The delightful, the devine, Dylan Moran. Sigh.
For most of the Australian population, who haven't been living with me under a rock consuming nothing but stale malteasers and Black Books dvds, "Moran" instead represents the underbelly Melbourne gangland family. I promise, as soon as exams are over I'll come out from my self-contained hermitude and watch the dvds. Alone.
Des Moran, the last of his 'crime dynasty', was murdered yesterday in Ascot Vale.
This photo was taken after an attempt on his life in March. Now this guy was tough. Here he is just casually pointed to a gun hole, directly aimed at the driver's seat of his car. And not only did he call the gunman an "inbred albino [expletive]" (guesses, anyone?) to news crews, he was quoted as saying "I'm not scared one bit. Anyone who did it like that is a coward. If he'd been fair dinkum, he would have fired five or six shots, wouldn't he?"
What a legend. What a cool cucumber. What a remarkable, fantastic response. This article from the Sydney Morning Herald may me feel pretty bummed that Des 'Tuppence' Moran won't be making any more of these fantastic, larger than life statements.
Though something else about this article caught my eye. John Silvester, who penned this article 'Killer claims the last of the Morans', also happens to be the author of 'Underbelly'. Now I say this as though it were a coincidence, and try to remain as casual as Des Moran, but all I can think of is this:
Truman Capote. The fabulous and eccentric author of 'In Cold Blood' pioneered the non-fiction novel genre through a detailed account of the horrific murders of the Clutter family, and the trial of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith. 'In Cold Blood' is a sensational and touching account of how a disconnected writer can be drawn into the complexities of a real life situation. Though it was initially a short article in a newspaper, Capote eventually came to gain the trust of Hickock and Smith as they suffered on death row, allowing for dramatic insights into a psychologically thrilling (in the movie genre sense, not excitement) situation. Through his interest and persistence, Capote became something of an expert on the incident. His work has recently been adapted into not one, but two amazing movies - 'Capote' and 'Infamous'.
Like Capote, Silvester has transcended the limits of a single medium. His expertise on the Moran family and the Gangland wars have allowed him to write a non-fiction novel as well as for numerous Australian newspapers, culminating in a Walkley Award in 2004. What an exciting, amazing repeat of history.
And John, I'm sorry for using this cartoon to represent you. If you could maybe upload a picture of yourself onto wikipedia, I will replace it immediately.
Cheers.
Centine.
xoxoxo
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