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Incognitrix

Listed below are comments made by Incognitrix between Wednesday, 20th August 2008 and Friday, 5th December 2008.

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Growing tall 11:23pm on 05 Dec 2008 Hi Nick,

I think the flak directed at Nicole is mostly to do with Nicole and not much to do with Tall Poppy Syndrome.

I definitely fall into the typical category: I'm a Cate lover and a Nicole hater (although hate is a strong word... maybe strongly dislike?)

I think Cate is a great actress but, more importantly, is modest and still seems to call Australia home.

I think Nicole is a very poor actress and seems only to call Australia home if it's convenient. I don't know why but it's the latter point that absolutely grates me the most.

As you point out, there are a lot of internationally successful Australians out there who we love to love so it's not that we begrudge them success. We do seem to begrude it when they never seem to come home though...
A Christmas gift for the navy 5:47pm on 21 Nov 2008 PS comment about the movies:

I would never have described Aussie films as "dark, depressing pieces". If anything, I'd describe Aussie films as being visually bright, in-your-face and, normally, a comedy (typically pitched at the 'toilet joke' level of humour).
A Christmas gift for the navy 5:42pm on 21 Nov 2008 Have to agree with Jacko555, as an Australian - and Queenslander to boot - who recently move to London I was taken aback by the pub culture here. I was shocked to see the pubs doing a roaring trade during the week at lunch time - drinking on a work day?! My English colleagues also take more time to do holidays - short breaks throughout the year - unlike my old Aussie colleagues who might just take one 2-week holiday in the entire year. I think the British practice is more sensible - we should work to live, not the other way around.
The stunted country 10:45pm on 16 Oct 2008 I tell the world I'm Australian. But, in my mind, that's a qualified to *Queensland* Australian.

I love Melbourne, I don't much care for Sydney and I'd love to visit Darwin. I love my country but I often feel more patriotism to my state than my country. Currently living in England, I'm more interested in what Premier Bligh is doing with my home, than with what Prime Minister Rudd is doing with my country.

Queenslanders, particularly those of us who live near the NSW border, often joke that we should cede from the rest of Australia. We're only half-kidding.

It's been said "God" is the magic word in an American presidential speech - it just reels in the voters. In my home state, that magic word is "Queensland". Beattie couldn't say it enough and we can't hear it enough.

I'm not sure, though, that what I feel is any different to what anyone feels, anywhere in the world. Isn't a Sydneysider fiercely patriotic over their city - they're a Sydneysider first, Australian second?

It's just an ongoing story of tribalism and small communities and the smallest common unit wins.

As an interesting aside, when I'm overseas, I'm much more nationalistic in my approach. I might bump into an Aussie from Perth - a stranger - but they're like family. Not from Brisbane, alas, but then nobody's perfect ;)
The hidden Olympic effort 9:37pm on 24 Aug 2008 I wish there was wider recognition of these kinds of contributions - there are Aussies everywhere, quietly achieving.

Another Olympics and a bit of self-reflection: something along the lines of, 'what the hell happened??!' Only kidding - we did well, all our Olympians tried their hardest and they should be commended for being good enough to compete in this level of elite sportsmanship.
Music GCSE's lesson for life 10:32pm on 20 Aug 2008 A valuable lesson indeed.

I'm quite troubled by the complete lack of common sense displayed by the OCR... not a single person stopped to think 'oh wait - that's giving away the answer'!
GB pedal-powers to success 10:21pm on 20 Aug 2008 As an Aussie in London, I've been quite broken-hearted over this Olympics. Did we even have anybody in the athletics? Because all I saw was a bunch of Russians and Brits storming it home. And swimming! What happened?!

Talking about the Aussie/Brit acrimony... today I received three separate emails from my work colleagues: 1 cited your blog as proof that 'Aussies lose to Brits' (much smugness), 1 was from my American colleague pointing out we lost to them in the basketball (even more smugness) and one from my Japanese colleague pointing out we lost to them in the softball (very polite... with a touch of smugness). The whole world seems to be celebrating... and taking much joy in pointing out how poorly we're doing. I say laugh it up boys - because we're going to outmedal the Brits at their darn Olympics 4 years from now!! It is ON!

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