CBD Tree lives to see another Christmas | Freak of the week | Popping bottles in poor taste?
This week, InSider sharpens our axe and makes arrangement for the city’s Christmas Tree and questions a performance of objectification at an International Women’s Day event.
Last Christmas for Vic Square Tree
As the Victoria Square Christmas tree’s death draws nearer, the council is looking into reviving its corpse for one last year as the search continues for a new one.
InSider thought that time was up on the CBD tree with 2024 being its last Christmas.
Alas, at Tuesday night’s City Community Services and Culture Committee, councillors were told a search for the tree’s successor was still underway, and they’d look into jazzing up the old gal for what will be “the absolute last year”.
Councillor Phillip Martin said he was “disappointed” to hear the tree will live to see another December.
“I would personally love to chop it down because I think it’s probably way past its life,” he said.
“It’s 25 years old, I’m sorry to be ageist about it, and I shouldn’t be.”
Not everyone was as harsh on the tree though, with other elected members saying the council elves did a great job dressing the tree last year to have it December-ready with a set of new gold and red bows.
As for other decorations around town, in September last year, the council consulted the community on their Christmas plans to survey the types of decorations people enjoy the most.
Respondents were found in favour of traditional decorations over modern ones, and the image that was paired with the subheading ‘modern oversized installations’?
People were asked to order decorations in order from favourite to least favourite, with these bad boys polling fourth place out of the six options.
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Our favourite, the inflatable Santa Clause.
If they do scrap the bouncy (or realistically, not-so-bouncy) blokes, then the council will be stripping InSider of our joyous Santa deflation watch – a pastime where we see how many Santas manage to stay upright. A fact we’re sure Adelaide City Council will keep in mind when making the big decisions.
Last year’s Santa (pictured) perhaps should have served as a warning.
Decorations and trees don’t come cheap either, with the council allocating a total budget of $2.1 million on the festive season.
Other than his disdain for the tree, Martin said he was “delighted with what has been proposed” in the council’s Christmas game plan.
“I guess it’s come to the attention of all elected members that this is probably going to be our biggest Christmas in terms of expenditure which is a phenomenal amount,” he said.
“And I hope we get great decorations.”
So does InSider.
In a world where women can be anything…
Tomorrow, March 8, marks International Women’s Day (IWD), which means catered breakfasts, lunches and awards events being rolled out this week. As we type this, cupcakes are being iced with pink gender symbols across the country.
One such award show, held last night at the SkyCity Casino ballroom, made an interesting catering choice.
The Advertiser and SkyCity’s Women of the Year awards celebrated nine very-worthy women kicking goals in their fields, but unfortunately, that’s not what grabbed InSider’s attention when we came across snippets of the event on social media.
Behold… the Champagne corset (or Sparkling skirt to keep the French onside).
Fancy a glass of warm, flat Champagne that’s been carted around by a caged lady?
At an event supposedly built for women’s empowerment, guests could grab a glass of bubbles from a woman caged in gold.
Let’s pause for a quick history lesson, shall we?
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IWD was first proposed in 1910 by the leader of the women’s office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany at the second ever International Conference of Working Women. It has since grown in prominence and become a spotlight for action to build support for women’s rights and full participation in the economy, politics and community.
Decades of work to value women’s labour and allow them to create their own wealth (it was only in 1974 that women in Australia were given the right to open bank accounts without a male co-signer) has led to… well… this.
Now we know it’s Mad March, so perhaps if we saw this at another event, a Fringe leaning into the theatrics perhaps, we wouldn’t be so enraged.
First of all, it can’t be very comfortable to wear. Though in a quick google of the contraption, they do seem to come on wheels for ease of travel around the ballroom.
InSider doesn’t think this is what they had in mind when the UN Woman deemed this year’s theme ‘March Forward’.
The models who elegantly navigate the floor may have consented to this, and they’re probably used to a much more positive response. Didn’t the event organisers consider the optics of the pure objectification this represents – dubbing some women drinks carts?
At the very least, it’s in poor taste.
And speaking of poor taste, from a catering perspective, is this the best way to serve sparkling?
InSider imagines that if dubbed a walking drinks cart at an event celebrating high-achieving women, the glasses would be quick to warm with the heat of my embarrassment.
Ah well, we will just have to wait for International Men’s Day in November (yes, it is a real thing) and see if any men will dress down and cage up for the occasion.
Let the freak flag fly
Adelaide Writers’ Week has come and gone with less controversy than recent years, but this week book lovers were able to take home a small, wearable call-back to the media storms of yesteryear.
Strolling around the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens, InSider noticed many attendees and authors sporting the small red badges that bore the label, “ADELAIDE WRITERS’ FREAK”, that could be bought for a gold coin from the book tent.
Let’s get freaky
Keen readers may remember the front-page headline of a certain morning tabloid in February 2024 — “WRITERS’ FREAK” — accompanied by a call to ditch a certain famous feminist writer (and former staffer of said masthead) over her vocal pro-Palestinian advocacy.
A year later, the festival seems happy to wear the label with pride – even if the apostrophe placement might leave many bibliophiles scratching their heads. Does the wearer become the possession of Adelaide-based writers? We love a rich text.
Is it just me? Or…
… is everyone over sexy circuses?
It could just be that Adelaidians have been privileged over the years to have witnessed the best of the best contort and tease, but it seems the last few years the talent (and storyline) has become as scant as the costumes. Bring back frolickling hard bods in massive Champagne flutes, please.
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