Ross's Ramblings - Movies, TV, Pop Culture, Politics...

Twenty20 - Cricket or Something Else...

2006-01-10T00:14:00.000+11:00

I'm not sold.

After tonights Innaugural International Twenty20 Match on Australian soil i'm still trying to work out whether i'm interested in the game or not.

To me, part of the beauty of cricket is the fact that it isn't over in 3 hours. You actually have to watch/listen/be interested in a match over a day/5 days. Maybe over time this style of cricket will emerge to have new skills and new tactics. At this stage though, i'm not sure that it is that worth watching as "cricket."

However, there were over 50,000 people at domestic cricket matches over the weekend, and this can only be a good thing. If it brings people into the game, then all for the better.

Then again, AFL is the most watched sport in Australia, and look at how important and vital that is at an international level...

Rome wasn't built in a day.... If only 9 Australia understood that about TV

2006-01-09T23:31:00.000+11:00

Rome. Ancient Rome. A place of sex, violence, politics and Drama. At least according to the HBO series.

This is a fantastic piece of television. Suspend your disbelief, your historical belief even more so, and you'll find one of the most lucious, funny, and beautifully conceived pieces of television ever made.

Sadly for Australians, who is the wonderful network that bought this fantastic show to screen on free to air for our public? None other than the late K.B.Packer's PBL owned Channel 9. So we in Australia can look forward to seeing it shown in prime time for a week or two, before it's chopped and changed around until it's eventually taken off until off ratings or simply never seen again.

Some of us still remember The West Wing Mr Packer Jr. And some of us now find other ways to watch our TV.

Watch this TV show. Just don't wait till Channel Nine Fucks it up for you...

Things to see.... and that's about it....

2006-01-09T23:21:00.000+11:00

I'm back, and there's just so much to watch...

Sorry, I seem to have a dysfunctional love of extra full stops...

Coming off the nominations for this years Golden Globe awards (Yes Rob, i'm one of those people who keep an eye on these things. Give me another point on your nerdometor,) i just checked out a show that garnered 3 nominations, including best comedy series, and best actress for Mary Louise Parker. It's called Weeds.

If you thought Desperate Housewives was a biting satire of suburban lifestyles you couldn't have been any more wrong. This is to Housewives what Arrested Development is to King of Queens. ie it's Much Much Much Much better. Thought i'd just spell that out for the less initiated and edumacated.

Sadly though, it's shown on Showtime in the US. Fantastic for the fact that as a cable network they have more leway and less reliance on ratings. Shit for the fact that their website for some reason can't be accessed from my computer.

Find it and check it out.

On a short holiday

2006-01-02T22:00:00.000+11:00

I'm on a short holiday at the moment.

When i get back from Adelaide i'll talk about Narnia, Cricket, and the sore point of Rome.

As a teaser a certain television network has bought the right s to show "Rome", one of the best of the US show last year. And sadly, it aint one of the good networks.

salu and Merry Xmas and Happy New Year.

Kong - 8th Wonder of Cinema

2005-12-21T13:17:00.000+11:00

It is strangely satisfying in this day and age to watch a piece of cinema that was created not for money, not for pleasure, not even necessarily for satisfaction, but simply because you love the subject so much. It is a well known story of the young peter jackson going to see the original King Kong and being inspired to be a film maker, and throughout the film it is blatantly evident how much he loves the great ape. The thing i came out of the 3 hours thinking though is whether or not passion alone can sustain a film.

The most obvious criticism of Kong is "it's long." And it is. At 3 hours it isn't the longest film ever, but at times it did feel like it. Perhaps Jackson's greatest fault is not culling some of this film down. There are large parts that could really do with being ct completely out of the film. However, you never feel that the director loses faith with the subject matter. Quite the opposite infact. I felt that he created the film simply because he loved the subject so damn much,

Naomi Watts is the shining light of this little dit. She manages to bring accross amazing ammounts of emotion in simple looks. This is a jewel of cinema, and she should be grasped with both hands.

Overall, a good film, well worth watching, but with flaws abbounding.

Good Night, and Good Luck

2005-12-18T10:41:00.000+11:00

We know George Clooney as many things. Actor. Activist. But with his directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind he showed himself to have a great deal of skill as a director also. Whilst flawed in many ways, the story of Chuck Barris is a compelling tale of the corruption of fame and the drive to be something we are not. It is a film I hold in very high regard.

Clooney's penchant for biopics continues with Good Night, and Good Luck, his second film as a director. The story of Edward R Murrow and the CBS team that stood up to Joe McArthy in the 50s is just as compelling as Clooney's first film, and perhaps is less flawed overall. Shot wholly in black and white, Clooney makes use of historical newsreels and actual footage of the time and integrates it smoothly into his narrative. Whilst preachy at times, it is an important tale about what happens to society when fear takes over from common sense and civil liberties are thrown away because of it.

Clooney intersperses his narrative with some beautiful music from Diane Reeves singing some great 50s jazz. In my mind, whilst this was a great effect, it slowed the story a little too much. With one exception: a gorgeously framed close up of lead David Strathairn that he rests on for so long it's mesmerising. The historical footage is well placed, but sometimes too heavily relied on. Perhaps this is part of commentary of the film though. In this day and age where we get 40 second hits of news that is catered to entertain and sensationalise, it isn't hard to understand why I found it uncomfortable watching a 2 minute newsreel from the 50s.

The film has a lot to say, all of it profound, and it delivers it's message in an entertaining manner. At times I lost engagement, but I think it's a piece of cinema that will definately stand up to a second viewing. Check it out, especially for Straithairn's powerhouse performance.

VALE: John Spencer

2005-12-18T10:14:00.000+11:00

A sad day for all fans of Television drama with the sudden passing of John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry in 7 seasons of "The West Wing," today.

One of the stand out greats of a stellar ensemble cast, Spencer always brought power to the screen and his presence will be sorely missed on the show, and in the acting world in general.

Best of luck wherever you are now. Be at peace knowing how you entertained many and the quality of your acting gave faith to those who had lost faith in the concept of good television.

And also for being in "The Rock," one of my great guilty pleasures.

Sick to my stomach

2005-12-12T16:14:00.000+11:00

I never really wanted to use this blog to get political or make social commentary. There's many others out there to do this. I wanted to use it more to talk about things that inspire me.

But this needs comment. The violence that erupted in Sydney yesterday has stuck me in unimaginable ways. Is this the country i have lived in for 26 years? Violence. Fear. Racism. Intolerance. When did these become the way that people describe the relationships between Australians?

A lot of things are going to be said around our country over the next few weeks about these disgusting events. It's natural. We want to blame someone. We certainly don't want to blame ourselves. It's certainly not my fault.

And yet passing the buck and throwing around blame doesn't achieve anything. We need to understand the way this happened. These Australians, and they all are, are angry and afraid. Why? They have reacted with the only thing that society is leaving available. Violence.

Fixing this is not easy. How do we bring people together instead of splitting them apart.

Maybe reminding them that Iran has decided that the way to fix the Israel-Palestine conflict is to launch nukes at them. Maybe it's time we all started thinking about the things we have in common and not the things that tear us apart. It's got to be a start.

House - Watch This Show!

2005-12-09T10:27:00.000+11:00

If you haven't seen Hugh Laurie as Dr Gregory House, and I still see George from Blackadder whenever I do, you really have to see this fantastic TV series.

The acerbic wit of the writing, matched by the cleverness of the directing, make this for incredible TV drama.

It is great to see more and more high class powerful actors going to TV in this day and age. It really allows them to craft and create wonderful characters that develop and evolve over time. You only have to look at The West Wing, The Sopranos and Arrested Development to see how well it works. Of course, Arrested Development is being cancelled, and I can't see another series of The West Wing next year, but hey, there's always reality TV.

A good film marathon

2005-12-09T10:14:00.000+11:00

Sat down with a friend the other night and watched a couple of great films.

TV writer Paul Haggis's Crash is a fantastic early directorial outing. About the lives of a number of Las Angeles residents and how they each interact with each other over one day. This is a film about racism in America, and could at times feel like it's slipping into cliche, but I felt engaged throughout by his beautiful direction and clever writing. All of the characters are in some way un-redeemable, and yet they all redeem themselves in some way. A film that continued to surprise me throughout, wanting me to hate and then realising that the emotion is only self-destructive. As Australians we can look at a film like this and dismiss it as American racism and we don't experience stuff like that here, but to do so is dangerously naive. There's a little bit of racism in all of us, and we all have within us the potential to hurt and to heal. A wonderful film highly recommended.

Zach Braff's directorial and writing debut is a wonderfully imagined film called Garden State. Great performances by the three leads and wonderful support from Ian Holm, made for an incredibly engaging piece of cinema. I saw this at the cinemas when it came out last year, but watched it again with Blackers as he hadn't seen it before. I loved it then and still do now. My favourite thing is the way Braff builds his story. As his main character comes out of his anti-depressant numbness so does the film. Set off by a wonderful soundtrack, this is a special film about roots and friendship and how feeling pain is as important as feeling love.

So hire these couple of films. You won't regret it.

Harry's Back...

2005-12-09T09:44:00.000+11:00

The fourth installment of JK Rowling's immensely popular books is out at cinemas now and I went and saw it with Hayley the other day.

I came out fairly disappointed. Goblet of Fire was my favourite books of the series so far, the two following it didn't do a great deal for me, and for me the film didn't manage to emulate the things which I enjoyed in the book. My favourite thing about the novel was how she moved the narrative away from Harry a little bit more and fleshed out other characters. Sadly, most of this was cut in the film, and so we got another Harry-centric outing.

My biggest problem with this is that the more we get to know Harry, the more I find him self-centered and annoying as a character. I understand that the book is a marathon and if they needed to cut large parts of the the first three books when they made those films, this one was going to suffer even more. But for a director that is all about characterisation, I didn't get the sense of involvement that I wanted. At the end when one of the characters dies, I got no sense of mourning or loss, because I simply didn't have any personal involvement with him. Newell hadn't let us get to know the character, so asking me to feel something was asking a bit much. Let alone asking me to believe that Harry felt something when he'd said barely 5 lines to him all film.

On the plus side the visuals remain beautifully created, and the world seems a little bit more deep in conception now.

Still, you can make something as pretty as you want, but it don't make it better.

Where's your divine right now?

2005-11-17T12:02:00.000+11:00

It's finally happened. Australia is through to the finals of the Football World Cup. We are going to Germany in June next year, to play against the best of the world in the biggest sporting event on earth.

What an amazing feeling. I watched the game at a local pub and the experience was fantastic. Of course, i now have very little voice and have probably upset most of the population of Frankston with my incessant abusive yelling, but we got through so i'm sure i'll be forgiven.

So this is what it feels like then. That amazing feeling of sweet release that comes only to the avid football lover. I finally understand. I've loved the game for a long time, but never had the experience of satisfaction through support i'm having now.

It's an emotional time.

Go the Socceroos! Lets give 'em hell in Germany!

Congratulations

2005-11-04T12:55:00.000+11:00

Congratulations to Adam and Sam at Cinecast for reaching their 50th podcast this week. A great achievement. I listen to this show religiously and have found it great in helping me to develop and enhance my love of movies by allowing me to think about them differently.

Check them out.

Also Cameron and Mick at the TPN have got a great sponsorship by Motorola, who have brought out their fancy new iTunes mobile phone. Well done.

Podcasting is a great medium and if you haven't checked it out, have a look.

Elizabethtown

2005-11-04T12:39:00.000+11:00

I went with one of my friends to see Cameron Crowe's latest film last night, and came away bemused. This was a film where the whole was truly not greater than the sum of it's parts.

I'll explain. Individually, each of the scenes was wonderful. I though they were well acted (even Orlando Bloom, although he struggled with some of the heavier stuff), well scripted, well directed, well shot, and overall, wonderfully brought to life. But none of them seemed to fit with each other.

Yet i still loved this film. It's Cameron Crowe, and lets face it, i'd rather watch a bad Crowe film than a good film by a lot of other directors (although Vanilla Sky is an exception that proves the rule.) It is cliched to talk about the music in Crowe's films, because of all the directors around i think he has the best grasp on using music to make a film special. Think of Almost Famous and the scene int he bus where the band sings Tiny Dancer. He loves music, obvious throughout Almost Famous which is a partial story of his life, and understands it's signifigance.

Perhaps that is what saved this film for me. Without the music making every scene so wonderful, this may have felt like another confusing hotch-potch of a film. Yet both myself and Blackers loved it.

It is great to see a flawed film that still uplifts you. And i will be buying the soundtrack.

Films i've watched recently.

2005-11-01T16:10:00.000+11:00

Whilst i'm venting my spleen on Total Film, i'll comment on a couple of films i've recently seen.

Just now i finished watching P.T. Anderson's 1999 film: Magnolia. It's an interesting viewing experience, if slightly long. Many will be upset at the fact that i actually opted to watch it over the top of Punch Drunk Love , a film i know many love. In the end, i think i enjoyed it. There were some amazing performances, and the common links of family, love, betrayal between these characters did inspire in some way. Plus it had a rain of toads for no apparent reason other than to prove the point that weird things happen. Long though. Almost 3 hours. Luckily i loved Aimee Mann's soundtrack.

Also saw 40 Year Old Virgin starring the great Steve Carell the other week. Really enjoyed this film, and would rate it alongside Serenity as the best film i've seen this year at the cinema. There were a lot of points that it could have fallen into mediocre gross out humour that we've all seen before, but it never managed to fall. It stayed upbeat and true, in particular the relationship between the 4 friends. Highly reccommend.

Strangely, i think it has been a good year for cinema. I've enjoyed pretty much all the films i've seen this year. Batman Begins. Sin City. Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Hopefully it keeps up. I'm looking forward to Cameron Crowe's latest: Elizabethtown, as well as George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck about newsreader Edward Murrow and the Maccarthy era.

Kane is Blasted Down list by Total Film

2005-11-01T15:55:00.000+11:00

Cam Reily of The Podcast Network's Movie Show (and pretty much everything else over there) pointed out that Total Film Magazine have just released their Top 100 Movies of all time.

He has expressed his disgust of the great film Citizen Kane being placed despicably placed at NUMBER 6!!!!!!!!

And what got the top billing? Scorsese's "Goodfellas." Followed by "Vertigo," "Jaws," "Fight Club," and "Godfather Pt II."

Now i'm all for equal rights in movie lists, and it could be argued that perhaps Kane has had top spot on just a few too many. But really folks. It is, plain and simply, an awesome film. No ifs. No Buts. And in no way any maybes. "Goodfellas" is a fine film, as are the other four, but it in the same league as Kane, or even Godfather and Fight Club.

So my message to Total Film? Take a good hard look at yourselves in the mirror. You sicken me.

End of a Generation

2005-10-18T13:21:00.000+10:00

The last Australian WWI veteran has finally passed away, ending an era lasting 90 years.

It is hard to describe the emotional feelings I have about something like this. As a student of history we often get very dry and clinical about the events of the past, but William Allen actually lived them. He joined the RAN as a boy sailor before the outbreak of WWI at the age of 14, saw action on HMAS Encounter in that war and later served on HMAS Australia in WWII. He paid off from the navy in 1947 at the rank of Lieutenant.

The service the men and women of the Australian defense Force have given our country over it's 100 years of existence as a nation is immensely humbling. As a serving member I am proud to represent today the navy that William Allen fought in and the country he fought for.

We Will Remember Them.

Lest We Forget.

salu
RaC

Don't you hate trombone players

2005-10-13T20:21:00.000+10:00

Really, they just are the lowest level of humanity. talk about the biggest bunch of inbred arrogant, incompotent and lazy arseholes.

sadly, i have to associate with a lot of them.

feels better to get that off my buxom chest.

now, on with our regular programming.

How's the Serenity?

2005-10-06T20:56:00.000+10:00

The wait for fans of Joss Whedon is finally over witht he release whilst i was away of his big screen adaptation of his ill faited TV series "Firefly": Serenity

I went and saw it with Hayley on Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed it. At last an intelligent sci-fi movie that doesn't resort to techno-babble and rubbish deux-ex-machina to further the plot. Well, ok, there's a little bit of one at the end, but it fits well alright.

Lets face it though, i'm biased. I love Whedon. I was a fan of Buffy from the movie, through all 7 seasons of the show, through 5 seasons of Angel, and although i caught on late, i thoroughly enjoyed Firefly. For me the film was the perfect balance of wit and drama. My only criticism was that some of the characters who had been important in the series were pushed to the sidelines, menaing there fates were kind of meaningless unless you'd seen the series.

Hayley is not a big fan of Sci-Fi and had seen very little of the series. She did say she enjoyed it, especially the beginning, but i think it trailed off for her at the end.

I'd reccomend watching the 13 episodes and then going to the film. It's a good use of anyones time...

salu
RaC

New US TV Shows

2005-10-06T20:40:00.000+10:00

Happily upon my return to land my beautiful fiancee has seen fit to download a whole heap of great new episodes of my favourite US TV shows.

Just finished watching the first two new episodes of the The West Wing. The series still excites me, but not sure if it will ever regain it's former glory. The adition of Jeneane Garofalo (sorry about spelling) looks like an added bonus though, and i think she'll work well.

The new season of Arrested Development looks just as funny as the last two and i suggest to everyone to get out there and start watching this amazingly clever and funny show. It's being shown on The Comedy Channel in Australia and the first season is out on DVD.

Am still waiting to start on Family Guy and Lost, but that's got tomorrow all over it. Before i go to the cricket anyway.

salu
RaC

Home Again

2005-10-06T20:22:00.000+10:00

Well, I am now officially returned from my 4 weeks away.

With all due respect to the lovely city of Broome, it isn't really much to jump around about. Nice pearls though.

The whole sea going thing was fantastic for me and if anyone who reads this ever thinks about spending an extended couple of weeks cruising round on some sort of large ship, I highly recommend it.

Happy to be home again now though. Sleeping in my own bed (which ironically gave me a creaked neck the first night) and showering without sandals.

Of course, I've come back to a massively hectic period and will probably have very little free time for the rest of the year. Christmas is right around the corner though isn't it?

salu
RaC

Away for a few weeks

2005-09-08T18:06:00.000+10:00

To those that actually happen by here i will be away for the next month probably out of blogging range.

Will try to update with some photos when i get to Broom on the 23rd of Sep.

Other than that i'm back around Melbourne on or about the 4th October.

Keep safe.

salu
RaC

Intelligent Design May Be Taught In Schools

2005-09-01T20:41:00.000+10:00

An interesting piece on ABC Australia's 7.30 Report the other night. Click Here to see the transcript.

Apparently there are a number of politicians that want to have the idea of Intelligent Design taught in our school science rooms. It is a very popular idea in the US with much support from George W. Which, lets face it, is reason enough to do it here i feel. He is a very bright man...

This concept worries me greatly. I just finished reading a book all about Darwin and Evolution, so am am more knowledgable about the debate than i ever have been in the past. My greatest issue is that it is not in fact science. In actuality the whole concept in my mind is the absence of science. "Everything is so complicated that we can't understand it so it must be designed, and therefore there must be a designer." Of course this is a simplification, and if you want more info i'm sure it's out there to read, backed up with countless texts that have no scientific concepts, but do wholeheartedly aggree with each other.

It is the absence of science because it says "science has had enough time and can't understand things, so therefore they are un-understandable." The whole concept of science is that something isn't fact until it can be proved. Intelligent design is the complete opposite.

Teaching intelligent design in a science class is akin to teaching the idea that aliens exist and dropped us here on space ships. Both are not science, but pseudo-science. And both have been extensively debunked over the last 200 odd years. We need to be teaching kids about eh scientific method, and how these amazing discoveries and theories are developed. Not that since science hasn't got all the answers, we can just install our own.

There is a place for the concept of intelligent design, but it is a church, not in our schools.

The book i just finished that got me intrigued on the subject of evolution is in fact Ian Cohen and Jack Stewarts's latest Science of Discworld III : Darwins Watch. A great starter for people that have read a lot of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books.

salu
RaC

What Happens When You Need A Beer Through Your Tigger Outfit...

2005-08-29T21:03:00.000+10:00

Had to put this up. One of the funniest things i saw while watching the Fourth Test.

salu
RaC

4th Ashes Test...

2005-08-29T19:39:00.000+10:00

So, we lost the 4th Test.

Check it out at Foxsports News

Is that the end of Australian cricket? I doubt it. Is it the end of our Ashes campaign? 5 days is a long time in cricket, and Australia knows how to win, so i wouldn't be writing them off. Do we deserve to win? Sadly, no. Australia's aging test side has played as bad or worse than every team that has visited our shores in a good 8 years. And England have played well. No, superbly.

Now, i'm half English, so i hope i'm not thought of as being un-Australian. But the Poms have been playing so well i'm ashamed to say i have been almost barracking for them. Especially when i look at Australians whinging. Still, if nothing else this amazing competition has had me hooked from day one, test one. It's such a cliche, but i'll say it anyway: It's just so good for cricket.

I'm hooked again, just like i was as a kid. And this time to real cricket. Not the limited overs stuff, where it's all about winning and getting the most points. (Points for losing, but not losing by lots. Grrrrrr!) Test cricket. The only game played over such a long time. Where weather is the real 12th man for any side that needs her. Where the simple fact that you are hitting the ball lots changes the game. Such an amazing concept.

So, it's time for the 5th and Final Ashes test. In 2 weeks we may be knocked off our pedestal of the unbeatable test team. Bring it on.

At least Warnie will be having fun...

Podcasts I'm Into

2005-08-28T20:53:00.000+10:00

Thought i'd post some of the podcasts that i'm listening to at the moment.

All these are available in iTunes at the moment. I'm really enjoying this whole concept as it gives me something to listen to when i'm wasting time at work.

I'm very much into the movie podcasts at the moment, and two in particular have me hooked:

Cinecast - A very professionally done podcast by Adam Kempenaar and Sam Hallgren from Chicago. As well as reviewing a new film in each podcast (they're obviously very busy as they bring out 2 a week) they do a couple of great segments including Massacre Theatre where you have to guess the scene they act out, and a top 5 of something different each week.

The Movie Show on The Podcast Network - Mainly done by the prolific podcaster Cameron Reilly, one of the founder of the Podcast Network. He's Australian and is very film savvy. Is much more of a chat podcast where he talks with a co-host about 1 or 2 films over an hour or so.

The Signal - A Podcast about Firefly and it's film spin off Serenity. As a lover of Joss Whedon I am looking forward to the show and this show is full of little insights into the production and stories from the series.

KCRW's Le Show - Harry Shearer's weekly show. For those that loves the wit of this fantastic comic this is a must. Very clever and dark.

Anyone know any others they can reccomend?

salu
RaC

First Post...

2005-08-28T18:31:00.000+10:00

Hi. Welcome to my Blog.

I guess i should tell anyone poor soul who walks this way who I am.

I was born in Adelaide, South Australia of the wonderful vintage of 1979. One of those final wild flings from the 70s.

After spending my youth learning to walk and talk I quickly moved on to being able to lie and never get off my arse.

After High School, I went to the University of Adelaide to study Music and History. I spent 5 years doing everything I could to avoid studying, but still managed to graduate in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Music. I then moved to Melbourne where I now live with my much maligned fiancee Hayley and work as a professional musician.

For those interested I am of the sad breed of pathetic musicians known as a classical saxophonist, basically meaning I am unemployable.

I enjoy Film, Music, Football (the real one with the round ball), Cricket, Reading (in particular the works of Terry Pratchett) and drinking way too much beer.

I dislike all sorts of things, but mainly irritating people. Not that i dislike irritating people. That's great fun. I dislike people that irritate me. Hippocritical I realise, but i'm sure i will continue being hipocritical for some time to come.

I'm not sure what I hope to achieve with this Blog, but i seem to have lots of thoughts about all sorts of things, so maybe this will be a way to get some of them out there a little bit.

Lets see what happens.

Salu
RaC