The Princess and the frog

Tell me if I'm out of line...I doubt that I am. I haven't seen the movie or anything, just caught the trailer.
Mind you, I'd first seen the posters and thought, FINALLY - a black people fairytale...or at least a black princess in a fairytale movie.
Well...the bit of the trailer I saw...wait let me first say or ask, you do know the story about the princess and the frog right? How the princess kisses the frog and it turns out the frog is actually a prince?
Well, in this black fairytale...guess what! A freak of a twist.
The black princess kisses toad, and becomes a toad herself.
WTF?

THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!

Lets see, how many others came before it!

Dare I list?

Actually, Brokensword would do a better job.

I'll try me best.

I AM Legend!

Terminator!

Day After Tomorrow!

Armageddon!

There was that Tom Cruise one, War of the Worlds I think its called. And plenty others.

Argh! Its bad enough that you doing a story on the end of the world, but to frighten everyone into thinking it will happen in the next two years. ARGH!

Low blow.

I think the movie is just desperate.

I suppose it is entertaining enough. I managed to get through the entire thing. But just thought...ARGH! Its a 'whatever' type of movie if you ask me.

Yes, yes, all story lines have pretty much been done now. And its all about how well you can retell the same stories these days, and to use amazing visual effects to drive the story home etc.

John Cusack's in it...not sure if that would mean you'd bite. I suppose I should have known that if Danny Glover plays president in it...well...dud!. My wanting to watch it had nothing to do with anyone involved in the movie. Just wondered about the story, and how well they'd tell it.

Must say I absolutely lurve Chiwetel Ejiofor though (he's just yum), and ofcourse Thandie Newtown, both are featured in the movie.

I suppose there were some fun bits in the movie. Also loved Woody Harrelsn in this - he plays crazy.

And also absolutely adored Zlatko Buric who plays rich.

Okay, okay, so it wasn't that bad. Quite fun actually.

If only they didn't have Danny Glover in it. Heheheheh

Avatar, a like totally psychedelic ride man

If my headline seems to suggest that this is a totally like hippie movie all laid back, I apologise. It is hippie’ish in its message, which we accept. In its ambition, Avatar reaches beyond what it can really grasp and gives us a taste of what could be without leaving us unsatisfied.

I’d not seen a 3D movie before this. So for me and my sister child it was virgin territory and we were totally taken in, it was supper cool.

But then, going further into the marvel, we notice that yes the images come out at you and almost make you feel like you are in the movie, but I can see a border, a black square border and I can sadly see where the images start and end. Is it supposed to be like that? Is the idea not to be totally enclosed in the movie so that you cannot see the outside? We thought this problem could be fixed with better 3D glasses like the one that Keanu Reeves has in Jonny Mnemonic.

Secondly, I know 3D movies have been around a while, have they actually progressed in leaps and bounds? With the $300m spent to make this movie, is the outcome more spectacular than previous 3D movies and Imax Movies? We have no frame of reference so we can comfortably say this is the best 3D movie ever, but think for $300m we should have come out with blue paint on us or something.

Thirdly, is there a difference between the various cinemas where these 3D movies are screened. I would imagine that watching it at an Imax theater (which is my next thing for me, the last time I saw an Imax movie was about 10 years ago and it was a spectacular documentary) and watching it at fourways mall would result in different experiences of the movie. I think 3D should be more than just projecting a 3D image on to a white screen and hope for the best, the theatre house needs to be more prepared than that. Like making the screen larger thereby eliminating the visible borders.

All that said, Avatar was amazing, it is a simple story that you could get into easily enough and go aout and hug a tree after. It is beautiful, it is stunning and it will almost take your breath away.

It is based on a sims game, I am told by sister child, an Avatar is a character you assume in the game world. In the movie, an Avatar is the body of an alien what gets merged with the consciousness of the human. Basically (as we know there are no new ideas just new takes on ideas) it is the Matrix where the matrix is real and not imagined. The humans go into their Avatars to mingle better with the aliens and understand them so that they can convince them to move away from a space the humans want to mine.

Sigourney Weaver takes on the role, for the second time, of Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist and is an expert on the aliens.

The utterly gorgeous yet limited Terminator dude Sam Worthington looks so good in his Avatar you just want him to sink his teeth into your neck.

You will kill yourself guessing and guessing who the female lead is. It kinda looks like Thandie Newton, no I saw a glimpse of Penelope Cruz in there, no actually, it could be Cameron Diaz? You will be wrong every single time. She is Zoe Saldana, if you don’t know the name that’s okay because I did not either, until I looked up a picture of her. She is Ohura in Star Trek, Spock’s girlfriend?

Avatar is full of colour, purple, it is luminous, the luminosity gives it that psychedelic look. It has elements of a recent black eyed peas video, the Michael Jackson Billy Jean video set in the Shire. Its beings are beautiful with catlike grace and angelic stature.

It lingers in your mind and infused itself into my dreams last night. Needless to say I awoke with a purple feeling.

Looking over the 2009 releases, Avatar threatened the number one spot for my best 2009 flick but I think Star Trek remains it for me.

It gets 4 stars and belongs in the stars.

PS: Does anyone know where there is an Imax theatre in joburg?

Invictus

Been meaning to post something on this. Went to see it over at Maponya Mall last week. It was quite a treat. Morgan Freeman made a special appearance and took questions from journalists. Couldn't really here all that well the Q & As as I was sitting right at the back of the little wannabe VIP area that had been created.
Not only was Morgan Freeman there, but so was Chester Williams, whose character is featured in the movie.
And Winnie Madikizela Mandela, her daughter Zinzi, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister - Jeff Radebe and his businesswoman wife - Bridgette, were all there as well.
So about the movie...it was okay.
I think I appreciated that Freeman's depiction of Mandela wasn't all that bad so you actually got to follow the movie and weren't too concerned with how well he could pull a Madiba accent. That was nice. I could say the same about Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar.

Its a story of how Mandela used rugby to kind of unite the nation. I thought it was a nice idea for a story, but...just wasn't all that gripping really. There were some interesting bits of information that they included that I had no clue about - so it gave some insight into our history. But otherwise...at least the other half of the movie was just too rugby for someone who isn't all that interested in it.
That said, I thought they could have used James Small more in the movie. My memory, and it may not be all that good, tells me that James Small was like our answer to Jonah Lomu. Our opponent for him really and he did stop him in his tracks didn't he? I didn't think they used that bit of the World Cup win very well. I think they down played James Small too much.

What else? Thought it odd that they used Zinzi the way they did. It didn't seem to fit well with the rest of the script. And then they threw in a single ...okay maybe two scenes of Winnie happily in love with Mandela.
I suppose they had to use his family in the movie, it couldn't be just about Madiba and rugby...in which case they should have done a better job and had more family moments to make it more realistic.

Anyway...I wouldn't watch this movie again even if I got paid to. I'm not sorry I watched it though.

2010 World Cup best ad

(oops, will the fifi -Fédération Internationale de Football Imbeciles) police come after me for using the numbers 2010, the words ‘soccer’, ‘cup’ and ‘world’? Screw you fifi I’m using the words!).

First off, I have the soccer fever. I believe against all odds that Bafana banafa are setting expections low so that their victories can be that much more sweet. I believe!

I think for me the FNB advert, with the praise singer is the one that always threatens to detonate the lump in my throat! It is beautifully made and riles my emotions up to an almost wailing crescendo. It is South African, it is over the top, it represents me, you and the guy sitting on his stoop smoking a pipe 100 years ago. It is all these mooshed into one identity with many take aways.

Second place, comes the Telkom ad. Can’t find a graphic for this but it’s the one where typical Telkom staff parade around a city centre in a topless bus, waving at the admiring masses (who loathe them!). Corny? Yes. Spitting on current client’s expectations? Don’t know, never had a Telkom line. Delivers the message of by any means necessary we will get you the coverage? Most definitely!

Coca Cola will always be coca cola, am expecting them to bring back that other ‘we are the world’ type ad . You remember the one they did a few decades ago? They are always spot on but I will not go back to drinking their potent java devil juice, but wholly appreciate their game.

What are some of the ones that stand out for you?

Fix You, Cold Play

Cheap Cheap shot!!! Brothers and Sisters tonight took a cheap shot. They play this slit-your-rist song that makes you start balling your eyes out, only it is not for what's happening on screen, it is becuase this song is just heart breaking. You think of all the bad and sad things in your life and curl up into a featal positon and sob like a baby. And then South Park comes on and the balanced gets restored!

Here are the lyrics.


When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Inglorious Bastards...absolutely awful

I fell asleep during this movie. That should tell you something.
I hardly ever, ever, ever sleep during a movie.
A movie should never be this long...especially when it is just so unexciting. Dull is the word. I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo disappointed in this.
Brad Pitt is really not that great in terms of his choice in movies. You'd think he would be. Should have skipped this one, but I guess its like, how do you say no to Tarantino.
He should have never written this movie.
I'm actually very upset about this. I had so much faith in this movie.

Anyway, apart from the movie being way too long...I expected more blood in true Tarantino style...he didn't even give us that...not enough anyway.

I'd say there was probably just a single moment in the entire film where I got super excited that something was about to go down and it delivered on the anticipation and that was when one of the bastards whacked one of the nazi's with a baseball bat. Nothing else is worth mentioning. Seriously. The whole plot around having the theatre (yes, this is a spoiler post) burnt to kill on the nazis including Hitler himself took too damn long to actually action. It was awfully boring.

Argh. That's it. That's all.

Ravings of a newly appointed factory worker

I’ve recently moved from working in a small cooperation, for 7 years, to being unemployed for 3 months to moving into an organization that is 5000 employees large.

Now, this has mostly been quite a shock to the system but there are moments where you think, ‘wow, really, are you serious, really?

But what I want to share in the post is some of the intriguing things I picked up in big corps:

• There is a department called Strategic Intelligence, now this dude has a business card that reads: Name Surname Strategic Intelligence, how awesomely cool is that? I want to be in that department, I want Strategic Intelligence on my business card, then, then, the only thing I would have to get to go along with that is an actuarial qualification. No problem.

• Opposite to this is a title I saw going through one of the time-wasting invitations to yet another seminar that will teach you to do-the-obvious strategically, which is asls painfully obvious, in a time of economic difficulty. This dude’s title was: Name Surname, Chief Strategic Communications Officer! Now, for someone who works at White House, in the West Wing and is named Toby Ziegler, then this title would be a perfect fit. BUT if you actually are a specialist in internal communications, media relations, and brand positioning in a company made up of 3 people, then….

What funny titles have you come across?

There is also new language that I have to get use to. What the hell is Brand Activation? The ‘equity’ I know relates to money in the business sense, only asset managers and such people can use the word understandably for me. Of course the other meaning relates to fairness etc. but what the hell does it mean in the context of marketing? I slowly learning that terms get invented to make one’s job more scientic and financial. And I suppose that is a good thing, but why then come up with other phrases like green fields and blue sky. WTF?

The biggest frustration though coming into a big organization is the restricted access. Cannot access blog websites, work-related or not, I cannot access social media, even though some of my activities that I need to track featured there. I cannot access my gmail, my skype, any instant messaging, which is often needed to keep in touch with social and business contacts. The tool that was my right-hand (because my filling leaves a lot to be desired) google destop, I cannot access. My cyber life has been cut in quality so much that sometimes it brings me to tears. I get mimesweep emails 5 times a day to say that my mails have been quarantined. ‘Mimesweep’? ‘quarantined’? but the funniest thing, the saddest thing is that even with this, with all of this, we got a virus that took almost a week to figure out and sort out. The humanity!

The thing I miss the most though, the thing I mourn is being in control. In control of my finances for example. They don’t trust you to pay your own medical aid, no, even though you are paying for it, it has to come out of your salary and not your bank account. You have made your own plans for retirement, to die before you reach it or have separate savings, that is not good enough, you join our scheme or find another job.

How do people do it? How do you stay sane in the midst of such madness.

The upside to all of this I suppose is that it is all for your protection and the company’s. It is all for the greater good. You are part of a successful big corporation that contributes to the heartbeat of the economy and society. One is given opportunities to give off their time to charity and money (this is made so much easier), one is given a chance to be part of a community that is bigger than 10 people, and in that, the odds are raised to actually finding that other half of your self you’ve been doing without. But hell, if that other half is here, what does it say about my half…

District 9 - revised

We finally went to see District 9. By 'we' I mean my sister and I - the fellow contributor to this blog. Perhaps its worth mentioning that she wasn't keen to post something on this. She just didn't feel like it. After the movie, she was just too exhausted to do it. It wore her out. Too long...she thought. I agree. It was too long. It took too long for it to actually start get going.

I wonder about the intentions of the people that made this movie. There was so much 'making fun of' mostly black people I thought. Yeh, sure, they made fun of white people too, the main character being a prime example burrrrt...Lets just say I can understand why the Nigerian government banned the movie over there.

But generally speaking...I mean to have that alien be named 'Christopher' for instance...does that not remind you of the 'good old days' when the 'baas' would call his 'girl' 'Betty' even though her real name was Mogomotsi? Even that whole squatter camp scenario - I mean? Like white people are known to be residents in those parts.

The whole 'illegal aliens' thing - you know they aren't talking about any Americans or Europeans or Asians (think pre-BEE status) for that matter!

There were a lot of under tones I thought. Stuff that I suppose the regular viewer would have missed completely but I was left thinking - these people are generally making fun of me.

I suppose that is partly the reason my sister wasn't keen to review this movie...what do you say about it...what can you say? Was it funny? Was it good? It was ambiguous I thought. Maybe not even that. It was a movie about black people. The aliens were black people and whatever the writer wanted to say about black people was said...just disguised as alien derogation.

I suppose I too do not know what to say about it. Was it funny. Hm...lets think. T'was only funny when the joke was on Wikus. Which is hilarious itself because he turned out to be the hero, the savior of the aliens.

The ending is all too familiar.

The Diamond-Shaped Glass Building

Okay Brokensword - lets play your game. I actually saw this today on E Entertainment News.
So...which movie?