Monday, March 10, 2008

Moran


As far as famous people go there was Kevin Moran in the '80s, but in real life I don't think I ever met anyone else with the same surname. That's not the same here, as Australia's most famous crime family in recent years were the Morans (second ever only to the Kelly family of Ned fame, for a double barrelled coincidence). From the late '90s and up to a couple of years ago there were gangland wars in Melbourne with that family in the middle of it, seeing as they had a lot of the drug trade tied up, and Aussies still love their pills (and then some… there was loads of kids mushed at Interpol when I went to see them!). The biggest show by far on the box just now is called Underbelly, a drama with loads of old Neighbours bods in it about the Morans and the gangland murders. Because there's still trials happening from all the naughty business that went on then it's been banned in Victoria, but everyone else is lapping it up (and there's a roaring trade in pirate DVDs in Victoria). The Aussie word for a chav is Bogan, and Underbelly's been nicknamed the 'Bogan Sopranos'. Until now every time I made a booking or call centre phonecall I'd be going "Moran, m-o-r-a-n" but everyone knows the name now. Obviously at this point I’d like to say I also get treated with a new degree of respect and fear, but when you give off such an air of understated menace like I do there’s no where left to go…

4 comments:

danny said...

I've had a quick look on wikipedia and it sounds pretty good, so I'm mentioning it to the programming department. Although they are still wearing the scars of "love my way" which was literally only watched by you and anna.

Kel said...

It's much more up the Five's Strasse than Love My Way, the third series of which is out on DVD here. Having hired the first disc I can report that it's well and truly jumped the shark. Underbelly's much better, based on a true story, and in keeping in touch with the baser elements that attract a wider adult audience, they've made sure there's a completely pointless bit of shagging and female nudity in every episode so far.

Dan said...

IS this what the inner-Sydney beachside suburbs are like then Kel?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/braboys/trailer/

Kel said...

Ah, you've found it! "the highest grossing documentary in Australian film history" no less! Beating the likes of, err...
That came out here about a year ago and a lot of folk were laughing, and a lot of folk were angry. It's made by one of the brothers so there's not what you'd call a lot of objective view in their 'story'. The (Marou)Bra boys were a small group of thugs who dealt a bit of speed and liked a bit of a surf. One of them went pro as it beat stacking shelves in Coles and slapping your missus about on Saturday nights after a few too many 'schooners of piss'. One of them tops a lad in a fight and then it's game on for a doco. Like Damon Albarn skudding about Notting Hill on his BMX and 'hangin wit da yoots', Russell Crowe wants to been seen as something other than a fat rich prick with an ego the size of the sun, so he agrees to do the voice over. Most people here laugh at it 'cause when you go down to Maroubra it's a nice beach and folk are friendly. It's Lidl and Aldi-tastic, but not quite "South Central LA in boardies". The main skill those twonks had was in marketing themselves as surfing versions of Ned Kelly, rather than chav scum who can swim. They should work in PR...