antipopper

The other morning I caught Justine Clarke presenting Play School and sighed. Now, I don’t remember Clarke from her stint on Home and Away; rather, for me she will always be Anna Goanna from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. I’ve never thought that Thunderdome was a particularly good film, especially in comparison to the others in the series, but I find it remarkably resonant nonetheless (I’ve written about my fascination with Australian post-apocalyptica of the 1980s before).

So, for your listening pleasure: Tina Turner’s “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)”. I recently discovered that this piece of cruisy, blow-dried sessioneering (so ripe for recuperation right now!) was co-written by Terry Britten, once of The Twilights, a litle ’60s rock band from… Adelaide. How cool! I’m also in love with the bassline. No shame!

On Mad Max II: a couple of years ago I was at Australian Fashion Week, listening to a B-list celebrity Scientologist’s impression of “singing”. After a while I decided to leave, and on my way out I bumped into the supremely elegant Virginia Hey. Now, I didn’t think “Zhaan from Farscape!”, or even “Michael Hutchence’s ex!”, but rather, “Holy Fuck! It’s Warrior Woman from Mad Max II!!!”. Not being in Virginia Hey’s league (don’t you dare say “B-list celebrity at Fashion Week (yawn)”), I said nothing and left. Downstairs, I passed a comics store just as it was closing, and what do I see but a fucking Warrior Woman action figure in the window! If only I’d gotten there earlier… The next week, I happen to see her right next to the Galaxy Bookshop in town (obviously, another nerdsville hangout, which also stocks Warrior Woman action figures), and again I am too late to make a quick purchase and autograph request. Damn. So uncanny!

[ tags: film, justine-clarke, mad-max, nerdsville, pop-culture, road-warrior, science-fiction, stalking, terry-britten, tina-turner, virginia-hey, warrior-woman ]