Category: rant

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The Miley Backlash

It’s the end of the world! No wait, it’s just Miley Twerking

OMG, you’d think the world had just exploded into some kind of world war, or there was a massive plague. The social media world has gone into overdrive, because a former child star dared to do something raunchy at the VMA’s.
Nobody seems able to deal with the fact that the little Hannah Montana star is trying to shake off her Disney princess roots and show the world that she’s a grown up.
Most people go through a stage where they shake off their little girl image, and try to show that they’re an adult now. She’s 20. It’s not like she’s a 17 year old dancing on a pole. Oh wait, she was a 17 year old dancing on a pole….. Have we already forgotten that massive controversy?
Do people get that she wasn’t in a flesh colored bikini to be provocative just for the hell of it? Has anyone seen the Blurred Lines video? She was dressed like the girls in the video. Well, at least she was dressed more like the ones in the free to air version. I’m guessing a lot of people haven’t seen the OTHER version of his filmclip. Careful, it’s NOT safe for work. You’ll also see that’s this is where the foam finger comes from.
People are also forgetting that this is the VMA’s. It’s known for being outrageous and provocative. Every year, they get people who are supposed to be scandalous and create headlines, hoping that people will watch again next year. Everyone involved who is feigning shock is also full of shit. It’s not like they just went up there and Miley went rogue. Somebody choreographed this, somebody made outfits. They had rehearsals. Not just for themselves, but for all the dancers, for lighting, sound, directors, cameras. Everybody involved knew exactly what was going to happen on that stage. Even Robin Thicke, who may be butt hurt because Miley got all the attention and not him. He can’t claim he didn’t know what was going to happen. Maybe he wasn’t expecting the reaction it got, but he certainly can’t BS and say he didn’t know what the act was going to be.
Meanwhile, how come nobody is all bent out of shape that Lady Gaga was wearing LESS than Miley? She was wearing a thong, and she didn’t even get dressed again afterwards. She took her chair back in the audience, wearing a thong and a couple shells on her boobs…. But I guess people expect Gaga to be provocative, so somehow that’s OK….
People, it’s the VMA’s. It’s supposed to be scandalous. Just in case you’ve all got short term memory loss, here’s a couple of the past “OMG I can’t believe they did that’s….”
Way back in the beginning, Madonna shocked dressed like a Bride and sang Like a Virgin.
Diana Ross feeling up Lil Kim
Britney stripping down to a flesh coloured 2 piece
Britney the following year, trying to be like Salma Hayek
Remember 2003 when everyone flipped out about Madonna and Britney kissing?
Remember how outraged everyone was over "Fat Britney?"
I still haven't worked out what the meat suit was about...
This was NOT a reaction to Miley
Also hilarious was this image of Will Smith and his kids acting all stunned by Miley. Turns out, it’s them chewing gum during Lady Gaga’s performance. But it’s more fun to manipulate the truth right?
And one more for all the haters. For those of you who think Miley has no talent and can’t sing, you’ve never seen this:
Actually, this is the only thing that does make me sad. She actually is extremely talented and a great singer. It’s sad that as a society we expect girls to behave slutty, and show off all their goods, then slut shame them when they do. We chastise people like Christina Aguilera, also an amazing singer, for daring to get chubby, when it shouldn’t matter what she looks like. She’s a singer, not a Victoria’s Secret model. Britney showed up “Fat” at the 2007 awards. Fat my arse, she was skinner then than most real women are on a good day, me included. It shouldn’t matter what she looks like. It’s sad that people expect the girls to get their kit off, to be super fit and toned, and act sexy. We don’t expect guys to be anything but a great voice. We expect women to be able to sing, dance, turn us on, but not go too far. Actually, it’s kinda like the Blurred Lines song. We want a Good Girl, but one we know that secretly wants it…. That’s why everyone freaked out when Madonna kissed Britney, and no-one cared she also kissed Christina. Britney was supposed to still be a good girl, but Christina was Durty. No shock value there.
Video really did kill the radio star.
Honestly, I think Anderson Cooper summed it up best in his RidicuList.
But if you don’t want to be all shocked at how low the industry is, don’t watch stupid award shows. It’s ridiculous how many award ceremonies there are for entertainers. These people are already being congratulated constantly for acting or singing, and it seems like every month there’s some kind of televised Yay Me! thing going on. I don’t think acting or singing should be a competition, but the amount of trophies overpaid people can snag is just insane. I choose not to watch ANY of the awards ceremonies. Yes, all you actors and singers are just amazeballs, making millions of dollars, traveling the world, finding cures for cancers and helping to create world peace. Oh wait, there’s other people that do that, and we don’t see them patting each other on the back at televised events. Oh well, maybe next year.
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What is wrong with courts in Australia?

When rapists are let off, and journalists are jailed…

There was an awful story in the paper today about a girl who was raped for years by her father, she made it to court, and the piece of shit was let off by the judge on a good behavior bond. This man raped his own child for five years. He even raped her in the bed with the mother there. Yet somehow, the judge feels that he didn’t deserve jail time.

Even worse, this isn’t an isolated case. Time after time, Judges are not even giving the minimum sentence to rapists and child molesters. They are continually giving them a simple slap on the wrist, and then, once they’ve been to court, they are protected by the courts. The names and crimes are suppressed. The community doesn’t know who these sexual deviants are. They are allowed back into the community, where they are free to continue their predatory ways.

Meanwhile, people like Derryn Hinch, who dare to try to protect the community, by naming and shaming some of these people, gets sent to jail. He was arrested again last week, because he named a man who was on parole, and should have been back in jail. Instead, the man was out, and he raped and murdered another woman.

Can somebody please explain to me why somebody who rapes a child is allowed to go free, while someone who names a rapist is sent to prison? Where is the logic? Why do we keep protecting these people? Why are we so concerned about the rights of these people, who clearly aren’t concerned about the rights of their victims?

Something needs to be done. We can’t continue to allow sexual predators a free pass, while punishing those who try to make the world a safer place.

Side note: I wonder how a lawyer can feel so concerned for the rights of the victim in the above case, when the following day he’s representing somebody charged with rape? How can you honestly represent both sides of the debate? Can you really give your all to a victim of a rapist, and the next day argue that another rapist is innocent?

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Rewarding bad behaviour

Teaching the wrong life lessons

This is going to sound like a stab at Lindsay, and it’s not meant to be, because I really still hope the girl can turn her life around. However, I just don’t see how that’s going to happen when people keep rewarding her for bad behaviour.

Fresh off her court appearance, and being sentenced to 90 days of “locked-in” rehab, there’s news she’s flying out to Brazil to earn 6 figures for a few appearances. There’s also speculation she’s going to Australia for a similar sum of cash. Now – power to the girl that she can still make money, and hopefully she’s actually using some of it to pay her bills. We keep hearing there’s a lot of them.

However, at the same time, I think we’re just teaching Lindsay that the more she fucks up, the more money she can make. They’re keeping her in the headlines, and keeping her front page news. She’s never going to start looking after herself if she can still make money, jail time and all.

It’s not just Lindsay either. The US has a bad habit of rewarding bad behaviour. Look at Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian. Both made sex tapes and were rewarded with reality shows. People on shows like Celebrity Apprentice know that bad behaviour equals better ratings. There’s shows like Celebrity Rehab and The Surreal Life for stars that have gone bad.

Even worse though, is that if a celebrity tries to do good, they’re banished. Corey Feldman tried to speak out about the abuse he and Haim suffered, and he was immediately tossed into the oblivion bin. Turn to God and you’re put in the crazy basket. Decide to actually stop drinking, and you’re declared boring and you’ll die a slow “whatever happened to that person” death….

It’s OK to donate money to charity, or do a couple of events, as long as it’s all red carpet glamour. But if you actually decide to get serious and devote a good chunk of your life to a cause, prepare yourself to be thrown out of the working circle. There’s no faster kiss of death than being considered an activist.

I wish we would reward people for thinking about something other than themselves. Those who donate time and money, or who put their personal reputations on the line for a cause shouldn’t become Persona Non Grata. Instead, those who continually flout laws, hurt others, or who act as if no matter what they do, they’ll still have money to pay their bills, (but don’t) should stop being rewarded.

I’m worried about what we’re teaching the next generation.

Make yourself famous at any cost. Stay famous, no matter what it takes. Don’t worry about breaking laws – you’ll never actually do time, and you’ll still be raking in the big bucks.

Take a personal stand, try to do right by some other people, and be told you’ll never work in the industry again….

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People have no idea of the impact of abuse

People like John Laws set the whole movement back

I take back my comments about the print media making a big deal of the John Laws interview. After watching his interview on Today Tonight I’m just amazed at his arrogance. He doesn’t seem to think he was insensitive at all, and the only reason he apologizes is if he offended anyone, but doesn’t see why he would have. So, not a real apology. He just doesn’t get that saying “My God they were having a good time with you” was inappropriate, and he thinks the interviewer is asking a stupid question for asking him how he could say it.  When asked about how he could ask if it was a child’s fault, he answers, “if she allowed it to happen”….. Seriously Lawsie? You think a six year old could “allow” it to happen?

I think my most amazed moment came in the original interview when the girl says that it finally stopped and Laws states that the dad must have gotten physically tired of her. Like he understood that a grown girl was no longer attractive to an abuser. That made my skin crawl.

I’m so glad Liz Mullinar and Derryn Hinch went on air to blast John Laws. While I was at Liz’s retreat, Heal For Life, they showed how abuse has actual physical effects on the brain. How it really can create a change in life patterns. How simply ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Laws suggested to the woman she simply focus on work and husband, and don’t think about it. Sorry Laws, but that just doesn’t work. So many people are told to just move on, get over it. Do something else. You can’t move on till you’re allowed to grieve. You have to face it. Be allowed to talk about your feelings. Survivors of abuse don’t need dinosaurs like Laws dismissing their trauma. That doesn’t help a person to move on at all.

I hope the Royal Commission will bring about a change in Australia and let people know the true effect of childhood abuse on people. Maybe then people will be able to address the issue, get the help they need, without being dismissed, without feeling like they need stay quiet and hide in the shadows, or try to self medicate with dangerous substances.

In the meantime, I hope people let Laws know how big a dickhead he is by switching him off.

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A Law Unto Himself

John Laws and Betty Wilson

Are you fucking kidding me?

I’m sorry, but I’m really pissed off right now. At what point does someone think it’s OK to ask a person who was sexually molested if they were provocative as a six year old? When a caller rings you, crying, you don’t ask them a series of increasing demeaning questions. You don’t insinuate that it might be their fault. A SIX year old doesn’t flirt, they don’t bat their eyelids, they don’t invite people to touch them. They certainly don’t want men groping them, or getting their kicks from them. They don’t want a sick old man getting his jollies by touching them or molesting them.

If you, John Laws, think that a child somehow led men on so that they would molest her, then you need some serious help.

Please don’t compare this old man to Kyle Sandilands. I know everyone loves to keep bringing up the lie detector incident. However, and I’ve fought with many people over this, I don’t think Kyle was at fault in that incident at all. The mother of that child KNEW her daughter had been raped. She knew her daughter was in pain. But that bitch took her on air, and made her do the lie detector. I’ve listened to that tape. Kyle was in NZ at the time, and wasn’t in the studio. I think when the girl came out and said she had been raped, everyone was just stunned. Kyle just blurted out something. I don’t think he was being callous. I think he may have been genuinely wondering if it was just once, or if there was more incidents her mother should have known of, not asking if she had been sleeping around. I don’t think anyone in that situation would have reacted better. When his brain caught up to his mouth, he backed up, and quickly ended the segment, and offered the girl counseling. He didn’t ask more questions. He didn’t press on. He didn’t ask the girl if it was her fault, or try to insinuate that she brought it on herself. I know people love to hate Kyle, but this is one of those things I will not budge on. Kyle didn’t do wrong. That blame for that incident rests squarely on the girls mother. She knew. She hadn’t helped the girl before that, she didn’t help her through it. We can only hope she got help afterwards because Kyle and Jackie arranged it.

But John Laws just disgusts me. I hope every victim of abuse lets John know that IT’S NOT THEIR FAULT.  Fuck you John Laws. Fuck You.

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Pregnant and in the Public Eye

Who’d want to be famous and pregnant?

Remember when celebrities disappeared when they got pregnant? It was like they just dropped off the radar for a while. We didn’t see their kids until they were older either. Then, a few years ago there came some obsession with pregnant celebrities and now we have all of these stupid “baby bump watches” and we have paparazzi stalking people who have newborn infants trying to get the “first pic”. Can you imagine being a week old and and having dozens of flashes going off in your face? When did we get so invasive of people’s privacy that we now want to watch a celebrity give birth? We’ve got radio hosts calling hospitals to get news on Kate Middleton, who wasn’t even 12 weeks pregnant yet. People don’t like to announce a pregnancy before 12 weeks, just in case they have a miscarriage. However, we have every magazine declaring anyone who has eaten a burrito to be pregnant. What if a celeb is 8 weeks pregnant, and doesn’t want to announce it yet? It’s none of our business. Then what happens if she loses it. Or decides she isn’t going to keep it? How many actresses are forced into keeping a pregnancy because in this day and age they’d never be able to have it taken care of?

Today, Chrissie Swan went on radio and television to confess that she’s 5 months pregnant, and hasn’t been able to quit smoking. Now, I think that drinking or smoking while you’re pregnant is terrible. I don’t see why people can’t go without a drink for 9 months. In the grand scheme of things, it’s less than a year of your life to make sure that your kid gets off to a great start.

I hate smoking. I smoked when I was younger. I’m not going to hide it. I did it out of boredom, or to be cool, or something. I started in Honduras, where everyone did it. I gave it up for a while, then took it up again. I gave it up for good when I met Matt. He wouldn’t date someone who smoked, and I thought he was worth giving it up for. Turns out he was. 🙂 I hate places where people can still smoke cigarettes, and hate smokey bars. However, I have the occasional cigar, and I enjoy a glass of whiskey. We all have our vices….

I have had discussions with people who were pregnant, who continued to smoke, or drink. Going out to dinner with one of my best friends, she ordered a glass of wine when she was 8 months pregnant. Matt and I were asked her what the fuck she was doing. She said he doc told her it’s ok. We didn’t agree with her, and we told her we thought it was a bad idea. However, I would never, ever, tell her she was a bad mother and she didn’t deserve to have kids. When working at a restaurant back in Australia, I was a cook, and the only non-smoker. It would piss me off when everyone else left me working while they had their ciggie breaks. One of the waitresses got pregnant, and she kept smoking. I asked her why she wasn’t giving it up. She said she was terrified to. She had gone cold turkey the last time she had gotten pregnant, and had a miscarriage. She thought that the stress of quitting caused her to lose her baby. She wasn’t going to go through it again. I begged her to at least cut back. She was a heavy smoker.

But here’s what I’ve learnt over the past few years. I don’t know if it’s because I’m older and wiser, or if it’s having been thrust back into the spotlight again a few years ago. But, I think we should stop judging other people so much. I couldn’t stand to be pregnant in this day and age. Matt and I had already decided not to have kids years ago. But watching the absolute public speculation and vilification of expectant mothers these days is just sad.

Yes, people should put an investment into their future kids. Yes, they should give them the best start possible. But here’s the thing. Everyone has a different idea of what that is. Somehow, in this day and age, everybody has a fucking opinion of what is right and what’s wrong when it comes to the thing growing inside someone else’s uterus.

Reading over blogs, discussions and twitter, it’s interesting to see it’s the men who are being the total heartless judgmental ones over the Chrissy thing, while women, who don’t agree with it, and also think it’s abhorrent, are at least a little gentler on her, and saying things like I don’t agree with it, but I feel sorry for her. Interesting that men, who cannot bear a child, and who are free to continue to drink and smoke for the 9 months their partners are pregnant, are the most judgmental when it comes to pregnancy. Women, who actually get to experience pregnancy, are obviously a little more empathetic. I feel sorry for pregnant women these days. They are no longer considered a woman. They are simply a carrier for an embryo. Everybody is constantly passing judgement, during the pregnancy, and then afterwards. Whether you give birth naturally or get a c-section, whether you breast or bottle feed, or what type of diapers you use. Then there’s the judgement over whether you lose weight quick enough afterwards. Poor Jessica Simpson was picked on the whole time she was pregnant. People kept passing judgement on how much she was eating. She was getting too big. Her pregnancy was lasting too long. She didn’t lose the weight quick enough. Now, they’re complaining she got pregnant again too quickly.Any time Jennifer Aniston turns down sushi, a magazine declares she’s knocked up. Maybe she just didn’t feel like raw fish that day. But heaven forbid she gets a craving for it while she is. Hilary Duff got the mummy police all over her after she smoked a cigarette outside a nightclub after her son was born. Jackie O caused a furore after being snapped bottle feeding Kitty while walking down a street. C’mon people. Is it really going to endanger a kid to be fed while a parent is walking? Just because some people can’t walk and chew gum at the same time doesn’t mean other people can’t multitask. I don’t see why the whole world has to stop just cause the kid is hungry.

People will bitch if you bottle feed a kid. They complain if you breast feed in public. How would people know if you had pumped your own breast milk and was bottle feeding it the kid, unless you’re Kourtney Kardashian and can film it for your reality show?

Pregnant women have become nothing more than an incubator. Nobody cares about her wellbeing. They don’t give a shit how she feels. Her only job in life is to provide a nice quiet vitamin filled space for a possible person. No pregnancy is guaranteed, perfect incubator or not. Sometimes things just don’t work out. It’s very sad, but sometimes babies die. It doesn’t mean it was the mother’s fault. But she better watch out, because you can bet someone is there who is going to point out that she did something that caused it. Never mind that’s she probably grieving, completely heartbroken, is having all kind of extra emotions from all the hormones. People will lay a guilt trip on them anyway.

I think it’s time people started to look at themselves in the mirror. Look at your own faults. See if you’re perfect before you openly criticize someone else. Yes, we all love to gossip. We all are guilty of talking shit about someone else. But don’t say something behind someone back that you wouldn’t say to their face. Don’t get on the internet and start talking about someone like Chrissie being an awful mother who deserves a smack over the head, unless you’re willing to say that to her face. Then, try to remember she’s 5 months pregnant and is going through a shitstorm of emotions and doesn’t need your judgement. It’s hard enough for people to ask for help when they need it. When you’re famous, you’re not allowed to be vulnerable. You’re not allowed to appear weak. Asking for help would be admitting to both of those things. How does a celebrity reach out and ask for help. Who do they turn to? How can they get the help they need without it being something else for people to scrutinize and form another opinion on, or yet another paparazzi shot or magazine article?

If nothing else, I hope Chrissie is now able to quit smoking. I just hope the stress of being in the public eye and getting all this negativity thrown at her doesn’t do more harm to her kid than the one cigarette a day she was smoking.

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Method Actors

Try Acting, Dear Boy

Supposedly, during the filming of Marathon Man, Dustin Hoffman, who is a “Method Actor” stayed up all night so he could really look the part. Lawrence Olivier told him, “Try acting, dear boy, it’s much easier.”

I’ve never really understood Method acting. I mean, I get doing training for a part if you have to have particular skills, or it’s very physical. But I don’t get the whole spending months researching and following someone around so you can really get into someone’s head. Are you an actor, or an analyst? Yes, there’s times I’ve seen actors in military movies, and I wish someone had shown them how to salute properly, but I don’t get when an actor spends 6 weeks at basic so they can really get into the role.

What made me think about it was an article today about Ashton Kutcher getting hospitalized because he’s playing Steve Jobs in a movie, and he got sick after following his fruitarian diet. Really, a diet? I get if you have to lose weight to look the part, but following the same diet? I just don’t get it. How does eating the same food as the person you’re playing make you a better actor?

Melissa George went to spy school for her role on Hunted. Maybe that teaches you some sharper skills or something. I wish when actors are playing baristas that someone would teach them to foam milk. But that takes about 10 minutes. Maybe like Argo, method acting is a good way to get spies to infiltrate places and say they’re “doing research for a part.” It’s crazy the access people will give you if you’re famous or have a camera.

How far are people willing to go as method actors? Since those playing soldiers go to boot camp, and people will eat the same food as their real life person, if they’re playing a murderer, are they going to kill people so they can really feel what it’s like to take a life?

Maybe method actors get it. Maybe it does make them better actors. But just know, Brad Pitt, when you don’t shower for days so you can really be the part, nobody else appreciates it. The smell doesn’t come across on TV. It’s television, not smellavision.

I guess the problem is so many people once they become famous don’t have real life experiences anymore. They’re stuck in their little Hollywood bubble and can’t go experience real life without paparazzi ruining it. Maybe they forget how to just act like real people. Which is a shame. If you can’t just read the lines and know how a normal person would react, maybe it’s time to take a break.

I’m not an actor anymore. I’m lucky that while these people have to do research on how to sit in an office and chase bad guys, I get to do it for real…. I guess it’s the opposite of the “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.”

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An Army of One

20121211-131904.jpgOne lowly Private against the Drill Sergeant

The Staff Sergeant came back to the office yesterday with the Army Times magazine, and the cover story is about a Private who was sexually harassed by her Drill Instructor.

I tried to find the story on the Army Times website, and I couldn’t, but they did have a link to the video interview on the now PFC. She’s very calm, eloquent, and discusses what she went through trying to get someone to listen to her.

PFC Woodruff says he kisses and groped her, and she told her battle buddies about it. When she tried to report Staff Sgt Corral, she was told she didn’t want to “open that can of worms”. Eventually, word got round that she was speaking up. While she heard rumours of other girls involved, higher ups on base were calling her a piece of shit and a liar.

Eventually, somebody listened. The other girls came forward. Some were scared to speak up because they saw what Woodruff was going through. While he had “only” groped and kissed her, he was found to have attacked several women and was charged with Five specifications of violating a lawful order, five specifications of maltreatment of a subordinate, one count of abusive sexual contact and two counts of indecent conduct, one specification of forcible sodomy, one specification of assault, and one specification of adultery. (Yep, he was married)

Apparently he was a very likeable person, and people were surprised by the charges. Instead, when PFC Woodruff finished basic and went to AIT, they sent an email to her supervisors there that she was a troublemaker. She was ordered to counseling, but they wouldn’t help her because she wasn’t a victim, she was just an accuser.

After all that, when Staff Sgt Corral was eventually arrested and is sentenced to 5 years in confinement, busted down to Private, forfeited all pay and allowances and will get a bad-conduct discharge and will have to register as a sex offender when he gets out of the brig.

I am so proud of PFC Woodruff. Just because he didn’t rape her, doesn’t mean what he did wasn’t wrong. She knew what he did was unacceptable. She had the guts to stand up and say something. Even when people were putting her down, she stayed strong. Because of her, others came forward. Others that he had done awful, terrible things to. She made it possible for the girls he raped and sodomized to come forward.

For all the girls out there, if someone does something to you, don’t ever let anyone tell you what that person did to you wasn’t really bad enough for you to complain about. That other people out there had shit done to them that was much worse, and you’re just being whiney. Maybe that same person is the one doing worse things… Speak up. Speak loud. Don’t let people shut you down.

PFC Woodruff got a happy ending. She ended up staying in the army, found a great husband who knows what happened and is now much happier. The Army is also looking into the way things were handled and is changing things up because of her too.

HOOAH PFC Woodruff!

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More International Judges?

Are there no qualified Aussies?

I’m sorry, I just need to have a little rant. All the papers and gossip sites are buzzing about who the new judges will be on talent shows in 2013, and I just need to have a minor patriotic hissy fit.

When I was a kid, my mum asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said I wanted to be black. She asked what I meant, and I said that black people were so talented. They could sing, dance and act. They were a triple threat. She looked at me and said, Don’t you know that black people are oppressed? They’ve been enslaved, they got a bum deal? I, at that tender age had no clue what racism was, or understood slavery. I just knew that when I watched TV, black people were talented. Most people get one gift, singing OR dancing OR acting. It seemed like every black person on TV was just mega talented. I wished I was black….

It seems that whoever is doing casting for all these judging shows has the same glasses I had as a kid. Maybe not necessarily black, but it certainly is a foreign thing. They think all the talent lies in someone from overseas, and there’s no good talent in Australia. Well, maybe the producers of Everybody Dance Now thought the same as me…..

I get that these shows like Australia’s Got Talent and The Voice are international concepts and we live in an increasingly global market. People in Australia really do have to break into an overseas market to make money, and having an international Judge or Host brings some international perspective to the mix. But when your show is ONLY foreigners, or all but one, it’s getting a little ridiculous.

Take The Voice. It had Delta Goodrem, Keith Urban, Seal and Joel Madden. Two Aussies and two foreigners. Now that Keith is gone, they’re getting Ricky Martin. Now, I have to say, I’m conflicted on this one. I love Ricky Martin. I adore him. I could stare at him all day long. I first heard Ricky back in 1993, when I went to Honduras. When he was singing in Spanish, and hadn’t crossed over to the English market yet. I got back to Australia, and had to order CDs internationally. I loved his long curly hair. I loved that he was in a boy band called Menudo and had successfully transitioned out to being a solo artist. I was so excited when he crossed over to the English market, because then all my friends could understand who this Latin God was. I think Ricky is an awesome choice. He’s been an artist since he was a child, he’s a true cross over artist, and lets face it, the guy is sexy as hell and we all want to look at him.

But, the little patriotic voice in me asks why the hell do they need THREE foreign judges and only one Aussie? Delta will be the only Aussie left, and lets face it, she’s not the most popular judge on the show….Even the host of that show is only kinda Australian. The X Factor has Mel B and Ronan Keating, so they’re 50/50 too. They’ve got an Aussie host, so they’re kinda doing better in the Patriotic factor.

Now that Australia’s Got Talent is moving to nine, they’re going to revamp the show and there’s much speculation on who the new Judges will be. Victoria Beckham is being touted as the biggest want, and the news.com.au poll asks which International artist would we like to see? How about a button for pick a fricken Aussie?

It’s bad enough that all the TV shows are now based on music. It’s hard enough for Australian actors and presenters to get a job without making everything about music, so that singers and musicians are not just on our radio, but they’re taking over TV as well. Now all those jobs are going to foreigner singers, it’s a double insult to Australian artists.

I guess it’s not just singing talent shows either. Even things like Celebrity Apprentice seem to have a token American. Is it that Australia just feels like they HAVE to have the validation of foreigners, or is it that no Aussie wants to work on these shows? I see all that’s written about Delta and Natalie, and I think that maybe Aussie’s are scared to step up into the role in case they’re hated on like those two are.

If I had any shred of singing ability, I’d leap at the chance to work on a judging show. Realistically though, for something like Australia’s Got Talent, you don’t need to be a singer. Most music producers can’t sing themselves, and AGT is about more than just singing. Plus, you really don’t need to be talented to say whether someone else is good or bad. We all judge from our couch, whether we have any talent or not. You don’t need to be able to make an apple pie to know whether one is good or not when you eat it.

I tell you what; I can’t sing to save my life, but I can act. I can talk in front of a camera. I even used to teach acting classes to kids. I’ve worked in Australia and the US, and more importantly, I’ve got TWO passports. An Australian one and a US one. How about I come home and at least host one of these talent shows? Australian audiences will get an Aussie on TV, and the producers can have someone with a US passport to fill that ever important foreigner slot…..

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