Rise of the Beasts, the highly anticipated seventh live action Transformers movie, officially hit cinemas around the world on Friday the 9th of June, 2023 (June 22 in Australia).
A June 22 release for the rest of Australia, but a few of us lucky ducks didn’t have to wait that long
However, as befits a multi-million dollar movie of a beloved toy franchise, Paramount and Hasbro held a Special Preview Screening on Thursday the 8th, and for those notables lucky enough to receive an invitation, what an event it was!
If you are going to see a movie, do it in style!
Here in Sydney Australia, the event was held at the Hoyts Entertainment Quarter, and much excitement was in the air. One could attribute part of this excitement to the fact that due to international date lines, it was the 8th here in Australia before the majority of the world, making this one of the first ever showings of the movie!
Love getting invitied to these special events – thanks Hasbro and Paramount!
The attendee’s were made up of executives from both Hasbro and Paramount, professional movie reviewers and various celebrities such as actors, social media influencers and even cosplayers. Naturally everyone’s favouriteradio star and blogger Big Angry Trev was on hand, much to the excitement of the crowds! Photographers snapped pictures and a film crew was on hand to interview guests.
There were even some extra special guests in the form of some of the movie cast themselves – Bumblebee and Mirage decided to come along to grace their fans with their presence and pose for pics.
MirageBumblebee
Over the course of the year we have seen many Transformers events here in Sydney, such as the Beasts Base Camp at Taronga Park Zoo, and the More than Meets the Eye Exhibition at Kings Comics. What was wonderful to see with all these events, were not only the usual cream of society invited, but also notable members of the Australian Transformers Fandom.
Big Angry Trev & Miguel Maestre at the Beasts Base Camp
In attendance for this Special Preview Screening event were Transformer Exhibitors such as Lisamaree Chiu, Ben Keenan and Michael Vella and Transformer Superfans such as Trent Munn and Dallas Roderick. Yes, the royalty of the Aussie fandom were on hand to strut their stuff and I know all were appreciative of how Hasbro and Paramount have included the fandom in this years movie festivities.
Big Angry Trev and his trusty sidekick Orion posing for photo’s with Superfans Dallas & Trent
Free soft drinks and popcorn was on offer for all attendee’s as they entered the theatre, where individual recliner seats, soft and plush, were on offer to cradle every buttock. And for the very crème de la crème of the attendee’s, Hasbro reserved some very special seats dead centre of the theatre for the optimum viewing experience.
What’s better than attending an exclusive event? Getting VIP seating at the exclusive event!
These Special Preview Screenings were not only held in Sydney, but also Brisbane and Melbourne, making it not only a regional but national event!
The Brisbane event, photo courtesy of M.K Griffin of OzformersThe Melbourne event, courtesy of Jason Murray of TCCA
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts turned out to be a fantastic movie, earning a well deserved round of applause from an appreciative audience. I heartily recommend everyone get out themselves out there to watch this fun and entertaining flick.
Sadly, this event was likely the last event for the Transformers social season this year. Lets hope that the powers that be make the next highly anticipated instalment just as fun!
Were you one of the favoured few to get to attend one of these Special Preview Screening Events? Lets us know in the comments section below!
Despite some successes, this week has not been a good week for Vegans in Australia.
One of the more militant factions of the Vegan community, in order to celebrate the anniversary of a documentary highlighting animal cruelty issues (Dominion), took actions many would consider extreme across numerous parts of the country. They did this in the hope it would make people aware of their cause and win people over to their way of thinking.
From a PR perspective it didn’t work. It really didn’t work.
Instead of people applauding the steps they took, there has been countrywide condemnation of their actions. The anger from the community expressed both in real life and on various social media platforms has been both palpable and prolific.
So why? Do people really hate animals that much?
In short, despite some successes with their personal goals, the execution left a lot to be desired. In some cases it actually highlighted how, this group which is so concerned about animal welfare, have little knowledge about the realities of dealing with actual animals rather than the ideal of them. Let’s take a look:
*The Melbourne Blockade
The Action
Without any prior conferring with any of the relevant departments or authorities, on Monday morning a group of 60+ Vegan Activist’s blockaded the intersection of Flinders and Swantson street in the CBD, many chaining themselves to vans.
The Purpose
In the numerous soundbites provided by the Activists to the media, the most common phrase was ‘We want everyone to go vegan’. They also wanted to stop ‘so called farmers’ as they stated it, exploiting livestock and instead growing grains.
The Result
Thousands of people were inconvenienced by the blockade. 16 tram routes were all but halted. 5 major trauma centre’s in the CBD had to reroute their ambulances. A large group of the activists were arrested.
The Public Reaction
Thousands of Melbournians were pissed off about being made late. Many Australians were horrified about the effect this had on the trauma centre’s as it could have resulted in a possible fatality. There was no mass conversion to Veganism and no ‘so called farmers’ released their herds of livestock into the wild.
*Abattoir Protests
The Action
Several abattoirs were targeted by Activists where they chained themselves to killing floors and refused to leave, stopping production.
The Purpose
To stop animals being killed for human consumption.
The Result
One abattoir actually negotiated the release of 3 lambs in return for the Activists leaving. Activists at other sites were arrested and removed by police. Production at all affected sites was shut down for several hours before resuming.
The Reaction
Actually quite light. Despite extensive media coverage, people seemed to be more interested in the other stories regarding the Vegan Activists that day. Positive reactions from the wider Vegan Community for saving the lives of 3 lambs.
*Invasion of Farms
Dairy farmer who had their farm invaded
The Action
Vegan Militants targeted and invaded numerous private farms around the country. One of the most notable incidents was where activists cut the wire to a dairy farmer’s gate, went onto private property and herded a small amount of cattle onto the road. They then blockaded the gate so that the farmer could not return his cattle to their paddock.
The Purpose
The freeing of livestock so that they could not be used to produce milk.
The Result
The cattle got scared at out at being out on a narrow bitumen road with lots of people, instead of in their huge paddock with plenty of food and water. They freaked out further at not being able to re-enter their home. One cow tried to break through the boundary fence in an effort to get back into her paddock and got tangled in the wire, even ending up upside down at one point. No livestock ended up ‘frolicking free’.
The Reaction
The public once again did not like it. Empathy was felt for the livestock that had been traumatized by the Activists actions. Empathy was felt for the farmer who had to deal with the horrible situation.
*The Closing of the Gippy Goat Café
Photo shared by Vegan Militants and the subsequent reaction (reaction post shared over 30K now)
The Action
Months of harassment of a Café that specialized in goat produce and also had a goat petting zoo. Actions included trespass, theft of livestock, online and phone harassment and threats against the café owners, their staff and their families. Also many reports of customers tyres being let down.
The Purpose
To close down a café that dealt in goat milk, goat meat and keeping goats in a pen for people to interact with.
The Result
The café after months of harassment did indeed close. A very public statement was made, citing all the harassment made against them, the legal powers of the country not protecting them or prosecuting the offenders, and apologies to the 8 staff they had to let go because of the closure.
The Reaction
Videos released by the Activists showing them kidnapping a goat. Instead of being ‘wowed’ by their noble actions, the public were appalled to hear the activists saying things like “Are we taking it to a vet?” “No we might get in trouble”, especially when the farm they were stealing the goat from had a vet on staff. People were appalled to see the goat stuffed into the back of a small van, when animal safety regulations say that such animals should be transported safely in appropriate trailers. Photos taken and released by the Activists showing 4 young women laughing that they received no conviction angered people at the lack of respect for the law and the lack of empathy for those they hurt, and was subsequently shared thousands of times on social media with taglines shaming them.
There were lots of other actions taken on that day by the Vegan Activists. There was a small march in Sydney, the Melbourne Aquariums main gate was shut down and so on. So if the intention had been to simply gain media, this militant subset of the Vegan community certainly succeeded. Add that to the rescuing of 3 lambs from a slaughterhouse, halting slaughterhouse production for several hours and the closing down of a Goat-themed café and you could say they had a decent amount of success with their goals.
So why do many think it was a failure?
One of a number of articles from news outlets
It’s quite simple, the actions were perceived countrywide as illegal, extreme and subsequently got the general public offside. The public at large has condemned their actions and it seems this Militant Vegan Subgroup have actively pushed people away from supporting their cause. Instead of highlighting the cruelty to animals they made themselves look like terrorists. Their actions showed a flagrant disrespect for the law, a disrespect for private property and a high level of bullying and intimidation tactics. People felt for the café owners and their employees that suffered for months to the point of receiving violent threats against both themselves and their families. People felt for the cow that nearly killed itself trying to return to its paddock and the goat that got stuffed in the back of a van. People didn’t like the way they were told to ‘Go Vegan’ rather than being convinced to go Vegan. People didn’t like the attacks on famer’s as a whole, lumping anyone with livestock in with that very tiny subset that actually do abuse their animals. People didn’t like how the Militant Activists didn’t seem to care what effects their actions had on others, only their own agenda. And that agenda was perceived as consisting of forcing society at large to conform to the Militants personal ideological beliefs via acts of criminality. It was perceived as using stand-over and fear tactics to make people adopt your ideology.
So to sum up – no sir, people didn’t like it.
And now here we are two days later, with condemnation of the Militant Vegans actions almost universal across the country. People’s social media feeds are full of pictures and platitudes calling for support for struggling Aussie Farmers and/or ‘Vegan Bashing’ memes. There has been no ‘mass conversion to Veganism’ but rather a strengthening of Anti-Veganism sentiment.
Example of popular meme doing the social media rounds
And in fact considering the above it would be remiss to not mention one other group which have suffered because of all this action. Your average, everyday Vegan. The Vegans who had nothing to do with and did not support the Militant Activists. Just like Muslims should not be targeted for the action of a few Islamic Extremists, Vegans in general should not be shamed and harassed for the actions of a few. I’ve had a Vegan friend for near 20 years and never once has she tried to convert me to Veganism and likewise I’ve never tried to turn her into a carnivore. We’ve respected each others lifestyle choices and it may behoove society at large to do the same.
What they SHOULD have done
If there is any advice to give the Militant Vegans that took the actions they did on Monday it would be this. CHANGE YOUR TACTICS! People don’t react well to bullying. People don’t react well to being shamed. People don’t react well to being told you ‘must’ do this instead of you ‘should’ do this. People don’t like the innocents being lumped in with the guilty (in this case farmers).
Next time, actually target specifically those few farms and companies that do have atrocious animal treatment records and work on bringing their actions to light. Don’t force closures of cafes and release animals into danger at places where the animals are treated properly. Farmers everywhere are struggling with drought and small business owners are struggling to stay afloat – by attacking these groups you come across as indiscriminate bullies and terrorists. Following on from this, it would be extremely foolish to follow through with the most current threat, which is to publish the personal names and addresses of every farmer in Australia. Would you enjoy 80 meat eaters invading your residence where you and your children live, demanding you conform to their way of thinking?
Next time, instead of holding up traffic for hours in the middle of a city, hold a BBQ in the middle of the city. Cook up some Vegan food and offer samples to everyone passing by to show them how good it is. And while there instead of telling them they ‘have’ to go Vegan, maybe try to persuade them to try having one Vegan day a week to test the lifestyle out.
Next time, leave animals the hell alone! On all the footage shown it was mainly young women from major cities who obviously didn’t know how to handle animals properly. You are doing more harm than good to these creatures. In fact it may do a lot of these young urban people good to go spend a month on a farm to actually see firsthand how the vast majority of farmer’s treat their livestock, rather than sitting in a café a hundred miles away from the nearest farm talking about how terrible the livestock have it with no personal experience. As Henry Rollins, a near-vegetarian, once said ‘Knowledge without Mileage equals Bullshit”.
Look at this weeks reactions to your actions with some genuine introspection. Don’t fall into the trap of saying ‘Well anyone that condemns us is a animal hater and an idiot”. If the vast majority of the public is condemning your actions, and even many moderate Vegans are not in support, really try to look at why. Can it truly be that everyone in society except those that agree with you are completely wrong?
Next time try conversation instead of confrontation. On a personal note, I’m a hobby farmer and confirmed meat eater, however years ago I was convinced of the merits of vegetarianism by a vegetarian friend who simply had me over for dinner, then afterwards had a discussion with me about how much more food can be produced per acre by using the land for crops rather than grazing livestock. While it didn’t convince me to become a vegetarian, it gave me a newfound respect for the lifestyle choice and made me much more open and un-judgmental of people having different dietary lifestyles to my own. So if any ‘militant vegan’ reads this blog, I heartily encourage you to pop links in the comments section below talking about the merits of the Vegan lifestyle. I’ll happily read them and read them with an open mind, whereas if all you do is post pictures of dead animals or tell me how horrible a person I am for eating meat and having a different point of view to yours, I’ll probably dismiss anything you say out of hand. Convince me rather than condemn me.
But in the end, to any Militant Vegan reading this, please realize that this weeks actions this week did not work to win the public to your side. A hefty proportion of country is demonstrably pissed off with you. It is doubtful you made a single convert but not doubtful that did create a lot of Vegan-Haters. And a friendly reminder that the ends do not justify the means. Simply because you think your cause is just, it doesn’t give you the right to do whatever the hell you like with no regard for the consequences of your actions. Learn this, take it on board, and maybe next time you have your country wide protests, you may find them far more well received and who knows, actually maybe make a difference to the national psyche regarding animal product usage and consumption.
Got anything (respectful) to add? Pop it in the comments section below!
Last week I once again had the privilege of watching the aging alternative icon live. This is the third time in the last 10 years I have been able to see Henry Rollins do his spoken word show in person. In fact if you ever get the chance to watch the ‘Henry Rollins Provoked: Live from Melbourne’ DVD you can listen to me during the credits raving about how the show was 3 ½ hours long and I wish it had been even longer! Or else that snippet of my fanboy gushing is on youtube at the 4.45 mark HERE.
The performance this year was at the State Theater in Melbourne, a huge room that fits just over 2000 and indeed it was completely packed out. It was interesting to see the rest of the crowd, I think the majority were in their thirties and forties with a smattering of fans in their twenties and a healthy dose of the 50+ range.
Rollins was his usual self. For an 8pm start he hit the stage at 8.05 (and I think the only reason he waited 5 minutes was for the latecomers to be seated) and as soon as he picked up the mike the mouth started going and didn’t stop for 2 ½ hours (good value for a 2 hour show eh!) with big dollops of sweat dropping from his left elbow illuminated in the spotlights. As usual he started off talking about some of the local issues, in particular how despite his extensive vocabulary he had to look up the word ‘plebiscite’ and then proceeded give voice to what many Aussies at this time are thinking “Really? Spending 160 MILLION DOLLARS on a question that in this century should be a complete no-brainer?”
I’ve noticed over the years that Rollins talks less and less about his showbiz days and more and more about his travels to different countries and this show was no different. In fact the two showbiz stories he did tell I had heard before (about being on a plane with Motorhead and when he had lunch with David Bowie) but it was nice to hear them again and let’s face it, it’s hard to do new material for fans that obsessively watch every second of stage time you perform whenever another fans loads it on youtube.
I was a bit afraid that this show may go the way of the second live show I had seen him perform, which had been great as always but had almost verged on being a bit too preachy in telling people how they should travel more (I’d love to Mr. Rollins, truly I would. However I have a wife, kids and a mortgage that sadly I have to support with a day job which precludes me from taking off to Nepal on a whim). But no, while there were lots of travel stories they were funny, entertaining and I can’t get the image out of my head of Rollins listening to Iggy Pop while half buried in snow at the South Pole, fecal-covered penguins rutting like mad not 5 feet away.
The rest of the show was talking about how various old ideas society holds need to either reworked or thrown out which lead into discussions about his family (I had heard a lot about his family on different spoken word CD’s but even I learned some things about the man’s life I didn’t know before) and various other topics. He often talked about the hate emails he gets for not hating particular groups like LGBIT’s and various ethnic groups and being told to get out of the county, sadly a trend that seems to be cropping up on our once ‘most friendly nation on earth’ continent as well. One thing both I and my mate Matt who came with me noted was that Rollins did not swear once. I mean – not one time! Now he has never been particularly prolific with his penchant for profanity but neither have I heard him shy away from using f*ck, sh*t, a**hole and the like when emphasizing a point or when a sentence could benefit from it. But not one swear here, in fact when giving examples of what people say about his President he would utter sentences like “Oh the President is a BEEP BEEP BEEP”. Yes, he actually said BEEP. I don’t know whether the lack of his usual mild obscenities was due to being in such a classy place like the State Theatre or whether this is par for the course for him now that he has reached the respectable age of 55. Could it perhaps be a result of his vegetarianism? His first spoken word CD I ever listened to a looong time ago to had plenty of curse words whilst talking about eating in Russia and mocking the vegetarians for the crappy food they were about to receive (“C’mon Veggie boy – eat your shit, you non-warrior pussy!”) and how he was looking forward to his big hunk of meat. Now he eats no meat at all and uses BEEP in a sentence. There may be no correlation there but I do wonder. Meat and swearing and now neither swearing nor meat…. hmmm… this requires study. I best start rounding up a large enough pool of test subjects to examine this hypothesis.
Anyway, once again Henry Rollins provided a great show. As said, he went a good half hour over time which means you were getting even better value for money. He was intelligent, insightful, witty, funny and was able to entertain the crowd discussing a diverse range of subject matter. So if An Evening with Henry Rollins sounds good to you (and I know a few female friends who certainly wouldn’t mind) try to catch a show before he heads back overseas – if you miss him this time then I encourage you to catch him on his next Aussie tour.
Living in the countryside for a pop-culture fanatic can be hard. Everyone plays footy instead of watching sci-fi and good luck when it comes to finding someone that can translate a Klingon text for you. However if you are in Victoria, at least if you are into comics you are covered, thanks to a shop called Good vs Evil.
Located in Bendigo, Good vs Evil would easily have the biggest comics range in central Victoria. A whole wall in adorned in comics and there are usually plentiful stacks of all the latest issues to come out that week sitting on the counter for you to peruse.
Like many comic shops these days, Good vs Evil has diversified to take into account the ever expanding needs and interests of the Pop Culture enthusiast. There are sections of DVDs, a full section of various Manga and of course the obligatory collectables such as Pop! figures and and board games based on movies and video games.
There is also the Games Workshop section. Now all that stuff is kinda a closed book to me, I tend to look at it in the same way outsiders look at me collecting Transformers, thinking “Wow – do the guys into this ever get laid?”. But I’ve seen on Saturday afternoons the store opened up with tables set up for big groups of guys all sitting there playing this stuff so it must have its appeal, and its great to have somewhere to meet to indulge the interest.
Speaking of Transformers, here is why I personally shop there. Matt, the owner, is a fellow TF fan and I have been relying on his faithful service to get me every TF comic I require for the past five years. He always comes though, and something that is a sign of a proprietor that genuinely cares about his clientele, I’ve often rocked into the store for him to say “Trev, I saw this and knew you would want it and chucked it aside for ya”. After this fashion I’ve gotten all the FP TF publications over the last few years as well as the physical copies of what were originally net comics. And if ever I find out about a comic that is now years old that I want, Matt is sure to do his best to track it down for me – a top bloke indeed!
How can you not trust two dudes in Grimlock t-shirts?So if you are after a Comic Shop experience where the owner is the guy behind the counter and will look after ya, will cater for everything you need to the best of the stores ability, and can be a great place to just hang out, then I heartily suggest visiting Good vs Evil in Bendigo. Tell’em Big Angry Trev sent ya!
P.S: There has been no ‘Comics for Comments’ deal here. If anything I’m slightly resentful towards Matt – I’d love nothing better than to run my own comic shop and that bugger is living the dream I should be!
Note: If in one of the major cities I can recommend Pulp Fiction in Adelaide and Comics R Us in Melbourne. Pulp Fiction is small but the owner is great for a laugh and will pour through box after box to find you what you want. Comics R Us in Melbourne has a funny crew of guys who have often had Bill Hicks playing on the store speakers of a Sunday morning and their glass cabinets often have a range of old 80’s toys in there that the rare toy hunter will drool over. Minotaur in Melbourne has a huge range of pop culture stuff but it can all be quite expensive. There is also Kings Comics in Sydney that I visited many years ago that I found some HOC figues at and I quite liked Daily Planet comics in Brisbane. I’ve been to one other there but can’t remember which. Should I ever hit up these big cities again a more detailed review will come your way!
