Thursday, February 15, 2007

Steve Irwin and a Wrinkled Beast

"The animal world has finally taken its revenge on Irwin, but probably not before a whole generation of kids in shorts seven sizes too small has learned to shout in the ears of animals with hearing 10 times more acute than theirs, determined to become millionaire animal-loving zoo-owners in their turn,"

Germaine Greer writing in The Guardian just days after his death.

In a neat little twist, Steve Irwin’s portrait has just replaced Germaine Greer’s in Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery. A spokesman for the National Portrait Gallery said the decision to swap the portraits was “totally coincidental” and that "she hasn't been bumped".

Right, mate. We believe you.

Sincerest apologies to all those forced to look at this grotesque picture of a wrinkled beast.

Other Germaine Gems

"If your ambition is to live on Ramsay Street, where nobody has even been heard to discuss a book or a movie, let alone an international event, then Australia may be the place for you."

"For the vast majority, life in Australia is neither urban nor rural, but suburban. The reality is not Uluru or the Sydney Opera House, but endless, ever-expanding replications of Ramsay Street that spread out as rapidly as oil stains on water, further and further from the tiny central business districts of the state capitals. Each street has a nature strip; each bungalow faces the same way, has a backyard and a front garden, all fenced, low at the front, high at the back."

"Aborigines could teach other Australians how to make living in Oz emotionally and intellectually satisfying, but nobody is going to give them the chance."

"There was no habitat, no matter how fragile or finely balanced, that Irwin hesitated to barge into, trumpeting his wonder and amazement to the skies. There was not an animal he was not prepared to manhandle. Every creature he brandished at the camera was in distress. Every snake badgered by Irwin was at a huge disadvantage, with only a single possible reaction to its terrifying situation, which was to strike."

via Israelly Cool