Occasional Subscription

So I was walking down to the local shop to get my weekly paper when I thought about the whole subscription business and how it could be improved in a number of ways. In my mind, it melded together with the concept of a TravelTen.

For those not familiar with a TravelTen, it is a card that a commuter can buy for ten trips of a pre-determined length on a bus or a ferry. Buying the card gives the commuter a discount compared with buying ten trips separately and also makes it more convenient when boarding the bus as they just need to dip the TravelTen into the machine, which deducts one trip from their balance each time. Just like a debit card, actually, but with a fixed amount.

There are three main problems with the subscriptions business; threat of people stealing the paper/mag, missing out on special gifts and needing to organise a hiatus if you happen to be away or are just swamped by so much reading material that you cannot possibly find time to read the magazine this week.

But there are many benefits for a publishing house to have subscribers - the publisher knows they have a steady readership and can usually monitor the demographics of this readership to tailor suitable content and in turn 'sell' the readership to advertisers to ensure the publication's survival.

What I propose is a subscription card accepted by newsagencies and other places where magazines are sold whereby subscribers pay for a subscription to a magazine and every time they collect the publication from a store, they scan the card to deduct the number of issues left in the subscription. The card can be sold at a discount to reward prepayment and commitment, just like most subscriptions are now.

For the subscriber, this means:

• never having to risk having a paper/mag stolen (the reason I don't have a newspaper subscription);


• being able to get those 'free gifts' that often come with publications that don't get sent in the mail;


• collecting your paper/mag whenever you want (ie not in the mail but at the newsagency on your way home from work so you don't have to read mX on the train);


• not having to stop your subscription if you go on holidays; and


• fostering a good community relationship with the publication sellers

For the publisher, this means:

• retaining prepayment and commitment to the magazine for a given period;


• not paying for postage or dealing with mailhouses; and


• being able to track your subscribers' pick-up habits (e.g. where they picked up their issue, whether they missed an issue etc)

Some additional features to consider:

• having a particular expiry date e.g. for a monthly magazine, publishers might want to say the subscriber must collect 12 issues within an 18 month period to ensure they have turnover;


• loading more than one subscription onto one card so everything can be paid for in one transaction;


• sellers' commission for stocking the paper/mag and handling the card; and


• gifts that let the recipient choose the publication and/or a longer expiry date so that the publisher can see which issues appeal to the recipient

Somebody do this so I can reap the benefits of a cheaper subscription without having to wake up at the crack of dawn to get my paper (with the alternative that it gets stolen). And so when all the free CDs and stuff come around I don't have to see my newsagent, which is a suburb away and inevitably runs out of stock anyway. And so we can save petrol on paper men doing the rounds.

The Cat Empire - So Many Nights (gig/album)

The Cat Empire
Metro Theatre, Sydney (14th, 17th October, 2007)

So Many Nights (2007)
By The Cat Empire (EMI)

On first listening to the album So Many Nights, I had moments where I thought "I kinda like that", such as the string/scratch 'turn' on the title track and the rumble behind Harry's vocals on The Darkness but nothing stood out until the soaring emotional pull of The Ocean Takes Us All.

It's always the way, isn't it? You have a band you love and you know all their existing albums off by heart and they have a new collection that you know you should love - but you don't yet. Since I'm of the old school of listening, whereby I will play albums through, and repeat, instead of skipping songs that I don't like to begin with, then I get a thorough aural education when a new album comes out.

Eventually I added Radio Song and Voodoo Cowboy to my favoured list but it took about four listens to discover those. The thing with TCE is that you need to go to a live show to consolidate an album because then you really appreciate the nuances in the music through the energy that the boys inject into the lyrics and their musical relationship.

So my flatmate and I went to two very different gigs at The Metro, Sydney (part of their record-breaking series). The Sunday was the first night of this series so they were fresh, rolling out the new songs with aplomb and mixing it up with a few old favourites. Here I gained an appreciation of Fishies, previous to the gig a 'meh' kind of song but one that carried well to rhythmic movement. Harry nursed an excellent The Darkness that must have lasted about 10 minutes but which deserved to be showcased.

As with all their gigs I've see thus far, it was executed with the kind of enthusiasm and energy that you'd only expect from consuming chemical substances. The wonderful thing about TCE is the interplay between the different band members, and even their ring-ins, The Empire Horns, where no one on stage is left behind. The tangents that come from the songs are a delighful mix of raw and polished talent so rare in popular bands these days.

The second show we went to was on Wednesday, which was touted as 'fan night' featuring a set list voted on by the fans. Before the show, fans could submit questions to be answered sporadically throughout the show. Ross Irwin was in charge of reading out the questions and found most of them to be crap except one of mine, which was 'Which song would you never play live?' (I can't remember what my other question was but I think it was pretty cliche). It was the only question that was answered before the exercise got scrapped and the answer, according to Felix, was "I don't think we've ever played The Wine Song live".

I must beg to differ, Mr Riebel, as I fell in love with The Wine Song during the first TCE gig I ever went to, coincidentally at The Metro about five years ago. I distinctly remember a female singer and Harry acting out the 'run, run, run' part. Prior to that I'd never really noticed it on the album.

Anyway, as the set list was nominated by fans it was of course dominated by older stuff, which was a pity as I quite liked listening to the new stuff in a live context. As I said, it's almost necessary to do so to consolidate an album in mine consciousness. Thus, Wednesday was most definitely Harry's night, with lots of 'Harry' songs and impro interludes, including a 15-minute The Car Song and starring a fan doing the trumpet intro to How to Explain. The night finished with two takes of the new single So Many Nights, filmed for the video clip.

The other thing I would like to mention is Felix's sustainability session, which I attended after the Saturday matinee (I didn't go to the show, I just went to the session). Sadly, it was a bit too beginner for me, though I did get to pose the question "If Felix from The Cat Empire can't get The Metro to stop using incandescent light bulbs, what can the rest of us do to change the habits of others?" The answer was a bit philosophical: "Set a good example and don't forget to tell people why you do what you do."

And the other other thing I'd like to mention is the support act, The Bamboos, were fantastic – worth both admissions prices alone. I will definitely try and see them again when they are next in town. Their too cool blend of funk with jazz sensibilities had my feet almost worn out even before TCE mounted the stage. So much rhythm, such a short set...

Gig rating: 9/10
Enjoyment rating: 10/10

Album rating: 7/10
Enjoyment rating: 8/10

First Tuesday

I bet on the Melbourne Cup every year, just like millions of Australians. It's an expensive three-and-a-half minutes, let me tell you. This year my outlay was $1/win and $2/place for three horses - Tungsten Strike (led for half the race, then like most early leaders CAME LAST), Sirmione and Eskimo Queen = $9.

I also bought a horse in the office sweep for $5 and pulled Zipping, which is the exact same horse that I got in last year's sweep. AND GUESS WHAT? It came FOURTH. JUST LIKE IT DID LAST YEAR. Fourth is the first loser, you don't get anything but you have the ignominy of knowing that you were pretty close to getting a small prize.

Still, I suppose it's a good thing that the boss took us to lunch at the pub and paid for drinks. That way no one loses. (Anyway, he won the sweep).

Those Muslims again

Christian Democratic Party
GPO Box 141
Sydney 2001
Phone 9114 6674

MEDIA RELEASE
TUESDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2007

CLOSE ISLAMIC SCHOOLS

Macarthur CDP candidate Godwin Goh and CDP Party Leader Reverend the Hon Fred Nile MLC have applauded the efforts of local residents in opposing the construction at Camden of a school for 1,200 Muslim children.

Senior Christian Democratic Party members attended the Monday 5 November meeting at the Falcons Soccer Club where local residents overwhelmingly rejected the plan.

"Muslim schools in Britain and Europe are breeding grounds for anti-Christian and anti-Jewish hate and terrorism," said Godwin Goh. "The safest thing is to have no Muslim schools here.

"The advocates of exclusively Muslim schools want to impose educational apartheid. I am greatly encouraged by the local popular backlash at this attempt to breed Islam in Camden."

The Christian Democratic Party is campaigning for a ten-year moratorium on Muslim immigration and no more mosques.

Reverend Nile concluded: "Instead of opening new Muslim schools we should be closing existing Muslim Schools. The only way to stop Muslim brainwashing is for Muslim children to mix with non-Muslims at school.

"In the Bankstown Municipality, Muslim children will outnumber Christian children in ten years. The problems will be greatly exacerbated if Muslim children and Christian children are kept separate during their formative years. The answer is NO MUSLIM SCHOOLS."

((ENDS))

INTERVIEWS:
Fred Nile 0418 619 731
Godwin Goh 0414 463 138
Media spokesman 0402 558 947

* * * * *

WHOA. Did I miss that scripture class on tolerance or does that not get taught any more? This media release, which I assure you has been faithfully reproduced here UNABRIDGED, is just too outrageous for me to know where to start. I'll do my best starting from the beginning...

"Muslim schools in Britain and Europe are breeding grounds for anti-Christian and anti-Jewish hate and terrorism" - Evidence please! And while I'm here, might I remind Mr Goh that the biggest terrorist concentration in the UK/Europe in the past 50 years did not come from Muslim schools but from the Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland?

"The advocates of exclusively Muslim schools want to impose educational apartheid" - You mean, unlike Christian schools? Or Catholic schools? Or, say, girls' schools or boys' schools? Or Montessori schools? - I mean, their type of education is really different from 'normal' schools...

"The only way to stop Muslim brainwashing is for Muslim children to mix with non-Muslims at school" - The only way to stop the CDP from brainwashing the public about Muslims is to stop issuing ridiculous, offensive and erroneous media releases.

Did the CDP ever stop to think that their hard line stance against Muslim schools and against the religion in general (reduction of Muslim immigration and "no more mosques") could lead to Muslims feeling, well, unwelcome here in Australia? Could it be that frustration from being unable to practice one's religion may push some of the more, shall we say, extreme faithful to lash out at those who curb their freedom? Is it so much of a stretch, then, to say that it is not the Muslim faith itself that incites "anti-Christian hate and terrorism" but the anti-Muslim sentiment peddled so ferociously at one religion by the very Christians who are accusing Muslims of hate?

Hypocrites, these CDP candidates! They are courting self-fuilfilling prophecies through their ignorance. I, for one, hope that the Muslim community has enough sense to speak calmly against this verbal attack and come off the better for it. And quietly go about their faith through whichever education they feels suits their child best and attend their local mosque as they see fit. And I hope we live in a society that remains free enough for them to do so without fear of retribution from an intolerant, uninformed "Christian" "Democratic" Party leader who has no right to have the title 'Honourable' preceding his name.

You may have noticed that I felt it necessary to print contact details of the perpetrators. Please, if you feel so inclined, tell them what you think.