Square Society

Excerpt from a recent interview with Tina Arena (source: The Age):

"She has noticed a growing phenomenon at live shows, something she would like to understand but can't fathom. The intervention of technology. "People bring their mobiles with the sound and camera, and their digital cameras as well, and there you are in the middle of a show and people are filming and photographing, spending so much time trying to capture the moment. And they're not. They're missing it.""

Yep. I theorise that people are so intent on recording proof that they were an event, so they can share it with their friends in the future. It's an easy token or memento of that experience, all within a touch of a button. Such is its meaningfulness that actually listening to and enjoying the music becomes only the second most important duty.

I remember seeing on the news a while ago, Paris Hilton walking the beaches of the Gold Coast and a horde of reporters and beachgoers alike, camera or camera phone in hand, roaming around her like vultures, so desperate to get a piece of her. But hey, it would have made for a great show and tell with the friends, right? That said, celebrity on the street is a bit different.

At least with professional photographers, both hands are required. With your typical camera phone occupier, all they need is one hand, with the other free to scratch their arse (if necessary). Such people will also employ a smirky gawk/gawky smirk, as they congratulate themselves on capturing a (rather unsubstantial) moment on their phone.

Hmm...

Four Albums...

... that did absolutely nothing for me.

Mammal - The Majority
An Australian alternative rock/metal band, real up-and-comers. They sound like any other alternative rock/metal band. I really don't like when an Aussie accent comes through music (See 'ocker'). It doesn't sound pleasant and should only be applied in dialogue. The track featuring a didgeridoo gives me the impression of: "Hey, we've got a didgeridoo featured, how uniquely Australian of us!". That said, it was all still listenable, so points to Mammal.

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime II
American heavy metal/progressive metal band. Heard a lot about these lads back when I was a full time Dream Theater fan. Had also heard that Operation: Mindcrime was a good listen. Found its sequel at the library, listened to it, thought it was rather terrible. Harking back to medieval music, it's full of discordant sounds. Cheesy vocals are aplenty... man, and I thought Dream Theater were pushing the limits already. This was like watching a D-grade afternoon telemovie (ha, I'm sure the concept behind the album is worthy of that day slot. I've nothing positive to take away from this album.

Underoath - Define the Great Line
Rather generic all around. Their claim to being different is in the usage of samples and drum machines. Some of the band members thank Jesus Christ in the liner notes. I've never met the man personally, but I don't think highly of him, seeing that he may be the source of inspiration behind this music.

Rise Against - Appeal to Reason
Gave it two listens. Can't remember a thing from it. Can't even remember what they sound like. Back in the day, when I didn't listen to punk music, I used to deride it as all sounding the same. After actually working on the genre, I was glad to have been proven wrong. Rise Against takes me back to those days, and suggests that I wasn't totally wrong. But of course, every genre has its generic stuff. But then again, I've no clue as to where Appeal to Reason ranks in Rise Against's discography, so I'll keep an open ear for them. Same with Queensrÿche, I've hope that Operation: Mindcrime will be a good listen.

Gay-reat Albums

A list I'm working on, from out.com:

100 The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
99 Joni Mitchell - For The Roses
98 Ferron - Testimony
97 Janis Ian - Between The Lines
96 Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
95 Culture Club - Kissing To Be Clever
94 Hair Original Broadway Cast - Hair
93 Sade - Lovers Rock
92 Morrissey - Viva Hate
91 Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
90 Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
89 Fifth Column - To Sir With Hate
88 Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade
87 Madonna - Confessions On A Dance Floor
86 Madonna - Madonna
85 Nina Simone - Anthology
84 Cyndi Lauper - True Colors
83 Bette Midler - The Divine Miss M
82 Cher - Believe
81 Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah
80 Rufus Wainwright - Want One
79 T. Rex - Electric Warrior
78 Various - The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack
77 New Order - Substance
76 Ani DiFranco - Imperfectly
75 Carole King - Tapestry
74 Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
73 Various - Fame Soundtrack
72 Donna Summer - Once Upon a Time
71 Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
70 Rent Original Broadway Cast - Rent
69 Frances Faye - Caught In The Act
68 Nirvana - Nevermind
67 Hüsker Dü - Candy Apple Grey
66 Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
65 Le Tigre - Le Tigre
64 Patti Smith - Easter
63 Björk - Debut
62 Jeff Buckley - Grace
61 Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
60 R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
59 Bronski Beat - The Age of Consent
58 Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
57 Prince - Dirty Mind
56 Team Dresch - Personal Best
55 David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
54 Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
53 Culture Club - Colour By Numbers
52 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
51 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome
50 Rufus Wainwright - Poses
49 Patti Smith - Horses
48 Cris Williamson - The Changer and the Changed
47 The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
46 Madonna - Ray of Light
45 Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped
44 Pet Shop Boys - Very
43 Prince - Purple Rain
42 ABBA - Gold
41 Melissa Etheridge - Yes I Am
40 Pet Shop Boys - Behavior
39 Laura Nyro And Labelle - Gonna Take A Miracle
38 Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis
37 Blondie - Parallel Lines
36 Madonna - Erotica
35 Yaz - Upstairs At Eric's
34 Donna Summer - Bad Girls
33 The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow
32 The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
31 Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstacy
30 Diana Ross - Diana
29 Pet Shop Boys - Actually
28 Queen - The Game
27 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
26 Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
25 k.d. lang - Ingénue
24 Sylvester - Living Proof
23 Deee-Lite - World Clique
22 The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
21 David Bowie - Hunky Dory
20 Queen - A Day at the Races
19 The B-52s - The B-52's
18 George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. I
17 Lou Reed - Transformer
16 Queen - A Night at the Opera
15 George Michael - Faith
14 Erasure - The Innocents
13 Ani DiFranco - Dilate
12 The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico
11 Various - Hedwig And The Angry Inch Soundtrack
10 Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
09 Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
08 Madonna - The Immaculate Collection
07 Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
06 The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
05 Judy Garland - Judy at Carnegie Hall
04 Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls
03 Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
02 The Smiths - The Smiths
01 David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

Bolded are the ones I've listened to... not a lot. It's an awesome list.

"I got his pig-sticker!"

- Had always read good reviews on this. Was supposedly one of the first successful Marvel Comics films, that paved the way for items like Spider Man and X-Men. Also, it featured Wesley Snipes, good action star (ought to pay his taxes though).
- Disappointed that the plot was very textbook. Blade is the 'chosen one', Blade comes back from near death to win the battle, the baddy Frost gains powers at the very end (only to be cut down so easily), the father figure in Whistler, the female counterpart in Jenson who is first rescued and then provides usefulness in combat, etc...
- No significant theme. It seems to be a typical action movie, only with vampires involved. Bad guy is the obstacle, bad guy loses.
- I wasn't particularly impressed with Snipes' portrayal of Blade. Inconsistent at times. Sometimes incredibly edgy, sometimes prone to wisecracks, sometimes bad ass. Wasn't much of a character to connect with.
- N'Bushe Wright as Karen Jenson was uneventful. Could have picked better.
- Kristofferson as Whistler was good though. Role could have been expanded.
- Doorf as main villain Deacon Frost also was confusing. A cool cat, but didn't sell as an opposing main event.
- Interesting ambience about the film, particularly with the shots of the city. Felt like an indie film at points.

Interesting. Had always seen this described as a horror flick, but that wasn't quite the case (or at least not in your typical manner). It was more of a thriller/mystery type with traces of horror.

- Really enjoyed the struggle between Christian cop and pagan villagers. Tense.
- Christopher Lee's hair had me in disbelief.
- SPOILER: Really thought the film would resolve itself as with any other thriller or horror movie. But no...
- Soundtrack was great. Music added so much. I'm eager to hunt it down, as well as investigate music similar to it.
- Idungetit (the themes).

Harvest Moon

Been attracted to this game ever since I first read about it waaaay back in the day. I don't recall ever seeing it for sale in Australia, so the interest was always a craving of sorts. I very much like the simple notion of living depicted here: work, family, happiness, etc... Start from nothing, end up with all you can achieve. No Nazis/zombies/aliens to kill, no mindboggling maps/puzzles to work your way through, no button smashing... just easy, pleasing work.

You play as Jack, a young man who has been handed the land of his late grand father's ranch by his parents. Along the way, you'll need to harvest crops, develop the ranch, raise livestock, and potentially find a partner to raise a family with.

It's all very cute and simple, like so (SPOILER ALERT... well given the size of the picture, it's likely you've already scanned it. Never the less, the following pictures are not in-game screen shots. Rather, they are screens of ending sequences):

It would require extreme determination to lose this game. The level of difficulty is low, and providing you have a firm understanding of how things operate in the land of Harvest Moon, it should be smooth sailing. Some of the work does get a little gruelling at the early to middle stages, but thanks to the cycle of seasons, you'll be forced into rest during autumn and winter.

The dating aspect was interesting. You're given a choice of five girls to choose from, and after working on your relationship points to a certain level, you can propose to one and they move in with you soon after. I chose Ann, mainly because she's a redhead/ginger. Plus, she doesn't like religion, haha. "Q. How do you turn a fox into an elephant? A. Marry it" The same kinda applies here. Ann was all interesting and cool while you were still chasing her, but as soon as she moves in, she becomes very boring, highlighted especially with her plain mama dress. Pity.

There are a host of extra things in the game to keep the interest high. Various secret items, events, and locations to discover throughout the course of the game. An assortment of festivals to break up the monotony of farm life.

I was about to comment on how it was unlikely that I'd be able to play the other games in the series, seeing that they're all on consoles that I don't own, but I've just discovered that N64 roms are available, so Harvest Moon 64 may be on the menu soon. Tiny files as well, less than 10mB.

So yes, the first game in the Harvest Moon series was very enjoyable to play. Particularly to the tunes of mainstream metalcore.

D'elles

This is making for very, very good listening. Céline Dion sounds absolutely great. The pop is quite varied here, and so I am very easily able to listen to this in whole, flows from start to finish. Heck, I've just finished another listening without noticing.

From wiki, "The lyrics were written by ten prominent female writers from Quebec (Jovette Alice Bernier, Janette Bertrand, Denise Bombadier. Marie Laberge, Lise Payette) and France (Nina Bouraoui, Françoise Dorin, Nathalie Nechtschein, Christine Orban, George Sand)". Cool. Looking inside the booklet, there was sketched portraits of each contributor, felt like a very confident package.

Ultra highlights:
- Opener "Et s'il n'en restait qu'une (je serais celle-là)" starts off well. Kinda eerie in an electronic way. Not long before it goes epic pop on you.
- "Immensité". Great hooks.
- "A cause"*. Again, great hooks, more electronic dance-ish this time around.
- So inspecting the album track by track, I soon realised that everything here is sublime. Go listen to it already.

Might investigate more Céline Dion now, based on my positive experience of this record.

*Those are the first three tracks of D'elles. I've got a theory that albums succeed or fail on the strength of the opening trio of songs. This album succeeds.

The Lady Vanishes/This is Spinal Tap

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Lunch is for wimps

• Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko is this film.
• Charlie Sheen can't do serious (note: I haven't seen Platoon). He was swell in the Hot Shots movies, Spin City and is alright in Two and a Half Men. Had similar thoughts on Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now... their faces are too soft for edgy roles. That said, Sheen senior was very solid here. I attribute that to his wrinkling and gruff old man voice.
• Daryl Hannah really is bad here. Well deserved winner of a Razzie for worst supporting actress.
• 350 > 300 pixels. Quite literally. Very literally.
• Very nice representation of the trading environment. Stone did his research and it paid off.
• Here's an interesting review. I agree on the idea that if Gekko was made the protagonist, the film would have been more awesome than what I saw.
• Back to Sheen, and continuing from the previous point, I wasn't sold by Bud Fox. His lack of emotion made him incredibly stiff (oh damn, sexual innuendo, please ignore). No wonder viewers ending up rooting for Gekko.
  

Not Funny

Two shows on Australian television that I don't find very humorous: 'How I Met your Mother' and 'Two and a Half Men'.

The first show is very bland... or more simply put, I don't laugh at all. I recognise the jokes (well, the laugh track does help a bit), but they lack originality. They are all very much expected lines and quips. That usually tends to be the case with most comedies anyway, so what's wrong here? The actors. They too are poor, and are rather unlikable. Central actor Josh Radnor is incredibly unremarkable, his talent and appearance destined for television screens eternally. I enjoyed Segel in 'Knocked Up', but here he seems out of place. Read: he's better as a slobby, sly type of character. I've never had an affection for Neil Patrick Harris (unfamiliar with Doogie Howser; he was cool in 'Starship Troopers') and there is nothing working to that here. The female members don't even to be mentioned on the basis what I've seen.

'Two and a Half Men' is slightly better. It improves on the faults that I mentioned for the previous sitcom, particularly in the performance department.

lantana

Idungetit. Wouldn't have liked to have studied this for VCE English. But of course, I might have developed an affection for it after studying and discussing it.

Rather boring viewing. Some performances were good, some weren't. Couldn't relate to anything. If people consider this realistic, then I think it is realistic to the point of dullness. No life to it.

Cool poster.

Apocalypse Now Redux

Had previously attempted to watch this on television quite a while back. Why a free-to-air network would show this version and not the original cut bemuses me. It's not as if they've shown the original many a time. It was shown very late and the running time eventually led to me falling asleep at the couch. Borrowed this DVD at the library. Strangely, they too only had the redux edition.

The film was good viewing. Rather confusing though, particularly when dealing with Kurtz's character. I'm semi-positive I understand what it was all about, being a kind of reflection of US involvement in the Vietnam war.

The backstory of the production of the film is rather fascinating. I'll be hunting 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse' sooner or later. I think (I think I think) that I would have liked to have seen Keitel as Willard. Sheen's face was too kind. I've just read from two sources that also suggest that Keitel would have made a more forceful Willard (though one contends that Sheen does not succeed, while the other does).

I had been expecting Brando to be grossly overweight. Like morbidly so. He wasn't too bad, though his accent didn't match the character. I just kept hearing Don Vito. Would have been interesting if Brando could have starved himself to depict Kurtz as he was in the novel. Again, I had no clue what Kurtz was all about... insanity, madness themes, bla.

Gah, I've lost my way with this shamble of a review. Urgh... other positives: great directing, lots of nice details, loved the horror elements (scary), I dig Robert Duvall (we all do, right?). Negatives: electronic flavoured score was dodgy, last half hour or so (with Brando) was anti-climactic

An analogy I thought up a few nights ago (and reminded to me by Ebert): the movie is like a series of paintings, perhaps like Goya's Black Paintings. As a whole, you might not like them, but individually they can be quite brilliant.

Postscript: Fascinating to read of a 289 minute 'version' of the film. Lots of raw footage and stuff. 'Flight of the Valkyries' sequence is thirty minutes, kinda shows how extensive Coppola went.