I sometimes make the mistake of thinking I live in a grown-up country. And then I remember South Australia. Or, more specifically, I remember Michael Atkinson, South Australia's attorney general, and then I remember, no, I don't live in a grown-up country. I live in the naughty corner.

Those of you who join us at The Geek on weekends will be familiar with Atkinson's work ensuring that Australian video game enthusiasts are the laughing stock of the gaming world thanks to his one-man crusade to protect us from our baser urges. It is Atkinson who stands in the way of a rational classification system for video games, refusing to countenance an R18 rating which would give us access to uncensored versions of totally awesome releases like Left 4 Dead 2, or even slightly less awesome titles such as Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude.

Well, he's done it again.*

Not content with embarrassing video game players he's decided to have a go at the cinema set. Atkinson has quietly snuck through a new set of rules governing the sale or rental of R-rated movies. From now on they'll have to be distributed in brown paper bags.

I'm not kidding.

Excuse me while I roll back from my keyboard for a second and indulge myself in an exaggerated face palm.
We're not just talking about lame, disappointingly non-explicit pseudo porn here. If you are in South Australia and would like to rent or buy a copy of Apocalypse Now, Fight Club, Bruno, Mad Max or Crank 2 (which I watched last night totally paralysed by the weapons grade awesomeness of Jason Statham) be prepared to have to make your way to the sealed section of the video store where you can pick up your filth in an unmarked bag while getting a scarlet P. for pervert tattooed on your forehead.

I don't know how many South Australians read this blog but I'm begging you, for the love of God and the awesomeness of Jason Statham, you've got to get rid of this guy. The Ruddbot is already far too likely to come down on the side of the punishers and straighteners when questions of aesthetics and moral control freakery arise. Having Atkinson as his stalking horse down in Adelaide just makes it worse.

He's got to go.

A giant puckered sphincter could sit in his ministerial bean bag and do a better job. The sphincter would probably be a bit less uptight about it too.

____

*UPDATE: Adelaidegirl, our bodies in a barrel girl correspondent from the city of churches and sex murders writes in the comment thread that the legislation in question was put up an indy member, Dennis Hood, 'who took his darling daughter to get a disney film and, lo and behold, pron was right alongside!'

One can but wonder what sort of pr0n put Hoody in a fit o' the vapours, given that actual hard core pr0n can't be openly sold here, and the pretend pr0n with which we must suffice, is almost always catalogued elsewhere in rental stores.

Given it was the cover that caused offense, and the covers of most so-called erotic vids are lame in the extreme, I suspect it may have been an M- or MA-15 rated title which put him out.

Anyone know?