BetterBreeders BenLifeBlackDouglas

Bunnings. You thought it was just the hardware chain with a great range of brands at warehouse prices, right? Well yes, but that’s not the full story. Intriguingly, as Benlife and Theblackdouglas report in Better Breeders Podcast #110, Macquarie University academics have recently polemicised hard to have Bunnings’ advertising junk mail publications recognised as part of the ‘Canon’ of English Literature, particularly based on their enormous popularity as dunny study for Australian male bibliophiles.

Betterbreeders' Christmas holiday - Hunter S Thompson once advised never to go anywhere without one's attorney. We ought to have heeded the Dr of Gonzo's orders, as more plaintiffs than Matthew Evans in his Fairfax restaurant reviewing days have shopped the jurisdictions and hauled Betterbreeders through the courts over the Summer break for testing the limits of freedom of speech in the Antipodes.

Is there wi-fi? Well... is there? It's a great question. And it might even be a line from a little known Samuel Beckett play. Regular listeners of the Betterbreeders podcast, however, will recognise that question as the natural successor to the oft-heard, plaintive cry from our own youth, when on the family holiday we would repeatedly beg our parents, from the seatbeltless snot green vinyl bench seat of the Ford Falcon,"Dad, are we there yet?" In episode #108, Benlife and Theblackdouglas invoke the muse and wax lyrical upon the phenomenon of the holiday in the 2010s, upon the occasion of Benlife's post Hawaiian family vacation and subsequent re-embarkation onto Terra Nullius. It's a veritable odyssey of rad ideas and fond recollections through rose-coloured glasses. Are we there yet? Listen to #108 to find out.

The Better Breeeders are not afraid to weigh in on any and every topic affecting modern life. Pharmaceutical policy is no exception. The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration has recently decided that, as of February 2018, medicines containing codeine will be supplied by prescription only. In Better Breeders podcast ep#107, hear Benlife and Theblackdouglas voice their strident support of the TGA's decision, in antagonism to various members of the Federal Coalition government, who oppose the recent TGA ruling. Better Breeder's reasoning is that, inter alia, with the flu season upon us and the need to 'soldier on' with over the counter medications, the codeine contained therein, like all opiates, causes the whole of the Queen's Commonwealth Defence Forces to have one almighty cease-fire in the Khyber Pass. If you know what we mean? If you don't, listen in to #107. You won't regret it...

The sound and fury: the mighty rumbles of both the Rolls Royce Merlin and the Holden 173 cubic inch straight-6 represent victories in the 1941 Battle of Britain and 1974 Australian family suburban mobility, respectively. And just as the farty growl of a Kingswood was the sound of childhood for us here at Better Breeders, so too was the highly toxic stench of Airfix poly cement the noxious odour of our cherished childhood. To the amazement of Benlife and Theblackdouglas, Airfix kits are still very much around and popular. Better Breeders discuss in #106 the enduring aesthetics of Airfix kits and wonder whether today's children still re-enact the Battle of Britain up at the oval on Saturday afternoons with the aid of a 'borrowed' Bic lighter and a jar of metho, as did we? Or has the age-of-screens ameliorated the urge to engage in pyrotechnics for the serotonin rush? Is this a good thing?

Better Breeders have always thought the broadcast radio AM band to be a good thing. "GO! YOU GOOD THING!" is an oft heard phrase on the average Australian back porch on Saturday afternoon, accompanying the dish-licker race call on 2KY. Better Breeders do like dogs but do not condone gambling; not that we are wowsers - Benlife and Theblackdouglas have indeed been known to enjoy a Reschs DA shandy on occasion. But we prefer 2SM and 2WS over any station on the FM band. Indeed, it is Better Breeders' ambition not only to comprise programming on an AM station but also to dominate Australian radio...from the obscurity of the AM band. Hear the Better Breeders controversial and curious AM band manifesto in episode #106.

Benlife has just turned 50 and Theblackdouglas is also just about to 'raise the bat' for his half-century. The existential question - to party or not to party for a 50th? - is examined at length. Who should - and should not - be on the guestlist? Exciting & inappropriate guests v obligated dullards? To have a costume party v 'smart casual' - i.e. dressing like an off duty policeman. Our two master podcasters this week also debate whether or not to revive their previously unfulfilled Australian Kraftwerk Show project as entertainment at the 50th parties. Better Breeders believe the name of their Brechtian/ bank manager-esque style band should be 'Macrame'. We invite listeners to email in if they have a better suggestion for the name. Whist such an artistic venture is a no-brainer, Better Breeders believe the perennially popular flashmob is never a good idea at a 50th birthday party. Provocative? Sure. Listeners will have to tune in to #106 to hear the reasons!

As we all reach 50, do we get any younger? Clearly, no. Many of us refuse, quite rightly, to go gentle into that good night. 'Boys' weekends proliferate at our tender age as a result. In #106, Benlife and Theblackdouglas decode and elucidate the sometimes complex and confusing playground laws of the jungle for these midlife rump-sniffing symposiums. Boys toys and the evolution of former Alpha males in to Beta and even Gamma males. We told you it was tricky. We have diagrams and Excel spreadsheets. No wuckers, mate.

[cue Elizabethan lute music] "...If music be the food of love, play on...", wrote Shakepseare in Twelfth Night. Music and food: two topics beloved of Benlife and Theblackdouglas, the two halves of Better Breeders. In episode 105 of the Better Breeders podcast, listeners are offered: a forensic analysis of the origins of food programming on Australian television, an outpouring of love (for Rugby League), a treatise on the economics of screen nostalgia, the sex appeal of the rock band biopic, other incidental musings and strained references to Shakespeare.