immigration policies that allow bona-fide sex workers to work legally in Australia.
Other
- Ending the tax exempt status for religions.
I agree with all of their policies, the highlighted ones are just ones that really jumped out at me. I don’t know about you, but these are all good solid policies that I can get behind. As the owner and head geek here at Geek Actually, I support this party and wish them luck tomorrow at the bi-elections. We will discuss this in more detail on tomorrow’s Geek Actually Podcast, join us at 12pm (AEDST UTC+11) geekactually.com/live
Censordyne – New Campaign Against Internet Censorship – Brilliant
July 10, 2009
Just a quick add on to last weeks show on Net Censorship here in Australia. Getup.org.au has launched a new campaign against the censorship issue which includes a brilliant TV ad. CLICK HERE to go to the campaign site (which is a great parody) and watch the ad below.
This is a brilliant campaign and they want to get the ad screening on all Qantas flights into Canberra on the first sitting week of Parliament so all of the Ministers and their staff have to watch it. Great stuff.
Tell us what you think of this new campaign, does it work for you?
Australian Censorship Strikes Again! Online Gamers Beware
June 29, 2009
It’s been awhile since we at Geek Actually had a go at the Australian Federal Government, but something new just came up and here we go again. The Sydney Morning Herald had an interesting article today, which you can read here.
In a nutshell (and I am paraphrasing a lot), Stephen Conroy (The Federal Communications Minister) has announced that the internet censorship program, that is currently being tested in Australia by nine ISPs, will be broadening it’s scope to include online games. That’s right, games like World of Warcraft and Second Life suddenly have a cloud of uncertainty in Australia because the online aspects of the games don’t carry an Australian rating and therefore are technically illegal here.
The scope goes even wider though as it will also affect downloadable games, flash-based games and sites that sell games from overseas. As we have mentioned many times on the Geek Actually podcast, Australia is the only developed country to not have an R18+ rating for games, even though the average age of gamers here is 30 (according to research commissioned by the IEAA (Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia))! This means that if a game is deemed to much for an MA15+ rating it is refused classification (RC), essentially being banned.
Under the new censorship laws, adults who would like to purchase or play an adult oriented game online will not be able to. I will mention again that we are the only developed country in the world that does not have some kind of adult classification for games.
If you are mad about this, do something! Write to your Federal Minister and voice your concern.
The argument that the government has been using for years has always been that children might get their hands on this evil stuff. This is a stupid and ignorant argument that makes no sense when you consider that you can have R18+ movies in your house. Maybe a little parental supervision is needed if you are worried that your children might play the game. They certainly wouldn’t be able to buy the game if it had the proper age appropriate classification on it.
Ron Curry, Chief Executive of the IEAA summed it up in the above mentioned article by saying, “It’s through the introduction of an R18+ classification that adults will have access to age appropriate material and parents will have the full toolkit to understand the suitability of content for their children.”
On a lighter note, Stephen Conroy has been nominated by the British ISP industry for its annual “Internet Villain” award. His competition is the European Parliament and Nicolas Sarkozy. Good luck Mr. Conroy, I hope you win, you deserve it.
Geek News: Avatar footage explained
June 26, 2009
Just an update from the footage shown yesterday. Comingsoon.net has a deep description of what was seen at the Cinemaexpo, The general feeling is amazement… If you have the time its worth the read, there is some new info relating to the movie’s plot and so on. I’ll let you read for yourself.. enjoy! Link
Comments?
A Message to Marvel – Enough is Enough
March 10, 2009
Let me start this by saying that I am a huge Marvel Comics fan. There, now I have that out of the way, I can get to my gripe. I just watched “Punisher: War Zone” and I had to voice my thoughts. What the fuck are Lionsgate and Marvel Productions thinking releasing this nonsense? Marvel seems to be working on the theory that if something doesn’t work, just keep re-booting it until it does. This theory doesn’t work!
Both The Hulk and The Punisher are characters that are full of potential and I can understand why Marvel wants hit films based on them, however, you have to get the film right first time or the audience will not come back for another taste. This was the case of The Hulk. When Ang Lee’s “Hulk” came out in 2003, it made a fair amount of money but it was not a fan favourite because Ang Lee crafted a deep and psychological drama about the dysfunction between father and son. The Hulk was the physical embodiment of Bruce Banner’s internal rage because he had daddy issues. The fans didn’t want this! We wanted Hulk Smash!!!!
Marvel did make money on “Hulk”, so a sequel was inevitable. When “The Incredible Hulk” came out in 2008, Marvel decided to give the fans what they wanted. We had a more realistic looking Hulk, we had mass destruction, less soul searching, a super villain, in short we had a comic book Hulk brought to life.
Now “The Incredible Hulk” was not a perfect film, it was a little light weight in the story department but it was a fun romp. The biggest problem the film had was that Marvel decided to “re-boot” the series. This means they wanted to start again, pretend the first film didn’t happen. This theory can work, just look at Christopher Nolan’s new Batman series. But I kind of feel the same way about re-booting as I do about remaking. You need some distance. We had a bit of distance between Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Begins.
I think you could have made “The Incredible Hulk” more palatable, by just continuing on from Ang Lee’s film. You could have made exactly the same film but just acknowledge the first films existence and not try and re-write history.
But this article is not about the Hulk films.
Let’s take the re-boot concept to the ultimate extreme and talk The Punisher. The Punisher is one of Marvel’s more intriguing characters. He is dark, violent and he appeals to that dark recess of our mind that just wants justice. A film version of The Punisher would always prove tricky, he is no superhero, he is a vigilante, he is a walking one man arsenal that is out to punish the bad guys that the police can’t touch.
In 1988, Mark Goldblatt, an editor who wanted to direct (please note, he is editing again now) came to Sydney, Australia and directed Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett, Jr in “The Punisher”. I can’t tell you how awful this film was (yes I can, go to Bad List above), Lundgren spends the entire film with a badly painted five o’clock shadow on his face and Gossett, Jr wonders around trying to figure out how he can get out of this damn film.
A re-boot was inevitable and not unwanted. In 2004, Jonathan Hensleigh, brought us “The Punisher” starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta. This was a low budget origin story. Never mind that they changed the Punisher’s back story, it was an okay action film that would have benefitted from a couple of re-writes and a few more buckets of money. Jane at least gave the Punisher a soul and Hensleigh knows how to stage an action scene. Travolta was the weak link, he just chewed the scenery and hams his way through the film.
The 2004 film, “The Punisher”, was made at a cost of US$33 million and took approximately US$54 million at the box office. Add to that DVD sales and TV sales and you can imagine that Lionsgate wanted a sequel. Now you can imagine my thoughts: learn from your mistakes and now you have done the origin story, you can just get into the action. Maybe we will see the War Van. This could be cool.
HA!!! Marvel and Lionsgate pulled a Hulk on us. New actor (Ray Stevenson) and new director (Lexi Alexander) means re-boot! Ray Stevenson delivers a one note performance in dark and nasty film that owes more to “Saw” than the first film. No War Van. No coolness!
This film is gory to the extreme and I don’t know about you but when I see our hero open a door and look down to see a bad guy, who is actually posing no real immediately threat, and then lowering his rifle and quite literally blows the bad guys head clean off, does not say hero to me.
The film changes the back story again and introduces new characters that comic book fans may know but it will leave the newcomer lost. The secret of making superhero films is take your source material seriously. This was not the case with the bad guy, Jigsaw (played by Dominic West). He was a stereotyped mobster who after an accident with a glass crushing machine becomes the poor man’s version of Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Also, wasn’t Jigsaw the bad guy from “Saw”? Another comparison.
I hated this film and I will review it in detail in the next episode of the podcast (episode 29) but I will say that I believe the three strikes and your out rule must apply here. The Punisher is not a character that filmmakers seem to be able to do on film (not that hard really, think Rorschach from Watchmen, but with big guns) and they have now tried three times. Give it up Marvel, enough is enough. You can’t just keep re-doing films until you get them right. I think the reduced takings on “The Incredible Hulk” and now the box office on “Punisher: War Zone” (films cost US$35 million and so far has taken US$9.8 million worldwide) would say that audiences, once bitten, are twice shy.
The Judd Apatow Family – I Am Seeing a Trend
January 22, 2009
This post is purely food for thought. When I watched ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ last year I turned to Mirren Lee (Geek Actually co-host and my mom) and I proposed a thought to her. Judd Apatow (Producer of Forgetting Sarah Marshall) seems to take whoever is co-starring in his current film and cultivate that person into the star of the next (or close to the next). Let’s see if that works. The following films are directed or produced (or both) by Apatow.
The 40 Year Old Virgin – Starring Steve Carell, but co-starring Paul Rudd (although his part in Knocked Up is large, he still hasn’t gotten his own Apatow film yet) and Seth Rogan (see below)…
Knocked Up – Starring Seth Rogan (what do you know!), but co-starring Paul Rudd (see above), Jason Segal (keep reading) and Jonah Hill (stay tuned)…
Talladega Nights – Starring Will Farrell, but co-starring John C. Reilly (wait for it) and Gary Cole (he comes back to co-star but no lead yet)…
Superbad – Starring Jonah Hill (bingo!), but co-starring Bill Hader (wait until the end, no cheating) and Seth Rogan (more on him in a minute)…
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story – Starring John C. Reilly (Ah Ha!), (no notable co-star linking…yet!)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall – Starring Jason Segal (I told you he would be back), but co-starring Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader (hold on, it’s coming) and Russell Brand (please make a whole film about this character, Aldus, I beg you!)…
Step Brothers – Starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly (They are both Back!)
Pineapple Express – Starring Seth Rogan (he’s back!) and James Franco, but co-starring Gary Cole, Danny McBride (he’ll be groomed next, mark my words) and Bill Hader (keep reading)…
Now, the reason for all of this, I said to Mirren at that screening, “I’ll bet Bill Hader will be the lead of the next Apatow film.”
Okay, it was not the next one, but ComingSoon.net reports today that Bill Hader and Apatow are teaming up to make a slasher film! I don’t think it would take a rocket scientist to make the conclusions I have made but it is fun to be kinda right 
Hader said, “It’s partially Straw Dogs meets Halloween meets Home Alone meets Monster Squad.’ He went on to say, “I don’t know if it’s even going to get made, Judd met with us and said “I want to do a horror movie with you. I want to see you in a slasher movie.”‘
As far as my little theory goes, I don’t know, I think it might just be the rantings of a geek.
As far as the film is concerned…I think Hader might be having us on a little. I suspect it is a send up of horror films. Once again, I have to say, let’s wait and see.
Internet Censorship – DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
December 3, 2008
Okay, the protests have started but it isn’t enough. Getup.org has mobilised an amazing website that has a petition for you to sign and they are also organising protests around Australia.
Now we have been talking about this stupid draconian law for weeks now, and I would hope that everyone is as angry as us. I just went to the Facebook group about the protests and was staggered to read one drop kick’s response that said, “id love to go. just cant be fucked.”
This is what is wrong with the world right now. Governments feel that they can get away with anything because people don’t speak out against them. We live in a democracy, that means that the government are our elected officials. Your voice doesn’t only get heard during an election, you have to continue to tell them what you want. To quote the film ‘V for Vendetta’, “The people should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of it’s people.
Go over to getup.org or stopthecleanfeed.com now and do something before it is too late!
And sign the petition, they want 75,000 signatures and they have 72,000. Let’s get this idiocy stopped before it is too late.
Video from stopthecleanfeed.com
