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Switch written by young people for young people
COVER
PHOTOGRAPHER NATALIE EVANS
ISSUE 8
Production Managers
Alastair McGibbon, Adrian Aloi
Photographer
Natalie Evans
Designer
Julian Grant
Editorial Committee
Adrian Aloi, Natalie Evans, Zac Fernandez, Julian Grant, Finn Levelt, Alastair McGibbon, Amanda Sherring, Kim Sinnott and Hannah Teesdale
Contributors
Adrian Aloi, Sarah Davies, Zac Fernandez, Finn Levelt, Alastair McGibbon, Ruby McEvoy, Ruby Mangelsdorf, Skye Mangelsdorf, Amanda Sherring, Kim Sinnott, Jorja Storrar, Tara Sweeney and Hannah Teesdale
Production Services
Adcell Media
Thanks
City of Greater Geelong & Adcell Media
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the young people writing the articles ans do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the City of Greater Geelong.
Content
Page 3 Editorial
Page 4 Piracy
Page 6 Satan’s end
Page 8 Gymnastics in the Seventies
Page 10 Bad Perception of Charities
Page 12 Vintage Crop
Page 13 Marimbas
Page 14 Career Choice
Page 15 Australia
Page 16 Violent Soho
Page 17 Social media
Page 18 Travel Geelong
Page 19 Project Make Good
Page 20 The Beach Life
Page 21 Who am I? Air
Page 22 Battle of Faith
Page 26 H.P. Lovecraft
Page 27 California by Blink-182
Page 28 Overwatch
Page 29 Be part of Switch
Well hey there gang! It’s been a while!
We’ve been on the down-low for a while now, but we were just lulling you into a false sense of security
before busting heads with our work like some kind of literary Batman. I may have gotten a little
carried away there, but the thing to take away is that we’re back, and we’ve got a brand spankin’ new
issue for you to feast your eyes on!
This time around, we’ve gathered together some of Geelong’s best and brightest writers to fill our
pages – we’ve got a cross-section of the best things to visit in the Geelong region, some excellent
creative writing, and a breakdown of the ins and outs of one of the true masters of horror literature:
H.P. Lovecraft, master of all things Cthulhu.
If this sounds like your sort of thing, read on – we’ve got all that and more, and there’s still more to
come! We’re not done yet, so expect to hear from us again in future! One thing to keep in mind is
that we’re always looking for fresh faces and new content, so hit us up on Facebook (facebook.com/
switchmagazinegeelong) or shoot us an email at if you want to get in
touch!
Until next time, folks!
The Switch Editorial Committee
THE PIRACY PROBLEM
WORDS ALASTAIR MCGIBBON
So, here’s the thing: I guarantee you, at some time in your life, you’ve been a pirate. Either
that, or you’ve known one, if you’re one of the few pure souls among us. Unfortunately, I’m not talking about your Captain Jack Sparrowesque swashbucklers; no, I’m talking about those supposedly hardened career criminals that steal from hard working, hard done by multinational corporations every time a new episode of Game of Thrones comes out, because they’re just so damn evil. If it wasn’t already obvious, I’m invested in this story; like Kotaku’s Mark Serrels, I torrent Game of Thrones and I refuse to feel bad about it. Any time a new season of Game of Thrones begins in the US, we’re bombarded with stories from the
usual suspects (looking at you, News Limited) about how Australians are the world’s worst pirates
when it comes to the fantasy epic and told that we should feel bad for stealing from the creative folks that make Westeros come to life. Now, this is a repetitive discussion; more eloquent journos around the country have made the arguments much better than me, but for clarity’s sake, I’ll do my best to sum up their points:
We’re pirates because a certain, litigation-happy media conglomerate sucks.
Come to think of it, it’s not all that complicated. As Mr Serrels discovered, actually trying to pay to watch Game of Thrones legally is a messy, frustrating process. From the very beginning, you’re pretty much railroaded into giving your money to the aforementioned media giant courtesy of their exclusive distribution deal with HBO, who are no doubt regretting that deal immensely. While you can bypass HBO GO’s geoblocking with a handy VPN service (which, for security’s sake, you should also be paying for), you still need to pay for an account. Assuming you can access the service, HBO may cancel your access if you use an Australian credit card, or may block access from known VPN servers altogether. This is without going into the legal issues relating to accessing a geoblocked service; technically, they’re geoblocked for a reason, usually relating to distribution deals. If you’re not technically adept or aren’t confident enough to pay for and/or configure a VPN service, you’re left with one option: paying Foxtel for access.
Now, the vast majority of people I’ve spoken to on the issue – both tech heads and show fans alike – have expressed disdain for the world’s shittiest cable company, and there’s a good reason. To their credit, they have tried to appease the Netflix crowd; they developed an online streaming service designed to allow the general public to watch Game of Thrones (and other shows) online without purchasing their ludicrously expensive cable package. The problem? The service is crap compared to their competitors. Since the writing of this article, they have redeemed themselves with a price shakeup, but they’re still more expensive than most other streaming services out there. Sure, they’ve got a huge selection of content, but the service just lacks quality, and is divided up into packages, much like the cable service, so even if you sign up, you’re not getting the full range of content without paying through the nose for it. While the company have finally caught up and given us access as soon as it’s aired in the US, there’s still one big problem: it doesn’t stream in HD. Yeah, you read that right; even after forking out for the package, you can’t even get your Game of Thrones fix in high quality on every device; you need to have a Telstra TV device, which just adds to the cost.
Now, technical gripes aside, this shows us that we’ve got a massive problem. What we’re talking about here is a company that has monopolised what is arguably the most popular television show in the entire world, and is exercising all of its legal rights – all the while complaining bitterly through its media affiliates – to force people to pay up. While I’m not one to begrudge a business for trying to make money, the main issue here is the way in which this particular business is going about it, and how they throw a tantrum every time piracy is even alluded to. Railroading consumers is never going to work in your favour; hell, just look at the backlash Apple received when they gave out free copies of U2’s album Songs of Innocence by automatically downloading it to users’ devices back in 2014. A lack of choice is never a good thing, and the big, bad litigator’s laisse faire approach to providing consumers viable alternatives to their services – or at the very least improving their overall quality and value for money – means that for at least the next little while, I’m still going to have to sail the dark waters of the Pirate Bay (yes, despite the ISPenforced ban).
While this is something of an ethical minefield, my personal justification for downloading the show is that as long as I support the show through other means – buying the books (love me some GRRM), merchandise and, most importantly, buying the DVDs/Blu-rays – then my conscience is appeased, and I’m still supporting the folks who devote their time to making one of my favourite things. The meteoric rise of Netflix in Australia is proof that having a good quality, affordable service will attract customers, and a few distributors have caught on; while Stan and Quickflix are less popular, they’re still attracting customers. Realistically, companies like the subject of this article (hell, we all know who I mean) need to stop taking their customers for granted and assuming they’ll blindly do whatever they want – this is the digital age, where content is everywhere, and if you piss us off you won’t see a cent.
Disclaimer: This article has been sarcastically redacted by the author so no one gets sued.
SATAN’S END
WORDS ADRIAN ALOI
I was there, at the beginning
I saw Carthage be sowed with salt
Gorged myself with food at Holodomor,
Inhaled fresh air at the Holocaust,
Bathed in napalm at Vietnam;
I Shook George Bush’s hands as tanks rolled into Iraq
You ask me who I am.
I am hunger I am thirst, I am the end
And the end is nigh, now allow me to tell you my tale
Abandoned, deserted, cast aside,
Forsaken, branded a Misanthrope,
Eons alone, without a home,
Enough, enough,
Hades welcomes me, as heaven never could,
The end is nigh, Lucifer is dead,
Call me Satan, don’t forget my name.
The world shall see, the world shall know,
Nothing will be the same, everything will change,
But how, how do I get back at you,
How to punish the creator of worlds,
The creator of humans,
The creator of me,
Destroy, annihilate, consume.
The end is nigh,
Deprived of my Father,
The misanthrope shall deny him his children,
Death shall come, death shall consume them all,
Death, destroy, annihilation, no,
No, more would simply take their place,
Death is too easy, too quick,
The end is nigh,
Father told us to bow,
Their souls, dwarfed our existence,
Their souls, their souls, they shall be mine,
Punished, perverted, unravelled,
Their souls shall be twisted, they shall be remade,
Once pure, now no more,
Their very fabric’s unravelled,
The end is nigh,
Forever changed, pure now corrupted,
Souls taken, repurposed,
Soldiers, now unwavering, without emotion,
Giving names and propelled into his world,
Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin,
My warriors, my kinsmen, my destroyers of worlds,
Destroy, annihilate, and conquer,
The end is nigh,
Eternities spent apart, an existence lived in ignorance,
Ages have past, the world has changed
No longer apes with sticks, no longer afraid of the dark,
Oppenheimer even harnessed the power of the gods,
My combatants failed again like all before them,
Was I wrong?
Were humans more? Were humans superior?
No
Unwearying, in my watch I have learnt one thing,
Humans do not need me to destroy them, they will do it themselves,
If time has taught me one thing, it is that humans were never pure to begin with,
God’s greatest gift to the world was as flawed as everything else.
They will fail and their failure will be my triumph, their demise my conclusion.
The end is nigh – call me Satan, hope you forget my name
GYMNASTICS IN THE SEVENTIES
WORDS ZAC FERNANDEZ
Have you ever been in a situation where a piece of music comes from out of nowhere.
Like a smack in the face, you are left in an questionable awe, as you hopelessly wonder what the hell just hit you? I have. The story takes place in the Barwon Club bandroom (plenty of good times have been had here: one of the best live music venues in Geelong, I reckon). I showed up hours early to see another band play later on in the night, but the worry of losing a good spot became completely irrelevant as I walked in and joined the other 7 people in the audience at the time. To kick off the show, a local Geelong indie rock band called Gymnastics In the Seventies took to the stage and, as they blasted into their first song, I was blown away.
With a singer, two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer, I was taken away by how smooth it sounded. The combination of jangly chords, sweet solos, warm bass, crisp drums and soothing vocals caressed my ringing ears as I couldn’t help but tap my foot and groove along with the band. The music eerily reminded me of the likes of other Australian acts such as San Cisco and Sticky Fingers.
Their debut EP Daylessness, has been on constant repeat ever since, as well as their sweet single Turn and Tremble. I now find myself craving for more new music and I’m proud to say that I got the chance to talk online to the four boys behind this musical mastery.
Here’s some of the things we got ‘round to talking about, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Q: How did you guys get together as a band? Did you know each other personally beforehand?
A: Basically through school, Dom came to the same high school in year 10 and we knew Campbell from good ol’ CCG Middle School.
Q: What band/s would you love to play alongside on a “dream tour?”
A: I reckon someone like Bombay Bicycle Club or Sticky Fingers would be sick. Obviously Zeppelin would be rad too, but after Bonham kicked the bucket, I doubt it’d happen.
Q: How do you guys approach songwriting?
A: Pretty much Frase will bring some chords and lyrics he has put together and we just jam it out until we have all our separate parts. We have a few jams that have appeared out of nowhere but majority is Frase’s beautiful mind.
Q: What is it like for you to head into the studio to the record music as opposed to heading out and touring?
A: I think our parts are a bit more toned down and more ‘surfy’ on record whereas live it’s a little more rocky so you can dance to it, plus Dom loses it when we play live; listen to that guy’s playing, he’s a beast.
Q: Are there any favourite songs to perform live, if so, why?