Mike Patton's Peeping Tom's "Mojo" released on iTunes with an exclusive track. Bastard.

This is on the Australian iTunes too. You can buy the song by itself for $1.69. I guess I'll have to buy some iTunes tracks now.

Bastards.

Ok, so it's not that bad, but it's trying to be. A new plan being concidered by the Federal Government will see all new migrants having to pass an English test.

Immigration and Multicultural Affairs parliamentary secretary Andrew Robb last night said it was essential new citizens learnt English and made a commitment to "common values" in order to integrate into "our Australian family".

Apparently England already has a similar test.

A history leason, "what was the Dictation Test?" [Wikipedia]:

[...] required a person seeking entry to Australia to write out a passage of fifty words dictated to them in any European language, not necessarily English, at the discretion of an immigration officer. The test allowed immigration officers to discriminate against applicants by selecting a language that they couldn't possibly understand.

This quote from an ex-Newcastle Customs Officer says it all:

The heavens would open and fall on you if someone passed the Dictation Test. I could legally deputise a German to come in and give him Ethiopian. It was intended that no one passed. It was the ultimate weapon to keep people out of Australia.

This test was introduced in Australia in 1900 and wasn't removed until 1950.

I am completely aware that it is completely unfair to compare the two tests, however the Dictation Test was the first thing I thought of when I read The Age article.

It has been a year since the release of the Attorney General's "Fair Use" paper. There is yet to be any solid word on the likely changes to the Australian Copyright laws despite a lot of hints we're soon to get Fair Use laws to allow us to tape from TV with our VHS machines that we bought in good faith in the 80s but have yet been allowed to use.

LawFont comentary.

Well duh, but the arguement in Sydney Morning Herald (via Slashdot) article uses the argument that you can't parallel import a digital download and it's difficult for Australians to buy from the US iTunes.

Music CD consumers have two options: they can purchase locally made CDs or they can buy cheaper ones imported legally by Australian retailers. While Australian record companies have complained about these "$10 CD stores", these outlets are not breaking the law.

[...]

Parallel imports are unavailable in the Australian digital market, however. Australian consumers cannot purchase downloads from iTunes or Wal-Mart in the US, which are often cheaper than downloads available here, without a US-issued credit card.

[...]

Years ago, the record companies carved up the world market for CDs to maximise profits. When Australia rejected this move by turning to digital technologies the record companies were not perturbed. They simply carved up the global market for digital downloads in a similar manner. Competition was reduced, and the song remained the same.

Subtle way of informing us that Dirt Cheap CDs sells "dodgy imports" but that should have been pretty obvious.

I loved Final Destination because the idea was great but on rewatching it dragged a bit. I loved Final Destination 2 because the new writer and director took the humour and fun of FD1 and turned it up ten notches and added some spectactular CGI. It survives rewatching.

Final Destination 3 left me cold. 90% of the fun of FD1 and FD2 was gone and what was left felt badly edited and just plain vicious. I will say though I liked the ending. I note that the working title of the movie was Final Destination 3D which explains some of the cheesier shots during the roller coaster scene.

There was almost no character development, the important deaths were too quick and had none of the wonder and anticipation of similar scenes in the first two movies. I'm not going to blame the plot because that hasn't made much sense since half way through the first movie, but in the first two, that never mattered.

It's a return for Morgan and Wong and I think it shows. Bring back the writter of FD2.