When The Chicken And The Egg Both Come First
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday May 6, 2008
RARE CHICKEN RESCUE 8pm, ABC1: The advent of genetically modified crops and the reckless stupidity of supermarket lemmings bode ill for the diversity of fruit and vegetables as purveyors place a premium on appearance and shelf life at the expense of taste and nutrition. Food as a visual feast? Fortunately, committed gardeners and seed-saving collectives around the world have a different attitude and realise that diversity and variety are the spice of life. All kinds of minor varieties and climate-specific plants are being kept from extinction by cultivators who appreciate the folly of homogenisation. And the Global Seed Bank - a doomsday repository of millions of different plant and grain specimens - has been established in a nuke-proof vault in the arctic north of Norway. Visionary poultry breeders, too, are scouring the country, looking for rare and endangered species of chooks. The things we take for granted are the easiest lost and while supplies of energy and water loom large in every sensible mind, chicken-and-egg scenarios tend to be more a matter of hindsight than foresight. Meet Mark Tully, whose affection for poultry had an unusual genesis but whose vision for the sustainability of endangered breeds might be ringbarked by local government regulations. This terrific story follows Tully as he criss-crosses Australia looking for heritage breeds such as the Phoenix, the Azeel, Spanish and Sumatran fowls. We're all aware of the dangers facing animal subcultures in the wild. Should we be concerned for the cultural heritage of endangered domestic animals?
THE SIMPSONS 7.30pm, Ten: Despite problems stemming from the 100-day writers' strike in the US, the 19th season gets under way. Happily, eight unscreened episodes from series 18 were available to ensure a full 23-instalment season. As the evergreen cartoon characters return to Evergreen Terrace, Homer is enjoying life in the fast lane after saving Monty Burns from drowning. His reward includes a slap-up meal and a flight aboard the company's executive jet. So taken by the lifestyle is he, Homer decides to become a pilot. In (futile) pursuit of this daydream, Marge hires life coach Colby Kraus.INSIDE HAMAS 8.30pm, SBS: Can a militant organisation, specialising in deadly guerilla tactics, cross over into the political sphere with sufficient credibility to engage in productive diplomacy? The reality of life in Gaza under the Hamas movement is probably the most perplexing example of a religious pariah group trying to re-invent itself as a meaningful political entity. Can Hamas transform its radical ideas into a palatable brand of Islamic democracy? Half of the world's Palestinians live under military occupation in the West Bank, under Israeli rule in East Jerusalem or in the constricted 40-kilometre by five-kilometre Gaza Strip, dependent on Israel for essential supplies. Last week we saw images of Palestinian children trying to get to school through laneways flooded by raw sewage. The militants, properly elected, blend hardball politics with charitable initiatives in controlling hearts and minds. How the documentary-maker Rodrigo Vazquez managed to compile this program and to paint the picture he has, of an organisation skating on very thin ice, is a credit to his professional objectivity. Does anything make sense in Gaza or is it a Gordian nightmare of impossible complexity that only a bloodbath will dissolve?RADIO BACKGROUND NOISE Midnight, 2MBS-FM: More from the Belgian Sub Rosa label's epic anthology of noise and electronic music from 1920 to the present. The double CD Volume 5 offers avant-garde and sonic experimentation including sound poets such as Sweden's Sten Hansen, the recently departed French artist Henri Chopin, the 1920s Russian futurist Vladimir Makovsky and the German Dadaist Raoul Hausman. The Japanese noise artist Masonna has a bash and there's a slap in the chops from the avant-rock/post-punk heroes Per Ubu. In The Dust Museum, following at 1am, the American psycho-billy band the Cramps feature in a gig recorded live at the Napa State Mental Hospital in 1978. Loon Rock!
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
Share This