The Good People of the 3 Gorges Dam

I finally got around to seeing 'Still Life', by Jia Zhang Ke. It's an excellent film indeed, wholly deserving of the Golden Lion it won at the Venice Film Festival last year. Although, I can't say I really know any of the contenders for that prize, so I've no idea really. But this is a very, very good film.

The film is about the villagers of Fengjie , in Sichuan province. Or is it now under control of Chongqing? Anyway, one of the special things about the film is that the amazing location of the villages, right on the banks of the Yangtze (长江）. It's special because we can't visit these places anymore; they've been completely submerged since 2006. I'm sorry to say I've never been to this part of China before so I'll never know what it was like up close, but this film does offer a beautiful visual record of it.

Upon some reflection, a primary theme throughout the film seems to be about loss. There are two lead characters who both are involved in broken marriages, and have become loveless. And then there is the loss of the village itself.

I'm not sure that it's my favourite film by Jia, I think I still prefer The World. But this is nevertheless another brilliant piece of cinema from him, and I can't wait to see what he films next. Certainly something that does seem to be becoming a trait of Jia is the occasional juxtaposition of surrealism in what are otherwise hyper-realistic films. I first noticed it with the cartoon sequences in The World, and in Still Life he takes it further by using some impressive computer-generated imagery. I quite like the effect.

Oh, and a note about the title. 'Still Life' is the English name, but the original Chinese name 三峡好人 translates to The Good People of the 3 Gorges Dam (well that's my translation). A bit of a mouthful from a marketing perspective. It does, however, have relevance to the film, as there is a scene where a young man remarks "There are no good people here!". Whilst on topic, I should add that some (most) of the dialects in the film are nigh impenetrable to me.

Mike Patton is Right...

Wolfmother, you suck.

Orwell

I've only read Animal Farm and 1984, but I thought they were both brilliant.

Nowadays though, Orwell has become something of a tool in oratory and debate; you can throw an Orwell into the mix to swing any argument your way.
Bush- Orwellian nightmare, Howard- read Orwell as a manual, any progressive politician- O'Brien waiting to happen.

I think it's kind of approaching cliche to be honest, but theres no doubt Orwell painted a chilling portrait of totalitarianism.

I usually don't think calling on Orwell is very helpful when criticising hardline neo-conservative governments though, as the idea of a free market seems antithetical to INGSOC.

I think criticism of such right-wing governments would be better achieved by pointing out the problems which are specific to it- corporate greed, class division and so on. Because unless it is specific to the form of government, then the Orwell card can be used against anyone, by anyone, which ultimately negates any significance.

So now I'm trying to think of some novelists who might be useful for this purpose. Thomas Pynchon perhaps, and certainly William S. Burroughs.

Zodiac

David Fincher's latest is by far his best, which is saying something.

It's a combination of his technical perfection, with regards to cinematography, visual effects and editing, the pitch-perfect performances (Robert Downey Jr is particularly entertaining) which he extracts from the actors, and a mature, intelligent and complex script.

The attention to detail in recreating the time-span of the period is unparalled. The soundtrack, fittingly, is totally cooking. And unlike some (all?) of Fincher's other films, there is a strict adherence to realism.

The film was shot entirely on digital but you'd never know it, really, as Harris Savides seems to have nailed the new medium on his first attempt, which is remarkable.

People may be expecting something akin to Se7en, but that's entirely the wrong comparison.

The film is more a crime saga along the lines of Heat, dealing more with the lives of those affected by the crime than the crime itself, and like that film, Zodiac is a rare masterpiece.

Baldwin - The Real Deal

There's a great lot of fuss over the answering machine message Alec Baldwin left for his 11 year old daughter. I can't see why this is seen as such a bad thing. In his signature irate tone, he berated her for standing him up, and called her a 'thoughtless little pig'.

I'm glad to see that Alec Baldwin is as much of a hard-ass in real life as he is portrayed on the screen. The only other actors I can think of who are as hard-ass in real life are Arnold, and perhaps Chuck Norris, though the latter is subject to some dispute. Actors like this don't have to ham things up for the big screen; they have to tone things down.

As far as I'm concerned, this ordeal only adds to the authenticity of his body of work.


Alec 'Real Deal' Baldwin

M.L.A vs Peta: Marketing

Readers will remember my uncharacteristic outburst a few months ago regarding the moral vanity of certain vegetarians.

Peta are smart though. Or at least, they've got a far better marketing team than Meat and Livestock Australia. Allow me to explain. Underlying both marketing campgains is an appeal to our baser instincts. Peta has realised that some instincts are more powerful than others.

Exhibit A:


The M.L.A's campaign, to quote directly from their marketing page, explains:
"The new Instinct ad shows that craving red meat is instinctive behaviour; in fact we’ve been craving it for millions of years."

The execution of the idea, in my opinion, lacked the aesthetics of the Peta campaign.

Exhibit B:


I think my case speaks for itself. M.L.A needs to hit back and sink to Peta's level; I expect to see a new campaign without Sam Neill, and would instead propose the following:


EXT. STREET - GREY AFTERNOON

A lone figure wrapped in a well-worn trench coat hobbles down a bleak alley. The sky overhead is washed out and colourless, like the pavement. The buildings are decaying, as are the tattered posters on the walls. They depict an extreme close-up view of a dictators face; it is Hitler. Beneath the menacing face lie the words
"Eat your greens like the Fuhrer. Meat is something that must be overcome."


The lone figure arrives at a nondescript doorway and knocks carefully five times. A viewing slide opens and a pair of eyes appear. There is a metallic snap and the door is opened.

INT. CORRIDOR
The figure enters a corridor and a slow, deep hum can be heard. As the figure walks down the corridor the hum grows louder; it is becoming rhythm, it is becoming beat. There is a door at the end of the dark corridor which beckons. As the figure finally reaches it, he pushes it open to reveal...

INT. BALLROOM
There is an exhuberant, surreal celebration taking place. The Russian disco-rock band Accident is blasting the song "Drink Beer, Eat Meat" from a stage that has been dressed in tribal-noveau. Red and purple light rages from all directions. Opium and cigar smoke fills the air, and grinning faces lay passed out on oriental pillows. Scantily clad young women and smiling young men bring trays of steaks, sausages and bread around to couples and singles alike, of various nationalities, who sit at huge wooden tables, and barbeques rage in the background with huge flames roaring. Little children run around belting drums, squirting tomato sauce on effegies of Hitler and playing catch whilst Japanese paper-walls reveal the shadows of copulating couples. Upon a dais in the center of the ballroom is a section of burlesque dancers playfully feeding each other mouthfuls of meat, and the camera pans up to a huge banner depicting five faces from different continents, and the words:
"Support the Anti-fascism, pro-liberation movement of the peoples of the world."

Of course, I'll happily write out a counter-campaign for Peta, for the right sum of money.

What the Ho?

Macau, from my small knowledge of the it, is an interesting place filled with interesting people.
For example, a son of Kim Jong-Ill's apparently lives there a lot of the time.

Paul told me about how Stanley Ho made heaps of money by owning the license to run a casino in Macau- apparently for a while he was the only one in town who had the license. Forbes say he's the 84th richest man in the world.

So what's he doing paying the New South Wales Labour Party AUS$109,000 in donations? I thought capitalist tycoon billionaires gave to the right, not the left.

Whilst he does apparently have 'significant property holdings in Queensland', where the ALP is also (thankfully) in power it seems an odd move. Perhaps he's going to start buying big in Sydney. Even stranger is that he payed AUS$48,000 for lunch with Premier Morris Iemma of NSW, and then skipped the lunch!

Billionaires. They're a foreign people.

Media Watching

I used to dismiss those who said you can't believe what you read in newspapers.
To be sure, there are plenty of paranoid conspiracy theorists who form crackpot ideas to counter what they read in the newspapers. But sometimes it's bleedingly obvious that reporters are doing a woeful job.

Thus I began to realise, of the many hideously frustrating things in this world, crap newspapers are up there amongst bamboo torture and novelty mobile phone ringtones.

I speak of course about The Courier Mail and the Cairns Post.

The Cairns Post is too easy a target (which I will no doubt attack in a later post), but The Courier Mail somehow commands respect here in Cairns.

Here's why it shouldn't.

Taken from The Courier Mail 10/1/07:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21035290-3122,00.html

Sports retailer hits the spot

Justine Turner

January 08, 2007 11:00pm

Article from: AAP

TARGETED advertising in the lead-up to Christmas helped Rebel Sport lift sales by almost 15 per cent in the first half of 2006-07.

And then, taken from The Australian 10/1/07:

Rebel run slows as retailers hit hurdle

Blair Speedy

January 10, 2007

RETAIL group Rebel Sport reported slower sales growth in the last three months of 2006, as the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that department store sales had declined for a fifth straight month.

Seems the Courier Mail article was rather poorly researched then. Nice one.

I suppose it is worth the time to read more than one newspaper, so that we may realise that what some people take as truth is often far from it.

And to all people out there thinking of becoming a journalist, don't worry if you're a moron. The Courier Mail (and AAP by extension) has plenty of space for you.

Attention Vegetarians

This message concerns all vegetarians alike who would take to the moral high grounds, sneering and yelling down insults at the eaters of meat down below, accusing us of being inhumane.

Hear, hear.

Hitler was a vegetarian.

Where's your moral high ground now?

A Week of Passing

We've had an extremely tragic week, with both Steve Irwin and Peter Brock dying.
Two rather iconic Australians, in my mind, and both dying in circumstances related to their vocations. They'll be missed by everyone around the world. It's a good time for reflection upon our own lives, and surely it must remind everyone that we shouldn't waste what time we have.

The exception is Germaine Greer and her wild-eyed, wild-armpitted followers.

From ninemsn

Ms Greer said Mr Irwin had not treated animals with the respect they deserved.

"He would tell you how dangerous they were and he would proceed to intrude on their space and humiliate really - treat them with massive insensitivity," she said.

That was from A Current Affair, so we can't say how reliable it is, but whatever.

Sounds rather like Germaine Greer in regards to men, come to think of it. Read her Enough Rope interview.

Thus, if Germaine Greer is ever killed by a 'partner' (which would apparently likely be a young boy, hairless and feminine), I think it only appropriate that we respond by saying that
'the hairless boys world got their revenge'. It'll be, like, poetic justice.

In other news, A Current Affair is hate-mongering again, this time against Muslim taxi-drivers.
Is that really needed?

A night of XS

Had a fantastic evening yesterday, as Paul was in town and offered me a ticket to go and see INXS!
I've never been a fan of them, but I've always been aware of their status, and their drummer is quite well known. And considering that I wasn't a fan , I was really very impressed with their performance. They played a great set and the new singer of theirs seems to have all the requisite energy for the job. The opening act we saw was Killing Heidi, and though they're past their heyday, they played solidly too.

The only downside was the rain, but given that we're in such a bad drought it's hard to see that as such a bad thing.

In other news
Q: "What are the good movies coming out?"
A: The Science of Sleep, The Prestige, The Fountain, Sunshine, Marie Antoinette, Art School Confidential, Zodiac and Inland Empire will all be great in my opinion. Check out the trailers for some of them if you have time and tell me if you agree. Time will tell, but these are my bets.

Hilarious

I was scrolling along through my bookmarks and by accident clicked onto the blog of my schoolmate Tristan. Well, I decided to read through his lengthy posts, in particular his soppy post entitled "Fate it may be called". Poor guys had a run of bad luck with the ladies, it seems.
Got into a relationship with a girl who had to go overseas. A sad story indeed.

Then I read the comment on that post. Enter 豪. Another schoolmate of mine, a very good one in fact- it's Tommy Wong, 豪 is a part of his Chinese name. He's a very sensitive, passionate young man, and he was obviously very moved by Tristans tragic turn of events.

So struck with woe was Tommy by this post that he was implored to comment:







"Tristan you are still an idiot...."

Oh Lordy. Lordy lordy lordy.
I'm still in hysterics with laughter.

I've gone on to read Tommy's blog, which he updates with stunning regularity. It's in traditional Chinese, unfortunately, so it's an effort for me to read. He does inject occasional English in there too, so I'm doing my best to figure out what precluded Tommy to say:

"I am good at women and he is good at gambling...WTF..."

From what I can make out he's saying he's like a brother of his friend Paul. Thus Paul is the gambler, and Tommy is the ladies man (coloured wolf, as we say in Chinese). Surely not my friend Paul...but then again...call it a coincidence, but taken from my friend Paul's blog:

"I'm not a huge gambler (probably because I don't have the dosh?). I can't see much enjoyment in it, and I've heard too many bad stories for it to arouse any sort of interest/addiction in me. But I have tried it. Twice. Both times, I ended up with more than I put in! Both times, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing."

It's all connected, I'm sure of it. In fact, call it a pre-mature conclusion, but if you observe these two photos, I think you'd be hard pressed to say that they weren't in fact identical twins, albeit with different lusts; one loves women, the other loves money. But isn't that really two sides of the same personality? Food for thought, in any event.


THE LADIES MAN

THE GAMBLER

The Stupidest Forums in Existence

Well, before I post the next episode in my Chinese serial, I have to bring to everyone's attention the hilarious debate going on over in the Internet Movie Database forums for the film Memento.

I should probably warn people who haven't seen the film not to read on, not because I'll spoil it, but because you probably won't get the point of the post.

The IMDB is famous for gestating some of the most ridiculous and moronic comments on the net. If there's a film you love, or hate, just visit its page on the site and see what the web's collective idiots have to say about it. You'll be fuming in no time. There's some smart people who post there, but they're certainly the minority.

Nevertheless, if one can keep this in mind, it's usually very entertaining to see the latest threads.
I watched Memento again the other night, with a friend who hadn't seen it. We both agreed it's a fantastic film (a favourite of mine in fact), but try telling this to some of the posters in that forum.

In particular, some half-wit created a thread called Anybody ever told this guy about this Invention called a Video Camera?

Indeed. Some guys went on to suggest Leonard should have carried around

a) A mini-dv camera with an LCD screen and audio playback
b) A hidden spy-camera which would be uploaded to a laptop (voice activated, of course)
c) A mini-disc recorder with 'secret microphone'
d) a PDA

As opposed to his notebook and polaroid. Apparently a man who will murder an innocent man, steal his expensive suit from his dying body and then take his Jaguar (with two hundred thousand dollars in the boot) will have a problem obtaining film for his polaroid camera, because it's too expensive at $1 a shot- this is according to one of the posters. Apparently it makes a whole lot more sense for Lenny to be using a high-tech camera of some sort. The same moron also claimed Lenny should have gotten parking tickets; nevermind the fact that he's driving another man's car.

There's people who argue against this stupidity, but unfortunately they seem to suffer from room temperature IQs themselves.
The weird thing is two of the main debaters claim they each possess a phD! The one arguing against the stupid suggestion is apparently holds a doctorate in Organic Chemistry, whilst the proponent of the hi-tech shit claims a doctorate in Computer Science.


I really hope they're both lying. Because it's a scary thought indeed that phD graduates could be this fuck-witted.


You can see my response, in which I hypothesise a revised script with their suggested changes.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/board/thread/47597605?d=51917749#51917749

You can also read their earlier claims, but it'll take you most of the day, and their shit-brain-syndrome might be contagious.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/board/thread/47597605

UPDATE:
I have since realised it was just as stupid of me to get involved....which makes me the stupidest BLOGGER in existence. Well, damn.

Crouching Rabbit Hidden Onion

For Written Chinese this semester I'm required to write a short passage each week, and it supposed to be continuous. Almost everyone else in the class are doing diaries of their lives, which are mind-numbingly boring to read, and one can only guess that to live such a life would be even more pointless and depressing. But I could be wrong.

In any event, I thought it was a great oppourtunity for a story told in weekly installments.
The first chapter was called Crouching Rabbit Hidden Onion, because in Mandarin it sounds similar to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Whilst my Chinese no doubt has a lot of errors in it, I'll publish it for the public to ridicule, and I'll give a translation too. So without further ado..

<<卧兔藏葱>>

莎士比亚就是说:什么在名字？

其实，名子在生活里的有很多重要性.

兔子有很多兄弟姐妹。 连父母亲也不知道每个兔子的名字。 虽然，有一天下午一个小兔子在森林，正在吃草。 他突然看了一个葱。 出乎意料，这个葱会说。

葱说：你叫什么名字？

兔子就说：我？我。。我忘了

葱说：那我给你新的名字。 您叫。。。兔深

兔深说：兔深？很好名字。 你呢？你叫什么名字？

葱说：我是聪明葱。再见啦

突然葱就消失。兔深说“再见啦？他一定是从新加坡来的”

<>
Shakespeare said: "What's in a name?"

In fact, names have great importance in our lives.

Rabbits have lots of brothers and sisters. Even the parents don't know every child's name. Although, one afternoon a small rabbit was in the forrest eating grass. He suddenly saw an onion. Strangely enough, this onion could speak.

Onion: What's your name?
Rabbit: I...I...I've forgotten..
Onion: Then I'll give you a new name. Your name is... Rabbit Deep
Rabbit Deep: Rabbit Deep? Cool name. And you? What's your name?
Onion: My name is...Intelligent Onion. Bye bye lah!

Suddenly the onion just disappeared. Rabbit Deep said "Bye Bye lah? He's definitely from Singapore".
-The End

Well, it's not quite Pynchon or Kerouac. Yet. But believe me compared to those diaries, this is full-blown excitement.

In other news, my good friend Paul has started a new blog. He's an old timer of blogs, and a man of great wit, so I advise everyone to read it. He's not in Japan, but that just means he'll be sour and funny in Cairns.

A Review of the Arts

I've been rather fortunate recently to have been impressed by that which I watch, read and listen to.

I saw Miami Vice this evening, and it was all that I'd hoped. Michael Mann has always been a favourite director of mine, especially with his film Heat. This film version of Miami Vice doesn't seem to really pay too much of a homage to the t.v series, from what I understand, but I think that's probably a good thing. A 1980's period film wouldn't have worked very well unless it was a comedy. Perhaps the only thing that remains is awesome vehicles, because the automobiles are certainly very, very impressive. The film is hyper-realistic, in the same way that Heat and Collateral were. And even more so in the photography, which is now handled entirely by Dion Beebe, who shows his ability to work with digital here. I remember some friends of mine cynically suggesting this film would be just another action film, to which I replied, simply, "It's Michael Mann". And it seems I was right, because although there are some spectacular action sequences, they are few. The film is instead more concerned characters, particularly Sonny.
The storyline moves ahead pretty fast and there's no simplification, so in that aspect it's similar to Syriana. But it also has some very poignant moments, and it is these which I love the most.

I bought The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips yesterday, and it's an incredible piece of work. The orchestrations in it are beautiful, and Wayne Coyne's lyrics are simple yet very deep and thought provoking. In each of their albums they create a universe of their own, and in The Soft Bulletin it's the nicest of them all. The Flaming Lips now have reached my top 4 favourite bands. From what I've read, their live shows are stunning. I'd like to see them very much.

And I started reading Crash, by J.G Ballard. It's quite shocking, but it's also beautifully written and has a very interesting commentary on modern society. I'm enjoying it tremendously.

Brideshead Revisited

"Ought we to be drunk every night?" - Sebastian Flyte, from Brideshead Revisited.

I've arrived back in Brisbane after a seventeen day return home. It was a real pleasure to be back with my family, and having all of my favourite meals cooked by my Mum, and seeing all of my friends. But for me, the highlight of my time back home was watching the entire Brideshead Revisited series with Mum. It's the finest television I've seen in my life, surpassing even Seinfeld.
The acting, cinematography, music, direction, it's all wonderful, and it has such a sad, beautiful story.

I also found it entirely relevant to the present day. Whilst the story did not entirely advocate getting drunk all the time, and was of course mindful of alcholism, it was (thankfully) not entirely puritanical on the subject. I'm rather annoyed that the sportsmen and women of my generation seem to have taken alcohol and given it such a bad name; through their celebratory partying and sexual harrassment and deviancy. They've taken all the innocent fun out of drinking.

It led me to ask "Was Evelyn Waugh a heavy drinker?". I did some quick research and the answer seems to be "Yes".

That's in common, then, with some other literary heroes of mine, such as Christopher Doyle , Ernest Hemingway, Anthony Burgess and Jack Kerouac. I'll try to research this theory a little more.

The State of Origin State

Serious sport is war minus the shooting - George Orwell

Congratulations to the Queensland team on their fantastic victory this evening. It seemed that a lot of the umpire decisions didn't exactly go their (our) way, and yet they (we) still managed two beautiful ones when it looked like they (we) might lose yet again.

After the spit was wiped after rolling down my chin and I was through bellowing like a Bili Ape on a full moon, I realised old Georgey boy might have a point. Every decision the umpire made seemed, to me, a travesty. That Willie Mason looked like a filthy bucaneer, a right scoundrel. There seemed to be malice behind every New South Welsh movement. And everything that Queensland did was heroic. State of Origin seems to put me in this state moreso than other sports, and I've had friends agree with this sentiment. What is it that makes it so?

Is it all the more infuriating when the enemy is so similar to your own side? Does civil war tap into that Cain-Abel seed inside us all, ape and man alike?

Is it the lack of that seed that those Bondo Mystery Apes are blessed with, some preterition deep in the Congo, which gives them curiosity instead of aggression towards humans?

So for the those Bili Apes, let's have a minutes silence for the New South Welshman, our brothers and cousins, implicit in this Bondo Mystery.

Still, they're nevertheless a cheating, vain, vulgar, sour and banal shower of bastards, the lot of them.

Imeldific

There's an interesting "10 Questions for Imelda Marcos" in Time magazine this week. A highlight was:
"If you know how rich you are, my dear, then you're not really rich."

How hard can it be to know what you have? I think this really says something about the difference between being rich and wealthy- and it's not greed. It's ignorance that defines someone as rich her.

Later on, she says:
"I'm poor not in material things but in the truth...I had to wear jewelry then, but all that was taken away, confiscated by the government. They think they have taken everything away everything from me, including my shoes. But actually that's my biggest defense: when they opened my closet, they found shoes instead of skeletons."

At least that seems an admission of ignorance. To be poor in the truth, seems to imply that she isn't in possession of much truth. Funny thing, to say that, it's a paradox. Like the sentence "I always lie." And then to talk about her loss of jewelry and shoes, relating back to her opening preposition of being poor in truth? Aren't jewelry and shoes empirical objects; material in nature? Also, how is it to her 'defence' she had shoes in her closet? Apparently she had 3000 pairs of shoes, and they themselves were 'skeletons in the closet' because it was evidence of a fortune ill-gained.

Now, "Imeldific", is an adjective currently used to describe someone of 'ostentatious extravagence'. I think perhaps it should be extended to describe someone of 'ostentatious extravagence and remarkable stupidity'.

Tickle Me Emo

Something I've noticed upon arriving in Brisbane is a new class of stereotype amongst youths, my age and younger. They hang out along the Queen Street Mall, and they're the current majority of Mall Rats, it seems. On a first glance they look like Goths, or Gothics, because they wear mainly black, and even some of the guys wear pale makeup. But the attire also includes comical patterns like green and white stripes; they bear some resemblence to a clown, or acrobat. The hair is dyed black, usually, and the way that it's parted seems to suggest that one side is longer than the other.
Studded belts seem to be de rigueur. The term "Emo" has been given to them, which apparently stands for "Emotional".

This isn't confined to Brisbane, as it turns out. Whilst I'm not sure where it originally stemmed from, the Emo can be found in large herds on the internet; in this very blogosphere. From what I've seen, they have characteristics outside of just fashion (although, some seem to just stick to the fashion). They seem to like punk music, and share some views that the convoluted later day punk movement had, but they probably have never heard of The Velvet Underground, or Andy Warhol. In fact, the image can be described as neo-punk in a way.

The general ideology of the true Emo seems to be: I'm dissatisfied, young, helpless, hopeless and despairing. This consumerist world is cruel, no one understands my plight, but apathy is the cool choice that I make. I'm unique, and superior to those who can't see the truth; and in this way, enlightened in the sense that I'm engulfed by darkness. And don't ever try to judge me, or class me, because I'm unlike anyone else; only I have the ability to see that life is pain.

It's basically Nihilism.

My analysis of the dress code is that the black reflects their bleak view of the world; the nihilism part. The occasional hint of colour is to suggest that they were once happy; to contrast with the blackness they now feel (this provides for them another sadness, I used to be happy and ignorant...). The lopsided hair cut is their lopsided view of the world, their unbalanced opinions. On this note, giving a nod to my hero Thomas Pynchon and his observation in V, it would seem that the position of father-confessor has, for the Emo, been taken by, of all people, the Hairdresser. Society takes the form of Dandruff, the banality to be shed, that's revealed when all is made Black and True, and this clarity is achieved not by Psychoanalysis, but by the painful yet liberating process of Hair Dye and Straightening, which Straightens not only the strands of hair, but the Soul of the Emo.
"I think... I'm getting a bit of... curl" suggests that the Emo may be experiencing the false, the foolish, the forbidden sensation of Optimism. "We'll Steam and Straighten," says the Hairdresser.

The interesting thing is that the Emo doesn't actually seem to bother to read anything that might relate to Nihilism, that extreme form of Existentialism, or any other forms of it. If they did, they might sharpen up their act.

But as it is, they've yet to realise their essential contradiction. They have a big individualist ideal; yet they're a new stereotype, just another class of youth. They dress differently in uniform.

That is to say, they're the "don't-stereotype-us" stereotype.