Melbourne vs Sydney....Views, fashion, laneways, TV and wearing black

I love winter. Reading a trashy novel by the open fire. It's bleak in Melbourne, Australia at the moment - 13 degrees MAX but the wind makes it feel like 5 degrees (Celsius). By the fire, this is my 'room with a view'.
Melbourne people dress well in winter (cool clothes, cool climate). You see some Sydney cashed up matrons swanning around Double Bay, trying to wear cool coats in Sydney's winter - it just doesn't work. You can slag off our chilly winters but you can't slag off our fashion sense (well, except mine).
I am going to make some gross generalisations here, but it's my blog so stuff it.
Melbourne people don't normally worry about views when they are dining - you only have to see the lines of alleyway cafes and bistros in the CBD. Sydney people crave views - around its beautiful harbour, waterways, from tall buildings. Once you're walking around downtown Sydney, it's pretty drab. No lanes, atmospheric alleyways, impressive 19th century architecture like Melbourne. But more Melbourne residents are quite happy at home watching the box. You only have to look at the higher viewer numbers in the Melbourne TV ratings (compared to the Harbour City).
Let's talk television some more. Melbourne also produces better quality television than Sydney. Made in Melbourne (mostly live) shows like "RocKwiz", "Adam Hills Tonight", "Spicks and Specks", "The Project", "This Week Live". Melbourne pioneered the live talk show/variety show in Australia with Graham Kennedy's IMT ("In Melbourne Tonight") in 1957.
David Williamson wrote a play about Sydney called "Emerald City" - style over substance, bling and banality. I'm probably pissing off Sydneysiders. I am a biased Melburnian. One last shot: Melburnians wear black better.
Back to the open fire.

Best thing on television this week - Adam Hills

Wonderful bit of telly on last week's "Adam Hills Tonight" (ABC1).
Adam recited Banjo Paterson's "The Man from Ironbark" while his wife, opera soprano, Ali McGregor sang The Church's "Under the Milky Way". Sent shivers up your shine. Two classics combined. Banjo would have approved.
After this stunning performance, the self-deprecating Hills passed it off as a bit of nothing he and his partner did in their spare time. No wonder the poms love him.
It's probably on You Tube now, or it should be.

Whatever happened to "ockers"?

It's a term you don't hear a lot now. Remember John Meillon's Wally Stiller character, Ted Bullpit - the urban ocker from Kingswood Country, Crocodile Dundee, Hoges & Strop or the female equivalent - the "You tell 'em love" housewife portrayed hilariously by the late and great Dawn Lake? Shit that's a long sentence - as an ex-teacher, I should be shot.
Ockerism is not about class, whereas the term bogan is. John Singleton (Singo is a Sydney ocker) and John Elliott (Melbourne) cultivated the ocker personae.
I recently watched The Adventures of Barry MacKenzie again. My, how we have changed. Now the Australian media is full of "new age guys" like Adam Hills, Wil Anderson and Charlie Pickering. Which is a good thing. Good role models for the Gen Y.
The satirical sting when out of Sir Les Patterson about a decade ago. No wonder Barry Humphries retired last year.


Image Copyright www.nma.gov.au