Un-Australian: Her name is Kidman

[Now for a game of suck and blow]

Nicole Kidman. A few years ago she was everyone's favourite "Our Nic". She was the poor unfortunate woman who had left a strange marriage filled with "alternative" religion and alleged impotence.

Recently, she came out and said that she wants to live in Nashville in the US with her Australian husband and that she wants her daughter to have an American accent. That's a proud a dinky di Australian for ya.

Now, after a string of box office flops, including the mixed reviews from Australia (which I am yet to see myself) she has stooped so low "play" the didgeridoo on German television.

My non-Australian readers (and maybe even some Australian readers) might not know that the didgeridoo is a sacred Aboriginal religious symbol.

Some tribes believe that the didgeridoo should only be played by men and if that is even touched by women, bad things can happen including death. (Not that I'm advocating death or anything - I'm just saying these are their beliefs)

At one stage in my life I felt sorry for Kidman, being in a marriage with a wack job, but now I (as many others do) can only feel that Kidman herself is becoming strange.

With those very slight shoulders and a husband who has had a chequered past, I can only hope that she will be able to weather the storm of controversy over the string of bad movies, the ignorance of indigenous Australians' beliefs (this after shooting one of the most expensive movies made in this country, partly in the outback amongst Aboriginals!), as well as the whole theory that Americans are better than Australians.

She should be proud of who she is, her heritage. Without Australia (the country, and quite likely - the movie) she would not be where she is now - being able to afford such luxuries. She should apologise to the indigenous people who she has offended. She should apologise to the Australians she has offended.

We spent over one hundred million dollars to put her name up in lights - she should be thankful.

The Olympics... boring or what?

So the Olympics are over... finally!

Two weeks of our lives we'll never get back.

Sure, a lot of people won medals and some of those people were Australian, but this must have been the most boring Olympics ever?

Here in Australia we had to endure the most vanilla, localised coverage ever with constant interruptions by advertisements in the middle of sports, most sports not shown at all and let's not forget the silly commentary.

The much maligned Yum Cha programme during the morning was meant to be something like The Panel meets The Olympics.

Instead of entertaining and informing most, it led for many to call for the removal of the show and to bring back Roy and HG - a much better alternative.



But most of all, this Olympics will be remembered as a somewhat deceptive Olympics.

The computer generated and pre-recorded "fireworks" during the Opening Ceremony misled our hearts and minds - what is real and what is not?



The Nikki Webster-to-be singing in the middle of a packed stadium - was not singing at all, it was another girl who was not fit to appear on the international stage and had to be replaced by a girl who didn't know she was lip synching.



And the whole "up yours" to everyone else boasting about what they invented: paper, the original typewriter, etc.

I can't remember the 2004 Opening Ceremony, but I can certainly remember the 2000 Opening Ceremony and it was a whole lot better than this one.

Sure, I might be speaking as a proud Aussie (or ranting as some may say) but sure, we had the tin roof and the Victa mower but at least we weren't scary about it.

The whole '08 Opening Ceremony was heavy handed about boasting they are the best. When Aussies boast we do so with humour and fun - the '08 Opening Ceremony wasn't so fun.



At least the Closing Ceremony was a lot more fun with Chinese pop bands and things weren't so heavy handed (although knowing pop bands I'm sure they were lip synching too).

The London part of the ceremony was quite enjoyable with the double decker bus and let's not forget Jimmy Page rocking it out.

In the end, with the lack of gold medals for the Aussies, hopefully the next Olympics in England will be a whole lot better than these ones.

With another channel having the coverage (Channel Nine) maybe they will be better presented as well - with better websites and more coverage overall (with more digital channels).