Daylight savings time is finally back in W.A. I'm not really sure why we don't bring it in at the same time as other states, but I love it. Being able to come home and still have some daylight hours to go outside and use is fantastic.
Some people are extremely opposed to it:
``Once the bill was passed there were people opposed to it and they were pretty vocal, but once it was introduced for the first time the viciousness really came out,'' Mr D'Orazio said this week.
``We were getting death threats, (threats to) break my legs ... some letters indicated I should put my head under a train.
``There were all sorts of vicious comments, to the point where we referred two of the matters off to police because they were that vicious and that detailed.''
It was the most divisive issue Mr D'Orazio dealt with in more than two decades of local and state politics.
``People seem to have an opinion and a strongly held opinion and they are not going to change whatever you say or whatever the argument,'' he said.
``I remember going to a wedding and a very dear friend of mine who had been a supporter of mine for years spent two-and-half hours telling me how disgusting it was and how could I do it to him and that he was never going to forgive me for it.
``And I thought you know this is a wedding and this is a friend, imagine if it was an enemy.''
Far out, people are morons. I REALLY hope that this daylight savings jig gets voted in. It's one of the only things that wouldn't bother me if it was just forced on us without a vote. Same again for Sunday and late night trading. Sure, it sucks to work those shifts and it's bad for small businesses, but I think we've grown big enough in W.A. to warrant doing it.
Hopefully I won't recieve any death threats now ;p
jej
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Marvel Sucker's Secret Shame
I talk comics, and fess up to a comic book I read that it's a total guilty pleasure.
jej
jej
Saturday, October 25, 2008
AOTW - Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream
I was in a record store in Leederville and I saw this CD on the counter. The cover art looked totally late '70s/early '80s and it looked like Luke Steele and some other guy in some kind of crazy get ups, surrounded by elephants and tigers and futuristic looking buildings. I asked the guy at the counter if it was Luke Steele and he said 'Yes. It's Luke Steele, from The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore, from PNAU, and it sounds like Fleetwood Mac.' I went in blind and bought it. How bad could it be?
Thankfully it's not bad at all. I can hear Fleetwood Mac in this, but I can also hear Sleepy Jackson and PNAU. All those sounds mix together really well. Flipping through the CD sleeve you'll see what looks like a Yes album catalogue. Every track has it's own super wanky cool fantasy artwork. This all has the potential to be anal and pretenscious, but it's a really easy album to listen to. On repeated listens I'm digging it more and more, and it's getting stuck in my head like a good dancy pop thing should. I'm loving it.
Here's the title track:
jej
Thankfully it's not bad at all. I can hear Fleetwood Mac in this, but I can also hear Sleepy Jackson and PNAU. All those sounds mix together really well. Flipping through the CD sleeve you'll see what looks like a Yes album catalogue. Every track has it's own super wanky cool fantasy artwork. This all has the potential to be anal and pretenscious, but it's a really easy album to listen to. On repeated listens I'm digging it more and more, and it's getting stuck in my head like a good dancy pop thing should. I'm loving it.
Here's the title track:
jej
Moofies - Marvel Double Feature, and some others
I've kind of neglected my film watching. I was thinking about what is going to make my Top Ten films this year (because lists are incredibly important) and I'm scratching my head to find ten. I'm sure I will, but the reason I'm scratching my head is that I haven't watched as many films as I have in previous years. Other than the big comic flicks I've mostly watched TV on DVD and just done other things that aren't watch films. Strange. My big uni break over Xmas starts in about a month. I'm sure I'll make up for the rest of the year by catching up with my old friend Blockbuster.
Last night we finally got to see Iron Man directly followed by The Incredible Hulk. It would have been a great double billing on the big screen, but the DVDs will have to suffice. Robert Downey Jnr rules, but it's kind of a shame that the best scene in the Hulk is the one in which he makes a cameo appearance. I thought maybe on re-watching I would like the Hulk more, but I didn't. The actio sequences are very cool, but that's it. I didn't buy a second of the drama in this movie. Iron Man however is still awesome on its 4th viewing and the DVD will get a hammering from me.
As an aside, you've probably heard the news that Terrance Howard, who played Rhodey, is being replaced in the sequel. This would be terrible news if his replacement wasn't Don Cheadle. I freaking love Don Cheadle. It will be a little wierd to see another actor playing a role that is Howard's though. "Next time, baby". I'm afraid not Howard.
I also watched a movie a while back called Wet Hot American Summer. I guess it's really a parody of those teenage summer camp movies, but this one goes bizarro throughout. It also has a strange cast mix. Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, etc, all star in a film where a kid drowns because his camp leader is too busy making out with a girl who isn't is girlfriend, in Friday the 13th fashion, but it's a joke. I liked it and I laughed at most of it, mostly for its total absurdity. Some of the jokes fall flat, but I really dug the strangeness of it all. It becomes less a parody movie and more a bizarre series of events.
We also watched Rush Hour and the Bad Boys movies again recently. How can you not love those?..... Well, pretty easily probably, but I dig them. OH! and Passenger 57. I hadn't seen this movie in a really long time. It's pretty great. Stupid poncy British villian who has a young Elizabeth Hurley as his girlfriend, vs Wesley Snipes on a plane. How could it not be great?
That's it.
jej
Last night we finally got to see Iron Man directly followed by The Incredible Hulk. It would have been a great double billing on the big screen, but the DVDs will have to suffice. Robert Downey Jnr rules, but it's kind of a shame that the best scene in the Hulk is the one in which he makes a cameo appearance. I thought maybe on re-watching I would like the Hulk more, but I didn't. The actio sequences are very cool, but that's it. I didn't buy a second of the drama in this movie. Iron Man however is still awesome on its 4th viewing and the DVD will get a hammering from me.
As an aside, you've probably heard the news that Terrance Howard, who played Rhodey, is being replaced in the sequel. This would be terrible news if his replacement wasn't Don Cheadle. I freaking love Don Cheadle. It will be a little wierd to see another actor playing a role that is Howard's though. "Next time, baby". I'm afraid not Howard.
I also watched a movie a while back called Wet Hot American Summer. I guess it's really a parody of those teenage summer camp movies, but this one goes bizarro throughout. It also has a strange cast mix. Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, etc, all star in a film where a kid drowns because his camp leader is too busy making out with a girl who isn't is girlfriend, in Friday the 13th fashion, but it's a joke. I liked it and I laughed at most of it, mostly for its total absurdity. Some of the jokes fall flat, but I really dug the strangeness of it all. It becomes less a parody movie and more a bizarre series of events.
We also watched Rush Hour and the Bad Boys movies again recently. How can you not love those?..... Well, pretty easily probably, but I dig them. OH! and Passenger 57. I hadn't seen this movie in a really long time. It's pretty great. Stupid poncy British villian who has a young Elizabeth Hurley as his girlfriend, vs Wesley Snipes on a plane. How could it not be great?
That's it.
jej
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
AOTW - Augie March - Watch Me Disappear
The new Augie March is finally out :D
This is their fourth album. For a band that's been around since 1996, they haven't put out an abundance of stuff, but the stuff that they do release is all really good.
Lyrically, this stuff is poetry maaaan. It really is. I could read these lyrics without musical accompaniment and they would still be as strong.
Musically, Watch Me Disappear still has that interesting use of changing intertwining melodies. The first track sounds especially different from anything they've done before:
...and the first single, second track, is going to get stick in you head:
Hopefully this will do as well as Moo You Bloody Choir, but I guess we'll see.
jej
This is their fourth album. For a band that's been around since 1996, they haven't put out an abundance of stuff, but the stuff that they do release is all really good.
Lyrically, this stuff is poetry maaaan. It really is. I could read these lyrics without musical accompaniment and they would still be as strong.
Musically, Watch Me Disappear still has that interesting use of changing intertwining melodies. The first track sounds especially different from anything they've done before:
...and the first single, second track, is going to get stick in you head:
Hopefully this will do as well as Moo You Bloody Choir, but I guess we'll see.
jej
The ARIAs 2008
The Australian Music Awards were on telly last night, and we watched.
To start with, it was depressing to see the show start with 'The Living End' playing this sad, slow, pop rock garbage. I remember when they played rockabilly and were awesome. Now they're playing this completely 'meh' stuff that doesn't do anything for me. Bummer.
The evening went on from there with a bizarro performance from Pink. Whatever you think of her music, she had about a million things going on around her on stage. She's dancing and moving and jumping around. So is her band. There is a million moving lights flooding the stage, but that wasn't enough. There was also a trashed car on the stage, which a bunch of dancers smashed their guitars against. If all of that bored you, the music video was also playing on a big screen behind them. There was so much going on it distracted me from the fact that the 'na na na na's that Pink was singing weren't all that interesting really.
'Faker' played, and did what they do. They're okay, but I don't I really see what all the fuss is about. They sound a bit like 'The Cure' so I guess they have that going for them ;p
Gabriella Cilmi won a million awards for being 17 and sounding exactly like Amy Winehouse. It was pretty stupid. She also looked totally trashed, which is a good look for an underage girl on national television.
'The Presets' performed with My Pet Monster's on their heads:
...which was the highlight for me. This band is fantastic. They won Best Album too, which is pretty awesome. It's nice when bands I like are also liked by many others.
Blind indigenous performer GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU won two Arias, one of them being Best Independent Album. I watched as him and his seeing, white offsider accepted the award with an unhealthy amount of uncomfortable scepticism. Okay, the guy can play and it's great that he is doing it, but I am extremely doubtful that any more than a tiny handful of the people at the ARIAs, let alone the people watching it at home, have or ever will own his album, in which he sings in his own dialect and not in English. This isn't like when he was in 'Yothu Yindi', playing music that people could chant and dance to. This is heartfelt quiet stuff that you can't even understand the lyrics to. It's probably fantastic, but I think it sucks that it won an award when no one will ever buy it. It just makes me uncomfortable.
Nick Cave won best male artist and didn't show up, because Nick Cave is a champ.
jej
To start with, it was depressing to see the show start with 'The Living End' playing this sad, slow, pop rock garbage. I remember when they played rockabilly and were awesome. Now they're playing this completely 'meh' stuff that doesn't do anything for me. Bummer.
The evening went on from there with a bizarro performance from Pink. Whatever you think of her music, she had about a million things going on around her on stage. She's dancing and moving and jumping around. So is her band. There is a million moving lights flooding the stage, but that wasn't enough. There was also a trashed car on the stage, which a bunch of dancers smashed their guitars against. If all of that bored you, the music video was also playing on a big screen behind them. There was so much going on it distracted me from the fact that the 'na na na na's that Pink was singing weren't all that interesting really.
'Faker' played, and did what they do. They're okay, but I don't I really see what all the fuss is about. They sound a bit like 'The Cure' so I guess they have that going for them ;p
Gabriella Cilmi won a million awards for being 17 and sounding exactly like Amy Winehouse. It was pretty stupid. She also looked totally trashed, which is a good look for an underage girl on national television.
'The Presets' performed with My Pet Monster's on their heads:
...which was the highlight for me. This band is fantastic. They won Best Album too, which is pretty awesome. It's nice when bands I like are also liked by many others.
Blind indigenous performer GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU won two Arias, one of them being Best Independent Album. I watched as him and his seeing, white offsider accepted the award with an unhealthy amount of uncomfortable scepticism. Okay, the guy can play and it's great that he is doing it, but I am extremely doubtful that any more than a tiny handful of the people at the ARIAs, let alone the people watching it at home, have or ever will own his album, in which he sings in his own dialect and not in English. This isn't like when he was in 'Yothu Yindi', playing music that people could chant and dance to. This is heartfelt quiet stuff that you can't even understand the lyrics to. It's probably fantastic, but I think it sucks that it won an award when no one will ever buy it. It just makes me uncomfortable.
Nick Cave won best male artist and didn't show up, because Nick Cave is a champ.
jej
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Marvel Animated Intros
Having a bad day? Watching these will make it all better.
I could probably find more, but let's leave it at that. My gift to you for the day ;p
jej
I could probably find more, but let's leave it at that. My gift to you for the day ;p
jej
The Third 2nd Tuesday Book Club
This month's book club saw a new member. My sister-in-law has joined the booknerd ranks.
The official book for this month was All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, but only my wife and I read it. I read The Road earlier this year and really fell in love with how McCarthy writes. His sprawling sentences are extremely poetic, but it's in a narrative context. All The Pretty Horses is no different. It's a pretty straight forward coming of age western story, but underneath its basic premise is a slew of quotable lines about life, and different ideologies about nihilism, God, and death. It's a heavy read, but I think totally worth it. Noelene took a while to get used to McCarthy's writing style, but she enjoyed it also. It's the first in a trilogy, so I'll have to track down the next two.
I also went on and read No Country For Old Men. I've seen the film twice, and the book is so much like the film (or rather the other way around). There are slight changes, but if you've seen that film then you know the book. The ideas and details are so clear in the writing, and they've been translated perfectly to film.
Ian Fleming's Dr No got a walloping from both Adrian and I. The sexism and racism was pretty hard to swallow, and the fact that I found the writing so dull made it hard to appreciate even in an ironic sort of way. I think maybe because of the quality of comic books and films, action books like this seem unnecessary and ancient. If it was well written I could understand why it exists, but this dull adventure story just took too long to read. The action felt slow and dull. I can easily sit through a crappy old Bond film, but this will be the first and last Bond novel that I read.
Other books mentioned amongst us were a Terry Pratchett novel (I just know we'll all be reading one in the coming months), and Margaret Atwood (same again for Atwood).
I also read Catching The Big Fish - Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch. I read it all in almost one sitting. It was broken by a family visit. I enjoyed this because it was another insight into how Lynch works and what inspires his work. It was also interesting to hear about why he meditates. He says that he does it twice a day for 20 minutes. He just goes to a quiet room with his mantra and dives into himself, into his sea of consciousness. I know it sounds like it would be a great book to read with burning incense and an overpriced magic crystal dangling around your neck, but I like the idea of being more relaxed and more intune with my consciousness. Lynch says that it helps him to be more creative and it also helps him to relax more, and not let stress get him down.
I tried meditation a while back; around the same time that I was really interested in dreams and waking dreams. I've kind of just forgotten about all that, but I think it might be worth looking into again. If it can help me relax and be more creative then I'm up for it.
All funds of Lynch's book go to his Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace. He sites a few places where schools have introduced meditation amongst the staff and students, and it has decreased violence and bullying and increased productivity and test scores. I think that those results seem obvious. It makes sense that if a group of people is more relaxed then the environment that they're in will be a much nicer place.
That's it. Next months' book is Neuromancer by William Gibson. I heard that the Wachowski Brothers made Keanu read this before signing on to do The Matrix films, so it should provide for some interesting discussion. Remember, if you know me and live in Perth you are totally welcome to join us. The more geek readers the better.
jej
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Norton - The Horror!
Let me tell you a long, ranty tale about the internet.
My Mum turned 50 recently (happy birthday mum) and as part of her present I made an embarrassing music video that mostly involved her two grandchildren being cute. I have Nero 7, which doesn't like to make DVDs for some reason. Also Windows DVD Maker didn't like my Sony Vegas files.
Conundrum!
So I donwloaded a dodgy version of Nero 9, just to burn this DVD, and then I deleted it. I didn't really need it for anything other than this birthday present. Being the naive person I can sometimes be, I inadvertently downloaded a lovely trojan called vundo with a keygen, amongst some other spammy fun. Trojam Vundo is the devil. It made annoying things that I didn't want pop up; it closed programs while I was using them; and basically slowed down everything on my PC to a chug.
Good old bought and paid for Norton kept finding it and 'fixing' it, but then it would magically reappear in the next Norton scan. After a week of trying a few different things from forums and such, and having no luck, I decided to utilise the super dooper 24hr Norton Chat Support. You get put onto a support person relatively quickly and they talk you through a few things before finally taking control of your mouse and doing it themselves. It's like watching a ghost fix your PC.
I assumed that by paying 100bux for a yearly subscription that I would get this service for free. Nope, it's going to cost me 140 bux. After trying again to fix this myself I decide to let Norton have a go. It will be easier than taking the computer to a store to get it fixed.
At around 2am, after watching him in action for a couple of hours inbetween stints of handheld Pacman, my support person says "You computer is now virus free". So I ask, "What about those messages that are still popping up every time we've rebooted?". My support guy says, "I'll lookinto it."
In the very early hours of the morning, around 4am, after a few hours of watching my support person try and rid me of my trojan again, my monitor goes to sleep. Not being able to wake it up, I assume that my support person has decided that he can do this without me watching or something, and I finally crawl into bed.
I am awoken at 6:30 with a phone call from my support guy asking if my PC is back to normal yet. The monitor is still not working. After a couple of very long hours, trying to do things in safe mode, etc, my support person tells me that while trying ot fix my computer he has inadvertently corrupted some windows files, and I'll need to reinstall windows. I get pretty pissed off at this. I don't yell down the phone, which I've wanted to do the entire time this guy asks me the same questoins repeatedly. I tell him that I hope he doesn't expect me to pay for this because I could've corrupted files and reinstalled windows all on my own. He says he'll put the case over to a customer liason officer. I hang up. We'll see wher it goes from there.
I've just spent my morning backing up files onto disc, some of which appear to be corrupted so they can just stay on disc I think. I reinstalled windows, wiping the slate clean, and it appears that mister trojan has gone bye bye.
I have a major assignment due Thursday, and now thanks to Windows being cheapskates I only have an empty DVD case for Microsoft Office. Hopefully I can sort something out before the end of the day.
My eyes are going to drip from my sagging face soon. I'm tired, stressed, and supposed be at uni right now. ARRRRRGH!
So, the moral of the story is:
-Screw Norton
-Keygens can be nasty
-Whoever invented Trojans is the devil
I guess my PC was due for a spring cleaning, but I wish it didn't happen now and like this. Oh well.
jej
My Mum turned 50 recently (happy birthday mum) and as part of her present I made an embarrassing music video that mostly involved her two grandchildren being cute. I have Nero 7, which doesn't like to make DVDs for some reason. Also Windows DVD Maker didn't like my Sony Vegas files.
Conundrum!
So I donwloaded a dodgy version of Nero 9, just to burn this DVD, and then I deleted it. I didn't really need it for anything other than this birthday present. Being the naive person I can sometimes be, I inadvertently downloaded a lovely trojan called vundo with a keygen, amongst some other spammy fun. Trojam Vundo is the devil. It made annoying things that I didn't want pop up; it closed programs while I was using them; and basically slowed down everything on my PC to a chug.
Good old bought and paid for Norton kept finding it and 'fixing' it, but then it would magically reappear in the next Norton scan. After a week of trying a few different things from forums and such, and having no luck, I decided to utilise the super dooper 24hr Norton Chat Support. You get put onto a support person relatively quickly and they talk you through a few things before finally taking control of your mouse and doing it themselves. It's like watching a ghost fix your PC.
I assumed that by paying 100bux for a yearly subscription that I would get this service for free. Nope, it's going to cost me 140 bux. After trying again to fix this myself I decide to let Norton have a go. It will be easier than taking the computer to a store to get it fixed.
At around 2am, after watching him in action for a couple of hours inbetween stints of handheld Pacman, my support person says "You computer is now virus free". So I ask, "What about those messages that are still popping up every time we've rebooted?". My support guy says, "I'll lookinto it."
In the very early hours of the morning, around 4am, after a few hours of watching my support person try and rid me of my trojan again, my monitor goes to sleep. Not being able to wake it up, I assume that my support person has decided that he can do this without me watching or something, and I finally crawl into bed.
I am awoken at 6:30 with a phone call from my support guy asking if my PC is back to normal yet. The monitor is still not working. After a couple of very long hours, trying to do things in safe mode, etc, my support person tells me that while trying ot fix my computer he has inadvertently corrupted some windows files, and I'll need to reinstall windows. I get pretty pissed off at this. I don't yell down the phone, which I've wanted to do the entire time this guy asks me the same questoins repeatedly. I tell him that I hope he doesn't expect me to pay for this because I could've corrupted files and reinstalled windows all on my own. He says he'll put the case over to a customer liason officer. I hang up. We'll see wher it goes from there.
I've just spent my morning backing up files onto disc, some of which appear to be corrupted so they can just stay on disc I think. I reinstalled windows, wiping the slate clean, and it appears that mister trojan has gone bye bye.
I have a major assignment due Thursday, and now thanks to Windows being cheapskates I only have an empty DVD case for Microsoft Office. Hopefully I can sort something out before the end of the day.
My eyes are going to drip from my sagging face soon. I'm tired, stressed, and supposed be at uni right now. ARRRRRGH!
So, the moral of the story is:
-Screw Norton
-Keygens can be nasty
-Whoever invented Trojans is the devil
I guess my PC was due for a spring cleaning, but I wish it didn't happen now and like this. Oh well.
jej
Monday, October 13, 2008
Uni - Cramming Classes
I've got 4 weeks of classes left at university for this semester, and then it's exam time. Within 4 weeks I have three major assignments to finish. For the next 5 weeks I have a school prac two days a week and then a research assignment to hand in when that's over. Then, after two exams, I will be done for the year. I'm ready to be done now. I kind of feel like I've been on top of my uni workload this far, but now all of a sudden I have a prac thrown into the mix which is just tipping me over the edge a bit. I think a few weeks of extra late nights will probably in order so I can finish everything, while still spending a fair amount of time on it.
Now, I expect most of you reading this will probably skim over the last bit or not read it at all, but I've posted the two assignments I just got back. One is an essay comparing Georgette Heyer's Devil's Cub to Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary. I got 100% for it! How crazy is that? That's my first ever 100% at uni. Now I have a lot to live up to for the next english assignment and the exam ;/
That essay is followed by a program pitch assignment that I did for a media studies class. I only got a credit+ for that one. Turns out different tutors mark the same referencing system in different ways ;/
Anyhow, if you are at work or whatever, and bored, then feel free to read these.
_________________________________________________________________________
Please note that if this proposal were to go ahead, the first person to read it and approve of it would have to be Tony Jones himself. Without his co-operation this show could not be pitched to anyone.
Imagine seeing billboards and print advertisements that looked like this:
TONY JONES IS DEAD
Coming Soon to ABC1
There would be discussion and confusion. Is Tony Jones really dead? Is the title symbolic or literal? If this is a TV show then what kind of show is it? Closer to the starting date of the program the advertising campaign could spread to television commercials that reveal brief glimpses of the program. An informed viewer could gather that the show was satirical in nature, but there would still be a large element of surprise when the show first aired.
A preferred timeslot would be Wednesday nights at 9pm. The timeslot has shared programs with a similar target audience for some time now. Programs like The Chaser’s War On Everything, The Hollowmen, That Mitchell and Webb Look, and Extras, despite being different, all appear to have similar expectations of their audience. They also share a similar sense of humour, intertextuality, and a broadening of any confined genre that they could be placed into neatly. There is also an expectation, especially with shows like The Chaser’s War On Everything, that the audience has a broad knowledge of other televisual media. For Tony Jones Is Dead to work effectively, the audience would have to have a prior knowledge of who Tony Jones is, and an understanding of current popular commercial television.
The first Wednesday evening the program airs, it begins exactly like an episode of Lateline, with Lateline’s opening credits and no real clue as to the fact that the program isn’t actually Lateline, except for perhaps the rating warning that appears before the show, and the fact that it is on at a different timeslot. Tony Jones appears onscreen and says, ‘I’m Tony Jones. Welcome to Lateline.’ as he normally does. There is some noise, banging and commotion, heard in the background. Tony continues, ‘On tonight’s program we will be looking at’ and he is interrupted by a figure in a balaclava and dressed completely in black. He grabs Tony Jones by the neck and holds a gun to his head. Tony looks terrified. There is no music. It feels and looks very realistic. The gunman yells in a thick Australian accent, ‘Australia! This is what the A.M.F.B.T. thinks about our national broadcaster!’ Screams fill the studio as the gunman pulls the trigger and Tony Jones is executed, live on television. Blood splatters from his head in a confronting manner and the camera cuts to static. The screen fades to black, and the title screen of the show fades in.
TONY JONES The title appears with a loud ‘Boom!’
IS DEAD This screen fades out, hopefully leaving the
audience breathless and stunned.
We then cut to a meeting room. The camera work is very handheld and documentary style. A group of people in business suits is sitting around a large meeting table, all looking very stressed and tired. Some of them are drinking coffee. Others are talking quietly to each other. ONE WEEK later appears on the bottom of the screen. An obese man opens the door to the meeting room. He is around 50 years old, sweaty, and balding. There is a security guard standing on the inside of the door. The man shows the guard his identification badge and he is let in. He holds the door open for a young, beautiful woman. She is around 21 and white. Her hair is blonde and tied back very tight. Her dress suit is very sharp and her makeup is very neat and precise. She holds her head up high and strides into the room. She walks to the head of the table.
The obese man closes the door behind her and wades over to stand next to her. The film freezes on a shot of him looking very stressed, and his name, Richard, appears on the bottom of the screen with a ‘BOOM!’ sound effect. The film unfreezes. He addresses the room, ‘Hello everyone. I think it’s no surprise why we are all here today. This tragedy that occurred to Mister Jones and the staff at Lateline is no doubt hard for us all, but we must move on.’ He hesitates, wipes his sweaty brow with a white handkerchief, takes a deep breath, and continues, ‘As you are all aware, the current government has decided to cut its broadcast funding almost completely. That means that as of January this year the ABC is going to become a commercial enterprise. In order to help us move forward from this tragedy, and look forward to a new commercial ABC, I give you Denise Rogers. Denise?’ The obese man claps and sits down at the table. A few people in the room clap, but it is very underwhelming.
Denise walks to the head of the table. She holds her head up high and the film freezes. Her name, DENISE, appears at the bottom of the screen with a ‘BOOM’ sound effect. She begins to speak in an American accent. ‘Thank you, Richard, for that introduction. My name is Denise. I’ve been flown in from the states in order to oversee the reimagining of the ABC from here on in. I have worked for many commercial enterprises, including MTV and Fox, and I have to say that there are some big changes ahead for you guys. Firstly,’ Denise clicks a button in her hand, and a large picture of Tony Jones projects onto the wall behind her, ‘We need to make the most of this. You guys need a new Lateline presenter, and fast.’
‘Hang on a minute’, a male voice interrupts. We cut to a medium shot to reveal who it is. It’s a man, mid 30s. His short black hair is messed up a little and his tie is loose. The film freezes on a shot of him and his name, FRANK, appears on the bottom of the screen with a loud ‘BOOM’ sound effect. The film unfreezes and he continues, ‘I thought Kerry was up for that spot.’
‘Yeah’, a female voice concurs. We cut to see a woman, also in her mid 30s, with curly red hair, red thick framed glasses, and a green jacket on. The film freezes and her name, Julia, appears on the screen with a loud ‘BOOM!’ sound effect. The film unfreezes and she continues, ‘Hey Richard, this is bullshit!’ The camera pans across to Richard, who is sitting next to Julia at the far end of the table. He looks very uncomfortable and stressed. He is red in the face. He’s looking across from Denise to Julia, and to the rest of the table, stumbling over his words, ‘Ah, er, hrrmmm’. Denise interrupts, ‘I think what Richard is trying to say is that the times are changing, folks, and we’ve got to change with them’.
The premise of the show is that as part of the new commercial interest of the ABC, the new host of Lateline will be chosen by using a reality TV style show, in which people around Australia appear before a panel of judges, in a similar style to Australian Idol, and try and read the news. Real life journalists could try and apply, only to see Denise completely pick on them and judge them harshly. Mike Moore, the fictional character from Frontline, could make a cameo appearance, trying to become the new host. There could also be many cameos of other ABC presenters. Applicants would be taken on a tour of the ABC studios and see behind the scenes taping of programs like At The Movies. When the program filming is over we could see David and Margaret acting like they absolutely hate each other. In a similar style to Extras, celebrities could be written to play funny over the top versions of themselves.
While the reality TV style show is a part of the program, it wouldn’t be the entire show. The format would be a documentary style show, in a very similar vein to Frontline, in which the doco style segments are done on a digital camera, and the reality TV segments are filmed with a regular television camera, in order to make the distinction between the two very clear visually. The judges of the reality show would be Frank, Julia, and Denise. Frank and Julia are both intelligent people who long for a legitimate and respectable ABC, while Denise is very interested in pushing commercial interests. The tension and focus of the show would be the relationship between these three, and their relationship with the weak boss Richard. A typical episode would involve a specific conflict between the group reach some kind of resolution at the end. One episode could see Denise try and seduce Frank in order to win him over to her way of thinking. Another could see Frank and Julia try and become close friends with Richard to try and win him over, while Denise does the same. The mystery and threat of what the A.M.F.B.T. means and who they are could also be a recurring plot thread that develops throughout the series. This kind of mystery, breaking of traditional program format, and respect for the audience worked well for programs like Lost. Jason Mittell writes that while most television is predictable Lost ‘dares to surprise us at nearly every turn’ (Mittell, 2005).
The audience for the program would likely be the same audience that already watches other ABC programs that are in the same time slot. The age could range from high school children to people in their 50s, but the focus would probably fall on people from 18 to 34 years of age. They would more than likely be middle to upper class, English speaking, and either born in Australia or have lived in Australia for many years. I think its appeal is quite broad, in that once the characters have been introduced then the conflicts they encounter can be enjoyed by most. A lot of the jokes and references are quite narrow, but in the context of the show I think that they will still be entertaining to a large audience. Reality television gets very high ratings. Of the top five highest rating programs on Australian television for the week of August 31 to September 6, 3 were reality style shows (The Australian, 2008). This would suggest that a parody of a reality show will make sense to a large audience. The specific jokes about ABC personalities may not work as well, but because the show is broadcast on the ABC I think a large proportion of the audience will understand the humour.
Tony Jones Is Dead will challenge the audience in numerous ways. Firstly, it will challenge consumer culture. Seeing commercial television through a satirical lens will challenge any preconceived notions of what commercial programs can really offer. Jock Given writes that successful free-to-air commercial television ‘depends on large numbers of people tuning in over and over again’ (Given, 2000). This would suggest that commercial stations generally broadcast what is called ‘least offensive programming’ or ‘LOW’. David Marc writes that the broadcaster ‘makes a pitch to an entire nation, people, or culture’ (Marc, 1996). In order to be so all-inclusive it is inevitable that the programming will become more simplistic and less challenging. Tony Jones Is Dead will also act as a protest against the ABC becoming commercial.
I imagine the first season consisting of 8 or 9 episodes. The conclusion would be that a young male and female co-host Lateline and that Frank and Julia are fired. By ending the first series with such an unhappy ending, I hope to challenge the viewers’ preconceived notions of how the story of a show should conclude.
The program will challenge notions of what a television show is. While it is still a sitcom about people working together, it is being presented in a different way. I would also like the theme music to be a very ‘in-your-face’ extreme death metal song. Just a short, brief tune that ends with the vocalist screaming, “Tony Jones Is Dead!” By mixing this kind of anti-social music and red stencil lettering with intelligent writing and humour, and with commercial style programming, I hope to keep the audience a little uneasy and attentive. Hopefully viewers will be forced to think about what they are seeing, at the same time as being entertained.
If the show proved to be popular, a second season could be made with a completely different format. It could be advertised as The New Lateline, with a new title The Late Line and an overtly youth oriented logo. The two new hosts would interview real politicians and guests, in a similar style to Ali-G, except in an Australian context. This would mean that the show could work on many levels. It would be humorous to see politicians asked silly questions and to see their reactions, but it would also be interesting to overtly pander to the safe feeling that commercial television interviews seem to have, and then hit them with a very hard hitting question that is phrased with a youth slang slant. The program could also feature commercial breaks, but instead of real advertisements they are parodies of real ads that feature on commercial television, in a similar style to Newstopia. The ad breaks could also feature fake advertisements for commercial versions of already existing ABC programs.
As the program would be mostly using digital cameras and already existing ABC studio sets and cameras, the production costs would be minimal. The most important thing would be to get the co-operation of Tony Jones and other ABC staff, getting them to ‘send up’ themselves and play along with the premise of the show. Any legal problems would only arise if celebrities were used in a way that they did not approve of. Ethically, it may be important to have a warning before the program that states Tony Jones is not actually dead and that some of the following scenes may disturb some viewers. I would prefer to not tell people that Tony Jones is actually alive and let them figure that out for themselves, but that decision would have to be left up to Jones himself and the legal staff at the ABC.
In conclusion, I think this show would gain high ratings for the ABC. It is very controversial, while at the same time being humorous and entertaining. I also think DVD sales would do very well once the series was over, and using the idea for a second season could give the series a much longer life on television.
Bibliography
Given, Jock 2000 ‘Commercial networks: Still the ones?’ from The Australian TV Book, Allen & Unwin, 50
Marc, David 1996 ‘What was broadcasting?’ from Demographic Vistas: Television in American Culture Revised ed, Philadelphia: Philadelphia University Press, 188
Mittell, Jason 2005 ‘The Value of Lost’ from Flow Vol2, Issue 10, http://jot.communication.utexas.edu/flow/.
The Australian – Thursday September 11, Media section, 34
jej
Now, I expect most of you reading this will probably skim over the last bit or not read it at all, but I've posted the two assignments I just got back. One is an essay comparing Georgette Heyer's Devil's Cub to Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary. I got 100% for it! How crazy is that? That's my first ever 100% at uni. Now I have a lot to live up to for the next english assignment and the exam ;/
That essay is followed by a program pitch assignment that I did for a media studies class. I only got a credit+ for that one. Turns out different tutors mark the same referencing system in different ways ;/
Anyhow, if you are at work or whatever, and bored, then feel free to read these.
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In what ways does Devil’s Cub differ from Bridget Jones’s Diary? Discuss with reference to literary style, socio-historical context and reader response.
"Mary Challoner's Diary"
Sunday 12 August
My husband and I will have been married a year next Sunday. A whole year with that grouch of a man. I don’t know how I put up with it; I really don’t. I knew before we were married that he had a temper and was taken to drink, but I could look past it as he was the love of my life, and ever so handsome. I had thought that one with such a history as the Marquis would be able to satisfy a woman’s needs. I was very much mistaken. Oh, how I wish I had married Mr Comyn. Perhaps he would have treated me well. Perhaps his bedroom manner is much more appealing than that of my dreadful husband. I shall write no more, for if he should see this, Vidal would surely strangle me in my sleep.
Above is an excerpt from what I imagine Mary Challoner’s diary might be like, had it been written with the same ideologies and tone as Bridget Jones’s diary. I have started my essay by melding these two characters together, in order to highlight some of the ways in which Georgette Heyer’s Devil’s Cub differs from Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding. While both books are classified as romance novels, they differ in literary style, socio-historical context, and reader response.
Abrams writes that the romance represents an age of ‘highly developed manners and civility; its standard plot is one of a quest undertaken by a single knight in order to gain a lady’s favor’ (Abrams, 1981). Abrams is referring to medieval romance. Although the romance genre has changed since then, some of its basic motifs remain the same. The main character must still overcome adversity in the quest for love, but the protagonist is not necessarily a man anymore.
Devil’s Cub opens with a chapter about the title character, but as the story progresses the focus shifts to the heroine, Mary Challoner. Mary is represented as a strong female in the early chapters of the novel, described as ‘being a female of considerable strength of mind’ (pg. 106). She heroically tries to defend her sister’s honour by going away with the Marquis of Vidal in her sister’s place. This deception could be categorised as romantic comedy, which Chris Baldick describes as ‘comedies that deal mainly with the follies and misunderstandings of young lovers’ (Baldick, 2008). Mary and Vidal misunderstand each other in the beginning. Through the course of the novel they overcome these misunderstandings and fall in love.
In Chapter Six Mary ‘had a momentary sensation of complete helplessness, and was annoyed to find that she liked it’ (p.86). Her strength and determination begins to wane. She becomes apologetic, telling Vidal, ‘I see now that I was very foolish’ (p.101). Vidal wishes to marry her because he believes that if he does not, then she will lose her good name. Mary decides that she cannot marry Vidal and runs away with Mr Comyn. Despite her love for Vidal, she feels that he is above her class, saying, ‘Nor am I of his world’ (pg.192). Vidal must chase her and, although the novel is primarily concerned with Mary, the quest of a man chasing his love despite adversity is still present.
Devil’s Cub is one of Heyer’s historical romance novels, under the subgenre of Regency romance. The Regency period refers to the years of English Regency between 1811 and 1820. The literary style is very formal. The narrative is told in the third person. The motivations and emotions of the characters are revealed to the reader, but mostly through action and dialogue, rather than thought. Even when Mary is alone, thinking about her feelings towards Vidal, she speaks.
‘”So that’s the truth is it?” said Miss Challoner severely to herself. “You are in love with him, and you’ve known for weeks.’’’ (pg.105).
When compared to Bridget’s train of thought this seems fairly restrained. This could be due to the fact that it is set in the 19th Century, and the representation of females has changed since then. It could also be due to the fact that speech is sometimes not as intimate as a diary entry.
Bridget Jones’s Diary opens with Bridget’s New Year’s resolutions. Immediately the reader is given access to very private facts about Bridget’s life and personality. The language used is very conversational, using phrases like ‘Ugh’ (pg.7) and ‘Oh God’ (pg.9). Correct grammar and spelling is absent in many passages; to emphasise mood, ‘Yessssss! Yessssss!’ (pg.32), or her inebriated state, ‘Argor es wororrible’ (pg.146).
In Devil’s Cub the Vidal chases Mary, the man chases the woman, but in Bridget’s case the role of the pursuer is blurred and interchangeable between sexes. Bridget is romantically interested in her boss Daniel. She writes ‘Obsess about Daniel Cleaver’ (pg.2) on her ‘I Will Not’ New Years’ Resolution list. Daniel starts to flirt with Bridget using computer text messages until they finally go out on a date. After the date they go to Daniel’s flat and begin to undress. As he unzips Bridget’s skirt he says, ‘This is just a bit of fun, OK? I don’t think we should start getting involved’ (pg.33). Bridget reacts negatively to this, pulling up her skirt, calling Daniel an ‘emotional fuckwittage’ (pg.33), and leaving. The role of the ‘knight’ switches between Daniel and Bridget throughout the novel, but the reader is only given Jones’ point of view.
By using a less formal style, Helen Fielding is able to provide the reader with Jones’ thoughts, and the reader may sometimes know more about Bridget than she does herself. When she is thinking about Daniel she writes ‘It is marvellous having a boyfriend’ (pg.141). The reader may infer from this that Bridget is more in love with the idea of having a boyfriend than she is with Daniel himself. Germaine Greer writes that in romance ‘devotion is what is demanded, not love’ (Greer, 1971).
Greer also writes about the romantic courting phase of a woman’s relationship with a man, saying that it is ‘all glamour’, and that the female ‘met her husband only when she was being taken out, wined and dined’ (Greer,1971). She goes on to say that the romance ends in marriage, and the adventure and glamour is over. Bridget goes through a similar experience. After the excitement of their initial courtship Bridget wants to spend time with her new boyfriend, ‘but Daniel did not want to go out or discuss mini-breaks and insisted on spending all afternoon with the curtains drawn, watching the cricket’ (pg.142).
Bridget Jones’s Diary still has enough elements of the romance genre as to be considered a romance novel, but it does add many new elements. These elements spawned a new subgenre of romance called ‘chic lit’. Baldick describes chic lit as ‘a kind of light commercial fiction addressed to British women readers of the late 1990s and early 2000s and subsequently imitated in the United States and beyond’ (Baldick, 2008). This definition suggests that perhaps the romance novels that existed before chic lit didn’t address female readers of the late 1990s and early 2000s as directly or as effectively as Bridget Jones’s Diary did. Although romance novels still have a large audience, generating over $1.52 billion in sales in 2001 (Greco, 2005), no single romance novel in recent years has topped the sales records of Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary. In 2005 the number of copies sold worldwide was close to 10 million (Independent, 2005). Chic lit novels are so popular now that, according to Diane Shipley of The Guardian, publishers are packaging and promoting any work written by a female author as chic lit in order to generate more sales (Shipley, 2008).
Radway writes that readers of romance have a ‘vicarious identification with a woman who not only experiences the very same needs born of the same situation but who is lucky enough to have those needs met satisfactorily’ (Radway, 1986). The popularity of Bridget Jones’s Diary would suggest that the moral values of Bridget herself are shared by many of her readers. Bridget’s neurosis and paranoia may be exaggerated in some places to make it more humorous, but the reader can still relate to her. This relation would also suggest that the reader approves of premarital sex, drinking alcohol regularly, having a strong career, and not settling for any man but choosing that one true love. There is also a focus on consumerism, more specifically fashion.
‘she bought me an expensive bottle of Coco Chanel’ (pg.293)
This type of chic lit is exemplified in Candace Bushnell’s Sex and the City. It reflects a middle-class culture that is wealthy enough to afford buying expensive clothing and food, and never has to worry about paying the rent or bills.
John Story writes that ‘pop culture is a site where collective social understandings are created’, where ‘the politics of signification attempt to win readers to a particular way of seeing the world’ (Frodsham, 2008). The collective social understanding, or the way people saw the world, in 1996 was very different to the social understandings of 1932.
Devil’s Cub was first published in 1932, and despite being set in the early 19th Century, the contemporary attitudes of 1932 are represented in the novel. If the readers of 1932 related to Mary Challoner, then in 2008 we are possibly able to ascertain some of the social norms that were prevalent when the book was written and first published.
The traits of a ‘good man’, according to popular cultural social standards, have almost completely reversed from 1932 to 1996. Mary is attracted to Vidal, who is rebellious and wild. When she runs away with Mr Comyn, the straight man, he is not tough enough or masculine enough for her. She keeps asking that the coach they are travelling in go faster, but Mr Comyn ‘did not at all care to be bumped and jolted over bad roads’ (pg.191).
Bridget starts with a wild, rebellious boyfriend, Daniel. He neglects her and cheats on her. This could signify that the social conscious agrees that the rebellious type is not admirable or marriageable. Perpetua, Bridget’s co-worker, calls Daniel a ‘selfish, self-indulgent, manipulative, emotional blackmailer’ (pg.204). In the film version of the novel Bridget very directly tells Daniel that she is too good for him and that she deserves someone better.
Mark Darcy is seen as a boring straight man at the start of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bridget sees him as ‘ridiculous’ (pg.13), ‘yuk’ (pg12), badly dressed, and writes that she only talks to him to prove ‘that I wasn’t so useless with men I was failing to talk to even Mark Darcy’ (pg.15). After Daniel leaves Bridget she begins to find Mark attractive. When he takes control of a situation she writes that she finds it ‘pretty damn sexy’ (pg.274). Mark is also described as a ‘top-notch barrister. Masses of money’ (pg.9). The ‘good man’ is still a strong masculine figure with money, but the rebellious nature is now frowned upon and has been replaced by the straight, steady, reliable man.
The character of the important, but meddling, mother figure is very prominent in both novels. In Devil’s Cub the Duchess, mother of Vidal, is described as a ‘youthful-looking creature’ (pg.151). When she hears the news that Vidal has taken a girl to Paris she goes there immediately to interfere. Bridget’s mother also interferes in her life, trying to set her up with work and with men. Despite her annoyance, Bridget does see her mother as important, ending the novel with ‘do as your mother tells you’ (pg.307). Vidal repeatedly compares Mary to his mother.
‘I know of only one other woman who would have the courage to pull that trigger’, ‘My mother’ (pg.99).
Bridget doesn’t directly compare Mark to either of her parents, but the reader can see comparisons between Mark and Bridget’s father. They have both had women hurt them and suffer quietly. Greer calls this ‘a secret suffering’ (Greer, 1971). Both of these novels reinforce the social ideal that men end up marrying women like their mothers, and women end up marrying men like their fathers.
Romance novels are generally thought of as “low” culture by academics. Sociologist Elaine Wethington writes that early academics thought of romance as ‘pulp produced to seduce the masses into believing that their economic and social interests coincide, rather than conflict, with those of the rich’ (Wethington, 1999). Romance writing still appears to be considered of low quality, but the importance of it in a social context is still valid. The fact that we are currently studying two romance novels in a university unit is evidence that academic attitudes to romance are changing.
In conclusion, both Devil’s Cub and Bridget Jones’s Diary are categorised as romance novels, but because of their different literary styles they are considered different sub-genres. By comparing the socio-historical contexts of these novels we are able to ascertain how much the social norms have changed over time. Both novels have fulfilled the social role of a romance novel for their female readership, and while the romance is still considered as “low” culture, it is now studied and deconstructed at an academic level.
Abrams, M.H. 1981 A Glossary of Literary Terms – Fourth Edition HRW International. 22
Baldick, Chris 2008 The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms – Third Edition
Frodsham, John 2008 referring to John Story in the week 4 lecture for EGL290 – Popular Literature, Science Fiction & Cyberculture
Greco, Albert N. 2005 The Book Publishing Industry – Second Edition
Greer, Germain 1971 The Female Eunuch London: Granada Publ. Ltd. 174, 182, 186
Independent 2005 - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/keeping-up-with-ms-jones-501280.html
Radway, Janice 1986 “Reading Is Not Eating: Mass-Produced Literature and the Theoretical, Methodological, and Political Consequences of a Metaphor”, from Book Research Quarterly, 2 (3). 16
Shipley, Diane 2008 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2008/jul/29/thegreatchicklitcoverup
Wethington, Elaine 1999 - http://www.likesbooks.com/elaine.html
All quotes from Devil’s Cub By Georgette Heyer refer to the page numbers in the Arrow Books publication, 2004.
All quotes from Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding refer to the page numbers in the Picador publication, 1997.
Please note that if this proposal were to go ahead, the first person to read it and approve of it would have to be Tony Jones himself. Without his co-operation this show could not be pitched to anyone.
Imagine seeing billboards and print advertisements that looked like this:
TONY JONES IS DEAD
Coming Soon to ABC1
There would be discussion and confusion. Is Tony Jones really dead? Is the title symbolic or literal? If this is a TV show then what kind of show is it? Closer to the starting date of the program the advertising campaign could spread to television commercials that reveal brief glimpses of the program. An informed viewer could gather that the show was satirical in nature, but there would still be a large element of surprise when the show first aired.
A preferred timeslot would be Wednesday nights at 9pm. The timeslot has shared programs with a similar target audience for some time now. Programs like The Chaser’s War On Everything, The Hollowmen, That Mitchell and Webb Look, and Extras, despite being different, all appear to have similar expectations of their audience. They also share a similar sense of humour, intertextuality, and a broadening of any confined genre that they could be placed into neatly. There is also an expectation, especially with shows like The Chaser’s War On Everything, that the audience has a broad knowledge of other televisual media. For Tony Jones Is Dead to work effectively, the audience would have to have a prior knowledge of who Tony Jones is, and an understanding of current popular commercial television.
The first Wednesday evening the program airs, it begins exactly like an episode of Lateline, with Lateline’s opening credits and no real clue as to the fact that the program isn’t actually Lateline, except for perhaps the rating warning that appears before the show, and the fact that it is on at a different timeslot. Tony Jones appears onscreen and says, ‘I’m Tony Jones. Welcome to Lateline.’ as he normally does. There is some noise, banging and commotion, heard in the background. Tony continues, ‘On tonight’s program we will be looking at’ and he is interrupted by a figure in a balaclava and dressed completely in black. He grabs Tony Jones by the neck and holds a gun to his head. Tony looks terrified. There is no music. It feels and looks very realistic. The gunman yells in a thick Australian accent, ‘Australia! This is what the A.M.F.B.T. thinks about our national broadcaster!’ Screams fill the studio as the gunman pulls the trigger and Tony Jones is executed, live on television. Blood splatters from his head in a confronting manner and the camera cuts to static. The screen fades to black, and the title screen of the show fades in.
TONY JONES The title appears with a loud ‘Boom!’
IS DEAD This screen fades out, hopefully leaving the
audience breathless and stunned.
We then cut to a meeting room. The camera work is very handheld and documentary style. A group of people in business suits is sitting around a large meeting table, all looking very stressed and tired. Some of them are drinking coffee. Others are talking quietly to each other. ONE WEEK later appears on the bottom of the screen. An obese man opens the door to the meeting room. He is around 50 years old, sweaty, and balding. There is a security guard standing on the inside of the door. The man shows the guard his identification badge and he is let in. He holds the door open for a young, beautiful woman. She is around 21 and white. Her hair is blonde and tied back very tight. Her dress suit is very sharp and her makeup is very neat and precise. She holds her head up high and strides into the room. She walks to the head of the table.
The obese man closes the door behind her and wades over to stand next to her. The film freezes on a shot of him looking very stressed, and his name, Richard, appears on the bottom of the screen with a ‘BOOM!’ sound effect. The film unfreezes. He addresses the room, ‘Hello everyone. I think it’s no surprise why we are all here today. This tragedy that occurred to Mister Jones and the staff at Lateline is no doubt hard for us all, but we must move on.’ He hesitates, wipes his sweaty brow with a white handkerchief, takes a deep breath, and continues, ‘As you are all aware, the current government has decided to cut its broadcast funding almost completely. That means that as of January this year the ABC is going to become a commercial enterprise. In order to help us move forward from this tragedy, and look forward to a new commercial ABC, I give you Denise Rogers. Denise?’ The obese man claps and sits down at the table. A few people in the room clap, but it is very underwhelming.
Denise walks to the head of the table. She holds her head up high and the film freezes. Her name, DENISE, appears at the bottom of the screen with a ‘BOOM’ sound effect. She begins to speak in an American accent. ‘Thank you, Richard, for that introduction. My name is Denise. I’ve been flown in from the states in order to oversee the reimagining of the ABC from here on in. I have worked for many commercial enterprises, including MTV and Fox, and I have to say that there are some big changes ahead for you guys. Firstly,’ Denise clicks a button in her hand, and a large picture of Tony Jones projects onto the wall behind her, ‘We need to make the most of this. You guys need a new Lateline presenter, and fast.’
‘Hang on a minute’, a male voice interrupts. We cut to a medium shot to reveal who it is. It’s a man, mid 30s. His short black hair is messed up a little and his tie is loose. The film freezes on a shot of him and his name, FRANK, appears on the bottom of the screen with a loud ‘BOOM’ sound effect. The film unfreezes and he continues, ‘I thought Kerry was up for that spot.’
‘Yeah’, a female voice concurs. We cut to see a woman, also in her mid 30s, with curly red hair, red thick framed glasses, and a green jacket on. The film freezes and her name, Julia, appears on the screen with a loud ‘BOOM!’ sound effect. The film unfreezes and she continues, ‘Hey Richard, this is bullshit!’ The camera pans across to Richard, who is sitting next to Julia at the far end of the table. He looks very uncomfortable and stressed. He is red in the face. He’s looking across from Denise to Julia, and to the rest of the table, stumbling over his words, ‘Ah, er, hrrmmm’. Denise interrupts, ‘I think what Richard is trying to say is that the times are changing, folks, and we’ve got to change with them’.
The premise of the show is that as part of the new commercial interest of the ABC, the new host of Lateline will be chosen by using a reality TV style show, in which people around Australia appear before a panel of judges, in a similar style to Australian Idol, and try and read the news. Real life journalists could try and apply, only to see Denise completely pick on them and judge them harshly. Mike Moore, the fictional character from Frontline, could make a cameo appearance, trying to become the new host. There could also be many cameos of other ABC presenters. Applicants would be taken on a tour of the ABC studios and see behind the scenes taping of programs like At The Movies. When the program filming is over we could see David and Margaret acting like they absolutely hate each other. In a similar style to Extras, celebrities could be written to play funny over the top versions of themselves.
While the reality TV style show is a part of the program, it wouldn’t be the entire show. The format would be a documentary style show, in a very similar vein to Frontline, in which the doco style segments are done on a digital camera, and the reality TV segments are filmed with a regular television camera, in order to make the distinction between the two very clear visually. The judges of the reality show would be Frank, Julia, and Denise. Frank and Julia are both intelligent people who long for a legitimate and respectable ABC, while Denise is very interested in pushing commercial interests. The tension and focus of the show would be the relationship between these three, and their relationship with the weak boss Richard. A typical episode would involve a specific conflict between the group reach some kind of resolution at the end. One episode could see Denise try and seduce Frank in order to win him over to her way of thinking. Another could see Frank and Julia try and become close friends with Richard to try and win him over, while Denise does the same. The mystery and threat of what the A.M.F.B.T. means and who they are could also be a recurring plot thread that develops throughout the series. This kind of mystery, breaking of traditional program format, and respect for the audience worked well for programs like Lost. Jason Mittell writes that while most television is predictable Lost ‘dares to surprise us at nearly every turn’ (Mittell, 2005).
The audience for the program would likely be the same audience that already watches other ABC programs that are in the same time slot. The age could range from high school children to people in their 50s, but the focus would probably fall on people from 18 to 34 years of age. They would more than likely be middle to upper class, English speaking, and either born in Australia or have lived in Australia for many years. I think its appeal is quite broad, in that once the characters have been introduced then the conflicts they encounter can be enjoyed by most. A lot of the jokes and references are quite narrow, but in the context of the show I think that they will still be entertaining to a large audience. Reality television gets very high ratings. Of the top five highest rating programs on Australian television for the week of August 31 to September 6, 3 were reality style shows (The Australian, 2008). This would suggest that a parody of a reality show will make sense to a large audience. The specific jokes about ABC personalities may not work as well, but because the show is broadcast on the ABC I think a large proportion of the audience will understand the humour.
Tony Jones Is Dead will challenge the audience in numerous ways. Firstly, it will challenge consumer culture. Seeing commercial television through a satirical lens will challenge any preconceived notions of what commercial programs can really offer. Jock Given writes that successful free-to-air commercial television ‘depends on large numbers of people tuning in over and over again’ (Given, 2000). This would suggest that commercial stations generally broadcast what is called ‘least offensive programming’ or ‘LOW’. David Marc writes that the broadcaster ‘makes a pitch to an entire nation, people, or culture’ (Marc, 1996). In order to be so all-inclusive it is inevitable that the programming will become more simplistic and less challenging. Tony Jones Is Dead will also act as a protest against the ABC becoming commercial.
I imagine the first season consisting of 8 or 9 episodes. The conclusion would be that a young male and female co-host Lateline and that Frank and Julia are fired. By ending the first series with such an unhappy ending, I hope to challenge the viewers’ preconceived notions of how the story of a show should conclude.
The program will challenge notions of what a television show is. While it is still a sitcom about people working together, it is being presented in a different way. I would also like the theme music to be a very ‘in-your-face’ extreme death metal song. Just a short, brief tune that ends with the vocalist screaming, “Tony Jones Is Dead!” By mixing this kind of anti-social music and red stencil lettering with intelligent writing and humour, and with commercial style programming, I hope to keep the audience a little uneasy and attentive. Hopefully viewers will be forced to think about what they are seeing, at the same time as being entertained.
If the show proved to be popular, a second season could be made with a completely different format. It could be advertised as The New Lateline, with a new title The Late Line and an overtly youth oriented logo. The two new hosts would interview real politicians and guests, in a similar style to Ali-G, except in an Australian context. This would mean that the show could work on many levels. It would be humorous to see politicians asked silly questions and to see their reactions, but it would also be interesting to overtly pander to the safe feeling that commercial television interviews seem to have, and then hit them with a very hard hitting question that is phrased with a youth slang slant. The program could also feature commercial breaks, but instead of real advertisements they are parodies of real ads that feature on commercial television, in a similar style to Newstopia. The ad breaks could also feature fake advertisements for commercial versions of already existing ABC programs.
As the program would be mostly using digital cameras and already existing ABC studio sets and cameras, the production costs would be minimal. The most important thing would be to get the co-operation of Tony Jones and other ABC staff, getting them to ‘send up’ themselves and play along with the premise of the show. Any legal problems would only arise if celebrities were used in a way that they did not approve of. Ethically, it may be important to have a warning before the program that states Tony Jones is not actually dead and that some of the following scenes may disturb some viewers. I would prefer to not tell people that Tony Jones is actually alive and let them figure that out for themselves, but that decision would have to be left up to Jones himself and the legal staff at the ABC.
In conclusion, I think this show would gain high ratings for the ABC. It is very controversial, while at the same time being humorous and entertaining. I also think DVD sales would do very well once the series was over, and using the idea for a second season could give the series a much longer life on television.
Bibliography
Given, Jock 2000 ‘Commercial networks: Still the ones?’ from The Australian TV Book, Allen & Unwin, 50
Marc, David 1996 ‘What was broadcasting?’ from Demographic Vistas: Television in American Culture Revised ed, Philadelphia: Philadelphia University Press, 188
Mittell, Jason 2005 ‘The Value of Lost’ from Flow Vol2, Issue 10, http://jot.communication.utexas.edu/flow/.
The Australian – Thursday September 11, Media section, 34
jej
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Marvel Sucker - Mostly DC
Another comic vid, but turns out to be mostly DC titles for me these past two weeks. Wierd.
jej
jej
Thursday, October 09, 2008
AOTW - Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
Because Kings Of Leon appear to be youtube buttmonkeys, I cannot embedd their video onto my blog, so here is a video some girl made by playing with all her video filters and dancing around her bedroom. The song is 'Sex On Fire':
I think Kings Of Leon have become more and more poppy as each album has come out, but not in a bad way. Their first album sounded very Americana 70s or something. The cover artwork, even their look was very 'old' mixed with 'indy'. 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' was pretty similar, but then last year when they released 'Because Of The Times' they cut their hair and started to mix an even more catchy poppy sound into their songs. I really like it. Their albums are really easy to put on and listen to all the way through repeatedly. This new one does a bit of an early '90s emo thing in parts, but it's still guitar rock. It's like they've made bogan rock more stomachable with indy pop sounds, so it's cool. Does that make any sense?
Anyway, I dig it.
jej
I think Kings Of Leon have become more and more poppy as each album has come out, but not in a bad way. Their first album sounded very Americana 70s or something. The cover artwork, even their look was very 'old' mixed with 'indy'. 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' was pretty similar, but then last year when they released 'Because Of The Times' they cut their hair and started to mix an even more catchy poppy sound into their songs. I really like it. Their albums are really easy to put on and listen to all the way through repeatedly. This new one does a bit of an early '90s emo thing in parts, but it's still guitar rock. It's like they've made bogan rock more stomachable with indy pop sounds, so it's cool. Does that make any sense?
Anyway, I dig it.
jej
PG Porn
Starring Nathan Fillion, star of Serenity and the Internet, this is PG Porn.
Nailing Your Wife
Cheers to spacekicker for putting me onto this one ;p
jej
Nailing Your Wife
Cheers to spacekicker for putting me onto this one ;p
jej
Monday, October 06, 2008
Telly - 90210
What have I been watching?
Well, my main guilty pleasure at the moment is the new series of 90210. Picture The O.C. Now take away the cool geek character and add a handful of cronies from the original series and cake them in makeup. That's what the new 90210 is. It even has the adopted character, and there was an appearance/performance from 'Tilly and the Wall' early on. They also name drop bands all the time. "My Uncle got me tickets to a secret 'Vampire Weekend' gig". It's not all that kind of name dropping though. The same character also said "Yeah, me and Chris Brown hung out. Great guy and such an excellent performer". I think maybe these guys are casting their nets a lot wider than The O.C. did, and it comes back with this crazy moralistic mess that's so awesome to watch.
The guy who you just know is going to end up with the main female character, Annie, at the conclusion of the series, is introduced to us by being caught getting a blow job in his van in front of the school on a Monday morning. He has a steady girlfriend, but it's okay because he doesn't really love her or want to be with her. His heart is actually with Annie. It's so insane watching these crazy ideas of what is okay and what isn't.
The adopted kid is black, so there is occasional racism things going on, but not much. One of the characters is a drugged out skank, so that's pretty entertaining. I'm sooooo hoping they introduce some kind of homosexual element into the show so I can see how they 'handle' it.
I'm a sucker for this crap. I think if 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away' weren't so cheap and weren't on every day I would probably dig watching those shows also, but the way they are I just get bored. This big budget 'drama' however is fantastic trash.
Seeing Brenda looking old and awful, caked in make up, and trying to be all coy and meaningful, it's golden. She's totally mastered the 'stare meaningfully/soulfully at something/someone' after so many years of doing it on the original series, 'Charmed', and being in one Kevin Smith movie. Every time she does it I burst out laughing. I can't help it.
There seems to be some kind of 'perfect' age for people on these shows to be. I'd say it's about 25, or there abouts. The younger kids try and look older to be that age, and the older guys and girls try and dress like they're younger. What is wrong with these people?
Anyhow, trusty rusty Channel 10 had this show at one timeslot for a couple of weeks, then decided that 'The Brownlow Medal' audience was more important than fans of this crap, so shoved it off for a week. It's now on Friday nights, so catch it while you can, or download the thing. Stuff you Channel 10. I don't get how moving a shows' timeslot all over the place will help it get more ratings. It's just not logical. Thank God for the internet.
I also caught the first episode of 'Bogan Pride'. I don't really know what I think of it just yet. Sure, it's gross out humour, and that's fine. I just don't know if that's going to hold up for an entire series or not. I didn't laugh all that much, but I did laugh, so I'll probably watch this again. The musical numbers were pretty sweet I guess.
Another show that falls into that slot of 'This is totally original, but I'm not sure I love it, even though I'm still watching it anyway' category, is Very Small Business. This series ends this week, and I've watched every ep so far. It's about this guy, Don Angel, who runs a bunch of small, dodgy businesses under different aliases. He's seperated from his wife and does a crap job of looking after his kids. Ray (played by Kim Gyngell...Col'n Carpenter) is a guy who suffers from depression and picks up a job with Don. He has a daughter, who he has recently found out isn't actually his. She's part of a cult-ish christian group who speak in tongues. The group is led by a dodgy bloke who may be abusing young girls, or at least getting a bit too touchy with them. Any of this sounds familiar? No, it totally doesn't. Every time I finish watching an episode I kind of go, 'Well, I've never seen anything like that before'. It's a comedy I guess, but it's a black one. It's kind of drama too. It's all over this week anyway.
Another show that's over is The Hollowmen. I really hope this gets picked up again. I think it has at least a couple more seasons in it.
That's it for telly for me really.
jej
Well, my main guilty pleasure at the moment is the new series of 90210. Picture The O.C. Now take away the cool geek character and add a handful of cronies from the original series and cake them in makeup. That's what the new 90210 is. It even has the adopted character, and there was an appearance/performance from 'Tilly and the Wall' early on. They also name drop bands all the time. "My Uncle got me tickets to a secret 'Vampire Weekend' gig". It's not all that kind of name dropping though. The same character also said "Yeah, me and Chris Brown hung out. Great guy and such an excellent performer". I think maybe these guys are casting their nets a lot wider than The O.C. did, and it comes back with this crazy moralistic mess that's so awesome to watch.
The guy who you just know is going to end up with the main female character, Annie, at the conclusion of the series, is introduced to us by being caught getting a blow job in his van in front of the school on a Monday morning. He has a steady girlfriend, but it's okay because he doesn't really love her or want to be with her. His heart is actually with Annie. It's so insane watching these crazy ideas of what is okay and what isn't.
The adopted kid is black, so there is occasional racism things going on, but not much. One of the characters is a drugged out skank, so that's pretty entertaining. I'm sooooo hoping they introduce some kind of homosexual element into the show so I can see how they 'handle' it.
I'm a sucker for this crap. I think if 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away' weren't so cheap and weren't on every day I would probably dig watching those shows also, but the way they are I just get bored. This big budget 'drama' however is fantastic trash.
Seeing Brenda looking old and awful, caked in make up, and trying to be all coy and meaningful, it's golden. She's totally mastered the 'stare meaningfully/soulfully at something/someone' after so many years of doing it on the original series, 'Charmed', and being in one Kevin Smith movie. Every time she does it I burst out laughing. I can't help it.
There seems to be some kind of 'perfect' age for people on these shows to be. I'd say it's about 25, or there abouts. The younger kids try and look older to be that age, and the older guys and girls try and dress like they're younger. What is wrong with these people?
Anyhow, trusty rusty Channel 10 had this show at one timeslot for a couple of weeks, then decided that 'The Brownlow Medal' audience was more important than fans of this crap, so shoved it off for a week. It's now on Friday nights, so catch it while you can, or download the thing. Stuff you Channel 10. I don't get how moving a shows' timeslot all over the place will help it get more ratings. It's just not logical. Thank God for the internet.
I also caught the first episode of 'Bogan Pride'. I don't really know what I think of it just yet. Sure, it's gross out humour, and that's fine. I just don't know if that's going to hold up for an entire series or not. I didn't laugh all that much, but I did laugh, so I'll probably watch this again. The musical numbers were pretty sweet I guess.
Another show that falls into that slot of 'This is totally original, but I'm not sure I love it, even though I'm still watching it anyway' category, is Very Small Business. This series ends this week, and I've watched every ep so far. It's about this guy, Don Angel, who runs a bunch of small, dodgy businesses under different aliases. He's seperated from his wife and does a crap job of looking after his kids. Ray (played by Kim Gyngell...Col'n Carpenter) is a guy who suffers from depression and picks up a job with Don. He has a daughter, who he has recently found out isn't actually his. She's part of a cult-ish christian group who speak in tongues. The group is led by a dodgy bloke who may be abusing young girls, or at least getting a bit too touchy with them. Any of this sounds familiar? No, it totally doesn't. Every time I finish watching an episode I kind of go, 'Well, I've never seen anything like that before'. It's a comedy I guess, but it's a black one. It's kind of drama too. It's all over this week anyway.
Another show that's over is The Hollowmen. I really hope this gets picked up again. I think it has at least a couple more seasons in it.
That's it for telly for me really.
jej
Wii - The Simpsons Game
I haven't written about video games in a long time. The main reason is probably that I haven't really been playing them all that much. When people come over I sometimes get some gaming happening, but when I'm alone I really only play old Pacman and Mario games, and who the hell wants to read posts about that?
When things get busy at uni I always seem to find ways to spend my time. I'll find anything to do that doesn't involve what I'm supposed to be doing. Something in my head stops me from sitting and watching hours and hours of DVDs, but the niggling seems to cease when I'm playing video games.
I started playing 'The Simpsons Game' back when it came out and got stuck at a really easy point. I knew I had to get Bart to jump from the top of a model space ship onto the top of a model planet, but the controls are so bad that I couldn't do it for months. It's not just the controls. It's the camera also. How am I supposed to guide where I land if I can't see it properly. After a few re-tries at this over a couple of months I finally got it..... and I've played the game right through to the end.
'Why', you ask, 'Why would you play a terribly annoying crappy game with terrible controls all the way through to its conclusion???' I like The Simpsons. This game is funny, the cut scenes are great, the voices are all there, there are about a cajillion references to minor characters from the show, it's really funny stuff. Even the simple level puzzles and the way the stages are layed out is fine. It's just the awful controls atht will stop me from replaying what could have been a really great game.
The storyline is great. You play as all the characters throughout the game, getting used to all their powers, and then Springfield gets attacked by aliens. To stop the attack you must enter the game engine and try and convince the creator to stop the attack from happening. This is where the game starts to get clever. There are a bunch of game parodies, and they're pretty great. 'Grand Theft Scratchy', 'Medal Of Homer', 'NeverQuest', most of these mini games could have been stretched out into funny games all of their own. The cut scenes here are gold.
Then you finally meet the creator. You have to fight Matt Groening, who is sketching pictures of Bender and throwing them at you. Then Matt Groening won't help so you have to go to the creator of all, God. After beating Shakespeare at the gates of heaven, you have to do a bunch of cloud stuff until you finally find God. God is a gamer and you have to face him off at the ultimate game of Dance Dance Revolution, which is the final stage.
It's kind of crazy, but clever. Some of the cutscenes in this are almost existential. It's extremely post modern, which is what The Simpsons sort of is I suppose, but it seems to be more so here. This is almost an awesome game. It's just a shame they spent all their money on good writers and ideas, and then let a bunch of lazy bozos design the thing. Seriously, there are so many glitches and little stupid irritating things in here that I felt like I was playing an unfinished version of the thing.
But, I've got the one player gaming bug again, so I'll probably post soon about some other games I've been wasting time on.
jej
When things get busy at uni I always seem to find ways to spend my time. I'll find anything to do that doesn't involve what I'm supposed to be doing. Something in my head stops me from sitting and watching hours and hours of DVDs, but the niggling seems to cease when I'm playing video games.
I started playing 'The Simpsons Game' back when it came out and got stuck at a really easy point. I knew I had to get Bart to jump from the top of a model space ship onto the top of a model planet, but the controls are so bad that I couldn't do it for months. It's not just the controls. It's the camera also. How am I supposed to guide where I land if I can't see it properly. After a few re-tries at this over a couple of months I finally got it..... and I've played the game right through to the end.
'Why', you ask, 'Why would you play a terribly annoying crappy game with terrible controls all the way through to its conclusion???' I like The Simpsons. This game is funny, the cut scenes are great, the voices are all there, there are about a cajillion references to minor characters from the show, it's really funny stuff. Even the simple level puzzles and the way the stages are layed out is fine. It's just the awful controls atht will stop me from replaying what could have been a really great game.
The storyline is great. You play as all the characters throughout the game, getting used to all their powers, and then Springfield gets attacked by aliens. To stop the attack you must enter the game engine and try and convince the creator to stop the attack from happening. This is where the game starts to get clever. There are a bunch of game parodies, and they're pretty great. 'Grand Theft Scratchy', 'Medal Of Homer', 'NeverQuest', most of these mini games could have been stretched out into funny games all of their own. The cut scenes here are gold.
Then you finally meet the creator. You have to fight Matt Groening, who is sketching pictures of Bender and throwing them at you. Then Matt Groening won't help so you have to go to the creator of all, God. After beating Shakespeare at the gates of heaven, you have to do a bunch of cloud stuff until you finally find God. God is a gamer and you have to face him off at the ultimate game of Dance Dance Revolution, which is the final stage.
It's kind of crazy, but clever. Some of the cutscenes in this are almost existential. It's extremely post modern, which is what The Simpsons sort of is I suppose, but it seems to be more so here. This is almost an awesome game. It's just a shame they spent all their money on good writers and ideas, and then let a bunch of lazy bozos design the thing. Seriously, there are so many glitches and little stupid irritating things in here that I felt like I was playing an unfinished version of the thing.
But, I've got the one player gaming bug again, so I'll probably post soon about some other games I've been wasting time on.
jej
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Haircut Theory
I aplogise in advance for the inanity of this post.
I had my haircut the other day by a girl with a chest infection, and now I'm feeling sick. Are the two incidences connected?
Anyway, that's not my point. I had my haircut the other day and straight after it was done I didn't really like it. It was shorter, but I didn't really like the way it looked. It wasn't until after I'd had a shower the next morning and looked in the mirror that I decided I liked my new "do". After this happened I recalled the last few times I had been to get my haircut. I never really like the way a haircut looks until the day after it has happened.
Is it the actual hair? Does hair look different immediately after it has been cut and need a chance to 'settle in'? Does it need to be flattened by a hard stream of hot water in the shower before it looks alive again after being snipped at? Is it all psychological? Do I have some thing in my brain that doesn't like to go to bed looking different to how I woke up, so I need to sleep on it, so I can wake up with a new haircut and be okay with it?
Am I the only one this happens to?
Anyhow, as I said, I apologise.
That is all.
jej
I had my haircut the other day by a girl with a chest infection, and now I'm feeling sick. Are the two incidences connected?
Anyway, that's not my point. I had my haircut the other day and straight after it was done I didn't really like it. It was shorter, but I didn't really like the way it looked. It wasn't until after I'd had a shower the next morning and looked in the mirror that I decided I liked my new "do". After this happened I recalled the last few times I had been to get my haircut. I never really like the way a haircut looks until the day after it has happened.
Is it the actual hair? Does hair look different immediately after it has been cut and need a chance to 'settle in'? Does it need to be flattened by a hard stream of hot water in the shower before it looks alive again after being snipped at? Is it all psychological? Do I have some thing in my brain that doesn't like to go to bed looking different to how I woke up, so I need to sleep on it, so I can wake up with a new haircut and be okay with it?
Am I the only one this happens to?
Anyhow, as I said, I apologise.
That is all.
jej
Friday, October 03, 2008
Marvel Sucker - Next Avengers
I talk about Secret Invasion, Immortal Iron Fist, Skaar, and the new animated Marvel DVD.
jej
jej
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
AOTW - Rodriguez - Cold Fact
Thanks to RTR FM I've been exposed to a fair bit of Rodriguez. He's some guy who recorded albums in the '70s but never really gave interviews or toured. His albums were commercially unsuccessful, but he gained popularity outside of the U.S. in places like South Africa, and Australia. He toured with Midnight Oil in 1981 and then stopped playing for a while. Since then his music was used in the film 'Candy' and his popularity rose again. Now he's a touring man again.
I never knew any of this and I'd never really heard any of his music before they starting playing it on the radio. It's really killer stuff. He's a folk guy I guess, but he kind of has this cool original sound. 'Cold Fact' was released in 1970, but it almost sounds like it was recorded this year with a retro kind of thing going on. The lyrics are really simple, but in that cool way, like songs that sound like they've always been written or something.
Anyway, enough gushing. Check these tracks out. This is 'Sugarman':
...and 'I Wonder':
jej
I never knew any of this and I'd never really heard any of his music before they starting playing it on the radio. It's really killer stuff. He's a folk guy I guess, but he kind of has this cool original sound. 'Cold Fact' was released in 1970, but it almost sounds like it was recorded this year with a retro kind of thing going on. The lyrics are really simple, but in that cool way, like songs that sound like they've always been written or something.
Anyway, enough gushing. Check these tracks out. This is 'Sugarman':
...and 'I Wonder':
jej
Moofies - Never Back Down, Wall - E, Leonard Cohen
I haven't blogged all week! I guess uni and work and whatever else just added up to me not doing this. I also just realised that I haven't written a movie rant in a long while, so it's time to rectify that situation.
Firstly, Never Back Down. Imagine The OC crossed with Kickboxer and that's what this movie is. I totally loved it. It was awful and predictable, but I enjoyed this so much. The performances were half decent, the characters were likeable enough, and it was FINALLY a teen competition movie that wasn't about dancing or some junk. I would totally be on board for a lot more crappy teen flicks if they didn't involve "crumping" or whatever. Also, if you're into UFC and that kind of thing, it's pretty sweet to see the crazy ultra violent fighting style represented in a big budget teen flick. I remember when Fight Club came out and a lot of reviewers disliked it for its overly violent content. I say, have a look at the fight scenes in Never Back Down. Seriously, this is brutal, and seeing brutal in the context of a teen movie is a bit strange, but sadly I was totally into it.
Next up, Wall - E. I generally like Pixar movies. They seem to be the original kids 3D animation flicks that other production companies imitate. Then I tried watching Cars and the quirky factor destroyed me. I just couldn't stomach all the smarmy quick talk. Ratatouille wasn't bad, but Wall - E is their best film yet. Seriously, from the first scene to the last I was totally into this. The first half of the film has pretty much zero dialogue, but the characterisation of Wall - E the robot is so good that it doesn't matter. Not that I'm against no dialogue or anything, but it isn't a slow moving fillm because of it. It's still has all the charm and cuteness of a regular cartoon; its just extra cool because its different and original. It is very preachy, heavy handedly taking on obesity and pollution, but the morals are so integral to the story that it doesn't feel like its tacked on. So good. I think this will be in my top ten films for 2008. Loved it.
Because it's been so long since I wrote one of these moofie blogs I'm having a hard time remembering what we've seen. We watched No Country For Old Men again, which is freaking genius film making. I also read the book, because I was doing a talk on the author Cormac McCarthy for uni, (and I got a HD for it!!!) but I will talk about that in another blog. If you haven't seen the film then see it now. It's really dark, but I think McCarthy is totally onto something that few other writers try to tackle, or at least tackle successfully. Also the Coen Brothers make great films.
I'm really starting to get sick of music documentaries. They just seem to consist of people sitting around saying how amazing certain musicians or gigs were. The truth is musicians are people just like anyone else, and I only really want to hear what you have to say about a certain musician if you a) are that musician or b) were very involved in the life and work of that musician. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man is worth seeing because there is a lot of Cohen speaking about his songs, and some of the performances by other artists of his work are really great. My favourite one, that I keep listening and re-listening to, is Antony singing 'If It Be Your Will'. Here it is:
Also Nick Cave rules. I hard a REALLY hard time listening to Bono on this thing. He seems to pop up on ever single one of these music doco things, spouting all this nonsense and wasting my time. What Bono thinks about Leonard Cohen has about as much importance as what I think about Leornard Cohen. Sure, I'll blog my opinions, but my opinions don't belong on a documentary about Cohen!!! It's so infuriating to watch him blab on like I care about what he's saying.
U2 are an okay band. I think their early stuff has a lot of energy and everything. Even the electronic-ish stuff they did was okay. It's the new U2 that really irks me. It's just so bland and boring and meh. I saw Bono on an Elvis music doco thing, with a poem he had written. It was at this point that I decided Bono was the biggest knob ever:
Okay, enough Bono hatred. I know he does good things for a lot of people. I'm just not one of them.
That's it for now :)
jej
Firstly, Never Back Down. Imagine The OC crossed with Kickboxer and that's what this movie is. I totally loved it. It was awful and predictable, but I enjoyed this so much. The performances were half decent, the characters were likeable enough, and it was FINALLY a teen competition movie that wasn't about dancing or some junk. I would totally be on board for a lot more crappy teen flicks if they didn't involve "crumping" or whatever. Also, if you're into UFC and that kind of thing, it's pretty sweet to see the crazy ultra violent fighting style represented in a big budget teen flick. I remember when Fight Club came out and a lot of reviewers disliked it for its overly violent content. I say, have a look at the fight scenes in Never Back Down. Seriously, this is brutal, and seeing brutal in the context of a teen movie is a bit strange, but sadly I was totally into it.
Next up, Wall - E. I generally like Pixar movies. They seem to be the original kids 3D animation flicks that other production companies imitate. Then I tried watching Cars and the quirky factor destroyed me. I just couldn't stomach all the smarmy quick talk. Ratatouille wasn't bad, but Wall - E is their best film yet. Seriously, from the first scene to the last I was totally into this. The first half of the film has pretty much zero dialogue, but the characterisation of Wall - E the robot is so good that it doesn't matter. Not that I'm against no dialogue or anything, but it isn't a slow moving fillm because of it. It's still has all the charm and cuteness of a regular cartoon; its just extra cool because its different and original. It is very preachy, heavy handedly taking on obesity and pollution, but the morals are so integral to the story that it doesn't feel like its tacked on. So good. I think this will be in my top ten films for 2008. Loved it.
Because it's been so long since I wrote one of these moofie blogs I'm having a hard time remembering what we've seen. We watched No Country For Old Men again, which is freaking genius film making. I also read the book, because I was doing a talk on the author Cormac McCarthy for uni, (and I got a HD for it!!!) but I will talk about that in another blog. If you haven't seen the film then see it now. It's really dark, but I think McCarthy is totally onto something that few other writers try to tackle, or at least tackle successfully. Also the Coen Brothers make great films.
I'm really starting to get sick of music documentaries. They just seem to consist of people sitting around saying how amazing certain musicians or gigs were. The truth is musicians are people just like anyone else, and I only really want to hear what you have to say about a certain musician if you a) are that musician or b) were very involved in the life and work of that musician. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man is worth seeing because there is a lot of Cohen speaking about his songs, and some of the performances by other artists of his work are really great. My favourite one, that I keep listening and re-listening to, is Antony singing 'If It Be Your Will'. Here it is:
Also Nick Cave rules. I hard a REALLY hard time listening to Bono on this thing. He seems to pop up on ever single one of these music doco things, spouting all this nonsense and wasting my time. What Bono thinks about Leonard Cohen has about as much importance as what I think about Leornard Cohen. Sure, I'll blog my opinions, but my opinions don't belong on a documentary about Cohen!!! It's so infuriating to watch him blab on like I care about what he's saying.
U2 are an okay band. I think their early stuff has a lot of energy and everything. Even the electronic-ish stuff they did was okay. It's the new U2 that really irks me. It's just so bland and boring and meh. I saw Bono on an Elvis music doco thing, with a poem he had written. It was at this point that I decided Bono was the biggest knob ever:
Okay, enough Bono hatred. I know he does good things for a lot of people. I'm just not one of them.
That's it for now :)
jej
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