Land Down Under: Difference between revisions

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== Music ==
== Music ==
* The song "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under_%28song%29 Down Under]" by Men At Work, obviously. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT7uZf7lew Look for the koala plushie]. Surprisingly they made it to [[Stealth Parody|complain about the]] [[Flanderization]] of Australian culture. [[Misaimed Fandom|That buggered up pretty quickly]].
* The song "[[wikipedia:Down Under chr(28)songchr(29)|Down Under]]" by Men At Work, obviously. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT7uZf7lew Look for the koala plushie]. Surprisingly they made it to [[Stealth Parody|complain about the]] [[Flanderization]] of Australian culture. [[Misaimed Fandom|That buggered up pretty quickly]].
* "We'll surf like they do in the U.S.A.|We'll fly down to Sydney for our holiday|On sunny Christmas Day|Australia, Australia" - [[The Kinks (Music)|The Kinks]]' concept album ''Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire)'' tells the story of a man emigrating to Australia from post-war England.
* "We'll surf like they do in the U.S.A.|We'll fly down to Sydney for our holiday|On sunny Christmas Day|Australia, Australia" - [[The Kinks (Music)|The Kinks]]' concept album ''Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire)'' tells the story of a man emigrating to Australia from post-war England.
* [[Tim Minchin (Music)|Tim Minchin]]'s ''Not Perfect'': "This is my country, and I live in it; it's pretty big, and nice to walk on"
* [[Tim Minchin (Music)|Tim Minchin]]'s ''Not Perfect'': "This is my country, and I live in it; it's pretty big, and nice to walk on"
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== Real Life ==
== Real Life ==
* Australia's former Prime Minister, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_rudd Kevin Rudd], is a highly educated, bespectacled, ex-diplomat who talks like a management-consultant - in English ''and'' fluent Mandarin Chinese. In other words, he's a bit of a nerd. Shortly before the election that brought his government to power, the news media broke a "scandal" that he once got drunk at a strip-club in New York City. Australia's reaction? [[Insult Backfire|"Oh, he must be all right then."]] Alexander Downer, a Cabinet Minister in then-Prime Minister John Howard's government, noted that Howard told him that this was the moment he knew he'd lost the election. If anything, Rudd lost some respect when witnesses explained he just got drunk and went home instead of starting a bar fight or challenging a bouncer to a Boat Race.
* Australia's former Prime Minister, [[wikipedia:Kevin rudd|Kevin Rudd]], is a highly educated, bespectacled, ex-diplomat who talks like a management-consultant - in English ''and'' fluent Mandarin Chinese. In other words, he's a bit of a nerd. Shortly before the election that brought his government to power, the news media broke a "scandal" that he once got drunk at a strip-club in New York City. Australia's reaction? [[Insult Backfire|"Oh, he must be all right then."]] Alexander Downer, a Cabinet Minister in then-Prime Minister John Howard's government, noted that Howard told him that this was the moment he knew he'd lost the election. If anything, Rudd lost some respect when witnesses explained he just got drunk and went home instead of starting a bar fight or challenging a bouncer to a Boat Race.
** He also said shitstorm on the 6.30 news. A [[Mass Effect 2]] fan?
** He also said shitstorm on the 6.30 news. A [[Mass Effect 2]] fan?
{{quote| Prime Minister, do the words ''political shitstorm'' mean anything to you?}}
{{quote| Prime Minister, do the words ''political shitstorm'' mean anything to you?}}
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*** Never call them bears. Not only will Australians maim you, so will the koala.
*** Never call them bears. Not only will Australians maim you, so will the koala.
** Wombats. Although they can be tamed to some degree, they can reach 40km an hour, albeit only for a minute and a half. They're also pretty heavy, so they can knock over grown men if angered. Then they can deliver a bite through your trousers, socks, and gumboots, and still go nearly an inch into your leg. For sheer WTF value, however, there's their main defence against predators like dingos: they run down a hole and present their asses. (No, it's not [[Fartillery]]). Their backsides are heavily padded with cartilage and they have really short tails, ensuring that it takes a hell of a lot of effort to get them out of that hole. Unfortunately, this means that wombats are the one exception to the 'don't swerve to avoid an animal in the road' rule - hitting a wombat can total your car so completely you're actually better off ''swerving''. 120tonne road trains taken been out of action by hitting a wombat. Wombats can also use their butts to crush, suffocate and kill their attacker. You read that right. Cute little Australian native animals are so damn [[Badass]] [[Ass Kicks You|they can use their butts as offensive, lethal weapons.]] They also have cubical faeces.
** Wombats. Although they can be tamed to some degree, they can reach 40km an hour, albeit only for a minute and a half. They're also pretty heavy, so they can knock over grown men if angered. Then they can deliver a bite through your trousers, socks, and gumboots, and still go nearly an inch into your leg. For sheer WTF value, however, there's their main defence against predators like dingos: they run down a hole and present their asses. (No, it's not [[Fartillery]]). Their backsides are heavily padded with cartilage and they have really short tails, ensuring that it takes a hell of a lot of effort to get them out of that hole. Unfortunately, this means that wombats are the one exception to the 'don't swerve to avoid an animal in the road' rule - hitting a wombat can total your car so completely you're actually better off ''swerving''. 120tonne road trains taken been out of action by hitting a wombat. Wombats can also use their butts to crush, suffocate and kill their attacker. You read that right. Cute little Australian native animals are so damn [[Badass]] [[Ass Kicks You|they can use their butts as offensive, lethal weapons.]] They also have cubical faeces.
** Dingoes deserve a mention too. They're dogs, their puppies are still adorable, but... well... this is one of the ''top predators'' in ''[[Death World|Australia]]''. Only a few things eat them -- wedge-tailed eagles, which occasionally attack the elderly ones, and ''saltwater crocodiles''. Oh, and they sometimes kill people (they prefer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azaria_Chamberlain_disappearance babies], from what I've heard). In fact, they're a sort of predator cocktail -- the organisation of wolves, the threat level of ''cougars''.
** Dingoes deserve a mention too. They're dogs, their puppies are still adorable, but... well... this is one of the ''top predators'' in ''[[Death World|Australia]]''. Only a few things eat them -- wedge-tailed eagles, which occasionally attack the elderly ones, and ''saltwater crocodiles''. Oh, and they sometimes kill people (they prefer [[wikipedia:Azaria Chamberlain disappearance|babies]], from what I've heard). In fact, they're a sort of predator cocktail -- the organisation of wolves, the threat level of ''cougars''.
** Speaking of which, the saltwater crocodile. Can grow up to 20 feet or longer. And weight over one ton.
** Speaking of which, the saltwater crocodile. Can grow up to 20 feet or longer. And weight over one ton.
** The platypus' poisoned spur can cripple. And there's no known antivenom, so even if there's no lasting damage, you've got several hours of excruciating pain to look forward to.
** The platypus' poisoned spur can cripple. And there's no known antivenom, so even if there's no lasting damage, you've got several hours of excruciating pain to look forward to.
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** The uniform for this game is a tank top and short shorts. No armour, no protection beyond mouthguards and the occasional bit of strapping tape.
** The uniform for this game is a tank top and short shorts. No armour, no protection beyond mouthguards and the occasional bit of strapping tape.
** Although most of the teams have damn manly nicknames like 'Bombers' or 'Demons', one team is [[Real Men Wear Pink|so manly]] that they are comfortable calling themselves the Sydney Swans.
** Although most of the teams have damn manly nicknames like 'Bombers' or 'Demons', one team is [[Real Men Wear Pink|so manly]] that they are comfortable calling themselves the Sydney Swans.
* Back to the dwarf comparison, with the "living underground" criteria, there's the Central Australian town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coober_Pedy,_South_Australia Coober Pedy], where most of the town lives underground. Add to that the fact that it's a mining town...
* Back to the dwarf comparison, with the "living underground" criteria, there's the Central Australian town of [[wikipedia:Coober Pedy, South Australia|Coober Pedy]], where most of the town lives underground. Add to that the fact that it's a mining town...
** Some of them have their house built underground as the entrance of their mine, its definitely worth seeing.
** Some of them have their house built underground as the entrance of their mine, its definitely worth seeing.
* Featured prominently in Jared Diamonds book Collapse, about civilisations that ... collapse.
* Featured prominently in Jared Diamonds book Collapse, about civilisations that ... collapse.
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