The Centre Cannot Hold » This Is Serious Mum

1985 – Essendon defeats Hawthorn in the VFL Grand Final

Loki — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:00:58 +0000

As if they were only warming up the previous year, Essendon were never in doubt all day in the 1985 VFL Grand Final. Playing Hawthorn for the third successive year, on this day, Essendon started off strong and kept going that way. They led at the end of every quarter, finally recording a winning margin of 78 points (or 13 goals).

This game was also notable for several other reasons – it was the 332nd and final game of Hawthorn captain ‘Lethal’ Leigh Matthews, widely regarding as one the greatest players in the history of the game; Essendon won back to back premierships for the fourth time in the club’s history; and Dermott Brereton of Hawthorn acheived two records for a Grand Final player: most goals kicked by a player on the losing team (8), and most times reported during a Grand Final (3).

Referenced in:

You’re A Long Way From Home 1 — This Is Serious Mum

1945 – Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun

Loki — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:23:32 +0000

Eva Braun first met Adolf Hitler in 1929, when she was only 17 years old. At the time, she was employed by Hitler’s personal photographer in Munich. Two years later, they began dating, and in 1936, she moved in to his house at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden.

The two were rarely seen publically – not until 1944 did she appear with him at a public event, and of course, the two were eventually married. The marriage ceremony – and the forty hours of wedlock that followed it – all took place in the Berlin bunker to which Hitler had retreated as the war drew to a close. Two days after the wedding, the pair committed suicide together, and a week later, Germany surrendered to the Allies.

Referenced in:

Defecate On My Face — This Is Serious Mum
To Be Or Not To Be (The Hitler Rap) — Mel Brooks

Australian Anthems #8 – “Whatareya” by This Is Serious Mum

Loki — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:37:04 +0000

Possibly the most fundamental conflict in Australian society – more than any question of morality or ethics – is one particular social divide. It’s the one that lies between the two groups characterised by TISM as the yobboes and the wankers. Between the university-educated and the trade-school-educated; between the book reading and the Herald-Sun reading; between chardonay and beer drinkers.

Americans would recognize it as the divide between jocks and nerds, but here in Australia, although it springs from the same roots, it goes wider. It’s a difference between levels of education, and thus, levels of income. Ultimately, it is a division between the working class and the middle class. But these are all just labels, indicators, general trends. To be a yobbo or to be a wanker is a matter of personal identification. It’s a decision you make for yourself in primary school, not even knowing you’ve made it.

Australia is a land of considerable social mobility, but to travel from one of these tribes to the other is a difficult thing to manage, as both groups are insular and suspicious of outsiders. That said, increasingly, Australia finds itself culturally perched in between the two groups, as politicians of all stripes try to position themselves to appeal to both groups and unwittingly create bridges across them. Australia’s high level of urbanisation also tends to break down the barriers, as it forces the two groups to interact more than would otherwise be the case (as in Australia’s rural areas, where the proportions skew massively towards yobboes rather than wankers). For that matter, there’s a strong tendency in both groups towards culturally appropriating the other group – and this is, of course, because they are not two separate cultures, but merely two facets (albeit large ones) of the larger Australian culture as a whole.

It is, despite what the song implies, perfectly possible to appreciate James Hird and James Joyce, after all. But for exposing the fault line, making it visible, the song deserves a greater recognition, if only to remind us all of a mistake we shouldn’t make.

1984 – Essendon defeats Hawthorn in the VFL Grand Final

Loki — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 07:23:06 +0000

Favoured going into the game, Essendon played hard all day, but nonetheless trailed Hawthorn going into the game’s final quarter. But in that last quarter, they turned it all around, kicking 11 goals and 6 points (a record score for the last quarter of any VFL/AFL Grand Final), and more than doubling their score for the rest of the match.

They romped home at the game’s conclusion, defeating Hawthorn by four goals and winning Essendon’s 13th Premiership. It was particularly satisfying victory for Essendon’s fans – in the previous year’s Grand Final, the same two teams had fought, but the result had been very different, with Hawthorn winning by 83 points on that occasion.

Referenced in:

You’re A Long Way From Home 1 — This Is Serious Mum

1967 – Jim Morrison dragged from the stage by the police

Loki — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:23:38 +0000

On December 9th, 1967, The Doors performed at the New Haven Arena in New Haven, Conneticut.

Accounts vary as to what motivated Morrison, but it is generally agreed that he launched into an extended rant in which he belittled the New Haven Police Department. The police invaded the stage, arresting Morrison and dragging him away, abruptly ending the concert. In response, the crowd rioted while the police booked Morrison on charges of indecency and public obscenity.

This incident helped to solidify Morrison’s reputation as a counter-culture hero and spokesman to his fans, and as a petulant drunkard to many others.

Referenced in:

Morrison Hostel — This Is Serious Mum
Peace Frog — The Doors

1970 – Alex Jesaulenko marks over Graeme Jenkin in the 1970 VFL Grand Final

Loki — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 07:23:24 +0000

By half time, it looked like it was all over for Carlton. Another good year for them, but on the day, Collingwood had them outmatched. Minutes before the end of the second quarter, Jesaulenko marked over Jenkin (in what would become one of the game’s most iconic images), but it availed the Blues little. When the second quarter siren sounded, Carlton trailed by 44 points, an all-but insurmountable lead.

The half-time oration by Ron Barassi, with its legendary injunction to handball, has also become legend. Carlton changed their style of play in the game’s second half, to a faster, looser style of play that depended more on handballing than kicking to move the ball forward. Carlton kicked 8 goals to Collingwood’s 3 in the third quarter, and even though they entered the final term trailing by about three goals, the momentum had decisively shifted in their direction. They won the game by only 10 points, but a narrow win is still a win.

Referenced in:

The Back Upon Which Jezza Jumped – This Is Serious Mum

Happy Grand Final Day to my fellow Aussie Rules fans!

And to the rest of you:
honestly, you don’t know what you’re missing out on here

1971 – Jim Morrison Dies

Loki — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:23:03 +0000

Morrison died on July 3, 1971, at age 27. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison’s cause of death.

Many believed that Morrison had in fact faked his death, as he had occasionally talked of doing over the preceding few years, but if so, he has yet to reappear. And it’s hard to believe that a man with Morrison’s ego and drug use could have stayed anonymous for nearly 40 years now…

Referenced in:

Morrison Hotel – This Is Serious Mum