Liking: the new GTA IV trailer

I'm a little curious about how much of this is in-game footage and how much is from animated cutscenes but it looks schmicky anyway. Only 3 more months (give or take) to go. (Guess I'll have to buy something to play it on soonish then :)

You can watch the high quality version at the Rockstar site here. (It takes a little while to load but is worth it)

Enjoying: The Onion AV Club's Coen Brothers primer

I watched The Hudsucker Proxy again the other night - which to my mind is one of the best films ever. (Not that a lot of people agree with me but oh well.) It's one of the lesser-known films by Joel and Ethan Coen (a.k.a The Coen Brothers), who also made Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona and the soon to be released No Country for Old Men.

These guys sit comfortably in my top 3 film-makers of all time with their offbeat humour, brilliant storytelling and ability to take any genre and make it their own. They have an awe inspiring eye for visuals, write golden dialogue and bring out superb performances from the already talented actors they bring in.

The AV Club section of The Onion website put together an extensive primer on their body of work the other day which sums them up far better than I ever could, so if you have any love for film at all, do yourself a honkin big favour and check it out.

I wasn't such a fan of their last two outings - Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers - but everything else they have made is pure gold.

My personal top five:

1. The Hudsucker Proxy (not the trailer but a great sequence)



2. The Big Lebowski



3. Miller's Crossing



4. Fargo



5. Raising Arizona




(Picture CC Rita Molnar)

Freecycling: the futon

I've had a queen-sized futon since the early 90s and it's moved with me across ten houses in that time (Richmond - Abbotsford - Armadale - Richmond - Richmond - Richmond - Braddon - Ainslie - Campbell - Braddon - Turner). There's a bit of history in that bed but now that the PC and I have upgraded it's time to move on. (The futon mattress itself was replaced about a year ago)

Rather than sell it, I stuck it up on Freecycle - a nifty online community/service/whatever that brings together people looking for things and those looking to give them away.

This is their blurb:

The worldwide (!) Freecycle(TM) Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator (them's good people). Membership is free.

You can check out the website regularly or have updates forwarded to you directly when they are posted - either individually or in digest format.

They generally look something like this:



Anyways, long story short, after two days, it's gone. Someone who needed a bed now has one and I've been able to de-clutter a little.

Well worth checking out.

Updating: exploring tattoos

Just an interesting follow up from yesterday's thoughts about tattoos - there's an article in The Age today about the way big business and advertising are jumping on board.

Once seen as a silent cry of rebellion, tattoos now posess a status so firmly mainstream that advertisers are using them to market everything from tires and shoes to wine and energy drinks. That has its downside, though. The more acceptable tattoos become, the more they lose their edginess - and their value as advertising.

"There is always an element of rebellion or rite of passage with these things," said David Crockett, assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Carolina.

"What makes them interesting is how the marketplace appropriates that rebelliousness and serves that back to you in the form of an energy drink."

It goes on to talk about how Dunlop offered a set of free tires to anyone who got their logo tattooed - and so far 98 people have done just that.

Shane also commented on the post yesterday in his characteristically modest and dryly funny fashion bringing up a range of interesting observations. I haven't seen the guy in Melbourne with the Paul Stanley star tattoo (presumably on his eye) - as a closet Kiss fan I feel as though I've missed out.

Exploring: tattoos

I had an email from a mate the other day wondering about my thoughts on tattoos.

Here's what he had to say.

I reckon you ought to write something about tattoos. As in ‘what the fuck?’ This morning a young woman (early 30s) I know said something about how much she likes tats. I thought my reaction (unspoken) was more interesting than the fact she likes tats. My first thought was ‘I thought you were more sophisticated than that’.

Evidence, I’m sure, of my age, sense of aesthetics, and lack of appreciation of what’s going on with street and other fashion … I really wonder why tats have taken off with such a vengeance right around the world.

How much of it is media driven? Why do some people get on the tattoo train with a sneaky little butterfly on the ankle and others hijack the whole engine with the total body canvas thing? I’m sure somebody has written about all this, but I have to admit it puzzles me.

I wore an earring for about 15 years but then one day I thought it looked less cool and more silly so I took it out. It would be hard to do that with big tats!

Personally speaking, I'm not one in general for adornment - no jewellry, no hair dying, makeup and obviously enough, no tattoos. I don't know why I feel this way in particular - I certainly don't have any problem with the choices anyone else makes in this area for themselves (ok, maybe some aesthetic issues crop up - big hoop earrings for one) - maybe I'm just a body minimalist.

That said, I have considered a tattoo at some points in my life - maybe because all my friends were doing it - but I've never seen a design that I thought summed me up and that I would want to keep for the rest of my life. Conceptually, I imagine it would be some sort of sun design (again, not sure why) in the spirit of the image at the top, probably on my left shoulder.

My take on tatts - and not having one I realise that there are a myriad of reasons for them that I haven't grasped - is that they still have a hint of outsider mystique attached to them. A feeling that whatever else you have to do in your life, however much you have to buckle down and do what you're told, you at least carry a small symbol of rebellion against the norm that helps assert some independence.

(Incidentally, I think not getting one while most of the people I knew did was perhaps some kind of assertion of my own independence/individuality - or maybe I just have commitment issues :)

I don't think that the media have had much to do with this at all - I remember a big emergence of tatts around the grunge period of the early 90's, coming out of punk and that whole "alternative" movement that was eventually co-opted and watered down into something more marketable by the mainstream media but even now when you see tattoos represented in film or tv, they are generally used as shorthand to suggest that the tattooed is more of an outsider.

Different strokes for different folks really - I guess the main issue for me would be the permanance of the thing - I know you can get them removed and all but still... Perhaps some of the tattooed folk out there might like to talk about what they mean to them?

I did come across some interesting pictures while I was searching for the sun image at the top - some which involve creating suntan tattoos





And then there are also pure white tattoos -



(Images linked to from eglobe1.com, likecool.com and dance.net)

Writing: gags for radio

I feel like I'm getting these a little punchier now - possibly overly reliant on puns and some groanworthy punchlines but considering that I write these during the course of the show, based only on the news stories I can access on the restricted internet of the studio computer, they could be worse.

Police had to use capsicum spray on three AFL players from the Kangaroos football team last night after an incident at a Lionel Ritchie concert. Unconfirmed witness reports suggest that the players had been "dancing on the ceiling, all night long".

They are believed to have been taken away in Commodores.

Kevin Rudd was this morning sworn in as Australia's 26th Prime Minister. It hasn't yet been confirmed whether Tony Abbott was the one doing the swearing.

Australia has ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Kevin Rudd signed the document this morning in his first act as Prime Minister.

Newly green Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson said that the PM hadn't gone far enough and a Liberal government would also ratify the Da Vinci Code and the Bourne Ultimatum.

A British teacher working in Sudan has been sentenced to 15 days jail for naming a teddy-bear Muhammed. New Attorney General Robert McLelland is believed to be looking into similar laws for parents who name their children Madison, Taylor or Britney.

Exploring: my bookcase (part 5)

How to be a man - John Birmingham

Another Birmo book, this time another collection of various anecdotes and useful tips about masculinity - everything from how to behave in a brothel to how to spot a conman, why noone should wear Greek fisherman's caps (unless they are both Greek and a fisherman) and even George Orwell's guide to making the perfect cup of tea.



Dude - Where's my country? - Michael Moore

More pointed, hilarious and insightful commentary from Michael Moore about Bush, the war for oil and all the things that are wrong with the conservative agenda.



World War Z - an oral history of the zombie war - Max Brooks

Max (son of Mel) Brooks follows up The Zombie Survival guide with a brilliant broad vision of a global zombie epidemic and how humanity fights back.


Premiere Pro 1.5 - Studio techniques - Rosenberg

How-to guide for my video editing package of choice (well, given the absence of a Mac for Final Cut Pro and a more specced up PC to run Avid)




The Latham Diaries - Mark Latham

Mark Latham is seen as a bit of a political punchline these days but I remember the possibilities he offered back in early 2004 and still have a bit of respect for his passion and some of his ideas. His diaries offer a highly informative view of the insides of modern politics.



Camping in Victoria - Boiling Billy publications

I did the cubs/scouts/jamboree/dork thing in my youth and carry to this day an enjoyment of camping. This is all the main sites in Victoria and may come in useful over the break if I get adequately organised.



TV Guide - December 16-22, 1989.

As a bit of a media junkie, this seemed like a good souvenir to pick up on my last visit to the U.S back in the late 80s. I'm pretty sure it features the first appearance on TV of The Simpsons.



Lynch on Lynch - edited by Chris Rodley

A collection of interviews covering the entire career of one of my top 3 filmmaking heroes, David Lynch. (the other 2 are the Coen Brothers and probably Tim Burton).
It doesn't make the movies make any more sense but they just don't have to, being the screen dreams that I see them as.



Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

One of the few instances where I think the film is better than the book - it's still awesome but the film just seems a tiny bit tighter. Currently reading Palahniuk's newy - Rant. (so far, so superb)



Don Watson - Death Sentence

Paul Keating's former speechwriter writes a smarty and witty (although sometimes verging on Grumpy-old-menish) attack on the decay of public language and the rise of weasel words.



The Zombie Survival guide - Max Brooks

Very cool book of logical, practical ideas to surviving a zombie outbreak - played with a very straight bat. Top tips - avoid hospitals (this is where these things generally start) and hole up on the second floor of a building after destroying the staircase.