It probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but the incidence of infidelity is rising in Australia. Be it part of mainstream culture becoming more sex obsessed (I don’t believe this is the case) or people are just getting horny from something in the water isn’t really the issue. The point is that monogamous relationships and marriages clearly aren’t working as a long term construct.

Predominantly there is the psychological component at play here. The fact is that everyone is a unique individual snowflake so we can basically break them down into a limited number of psychological typings, just like an emo. When it comes to experiencing love, John Lee¹ came up with six basic forms of love back in the 70s when that was all that was on anyone’s mind. It’s important to actually realise that there are different ways of loving someone romantically. We’re not talking about loving in a filial, platonic or bromantic way. Actual romance where it’s not creepy to have sex with. These different styles of love are after different things and are often grossly incompatible – he’s not the right guy, she’s just not that into, it’s not you it’s me. This is all directly from incompatibilities people experience between different styles of love.

Another part of this definitely comes down to biology. Till death do us part isn’t so hard when you’re meant to go off in battle and possibly die in your late teens/early 20s, and your life expectancy is barely 40. With the life spans of our generation having doubled over what they were a century ago, we have alot more time to grow bored with things, and we are nothing if not creatures of acclimatization. After all, it took less than a month for AshleyMadison, a website for people who are specifically looking to have a secret affair, to achieve 300,000 signups when it launched in Australia, well over a third of these were women².

So what’s my point?

(more…)

October 29, 2011
1:00 pm	to	6:00 pm

Each year in the Queen Victoria Gardens, somewhere between the roar of StKilda road and the quiet buzzing of all the demon insects that are starting to hatch in their quest for blood, for one day each year there is a place where we can lay down our rugs and kick those teddybears out of their supposedly hallowed ground!

That’s right, teddies, time for our picnic. The one you never invited our Carl Cthulhu’s or Chuckies or Living Dead Dolls to because you’re discriminatory bastards!

My insane ranting aside, it should be a fun day for everyone provided the weather holds out.

You’ll want to bring:

• Picnic blanket, or ludicrously long trenchcoat
• Snacks & drinks – possibly enough to share because that’s how you make friends
• Plates, cutlery & cups
• Camera
• Sunscreen
• Stereosystem of some kind

Now it should be pointed out that this isn’t an all-in-gothfest, but a classier affair! People should dress to impress in Victorian inspired finery. Yknow, Elegant Lolita, Steam Punk/Neo-Victorian, Rococo, Baroque, etc.

For more information, or to be part of the social media side of things, check out the event listing on Facebook.

 

I was recently put on to this cartoon by a good comedian friend of mine, Michael Connell. Considering he’s a clean comedian, I’m not sure how it fits into his media diet. I have a mental image of him secretly delighting in all the crass humour, innuendo, and straight up fuckeduptitude that this show puts forth.

Think of a world where demons, vampires, wizards, monsters and robots have lived in society all along. It’s kind of like Terry Pratchett‘s Discworld in the modern era. Imagine what New York City would be like if that had been the way of society all along. There! You have Comedy Central’s new animated series: Ugly Americans.

The series focuses on Mark Lilly, a human social worker at the Department of Integration. He’s charged with getting various immigrants and non-humans to become naturalised in the way of American life. Unfortunately, his girlfriend is also a demon and happens to be in charge of HR, whilst their branch manager is yet another demon who consistently is looking for ways to get rid of Lilly. Combined with a resentful, alcoholic wizard as a partner, and a zombie that’s going through brain withdrawals as a house mate, it’s a fun little romp.

So far the show has two seasons and with the exception of the first episode, it doesn’t particularly matter if you watch them in or out of sequence. They’re almost entirely episodic, similar to The Simpsons, which in some ways is a pity as there’s clearly scope for a long running series. The animation style is somewhat similar to Daria, and the humour is fairly reminiscent as well… if Daria perhaps lived in Bon Temps.

Here’s a clip!

Ugly Americans	Thursdays 10:30/9:30c
Mark Lilly, Action Hero
www.comedycentral.com
New Episodes Oct 6, 10:30pm/9:30c Department of Integration Field Guide