Ausztrál Tom blog: Breaking into Hungary video commentary

Sziasztook!

I haven't done a proper blog about a video for a while, but felt inclined to for the latest one in case anyone gives two hoots. This blog will be a bit long and it's not everyone's jam. It contains context around references and certain scenes from the video if that's your thing.

Why was this the topic for this video? Well, so many people's lives are disrupted by travel restrictions which in our contexts means Hungary's border closure and severe limitations on going in or out of Australia. So why not poke fun at how the tyranny of distance has become even more tyrannical.

The core of the video commences by hatching a hokey plan to 'infiltrate' Hungary. At the same time I wanted to reference a lot of towns and places that people have mentioned to me over the past few weeks. I think it's a lot more fun to put all these inputs into some kind of convoluted story, and this case I presented it in split screen format a la a lot of different spy movies.

You haven't lives until you've travelled under cover of a szunyogirtas! Now for a fictitious plan, you might be surprised how researched it is haha. I've never been to the Zsuzsi Fagyizo in Hodmezovasarhely, but it had a lot of high reviews on Google and looked like the place to be. I can only imagine how shook I'd be if a foreigner YouTuber mentioned a local haunt from my neck of the woods, so I hope at least one person got weirded out <3

When someone told me about the kocsonya fesztival in Miskolc, I thought it sounded amazing. Looking into it, it's a pretty big deal and it seems the kocsonya is a tiny part of it. In the video we talk about entering a Vegemite kocsonyam into the izverseny. I'm curious if anyone caught the follow up reference to Requiem For a Dream (which is a movie about drug addiction)? Because Vegemite kocsonya is just that delish.

For a split second in the sneaky plan montage, I included an image of Sadako calling in via Zoom. Who got this? Sadako is the name of the little girl from the original Japanese version of The Ring (the movie where you get a spooky call from a a dead girl and you die in 7 days). I was just thinking... how the Hell is Sadako going to get with modern technology. Not just for calling but...

..for when she makes her move (especially if you're using Zoom on mobile). Oh well. Good luck, Szadika.

Unfortunately my elaborate plan of attack went awry when it turns out I was just drawing a picture of a wombat upside down and didn't realise it. The worst!

So, disillusioned with my ability to infiltrate Hungary physically due to accidental wombats, we resolve to 'invade' via proxy instead, by sending something.

I mention in the video that when I sent a postcard to a friend earlier in the year it took 3 months to arrive! This is true, and weirder still, another postcard I sent around the same time took 2-3 weeks. So it was very inconsistent. I don't think it's that bad now since that was at the peak of initial corona confusion, but regardless, sending Christmas postcards in October isn't even a nuts idea.

What follows in the vid is a montage of beachy images with Silent Night playing over the top. One of my top three hobbies is trolling Europeans around the idea of a hot Christmas. It just blows their minds! I'm well aware the 'norm' is cold Christmas so their astonishment doesn't bother me... but please don't be rude about it ;) How many times has a European (more French people tbh) unabashedly said to me "THAT'S NOT CHRISTMAS".

When I went to the news agency to buy Christmas cards, I had to ask where they were. The lady said 'we've only going INTERNATIONAL ones', referring to the goofy cards with Santa in shorts + kangaroos with presents in their pouches. No one uses those locally in fact they're a bit cringe!!! But of course that had to take centre stage in the video!

Does anyone else feel the pressure to be perfect when it comes to writing a card? With no edit gomb, and not second chances, it's such a performance, and then when it comes to a foreign language you want to make sure it gets the right sentiment across. So I do use Google a lot to check stuff. I hope no one caught a glimpse of my search history.

There were three other references here. One is an academic paper that lists Regina Gonda as a co-author. I only know Regina from Twitter, but publishing an academic paper is NO SMALL FEAT! So I wanted to give her a shout out. And the second person I mentioned was Szabo Luca, who is a YouTuber/Influencer and also the voice of Hermione (among many others). She has been very publicly supportive of me since I became active again, which you don't always experience in the media world :D Plus, she's just seems extremely with-it, grounded, hardworking, bonafide hustler.

In the vid, we see time passes over many days (no really, I am SO slow to write in Hungarian, let alone a letter), before I feel urged to end the letter with 'Don't forget to have fun!'). The truth behind this is I often feel like some English ways of talking feel like too much, and it's necessary to dull it down a bit or it comes across as insincere.

Google Translate generously informs me of the Hungarian version.

Alas, feeling disenchanted that it took me several days to write one single card, I have no choice but to pivot to another plan to infiltrate Hungary. That's why the solution has to be something digital and something that's not one-to-one like a letter. So we need a platform/an experience.. a simulation!

This one was so much fun to conceive. I wanted this to be a cross between Hitman meets Doki Doki Literature Club meets Resident Evil meets Animal Crossing meets Duo Lingo.

When filming outside, there's nothing worse than wind. Fortunately on the day I filmed this is was one of the windiest days of the year. Literally had to wait for huge gusts of wind, sand and branches to go past before quicky filming.

Of course we reached the part of the game where I say something un-understandable. If you wanted to know what I said it was: "D'ya get your gear on a Target run? They've got eskies on tap"

D'ya = Did you

Gear = Equipment

Target run = First of all, Target was pronounced like it was a French word (like 'tarzse'). It's a silly thing people say to pretend like Target (the chain) is fancy. Second a 'run' is just a visit. Like McDonalds run, Aldi run etc etc.

Esky = is a cooler/ a place where you store beers.

On tap = lots of. Like when a beer is on tap.

I wanted to come up with something that someone could potentially say (as opposed to filling it with completely outdated and outlandish slang)

Would you play this game haha???? Of course you would! And as we realise in the video, everyone would - it would be too popular, and I can no longer secretively sneak into Hungary. Aw man.

But then we have out come to Jesus moment, realising that the real connectivity happens in the heart. But the D+M (deep and meaningful) is interrupted by an important text message. So had to go.