Monday, October 31, 2005
Harry Potter Loves Mike Myers
Blowing the question with an answer around Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, Kid in red GAP T-shirt fails to note his status. Previous episodes show that every contestant on Australia's Brainiest Kid has read the entire works of J.K. Rowling and knows the characters like they know their pillowcases.
In addition, each and every one has watched all of franchise note by Mike Myers, such as Shrek and Austin Powers. Two topics which appear in every episode of the quiz show game.
Early final round tactics by Douglas Roche set the stage for the eventual win. Other categories such as the Russian revolution behind the reds and Melody's blue squares face against Academy Awards of 2000 and onwards. Their obscurity compared to that behind the yellow squares doing nothing to make his romp through short of simple and bald face.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
HMAS 2: Time evaporates
Food may not too much of a problem if averages keep up on the play. With conferences and meetings on Fridays, at least so far, leftovers prove to be inescapably cheap. Ever more so when, from the jump of daily ritual, snacking every two hours gives way to one meal for the entire day. And productivity is no worse for it.
Small talk with the others in the bay stays to a minimum. Looking around the floor a sure sign of taking too many liberties with processing.
Extra work at the confines makes the most of waiting. Chalk the Walk artists no doubt far more along in the afternoon than in the projected leave time of noon a week before.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Amajuba - Like Doves We Rise
Few theatre shows will leave fine particles of red dust in the eyes. Fewer still being able to move the audience with the stories of the cast breaking through memories of their times during apartheid South Africa.
Seats organised by The Program were at one stage gone before the collection. Sweat off the brow as the mix up centred around the allocation of tickets between the pre-sale and media booths.
Unbelievably uplifting and damningly enjoyable, Amajuba is a beautiful experience.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Frank Bennett at The Basement
Five games of pool later, all without a win against the shark, and the start time for Frank Bennett comes and passes. The man himself is walking around in rather loose white attire. Poolside wear of a large complex.
First up at the stage, a very funny and self-deprecating Jackie Loeb. Comic timing is finely tuned. Her shrill voice and closeness to the volume and microphone putting the ear drums under a crackling strain. Quick fire impersonations dash in and right out just before too long.
And then time unforgiven, close to an hour between. Sitting, waiting, doing nothing. Nothing at all.
Frank Bennett finally storms the stage and is all over the crowd. Taking the cue from Sinatra's '59er tour, Bennett is up and floating where the air is rarified. Jokes are of the older set, making do with the average age of the audience. No hair on the man. Quite shiny a scalp. Cole Porter hits are the servings main on the menu. Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel and Radiohead's Creep sneak in appearances.
Wonderful set all up. Despite the late start and rather limp laughs. Two constantly wandering waitresses prove to be a certain distraction all night long.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
DOOM
From start to finish, The Rock's tan appears to darken with each kill shot. Watching the action run through in FPS mode is nothing short of glorious and well worth waiting for.
Quite the fear stricken mode as a rather obese man on the left nearly knocks over his large cup of Coke several times. The cup holder straining to keep the wax paper vessel upright and tight with the plastic lid.
Rampant cursing in the script blends right into the darkness of the Martian labs and station halls. Sounds like DOOM.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Reply Paid 181
Caught out from the recycling bin, a low rate credit card application from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Better known as HSBC, to the householder they divulge of potential benefits to be had with their plastic card of financial excess.
Impersonal and targeted to an untitled address, their only indication of personalisation comes in the pre-printed home address. Knowing not even any of the many aliases available from the multitude of mailing lists, the personal details, especially that of the name and gender remain blank. With such an apparent disregard there can be of two reasons.
Any fool will apply for a credit card. Or, like a corporate card taken to another level, the actual building shall submit its details and hope for the best. For the case of the latter, a priority application finds its way through the postal system. Complete with a brochure from ING Direct on the various ways of generating more interest savings in the bank account.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
HTML messenger in Australia Square 1: Overbite
Squeaky steps in from the rain and a newspaper on the table soaks up a lot of the wet of the umbrella. Casual temperance, the rest of the parties step aside for the deadline.
A crushing rush to flush the weekly edition before noon primary essence of the occupational filler. Coasting the casing, speed and flow appear to run smooth. For the most part. Replacement at this point in time an option apparently unavailable.
Quick scans later and four hours after walking through the glass door, the day and week is done in four hours. Few fouls fly through to make sure the first day jives ride on the mind with a wavering of confidence.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Nerve 9 at the Performance Space
Clearly, of all manner of theatre, dance and spectacle seen in this year alone, De Quincey: Nerve 9 excels in reforming the notion of understanding and appreciation.
Simple reflection lies the performance itself as a set of convulsive fits set to an unnerving soundtrack of poetry. Lyrics holding too far a distance from the beat and rhythm, style moving in a jerky fashion. Paranoia and the representation of loss quite possibly there in the lining.
Clear interpretation not forthcoming, the delivery is as mysterious as the brunette in fine brown stockings rolling a smoke and laughing all the while.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Bombon (El Perro)
Even with the designated start of 18:30, both late and early enough for all concerned, people still file into the dark of the Dendy Opera Quays. With a film like Bombon, reading subtitles against and through silhouettes of stragglers proves trying, challenging.
Raggedy faces and textured creases introduce characters within seconds. Bombon is a film better served without a couple continually laughing through their clenched teeth. With a doubt charming, there's a fragility that makes for compelling viewing.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Sony service centre sync problems
Out in the skirts of industrial wastelands, the Sony service centre. Featuring alcohol soaked wipes, cabinets of Sony products and no ease in talking to the people behind the desk. Humidity is on a level comparative with a sauna. Ice running through the customer service people balancing out the climatological equation.
Excursions to foreign places of some importance ideally would include noting the location. A vague hint of the suburb and a main road doing much to eat into the four hours set aside in navigating the roads.
From St Peters railway station into the teat of Rosebery. Down and up, up and down Gardners and Botany Roads. No clue as to the address of the service centre. Asking shops and strangers along the roads turning up as many looks of cluelessness. Consulting the phone books is futile, the 2004/2005 editions of the White Pages not current enough to keep with the information.
Mascot Police Station is a quiet outpost. Their phone books are also rather out of date, the latest of convenience from behind the counter a slab from 2003/2004. Calls at first to random people possibly at computers gives out to requesting information from Town Hall Sound Centre to pin down the street address.
Gardners Road is not even the right crossroad, despite assurances from the service centre itself. The actual crossroads is two streets away.
Hostile from the very first step into their squeaky clean and untrodden tiles, the brunette behind the counter refused to acknowledge any kind of possible problem. Ducking into the backroom to consult a surly man, the conversation continued slowly and on each return, an increase in defiance and decrease in concern over the quality of the memory stick. Only at the mention of corrupting of files does the matter get taken to. And even then, only reluctantly.
And now, the wait. And the hope they do not lose the contact details.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Scratching at piles on the street
Another appearance is made in the film and theatre reviews section of street magazine, The Brag. Alex Lloyd bears his image on the cover of #130 and every copy of the pulp drops a catalogue for Billy Hyde.
Snaring the first column on the outer, a review of Emergence. A wonderfully fun production from the people of Synarcade, the review fails to mention their studio name and more importantly, the word "fun." Of which Emergence is in no doubt of serving.
Conditional flooding through a freefall
Dropping a swag over the course of a few hours, the crop of a couple weeks hits a major vein in the first blank slate Monday. Results of competitions and giveaways colluding to drown out other attention snaring missives and notes. Knowing full well that excursions into the city are on a limited basis, their sudden collection makes for intent calculation on purchases of train fare.
Double preview passes for Wolf Creek from Triple J arriving the same day of the screening. Ordinarily, the preoccupation of earning money makes the arrival entirely late. Though not without an easy diversion following a hectic day at the office. Otherwise, the bother of hoofing the late trains is at times overwhelming.
Conversely, while the barbaric environment of cinema is an issue of concern, the prospect of slumming public transport for live theatre, as in the case of De Quincey: Nerve 9, is more than appealing. Figuring an accompaniment the only possible hurdle.
Slipping in between the notices, A Bigger Bang from The Rolling Stones and a voucher for a one hour massage from the kneading hands of students. On the latter, the offer is explicit in mentioning there being no chance in selecting the masseuse.
Monday, October 17, 2005
False-Hearted Judges
With as much explanation on the recovery from palsy, Captain Deakin no longer patches the eye. Frozen open eyeball or not, the lack of note adds another feeling of by-the-non-incendiary-book stylings to the finale of the fourth season of Criminal Intent.
Hyperbole and squeezing of attention in the lead up failed to lift the bread in the occasion. Chilling and twisted to be sure, but the lack of explosiveness hinted all throughout the week to the big season ender sees a whimpering into re-runs until the new batch of Goren and Eames grace the screens.
Cyborg battles against brainy kids
Well into the series now and nowhere in the rules of Australia's Brainiest Kids did they state explicitly that cyborgs and androids were not allowed to compete with the other 12 and 13 year old contestants.
Bowl cut boy by the name of Joe Zhang intensely held down any excess movement, from the jaw and eyes down to the very move of his arms. Solid channeling of voice patterns through clenched teeth.
From the start the twelve matched answers, all getting perfect scores. After the break and they lose their cohesion as a unit, they falter and break away. Host Sandra Sully makes no mention of this, the kudos as heard in the first six questions no longer easy coming.
Kids in the shadows of the background flailing their arms upset the overall tone of the feminist's opportunity to shine, Answering questions like rote, the girl's appearance looks like a 14 or 15 compared to the others in the game.
Poor use of final board tactics sees sheepish selections ring the squares of the board. In the end a girl named Vivian edges past the other two, taking out the round. A round in which a familiar face in the stands looks likely to have returned from the series prior.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
DDH 63: So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen...
Sixty two weeks later and the journey ends. Fifty four weeks overdue, the ride up and down the stairwell these many months has been nothing short of quirky.
Continual extension of the contract, with a few chunks in fortnights on short notice, bleeds out an initial two month stay.
Cling wrap in the final months building to a size of nine square centimetres. A collection of dried banana skins, rubberised apples and a staple forced mandarin. Mounds of various street press publications. Memories are made of this. Cleaning is also taken with their presence.
Final smoothie celebrations at the Lobby Cafe feature a fetish doll named Lulu, a gift voucher for JB Hi-Fi and a farewell card signed by all in and around the team.
Last steps along the floor were quick and dashed off a few missives. A few more surely missed in the round.
And so leaves the daily grind of sleeping on the morning trains. With the upcoming swelter of summer, an exit none too soon. Though still too soon either way.
So now to reclaim the days as an impoverished freelance writer occasionally dabbling in web development.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Emergence, Scratch Night at The Studio
Nothing like a Choose Your Own Adventure tale for live interactive theatre. Emergence throws the audience into what starts off as a kooky art installation to only then become and drive the entire performance. Within limits.
Simultaneously fun and disturbing, Tuesday night crafted the being-in-waiting, Ram, into a smooth talking and distant monster. Nick Curnow, Ram, is everything all creepy inside his pasty face and exoskeleton.
Fantastic deception in the pre-recorded and live segments; unnerving to an extent. Industrial noise makes for a full effect with the people standing in what is pretty much an incubation chamber.
Thoroughly interesting, quizzically entertaining.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Scattered mystic krome
Forty minutes watching the man behind the counter treat the cybershot like an old device, clicking the buttons with such sheer force, the results are as feared. Breaking down the digital images, the conflict between camera and memory stick is invalid. Conflict is nothing. Bad sectors exist on the memory stick. Corrupting files every now and then bringing about much uncertainty with the shutter bugging. Off to the wilds of Rosebery, in hunt now for the service centre...
The Devil's Rejects
For if there is nothing better to do, feast upon a movie that will blow a hole into the back of your brain. Shocking, brutal and so very violent, Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects is, on the surface, a film without the morals and baggage of other action/horror movies.
Deeper down, there isn't much more than that. Slayings of a most gruesome nature running rampant through mid-western lands strip all the flesh from the humanity of the film. Redeeming qualities of the trio at the core? Hardly any, non-existent for the main. Captain Spalding is entirely gross and very wicked. The children just as vile. Bunny, though, has some spectacularly fantastic teeth for an inbred hillbilly slasher.
A blonde in ugh boots, shivering and jumping all throughout the session in a ball at several points, outlasts her boyfriend who walks out twenty minutes in on account of The Devil's Rejects being "too freaky and weird" for his liking.
Thoroughly satisfying if a departure from the calm blue oceans are in order.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Bleeding on a dawn broken brain
Attempts to read early in the morning lead to waking up with a brain sloshing around in the skull. Nose bleeds can not be far behind. An apparent absence will most like drive the membrane to order a plasma run. If only...
Amazing Spider-Man #521
So, while staying at the Avengers Towers, Spider-Man takes a back seat in one of his own comics to watch as they try and figure out the brutal mess of an apparent resurgence of HYDRA. At this point, trying to recall much of anything that happened loads a bear onto the system. One without a hot plate.The Grimoire #5
Quick and snappy, transitions between panels is abrupt and there is no time to lose in keeping up with the girl, a big bulky book and her racoon familiar/guide. Choppy changes shoe horn all sorts of little details, but despite this, the flow works pretty well, moving along at a reasonable pace. Whatever reasonable is.Ultimate Spider-Man #81
Great opening shot of the recently broken Peter and Mary Jane through a sea of hallway noise and cafeteria chatter. Outside of that though, the memory just blanks out and there isn't anything from the rest of the issue that stands out. Quite possibly a remnant of not finishing the rest of the issue. Or simply not remembering anything from that moment on in the first instance.Astonishing X-Men #11
Danger and Professor X tussle it out as they serve on two planes of reality. Physical and mental, the battle finally comes to a head. Only then to really kick it into high gear. There's a lingering note that the costume worn by Colossus really isn't meant to be worn when not in full body metal rings mode. Strong man carnival attire without the flair.Sunday, October 9, 2005
Frisky Peter Helliar
Light rain for the people in the Michael Buble performance at the Opera House forecourt snags the final call for a taker on the other half of the free pair of tickets for the comedian. Even the people from the farewell party at the building are the kind to pass. As always, alone. Again.
Second half of Peter Helliar's set at @Newtown really makes with the funny. The first half and indeed the warm up act of Paul Calleja really taking its toll. A woman in the seventh row makes a lot of the little jokes. Drunk off her head no doubt.
Helliar appears to be the funniest of the three from the Rove Live gang. Given that the competition isn't stellar to begin with, the comparison is weighted against itself.
Entertaining gig despite the familiar retreads and well-worn areas of the act. Merrick and Rosso were up the back of the audience, spotting them only on the whispers of the couple in front looking for a shot or handshake.
Saturday, October 8, 2005
DDH 62: Empty spaces and forgetful faces
Mounds of street press are finally taken to. Fifty two weeks taken in folds and their numbers faintly stain the fingertips with newsprint and ink. Warm pungency of an archival nature waft from their crispy fibres. Copies of The Brag, Drum Media, Last, CityHub, 3D World, SX News and Sydney Star Observer finding a tight squeeze into the recycling boxes. CityWeekly and 9TO5 (still in their plastic) sitting and waiting for their turn after the nightly disposal.
Pamphlets and flyers are all over the place and looking to make themselves noteworthy enough to be taken on the train rides home. Few make it, the rest diving into the boxes ready to enjoy a reincarnation as broken leaves.
Final team meeting graces are so quickly forgotten and the chance to say thanks is lost.
Holes emerge clearer now in various locations on the floor. October sees an exodus of sorts, the personnel stepping out and away one and two by a day's end of the week.
Friday, October 7, 2005
So happy birthday, anyway
Strangers in a strange place, chatting incessantly and with themselves at the Isabel Fidler Room of the University of Sydney's Manning Bar. Local creator Matt "STiKMAN" Huynh throwing a party of sorts to launch his new comic, Happy Birthday, Anyway.
Without a wingman or woman on the side to cover for the pauses, there was much more sweating than usual. Temperatures for warmth and four layers of clothing (with a woollen vest thrown into the mix) making streams run ever faster with each second inside the claustrophobic room.
Free comic for all, free goodies to haul. Birthday cake slices as chunks and crunchy nibbles on a big table fulfilling the free food claim. Sculling eight mangled pieces, the taste of warming cake in a room full of sweat proves to upset the stomach enough to walk out before dehydration set in after at least a litre soaked through the collar. At least.
Thankfully the wander through the campus grounds beats the time when making a detour to Newtown on the way to the Footbridge Theatre from a start of Redfern station.
Thursday, October 6, 2005
The Gotham Suite - Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay
Nothing like another dance theatre troupe to blow the mind. Again, with all the moves and body weaves, information and interpretation is highly subjective. Perception is an art form and an art form of perception creates a tapestry of a world borne unto imagination.
Blinding lights in the second act and freakishly ghoulish giant baby dolls in the third make for trying times of deciphering.
Stephen Petronio's Broken Man renders this wild and chaotic introduction that holds well onto its brevity. Willem Dafoe delivers a wonderfully full bodied rendition of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven to bring in the last section, The Island of Misfit Toys, that it all pretty much sets the scene of the ensuing madness and fear. Not exactly sure what to make of City of Twist, people moving in and out of spaces, relationships and the environment of their cold and harsh city.
The Gotham Suite proves to be a theatre show of becoming emotions toward the city, the people and the crazy haze of a post 9/11 world.
Whether any of this is intentional or if it is merely a rambling jigsaw puzzle collecting pieces of uncertainty is unclear and remains forever to be seen.
Nothing like a riding down Hickson Road late at night to discover that Sussex Street connects directly around the bend.
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Swimming a hue of blue
Missing out on a space with the rest of the film and theatre reviews, National Security and The Art of Taxidermy collects the bottom half at the end of the section in a page after the mess. Seen in The Brag #128 of 3 October, this continues a run of reviews with nary a whisker of payment for all 350 words for the space.
Next stop, tickets for the time in the printing line.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Kings chew through the Crocodiles
Splitting a family of four between three when two are free makes for the hard change in a clasp of notes. When the darkness looms and the stadium is only illuminated in spotlights and glow sticks, finding seats is a problem of equilibrium.
The tip off was early for Monday, making out like a Sunday. Too early for the pre-game downing of food court wares.
Townsville Crocodiles take in the thrashing from Jason Smith's very first three hit. After their side moves quick to collect the fouls, the Crocs do little more than catch up for the rest of the game. Offense is lacking as their defence. Both rather lax and weak, easy shots not getting through, hard lines letting Kings walk all over them.
Rolan Roberts is all over the rim, dunking and walking off with a foul following every third hang. Luke Kendall and Ben Knight deliver strong games. But David Barlow absolutely blows them all away in the final to secure a massive win for the Sydney Kings.
Cheerleaders, in their half time costumes, look slightly different. Beyond the actual clothing aspect. A tougher, fitter crew of dancers, with an option to kicking in the heads of anyone in their way. Strong.
Kings win with 128 to 94 with nothing left in the game after the start of the third quarter.
Reply Paid 1500
Ten centimetres deep into the soil underneath a mango tree, a hole accepts a bundle of papers bearing all sorts of personal information. One destination for the results of a sweating day away from the office, soon to be many.
Another pocket full of trash looks headlong at Geospend, a division direct of Australia Post. Banking much of the weight of the envelope is the Australian Lifestyle Survey.
"What do you want from your Post?" asks the survey's cover letter.
When a question is asked, an answer must surely follow. Courtesy and manners mean a world of politeness.
Ripping the corners off several repeat offenders; TIME magazine, Thomson Education Direct, HSBC, Glenn McGrath and American Express, the survey itself takes off with nary a mark in any of its dozens of checkboxes. Travelling companions all looking out for that special friend with time and money to lend.
Nothing speaks better than vague gestures and ears sliced off in stirs of madness.
Saturday, October 1, 2005
DDH 61: Feasts and farewell graces
Preparations are underway to clear the debris; to free the blast zone of all remnants and hints of existence. Papers move from one side of the desk and into the recycling bin. Two weeks until the final farewell.
New faces appear within the team. New people either taking up residence or shifting in spaces. Facing faces from different places. Melbourne spawns a couple and their grace is nothing short of charming.
Fading ever so more into the background, introductions mark times of a mixed nature. Knowing now more than ever before, concentration and collaborations over many months with identities realised.
Celebrations and commiserations trickle toward the start of the end. Superfrog of delight says thanks for the time spent and time left to burn.
Previously...
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