Sunday 9 September 2012

Puberty Blues

Nah, yeah, its grouse. They pash off & stuff? And Debbie and Bruce, they were going round together, but she was a dud root, so Bruce told Straccy to tell Vicky to tell Sue to tell Debbie that she was dumped? And Gary is a good surfer and that, but Vicky pashed off another guy and they had a root and then Gary got stoned and sprung em rooting and he was gutted.
Catch up episodes on the ten websites, laydeez. http://ten.com.au/video-player.htm?movideo_p=48039
This show is very funny and twists the knife.
Fabulous 70s reminders from the show:
- ham steaks topped with a ring of tinned pineapple ( I feel sick thinking about it)
- drink driving was funny & no one was concerned about the danger (which was of course still present)
- People sat in the sun till they burnt, in the quest for a tan. Then they peeled the skin off and did it again.
- 'cover your heads girls' dad says to the girls during a sleepover. Then he saturates the air with aerosol insecticide.
- Chiko rolls (I feel sick thinking about it)
- Storm Boy at the Drive In!
- smoking was sooo cool (comeon mamas with older kids, tell me thats changed..)
- being pashed off!
Not so fabulous 70s reminders:
- Misogyny EVERYWHERE
- kids being date raped and gang raped and other kids looking on with no understanding of what was happening (please tell me thats changed..)
- bullying cultures in schools being par for the course (please tell me....)

Watch this if you can my friends. This really is AWESOME and reminds me how important the original book is re Oz culture.

And BTW!
our long time missing Jonesy's written some fab reviews of the episodes so far on his website 'Change the Channel.' He's at

http://ctchannel.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/review-puberty-blues-episode-4/

4 comments:

  1. So you like it then? And it seems Jonesy likes it too? I haven't watched any so far - thought it would be shit on a sandwich. The original book & movie, though, were essential local staples.

    Updating on current teen trends:
    - smoking is only for the derro's. The cool kids don't smoke.
    - the nearest drive-in theatre is 100km away (phew)
    - ham steaks are on the "no way" list, along with most other processed meats & anything wth "bits" in it or fat on it or at all slightly gross
    - teen chicks at my place have so overly much self esteem, they'd be hard pushed to find a spotty youth worth diverting a nanoparticle for, let alone buying a chocolate moove for. Girl Power to the max.
    - panel vans have been replaced by Yaris's - more fuel efficiency & less bonkability
    - the schoolyard is still a social jungle. Even with a recent visit from an o/seas cohort of teen students, the demographic of nerds, misfits, fuglies vs the cool, bootiful & sporty was as obvious as it was surprising (who'd have thought they would know about cliques that far away?)
    - the drinking thing, however, has done a turn around from the Pube Blu era, when parents didn't allow Miranda Spu consumption on the premises, and kids resorted to covert gutter slurping. Cool parents now are allowing supervised alcopop downage at all the hip 16th bday parties. (Not me, I'm the WORST MOTHER EVER!)

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  2. yes, its really really good! Truly! and you can catch up on full episodes & its worth doing and the whole shebang! It departs from the book & tis fully forgiven for doing so- stands as a great series in its own right. And yes, muchos astonishmentos, Jonesy gives it a rave on his site. if you flick through his other reviews, Jonesy hardly likes ANYTHING. So maybe he's I dunno, inherited a chocolate factory or something. That series even makes HIM happy.
    re current teen trends:
    - re smoking, drive ins and ham steaks: thank gawd.
    - The other 70s dishes that have made an appearance so far are apricot chicken (I feel sick again) and abalone (yes, once upon a time abalone was not a rare and expensive delicacy and it could be served at dinner parties. I recall my uncle snorkelling and bringing it back for a barbie)
    - go the grrl power! awesome!
    - ok, so we keep working on the social jungle. We can get there....
    -hmm. Nah, I'll be banning drinking as well.

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  3. many of these menu items can be found in jim lilek's gorgeous tome "The Gallery of Regretable Food". but I digress!

    panel vans ... back in, big time! just try and find a 70's windowless Panny these days for under $10k. heck, just try and find one full stop! collectors are loving 'em sick. probably pash them off when no one looking, too.

    nerdery is sooooo very different to the critter I remember from the 70's. back then, the 'cool' kids were the ones who flunked school and did naughty stuff. now the smokey, drinkey, slutties are gleefully ostracised as dumb trash by the geeksters :p

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  4. I've banned my teens from watching it - don't want to glamourise the scrubber lifestyle. Just as I've bant Teen Mom. Or would the show be a deterrent do ya think?

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