I just returned from seeing one the musical icons of my youth, Joan Baez being probably the only other artist that I was so taken with during that period – seeing her at her peak would have been wonderful. Probably Buffy at her peak would have been better than tonight, since her voice has faded, but the politics and presence… Read more →
It’s been about a week now since the new GPS arrived, and I’m mostly loving it. The unit comes packaged with the heart-rate strap and cadence/wheel sensor, and Aust/NZ topographic maps on an SD card; the maps are decent but I’d like to replace the basemap with the OSM CycleMap as the inbuilt ones are not cycle-friendly enough. DC Rainmaker… Read more →
Having seen the last of the big Xmas movies I was wanting to see, I decided it was time to vote in the anual viewers’ choice poll. Here’s the list of films I’ve seen this year; there’s 30 of them. Funny, I thought I’d seen more, but there were a few weeks off at the start of the year, a… Read more →
Well… how do you know? I received the latest Gleebooks Gleaner yesterday, and saw that the last of my trio of classic favourite films was finally available on DVD. Mind you, there’s classics and there’s classics. Ask me to sit down and watch Casablanca with you, or The Third Man or… I’ll not refuse and I’ll enjoy myself. Ask me… Read more →
Honestly, I did. Having finished Paul of Dune, I decided to go back and read Frank Herbert’s original stories. I found that the first was great, and they gradually slipped into a morass of politics and scheming that take the shine off the heroes of Dune. It’s depressing in a sense, but you see that Frank has some points to… Read more →
And he gives substance to my decision to avoid the film Australia. Not that David and Margaret’s review on At The Movies endeared me to it, although it ended with the hope that people embrace it. Anyway, Peter makes the point that a movie with such a grandiose title sets itself up as being more than a love story –… Read more →
I just came out from watching Hellboy 2 (which, by the way, I felt wasn’t as good as the first one). This however, is not a review but is instead a semblance of a mini-essay, or a rant, or a collection of semi-coherent and hopefully linked observations. As I watched the final act of the movie, it became more clear… Read more →
I just finished Blazing Saddles, and it’s an interesting read (although way too brief). The author, Matt Rendell, mentions that he is involved with the English translation of L’Equipe’s Tour anniversary book and perhaps that would be a more comprehensive follow-up. The book skims the main facts of each stage, concentrating on the main battle, or the new features introduced…. Read more →
I saw Hoodwinked – the Little Red Riding Hood ripoff – last night. It’s fun, if not great, and the animation is not the hollywood standard fare. I was a bit diconcerted by the style for a while as the character movements are very stilted. Maybe it’s the uncanny valley at work, since I felt better about the characterisations once… Read more →
