Author: admin

Our idiotic government has lost it’s jihad against Network 10’s Big Brother, with ACMA finding that the broadcaster didnt break any laws. Naturally, being the self important imbeciles that they are, with all the other problems our nation faces, the Government is now going to try and change the laws! From News.com.au:

THE communications watchdog has found Channel 10 did not breach any broadcasting rules over a controversial incident on its reality television show Big Brother.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan today said there was no breach because a hole existed in rules governing internet broadcasts of that nature.

She said she had ordered the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to undertake a key review of the television code with a view to extending it to the Internet.

“Essentially what ACMA has found … is that because the internet footage was screened live as a webcast, and not stored, it isn’t technically broadcast (under the existing Broadcasting Services Act),” she said in Sydney.

Personally I agree with with Ashley (Michael Cox) on this one: butt out Government!

Tags: Big Brother

Happy Independence Day to all of b5media’s, and my readers. Given that b5media is incorporated in the United States (for the time being…until we might creep a little more north) I thought I’d extend my well wishes.

Of course, as with any event of significance, I made the mistake of going to Wikipedia, a mistake because every time I visit Wikipedia I end up spending 2 hours reading articles there when I should have been doing other things 🙂

And in my reading I found some interesting tidbits that people outside of the US might not know about it.

The First American Flag

Yep, this is the first American flag. Nice, isn’t it. The original Union Flag in the top left hand corner. This is the American flag that flew on Independence Day! Oddly enough, it’s actually an exactly copy of the British East Indies Company Flag. More at Wikipedia here.

America was colonised by Sweden

Most people would know about the Dutch and English colonisation of North America, but how many people would know that Sweden was there as well. New Sweden was a small Swedish settlement along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America. It was centered at Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware and included parts of the present day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The settlement was founded March 29, 1638, and was incorporated into the Dutch New Netherlands on September 15, 1655.

American exceptionalism

American exceptionalism, a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831, has been historically referred to as the perception that the United States differs qualitatively from other developed nations, because of its unique origins, national credo, historical evolution, and distinctive political and religious institutions

The Spanish American Civil War

The Spanish American Civil War was the direct result of the sinking on the USS Maine in Cuba. Yellow Journalism came about due to reporting of Spanish atrocities in Cuba during this period.

Philippine-American War

I knew through my knowledge of history that the Philippines was an American protectorate until after WW2, but what I didn’t know that this wasn’t with the popular support of the locals. The Philippine-American War raged from 1899 to 1913, with the United States winning. Of course the US has left it’s mark there. Aside from being one of the few Asian nations to drive on the wrong side of the road (outside of China and Korea), to Australian ears Philippinos sound like Americans…indeed for a long time I always presumed b5media’s own Shai Coggins was American…because to my ears that’s the way she sounded.

Tags: July 4, Indepedence Day

In case the video of the Big Brother Turkey Slap indecent is yanked from YouTube (currently available here), here’s a full transcript of the incident (as I viewed it anyway).

Length: 1:57

Start: general discussion
0:08: Video on Camilla in bed, John and Ash call from across the room “Cam come here”. Camilla responds “what”.
0:10: Camilla: “what are you doing”, starts to hop out of bed
0:11: as hoping out of bed Camilla says “you aren’t going to fart on me, are ya”, Ash reponds “nup”.
0:17 Camilla is now about to hop into bed with Ash and John, she asks “did you just fart?”
0:18-0:24: Camilla hops on top of the boys, unclear is she saying anything but Ash is head saying “we’re not doing anything..seriously”.
0:28: John says to Camilla: “lie down, shut your eyes”.
Should note, lots of giggling from all 3 at this stage
0:30-0:35: Ash says “lie down, shut your eyes”. Camilla responds (giggling): “You’re not going to turkey slap me are you?”…laughter, Ash says “no”, Camilla responds (laughing) “You are, aren’t you…you liars” as she hops under the covers of the bed (saying also “let me in”). Ash is head say “naarrr” whilst laughing.
0:42-0:44: Camilla, hoping under the covers and John puts is arm around her (note, she is by no means pinned down). Camilla says (laughing) “I hurt you if you do…I’ll bite it”
0:45-0:50: lots of laughing for all 3, John’s arm is around Camilla, but she is by no means “pinned down”.
0:50-0:54: Ash moves towards Camilla
0:55-0:57: Ash turkey slaps Camilla…Camilla is laughing hysterically, as are the boys
0:58-1:01: more laughing, Ash sits back, Camilla saying “shit” whilst laughing her head off
1:04: Camilla says something as she sits up, not clear.
1:06: Krystal (I think) yells out “what happened”. Camilla responds “I just got turkey slapped”. Lots of laughter.
1:10 Camilla goes to lie down back on the bed. John says he “needs a hand” then puts his hand below the sheets towards his groin. Camilla says “naaaaaar”.
1:13: Camilla says “you guys are so mean to me”.
1:14: Ash says “it was funny though”. Camilla says “your mean”.
1:18: Claire says something in the background that is hard to determine due to the laughing, ends in “if you don’t like it”…someone else yells “bite it off”.
1:22: Camilla says “that was soo mean”
1:25-1:28: Camilla clearly grabs Johns you know what. John yells “fuck off!”.

And that’s pretty much it. Camilla starts talking to John and Ash and remains in the bed, seemingly not upset in the least about the incident.

Tags: Big Brother, Big Brother Australia, Turkey Slap, John and Ash

Thank god there is at least one Australian politician out there with some common sense, and as much as I’ve never been a huge fan of the Australian Democrats, good on Andrew Bartlett for this (via the Behind Big Brother Forums quoting AAP)

REALITY TV show Big Brother should be left alone by meddling politicians, Australian Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett said today.
“It is politicians trying to be Big Brother that we really need to be concerned about,” Senator Bartlett said.

The program has been heavily criticised by politicians and family groups after two contestants were removed from the program after allegedly sexually assaulting a female contestant.

“If anyone in the Big Brother house broke the law, then it can be dealt with by the legal system,” he said.

“Attempting to force a television show off the air because of an incident that wasn’t even screened on television is an excessive intrusion into the lives of Australians by moralising, preaching politicians who want to control how people live their lives.”

He said people had forgotten the origins of the name Big Brother.

“The original Big Brother was a politician in a book by George Orwell who used political power to control every aspect of peoples lives, from what they said, did and watched, right down to their private thoughts,” Senator Bartlett said.

Tags: Big Brother, Big Brother Australia, Andrew Bartlett

Want to see what the controversy is about: here it is!
(note, whilst there is no clear nudity some may deem this NSFW).

Tags: Big Brother, Big Brother Australia, Turkey Slap, John and Ash

Update: looks like Channel Ten got the video yanked from YouTube, new copy above.

If you haven’t caught the news yet, Big Brother Australia is under a huge amount of fire at the moment following an incident of sexual harassment, or sexual assault depending on which report you read, where Big Brother contestant John pinned Camilla down on her bed whilst contestant Ashley whacked her on the face with his manhood.

Whilst not condoning the incident for one minute, their eviction from the house (the right thing for the producers to do) has caused meltdown amongst the so-called protectors of Australian morals, with calls for the show to be shut down completely.

It’s hard to get a full grasp as to what is happening because the Big Brother website itself is currently displaying this message:

And the biggest of the independent fan forums is also having problems with traffic as well:

What we do know is this:

According to Behind Big Brother, Senator Helen Coonan has spoken to the Australian Communication and Media Authority to determine if Endemol Southen Star have breached broadcast codes of practice for letting the incident be shown on internet streams and Opposition leader Kim Beazley has made a statement recommending Channel 10 make this season of Big Brother the last.

Police are investigating the incident, and naturally the do-gooders of the Family First Party are calling for charges.

Rumors on other sites indicate everything from the show not going to air tonight (eviction night) through to Ash returning to the house Tuesday.

It’s just a shame that the imbecile element of Australian politics is using this as an excuse to bash this style of television once more. At the end of the day it’s time for reasonable people to stand up and say that if we don’t like this style of television we wont watch…and politicians should have no role in it…now if only we had a 1st amendment.

Tags: Big Brother Australia, Big Brother

Update: The Big Brother website now has an official post stating that the show will go on, and reports also indicated that Camilla has been interviewed by police but will not be pressing charges.