fishers, surfers and casters

Stumbled across this just now. New data (with some sources cited, but not many), on the Internet in the US and for the rest of us, from the end of 2009:

An adaptation of the musical that endeavours to honour the previous genre, this film intends neither to arouse pathos over Australia’s dark history, nor make light humour of it. And yet this story excels in both exploring the Church’s complicity in creating institutionalised racism in Australia’s past (and present), and seeking an Australian spirit.

But I must tell you about the comedy. To describe it in one word: Australian. To expand: irreverent, misplaced, a little off-the-wall and most notable in the faces of the characters than in their words of actions. Truly Brand Nue Dae is a comic masterpiece. If you want to know what good Aussie humour is like, this is it. The movie is willing to forego high production values, superb acting, brilliant cinematography (that we audiences demand after James Cameron and Jane Campion started making movies) in order to bring you characters you want to connect with. It succeeds to the point that you forgive the makers for not making a “fine piece of cinema”.

As all good musicals do, and all “good movies” fail to do, this story seeks the redemption of all people, celebrates the possibility of reconciliation in culture, and refuses to judge the good and bad in our history. It attests that white religion has something to say for its part in the subjugation of indigenous, but at the same time recognises that the Church, as other Western institutions, can be forgiven for this. It points to the effects of racism in Australia’s education system, police system, etc., while at the same time acknowledges there is truth somewhere in the stereotypes that Aborigines carry. Every character is heavily flawed, inherently worthy of love, and capable of turning their loves around.

Maybe I’m tired from staying up late, but this was the movie that made me laugh when I was crying.

A call for papers from my mates Nadja and Simone in Heidelberg: "Religions on the Internet – Aesthetics and the Dimensions of the Senses"

Special issue of "Online ? Heidelberg Internet Journal", due for publication in October 2010

We herewith invite scholars from Religious, Cultural, Social, Media Studies and other related disciplines to hand in proposals for possible articles which deal with questions of the aesthtics and sensual dimensions of religions and rituals on the Internet.

When we look on the various representations of religious groups and individuals on personal homepages, in weblogs, in virtual worlds or the like and when we follow their communications on religious topics online, the visual and auditive aspects of the medium seem to play a major role. Using pictures, videos, icons, as well as music and other sounds, the internet users can design a multisensual virtual environment which might implicate its own notion of ‘aesthetics’. This might be the case in e.g. a virtual Church environment which is embedded in an area with plashy waterfalls and bird sound instead of organ music or for religious groups in social networks who link to home-made Youtube videos, online games and other homepages. But we also must not forget the connection to these sensual dimensions that refer to and rely on the (offline) bodies of religious practitioners.

Religions and rituals on the Internet might most probably provoke emotional or other physical reactions. Furthermore, in transfer processes between the offline and online realm there might be a redefinition of what seems to be an ‘appropriate’ design for religious settings.

As the aesthetic and sensual dimensions of religions and rituals on the internet are so far a mostly neglected area of research, we call upon theoretical and methodical reflection as well as on empiric studies referring to these topics. We are looking forward to receive the title and a short abstract (max. 250 words) of the planned article until 31st of March 2010.

Further important dates and deadlines are:
April 15th: Notification on the acceptance of your proposal by the editors
August 31st: Submission deadline for full article
September 15th: Deadline for comments, requests of revisions by the editors (if necessary)September 31st: Submission deadline for revised articles
November, 1st: Publication of the Online Journal

Please send your abstract to the following Email-addresses:
Simone.Heidbrink AT zegk.uni-heidelberg.de
Nadja.Miczek AT zegk.uni-heidelberg.de

A big thank you to Fr Jose at IMPACT for hosting me for a week, driving me around everywhere, making sure I was well fed (oh, I was so well fed!), and introducing me to hundreds of people.

Here are some pictures of all the people I met at the various colleges and seminaries. Everyone was beautifully welcoming, and treated me like royalty. These guys should be careful because a white guy like me could get very used to that.

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